The Great Arraignment BY SALVATORE ROSA, THE NOTED MASTER OF THE + "And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.”—Isaiah, 1, 15. T HE first chapter of Isaiah's book has been called the "Great Arraignment." Sternly, solemnly, tremendously, the mighty preacher outlines the guilt of his countrymen. He assumes to speak in the voice of God. Israel, an ungrateful and unnatural child, has disowned its Father. "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." The people, cries Isaiah, fail to understand their own wickedness. They still perform the prescribed ceremonies of worship, they visit the Temple, they pray there, and offer sacrifice; but they seem to think that this alone is demanded by God, that an empty ceremonial constitutes religion. They carry no righteousness into their daily lives. Their "hands are full of blood;" their sins are as scarlet. "Every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards." The helpless widow is thrust aside, the just complaints of the poor have no chance of being heard. Woe, therefore, shall come upon the city. "For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water." JEREMIAH VIII-THE PUNISHMENT COMETH 1227 9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them? 10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. 13 I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. 14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. 15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble! 16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein. 17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD. 18 ¶ When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. 19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities? 20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Chapter 9 1 Jeremiah lamenteth the Jews for their manifold sins, 9 and for their judgment. 12 Disobedience is the cause of their bitter calamity. 17 He exhorteth to mourn for their destruction, 23 and to trust not in themselves but in God. 25 He threateneth both Jews and Gentiles. H that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; |