This is the simple original application of these words. They are a
declaration that in seeking for help from others Judah was forsaking
God, and that the helper would become ruler, and the ruler an oppressive
tyrant.

The waters of Shiloah that go softly stand as an emblem of the Davidic
monarchy as God meant it to be, and, since that monarchy was itself a
prophecy, they therefore represent the kingdom of God or the Messianic
King. The 'waters strong and many' are those of the Euphrates, which
swells and overflows and carries havoc, and are taken as the emblem of
the wasting sweep of the Assyrian king, whose capital stood on its
banks.

But while thus there is a plain piece of political history in the words,
they are also the statement of general principles which apply to every
individual soul and its relations to the kingdom, the gentle kingdom, of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.


I. The Gentle Kingdom.

That little brooklet slipping quietly along; what a striking image of
the Kingdom of Jesus Christ!

It suggests the character of the King, the 'meek and lowly in heart.' It
suggests the manner of His rule as wielded in gentleness and exercising
no compulsion but that of love. It suggests the blessed results of His
reign under the image of the fertility, freshness, and beauty which
spring up wherever 'the river cometh.' That kingdom we are all summoned