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EXPOSITION.
This description of depraved man has been copied by the
Apostle Paul, and, together with some other quotations, he has
placed it in the second chapter of Romans, as being an accurate
description of the whole human race, not of David's enemies only,
but of all men by nature. Note that remarkable figure, "_Their
throat is an open sepulchre_," a _sepulchre_ full of
loathsomeness, of miasma, of pestilence and death. But, worse
than that, it is an _open_ sepulchre, with all its evil gases
issuing forth, to spread death and destruction all around. So,
with the throat of the wicked, it would be a great mercy if it
could always be closed. If we could seal in continual silence the
mouth of the wicked it would be like a sepulchre shut up, and
would not produce much mischief. But "their throat is an _open_
sepulchre," consequently all the wickedness of their heart
exhales, and comes forth. How dangerous is an open sepulchre; men
in their journeys might easily stumble therein, and find
themselves among the dead. Ah! take heed of the wicked man, for
there is nothing that he will not say to ruin you; he will long
to destroy your character, and bury you in the hideous sepulchre
of his own wicked throat. One sweet thought here, however. At the
resurrection there will be a resurrection not only of bodies, but
characters. This should be a great comfort to a man who has been
abused and slandered. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as
the sun." The world may think you vile, and bury your character;
but if you have been upright, in the day when the graves shall
give up their dead, this open sepulchre of the sinner's throat
shall be compelled to give up your heavenly character, and you
shall come forth and be honoured in the sight of men. "_They
flatter with their tongue_." Or, as we might read it, "They have
an oily tongue, a smooth tongue." A smooth tongue is a great
evil; many have been bewitched by it. There be many human
ant-eaters that with their long tongues covered with oily words
entice and entrap the unwary and make their gain thereby. When
the wolf licks the lamb, he is preparing to wet his teeth in its
blood.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
Verse 9.--If the whole soul be infected with such a
desperate disease, what a great and difficult work is it to
regenerate, to restore men again to spiritual life and vigour,
when every part of them is seized by such a mortal distemper! How
great a cure doth the Spirit of God effect in restoring a soul by
sanctifying it! To heal but the lungs or the liver, if corrupted,
is counted a great cure, though performed but upon one part of
thee; but all thy inward parts are very rottenness. "_For there
is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very
wickedness: their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with
their tongue_." How great a cure is it then to heal thee! Such as
is only in the skill and power of God to do.--^Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 9.--"_Their throat is an open sepulchre_." This
figure graphically portrays the filthy conversation of the
wicked. Nothing can be more abominable to the senses than an open
sepulchre, when a dead body beginning to putrefy steams forth its
tainted exhalations, what proceeds out of their mouth is infected
and putrid; and as the exhalation from a sepulchre proves the
corruption within, so it is with the corrupt conversation of
sinners.--^Robert Haldane's "Expositions of the Epistle to the
Romans," 1835.
Verse 9.--"_Their throat is an open sepulchre_." This
doth admonish us, (1) that the speeches of natural unregenerate
men are unsavoury, rotten, and hurtful to others; for, as a
sepulchre doth send out noisome savours and filthy smells, so
evil men do utter rotten and filthy words. (2) As a sepulchre
doth consume and devour bodies cast into it, so wicked men do
with their cruel words destroy others; they are like a gulf to
destroy others. (3) As a sepulchre, having devoured many corpses,
is still ready to consume more, being never satisfied, so wicked
men, having overthrown many with their words, do proceed in their
outrage, seeking whom they may devour.--^Thomas Wilson, 1653.
Verse 9.--"_Their inward part_," etc. Their hearts are
storehouses for the devil.--^John Trapp.