12. Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. In eastern prisons men are frequently made to labor like beasts of the
field. As they have no liberty, so they have no rest. God has methods of
abating the loftiness of rebellious looks: the cell and the mill make even
giants tremble. They fell down, and there was none to help. Stumbling on
in the dark beneath their weary task, they at last fell prone upon the ground,
but no one came to pity them or to lift them up. Their fall might be fatal for
aught that any one cared about them; their misery was unseen, or, if observed,
no one could interfere between them and their tyrant masters. In such a
wretched plight the rebellious Israelite became more lowly in mind, and thought
more tenderly of his God and of his offenses against him. When a soul finds all
its efforts at self-salvation prove abortive, and feels that it is now utterly
without strength, then the Lord is at work hiding pride from man and preparing
the afflicted one to receive his mercy.
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