6. Then shall the earth yield her increase. Sin
first laid a curse on the soil, and grace alone can remove it. Under tyrannical
governments lands become unproductive; but when the principles of true religion
have elevated mankind, and the dominion of Jesus is universally acknowledged,
the soil will be restored to more than its highest condition of fertility.
There is certainly an intimate relation between moral and physical evil, and
between spiritual and physical good. Alexander notes that the Hebrew is in the
past tense, and he concludes that it is ungrammatical to render it in the
future; but to us it seems that the prophet-bard, hearing the nations praise
the Lord, speaks of the bounteous harvest as already given in consequence. On
the supposition that all the people praise Jehovah, the earth has yielded her
increase. The future in the English appears to be the clearest rendering of the
Hebrew. And God, even our own God, shall bless us. We never love God
aright till we know him to be ours, and the more we love him the more we long
to be fully assured that he is ours. What dearer name can we give him than “mine own God”? The spouse in the Song
has no sweeter canticle than “my
beloved is mine and I am his.”
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