David, cut off from human support, leaned more heavily upon God. The
uncertainty and unrest of the wilderness life, its unceasing peril, its
necessity for frequent flight, the character of the men who gathered to
him there,—“every one that was in distress, and every one that was in
debt, and every one that was discontented,”[235]—all rendered the more
essential a stern self-discipline. These experiences aroused and
developed power to deal with men, sympathy for the oppressed, and hatred
of injustice. Through years of waiting and peril, David learned to find
in God his comfort, his support, his life. He learned that only by God’s
power could he come to the throne; only in His wisdom could he rule
wisely. It was through the training in the school of hardship and sorrow
that David was able to make the record—though afterward marred with his
great sin—that he “executed judgment and justice unto all his
people.”[236]
[Sidenote: _Solomon_]
The discipline of David’s early experience was lacking in that of
Solomon. In circumstances, in character, and in life, he seemed favored
above all others. Noble in youth, noble in manhood, the beloved of his
God, Solomon entered on a reign that gave high promise of prosperity and
honor. Nations marveled at the knowledge and insight of the man to whom
God had given wisdom. But the pride of prosperity brought separation
from God. From the joy of divine communion Solomon turned to find
satisfaction in the pleasures of sense. Of this experience he says:—
[Sidenote: _The Pride of Prosperity_]
“I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards; I
made me gardens and orchards; ... I got me servants and maidens; ... I
gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and
of the provinces. I gat me men-singers and women-singers, and the
delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all
sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me
in Jerusalem.... And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them,
I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my
labor.... Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and
on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and
vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. And I turned
myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; for what can the man do
that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.”
[Sidenote: _Unsatisfied_]
“I hated life.... Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the
sun.”[237]
By his own bitter experience, Solomon learned the emptiness of a life
that seeks in earthly things its highest good. He erected altars to
heathen gods, only to learn how vain is their promise of rest to the
soul.
[Sidenote: _The Late Return_]
In his later years, turning wearied and thirsting from earth’s broken
cisterns, Solomon returned to drink at the fountain of life. The history
of his wasted years, with their lessons of warning, he by the Spirit of
inspiration recorded for after-generations. And thus, although the seed
of his sowing was reaped by his people in harvests of evil, the
life-work of Solomon was not wholly lost. For him at last the discipline
of suffering accomplished its work.
But with such a dawning, how glorious might have been his life’s day,
had Solomon in his youth learned the lesson that suffering had taught in
other lives!
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _God’s Witnesses_]
For those who love God, those who are “the called according to his
purpose,”[238] Bible biography has a yet higher lesson of the ministry
of sorrow. “Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am
God,”[239]—witnesses that He is good, and that goodness is supreme. “We
are made a theater unto the world, both[240] to angels and to men.”[241]
[Sidenote: _Accusation from Satan_]
Unselfishness, the principle of God’s kingdom, is the principle that
Satan hates; its very existence he denies. From the beginning of the
great controversy he has endeavored to prove God’s principles of action
to be selfish, and he deals in the same way with all who serve God. To
disprove Satan’s claim is the work of Christ and of all who bear His
name.
It was to give in His own life an illustration of unselfishness that
Jesus came in the form of humanity. And all who accept this principle
are to be workers together with Him in demonstrating it in practical
life. To choose the right because it is right; to stand for truth at the
cost of suffering and sacrifice,—“this is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.”[242]
[Sidenote: _The Testing of Job_]
Very early in the history of the world is given the life-record of one
over whom this controversy of Satan’s was waged.
Of Job, the patriarch of Uz, the testimony of the Searcher of hearts
was, “There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man,
one that feareth God, and escheweth evil.”
Against this man, Satan brought scornful charge: “Doth Job fear God for
naught? Hast Thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and
about all that he hath on every side?... Put forth Thine hand now, and
touch all that he hath;” “touch his bone and his flesh, and he will
curse Thee to Thy face.”
The Lord said unto Satan, “All that he hath is in thy power.” “Behold,
he is in thine hand; but save his life.”
Thus permitted, Satan swept away all that Job possessed,—flocks and
herds, men-servants and maidens, sons and daughters; and he “smote Job
with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.”[243]
[Sidenote: _Misconception of Adversity_]
Still another element of bitterness was added to his cup. His friends,
seeing in adversity but the retribution of sin, pressed on his bruised
and burdened spirit their accusations of wrong-doing.
Seemingly forsaken of heaven and earth, yet holding fast his faith in
God and his consciousness of integrity, in anguish and perplexity he
cried:—
“My soul is weary of my life.”
“O that Thou wouldst hide me in the grave,
That Thou wouldst keep me secret, until Thy wrath be past,
That Thou wouldst appoint me a set time, and remember me!”[244]
“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard;
I cry for help, but there is no judgment....
He hath stripped me of my glory, [Sidenote: _Hath God Forsaken?_]
And taken the crown from my head....
My kinsfolk have failed,
And my familiar friends have forgotten me....
They whom I loved are turned against me....
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends;
For the hand of God hath touched me!”
“O that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come even to His seat!...
Behold, I go forward, but He is not there;
And backward, but I can not perceive Him;
On the left hand, where He doth work, but I can not behold Him;
He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I can not see Him; [Sidenote:
_Faith’s Assurance_]
But He knoweth the way that I take;
When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”
“I know that my Redeemer liveth,
And that He shall stand up at the last upon the earth;
And after my skin hath been destroyed, this shall be,
Even from my flesh shall I see God;
Whom I shall see for myself,
And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.”[245]
[Sidenote: “_So Was It unto Job_”]
According to his faith, so was it unto Job. “When He hath tried me,” he
said, “I shall come forth as gold.”[246] So it came to pass. By his
patient endurance he vindicated his own character, and thus the
character of Him whose representative he was. And “the Lord turned the
captivity of Job; ... also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had
before.... So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his
beginning.”[247]
* * * * *
On the record of those who through self-abnegation have entered into the
fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, stand—one in the Old Testament and
one in the New—the names of Jonathan and of John the Baptist.
[Sidenote: _A Faithful Friend_]
Jonathan, by birth heir to the throne, yet knowing himself set aside by
the divine decree; to his rival the most tender and faithful of friends,
shielding David’s life at the peril of his own; steadfast at his
father’s side through the dark days of his declining power, and at his
side falling at the last,—the name of Jonathan is treasured in heaven,
and it stands on earth a witness to the existence and the power of
unselfish love.
[Sidenote: _The Unwavering Witness_]
John the Baptist, at his appearance as the Messiah’s herald, stirred the
nation. From place to place his steps were followed by vast throngs of
people of every rank and station. But when the One came to whom he had
borne witness, all was changed. The crowds followed Jesus, and John’s
work seemed fast closing. Yet there was no wavering of his faith. “He
must increase,” he said, “but I must decrease.”[248]
Time passed, and the kingdom which John had confidently expected was not
established. In Herod’s dungeon, cut off from the life-giving air and
the desert freedom, he waited and watched.
There was no display of arms, no rending of prison doors; but the
healing of the sick, the preaching of the gospel, the uplifting of men’s
souls, testified to Christ’s mission.
[Sidenote: _Fellowship in Sacrifice_]
Alone in the dungeon, seeing whither his path, like his Master’s,
tended, John accepted the trust,—fellowship with Christ in sacrifice.
Heaven’s messengers attended him to the grave. The intelligences of the
universe, fallen and unfallen, witnessed his vindication of unselfish
service.
[Sidenote: “_There Hath Not Risen a Greater_”]
And in all the generations that have passed since then, suffering souls
have been sustained by the testimony of John’s life. In the dungeon, on
the scaffold, in the flames, men and women through centuries of darkness
have been strengthened by the memory of him of whom Christ declared,
“Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater.”[249]
* * * * *
“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of
Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, ... and Samuel,
and of the prophets; who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched
the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness
were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of
the aliens.
[Sidenote: “_Through Faith_”]
“Women received their dead raised to life again; and others were
tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better
resurrection; and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings,
yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment; they were stoned, they were
sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented
(of whom the world was not worthy); they wandered in deserts, and in
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
“And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received
not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they
without us should not be made perfect.”[250]
_Poetry and Song_
“THY STATUTES HAVE BEEN
MY SONGS IN THE HOUSE OF MY
PILGRIMAGE”
[Sidenote: _Poetry of the Bible_]
The earliest as well as the most sublime of poetic utterances known to
man are found in the Scriptures. Before the oldest of the world’s poets
had sung, the shepherd of Midian recorded those words of God to Job,—in
their majesty unequaled, unapproached, by the loftiest productions of
human genius:—
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Or who shut up the sea with doors,
When it brake forth; ...
When I made the cloud the garment thereof,
And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
And prescribed for it My decree,
And set bars and doors,
And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;
And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
“Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began,
And caused the dayspring to know its place?...
“Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?
Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep? [Sidenote: _The
Earliest Poem_]
Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee?
Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Hast thou comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Declare, if thou knowest it all.
“Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
And as for darkness, where is the place thereof?...
“Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow,
Or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail?...
By what way is the light parted,
Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?
Who hath cleft a channel for the water-flood,
Or a way for the lightning of the thunder;
To cause it to rain on a land where no man is;
On the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
To satisfy the waste and desolate ground;
And to cause the tender grass to spring forth?”
“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?
Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?”[251]
[Sidenote: _From “Song of Songs”_]
For beauty of expression read also the description of spring-time, from
the “Song of Songs”:—
“Lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs,
And the vines are in blossom,
They give forth their fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.”[252]
And not inferior in beauty is Balaam’s unwilling prophecy of blessing to
Israel:—
“From Aram hath Balak brought me,
The king of Moab from the mountains of the East;
Come, curse me Jacob,
And come, defy Israel. [Sidenote: _An Ancient Prophecy_]
How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?
And how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?
For from the top of the rocks I see him,
And from the hills I behold him;
Lo, it is a people that dwell alone,
And shall not be reckoned among the nations....
“Behold, I have received commandment to bless;
And He hath blessed, and I can not reverse it.
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob,
Neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel;
The Lord his God is with him,
And the shout of a King is among them....
Surely there is no enchantment against[253] Jacob,
Neither is there any divination against[253] Israel;
Now shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel,
What hath God wrought!”
“He saith, which heareth the words of God, [Sidenote: “_The Vision of
the Almighty_”]
Which seeth the vision of the Almighty: ...
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob,
Thy tabernacles, O Israel!
As valleys are they spread forth,
As gardens by the riverside,
As lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted,
As cedar-trees beside the waters.”
“He hath said, which heard the words of God,
And knew the knowledge of the Most High: ...
I shall see Him, but not now;
I shall behold Him, but not nigh;
There shall come a Star out of Jacob,
And a Scepter shall rise out of Israel....
Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion.”[254]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _Sacred Song_]
The melody of praise is the atmosphere of heaven; and when heaven comes
in touch with the earth, there is music and song,—“thanksgiving, and the
voice of melody.”[255]
Above the new-created earth, as it lay, fair and unblemished, under the
smile of God, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy.”[256] So human hearts, in sympathy with heaven, have
responded to God’s goodness in notes of praise. Many of the events of
human history have been linked with song.
The earliest song recorded in the Bible from the lips of men was that
glorious outburst of thanksgiving by the hosts of Israel at the Red
Sea:—
[Sidenote: _At the Red Sea_]
“I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and song,
And He is become my salvation;
This is my God, and I will praise Him;
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”
“Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power,
Thy right hand, O Lord, dasheth in pieces the enemy.
Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?”
“The Lord shall reign forever and ever....
Sing ye to Jehovah, for He hath triumphed gloriously.”[257]
* * * * *
Great have been the blessings received by men in response to songs of
praise. The few words recounting an experience of the wilderness journey
of Israel have a lesson worthy of our thought:—
[Sidenote: _Unsealed by Song_]
“They went to Beer; that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses,
Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”[258] “Then sang
Israel this song:—
“Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it:
The well which the princes digged,
Which the nobles of the people delved,
With the scepter, and with their staves.”[259]
How often in spiritual experience is this history repeated! how often by
words of holy song are unsealed in the soul the springs of penitence and
faith, of hope and love and joy!
[Sidenote: _With Praise_]
It was with songs of praise that the armies of Israel went forth to the
great deliverance under Jehoshaphat. To Jehoshaphat had come the tidings
of threatened war. “There cometh a great multitude against thee,” was
the message, “the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with
them other beside.” “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the
Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered
themselves together, to ask help of the Lord; even out of all the cities
of Judah they came to seek the Lord.” And Jehoshaphat, standing in the
temple-court before his people, poured out his soul in prayer, pleading
God’s promise, with confession of Israel’s helplessness. “We have no
might against this great company that cometh against us,” he said;
“neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee.”[260]
[Sidenote: “_The Battle Is Not Yours_”]
Then upon Jahaziel a Levite “came the Spirit of the Lord; ... and he
said, Harken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou
king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor
dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours,
but God’s.... Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves,
stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord.... Fear not, nor be
dismayed; to-morrow go out against them; for the Lord will be with
you.”[261]
[Sidenote: _Victory_]
“And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness
of Tekoa.”[262] Before the army went singers, lifting their voices in
praise to God,—praising Him for the victory promised.
On the fourth day thereafter, the army returned to Jerusalem, laden with
the spoil of their enemies, singing praise for the victory won.
Through song, David, amidst the vicissitudes of his changeful life, held
communion with heaven. How sweetly are his experiences as a shepherd lad
reflected in the words:—
[Sidenote: _The Shepherd Psalm_]
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters....
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”[263]
In his manhood a hunted fugitive, finding refuge in the rocks and caves
of the wilderness, he wrote:—
[Sidenote: “_In the Shadow of Thy Wings_”]
“O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee;
My soul thirsteth for Thee; my flesh longeth for Thee,
In a dry and weary land, where no water is....
Thou hast been my help,
And in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.”
“Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
Who is the health of my countenance,
And my God.”
“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?”[264]
The same trust is breathed in the words written when, a dethroned and
crownless king, David fled from Jerusalem at the rebellion of Absalom.
Spent with grief and the weariness of his flight, he with his company
had tarried beside the Jordan for a few hours’ rest. He was awakened by
the summons to immediate flight. In the darkness, the passage of the
deep and swift-flowing stream must be made by that whole company of men,
women, and little children; for hard after them were the forces of the
traitor-son.
In that hour of darkest trial, David sang:—
[Sidenote: _Songs in the Night_]
“I cried unto the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me out of His holy hill.
“I laid me down and slept;
I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people,
That have set themselves against me round about.”[265]
After his great sin, in the anguish of remorse and self-abhorrence he
still turned to God as his best friend:
“Have mercy upon me, according to Thy loving-kindness;
According unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my
transgressions....
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”[266]
[Sidenote: _Yearnings for Home_]
In his long life, David found on earth no resting-place. “We are
strangers before Thee, and sojourners,” he said, “as all our fathers
were; our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no
abiding.”[267]
“God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”
“There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved:
God shall help her, at the dawn of morning....
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.”
“This God is our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide even unto death.”[268]
With a song, Jesus in His earthly life met temptation. Often when sharp,
stinging words were spoken, often when the atmosphere about Him was
heavy with gloom, with dissatisfaction, distrust, or oppressive fear,
was heard His song of faith and holy cheer.
[Sidenote: _The Saviour’s Song_]
On that last sad night of the Passover supper, as He was about to go
forth to betrayal and to death, His voice was lifted in the psalm:—
“Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same
The Lord’s name is to be praised.”
“I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications.
Because He hath inclined His ear unto me,
Therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.
“The sorrows of death compassed me,
And the pains of hell gat hold upon me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
Then called I upon the name of the Lord:
O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul.
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
Yea, our God is merciful.
“The Lord preserveth the simple;
I was brought low, and He helped me.
Return unto thy rest, O my soul;
For the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.
For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my
feet from falling.”[269]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _In the Last Crisis_]
Amidst the deepening shadows of earth’s last great crisis, God’s light
will shine brightest, and the song of hope and trust will be heard in
clearest and loftiest strains.
“In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
Open ye the gates,
That the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
Whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in Thee.
Trust ye in the Lord forever;
For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”[270]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: “_With Singing unto Zion_”]
“The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion;
and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain
gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”[271]
“They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together
to the goodness of the Lord; ... and their soul shall be as a watered
garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.”[272]
* * * * *