Here the apostle cometh particularly to discover their sin,
and the reason of God's judgment The method is observable; he first
threateneth, and then cometh particularly to convince. Note hence: -
Obs.
That every solemn threatening must be accompanied with sound conviction. This
headeth the arrow, and maketh it enter. Every woe must have a for, Mat xxiii.,
otherwise men will not care for terrible words. Such brutish thunder becometh a
Mahometan dervis, rather than a preacher of the gospel. The success of our work
dependeth upon evidence, and 'the demonstration of the Spirit,' 1 Cor. ii. 4.
Your riches are corrupted, your garments moth-eaten, your gold and
silver is cankered. - It is observable that he speaketh of all kinds of wealth.
'Your riches are corrupted;' that is, corn, and wine, and oil, all things
subject to corruption. 'Your garments are moth-eaten;' that is, silks, clothes,
linens, and all such kinds of wares. Then, by the 'rust of gold and silver,' he
intendeth the decay of all kinds of metals. Now by these circumstances the
apostle doth - (1.) Evince their sin; that they would hoard up their goods and
money, and suffer them to be eaten up by moths and rust, and so to be corrupted
or perish, without any profit at all, rather than lay them out for good uses,
the supply of the poor, and public commodity. (2.) Upbraid their folly; that
they were such fools to place their confidence in that which is of so perishing
and frail a nature as to be eaten out by rust and moths. (3.) The apostle may
produce these circumstances as the first pledges of God's displeasure against
them, and the preface and introduction of the curse upon their hoards and
treasures, in that they were defaced or destroyed by moths, wet, or rust. Out
of the whole, observe: -
Obs. 1. That sordid sparing is a sure sign of a
worldly heart. Covetousness is all for keeping; as the fool in the Gospel
talked of 'laying up in his barns,' Luke xii. 18. Those that are enamoured,
will not part with their pictures of desire, and let their darling go out of
sight; that which God would have communicated and laid out, they are all for
keeping and laying it up. God gave us wealth, not that we should be hoarders,
but dispensers. The noblest act of the creature is communication to others'
necessities; but a covetous man doth not dispense to his own; a spiteful envy
keepeth him from the supply of others, and a carnal esteem from sparing to
himself. Seneca calleth covetous men chests. We think them men, and they are
but coffers; who would envy a trunk well stored? Well, then, beware of
'withholding more than is meet,' Prov. xi. 24, of a delight in hoarding; it is
a sure note that the world has too much of your heart.
Obs. 2. Keeping
things from public use till they be corrupted or spoiled is sordid sparing.
When you lay them not out upon God, or others, or yourself, you are justly
culpable. The word for money is chrèma, which signifieth use; you abuse
it when you make it ktèma, a possession; then you were as good have so
many stones as so many treasures. It is against the ordination of God and the
common good of human societies. Scourge your souls with remorse for this
baseness. Your meat putrifieth when many a hungry belly wanteth it; your
clothes are eaten of moths, which would cover the nakedness of many a poor soul
in the world; your money rusteth, which should be laid out for public defence.
The inhabitants of Constantinople would afford no money to the Emperor
Constantinus Palaeologus when he begged from door to door for a supply for the
soldiers; but what was the issue? the barbarous enemy won the city and got all.
The like story there is of Musteatzem, the covetous caliph of Babylon, who was
such an idolater of his wealth and treasures that he would not dispend anything
for the necessary defence of his city, whereupon it was taken, and the caliph
famished to death, and his mouth, by Haalon, the Tartarian conqueror, filled
with melted gold.
Obs. 3. Covetousness bringeth God's curse upon our
estates. He sendeth corruption, and the rust, and the moth. There is nothing
gotten by rapine or tenacity, by greedy getting, or close withholding. Not by
greedy getting; when men will snatch an estate out of the hands of providence,
no wonder if God snatch it away again; ill gains are equivalent to losses:
Micah vi. 10, 'Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the
wicked?' that is, have they them still? Not by undue withholding; it draweth
man's curse and God's too upon us: see Prov. xi. 26, 'He that withholdeth corn,
the poor shall curse him; but blessing shall be upon the head of him that
selleth it.' God can easily corrupt that which we will not bestow, and cause a
worm to breed in manna. Certainly there is a 'withholding that tendeth to
poverty,' Prov. xi. 24 Well, then, learn the meaning of that gospel riddle,
that he that will save must lose, and the best way of bringing in is laying
out.
Obs. 4. There is corruption and decay upon the face of all created
glory. Riches corrupted, garments moth-eaten, gold and silver cankered. It is
madness to set up our rest in perishing things: Prov. xxiii. 5, 'Wilt thou set
thine eyes upon that which is not?' It is not only against grace, but reason;
confidence should have a sure and stable ground. Well, then, take Christ's
advice, Mat vi. 19, 20, 'Lay not up treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
do corrupt,' &c. We are apt to seek treasures here, but the moth and the
rust checketh our vanity: these are like treasures of snow, that melt in our
fingers. So Luke xii. 33, 'Provide yourselves bags that wax not old, a treasure
in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, or moth
corrupteth.' A man should look after a happiness that will last as long as his
soul lasteth. Why should we, that have souls that will not perish, look after
things that perish in the using? These things pass away, and the lust of them
also, 1 John ii. 17. Time will come, when the world will not relish with us;
when we are about to leave the world, then we complain how it hath abused us.
Obs. 5. From the diversity of the terms, moth, corruption, canker, note
that God hath several ways wherewith to blast our carnal comforts. Sometimes by
the moth, sometimes by the thief, by rust or robbery; they may either rot, or
be taken from us. Well, then, let the greater awe be impressed upon your
thoughts. Usually we look no further than the present likelihoods. Sometimes
God can arm the fire, sometimes a great wind, and anon the Sabeans: Job hath
messenger upon messenger, chap. i. There is nothing keepeth the heart so loose
from earthly comforts as the consideration of the several ways they may be
taken from us: this evinceth our near dependence upon God, and the absolute
dominion of providence.
And the rust of them shall be a witness against
you. - It is usual in scripture to ascribe a testimony to things inanimate
against the unthankful and wicked. As to the gospel: Mat. xxiv. 14, 'For a
witness to them.' The preaching of the word will be a witness that men had
warning enough. So to the duet of the apostles' feet: Mark vi. 11, 'Shake off
the dust of your feet for a testimony against them;' that is, it shall be clear
that you are free of their blood; if there be no other witnesses, this dust
shall witness it. So to the rust here, it shall be a witness; that is, for the
present it is an argument of conviction that you had enough, though you would
not lay it out; and hereafter it shall be brought by the supreme judge as a
circumstantial evidence for your condemnation. Your own consciences,
remembering the moth and the rust, shall bring to remembrance your covetous
hoarding. Note hence: -
Obs. That in the day of judgment the least
circumstances of our sinful actions shall be brought forth as arguments of
conviction. God cannot want witnesses; the rusty iron, the cankered silver, the
moth-eaten clothes shall be produced; that is, by the recognition of our
consciences. So see Hab. ii. 11, 'The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the
beam out of the timber shall answer it;' that is, the materials of the house
built up by oppression shall come as joint witnesses. The stones of the wall
shall cry, Lord, we were built up by rapine and violence; and the beam shall
answer, True, Lord: even so it is. The stones shall cry, Vengeance, Lord, upon
our ungodly owner; and the beam shall answer, Woe to him, because he built his
house with blood. The circumstances of sin are as so many memorials to put us
in mind of guilt, and to put God in mind of vengeance. Well, then, think of
these things for the present; this rust may be produced against me, this pile
of building, these musty clothes in the wardrobe. Conscience is a shrewd
remembrancer; it writeth when it doth not speak. Many times for the present it
is silent, and seemeth to take no notice of those circumstances of guilt; but
they are all registered, and produced at the last day; the very filth of thy
fingers in telling money will be an evidence that thou hast defiled thy soul
with the love of it.
And shall eat your flesh as it were fire. - Some
interpret this of those anxious and 'piercing cares,' 1 Tim. vi. 9, wherewith
covetous men cumber their lives, and eat out the vigour of their own spirits;
but with little probability. They come much nearer to the scope of the apostle
who interpret this 'eating as fire' of the means and cause of their ruin. It is
usual in scripture to compare the wrath of God to fire, whether expressed by
temporal judgments or eternal torments. See Ps. xxi. 9; Isa. xxx. 27, and
xxxiii. 11. 'Your breath as fire shall devour you;' so Mark ix. 44, 'Their worm
shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched.' Now the effects of wrath
are also ascribed to the meritorious cause of it; for what wrath is said to do,
that sin is said to do; as in the places cited, and here, the rust shall eat as
fire; that is, shall hasten the wrath of God, which shall burn as fire, either
in your temporal or eternal ruin. Possibly here may be some latent allusion to
the manner of Jerusalem's ruin, in which many thousands perished by fire, which
was a pledge of the general judgment Observe hence:-
Obs. 1. That the
matter of our sin shall in hell become the matter of our punishment. The rust
of hoarded treasures is not only witness, but executioner. As it hath eaten out
the silver, so it shall eat your flesh, and gnaw upon your consciences. When
you are burning in hell flames, reflections upon the rust will be sad and
horrible. The vexation and anger at your past folly will heighten your present
sufferings. Conscience and a sense of the wrath of God are a great part of that
fire which burneth souls; and the outward pains are much increased by
remembering the past circumstances of sin; the revenging image and
representation of them always runneth in the thoughts, and their flesh is
eaten, but not consumed. Oh! consider of it; the rust that eateth out the money
is but a pledge of those devouring torments. It will be sad to think hereafter
that so much money as you hoarded up, so much fire you kept in your chests to
your own eternal ruin. It is a part of heaven's happiness to 'know as we are
known;' that is, to look back upon the circumstances of our past lives, and to
see what we were enabled to do by the care and help of grace. And so it is a
part of hell's torment to review the passages of a sinful life, and with horror
and a despairing remorse to look back upon the known evidences and
circumstances of their own guilt. Their present delights prove their future
torments.
Obs. 2. Observe, again, the misery of covetousness here and
hereafter. Now it burneth the soul with desires and cares, and hereafter with
despair and remorse of conscience. Here pierced with thorns, and there scorched
with fires. Oh! what a hard service have these drudges of Satan! Care for the
present, and horror hereafter! They labour and toil, and all that they may go
to hell with just nothing. What do you gain by Satan? Every sinner is first
taken in his snares, and then bound in chains of darkness; but you, above all
others, begin your hell by eating out all your quiet with carking care, that
you may eternally undo your souls with the more pains.
Ye have heaped
treasure for the last days. - This clause hath undergone several constructions.
Some by 'the last days' understand the latter part of their lives, as if the
apostle in this expression did tax that carnal distrust whereby covetous men
think they shall never have enough to suffice their needy old age. Such kind of
men are always distrustful of future events, and carking for the morrow: what
shall become of them and their children, and how they shall live when they are
old - a sinful anxiety, however veiled under the appearance of necessity. God
gave the Israelites manna but for one day, and our Lord taught us to pray for
'daily bread.' Every day's trouble is ordained by God for our exercise, and is
enough to take up our thoughts. We do but anticipate our cares, and create a
needless distraction to ourselves, by carking for the last days; and yet
usually this disposition increaseth with age, and the older men grow, the more
solicitous about worldly provisions. Thus some explain the apostle, but with
little reason; for it is not a description, but a threatening; and the apostle
is not now intimating their disposition, but their judgment and ruin. Others
expound the clause of treasuring and storing up wrath against the day of
judgment, as the apostle Paul useth such another phrase, Rom. ii. 5. Calvin
inclineth to this sense, because of the former expression, 'shall eat your
flesh as fire.' And, indeed, some translations (as the Syriac and Arabic) read
that clause 'as fire' with this last sentence, 'You have treasured up riches as
it were fire for the last days;' that is, as Diodati expoundeth it, whereas you
thought to lay up treasures for time to come, you shall in effect find that you
have laid up God's wrath. I confess this is probable, because of the particular
allusion to their hoarding, and because of the known resemblance between wrath
and a treasure. It is long a-gathering, but every day the sum increaseth; and
the longer it is ere it be opened, the greater the heap. As Jehoiada's chest,
which was not to be opened till the sum was considerable, so it is here. God's
wrath increaseth by degrees, the slower always the more sharp in the issue, so
that it is some kind of mercy to meet with a sudden punishment, and to have our
worldly practices checked with an early disappointment, lest wrath grow with
our estates, and we do not treasure up money so much as judgments, which will
be a sad gain when the chest of God's patience is broken open. See Job xxvii.
8, and Prov. xi. 4. It were far better to scatter than to increase such a heap,
as those that fly in battle scatter their wealth that they may not be pursued.
God gave us riches as a means to escape wrath, by a liberal and charitable
distribution of them to his own glory. Certainly we should not use them as a
means to treasure up wrath. Thus you see the words may be fitly accommodated
with this sense. But I rather prefer a third, because there is no cogent reason
why we should take this ethèsaurisate, 'ye have heaped treasures,' in a
metaphorical sense, especially since, with good leave from the context, scope
of the apostle, and the state of those times, the literal may be retained. I
should therefore simply understand the words as an intimation of their
approaching judgments; and so the apostle seemeth to me to tax their vanity in
hoarding and heaping up wealth, when those scattering and fatal days to the
Jewish commonwealth were even ready to overtake them. All that treasure which,
with such wrong to others, hazard of their own contentment, and violation of
their consciences, they had heaped up together, was but heaped up for the
spoiler and the violence of the last days. From whence we may observe: -
Obs. That usually men are most secure and carnal before their own judgment
and ruin. What wretched men were here fallen upon the lot of the last days!
Usually thus it is, men are most full of carnal projects when God is about to
break down and pluck up: Jer. xlv. 5, 'Seekest thou great things for thyself?
seek them not; for I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord.' Foolish
men are like a company of ants, storing their nests when their hill or burrow
is like to be turned up; and there is never more general security than when
judgments are at hand. A little before the flood, 'they ate, they drank, they
married wives, and were given in marriage, and then the flood came, and
destroyed them all,' Luke xvii. 27. And the same is observed of Sodom: 'They
bought, they sold, they builded, they planted,' &c., ver. 28. When men
generally apply themselves to worldly business, it is a sad prognostic; they do
but bring forth for the murderer, and heap up for the plunderer: 1 Thes. v. 3,
'When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon
them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.' When
security runneth riot, and is like to degenerate into utter contempt of God,
men are not likely to profit by the word, therefore God taketh the rod in hand,
that, by the severity of discipline, he may teach men that which they would not
learn by kinder and milder persuasions. Plethoric bodies must have their veins
opened. And when a people are grown to such a wanton fulness, God will send
'the emptiers to empty them,' Nahum ii. 2.
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