Gold Nugget 338 - The Guilty Nation
Morality has not yet been sufficiently applied to politics. It is forgotten that the ten commandments relate to communities as well as to individuals, because they are based on the eternal and all-embracing principles of righteousness. Men have yet to learn that that which is wrong in the individual is wrong in the society.
Nations make war on one another for reasons which would never justify individual men in fighting a duel. Yet if it is wrong for a man to steal a field, it must be wrong for a nation to steal a province; and if an individual man may not cut his neighbour’s throat out of revenge without being punished as a criminal, there is nothing to justify a whole community in shooting down thousands of people for no better motive. If selfishness even is sinful in one man, selfishness cannot be virtuous in thirty millions of people. The reign of righteousness must govern public and national movements if the will of God is to be respected. …
There are national sins in the sense of sins committed by a great part of a nation – sins that shamefully characterize it. … The oppression of one class by another, a general prevalence of business dishonesty, a frivolous pleasure-seeking fashion, all affect the nation’s life when they are largely extended among any people. These things eat out the very heart of a nation. For a nation’s sin the punishment is on earth, because the nation goes on while individuals die, and so there is time for the deadly fruit of sin to ripen. …
Wars of aggression may aggrandize the victorious people for a time. But they rouse the hatred of their victims. A high-handed policy thus multiplies a nation’s enemies. It is dangerous to be an outlaw among the nations. Above all, there is a just Ruler, who will put down the tyrant and punish the guilty nation.
The Pulpit Commentary, Proverbs p. 281, Proverbs 14:34, (W. F. Adeney)
Gold Nugget 338
The Guilty Nation
