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1 Samuel
Chapter Sixteen
1 Samuel 16
Chapter Contents
Samuel sent to Bethlehem to Jesse. (1-5) David is
anointed. (6-13) Saul troubled with an evil spirit
is quieted by David.
(14-23)
Commentary on 1 Samuel 16:1-5
(Read 1 Samuel 16:1-5)
It appears that Saul was grown very wicked. Of what would
he not be guilty
who durst think to kill Samuel? The elders of Bethlehem
trembled at Samuel's coming. It becomes us to stand in awe of God's messengers
and to tremble at his word. His answer was
I come peaceably
for I come to
sacrifice. When our Lord Jesus came into the world
though men had reason to
fear that his errand was to condemn the world
yet he gave full assurance that
he came peaceably
for he came to sacrifice
and he brought his offering with
him; A body hast thou prepared me. Let us sanctify ourselves
and depend upon
His sacrifice.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 16:6-13
(Read 1 Samuel 16:6-13)
It was strange that Samuel
who had been so disappointed
in Saul
whose countenance and stature recommended him
should judge of another
man by that rule. We can tell how men look
but God can tell what they are. He
judges of men by the heart. We often form a mistaken judgment of characters;
but the Lord values only the faith
fear
and love
which are planted in the
heart
beyond human discernment. And God does not favour our children according
to our fond partiality
but often most honours and blesses those who have been
least regarded. David at length was pitched upon. He was the youngest of the
sons of Jesse; his name signifies Beloved; he was a type of God's beloved Son.
It should seem
David was least set by of all the sons of Jesse. But the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. His anointing was not an
empty ceremony
a Divine power went with that instituted sign; he found himself
advanced in wisdom and courage
with all the qualifications of a prince
though
not advanced in his outward circumstances. This would satisfy him that his
election was of God. The best evidence of our being predestinated to the
kingdom of glory
is
our being sealed with the Spirit of promise
and
experience of a work of grace in our hearts.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 16:14-23
(Read 1 Samuel 16:14-23)
Saul is made a terror to himself. The Spirit of the Lord
departed from him. If God and his grace do not rule us
sin and Satan will have
possession of us. The devil
by the Divine permission
troubled and terrified
Saul
by the corrupt humours of his body
and passions of his mind. He grew
fretful
peevish
and discontented
and at times a madman. It is a pity that
music
which may be serviceable to the good temper of the mind
should ever be
abused
to support vanity and luxury
and made an occasion of drawing the heart
from God and serious things. That is driving away the good Spirit
not the evil
spirit. Music
diversions
company
or business
have for a time often been
employed to quiet the wounded conscience; but nothing can effect a real cure
but the blood of Christ
applied in faith
and the sanctifying Spirit sealing
the pardon
by his holy comforts. All other plans to dispel religious
melancholy are sure to add to distress
either in this world or the next.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Samuel》
1 Samuel 16
Verse 1
[1] And
the LORD said unto Samuel
How long wilt thou mourn for Saul
seeing I have
rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil
and go
I
will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among
his sons.
Mourn —
And pray for his restitution
which the following words imply he did.
Oil —
Which was used in the inauguration of kings. But here it is used in the
designation of a king; for David was not actually made king by it
but still
remained a subject. And the reason of this anticipation was the comfort of
Samuel
and other good men
against their fears in case of Saul's death
and
the assurance of David's title
which otherwise would have been doubtful.
I have provided —
This phrase is very emphatical
and implies the difference between this and the
former king. Saul was a king of the people's providing
he was the product of
their sinful desires: but this is a king of my own providing
to fulfil all my
will
and to serve my glory.
Verse 4
[4] And Samuel did that which the LORD spake
and came to Bethlehem. And the
elders of the town trembled at his coming
and said
Comest thou peaceably?
Trembled —
Because it was strange and unexpected to them
this being but an obscure town
and remote from Samuel
and therefore they justly thought there was some
extraordinary reason for it.
Peaceable —
The Hebrew phrase
comest thou in peace
is as much as to say (in our phrase)
is all well?
Verse 5
[5] And
he said
Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves
and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons
and
called them to the sacrifice.
He sanctified — It
seems evident that there was something peculiar in Jesse's invitation. For
first
both he and his sons were invited
whereas the others were only invited
for their own persons. Secondly
the different phrase here used
that he
sanctified these
when he only bade the other sanctify themselves; argues a singular
care of Samuel in their sanctification. Which makes it probable
that the rest
were only to join with them in the act of sacrificing; but these
and only
these
were invited to feast upon the remainders of the sacrifices.
Verse 6
[6] And
it came to pass
when they were come
that he looked on Eliab
and said
Surely
the LORD's anointed is before him.
Before him —
That is
in this place where God is now present. For it is observable
that not
only the sacrifice is said to be offered
but even the feast upon the
remainders of it is said
to be eaten before the Lord
Deuteronomy 12:7
that is
before or near his
altar
where God was present in a special manner. This I take to be the person
I am sent to anoint: wherein yet be was mistaken
as other prophets sometimes
were
when they hastily spake their own thoughts
before they had consulted
God.
Verse 10
[10] Again
Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said
unto Jesse
The LORD hath not chosen these.
Seven —
There are but seven named
1 Chronicles 2:13-15
because one of them was
either born of a concubine: or
died immediately after this time.
Verse 11
[11] And
Samuel said unto Jesse
Are here all thy children? And he said
There remaineth
yet the youngest
and
behold
he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto
Jesse
Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.
Keepeth sheep —
And consequently is the most unfit of all my sons for that high employment.
Either therefore he did not understand David's wisdom and valour
or he judged
him unfit
by reason of his mean education. And God so ordered it by his
providence
that David's choice might plainly appear to be God's work
and not
Samuel's
or Jesse's. David signifies beloved: a fit name for so eminent a type
of the Beloved Son. It is supposed
David was now about twenty years old. If
so
his troubles by Saul lasted near ten years: for he was thirty years old
when Saul died. Samuel having done this went to Ramah. He retired to die in
peace
since his eyes had seen the salvation
even the sceptre brought into the
tribe of Judah.
Verse 13
[13] Then
Samuel took the horn of oil
and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and
the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose
up
and went to Ramah.
Anointed him —
David's brethren saw David's unction
yet did not understand
that he was anointed
to the kingdom; but were only told by Samuel
that he was anointed to some
great service
which hereafter they should know. Thus Jesse only
and David
understood the whole business
and his brethren were able to attest to that act
of Samuel's anointing him
which
with other collateral evidences
was
abundantly sufficient to prove David's right to the kingdom
if need should be.
The spirit
etc.
—
That is
he was immediately endowed with extraordinary gifts of God's Spirit
as strength
and courage
and wisdom
and other excellent qualities which
fitted him for
and put him upon noble attempts.
Verse 14
[14] But
the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul
and an evil spirit from the LORD
troubled him.
Departed —
God took away that prudence
and courage
and alacrity
and other gifts
wherewith be had qualified him for his public employment.
From the Lord —
That is
by God's permission
who delivered him up to be buffeted of Satan.
Troubled —
Stirred up in him unruly and tormenting passions; as envy
rage
fear
or
despair. He grew fretful
and peevish
and discontented
timorous and
suspicious
frequently starting and trembling.
Verse 16
[16] Let
our lord now command thy servants
which are before thee
to seek out a man
who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass
when the evil
spirit from God is upon thee
that he shall play with his hand
and thou shalt
be well.
Be well —
And the success confirms their opinion. For although music cannot directly have
an influence upon an evil spirit to drive him away; yet
because the devil
as
it seems
had not possession of him
but only made use of the passions of his
mind
and humours of his body to molest him: and because it is manifest
that
music hath a mighty power to qualify and sweeten these
and to make a man
sedate and chearful; it is not strange
if the devil had not that power over
him when his mind was more composed
which he had when it was disordered; as
the devil had less power over lunaticks in the decrease
than in the increase
of the moon: Matthew 17:15
18. And seeing music prepared the
Lord's prophets for the entertainment of the good Spirit
as 2 Kings 3:15. Why might it not dispose Saul to
the resistance of the evil spirit? And why might not the chearing of his heart
in some measure strengthen him against those temptations of the devil
which
were fed by his melancholy humour? And by this means
David without any
contrivance of him or his friends
is brought to court
soon after he was
anointed to the kingdom. Those whom God designs for any service
his providence
will concur with his grace
to prepare and qualify them for it.
Verse 18
[18] Then
answered one of the servants
and said
Behold
I have seen a son of Jesse the
Bethlehemite
that is cunning in playing
and a mighty valiant man
and a man
of war
and prudent in matters
and a comely person
and the LORD is with him.
Prudent — Wonder
not
that David was so suddenly advanced
from a poor shepherd
to so great a
reputation; for these were the effects of that Spirit of the Lord which he
received when he was anointed.
The Lord
… —
That is
directs and prospers all his undertakings.
Verse 20
[20] And
Jesse took an ass laden with bread
and a bottle of wine
and a kid
and sent
them by David his son unto Saul.
Sent him —
This present
though in our times it would seem contemptible
yet was very
agreeable to the usage of those times
and to the condition of Jesse
which was
but mean in the world. And it seems to have been the custom of those times
(as
it is yet in the eastern countries) when they made their appearance before
princes
or great persons
to bring a present.
Verse 21
[21] And
David came to Saul
and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he
became his armourbearer.
Stood before him —
That is
waited upon him.
And he loved him greatly — So there was something good in Saul still: he had not lost all
tho' he
had lost the kingdom.
Armour-bearer — He
had that place conferred upon him
though we do not read that he ever exercised
it; for it seems he was gone back to his father upon some occasion not related;
and had abode with him some considerable time before the war described
chap. 17:1-53
happened.
Verse 23
[23] And
it came to pass
when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul
that David took
an harp
and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed
and was well
and the
evil spirit departed from him.
Departed —
Namely
for a season. And the reason of this success
may be
partly natural
and partly
supernatural
respecting David; whom God designed by this means to
bring into favour with the king
and so to smooth the way for his advancement.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Samuel》
16 Chapter 16
Verses 1-13
How long wilt thou mourn for Saul.
Overmuch sorrow
and its aura
In one of the visions of the prophet Ezekiel
a man with a
writer’s inkhorn in his hand was commissioned to “set a mark upon the foreheads
of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the
midst” of Jerusalem. Samuel was one who sighed and cried for the abominations
which were done by Saul in his day. But sorrow
however reasonable and
becoming
may be carried too far. It may be indulged until it unfits us for
duty
or darkens our hope in God; it may disturb our peace and weaken our
energies; it may be made an occasion of our halting
and of our neglecting
public duty. The very tenderness of Samuel’s heart and his jealousy for God had
bedimmed his faith
and kept him bewailing the case of the king. There is a
lesson in this of very great practical importance. We may have lost a bosom
friend or we may have witnessed a son of many prayers despising parental
counsel
and rushing headlong to eternal ruin. God’s wisdom is infallible
and
in its developments in Providence is always pared by His love to us. His
removal of any of the objects of your affection is now beyond recall. You have
duties to God
to your own soul
and to others
which cannot afford the
consumption of your energies in sorrow. In the obedience of His will your
griefs will be assuaged and sanctified. Samuel was summoned from his vale of
tears to undertake a new commission and provide a new leader for the chosen
people. A new care is to occupy the prophet’s mind
a new friend is to draw
forth his affection
and new objects of labour and of love are to engage him.
The sense of personal and relative responsibility is made by God to rebuke and
cure a sorrow deemed inconsolable. Those whose spirits were burdened by heavy
grief
caused by losses or by crimes
took up a pilgrim’s staff and made a
journey to the Holy Land. It was generally believed that a pilgrimage
or a
soldiership in the holy wars
was penance sufficient to expiate sin and remove
the burden of a sorrowful spirit. But there is a pilgrimage and a cross-bearing
eminently serviceable to heal a sorrowful spirit
and to this every mourner is
personally called. “How long wilt thou mourn? . . . Fill thine horn with oil
and go
I will send thee.” Yes
mourner
take your staff and go. You have
rested long enough at Marah
and drank enough of its bitter water.
Circumstances call upon you to journey in the service of the Lord. Your regrets
and melancholy indicate need of further conformity to the Lord Jesus. Your
grief will be moderated by the satisfaction of obedience to Christ.
1. There is a duty to the Lord. Like Samuel
you are in His service
and have vowed to do His will and to acquiesce in His ways. David lay upon the
earth
fasted
and prayed
while affliction was upon his child; but when he
learned the issue--that the child was dead--he “arose from the earth.” God does
yet forbid tears
but He expects obedience in resignation and the discharge of
duty.
2. There is a duty to your own soul. “Why go I mourning? Why art thou
east down
O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God;
for I shall yet praise Him
Who is the health of my countenance
and my God.”
The greatest cause for mourning in this world is conviction of personal guilt
in the sight of God. The effect of God’s truth upon the conscience is to calf
forth bitter sorrow. The convicted sinner repents and wrings his soul in
sorrow
and often in tears. In the Puritan revivals of the seventeenth century
this was no less characteristic of the awakening appeals of Baxter and of
Flavel
of Owen and of Howe
of Rogers and of Bunyan
of Welch and of Dickson
of Rutherford and of Blair. Deep sorrow for sin marked all awakened souls in
that extensive reformation of religion. At such a time many do not know what to
do to obtain peace. They cry with the Jews of old
“Men and brethren
what
shall we do?” and with the jailer
“What must I do to be saved?” There is oil
of joy for such mourning. Relief must come from without. It is not to be got by
brooding over your guilt and sorrow
but by arising and going to the Saviour.
3. There is a duty to others. Samuel had something more to live for
than his own interest. He was an important member of the Hebrew commonwealth.
His grief was a public calamity. The sorrow into which he was plunged might do
injury. When there are others to care for
sorrow must not be immoderate. Our
friends make demands upon our anxieties
and prayers
and labours. No partial
affection for those who are lost can excuse neglect of those who are spared. No
regret for the dead can apologise for inattention to the living. How strong an
appeal is this to moderate and sanctify sorrow! Labourers for Christ! you may
have to mourn over disappointed hopes and lost opportunities
and you may be
ready to give way to melancholy at the retrospect of your want of success. But
this mourning is ill-judged
sinful
and disastrous. Arise
fill your horn with
oil and go to work again. (R. Steel.)
Mourning for the living
We generally mourn for a man when the light has gone from his eye
and his form is still in death. But Saul was worth a good many dead men. He did
not pass to his fathers for twenty-three years after the time these words were
spoken concerning him. And yet with Saul in the very prime of manhood
God said
unto Samuel
“How long wilt thou mourn for Saul?” Samuel had seen with sorrow
the king’s lack of high purpose and endurance. He had seen the stress of life
tearing the anchor from the rock. Judging by the subsequent life of the
ex-king
the rejection was a deeper sorrow to Samuel than to Saul. Samuel knew
that in the chosen king was that spark of goodness that needed but to be fanned
to become a flame; he knew also that Saul by his own acts was extinguishing
even that spark. In the life that men saw
Saul was enriched: in the life that
God saw
he was impoverished. And when the inevitable judgment came--in the
removal of the sceptre--Samuel mourned for Saul. Of what truths does the story
of the royal castaway remind us?
I. That a man may
be dead while yet alive. All around us we see men dumb to Divine questionings
deaf to human pleadings
blind to the uplifting vision
men whose Bible is the
ledger
whose only church is the shop
whose one god is gold. Such men are dead
while yet alive. Samuel of old mourned for the living
and the living still
causes hearts to mourn. A mother’s tears for her prodigal son may be more
bitter than those which fall upon his coffin. A father’s anguish for his
daughter’s sin may be more intense than the anguish born of her passing into
the Unseen. The presence of the dead is physically harmful to the living
but
the spiritually dead are more harmful. Physical death is inevitable
but it is
not the worst thing that can befall a man. The death of the soul causes the
very angels to weep.
II. That to live
truly is to live triumphantly. And to be victorious in all things is one of the
natural and inherent desires of the human heart. Men desire to be mighty
but
the might of man must be based upon the eternal right of God. Triumph cannot be
divorced from truth
for God has joined them in an indissoluble bond. There was
no hope for Saul as a king
but there was hope for him as a man. The old adage
“While there’s life there’s hope
” is profoundly true. If we will but
stand
still
we shall see the salvation of God. The very atmosphere in which we live
and move and have our being is charged with resurrection power. “Awake thou
that sleepest
and Christ shall give thee light.” (F. Burnett.)
I have rejected him.
The root of national faults illustrated in the life of Saul
The character of Saul would be by itself sufficient to arrest the
attention of the most heedless reader of the annals of human nature; but seen
by the side of David
it is more remarkable still. The contrast between the two
is strong and lucid at every point. Saul is the man of the world in every
respect. He is the Roman hero
shot with the colours of the despotic East; the
kind of man who ever has been the hero and demi-god of the world’s idolatry and
worship
and ever will be; while David in but few particulars would obtain the
admiration of mankind. There is just the difference between the two that there
is between the natural and spiritual man; between him who is governed by
natural religion
and him who is governed by the grace of God. But while this
is the case with Saul as an individual
he resembles in a striking manner the
character of nations. While he embodies the spirit of Rome
and the philosophic
Greek
and bears the strong impress of the Asiatic despot he gathers up into
himself the leading features of our own nation. He is very Saxon. The errors
which we as a nation are constantly making
are
in all their leading features
those of the King of Israel. We are inclined nationally to embody the elements
which form Saul’s character
and to worship the result. We are inclined as a
nation
in each circle of our society
educated and uneducated
to despise
those elements which form David’s.
1. The character of Saul:--Saul’s appearance was in his favour: men
always are favourably impressed by personal advantages. Height
power
and
beauty are ever weights thrown into the descending scale in the hand of the
world. Facility is half the man.
2. He was reserved; and every man who has the power of reserve gains
two steps to the one gained by him who speaks his feelings; simply because the
tongue is the first instrument of hurried conviction
and the rapid speaker
makes many slips. To have perception
feeling
and discernment
but to be able
to hold them all in check
is one of our greatest powers. But the same force
which Saul could use over his private feelings of this kind
he was also able
to use over his affections. The world has ever admired this kind of trait
from
Brutus downwards; but after all it may be an over-rated virtue. Saul valued religion.
With no religious faith
he knew the value of religion.
5. Saul
too
was proud
intensely proud. Saul bad no vanity; but he
had genuine pride.
6. Then he was generous; and generosity is ever valued by the world.
7. But the determination to recognise the externals of religion led
him often into something very like dissimulation. But dissimulation in certain
things is a virtue in the world; it is so with matters to do with religion.
8. But there is a second stage in Saul’s Career which is highly significant.
God gave up Saul
and the difference was manifest; the evil spirit occupied him
at once.
9. Then came the third stage
--strikingly consistent
however
paradoxical
with the others--the stage of superstition. The large-minded
infidel becomes narrowed to the small compass of the superstitious
and he for
whom God and His Church were not wide enough
satisfies himself with the Witch
of Endor. He who found the priesthood too confined a means to attain his end
and the sacrifices too formal
bowed before an incantation
and shivered before
a ghost. The only truly wide-minded man is he whose thought and soul are
limited by the Word and Will of Gad. His death was worthy of him. The Roman
philosopher fell upon his sword; and Saul strove to perish by suicide.
II. But Saul is
best seen in contrast. The key to Saul’s character is self-seeking: that
unlocks each portion of his being. David’s soul was fixed on seeing God. He was
absorbed in the Being in Whom he lived
died
and had his being. The world
cannot appreciate this; and if the world cannot
still less the infidel.
1. Saul
I said
delighted in reserve: David expressed everything.
His heart was full
and “out of the abundance of his heart his mouth spake.”
Saul delighted to show independence of everyone
and contempt of those on whose
aid he might be supposed to rely. Far otherwise with the son of Jesse. He was
ever bewailing the conduct “of the sons of Zeruiah
” courting Abner
or
pacifying Joab. He seemed to delight in showing his real dependence on all who
surrounded his throne.
3. Saul calmly swore that Jonathan should die
and the entreaty of a
people and a devoted army could hardly rescue him from his hands; and yet what
son deserved more at a father’s hands than Jonathan? David wept for Absalom
a
rebel and a hardened libertine.
4. With Saul
sacrifices
priests
and prophets were but useful
unrealities
figures of a clever fiction
dramatis personae of the stage
on which he happened to be acting: with David they were powerful realities.
5. Saul reserved the prey and spoil for himself
and made his own
compromise with God. David’s obedience was entire; his own wail was that it was
not more perfect than it was. Saul never committed himself before the people;
David often did. He never strove to conceal the feeling which worked within
him.
6. One feature in Saul’s character I have not mentioned--his regard
for aristocracy and wealth. Agag and the flocks were saved
and that at the
expense of God’s Will and word. The son of Jesse found delight equally with the
poor and lowly
as with the sons of kings and the hereditary princes of foreign
lands.
7. Saul became the slave of Satan
and his heart the dismal scene of
the operations of evil spirits; David became “the man after God’s own heart.”
8. Saul’s soul narrowed as he advanced: the temple in which it at
last worshipped was the Witch’s Cave at Endor. David’s daily widened. The
Temple of Jerusalem was the design of his old age; and the expansive knowledge
of God and His Law is recognised in many a Psalm. Saul lived to establish and
elevate self. Proud
independent
and ironical
he moved over a plane of his
own. But he left no crown to his son His very descendants were extirpated.
David had no such aim; he never thought of aggrandisement or of self; but his son
sat on his throne
and that to many generations. And the Son of David occupies
the throne of eternity. “He shall reign forever and ever Lord of lords and King
of kings.” The two are placed in such singular juxtaposition and contrast
that
they must be intended to be viewed together.
III. The striking
application of the character of Saul to our own nation and race. Is there not
among us an inclination to view the Church as a means rather of keeping the
people in subjection
and a great and efficient instrument for education
than
as having a real and intrinsic power of its own--a sacramental energy
which is
there
whether we use it or no? Is there no tendency
too
besides that very
superstition
when we are religious
which marks the impression of unreality as
clinging to all the great external observances of Christianity?
1. We have national traits of pride
independence and reserve
which
remind us of the clever king. When his election was in hand
“he hid himself
among the stuff
and he could not be found.” It was the affectation of reserve.
His contemptuous silence at the neglect of the men of Belial
and those other
occasions referred to above
show the same tendency. Our reserve as a nation
goes far
and shows itself in many ways. There is a lurking disposition to
suppress the expression of distinctive Christianity
and to use the parlance of
natural religion in preference to that of the Christian. Is it not true that
that very suppression of natural impulses which society is inclined to admire
and almost to deify
is after all often a cloak for a more subtle form of
self-seeking and proud independence? We see the inclination to suppress natural
affections from an early age. The schoolboy scarcely likes to own his mother
and is not sure whether he ought not to be ashamed of his sister. This state of
things belongs especially to my own country. It is not found in the same way on
the continent. The natural emotions of the heart are more recognised and
honoured among other people than among ourselves. We may rate the subjugation
of natural affections too highly; we may be passing by some other tendency
in
whose discipline we shall gain a higher standing.
2. But there is a still more striking parallel in the case of Saul.
His tendency was aristocratic and avaricious. He obeyed God’s order in invading
the territory of Amalek. But he preserved the king and the sheep. The soft yet
imperious call of kindred sovereignty were too much for the lowly-born monarch.
For this he sacrificed his obedience to God. The tinkle of the ornaments which
sounded on the camel’s neck of the Amalekite prince
were more attractive than
the approval of the Prophet. May we here
too
find no parallel with ourselves?
Though we are proud of the free access to high position offered to the lowliest
born of those whose circumstances are most humble; and while a popular
government guarded by the restraints of a monarchical and aristocratical
influence is our often-repeated boast among the nations of the earth; still
is
there not a singular inclination to covet the smile and favour of the
nobly-born
and a constant recognition of the fact that we would sacrifice
distinctive Christianity rather than the approval and countenance of a court?
We worship respectability. Its forms peer in the background of all our
professions.
3. But more
Saul saved the sheep. Money is sometimes the cry of a
nation
and the amassing wealth
or standing high in a commercial reputation
frequently transcends the homage paid to God Himself.
4. But a graver evil still is suggested by Saul’s character. His
religious belief was broken. It rung to the touch of the world outside; but it
had no substance. It was not faith. Religion and the Church were machines with
him available for important State purposes
but here they stopped. The ministry
of the Church may be represented as
and treated like
a foible
with no
commission beyond the civil appointment. The Church herself is looked upon as a
State machine
to be curtailed or amplified at no higher bidding than that of
the earthly sovereign. And yet with all this the respect paid to those who
occupy ecclesiastical position and office reminds us at every turn of Saul’s
homage to Samuel
while he laughed at the effort made by the Prophet to
establish anything more than a conventional position. The day may come
and
that soon
when this momentous question may sever man from man with a wrench
for which Church history in this country has scarcely a parallel. The day when
men must say whether there be anything or nothing in the Holy Eucharist;
whether the ministry be an order which holds its charter from heaven; and
whether the Church herself
be descended by Divine appointment through
successive ages
the Bride of Christ and the instrument of salvation to man; or
whether she be merely the best arrangement existing to carry out the ends of
the politician and the legislator. These things are either anything or nothing.
5. But the end of Saul was singular. From the dreams of unrealities
and shams he betook himself to the pursuit of the figures of superstition. He
forsook the boundless expanse of scepticism to pen himself up in the dark and
confined cell of superstition. In pursuing the parallel we must see whether
as
a nation
we may not be yielding to superstition
while we reject religion. The
attendance at church on Sunday morning performed as an act of expiation for the
sins of the week past
and palliation of the intended laxity of the week to
come; the subscription offered to the swelling list of benefactions for this
public charity or the other; the mite offered from the ample fortune to the
Church to justify the alienation of the remainder of fortune to self; are
really acts of superstition. Saul perished on the field of battle. It may be
that by a fall from the pride of military glory nations of similar characters
to the Israelitish king may have yet to learn that it is not in the bow
or in
the horse
or in princes is the safe trust
but only in the Lord our God. Men
tell us we must have a fall. The world at large have detected British pride. It
may be magnificent
it may be successful
it may draw down admiration
or fear
or awe; it may compel homage; it may dazzle the eye of the observer
lest he
detect flaws which really exist; but it must be offensive to God
it must “have
a fall.” It is “the meek who will inherit the earth.” (G. Monro.)
The true and the counterfeit
as the Bible may be called God’s Picture Gallery so the Holy
Spirit frequently bangs up side by side two portraits which bear much
resemblance to each other
and yet have points of striking difference. I think
it is plainly one of God’s great purposes to help us to discriminate between
the true and the false. Judas and Peter both act basely; but one is a traitor
while Peter
with all his sin
is a genuine disciple. The same contrast
again
we observe in the ease of Demas and Luke. “For
” says St. Paul
“Demas hath
forsaken me
having loved this present world
and is departed to Thessalonica:”
“Only Luke is with me.” One more contrast let me remind you of. In the eighth
chapter of the Acts we read of Simon Magus
how he was astonished
believed
and was baptised; but he was not converted; his heart was not right in the
matter; and Peter tells him
“Thou art in the gall of bitterness
and in the
bond of iniquity.” But at the close of that chapter we have in the Ethiopian
eunuch a beautiful instance of honest search after truth
and simple belief.
I. The sad story
of Saul’s life. I think we shall be led to observe the dramatic effect produced
in the arrangement of the First Book of Samuel. As in the earliest chapters the
pious childhood of Samuel is contrasted with the profligate career of the sons
of Eli
so
as we dwell upon the later chapters
our minds are continually
divided between admiration of David’s fortitude
charity
and holy faith; and
pity for the sinful course and evident misery of the once noble king of Israel.
1. There is certainly much about Saul’s early conduct which is very
captivating. He was a very fine young man; taller by a head and shoulders than any
of the people
and there seems to have been
at first
a very pleasing humility
in him; he said nothing to his uncle of his prospects. Then he was a man of
warm affections. Again
he was a man who had evidently received some religious
impressions. Still I think we are warranted in saying that there was no work of
grace in his soul. It is said indeed of Saul
that “God gave him another
heart
” and that “the Spirit of God came upon him;” but as God never calls to a
work without giving the power to perform it
this only refers to his
qualifications for government.
2. Notice
next
the steps in his decline. While he was in humble
life he had a humble spirit
but prosperity was too much for him: with wraith
and power came spiritual decline. Oh
beware of ambition: beware how you “seek
great things for yourselves.” You are thinking of advancement
perhaps
desiring promotion
or laying up a fortune. Look at Saul; look at Solomon; and
I think you will pray
in the words of our Litany
“In all time of our wealth
Good Lord
deliver us.” Saul’s prosperity was his ruin. David says
“It is good
for me that I have been afflicted:” nay
I am inclined to think that even in
his ease there is a beautiful simplicity of character
and steadfastness of
faith
a singleness of eye
during the times of his affliction
which we often
look for in vain when things went well with him. Next
we observe in Saul what
is sure to come with pride and ambition
a want of faith
and an impatience
which led him to offer the sacrifice
instead of waiting for Samuel. Prosperity
had been too much for him: he had begun to depart from God. When faith in the
unseen is weak
and heavenly things do not occupy the soul
it almost always
falls a prey to covetousness: and hence his sin on this occasion; the spoil was
too tempting
and he seizes upon it like Achan.
II. Your duty
towards mere professors--towards those who
while in many respects they
resemble Christ’s disciples
are not really the people of God. It is said that
one use that is being made of the metal called aluminium
is the manufacture of
sovereigns so nearly resembling the current coin that it is extremely
difficult
to distinguish between them. The stamp is in all respects perfect
the colour is the same
they are even of the same weight
and the application
of some acids produces no results. Still there is a difference in value
and of
course they will be able to discover it at the banks. Satan is very clever; he
has been able to produce
in all ages of the Church
splendid hypocrites
such
as have deceived some even of the elect. Still
there is a difference at heart
between every child of God and every child of the devil. How shall I know a
Judas from a Peter
a Demas from a Luke
a Saul from a David? Contemplate
Jesus: let His perfect term continually fill your eye: walk yourself habitually
with Him; and then you will not long be deceived.
1. There is a duty of separation. It became Samuel’s duty to separate
from his friend; and we read that “Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day
of his death. Are you as particular about this as you should be? You must not
be too lax in your judgments. Those first six verses of Matthew 7:1-29
show you that while it is
not your duty to condemn
it is your duty to discriminate.
2. Yet there is one more duty which we learn from Samuel’s conduct
towards Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul And so we have the picture of the one man
going on from bad to worse
adding sin to sin; and his friend
who
from duty
to God
felt constrained to keep aloof from him
still mourning over and
praying for him: even as Jesus wept over Jerusalem. (C. Bosanquet
M. A.)
Vindication of the sentence on Saul
Saul was a man
an Israelite
a king
the first king of Israel;
under these heads let us group our observations.
1. He was a man. Is this a great thing? Yes
very. There are so many
of us that we think lightly of our kind. But what lofty dignity there is in
manhood! What marvellous responsibilities cluster about it! Crowned with a
kingly immortality how sublimely important is each individual! God’s claims are
on that heart. Each instance of withdrawal or suspension of its homage
nay
even the independent action of its powers without reference to heavenly
supremacy
is an act of disloyalty. If this earth contained but one rebel how
would his loyal fellows stare at the prodigy! But no familiarity with sin can
in God’s estimate
take away its first offensiveness. How preposterously
foolish to quarrel with the Great King when
in any instance
He makes the line
of judicial infliction in temporal things approach the line of the sinner’s
deservings!
2. Saul was an Israelite. As such
the claims of God
and his own
responsibilities were largely increased. The will of God pressed with peculiar
force on the conscience of every member of that nation. The Jew who neglected
or interfered to modify the Divine will was doubly culpable. Still further
aggravated would be the offence if that will were plainly laid before the mind
and emphatically pressed upon the conscience. Precisely such was the case of
that offender whose conduct we are reviewing.
3. Saul was king of Israel. As such
he was vicegerent of God. God’s
lieutenant and the asserter of Israel’s rights ought to have set himself
promptly to the completion of the case against Amalek by avenging upon them the
dishonour of God
and the damage done to His people. See we not here that
insubmissiveness of will
that independence of aim and action which form the
germ of all the evil that has intruded upon God’s holy universe. Nor is it a
valid plea
palliating deviation from the strict and full performance of his
commission
that it involved a dreadful sacrifice of human life. And if his
heart recoiled more violently from the execution of the king than from the
carnage of the whole nation
this only adds another touch to the outline of his
vanity. It would be a rare triumph for him to lead about the captured king of
their oldest and bitterest enemies.
4. Saul was the first king of Israel. The nation had just passed
through an important crisis. The change of government was the permitted
consequence of national unfaithfulness to God. His holy presence
as their
immediate Ruler
was irksome to their criminal independence
and alarming to
their conscience. When their king fully develops his character
he is found to
be animated by the same views and feelings. Here
then
are most critical
circumstances. The people have drifted far into the region of disloyalty to God
and indifference to Divine things
and the change of Government which this
ungodliness introduced has added new force to the current of growing
degeneracy. The king has connived at disobedience. Most perilous precedent!
Doubly so at the commencement of a new regime which it must help to mould. If
knighthood
in its early days
be permitted with impunity to tamper thus with
the behests of God
and vaunt itself in the spoils of authority reft from the
majesty of heaven
what shall the end be? The case is urgent. A preventive
however terrible
must be applied. (P. Richardson.)
And Samuel did that which the Lord spake
and came to Bethlehem.
Samuel’s visit to Bethlehem
1. How much history is entwined around one locality! The very name of
a village recalls events most momentous to the world
and fills our minds with
the memories of the past. “Man is a materialist
and he tries to give a
material magnitude to memorable places; but God chooses any common spot for the
cradle of a mighty incident
or the home of a mighty spirit.” “Twenty years
ago
” says the writer from whom we have just quoted
“Some English voyagers
were standing on a flat beach within the Arctic Seas. From the excitement of
their looks
the avidity with which they gazed into the ground
and the
enthusiasm with which they looked around them
it was evident that they deemed
it a spot of singular interest. But anything outwardly less interesting you
could hardly imagine. On the one side
the coast retreated in low and wintry
ridges; and on the other
a pale ocean bore its icy freight beneath a watery
sky; whilst under the travellers’ feet lay neither bars of gold nor a gravel of
gems
but blocks of unsightly limestone. Yet it was the centre of one of
nature’s greatest mysteries. It was the reward of years of adventure and
hardship; it was the answer to the long aspirations and efforts of science--it
was the Magnetic Pole. The travellers grudged that a place so important should
appear so tame. Bethlehem was “little among the thousands of Judah” in its
palmiest days
and it has not advanced in civic greatness since; yet one of the
most celebrated spots of which the world is proud. While yet without its village
it had a hallowed name in Hebrew story as the birthplace of Benjamin and the
burial place of Rachel. There were the fields of Boaz
where Ruth gleaned
behind the reapers amidst the golden sheaves. There Jesse held his patrimony
and in his dwelling was the nativity of the minstrel king. There was anointed
the man after God’s own heart to be the king of Israel
by which his native
village was made the mother of a long line of princes. Here halted the star
that had guided eastern sages to behold the King of kings. And behind the khan
in one of the oxen’s stalls
a wayfaring woman “brought forth her first-born
son
because there was no room for her in the inn;” and in that babe of
Bethlehem the incarnate God was manifest. Many have gone far to behold this sacred
spot
and have lingered devoutly over its scenes as they recalled the glorious
events of which it has been the theatre.
2. Samuel had felt it hard to bow to the decree of God
and sorrowed
so much as to receive a rebuke--the only one recorded as spoken by God to him.
He was reluctant to go to Bethlehem even after his commission. He “shrunk from
this task which added all that was wanting to confirm the doom of Saul. He
sought to shun the duty by expressing apprehensions for his safety should Saul
hear of the transaction.” “How can I go? If Saul hear it he will kill me.” This
was a question of inquiry
perhaps
rather than of distrust--a question such as
Manoah put regarding the angelic visitant to his wife
and such as the Virgin
Mary proposed when she asked regarding the unparalleled annunciation which
Gabriel had made to her. Samuel sought counsel from the Lord in his extremity
that he might be enabled to fulfil the Divine command. It was not that he
shrank from duty
however trying
but that his way might be opened up for its
discharge. God suggested a way: “And the Lord said
take an heifer with thee
and say. I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. And call Jesse to the sacrifice
and I will show thee what thou shalt do; and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom
I name unto thee.” This removed the great difficulty
and guaranteed Divine
wisdom to direct his conduct. How safely might he go when he had the counsel of
God--when he was assured of strength and wisdom according to his day! It is
ever thus with obedient faith in following the path of duty. The believer may
go on when he has the word of God to encourage him. The Lord opened up Samuel’s
way by suggesting an exercise that concealed his chief object. He was to take a
heifer with him
and call Jesse to the sacrifice and feast. This seems to have
been not an unusual occurrence. A similar occasion took place when Saul was
first apprised of the kingly dignity awaiting him. It was quite an event in
Bethlehem that the venerable prophet should be there. The people held him in
very high esteem
and felt an awe upon their spirits in his presence. His was
entirely
so far as they were concerned
a religious errand. He declared his
purpose thus:--“I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord; sanctify yourselves
and
come with me to the sacrifice.” So Samuel desired the purification of the
sanctuary to be passed by those that joined with him in the sacred ordinance.
They were to wash their clothes--indicative of the spiritual cleansing of the
heart which is essential to the right observance of the sacrifice. Samuel
assisted in the exercise
he performed for them the priestly service
as Moses
did for Israel and gob for his sons. It is meet that there should be special
preparation for holy services. It is true that believers are always understood
to have a right to privileges; but they have not always the fitness. They may
have been backsliding; their hearts may have been polluted; they may have
become entangled in worldly cares. A season of preparation is
therefore:
proper and useful. How solemn it makes a communion when you go from the laver
to the table
and from the robing room to the banquet hall! How sweet it makes
the fellowship when you realise acceptance
and have communion with the Father
and with the Son
and with the Holy Ghost! That sacrifice at Bethlehem had its
joys; and its blessed influence would long be felt by Jesse and his sons. But
ere they sat down to feast upon the offered victim
Samuel had another ceremony
to perform.
3. He sought a special interview with the sons of Jesse
that he
might set apart one of them for a high dignity in the future history of the
Hebrew commonwealth. The Lord said unto Samuel
Look not on his countenance
of
on the height of his stature: because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth
not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance
but the Lord
looketh on the heart. The beautiful is not always the true nor is that real
beauty which is merely outward. In man the material is superseded by the moral.
The nation of highest cultivation in heathendom worshipped the beautiful to the
neglect of the moral. Greek religion was aesthetic
not holy. The goodly
countenance fascinates
and then too often deceives; but it is “the ornament of
a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price.” The
opinions of God an those of men are much contrasted here. “The Lord looketh on
the heart.” Solemn thought! He knoweth fully all that characterises the inward
and spiritual nature of man. The quaint
but spiritually-minded John Berridge
thus wrote of his heart: “O heart heart
what art thou? A mass of fooleries and
absurdities
the vainest
craftiest
wickedest
foolishest thing in nature.”
Beholding himself in the mirror of God’s word
his opinion agreed with that of
God. David must have had a similar view of his when he prayed
“Create in me a
clean heart
O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
4. The man after God’s heart at last
was found! The captain of the
people of God
who would fulfil in his rule all the will of God
was selected.
The great type and the earthly progenitor of the Messianic King
and the pledge
of Israel’s greatness
stood out before the prophet’s eye. Samuel’s grief was
assuaged. We are thus introduced to one whose personal history and typical character
are of undying interest to the Church of God. Genius was born with this son of
Jesse. Music and poetry were a part of his nature
and received a high
development from his ardent cultivation. His harp often beguiled the loitering
day or the weary night
as he watched his flocks; and
when a minstrel was
sought to soothe by melodious sounds the agitated mind of Saul
whom God’s
spirit forsook
the young Bethlehemite was made musician to the king. David was
a poet
and sang his own Hebrew melodies to his tuneful harp. He was godly
and
dedicated his music to the praise of Jehovah. He was profoundly acquainted with
the word of God
and while setting many of its heroes of faith and events of
grace to music
he was permitted to add largely to the volume of inspiration.
Samuel rejoiced in David ca the day of his anointing
though he saw not yet all
things put under him. In like manner may the believer rejoice in the Son of
David and the Son of God
though he sees not yet all things put under His feet.
We have a pledge of his future government of all things after God’s own heart
in what He has already done. (R. Steel.)
Verse 7
Look not on his
countenance
or on the height of his stature.
God’s estimate of human
availability
This enunciation of one
fixed principle in the Divine government is of immense value as having a
practical bearing upon all the mighty relations which each man sustains to his
Maker.
I. Let us try to
analyse the statement on the negative side
to begin with. The Lord does not
look upon the outward appearance in fixing His judgment of any human soul. It
so happens that this very narrative actually specifies many of those
particulars which men are wont to regard as highest in value.
1. For example
the Lord does not look upon one’s social rank. The
family of Jesse had no conspicuousness or remarkableness
as the world reckons.
Moreover
David was the one that made it royal
and when he was chosen he was
by no means the head of it. Good Lady Huntingdon used to say she thanked God
for the letter M
for he did not tell Paul to say “not any
” but “not many.”
Now it is certainly true that the best part of the world’s highest worth has
risen from what would by some be called its lowest sources. It is usual to
sneer at the plebian birth of Oliver Cromwell as well as that of Napoleon
Bonaparte; but this had nothing to do with any vices they displayed or any
virtues they possessed. These men were kings of other men by reason of a
manhood which Charles the First; never got from the contemptible Stuarts
nor
Louis the Sixteenth from the more contemptible Bourbons. The pride of rank is
prone to run into an extreme of superciliousness
of self-seeking
and of
oppression. Cornelius Agrippa actually institutes an argument to prove that
there was never a nobility which had not wicked beginning.
2. Furthermore
the Lord does not look upon one’s family history. The
lineage of Jesse
Obed
and Ruth was quite humble in its origin. David’s mother
is not even mentioned by name in the Scriptures. It is pitifully mean and
conceited for anyone to set himself up as meritorious because his family once
had a hero among its members.
3. Again
the Lord does not; look upon one’s fortune. If anyone
supposes that the wealth of the “rich kinsman” Boaz had come down by
inheritance into this family estate
we are surely without hint that the
property had anything to do with the lot of the shepherd boy David.
4. Nor does the Lord look ripen one’s appearance. It is interesting
to notice that in the margin of our English Bibles the words in the seventh
verse of this chapter
“the outward appearance
” are rendered more literally
“the eyes;” and also the words in the twelfth verse
“a beautiful countenance
”
are rendered “fair of eyes.” That is to say
David is not chosen for his good
looks
nor is Eliab rejected because of his; they may both have had fine eyes
but; the Lord doth not regard such things in His selection of men for high
service of Himself. John Milton was blind
and Thomas Carlyle was not
considered attractive in showy company. Paul was diminutive and half blind
in
bodily presence weak and in speech contemptible; “but
” says Chrysostom
“this
man of three cubits’ height became tall enough to touch the third heaven.”
5. Once more: the Lord does not look upon one’s age in making His
choice of men. He sometimes selects children
and then trains them at His will.
Polycarp was converted at nine years of age
Matthew Henry at eleven
President
Edwards at seven
Robert Hall at twelve
and Isaac Watts at nine. God chooses
His best workers often in the beginning of their intelligent existence; they
that seek Him early are sure to find Him.
II. Turn to the
positive side of the statement concerning the Divine choice of men. The Lord
does not look upon the outward appearance: what does he look upon? What is
meant here by the word “heart?” “The Lord seeth not as man sooth; for man
looketh on the outward appearance
but the Lord looketh on the heart.” It is not
necessary that we try to be abstruse and philosophical in giving an
interpretation to this familiar word “heart.” The entire nature of the
individual is brought into view.
III. In a sober
review of what has already been said
it seems as if there might be wisdom in
picturing our own lives for a little while
in holding them out before careful
and discriminating analysis. Then we can put some fair questions.
1. For example
this. Do we hope for God’s favour on the ground of a
long line of personal recommendations? Some there are who conceive of their
advantages as far higher than those of others
although many men with whom they
compare themselves are on much superior elevations both in experience and in
communion with God.
2. Then again: this subject leads us to inquire whether our personal
salvation is to be settled by what the world around us thinks about
our showy
piety
or by what the Lord Himself thinks. There is an outward
sanctimoniousness which looks very like sanctity: will it all end the same way?
3. Finally
in view of this subject
there would follow this
question: How much of what worldlings prize will vanish when the Lord makes
known His register of actual worth? Calmly does that eye of God keep gazing
down upon men: it registers us all justly; end that estimate will stand forever
undisturbed. (C. S. Robinson
D. D.)
Outward appearance
Men of the world worship
outward beauty
but if they find it nothing more than an appearance without a
reality in manner and deed
it soon tires them. An old writer compares beauty
to an almanac; if it last more than a year it is a marvel. Men weary of that
beauty which is nothing more than an ornamental show. A modern writer aptly
says that “the highest beauty is the expression of an honest heart and a sweet
disposition.” There is a flower known by the name of “Imperial Crown
” which is
admired on account of its showy appearance
but you throw it away because of
its unpleasant perfume. The Lord values men and women
not by their diamonds
their gold
their carriages
and their titles
but by the purity of their heart
and the helpfulness of their disposition. In God’s mind
there is no
distinction of plebeians and aristocracy. The only nobility God recognises is
the truth of the heart and the goodness of the life.
1. God has created us in order that we may acquire true beauty. If we
are honest
we shall admit that in heart we are not beautiful. The New
Testament
confirms this; but the gospel is good news
revealing that every man
may be transformed into the children of light by the indwelling of the
beautiful spirit of God. When governed by the new nature
which God gives to
everyone that asks
all mankind shall become beautiful. He is still a man
but
he has received the nature of a God. Do you think God sent you into the world
only to stitch at that machine
or to go up a ladder with bricks
or to sweep
that gutter? He sent you into the world to be made a beautiful being
with a
holy character
a sweet disposition
an angelic life. Let us live for our high
destiny. Do not be troubled though it takes many years to grow beautiful.
2. If we would be beautiful in the sight of God
and exhibit this
character to our fellow men
we must learn His will
and do it
and on no
account grieve Him.
3. Another foundation for a beautiful character is that you are not
only to love God
but also love your fellow men. If you would be beautiful in
your life
you must copy the disposition of Jesus
Who lived for one great
object
namely
to bless and save mankind. (W. Birch.)
Man looketh on the outward appearance
but the Lord looketh on the
heart.
God’s estimate of human
character
I. God’s purpose
claims a specific direction: the “Lord looketh on the heart.” What
does this
mean? David’s own understanding of the examination through which he in company
with his brothers passed in this instance comes to view afterward in the
rehearsal of one of his historic Psalms for the temple use: “The Lord shall
judge the people: judge me
O Lord
according to my righteousness
and
according to mine integrity that is in me.” The chief of all the words he here
employs is “integrity:” this he accepts cordially for himself and repeats with
equal candour for the aid of others. Now we know that the word “integrity” is
derived from the Latin integer; and the meaning of integer is “whole;” and
wholeness is our old strong Saxon for holiness. That is to say
what God means
by stating that He looks upon
not the outside of a man
but his “heart
” is
that He considers the wholeness of one’s nature
and desires it to become
holiness. He looks at each man through and through
and registers him by his
soundness
his genuineness
his entire character.
II. God’s purpose
erects a fixed standard. A man’s “heart
” as thus understood in the religious
sense and as worthy of the Divine regard
depends upon the thoroughness with
which the man adjusts each exertion of his will to the Divine wall. That is to
say
God’s heart is the test of man’s heart
God’s wish
God’s plan
God’s
purpose--in a single word
God’s law--showing the perfect standard.
III. God’s purpose
starts a permanent revolution in a human character. The most interesting verse
in this narrative
as well as the most valuable
is that which announces how
“the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” If
is
wonderful to think of these changes now wrought upon thin anointed stripling.
Henceforth he is to be the shepherd of Israel; so he continues to manage his
father’s flocks a while longer
in order that he may learn the shepherd’s duty.
Henceforth he is to be the sweet singer of Israel; so he lingers out under
Bethlehem sunsets and Syrian stars
in order that he may seek poetic images a
while longer for some additional Psalms. Henceforth he is to be the monarch of
Israel; so he is led a while longer among fierce outlaw experiences
consorting
with the oppressed and the poor
in order that he may learn to understand his
own subjects before he has hold of the sceptre by which be is to rule them
wisely. And during this entire period this crownless king is hastening
unconsciously forward in the lines of God’s unfaltering purpose. The Unseen One
is the All-seeing One. He does not look on the outward appearance at all
save
as one of His ways of knowing the man’s heart. This leads to another question:
What is the use of wasting years of weary life in just trying to keep up
appearances before men and women and before God? Oh
how full this old world is
of those who spend their time and energy in fashioning parades of unreality and
hypocrisy and emptiness
not one of which is looked on by God
not one of which
is respected by meal. And this
too
to the neglect of the heart
upon which
are grounded the decisions of present favour and future destiny. What
disappointments at the day of final reckoning there will be for men and women
who have fought for a title
a star
or a ribbon
in the vain hope of being
looked upon because of it! What disclosures of folly
what revelations of
surprise! How ignoble their aims
how empty their achievements
how absurd
their ambitions
how fierce their rivalries
how useless their victories
how
unimportant even their worst defeats! The call of God does not confer on any
one the privilege of pride or the indulgence of haughtiness; it calls a servant
to service
and kingship comes further on. It only makes a true soul more
knightly and more bumble to know that he has been summoned in secret into the
grand purposes of God. (C. S. Robinson
D. D.)
The standard of God’s
judgment
I. We learn the
difference between God’s judgment and man’s. God looketh on the heart; man on
the outward appearance. The greatest heart
in that family best in the humblest
bosom. God saw the only kingly heart in the shepherd boy
and He made him king.
So the world stands before God. He divests men of the trappings of wealth
the
robes of office
the assumptions of power These things are temporal and
adventitious circumstances
mere cobwebs we have woven round us. Man looks on
the face
God on the heart; man on the body
God on the soul. Man’s judgment is
false; God’s is true.
II. Then we learn
that appearances are often deceitful. Our race has had bitter lessons of this
truth. Our first parents learned that the glittering folds of the serpent only
covered the malignant spirit of the devil. How often have we learned “one may
smile and smile and be a villain.” I remember that the grandest man I saw in
the war
grand in the splendour of his military equipment
was an ignorant and
presumptuous corporal; and the plainest and most unpretentious man was the
greatest general. In the Saviour’s time the most pretentious men
who “thanked
God they were not like other men
” were the Pharisees
who paraded their virtue
and advertised their pride before the ignorant and astonished multitude.
III. We learn that
honour belongs to no station. This man was a shepherd. His brothers were
warriors. God put the shepherd over the soldiers. When He would select a man to
write the immortal “Pilgrim’s Progress
” where did he find him? A noble from
the English court? A professor from the Oxford faculty? No; but a tinker from
Bedfordshire. Here is his own description of himself: “I was of low and
inconsiderable generation; my father’s house being of that rank that was
meanest and most despised of all families in the land. I never went to school
to Aristotle or Plato
but was brought up in my father’s house in a very mean
condition among a company of poor countrymen.” James A. Froude says of this
man: “This is the account given of himself and his origin by a man whose
writings have
for two centuries
affected the spiritual condition of the
English race
in every part of the world
more powerfully than any other book
or books except the Bible.” God saw the heart of a kingly man beneath the
tinker’s coat of John Bunyan. Do you wonder at the astonishment of the people
when a poor peasant stood up in the synagogue in his own village and said: “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” Do you wonder that they said
“Is not this a
carpenter
the son of a carpenter?” That is the language of men.
IV. Finally
let us
be content with an humble station. David’s life is an illustrious example of
this: He was
doubtless
never so happy or contented as when following his
father’s sheep over Judea’s hills. His greater honours only brought him greater
cares and greater sorrows. Then let us learn humility and contentment in our
lot. (E. O. Guerrant
D. D.)
The imperfection of human
insight
From the outset of David’s
life
then
we may draw three important conclusions. First
that God makes
choice of those to inherit His best blessings whose hearts He knows to be
right. Secondly
to be very cautious in our opinions concerning ourselves.
Thirdly
to be equally circumspect in our judgments concerning others.
I. First of all it
is to be observed
that
when the Scriptures speak of persons as ordained and
predestinated to future blessings
it is only either because their lives and
conversation are pleasing to God
or
if not be
because He foreknows that they
will afterwards prove so. When it is said of Abraham that “he shall surely
become a great and mighty nation
and all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed in him;” a reason immediately follows: “For I know him that he will
command his children and his household after him
and they shall keep the way
of the Lord to do justice and judgment.” When the honour of giving existence to
John the Baptist is bestowed on Zacharias and Elizabeth
the sacred historian
takes pains to inform us that “they were both righteous before God
walking in
all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” When Cornelius was
chosen to be the first- fruits of the Gentile harvest
we are told: “He was a
devout man
and one that feared God with all his house
which gave much alms to
the people
and prayed to God always.” The case of St. Paul
which is
ordinarily brought forward as an especial proof of God’s arbitrary selection
is
indeed
a confirmation of what we are now saying. The heart of Paul was
especially adapted for receiving
embracing
and diffusing the mercies of the
Gospel. Man
who looked on the outward appearance
judged otherwise;--Ananias
who knew him only by the fame of his persecutions
would remonstrate with God:
“Lord
I have heard by many of this man
how much evil he hath done to Thy
saints at Jerusalem; and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind
all that call on Thy name.” But the Lord replied as he did to Samuel; he
confuted the proud self-complacency of human penetration
with “go thy way
for
he is a chosen vessel unto Me.” Similarly in the text
the reason given for the
selection of David from all the sons of Jesse is
“the Lord looketh on the
heart.” The Lord knew the sincerity and the piety of his intentions
and
therefore
although he was despised of men
he was accepted of God This conduct
of the Lord
with respect to David
is especially important
because it is only
a sample of His dealings in regard to ourselves. The Lord is now looking on the
heart of everyone amongst us. It should be remembered that the greatest sinner
may be anxious to preserve a good reputation with the world
because without
this
it would be impossible to maintain a comfortable existence: but it should
also be remembered that reputation is not virtue
but only its semblance: and
those who strive to obtain a good name are generally successful
since man
looketh only on the outward appearance. Doubtless
a good name is a valuable
possession; but we are not to suppose that we are good precisely in proportion
as we are so reputed. We may act from a desire to stand well with the world
instead of a wish to approve ourselves to God. Regard not the opinion of the
world as any standard of your situation in respect of God. Like Eliab
you may
win the admiration and affection of the world
and yet not be accepted by God.
II. Moreover the
Christian will acquire another important lesson from the text
as regards the
consideration of his own condition. No one among us ought to esteem himself
unhappily circumstanced
whatever may be his situation
or whatever his
afflictions. Remember that of the sons of Jesse seven were honoured and
esteemed by their father
add among men; one was neglected and despised; yet
were all the former rejected by the Lord
while the poor unhonoured David was
taken from the sheepfold to be a king and the ancestor of the blessed Messiah.
But at the same time remember
that David was not chosen because he was
despised among men
but
because his heart was right towards God; poverty and
lowliness of estate in themselves give us no title to the favour of God; but
the poor who endeavour to do their duty in their station
and the afflicted who
bear their afflictions patiently
have no reason to repine: the Lord has looked
on their hearts
and pronounced concerning them.
III. What the text
instructs us with regard to our judgments of others. The text shows the extreme
unreasonableness
no less than wickedness of such conduct. We can only judge by
outward appearance after all: Samuel
a religious man
chosen by God to be His
minister and interpreter
is mistaken in his estimate of Eliab: and
after
this
we must acknowledge that the wisest among us have little chance of an
insight into the character of others
so long as our opinions must be guided by
outward appearance. But above all
this incapability of seeing the hearts of
men should restrain us from all curious speculation on the characters of those
with whom we have no concern. Could we see their hearts as clearly as we can
observe their outward conduct
we should still be inexcusable
as frail and
fallible creatures
in passing judgment on our brethren: but
as it is
our
judgments may be false as they are cruel and criminal: like Jesse
nay
like
Samuel
we may despise those whom God has not despised. (H. Thompson
M. A.)
David anointed king
Samuel’s grief over Saul’s
failure and consequent rejection seems natural. To Samuel Jehovah had first
revealed the fact that Saul was to be king Samuel had anointed him. Samuel
stood sponsor for him. Between them had grown up a warm attachment
so that one
ground of his grief would be the sense of personal disappointment. Then he also
grieved for the nation. But even sacred and sincere grief may transgress its
law and become sinful. There is a natural and healthy sorrow for what is gone
that is right. And there is a morbid and unreasonable clinging to what we
cannot call back
that is wrong. There is a stubborn refusal to accept the
situation
that is rebellious and wicked. Then Jehovah states the ground for
this chiding: “How long wilt thou mourn? I have rejected him I have provided me
a king among the sons of Jesse.” Kings come and go
but the kingdom stays.
God’s workers appear and disappear
but His work goes on The importance of a
single individual to the success of God’s work is often exaggerated. The very
life of this church is said to depend on the ministrations of a certain pastor.
The loss of this generous and devout layman
we are told
would kill the
church. But if the rank and file are steady and faithful
the loss of a leader
does not bring inevitable defeat. God provides against emergencies. At every
great crisis
God speaks and says: “I have provided me a man.” When the time
has come for missionary work among the Gentiles
Paul is ready When the time is
ripe for the Reformation
Luther is ready. When American slavery is to be
fought with words and laws and grape shot
Wendell Phillips and Lincoln and
Grant are ready. Every large doorway of opportunity is filled with a large man.
But back behind all emergencies God sits and waits. His great right hand is
full of men
and when the hour strikes he speaks to the crisis and says: “I
have provided me a king.” Men who do not know God wonder at the opportune
appearance of the right man at the right place and lust in the nick of time. It
all comes naturally and inevitably in the order of Providence. When summer
comes
the beasts of the field need shade trees to protect them from the heat
of the sun. But the same sun that brings the necessity for shade calls out the
leaves to furnish it. There is purpose and unity in it all. The children of God
never marvel at the meeting of the man and the occasion. And in this passage
one hand of God was rejecting Saul
was clearing the ground for a new and
better reign; and the other was already reaching for David
anointing him king
and leading him up to the empty throne. “I have rejected
I have provided
” are
the two aides of the picture
the two hands of God’s activity. One makes the
emergency
the other makes and moves the needed man to meet it. The chief
grounds for choosing Saul
the former king
had been his physical and fighting
excellence. Now in the face of this failure
which resulted from the lack of
inward fitness
it was natural that Jehovah should say to Samuel: “Look not on
his countenance
or on the height of his stature; . . . for the Lord seeth not
as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance
but the Lord looketh
on the heart.” Saul was selected for his outward excellence
but now a man must
be chosen who has the inner qualities of faith and obedience; one who
because
of that inner attachment to God may become in spite of faults and sins a “man
after God’s own heart.” The Lord seeth not as man seeth. Jehovah is not simply
asserting his keener judgment
but that his seeing is bent on different
objects. It goes for the inwardness of things. And it is important that God’s
children should have firm hold of this same canon of judgment--not the outward
but the heart. It is a valuable principle in judging individual men and in
judging wide movements of men. Some proposed social or industrial reform may
wear an attractive outward appearance
but we are to look to the real
inwardness
the heart of it. In the last analysis what will it do for the
spirit of man
for the man who lives in and back of all the outward prosperity
and adversity with which the reform deals? The purpose of society is not so
much to get the bodies of men well fed
well housed
well clothed
as to make
men. And you can only make men as you get down to where the man lives
where
the man is. Within all prosperity or adversity dwells an ethical and spiritual
being
and he must be faced and provided for. And all social efforts must look
at the heart and recognise that nothing but the bringing of the heart into
harmony with the Divine order will secure permanent and prosperous harmony in
things outward
so that
before we can anoint any movement and call it king
we
look at its inwardness. Thus instructed by the spirit of the Lord as to the
principle of right judgment
Samuel reviews the remaining sons of Jesse with
new eyes. He realises now that we cannot put a man on the scales and weigh him
or stand him against the wall and measure him and tell how much man we have God
in choosing kings and leaders breaks away from our little man-made rules of
primogeniture. He ignores our petty conventionalities as to grades of honour
and dishonour in kinds of honest work. His choices seem to go across lots and
break down the little fences men have built along the lines of succession. The
Spirit of God
which is the only anointing and ordaining power in the Church or
in the world
goeth where it listeth. So in this lesson the spirit of God
looked over the tops of the little objections Jesse laid in the way
on out to
the fields where the last son of the family was humbly tending sheep
and
recognising the royalty in him
said: “Send and fetch him: we will not sir
down until he comes hither.” And when David came the Lord said: “Arise
anoint
him: for this is he.” Here was another proof of the central thought
that the
Lord seeth not as man seeth. David had done nothing kingly yet. The signs and
tokens of coming royalty were not in any outward marks or deeds. He was all in
the bud. But the Lord looked on the heart and saw inside of the shepherd
a
king
and he knew that it only required time to make the kingliness live and
grow and sit upon its throne. (C. R. Brown.)
The Divine method of
judging character
I. It is
exclusively Divine. It is not given to man
not given perhaps to the highest
created intelligence
to peer into the depths of another spirit
and there
sound all the motives and impulses of action. In sooth
man is unable to detect
or ascertain all the varied forces even within himself
which prompt his own
actions. “Who can understand his errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults.”
Still less able is he to penetrate into the motives of his fellow men.
II. It is
manifestly just.
1. To judge from appearance would be very inaccurate judgment.
2. To judge from appearance would be a very partial judgment. Suppose
it were possible to catalogue all your external actions
say for one week of
your existence
and then catalogue also the unembodied desires
wishes
volitions
cravings
aspirations of the soul during that week
what would be
the one compared to the other? A page to a volume. Our inner activities are
incessant
varied
and almost innumerable. Therefore to judge a man by his
external conduct would be a very partial judgment. From this it seems clear
that God’s method of judgment is after all the true method.
III. It is alarmingly
suggestive.
1. It suggests the imperfection of the best of us in the sight of
Heaven.
2. It suggests terrible revelations at the last day.
3. It suggests the necessity of a heart’s renovation. (Homilist.)
The fallibility of human
judgment
Here is a principle of the
Divine government which is well worthy of attention; for it is put before us in
direct contrast with our own natural tendencies and habits; and put before us
in a way powerfully calculated to show us the fallacy and the carnality of our own
mode of judging of each other. “The Lord seeth not as man seeth.” Now
it is
not to be supposed that man is condemned because he has not the omniscience of
the Deity: it is not man’s sin that he does not look at the heart; he cannot
look at the heart. But the error into which Samuel fell
and into which the
majority of men fall
is
a carnal readiness to form a conclusion
in a manner
not delegated to them
upon inadequate grounds. It is wisdom in such a case to
recognise our unfitness to form a judgment
owing to the scanty range of our
knowledge: and yet we see how frequently the reverse is the case
and how
on
inadequate grounds
men rush to an immediate conclusion. Samuel suffered all
the testimony of his experience
founded on Saul’s wilful and impenitent
conduct
to be silenced by the outward personal attractions of Eliab: and
though he had manifest proof of the unfitness of Saul for the throne
he did
not allow himself to entertain the idea which his experience might have
suggested to him
that
in this case also
a comely exterior might cover a weak
understanding and a depraved heart. This
then
is the difference between the
judgment of man and the judgment of God. God looks through all the motives
and
forms a just and impartial judgment from all the premises before Him: man sees
but little indeed; but he forms a hasty
and partial
and inferior judgment
from all the evidence that is really before his eyes. The various scenes of
life present unnumbered instances of the evil to which we refer.
I. With a view
therefore
to correct this evil
allow me to illustrate it by a reference to
several facts of Scripture. The Scripture supplies us with some very striking
cases which exemplify this impartial judgment of the Lord.
1. The judicial decision in the garden of Eden is a remarkable
instance of it. Both Adam and Eve throw the blame from themselves. But how
wisely and justly does the holy Lord God discriminate between them
and so
fairly apportion to each their due measure of punishment
as to leave it beyond
all question that “the Lord searcheth the heart.”
2. There are some striking instances in which God marks and discerns
the wickedness that is unseen by man. The instance of Enoch is one of these.
The ungodly men of his days had spoken hard speeches against him
and decided
him and his prophecies: but
in the meantime
“Enoch walked with God;” and the
eye of God was upon him
and he saw not as men seeth.
3. The history of Moses presents to us a similar instance. In his
early endeavours to benefit his people
he was misunderstood; and
having
interfered for their welfare at the risk of his life
he was driven by the
treacherous conduct of those whom he laboured to serve
to leave the palace and
seek shelter in the wilderness. But there the Lord recognised him as a chosen
servant; and from hence
at length He called him to be the leader and commander
of His people and the law-giver to the whole world.
4. There is a still more striking case in the mysterious dealing of
God with Job. The misfortunes which burst simultaneously upon him
deceived his
best friends; and
judging from outward appearances
they pronounced him a
wicked man. But
in the midst of all these trials
the Lord knew him to be “a
just man
one who feared God and eschewed evil;” and
in the end
He brought
forth his judgment as the light and his righteousness as the noon-day.
5. We pass on to the instance of the Redeemer Himself. Our blessed
Lord was regarded by the priesthood and the people as a madman and a deceiverse
Men accounted Him a blasphemer; but the Lord declared that “grace and truth
were in His lips.” Man regarded His death as a satisfaction due to the broken
law of His own nation; the Lord accounted Him the spotless victim in the cause
of redeeming mercy. There never has been a more striking exemplification of the
difference between the judgment of God
and that of man.
6. A similar difference of estimation
also is found with reference
to the Apostles
the first preachers of Christian truth. Men thought lightly of
their character. He speaks of their being regarded as “reprobates.” But what in
the midst of this contempt of men
is the judgment of God? “We are unto God a
sweet savour of Christ
in them that are saved
and in them that perish.” They
were approved by the Divine wisdom as the ministers of God
and in all their
varied labours they had his testimony with them.
7. We may just glance at other instances
where those who obtain the
favourable estimation of men
stood condemned before Him who searcheth the
heart. This was the case with Saul
who was still honoured before the people
long after God had rejected him: with Absalom
whose personal appearance stole
away the hearts of the people
and seduced the subjects of David from their
rightful sovereign: with Nebuchadnezzar
who
walking in his pride
commanded
the adoration of the people to a golden image
which he blasphemously set up to
represent himself: and the Lord doomed him seven years to a degraded condition
in the wilderness. It was the case also with Herod
who
while the people
cried
seduced by his oratory
“It is the voice of a god
and not the voice of
a man
” was smitten by the angel of the Lord
and was eaten of worms
because
be gave not the glory to God.
II. We ought to
endeavour to profit by these considerations: and although we cannot impart to
ourselves the accuracy of full and unerring observation and judgment
yet
at
least
the consideration of the circumstances in which we are placed
and of
our tendency to error
ought to lead us to watch with jealousy the judgment we
form.
1. In the first place
then
we should suspect the judgment that we
form of the outward appearance
and the importance we are sometimes led to
attach to it. Why should we estimate so highly that which is so soon to decay?
Let us learn from the pestilence that walketh in darkness
and from the
destruction that wasteth at noon-day
the madness of priding ourselves on
distinctions which a single hour may destroy.
2. How erroneous is the estimate that men in general are disposed to
form of character. We are perpetually the slaves of our own prejudices; led by
a few general blandishments
we mistake that which is faulty for that which is
good
and account all that glitters gold.
3. How much deeper is our error in the defective and partial standard
by which we judge ourselves; and yet
we are willing to acknowledge we stand on
a very different ground for judgment. Conscience brings us near to God; even we
do not bear with the outward appearance. No man can so completely turn away
from his inward conscience as not to know something that is passing
within--something of his defects; in some measure
in fact
to look at the
heart. One of the great sins of man
however
is the settled
resolute habit of
looking only to external and superficial merits
and trying to destroy all
consciousness of the future by the follies of the life that is present.
4. Consider again
bow this view of the dealings of God exalts the
grace of redemption. “The Lord looked down from heaven
” we are told; and when
he saw there was none righteous--no
not one
then His own arm brought
salvation. He knew the amount of the evil that was in the creature He
determined to redeem
or the remedy would not have been adequate. But what a
thought it is that the Lord should so provide for the cure of sin in all its
disgusting forms
and
in His pity
should blot it out forever by the blood of
His own Soul. It is almost inconceivable that such a price should be paid for
such a race and nothing but such evidence as God has vouchsafed
could make us
believe it.
5. “The Lord looketh at the heart.” If His inspection is such at all
times
how much more solemn is the thought of His coming
when He shall judge
the secrets of men’s hearts at the last day! (E. Craig
A. M.)
Judgments
Human and Divine
Admiration for physical
height and bulk natural to warlike peoples. Regarded by them as indispensable
qualification for leadership. Thus Herodotus tells us that the Ethiopians
“confer the sovereignty upon the man whom they consider to be of the largest stature
and to possess strength proportionable to his size.” And again
after stating
that the armies of Xerxes numbered more than five millions of men
he
continues: “But of so many myriads
not one of them
for beauty and stature
was more entitled than Xerxes himself to possess the power.” Saul then was just
the kind of man to fulfil such conditions as these. “From his shoulders and
upward he was higher than any of the people.” Nor was he deficient in other
qualities
courage for instance
such as would recommend him to a bold and
warlike people. But in judgment he was lacking
and in action self-willed. The
malady which came upon him during his later life was the fit precursor of his
tragic end. His sun set in darkness and in blood upon the mountains of Gilboa.
The gloom of Saul’s closing years had been deepened by the knowledge that he
had been superseded by the Divine degree
and that as he had been the first so
he was to be the last of his family to occupy the throne. Soma years before the
death of Saul
Samuel had been seat to Bethlehem to anoint one of the sons of
Jesse king in his room. We must not however suppose
because David was chosen
by Him Who “looketh not on the outward appearance
but upon the heart
” that he
was not well-favoured and attractive. Physical beauty even
if more than skin
deep
if it result from the shining through the windows of the beautiful tenant
within the house
is and always has been a great moral force in the world. The
thing to be noted
however
is that while these attractions were well fitted to
be the handmaids and helpers of the internal qualities which the fair young
shepherd boy possessed
it was not on account of his graces of form and feature
that the Lord “chose David His servant
and took him from the sheep folds
”
etc. (Psalms 78:70-71.)
The principle on which the
selection was made is clearly indicated in the words
“The Lord looketh on the
heart.” What was there in the heart of David to commend him? There was that in
the heart of David which in some way or other rendered applicable to him the
designation which was thus prophetically given him
and which has clung to him
ever since. “Saul had been man’s man
David was to be God’s man.” And yet rash
and sinful though Saul was we do not find that he descended to such depths of
wickedness as those which David
in his later history
fathomed. We encounter
something like the same difficulty here as we are familiar with in the matter
of the Divine preference
shall I say? of Jacob to Esau (Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:13). Naturally Esau’s was the more generous and open nature
just as
there are magnanimous traits in the character of Saul which it would not be
easy to find so prominent in the disposition of David. But the truth is that:
both in Jacob and in David
with all their faults and failings
there were
aspirations after goodness
which were altogether foreign to the natures of the
two men with whom
on the page of history
they stand contrasted. We cannot
imagine Esau occupying the place
or undergoing the experience of Jacob at
Peniel. Neither can we think of Saul as the author of such outpourings of “a
broken and a contrite spirit” as the penitential psalms. And one of the best
answers that can be given to the question
How comes it that such an one as
David could be spoken of as “a man after God’s own heart?” is to be found in
such words as those of Thomas Carlyle on the subject. The text then presents us
with a contrast between human judgments and the Divine judgment of men and
things. “The Lord seeth not as man seeth
” for “Man looketh on the outward
appearance.”
I. Here we have
the secret of the imperfection
the necessary imperfection of human judgments.
1. The “outward appearance” may lead us to over estimate the values
of things. In small things and in great we are to a large extent at the mercy
of the impressions made upon us through the senses. How slow we are to learn
that an attractive exterior may conceal a false and faithless heart; that the
value of a deed depends not upon the scale on which it was done
but upon the
motive which inspired it; that the only true greatness
whether of men or of
actions
is that which is moral and spiritual.
2. But
on the other band
we must also remember that we may easily
be led by the “outward appearance” to the undervaluing of men’s motives and
characters. There are a hundred and one facts which ought to be taken into the
account before a perfect judgment of any man can be formed
facts of which his
fellow men are
and must be
largely ignorant. Again
“The Lord seeth not as
man seeth
” for “The Lord looketh on the heart”
II. While our
judgments must be partial and imperfect because our knowledge is so limited
there is One Who knows. The features in any man’s life and character
our
ignorance of which disables us from appraising at their proper worth his words
and actions
are all known to God: the hereditary bias towards some form of
evil which has made his life a continual battlefield; the educationary
influences which surrounded him in early youth
and which have necessarily done
so much to make him
for good or evil
what he is today; all these and many
other factors in the problem which every human life presents
are fully known
to Him.
III. This great and
solemn truth yields us two lessons:--
1. One of warning. We may impose upon our fellow men
and even delude
ourselves
but we can never deceive God.
2. One of consolation and encouragement for all who have been made
the victims of the slander and misrepresentation of their fellows
etc. What
does He see when He looks upon your heart and mine? (F. R. Bailey.)
Deceptiveness of
appearance
Were men to be guided by
the appearance of things only
in forming their judgment
how erroneous and
deceptive would it be! The sun would be no more than a few miles distant and a
few inches in diameter; the moon would be a span wide and half a mile away; the
stars would be little sparks glistening in the atmosphere; the earth would be a
plain
bounded by the horizon a few miles from us; the sun would travel and the
earth stand still; nature would be dead in winter and only alive in summer; men
would sometimes be women and women men; truth would often be error and error
truth; honest men would be rogues and rogues honest men; piety would be
wickedness and wickedness piety. In fine
there is scarcely any rule so
deceptive as the rule of appearance; and there are multitudes who
in many
things
have no other rule by which they form their judgment. Hence the errors
of their speech and life; the ridicule and blunders into which they plunge
themselves before the world. If appearance were the only rule of judging
what
would you say of Jesus in His humble birth; in His lowly training; in His
fasting and temptation; in His servant form; in His persecutions from the
people; in His poor disciples; in His bloody sweat; in His base trial; His mock
kingship; His ascent up Calvary; His crucifixion with two thieves; His dying
exclamation? What would you say of Christianity as the religion of this Man and
His poor Apostles? But you are not to judge Jesus and His religion by the
appearance
any more than nature and man.
The Lord’s choice
The world loves that which
strikes the eye
something or somebody who is imposing in appearance
and who
makes an impression. How far is this from the thought of God! He would not have
a repetition of Saul. It was just because Jesus had “no beauty”--according to
the eyes of men--“that they should desire Him
” that the people of Israel
despised and rejected Him They wanted one whose pomp would vie with the court
of Rome. They wanted one who should resist evil; one who should value earthly
glory; another Solomon. And they saw a Man coming from the carpenter’s shop
meek and lowly in heart
associating with the very poorest
touching the leper
allowing the vilest of women to weep over His feet
eating with publicans and
shiners: One whose only might was over sin
sickness
sorrow
and death. And
they despised His meekness and poverty of spirit; there was nothing in Him that
the world could pride itself upon; so they cast Him out and crucified Him. (M.
Baxter.)
The Lord looketh at the heart--
The life of the heart
Judge not realities by
appearances. Let me point out to you a most thriving and prosperous man
whose
case will explain exactly what I mean. There is no question that in trade he is
very successful. He drives into town every morning as well? Yes. And generally
has a flower in his button hole? Yes. His name is seldom seen on a subscription
list
and he makes but a poor figure amongst the charities which are popular in
the circle in which he moves
he is called stingy and mean: people say sharp
things about him when his back is turned. You saw him putting down five pounds
just now
and you thought the figure looked shabby without a cypher at the end
of it; but you don’t know that last year be paid a thousand pounds of his
father’s debts
for his father
though an honourable man
had been ruined in
business; nor do you know that only this morning
on which he gave the despised
five pounds
he sent a cheque for fifty guineas to his two sisters
end that he
sends them a cheque of the same value four times in the course of every year!
nor do you know that he is paying for the education of two brothers
and that
he is laying by what he can afford to give them a nice start when they are
ready for business. Judge not
that ye be not judged! The Lord looketh on the
heart! There is another side to this picture. Here is a fine dashing fellow
who is the charm of every circle into which he enters. A free-handed
genial
sparkling man. Many a ten-pound note he gives away; many a subscription list he
nobly leads. Wherever he is known he is praised as a charitable man. Could you
have heard as I have heard him
your feelings would undergo no trifling change.
I have heard his words in secret
end seen his face when the true expression of
the soul was upon it. “Why not lessen your expenses?” said a confidential
friend. “Appearances
” he sternly replied
“must be kept up. We must get money
somehow. What securities have we in hand
we mortgage them
sell them
do what
you like with them--only get me what money I want.” He must keep the blacking
on his boots and the nap on his hat
for if he fail in surface he will fail
altogether. He is made up of surface. A pin point could scratch it off. So let
him beware
for a touch may topple him over into his own place. Man has a heart
life as well as a hand life. It is upon the heart life that God looks
and upon
it that He pronounces His judgment. We cannot put all that is in our heart into
our hand. God knows our advantages and disadvantages
and His judgment is the
result of His omniscience. There was a sharp discussion the other day in a
gentleman’s kitchen. One speaker said to another
“I am ashamed of you; we
ought not to be in the same house together; you are common and vulgar looking
besides being scratched and chipped all overse Look at me; there is not a flaw
upon all my surface; my beauty is admired
my place in the house is a place of
honour.” The other speaker was not boisterous; there was no resentment in the
tone of the reply: “It is true that you are very beautiful
and that I am very
common
but that is not the only difference between us. See how you are cared
for; you are protected by a glass shade; you are dusted with a brush made of
the softest feathers; everybody in approaching you is warned of your delicacy.
It is very different with me; whenever water is wanted I am taken to the well;
when servants are done with me they almost fling me down; I am used for all
kinds of work; and there never was a scullery maid in the house who did not
think herself good enough to speak of me with contempt.” It is so with men.
Some of us live under glass shades; others of us are as vessels in common wear;
but we could not change places; each must do his proper work
and each will
have his appropriate reward. The Lord looketh on the heart! There are two
gravestones in yonder churchyard which occasion a good deal of remark. You will
be pleased to hear something about them. The first is considered a marvel of
art. The marble and the granite of which it is composed are the purest that can
be found
and what can exceed the brilliance of their polish? The stone tells
you that it is put up to commemorate the life of the best of mothers. It was
erected by her son
who resides in the chief mansion in the vicinity. He is
proud of the stone. For nothing else is he known but for that stone He has
never written his name on the holy roll of charity. No poor family would miss
him were he to have a similar stone put above his own head. The other stone is
modest
but really good. There is not one line of pretence about it. It
too
was put up by filial piety to commemorate motherly excellence You should hear
how it is talked about by the man who owns the fine stone He says: “I am
ashamed of such men! It is true enough that he was not very well off when his
mother died but look how he has got on since! Why
he must be worth some
thousands a year. I wonder he is not ashamed of himself
to leg that thing
stand there--he should take it up and put another in its place. I don’t know
how men can do such mean things.” And having so said he walks towards his own
stone
and heaves a sigh that has meaning in it. And how about that other son?
Thus! He never allows a poor woman to go from his door without help because her
presence reminds him of what his own mother used to be in the days of her
poverty
and never does he give the help without saying in his heart: “Sacred
to the memory of my dear mother.” He never sees a poor woman go along the road
but he looks after her end says: “Once my mother was very much like that
and
for her sake I must do something for this poor creature.” It is in this way
that he sets up his gravestones; in this way that he honours his mother
he
says nothing about it. He writes epitaphs on hearts
not on stones; and though
be is misjudged by man there is One who makes an imperishable record of his
love--for the Lord looketh on the heart!
1. The Lord looketh on the heart
--This must be terrible news to a
bad man.
2. The Lord looketh on the heart
--This is the joy of all men who
live in truth.
3. The Lord looketh on the heart
--Then man’s supreme concern should
bear upon his spiritual life. Fool is he who filters the stream when he might
purify the fountain. How is it with our hearts? (J. Parker
D. D.)
Man’s heart under God’s
eye
The man who simply looks
at himself in the light of the opinions which his fellow men form of him
is in
imminent danger of making fatal mistakes. The man who even looks at himself in
the light of the favourable judgment which the Church of Christ may form of
him
is in a most dangerous position. But no man is in this danger who has
formed the habit of always judging of himself
as he appears to himself when he
stands face to face
if I may use this phrase
with God. The reason of our
mistakes upon most subjects is
that we have too much fellowship about them
with God’s erring creatures
and too little communion with Himself.
I. God’s knowledge
of human nature. It is--
1. Immediate and direct. His acquaintance with us men is not through
outward appearance; it is not in any sense by the outward; He looketh on the
heart. The body does not intercept His vision. The body is not even a medium
he sees the body
and knows the body as perfectly as He knows the spirit. He is
not dependent on our words for His knowledge of sin. He is not dependent upon
our actions for knowledge of us
neither upon our history. He has no informant.
God’s knowledge of human nature is not second-hand or inferential
but
immediate and direct.
2. Being immediate and direct
God’s knowledge of man is perfect. His
eye is upon your thoughts and your thinkings. His eye is upon your reason and
upon your reasonings. His eye is upon the emotional part of your nature
and
the rising and falling of your emotional susceptibilities. Sin
while being
conceived
He sees.
3. Because God’s knowledge is direct and perfect it surpasses men’s
knowledge of each other
and of themselves. It surpasses what call be known by
men of themselves
and of each other. Men
with reference to self-knowledge
consult their consciousness. I do not say the conscience. The word
consciousness is a more general word
including a state of the entire nature;
but I speak not of the state of one faculty
but rather
I repeat
of the whole
being. Men consult consciousness
and they consult memory. But then
“the heart
is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked;” so that men
with
relation to self-knowledge
are very often self-deceived. Now
on all these
grounds
God’s knowledge surpasses that knowledge of ourselves
and of each
other
that is even possible to us. But yet
more
does it surpass what is
actually known; because none of us
or few of us
have the knowledge of human
nature
the knowledge of ourselves
or of each other
which we might have
perhaps
if we sought for it. This seems to be the doctrine of the text.
II. Now let us
consider the life lessons it yields.
1. The first practical thing here taught us is
the folly of
permitted self-delusion. Now do not call the words permitted self-delusion
a
contradiction
for they do not involve a contradiction
or
it they do
it is
just one of those contradictions that we so often find in human nature.
Permitted self-delusion is not uncommon in other spheres. The case of a man
who
in trading
knows perfectly well that he is not solvent
but tries to
believe that he is solvent
and goes on as though he were solvent
is a ease of
permitted self-delusion. The man does not actually face his business
circumstances. I say that is a case of permitted self-delusion
and there is
something very much like this in professed religious life. Men more than half
know that they are not Christians
but they try to persuade themselves that
they are Christians. Now the doctrine we have been looking at
or rather
the fact
of God’s perfect knowledge of human nature
shows the utter stupidity of all
this. Delusions and deceptions with reference to character cannot continue.
Just as in the spring and autumn
you have often seen the early mists dispelled
by the sun
so all mists on all subjects
and especially on the character of
man
will ere long be dispersed by the strong light of God’s light
and every
man will appear to be just what he is--exactly what he is.
2. At the same time it shows us the utter uselessness of all
hypocrisy. The two things are so closely connected together that it is only for
the sake of giving force to them that I can at all separate them. Say that
instead of a man being thus willingly self-deceived
he wears a mask
and does
not mind saying
in certain quarters
and to certain persons
that he wears a
mask--how utterly useless that mask is! because the eye with which we chiefly
have to do
has never rested on that mask
as on a surface; it has always gone
right through it--piercing it at every point. On the mask there is the eye of a
saint
and on the eye of the real face there is the eye of a lascivious
sensual sinner. But God has never been cheated by that mild saint’s eye.
3. Then we learn
further
the exposed position of all our sins. But
there is another view we may take of this subject
that may help us in another
direction.
4. We see through God’s perfect knowledge of human nature
His
thorough competency to save us. Men die of diseases with which their medical
attendants are unacquainted
as the best physician and surgeon would frankly
acknowledge. Every day mistakes are made--unavoidably made
I say
not
carelessly made. Men go down to the grave
and all about them are ignorant of
what bus taken them down to the tomb. Now
suppose God were in this position
with reference to our sins. You see at once that He could not entirely save us.
We have accustomed ourselves
therefore
really to look on God’s searching the
qualifications to redeem us.
5. There is another lesson we may learn here
that is
the duty of
being passive under Divine discipline. Troubles may come upon you
and you may
perplex yourself as to their intent. You cannot see what faults they are sent
to correct. But
generally
you will find
when God chastens
there is a close
connection between the sort of chastening and the fault He chastens for
so
that you can tell whether the affliction be a correction--whether it be a
chastening or not. But very often sorrows are sent not as chastisements. And
they are sent for what purpose? They are sent to prevent sin; not to correct
you for sin already committed
but to prevent you committing come sin.
6. And we see
the reasonableness of our acting on God’s judgment of
men. Do let us look upon mankind
brethren
with the light of God’s Word about
men. You will find here
in the truth of the text
an antidote for disquiet
under misconception and misrepresentation; a motive to diligence in keeping the
heart. And you will learn
further
the advantageous position of Him who is now
our Lord and Master
and Who will come to be our Judge. Let us just recognise
our ignorance even of our own nature. There is a sort of rebuke here
or if not
a rebuke
God points with His finger at our limited knowledge. “The Lord sooth
not as man seeth.” That implies that we do not see all; we see only in part; we
see only imperfectly. Let us recognise the limit of our knowledge
let us
recognise the fact that we do not
except as we see ourselves
in light of
God’s light
see our own real hearts
and that we are not in a position
alone
even to understand ourselves. Let us apply this rule in judgment of our fellow
men
cherishing
at the same time
if we be God’s children
a child-like trust
in God’s knowledge. I see nothing terrible in this truth if a man be sincere. I
see everything terrible in it if a man be willing to deceive himself
or if a
man be a hypocrite. (Samuel Martin.)
God looketh on the heart
God does not judge of the
heart by the actions
but of the actions by the heart. In His sight the stream
of our conduct is pure or impure according to the state of the heart--the
fountain of action: “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts
murders
adulteries
fornications
thefts
false witness
blasphemies.”
I. That it is the
exclusive prerogative of God to look upon the heart. The heart is covered with
an impenetrable veil
through which no eye can pierce; it is a field of
operation into which we cannot look. Within its secrecies the meanest feelings
are fostered
and the most generous purposes rise unnoticed and unknown. The
knowledge of the human heart is
in fact
a portion of the experimental
philosophy
and is only to be acquired by a careful investigation of facts. It
is a solemn consideration
but it is possible that our hearts may be filled
with enmity or love to the Creator
our minds may be essentially carnal or
spiritual
while our nearest earthly friend is wholly ignorant of the relation
in which we stand to the eternal world. Were our most intimate friend
to
endeavour to unbosom his mind to us
with how little would he make us
acquainted; how much must there ever remain wrapt in obscurity
and in all the
darkness of secrecy! All we know of the hearts of others is what they are
pleased to tell us; but we are frequently deceived; our confidence is often betrayed
and we receive the thrust of an enemy through the professions of a friend. We
are not even free from deception and mistake if we turn to our own hearts. We
vary frequently persuade ourselves that we are actuated by right motives
whilst a secret principle of selfishness is contaminating the fountain of
action. The Lord looketh on the heart
not as implying a curious search
arising from previous ignorance. It is said of the angels concerning the
mysteries of redemption
that they desire to look into them
but there are no
secrets with the Divine Being. When it is said that “God looketh on the heart
”
it is implied that He regards the state of the heart: it is not an inoperative
knowledge
a passive contemplation
but an influential regard in opposition to
the procedure of man
who is only influenced by the outward appearance. The
state of the heart is not a matter of indifference to Him
but His watchful
eyes are ever engaged in a vigilant inspection of human spirits. No barriers
can interrupt His view. He marked the sin of Achan when his covetousness was
excited by the wedge of gold
and the Babylonish garment; He detected the same
sin when Gehazi robbed Naaman
and lied unto the prophet
and he exposed the
guilt of David in the matter of Uriah.
II. The
administration of the Divine government proceeds on the principle of my text.
The Lord looketh on the heart
not only in the administration of His laws
but
the scheme of Providence in all its ramifications is but an adaptation of His
perfections to this truth. However inscrutable His dispensations may appear to
us
they are not an unmeaning exercise of power
a blind bestowment of favour
or a tyrannical infliction of pains and penalties
they are the exercise of His
power according to the dictates of infinite wisdom and goodness. In selecting
instruments to carry into effect these purposes of His will
the Lord looketh
on the heart: He sent Samuel to Bethlehem to the family of Jesse
and ordered
him to anoint one of Jesse’s children
whom He would point out to him
to be
king over Israel. In illustration of the same truth
we may refer you to His
choice as the messenger of His grace to the Gentile world. Who would have
selected the persecutor breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the
church of God
to display a warmer zeal and holier courage in building up the
temple he once attempted to destroy? Infinite wisdom discerned the fitness of
the instrument
and consecrating it to the most hallowed purposes. Whenever the
church has revived
and Zion has arisen from the dust and put on her beautiful
garments
individuals have been selected eminently calculated to effect the
desired object. Witness the holy energy and unconquerable perseverance of
Luther. In the field of missionary labour we have a Brainerd and a Swartz
a
Morrison and a Milne. The venerable Carey
whose power in acquiring languages
has only been equalled by his unpretending piety
and his devotion to the
sacred work of his Master
was selected by that God who looks on the heart
and
was raised to a dignity and moral elevation which the grace of God could alone
enable him to adorn. By the same principle God overrules the machination of
wicked
and the errors of good men
for His own glory. In the ordinary
dispensations of His Providence He acknowledges the same principles of
operation. He has perpetual reference to the state of the heart. He is
subjecting us to a moral discipline
by which we are to be trained up for
glory
and virtue
and immorality. We must not imagine that affliction is the
only way by which God manifests a vigilant attention to the heart. He makes the
opposite state of felicity and enjoyment a proving time. How frequently has the
accumulation of wealth proved to be the touchstone of a man’s character. But
not only in the arrangements of our worldly affairs
but in His gracious
dealings with us
the Lord looketh on the heart. The discipline to which
Christians are subject
arises from the intimate acquaintance which God has
with the hearts of all men.
III. We must improve
our subject
which is full of instruction.
1. It teaches us the necessity of uprightness. Does God look upon the
heart? How vain will it be
then
to garnish our exterior
whilst the soul
remains unclean and polluted!
2. Again
our subject teaches us the nature of all acceptable
worship. God is a spirit
and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Mere
formality must ever appear hateful to Him. Where the heart is not engaged
there can be no true worship.
3. Our subject teaches us the awful condition of the impenitent
sinner. He lives forgetful of God
but God is not forgetful of him.
4. Our subject is a source of encouragement to the church
collectively
and to the individual believerse Are the affairs of this world
managed
and the interests of the church superintended on the principle that
the Lord looketh on the heart?
5. But it is not only a source of encouragement
but our text is a
motive to holiness. All the dispensations of His Providence
end the operations
of His grace should furnish a separate motive to purity. (S. Summers.)
Right-heartedness
I. The Divine
superiority to human prejudices. The prophet was misled by a mere prejudice.
Very frequently the outside show
the mere accidental circumstances of personal
appearance
wealth
or position
are taken as criteria of worth. Now we may
observe respecting such modes of estimation:--
1. That the standard is obviously false.
2. It is one of which many take advantage. Many avail themselves of
this common prejudice for purposes of the darkest villany. It is the convenient
cloak of the base and the hypocritical.
3. It is often the cause of great wrong. Much injustice is
perpetrated through the force of this prejudice. The wicked are justified while
the righteous are condemned.
II. The certainty
of the right-hearted being preferred. Those whose hearts are right with God may
be contemned by the world
but they may be sure of approval in His sight “who
looketh on the heart.” That such will ever be the ease may be argued:--
1. From universal conviction. False as are the principles on which
men choose to act
their convictions are generally on the side of the right.
The common conscience of humanity testifies to the worth of right-heartedness.
2. From the voice of revelation. The Bible is decisive in its assertion
of this principle. It pronounces as with a voice of thunder
its indignant
repudiation of the prejudice by which human conduct is governed
and maintains
the opposite as the eternal rule of Divine preference.
3. From their own consciousness. The wrong-hearted are
self-condemned
while those whose hearts are right with God enjoy a cheering
consciousness of His approbation.
III. The importance
of attending to heart culture. It is of vital importance to have the heart made
and kept right with God. How is this to be secured?
1. It can be attained only through Christ. The heart will never be
right with God till it is made so through the redemptive work of Christ.
2. It requires the operation of the Holy Spirit. To obtain such views
of “the truth as it is in Jesus
” and such signify for it
as shall issue in
the rectification of the heart God-ward
there must be the cooperation of the
Spirit.
3. It demands the most strenuous efforts. The most strenuous efforts
on the part of man
are required to become and continue right-hearted. Learn--
Man measured from the
depths
When in Scotland recently
I went to a very interesting place
the Observatory at Paisley. I there saw an
instrument for measuring earthquakes
a seismological register. A block of
stone
twenty-four solid feet in depth
was thrust into the ground; down and
down it went
standing like an isolated column in the vacuum carefully
preserved on every side of it. On the top a delicate instrument was poised
which actually wrote with a pencil a record of the vibrations and oscillations
that were taking place in every part of the globe. Said the gentleman in
charge
“If an earthquake were to take place in Japan
its motions would be
written here as faithfully as though we were on the spot to measure it.” “Then
what about the rumbles here in Paisley?” said I. “You make noises enough in
your streets: would they be registered by your instrument?” “No
” was the
reply. “We do not trouble about vibrations on the surface. We measure from the
depths.” That is the way to measure--truth in the inward parts. We do not
measure by a man’s profession
but by what comes from the depths of his nature.
(R. J. Campbell
M. A.)
Verses 10-13
Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel.
How God’s election works
Our subject is the choosing of a king from among the sons of Jesse
the Bethlehemite. This narrative shows how the choosing was done. I have a
situation to offer. There is no doubt about the offer or about the gift; the
only doubt lies with yourself
as of old the difficulty lay among the sons of
Jesse. For what is the office of the preacher
but always to be on the errand
on which Samuel went
to that glen in Bethlehem of Judaea? We are ambassadors
of Christ; we are here to offer to men a crown
a Kingdom that never fades
away. Ah
wake up and listen! “The King has come very near to people who could
have had no expectation that He would come so near
when the preacher stands
before an audience in London or anywhere else. Why did not Eliab get Samuel’s
gift?” “Ah!” says the Spirit of God
virtually
“just
because he was too big;
he made too big a show in the flesh
and too little a show in the spirit. And a
number of us are kept from Christ
and kept out of the Kingdom
for the very
same reason. If you are going to be proud and lifted up
man
you will do for
the devil
and you will come to the devil’s reward at the end. But the Son of
God will do without you. If there is anything that God sets Himself against
it
is this. “A high look is an abomination unto God; and that is what makes me
tremble for some people when I am preaching the Gospel. Unless my judgment
utterly fails me
you have not a gracious look
my poor lad; it does not seem
as if the humbling and subsequently elevating grace of God had ever scratched
the surface of your pride. There is a veneering over you
and would be God
as
your friend
I could strip that paint off! Now
will you remember that the Lord
Jesus Christ looks upon the heart
and a high look and a lofty look are an
abomination unto Him. He will go past us
notwithstanding all our physical
inches
and all our intellectual endowment
and He will take somebody out of
the gutter
lift up that soul
and show that he is beholden absolutely for
nothing to pride of mental or bodily girth. But before Samuel got to David he
had more to do with other sons of Jesse. In came Abinadab
the second; and he
said
“Neither hath the Lord chosen thee.” Then came Shammah--he passed by and
out. And seven sons of Jesse
in they came
and out they went.
I. Why did these
seven lose it? Look at that procession--and I ask
what was wrong with them?
Well
I think this is it: Eliab lost it because he was too big
too much concerned
with himself
too proud; he would not do. And I rather think these other sons
lost it because they were away at the other extreme; while Eliab was too big
they were too small
too little. Do not go about flaunting like a peacock
drawing all eyes to yourself and your strutting. But
on the other hand
and as
much on the other hand
do not be a nobody. Do not be a round O
a mere
decimal; and do not be thus
because life has in it one splendid opportunity
that should compel every man to be bright and eager
and on the outlook for it
as it domes within his reach. I think
too
that it is depressing to read how
these seven came in and went out
when I read their names
because in the Old
Testament names meant something. Names nowadays mean nothing; they mean less
than nothing and vanity. I met
not
so long ago
a poor abject creature with
the glorious name of Hampden stuck upon him as a kind of sarcastic label of
what he was not! So you have it hero. One of these is Abinadab
and another
Shammah; great names that have something noble in them
as many Hebrew names
had. Yet
notwithstanding their names
there may be no more in the owners of
them than a day’s work
a day’s whistling at the plough tail
an evening’s
pleasure
a night’s sleep
and their wages
Oh
they sadly lost it; and it came
so near to them and it hung after all so far above their heads! For when we are
going to be nobodies
God will treat us like that
and will not
come and
thrust upon you this salvation of yours
that cost Christ
His precious blood
and all the wonderful thirty years of His incarnate history hero among men.
They missed it because they deserved to miss it
because it
would have been
wasted on them.
II. Now
how did
David get it? After these seven came in and went out
David’s turn camel. Here
David came m
and be is described for us; just as Eliab was described so David
is. And they sent and brought him. Now
he was ruddy
and withal of a beautiful
countenance
and goodly to look at. The Lord hath no objection to fine looks
the Lord has no objection to a fine physique
and no objection to your
developing your physique
in all natural
healthy
gymnastic exercises
as far
as you please and as far as you may. God never wastes Himself on nothings and
nobodies. Of course
to Him be all the praise; it is He who makes us what we
are. Oh
will you humbly return from the pride and conceit that are killing
you
and come to God
for He will build you up on a new plan altogether. In
came David; and the Spirit of God said to Samuel whenever his eyes lit on him
“Arise
anoint him; for this is he.” How did David get it?
1. First of all he got it because he was there to get it. Suppose
somebody had come to my father and said
“I want to choose one of your family
for my situation
and I had been considered likely
and that I had been sent
for
expecting to find me faithful to little things--namely
keeping crows
away--but
lo
I was gone away hazel-nutting or bird-nesting
miles off!” The
point is this: Be faithful where you are
whatever your sphere
be diligent
.
And if you want the call of God in the Gospel to surely settle on your head
be
on hand when the call is made. I want to say a word about non-churchgoing. Man
you are playing the devil’s game
and he is winning with that trump card every
time
since he got you to give up going to bear God’s Gospel preachers
and
since he made you think there is nothing in it. Notwithstanding all
there is
the Gospel
and God is behind it
and His offer is sincere; therefore
quit
your careless ways and be on hand
be in the market when the marketing in
heavenly merchandise is going on.
2. David got it because he was there to get it
and
last
of all
because he took it. You can imagine David being just like the rest
and saying
to Samuel
“I beg to decline. Really. Samuel
you have landed upon me too
suddenly; don’t you see
prophet
I have no time to think of this? I was out
there keeping sheep
and I was suddenly called in; and here you are going to
make me king
with all that that involves. I have no ambition that: way; it is
not for me; give it to Eliab”--I think they all thought Eliab was the man “and
let me go away back again.” Do not take it home to think about it. The chances
are--and here the parable of the sower comes in--that as surely as you go cut
undecided
the devil will pick your pocket of my invitation and call to coma to
Christ. For many of us are like the wayside hearers. “The fowls of the air
came
” says Christ
“and picked up the seed.” Ah! this great day that
came to
David did bring him trouble
it did bring him suffering. He was not
called to
the throne
nor after that to the skies
but be was sustained
he came to the
kingdom
and he came to the Eternal Kingdom in the fulness of time. There were
dark days when David was hunted among the hills
when he might have said that
the darkest day that ever came to him was the day when Samuel came and called
him from following the sheep to be God’s anointed king. But he held on to God
and God held on to him; and God justified all that He had said
and God
fulfilled all that He had promised. (John McNeill.)
Verse 11
Send and fetch him
for we will not sit down till he come hither.
Taken from the sheepcotes
The story of David opens with a dramatic contrast between the
fresh hope of his young life and the rejection of the self-willed king Saul
whose course was rapidly descending towards the fatal field of Gilboa. No bad
man drifts down the rapids unwarned
unwept; but the Divine purpose cannot stay
till such pitying tears are dried. Nor must we cling to the grave of the dead
past
whence the Spirit of God has fled; but arise to follow as He transfers
the focus of His operation from the rocky heights of Benjamin to the breezy
uplands of Bethlehem
and conducts us to the house of Jesse. In the selection
of every man for high office in the service of God and man
there are two
sides--the Divine and the human: the election of God
and its elaboration in history;
the heavenly summons
and the earthly answer to its ringing notes. We must
consider
therefore.
I. The root of
David. Once in the prophecy by Isaiah
and twice in the Book of Revelation
our
Lord is called the “Root of David.” “The Lion of the Tribe of Judah
the Root
of David
hath prevailed to open the Book and to loose the seven seals
thereof.” “I
Jesus
am the Root and the Offspring of David; the Bright
the
Morning Star.” The idea suggested is of an old root
deep hidden in the earth
which sends up its green scions and sturdy stems. David’s character may be
considered as an emanation from the life of the Son of God before He took on
Himself the nature of man
and an anticipation of what He was to be and do in
the fulness of time. Jesus was the Son of David
yet in another sense He was
his progenitor (Mark 12:35-37). There are four great
words about the choice of David
the last of which strikes deeply into the
heart of that great mystery.
1. The Lord hath sought Him a man (1 Samuel 13:14). No one can know the
day or hour when God passes by
seeking for chosen vessels and goodly pearls.
2. I have found David my servant (Psalms 89:20). There is ecstasy in the
voice
like the thrice repeated found of Luke 15:1-32. And was there not some
secret glad response to the Master’s call
like that which the disciples gave
when Jesus found them at their nets
and said
“Follow Me?”
3. He chose David to be His servant (Psalms 78:70). The people chose Saul; but
God chose David. This made him strong. We are immovable when we touch the
bedrock of God’s choice
and hear Him say
“He is a chosen vessel unto Me
to
bear My name.”
4. The Lord hath appointed him to be Prince (1 Samuel 13:14). Saul might chafe
and fret; but from amid the ruins of his waning power the authority of David
emerged as a sin from a wrack of clouds
because God willed it.
5. I have provided Me a King (1 Samuel 16:1). The Divine provision
meets every need
silences every anxiety. In some unlikely quarter
in a
shepherd’s hut
or in an artizan’s cottage
God has His prepared and appointed
instrument. As yet the shaft is hidden in His quiver
in the shadow of His
hand; but at the precise moment at which it will tell with the greatest effect
it will be produced and launched on the air.
II. The stem of
Jesse. We turn for a moment to consider the formative influences of David’s
young life. David says nothing of his father
but twice speaks of his mother as
“the handmaid of the Lord.” From her he derived his poetic gift
his sensitive
nature
his deeply religious character. To his father he was the lad that kept
the sheep
whom it was not worth while to summon to the religious feast; to his
mother he was David the beloved
and probably she first heard the psalms which
have charmed and soothed the world. The lad may have owed something to the
schools of the prophets
established by Samuel’s wise prescience to maintain
the knowledge of the law in Israel. They appear to have been to Israel what
Iona was to the wild tribes of the North in later times. (F. B. Meyer
B. A.)
The shepherd foreshadowing the king
In the boyish days and deeds of distinguished men
biographers
delight to illustrate the adage that the boy is father to the man. In sacred
story
the younger child of Rebekah taking hold of his brother by the heel
as
if with intent to supplant him; in classical mythology
the infant Hercules
strangling in his cradle the serpents sent by Juno to destroy him; in modern
history
the schoolboy Napoleon Bonaparte
rearing his snow fortifications in
the playground
and teaching his school fellows to attack or defend them--are
samples of the shadows of the future that are often projected on the childhood
of great men. The early years of King David exhibited more than one instance of
this foreshadowing of the future.
I. It
certainly
was not by accident
that
when Samuel went to Bethlehem to anoint one of the
sons of Jesse as king
the son on whom the Divine choice fell was at the very
moment keeping his father’s sheep. His early employment had a direct and Divine
bearing upon his later. In some of his psalms--the beautiful closing verses of
the 78th
for example--the Divine connection is transparent. “He chose David
also His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes
great with young He brought him to feed Jacob his people
and Israel his
inheritance. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart
and guided
them by the skilfulness of his hands.”
1. As a shepherd
keeping his father’s sheep
the sense of
responsibility to another was powerfully called into exercise. The flock was
not his own. The servant-feeling thus beautifully called into play
was
transferred
in full integrity
to the higher sphere of the kingdom. To the
people of Israel he felt that he stood in the same relation as he had occupied
to his father’s sheep
and to God in the same place in which he had stood to
his father.
2. Further
the shepherd occupation of David led him
from its very
nature
to seek the welfare of the flock. Suitable pasture had to be provided;
shelter had to be found from the heat by day and from the cold by night;
protection had to be secured from wolves and lions; the diseased had to be
nursed
the wounded cared for
wanderers bad to be followed
rescued from
danger
and brought back to the fold. These were the ideas of duty with which
David became familiar as a shepherd. And when his charge was changed
these
ideas of duty remaining in his heart
and influencing his public conduct
made
him the eminent ruler be became. The welfare of his people was his constant
aim. In the view of duty to the flock
all thoughts of fear and danger fled
from David’s mind. Self-sacrifice for the welfare of others was the ruling
principle at once of the shepherd and of the king.
3. Yet further:--In his office as a shepherd
David had constantly to
study the increase and improvement of the flock. It was not enough for the
shepherd to keep the flock as he got it. The flock was not properly kept
unless every season brought a great increase to its number
and a large
addition to its value. The same thought manifestly influenced David’s kingly
administration
he constantly consulted for the progressive improvement and
elevation of his people. And in all the higher departments of progress
the
same spirit of improvement prevailed. Great warrior though he was
the spirit
most congenial to him was that of peaceful development and progress. We cannot
omit to add
that the shepherd employment of David
by leading him to give
special attention to the weak
the helpless
and the distressed of his flock
trained him for one of the most blessed and Christ-like functions of a godly
ruler. What a contrast
the spirit of David’s pastoral and royal office
and of
Christ’s blessed rule
to that of most earthly governors l What a contrast to
the spirit of the well-known saying of the “most Christian king”--“L’etat
c’est moi”--I am the State! The Christian shepherd is not the flock
the
Christian ruler is not the state. He is God’s servant
intrusted with the rod
of authority for the true good of the flock. The more forgetful be is of self
in his anxiety to discharge his trust
and do good to his flock
the more
worthy is he of the title of “a Christian king.” While we speak thus strongly
of the devotion of King David to his own people
we must add that in its very
intensity
that devotion was not unaccompanied by traces of human infirmity.
His love was confined to his own people; and for all beyond that circle
he not
only had no warm love
but hardly even the ordinary feelings of brotherhood. It
would have been more difficult for a Jew to attain the happy medium
the right
equipoise of feeling for the uncircumcised nations around
lying somewhere
between brotherly love on the one hand
and bitter hatred on the other. But
David gave himself no trouble to find this happy medium. It is a mystery how
such tenderness
and such relentless severity
should have been found in the
same man. Whatever may be urged in extenuation of his severity
rests on his
position as a Jew. For our part
we must ever remember that to enlarge the
sphere of kindly feeling is one of the great objects of the Christian
dispensation. “Let brotherly love continue” for the members of the household
certainly; but “if ye love the brethren only
what do ye more than others?” (W.
G. Blaikie
M. A.)
The call of David
David
the son of a man in humble life
and the youngest of his
brethren
was chosen by Almighty God to be His special servant--to be a
prophet
a king
a psalmist; he was anointed by Samuel to be all this; and in
due time he was brought forward by Almighty God
and as a first act of might
slew the heathen giant Goliath. Now let
us apply all this to ourselves.
1. David seemed born to live and die among his sheep. Yet God took
him from the sheepfolds to make him His servant and His friend. Now this is
fulfilled in the case of all Christians. They are by nature poor
and mean; but
God chooses them
and brings them near unto Himself. He looks not at outward
things; He chooses and decrees according to His will
and why He chooses these
men
and passes over those
we know not. Here we differ from David. He was
chosen above his brethren
because he was better than they. It is expressly
said
that when Samuel was going to choose one of his elder brethren
God said
to him
“I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man
looketh on the outward appearance
but the Lord looketh on the heart;”
implying
that David’s heart was in a better state than his brother’s
whom
Samuel would have chosen. But this is act our case; ye are in nowise better by
nature than they whom God did not choose. God hath chosen all of us to
Salvation
not for our righteousness
but for His great mercies.
2. Observe
too
God chose him
whose occupation was that of a
shepherd; for He chooses not the great men of the world; He passed by the rich
and noble (James 2:5). The Angel appeared to the
shepherds as they kept
watch over their sheep at night. The most solitary
the
most unlearned
God hears
God looks upon
God visits
God blesses
God brings
to glory
if he is but “rich in faith.” One person is a king and rules
another
is a subject and obeys; but if both are Christians
both have in common a gift
so great
that in the sight of it
the difference between ruling and obeying is
as nothing. All Christians are kings in God’s sight; they are kings in His
unseen kingdom
in the Communion of Saints.
3. Next
observe God chose David by means of the Prophet Samuel. He
did not think it enough to choose him silently
but He called him by a voice.
And
in like manner
when God calls us
He does so openly. He sent His
minister
the Prophet Samuel to David; and He sends His ministers to us.
4. When Samuel had anointed David
observe what followed. “Samuel
took the horn of oil
and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the
Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” God’s spirit did but
come upon David
and visit him from time to time; but He vouchsafes to dwell
within the Christian
so as to make His heart and body His temple.
5. Though David reached the gift of God’s Holy Spirit
yet nothing
came of it all at once. He still seemed like any other man. He went back to the
sheep. The Spirit of the Lord had come upon him
yet it did not at once make
him a prophet or a king All was to come in good time
not at once. God the Holy
Ghost leads on the heirs of grace marvellously. You recollect when our Saviour
was baptised
“immediately the Spirit of God led Him into the wilderness.” What
happened one way in our Saviour’s course
happens in ours also. Sooner or later
that work of God is manifested
which was at first secret.
6. Lastly
then
let us inquire who is our Goliath? who is it we have
to contend with? The answer is plain; the devil is our Goliath. By degrees our
work comes upon us; as children we have to fight
with him a little; as time
goes on the fight opens; and at length we have our great enemy marching against
us with sword and spear
as Goliath came against David. And when this war has
once begun
it lasts through life. (Plain sermons by contributors to the “Tracts
for the Times.”)
God’s choice and preparation of men
Samuel is the light by which young David reads the handwriting of
Jehovah upon the walls of his spirit
learns his destiny
and prepares for his
high calling. So the living God in His marvellous mercy hides Himself behind
man that not being overpowered by His splendours
we may be won to open our
hearts to receive of His fulness and grace for grace. Who of you will be His
anointing prophets this day
and go ca this blessed ministry! Care you not for
the future of His kingdom? Is there no David whose spirit you can fire by the
outshining of your conviction and the best of your enthusiasm for the salvation
of men? Seize your privilege
and hand on to unborn generations the gifts of
vision and power the Eternal has bestowed upon you!
1. We now ask
why is it that David of all the sons of Jesse
and of
all the children of Israel
is elected by the prophet for this special
consecration of kingly place and power? The answer
fortunately for us
is as
near as it is definite
and as simple and authoritative as it is decisive and
Divine. Speaking of Eliab
God says to Samuel
“Look not on his countenance
or
on the height of his stature; because I have refused him; for the Lord seeth
not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance
but the Lord
looketh on the heart.” There is at once the principle of the Divine choice
and
the condition of the prophetic inspiration. David has that inner consecration
without which the outward anchoring is an utterly unmeaning and damaging
ceremony. “The unction of the Holy One” has preceded the symbolical oil of the
prophet. For though God accepts and adopts human meditation as the principal
avenue along which He meets the souls of men
He has many other ways of finding
us besides that of a faith-begetting human presence. The Idea of God grows
unawares upon our inward sight
and we are learning more and more about Him
when no visible teacher is near and no human voice is heard.
2. It were
indeed
the gravest of mistakes to regard this day of
consecration as the first descent of the Spirit of the Lord on young David’s
heart--
“Let
no man think that sudden in a minute
All
is accomplished
and the work is done.”
God
does not anoint unprepared men for kingship. “The boy is father to the man.”
Not as a vaunting soldier
not even as a brave patriot
does David go forth
against Goliath of Gath; “but that all the earth may know”--for the fight is a
missionary’s evangel
and a soldier shepherd’s “apology” for God--that all the
earth may know that there is a God in Israel
who does not give victory to mere
bulk
or even to military prowess
but to sincerity of heart; to humility
purity
and largeness of soul. Evermore God’s unseen educating ministry goes
forward. He is always preparing the world’s kings. True rulers are never
absent. We indeed see not their crowns. No sceptre is in their hands. They
neither wear king’s clothing
nor sit in king’s houses. They are with us in our
families
despised by their elder brothers
and unrecognised by all; but when
the clock of time strikes
and their hour is come
they take their place and do
their work
and we are debtors all. The earliest stages of regeneration are
unconscious. Visibility is not the measure of reality. “The kingdom of God
comes without observation.” We live months and years before we talk in fluent
English. We know not the day of our birth
and we cannot tell what we shall be.
The issues of our acts are hidden from us. Alertness of vision
openness to
receive the Spirit
will be surprised after a while by a God-sent Samuel
anointing you for a higher vocation. But we are not right within. We know it.
There is an aching inside us. Our sins look us full in the face. We want place
rather than preparation
thrones rather than disciplined ability
glittering
crowns rather than true and unfaltering obedience. We crave and pant to be
thought somebody
instead of bending our whole will on being as God wills.
3. But David
we may be certain
were he guiding us
would take us
another step backward in order to see the building work of God in its earlier
stages; for nothing more ineradicably rooted itself in his mind
or found more
pathetic expression in his songs
than the immense educational influence of his
family and shepherd life. As a boy he was a keeper of sheep
and he never
forgot it. The influence of that shepherd life was never exhausted. It was the
salt of his career. It fed his humility and inspired his praise; purified his
thinking
and sobered and deepened his emotion. It brought him face to face
with reality; shut out the crowding and gossiping life of the city
threw him
back on his own thoughts
gave him leisure and facility to strip off the shows
of things
and get at their heart
developed an inwardness of being that
brought peace and power for evermore. Thus David got his education
in the
plain everyday uses of life
and was fitted for his consecration to kingship by
patient
plodding
and loving service. As Moses led the sheep in the desert
before he led Israel out of Egypt
as Gideon received his call to take charge
of the hosts of God whilst be was threshing wheat
as the mantle of Elijah fell
on Elisha at the plough
as Matthew heard the summons to the apostolate at the
tollbooth
so David got his first training for his high place amid the lowly
duties of his shepherd life. I suppose we shall learn some day
that the
faithful doing of our actual work
the doing it for use
and not merely for
gain
from love of God and love of men
is recognised by Heaven as the surest
preparation for future promotion and enlarged service. Then we shall have no
need to seek change of place
in order to be ready for God’s prophet with his
horn of anointing oil
but only “to keep our heart right.” (J. Clifford
D.
D.)
The unlikely selected
Dr. Isaac Barrow
when a lad
was most unpromising. Such was his
misconduct
and so irreclaimable did he seem
that his father
in despair
used
to say that “if it pleased God to remove any of his children
he wished it
might be his son Isaac.” What became of the other and more hopeful children of
the worthy linen draper
we cannot tell; but this unworthy son lived to be the
happiness and pride of his father’s old age
to be one of the most illustrious
members of the university to which he belonged
and one of the brightest
ornaments of the church of which he became a minister. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 12
Arise
anoint him
for this is he.
The Anointed Shepherd
Not a few of the most impressive characters of Scriptures come
before us its adult strength. Abraham
Elijah
the apostles
lived an
unrecorded youth. Not so wish David. When we see him
ruddy from the fold
bow
to receive the holy chrism from the hand of Samuel
he is alert with the grace
and comely with the beauty of youth. Hence much of the spell his story has cast
upon the young of all the ages. Now look at--
I. Young David’s
home. His mother’s name is untold. But
as we might expect
she was a godly
woman
“Thy handmaid
” as David could say in prayer to God. His father Jesse
was an old man in David’s youth (1 Samuel 17:12). With seven brothers
and two sisters
Zeruiah and Abigail
he was apparently the youngest of them
all. The companionship that failed him with his much older brothers he probably
found with his sisters’ sons--Joab
Abishai
Asahel
and Amuse--who would be to
him more like cousins than nephews. His father was the grandson of Boaz and
Ruth
the Moabitess. Jesse was not like Boaz
a “mighty man of wealth.” He kept
no servant
as far as appears in the record. His flocks were “a few sheep.” In
much solitude
though one of many children
and meeting little
appreciation--though surely the mother must have read some great promise in her
youngest son!--grew David. To and fro
between his home and flock
he went
and
the simple people of Bethlehem little imagined that he was to make their own
town famous through all lands
and to be to men of all ages one of their
holiest and most helpful teachers. Who can forecast the destiny of the children
we meet
the children of our homes? A future is before each of them; it may be
of lowly usefulness
if not of eminence. And the thought even of young David
to whom
it seems
small appreciation gathered
will give point to our Lord’s
solemn warning
“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.”
II. David’s
occupation. It was that of a mountain shepherd. The shepherds of
Bethlehem--which stood on a rugged ridge of the hill country of Judah with deep
gorges eastward to the Dead Sea and westward to the Philistine plain--had to
keep their sheep amid no ordinary difficulties. Every Syrian shepherd’s life
was one of exposure and privation. Alertness and courage needed in the shepherd
were found in David. Much alone
toiling as humble youth among humble men
not
a day but by the work of his hands
his companionships
his perils
he was
being prepared to be the shepherd of a nation. And because he was faithful over
a few things--feeding sheep
nursing lambs
going after the lost
fighting back
the thief--God purposed to make him ruler over many things. However lowly our
station and inconspicuous our toil
we are to be faithful in it. Our business
may be small
but it is big enough to be faithful in.
III. David’s
endowments. Though not of commanding stature like Saul
he was endowed with
uncommon beauty. Dwelling among a dark-complexioned
black-locked people
“he
was ruddy
” “cherry cheeked
” as an old English writer calls him
or
according
to the rendering of the ancient versions
auburn-haired. David was endowed with
the poet-soul. The experiences of his shepherd occupation coloured many of his
Psalms. The value of David’s great musical and poetic gift to himself must not
be overlooked. But not because of his physical beauty or poetic genius was
David chosen to the throne. It was because of his true and holy character.
“From a child he knew the Holy Scriptures
” a portion of them consisting of but
little more than the Pentateuch. His delight was in them; they were his
meditation day and night. His heart was right with God. He was “glad in the
Lord” With radiant piety he went to daily duty and through it. “He carolled to
his fleecy care.” He was not the less but the more manly for his piety. Wild
beasts found in him their victor. And the violent robber retreated before this
young but valiant man of war. His heart was right and so his life was right for
duty or danger. The Lord looketh on the heart. Then what does He see in us? The
“heart right with God” is the grand essential to all valuable and enduring
service to our generation. Where God looks let us look. Let our heart be right
and then though our intentions
motives
conduct
may be questioned and
maligned by men all will be well with us
God Himself will vindicate and reward
us in that great day when the thoughts of all hearts shall be revealed.
IV. David’s
anointing. When David comes before us in the sacred record it is to be anointed
by aged Samuel
last and purest of the judges. Thus the obscure shepherd lad
the menial of his father’s family
first meets us in history. Anointed! Did
that family know the meaning of the rite? Prudential reasons would conceal it
from them. Did David know? Most likely not. But he knew that God’s favour was
on him
and that of some kind
a great future was before him. He was not
impatient; for it. He would prepare for it; by study of God’s law
in which he
may henceforth have received instruction from Samuel
whose home (for there
were several Ramahs) was
very likely
not many miles away; by still tending
his sheep he would also prepare for it. When the great future comes it will
know where to find him. In the faithful discharge of daily duties every
Christian man is preparing for heaven’s glorious future. He is being trained up
for an eternal
if not a temporal throne. (G. T. Coster.)
The anointing of David
Samuel
the venerable and almost outworn prophet
would have made
a mistake upon this occasion. When he looked upon Eliab
he said
“Surely the
Lord’s anointed is before Him.” It is clear
therefore
that even inspired and
honoured prophets were not
in themselves
infallible. It would further appear
that their inspiration was occasionally suspended. Now and again natural
judgment interposed its opinion. Now and again the natural sense spoke first
without allowing the spiritual sense to lead the way. Appearances ought to mean
something. If a man have a noble physical appearance
that appearance ought to
carry with it some moral significance. If it do not
the man himself should
retire into his own heart
and ask himself a plain question or two. Did God
fashion palaces for dwarfs? The man should inquire whether God intended that
his outward nobleness of form and aspect should be inconsistent with his inner
and better life? Ought not the natural to be the expression of the spiritual?
Ought a man to have a noble head and nothing in it? great physical power and no
power of soul? an open
beautiful countenance
yet the heart of a hypocrite or
the soul of a villain? As with personal appearance
so with social appearance.
Our outward figure in society ought to mean something good; something according
to the measure of its greatness
and the intensity of its splendour. Shall a
man live in a great house
and be surrounded by all the signs of luxury and
advanced civilisation
and yet that appearance fail to denote that the
inhabitant of that house and the owner of that property is a man of the noblest
charity
and that what is round about him is but a poor figure and dim emblem
of the reality of his spirit
and the inexhaustibleness of his love? A man
ought not to feel himself at liberty to be inconsistent
to exhibit a daily
discrepancy between his appearance and his reality
whether it be his personal
appearance or his social appearance. On the other hand
there is a higher law.
There is a law which takes us clear out of the realm of appearances. So
whilst
our subject gives a ceil to those who are favoured with outward beauty and
external majesty
it also sends a message to those who have no such physical
and external advantages. It says: True beauty is beauty of the heart
true
greatness is greatness of the mind
abiding majesty is moral majesty; what thou
art in reality
thou art in thy soul! The bloom shall be taken off thy cheek
the lustre shall be dimmed in thine eye
the sap shall be taken out of thy bodily
strength: moral elements
spiritual qualities
spiritual beauties--these
survive all wrecks
these grow
these increase in lustre
beauty
and worth;
these
partaking of the very nature and quality of God
shall abide through the
ages of His own eternity! Turning specially to the anointing of David
we shall
regard it in its bearing upon the Divine law of election
which is so
mysteriously
yet so certainly and inexorably working amidst the affairs of
men. Looking at that law of Divine election within the limits of the present
instance
two things are plain.
I. It is plain
that the law of Divine election pays no regard to human prejudices. There is
for example
a prejudice in favour of appearance. Samuel himself was the
subject of that prejudice. We may
too
have prejudices as respects age. We
rightly say that age should speak
that a multitude of days should teach
wisdom
that a man who has come to maturity
or grey hairs
has a right to a
certain measure of supremacy. There is
too
a prejudice as regards employment.
We infer that because a man has been brought up in a lowly employment
therefore he is not qualified for high rule
for supreme command. Now as Samuel
had the one prejudice
Jesse had the other. Thus setting aside human
prejudices
and working according to a law which never has been sanctioned by
the merely natural reason of mankind.
1. By calling unlikely men to the front
God humbles human judgment.
No man can arise and say
“This is the Lord’s chosen one
” or “That ought to be
the specially honoured servant of the Most High.” Not the keenest
wisest
strongest of us is entitled to say who shall be sent on the Lord’s errands. We
are ruled by prejudices
we are sometimes victims of appearances. We see form
not soul--hands
not hearts. We draw conclusions from things seen and temporal.
God hushes all our voices
and says
“I am the Lord; I will send by whom I will
send: the work is Mine
and the Master must choose the servants.” God also
keeps the world in constant expectation by calling unlikely men to do the chief
of His work in society. The Lord is round about us
and at any moment He may
charge us with His messages
and clothe us with His power!
3. By calling unlikely men to the front
God equalises the conditions
of society. Suppose for one moment that all men were called from one class.
What a change would take place in our social relations! what pride would
inspire some people
what despair would chill and darken others! But God is
continually working by a sovereign law
which we cannot understand
but which
always vindicates its own mercifulness
as well as shows its infinite wisdom.
God equalises one aristocracy with another
and daily teaches us that no man is
to be despised; that in the meanest of His creatures He can set up His temple
if He will!
4. See then the graciousness of the law of sovereign election. We do
not speak of the majesty
the impressiveness
and sublimity of the law. But in
this law of sovereign election
daily at work amidst the affairs of men
we
discover infinite graciousness
beneficence
compassion. The law has not only a
sublime side
but a side which appeals to our emotions
to our gratitude
to
our confidence. God’s strength is the measure of God’s love. So had I any
choice in the matter
I should prefer that God should elect to rule according
to His own counsel without ever consulting me. I would pray Him to save me from
consultation; I would appeal to Him not to make me a party to a decision; I
would be His servant
His agent
His son. I am but an insect born yesterday.
What shall I say to the eternal and infinite God? I say
“Do not ask me; do not
consult me; Thou knowest all; let me find my liberty in Thy sovereignty; let me
find my freedom in Thy rule; what Thou doest
infinite
living One
must be
best!”
II. It is plain
from this instance that the law of Divine election proves itself in spiritual
gifts. We read
“The Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.”
The same thing we see in the case of Saul
upon whom the Spirit of the Lord
came
and of whom we read
“The Lord gave him another heart.” So it was with
Joshua. In like manner we read that “the Spirit of the Lord came upon
Jephthah.” So with Samson the strong man. It is of supreme importance that this
side of the doctrine be understood; so that the law of Divine election may be
saved from abuse. Let us understand
therefore
what we are talking about;
namely
the law of Divine election vindicates itself in spiritual expression on
the part of those who are divinely elected. How is a man to shew his election?
Not by pretension. Not by contemptuous treatment of other workers. The
divinely-elected man is a magnanimous man. He rarely has recourse to contempt;
when he is contemptuous
it is for moral
not for merely personal
reasons.
How
then
is a man to prove that he is called of God to do a special work
or
to occupy a special position? I answer
distinctly and emphatically
by the
purity and force of his spiritual qualifications. Only so far as he has the
Holy Ghost is he the elect servant
the representative of God! There must be
something about him that is not merely physically distinctive
separating him
from all other men
and giving him a bearing and force which could only be
derived from long-continued fellowship with the unseen ever-living Lord! An
intelligent appreciation of this law of Divine sovereign election would be
attended by the happiest consequences. Life would no longer be looked upon as
an irregular warfare. Lose your grasp of this doctrine of the Divine rule and
the sovereign majesty of God
and life becomes a scramble on the streets; the
strongest wins
the weakest is knocked to the wall; and as for the spiritual
man
the soul that has not lost its sensibility
the man that has ideas of
righteousness
truth
and honour--such men must be trampled in the dust. Lay
hold of this doctrine
that God is at the centre
God is on the throne
marshalling all forces
and ruling all events; and how confused soever may be
present appearances
you will find a law working itself out which shall justify
everyone who is good
vindicate every righteous claim
confound the wicked
and
bear them away upon the whirlwind of Divine indignation. Not only will this
result follow; but responsibility will be felt to be measurable by proper
limitations. All men are not equally responsible before God. Some of us require
he be comforted upon this point
because this great question of responsibility
is so heavy to carry; it troubles and overweights us till we can hardly get
along at all--so grievous is our sense of personal responsibility. Tell me that
God gives be every man a certain number of talents--five
two
or one. Tell me
that from him to whom much has been given
much will be required
and that from
him to whom little has been given
little will be required; then I begin to
feel the justness
the equity
and graciousness of the living Lord. You may
expect me to say one word about another kind of election
or another bearing of
this law of election. Let me
then
deny
that any man is elected to badness of
character. I ask you to prove
by any correct quotation from the Divine record
that God ever called a man to wickedness. The whole tone of Biblical teaching
is against a theory so monstrous. I do read of election to righteousness
of
calls to high offices and noble functions. I never read of God electing a man
to hell! As to this matter of election
I would to God that some who object to
it were as commonsense in this matter as they are in the daily actions of
ordinary life! There is a prize to be given in the school. It is one prize;
there are five hundred scholars in the school. The boys say
“Well
only one of
us can get it
why should five hundred of us be toiling and fagging for it?”
Another boy says
“I know if I am to have the prize I will get it; so I shall
read no books
and make no preparation.” You would not allow a boy to reason
so. Yet there are men who say this
“If we are called to heaven
we’ll get to
heaven; if we are elected to be saved
we need not make any effort about it.”
“Thou wicked and slothful servant: out of thine own mouth I condemn thee;” the
whole action of thy evil life shall be thy answer on the day of judgment
and
thou shalt be condemned to an ignominious silence because of a self-accusing
conscience. With God upon the throne
why should we be distressed by unhappy
appearances and unwelcome rumours? The Lord reigneth; that is enough. The
sovereignty of the Lord is the security of all goodness. Destroy sovereignty
and you inaugurate confusion. What would be our poor human life
were God to
leave the throne
and allow us to go our own way
and do our own bidding? (J.
Parker
D. D.)
David
the chosen of God
The aged Samuel and the youthful David contrasted present a
touching subject
for contemplation. Samuel had weathered the storms of life
for many weary years; David had scarcely commenced to fight his life battles.
Samuel was about to enter into rest; David had to live and work and fight.
Samuel had one important duty to perform
and then he could lay down his weapons--that
duty had reference to the youthful David.
1. The despised of man is in this case the chosen of God. It seems
that David was not thought much of at home
but God valued him highly. How
often has it happened that boys who have been the subjects of special care
being regarded as geniuses
have repaid the care taken with them by running
wild
and thus piercing a tender mother’s and a loving father’s heart. Whereas
on the other hand
some who have been comparatively neglected
can account of
their seeming stupidity
have turned out
real heroes
the props of parents’
declining years. “Many a gem” that shall sparkle brightly in the place of
happiness is here unseen
and “many a flower” that shall bloom in the soil of
Paradise hides its head on earth
like the “modest” violet. Poor Christians
never heed if you are slighted by purse-proud brethren. Jesus will say to you
by and by
“Come up higher;” while He will say to those
“Go down lower.”
Everyone
sooner or later
will find his proper level. Merit will be rewarded
if not in this world
in the next. As Christians
we can well afford to wait
for our exaltation.
2. What sort
of a youth was this David? David was a true child of
nature. As “a blithesome shepherd-boy.” he was always reading in her wide-extended
book
which told him of the glories of the God of the Hebrews. As nature’s
child
he could sing with all artlessness unto nature’s God. He glorified God
in his own shepherd language
as the shepherd of Israel. David’s personal
appearance was but the reflex of his inward beauty! where it exists ii; stamps
its image upon the plainest countenance
and makes it lovely. David
ruddy and
beautiful
was called by God; hence let us learn that God requires the young
the beautiful
to be His servants. Now
I take this picture of David to be a
good type of the Church of Christ. It is certain that the ideal Christ
of
which we love to think
will be “ruddy
beautiful
and goodly to look to” it
all completeness
but this is in measure the appearance of the real Church of
today. “Ruddy
and beautiful
and goodly to look to”--oh yes! for she is
baptised with the Redeemer’s blood; His own image impressed upon her makes her
exceedingly lovely. Do you ask “Where is the proof of her vigour?” Ten thousand
proofs are at hand. On the icy plains of the far North some are found who
delight in calling upon the name of the Lord Down at the extreme South are
those who worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Thank God
the church can
never lose its youthful vigour whilst young recruits are stepping up in the
ranks to supply vacancies caused by the removal of hoary warriors whose warfare
is ended.
3. Let us make one or two other practical remarks on this passage.
The Lord’s people form a family; but there are many who
like David in the
next
are not now in the family circle: many are keeping sheep for Satan
and
refuse to attend the family meal. God says
“Send and fetch them
for we will
not sit down till they come hither.” A great feast day is approaching
when all
true worshippers shall sit down in the banqueting house
and feast with Jesus.
God wants to have a full house then. Shall Satan’s dram shops
and public
houses
and dancing saloons be filled on earth
and the Lord’s table empty in
heaven? No. “Send and fetch” them in the name of God. Ages have rolled by since
David departed from earth; but do no sweet sounds of David’s harp still linger
on the ear. “I was glad when they said unto me
Let us go into the house of the
Lord.” (A. H. Jones.)
David under the holy horn
The eldest of Jesse’s sons
Eliab
was the largest of them all; he
was like Saul in his figure
a great
tail
broad-shouldered
magnificent-looking specimen of physical manhood. All the others in the crowd
looked little and insignificant when compared to him
and when Samuel saw him
he said to himself
“There is the man. Surely the Lord’s anointed is before
him.” But the Lord made Samuel know his mistake. I remember a friend of mine
telling me of a young man who was living in Boston during the years when Phillips
Brooke was doing his great work there in Trinity Church. This young man was
converted to Christ under Phillips Brooks’ ministry
and he explained to my
friend how it came about he said the first thing that attracted him to Mr.
Brooks was his giant-like physical form. He used to see him walking down the
street every morning
and he said to himself
“What a man that is!” He was
thinking only of the physique
and nothing else. But he so greatly admired the
splendid appearance of the man that he went to hear him preach
and as he
listened to his clear expositions of the Scripture and was charmed by his
flights of eloquence
he began to admire the intellect of the man
and he said
to himself
“What a splendid brain he has; it is equal to his body; he is a
giant in intellect as well as in physique.” But as he went on listening to Mr.
Brooks’ sermons
the Spirit of God used the word as a “two-edged sword
” and he
became greatly troubled because of his sins
and finally he was so troubled
that he went to see Mr. Brooks and opened his heart to him
and then the great
man’s tenderness of heart
and toying sympathy with him
as he cleared away his
doubts
swallowed up all his previous thoughts concerning him. The young man
not only came to know Jesus Christ as his Saviour
but his heart was flooded
also with the knowledge that Phillips Brooks was as great in his heart and in
his spiritual nature as he was in body or brain. Surely that is as it ought to
be always. It is a shame for a man to be large in body and mind and little and
narrow and mean in spirit. The same is true of the circumstances in which we
live. When you see a man living in a large and splendid house
having about him
all the evidences of abundance
you feel that out from such a house there
should flow streams of benevolence. When it proves to be true it is a beautiful
thing. But when such a place is full of selfishness and greed
you feel that it
is a shame and only a mockery of what it professes to be. Is not the same thing
true of our spiritual blessings? What a mean thing it is for us to take all the
comfort and peace of God’s great mercy
and fail so give ourselves up to
seeking after the lost. And so Samuel passed Eliab by; and the next
and still
the next
came on
until seven sons of Jesse had passed before him. They sent
then for David. He was only a shepherd lad; but in David
after all
was the
hope of the family. How many of us are thus blind today! There is a boy who
lives next door to us
but he is young and awkward
and when we are thinking of
the people we can win to Christ we are likely to pass him by. There is a boy
working in the same store with you
but he is young and uninteresting
and it
does not occur to you that it would be a great thing
a marvellous thing
to
turn those young
awkward steps toward heaven. But nobody can tell what the boy
will grow into if the Spirit of God can be put upon him. A recent writer tells
how
over in old Scotland many years ago
a faithful minister coming early to
the church met one of his deacons
whose face wore a very resolute but
distressed expression. “I came early to meet you
” be said. “I have something
on my conscience to say to you. Pastor
there must be something radically wrong
in your preaching and work; there has been but one person added to the church
in a whole year
and he is only a boy.” Said the old man: “I have great hopes
of that one boy--Robert. Some seed that we sow bears fruit late
but that fruit
is generally the most precious of all.” The old minister went to the pulpit
that day with a grieved and heavy heart. He closed his discourse with dim and
tearful eyes. He lingered in the dear old church after the rest were gone he
wished to be alone. Before this altar he had prayed over the dead forms of a
bygone generation
and had welcomed the children of a new generation; and here
yes
here
be had been told at last that his work was no longer owned and
blessed. No one remained. Not one? “Only a boy.” The boy was Robert Metier.
“Well
Robert
” said the minister. “Do you think if I were willing to work hard
for an education I could ever become a preacher?” “A preacher? Perhaps a
missionary?” There was a long pause. Tears filled the eyes of the old minister.
At length he said: “This heals the ache in my heart
Robert. I see the Divine
hand now. May God bless you
my boy. Yes
I think you will become a preacher.”
The old minister sleeps beneath the trees in the humble place of his labours
but men remember his work because of what he was to that
one boy
and what
that one boy was to the world. “Only a boy!” A spiritual revolution would take
place in this city if all of us were as truly anxious here that the young boys
and girls
the young men and women
should be anointed to the service of Christ
as Samuel was to see David appointed king. (L. A. Banks
D. D.)
The enervating of David
Few questions are more frequently asked than these: How shall I
get on in life? How shall I give the right impulse to my children? How shall I
plan for their making the most of themselves? Our study of the Old Testament
has this advantage
that the hand and counsel of God are formally presented and
connected with the rise and fall
the well and ill-doing
of men. Saul has
failed through forgetfulness of what he was to be and to do
and the self-will
of the people is being punished through his failure. The God of Israel might
have left them to reap as they had sown
but He is patient
and if one will not
do His will
He will
within certain limits
find another. Hence the mission of
Samuel His prophet to Bethlehem. The tenderness of Samuel appears in his sorrow
for Saul’s rejection (1 Samuel 15:35; see Elijah’s case
1
Kings ch. 19)
but grief must not keep us from duty and adequate provision for
the future. Israel had chosen to have a king; now God will provide a fitting
leader
having in view not only present interest
but interests stretching
forward into a boundless future. Samuel is to go and anoint the king of God’s
providing. But
godly and loyal as he is
Samuel fears
for the best men are
not always at their best. Saul is still actual and rightful king
and he may
hear of this and treat him as a rebel. So he is directed to a course which is
not marked by duplicity
but prudence--not by lying
but by reticence. Silence
is sometimes as much a duty as plain speech is at other times (1 Samuel 10:16). A man may be
reticent
but not deceitful
as that minister might be if questioned by
meddlers regarding the man he warned. The Divine word is
“Arise
anoint him.”
Concurrently with this solemn rite
a Divine gift was given David. How much was
explained to him we are not told
but he began from that hour to receive a
preparation of mind through the teaching and power of the Holy Ghost. New
ideas
aims
hopes
took hold of his nature. Samuel went to Ramah
but
David
would be in communication with him
and get further light in what was for the
present a secret. (chaps. 19
20)
1. We see here how man’s sinful will is regarded
overruled
and used
for the exhibition of God’s will
yet without sin in God. Are we trying to do
God’s will as His? We must carry it out in the end
but is it to be willingly
or the reverse?
2. We see how God prepares His instruments for their work in their
mind and character. David’s training begins
perhaps
by hopes and longings put
into his heart
of which his language in ch. 17 is the outcome.
3. But this does not remove from view the fitness in him
coming of a
good family where piety was prized and life was trained for God (Numbers 1:7; Numbers 2:3; Ruth 4:20). Jesse was an acquaintance of
Samuel--a good sign. No training
however
and no anointing
dispenses with the
Holy Ghost (verse 13).
4. David in his shepherd life was being made ready for his work and
for his typical place.
5. Even an eminent prophet needs to be guided as to his feelings and
his judgments. God is “the only wise.” (John Hall
D. D.)
David anointed
God determines His own methods for accomplishing His own ends.
When an evil spirit had come upon Saul
and he had proved himself unworthy
longer to reign over Israel
a train of influences was put in operation to
bring another and more worthy incumbent to the throne.
I. A divine
directing. Samuel was at Ramah. Here the Lord meets him
with the direction to
fill his horn with oil and proceed to Bethlehem
where from the family of Jesse
is to be taken Israel’s future king. Samuel foresaw the difficulty. There would
be peril to his life in doing publicly so rash an act as anointing Saul’s
successor while as yet he sat on the throne. But He who has promised to give
wisdom to those who seek
now guided the prophet’s way. “Those
” says Matthew
Henry
“that go about God’s work in God’s way shall be directed step by step.”
Thus obeying and praying
the prophet enters the town. The appearance
however
of this man of God in the little village filled the elders with alarm. Too
often
in planning even for the Lord’s work
His servants fall into as great
unwisdom as would the prophet had he openly proclaimed in the streets of
Bethlehem
“I am come to anoint Saul’s successor.”
II. A Divine
selecting. God has indicated one to become ruler of the nation. The people had
selected Saul; God has appointed David Saul was chosen for qualities which men
hold in high esteem; David was appointed because of the spirit which dwelt
within. “Man looketh on the outward appearance
but the Lord looketh on the
heart.” Doubtless there was not one in Israel who would have looked on David as
suited to become Saul’s successor. We learn from this that no choice is wise
which Heaven does not direct. Now
as then
if any one seeks wisdom
he must
ask it from above. Man often chooses to his hurt because he chooses without
God. Now
also
as then
right qualities of heart are needed in positions high
or low. Again
we learn that the hope of the matron and the world is in the
young. Jesse and his household thought that the child David alight not be
invited into the prophet’s presence. So think multitudes today. When churches
spread their feast
and families gather at the sacramental board
by the
absence there of youthful faces
one is often painfully reminded of the
question Samuel asked--“Are these all my children?” Parents
Sabbath school
teachers
churches
pass not the children by.
III. A Divine
qualifying. Although by Samuel’s act the youthful David was now anointed
he
was yet to be trained to become a king. This God effected by methods of His
own. The lad returned from the feast to his shepherd life. He was
however
preeminently in God’s school. He was the same boy
but with his thoughts lifted
higher. Significantly is it said that “The Spirit of the Lord came upon David
from that day forward.” Henceforth the ordinary events of life were to him
God’s messengers--instruments by which he was being fitted for a throne. (Monday
Club Sermons.)
David’s anointing
We shall now view the ordinance through which David passed
and
the farther endowments bestowed on him in order to the effective discharge of
regal duty. In the ordinance itself we are warned that all authority and
dignity emanate from God. The ceremony as commanded in the text was highly
interesting
impressive
and instructive. The unction here used was a real one.
Priests had been anointed
and prophets likewise; before this occasion
however
the ceremony of kingly unction had never been witnessed except in the
case of Saul.
1. The object of the ceremony
then
was first official. It
intimated
by its solemnity
and its minister
that the work was of God--His
design and His appointment
and
therefore
not to be disputed. This sacredness
of the ceremony precluded all jealousy and contention. God had avowed David as
His representative
and so declared Himself for his protection.
2. Our business now is to view natural abilities and endowments in
the same light with those official qualifications. We have no miracles
they
are unnecessary; we have no form or ceremony
which
by its own virtue
or the
virtue of agents and ministers
can communicate to us any unusual or supernatural
quality. Nevertheless
the Creator of mind is the ruler of mind; and we observe
that by a train of known and ordinary circumstances
providentially directed
He has often raised to honour
and qualified with ability
the very men whom
least of all and last of all we should have singled out for advancement. Our
position was a gift from God
a free election on His part: our natural
endowments likewise came from His special favour. There is an account demanded
of our duties--our ordinary ones
our social ones our worldly work and
occupation
how far we have been faithful
and how far everything committed to
our trust has been dedicated and applied to the good of man and glory of God as
God is now revealed to us. A general impression prevails with men as to moral
responsibility
but the responsibility which presses on us connected with the
Gospel of Christ
this is not so fully admitted. Then let us remember that if
we are thus Christ’s people we are so far a purpose that must be fulfilled. “Ye
are a chosen generation
a royal priesthood; you are called to a regal office
see that ye fulfil it.” It is this you are called to reign over sin. (Romans 6:12.) You are
called to reign over the world
to overcome it in all its forms of hostility
against Gad and godliness. Who is sufficient for these things
who could
venture on the mere calling or appointment
without the becoming
qualifications? Hence our eyes and hearts must be on the spiritual consecration.
“But ye have an unction from the Holy One.” (1 John 2:20.) That is
our oil of consecration
and by it we receive virtually the power to sustain us
in our great appointment.
3. The first influence of this unction is knowledge
the last is
glory. Knowledge was the ambition of man
under the false teaching of Satan
and he found it not except in the discovery of his own guilt
and the
experience of sin. Now
we know better things; we know the love of Christ
the
remedy for sin
the love of the Father
the peace of faith
the abiding succour
of the Holy Ghost.
4. The prophetic or typical signification of the ceremony directed in
the text. David was a figure of Christ
and a striking one. He is called
He is
adopted
and visibly before His household is ordained to be the preserver and
king of Israel. Are we not led instantly in our thoughts to the commission and
action of the Baptist? Urged on by his own predictions
and administering the
rite of baptism preparative to the arrival of this Saviour
we may easily
imagine with what an ardent and inquiring gaze this herald of the Redeemer’s
approach looked for him
to whom was turned both true and false
the
expectation of the world. We can conceive his repeated disappointment when
noble after noble swept along in proud array
perhaps to hear and honour his
awakening call to penitence; still no recognition was afforded--no signal yet
declared the promised Saviour. At last a lowly form draws near--an humble garb
a gentle mien
an unpretending aspect
which exact no worldly reverence. He is
mingled
too
in the crowd of publicans and sinners
who throng the Baptist’s
ministry
to win some peace
some hope
to their afflicted
guilty hearts. Here
is one without comeliness or external majesty
from whom the common eye would
turn heedlessly away; but the spirit within the Baptist calls to
homage--“Arise
anoint him
this is he.” At the baptism of Christ we are told
the spirit of the Lord descended on Him--the full unction of the Holy Spirit
was poured out on Him. (Matthew 3:17.) Christ
then
was publicly anointed
to be our prophet
priest
and king. Let us follow
a few passages of Scripture which hear upon His consecration to office.
The anointing of David
I. The
shortsightedness of even the best of men. Even Samuel was taken by the fair
face and imposing stature of Eliab. Yet he knew nothing of Eliab’s inner man.
Human nature must be estimated simply by external observation. Hence it is only
natural that he should make mistakes.
II. The inscrutable
purposes of God. He overrules all the estimates of men
and His estimates are
very different to those of men. The servants of Jesse had not even thought it
worth while to call David in. This is only reasonable. For
1. He must know the nature of man.
2. Because He has no selfish purposes to accomplish.
3. Because He is actuated by the most benign of motives to all.
III. The valuable
instruction to be derived.
1. Moral worth is the truest beauty.
2. We should seek to form our standard of excellence by the character
of God.
3. We must not be rash in our judgment of any one’s character. (Homilist.)
The principle of Divine selection
The first great principle involved in the choice of David is that
which runs through all Scripture
because it runs through all Providence
that
“the first shall be last
and the last first.” Low valleys are blessed with
broad rivers; the heights are barren and parched. God’s gifts are given to the
lowly in heart
and His judgments fall “upon all that is proud and haughty
and
it shall be brought low
”--“and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.”
Not once nor twice in the world’s history have its deliverers and guides sprung
from the lower classes. “In vain is salvation hoped for from the hills.” A
miner’s son in Thuringia remoulds the Church which a Prince’s son on the papal
throne was corrupting still more; a brewer in Huntingdon fashions England “into
another mould.” And as regards individual salvation
it is the “meek and lowly
in heart” who comes to Jesus and find rest to their souls
while “the wise and
prudent” have no eyes to see the Light of light. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
The future king anointed
The anointing of David was a mysterious incident. Saul knew
nothing of it. He went on as before. The kingdom was undisturbed
though a new
king was in its midst. So it is in the world today. Jesus Christ is crowned
King of kings
but the world over which He has supreme authority knows in its
carnal confidence nothing at all of what is going on behind the veil of
destiny. Even while winter storms are raging the summer is prophesied by the
tiny buds that quietly nestle in the bark of the trees. A new life is secretly
Cradled there
but months must pass before it is manifested. So Jesus Christ
will come secretly
first in what the early Greek Christians called the
“Parousia
” His presence in the air; and afterwards He will appear in the
“Epiphany
” the brightness of His manifestation. (Christian Commonwealth.)
Who are elected?
Samuel was sent to Bethlehem to discover the object of God’s
election. This would have been a very difficult task if the God who sent him
had not accompanied him
and spoken with the sure voice of inspiration within
him so soon as the chosen object stood before him.
I. The surprise of
all when they found that David
the least in his father’s house
was the object
of the Lord’s choice
a king over Israel.
1. Observe that his brethren had no idea that David would be
selected; such a thought had never entered into their heads.
2. It is more painful to notice that David’s father should have had
no idea of David’s excellence. It sometimes happens that one in the family is
overlooked
even by his parent
in his hopes and prayers. The father seems to
think
“God may be pleased to convert William; he may call Mary; I trust in His
Providence we shall see John grown up to be a credit to us; but as for Richard
or Sarah
I do not know what will ever become of them.” How often will parents
have to confess that they have misjudged
and that the one upon whom they have
set the black mark has been after all the joy and comfort of their lives
and
has given them more satisfaction than all the rest put together.
3. It is clear also that Samuel
God’s servant
had at first; no idea
of David’s election. Sometimes the Christian minister is deceived. He consults
with flesh and blood
and selects Eliab
the man with a fine person. Then rank
will come before the minister
and if he sees a person of high estate
cheerfully listening to the gospel
he is very ready to think
“Surely the Lord
hath chosen him.” Again
others are so well educated that when the Word is
preached they appreciate the style in which it is delivered
and the remarks
which they make concerning it are so sensible and so judicious that the
preacher is apt to say
“Surely the Lord hath chosen these!” At times
we feel
sure that we have now pitched upon the right man
for we are charmed with our
bearer’s natural amiability of disposition
end are cheered by his tenderness
and susceptibility of mind to religious impressions; and yet we are
disappointed. Many lovely blossoms never become fruits
and hopeful saplings
prove not to be plants of the Lord’s right hand planting
and therefore are
plucked up. At times
too
we hear such admirable conversation about religion
that we conclude
“Now we have found out the chosen of the Lord.” Meanwhile
the very one whom we overlooked
the least one in the assembly
has been the
David upon whom God’s blessing has fallen. How matchless is the sovereignty of
God! “His ways are past finding out.” The very poorest
the most illiterate
the meanest and most obscure
the things despised
yea
“the things that are
not
” doth He choose
to bring to naught the things that are that no flesh
should glory in His presence. It strikes me that there was one person more
astonished when David was anointed than even his brothers
or his father
or
the prophet--and that was himself. He was a wonder unto many
but chiefly to
himself.
II. The token of
election
the secret mark which the Lord sets in due time upon the chosen. In
due time every chosen person receives the seal of grace. That stamp is a new
heart and a right spirit. What kind of heart had David? We may find it out by
his Psalms. We cannot tell when some of the Psalms were written
but if any of
them were written in his youth
the twenty-third was certainly one.
1. That beautiful pastoral poem opens a window into the heart of David
leg us look through it
and we shall soon perceive that he possessed a
believing heart. How sweet is the sentence
“The Lord is my shepherd
I shall
not want.”
2. We note
as we read the psalm
that David’s heart was also a
meditative heart. Mark the words
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.” He elsewhere writes: “My mediation of
Him shall be sweet.”
3. Go on with the Psalm
and I think you will be struck with the
humble heart which David had
for all the way through he does not praise
himself. “He leadeth me beside the still waters
He restoreth my soul.” See
he
has no crown for his own head; the crown is all for the Mighty One who is His
shepherd.
4. We should altogether fail in describing David if we were to omit
other qualifications. His was a holy heart. Observe in the same Psalm
“He
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” David delighted
not in iniquity; the men of Belial he put far from him. “A liar shall not tarry
in my sight
” said he. He loved the people of God he styles them
“The
excellent of the earth
in whom is all my delight.” Holiness which becomes
God’s house was very delightful to David’s soul. He loved the commandments of
God because of their holiness. “Thy word is very pure
therefore Thy servant
loveth it.” (Psalms 119:140.)
5. Note what a brave heart beat in his breast. Where will you find a
braver man than David? Let me remind you that he had a very contented and
grateful heart.
6. You should further observe the constancy of David’s heart. He
says
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I
will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” He was not one of the Pliables
who set out and turn back again at the first slough into which they tumble. By
such marks may we know our election. I would God that those who are so positive
of their election would condescend sometimes to try themselves by Scriptural
marks and evidences.
III. Manifestation
or the way in which the election of God is made apparent to ourselves and
others. We cannot see the hearts of our fellow men
and therefore the heart can
never be to us the way of distinguishing the elect of God
except so far as it
is seen in the acts and words.
1. Now the first sign by which this election was made known to David
himself and to a few others
who probably did not know much about it
was by
his being anointed. There is a season when God anoints His people. They have
believed but there may elapse a little time between the believing and the
conscious anointing; but suddenly
when the Lord has illuminated their hearts
to know and understand Divine things clearly
the Spirit of God comes with a
sealing power upon them
and from that day forward they rejoice to know that
they have the indwelling of the Spirit
and that they are set apart for God.
2. The manifestation
however
went on in another way. After the
anointing it appears that David became a man distinguished for the valour of
his deeds.
3. It appears
too
that he was very prudent. The same witness bearer
said he was “a man prudent in matters.” Such will you be
when as the elect of
God the Spirit of wisdom rests upon you.
4. Mark well that one of the ways by which your election will become
clear and sure to all God’s people wilt be this:--If you are anointed king as
David was before you
you will come into conflict with Saul. It cannot be
possible that the chosen of God shall forever live in peace with the heirs of
hell.
5. I think David was never more clearly manifested to be God’s elect
except at the last of all
than when he was an outlaw. He never seems such a
grand man as When he is among the tracks of the wild goats of Engedi. We do not
read of many faults
and slips
and errors then. The outlawed David is most
certainly manifested to all Israel to be the chosen of God
because the chosen
of man cannot abide him. The brightest days for Christian piety were the days
of martyrdom and persecution. Scotland has many saints
but she never has had
such rich saints as those who lived in covenanting times; England has had many
rich divines who have taught the word
but the Puritanic age was the golden age
of England’s Christian literature.
6. Remember that after all conflicts were over
David was crowned. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
The anointed of the God of Jacob
1. The historical narrative commences just where David’s life becomes
an instrument of service for God. Is this not where our life history commences
the point from which the record starts? The years of training for the work
require no record there God’s plan concerning our creation has one great
object
“that we may glorify Him”; and when our will is consciously surrendered
to His
then our names appear as fitted into the mosaic of His purpose. Then
and then only are we co-workers together with Him. No true heart ever
altogether loses the influence of early days
and when those days are saturated
with the piety of a godly mother
the influence is an important factor in the
formation of character.
2. Samuel was on the Lord’s work when his judgment was at fault. How
often we need to be kept back--prevented from going as otherwise we would
beyond our instructions! He who sends will tell you when to lift and on whom to
empty the horn of consecrating oil.
3. We are reminded here of the old but ever-needed truth
that in the
diligent performance of present duties lies the road to further usefulness and
honour. David was just attending to his ordinary duties
minding the sheep. So
was Gideon
when God’s angel called him. Levi also was at the receipt of
custom
end the disciples were mending their nets.
4. All great deeds are built upon and built up with little ones. The
stupendous monoliths are grains
and rest upon atoms. The mightiest mountain is
the aggregate of smallest grains
as is the ocean of tiny drops of water. So
the hand that was to lay low the Philistine giant learned its accuracy of aim
by exercise in daily duty.
I. In the Divine
call lies the secret of all successful service as of all joyful life. And God
knows where and when to find us. He sends His messengers direct to us. Every
place is open to the coming of the Holy Spirit’s monitions.
II. The Divine call
comes irrespective of others. No brethren
or sisters
or elders can hinder. If
there be no Samuel at our feasts
there is ever the Spirit of God calling us
through varied instrumentalities to arise. His whispers thinly heard must be
obeyed. Sheep nor brethren
business nor friends
must keep us from obedience.
III. The Divine call
comes to the individual. David is the one whom Samuel takes apart and tells of
God’s choice.
IV. The Divine call
separates us from others. Eliab
Abinadab
Shammah
Nathaniel
Raddai
Ozem
and
maybe
Elihu (1 Chronicles 27:18)
the brothers
may be standing by
but Divine anointing separates. The Divine call separates
you from yourself unto God’s own self. And all that stands in the way of this
separation makes misery. Beware. Obey. Response to Divine invitation is the
only way to advance to Divine service. (H. E. Stone.)
The coming man
The son of Jesse will henceforth be the hope of the nation.
I. God does not
act from impulse. He always has a reason for any changes He makes; hence we
hear Him say to Samuel
“How long wilt thou mourn for Saul
seeing I have
rejected him?” Tears are too precious to waste on these whom God has forsaken.
It is as wise to thresh chaff as hope for results where divinity has withdrawn
itself. The changes which history brings all go to show that the Ruler of the
universe never is at fault. Calmly He lays His hand on the helm
and without
fuss the course of a nation is altered. If the patriot or the Christian
remembered this he would not be so ready to imitate the sin of Uzzah. Let us
not tremble for the ark of God.
II. The coming of
Samuel to Bethlehem proclaims the fact that slain opportunities have no
resurrection. Saul had a great chance. Never had a monarch such a beginning.
Opposition only helped. Rivalry was an impossibility. Spring and summer held
the field. If be had been loyal to God
what was not possible? The greater the
opportunity
the more the loss if we miss the tide. Ships in ballast can afford
to wait longer than those in cargo. The more learning
or genius
or even
religion
the more waste if we miss our chance. Saul is rejected of God.
Henceforth he must be in eclipse. What is true of persons is still more so in
churches. Neither Bishops nor Convocations can afford to disobey the mandate of
God.
III. Saul has
unfitted himself to carry out the Divine programme
but God is never at the end
of His resources. The son of Jesse can take the place of the son of Kish. What
examples of this same thing abound in political life! How historic names pale
and famous places cease to be known! Judah takes the place of Benjamin
and
unknown Bethlehem wins a place on the map of the world. Tamworth
Bedford
Knowsley
Hawarden
Beaconsfield may in future be names in guide books rather than
history. Possibly Oxford and Epworth may share their fatal. But other names
appear. Providence has always arrows in its quiverse If one man will not
another will! There were many learned and eloquent clergymen in England when
John Wesley and George Whitefield began to preach. Many of them might have
shared the glory of saving our country from that which defiled and devoured
France. God is not at the far end nowadays.
IV. Jesse did not
know the great man he had among his sons; for when Samuel came and called for
the young men
David was left out of the reckoning: but then the elect are
never overlooked by God. Human eyes may not see the nimbus
but He who put it
there does.
V. After all
let
us say to the anointed
promotion is not all profit. The javelin is in the
palace. Men rise to become prominent as targets. If you don’t like to be shot
don’t come when Samuel sends for you. The Church and the nation are crying out
for men for the forlorn hops. Honour awaits the man who is not too anxious for
the safety of his father’s son. But Saul is envious
and has a javelin for the
harper; so stay and prove your fitness for the company of the ewes--if you are
afraid of the risk which comes to those who climb above their fellows. (Thomas
Champness.)
The blessed discovery of incipient greatness
Sir Humphry Davy
when asked to give a list of his discoveries
carefully traced the history of those successive researches which made him the
first chemist of his day
and then significantly added: “But the master
discovery of my life was the discovery of Michael Faraday!” He found him the
untaught son of a smith
taking notes of his lectures
and yearning to study
science. He took him into his laboratory
and there discovered that he had in
his humble assistant one who would some day rival
if not eclipse
his master.
Blessed work of discovering men. (Arthur J. Pierson
D. D.)
Verse 13
The Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
“From that day forward”
From whatever side we view the life of David
it is remarkable. It
may be that
Abraham excelled him in faith; and Moses in the power of
concentrated fellowship with God; and Elijah in the fiery force of his
enthusiasm. But none of these was so many-sided as the richly-gifted son of
Jesse. But in all he seemed possessed of a special power with God and man
which could not be accounted for by the fascination of his manner
the beauty
of his features
the rare gifts with which his nature was dowered
or the
spiritual power which was so remarkable an attribute of his heart. “The Spirit
of the Lord came mightily on David from that day forward.”
I. It began like
any ordinary day. No angel trumpet heralded it; no faces looked out of heaven;
the sun arose that morning according to his wont over the purple walls of the
hills of Moab. With the first glimmer of light the boy was on his way to lead
his flock to pasture lands heavy with dew. His father and brothers had followed
their pursuits and pleasures in almost total disregard of the young son and
brother who was destined to make their names immortal. He had borne it all in
patience. It was a genuine pleasure to feel that the family circle in great
Samuel’s eyes was not complete till he had come He therefore left his sheep
with the messenger
and started at full speed for home. Let us so live as to be
prepared for whatever the next hour may bring forth. The spirit in fellowship
with God
the robe stainlessly pure
the loins girt
the lamp trimmed. The
faithful fulfilment of the commonplaces of daily life is the best preparation
for any great demand that may suddenly break in upon our lives.
II. It was the
consummation of previous training. We must not suppose that now
for the first
time
the Spirit of God wrought in David’s heart From his earliest days
David
had probably been the subject of His quickening and renewing work; but he had
probably never experienced
before the day of which we treat
that special
unction of the Holy One symbolised in the anointing oil
and indispensable for
all successful spiritual work. Our Lord was born of the Spirit; but His
anointing for service did not take place till at the age of thirty
when on the
threshold of His public work
He emerged from the waters of baptism. The
Apostles were certainly regenerate before the day of Pentecost; but they had to
wait within closed doors until they were endued with power for the conversion
of men. This blessed anointing for service cannot be ours
except there has
been a previous gracious work on the heart. There must be the new life--the
life of God. The descending flame must fall upon the whole burnt offering of a
consecrated life.
III. It was
ministered through Samuel. The old prophet had conferred many benefits on his
native land; but none could compare in importance with his eager care for its
youth. Saul
in the earlier years of his manhood
felt the charm and spell of
the old man’s character. The descent of the oil was symbolical; in other words
it had no spiritual efficacy
but was the outward and visible sign that the
Spirit of God had come mightily on the shepherd lad.
IV. It was a day of
rejection. Seven of Jesse’s sons were passed overse (F. B. Meyer
B. A.)
The secular gifts of the Holy Ghost
It is not necessary to state that the gifts of the blessed Spirit
have always been holy and good; but it is important to observe that they differ
in the two Testaments. In the new covenant they are bestowments of grace and
spiritual powers; but in the older prominence is given as well to secular
gifts--skill for the craftsman
courage for the soldier
and statesmanship for
the ruler. It is greatly wise to take this wider view of the Spirit’s work as
seen in the world as well as in the Church
in the more secular gifts of the
great men of old time as well as the spiritual gifts of the holy apostles and
prophet. In Illustrating the secular gifts of the Holy Ghost
and the value of
inspiration in common life
this discourse will deal with three eventful
periods of Old Testament
end shew how apposite were the bestowments of the
Spirit.
1. The first period gives an example of inspiration in the world of
art. In the wilds of Sinai Moses received the command to build the tabernacle
and to prepare the vessels for holy ministry; the voice Divine saying with much
impressiveness: “See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed
to thee in the mount.” “The Jews alarmed that an ark of fire and a table and
lamp stand of fire came down from heaven to Moses as patterns
and that
Gabriel
clothed as a workman
showed Moses how to make them.” But this is a
needless and clumsy invention; nor can we think of the gentle presence-angel
descending to earth in the guise of a grimy Vulcan. Comparing this commission
with that given to David
we find the true interpretation: “All this the Lord
made me understand in writing by His hand upon me
even all the works of this
pattern.” But the task of embodying the types shown to Moses fell to humbler
minds and hands. God’s “Where art thou?” seldom fails to bring out the man for
His service; and in this case it drew out of obscurity the first sod only great
artist that Israel ever produced; and the name and effigy of Bezaleel
the son
of Uri
appear on the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park among the greatest sculptors
and painters known to fame. It is remarkable that the inspiration of Bezaleel
is mentioned most clearly and fully three times over
more emphatically than
that of any man in the Scriptures. Statuary was not permitted in Israel until
the days of contact with the Assyrians
and so one department of art was
excluded; but in the very varied work connected with the construction and
ritual of the tabernacle there was scope enough for the large inspiration of
the great artist. What a striking witness to the existence of the religiousness
of true work lingers among us in the common word “calling”--a man’s daily task
regarded as a Divine appointment! The builders of our ancient minsters have
long commended this spirit to later times; and in such truth and patience
Bezaleel wrought his holy task. It may be that an undesigned proof of the
religious spirit of this artist is to be found in the chapter following the
account of his call and equipment. When the people madly cried
“Up
make us
gods
” the too compliant Aaron
who lacked not the family genius
was ready for
the task; and when the moulded calf was brought forth
it was he who gave it
the finishing touches with a graving tool. Is it not natural to ask how it came
to pass that his nephew Bezaleel was not employed in this shameless violation
of the first commandment? Is it not fair to conclude that he firmly declined to
debase his gifts in such a service
and that
like the Hebrew confessors of an
after time
he refused to bow down to the golden image? The gifts of the
world’s greatest artists have been consecrated to the service of the Church
and he who would see their highest proofs of genius must visit the noble
temples of Christendom. Shall we deny a Divine inspiration to these men? It is
said of the Spanish painter
Juan Joannes
that he first received the sacrament
before commencing any great work; of Fra Angelico
that he never put his brush
to the canvas without kneeling on the floor of his cell to ask help of God; of
John of Fiesola
that all his tasks were inspired by religion
and in earlier
days Paulinus of Tyre was called the second Bezaleel. Nor have the “evangelists
of art” ceased from among men. The pictures of Holman Hunt and Noel Paten have
touched thousands whom a sermon flies. Let us own that “the worlds of science
and of art” are both revealed and ruled by God
and let us pray for the artist
as well as the preacher
that he may be so touched by the simple story of
Bethlehem and the pathos of the cross
and so moved by the Holy Ghost
that he
may in turn move the hearts of multitudes.
II. The next
instance of secular inspiration belongs to the iron age of the Judges--a
troubled
restless time
that called not for the artist
scarcely for the
prophet (for the voice of Deborah alone breaks the long silence between Moses
and Samuel)
but the soldier with his gifts of prowess and courage. The
inspiration of the great chiefs of that period is distinctly asserted. The
lesson of Horeb is still needed by the nations
that what Hazael’s sword of war
could not effect should be done by Jehu’s sword of justice
and what this could
not smite should fall before Elisha’s two-edged blade of truth. But though war
is not the mightiest force
it has unquestionably played a great part in the
history of the world
and an honourable part when it has been waged
not in
wrath and ambition
but in defence of country and conscience. Surely we may
believe that Joshua is not the only soldier to whom the heavenly Warrior has
appeared
that Gideon is not alone in his claim to wield the sword of the Lord
and that the book of Joshua does not contain the last of the wars of the Lord.
If we allow Heaven’s inspiration to a man like Jephthah
it is not irreverent
to claim it for Gustavus Adolphus
whose motto was
“God is my armour”; for our
Alfred the Great
who felt himself to be the instrument of the Eternal; for
Francis Drake
who said when he stepped on board his tiny craft to meet the
thundering fleets of Spain
“I have put my hand to the plough
and by the grace
of God I shall never look back.” History records few nobler utterances than the
reply of William of Orange to Governor Sonoy: “You ask me if I have entered
into a firm treaty with any king or potentate; to which I answer
that before I
ever took up the cause of the oppressed Christians in these provinces
I had
entered into a close alliance with the King of kings; and I am firmly convinced
that all who put their trust in Him shall be saved by His almighty hand
” Truly
The
peace of heaven is theirs
that lift their swords
In
such a just and charitable war.
III. We pass to the
days of the Kings for a third example of secular inspiration. Saul turned his
steps homeward after his memorable interview with the grand old king-maker. As
the elect of God drew near the company of prophets the Spirit of God came
mightily upon him
and he began in almost a paroxysm of inspiration to join in
their sacred exercises. The importance of that high visitation is strongly
marked by two statements: God gave him “another heart
” and he was “turned into
another man.” These expressions must not be charged too strongly with
theological meanings; they are rather assurances that the awkward peasant
trembling at the destiny awaiting him
was then and there endowed with gifts
befitting the head of the nation. The same high inspiration came to the second
king of Israel. No sooner had the anointing oil fallen on his head than it is
recorded that “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.”
God’s cruse of holy oil is not yet exhausted
nor are all His great commissions
given out. Shall we allow
as we are bidden
that Cyrus the heathen was called
and girded by God
and deny the gift and calling of Heaven to that young
English Daniel who ere he was little beyond his teens guided the labouring ship
of state through the wild white waters of England’s most perilous days?
Young
in years
but in sage counsel old
Than
whom a better senator ne’er held
The
helm of Rome.
Without irreverence we may believe that the Divine call which drew
David from the sheepfolds to guide the destinies of his country
brought forth
that poor country lad from the far wilds of the west
and made him the occupant
of the White House
that he might do that deed of glory which sheds undying
lustre on his rule--the freeing of the slave. (R. Butterworth.)
Man-building
Emerson says
“the main enterprise of the world
for splendour and
for extent is the upbuilding of a man.” Of that enterprise
David
the son of
Jesse
the victor of Goliath
the King of Israel
and the Poet of Humanity
is
one of the most signal and fruitful examples. It is difficult
if not
impossible
to find his peer. David is not only the topmost man of his century
but also the climax of the best life of the chosen people of God
the consummate
flower of the religion of Moses in its best days. Hence
with a full
recognition of his place in the building up of the life of men the Hebrew
annalists record his career with a fulness of detail
warmth of colour
and
rapture of feeling
that belong to no other biography of the ancient
Revelation; as that we know “the darling of Israel” as well as we know General
Gordon
and better than we know the Apostles Paul and John; as well as we know
St. Augustine from his “Confessions” and sermons
and far better than we know
Socrates from the reports of Xenophon and the dialogues of Plato. It is the
real humanness of David that wins all hearts
and perpetually renews his
influence in the thought and life of the world. It is David
the man
the young
man
the man in the making
that fixes our gaze. He is not a priest exciting a
momentary curiosity by superb attire and solemn acting
or kindling awe by an
assumed mastery of the secrets of the invisible world. He is not a prophet
starting up out of the desert sands
like the Bedouin Elijah before Ahab
and
terrifying us into submission. Nor
indeed
is it his kingly greatness and
courtly magnificence that holds us spellbound in his presence. Nor again
is it
his physique that gains upon us. It is rather that we see in him one of our
very selves
a man springing from the people
sharing their lot
and bearing
their misfortunes; but battling on
and still on
using as his strongest weapon
that true trust in a spiritual God which is within every man’s grasp
and of
which he never relaxes his hold. What then is the full tale of this man’s
upbuilding? How was he put together?
1. Remember first
man is a spirit. We know him as body
as we know
electricity by a shock from a battery or a message from a distant friend
or as
we know chemical force by its effects. But the body is only the wire along
which the spiritual electricity runs
the case in which the actual watch ticks
the pipes and reeds through which the soul of the organist thrills us
the cage
in which the bird sings
the tent in which the man dwells. The man is not in
the till but in the character
not in the nerve but in the conscience
not in
the sense but in the regal will
not in “the outward appearance” but in “the
heart.”
2. Remember next
“that which is born of the flesh is flesh.” Spirit
builds spirit. Soul makes soul. “Man does not live by bread alone”--he cannot
live without it
but he does not live the life of a man by it
“but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Standing in full view of these
eternal principles you are not surprised that the Hebrew historian
with an
exuberant enthusiasm and an unquestioning assurance
accounts for David--for
all he was and all he did--by the simple and comprehensive statement
“the
Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward”--came decisively and
clearly
and continued to come with character-building energy for evermore.
With similar prominence does this fact bulge in all David’s references to
himself. “Thy humility
” i.e.
Thy condescension
Thy eagerness to dwell
in the heart that is contrite
to guide the spirit that looks for Thy leading
to give strength to those that fight for Thee
to reward all those who serve
Thee--this hath made me great. But decisively and fully as this exposition of
the upbuilding is given in the Hebrew Scriptures it does not content us. We
still ask for light as to the way along which the universal Spirit of God came
to
and took possession of him
the method by which the diverse materials of
his nature were completed into a spiritual and vital unity
and the processes
used in raising them to their maximum of energy and serviceableness. The
anointing of David was not only the designation of a successor to Saul; it was
also the crowning and perfecting of the long influence of Samuel on David’s
heart and character. Josephus suggests that as the consecrating oil bathed the
flowing locks and fell on the garments of the lad
the prophet “whispered” his
kingly destiny in his ear
and so set his whole soul aflame with Divine
ambitious
far-reaching yearnings
and oppressive and goading solicitudes.
Certainly such Divine whispers have often been heard from human lips. Does not
Hugh Miller fix the moment
as one of mental regeneration is which he was
roused to the consciousness of the possession of a power superior to that
required in shaping stones? Did not Henry Martyn start on a new and higher
career after he had been made aware of his possibilities
and inspired by a
friend to say
“I verily think I may do something
and I will set about it?”
Were not the germs of the new life infused into Saul of Tarsus as he gazed on
the angelic patience and undying devotion of Stephen
the first of Christian
martyrs? It is God’s law. He does not dispense with the human
He uses it. Man
is saved by man. The Incarnation and the Cross are the type and pattern of all
life
and of all ministry
and of all progress. God flows through man to man.
Samuels anoint Davids. (J. Clifford
D. D.)
Verse 14
But the Spirit departed from Saul.
Temptations driving to God
Saul was rejected from being king
and the Spirit of God taken
from him
and at the same time an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him
terrified or seized him suddenly. How startling this is! But
observe
it is
not an evil spirit of the Lord. Evil spirits are not of God. Their evil is
opposed to His will. He is wholly and unchangeably opposed to evil. No man can
say when he is tempted of evil--I am tempted of God
for God cannot be tempted
of evil
neither tempteth He any man. But when a man chooses and cleaves to
sin
clings to his own way
and persists in rebellion against God
he opens his
mind to evil spirits and evil influences of all sorts. Even the natural world
radiates influences which to a being like man are not ell good
are sometimes
even directly evil. The cunning
deceit
treachery and cruelty of some animals
has a malign influence
The influences of nature
bland and stern
present
subtle and powerful temptations. Over against the influences for evil
often
inextricably intertwined with them
are the influences for good. Men feel that
the drift and tendency of things is toward goodness
that the constitution of
things favours righteousness. And over all things and every heart the Spirit of
God broods
seeking to bring order out of chaos and life out of death. To moral
beings belongs the prerogative of resisting and repelling influences
or
welcoming and absorbing them. But how was this evil spirit from the Lord? It
was permitted by God as a punishment. But this is not all; the terror
pain and
strife raised by the evil spirit were meant by God as a force to constrain Saul
to turn and cry to God for help. Saul was delivered up to this evil spirit that
he alight know that it was an evil and bitter thing to depart from God. Had the
rebellious Saul
sick
laden and tortured by evil
cried to God
he would have
been heard
and would have become a better man than he ever was
a new man. Though
he might not have been a king
he would have been a true child of God
a
spiritual king and priest.
I. Men must either
have the Holy Spirit of God
or an evil spirit. God loves to dwell in the human
heart. That is His chosen temple. The sky is vast. Its canopy is thick with
worlds. But God does not choose that temple. Man rears lofty piles
and spends
labour and art on them
lavishes beauty and splendour which are precious as
evidences of love and reverence: but God’s chosen temple is not there. His temple
is in the lowly heart
in the bosom of the meanest of the sons of men who cries
out for the living God. That temple may be stained and defiled
haunted with
unclean things; but if there is penitence and faith in God’s Son
God will come
in and Himself cleanse the house. God abides in the soul
fills it and gladdens
it. But if man will not have God
he cannot shut the door of his heart against
other visitors. It is the nature of a spirit to come into contact with spirit
as it is the nature of the body to come into contact with matter
and either
attract or repel it. Spirit cannot isolate itself from spirit
any more than
matter can from matter. But the spirit can decide whether it will ally itself
with the good or the evil. Whosoever receives the Infinite Spirit into his soul
takes the one way of shutting out evil of every kind. Exclusion of God is not
emptiness
it is most positive
active
and decided evil. Men that will not
have God are really claiming kindred with evil spirits
and opening their heart
to be inhabited by them. Man is like a house situated between two winds. On the
one side comes the wind from a dreary
bleak desert
laden with fog and
disease
blowing across foul and rotten things. The other side of the house
fronts the sunlight and winds that blow from the wide
fresh sea and over
gardens
orchards
and blooming fields. Everyone must decide on which side he
is going to open. Both doors cannot be shut. You can only get the dismal
fatal
door shut by opening wide the door that looks to the sea of eternity and the
sunshine of God. The wind blowing in through this open door keeps that door of
ruin about.
II. The stress of
inward temptation and trouble is often peculiarly fitted and evidently intended
to drive men to God. Of temptations and troubles which have this adaptation in
a marked degree may be mentioned first--
1. Melancholy. Saul’s was a very conspicuous and overmastering
melancholy. Melancholy is essentially the feeling of loneliness
the sense of
isolation
of having a great burden of existence to bear. It is the soul’s fear
and shrinking and chill in the vast solitude of its house. It has driven many
souls to God. Such haunted souls can scarcely escape an earnest look at life.
They are continually incited to seek a medicine for their malady. They cannot
rest in a formal
superficial religion
but must get into the very secret of
God. So the melancholy man may become the most joyous of religious men.
2. A feeling of the vanity of existence is another great temptation
and trouble. This is not melancholy; for men who have this feeling may be merry
enough. To be followed
as many are
by the thought that life is a poor game at
best
without substance
not worth the trouble that men take with it--this must
take earnestness out of life
and make men mockers. It is a sore disease thus
to live on the very surface of things
and feel as if one were only playing a
part. Many are infected with the tendency. What does this feeling of emptiness
and vanity point to? What is the voice that comes from it but this--Escape to
the one substance and reality which alone gives substance and reality to life.
3. The mystery of life weighs on others. The sense of weakness and
ignorance in the midst of a vast system of forces; the feeling of chaos that
rules in the moral world and human life; the black tragedy of so many lives;
the calamities
wars
inconceivable woes of millions; the disappointment
chagrin
disease
crime
and ruin everywhere--these press on some minds at
times with immense weight. That is what Wordsworth calls. “the weight and
mystery of all this unintelligible world.” There are men to whom these
questions are inevitable
rushing upon them like beasts of prey
or stretching
like thunderclouds between them and the sun. Where is relief from such thoughts
to be found? Where but in the belief in infinite goodness and wisdom lying
behind all
can any thinking soul find rest?
4. The gloom and desolation of doubt and unbelief constrain and impel
men to turn to God. It sometimes happens that men who have long hovered round
religion
making it an object of curiosity and speculation and debate
rather
than matter of heart and life
fall gradually away from all belief. Even those
who have never speculated
but only maintained a careless attitude towards religion
drift in this direction. But here a state of feeling arises which they had not
dreamt of. Though they never had any earnestness in religion
yet the kind of
belief they had gave them comfort and threw a certain meaning into life. Now
they feel lonely without a Father in Heaven. The whole aspect of things has
grown bare. They are no longer sure of right. The cord that tied things
together has been taken away. Then comes the period of decay when all types
lessen and lower down to the original blank. And certainly
if the fortunes of
the human race are bound up with the history of the sun
nothing else can he
looked for. Since all suns and worlds are like flowers that blossom and then
wither
the doom of beings dependent on them cannot be different if there is no
God and Father
there is no escape from this conclusion. If there is no eternal
home
where He gathers souls beyond the reach of evanescent systems
this is
the prospect. There is no other outlook
if we cannot turn to Him and say
“Doubtless thou art our Father: Thy name is from everlasting.” See you not how
men are being taught by this loneliness and utter desolation what an evil and
bitter thing it is to depart from God? Do you not see how the feeling of
orphanhood
uncertainty
barrenness
coldness
and hopelessness are
constraining the heart to cry out for the living God.
5. Fierce temptations to evil drive many souls to God. (J. Leckie
D. D.)
An evil spirit from the
Lord troubled him.--
Saul troubled by an evil spirit
We see
especially in the history of Saul
the awful progress of
the soul
from the gradual changes that take place in him
while in his
successive trials evil prevails over the Spirit of grace and opportunities of
good. There is also a sort of natural goodness about him that rivets our
interest; so that from the very feeling of a common nature we are partly
inclined to forget his crimes in his miseries. Scripture always speaks to us in
history and life what it enjoins us in word and precept: our Lord says
“Hold
fast
that no man take thy crown
” and here before our eyes we see the choice
and the crown transferred from one to another
and we see the reasons why--and
the effect. Let us not put away from us this account of Saul as belonging to
another state of things
for whatever it may speak to kings and nations
it is
full of a home lesson for the heart of each. For may not each of us in the home
of his own heart have an evil spirit that troubleth him? It may be so with many
in various degrees who think not of it. The cares which most suffer are from
this source. What is envy
covetousness
impatience
the plague of the heart
but this
that a man has in some degree
perhaps in years long past
sinned in
this way; and so
not having repented
given place to an evil spirit that troubles
and keeps him from God? This may be the case
and yet for awhile he may have
much comfort in religion
as Saul had in the harp of David; Church music may in
like manner soothe him and raise him up as it were to Heaven; or it may be
impressive sermons; or even the study of God’s holy Word; so much so that under
the influence of these the evil spirit may depart
and he may be refreshed
nay
more
he may find rest in Christ. But this is not enough
unless he press
forward earnestly
and give no place to such an inmate in his breast any more.
Scripture reveals to us that there is in such eases a spiritual being
a living
person
who takes possession of the mind. And I would particularly call
attention to the expression of the text
“an evil spirit from the Lord.” Now
although this is an awful expression
yet it is also full of instruction and
comfort
as everything must be which reminds us that we are in the hands of
God; as we noticed in the history of Pharaoh. When we trace in our very
disquietudes and sorrows the indications of an evil spirit that troubles us
this teaches us where our health is. That this evil spirit is from God is no
proof that we are given up of Him. For
indeed
even David himself when he
numbered the people had an evil spirit from God
allowed to bring upon him that
temptation and its consequent misery. He can touch no one but as permitted of
God; and that permission may be for various reasons: he was allowed to tempt
Job for his greater perfection; through the false prophets he deluded Ahab to
bring upon him God’s judgment; he troubled Saul with gloom and pride on his
departing from God; he tempted Judas that he might go to his own place; he
prompted David to sin from which he speedily recovered by repentance. In like
manner he is allowed to tempt us; and it is indeed sometimes
as in the case of
Saul and of David
a judgment upon us for some fault on our part
or some
secret unbelief or pride of heart
but we are thus by this expression of the
text taught to go to God for help. We cannot be too often urged in every way to
do this. When you find in yourself any ill-will
any worldly disappointment or
envious sadness
go to Him at once in earnest prayer
entreating Him to remove
from you the power and guilt of that sin which has allowed the evil spirit to
disquiet you. When you have thus done all in your power
then again the lesson
of Saul and David will come in for your guidance
warning you not to take
things into your own hands from impatience and distrust of God
but to wait
patiently upon Him. He will have the remedy and deliverance to be entirely His
own doing. He only wants your faith and confidence in Himself. And His word is
“Be still then
and know that I am God.” (Isaac Williams
B. D.)
“An evil spirit from the Lord”
All great painters and poets whose works are of the first order
have availed themselves of the force of contrast--that there should be a dark
background to set forth some beautiful and radiant object. The Bible excels in
its use of this striking method of laying emphasis.
I. the dawn of a
fair promise. “Samuel cried unto the Lord” for Saul
if haply he might arrest
the terrible and imminent consequences of his sin. But he was made aware that
prayer would not avail. It seemed as though Saul had already made the fatal
choice
and had committed the sin which is unto death
and concerning which we
have no encouragement to pray. The summons of the hour was
therefore
not to
prayer
but to action. The Spirit of God bade Samuel go to Bethlehem
and among
the sons of Jesse discover and anoint the new king.
II. An overcast
afternoon. We have morning with David; afternoon with Saul. Here youth; there
manhood
which has passed into prime. Here the promise; and there the overcast
meridian of a wrecked life. You will notice that
whereas it is said that the
Spirit of God descended upon David
we are told that “The Spirit of the Lord
had departed from Saul.” That does not necessarily mean that all the religious
life of Saul had become extinct
but that the special faculty and power by
which he had been prepared for his kingly work was withdrawn from him. It is
abundantly sure that the work which a man does in this world is not wrought
only by the force of his genius
the brilliance of his intellect
or by those
natural gifts with which God may have endowed him
but by a something beyond
and behind all these--a spiritual endowment which is communicated by the Spirit
of God for special office
and which is retained so long as the character is
maintained. So Saul lost the special enducement of power which had enabled him
to subdue his enemies and to order his kingdom. Secondly
we have the
mysterious power of opening our nature to the Holy Spirit of God
who is the
medium of communicating all the virtue
the energy
and the life of God; filling
spirit
soul
and body; quickening the mind
warming the heart
elevating and
purifying the whole moral life. We have also the awful alternative power of
yielding ourselves to the evil spirits
or demon spirits
of which the
spiritual sphere is full. It is affirmed that “an evil spirit from the Lord”
troubled Saul. To interpret this aright we must remember that
in the strong
terse Hebrew speech
the Almighty is sometimes said to do what He permits to be
done. And surely such is the interpretation here. When
therefore
we read that
an evil spirit “from the Lord” troubled Saul
we must believe that
as Saul bad
refused the good and gracious influences of the Holy Spirit
and definitely
chosen the path of disobedience
there was nothing for it but to leave him to
the working of his own evil heart.
III. The lurid
gleams of an overcast sky. In 2 Samuel 21:2
you have this: “The
king”--that is
David--“called the Gibeonites--(now the Gibeonites were not of
the children of Israel
but of the remnant of the Ammorites; and the children
of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the
children of Israel and Judah).” Saul was smarting under Samuel’s words
writhing
under the sentence of deposition
and his soul was stirred to neutralise
if
possible
the Divine verdict
so as to still keep the favour of God. It was
true
and Saul knew it well
that he had failed in one distinct call to
obedience; he had kept the choice of the spoil for himself--but why should he
not
by excessive zeal in other directions
win back his lost inheritance? Now
there were two such commandments which seem to have occurred to him. The one
enacted that when the children of Israel entered the Land of Promise they
should destroy all the people of the land. The Gibeonites
however
succeeded
in securing that they should be excepted
because they had made a covenant with
Joshua
and Joshua had sworn to them (Joshua 9:1-27). The Gibeonites
therefore
had lived amongst the children of Israel for many centuries
and had
become almost an integral part of the nation. But in his false zeal for God
Saul seems to have laid ruthless hands upon these peaceable people. Secondly
there was on the statute book a very drastic law against necromancers and
witches
and it was commanded that these should be exterminated from the land (Exodus 22:18). Therefore
Saul turned his
hand against them. In his heath he still believed in them. In order to show his
zeal for God
and to extort the reversal of his sentence
he began to
exterminate them. But as his edicts went forth
there was rottenness in his
heart. While on the one hand
therefore
there was this outburst of lurid zeal
for God
his own heart was becoming more and more enervated and evil. Do not we
know this in our own experience? When one has fallen under the condemnation of
conscience
the heart has endeavoured to whisper comfort to itself by saying
“I will endeavour to redeem my cause by an extravagance of zeal.” We have
plunged into some compensating work to neutralise the result of failure. It is
zeal
but it
is false
it is zeal
but it is strange fire; it is zeal
but it
is self-originated; it is zeal
but it is only for self and not for God; it
is
zeal
but it is zeal for the letter
for the tradition
for the external
form--it is not the zeal of the man who is eaten up and devoured by a
passionate love for the Son of God and for the souls He has made. (F. B.
Meyer
B. A.)
Verse 17-18
Provide me now a man that can play well.
The promotion of David
Sin is the harbinger of sorrow. A bad heart makes a troubled life.
One sin may blight the fairest prospects and fill a palace with gloom. Saul’s
courtiers knew the cause of the king’s depression
yet they did not counsel him
to abandon his sins
and cry to God for mercy; but they said: “Command thy
servants to seek out
a man who is a skilful player on an harp.”
I. The fame of
David the harper. “I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite
who is a
skilful player
and a mighty
valiant man.” David possessed four qualifications
for the duties he was expected to discharge.
1. He was skilful. “A cunning player.” True greatness reports itself.
The right employment of our leisure moments may fit us for the most exalted positions
in life.
2. He was courageous. “A mighty valiant man.” Courage in the
discharge of ordinary duties is a pledge of devotion in more responsible
trusts. “He that is faithful in that which is least
is faithful in much.”
3. He was prudent. Men require various qualifications for the
efficient performance of official duties--wisdom
tact
and prudence.
4. He was devout. “The Lord was with him.” The inward work remains
when the outward sign is lost. There was no oil left on David’s bead
but the
work of grace was progressing in his heart
II. The journey of
David the harper. “Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse
and said
Send me
David
thy son
who is with the sheep. And Jesse took an ass laden with bread
and a bottle of wine
and a kid
and sent them by David his son unto Saul”
1. David’s journey was undertaken by royal request
Saul sent for
David. When God calls a man to a special work
He will make the way clear for
him. God has access to every heart. A man’s enemies may become his helpers.
Preferment comes through the most unlikely persons
and in the most unexpected
ways.
2. David’s journey was undertaken in a loyal spirit. David did not
run before be was sent
but immediately the summons came he was ready.
III. The arrival of
David the harper. “And David came to Saul
and stood before him: and he loved
him greatly; and he became his armour bearer.”
1. David’s introduction made a favourable impression on the king.
“Saul loved him greatly.” True men win the admiration and esteem of the wicked.
Goodness is power.
2. David’s services were speedily rewarded by the king. “He became
his armour bearer.” The wicked prefer the services of the good. Worth wins.
3. David’s acceptableness was openly acknowledged by the king. “He
hath found favour in my sight.” It is a good thing to be surrounded by
religious influences. Devout men are a blessing to society.
IV. The success of
David the harper. “And it came to pass
when the evil spirit from God was upon
Saul
that David took an harp
and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed
and was well
and the evil spirit departed from him.”
1. Notice Saul’s depression. However exalted a man’s position may be
sin will make him unhappy. Happiness or misery depends on the state of a man’s
heart. A bad heart makes a dark life. If the Holy Spirit leave us
the bad
spirit will find us. A heart without God is like a universe without a sun.
2. Notice Saul’s recovery. “So Saul was refreshed
and was well
and
the evil spirit departed from him.” (J. T. Woodhouse.)
The harper
For the first time we now see David come forth into publicity from
his quiet
peaceful life. Already there begin to appear about him faint traces
of that future greatness which in continuous unfolding presented itself to the
hopes of the thoughtful in Israel. Let us see how he came to King Saul and what
he experienced at the king’s court. We know that something sorrowful has
happened. The king has sinned grievously. When Samuel charged him with his
transgression
the whole impurity of his character came out to view. Instead of
being led to resolve
with contrite heart
to seek the face of the Lord
he
rather
like Cain
and afterwards Judas Iscariot
fled in terror still farther
from Him. So it happened to him also at last
as it once did to the unhappy apostle.
Through the righteous judgment of God
Satan was permitted to gain dominion
over him. “The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul
and an evil spirit from
the Lord troubled him.” These words are not to be understood as figurative
nor
only as indicating a paroxysm of mental dejection
nor a darkening of his soul
under the shadow of a great sadness
but open up before us a more dismal sphere
than that of a natural melancholy. The power of darkness
which is personal
and in souls in the condition of that in which Saul’s now was
finds all open
for his operations
wrought in him with prevailing energy to deepen yet more
and more that dreadful gulf which separated the king from Jehovah
yet
to
increase the estrangement of the miserable man from God yet more and more
till
it became a demoniacal hatred of God. What wonder
therefore
that we meet the
king today in a state of mind which makes us scarcely able to recognise the man
once so cheerful and vigorous in action. His eye appears fixed
his lips are violently
compressed
and his whole countenance bespeaks a deep
bitter animosity and
gloom. How could be have peace after be bad put himself into hostility both
with God and the world? The melancholy of the king naturally lay like a dark
pall over the souls of all the courtiers
yea
spread its sorrowful
gloomy
shadow even over the surrounding neighbourhood. “In the light of a king’s
countenance
” says Solomon
is life
but the wrath of a king is a messenger of
death.” The truth of this latter saying was now felt throughout almost the
whole land. The royal servants advised this and that for the purpose of trying
to set free from this dismal state of mind their high lord
whose palace was
now more like a dull chamber of sorrow than the proud residence of a monarch.
The accustomed scenes of revelry
shows
banquets
spectacles
dancing
and
such like are denied to the servants. Then at last there occurred to them
as
one would say
a “happy thought.” They appeared before their master
and said
to him
“Behold now
an evil spirit from God troubleth thee: let our lord now
command thy servants
which are before thee
to seek out a men
who is a
cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass
when the evil spirit from
God is upon thee
that he shall play with his hand
and thou shalt be well.”
What a saying was this! Does not the penetration of these people
who
in
forming a judgment regarding the melancholy of their master
did not look at
the surface
but descended into the depths of the matter
excite our surprise?
Are we not astonished at the far reaching enlightenment which they here
manifest in their knowledge of the existence of a world of fallen spirits
whom
Jehovah is wont to make use of
not seldom
for putting to trial His own
people
as well as for visiting with punishment the wicked? Must we not
conclude that they were indeed already acquainted with the book of Job
and
that it was a constituent
part of their holy canonical books? What we further
wonder at in the courtiers of King Saul is
first
the clearness with which
they recognised demoniacal agency in the disconsolate condition of their
master; then the frankness
combined
indeed
with the deepest respectfulness
with which they
regardless of the consequences which might arise to them from such
a step
announced their opinion of his ease
which was by no means flattering
to him; and
finally
the suitableness of the counsel which they felt
themselves constrained to give to him. They recommend to him the power of music
as a means for relieving his mind
but with a wise
discriminating judgment
regarding its character. There was
indeed
no lack of musicians at the court
at Gibeah; but they appear to have been devoid of the qualifications which were
at this time needed. The music which the servants of the king thought of was
not that which pleaser the world
and which only opens the door to unclean
spirits
but such as animated by a nobler inspiration
might insensibly elevate
the soul by its harmonious melody
as on angels’ wings
towards heaven. And
when the king
as if in a waking dream
entered into the proposal of his
well-meaning servants
and said to them
“Provide me a man that can play well
on the harp
and bring him to me
” one of them remarked
“Behold
I have seen a
son of Jesse the Bethlehemite
that is cunning in playing
and a mighty valiant
man
and a man of war
and prudent in matters
and a comely person
and the
Lord is with him.” He who communicated it proved himself hereby to be a man of
understanding
in that he placed in the foreground those qualities of the
musician he recommended
which he believed would at once secure the favour of
the king; but
on the contrary
that which was to him the chief matter
and by
which he principally expected the deliverance of the king from the demon of
dejection
viz.
the piety of the harper
and the fact that God was with him
he mentioned last
as if it had been a trivial circumstance. It is
indeed
greatly to be desired that they who are called to the office of seeking to heal
diseased souls
and to help into the right path those who have erred from the
ways of morality
should not only possess piety
but also other mental
endowments
such as are held in estimation by the world. And how frequently has
the gospel
in such circumstances
proved itself to be a “power of God.” which
is a match for every influence which holds the soul in thraldom; and
substantially
though with more lasting results
there has been frequently
repeated what we here today see happen at the court of Gibeah. David at length
reaches Gibeah
carrying his harp hanging on his shoulder band
and is
immediately introduced to the king. Here now they stand opposite each
other--the one like the clear shining of the sun in spring
the other like a
black thundercloud ominous or evil; the one full of blooming
hopeful life; the
other
a dark spectre arising from the realm of death. It was a song without
words whose soothing melody then fell upon the ear of the king. Words
corresponding to the music would have effected the contrary result to that
which was aimed at
and might even have increased the ill-temper of the king.
There are even yet men enough of his sort--persons without faith
yea
at
variance both with God and the world--whom solemn music is able most powerfully
to delight
and in whom it awakens
at least for the time
dispositions which
border on devotion and piety
while yet the words which correspond to the
sacred melody would produce in them the very opposite effect. What is manifest
from this
but that in the soul of such persons the last point at which they
may be touched by that which is sacred
has not yet wholly decayed away? The
sounds from David’s harp had
for the moment at least
wrought a true miracle.
“Did the music
” we ask
“banish the demon?” Not so; but the higher frame of
mind into which the king was brought by it sufficed to limit at least the
sphere of the operation of the evil spirit within him; while a full
clear
conscious life of faith on the part of Saul
would have altogether destroyed
the power of the wicked one. Besides
the silent intercessions which David sent
up to heaven on the wings of the music of his harp must have contributed not a
little to the results with which his melodies were crowned. It appeared to be
God’s purpose in sending David to the king
to afford to him a new and a last
means of grace. He must become conscious of what a man of childlike piety
such
as David is able
by the help of God
to do against all the powers of darkness;
and
in the way of such an experience
he ought himself to have been won to a
life of piety. But
alas! all the efforts to deliver the unhappy man were
fruitless. One of our great secular poets has imagined what an elevating
yea
sanctifying power
may dwell in a God-consecrated music. He represents the hero
of his poem as saved from an assault of darkest thoughts by harmonies of a
sacred choir sounding out from a neighbouring cathedral into his chamber. But
the poet did not understand the rich harmonious music before which the power of
all evil spirits must yield
not for a passing moment only
but foreverse This
is the music of the holy gospel. (F. W. Krummacher
D. D.)
The harper foreshadowing the Psalmist
The nature of the malady that afflicted Saul
and that was
overcome for a time by the soothing influence of David’s harp
has been
copiously illustrated from history. A whole book was written on the subject by
a learned professor at
Wittemberg illustrating the remarkable power of music
in soothing both mental and bodily ailments. Kitto and other writers have added
more recent instances
One is a case mentioned
among many others
in the Memoires
of the French Royal Academy of Sciences for 1707--that of a person seized
with a fever which threw him into a violent and raging delirium
and for which
music proved an effectual remedy. When the music was discontinued
the symptoms
returned; but by frequent repetitions of the experiment
during which the
delirium always ceased
the power of the disease was broken
and the habits of
a sound mind reestablished. Six days sufficed to accomplish the cure. Another
case is that of Charles IX of France
of whom it is said that after the
massacre of St. Bartholomew his sleep was wont to be disturbed by nightly
horrors
and he could only be composed to rest by a symphony of singing boys.
Still more striking and more like that of Saul
is the case of another royal
personage
Philip V of Spain. He was seized with deep dejection of spirits
which totally indisposed and unfitted him for all public duty and appearances.
A celebrated musician
Farinelli
was invited to Spain; and on his arrival it
was contrived that there should be a concert in a room adjoining the king’s
apartment
in which the artist should perform one of his most captivating
songs. The king
says Kitto
appeared surprised at first
then greatly moved;
and at the end of the second air
he summoned the musician to his apartment
and loading him with compliments and caresses
asked him how he could reward
such talents
assuring him that he could refuse him nothing. The musician
answered that he desired only that his Majesty would allow himself to be shaved
and dressed (which hitherto he had obstinately refused to be)
and that he
would endeavour to make his appearance in the council as usual. The king
yielded; from this time his disease gave way
and the musician had all the
honour of the cure. We may readily believe that that harp in its soothing power
was not inferior to any of the other instruments to which allusion has been
made. Still
with all its temporary success
it was but a humble and
ineffective method of soothing a troubled spirit
compared to the methods which
David was afterwards to employ. It dealt chiefly
if not exclusively
with
man’s animal nature. It did not deal with man as an intellectual and moral
being; it did not strike at the root of all trouble--alienation from God; it
did not attempt to apply the only permanent and effectual remedy for
trouble--restoration to His favour and fellowship. It was a mere foreshadow
on
a comparatively low and earthly ground
of the wondrous way in which David
as
the Psalmist
was afterwards to provide the true “oil of joy for the mourner
”
and to become a guide to the downcast
soul from “an horrible pit and the miry
clay
” up to the third heaven of joy and peace. The temporary calm which the
soft notes of David’s harp spread over the stormy soul of Saul was but a
superficial emotion compared to the holy rest
on the bosom of their God
to
which the Psalms have guided many an anxious and weary sinner. It was like the
passing emotion of an Oratorio
compared to the deep peace of the Gospel. Nor
is the contrast less striking between the results of the two kinds of repose.
Under the soothing influence of David’s harp
Saul might have calmness enough
to plan a few useful measures
or to execute a few needed reforms; but under
the influence of the holy rest into which many a believer has been guided by
the Psalmist
some of the greatest victories have been gained over sinful
tendencies
and some of the highest achievements of the new nature have been
realised. The prisoner
soothed to patience and contentment in his dismal
dungeon; the tortured confessor nerved in the hour of fiery trial to
regardlessness of man; the martyr
elevated to a sublime contempt alike of worldly
pains and worldly joys; have all
in these great victories
exemplified the
influence of the tranquillising yet elevating spirit that breathes out from the
Psalms
and seems to say
“Return unto thy rest
O my soul
for the Lord hath
dealt bountifully with thee!” (W. G. Blaikie
M. A.)
A young man
It is noteworthy that the character of David
as given in this
verse
is from the mouth of a servant; from a human standpoint
it was simply
the reputation he had among those about him.
1. First of all
he was “cunning in playing.” David all this time had
no idea
of course
of how by this very skill
and by the means of his enemy
Saul
the road to the throne was to be opened to him. It is often when a young
fellow really hands himself over to God
body
soul
and spirit to be used by
Him
that he sees how even in his unconverted days God had His plan of
preparation in the thing that he did. He sees this by the light God has now
abed on his life’s track--a light that will never fade. Now
is there not many a
young fellow who is not cultivating even his own natural abilities
who is not
developing what is already in him? And the Gospel quite encourages this
cultivation: it does not say to us
“Be so heavenly-minded that you can’t touch
a flute.”
2. David was fond of music
with all the soothing and refining
influences it brings--he loved it--but at the same time he was “a mighty
valiant man.” And it is worth while noticing how the two things are put side by
side. I like the combination. We are apt to think that those who bare a turn
for music
and develop it
are soft men
mere carpet knights
fit only for
drawing rooms and small concerts
without grip and sinew and muscle. Such
at
all events
was not
the ease with David
and God knew it when He chose him. God
is always looking out for capable men
so keep yourself up to the mark--develop
all that is in you. David was a brave spirit
too--“a man of war.” he had the
grand and wonderful combination of the suaviter with the fortiter. How many of
us have this? There are some of you
I grant
who have quite enough of the
flint about you
and whom I shouldn’t care to thwart or cross
but what about
the soft side of your nature? Others
again
are all soft
and haven’t a bit of
the flint at all
though it will have to come in and on you before you’ll make
much progress
either as regards this world or the next. David was brave
outspoken
and manly. He was “prudent in matters.” This point will come home to
many of you if the foregoing haven’t. Perhaps you have no taste for music
and
you haven’t had a chance to cultivate or display your bravery like him. But
here is prudence--this is a thing you find you need right in your everyday
life. It seems to be just the next thing to the Grace of God. David had it
and
by it he reined in his burning and ardent convictions
which would otherwise
perhaps
have borne him to destruction When we sit down to a game of chess or
draughts we need
in order to win the game
not so much great dashes
but
simply prudence and watchfulness. A hush falls on yourself and your partner
and the excitement is just enough to call forth all your powers
but if you
mean to do well it will not go the length of making you nervous or fumbling
or
cause that dimness in hand and eye which ends in a blunder. So it is in life:
we ought to be keenly alive to what is going on around us
and of our position
in the midst. I fear that oft-times from our young men trying to be too
supernatural
they fall beneath the level of average commonsense
which they
would have avoided had they but exercised a little prudence.
4. David was also “a comely person.” Some of you may not be so
and
are not to blame for your physique
for you had not the making of yourselves
but don’t you think you might be a little better than you are? We ought to
train and develop our bodies. I never did so much tossing the caber
or putting
the stone
or used the dumbbells to such an extent as after I was converted. I
felt then that I had a body that wanted looking after. David was a fine
strapping
stalwart fellow
“ruddy and good to look to
” and we also ought to be as comely
as God intended we should be.
5. Now we come to the point; not as in the case of Naaman--“he was a
leper”--but “the Lord was with him.” Can we meet David here? Have we got the
supernatural as well as the natural? We have the same chance here at all
events
as he had
if in all the other respects he stands alone. He accepted
the Lord when He came to him on Samuel’s feet
and without Him he would have
been a mere skilful player and valiant man
that was all. But the Grace within
could not be hid. It would not
and permeated far and wide. It was the common
report that he was a good and religious fellow For
remember again
that this
is the estimate of him by one of those among whom he was. God grant that we too
may so live that the world may say of us
“There is something good about that
man.” (John McNeill.)
Early years of David
I. Some remarks on
David’s early life and on his character as therein displayed. David’s anointing
was followed by no other immediate mark of God’s favour. He was tried by being
sent back again
in spite of the promise
to the care of his sheep
till an
unexpected occasion introduced him to Saul’s court. David came in the power of
that sacred influence whom Saul had grieved and rejected. The Spirit which
inspired his tongue guided his hand also
and his sacred songs became a
medicine to Saul’s diseased mind. Saul “loved David greatly
and he became his
armour bearer;” but the first trial of his humility and patience was not over
while many other trials were in store. After a while he was a second time sent
back to his sheep. An accident
as it appeared to the world
brought him
forward. I need not relate how he was divinely urged to engage the giant
how he
killed him
and how he was
in consequence
again raised to Saul’s favour; who
with an infirmity not inconsistent with the deranged state of his mind
seems
to have altogether forgotten him. From this time began David’s public life; but
not yet the fulfilment of the promise made to him by Samuel. He had a second
and severer trial of patience to endure for many years; the trial of “being
still” and doing nothing before God’s time
though he had (apparently) the
means in his hands of accomplishing the promise for himself. It was to this
trial that Jeroboam afterwards showed himself unequal. He
too
was promised a
kingdom
but he was tempted to seize upon it in his own way
and so forfeited
God’s protection. David’s victory over Goliath so endeared him to Saul that he
would not let him go back to his father’s house. Repeated attempts on his life
drove David from Saul’s court; and for some years after
that is
till Saul’s
death
he was a wanderer upon the earth
persecuted in that country which was
afterwards to be his own kingdom. Like Abraham
he traversed the land of
promise “as a strange land
” waiting for God’s good time. Nay
far more
exactly
even than to Abraham
was it given to David to act and suffer that
life of faith which the Apostle describes
and by which “the elders obtained a
good report.” By faith he wandered about
“being destitute
articled
evil-entreated
in deserts
and in mountains
and in dens
and in caves of the
earth.” On the other hand
through the same faith
he “subdued kingdoms
wrought
righteousness
obtained promises
waxed valiant in fight
turned to flight the
armies of the aliens.”
II. Now
then
let
us consider what was
as far as we can understand
his especial grace
what is
his gift; as faith was Abraham’s distinguishing virtue
meekness the excellence
of Moses
self-mastery the gift especially conspicuous in Joseph. This question
may best be answered by considering the purpose for which he was raised up. (1 Samuel 13:14.) The
office to which first Saul and then David were called was different from that
with which other favoured men before them had been intrusted. From the time of
Moses
when Israel became a nation
God had been the king of Israel
and His
chosen servants
not delegates
but mere organs of His will. Moses did not
direct the Israelites by his own wisdom
but he spake to them
as God spake
from the pillar of the cloud. Joshua
again
was merely a sword in the hand of
God. Samuel was but His minister and interpreter. God acted
the Israelites
“stood still and saw” His miracles
then followed. But
when they had rejected
Him from being king over them
then their chief ruler was no longer a mere
organ of His power and will
but had a certain authority entrusted to him
more
or less independent of supernatural direction; and acted
not so much from God
as for God
and in the place of God. David
when taken from the sheepfolds “to
feed Jacob His people and Israel His inheritance
” “fed them
” in the words of
the Psalm
“with a faithful and true heart; and ruled them prudently with all
his power.” From this account of his office
it is obvious that his very first
duty was that of fidelity to Almighty God in the trust committed to him. Saul
had neglected his Master’s honour; but David
in this an eminent type of
Christ
“came to do God’s will” as a viceroy in Israel
and
as being tried and
found faithful
he is especially called “a man after God’s own heart.” David’s
peculiar excellence
then
is that of fidelity to the trust committed to him; a
firm
uncompromising
single-hearted devotion to the cause of his God
and a
burning zeal for His honour. There is a resemblance between the early history
of David and that of Joseph. Both distinguished for piety in youth
the
youngest and the despised of their respective brethren
they are raised
after
a long trial
to a high station
as ministers of God’s Providence. Joseph was
tempted to a degrading adultery; David was tempted by ambition. Both were tempted
to be traitors to their masters and benefactors. Surely the blessings of the
patriarchs descended in a united flood upon “the lion of the tribe of Judah
”
the type of the true Redeemer who was to come
he inherits the prompt faith and
magnanimity of Abraham; he is simple as Isaac; he is humble as Jacob; he has
the youthful wisdom and self-possession
the tenderness
the affectionateness
and thee firmness of Joseph. And
as his own especial gift he has an
overflowing thankfulness
an ever-burning devotion
a zealous fidelity to his
God
a high unshaken loyalty towards his king
an heroic bearing in all
circumstances
such as the multitude of men sea to be great
but cannot
understand. (J. H. Newman
B. D.)
A young man from the country
Now
many testimonials which young men carry about with them are
hardly worth thy paper on which they are written; but this certificate of
character is so genuine and so comprehensive that it is worth our looking into
for a little. In our passage we meet with David as still but a young man; and
there are five distinct things mentioned about him
which you may find it
interesting and useful to consider.
I. I wish to say
something to you about his person
his pleasing and attractive presence or
address. Someone says to me
“You may pass over this matter
it is a point of
little importance.” I beg your pardon; it is not a point of little importance.
A man may have a very shabby exterior
and yet be a true nobleman. M. Renan
speaks of St. Paul disrespectfully indeed
but perhaps truthfully
as “the ugly
little Jew:” and yet
we all know that though “his bodily presence” may have
been “weak
” that man had moral weight enough to shake the world. There are
deformed men
and dwarfs
and cripples
who command instant and profound respect;
whilst there are fine-looking
strapping fellows
who are only big boobies.
Sometimes
though the casket is very poor
there is a glorious jewel within.
Perhaps you would be surprised to see
in running through the Bible
how
frequent is the allusion to bodily form. Why
I could give you quite a string
of names of persons
both male and female
who are described as having been
“comely” to look to. The body
no doubt
is but the tabernacle
the shell; but
don’t despise it; it bears the stamp and image of God. He was “a young man from
the country.” None the worse for that. As I read the story of his life
I smell
the breath of the new-mown hay
and I hear the bleatings on the Bethlehem
hills. A good many of us have come from the country. And some are silly enough
to be ashamed of it. Be proud of it. Be proud if you know all about yoking the
horses and herding the cattle
or even (as Mr. Gladstone said one day when
addressing the young men of Glasgow University) about blowing the country
forge
or keeping the toll gate.
II. But now for a
few words
secondly
upon his pastime. Every sensible man must have some
pastime. We cannot be always working. We are not mere mechanics; both body and
mind demand occasional relaxation. In the LXX version of the Old Testament--that
copy of it from which our Lord and His Apostles generally quoted--I find
strange to say
an additional Psalm to the hundred and fifty in our Bibles. It
is entitled “A genuine Psalm of David.” “Small was I among my brethren
and
youngest in my father’s house; I tended my father’s sheep. My hands formed a
musical instrument
and my fingers tuned a psaltery. And who shall tell nay
Lord? The Lord Himself
he hears
he sent forth His angel
and took me from my
father’s sheep
and He anointed me with the oil of His anointing. My brothers
were handsome and tall; but the Lord did not delight in them. I went forth to
meet the Philistine
and he cursed me by his idols. But I drew his own sword
and beheaded him
and removed reproach from the children of Israel. Praise ye
the Lord.” Well
I want you to observe that David consecrated this great gift
of his to the highest ends
and that he found music to be most enjoyable when
it was linked with sacred themes. What a pity that so sublime a gift is often
prostituted to ignoble ends! What a shame that it is so frequently consecrated
to the devil! And what vile rubbish you do sometimes listen to under the name
of music! The grand chorales of Luther did quite as much as his preaching to
arouse the people from their slumber of spiritual death. Now
hundreds of you
are crazy about music. It is your chief pastime. And an elevating one it is
if
wisely directed and controlled.
III. I point you now
to his patriotism. The text calls him “a mighty valiant man
and a man of war;”
but I must have you notice that David’s courage and chivalry were not confined
to camps and battlefields
but characterised his whole life. If ever man loved
his country it was he. If ever there was a noble
chivalrous
magnanimous
unselfish spirit it was he. His heroic fearlessness of danger was constantly
put to the proof. True men
nature’s noblemen
are scarce; and Goldsmith was
right when he said:--
“Ill
fares the land
to hastening ills a prey
When
wealth accumulates
and men decay
”
A
healthy and unselfish public spirit needs to be cultivated. We want a larger
number of young men who
not content to see their country’s honour and weal in
the hands of a select few
are ambitious of contributing their quota to the
formation of a healthy public opinion; and will willingly bear burdens
and
take rubs
and forego conveniences
if they can in any way advance the national
welfare. There must be some here who well remember how
during the
Franco-Prussian War
many a young German
knowing his country was likely to be
invaded
hurried home from a safe and lucrative position in England and
America
to take his place in the line of battle
and
if need be
pay the
penalty with his life. And when the war rolled over into France
many a young
Frenchman went from quiet homes in distant and safe parts of his own land
to
march with disorganised armies
and under doubtful generalship
through great
and constant hardships; destined
alas! to find in a few weeks a nameless
grave. Well
they only did their duty. And I am as certain as I am of my own
existence that there are scores of young patriots here
who
under similar
circumstances
would do precisely the same. There are bloodless achievements
within the reach of all of you
by which you can nobly serve your fatherland.
Ay
there are battles to be fought in Cornhill and Lombard Street
in
Manchester and Liverpool
and thousands of other places at home
that demand a
perseverance
a pluck
and a heroism quite as great as though you were
summoned
with rifle and knapsack
to the jungles of Burmah or the mountains of
Afghanistan.
IV. I point you now
to his prudence. The text describes him as prudent in matters”--i.e.
a
young man of sound judgment
of sterling common sense. This is a wonderful
recommendation to a man
no matter what kind of office he has to fill. Next to
piety--and we are coming to that immediately--there is no endowment more
valuable than what in England goes by the name of good common sense. “Prudent
in matters.” This word “prudent” is just a contradiction of “provident
” and
provident literally means looking before you
providing for the future. The one
hundred and twelfth Psalm is just a portrait of a wise and generous man; and in
it David says that such a person will “guide his affairs with discretion
” and
in consequence
“will not be afraid of evil tidings.” if you are prudent in
your affairs you will not spend all you earn upon immediate gratification
but
will endeavour to make some provision for after days
and for those who
possibly may be dependent on you I suppose there were no life insurance offices
in those early times
or I feel sure David would have taken a wise step
which
I urge upon every young man; and the sooner you take it the better.
V. And last point
of all
David’s piety--“And the Lord is with him.” He was “a man after God’s
own heart.” The breathings of his soul in these wonderful Psalms have for ages
been
in the whole Christian Church--alike Greek
Latin
Puritan
and
Anglican--the chosen expression of the most profound devotion. Now you may have
all the other qualifications described here
yet
if you lack this
you are
awfully incomplete; you cannot be presented to the King
nor stand
harp in
hand
before His face in glory. A friend was one day speaking to the late
learned Dr. Duncan
of Edinburgh
about religious life in England
and was
contrasting southern theology with the robust and stern orthodoxy of Scotland
and he let fall the expression
“It is like a limpet
it has no bone in it.”
“Ah
well
” replied Dr. Duncan
“a limpet is not a strong thing
but it cleaves
fast to the rock.” Cleave to the rock
and you will not be swept away by those
strong currents of error or torrents of temptation which are sure to sweep
around you. Decide what the principles of your life are to be
and stand by
them at any cost. Have more manliness than to heed the jeers of the scoffer.
The world is always for compromise; compromise between truth and error
between
right and wrong. If a man dies for his flag
the world calls him a hero; but if
he is prepared to die for a principle
it calls him a fanatic. Yet the latter
is the nobler of the two. (J. T. Davidson
D. D.)
Verse 19
Send me David thy son
which is with the sheep.
Life of David
The formal induction of David into the office for which he was
selected
was not devoid of its appointed influence. The ceremony was a sacred
one
by special direction of God
performed by a sacred band in the days of
miraculous agency
days long since passed away. Consequently a marked
alteration occurred in the whole character of this lowly shepherd boy. It was
not conversion
for David
you remember
before this ceremony
was conversant
with godliness
and replete with spiritual and legitimate piety. We may call
this alteration or improvement
devotedness; he was warned of the purposes of
Providence concerning his future life
and hence became
by a noble ambition
as well as by supernatural gifts
devoted to the destiny
the high appointment
to which he was ordained. After the interview with Samuel
David resumed his
former position and avocation
but with new thoughts
new hopes
and new
practices. His life was still a private one
but the virtues of an exalted
mind
and of increased piety
displayed themselves with such fulness that the
respect of all men was tendered to him in tributary homage.
1. Here is a volume of wisdom opened to us. We have a double
calling--one to future dignity in God’s set time
another to present duty in
our earthly state. Our wisdom
then
our duty
our religion
is to realise
by
sober contemplation
the heaven that awaits us. We have not here to follow the
guidance of mere fancy; we have not here the deceitful rule of passion
to
observe which will paint a paradise
according to each man’s peculiar lust. We
have the solemn and copious narrative of revelation; the history of successive
periods yet to come; of gradation above gradation in eternal glory for the
saints; of resurrection joy
millennial glory with Christ
abiding favour with
the Father; of physical happiness
as well as filial consolations; of a
promised land
a better country
a heavenly city
of many mansions. Our other
calling is to glorify God in that station where His Providence has placed us.
The description of David
while be remained a commoner
signifies that he had
given himself
with every diligence as a man in ordinary life
to discharge his
office
to the very best of his ability
religiously. The devices of the enemy
are innumerable
to prevent our success in piety
our utility to man
and our
honourableness to God. We must understand thoroughly that in spite of all
contrary exhibitions and persuasions
suggested by our infirmities
that the
post we occupy is exactly that in which we are placed
stand fast and quit
ourselves like men. That our ages
callings
situations
fortunes
are just the
very ordinances of Jehovah
and that in these things
and no others
we are
required to show forth His glory
and magnify His name. Thus did David.
2. We must thus conclude our considerations about his private life
and follow him out upon the great stage of the world. But ere we view him on
that stage we must observe that his exaltation occurred in exact accordance
with his private virtues. These spread abroad his fame
sent it to the king’s
palace
and led him from obscurity. “Seest thou a man diligent in his business?
He shall stand before kings
he shall not stand before mean men.” “Godliness
hath the promise of this life
as well as of that which is to come.” The
command for David’s separation from the humble lot in which he had enjoyed so
much of a happy converse with heaven
has arrived--“Send me David thy son
who
is with the sheep.” Thus were the unsolicited promises of Samuel hastening to
fulfilment. David had not sought greatness
and we may conclude that this call
to another mode of life
so dissimilar to all his early habits
was obeyed
not
with the alacrity of ambition
but the integrity of religion. He obeyed
because he felt it to be his duty. He must henceforth find his interviews with
God diminished
and his intimacy with an evil world a source of continual
danger
and cause of continual self-restraint and watchfulness. In the life of
the believer
all things have their appointed use
according to the words--“All
things work together for good
to them who love God.” Solitude
or retirement
rather
had witnessed the first dawn of piety in this servant of God
and
confirmed it in every principle
up to the full blaze of faith
and courage
and devotedness. Now society
and society in the most dangerous form
in the
very circle of the court
must train the future monarch for his onerous
responsibilities.
Verse 21
And David came to Saul
and stood before him.
Life in a palace
1. We see one seated on a throne
and yet not happy. We see his royal
magnificence
and just as plainly we see his knitted brow and wild eye. Let our
riches be ever so great
we are not rich enough to buy a house into which
trouble cannot come. We wish
with a deep
restless eagerness
for more of the
world. Our secret feeling is
that our pains are well spent if the outcome be
that we stand higher in the world
or grasp more of it. We are sure that happy
circumstances shall bring happiness into our heart. Let us but climb the
throne
and we shall sit down pleased. Vain
then
were the lordliest mansion
reared for us
and crowded with friends
and stored with plenty
if we already
have not a happy heart. “The heart is its own place
and of itself can make a
heaven of hell
a hell of heaven.” A heart at one with God
and like His
is
the only spring of true joy. Such a heart has God’s smile for its light. His
praise and the hope of His glory make a music that never wearies us. All
outward pleasure is brightened by the bliss within.
2. Once more we turn our eyes on the king
and we see one healed by
the world and yet not cured. We see David as he lifts his harp and strikes the
strings
and we mark how the music softens the hard lines in that troubled
face
and brings a glint of pleasure into that gloomy eye. We see the world’s
medicine in conflict with man’s worst ailment. For the king is not ill in body
but in spirit. His spiritual health is ruined
and the flickering goodness that
is left only shows him what might have been
and what ought to be
without
arousing any will or power to change He is fatally sick in spirit
but he does
not seek a cure by returning to breathe the pure air of Divine truth
and to
exercise himself in holy doings. He catches at the advice of his lords
and
calls for music. Since the worldly pleasures he has do not please
he is fain
to try yet another. And the harp in the skilful hand of David does drive away
the throng of vexing thoughts. For the time he enjoys a higher and calmer mood.
He indeed is healed by the world
but he is not cured. That is an instance of
how the world treats its stricken ones. It can only prescribe the medicine
which it has. It offers amusements
business
ambitions
and the like as the
cure for ills that are in the spirit
and deeper than such things can go. It is
successful in thrilling the nerves
in engrossing the energies
and in thus
turning a man’s thought away from himself. He is happy
as the sleeper is happy
in his dreams. Let the young put themselves beforehand on guard against the
world’s nostrums for spiritual ills. A harp--a harp is the charm for a spirit
in which heaven and hell are at war and eternity at stake! Go not to one who
does but trifle with death. If no saintly Samuel is known to you
from whose
goodly wisdom you may win guidance
then all the more keenly listen to God
Himself
as at the very centre of your being He echoes the words of Jesus
and
sends you to that sole Physician of the spirit. Face to face to the sated but
unsatisfied man of the world there stands a robust youth. As yet he is fresh to
the city and the court. He has been spoken of to the king as a brave and
accomplished man. As we look further
and think of his life heretofore and its
results
we see a like contrast to the history and character of Saul.
3. We see one who links lowly duty with lofty hope. David felt the
stirrings of genius
and the anointing had confirmed him in high hopes
yet he
did not despise his crook. He was not forever grumbling that such a clever
fellow as he should be condemned to common toil. In the full expectancy of a
great future he gave his best energy to the lowly business which now was duty.
And the duty of today is ever God’s apprenticeship of us for the greater things
of the morrow. To kick at the lowly work set before us is to kick down the
ladder God has brought to our feet. See how David rose by fidelity to the
present. But
unfaltering in his hope
he was not hurried away by it. He did
not let it carry him off to the court or the camp in chase of fortune. He bade
his eager spirit bide its time. And now
in the due time of God’s choosing
and
still but following the duty of the hour
David has taken another step forward.
He has come to be Saul’s minstrel. Let us be faithful to the calls of each day
as they come
and we too shall grow royal and reach our own throne. Jehovah is
no respecter of persons
but deals with us as wisely and as lovingly as He dealt
with His servant David.
4. We see one who links pleasant leisure with rich profit. The
shepherd’s day was long
but it was not without many spare moments. In that
solitude which was full of God this man
like others called to lofty tasks
was
made great. Slowly he was ennobled and made royal in heart. Without having seen
the court he had a grace which indeed no earthly palace could have given. Not
for David alone
but for every youth
fate lies hid in those leisure hours. As
he deals with them he is dealing with his whole future. Out of them shall
spring his fortune in this life and in the next. Who makes himself worthy of
success shall find it at last coming to meet him by the way on which he
journeys. And
just as surely
the time which is not filled with good is room
kept for evil. It is not merely that the man robs himself of the
accomplishments and character and capabilities which might have been his. For
lack of noble interests and patient work he deteriorates. He falls beneath
himself. And
looking back on this subject
let us be warned from Saul to
distrust the world for our peace. Let us copy David and make the Lord our
portion. Jehovah is now more easily known and more readily found than in those
ancient
days. (David Burns.)
David before the King
1. This is a melancholy picture l The collapse of what gave promise
of being a brilliant career is very affecting
particularly when it is the
result of moral failure (1 Samuel 10:2). What contrast could
be sharper than that
which is expressed by the words
“The Spirit of the Lord
departed from Saul
and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him” (ver 14)!
2. But to turn to the other side
how mysterious are the methods of
Divine Providence! The successor of Saul is admitted into his presence on
account of his musical capabilities Thus natural gifts were made to subserve
Divine purposes. Little did David think
when he was playing in the tent of
Jesse
that the pastime was a preparation for his future destiny; and evidently
little did Jesse think that the youngest of his sons was the one who should be
“taken from the sheepfolds” to feed Israel.
I. Saul’s
condition.
1. First he was in a state of dejection. I use the word “dejection
”
because it is a stronger term than “depression; depression is but a degree of
dejection” (Crabb). Then dejection seems to be oftentimes measured by the
height of previous exaltation
and so to be a very suitable term in the ease of
Saul
Wordsworth says:--
“As
high as we have mounted in delight
In
our dejection do we sink as low.”
There
are those who would go further than this
and describe the king as suffering
from “melancholia
” and the hypochondriacal term of it. Perhaps the tendency is
too common to attribute moral disease to mental. Saul was a disappointed man
and became the prey of his evil passions.
2. But this is only a part of the matter Saul’s miserable condition
is attributed in the Bible to the workings of an “evil spirit.” It is a very
unwarrantable method of dealing with the statements of holy Scripture
to
assert that this is only the Jewish way of saying Saul was mad. No one can read
the New Testament accounts of demoniacs
or our Lord’s words as to
devil-possession
and be satisfied with such an explanation. The same words
describe the departure of the Spirit of God
and the arrival of an evil
spirit
.
3. Again
this spirit is said to be “from the Lord
” for even over
evil spirits God has sovereignty. Satan could not tempt Job without Divine permission
and Divine restrictions; his emissaries must therefore be allowed by God to
tempt or torment man. This was a part of Saul’s punishment; as
bodily and
mental disorders are often the penalties of personal sin.
II. David’s remedy.
1. Saul
when these spiritual paroxysms were upon him
was soothed
and calmed by the sweet strains from David’s harp. Commentators say
that this
power of music is well known.
2. Such an effect bears testimony to the source from which music had
been said to come--the land of peace. Newman could not believe that
such
effects as music wrought could be produced by that which is “unsubstantial” and
transitory. Similarly
Kingsley says
“Music has been called the speech of
angels.” Music is a language
a universal language
which appeals to the heart
of man; and as it gives expression to every feeling and emotion
so it has the
power of calling every movement of the soul into play.
3. But they were the strains of David’s harp alone which allayed the
commotion in Saul’s spirit
and drove off the evil influence. There is music
and music. There is music which elevates and calms and spiritualises
and there
is music which stirs evil passions and excites sensuous impulses It is music
which appeals to what is Divine in man
and lifts up his thoughts and
affections to the “far-off land
” which has the power by its stern sweetness of
pacifying the passions
and dissipating the gloom which hides the face of God.
III. Lessons.
1. To take warning from the history of Saul
lest through unfaithfulness
to God we should forfeit the opportunities of service which He gives us
and so
through disappointment become the prey of evil passions and evil powers.
2. To realise the need of watchfulness (Ephesians 6:12).
3. That music in the service of the sanctuary is not for purposes of
entertainment
but to lift up the soul to God.
4. Finally
we may surely
with the mystical interpreter
see an
image in this incident of the work of Christ
the true David
the Prince of
Peace
who came to deliver mankind from the tyranny of Satan
and to restore to
peace and harmony those who were distracted by divers lusts and passions; and
further
inquire whether we have obtained that peace which Christ came to
bring. (Canon Hutchings.)
The Sweet Psalmist in the Court of Saul
The scene changes. “We are no longer sitting among the sheep with
David
watching the departure of the prophet
and the dispersion of the guests;
we are not now among the home circle in Jesse’s house
but in the court of
Gibeah. Here is state and grandeur and Eastern magnificence. The king has
evidently all the absolute power of an Eastern monarch. But these things will
make no man happy; for we read (verse 24): “The Spirit
of the Lord departed
from Saul
and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.” Is it so? that
powers and talents are taken from one man and given to another? Are we so far
stewards of all our faculties
that if we misuse or abuse them
God will
transfer them to our neighbour? The kingdom was taken from Saul
so Samuel had
told him
and was given to another. You recollect what our Lord says in the
parable of the pounds: “And he said to them that stood by
Take from him the
pound
and give it to him that hath ten pounds. For I say unto you
That unto
everyone which hath shall be given
and from him that hath not
even that he
hath shall be taken away from him.” The more you act as faithful stewards of
your money
your talents
and your faculties
the more God will commit to your
trust. But if
like the unjust steward
you “waste your Lord’s goods
” then you
will lose what you have
and be no longer stewards. Sin draws after it many
consequences. Little did Saul think that he should lose the kingdom
when he
spared the king of the Amalekites; and he never could have foreseen that
fearful visitation that was coming on him. Boast not of your gifts or your
mental powers
it needs but for God to remove His hand
and what a multitude of
evil spirits may possess our souls! It is only by God’s will that we live? What
a contrast between Saul returning from the slaughter of the Ammonites
and
Saul
as now
a prey to fits of mental derangement! Yes
we are in God’s hands
and everything is at His disposal. Now we may be conscious of some power of
mind and a consciousness of power
of course
gives pleasure. But a stroke of
paralysis might lay us prostrate in a moment; the faculty of speech
the
faculty of memory
might be taken from us
and we be enfeebled in mind for the
rest of our days. This affliction of Saul’s is called “an evil spirit from the
Lord.” The Spirit of the Lord was gone from Saul
gone because of his sin; and
the evil spirit from God had come upon him. The servants prescribe only a
half-remedy: the music may drive away his sadness
may restore the balance of
his mind; but this
because it cannot bring back the favour of God
will not
restore peace to his soul. Only the gospel can give real comfort. And now one
of the servants of Saul
perhaps a man with more religious feeling than the
rest
mentions David’s name. And so David is sent for to the court of Saul.
God’s purposes are sure to come to pass. When Moses was forty years old
he
thought the time had come for him to deliver his brethren; but there were to be
forty years of discipline yet both for him and them. When Saul was arrested by
the vision on the road to Damascus
he was told of God’s designs about him; but
many years passed before he was ordained to the apostleship David’s faith and
patience were put to the test in the interval that elapsed between his
anointing and his summons to the court; and now
in a very humble capacity
indeed
he enters the palace: he is nothing more than a musician
and
afterwards made one of the bodyguard. Music has a wonderful power over the
spirit. Saul felt its influence
and his spirit was “refreshed
” but he
remained the same character; his soul was in no way the better for it. It is
very difficult to distinguish between natural sentiment and religious
enthusiasm
between genuine spiritual ecstacy and mere sensuous delight. God
forbid our church music should not be good of its kind! We ought to offer the
best of everything to God; only with this passage in Saul’s life before us
let
us be careful that while we delight in the singing
we are not insensible to
the deep meaning of the words. When you think that a musical service has really
been a blessing to your soul
then ask yourself these questions: “Have I been
humbled in my own eyes?” “Do I loathe myself?” Is Christ more precious to me as
the Saviour who has died for me?” and “Do I feel more abhorrence of the sin
that is close and natural to me?” For if you have been excited
but not really
moved to humiliation and prayer
the musical service will only have
strengthened your natural propensities; and though I say nothing against the
singing of the Psalms of David
yet I say thin--and that in the face of the
musical taste of the present day--that the effect of a high musical service
upon soma natures may be baneful in the extreme. God has given to some of you
great talents; mind that
like David
you use them to His glory. Have you
beauty? Have you intellect? Have you musical talent? Thank God for every gift:
but remember that it is a trust: you may use it in the service of God
or in
the devil’s service. (C. Bosanquet
M. A.)
Verse 23
So that Saul was refreshed and was well.
The minstrel physician
Long and varied was to be David’s education for the throne. His
shepherd experience had been one of his schoolmasters. And now acquaintance
with the Court
and the glimpse it gave him into the duties of government and
the nation’s condition
was to be another. At Court
too
he was to learn the poverty
of human power. Was not King Saul bound in the cords of misery
and one of the
poorest
because wretchedest
men in that or any other kingdom? Thus the
King-elect was being prepared for his future eminence. But how came he at
Court? By no seeking of his own. The youth had become a man. And many marked
him
and one who had seen him told the king of him and wound up his eulogium
with “the Lord is with him.” That servant’s knowledge of David
and the king’s
ignorance of David
for little did he suspect that the commended shepherd youth
was to be his successor
“worked together” for David’s advancement to be the
royal harper. Thus the way began to open to the throne. By what varied and
strange instrumentalities God’s purposes are wrought out! We see it in this
ancient story. And do we not see it today in the life of nations? Think of
United Italy and how Mazzini’s pen
and Cavour’s brain
and Garibaldi’s arm
worked and successfully to the one difficult end of giving this beautiful
long-oppressed land a rightful place among the nations. Think of the enslaved
multitudes of America
and of the many who
militant only for the “Union
”
involuntarily helped them into liberty. The doors of opportunity have swung
upon little hinges. He whose eyes are quick to note Providence in his life will
never lack a Providence to note.
I. Saul’s need of
David. He needed someone. God indeed
was his need! But that he forgot
as did
his servants. They counselled a harper as the best physician for his melancholy
madness. David’s name was mentioned. At length he stood before the king. What
was this malady? Is the phrase “evil spirit
” “evil spirit from God” (or that
came by Divine permission)
only a strong Orientalism for melancholy? That is
bad to bear
and
rooted in physical causes
many a good man has had to bear
it. Dr. Johnson was one
and once under its terrible depression exclaimed
“I
would consent to have a limb amputated to recover my spirits.” But such an
interpretation as this will not cover the large
sad statements in reference to
Saul. Josephus says
“The Divine Power departed from Saul
and strange and
demoniacal disorders came upon him
and brought upon him such suffocations as
were ready to choke him.” David “charmed his passion
and was the only
physician against the trouble he had from the demons
whensoever it was that it
came upon him
and this by reciting of hymns
and playing upon the harp
and
bringing Saul to his right mind again.” (Antiquities
b. 6. c. 8.) Whatever
view is taken of Saul’s malady the record is full of warning to us all. Well
may we in the recollection of Saul “Stand in awe and sin not.”
II. The power and
powerlessness of music. David proved its power upon the evil-possessed Saul.
Great the mystery of music. It sighs in the breeze
whispers in the stream
thunders in the sea
rolls in the mountain echoes
“thinner
clearer
farther
going.” It is hidden
too
in the very substance of things. From wood of most
musical quality
the rarest
finest-sounding viols are made. Music waits to be
tinkled out of steel
clashed out of brass
blown from horn
struck from tense
string. Man plays upon the instrument and the instrument plays upon the man. In
the words of Bushnell
“A man may plod
plot
speculate
and sneer
who has no
fibred harp of music hid in his feeling; he may be a qualified atheist
usurer
demagogue
dogmatist
or hangman: but he cannot be one that stirs men’s blood
Divinely
whether in song or in speech
and is very little like to be much of a
Christian.” History has much to tell us of this wondrous God’s gift to man. The
wisest ancient heathens told of the influence of music in their fable of
Orpheus around whose lyre thronged trees and entranced rocks
and wild beasts
charmed for awhile from their fury. One of our poets has imagined Cain
“an
awful form
” half brute
half human
listening to Jubal’s harp
listening to
the novel
anguish restraining harmony--
“Till
remorse grew calm;
Till
Cain forsook the solitary wild
Led
by the minstrel like a weaned child.”
This
if no more than a poet’s fancy
is at any rate his
confession of the power of music. What nation has lacked its patriotic anthem?
Songs like the Marsellaise have aided nations into freedom. Music is freedom’s
friend and languishes in bondage. God’s gift is it to man. Cultivate home
music
then. Let it be of the best. Alas! that this God’s gift should be
desecrated. The noblest music is religious. It comes to its crown of nobility
as it is consecrated to the Highest. We see it in David. What larger legacy of
blessing could he have left than he has in his psalms? They are never old. They
are the possession
the voice of God
of each willing soul. And they are all of
musical make: written to be sung: sung when first written by Hebrew choirs and
choral multitudes in worship. Grateful for this Divine gift
let us holily use
it. The devil fled from his flute
said Luther. Let us
with cheerful
holy
music
keep at distance the evil ones of doubt
fear
care. Let
the love of
Christ be the marching song of our life. May His name be our life’s sweetest
music. And may the music of that name be the refreshment of our dying hour. (G.
T. Coster.)
The worth and worthlessness of music
1. In this chapter we have Saul and David brought together; and round
the combination of these two names a wonderful history gathers. Saul and David!
How bright is the halo that surrounds one of those heads
and how dark is the
cloud that settles on the brow of the other! how increasingly bright the one;
how increasingly dark the other! And let me say that these two men represent
two great but opposing principles. David represents the man of grace. A man he
is with many faults
with many things which make him like other men at their
worst; but a man who is
notwithstanding
by grace
although with who could be Saul
a man who could be and might be Saul at his worst
but who
with all this
knows that he is bad
sincerely repents of his evil
and asks for grace that he
may be better. And Saul is a man after
not God’s own heart
but a man after
his own heart. Saul
notwithstanding many points wherein he seems to be a
David
is of a totally different spirit from David. How bright he was at the
beginning! how frank
how modest
how generous
how ingenuous! David himself
could scarcely have played the part better than Saul played it at the time when
he was chosen to be king by Samuel
and suddenly exalted to that high dignity.
And yet Saul
after all
was so centred in himself
so proud
as rebellious
so
possessed of an evil spirit
that his day went down into deep and deepening
darkness.
2. Notice further how the old Book does not hesitate to trace
everything up to God. The writers of this Book
whenever they come across a
dark
perplexing problem
are men of this stamp--they get themselves to rest
to mental rest and consistency
when otherwise all things would rock and reel
by pressing everything up to God and letting it lie there. To put the very
devil into God’s hands gives rest; I can wait now; he is on a chain Why is evil
here? And it is remarkable how the writers of the Bible
without making God
responsible
put Him in there in the meantime. We rest here
“Shall not the
Judge of all the earth do right?” You see how the problem breaks out upon us.
“An evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul.” What is this? What imp from hell
crept up to the Bible and wrote that in it? “An evil spirit from the Lord.”
Well
but that rings all through the Bible! The Lord is put in in the meantime
for us short-sighted mortals
and He seems to say
“Rest here; nee as far along
the difficulty as Me
and do not ask anything further.” And although it seems
herd for Me
and although it seems awkward for Me
I will bear the brunt; and
in the end of the day I will be just and justified
and clear Myself when I am
judged.”
3. But now we will come at once
for we must hasten
to the real
explanation of Saul’s misery It was this--secret sin; but I will give that sin
a name: secret sin
taking the shape of self-will
which was not repented of
and done away with self-will was the secret explanation of all Saul’s inward
and outward misery
of all the still heavier distress which overtook him later
on. The Spirit of God has laid Saul bars to the very backbone
and we know what
was his disease. When will we understand that the Lord is always trying to lay
us bare to ourselves? There is a stone in the machine: may it soon be detected
and put away
then all the wheels shall move swiftly and without friction
as
they used to do. There is war in your own heart. I grant there are troubles
without--external sources of trouble and annoyance--but how many of us here
today can say that we are free from the battle that raged in Saul’s
breast--that worst of all fights: the fight between a man and his conscience;
between a man and his God? Saul’s lust was a lust for power
a lust for his own
way. But he cloaked it
he covered it
he disguised it
he twisted it into
religious phrases
he kept justifying himself to himself and to Samuel. But he
is laid bare
and all subterfuges are torn to pieces.
4. Just a word about the too-cheap and slim and utterly inadequate
remedy that was tried for Saul. The help and the helplessness
the worth and
the worthlessness of music--the use and the uselessness of recreation
of
changer of pleasure
of relaxation. How far these go; and how far they don’t
go! His servants came around Saul and virtually said
“What you need
dear
master
is change; what you need is relaxation; what you need is music.” No
treasures
says the poet of my country--
“Nae
treasures
nae pleasures can mak us happy lang
The
heart’s aye
the pairt aye
that makes us richt or wrang
”
And if God is not in the heart
then the evil spirit is in it.
Music! Well
we will say nothing against music. Music hath charms of every
kind; who has not felt its power? The man is not influenced and softened by
music
we are almost inclined to say with Shakespeare
“Let no such man be
trusted.” We feel naturally suspicious of him. And yet how little it does! When
we see what music sets itself to cure--London’s music
London’s sacred music
or its secular music--when we see what it is called in to cure
it is no wonder
if I should get a little outspoken about it. Music for a madman!--whenever did
it cure madness? Music for a man who needs Almighty God!--what a pitiful
remedy! And is not that what the very Church of God is saying today? The
masses--the squirming
wretched howling masses--fiddle to them
oh
fiddle to
them; get up music for them
get up popular entertainments for them. Cast out
the devil with the fiddle! You talk about curing earthquakes with pills
it is
very much the same as curing poor Saul’s trouble by getting a man who was
skilful with his hands upon the harp. And a word
let me put in here
to people
who are susceptible of music. This which was meant to do good to Saul
I rather
think that in the end it only deepened his trouble; for medicine
when brought
in in a case like this
if it does not permanently benefit
it will permanently
injure. Said a young man to me
“When I go into a church where there is an
organ
even before the sermon begins
and there is ‘the long-drawn aisle and
fretted vault;’ when the music from the organ begins to peal and to steal
I
almost begin to think I am a new creature.” Well
if the organ is going to do
it
it was an awful mistake for Christ to have climbed upon the cross. That was
the blunder of all time--the Crucifixion was not needed if music and organs and
choirs can cast out the evil spirit from a man. That is the trouble. Nothing
will cure thy heart but the almighty grace from the Lord Jesus Christ
through
the Word and the Truth of His Gospel. No; one of the sad things of this story
is to find how near Saul came to a cure
and how far he remained from it. One
could almost cry out
“Oh
Saul
you are on the right track
and yet you are
altogether wrong! Oh
Saul
take not only the harp and the music
but if you
would take the harper to your heart
that would cure you!” What was all Saul’s
trouble? It was David. David was the stone
the stumbling stone
over which he
tripped and fell. The story gets breathless in its sad interest: David brought
so near; and if Saul had only lent his heart as well as his ears
and taken
David in and loved him
David would have been his salvation. My parable is
easily applied. You do make a certain use of Christ; like Saul
you make a
certain use of David and a certain use of religion
and you admit its power so
far as you use it. Now
in the name of salvation
come farther. You like music
you like sacred music; I have seen it on your faces--how the eye gets filled
over the singing
and for the time being
a brief but holy light settles upon
your troubled face
and I believe that a corresponding peace comes into your
war-broken soul. But if that is all
if it is only these sounds and strains and
these sweet words
that is not enough. The devil in you can stand that
and
still be what he is. If
however
you would take in not only the praise
but
Him who is praised
if you would take in Christ
you would be saved. Poor man
Saul was allowing his wound to be slightly healed
to be slightly skimmed over
and soon it broke out with worse virulence than everse The evil spirit departed
from him when David took the harp and played with his hands; Saul was
refreshed
but
as we know
only for a season. You are as near to the perfect
cure as Saul was. See that you get it. And the perfect cure is to take the Lord
Jesus Christ
who is the centre of the Church’s service
and the centre of the
preacher’s preaching. Get past the singing
go past all our service
go past the
preacher. I am but a harp
and a very poor harp
with little more than one
string; but if the Spirit of God struck me
what wonderful tones He might bring
out. Go past the harp
go past the sound that comes from the harp
and see to
it that you discern Him. See that you discern the heavenly David who holds this
rude instrument in His hand. Yea
I say unto you
“See that you discern Him and
love Him; take Him in to you; then shall the devil of discord leave thy breast
and thy soul shall begin to fill with heaven’s own melody.” (John McNeill.)
The influence of music
Out of so distant a past as this comes this famous illustration of
the influence of music. The power with which music is credited to “soothe the
savage breast” will only be disputed by those who maintain that the noises that
soothe the savage breast do not deserve the name of music at all. But to this
it is sufficient answer that for elementary life elementary forms of music are
appropriate. Nay
we might descend lower still
and illustrate our subject by
examples of the influence of music over the lower forms of animal life. Even a
very dull and unmusical ear can detect the difference between the low
dulcet
strain that soothes the spirit and assuages its tumult
and the sharp
ringing
martial air that sets the heart heating and the feet starring. When it was said
of John Knox that his voice stirred Scotland like the sound of a trumpet
everyone realised the appropriateness of the simile. In the crises of great
struggles men have been “played up” almost impossible ascents
when neither the
ardour of the fight nor the chance of defeat would have stirred them
sufficiently. The little child’s sleep waits on the croon over its cradle; and
the strong man’s death in battle is made easy by the shrill call of the bugle
or the pipes to blood and brain. Music can strike a chill to the heart with the
wail of a dirge
or it can set the pulses dancing to the thrill of the march
or lift the soul irresistibly heavenward on swelling billows of chorus or
magnificat. The passage that I have taken as a text has been expounded by
Robert Browning in one of the greatest poems of the nineteenth century. It is
in itself a moving incident
the great first king
drear and stark in his tent
and the bright
blithe young harpist seeking by music to win his soul back from
the inferno of despair
where it was overwhelmed. But how? By what fashion of
music can this miracle be accomplished? What craft can avail to bring back the
dead to life? First
says Browning
he plays the tune of the sheepfold
the
musical call to which they flock across the hills in the evening when the stars
are coming out. Then he played strains which the creatures loved
the quails
and the crickets
and the jerboa. And then the reaper’s song of rejoicing
and
then:
The
last song
When
the dead man is praised on his journey.
And then he breaks into the glad marriage chant
and follows this
with a battle march
and then again with:
The
chorus intoned
As
the Levites go up to the altar in glory enthroned.
This
last effort
according to Browning
wrung a deep groan from the lips of the
afflicted and desolate Saul. There was power in the music to break the chain of
Saul’s captivity. But now
in my judgment
Browning is absolutely right in
representing that for the higher and deeper influence music alone
mere
instrumental music
will not suffice. David realises this; he begins to sing to
his harp; he makes the music the vehicle of great and inspiring thought; and he
sings these uplifting and invigorating beliefs and hopes into the
sorrow-stricken soul before him. The question now comes to be: how much of this
result was the influence of music
and how much the influence of ideas? I would
say
rather
there is a previous question. Would the bare ideas alone have had
this wizard power over the soul apart from the music? The language of music is
broadly understood by all peoples. The music of Beethoven is far more
universally appreciated than the poetry of Milton
because of the disabilities
inflicted on mankind by the tower of Babel. A Greek or an Italian cannot
understand a line of Shakespeare
but Wagner’s dramatic speech they comprehend.
And
indeed
it may require a sensitive and discerning mind to appreciate
Michael Angelo’s expression in stone or on canvas of the woes of Italy
but it
hardly needs education to realise how the tragedies of Poland fail through the
music of Chopin.
I. The danger of
self-indulgence. An absorbing enjoyment of music and devotion to music is one
of the commonest forms of selfishness. This power of music to take a masterful
grip of the senses is so remarkable that it very commonly means the exclusion
of all other objects and interests whatsoeverse Even as the Pied Piper in
Browning’s legend played the children to their doom
and they followed him
laughing and dancing
and careless of everything but
the pleasure of the hour
so
as it seems to me
the influence of music may be full of a fatal
fascination
in the presence of which all life’s prosaic and commonplace duties
go to the wall. There are tens of thousands of musical people
keenly sensitive
to its almost incomparable joys
who ask only to be lapped
in
soft Lydian airs
Married
to immortal verse.
They
seek life itself
In
notes
with many a winding bout
Of
linked sweetness long drawn out.
And
the temptation of the Lotos eaters is their temptation
and the music of the
Sirens draws them to their fate. It is in that nobler Orpheus song
of which it
is recorded:
Nor
sang he only of unfading bowers
Where
men a tearless
painless age fulfil
In
fields Elysian spending blissful hours
Remote
from every ill
But
of pure gladness found in temperance high
In
duty owned
and reverenced with awe:
Of
man’s true freedom
which may only lie
In
servitude to law
And
how ’twas given through virtue to aspire
To
golden seats in ever calm abodes;
Of
mortal men admitted to the quire
Of
the immortal gods.
Even the Siren sisters
so the legend ran
ceased their music and
listened wistfully to so high and noble and deathless a strain as this.
II. The musical
temperament. There is another peril
due less perhaps to the music itself than
to the musical temperament. Life cannot be all music. Nothing that you and I
can ever do can entirely rule the discords out of it. And when the hour of
music is over the reaction is apt to be extreme. The musical temperament is for
this very reason subject more than most to nervous irritabilities. It is
subject to wide extremes of sensation and emotion. One hour it
is strung up to
the keenest sensitiveness; but unstrung it is dull and flat beyond the common.
And like all nervously fashioned temperaments this tendency to sudden and
violent reactions brings special moral perils in its train. The lives of great
musicians are almost without exception melancholy reading. As the Scotch would say
they were “gey ill to live wi’.” You have to be very charitable to their genius
if they are to retain your respect.
III. Harmony in
church choirs. And here you know
as one who has known so little of what many
ministers have known so much
I might say a word on the thorny subject of
church choirs. John Wesley
who never worshipped at Kensington Chapel
held
strong opinions on this subject. But
honestly
I cannot say that I have come
across what is ignorantly assumed to be the regulation trouble in churches
that these contribute least harmony who are humorously said to lead the harmony
of the church. But
if it were so I should not be surprised. Let those be
censorious who know least about the constitution of the musical temperament. I
want to say
as I close
that
the truth of truths in regard to this subject is
that the influence of music is a good servant but a bad master; that you need a
higher master-influence over your lives than the influence of music. The famous
lines of Milton ere no exaggeration:
Or
bid the soul of Orpheus sing
Such
notes as
warbled to the string
Drew
iron tears down Pluto’s cheek
And
made Hell grant what Love did seek.
Iron tears down Pluto’s cheek! There is power in music to soften
the hardened spirit till it weep iron tears
till those who are familiar with
evil catch a glimpse of love and innocence such as breaks down their
self-complacency and stoicism. “And made Hell grant what love did seek.” Yea
it was the music of the life of Jesus--love seeking a lost world from the grip
of hell
that conquered the powers of evil
and delivered humanity from its
dark captivity. It was this Divine Orpheus who sang such piercing and
penetrating strains that the captives of Hell were enamoured once again of the
life of faith and virtue. He made Hell grant what Love did seek. Think of that
if you will
as illustration of the influence of the higher melodies. (C.
Silvester Horne
M. A.)
The remedial power of music
The healing power of music has been recognised in all ages; and
the afflicted who have come under its charms have often been conscious of
relief. “Theophrastus is mentioned by Pliny as recommending it for the hip
gout; and there are references on record by old Cato and Varro to the same
effect
AEsculapius figures in Pindar as healing acute disorders with soothing
songs.” It is said that Luther
who was often haunted with the demons of
melancholy
had frequent recourse to music. “He had
” says Sir James Stephen
“ascertained and taught that the spirit
of darkness abhors sweet sounds not
less than light itself; for music
while it chases away the evil suggestions
effectually baffles the wiles of the tempter. His lute
and hand
and voice
accompanying his own solemn melodies
were therefore raised to repel the
vehement aggressions of the enemy of mankind.” Now
if true music has this
power
we should observe:--
I. The kindness of
the Creator in endowing some men of every circle with musical genius and voice.
That man’s social circle must be very limited which does not contain someone
whom nature has gifted with this remedial power. Schiller
in his dark hour of
sorrow
calls to a little girl full of music
and says:--
Come
here
my girl
seat thee by me
For
there is a good spirit on thy lips.
Thy
mother praised to me thy ready skill:
She
says a voice of melody dwells in thee
Which
doth enchant the soul.
Now
such a voice
Will
drive away from me the evil demon
That
beats his black wings close above my head.”
II. The obligation
of those thus endowed to cultivate their talents for the common good.
III. The mercy of
God in ordaining its use in public worship. In the Temple of old
music of the
highest class was appointed by God
and placed under the direction of the most
musical spirits and accomplished performers.
IV. The duty of
those who have the conduct of worship to promote the best psalmody. Good
psalmody must include good hymns as well as good melodies. (Homilist.)
Cunning in playing
I. The minstrel.
He had the poetic temperament
sensitive to nature
open to every impression
from mountain and vale
from dawn and eve; and he had beside the power of
translating his impressions into speech and song. A great modern poet imagines
him reciting
as he sang to his harp
his call to his sheep
the song of the
autumn vintage
the joyous marriage lay
the solemn funeral dirge
the chant of
the Levites
as they performed their sacred duties
the marching music of the
men of Bethlehem when they repelled some border foray. And we might add to
these his marvellous power in depicting the sacred hush of dawn. The marvellous
description of the thunderstorms
that broke over Palestine
rolling peal after
peal
from the great waters of the Mediterranean
over the cedars of Lebanon to
the far-distant wilderness of Kadesh. The psalm began with David. Its lyric
beauty and tender grace; its rhythmic measure; its exuberant hallelujahs and
plaintive lamentations; its inimitable expression of the changeful play of
light and shade over the soul; its blending of nature and godliness; its
references to the life of men and the world
as regarded from the standpoint of
God--these elements in the Psalter which have endeared it to holy souls in
every age owe their origin to the poetic
heaven-touched soul of the sweet
singer of Israel. What wonder that Saul’s young man said that he was cunning in
playing!
II. The young
warrior. There was abundant opportunity for the education of his prowess. The
Philistines’ frontier was not far away from his native town; and probably there
were many repetitions of the incident of after years
when the sons of the
alien held it
and placed a guard demanding toll of the water of the well of
Bethlehem that was by the gate. But he would have been the last to attribute
his exploits to his sinewy strength. By faith he had learnt to avail himself of
the might of God.
III. Prudent in
speech. David was as prudent to advise and scheme as he was swift to execute.
He had understanding of the times
of human hearts
of wise policy; and he knew
just how and when to act. Frank to his friends
generous to his foes
constant
in his attachments
calm in danger
patient in trouble
chivalrous and
knightly
he had every element of a born leader of men
and was equally at home
in the counsels of the state and the decisions of the battlefield. Whatever emergency
threatened
he seemed to know just how to meet it. And this was no doubt due to
the repose of his spirit in God. The sad mistakes he made may be traced to his
yielding to the sway of impulse and passion
to his forgetfulness of his habit
of drawing near unto God
and inquiring of Him before taking any important
step.
IV. The charm of
his presence. He was David the beloved. Wherever he moved
he cast the spell of
his personal magnetism. Saul yielded to it
and thawed; the servants of the
royal household loved him; Michal
Saul’s daughter
loved him; the soul of
Jonathan was knit with his soul; the women of Israel forgot their loyalty to
Saul
as they sounded the praises of the young hero. (F. B. Meyer
B. A.)
Theatrical estimate of life
Now listen to the poor hard-driven prayer: “Provide me now a man
that can play well.” Can we trace the genesis of that poverty-stricken cry? I
think we can. Begin here. “He who drives out the prophet will come to whine for
a fiddler.” In the beginning
hard-pressed days with Saul found a messenger on
the road speeding for Samuel. “Send for the prophet
bring the seer.” But now
he asks for no prophet. The counsellors he seeks are a feckless company
whose
theatrical estimate of life can suggest to them no better medicine for a mind
diseased than song and minstrelsy
and for a soul tragedy no better helper than
“a cunning player.” Surely better the prophet though his truth be hard
than
this despairing hunt for a minstrel. It all has point for us. There are some of
the young men
to whom I specially address these words
who have felt how
serious the problem of life is
to whom sin and its penalty are real
and
goodness known as the only lasting and blessed thing. But the prophet taxed
their thinking
troubled their conscience
cut too deep for comfort
pointed a
way too hard
and they dropped him. They do not take the preacher seriously;
they do not want the seer with fact-seeing eyes and fact-revealing speech; they
have no longer mind for the prophet who speaks through the strong
great pages
of literature. Instead of such company they like the set who say
“Find a
cunning player;” and the round of pleasure
the worship of recreation and
sport
the steeping of mind in the frippery literature of poor romance
is
their way of saying
“Provide me now a man who can play well.” But though the
poor cry may assume with them a bravado’s bounce
it is at root a whine
and
the confession of a bitter need for more radical deliverance than anything that
touches only the senses can give. You can track still further the cry. You
cannot satisfy the soul by the tickling of a sense. The soul is satisfied only
with God
and Saul has lost touch with God. The Maker of us has so fashioned us
that our nature must go out of itself
and make its sanctuary in a greater and
holier nature
before it can be rightly centred or rationally satisfied. “Lead
me to the Rock that is higher than I
” is the expression of this in David’s
life. (Thomas Yates.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》