6. What esteem, then, should there be of the godly in the world? The
thence he extends it to the uttermost parts of the earth. In Jacob he rules, and for the sake of Jacob he orders his government to the ends of the earth; the not acknowledging this brings wrathful consumptions upon men; and it is also the end of his judgments to make men know it. It is likely enough the four kings, Gen. 14:9, might have gone clear away with all their booty, had not they laid their fingers upon Lot; but when they would pack him up among the rest, they did but solicit their own ruin, and arm the almighty God against them. God did not think any of the people worth the mention, verse 11; only Lot a righteous person, verse 12, he is named, as having God's eye only upon him. And when Abraham returns from the victory, ver. 16, the rest of the delivered captives are mentioned in the bulk, Lot only in particular, as though all that had been done had been done by God only for Lot's sake. They might have preserved the whole prey to themselves, had it not been for this jewel, too precious in God's account for their custody. And the fearful curse that God pronounced against the Ammonite and Moabite, that they should not come into the congregation for ten generations, though any of them turned proselytes, was because they came not out with so much as bread and water to meet the Israelites, and because they hired Balaam to curse them, Deut. 23:3, 4. The utter wasting of nations and kingdoms, is because they will not serve the interest of God in his people: Isa. 60:12, 'For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.' God will bring an utter consumption upon those people that refuse to love them, much more upon those that hate them.
6. What esteem, then, should there be of the godly in the world? The providence of God, being chiefly for the good of his people, cannot well fall upon them, but some drops will fall upon those involved with them in a common interest. When the corn, and wine, and oil hear Jezreel (the seed of God), and the earth hears the corn, and the heavens hear the earth, and God hears the heavens, Hosea 2:21, 22; when their supplications come up to the great superintendent of the world, many of the wicked will fare the better for that providence which is given only in answer to Jezreel's prayer; God causes his sun
to shine upon the unjust, upon them, not for their sakes. When Nebuchadnezzar issued out that unjust order for the slaying the Chaldeans for not performing an impossible command in telling him the dream he had forgotten, Dan. 2:12, Daniel was sought out to undergo the same fate; yet by his wisdom God bends the heart of Arioch, the executioner of this decree, to stay his hand. Daniel goes to the king, God stays Nebuchadnezzar's fury, and moves his heart to give them time. The providence is chiefly intended for the preservation of Daniel and his godly companions, but the rest of the wise men have the benefit of it. As the water with which a man waters his choicest plants and flowers in his garden is intended only for them, yet some falling off from those flowers refresheth the weeds that grow under them. If God had not had such flowers as Daniel and his companions, the weeds in Chaldea had been plucked up. Yet the ungrateful world takes no notice of the benefits they receive from this salt of the earth, which preserves them, and to whom they are all so much beholding. Lot had been the occasion of restoring Zoar from captivity, as I mentioned before, for the inhabitants of that city were engaged with those of Sodom in the fight against the four kings ('And the king of Bela, the same is Zoar,' Gen. 14:8); and perhaps were carried captives with the rest of their neighbours; and it had been saved from the flames which fell upon Sodom merely by Lot's prayer:
Gen. 19:21, 'See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing, that I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken;' yet he found them a surly people, and was requited with a rude reception, notwithstanding his kindness: ver. 13, 'He went up out of Zoar, for he feared to dwell in Zoar.' It was not likely he was so distrustful of God, that he should overthrow it, when he had absolutely promised him the contrary; therefore most likely for some churlish threatenings from them. Nay, Sodom itself was beholden to him for a small respite of the judgment intended against them. For God tells him he could do nothing till he were come thither, Gen. 19:22. And it was so, for Lot was entered into Zoar before a drop of brimstone and fire was rained down upon Sodom: ver. 23, 24, 'Then the Lord rained upon Sodom;' when? When Lot was entered into Zoar. This good the wicked world get by God's people is so evident, that sometimes