OUR MOTHER OF SORROWS
Mic 7:7-20
AFTER so stern a charge, so condign a sentence,
confession is natural, and, with prayer for forgiveness and praise
to the mercy of God, it fitly closes the whole book. As we have
seen, the passage is a cento of several fragments, from periods far
apart in the history of Israel. One historical allusion suits best
the age of the Syrian wars; another can only refer to the day of
Jerusalem’s ruin. In spirit and language the Confessions resemble
the prayers of the Exile. The Doxology has echoes of several
Scriptures.
But from these fragments, it may be of many centuries, there rises
clear the One Essential Figure: Israel, all her secular woes upon
her; our Mother of Sorrows, at whose knees we learned our first
prayers of confession and penitence. Other nations have been our
teachers in art and wisdom and government. But she is our mistress
in pain and in patience, teaching men with what conscience they
should bear the chastening of the Almighty, with what hope and
humility they should wait for their God. Surely not less lovable,
but only more human, that her pale cheeks flush for a moment with
the hate of the enemy and the assurance of revenge. Her passion is
soon gone, for she feels her guilt to be greater; and, seeking
forgiveness, her last word is what man’s must ever be, praise to the
grace and mercy of God.
Israel speaks:-
"But I will look for the Lord, I will wait for the God of my
salvation: My God will hear me! Rejoice not, O mine enemy, at me: If
I be fallen, I rise; If I sit in the darkness, the Lord is a light
to me."
"The anger of the Lord will I bear-For I have sinned against
Him-Until that He take up my quarrel, And execute my right. He will
carry me forth to the light";
"I will look on His righteousness: So shall mine enemy see, and
shame cover her, She that saith unto me, Where is Jehovah thy
God?-Mine eyes shall see her, Now is she for trampling, like mire in
the streets!"
The prophet responds:-
"A day for the building of thy walls shall that day be! Broad shall
thy border be on that day! and shall come to thee From Assyria unto
Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, And to Sea from Sea, and
Mountain from Mountain; Though the land be waste on account of her
inhabitants. Because of the fruit of their doings."
An Ancient Prayer:-
"Shepherd Thy people with Thy staff, The sheep of Thy heritage
dwelling solitarily May they pasture in Bashan and Gilead as in days
of old! As in the days when Thou wentest forth from the land of
Misraim, give us wonders to see! Nations shall see and despair of
all their might; Their hands to their mouths shall they put, Their
ears shall be deafened. They shall lick the dust like serpents; Like
worms of the ground from their fastnesses, To Jehovah our God they
shall come trembling, And in fear before Thee!"
A Doxology:-
"Who is a God like to Thee? Forgiving iniquity, And passing by
transgression, to the remnant of His heritage; He keepeth not hold
of His anger forever, But One who delighteth in mercy is He; He will
Come back, He will pity us, He will tread under foot our
iniquities-Yea, Thou wilt cast to the depths of the sea every one of
our sins. Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob, real love to
Abraham, As Thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of yore."
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