1 Chronicles 1:1
Adam, Seth, Enosh.
This is an ancient graveyard. The names
of past generations who were born and died, who loved and suffered, who
stormed and fought through the world, are engraven on these solid slabs. But
there is no inscription to record their worth or demerit. Just names, and
nothing more.
How strange to think that if Christ tarry, our names will be treated with
the same apathy as these! So far as this world is concerned, we and all our
generations shall pass away. As the flowers of the field, so we shall perish
from the earth.
But each of these lives fulfilled a necessary part in the progress of the
race. Each was in turn father and son; each passed on the torch of life;
each contributed something to the fabric of humanity rising like a coral
island from unknown depths. The hilltops would not be possible but for their
lower courses which touch the valleys. We could not have the somebodies
without an immense number of nobodies. The flowers of the race were prepared
for by the slow progress of the plant through years of growth.
But each was the object of the love of God. Each was included in the
redemptive purpose of our Lord; each contributed some minute particle to His
nature; each is living yet somewhere; each will have to stand before the
judgment-bar of God; each is predestined to live in the unknown world that
lies on the other side. It is a stupendous thought to imagine the whole
race, rooted in Adam, like one vast far-spreading tree. Ah, reader, be sure
that thou art taken out of the first Adam, and grafted into the second— the
Lord Jesus; and abiding in Him, see that thou bring forth much fruit to His
glory.
1 Chronicles 2:1
These are the sons of Israel.
It is noticeable how irrevocable the Divine sentence is on a human life. Of
Er, the grave, impartial voice of Scripture says, he was “wicked in the
sight of the Lord”; of Achan, he was the “troubler of Israel, and committed
a trespass in the devoted thing.” These sentences are recorded with such
precision as to admit of no dispute, no appeal; and they sum up the life.
But was there not much else in each of these men? Were there not tender or
chivalrous moments? Did they never shine for a moment in some transfiguring
ray? Was all their life dyed with these sad and somber hues? Ah, it may have
been so— still the one thing that the Scripture tells of them is the sin in
which all their life seemed to culminate and express itself. With unerring
accuracy God can distinguish the one act or word by which the character is
revealed. He may forgive it, but He holds it up as the epitome or summary of
what the life was.
Let us see how we live, walking before God with reverent fear, watching and
praying, because any moment may give birth to a word or act, which may
characterize our life in all coming time. It must be remembered, however,
that all these things emanate from the heart. The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked; but the issues of life proceed thence:
it therefore must be watched with all diligence and care. What a man thinks,
that he is. The chance word or act is a true indication of the inner life.
Therefore it is preserved for all aftertime by the voice of God. See that
your heart is perfect before God. There is forgiveness; but there is also
the unerring verdict.
1 Chronicles 3:1
These were the sons of David.
But how different they were to the Son of David! Contrast any one of these
with our blessed Lord, and what an infinite chasm lies between them! Solomon
was the most reputable of them, but a greater than Solomon was born in
Bethlehem, and cradled in a manger. Surely the least earnest must be struck
with the difference in these sons, and that Son. But in this difference, is
there not the most conspicuous proof of His miraculous conception? Even
though the story of His wondrous birth had never been preserved for us by
the evangelists, we should have felt convinced that something like it must
have happened, in virtue of which He should be the Man of men, the one
absolutely flawless and perfect flower on the stem of humanity. With new
emphasis we read the familiar words, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore that Holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
We, too, who have been born once, need to be born again. To be born of a
David does not ensure perfectness of heart and life. Though born of parents,
who were after God’s own heart and are passed into the skies, we need to be
born again, or we may repeat the sins of an Ammon, an Adonijah, an Absalom.
It is a serious question to ask whether, like David, we have called his
greater Son our Lord. This is the true mark of the new birth. Those who are
born of the Holy Ghost call Jesus Lord, and none other. The recognition of
the supreme lordship of Jesus is imperative for the peace and right ordering
of the heart and life. So we pass to our true stature in Jesus.
1 Chronicles 4:9
Because I bare him with sorrow.
The products of sorrow have been the rarest gifts to mankind. The books,
hymns, discoveries, deeds, to which men and women have been urged by sorrow,
or which have been born into the world amid heart-rending soul-travail, are
those which will never be allowed to die, because perennial sources of
inspiration and comfort. It was thus with the child of whom we have this
brief record. We might becomingly weave the four petitions of the prayer of
Jabez into the supplications of each new morning hour.
To be blessed indeed.— Not the lower springs only, but the upper ones also;
not life alone, but life more abundantly; not those blessings only which
pertain to the body or worldly circumstance, but those spiritual ones of the
heavenlies, that are the best donation man can receive or God bestow.
A larger coast.— There is a godly ambition which may be reverently cherished
for wider influence over men, not for its own sake, but for the Master’s.
You may feel that you have fulfilled the measure of your present
possibilities, but have unexhausted powers and talents. Tell God so, and ask
for a wider extent of territory to bring under cultivation for Him.
Thine hand with me.— The father puts his hand on the boy’s hand as he draws
back the bowstring, strengthening the thin arms of youth. So will the mighty
God of Jacob do for you.
Keep me from evil.— You cannot keep your heart-door shut when a tumult of
temptation or care assaults it from without; but God’s peace and grace, like
angel sentries, can avail you. Though tempted, you may be kept in the
temptation and delivered from the evil. Thus your spirit, and the Holy
Spirit, shall be ungrieved.
1 Chronicles 5:20
They cried to God in the battle, and He was entreated of them.
Whether they cried to God before they went into the battle we are not told;
but probably they did, because we read that the war was of God, and it is
hardly likely that they would have prayed to Him in the midst of the fight,
when the foemen’s blows fell like hail on their armor, if they had not
prayed before they entered the bloody fray. Men often excuse themselves for
neglecting their morning devotions by saying that they will surely look to
God, as they may require His gracious help, in the midst of the day’s
temptations and needs; but, as a matter of fact, when once they are plunged
into its war they forget to look up. You must direct your prayer in the
morning, and look up whilst the early shadows lie long on the dewy grass, if
you would keep looking off to Jesus, amid the din of the fight.
It is very lovely to contract and preserve this habit of looking upward, and
crying to God in the battle. When our feet are slipping, when the foe seems
about to overmaster, when heart and flesh fail-how refreshing and
strengthening to fling one eager look or cry to heaven, and say, I am thine,
save me.” There can be no doubt as to the issue. God is always intreated of
those who put their trust in Him. Sooner might a mother forget her sucking
child than God be unmindful of one sigh, or tear, or upward glancing look
from His own. Oh, child of God, put thou thy trust in God, and go through
this tempestuous world as one who is confident of a Divine Ally. At any
moment He will ride on the heavens to thy help. “Let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need.”
1 Chronicles 6:33
Herman the singer.
This is a very brief record to put on a man’s grave, but a very expressive
one. To decipher that epitaph about Herman is to learn a good deal about
him. From this clue we might almost construct his entire personality and
character. And it would be well if it could be said of us that we had
ministered with song before the tabernacle of the Lord.
Would you be a singer; not on Sundays only, but always; not with your voice
only, but in your heart; not only when the sunshine pours into the open
casement through the swaying boughs of honeysuckle, but when the shutters
tell of bereavement and removal— then remember these rules:— (1st) God must
put the new song into your mouth; (2nd) You must be fully consecrated to
Him; for the song of the Lord only begins when the burnt-offering is
complete. (3rd) You must not go into a strange land, for it is impossible to
sing the Lord’s song there.
Sing on, dear heart, sing on. There is nothing that scares off the devil so
quickly as a hymn. Luther said, “Let us sing a hymn, and spite the devil.”
There is nothing that so well beguiles the pilgrim’s step, and quickens his
pace, when the miles are growing long and weary. There is nothing that
brings so much of heaven into the heart. Singing makes every movement
rhythmic, every service praise, every act thanksgiving. Sing when times are
dark, you will make them bright; sing when the house of life is lonely, it
will become peopled with unseen choristers; go down into the valley of
shadow with a song, and you will find yourself singing the new song of Moses
and the Lamb when you awake on the other side.
1 Chronicles 7:23
It went evil with his house.
It is an old-world tale, and those tears have long since been wiped away.
What led to the death of so many of the stalwart sons of Ephraim is not
quite clear; but apparently they made a raid from the hill-fastnesses on the
men of Gath to lift their cattle, and were repelled with great disaster. At
any rate, they were slain by men of Gath, that were born in the land. They
were part of the early nations of Canaan, that should have been destroyed.
This suggests a significant train of thought. We must beware of the
tendencies and impulses which were born in us, which we have inherited.
They are strong in all of us. Parents transmit to an awful extent their own
passions. What a reason this is for carefully curbing them! I have known the
children of drunkards, grown to middle-life, who have confessed that they
have never spent a day without the conscious craving for alcohol. These are
the men of Gath, born in the land, who will slay us unless we are on our
guard.
There will be irremediable sorrow if we yield to them. Many days of mourning
will not avail to wipe out the sad and bitter memory of the disaster, when
once they have wreaked their wild will on us. If permitted within, they
will, like traitors, open the door to Satan without.
But faith is the victory. He that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God; he
in whom Jesus lives by the Holy Spirit; he who knows the Stronger than the
strong man armed, shall be kept from falling, and preserved unto God’s
heavenly kingdom. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of
the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh.”
1 Chronicles 8:33–34
Esh-baal… Merib-baal
Baal was the idol-god of Zidon and of many surrounding nations. This idol,
representing the sun in his productive force, was worshipped with impure and
scandalous rites. The introduction of this name into the appellation of one
of Saul’s sons indicates the secret root of the declension and consequent
misfortunes of that ill-fated monarch. In the earlier part of his reign he
was perfect in his allegiance to Jehovah— Jonathan means “Gift of Jehovah”—
but as the years went on, he became proud and self-sufficient; he turned to
Baal, the Spirit of the Lord departed from him, and an evil spirit rushed in
to take His place, as wind rushes in to fill a vacuum.
The name which Jonathan gave his son had another significance. Merib-baal is
one who opposes Baal. It is as though he would indelibly, stamp upon his
child an undying hatred and opposition to that idolatry which was undoing
his father’s character and kingdom. In this choice of his child’s name we
also gather the deep-seated piety and devotion of that noble soul, whose
heart was true to God amid the darkening shadows of his father’s reign. It
was this that probably drew David and him so closely in affinity.
How absolutely necessary it is for the peace of a household that there
should be a oneness of devotion to God! Where that is the first
consideration, there is peace and blessedness; and that it may be so, it is
of the greatest importance that the parents should be constant in their
godly allegiance. The ruin of Saul’s home, family, and realm, began in his
personal disloyalty to God; and how far he influenced the nation for evil it
is difficult to estimate.
1 Chronicles 9:22, 29, 31, 33
Chosen to be porters … appointed over the furniture; … the singers.
What a busy scene is suggested in these words! When the morning broke, it
called to duty first the porters who opened the House of God; and then,
after due ablution, each band of white-robed Levites began its special
service. There was no running to and fro in disorder, no intrusion on one
another’s office, no clashing in duty, no jealousy of each other’s ministry.
It was enough to know that each had been appointed to his task, and was
asked to be faithful to it. The right ordering of the whole depended on the
punctuality, fidelity, and conscientiousness of each.
So it is in the Church of Christ, each is specially gifted for some post to
which he has been set apart. One to see to the gates, admitting souls to the
kingdom; one to the baking in pans, attending to the feeding of the
household of God; some are appointed to the furnishing and maintaining of
the House of Prayer; others to the psalmody, as the hymn-writers of our
praise and holy song. How beautiful it is when we dwell together in this
unity, not envying one another, nor interfering in each other’s ministry.
“He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers: for the perfecting of the saints, for the work
of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Whatever is
successfully done by the Church is accredited by Christ to each faithful
servant, just as the impression produced on the audience by an orchestra is
the result of each instrument, even to the piccolo, doing its part. Whatever
is done by the whole, is done by each part of the whole. Be content with the
position to which thy Master has assigned thee, and let thine eye be single
unto Him. So shall each have praise of God.
1 Chronicles 10:13
So Saul died for his trespass. (r. v.)
It is suggestive to ponder the threefold analysis of Saul’s trespass as
given here. He kept not the word of the Lord— this probably refers to his
failure to execute the sentence on Amalek; he asked counsel of one that had
a familiar spirit— this errand had taken him to Endor on the eve of the
battle; he inquired not of the Lord— this was conspicuously the case in his
persecution of David.
Do we sufficiently inquire of the Lord? We ask the advice of our friends and
religious teachers; we sometimes use doubtful methods of ascertaining God’s
will, as allowing the Bible to drop open, or interpreting some coincidence
in the way we secretly desire to follow; besides which there is an
increasing tendency in society to use the crystal, to consult spiritualistic
mediums, to employ palmistry. These latter, of course, repeat the sin of
Saul, in going to Endor; and the resort to them on the part of children of
this world shows that the heart of man must have something exterior to
itself for worship and trust; if it has forsaken God it will deal with the
devil, rather than drift on alone. But let us all cultivate more carefully
the blessed habit of waiting on God. If we ask Him for guidance, He will be
sure to impart it; only we must put aside all selfish and personal ends,
desiring to know His will, with a single purpose, and an unalloyed
determination to follow it at any cost.
Christ has told us that willingness to do His will, is the sure organ of
spiritual knowledge. “He that wills to do His will, shall know.” Be of good
cheer, beloved, God hath chosen thee that thou shouldst know His will, and
see that just One, and shouldst hear the voice of His mouth.
1 Chronicles 11:17
Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem!
David had often drunk of this well. As a boy he had gone with his mother to
draw its clear, cold water. It was, therefore, associated with the happy
days of childhood and youth that lay behind the haze of the years. In the
sultry afternoon, as, from the cave in which he was hiding, he looked across
the valley where his ancestress Ruth had gleaned in the fields of Boaz, to
the long straggling town of his birth, it seemed as though nothing could
stay his passionate longing for a draught of the water of the well of
Bethlehem that was at the gate.
Sometimes longings like his take possession of us. We desire to drink again
the waters of comparative innocence, of childlike trust and joy; to drink
again of the fountains of human love; to have the bright, fresh rapture in
God and nature, and home. But it is a mistake to look back. Here and now,
within us, Jesus is waiting to open the well of living water which springs
up to eternal life, of which if we drink we never thirst.
Purity is better than innocence; the blessedness which comes through
suffering is richer than the gladsomeness of childhood; the peace of the
heart is more than peace of circumstances. We have solace in Jesus, which
even the dear love of home could not equal; and before us lies the reunion
with the blessed dead. How shall we thank Him who, at the cost of His own
blood, broke through the hosts of our foes, and won for us the river of
life; and who forevermore will lead us to the fountains, where life rises
fresh from the heart of God? Listen to His voice as He bids us drink
abundantly: “Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely.”
1 Chronicles 12:38
All these men of war, that could keep rank, came to make David king.
The crowning of David secured the unity of Israel. Because all these men of
war converged on the chosen king, they met each other, and became one great
nation. The enthroning of David was the uniting of the kingdom. Herein is
the secret of the unity of the Church. We shall never secure it by
endeavoring to bring about an unity in thought, or act, or organization. It
is as each individual heart enthrones the Savior that each will become one
with all kindred souls in the everlasting kingdom.
Is your heart perfect to make Christ king? We read in 1 Chronicles 12:33 of
Zebulon, whose warriors were not of a double heart; the margin says they
were “without a heart and a heart.” The double-minded man is unstable in all
his ways; he is not to be relied upon in his loyalty or service to his king.
The only blessed life is that of the man whose eye is single. It is only
such an one that receives anything from the Lord. Let us ask that the
thoughts of our hearts may be cleansed by the inspiration of God’s Holy
Spirit, that our hearts may be perfect toward Him, and so perfect to all who
hold Jesus as King and Head, though they differ from us in minor points.
Different regiments, but one army, one movement, one king.
Let us learn to keep rank, shoulder to shoulder, and in step, with our
brethren. Too many like to break the ranks, and do God’s work independently.
Fifty men who act together will do greater execution than five hundred
acting apart. There is too much of this guerilla fighting. Unity is
strength; and in their efforts to overthrow the kingdom of Satan it is most
essential that the soldiers of Christ move in rank and keep step.
1 Chronicles 13:12
And David was afraid of God that day.
There was no reason for David to be afraid of God, if he conformed to the
rules laid down in Leviticus. There it was expressly ordained that the Ark
should be carried on the shoulders of the priests, because the cause of God
must proceed through the world by the means of consecrated men, rather than
by mechanical instrumentality. David ignored this provision when he placed
the Ark on the new cart. He disobeyed the distinct law of the Divine
procedure. What wonder that Uzza was struck dead! Fire will burn if you
persist in violating its law. Obed-edom, on the other hand, studiously
obeyed, so far as he knew them, the Divine regulations, and to him the Ark
was a source of blessing; just as fire will toil for us in our furnaces and
grates, and be the greatest possible benediction to human life, if only we
carefully conform to its ascertained and immutable law.
God is to us what we are to Him. To Pharaoh, blackness and darkness; to
Israel, light and help. To the froward, He is froward; to the merciful man,
merciful. To one of the thieves, the cross of Christ was the savor of death
unto death, because his heart was impenitent; to the other, the savor of
life unto life, because his heart was soft and believing. You need not fear
God so long as you walk in His ways and do His will. He is to be feared only
by those who violate His law. God is a consuming fire. He will make a breach
on those who disobey Him. He will consume the evil of our inner life. But
let Him be welcomed into your life and home; let the Ark, which is the
symbol of His presence, dwell within; bring up your children to minister
unto Him; and you will be blessed with all that you have.
1 Chronicles 14:15
Then thou shalt go out to battle; for God is gone forth before thee.
What was this “going”? It was not merely a fitful breeze stealing through
the leaves; it was not the going of the wind; but of angel squadrons who
were proceeding against the enemies of Israel. This thought often occurs in
Scripture— as when Jacob met God’s host; and the warrior-Savior told Joshua
that He was captain of a host whom God had commissioned to take Jericho; so
also the horses and chariots of fire surrounded Elisha. Hearken to the
measured footfall of God’s host, beneath which the mulberry trees sway,
though no wind stirs the sultry air.
God’s hosts go forth against His foes and ours. Perhaps we should feel less
oppressed with the burden of the fight if we realized this. The battle is
not ours, but God’s. He will deliver the Philistines to us so that we shall
have to do little else than fight and spoil. Oh, believe in the co-operation
of the Holy Spirit. Lonely missionary in some distant station of the foreign
field, listen for the moving in the tops of the mulberry trees! God is
stirring for thy succor. Thou art a coworker with Him in making known His
salvation; and He will prosper thee.
Let us wait for our instructions. David inquired of the Lord; let us not
anticipate Him. It is useless to go up until He has gone out before us. We
may as well save ourselves from disappointment by quietly waiting for the
salvation of our God. But oh, be sure that those who wait for God shall not
be long before the God for whom they wait shall go forth before them to
smite the host, whether it be the hosts of temptation that oppress the inner
life, or the hosts of spiritual foes that oppose the progress of God’s work.
1 Chronicles 15:22
And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was for song.
The carrying of the Ark to its right place was associated with every
expression of gladness on the part of king and people; but there were some
who were specially set apart as the exponents of the general joy. In the old
time such were David, Heman, Asaph, Chenaniah; in our time, Watts and
Doddridge, Wesley and Toplady, Keble, Havergal, and Bonar.
It is good to be for song. Many a heart that cannot rank as a musician or
poet, may yet be susceptible to the joy of the Lord, which is ever passing
through creation, catching if up so as to express it. As the Ark of the Lord
comes to its place within you, sing.
Song is harmony with the life of God. The will of God sometimes enters life
as a sigh, as David’s first attempt to move the Ark; but afterward it
becomes a song, as in the second attempt. Enshrine the Ark of God with its
tables of stone, its mercy-seat of fellowship, its worshipping Cherubim in
the Holy of Holies within; and you will find sighs turned to songs, tears to
thanks, mourning to the garment of praise.
Worship the will of God. Conform your life with it. Draw on the ground a
circle to represent God’s will, and step into it, resolving never to step
out of its blessed precincts again. Dare to believe and confess that
Paradise lies within, though it may be veiled to sight and sense. According
to your faith it shall be unto you. If you believe that heaven is there, you
will find heaven. The Ark of God is ever a provocative of song. His statutes
seem awful in the distance; but so soon as we begin to practice them, they
turn to songs.
1 Chronicles 16:9
Talk ye of all His wondrous works.
We do not talk sufficiently about God. Why it is so may not be easy to
explain; but there seems a too great reticence among Christian people about
the best things. In the days of Malachi, “they that feared the Lord spake
often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard.” We talk about
sermons, details of worship and church organization, or the latest phase of
Scripture criticism; we discuss men, methods, and churches; but our talk in
the home, and in the gatherings of Christians for social purposes, is too
seldom about the wonderful works of God. Better to speak less, and to talk
more of Him.
But probably the real cause of our, avoidance of this best of topics, is
that our hearts are filled with so much which is not of God, and they speak
out of their abundance. You may judge the contents of a shop by what is put
in the windows, and you may judge of the inner life of too many Christians
by the subjects which are most familiar to their lips. The heart does not
seek for God and His strength, nor His face continually; and therefore we
find it hard to talk of all His wondrous works.
But go back in thought to the day of Pentecost. One of the first signs of
the descent of the blessed Spirit was that the crowd heard every man
speaking in his own tongue the wonderful works of God. What God has done in
the past, as recorded on the page of Scripture; what He is doing day by clay
in the world around, and in our hearts; what He has promised to do on the
horizon where heaven and earth shall blend in the Second Advent; yield fit
themes on which His children may beamingly talk to each other, till He goes
beside and talks with them till their hearts burn.
1 Chronicles 17:23–24
Do as thou hast said, that thy name may be magnified forever.
This is a most blessed phase of true prayer. Many a time we ask for things
which are not absolutely promised. We are not sure therefore until we have
persevered for some time whether our petitions are in the line of God’s
purpose or no. There are other occasions, and in the life of David this was
one, when we are fully persuaded that what we ask is according to God’s
will. We feel led to take up and plead some promise from the page of
Scripture, under the special impression that it contains a message for us.
At such times, in confident faith, we say, “Do as Thou hast said.” There is
hardly any position more utterly beautiful, strong, or safe, than to put the
finger upon some promise of the Divine word, and claim it. There need be no
anguish, or struggle, or wrestling; we simply present the check and ask for
cash, produce the promise, and claim its fulfillment; nor can there be any
doubt as to the issue. It would give much interest to prayer, if we were
more definite. It is far better to claim a few things specifically than a
score vaguely.
David’s argument was not simply that his house might be established, but
that God’s name might be magnified forever. It is good when we can lose
sight of our personal interests in our keen desire for His glory. When we
are so delivered from egotism, that Christ is all and in all. Let the
attitude of your soul be more toward the glory of God; and as you quote
promise after promise for the enthroning of Christ, the saving of men, and
the sanctification of your soul, dare in humble faith to say, Do as Thou
hast said, that thy Name may be magnified forever.
1 Chronicles 18:13
He put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became servants to David.
Edom and Israel were closely related, but there was constant rivalry and war
between the two peoples. Sometimes Israel held the upper-hand for a little;
but Edom soon broke loose again, and resumed the old independence, with the
border forays (2 Chronicles 21:10; 25:11–14; Psalm 137:7). Now as Edom
stands for the flesh, which hungers for the savory dish, and is willing to
give even its birthright of spiritual power to secure it— this long feud is
full of interest to us. It reminds us of the strife of Romans 7, between the
will of the renewed man and the law of the members, ever striving for
mastery.
We turn on the pages of our Bibles to Isaiah 63, where a mighty Conqueror is
seen coming toward the southern frontier of Palestine, with His back on
Bozrah and Edom. His garments are dyed with the blood of Israel’s foes; and
behind Him cities are desolate and depopulated, territories are laid waste
without inhabitant, and Edom’s hostility is forever quenched in blood. What
a portraiture is here of Jesus “mighty to save,” who in His cross triumphed
over principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly. He has
overcome the world, the flesh, and the prince of the power of darkness; and
stands forevermore between us, and our former oppressors.
Let us resign the conflict wholly to Him. We have sought in vain for victory
by resolutions and endeavors; by close attention to religious duties; by
occupying our mind with various interests, so that we had no leisure to be
tempted; by diet and exercise. Now, hand the conflict absolutely over to
Jesus: do not even try to help Him: just let Him do all: be quite still, and
when temptation comes, let Him meet it.
1 Chronicles 19:13
Let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our
God.
Those were days in which rough soldiers, like Joab, did not hesitate to
speak freely of God to their companions in arms. It is a sorry thing that it
is considered a breach of etiquette to mention God’s name in polite society.
“It is not good form!”
We are reminded in these words of Joab of Cromwell’s memorable advice to
trust in God and keep the powder dry. David’s General felt that the ultimate
issue of the battle must be left to God; but that nothing could absolve him
and his soldiers from doing their best. They, at least, must make careful
dispositions for the fight, and show themselves valiant.
This balance of statement and thought between God’s work and ours is an
evidence of fine Christian sanity. We must believe that God is the ultimate
arbiter, but we must ever speak and act as though the responsibility were
entirely on ourselves. To believe that God will do all, and therefore to do
nothing, is as bad as to believe that God leaves us to our unaided
endeavors. We believe in the strength and sufficiency of God’s purpose; but
we know that there is a link in the chain of causation which we must supply.
The servant of God who counts most absolutely on the communion and
cooperation of the Divine Spirit will be most careful in making all needful
disposition for the fight. He will leave no stone unturned to secure the
victory, though he knows that the ultimate decision rests with God. The
conquests of the cross recorded in the Acts of the Apostles were the result
of the united action of the Holy Spirit and the men who were sent forth with
the message of the gospel. “We are laborers together with God.”
1 Chronicles 20:1
The time when Kings go out to battle…. But David tarried at Jerusalem.
There are times and tides in the affairs of men. Favorable moments for doing
and daring, for attempting and achieving. Hours when the ship must be
launched, or it will have to wait for another spring tide. Days when the
seed must be sown, or it will have to tarry till another autumn. Royal
natures show their quality by taking advantage of times like these, when God
and circumstances favor a great attempt.
Alas, if long-continued prosperity has robbed the kingly soul of its desire
or power to use its sacred opportunity! Once missed, it may never recur; and
the soul that has missed it contemns itself, and loses heart, and surrenders
itself to lower and ever lower depths of temptation.
Beware of moments and hours of ease. It is in these that we most easily fall
into the power of Satan. The sultriest summer days are most laden with
blight. There is no such guard against temptation— next to the keeping power
of Jesus, which is all-sufficient— as occupation to the full measure of time
and capacity. If we cannot fill our days with our own matters, there is
always plenty to be done for others. You think that no one has hired you,
but it is not so; the Master has sent you into His vineyard. If you cannot
do one thing, you can another. There is the ministry of intercession for
those who are in the field. There is the exercise of worship, in which you
take your place amongst the priests. There is the ministry of comfort to
some of the sad hearts within your own circle. Redeem the time, because the
days are evil. Watch and pray in days of vacation and ease, even more than
at other times.
1 Chronicles 21:8
And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly in that I have done this
thing. (r. v.)
His sin lay in the spirit of pride and display. He vaunted in the growing
numbers of Israel, and credited them to himself, as the result of his own
prowess and prudence. All such boasting is very abhorrent to the all-holy
God, who will not give His glory to another. It was the sin of
Nebuchadnezzar, when he said, “Is not this great Babylon which I have
built?” It was the sin of Herod Agrippa when the people shouted, saying,
“The voice of a god, and not of a man”; and immediately the angel of the
Lord smote him, “because he gave not God the glory.”
We are all tempted to it when we count up the number of our adherents and
converts; when we unroll our securities and vouchers; when we count up our
assets; when we display our jewels. All these are gifts entrusted to our
care by our Father and Savior, to be held in trust as a matter for gratitude
rather than for pride.
How greatly David had fallen from the level of his own sweet sonnet!— “Lord,
my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty.” Oh, let us ask our Master
Christ to teach us how to be meek and lowly in heart, that we may find rest
unto our souls; let us endeavor to be as little children, devoid of
self-consciousness; and let us be careful, as we survey the growing
treasures and power of our lives, to remember the Apostle’s words “Who
maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? But
if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received
it?”
How well John the Baptist parried the temptation to jealousy, when he said,
“A man can receive nothing unless it be given him from heaven.”
1 Chronicles 22:9–10
A man of rest … he shall build. (r. v.)
The men of rest are the builders of the most lasting structures. Solomon
builds the Temple, not David. Mary’s deed of anointing, learned in much
sitting at the Lord’s feet, fills the world with its aroma. What is needed
to make us men and women of rest?
First, a profound conviction that God is working.— Never despair of the
world, said the late Mrs. Beecher Stowe, when you remember what God did with
slavery: the best possible must happen. This serene faith, that all things
are working out for the best— the best to God, the best to man— and that God
is at the heart of all, will calm and still us in the most feverish days.
There is a strong and an experienced Hand on the helm.
Next, an entire surrender to His will.— God’s will is certain to mean the
destruction of the flesh, in whatever form He finds it; but it is our part
to yield to Him; to will His will even to the cross; to follow our leader
Christ in this, that He yielded Himself without reserve to execute His
Father’s purpose.
Thirdly, a certain knowledge that He is working within to will and do of His
good pleasure.— What a blessed peace possesses us when once we realize that
we are not called on to originate or initiate, nor to make great
far-reaching plans and try to execute them; but just to believe that God is
prepared to work through our hands, speak by our life, dwell in our bodies,
and fulfill in us the good purposes of His will. Be full of God’s rest. Let
there be no burry, precipitation, or fret; yield to God’s hands, that He may
mould thee: hush thy quickly throbbing pulse! So shalt thou build to good
and lasting purpose.
1 Chronicles 23:13
Aaron was separated, he and his sons forever, to minister unto Him.
The threefold office of Aaron suggests our own. When we are prepared to
follow Jesus, through the rent vail of His flesh, living a truly separated
life, cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, we
also, as chosen priests, may exercise these functions of intercession,
ministry, and blessing.
Intercession.— The fragrant incense stealing heavenward is a beautiful
emblem of intercessory prayer. Let us pray more, not for ourselves so much
as for others. This is the sign of growth in grace, when our prayers are
fragrant with the names of friend and foe, and mingled with the coals of the
golden altar. This is one of the best gifts; oh to exercise it more
persistently!
Ministry.— We have many things to engage our attention, but they may be
unified and elevated by the one threading purpose of doing all for the King.
Whether we eat, or drink, or whatever else we do, we may do all to His
glory. Go up and down in the Temple, O priests; engage in song, or
sacrifice, or whatever ministry you will but be sure that all is of Him, and
through Him, and to Him forever.
Blessing.— As Aaron came forth from the most Holy Place to bless the
congregation that waited for him; so we should bless that little portion of
the world in which our lot is cast. It is not enough to linger in soft
prayer within the vail, we must come forth to bless mankind. He who is
nearest God is closest man. Let our smile, our touch, our words, our life,
be the greatest blessing possible to those who know us best.
Blessed Spirit, realize through each of us this threefold ideal, and
separate us from sin and the world, that we may be prepared for it.
1 Chronicles 24:5
Princes of the Sanctuary. (r. v.)
It is not enough for us to be in the sanctuary, we must be princes there.
There must be the regal mien, which is a meek humility; the regal largesse,
which is peace and blessing; and the regal might, which is self-restraint
and self-control. None can be princes of the sanctuary without two things:
they must be priests, come of the priestly line; and kings, royal not
because of deeds of war, but because they are related to the King Himself,
and are regal in their holy and blameless character.
There is only one power that can make us princes of the sanctuary— the hand
of the exalted Lamb, who is Himself a Priest-King, after the order of
Melchizedek. He it is who makes us kings and priests unto God his Father.
He makes us priests.— This is your position, not now to offer propitiatory
sacrifices, but to present yourselves a living sacrifice; to have compassion
on the ignorant, and on those who are out of the way; to swing the censer of
prayer between the living and the dead, so that plagues may be stayed; and
to plead for the dark sad world, with its load of wretchedness, need, and
sin. See that your garments are ever white and stainless.
He makes us kings.— We reign with Him. Sin and Satan, the world and the
flesh, are beneath our feet. Ours the life of overcoming power, of unbroken
victory, of identification with Jesus in the glory that the Father has given
Him. They that receive the abundance of His grace reign. It is there for us
all, but many do not know, or knowing do not appreciate. It is on our
reception by faith of God’s abundant grace, that we reign in this life, and
the next.
1 Chronicles 25:5-6
All these were under the hand’s of their father for song.
What a glorious family was here! The household was a band of choristers!
From morning to night their home must have been full of holy song and psalm,
or talk about the order of the Temple service, in which they were all so
deeply interested. Surely no jarring note, no unholy discord, would live in
such an atmosphere! The common occupation and worship must have welded the
brothers and sisters into the tenderest union.
How one would like to have seen Heman coming into the Temple with his
children! It was largely owing to him and their mother that they were what
they were. We shall read the Psalms ascribed to him with more interest, now
we know of the holy family life out of which they emanated. What interest
there would be when the father had produced a new psalm to know what music
would suit it best!
Parents! Be sure that you look on your children, as these Hebrews did on
theirs, as the gifts of God; and remember that if He gives you many mouths
to feed, He will send the where withal to feed them. Be careful also that
your own hearts and lives are full of praise and prayer; what you are, the
children will become. Would that mothers especially realized how they
transmit their characters. But remember that you must be obeyed in the home.
Heman’s children were “under the hands of their father.” Young people must
not get the upper hand.
But if you would rule well, you must obey. Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun were
under the king (1 Chronicles 25:6, r. v.). The man who is himself under
authority, can say, Go, come, do this or that, with the calm assurance of
being obeyed.
1 Chronicles 26:1
For the courses of the doorkeepers. (r. v.)
Mighty men of valor were needed for this, just as sweet singers were for the
service of song. Entrance to the House of God was restricted to a privileged
few. Gentiles were excluded from certain courts, and women from another. It
was incumbent also to look out for those who, like the publican in the
Lord’s parable, might shrink from intruding, and encourage them to enter.
Doorkeepers had to combine many qualities, which would be of the greatest
service if they could be repeated in each church and chapel of our great
cities, for welcoming old and young.
But chiefly we are concerned with the temple of the heart. We surely need
the doorkeeper there, for in the history of the inner life there is so much
going and coming; such troops of thoughts pour into the shrine of the soul,
and pour out. And often, in the crowd, disloyal and evil thoughts intrude,
which, before we know it, introduce a sense of distance and alienation from
God, as though a cloud had veiled the shining of the Shekinah. Whenever the
sky is overcast within, we should question whether some traitor, some
excommunicate, has entered. Our native wit is not quick enough to detect,
and our strength not mighty enough to withstand, the entrance of all these
evil things. Hence the necessity not only to live in the Spirit, but to walk
in the Spirit, i. e., to submit everything to the Spirit’s scrutiny.
It is necessary also that strict
supervision should be exercised over those who unite with the visible
Church, lest her holiness become diluted, and her fences broken down.
Nothing is more important than the function of doorkeeping for the Church’s
purity.
1 Chronicles 27:31
All these were the rulers of the substance which was King David’s.
There was great variety in office and gift. He who cared for the work of the
field could not have known how to care for the flocks. The overseer of
olive-yard and vineyard would have been a poor hand with the camels and
asses. One sort of talent was needed for the herds, and another for the wine
cellars; and yet there was unity in the common service of the king. We are
reminded of the words of the Apostle, describing the variety in unity which
must obtain in every healthy church: “There are diversities of gifts, but
the same Spirit; diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord;
diversities of operations, but the same God.”
Each of these different men had his distinct sphere for which he was
doubtless specially qualified; and it was his duty— not to be jealous of
others, nor eager to imitate them, but— to be faithful in his own province.
How much happier we should all be if we recognized our specific work in
God’s house, and kept to it, being content to serve the King as He has seen
fit to determine, rendering Him the produce in due season.
How great an error it would have been had any of these begun to account the
produce of cattle or ground as his own. He had nothing that he had not
received, and whatever he controlled had been entrusted to his care for the
emolument and advantage of his sovereign. Yet, how few of us realize that we
are put in business with God’s capital, for God’s use. We take all and give
Him a percentage, instead of using all for Him and keeping a percentage for
ourselves. In this we rob God, and greatly err. We must acknowledge that
both we and all we possess belong to Him.
1 Chronicles 28:20
The Lord God, even my God, … wall not fail Thee, nor forsake Thee.
It is very comforting to take these words to our hearts; especially when we
connect them with the foregoing ones about the pattern, and apply the whole
passage to the temple-building of our own lives. For each of us, too, there
is a pattern, an ideal, a design, based on the possibilities which God sees
to be within our reach; for each, too, there is abundance of stored
provision; but we are not always strong to do. In Jesus there is the
complete ideal of human life; of the Child at Nazareth; of the Servant in
the workshop; of the Lover in His affection for His church; of the Friend,
the Sufferer, the Patriot, the Savior. Go forth and imitate Him!
Sometimes our heart and flesh fail us in the mid-passage of life. Once the
energy and vigor of youth promised to sustain and carry us to the end of
life, without fear or failure; but these die down, and we wonder how the
remainder of the life-plan can be fulfilled. And the one sufficient answer
is— God. He who helped our fathers to the very end will help us: He who did
not fail or forsake them, will never leave nor forsake us, until all the
work of life which He has planned, is finished.
It is probable that you will do better and more enduring work henceforth
than you have ever done in the heyday and plenitude of youthful power, if
you let God work all through you to His own glory. You have no need for
despondency, God is sufficient. Oh to write this down on the tablets of the
heart— God is; God is here; God is all-sufficient; God has begun and will
finish! God has promised that He will never leave nor forsake us; therefore
we may boldly say, “God is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto
me.”
1 Chronicles 29:15
Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding. (r. v.)
All life has been compared to the shadow of a smoke-wreath; a gesture in the
invisible air; a hieroglyph traced for an instant on the sand, and effaced a
moment after by a breath of wind; an air-bubble vanishing on the river.
Pilgrims and sojourners, as were all our fathers— such is the universal
confession. But even such may do a work that will last for ages. David and
the men of his time, though transitory their stay on our planet, left behind
them a standing evidence that they had been here.
Our life is nothing, but it may be Divine: our days are as a breath, but
they may affect unborn generations: the tent of the body is laid aside, but
the soul, which had dwelt in it, is immortal in its touch: it leaves traces
of its own immortality behind in its works, and it lives in them. In one
sense, the answer to the ancient prayer is certain: “Establish Thou the
works of our hands upon us.” But we may well ask, that they may be such that
we shall have no need to be ashamed of.
But, for this, God must live mightily within us. Abide in Me, said our
Lord…. I have appointed you that ye may bring forth fruit, and that your
fruit may abide. It is impossible to be in true union with Christ without
feeling the pulse of His glorious life; and where it enters like a tidal
river, it can have but one result— it must manifest itself in fruit. It is
only in proportion as our works are done in God, and God permeates our
works, that they become sources of enduring blessing to coming time.
Pilgrims though we be, yet, if our lives are spent before Him, we may build
temples which will outlast the wreck of matter.
