Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Various Troubles
The second paragraph treats of captives. V. 10. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, in miserable captivity, such as that of King Manasseh, being bound in affiliation and iron, bound in pain and torture, especially by iron fetters of a shameful imprisonment, v. 11. because they rebelled against the words of God, proclaimed for their salvation, and contemned the counsel of the Most High, their rejection of God’s gracious purposes in their behalf, combined with blasphemy, tending to frustrate His designs; v. 12. therefore He brought down their heart with labor, humiliating them by means of the distress which He laid upon them; they fell down, and there was none to help, it being the aim of God to bring them to a realization of their helplessness.
V. 13. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, having finally gained understanding, and He saved them out of their distresses,delivered them out of their anxious situation. V. 14. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and brake their bands in sunder. V. 15. Oh, that men, that is, men having had such experiences, would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men, v. 8. V. 16. For He hath broken the gates of brass, in setting free the captives, and cut the bars of iron in sunder, this summary being like Is. 45, 2.
The application of these words to men of all times who have resisted the work of the Holy Ghost, but have been brought to repentance by the visitation of the Lord, is again obvious.
The next section treats of those who foolishly bring misery upon themselves by willful indulgence in sin. V. 17. Fools because of their transgression, men devoid of proper mentality, as they prove themselves to be by indulging in sins which invariably carry their own punishment with them, like immorality and intemperance, and because of their iniquities, are affiliated. A person yielding to every sensual and sensuous desire, setting aside all sanity and deliberately ruining his health and risking his reputation, will find himself subject to many burdens of punishment, even in this world.
V. 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, foods which they formerly delighted in now fill their souls with disgust and loathing; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
V. 19. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, having been brought to the knowledge of their sin by the severity of the punishment which struck them, and He saveth them out of their distresses, delivering them out of the tight place into which their foolishness wedged them.
V. 20. He sent His Word and healed them, the healing of the soul through the application of the Word being the chief step in the great Physician’s treatment, and delivered them from their destructions, permitting them to escape out of the pits which their own lack of sense had dug for them.
V. 21. Oh, that men, such as have had experiences of this kind, would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men! V. 8.
V. 22. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, in seeking most earnestly to be united with Jehovah in the fellowship of faith and love, and declare His works with rejoicing, proclaiming the fact of their deliverance from the misery into which their own fault had plunged them. This attitude is all the more necessary in the case of such people, since their shame is usually known in a community, and they are obliged to live down their past.