Isaiah foretold the captivity of Judah to Babylon, also its termination. This chapter is a song ready for the occasion. It related the story, and it unfolds the principles that underlie the events.
Our text is thoroughly practical. It reminds us—
I. That righteousness is the personal characteristic of God and of His redeemed people. 1. God is righteous. “Thou most upright.” He is perfectly righteous. It is essential to the Divine nature; the contrary cannot be supposed; as heat is natural to fire. God Himself, His laws, His providential government, even His redeeming mercy, all are characterised by perfect rectitude. So prominent is this idea that we are taught to exercise simple faith in God, and assume that we are imperfectly informed if we are unable to reconcile anything in our experience with His perfect righteousness. 2. His people also are righteous—here called “the just.” It is suggestive when God’s people are thus called by a name similar to His own. They share in the same righteousness, although in different degrees. More is intended than that they are in a justified state. That is implied. They are justified by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the text refers to the righteousness which assimilates them to the Divine nature. The grace of God produces a new nature. Saul of Tarsus became a new man on his conversion. A savage adopts the habits and forms the tastes of civilised Christian life. It is a new nature. 1 John iv. 4: “Ye are of God.” As children partake the nature of their parents, His nature is in them, though not yet perfected. Their sympathies are with Him. In so far as they are unrighteous, they are inconsistent with their true selves. The life of God in the regenerated soul is a principle ever tending toward the perfect righteousness of the Divine nature from which it comes.
II. When righteousness characterises a person, it will dictate his conduct. 1. The conduct of the righteous man. “The way of the just is uprightness;” his course of life. He is erect in his moral manhood, as contrasted with one who is bent and crooked. Men’s ideas of uprightness are apt to become partial and one-sided. Some seem to imagine that all demands of righteousness are met by the acceptance of Christ and the experience of spiritual feeling, while they overlook the demands of human relationships. Others confine their view to men. They imagine all demands are met, when they are fair and honourable in their dealings with men, while God is left out of consideration. The Divine idea of righteousness is not thus partial. It takes in the whole of our moral relations our relations both to God and an. And the good man strives to bring his whole life into conformity to it. [Work this out in detail: “The way of the just is uprightness” (1), in regard to God; (2), in regard to man.]
2. The conduct of the righteous God. “Thou most upright dost weigh the path of the just.” At first sight like confusion of metaphor. It means to ponder it. The heathen symbol of Divine righteousness is that of justice holding the scales (Dan. v. 27). The conduct of the righteous is weighed. God observes it; His honour is concerned in it. He will eventually pronounce upon it (2 Cor. v. 10).
Examine, then:—1. Are you among the just? Have you experienced a change of heart? 2. Are you pursuing the path of the just? This applies to your actual dealing with God and with man. Consider how far imperfection may be consistent with reality. Do not try how far you may go safely. There comes a point at which a man must be condemned, at which he must condemn himself. At that point he will either repent or harden himself. Let us cultivate the highest measure of practical uprightness.—J. Rawlinson.
The Just Man’s Security.
xxvi. 7. Thou most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
We can scarcely find anywhere a more touching description of the God of our salvation than that furnished by Job (Job xxxv. 10). God has always given His people songs in the night, and in the night-time of affliction He has furnished them with songs of consolation and confidence. Our text is a part of one of those songs. The Chaldean power threatened God’s people. They were instructed to cherish a firm faith in God. Not a breath of despair was to reach the camp of the enemy; rather they were taught a scornful defiance of that proud king who had defied the armies of the living God (Isa. xxxvii. 22).
“In that day shall this song be sung.” The connection may teach us that it is wisdom to treasure up a source of consolation against the day of adversity. It is in spring that we are to prepare for winter; in the morning of life to prepare for old age. The oil must be ready for the midnight hour. No good soldier will run for his armour “when the enemy comes in like a flood.”