Exodus 16:19-20 - Homiletics

God's curse upon ill-gotten gains.

In order to try the Israelites, whether they would be obedient to him or no ( Exodus 16:4 ), God gave them, by the mouth of Moses, a positive law—"Let no man leave of the manna till the morning." By some the law was disobeyed. Disregarding the Divine command—perhaps distrusting the Divine promise ( Exodus 16:4 ), to give them food day by day, a certain number of the Israelites, kept some of the manna till the morning. They wished to have a store laid up, on which they might subsist, should the daily supply fail. But God would not be disobeyed with impunity. His curse was on the ill-gotten gain—it bred worms and stank, becoming a source of annoyance both to themselves and their neighbours. So, God's curse is ever on ill-gotten gains— e.g . : —

I. WHEN MEN SET THEIR HEARTS ON HOARDING ALL THEY CAN . Some provision for the future is required of us. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard," says the wise man, "consider her ways, and be wise." "He that doth not provide for them of his own household," St. Paul declares, "is worse than an infidel." Prudence is a Christian, no less than a heathen virtue. But to hoard everything, to give nothing away, to make the accumulation of wealth our main object, is to fly in the face of a hundred plain precepts, and necessarily brings God's curse upon us. The wealth rots—the concerns wherein it is invested fail—it disappears and is brought to nought—and all our careful saving advantages us nothing. God vindicates his own honour; and disperses or destroys the hoard accumulated contrary to his will.

II. WHEN , TO AUGMENT THEIR HOARDS , MEN BREAK A DIVINE COMMAND . There are some who, in their haste to be rich, disregard the Divine injunction to keep holy one day in seven, and pursue their secular calling without any intermission. Conveyancers draw out their deeds, barristers study their briefs, business men balance their books, authors ply their pens, as busily on the Sunday as on week days. What blessing can be expected on the gains thus made? Is it not likely that they will breed corruption? Still more wholly under a curse are gains made by unlawful trades or dishonest practices—by the false weight or the scant measure, or the adulterated article—or again by usurious lending, by gaming, by brothel-keeping.

III. WHEN THE MOTIVE FOR THE HOARDING IS DISTRUST OF GOD 'S PROMISES . God bids us not to be anxious for the morrow, what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or what we shall put on ( Matthew 6:31 )—and promises that, if we will "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things shall be added unto us" (ib. 33). He caused holy David to declare—" I have been young and now am old, yet saw I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread." If men hoard in distrust of these gracious words, not believing that God will make them good, and thinking to assure the future of wife or child, or both, by their own accumulations, they provoke God to bring their accumulations to nothing. Riches, however invested, can make themselves wings and disappear, if God's blessing does not rest on their possessor.