Divine Chastisement: God's Merciful Object in National Trial

"Four young men have I slain with the sword . . . yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord." God's dealings with nations and individuals during trial proceed not from vindictiveness but from love and compassion, designed to work that which is needful for temporal prosperity and eternal welfare when His good gifts and past mercies have failed to effect repentance.

The children of Israel exemplify four characteristic sins that invite divine correction. First, pride—"Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked." They attributed their constitution to their own wisdom, their wealth to their exertions, and their stability to superior institutions, forgetting the Benefactor who established them. Second, hypocrisy: they professed zealous religion while their hearts followed idols and their hands filled with blood. God refuses such worthless profession. Third, forgetfulness of Elohim's hand in both the productiveness of land and failure of crops. Fourth, rebellion and wickedness multiplying in dense cities and among the masses.

God's chastisements—scarcity, disease, war—escalated proportionately to Israel's unfaithfulness. Unexampled favors demand a higher standard of holiness and devoted obedience; proportionately they increase the heinousness of guilt when rejected. The application remains sharp: where is the self-discipline, self-denial, and self-sacrifice our holy religion demands? Do we acknowledge Adonai's hand in national affairs, or do we attribute all to human achievement?