2 Chronicles 28:10

2Ch 28:10 And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: [but are there] not with you, even with you, sins against the LORD your God?

Ver. 10. But are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord?] At the loss of Calais, when a proud Frenchman asked an English captain, When will you fetch Calais again? he gravely answered, When your sins shall weigh down ours.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch_28:10

But are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?

A home question

This question is pertinent to--

1. Nations.

2. Sects.

3. Classes.

4. Individuals. I shall--

I. Put a home question to--

1. The moralist.

2. The accuser of the brethren.

3. The outwardly religious.

4. Those who make no profession of religion.

5. Other classes I may have omitted. Are there not with you, sins against the Lord your God?

II. Put a common-sense question: Who are you that you think to escape the punishment of sin?

III. Give a little advice.

1. Leave other people alone with regard to finding fault.

2. Treat yourselves as you have been accustomed to treat others.

3. Look to the eternal interests of your own souls. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Home sins

An object may be placed in such close proximity to the eye as to escape all distinct perception. It may be brought into such near contact with the organs of vision as to become wholly invisible. Analogous to this natural difficulty of a close self-inspection is the general inability or indisposition of men to form a correct estimate of their own moral and spiritual character. Consider--

I. Some of our distinguishing privileges and advantages.

II. The solemn and awful question, as it relates--

1. To public, national, legalised transgressions.

(1) Want of deference to Gods supreme authority.

(2) Sabbath profanation, its diversion from its appropriate objects upon a gigantic scale, as exemplified on our railways, in our public-houses, and in various departments of industrial occupation.

2. To social and individual sins.

(1) Drunkenness.

(2) Impurity.

(3) Blasphemy and profaneness.

(4) Covetousness, intense and unscrupulous competition of interests.

(5) Vague scepticism and decided infidelity. (J. Davies, D. D.)

A home sin

At a meeting of the Mission to Foreigners in London, Lord Shaftesbury said he remembered taking tea with a notorious German Socialist who propounded the most destructive theories about society. His lordship mentioned to this German a nobleman who was one of the richest men in the world. The Socialist boiled over with indignation, and said that the possession of such wealth was a degradation and a scandalous robbery. Perceiving that he wore a brilliant diamond breast-pin in his shirt-front, probably worth £50, his lordship said to him, You have a diamond, I see; now if you will accompany me to-night to my ragged school, I will show you ragged, shoeless children, and if I were to say, Here is a diamond worth £50 that this gentleman wears in his shirt, they too might boil over with indignation, and declare it was iniquitous, scandalous, and a crime. He replied, Well, my lord, you have me this time.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 28:10. Ye purpose to keep the children of Judah for bond-men and bond-women — To use them, or sell them as slaves, though they are your brethren, and free-born Israelites. God takes notice of what men purpose, as well as of what they say and do. But are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God? — Which, if not repented of, may bring down the divine vengeance upon your own heads. He appeals to their own consciences, and to the notorious evidence of the fact. As if he had said, It ill becomes sinners to be cruel. Show mercy to them, for you are undone if God do not show mercy to you.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

May not God as well punish you for your sins as he hath done these men for theirs, seeing yours are greater?

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(10) Ye purpose.—Literally, Ye are saying or proposing (2ch. 1:18).

To keep under.—Subdue, or reduce to bondmen, Gen_1:28 (kabash).

Unto you.—Yourselves.

But are there not with you.—An abrupt question: Are there no trespasses at all with you yourselves? i.e., “Are you yourselves wholly guiltless, that your indignation was so hot against your brethren? (Gen_20:11). Or, “Are there no trespasses with you only?” . . . Are you the only guiltless people, so that you are justified in these severities?” (Job_1:15). The reference in either case may be to the calves of Bethel and Dan.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. keep under] In Neh_5:5, the same Heb. word is translated, “bring into bondage”; cp. Ryle’s note on Hebrew slavery in loco. One Hebrew might hold another Hebrew as a slave for a limited period, but in the present passage the case is of one part of the people taking advantage of the fortune of war to reduce to slavery thousands of their fellow-countrymen.

with you, even with you, sins] R.V. even with you trespasses (“guiltinesses” Heb., cp. 2Ch_24:18) of your own.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you,.... As seemed by taking and bringing captive such a number of them, contrary to the law, Lev 25:39.

but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God? for which they deserved to be chastised as well as their brethren the men of Judah, and might expect it, and especially if they used them in a barbarous manner, and contrary to the will of God.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Are there not with you ... sins against the Lord? - The ten tribes had fallen away from the true faith far more completely and more hopelessly than the two. It was not for them to press hard against their erring brothers, and aggravate their punishment.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

God, who forbids this, Lev. xxv. 43., and Micheas ii. 8, 9. Heb. "are there not with you, yea, with you, sins against?" &c. If Juda have deserved punishment, reflect if you also be not guilty, v. 13. Sept. "Behold, am I not here with you to bear witness to the Lord?"

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Which, if not repented of, may bring down the like vengeance upon your own heads.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For bondmen and bondwomen unto you. The denunciation Deu_28:68 may be instructively compared with the emphatic prohibition of Lev_25:46. The moral thread of ordinance that runs everywhere through the divinely established economy of the Old Testament Judaism should be devoutly observed. The verse, in the position of its words, furnishes an example of almost classical pattern: And now persons who are children of Judah and Jerusalem, ye are resolving within yourselves (literally, saying) to subdue into bondmen and bondwomen for yourselves.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To keep under - It ill becomes sinners to be cruel. Shew mercy to them, for you are undone, unless God shew you mercy.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.