If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge
him
When one man does an injury to another in his person and
property, the case is brought before the judge, he hears it,
examines into it, and determines upon it, and does justice,
orders that the injured person have satisfaction made him, and so
the matter is ended:
but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for
him?
all sin is in some sense against God, as it is contrary to his
nature, and a breach of his law, and especially bold, daring,
presumptuous sins; but there are some sins that are more
immediately and particularly against God, as sins against the
first table of the law, which relate to the worship of God, and
such were the sins of Eli's sons in the affair of sacrifices; all
sin against God is aggravated by the perfections of his nature,
and made tremendous, as being against a God of strict justice, of
unspotted purity and holiness, and who is omniscient,
omnipresent, and omnipotent; and by the relation and connection
there is between God and men, he is their Creator and Preserver,
the God of their lives and mercies, and of all the blessings they
enjoy, and yet sin against him! who will entreat the favour of
God for such persons, ask pardon for them, and beseech the Lord
to be propitious and merciful to them? who on earth will do it?
such persons are scarce and rare, few care to stand up in the gap
between God and sinners; in some cases they ought not, in others
they cannot. Eli suggests by this question, that he could not,
even for his own sons; and who in heaven can or will do it? not
saints departed, who know nothing of what is done below, nor
angels, only the Lord Jesus Christ; he is the only Mediator
between God and men, who has engaged his heart to approach unto
God, and interpose between him and sinful men, and has made peace
and reconciliation by his blood, and is become the propitiation
for sin, and ever lives to make intercession for transgressors,
and is always prevalent and successful in his mediation and
intercession; excepting him, there is none to entreat for those
that have sinned against the Lord, see ( 1 John 2:1 1 John 2:2 ) . In answer
to this question, who shall entreat for him? the Jews say
F24 repentance and good works; but
these are insufficient advocates for a sinner, without the
atoning sacrifice of Christ, who is propitiation for sin, and
upon which a plea can only be founded:
notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their
father;
to his reproofs and counsels, his reasonings and expostulations;
though his rebukes were so gentle, and this last reasoning of his
so close and strong, so nervous and striking:
because the Lord would slay them;
it was his purpose and decree, his will and pleasure, to cut them
off for their wickedness; wherefore he gave them up to a judicial
blindness, and hardness of heart, as he did Pharaoh, so that they
were proof against all advice, admonitions, and arguments used
with them: some choose to read the words, "therefore the Lord
would slay them" F25, because they were disobedient to
the voice of their father; but the former sense is best; for his
will to destroy them was not so much for their disregard to the
reproofs of their father in which he himself was culpable, as for
their breach of his laws.