The reigns of those princes who gave an easy belief to accusations, are stained with the most atrocious crimes. Tiberius Cæsar put to death the greater number of his own privy councillors, by giving ear to lies, and encouraging his servants to be wicked; and it is probable that the worst action that ever was committed since the fall of Adam, the murder of the Prince of Life, was occasioned by Pilate’s wicked and cowardly regard to the temper of that tyrant, and his fear of being accused as an encourager of treason, if he had suffered our Lord to escape.—Lawson.
Rulers are the looking-glasses according to which most men dress themselves. Their sins do much hurt, as by imputation (2 Sam. xxiv.)—the prince sinned, the people suffered—so by imitation; for man is a creature apt to imitate, and is more led by his eyes than his ears. . . . Height of place ever adds two wings to sin, example, and scandal, whereby it soars higher and flies much further.—Trapp.
The subject of verse 13 is the same as that of chap. [xxii. 22], page 636. The deceitful man should be “the man of usury, money-lender,” meaning simply the “rich man.” (Zöckler.) For subjects of verses 14 and 15, see on chapter [xvi. 10–15], page 472, and [xiii. 24], page 335, also on chap. [xix. 13–18], page 573.
main homiletics of verse 16.
Victory Not with the Majority.
I. There is no necessary connection between numbers and righteousness. Weeds grow faster than wheat, and are much more abundant than the grain. But the simple fact that there are more weeds than there is corn does not alter the character of either. In the same field it may happen that there is more to bind for fuel than for food—that the tares far outnumber the ears of wheat—and in this case the worth is on the side of the smaller quantity. So it is in the moral field of the world. It is a startling fact that under the government of God the wicked are permitted to multiply—that when a man sets himself in opposition to his Maker, he is not at once removed from the earth, but is permitted to live and use his life to make other men wicked like himself. We may sometimes be inclined to ask with the patriarch, “Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power” (Job xxi. 7), and the question may be difficult for us to answer; but this we must never forget, that neither with an nor with God is there any necessary connection between quantity and quality, between worth and abundance.
II. Neither are numbers any guarantee of victory. The greatness of a tree and the number of its branches do not make it certain that it will outlive the storm—on the contrary, its great bulk and height are often the causes of its fall. When the wicked multiply, and so increase transgression, they sometimes lose sight of their personal sin and danger in the sin and danger in the multitude, and persuade themselves that there is safety in numbers. But the very opposite is the case. Men grow more bold in transgression in proportion as they are surrounded with other transgressors, and venture to do deeds of wickedness when in company with others that they would fear to commit alone. And so the multiplication of the wicked, as it increases transgression, is the means of hastening their fall instead of retarding it. It was “when men began to multiply upon the face of the earth” (Gen. vi. 1) that their wickedness became so great as to compel God to destroy them by a flood. It was the combination of the entire Jewish nation that enabled them to commit the crime of crucifying the Lord of Glory, but it was this “increase of transgression” that led to their final fall.
outlines and suggestive comments.
Combination emboldens in sin (Isa. xli. 7). Each particle of the mass is corrupt. The mass therefore of itself ferments with evil. Hence the prevalence of infidelity in our densely crowded districts above the more thinly populated villages. There is the same evil in individual hearts, but not the same fermentation of evil.—Bridges.
The reference is, in all probability, to the influence of wicked rulers in promoting the increase of wickedness in the community, which requires not either illustration or proof.—“But the righteous shall see their fall.”—Their fall, that is, from power and authority. It is not the final fall—the perdition of the wicked, that is intended. In that the righteous have no pleasure. Herein they resemble God; are of one mind and heart with Him. He says, and confirms it by His oath—“As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” In the execution of the sentence against them, God glorifies Himself; and the righteous solemnly acquiesce, acknowledging and celebrating the justice of the Divine administration:—“Even so, Lord God, Almighty, for true and righteous are Thy judgments!” But pleasure in witnessing the execution of the sentence, we cannot, we must not, for a moment, imagine them to have.—Wardlaw.