od is praised for what he has done for his people. (1-7)
Their obligations to him. (8-16)
Verses 1-7: All the worship we can render to the Lord is beneath his
excellences, and our obligations to him, especially in our
redemption from sin and wrath. What God had done on Israel's
behalf, was kept in remembrance by public solemnities. To make a
deliverance appear more gracious, more glorious, it is good to
observe all that makes the trouble we are delivered from appear
more grievous. We ought never to forget the base and ruinous
drudgery to which Satan, our oppressor, brought us. But when, in
distress of conscience, we are led to cry for deliverance, the
Lord answers our prayers, and sets us at liberty. Convictions of
sin, and trials by affliction, prove his regard to his people.
If the Jews, on their solemn feast-days, were thus to call to
mind their redemption out of Egypt, much more ought we, on the
Christian sabbath, to call to mind a more glorious redemption,
wrought out for us by our Lord Jesus Christ, from worse bondage.
Verses 8-16: We cannot look for too little from the creature, nor too
much from the Creator. We may have enough from God, if we pray
for it in faith. All the wickedness of the world is owing to
man's wilfulness. People are not religious, because they will
not be so. God is not the Author of their sin, he leaves them to
the lusts of their own hearts, and the counsels of their own
heads; if they do not well, the blame must be upon themselves.
The Lord is unwilling that any should perish. What enemies
sinners are to themselves! It is sin that makes our troubles
long, and our salvation slow. Upon the same conditions of faith
and obedience, do Christians hold those spiritual and eternal
good things, which the pleasant fields and fertile hills of
Canaan showed forth. Christ is the Bread of life; he is the Rock
of salvation, and his promises are as honey to pious minds. But
those who reject him as their Lord and Master, must also lose
him as their Saviour and their reward.
od is praised for what he has done for his people. (1-7)
Their obligations to him. (8-16)