“If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself;
And if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it” (Ibid. ix. 12).
This was a proclamation of the principle of personality, the great truth that each individual, in his single personality, has been endowed with full and equal rights of self-determination and self-control. The old civilizations annihilated the rights of the many in the privileges of the few, and put the manhood of the masses under the heel of power. The very idea of common rights had scarcely dawned upon the minds of men. The grandeur of human personality, as complete and inviolably sacred in every individual, was not discerned. The idea, now so familiar to every civilized human being, that every man is entitled to all the rights of manhood on his own responsibility was originally Jewish. The meaning of the verse quoted above is clear: our wisdom or folly is our own affair, both in origin and consequences. We must reap as we sow, must bear the brunt of the conflict we have provoked.
This principle concerns nations as well as individuals. The book of Proverbs contains many maxims with regard to nations:—
“Righteousness exalteth a nation;...” (Ibid. xiv. 34).
National righteousness consists in the possession of a reverent spirit and the practice of justice, purity, and mercy. In this is a nation’s strength and superiority, for it will surely lead to physical well-being, to material prosperity, to moral and spiritual advancement, and to estimation and influence among surrounding nations. The Pagan view of an eternal, inevitable force coercing and controlling all human action was in conflict with the Jewish conception of a free human and national will: man is not a helpless creature, borne along by destiny. Man’s moral freedom and responsibility is at the very root of all Jewish teaching, and is most strongly emphasized with regard to the nation:—
“Is Israel a servant?
Is he a home-born slave?...” (Jeremiah, chap. ii. v. 14.)
A slave can be emancipated only by others, a free man emancipates himself. Hope comes to those who rouse themselves from dejection, and “power to him that power exerts.” History proves the practical folly, as well as the ingratitude and rebelliousness, of “Israel forsaking God.” When trust is placed in other powers they prove like Egypt—inactive, do-nothing (Isaiah xxxi. 7). The “captive daughter of Zion,” which is a poetical image for the Jewish nation, brought down to the dust by suffering and oppression, is commanded to rise and shake herself from the dust.
“Awake, awake,