God, and were the bitter enemies of Israel. The apparent kindness of
Nahash to David had been prompted wholly by hostility to Saul as king of
Israel. The message of David was misconstrued by Hanun’s counselors.
They “said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honor
thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? hath not David
rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the city, and to spy it
out, and to overthrow it?” It was by the advice of his counselors that
Nahash, half a century before, had been led to make the cruel condition
required of the people of Jabesh-gilead, when, besieged by the
Ammonites, they sued for a covenant of peace. Nahash had demanded the
privilege of thrusting out all their right eyes. The Ammonites still
vividly remembered how the king of Israel had foiled their cruel design,
and had rescued the people whom they would have humbled and mutilated.
The same hatred of Israel still prompted them. They could have no
conception of the generous spirit that had inspired David’s message.
When Satan controls the minds of men, he will excite envy and suspicion
which will misconstrue the very best intentions. Listening to his
counselors, Hanun regarded David’s messengers as spies, and loaded them
with scorn and insult.
The Ammonites had been permitted to carry out the evil purposes of their
hearts without restraint, that their real character might be revealed to
David. It was not God’s will that Israel should enter into a league with
this treacherous heathen people.
In ancient times, as now, the office of ambassador was held sacred. By
the universal law of nations it insured protection from personal
violence or insult. The ambassador standing as a representative of his
sovereign, any indignity offered to him demanded prompt retaliation. The
Ammonites, knowing that the insult offered to Israel would surely be
avenged, made preparation for war. “When the children of Ammon saw that
they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of
Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and
horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Syria-maachah, and out of Zobah.
So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots.... And the children of
Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to
battle.”[1136]
It was indeed a formidable alliance. The inhabitants of the region lying
between the river Euphrates and the Mediterranean Sea had leagued with
the Ammonites. The north and east of Canaan was encircled with armed
foes, banded together to crush the kingdom of Israel.
The Hebrews did not wait for the invasion of their country. Their
forces, under Joab, crossed the Jordan, and advanced toward the Ammonite
capital. As the Hebrew captain led his army to the field, he sought to
inspire them for the conflict, saying, “Be of good courage, and let us
behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our
God; and let the Lord do that which is good in his sight.”[1136] The
united forces of the allies were overcome in the first engagement. But
they were not yet willing to give over the contest, and the next year,
renewed the war. The king of Syria gathered his forces, threatening
Israel with an immense army. David, realizing how much depended upon the
result of this contest, took the field in person, and by the blessing of
God inflicted upon the allies a defeat so disastrous that the Syrians,
from Lebanon to the Euphrates, not only gave up the war, but became
tributary to Israel. Against the Ammonites, David pushed the war with
vigor, until their strongholds fell, and the whole region came under the
dominion of Israel.
The dangers which had threatened the nation with utter destruction,
proved, through the providence of God, to be the very means by which it
rose to unprecedented greatness. In commemorating his remarkable
deliverances, David sings:—
“The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of
my salvation;
Even the God that executeth vengeance for me, and subdueth peoples
under me.
He rescueth me from mine enemies;
Yea, thou liftest me up above them that rise up against me;
Thou deliverest me from the violent man.
Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the nations.
And will sing praises unto thy name.
Great deliverance giveth he to his king;
And showeth loving-kindness to his anointed,
To David and to his seed, forevermore.”[1137]
And throughout the songs of David, the thought was impressed on his
people that Jehovah was their strength and deliverer:—
“There is no king saved by the multitude of a host;
A mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
A horse is a vain thing for safety;
Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.”
“Thou art my king, O God;
Command deliverances for Jacob.
Through thee, will we push down our enemies;
Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
But thou hast saved us from our enemies,
And hast put them to shame that hated us.”
“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
But we will remember the name of Jehovah our God.”[1138]
The kingdom of Israel had now reached in extent the fulfillment of the
promise given to Abraham, and afterward repeated to Moses: “Unto thy
seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great
river, the river Euphrates.”[1139] Israel had become a mighty nation,
respected and feared by surrounding peoples. In his own realm, David’s
power had become very great. He commanded, as few sovereigns in any age
have been able to command, the affections and allegiance of his people.
He had honored God, and God was now honoring him.
But in the midst of prosperity lurked danger. In the time of his
greatest outward triumph, David was in the greatest peril, and met his
most humiliating defeat.
Footnote 1125:
2 Sam. 5:17-25.
Footnote 1126:
1 Chron. 14:16, 17.
Footnote 1127:
See 2 Samuel 6.
Footnote 1128:
Marginal reading.
Footnote 1129:
Num. 4:15.
Footnote 1130:
Num. 7:9.
Footnote 1131:
Ps. 24:7-10.
Footnote 1132:
See 2 Samuel 7.
Footnote 1133:
1 Chron. 22:8-10.
Footnote 1134:
See 2 Samuel 9.
Footnote 1135:
See 2 Samuel 10.
Footnote 1136:
1 Chron. 19:6, 7, 13.
Footnote 1137:
Ps. 18:46-50, Rev. Ver.
Footnote 1138:
Ps. 33:16, 17; 44:4-7; 20:7.
Footnote 1139:
Gen. 15:18; Deut. 11:22-25.
DAVID’S SIN AND REPENTANCE—71
The Bible has little to say in praise of men. Little space is given to
recounting the virtues of even the best men who have ever lived. This
silence is not without purpose; it is not without a lesson. All the good
qualities that men possess are the gift of God; their good deeds are
performed by the grace of God through Christ. Since they owe all to God,
the glory of whatever they are or do, belongs to him alone; they are but
instruments in his hands. More than this—as all the lessons of Bible
history teach—it is a perilous thing to praise or exalt men; for if one
comes to lose sight of his entire dependence on God, and to trust to his
own strength, he is sure to fall. Man is contending with foes who are
stronger than he. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against wicked spirits in high places.”[1140] It is
impossible for us, in our own strength, to maintain the conflict; and
whatever diverts the mind from God, whatever leads to self-exaltation or
to self-dependence, is surely preparing the way for our overthrow. The
tenor of the Bible is to inculcate distrust of human power and to
encourage trust in divine power.
It was the spirit of self-confidence and self-exaltation that prepared
the way for David’s fall. Flattery, and the subtle allurements of power
and luxury, were not without effect upon him. Intercourse with
surrounding nations also exerted an influence for evil. According to the
customs prevailing among Eastern rulers, crimes not to be tolerated in
subjects were uncondemned in the king; the monarch was not under
obligation to exercise the same self-restraint as the subject. All this
tended to lessen David’s sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. And
instead of relying in humility upon the power of Jehovah, he began to
trust to his own wisdom and might. As soon as Satan can separate the
soul from God, the only source of strength, he will seek to arouse the
unholy desires of man’s carnal nature. The work of the enemy is not
abrupt; it is not, at the outset, sudden and startling; it is a secret
undermining of the strongholds of principle. It begins in apparently
small things,—the neglect to be true to God and to rely upon him wholly,
the disposition to follow the customs and practices of the world.
Before the conclusion of the war with the Ammonites, David, leaving the
conduct of the army to Joab, returned to Jerusalem. The Syrians had
already submitted to Israel, and the complete overthrow of the Ammonites
appeared certain. David was surrounded by the fruits of victory and the
honors of his wise and able rule. It was now, while he was at ease and
unguarded, that the tempter seized the opportunity to occupy his mind.
The fact that God had taken David into so close connection with himself,
and had manifested so great favor toward him, should have been to him
the strongest of incentives to preserve his character unblemished. But
when, in ease and self-security, he let go his hold upon God, David
yielded to Satan, and brought upon his soul the stain of guilt. He, the
Heaven-appointed leader of the nation, chosen by God to execute his law,
himself trampled upon its precepts. He who should have been a terror to
evil-doers, by his own act strengthened their hands.
Amid the perils of his earlier life, David, in conscious integrity,
could trust his case with God. The Lord’s hand had guided him safely
past the unnumbered snares that had been laid for his feet. But now,
guilty and unrepentant, he did not ask help and guidance from Heaven,
but sought to extricate himself from the dangers in which sin had
involved him. Bathsheba, whose fatal beauty had proved a snare to the
king, was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s bravest and most
faithful officers. None could foresee what would be the result should
the crime become known. The law of God pronounced the adulterer guilty
of death, and the proud-spirited soldier, so shamefully wronged, might
avenge himself by taking the life of the king, or by exciting the nation
to revolt.
Every effort which David made to conceal his guilt proved unavailing. He
had betrayed himself into the power of Satan; danger surrounded him,
dishonor more bitter than death was before him. There appeared but one
way of escape, and in his desperation he was hurried on to add murder to
adultery. He who had compassed the destruction of Saul, was seeking to
lead David also to ruin. Though the temptations were different, they
were alike in leading to transgression of God’s law. David reasoned that
if Uriah were slain by the hand of enemies in battle, the guilt of his
death could not be traced home to the king, Bathsheba would be free to
become David’s wife, suspicion could be averted, and the royal honor
would be maintained.
Uriah was made the bearer of his own death-warrant. A letter sent by his
hand to Joab from the king commanded, “Set ye Uriah in the forefront of
the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and
die.”[1141] Joab, already stained with the guilt of one wanton murder,
did not hesitate to obey the king’s instructions, and Uriah fell by the
sword of the children of Ammon.
Heretofore David’s record as a ruler had been such as few monarchs have
ever equaled. It is written of him that he “executed judgment and
justice unto all his people.”[1142] His integrity had won the confidence
and fealty of the nation. But as he departed from God, and yielded
himself to the wicked one, he became, for the time, the agent of Satan;
yet he still held the position and authority that God had given him, and
because of this, claimed obedience that would imperil the soul of him
who should yield it. And Joab, whose allegiance had been given to the
king rather than to God, transgressed God’s law because the king had
commanded it.
David’s power had been given him by God, but to be exercised only in
harmony with the divine law. When he commanded that which was contrary
to God’s law, it became sin to obey. “The powers that be are ordained of
God,”[1143] but we are not to obey them contrary to God’s law. The
apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, sets forth the principle by
which we should be governed. He says, “Be ye followers of me, even as I
also am of Christ.”[1144]
An account of the execution of his order was sent to David, but so
carefully worded as not to implicate either Joab or the king. Joab
“charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling
the matters of the war unto the king, and if so be that the king’s wrath
arise, ... then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. So
the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him
for.”
The king’s answer was, “Thus shalt thou say unto Joab: Let not this
thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another.
Make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it; and
encourage thou him.”
Bathsheba observed the customary days of mourning for her husband; and
at their close, “David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became
his wife.” He whose tender conscience and high sense of honor would not
permit him, even when in peril of his life, to put forth his hand
against the Lord’s anointed, had so fallen that he could wrong and
murder one of his most faithful and most valiant soldiers, and hope to
enjoy undisturbed the reward of his sin. Alas! how had the fine gold
become dim! how had the most fine gold changed!
From the beginning, Satan has portrayed to men the gains to be won by
transgression. Thus he seduced angels. Thus he tempted Adam and Eve to
sin. And thus he is still leading multitudes away from obedience to God.
The path of transgression is made to appear desirable; “but the end
thereof are the ways of death.”[1145] Happy they who, having ventured in
this way, learn how bitter are the fruits of sin, and turn from it
betimes. God, in his mercy, did not leave David to be lured to utter
ruin by the deceitful rewards of sin.
For the sake of Israel also, there was a necessity for God to interpose.
As time passed on, David’s sin toward Bathsheba became known, and
suspicion was excited that he had planned the death of Uriah. The Lord
was dishonored. He had favored and exalted David, and David’s sin
misrepresented the character of God, and cast reproach upon his name. It
tended to lower the standard of godliness in Israel, to lessen in many
minds the abhorrence of sin; while those who did not love and fear God
were by it emboldened in transgression.
Nathan the prophet was bidden to bear a message of reproof to David. It
was a message terrible in its severity. To few sovereigns could such a
reproof be given but at the price of certain death to the reprover.
Nathan delivered the divine sentence unflinchingly, yet with such
heaven-born wisdom as to engage the sympathies of the king, to arouse
his conscience, and to call from his lips the sentence of death upon
himself. Appealing to David as the divinely appointed guardian of his
people’s rights, the prophet repeated a story of wrong and oppression
that demanded redress.
“There were two men in one city,” he said, “the one rich, and the other
poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; but the poor man
had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had brought and
nourished up; and it grew up together with him, and with his children;
it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his
bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own
herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took
the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.”
The anger of the king was roused, and he exclaimed, “As the Lord liveth,
the man that hath done this thing is worthy to die. And he shall restore
the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no
pity.”[1146]
Nathan fixed his eyes upon the king; then lifting his right hand to
heaven, he solemnly declared, “Thou art the man.” “Wherefore,” he
continued, “hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil
in his sight?” The guilty may attempt, as David had done, to conceal
their crime from men; they may seek to bury the evil deed forever from
human sight or knowledge: but “all things are naked and opened unto the
eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”[1147] “There is nothing covered,
that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.”[1148]
Nathan declared: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: I anointed thee
king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul....
Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in
his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast
taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the
children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine
house.... Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own
house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto
thy neighbor.... For thou didst it secretly; but I will do this thing
before all Israel, and before the sun.”
The prophet’s rebuke touched the heart of David; conscience was aroused;
his guilt appeared in all its enormity. His soul was bowed in penitence
before God. With trembling lips he said, “I have sinned against the
Lord.” All wrong done to others reaches back from the injured one to
God. David had committed a grievous sin, toward both Uriah and
Bathsheba, and he keenly felt this. But infinitely greater was his sin
against God.
Though there would be found none in Israel to execute the sentence of
death upon the anointed of the Lord, David trembled, lest, guilty and
unforgiven, he should be cut down by the swift judgment of God. But the
message was sent him by the prophet, “The Lord also hath put away thy
sin; thou shalt not die.” Yet justice must be maintained. The sentence
of death was transferred from David to the child of his sin. Thus the
king was given opportunity for repentance; while to him the suffering
and death of the child, as a part of his punishment, was far more bitter
than his own death could have been. The prophet said, “Because by this
deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.”
When his child was stricken, David, with fasting and deep humiliation,
pleaded for its life. He put off his royal robes, he laid aside his
crown, and night after night he lay upon the earth, in heart-broken
grief interceding for the innocent one suffering for his guilt. “The
elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the
earth; but he would not.” Often when judgments had been pronounced upon
persons or cities, humiliation and repentance had turned aside the blow,
and the Ever-Merciful, swift to pardon, had sent messengers of peace.
Encouraged by this thought, David persevered in his supplication so long
as the child was spared. Upon learning that it was dead, he quietly
submitted to the decree of God. The first stroke had fallen of that
retribution which he himself had declared just; but David, trusting in
God’s mercy, was not without comfort.
Very many, reading the history of David’s fall, have inquired, “Why has
this record been made public? Why did God see fit to throw open to the
world this dark passage in the life of one so highly honored of Heaven?”
The prophet, in his reproof to David, had declared concerning his sin,
“By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord
to blaspheme.” Through successive generations, infidels have pointed to
the character of David, bearing this dark stain, and have exclaimed in
triumph and derision, “This is the man after God’s own heart!” Thus a
reproach has been brought upon religion, God and his word have been
blasphemed, souls have been hardened in unbelief, and many, under a
cloak of piety, have become bold in sin.
But the history of David furnishes no countenance to sin. It was when he
was walking in the counsel of God, that he was called a man after God’s
own heart. When he sinned, this ceased to be true of him until by
repentance he had returned to the Lord. The word of God plainly
declares, “The thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of
Jehovah.”[1149] And the Lord said to David by the prophet, “Wherefore
hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his
sight?... Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house;
because thou hast despised me.” Though David repented of his sin, and
was forgiven and accepted by the Lord, he reaped the baleful harvest of
the seed he himself had sown. The judgments upon him and upon his house
testify to God’s abhorrence of the sin.
Heretofore God’s providence had preserved David against all the
plottings of his enemies, and had been directly exercised to restrain
Saul. But David’s transgression had changed his relation to God. The
Lord could not in any wise sanction iniquity. He could not exercise his
power to protect David from the results of his sin as he had protected
him from the enmity of Saul.
There was a great change in David himself. He was broken in spirit by
the consciousness of his sin and its far-reaching results. He felt
humbled in the eyes of his subjects. His influence was weakened.
Hitherto his prosperity had been attributed to his conscientious
obedience to the commandments of the Lord. But now his subjects, having
a knowledge of his sin, would be led to sin more freely. His authority
in his own household, his claim to respect and obedience from his sons,
was weakened. A sense of his guilt kept him silent when he should have
condemned sin; it made his arm feeble to execute justice in his house.
His evil example exerted its influence upon his sons, and God would not
interpose to prevent the result. He would permit things to take their
natural course, and thus David was severely chastised.
For a whole year after his fall, David lived in apparent security; there
was no outward evidence of God’s displeasure. But the divine sentence
was hanging over him. Swiftly and surely a day of judgment and
retribution was approaching, which no repentance could avert, agony and
shame that would darken his whole earthly life. Those who, by pointing
to the example of David, try to lessen the guilt of their own sins,
should learn from the Bible record that the way of transgression is
hard. Though like David they should turn from their evil course, the
results of sin, even in this life, will be found bitter and hard to
bear.
God intended the history of David’s fall to serve as a warning that even
those whom he has greatly blessed and favored are not to feel secure,
and neglect watchfulness and prayer. And thus it has proved to those who
in humility have sought to learn the lesson that God designed to teach.
From generation to generation, thousands have thus been led to realize
their own danger from the tempter’s power. The fall of David, one so
greatly honored by the Lord, has awakened in them distrust of self. They
have felt that God alone could keep them by his power through faith.
Knowing that in him was their strength and safety, they have feared to
take the first step on Satan’s ground.
Even before the divine sentence was pronounced against David, he had
begun to reap the fruit of transgression. His conscience was not at
rest. The agony of spirit which he then endured is brought to view in
the thirty-second psalm. He says:—
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no guile.
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old,
Through my roaring all the day long.
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me;
My moisture was changed as with the drought of summer.”[1150]
And the fifty-first psalm is an expression of David’s repentance, when
the message of reproof came to him from God:—
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness;
According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my
transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before
me....
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness,
That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins,
And blot out all mine iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God;
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence;
And take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,
And uphold me with thy free Spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways;
And sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.”[1151]
Thus in a sacred song to be sung in the public assemblies of his people,
in the presence of the court,—priests and judges, princes and men of
war,—and which would preserve to the latest generation the knowledge of
his fall, the king of Israel recounted his sin, his repentance, and his
hope of pardon through the mercy of God. Instead of endeavoring to
conceal his guilt, he desired that others might be instructed by the sad
history of his fall.
David’s repentance was sincere and deep. There was no effort to palliate
his crime. No desire to escape the judgments threatened, inspired his
prayer. But he saw the enormity of his transgression against God; he saw
the defilement of his soul; he loathed his sin. It was not for pardon
only that he prayed, but for purity of heart. David did not in despair
give over the struggle. In the promises of God to repentant sinners, he
saw the evidence of his pardon and acceptance.
“For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it;
Thou delightest not in burnt-offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”[1151]
Though David had fallen, the Lord lifted him up. He was now more fully
in harmony with God and in sympathy with his fellow-men than before he
fell. In the joy of his release he sang,—
“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid.
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,
And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin....
Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble;
Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.”[1152]
Many have murmured at what they called God’s injustice in sparing David,
whose guilt was so great, after having rejected Saul for what appear to
them to be far less flagrant sins. But David humbled himself and
confessed his sin, while Saul despised reproof, and hardened his heart
in impenitence.
This passage in David’s history is full of significance to the repenting
sinner. It is one of the most forcible illustrations given us of the
struggles and temptations of humanity, and of genuine repentance toward
God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Through all the ages, it has
proved a source of encouragement to souls that, having fallen into sin,
were struggling under the burden of their guilt. Thousands of the
children of God, who have been betrayed into sin, when ready to give up
to despair have remembered how David’s sincere repentance and confession
were accepted by God, notwithstanding he suffered for his transgression;
and they also have taken courage to repent, and try again to walk in the
way of God’s commandments.
Whoever under the reproof of God will humble the soul with confession
and repentance, as did David, may be sure that there is hope for him.
Whoever will in faith accept God’s promises, will find pardon. The Lord
will never cast away one truly repentant soul. He has given this
promise: “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with
me, and he shall make peace with me.”[1153] “Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the
Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will
_abundantly_ pardon.”[1154]
Footnote 1140:
Eph. 6:12 (margin).
Footnote 1141:
See 2 Samuel 11, 12.
Footnote 1142:
2 Sam. 8:15.
Footnote 1143:
Rom. 13:1.
Footnote 1144:
1 Cor. 11:1.
Footnote 1145:
Prov. 14:12.
Footnote 1146:
2 Sam. 12:5, 6 (margin).
Footnote 1147:
Heb. 4:13.
Footnote 1148:
Matt. 10:26.
Footnote 1149:
2 Sam. 11:27 (margin).
Footnote 1150:
Ps. 32:1-4, Rev. Ver.
Footnote 1151:
Ps. 51:1-14, 16, 17.
Footnote 1152:
Ps. 32:5-7.
Footnote 1153:
Isa. 27:5.
Footnote 1154:
Isa. 55:7.
THE REBELLION OF ABSALOM—72
“He shall restore fourfold,” had been David’s unwitting sentence upon
himself, on listening to the prophet Nathan’s parable; and according to
his own sentence he was to be judged. Four of his sons must fall, and
the loss of each would be a result of the father’s sin.
The shameful crime of Amnon, the first-born, was permitted by David to
pass unpunished and unrebuked. The law pronounced death upon the
adulterer, and the unnatural crime of Amnon made him doubly guilty. But
David, self-condemned for his own sin, failed to bring the offender to
justice. For two full years, Absalom, the natural protector of the
sister so foully wronged, concealed his purpose of revenge, but only to
strike more surely at the last. At a feast of the king’s sons, the
drunken, incestuous Amnon was slain, by his brother’s command.
Twofold judgment had been meted out to David. The terrible message was
carried to him, “Absalom hath slain all the king’s sons, and there is
not one of them left. Then the king arose, and tare his garments, and
lay on the earth; and all his servants stood by with their clothes
rent.”[1160] The king’s sons, returning in alarm to Jerusalem, revealed
to their father the truth; Amnon alone had been slain; and they “lifted
up their voice and wept; and the king also and all his servants wept
very sore.” But Absalom fled to Talmai, the king of Geshur, his mother’s
father.
Like other sons of David, Amnon had been left to selfish indulgence. He
had sought to gratify every thought of his heart, regardless of the
requirements of God. Notwithstanding his great sin, God had borne long
with him. For two years he had been granted opportunity for repentance;
but he continued in sin, and with his guilt upon him, he was cut down by
death, to await the awful tribunal of the Judgment.
David had neglected the duty of punishing the crime of Amnon, and
because of the unfaithfulness of the king and father, and the
impenitence of the son, the Lord permitted events to take their natural
course, and did not restrain Absalom. When parents or rulers neglect the
duty of punishing iniquity, God himself will take the case in hand. His
restraining power will be in a measure removed from the agencies of
evil, so that a train of circumstances will arise which will punish sin
with sin.
The evil results of David’s unjust indulgence toward Amnon were not
ended; for it was here that Absalom’s alienation from his father began.
After he fled to Geshur, David, feeling that the crime of his son
demanded some punishment, refused him permission to return. And this had
a tendency to increase rather than to lessen the inextricable evils in
which the king had come to be involved. Absalom, energetic, ambitious,
and unprincipled, shut out by his exile from participation in the
affairs of the kingdom, soon gave himself up to dangerous scheming.
At the close of two years, Joab determined to effect a reconciliation
between the father and his son. And with this object in view he secured
the services of a woman of Tekoah, reputed for wisdom. Instructed by
Joab, the woman represented herself to David as a widow whose two sons
had been her only comfort and support. In a quarrel, one of these had
slain the other, and now all the relatives of the family demanded that
the survivor should be given up to the avenger of blood. “And so,” said
the mother, “they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not
leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.” The
king’s feelings were touched by this appeal, and he assured the woman of
the royal protection for her son.
After drawing from him repeated promises for the young man’s safety, she
entreated the king’s forbearance, declaring that he had spoken as one at
fault, in that he did not fetch home again his banished. “For,” she
said, “we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which
cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person; yet
doth _he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him_.”
This tender and touching portrayal of the love of God toward the
sinner,—coming as it did from Joab, the rude soldier,—is a striking
evidence of the familiarity of the Israelites with the great truths of
redemption. The king, feeling his own need of God’s mercy, could not
resist this appeal. To Joab the command was given, “Go, therefore, bring
the young man Absalom again.”
Absalom was permitted to return to Jerusalem, but not to appear at
court, or to meet his father. David had begun to see the evil effects of
his indulgence toward his children; and tenderly as he loved this
beautiful and gifted son, he felt it necessary, as a lesson both to
Absalom and to the people, that abhorrence for such a crime should be
manifested. Absalom lived two years in his own house, but banished from
the court. His sister dwelt with him, and her presence kept alive the
memory of the irreparable wrong she had suffered. In the popular
estimation, the prince was a hero rather than an offender. And having
this advantage, he set himself to gain the hearts of the people. His
personal appearance was such as to win the admiration of all beholders.
“In all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his
beauty; from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there
was no blemish in him.” It was not wise for the king to leave a man of
Absalom’s character—ambitious, impulsive, and passionate—to brood for
two years over supposed grievances. And David’s action, in permitting
him to return to Jerusalem, and yet refusing to admit him to his
presence, enlisted in his behalf the sympathies of the people.
With the memory ever before him of his own transgression of the law of
God, David seemed morally paralyzed; he was weak and irresolute, when
before his sin he had been courageous and decided. His influence with
the people had been weakened. And all this favored the designs of his
unnatural son.
Through the influence of Joab, Absalom was again admitted to his
father’s presence; but though there was an outward reconciliation, he
continued his ambitious scheming. He now assumed an almost royal state,
having chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. And while
the king was more and more inclined to desire retirement and solitude,
Absalom sedulously courted the popular favor.
The influence of David’s listlessness and irresolution extended to his
subordinates; negligence and delay characterized the administration of
justice. Absalom artfully turned every cause of dissatisfaction to his
own advantage. Day by day this man of noble mien might be seen at the
gate of the city, where a crowd of suppliants waited to present their
wrongs for redress. Absalom mingled with them, and listened to their
grievances, expressing sympathy with their sufferings, and regret at the
inefficiency of the government. Having thus listened to the story of a
man of Israel, the prince would reply, “Thy matters are good and right;
but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee;” adding, “O that I
were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause
might come unto me, and I would do him justice! And it was so, that when
any man came nigh to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took
him, and kissed him.”
Fomented by the artful insinuations of the prince, discontent with the
government was fast spreading. The praise of Absalom was on the lips of
all. He was generally regarded as heir to the kingdom; the people looked
upon him with pride as worthy of this high station, and a desire was
kindled that he might occupy the throne. “So Absalom stole the hearts of
the men of Israel.” Yet the king, blinded by affection for his son,
suspected nothing. The princely state which Absalom had assumed, was
regarded by David as intended to do honor to his court,—as an expression
of joy at the reconciliation.
The minds of the people being prepared for what was to follow, Absalom
secretly sent picked men throughout the tribes, to concert measures for
a revolt. And now the cloak of religious devotion was assumed to conceal
his traitorous designs. A vow made long before while he was in exile
must be paid in Hebron. Absalom said to the king, “I pray thee, let me
go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord, in Hebron. For thy
servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur, in Syria, saying, If the
Lord shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the
Lord.” The fond father, comforted with this evidence of piety in his
son, dismissed him with his blessing. The conspiracy was now fully
matured. Absalom’s crowning act of hypocrisy was designed not only to
blind the king, but to establish the confidence of the people, and thus
to lead them on to rebellion against the king whom God had chosen.
Absalom set forth for Hebron, and there went with him “two hundred men
out of Jerusalem, that were called; and they went in their simplicity,
and they knew not anything.” These men went with Absalom, little
thinking that their love for the son was leading them into rebellion
against the father. Upon arriving at Hebron, Absalom immediately
summoned Ahithophel, one of the chief counselors of David, a man in high
repute for wisdom, whose opinion was thought to be as safe and wise as
that of an oracle. Ahithophel joined the conspirators, and his support
made the cause of Absalom appear certain of success, attracting to his
standard many influential men from all parts of the land. As the trumpet
of revolt was sounded, the prince’s spies throughout the country spread
the tidings that Absalom was king, and many of the people gathered to
him.
Meanwhile the alarm was carried to Jerusalem, to the king. David was
suddenly aroused, to see rebellion breaking out close beside his throne.
His own son—the son whom he had loved and trusted—had been plotting to
seize his crown, and doubtless to take his life. In his great peril,
David shook off the depression that had so long nested upon him, and
with the spirit of his earlier years he prepared to meet this terrible
emergency. Absalom was mustering his forces at Hebron, only twenty miles
away. The rebels would soon be at the gates of Jerusalem.
From his palace, David looked out upon his capital—“beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth, ... the city of the great
King.”[1161] He shuddered at the thought of exposing it to carnage and
devastation. Should he call to his help the subjects still loyal to his
throne, and make a stand to hold his capital? Should he permit Jerusalem
to be deluged with blood? His decision was taken. The horrors of war
should not fall upon the chosen city. He would leave Jerusalem, and then
test the fidelity of his people, giving them an opportunity to rally to
his support. In this great crisis it was his duty to God and to his
people to maintain the authority with which Heaven had invested him. The
issue of the conflict he would trust with God.
In humility and sorrow, David passed out of the gate of
Jerusalem,—driven from his throne, from his palace, from the ark of God,
by the insurrection of his cherished son. The people followed in long,
sad procession, like a funeral train. David’s body-guard of Cherethites,
Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites from Gath, under the command of
Ittai, accompanied the king. But David, with characteristic
unselfishness, could not consent that these strangers who had sought his
protection should be involved in his calamity. He expressed surprise
that they should be ready to make this sacrifice for him. Then said the
king to Ittai the Gittite, “Wherefore goest thou also with us? Return to
thy place, and abide with the king; for thou art a stranger, and also an
exile. Whereas thou earnest but yesterday, should I this day make thee
go up and down with us? Seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take
back thy brethren; mercy and truth be with thee.”
Ittai answered, “As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth,
surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or
life, even there also will thy servant be.” These men had been converted
from paganism to the worship of Jehovah, and nobly they now proved their
fidelity to their God and their king. David, with grateful heart,
accepted their devotion to his apparently sinking cause, and all passed
over the brook Kedron, on the way toward the wilderness.
Again the procession halted. A company clad in holy vestments was
approaching. “And lo Zadok also, and all the Levites were with him,
bearing the ark of the covenant of God.” The followers of David looked
upon this as a happy omen. The presence of that sacred symbol was to
them a pledge of their deliverance and ultimate victory. It would
inspire the people with courage to rally to the king. Its absence from
Jerusalem would bring terror to the adherents of Absalom.
At sight of the ark, joy and hope for a brief moment thrilled the heart
of David. But soon other thoughts came to him. As the appointed ruler of
God’s heritage, he was under solemn responsibility. Not personal
interests, but the glory of God and the good of his people, were to be
uppermost in the mind of Israel’s king. God, who dwelt between the
cherubim, had said of Jerusalem, “This is my rest;”[1162] and without
divine authority, neither priest nor king had a right to remove
therefrom the symbol of his presence. And David knew that his heart and
life must be in harmony with the divine precepts, else the ark would be
the means of disaster rather than of success. His great sin was ever
before him. He recognized in this conspiracy the just judgment of God.
The sword that was not to depart from his house had been unsheathed. He
knew not what the result of the struggle might be. It was not for him to
remove from the capital of the nation the sacred statutes which embodied
the will of their divine Sovereign, which were the constitution of the
realm and the foundation of its prosperity.
[Illustration: THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. “David went up by the ascent of
Olivet, and wept as he went up.”]
He commanded Zadok, “Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I shall
find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me
both it and his habitation; but if he thus say, I have no delight in
thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.”
David added, “Art not thou a seer?”—a man appointed of God to instruct
the people? “Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you,
Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. See, I will tarry in
the plain of the wilderness, until there come word from you to certify
me.” In the city the priests might do him good service by learning the
movements and purposes of the rebels, and secretly communicating them to
the king by their sons, Ahimaaz and Jonathan.
As the priests turned back toward Jerusalem, a deeper shadow fell upon
the departing throng. Their king a fugitive, themselves outcasts,
forsaken even by the ark of God;—the future was dark with terror and
foreboding. “And David went up by the ascent of Olivet, and wept as he
went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot; and all the
people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up,
weeping as they went up. And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among
the conspirators with Absalom.” Again David was forced to recognize in
his calamities the results of his own sin. The defection of Ahithophel,
the ablest and most wily of political leaders, was prompted by revenge
for the family disgrace involved in the wrong to Bathsheba, who was his
granddaughter.
“And David said, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel
into foolishness.” Upon reaching the top of the mount, the king bowed in
prayer, casting upon God the burden of his soul, and humbly supplicating
divine mercy. His prayer seemed to be at once answered. Hushai the
Archite, a wise and able counselor, who had proved himself a faithful
friend to David, now came to him with his robes rent, and with earth
upon his head, to cast in his fortunes with the dethroned and fugitive
king. David saw, as by a divine enlightenment, that this man, faithful
and true-hearted, was the one needed to serve the interests of the king
in the councils at the capital. At David’s request, Hushai returned to
Jerusalem, to offer his services to Absalom, and defeat the crafty
counsel of Ahithophel.
With this gleam of light in the darkness, the king and his followers
pursued their way down the eastern slope of Olivet, through a rocky and
desolate waste, through wild ravines, and along stony and precipitous
paths, toward the Jordan. “And when King David came to Bahurim, behold,
thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was
Shimei, the son of Gera; he came forth, and cursed still as he came. And
he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of King David; and all
the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his
left. And thus said Shimei when he cursed: Come out, come out, thou
bloody man, and thou man of Belial. The Lord hath returned upon thee all
the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and
the Lord hath delivered the kingdom unto the hand of Absalom thy son;
and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody
man.”
In David’s prosperity, Shimei had not shown by word or act that he was
not a loyal subject. But in the affliction of the king, this Benjamite
revealed his true character. He had honored David upon his throne, but
he cursed him in his humiliation. Base and selfish, he looked upon
others as of the same character as himself, and, inspired by Satan, he
wreaked his hatred upon him whom God had chastened. The spirit that
leads man to triumph over, to revile or distress, one who is in
affliction, is the spirit of Satan.
Shimei’s accusations against David were utterly false,—a baseless and
malignant slander. David had not been guilty of wrong toward Saul or his
house. When Saul was wholly in his power, and he could have slain him,
he merely cut the skirt of his robe, and he reproached himself for
showing even this disrespect for the Lord’s anointed.
Of David’s sacred regard for human life, striking evidence had been
given, even while he himself was hunted like a beast of prey. One day
while he was hidden in the cave of Adullam, his thoughts turning back to
the untroubled freedom of his boyhood life, the fugitive exclaimed, “O
that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem,
which is by the gate!”[1163] Bethlehem was at that time in the hands of
the Philistines; but three mighty men of David’s band broke through the
guard, and brought of the water of Bethlehem to their master. David
could not drink it. “Be it far from me,” he cried; “is not this the
blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?” And he
reverently poured out the water as an offering to God. David had been a
man of war, much of his life had been spent amid scenes of violence; but
of all who have passed through such an ordeal, few indeed have been so
little affected by its hardening, demoralizing influence as was David.
David’s nephew, Abishai, one of the bravest of his captains, could not
listen patiently to Shimei’s insulting words. “Why,” he exclaimed,
“should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray
thee, and take off his head.” But the king forbade him. “Behold,” he
said, “my son seeketh my life; how much more now may this Benjamite do
it? Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him. It
may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord
will requite me good for his cursing this day.”
Conscience was uttering bitter and humiliating truths to David. While
his faithful subjects wondered at his sudden reverse of fortune, it was
no mystery to the king. He had often had forebodings of an hour like
this. He had wondered that God had so long borne with his sins, and had
delayed the merited retribution. And now in his hurried and sorrowful
flight, his feet bare, his royal robes changed for sackcloth, the
lamentations of his followers awaking the echoes of the hills, he
thought of his loved capital,—of the place which had been the scene of
his sin,—and as he remembered the goodness and long-suffering of God, he
was not altogether without hope. He felt that the Lord would still deal
with him in mercy.
Many a wrong-doer has excused his own sin by pointing to David’s fall;
but how few there are who manifest David’s penitence and humility. How
few would bear reproof and retribution with the patience and fortitude
that he manifested. He had confessed his sin, and for years had sought
to do his duty as a faithful servant of God; he had labored for the
upbuilding of his kingdom, and under his rule it had attained to
strength and prosperity never reached before. He had gathered rich
stores of material for the building of the house of God; and now was all
the labor of his life to be swept away? Must the results of years of
consecrated toil, the work of genius and devotion and statesmanship,
pass into the hands of his reckless and traitorous son, who regarded not
the honor of God nor the prosperity of Israel? How natural it would have
seemed for David to murmur against God in this great affliction!
But he saw in his own sin the cause of his trouble. The words of the
prophet Micah breathe the spirit that inspired David’s heart. “When I
sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the
indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he
plead my cause, and execute judgment for me.”[1164] And the Lord did not
forsake David. This chapter in his experience, when, under cruelest
wrong and insult, he shows himself to be humble, unselfish, generous,
and submissive, is one of the noblest in his whole experience. Never was
the ruler of Israel more truly great in the sight of heaven than at this
hour of his deepest outward humiliation.
Had God permitted David to go on unrebuked in sin, and while
transgressing the divine precepts, to remain in peace and prosperity
upon his throne, the skeptic and infidel might have had some excuse for
citing the history of David as a reproach to the religion of the Bible.
But in the experience through which he caused David to pass, the Lord
shows that he cannot tolerate or excuse sin. And David’s history enables
us to see also the great ends which God has in view in his dealings with
sin; it enables us to trace, even through darkest judgments, the working
out of his purposes of mercy and beneficence. He caused David to pass
under the rod, but he did not destroy him; the furnace is to purify, but
not to consume. The Lord says, “If they break my statutes, and keep not
my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and
their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not
utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.”[1165]
Soon after David left Jerusalem, Absalom and his army entered, and
without a struggle took possession of the stronghold of Israel. Hushai
was among the first to greet the new-crowned monarch, and the prince was
surprised and gratified at the accession of his father’s old friend and
counselor. Absalom was confident of success. Thus far his schemes had
prospered, and eager to strengthen his throne and secure the confidence
of the nation, he welcomed Hushai to his court.
Absalom was now surrounded by a large force, but it was mostly composed
of men untrained for war. As yet they had not been brought into
conflict. Ahithophel well knew that David’s situation was far from
hopeless. A large part of the nation were still true to him; he was
surrounded by tried warriors, who were faithful to their king, and his
army was commanded by able and experienced generals. Ahithophel knew
that after the first burst of enthusiasm in favor of the new king, a
reaction would come. Should the rebellion fail, Absalom might be able to
secure a reconciliation with his father; then Ahithophel, as his chief
counselor, would be held most guilty for the rebellion; upon him the
heaviest punishment would fall. To prevent Absalom from retracing his
steps, Ahithophel counseled him to an act that in the eyes of the whole
nation would make reconciliation impossible. With hellish cunning, this
wily and unprincipled statesman urged Absalom to add the crime of incest
to that of rebellion. In the sight of all Israel he was to take to
himself his father’s concubines, according to the custom of oriental
nations, thus declaring that he succeeded to his father’s throne. And
Absalom carried out the vile suggestion. Thus was fulfilled the word of
God to David by the prophet, “Behold. I will raise up evil against thee
out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and
give them unto thy neighbor.... For thou didst it secretly, but I will
do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”[1166] Not that God
prompted these acts of wickedness; but because of David’s sin he did not
exercise his power to prevent them.
Ahithophel had been held in high esteem for his wisdom, but he was
destitute of the enlightenment which comes from God. “The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom;”[1167] and this, Ahithophel did not
possess, or he could hardly have based the success of treason upon the
crime of incest. Men of corrupt hearts plot wickedness, as if there were
no overruling Providence to cross their designs; but “He that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision.”[1168]
The Lord declares: “They would none of my counsel; they despised all my
reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be
filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall
slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.”[1169]
Having succeeded in the plot for securing his own safety, Ahithophel
urged upon Absalom the necessity of immediate action against David. “Let
me now choose out twelve thousand men,” he said, “and I will arise and
pursue after David this night; and I will come upon him while he is
weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people that
are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only; and I will
bring back all the people unto thee.” This plan was approved by the
king’s counselors. Had it been followed, David would surely have been
slain, unless the Lord had directly interposed to save him. But a wisdom
higher than that of the renowned Ahithophel was directing events. “The
Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the
intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.”
Hushai had not been called to the council, and he would not intrude
himself unasked, lest suspicion should be drawn upon him as a spy; but
after the assembly had dispersed, Absalom, who had a high regard for the
judgment of his father’s counselor, submitted to him the plan of
Ahithophel. Hushai saw that if the proposed plan were followed, David
would be lost. And he said, “The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is
not good at this time. For,” said Hushai, “thou knowest thy father, and
his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as
a bear robbed of her whelps in the field; and thy father is a man of
war, and will not lodge with the people. Behold, he is hid now in some
pit, or in some other place;” he argued that, if Absalom’s forces should
pursue David, they would not capture the king; and should they suffer a
reverse, it would tend to dishearten them, and work great harm to
Absalom’s cause. “For,” he said, “all Israel knoweth that thy father is
a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.” And he
suggested a plan attractive to a vain and selfish nature, fond of the
show of power: “I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered together
unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea
for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person. So shall
we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will
light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground; and of him and of all
the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.
Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes
to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one
small stone found there.
“And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the
Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” But there was one who
was not deceived,—one who clearly foresaw the result of this fatal
mistake of Absalom’s. Ahithophel knew that the cause of the rebels was
lost. And he knew that whatever might be the fate of the prince, there
was no hope for the counselor who had instigated his greatest crimes.
Ahithophel had encouraged Absalom in rebellion; he had counseled him to
the most abominable wickedness, to the dishonor of his father; he had
advised the slaying of David, and had planned its accomplishment; he had
cut off the last possibility of his own reconciliation with the king;
and now another was preferred before him, even by Absalom. Jealous,
angry, and desperate, Ahithophel “gat him home to his house, to his
city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died.”
Such was the result of the wisdom of one, who, with all his high
endowments, did not make God his counselor. Satan allures men with
flattering promises, but in the end it will be found by every soul, that
the “wages of sin is death.”[1170]
Hushai, not certain that his counsel would be followed by the fickle
king, lost no time in warning David to escape beyond Jordan without
delay. To the priests, who were to forward it by their sons, Hushai sent
the message: “Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the
elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled. Now therefore ...
lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass
over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with
him.”
The young men were suspected and pursued, yet they succeeded in
performing their perilous mission. David, spent with toil and grief
after that first day of flight, received the message that he must cross
the Jordan that night, for his son was seeking his life.
What were the feelings of the father and king, so cruelly wronged, in
this terrible peril? “A mighty valiant man,” a man of war, a king, whose
word was law, betrayed by his son whom he had loved and indulged and
unwisely trusted, wronged and deserted by subjects bound to him by the
strongest ties of honor and fealty,—in what words did David pour out the
feelings of his soul? In the hour of his darkest trial, David’s heart
was stayed upon God, and he sang:—
“Lord, how are they increased that trouble me!
Many are they that rise up against me.
Many there be which say of my soul,
There is no help for him in God.
But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me;
My glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
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....
Salvation belongeth unto the Lord;
Thy blessing is upon thy people.”[1171]
David and all his company,—warriors and statesmen, old men and youth,
the women and the little children,—in the darkness of night crossed the
deep and swift-flowing river. “By the morning light there lacked not one
of them that was not gone over Jordan.”
David and his forces fell back to Mahanaim, which had been the royal
seat of Ishbosheth. This was a strongly fortified city, surrounded by a
mountainous district favorable for retreat in case of war. The country
was well-provisioned, and the people were friendly to the cause of
David. Here many adherents joined him, while wealthy tribesmen brought
abundant gifts of provision, and other needed supplies.
Hushai’s counsel had achieved its object, gaining for David opportunity
for escape; but the rash and impetuous prince could not be long
restrained, and he soon set out in pursuit of his father. “And Absalom
passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.” Absalom made
Amasa, the son of David’s sister Abigail, commander-in-chief of his
forces. His army was large, but it was undisciplined, and poorly
prepared to cope with the tried soldiers of his father.
David divided his forces into three battalions under the command of
Joab, Abishai, and Ittai the Gittite. It had been his purpose himself to
lead his army in the field; but against this the officers of the army,
the counselors, and the people vehemently protested. “Thou shalt not go
forth,” they said; “for if we flee away, they will not care for us;
neither if half of us die, will they care for us; but thou art worth ten
thousand of us; therefore now it is better that thou be ready to succor
us out of the city. And the king said unto them, What seemeth you best I
will do.”[1172]
From the walls of the city, the long lines of the rebel army were in
full view. The usurper was accompanied by a vast host, in comparison
with which David’s force seemed but a handful. But as the king looked
upon the opposing forces, the thought uppermost in his mind was not of
the crown and the kingdom, nor of his own life, that depended upon the
wage of battle. The father’s heart was filled with love and pity for his
rebellious son. As the army filed out from the city gates, David
encouraged his faithful soldiers, bidding them go forth trusting that
the God of Israel would give them the victory. But even here he could
not repress his love for Absalom. As Joab, leading the first column,
passed his king, the conqueror of a hundred battle-fields stooped his
proud head to hear the monarch’s last message, as with trembling voice
he said, “Deal gently _for my sake_ with the young man, even with
Absalom.” And Abishai and Ittai received the same charge,—“Deal gently
_for my sake_ with the young man, even with Absalom.” But the king’s
solicitude, seeming to declare that Absalom was dearer to him than his
kingdom, dearer even than the subjects faithful to his throne, only
increased the indignation of the soldiers against the unnatural son.
The place of battle was a wood near the Jordan, in which the great
numbers of Absalom’s army were only a disadvantage to him. Among the
thickets and marshes of the forest, these undisciplined troops became
confused and unmanageable. And “the people of Israel were slain before
the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of
twenty thousand men.” Absalom, seeing that the day was lost, had turned
to flee, when his head was caught between the branches of a
wide-spreading tree, and his mule going out from under him, he was left
helplessly suspended, a prey to his enemies. In this condition he was
found by a soldier, who, for fear of displeasing the king, spared
Absalom, but reported to Joab what he had seen. Joab was restrained by
no scruples. He had befriended Absalom, having twice secured his
reconciliation with David, and the trust had been shamelessly betrayed.
But for the advantages gained by Absalom through Joab’s intercession,
this rebellion, with all its horrors, could never have occurred. Now it
was in Joab’s power at one blow to destroy the instigator of all this
evil. “And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the
heart of Absalom.... And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great
pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him.”
Thus perished the instigators of rebellion in Israel. Ahithophel had
died by his own hand. The princely Absalom, whose glorious beauty had
been the pride of Israel, had been cut down in the vigor of his youth,
his dead body thrust into a pit, and covered with a heap of stones, in
token of everlasting reproach. During his lifetime, Absalom had reared
for himself a costly monument in the king’s dale, but the only memorial
which marked his grave was that heap of stones in the wilderness.
The leader of the rebellion being slain, Joab by the sound of the
trumpet recalled his army from the pursuit of the fleeing host, and
messengers were at once dispatched to bear the tidings to the king.
The watchman upon the city wall, looking out toward the battle-field,
discovered a man running alone. Soon a second came in sight. As the
first drew nearer, the watchman said to the king, who was waiting beside
the gate, “Methinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of
Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and
cometh with good tidings. And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king,
All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the
king, and said, Blessed be the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the
men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.” To the king’s
eager inquiry, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” Ahimaaz returned an
evasive answer.
The second messenger came, crying, “Tidings, my lord the king; for the
Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee.”
Again from the father’s lips came the absorbing question, “Is the young
man Absalom safe?” Unable to conceal the heavy tidings, the herald
answered, “The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise up against
thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.” It was enough. David
questioned no further, but with bowed head he “went up to the chamber
over the gate, and wept; and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom,
my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my
son, my son!”
The victorious army, returning from the field, approached the city,
their shouts of triumph awaking the echoes of the hills. But as they
entered the city gate, the shout died away, their banners drooped in
their hands, and with downcast gaze they advanced more like those who
had suffered defeat than like conquerors. For the king was not waiting
to bid them welcome, but from the chamber above the gate his wailing cry
was heard, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had
died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
“The victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people; for
the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. And
the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being
ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.”
Joab was filled with indignation. God had given them reason for triumph
and gladness; the greatest rebellion that had ever been known in Israel
had been crushed; and yet this great victory was turned to mourning for
him whose crime had cost the blood of thousands of brave men. The rude,
blunt captain pushed his way into the presence of the king, and boldly
said, “Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which
this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy
daughters; ... in that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy
friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither
princes nor servants; for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had
lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. Now
therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants; for
I swear by the Lord, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with
thee this night; and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that
befell thee from thy youth until now.”
Harsh and even cruel as was the reproof to the heart-stricken king,
David did not resent it. Seeing that his general was right, he went down
to the gate, and with words of courage and commendation greeted his
brave soldiers as they marched past him.
Footnote 1160:
See 2 Samuel 13-19.
Footnote 1161:
Ps. 48:2.
Footnote 1162:
Ps. 132:14.
Footnote 1163:
2 Sam. 23:13-17.
Footnote 1164:
Micah 7:8, 9.
Footnote 1165:
Ps. 89:31-33.
Footnote 1166:
2 Sam. 12:11, 12.
Footnote 1167:
Prov. 9:10.
Footnote 1168:
Ps. 2:4.
Footnote 1169:
Prov. 1:30-32.
Footnote 1170:
Rom. 6:23.
Footnote 1171:
Ps. 3:1-8.
Footnote 1172:
2 Sam. 18:3, 4, Rev. Ver.
THE LAST YEARS OF DAVID—73
The overthrow of Absalom did not at once bring peace to the kingdom. So
large a part of the nation had joined in revolt, that David would not
return to his capital and resume his authority without an invitation
from the tribes. In the confusion that followed Absalom’s defeat, there
was no prompt and decided action to recall the king, and when at last
Judah undertook to bring back David, the jealousy of the other tribes
was roused, and a counter-revolution followed. This, however, was
speedily quelled, and peace returned to Israel.
The history of David affords one of the most impressive testimonies ever
given, to the dangers that threaten the soul from power and riches and
worldly honor,—those things that are most eagerly desired among men. Few
have ever passed through an experience better adapted to prepare them
for enduring such a test. David’s early life as a shepherd, with its
lessons of humility, of patient toil, and of tender care for his flocks;
the communion with nature in the solitude of the hills, developing his
genius for music and poetry, and directing his thoughts to the Creator;
the long discipline of his wilderness life, calling into exercise
courage, fortitude, patience, and faith in God, had been appointed by
the Lord as a preparation for the throne of Israel. David had enjoyed
precious experiences of the love of God, and had been richly endowed
with his Spirit; in the history of Saul he had seen the utter
worthlessness of mere human wisdom. And yet worldly success and honor so
weakened the character of David that he was repeatedly overcome by the
tempter.
Intercourse with heathen peoples led to a desire to follow their
national customs, and kindled ambition for worldly greatness. As the
people of Jehovah, Israel was to be honored; but as pride and
self-confidence increased, the Israelites were not content with this
pre-eminence. They cared rather for their standing among other nations.
This spirit could not fail to invite temptation. With a view to
extending his conquests among foreign nations, David determined to
increase his army by requiring military service from all who were of
proper age. To effect this, it became necessary to take a census of the
population. It was pride and ambition that prompted this action of the
king. The numbering of the people would show the contrast between the
weakness of the kingdom when David ascended the throne, and its strength
and prosperity under his rule. This would tend still further to foster
the already too great self-confidence of both king and people. The
Scripture says, “Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to
number Israel.”[1180] The prosperity of Israel under David had been due
to the blessing of God rather than to the ability of her king or the
strength of her armies. But the increasing of the military resources of
the kingdom would give the impression to surrounding nations that
Israel’s trust was in her armies, and not in the power of Jehovah.
Though the people of Israel were proud of their national greatness, they
did not look with favor upon David’s plan for so greatly extending the
military service. The proposed enrollment caused much dissatisfaction;
consequently it was thought necessary to employ the military officers in
place of the priests and magistrates, who had formerly taken the census.
The object of the undertaking was directly contrary to the principles of
a theocracy. Even Joab remonstrated, unscrupulous as he had heretofore
shown himself. He said, “The Lord make his people a hundred times so
many more as they be; but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s
servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a
cause of trespass to Israel? Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed
against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel,
and came to Jerusalem.” The numbering was not finished, when David was
convicted of his sin. Self-condemned, he “said unto God, I have sinned
greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I beseech thee, do
away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.” The
next morning a message was brought to David by the prophet Gad: “Thus
saith the Lord: Choose thee either three years’ famine; or three months
to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies
overtake thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the
pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout
all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore,” said the prophet, “advise
thyself what word I shall bring again to Him that sent me.”
The king’s answer was, “I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the
hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into
the hand of man.”[1181]
The land was smitten with pestilence, which destroyed seventy thousand
in Israel. The scourge had not yet entered the capital, when “David
lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the
earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out
over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in
sackcloth, fell upon their faces.” The king pleaded with God in behalf
of Israel: “Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I
it is that have sinned, and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep,
what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on
me, and on my father’s house; but not on thy people, that they should be
plagued.”
The taking of the census had caused disaffection among the people; yet
they had themselves cherished the same sins that prompted David’s
action. As the Lord through Absalom’s sin visited judgment upon David,
so through David’s error he punished the sins of Israel.
The destroying angel had stayed his course outside Jerusalem. He stood
upon Mount Moriah, “in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.”
Directed by the prophet, David went to the mountain, and there built an
altar to the Lord, “and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and
called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the
altar of burnt-offering.” “So the Lord was entreated for the land, and
the plague was stayed from Israel.”[1182]
[Illustration: THE SWEET SINGER OF ISRAEL. “He shall be as the light of
the morning, ... even a morning without clouds.”]
The spot upon which the altar was erected, henceforth ever to be
regarded as holy ground, was tendered to the king by Ornan as a gift.
But the king declined thus to receive it. “I will verily buy it for the
full price,” he said; “for I will not take that which is thine for the
Lord, nor offer burnt-offerings without cost. So David gave to Ornan for
the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.” This spot, memorable
as the place where Abraham had built the altar to offer up his son, and
now hallowed by this great deliverance, was afterward chosen as the site
of the temple erected by Solomon.
Still another shadow was to gather over the last years of David. He had
reached the age of threescore and ten. The hardships and exposures of
his early wanderings, his many wars, the cares and afflictions of his
later years, had sapped the fountain of life. Though his mind retained
its clearness and strength, feebleness and age, with their desire for
seclusion, prevented a quick apprehension of what was passing in the
kingdom, and again rebellion sprung up in the very shadow of the throne.
Again the fruit of David’s parental indulgence was manifest. The one who
now aspired to the throne was Adonijah, “a very goodly man” in person
and bearing, but unprincipled and reckless. In his youth he had been
subjected to but little restraint; for “his father had not displeased
him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?”[1183] He now rebelled
against the authority of God, who had appointed Solomon to the throne.
Both by natural endowments and religious character, Solomon was better
qualified than his elder brother to become ruler of Israel; yet although
the choice of God had been clearly indicated, Adonijah did not fail to
find sympathizers. Joab, though guilty of many crimes, had heretofore
been loyal to the throne; but he now joined the conspiracy against
Solomon, as did also Abiathar the priest.
The rebellion was ripe; the conspirators had assembled at a great feast
just without the city to proclaim Adonijah king, when their plans were
thwarted by the prompt action of a few faithful persons, chief among
whom were Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Bathsheba the mother
of Solomon. They represented the state of affairs to the king, reminding
him of the divine direction that Solomon should succeed to the throne.
David at once abdicated in favor of Solomon, who was immediately
anointed and proclaimed king. The conspiracy was crushed. Its chief
actors had incurred the penalty of death. Abiathar’s life was spared,
out of respect to his office and his former fidelity to David; but he
was degraded from the office of high priest, which passed to the line of
Zadok. Joab and Adonijah were spared for the time, but after the death
of David they suffered the penalty of their crime. The execution of the
sentence upon the son of David completed the fourfold judgment that
testified to God’s abhorrence of the father’s sin.
From the very opening of David’s reign, one of his most cherished plans
had been that of erecting a temple to the Lord. Though he had not been
permitted to execute this design, he had manifested no less zeal and
earnestness in its behalf. He had provided an abundance of the most
costly material,—gold, silver, onyx stones, and stones of divers colors;
marble, and the most precious woods. And now these valuable treasures
that he had collected must be committed to others; for other hands must
build the house for the ark, the symbol of God’s presence.
Seeing that his end was near, the king summoned the princes of Israel,
with representative men from all parts of the kingdom, to receive this
legacy in trust. He desired to commit to them his dying charge, and
secure their concurrence and support in the great work to be
accomplished. Because of his physical weakness, it had not been expected
that he would attend to this transfer in person; but the inspiration of
God came upon him, and with more than his wonted fervor and power, he
was able, for the last time, to address his people. He told them of his
own desire to build the temple, and of the Lord’s command that the work
should be committed to Solomon his son. The divine assurance was,
“Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts; for I have
chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. Moreover I will
establish his kingdom forever, if he be constant to do my commandments
and my judgments, as at this day.” “Now therefore,” David said, “in the
sight of all Israel the congregation of the Lord, and in the audience of
our God, keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God;
that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance for
your children after you forever.”[1184]
David had learned by his own experience how hard is the path of him who
departs from God. He had felt the condemnation of the broken law, and
had reaped the fruits of transgression; and his whole soul was moved
with solicitude that the leaders of Israel should be true to God, and
that Solomon should obey God’s law, shunning the sins that had weakened
his father’s authority, imbittered his life, and dishonored God. David
knew that it would require humility of heart, a constant trust in God,
and unceasing watchfulness, to withstand the temptations that would
surely beset Solomon in his exalted station; for such prominent
characters are a special mark for the shafts of Satan. Turning to his
son, already acknowledged as his successor on the throne, David said:
“And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve
him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth
all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if
thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he
will cast thee off forever. Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee
to build a house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.”
David gave Solomon minute directions for building the temple, with
patterns of every part, and of all its instruments of service, as had
been revealed to him by divine inspiration. Solomon was still young, and
shrank from the weighty responsibilities that would devolve upon him in
the erection of the temple and in the government of God’s people. David
said to his son, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; fear not,
nor be dismayed; for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; he
will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
Again David appealed to the congregation: “Solomon my son, whom alone
God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for the
palace is not for man, but for the Lord God.” He said, “I have prepared
with all my might for the house of my God,” and he went on to enumerate
the materials he had gathered. More than this, he said, “I have set my
affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of
gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and
above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even three thousand
talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of
refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal.” “Who then,”
he asked of the assembled multitude that had brought their liberal
gifts,—“who then is willing to consecrate his _service_ this day unto
the Lord?”
There was a ready response from the assembly. “The chief of the fathers
and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and
of hundreds, with the rulers of the king’s work, offered willingly, and
gave for the service of the house of God, of gold five thousand talents
and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass
eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. And
they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of
the house of the Lord.... Then the people rejoiced, for that they
offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to
the Lord; and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.
“Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation; and David
said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever.
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the
victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth
is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head
above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over
all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to
make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we
thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my
people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?
for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we
are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers; our
days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O Lord our
God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for
thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. I know also,
my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness.
“As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered
all these things; and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are
present here, to offer willingly unto thee. O Lord God of Abraham,
Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination
of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto
thee; and give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy
commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these
things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision.
And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the Lord your God. And
all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed
down their heads, and worshiped the Lord.”
With deepest interest the king had gathered the rich material for
building and beautifying the temple. He had composed the glorious
anthems that in after-years should echo through its courts. Now his
heart was made glad in God, as the chief of the fathers and the princes
of Israel so nobly responded to his appeal, and offered themselves to
the important work before them. And as they gave their service, they
were disposed to do more. They swelled the offerings, giving of their
own possessions into the treasury. David had felt deeply his own
unworthiness in gathering the material for the house of God, and the
expression of loyalty in the ready response of the nobles of his
kingdom, as with willing hearts they dedicated their treasures to
Jehovah, and devoted themselves to his service, filled him with joy. But
it was God alone who had imparted this disposition to his people. He,
not man, must be glorified. It was he who had provided the people with
the riches of earth, and his Spirit had made them willing to bring their
precious things for the temple. It was all of the Lord; if his love had
not moved upon the hearts of the people, the king’s efforts would have
been vain, and the temple would never have been erected.
All that man receives of God’s bounty still belongs to God. Whatever God
has bestowed in the valuable and beautiful things of earth, is placed in
the hands of men to test them,—to sound the depths of their love for him
and their appreciation of his favors. Whether it be the treasures of
wealth or of intellect, they are to be laid, a willing offering, at the
feet of Jesus; the giver saying, meanwhile, with David, “All things come
of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.”
When he felt that death was approaching, the burden of David’s heart was
still for Solomon and for the kingdom of Israel, whose prosperity must
so largely depend upon the fidelity of her king. “And he charged Solomon
his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth; be thou strong
therefore, and show thyself a man; and keep the charge of the Lord thy
God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments,
and his judgments, and his testimonies, ... that thou mayest prosper in
all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself; that the
Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy
children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all
their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he)
a man on the throne of Israel.”[1185]
David’s “last words,” as recorded, are a song,—a song of trust, of
loftiest principle, and undying faith:—
“David the son of Jesse saith,
And the man who was raised on high saith,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel:
The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me:...
One that ruleth over men righteously,
That ruleth in the fear of God,
He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth,
A morning without clouds,
When the tender grass springeth out of the earth,
Through clear shining after rain.
Verily my house is not so with God,
Yet he hath made me an everlasting covenant,
Ordered in all things, and sure;
For it is all my salvation, and all my desire.”[1186]
Great had been David’s fall, but deep was his repentance, ardent was his
love, and strong his faith. He had been forgiven much, and therefore he
loved much.[1187]
The psalms of David pass through the whole range of experience, from the
depths of conscious guilt and self-condemnation to the loftiest faith
and the most exalted communing with God. His life record declares that
sin can bring only shame and war, but that God’s love and mercy can
reach to the deepest depths, that faith will lift up the repenting soul
to share the adoption or the sons of God. Of all the assurances which
his word contains, it is one of the strongest testimonies to the
faithfulness, the justice, and the covenant mercy of God.
Man “fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not,” “but the word of our God
shall stand forever.” “The mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to
everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto
children’s children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that
remember his commandments to do them.”[1188]
“Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.”[1189]
Glorious are the promises made to David and his house, promises that
look forward to the eternal ages, and find their complete fulfillment in
Christ. The Lord declared:—
“I have sworn unto David my servant, ... with whom my hand shall be
established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.... My faithfulness and
my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I
will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He
shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my
salvation. Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of
the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant
shall stand fast with him.”[1190]
“His seed also will I make to endure forever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.”[1191]
“He shall judge the poor of the people,
He shall save the children of the needy,
And shall break in pieces the oppressor.
They shall fear thee while the sun endureth,
And so long as the moon, throughout all generations....
In his days shall the righteous flourish;
And abundance of peace, till the moon be no more.
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,
And from the river unto the ends of the earth.”
“His name shall endure forever;
His name shall be continued as long as the sun:
And men shall be blessed in him;
All nations shall call him blessed.”[1192]
“For unto us a child is born, and unto us a Son is given; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince
of Peace.” “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the
Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his
kingdom there shall be no end.”[1193]
Footnote 1180:
See 1 Chronicles 21.
Footnote 1181:
2 Sam. 24:14.
Footnote 1182:
1 Chron. 21:26; 2 Sam. 24:25.
Footnote 1183:
See 1 Kings 1.
Footnote 1184:
See 1 Chronicles 28, 29.
Footnote 1185:
1 Kings 2:1-4.
Footnote 1186:
2 Sam. 23:1-5, Rev. Ver.
Footnote 1187:
Luke 7:48.
Footnote 1188:
Job 14:2; Isa. 40:8; Ps. 103:17, 18.
Footnote 1189:
Eccl. 3:14.
Footnote 1190:
Ps. 89:3-28.
Footnote 1191:
Ps. 89:29.
Footnote 1192:
Ps. 72:4-8, Rev. Ver.; 72:17.
Footnote 1193:
Isa. 9:6; Luke 1:32, 33.
APPENDIX
=NOTE 1.= PAGE 92.—Though not only the justice of God, but even his
faithfulness to his gracious promise demanded this, the tender
loving-kindness of Jehovah appears in such expressions as these: “It
repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him”—literally, “it pained into his heart.” The one term, of course,
explains the other. When we read that God repented, it is only our human
way of speaking, for, as Calvin says, “nothing happens by accident or
that has not been foreseen.” It brings before our minds “the sorrow of
divine love over the sins of man,” in the words of Calvin, “that when
the terrible sins of men offend God, it is not otherwise than as if his
heart had been wounded by extreme sorrow.”—_Dr. Edersheim._
=NOTE 2.= PAGE 125.—Adam lived till Methuselah was 243 years old.
Methuselah lived till Shem, the son of Noah, had reached the age of 98
years. Shem must have had 150 years to live after the birth of Abraham,
and 50 years after the birth of Isaac. Abraham lived till Jacob and Esau
were 15 years old, Isaac till they were 120. Thus we see how directly
the knowledge of all that God had taught Adam could be communicated to
his descendants; Adam imparting it to Methuselah, Methuselah to Shem,
Shem to Abraham and Isaac, and these patriarchs to Jacob, the father of
the tribes of Israel.
=NOTE 3.= PAGE 253.—This miracle had a meaning which Moses could not
mistake. The serpent was probably the basilisk or Uræus, the Cobra....
This was the symbol of royal and divine power on the diadem of every
Pharaoh. It was a poisonous snake, as is shown by the flight of Moses,
and by most passages in which the same word occurs, nahash, derived from
hissing. This snake never attacks without first inflating its neck, and
then hissing; on the monuments it is always represented with its neck
enormously swollen. The conversion of the rod was not merely a portent,
it was a sign, at once a pledge and representation of victory over the
king and gods of Egypt.—_Speaker’s Commentary._
=NOTE 4.= PAGE 258.—In the command for Israel’s release, the Lord said
to Pharaoh, “Israel is my son, even my first-born.... Let my son go,
that he may serve me.” Ex. 4:22, 23. The psalmist tells us why God
delivered Israel from Egypt: “He brought forth his people with joy, and
his chosen with gladness; and gave them the lands of the heathen; and
they inherited the labor of the people; that they might observe his
statutes, and keep his laws.” Ps. 105:43-45. Here we learn that the
Hebrews could not serve God in Egypt.
In Deut. 5:14, 15, we find special emphasis given to that portion of the
fourth commandment which requires the man-servant and the maid-servant
to rest, and the Israelite was told to remember that he had been a
servant in the land of Egypt. The Lord said, “The seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant,
nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger
that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may
rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land
of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a
mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God
commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” In Ex. 5:5 we learn that Moses
and Aaron made the people “_rest_ from their burdens.”
From these facts we may conclude that the Sabbath was one of the things
in which they could not serve the Lord in Egypt; and when Moses and
Aaron came with the message of God (Ex. 4:29-31), they attempted a
reform, which only increased the oppression. The Israelites were
delivered that they might observe the statutes of the Lord, including
the fourth commandment, and this placed upon them an additional
obligation to keep the Sabbath strictly, as well as to keep all the
commandments. Thus in Deut. 24:17, 18, the fact of their deliverance
from Egypt is cited as placing them under special obligation to show
kindness to the widow and the fatherless: “Thou shalt not pervert the
judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s
raiment to pledge; but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in
Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence; therefore I command
thee to do this thing.”
=NOTE 5.= PAGE 272.—That the plagues were designed to destroy the
confidence of the Egyptians in the power and protection of their idols,
is clearly shown in the following extracts from the “Philosophy of the
Plan of Salvation”:—
“The first miracle, while it authenticated the mission of Moses,
destroyed the serpents, which among the Egyptians were objects of
worship; thus evincing, in the outset, that their gods could neither
help the people nor save themselves.
“The second miracle was directed against the river Nile, another object
which they regarded with religious reverence. This river they held
sacred, as the Hindoos do the Ganges; and even the fish in its waters
they revered as objects of worship. They drank the water with reverence
and delight, and supposed that a divine efficacy dwelt in its waves to
heal diseases of the body. The water of this their cherished object of
idolatrous homage was transmuted to blood; and its finny idols became a
mass of putridity.
“The third miracle was directed to the accomplishment of the same
end,—the destruction of faith in the river as an object of worship. The
waters of the Nile were caused to send forth legions of frogs, which
infested the whole land, and became a nuisance and a torment to the
people. Thus their idol, by the power of the true God, was polluted, and
turned into a source of pollution to its worshipers.
“By the fourth miracle of a series constantly increasing in power and
severity, lice came upon man and beast throughout the land. ‘Now, if it
be remembered,’ says Gleig, ‘that no one could approach the altars of
Egypt upon whom so impure an insect harbored; and that the priests, to
guard against the slightest risk of contamination, wore only linen
garments, and shaved their heads and bodies every day,[1200] the
severity of this miracle as a judgment upon Egyptian idolatry may be
imagined. Whilst it lasted, no act of worship could be performed, and so
keenly was this felt that the very magicians exclaimed, ‘This is the
finger of God.’
“The fifth miracle was designed to destroy the trust of the people in
Beelzebub, or the Fly-god, who was reverenced as their protector from
visitations of swarms of ravenous flies, which infested the land
generally about the time of the dog-days, and removed only, as they
supposed, at the will of this idol. The miracle now wrought by Moses
evinced the impotence of Beelzebub, and caused the people to look
elsewhere for relief from the fearful visitation under which they were
suffering.
“The sixth miracle, which destroyed the cattle, excepting those of the
Israelites, was aimed at the destruction of the entire system of brute
worship. This system, degrading and bestial as it was, had become a
monster of many heads in Egypt. They had their sacred bull, and ram, and
heifer, and goat, and many others, all of which were destroyed by the
agency of the God of Moses. Thus, by one act of power, Jehovah
manifested his own supremacy, and destroyed the very existence of their
brute idols.
“Of the peculiar fitness of the sixth plague (the seventh miracle), says
the writer before quoted, the reader will receive a better impression,
when he is reminded that in Egypt there were several altars upon which
human sacrifices were occasionally offered, when they desired to
propitiate Typhon, or the Evil Principle. These victims being burned
alive, their ashes were gathered together by the officiating priests,
and thrown up into the air, in order that evil might be averted from
every place to which an atom of the ashes was wafted. By the direction
of Jehovah, Moses took a handful of ashes from the furnace (which, very
probably, the Egyptians at this time had frequently used to turn aside
the plagues with which they were smitten), and he cast it into the air,
as they were accustomed to do; and instead of averting evil, boils and
blains fell upon all the people of the land. Neither king, nor priest,
nor people escaped. Thus the bloody rites of Typhon became a curse to
the idolaters, the supremacy of Jehovah was affirmed, and the
deliverance of the Israelites insisted upon.
“The ninth miracle was directed against the worship of Serapis, whose
peculiar office was supposed to be to protect the country from locusts.
At periods these destructive insects came in clouds upon the land, and,
like an overshadowing curse, they blighted the fruits of the field and
the verdure of the forest. At the command of Moses these terrible
insects came, and they retired only at his bidding. Thus was the
impotence of Serapis made manifest, and the idolaters taught the folly
of trusting in any other protection than that of Jehovah, the God of
Israel.
“The eighth and tenth miracles were directed against the worship of Isis
and Osiris, to whom and the river Nile they awarded the first
place[1201] in the long catalogue of their idolatry. These idols were
originally the representatives of the sun and moon; they were believed
to control the light and the elements; and their worship prevailed in
some form among all the early nations. The miracles directed against the
worship of Isis and Osiris must have made a deep impression on the minds
both of the Israelites and the Egyptians. In a country where rain seldom
falls, where the atmosphere is always calm, and the light of the
heavenly bodies always continued, what was the horror pervading all
minds during the elemental war described in the Hebrew record; during
the long period of three days and three nights, while the gloom of thick
darkness settled, like the outspread pall of death, over the whole land!
Jehovah of hosts summoned Nature to proclaim him the true God; the God
of Israel asserted his supremacy, and exerted his power to degrade the
idols, destroy idolatry, and liberate the descendants of Abraham from
the land of their bondage.
“The Almighty having thus revealed himself as the true God by miraculous
agency, and pursued those measures, in the exercise of his power, which
were directly adapted to destroy the various forms of idolatry which
existed in Egypt, the eleventh and last miracle was a judgment, in order
to manifest to all minds that Jehovah was the God who executes judgment
in the earth.”
=NOTE 6.= PAGE 282.—In Gen. 15:13 we read that the Lord said to Abraham,
“Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is
not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four
hundred years.” Ex. 12:40 says, “The sojourning of the children of
Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.” But Paul
in Gal. 3:15-17 says that from the making of the covenant with Abraham
to the giving of the law at Sinai was four hundred and thirty years.
From these scriptures, then, we are not to understand that the
Israelites were in Egypt four hundred years. The actual time spent in
Egypt could have been only about two hundred and fifteen years. The
Bible says that “the _sojourning_ of the children of Israel” was four
hundred and thirty years. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of
the Israelites, were sojourners in Canaan. The period of four hundred
and thirty years dates from the promise given to Abraham when he was
commanded to leave Ur of the Chaldees. The four hundred years of Gen.
15:13 dates from a later period. Notice that the period of four hundred
years is not only a time of sojourning, but of _affliction_. This,
according to the Scriptures, must be reckoned from thirty years later,
about the time when Ishmael, “he that was born after the flesh,
persecuted him [Isaac] that was born after the Spirit.” Gal. 4:29.
=NOTE 7.= PAGE 316.—The golden calf was a representation of the sacred
bull called Apis, which the Egyptians worshiped, and with which the
Israelites had necessarily become very familiar during their long
sojourn in Egypt. Concerning this god Apis and what it signified, we
find the following:—
“Apis, the bull worshiped by the ancient Egyptians, who regarded it as a
symbol of Osiris, the god of the Nile, the husband of Isis, and the
great divinity of Egypt.”—_Chambers’s Encyclopedia._
The “Encyclopedia Britannica” (art. “Apis”), referring to the Greek
writers and the hieroglyphic inscriptions, says: “According to this view
the Apis was the incarnation of Osiris manifested in the shape of a
bull.”
Since Apis was regarded as the visible manifestation of Osiris, we must
learn what Osiris stood for, in order to understand the calf-worship of
the Israelites. Again we quote from the “Encyclopedia Britannica”:—
“All the mysteries of the Egyptians, and their whole doctrine of the
future state, attach themselves to this worship [of Osiris]. Osiris was
identified with the sun.... Sun-worship was the primitive form of
Egyptian religion, perhaps even pre-Egyptian.”
“It was to Osiris that the prayers and offerings for the dead were made,
and all sepulchral inscriptions, except those of the oldest period, are
directly addressed to him.” “The bull Apis, who bears in Egyptian the
same name as the Nile, Hapi, was worshiped at Memphis.... Apis was
considered to be the living emblem of Osiris, and was thus connected
with the sun and the Nile.”
From these extracts it appears that the worship which the Israelites
paid to the golden calf was really the Egyptian form of
sun-worship,—that form of idolatry which has always stood foremost as
the antagonist of the true worship of God. It is indeed significant that
just at the time when God manifested himself to the Israelites in a
peculiar manner, and made known to them his Sabbath, they should have
fallen back into the old sun-worship, whose chief festival day—the first
day of the week—has always contended for supremacy with the day
specially distinctive of the worship of the true God.
The Israelites, in their adoration of the golden calf, _professed_ to be
worshiping God. Thus Aaron, when inaugurating the worship of the idol,
proclaimed, “To-morrow is a feast unto Jehovah.” They proposed to
worship God, as the Egyptians worshiped Osiris, under the semblance of
the image. But God could not accept the service. Though offered in his
name, the sun-god, and not Jehovah, was the real object of their
adoration.
The worship of Apis was accompanied with the grossest licentiousness,
and the Scripture record indicates that the calf-worship by the
Israelites was attended with all the license usual in heathen worship.
We read: “They rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings,
and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to
drink, and rose up to play.” Ex. 32:6. The Hebrew word rendered “to
play” signifies playing with leaping, singing, and dancing. This
dancing, especially among the Egyptians, was sensual and indecent. The
word rendered “corrupted” in the next verse, where it is said, “Thy
people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted
themselves,” is the same that is used in Gen. 6:11, 12, where we read
that the earth was corrupt, “for all flesh had corrupted his way upon
the earth.” This explains the terrible anger of the Lord, and why he
desired to consume the people at once.
=NOTE 8.= PAGE 329.—The ten commandments were the “covenant” to which
the Lord referred, when in proposing a covenant with Israel, he said,
“If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep _my_ covenant,” etc. Ex.
19:5. The ten commandments were termed God’s covenant, before the
covenant was made with Israel. They were _not an agreement_ made, but
something which God _commanded them to perform_. Thus the ten
commandments—God’s covenant—became the _basis_ of the covenant made
between him and Israel. The ten commandments in all their details, are
“all these words,” _concerning which_, the covenant was made. See Ex.
24:8.
=NOTE 9.= PAGE 354.—When a sin-offering was presented for a priest or
for the whole congregation, the blood was carried into the holy place,
and sprinkled before the vail, and placed upon the horns of the golden
altar. The fat was consumed upon the altar of burnt-offering in the
court, but the body of the victim was burned without the camp. See Lev.
4:1-21.
When, however, the offering was for a ruler or for one of the people,
the blood was not taken into the holy place, but the flesh was to be
eaten by the priest, as the Lord directed Moses: “The priest that
offereth it for sin shall eat it: in a holy place shall it be eaten, in
the court of the tent of meeting.” Lev. 6:26, Rev. Ver. See also Lev.
4:22-35.
=NOTE 10.= PAGE 366.—That the one who spoke the law, who called Moses
into the mount and talked with him, was our Lord Jesus Christ, is
evident from the following considerations:—
Christ is the one through whom God has at all times revealed himself to
man. “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all
things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, _by whom are all
things_, and we by him.” 1 Cor. 8:6. “This is he [Moses] that was in the
church in the wilderness, with the Angel which spake to him in the Mount
Sinai, and with our fathers; who received the lively oracles to give
unto us.” Acts 7:38. This Angel was the Angel of God’s presence (Isa.
63:9), the Angel in whom was the name of the great Jehovah (Ex.
23:20-23). The expression can refer to no other than the Son of God.
Again: Christ is called the Word of God. John 1:1-3. He is so called
because God gave his revelations to man in all ages through Christ. It
was his Spirit that inspired the prophets. 1 Peter 1:10, 11. He was
revealed to them as the Angel of Jehovah, the Captain of the Lord’s
host, Michael the archangel.
=NOTE 11.= PAGE 603.—The question has been raised, and is now much
agitated, If a theocracy was good in the time of Israel, why would not a
theocratical form of government be equally good for this time? The
answer is easy:—
A theocracy is a government which derives its power immediately from
God. The government of Israel was a true theocracy. That was really a
government of God. At the burning bush, God commissioned Moses to lead
his people out of Egypt. By signs and wonders and mighty miracles
multiplied, God delivered Israel from Egypt, and led them through the
wilderness, and finally into the promised land. There he ruled them by
judges “until Samuel the prophet,” to whom, when he was a child, God
spoke, and by whom he made known his will. In the days of Samuel, the
people asked that they might have a king. This was allowed, and God
chose Saul, and Samuel anointed him king of Israel. Saul failed to do
the will of God; and as he rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord
rejected him from being king, and sent Samuel to anoint David king of
Israel; and David’s throne God established forevermore. When Solomon
succeeded to the kingdom in the place of David his father, the record
is: “Then Solomon sat on the _throne of the Lord_ as king instead of
David his father.” 1 Chron. 29:23. David’s throne was the throne of the
Lord, and Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king over the earthly
kingdom of God. The succession to the throne descended in David’s line
to Zedekiah, who was made subject to the king of Babylon, and who
entered into a solemn covenant before God that he would loyally render
allegiance to the king of Babylon. But Zedekiah broke his covenant; and
then God said to him:—
“Thou profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity
shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take
off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and
abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it
shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it
him.” Eze. 21:25-27; see chap. 17:1-21.
The kingdom was then subject to Babylon. When Babylon fell, and
Medo-Persia succeeded, it was overturned the first time. When
Medo-Persia fell, and was succeeded by Grecia, it was overturned the
second time. When the Greek empire gave way to Rome, it was overturned
the third time. And then says the word, “It shall be no more, until he
come whose right it is; and I will give it him.” Who is he whose right
it is?—“Thou ... shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him
the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of
Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:31-33.
And while he was here as “that prophet,” a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, the night in which he was betrayed he himself declared, “My
kingdom is not of this world.” Thus the throne of the Lord has been
removed from this world, and will “be no more, until he come whose right
it is,” and then it will be given him. And _that time_ is the end of
this world, and the beginning of “the world to come.”
To the twelve apostles the Saviour said, “I appoint unto you a kingdom,
as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my
table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel.” Luke 22:29, 30. From Matthew’s account of Christ’s promise to
the twelve we learn when it will be fulfilled: “In the regeneration when
the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit
upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matt. 19:28.
In the parable of the talents, Christ represents himself under the
figure of a nobleman who “went into a far country to receive for himself
a kingdom, and to return.” Luke 19:12. And he himself has told us when
he will sit upon the throne of his glory: “When the Son of man shall
come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, _then_ shall he sit
upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all
nations.” Matt. 25:31, 32.
To this time the Revelator looks forward when he says, “The kingdoms of
this world _are become_ the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and
he shall reign forever and ever.” Rev. 11:15. The context clearly shows
when this will take place: “The nations were angry, and thy wrath is
come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that
thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the
saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldst
destroy them which destroy the earth.” Verse 18. It is at the time of
the final Judgment, the reward of the righteous, and the punishment of
the wicked, that the kingdom of Christ will be set up. When all who
oppose the sovereignty of Christ have been destroyed, the kingdoms of
this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
Then Christ will reign, “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Rev. 19:16.
“And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under
the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most
High.” And “the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and
possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Dan. 7:27, 18.
Until that time the kingdom of Christ cannot be established on the
earth. His kingdom is not of this world. His followers are to account
themselves “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Paul says, “Our
citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ.” Heb. 11:13; Phil. 3:20, Rev. Ver.
Since the kingdom of Israel passed away, God has never delegated
authority to any man or body of men to execute his laws as such.
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Rom. 12:19. Civil
governments have to do with the relations of man with man; but they have
nothing whatever to do with the duties that grow out of man’s relation
to God.
Except the kingdom of Israel, no government has ever existed on the
earth, in which God by inspired men directed the affairs of State.
Whenever men have endeavored to form such a government as that of
Israel, they have, of necessity, taken it upon themselves to interpret
and enforce the law of God. They have assumed the right to control the
conscience, and thus have usurped the prerogative of God.
In the former dispensation, while sins against God were visited with
temporal penalties, the judgments executed were not only by divine
sanction, but under his direct control, and by his command. Sorcerers
were to be put to death. Idolaters were to be slain. Profanity and
sacrilege were punished with death. And whole nations of idolaters were
to be exterminated. But the infliction of these penalties was directed
by Him who reads the hearts of men, who knows the measure of their
guilt, and who deals with his creatures in wisdom and mercy. When men,
with human frailties and passions, undertake to do this work, it needs
no argument to show that the door is opened to unrestrained injustice
and cruelty. The most inhuman crimes will be perpetrated, and all in the
sacred name of Christ.
From the laws of Israel, which punished offenses against God, arguments
have been drawn to prove the duty of punishing similar sins in this age.
All persecutors have employed them to justify their deeds. The principle
that God has delegated to human authority the right to control the
conscience, is the very foundation of religious tyranny and persecution.
But all who reason thus lose sight of the fact that we are now living in
a different dispensation, under conditions wholly different from those
of Israel; that the kingdom of Israel was a type of the kingdom of
Christ, which will not be set up until his second coming; and that the
duties which pertain to man’s relation to God are not to be regulated or
enforced by human authority.
=NOTE 12.= PAGE 608.—Concerning the identity of the Ramah of Samuel with
the Ramah of Benjamin, Dr. Edersheim says: “These two points seem
established: Saul’s residence was at Gibeah, and he first met Samuel in
Ramah. But if so, it seems impossible, in view of 1 Samuel 10:2, to
identify the Ramah of Samuel with the Ramah of Benjamin, or to regard it
as the modern _Neby Samuel_, four miles northwest of Jerusalem.”
Footnote 1200:
Every third day, according to Herodotus.
Footnote 1201:
Against the worship of the Nile two miracles were directed, and two
likewise against Isis and Osiris, because they were supposed to be the
supreme gods. Many placed the Nile first, as they said it had power to
water Egypt independently of the action of the elements.
Index of Scripture References
GENESIS
1:26, 27, 44
1:31, 47
2:1-3, 47
2:4, 112
2:8, 46
2:17, 60
2:18, 20, 46
2:24, 46
3, 54
3:4, 96
3:4, 5, 685
3:15, 65
3:19, 478
4:4, 71
4:6, 7, 74
4:9-12, 77
4:16, 62
4:25, 26, 80
5:1, 3, 80
6:2, 81
6:5, 79
6:5, 7, 11, 91
6:7, 92
7:1, 117
7:1, 9, 98
7:11, 104
8:13, 105
8:21, 22, 106
9:2, 3, 107
9:6, 516
9:11-16, 106
9:25-27, 117
11:5, 123
11:8, 120
11:31, 127
12:1, 126
12:3, 125
12:5, 127
12:7, 128
12:18, 19, 130
13:1-9, 132
13:10, 156
13:10-13, 133
14:17-24, 136
14:19, 20, 157
14:20, 525
15:1-5, 136
15:7-18, 137
15:13, 14, 282
15:16, 434
15:18, 716
16:6-13, 145
16:12, 174
17:1, 370
17:1-16, 137
17:7, 370
17:18-20, 146
18:17-33, 139
18:19, 140, 575
19, 158
19:17, 166
21:12, 151
22:2, 148
22:5-8, 152
22:11-18, 152
22:18, 370
24, 172
25:32, 34, 179
26:5, 140, 154, 363, 370
27:3, 4, 179
27:33, 181
28:13-15, 184
28:16-22, 187
28:22, 188, 525
29:1, R. V., 188
29:20, 189
30:25-27, 30, 43, 192
31, 193
31:15, 189
31:38-40, 190
32, 195
32:28, 198
33:4, 198
33:18-20, R. V., 204
34, 204
35, 205
35:5, 499
35:27, 207
36:7, 207
37, 209
39, 214
40, 219
41, 220
41:54-56, 224
42 to 50, 224
46:34, 232
48:7, 206
49:5-7, 205
EXODUS
1, 241
2:1-10, 241
2:14, 247
2:23-25, 251
3, 252
4:1-26, 252
4:14, 320
4:21, 268
4:22, 23, 273
4:27-31, 257
5 to 10, 257
11:4-8, 274
12:1-28, 274
12:5, 352
12:27, 279
12:29-33, 280
12:34-39, 281
12:40, 41, 51, 282
12:46, 277
13:17-22, 282
14:5-9, 283
14:10-22, 284
14:23, 24, 287
15:1-16, R. V., 288
15:25, 291
15:26, 292
16:3, 292
16:8-10, 14, 15, 18, 31, 295
16:23, 25, 26, 296
16:35, 297
17:1-7, 297
17:14, 299
17:16, 300
18:13-26, 301
19, 303
19:5, 6, 371
20:2-17, 305
20:8-11, 111
20:10, 525
20:19-21, 310
21:14, 516
21:17, 408
22:23, 24, 31, 311
23:9, 20-22, 311
23:10, 11, 531
23:14-16, 537
23:20, 21, 419
23:24, 369
23:24, 25, 543
23:27-33, 544
24, 312
24:7, 372
25:2, 343
25:8, 313, 343
25:22, 62
25:30, 354
26:1, 347
28:2, 350
28:29, 351
29:43, 45, 314
30:12-16, 526
31:13, 14, 17, 313
32, 316
32:15, 16, 314
33, 327
34, 329
34:6, 7, 628
34:7, 469
34:24, 537
35:21, 22, 344
35:23-28, R. V., 344
36:6, 344
39:43, 349
40:34, 349
LEVITICUS
10:3, 6, 7, 361
10:9-11, 362
10:17, 355
16:16, 19, 21, 22, 355
18:5, 372
19:9, 10, 531
19:18, 136, 305, 373
19:31, 689
19:33, 34, 507
20:6, 685
23:40, 42, 43, 540
24:15, 16, 408
25:5, 21, 22, 531
25:9, 10, 533
25:23, 534
25:35-37, 532
26:4-17, 535
27:30, 32, 525
NUMBERS
2:2, 17, 375
3:13, 277
4:15, 705
7:9, 705
8:16, 277
10:33, 35, 36, 376
11, 379
11:8, 295
11:31, R. V., 382
12, 383
12:1, R. V., 383
12:3, 251
12:8, 396
13:17-33, 387
14, 387
14:41-43, 394
15:15, 507
15:35, 409
16, 398
17, 403
18:15, 16, 277
18:21, 530
20:1, 410
20:1-13, 414
20:14-20, 422
20:22-29, 425
20:29, 427
21:5, 428
21:7-9, 429
22 to 24, 438
23:21, 23, 457
24:17, 475
25, 454
25:1-3, 684
26:64, 65, 456
27:16-23, 462
31, 456
33:55, 544
35:11, 12, 515
35:30, 31, 33, 516