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2 Samuel
Chapter Fourteen
2 Samuel 14
Chapter Contents
Joab procures Absalom's recall. (1-20) Absalom recalled.
(21-24) His personal beauty. (25-27) He is admitted to his father's presence.
(28-33)
Commentary on 2 Samuel 14:1-20
(Read 2 Samuel 14:1-20)
We may notice here
how this widow pleads God's mercy
and his clemency toward poor guilty sinners. The state of sinners is a state of
banishment from God. God pardons none to the dishonour of his law and justice
nor any who are impenitent; nor to the encouragement of crimes
or the hurt of
others.
Commentary on 2 Samuel 14:21-24
(Read 2 Samuel 14:21-24)
David was inclined to favour Absalom
yet
for the honour
of his justice
he could not do it but upon application made for him
which may
show the methods of Divine grace. It is true that God has thoughts of
compassion toward poor sinners
not willing that any should perish; yet he is
only reconciled to them through a Mediator
who pleads on their behalf. God was
in Christ reconciling the world to himself
and Christ came to this land of our
banishment
to bring us to God.
Commentary on 2 Samuel 14:25-27
(Read 2 Samuel 14:25-27)
Nothing is said of Absalom's wisdom and piety. All here
said of him is
that he was very handsome. A poor commendation for a man that
had nothing else in him valuable. Many a polluted
deformed soul dwells in a
fair and comely body. And we read that he had a very fine head of hair. It was
a burden to him
but he would not cut it as long as he could bear the weight.
That which feeds and gratifies pride
is not complained of
though uneasy. May
the Lord grant us the beauty of holiness
and the adorning of a meek and quiet
spirit! Only those who fear God are truly happy.
Commentary on 2 Samuel 14:28-33
(Read 2 Samuel 14:28-33)
By his insolent carriage toward Joab
Absalom brought
Joab to plead for him. By his insolent message to the king
he gained his
wishes. When parents and rulers countenance such characters
they will soon
suffer the most fatal effects. But did the compassion of a father prevail to
reconcile him to an impenitent son
and shall penitent sinners question the
compassion of Him who is the Father of mercies?
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Samuel》
2 Samuel 14
Verse 1
[1] Now
Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom.
Was towards — He
desired to see him
but was ashamed to shew kindness to one whom God's law and
his own conscience obliged him to punish; he wanted therefore a fair pretence
which therefore Joab gave him.
Verse 2
[2] And Joab sent to Tekoah
and fetched thence a wise woman
and said unto
her
I pray thee
feign thyself to be a mourner
and put on now mourning
apparel
and anoint not thyself with oil
but be as a woman that had a long
time mourned for the dead:
Anoint — As
they used to do when they were out of a mourning state.
Verse 5
[5] And
the king said unto her
What aileth thee? And she answered
I am indeed a widow
woman
and mine husband is dead.
Widow —
One of them who most need thy compassion
and whom thou art by God's law
obliged in a singular manner to relieve.
Verse 9
[9] And
the woman of Tekoah said unto the king
My lord
O king
the iniquity be on me
and on my father's house: and the king and his throne be guiltless.
Be guiltless — If
through thy forgetfulness or neglect of this my just cause
my adversaries
prevail and destroy my son
my desire is
that God would not lay it to the
king's charge
but rather to me and mine
so the king may be exempted thereby.
Whereby she insinuates
that such an omission will bring guilt upon him; and
yet most decently orders her phrase so as not to seem to blame or threaten the
king. This sense seems best to agree with David's answer
which shew's that she
desired some farther assurances of the king's care.
Verse 11
[11] Then said she
I pray thee
let the king remember the LORD thy God
that
thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more
lest they
destroy my son. And he said
As the LORD liveth
there shall not one hair of
thy son fall to the earth.
Remember —
Remember the Lord
in whose presence thou hast made me this promise
and who
will be a witness against thee
if thou breakest it.
Verse 13
[13] And
the woman said
Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the
people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty
in
that the king doth not fetch home again his banished.
Wherefore then — If
thou shouldst not permit the avengers of blood to molest me
or to destroy my
son
who are but two persons; how unreasonable is it that thou shouldest
proceed in thy endeavours to avenge Amnon's blood upon Absalom
whose death
would be grievous to the whole commonwealth of Israel
all whose eyes are upon
him as the heir of the crown
and a wise
and valiant
and amiable person
unhappy only in this one act of killing Amnon
which was done upon an high
provocation
and whereof thou thyself didst give the occasion by permitting
Amnon to go unpunished? Faulty - By thy word
and promise
and oath given to me
for my son
thou condemnest thyself for not allowing the same equity towards
thy own son. It is true
Absalom's case was widely different from that which
she had supposed. But David was too well affected to him
to remark that
difference
and was more desirous than she could be
to apply that favourable
judgment to his own son
which he had given concerning hers.
Verse 14
[14] For
we must needs die
and are as water spilt on the ground
which cannot be
gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise
means
that his banished be not expelled from him.
We — We shall certainly
die
both thou
O king
who art therefore obliged to take care of thy
successor
Absalom; and Absalom
who
if he do not die by the hand of justice
must shortly die by the necessity of nature: and Amnon too must have died in
the common way of all flesh
if Absalom had not cut him off.
Respect — So
far as to exempt him from this common law of dying.
Not expelled — He
hath given laws to this purpose
that the man-slayer who is banished should not
always continue in banishment
but upon the High-priest's death return to his
own city.
Verse 15
[15] Now
therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king
it is
because the people have made me afraid: and thy handmaid said
I will now speak
unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his
handmaid.
The people —
The truth is
I was even forced to this bold address to thee by the disposition
of thy people
who are discontented at Absalom's perpetual banishment
lest
if
Absalom by his father-in-law's assistance invade the land
the people who have
a great kindness for him
and think he is very hard used
should take up arms.
Verse 16
[16] For
the king will hear
to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that
would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
Hear —
For I know the king is so wise and just
that I assure myself of audience and
acceptation.
Deliver — To
grant my request concerning my son
and consequently the peoples petition
concerning Absalom.
My son —
Implying that her life was bound up in the life of her son
and that she could
not outlive his death; (and supposing that it might be David's case also
and
would therefore touch him in a tender part
though it were not proper to say it
expressly:) and thereby suggesting
that the safety and comfort of the people
of Israel
depended upon Absalom's restitution.
Inheritance —
That is
out of that land which God gave to his people to be their inheritance
and in which alone God hath settled the place of his presence and worship:
whereby she intimates the danger of Absalom's living in a state of separation
from God
and his house
amongst idolaters.
Verse 17
[17] Then
thine handmaid said
The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for
as an angel of God
so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore
the LORD thy God will be with thee.
Angel — In
wisdom
and justice
and goodness.
Therefore —
Because thou art so wise and gracious to those who in strict justice deserve
punishment
God will own and stand by thee in this thy act of grace: or God
will prosper thee in thy enterprizes.
Verse 19
[19] And
the king said
Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman
answered and said
As thy soul liveth
my lord the king
none can turn to the
right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy
servant Joab
he bade me
and he put all these words in the mouth of thine
handmaid:
Of Joab —
Hast thou not said and done this by Joab's direction.
Said — It
is even so
thou hast discovered the truth.
These words — As
to the substance of them
but not as to all the expressions; for these were to
be varied as the king's answer gave occasion.
Verse 20
[20] To
fetch about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab done this thing: and my
lord is wise
according to the wisdom of an angel of God
to know all things
that are in the earth.
To fetch —
That is
to propose his
and the peoples desire of Absalom's restitution in
this parabolical manner.
In the earth —
Or
in this land
in all thy kingdom; all the counsels and devices of thy
subjects.
Verse 22
[22] And
Joab fell to the ground on his face
and bowed himself
and thanked the king:
and Joab said
To day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight
my lord
O king
in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant.
Fulfilled —
But it seems David had no power to dispense with God's laws
nor to spare any
whom God appointed him to destroy: for the laws of God bound the kings and
rulers
as well as the people of Israel. How justly did God make this man
whom
he had so sinfully spared
a scourge to him?
Verse 24
[24] And
the king said
Let him turn to his own house
and let him not see my face. So
Absalom returned to his own house
and saw not the king's face.
Let him turn —
Lest whilst be shewed some mercy to Absalom
he should seem to approve of his
sin. Likewise by this means Absalom might be drawn to a more thorough
humiliation and repentance.
Verse 25
[25] But
in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty:
from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in
him.
Beauty —
This is noted as the occasion of his pride
and of the people's affection to
him.
Verse 26
[26] And
when he polled his head
(for it was at every year's end that he polled it:
because the hair was heavy on him
therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair
of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight.
Weighed —
Others understand this not of the weight
but of the price of his hair.
Verse 27
[27] And
unto Absalom there were born three sons
and one daughter
whose name was
Tamar: she was a woman of a fair countenance.
Sons —
All which died not long after they were born
as may be gathered from chap. 18:18
where it is said
that Absalom had no
son.
Verse 32
[32] And
Absalom answered Joab
Behold
I sent unto thee
saying
Come hither
that I
may send thee to the king
to say
Wherefore am I come from Geshur? it had been
good for me to have been there still: now therefore let me see the king's face;
and if there be any iniquity in me
let him kill me.
Kill me —
For it is better for me to die
than to want the sight and favour of my dear
father. Thus he insinuates himself into his father's affections
by pretending
such respect and love to him It seems that by this time Absalom having so far
recovered his father's favour
began to grow upon him
and take so much
confidence as to stand upon his own justification
as if what he had done
had
been no iniquity
at least not such as to deserve death. See how easily wise
parents may be imposed on by their children
when they are blindly fond of
them.
Verse 33
[33] So
Joab came to the king
and told him: and when he had called for Absalom
he
came to the king
and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king:
and the king kissed Absalom.
Kissed —
Did the bowels of a father prevail to reconcile him to an impenitent son? And
shall penitent sinners question the compassion of him who is the Father of
mercy? If Ephraim bemoan himself
God soon bemoans him
with all the
expressions of fatherly tenderness. He is a dear son
a pleasant child.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2
Samuel》
14 Chapter 14
Verses 1-33
Verses 5-20
And she answered
I am indeed a widow woman.
The parable of the woman of Tekoa
The contrast between this parable and the one preceding it is very
great. The parable of the ewe-lamb was spoken of by a prophet inspired by God.
This one was spoken by a theatrical persons at the instigation of a man of the
world
one who
though thoroughly unprincipled
could read human character and
discern human motives through a very small crevice. The parable of Nathan was
the introduction to a scorching reproof of David’s iniquity
the parable of the
Tekoan is full of fulsome flattery. The prophet’s parable was uttered to induce
repentance in David; this one had for its end only the promotion of Joab’s
schemes of self-interest.
I. The argument of
the parable.
1. That those who grant mercy abroad should first begin at home. The
first reason which the woman urges why David should forgive his son is the
willingness with which he would have forgiven hers. A king who is merciful to
his subjects is inconsistent with himself if he is not forgiving towards the
members of his own family.
2. That enmity ought to die before those who are at enmity die. “For
we must needs die
and are as water spilt on the ground
which cannot be
gathered up again” (2 Samuel 14:14). If Absalom were to
die before a reconciliation had taken place
the father’s heart would be deeply
grieved; and if he himself were to die before his son’s return to favour he
would go down to his grave mourning the estrangement.
3. The Divine Father’s example in relation to His “banished ones.”
II. Its immediate
and remote results. The immediate result was the recall of Absalom without
outward reconciliation. “Let him turn to his own house
and let him not see my
face” (2 Samuel 14:24). Evils arose from
this half-measure. Joab was disappointed
and Absalom was irritated.
Lessons:
1. That the most worthless characters sometimes have the best
pleaders. We find this the case occasionally in our law courts. Men with no
character
but lacking nothing else
with money and influence in abundance
can
have the benefit of the most skilful barristers to bring them out of the grip
of the law.
2. That imaginary narratives of human life have most influence when
they find a counterpart in our own experience. The power of a story may he very
great even when it contains nothing in it that has any likeness to anything
that has happened to ourselves.
3. That those who are conscious of having committed great sins are
not fit to deal with other offenders. The sin of David included the crimes of
both his sons
and the consciousness of this made him weak in purpose
and
unsteady in his dealings with them.
4. To restore to favour unconditionally is a sin against the person
forgiven. (A London Minister.)
Verse 14
We must needs die
and are as water spilt on the ground.
The instability of human things
I. The instability
of all human things. Most men talk wisely on the instability of the world. We
are not weak enough to deny that which the history of every day compels us to
admit. But our lives too often contradict our sentiments. Philosophers in
opinion
we are
as to this point
children in conduct; and worship the very
relics of that image of the world which we have previously stamped to dust
and
trod under foot;
II. The comparative
emptiness and worthlessness of all human distinctions.
III. The inaccuracy
of all human calculations. It is astonishing to what a degree men are tempted
to become the architects of their own plans of life
instead of consulting the
models which are laid up for them in Scripture. Pride is always seducing us
into a belief that we can choose and act better for ourselves and for others
than our Heavenly Father would choose for us. But let our calculations be of
the most profound nature
let them proceed upon the most unquestionable facts
and principles
how soon does a single unforeseen circumstance confound them
all!
IV. The vanity of
all human hopes.
V. The
transcendant value of real religion. (J. W. Cunningham
A. M.)
The necessity of death
I. Man “must needs
die.”
1. We “must needs die
” because of God’s unalterable decree; “In the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
2. Moreover
we “must needs die
” because of the diseases to which we
are subjected in consequence of sin. Had man stood he never would have known
anything of disease.
3. But let us now come to character; and I remark that the righteous
and the wicked “must needs die.” The wicked “must needs die
” that he may fully
prove the truth of God’s threatenings. “Because sentence against an evil work
is not executed speedily
therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set
in them to do evil.” The righteous “must needs die” in order to receive the
reward of their doings. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us
that we should be called the sons of God;” the Lord first gives grace
and then crowns it with eternal glory.
II. The figurative
language cf the text. The body
when the spirit tins fled
is compared to
“water spilt on the ground
which cannot be gathered up again.” This language
may appear to some to argue against the doctrine of the resurrection; but the
Scriptures do not contradict themselves. When water is shed upon the dry and
parched earth it cannot be collected again in the same purity and quantity; but
“the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” It is
written
“Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die
it remaineth
alone; but if it die
it bringeth forth much fruit.” And as sure as the harvest
follows the first fruits
so surely shall the resurrection of the saints to
life eternal
and the resurrection of the wicked to everlasting damnation come
to pass. (D. Delaney.)
Justice and mercy
I. The affecting
condition of mankind.
1. Their mortality. “ We must needs die.” Solemn and affecting truth!
We live in a dying world
and behold! we die daily
and sometimes suddenly
in
the twinkling of an eye.
2. The helpless and irretrievable circumstances in which we are
placed. “We are as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up
again.” What a fearful figure this! and yet
how true! As to ourselves and our
own natural powers
we are entirely lost
past all recovery
“as water spilt
upon the ground.”
II. The justice of
Almighty God towards mankind. “He respecteth not the person of any.” He is an
impartial dispenser and rewarder; he doeth justly
and loveth mercy
and is “no
respecter of persons.” As “in every nation he that feareth him
and worketh
righteousness
is accepted with him.”
III. The grace and
mercy of God vouchsafed to them. “Yet doth he devise means that his banished be
not expelled from him.” (F. Ellaby.)
Death and banishment
I. The
universality of death.
1. “We must needs die.” Well
why must we needs die? not only because
the sentence has been denounced
but because without this charge we could not
enter on the future state
when the trumpet shall sound and the dead be raised.
2. We must “needs die” also that we may attain a more perfect
resemblance to Jesus than is attainable upon earth. Hence the apostle says
“We
are buried with him by baptism unto death
&c.”
3. There is yet another reason Why we must “needs die
” that we may
enjoy the glorious recompense prepared for those who believe in Christ. “This
is not our rest
for it is polluted.” Here we are “strangers and pilgrims.”
II. The condition
to which sin has reduced us.
1. Banished. And how affecting is the account recorded in Genesis 3:1-24. respecting the banishment
of our primogenitors from the beautiful paradise where they were placed.
2. Though they are “banished
” they are “God’s banished ones.” O it
is this that gives us courage
that emboldens us; that animates with hope the
soul condemned in the court of conscience. But how are they His? “We are bought
with a price
” redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold
but with the precious
atoning
cleansing
“blood of Christ.”
III. The Divine
procedure for man’s recovery. Here we learn:
1. That though salvation is all of grace
yet are sinners saved by
the intervention of means.
2. That the success of these means originates
not in the cunning of
man
but in the power
wisdom
and goodness of God. (J. Wilcox
M. A.)
An unexpected provision of mercy
In these words of the wise woman there was a great principle of
truth
which was wrongly applied in this instance. David had no right whatever
to interfere with the law of God. The law of God said that the murderer should
die
and David had no authority to interfere with what God had designed. There
was provision made that by fleeing to one of the cities of refuge Absalom might
have his case legally investigated; and if there was any doubt as to his being
the culprit he might be legally acquitted. David had power to interpose this
legal examination
but he had not power to interfere with the due course of the
law
as laid down by God Himself
except indeed there should be any doubt
respecting the application of God’s law to the present case
or except there
should be any doubt as to Absalom’s guilt. But we will not dwell further upon
the immediate application of the words the principle contained in them is one
of universal application. “We must needs all die
and be as water spilt upon
the ground
which cannot be gathered up again.”
I. Death must be
considered in itself as an evil
We have in this generally admitted truth an
intimation or proof that there is a quarrel existing between man and his Maker
between the creature who is crushed sooner than the moth
and the Creator who
is “the Ancient of days
” the eternal and infinite God. Is it of no consequence
that such a quarrel as this exists? Can we contemplate the reality of it
as
evidenced by the death of our fellow-creatures
and our own liability to death
without serious thought taking possession of our minds
as to the necessity of
reconciliation with God? The quarrel must be made up
or we are ruined for
ever; the quarrel ought to be made up immediately
or we may be beyond the
reach of reconciliation.
II. The unexpected
provision which God in his goodness has made for our comfort and peace. We read
in the text
“Neither doth God respect any person: yet doth He devise means
that His banished be not expelled from Him.” You will see this rendered in the
margin
“Because God hath not taken away his life
He hath also devised means
that His banished be not expelled from Him
” which intimates that
although a
quarrel does exist between the sinner and his Creator
God does not proceed at
once to determine the quarrel
seeing that He has made provision for that
sinner’s restoration and security; He has devised means by which the banished may
be restored
and meanwhile preserved. Now
see this provision of God’s goodness
typified under the Jewish law. The manslayer who had unwittingly slain a
brother or a neighbour was by the law expelled from society; but there was a
provision made that if he fled to the city of refuge
and it should be proved
there that he had not intentionally slain his brother or his friend
then at
the death of the high priest he should be set at liberty
and allowed to return
again to his family circle. You observe in this that God “devised means by
which His banished might not be for ever expelled from Him.” We see the same
provision also in the case of the leper
See
again
how this provision is
announced in the Gospel of Christ. All the typical institutions of the law were
intended to shadow forth the great truths of the Gospel. The manslayer and the
leper betoken the state of the sinner under the condemnation of the Divine law
and unfit
on account of his pollution
for the society of God and His angels.
He is therefore considered in the eye of God as a banished person
who can
never obtain admittance into the kingdom; but God has devised means by which
the banished may be restored. The Lord Jesus Christ has come into the world and
died for the sinner’s guilt; He is now the great Refuge to whom
if the sinner
flee
he shall be saved from the condemnation which he deserves. The moral and
spiritual leprosy is thus cleansed; “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanseth us
from all sin.” (W. Cadman
M. A.)
Yet doth he devise means
that his banished be not expelled from him.--
The king’s son coming home from exile
I. The plan of
salvation began in God’s own heart
full of love for us. The idea has been
sometimes presented that God was only willing to save men after Christ had died
for us and paid our debt. But the whole plan of salvation
and the coming of
Jesus Christ to die for us on the cross
began in God’s own heart.
II. Sin alone
exiled us from the presence and favour of God. Absalom fled from his native
land and from the presence of the king
his father
because he had not only
sinned against David’s love and fatherhood
but had broken the law of the land.
It was his own deed which sent him into banishment. So it is not because God
has ceased to love us and long for our salvation that sin makes us unhappy and
that the sinner is the victim of remorse and fails to find peace; it is rather
that man was made to find happiness in the presence of God and in the
consciousness of harmony with him.
III. It is possible
for the sinner to thwart God’s love
and make all the sufferings and death of
Jesus Christ of no effect so far as he is concerned. Absalom did just that with
those who sought so earnestly to save him. (L. A. Banks
D. D.)
God’s banished ones
I. God’s banished
ones. Strip away the metaphor
and it just comes to this--you cannot be
blessedly and peacefully near God unless you are far away from sin. If you take
two polished plates of metal and lay them together they will adhere. If you put
half a dozen tiny grains of sand or dust between them they will fall apart. And
so our sins have separated between us and our God. They trove not separated God
from us. His thought
and His knowledge
and His tenderness
all come to every
soul of man. But they have rent us apart from Him
in so far as they make us
unwilling to be near Him
incapable of receiving the truest nearness and
blessedness of His presence. That banishment is self-inflicted. God spurns away
no man
but men spurn Him
and flee from Him. Many of us know what it is to
pass whole days
and weeks
and years
practical Atheists. God is not in all
our thoughts. Away down in the luxurious islands of the Southern Sea you will
find degraded Englishmen who have chosen rather to cast in their lot with
savages than to have to strain and work and grow. Those poor beach-combers of
the Pacific
not happy in their degradation
but wallowing in it
are no
exaggerated pictures of the condition
in reality
of thousands of us who dwell
fat from God
and far
therefore
from righteousness and peace.
II. God’s yearning
over his banished ones. The woman in our story hints at
or suggests
a
parallel which
though inadequate
is deeply true. David was Absalom’s father
and Absalom’s king; and the two relationships fought against each other in his
heart. The king had to think of law and justice; the father cried out for his
son. The young man’s offence had neither altered his relationship nor affected
the father’s heart. All that is true
far more deeply
blessedly true
in
regard to our relation
the wandering exile’s relation
to God. The whole
preciousness of the Revelation of God in Scripture is imperilled unless we
frankly recognise this
that His love is like ours
delights in being returned
like ours
and is like ours in that it rejoices in presence and knows a sense
of loss in absence. And it is you
you
that He wants back; you that He would
fain rescue from your aversion to good and your carelessness of Him.
III. The formidable
obstacles to the restoration of the banished. The words “banished” and
“expelled” in my text are in the original the same; and the force of the whole
would be better expressed if the same English word was employed as the
equivalent of both. Now
note that the language of this “wise woman
”
unconsciously to herself
confesses that the parallel that she was trying to
draw did not go on all fours; for what she was asking the king to do was simply
by an arbitrary act to sweep aside law and to remit penalty. She instinctively
feels that that is not what can be done by God
and so she says that He
“devises means” by which He can restore His banished. If there are to be any
pardon and restoration at all
they must be such as will leave untouched the
sovereign majesty of God’s law
and untempered with the eternal gulf between
good and evil. God’s law is the manifestation of God’s character; and that is
no flexible thing which can be bent about at the bidding of a weak
good
nature. The motto on the blue cover of the Edinburgh Review
for a
hundred years now
is true
“The judge is condemned when the guilty is
acquitted.” David struck a fatal blow at the prestige of his own rule when he
weakly let his son off his penalty. And
if it were possible to imagine such a
thing
God Himself would strike as fatal a blow at the justice and
judgment which are the foundations of His throne if His forgiveness was such as
to be capable of being confounded with love which was too weakly indulgent to
be righteous.
2. Further
if there are to be forgiveness and restoration at all
they must be such as will turn away the heart of the pardoned man from his
evil. The very story before us shows that it is not every kind of pardon which
makes a man better.
3. If there are to be forgiveness and restoration at all
they must
come in such a fashion as that there shall be no doubt whatsoever of their
reality and power.
IV. The triumphant
Divine solution of these difficulties. The work of Jesus Christ
and the work
of Jesus Christ alone
meets all the requirements. That work of Christ’s is the
only way by which it is made absolutely certain that sins forgiven shall be
sins abhorred; and that a man once restored shall cleave to his Restorer as to
his life. God has devised a means. None else could have done so. We are all
exiles from God unless we have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. In
Him
and in Him alone
can God restore His banished ones. In Him
and in Him
alone
can we find a pardon which cleanses the heart
and ensures the removal
of the sin which
it forgives. In Him
and in Him alone
can we find
not a peradventure
not a
subjective certainty
but an external fact which proclaims that verily
there
is forgiveness for us all. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
Means for restoring the banished
I. A great and
universal outlawry proclaimed by God against us all
as members of a rebel
race. We have all broken His law
wilfully and wickedly have we rebelled
against the majesty of heaven; we are
therefore
in our natural estate
banished ones
expelled from his love and favour
waiting the time when the sentence
of His wrath shall be fulfilled
and “Depart
ye cursed
” shall flash its
lightning flame into our spirits. The ever-blessed God has devised means by
which we may be delivered from this state of exile; and the means are very
similar to that which was alluded to by the woman of Tekoah
and precisely what
occurred to the manslayer occurs to us. Now
what did happen to the man-slayer?
First of all
as soon as he had killed a man inadvertently
knowing that the
next of kin would be after him to avenge the death
he fled hot foot
as we
say
to the nearest city of refuge; and when he had once reached the gates of
that city he was secure. Even thus the Lord Jesus Christ was to us in days gone
by a city of refuge
and we fled to Him. But though this is the grand means for
restoring exiled man to communion with his God
yet through the depravity of
our nature it would fail to be of any service to us
did not God further ordain
means to make us willing to avail ourselves of it. In most cases it is the
preaching of the Gospel which restores the wandering. The preaching of the Word
is God’s great saving agency among mankind. But besides the vocal preaching of
the Gospel
the printed word of God itself is a preacher through the eye. Many
are brought to repentance and faith by sickness. So
too
with Christian
influence.
II. Our secondary
banishments. Alas! the people of God sometimes fall into sin; they grow
careless
and they walk at a distance from their best friend
and then sin
prevails against them; but the Lord has provided means for bringing them back
from their wandering. “He restoreth my soul.” The Holy Spirit
though grieved
wilt return
convince His servants again of sin
and lead them with weeping and
supplication to their Saviour. There is another kind of banishment which is
produced not so much by sin primarily as by despondency.
III. A practical
lesson to be gathered from all this.
1. The first application of that rule is this: there may be some one
a father
a mother
or some other relative
who has been compelled
as he has
thought
to deny and no longer to acknowledge a child or a brother. Great
offences have at last brought anger Into your bosom
and
as you think
very
justifiable anger. Oh
celebrate this day by a full forgiveness of all who have
done aught against you! And do not merely say
“Well
I will do it if they will
ask me;” that is not what God does
he is first in the matter
and devises
means. Try. Consider. Devise means. “Would you have me lower myself?” Sometimes
to lower ourselves is to make ourselves much higher in God’s sight. The last
application of the lesson shall be this: let every Christian devise means for
bringing to Jesus those banished ones who surround Him. We must
as a Christian
Church
be indefatigably industrious in seeking out the Lord’s expelled and
banished ones who live in our neighbourhood. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Exiles brought back
What do you mean by banishment? Well
it means being driven away
and wearing fetters. It means bitter absence from home. It means in some places
and on some occasions
an expatriation to Siberia to delve in the mines
and to
be fastened in a chain gang. Yes
the whole race is banished. Our first parents
banished from Paradise. The recreant angels banished from heaven. The whole
family banished from peace. Where is the worldly man who has anything worthy of
the name of happiness? What are those anxious looks of the brokers
of the
bankers
of the merchants
of those men in the club house
of that great
multitude of people who tramp up and down Broadway? Banished from God. Banished
from peace. Banished from heaven. You are banished
“Yet doth God devise means
by which the banished ones shall not be expelled from Him.” Well
what are some
of the means that “God has devised that the banished be not expelled from Him?”
I. In the first
place
the footpath up through the rifts of skull-shaped Calvary. Constantine
has designated that hill as the one on which Jesus died. Dean Stanley says
there are on that hill shattered fragments of limestone rock cleft evidently of
the crucifixion earthquake. And it is through that fissure of the rock that our
path to pardon lies; through the earthquake of conviction
under the dripping
crimson of the cross.
II. Among the means
that God has devised that the banished be not expelled from Him
I notice still
further
spiritualistic influences. I do not mean any influence gone up from
earth and etherialised
but the Divine Spirit. Some call Him the Comforter; it
is best for my purpose that I call Him the soul-saving power of the nations.
When that influence comes upon a man how strangely he acts. He cries. He
trembles. He says things and does things that five minutes before he could not
have been coaxed or hired to say or do. O it is a mighty spirit.
III. Among the means
that “God has devised that the banished be not expelled from Him
I notice
also
Christian surroundings. There is the influence of ancestral piety. Was
there not a good man or woman in your ancestral line? Is there not an old Bible
around the house
with worn cover
and turned-down leaves
giving you the hint
that there was some one who prayed? Was there a family altar at which you used
to bow? The carpet may have been worn out
and the chair may have been sold for
old furniture
and the knee that knelt on the one and beside the other may
never again be pliant in earthly worship; but you
remember--do you not
remember? Ah! that Christian homestead
the memory of it to-night almost swamps
your soul. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
A foregleam of the Gospel
Expositors generally consider that the woman of Tekoah
in
this appeal
alludes to the merciful Divine provision by which a manslayer
might
at the death of the High Priest
return to his home from the city of
refuge
to which he
red-handed
had fled from the red-handed avenger of blood.
Doubtless David would understand more; and to us
Gospel in hand
the words
mean more than to her or to David. They illustrate the great facts:
I. That sinful men
are moral exiles. This is borne out:
1. By Scripture
2. By the experience of the sinful
3. By the confession of the penitent.
II. The Gospel is
God’s means of recovering moral exiles. “God was in Christ
reconciling the
world to Himself.” The Gospel:
1. Reveals clear way of return;
2. Supplies sufficient motive;
3. Pro-raises abundant help. (U. R. Thomas.)
The restoration of God’s banished ones
These words occur in the course of a very wonderful piece of
womanly pleading. With marvellous power
and with a woman’s keen instinct where
the heart is concerned
this otherwise unknown Tekoite pleads the cause of the
ill-starred Absalom. Though Joab’s was the mind that directed her
hers was the
art which threw such a colour upon the cause she had to plead
that the king’s
soul was touched
and her suit was gained. It is not quite easy to see the
force of the reasoning which links together these statements. Probably
instead
of being logically connected
there is a gradation in thought
so that the
closing phrase is the strongest
and intended to do the most effective work.
The thing the woman wants is the restoration of the banished one; and she
refers to the Divine
clemency in order to provoke and to justify the human.
I. His banished
ones; who are they? In a sense we are all banished ones
since for the present
our relation to the Infinite Father is obscured; even those who have in them
the stirrings of the spiritual sonship
though they may say
“Now are we the
sons of God
” must yet add
“it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” And
those who have not entered into the light and sweetness of that recognised
sonship are very far
as one may say
from their true home. Time would fail
even to epitomise the story of God’s banished ones. The wanderings of David;
Elijah’s flight into the wilderness; the captivity of the tribes; and the story
of the prophets
all illustrate the truth of our text. They are not
God-deserted even in the strange land. The story of the outcasts is ever
interesting. Look at the scattered flock through the persecutions
now of the
Jewish
now of the Romish authorities. Come down to more recent times and read
the story of the Waldenses
the Huguenots
and the Scottish Covenanters. These
men also knew how God devises “means that His banished ones be not expelled
from Him.” Take away their outward freedom of worship; drive these men into the
wilderness; let their bodies be incarcerated in foul prisons
or given up to
torture or death; the spirit finds its way to the secrecies of Divine love
and
summers in its smile. Though outcast
they are not expelled from Him. But come
yet nearer home; individual life even now illustrates the truth. Take the case
not at all an uncommon one
of the compelled retirement and withdrawal of any
one from all that had before seemed helpful
even essential
to the religious
life.
II. Go back to that
garden-scene
told us in the first book. When we come to that story
and hear
how the man and woman were expelled the garden; if we were to read it
thoughtlessly
we should say--How terrible a thing to lose so much; and now of
course God is always angry. “So He drove out the man;” and he was banished
and
into whatever gardens he may have entered
he has not entered the garden
of Eden since. All his life now is in some sense a groping after Eden. How
strange--had we never read something like it out of our life-story and the
story of men’s lives from day to day--God seems to contrive against Himself. He
banishes
“yet doth he devise means that His banished be not expelled from
Him.” One thing leads on to another; whither doth this banishment lead? Why
it
leads to a thorn-covered earth; yes
but also to a thorn-crowned Saviour. It
leads to much toil and bitterness of men’s hearts
but it also leads to God’s
labour and Christ’s travail of soul
of which He shall be satisfied. The way
from Eden becomes (through God’s devising) the way back to Eden; an Eden
we
may say truly
where palms wave and laurels bloom
to wave over and deck the
conqueror’s brow.
III. The varied
agencies by which this good thought and feeling of God are conveyed to His
banished ones
What do I mean by this? But that all the varied network of
Christian endeavour is proof of the priesthood of the whole Church of God. And
it is this priesthood that needs more clear manifesting. The interlacings of
what we call Divine and human effort may be in a few simple words set forth.
When we come much into contact with men
I mean with that which betrays their
inner life
while we find much in them that pains and perplexes us
we do not
fail to find repeated and startling proofs of the truths of the Bible
and
especially of the truth I am trying to unfold. Well
although in these and
countless ways we see proof of the exigency and earnestness of God’s love
it
is for those who are enlightened from the Light Divine to stretch forth the
torch and give a meaning to the vague and unexpressed cravings of the human
heart after God. Among the God-devised means are those ties of kinship
of
common humanity
which
being sanctified by the love and illumined by the light
of God
are only rightly directed under the guidance of Him who came to seek
and to save that which is lost. Lost
yet His! “His banished
” though their
natures be sodden through with the cruel damps of their long wilderness
banishment. His
not to be passed over by Him. O think of it in the light of
your neglect of them
and your neglect of Him too. The King and the Father
unite in this
the restoration of the banished ones. (G. J. Procter.)
The Tekoite and Divine devising
I. Those who are
in a state of exile or alienation from God are so by their own act and wish
not by God’s. Like Absalom
who was vain
cruel
treacherous
selfish
heartless
ambitious and murderous
we have yielded to sin. Like him
conscious
of guilt
but finding temporary security in the Court at Geshur
we have known we
were sinful
but we have thought that any time would do to acknowledge it. We
in this world are where God can reach am. Hope and restoration are possible
here; but
alas; there is a state in which alienation can become eternal
in
which hope and faith in Divine mercy are impossible. Banished now
alas
by our
own act
by our own hardness and unbelief
we may be
we can be
certainly
still further banished. God pities us but He cannot and will not compel us to
love Him. A stream among the Mendip Hills
after rising in the darkness far
away under the hills
pursues for miles its rapid
winding way among the
caverns
and then
just beneath one of those rocky buttresses of the sky
” in
the Cheddar gorge
suddenly emerges into the light
spreads itself in a small
lake
then rushes over a weir
turns a mill
cleanses pampas grass
receives
the poisonous washing and refuse of paper mills
plunges under dark tunnels
then away through the open meadows to the sea. Thus with our life
rising in
mystery it pursues its way subject to various evil influences
and call either
be cleansed or can plunge again into the caverns of darkness or be carried on
into the bright open sea. We are in the light now. We have the power
which is
denied to a river
of refusing to be subject to the inflow of evil. We can
pray. We can look up to God. We can say pardon
cleanse
save us. We can
implore God to turn again our captivity as streams in the South. We call say
with intensity
“God
save thy banished from being expelled from Thee!”
II. The means God
devises to save man from further estrangement. The Tekoite in speaking of God as “devising
means” to bring back the banished
had caught a marvellously clear glimpse of a
coming Gospel. This was one of the rays shot up above the sombre hills of
intervening years and ceremonial observances
telling of that rising sun of
Divine love that afterward shone in midday effulgence from the cross on
Calvary.
1. The Sabbath is His institution to give man rest and an opportunity
of thinking of his eternal interests. It was “made for man
” and was intended
not only for physical rest but spiritual.
2. Revelation is another way of bringing man back. To Adam
Noah
Abraham
Jacob
Moses
David
Peter
Paul
God has revealed Himself. Through
them and others He has spoken to us.
3. By the institution of public worship
whether round the altar on
the hill-top
in the tent at Shiloh
in the temple at Jerusalem
in the
synagogues scattered in many lands
or in the churches that have risen all over
the world. He has been arranging to draw men from sin and make them glad when
they “go up to the house of the Lord.”
4. The arrangement of a sacrificial system is in harmony with the
ideas of all ages and all races as a means of restoration to the Divine
presence. In the sacrifice of Christ our restoration is assured by the death of
Him who suffered
“the just for the unjust
that He might bring us to God.” The
sacrifice of Calvary was not a mere device
but the natural outcome of the
Divine love. Through the intervention of the woman of Tekoah
an exiled son was
restored
but only to yield to deeper sin. When we are brought back by Divine
mercy
it should be to let the purity of the life emphasise the gratitude of
the heart. Christ intercedes; God waits to receive the banished; but the means
He has devised are not always availing. Man’s indifference and devilish
opposition
alas! can spoil the effect of even the Divine devisings. (F.
Hastings.)
The return of the banished
The arrow went straight to the mark. The play that was aroused had
its current turned at once to Amnon
and Joab arose and fetched home the
banished one from Geshur
and once again Absalom dwelt at home. For us who look
back on the Old Testament scene through all the light and glory of the Cross of
Christ these words have a blessed fulness of meaning. “Yet doth He devise means
that His banished be not expelled from Him.”
1. It may be that in the clearest and most literal sense of these
words the appeal needs to be made as it was made to David. The wise women of
Tekoah
they come into our midst to-day and take their places before some of
us
and make the appeal that we fetch home the banished. You have been wronged
and hurt
but you do yourself a greater wrong by nursing your bitterness. You
have been vexed
ashamed
humiliated. True. Yet is it not time that bygones
should be bygones? You cannot undo the mischief. There it is. But does not your
perpetual thought and talk of it make it all a thousand times worse? Is it not
better to let the dead bury the dead than to keep a dead past alive by thought
and anger
and to give it such power to hurt and annoy? Remember that this hard
and bitter spirit is agrievous sin. You undo your own prayers and choke the
better life within you by this nursing of your wrath. How can you bow and ask
God’s forgiveness if you withhold your own forgiveness?’ If this woman
with
her stratagem
could prevail with the king
surely the Cross of Christ should
prevail with us. Lift up your eyes to the Crucified. For His dear sake fling
open wide the door of the heart
and let love flow forth as freely
as
graciously as His love greeted us. Devise means. Be ingenious in finding out
ways of love. We have but one life.
2. But further: Here is a blessed word for all of us. This is the
story of all ages: a summary of the Gospel. Time began with the scene of the
banished ones as they go forth from the Garden of Eden. Then comes the centre
of all time
of all things--Christ and the Cross
the Cross whereon hangs the
Saviour of the world
bringing us who are afar off nigh unto God by His blood.
And far away we see the end of all time in the scene of the banished ones
brought home; and the cry is heard
“Hallelujah! for the Tabernacle of God is
with men.” What means hath our God devised that His banished be not expelled?
The gift of His Son
the great provisions of His grace in Jesus Christ
the
appeal of love and wisdom and glory in Him
the thousand precious promises that
speak to us from the Word
the prompting and influence of His Spirit
the force
of holy example and teaching--all these are means of His devising for bringing
us home to Himself. How ingenious is the love of God
how unwearied and
skilful! How many devices have to be baffled
how many entreaties have to be
resisted
if we will still persist in dwelling in the far country. Never any
circumstance is there in the daily life
never any occasion
but the blessed
Spirit seeks to turn to account for our home-coming. Think of these banished
ones; let them pass before us. Like Absalom they dwelt of old time in the
palace of the King. The happy freedom of the King’s chamber was theirs; they
sat at the King’s table and saw the King’s feast; they had the joy of a
communion deep and constant
and easy was it for them to pass softly within the
banqueting chamber
and rest in the peace of His love. What music filled the
soul! They laughed at fear. All was deep peace and thankfulness that knew no
want
and scarcely knew a desire beyond Himself. Alas! of how many
of how very
many all this is true. They came up to the city from the country
from some
little company of Christians
happy and devout
where glad service for Him
filled all the days. But here the attachment was loosened. There was
perhaps
no welcome as the stranger came and went. Perhaps the country shyness as well
as the city indifference had something to do with it. At any rate
it came
about that old ways were forsaken; doubtful things were trifled with until they
became almost necessities; doubtful companions were tolerated until they became
friends and their ways had to be accepted. By a stratagem the pity of the king
was roused
and Joab fetched home the banished
but for two whole years he
dwelt in Jerusalem and saw not the face of the king. Oh l not so is it that our
Father deals with us. Listen
let the heart take hold of it: “When he was yet a
great way off his father saw him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”
Nothing was enough to do; nothing was enough to give. That great love could not
be satisfied. (M. G. Pearse.)
The atonement a necessity
Now
observe
David did not cease to be a father because he was a
king
and he did not cease to be a king because he was a father. Now
contemplate the everlasting God in the relationship in which He stands to His
creature man. Observe
first
in a certain limited sense
God is the Father of
us all. “We are all His offspring.” But remember
this is only in a certain
definite sense; that is to say
every one is a child of God
inasmuch as he is
the offspring of man
who was created by
and received his life directly from
the Supreme Being
and inasmuch as each of us are called into existence by His
sovereign will. Now
you wilt find that those who are indisposed to accept the
Atonement will always lay great
stress upon this view of the fatherhood of
God. They will say
“Is not God a Father? and if He is our Father
is it not
natural for Him to grieve for His children?” To which I reply by pointing to
our story. Was not David a father
and had he not a father’s heart? Yes. Why
did not David forgive Absalom? Because he was more than a father: he was a
king. You tell me that God is your Father. Yes
I am ready to admit that in the
sense I have defined He is. Let me point out
however
that He is not the
Father of us all in the full sense of that word. If you have not received “the
Spirit of His Son”--that “spirit of adoption
whereby we cry Abba
Father
” you
are not occupying the filial relationship towards Him to which you have a
right
and hence you are not entitled to draw such inferences as you otherwise
might from the analogy of the earthly relationship. Now let us look closely at
this picture. I observe
first
that the heart of the old man David is yearning
over his son Absalom. Though Absalom is a criminal
the father would fain
forgive him; but justice and honour forbade his doing so. How eager was he to
do it: but then
you know
he was a king. Another thought rises up against the
ardent desire: “I am king
and if I forgive my own son
people will say I am
guilty of favouritism.” Well
what was to be done? It won’t do for the king to
become depressed and miserable about the matter. Somehow or another Absalom
must be got back. So Joab felt
moved
no doubt
partly by sympathy
and partly
by policy
hoping to make the best of his relations both with the present and
with the future monarch. So he devises a plan. He gets hold of a wily woman
as
crafty as himself
and sets her in the king’s way; and as the king passes by
she gains his ear with a dolorous wail of distress--“Help
O king!” One was
dead; she could not get him back
and the sacrifice of the life of her only
remaining son would not recall him to life. He was dead; and now the
representatives of the law were coming to take the last support
the only joy
she had left her in the world. The widow gained the day
but what had happened?
Mercy had triumphed over judgment. And what is the sequel of this victory of
mercy over judgment? By-and-by
the crushing and overwhelming outburst of
Divine indignation upon those guilty tribes and their guiltier leader. I see
the forest of Mount Ephraim reeking with human gore
and twenty thousand
corpses strewn upon the ground
and suspended on yonder oak--a spectacle for
all time--I see the traitor-hearted parricide
with the javelins in his heart!
That is the sequel. And
as I contemplate the blood-drenched battlefield; as I
think of the tears of the widows and the wail of fatherless children; as I
think of the misery
the devastation that cursed the land; as I hear the wail
of a stricken country ringing up into the ears of God
I discover what mere
fancy does
when mercy is allowed to triumph over justice. I point to the vast
holocaust
to the ghastly corpses piled one over another
and I ask
“Who slew
all these?” The reply is
“Mercy slew them.” Not least
I point to yonder fatal
oak
where the body of Absalom hangs suspended
with the javelins thrust
through his quivering body
and into his very heart
and I ask
“Who slew that
miserable wretch?” and the answer is
“Mercy slew him.” He never would have
been present at that battlefield
or have been in a position to raise that
standard of revolt
and so he would never have brought on his own head that
terrible retribution
if he had not been the object of that royal mercy to
which he had no claim. Mercy was the undoing of him; this is the solemn moral
of this tragic tale. With such a lesson as that before our eyes
shall we turn
to the Mighty Monarch of the Universe
and venture to say
“O God! why
shouldest Thou require an atonement? Why shouldest Thou not forgive us without
any atonement at all?” I wonder what sort of a world we should have if God were
to act on such principles. I wonder what sort of a universe we should have if
God were to act on such principles. God does not. God will not. Now
I proceed
to ask
what would have been needed in order that Absalom might have been
brought back from his banishment without danger to his king
his country
or
himself? Two things
at least
would have been required. First
it would have
been necessary that the moral dignity and majesty of law should be vindicated
in an exemplary manner. Surely not less than this was demanded by the
circumstances of the case. If Absalom is to be recalled to the king’s court
it
must somehow or other be so arranged as that the law shall not suffer by
it--that the criminal shall not be able to point to that prince
and to say
“Ah! there is a premium upon sin.” Second
and not less
it would have been
necessary that a radical change should have been effected in Absalom’s character
so that a repetition of such offences might have been rendered most improbable
if not impossible. But mere mercy did not
could not
produce this; on the
contrary
it might be expected to breed callousness and indifference to the
threats of the law
and to dispose the pardoned culprit to think lightly of an
offence which could be so readily overlooked. He was the same man morally after
receiving the king’s pardon as before--as vindictive
ruthless
treacherous
cruel. Hence
his presence at David’s court was a necessary danger to society
and the results that followed are not surprising. We conclude
then
that these
two things are necessary before the prerogative of mercy can be exercised by a
sovereign wisely and well
and without injury to his authority
to the state
or to the individual recipient of it. Keep these in mind
and then you will be
better able to understand the necessity of the atonement. First
the
vindication of the majesty of the taw; arid
second
the complete
transformation of the character of the offender. David could not compass either
in this case. No human ingenuity could solve the problem; so in justice and
right there could be nothing for it but that Absalom should remain in bonds.
Now we have observed that this wise woman of Tekoah
when she argues the matter
with David
points to God’s dealings with man as her justification of her plea;
but it is worthy of notice that she does so in a very cautious and guarded way.
The truth is
she knew a deal more theology than many of our modern professors.
What does she say? If you examine her argument carefully you will see that
strictly speaking
it does not carry its own conclusion. There is a logical
fallacy in it. Put it thus--“You should follow the example of God
David; you
can’t be wrong in doing what God does. God devises means whereby His ‘banished’
shall not be expelled from Him--therefore you may recall yours without devising
any means at all
but by a mere arbitrary and despotic exercise of the
prerogative of mercy. You may not be able to do it as God does it
but
means
or no means
get it done.” You see the argument does not hold water. It was a
sophistry; but it was a sophistry that carried the day
because it was
addressed to the heart rather than to the head. Now she teaches us here a great
truth. God indeed “devises means whereby His banished shall not be expelled
from Him.” What are the means? I point unhesitatingly to Calvary’s Cross
and I
say
“There are the means.” You may he sure that if any other means would have
answered the great purpose
God would have adopted them. If anything else would
have met the requirements of the case
surely
surely
in some other way the
mighty problem would have been solved. But there was only one means--I say it
reverently--that even the wisdom of God could suggest. “We preach Christ
crucified.” The Jews called this a stumbling-block. They did not see their need
of an atonement; they wanted a king. Do you believe that God can show mercy? I
suppose we certainly all agree to that
at least. Those who repudiate the
atonement admit that God can show mercy. Next
do you believe that God should
show mercy? Surely here also we are all agreed--we are all of us poor
frail
fallible creatures
and under these circumstances it is very necessary that mercy
should be extended to us. Very good; we start with two points in common.
Is this as far as we can go together? Can we not find another point in common?
Will you not agree with me that
in showing mercy
God has a right to condition
the exercise of His sovereign prerogative in any way that seems most in
accordance with wisdom and goodness? Surely you will not object to that
position
will you? If I am giving away favours
free favours
unmerited
favours
and I choose to attach any condition to those favours
surely I have a
right to do so if I will. Is not that so? Certainly. Does mercy come of right
or of grace? Surely you will agree with me that it comes of grace. No sinner
has a claim on the Divine mercy. Well
if it comes of grace--that is
if it is a
free gift--God has a right to qualify it according to His own mind
whatever
that mind may be. “Well
” you reply
“but God does not act on any such
arbitrary and despotic fashion.” Quite true. But what if God chooses to qualify
His administration of mercy in such a fashion that mercy
instead of being a
premium on crime
shall be a preventive of crime? What about that? Oh
if men
who despise the Atonement could only see the wonderful wisdom
the true
philosophy
that lurks underneath the Atonement
we should have an end to the
supercilious criticism which so often stands between the soul and God. When God
elected to extend mercy towards the fallen world
He also made up His mind that
that mercy should be a double blessing; and in order that it might be a double
blessing He took care that His mercy should not be bestowed promiscuously
so
to speak
but that it should be bestowed in such a form that
on the one hand
the majesty of God’s law and the eternal and changeless antipathy of God
against sin should be clearly manifested to the eyes of all; while
on the
other hand
the moral character of the sinner should be so completely changed
and revolutionised that instead of mercy being s premium upon guilt
on the
contrary
mercy should render sin impotent
and strip the tyrant powers of hell
of all their dominion over man. That is the true meaning of atonement. How is
it to be done? “God devises means whereby His banished shall not be expelled
from him;” and the first means is that He vindicates His law
and makes it
honourable. You say it was not lust that He should bear our sins. Stop a
moment. It would not have been just if He had been anything less than God. It
would not have been just if the everlasting God had laid the burden of one
creature’s guilt upon the head of another: but do you mean to tell me that God
has not a right to do what He likes with Himself? Do you mean that God has not
a right to vindicate His own taw? And the second is that not only was the
Sufferer Divine
but that He suffered in human form
and as a man
and that as
such there was a “joy that was set before Him.” What was that joy? The joy of
pure benevolence; the joy of being able to rescue the children of earth
on their way to perdition; the joy of being able to restore a fallen race
and
reconsecrate to His Father a desecrated world; the joy of triumphant love. The
crown and the reward of the Man Christ Jesus is to be obtained by Him in His
humanity according to the words of the prophet
“When He shall see His seed”;
“When He shall see of the travail of His soul
and be satisfied”; when a
ransomed Church gathered in His presence
and clustering round His person
shall pour forth through a bright eternity the continuous offering of
unwearied
grateful praise to Him who hath loved them and given Himself for
them. Well now
there it is; God’s wondrous means. Have you anything to say
against it? Had not God a right to provide such a means if it seemed good to
Him? Now let us consider its effects. First
we have a supreme vindication of
God’s attitude towards sin. What more is wanted? One thing more
or the
Atonement may yet fail of its purpose. One thing more is demanded by the
circumstances of the case. What is it? That the acceptance of the benefit shall
necessarily involve a radical transformation of the sinner. How is it to be
effected? By a man’s trying to turn over a new leaf. No; that won’t effect it.
If I do turn over a new leaf
I am still the same man now as I was yesterday
with the same motives
the same impulses
the same temptations
the same
infirmities. Do you mean to say that you can make a new man of yourself by a
resolution? How silly of people when they talk in this way. Do they not know
something about the force of habit? “If any man be in Christ he is a new
creature.” When the weary soul makes its way to the Cross of Calvary
what does
it see? The first thing it sees is a dying man. You have seen that
all of you.
You ask what His life has been. You read the record of it here
and you say
“Why
what evil has He done?” and even while you wait in vain for an answer
you look again
and this time you discover
under the form of a dying man
the
august presence of the living God. “God was in Christ
reconciling the world to
Himself.” Then
bewildered and amazed
once again you turn your eyes on this
strange spectacle. More inquiringly than ever
you fix your gaze upon the
overwhelming sight. What does it mean? You have seen the dying man; you have
seen the present God; what do you see now? The thing above all others that is opposed
to God--sin. “He was made sin for us who knew no sin.” But observe--it is sin
crucified
not sin triumphant--sin nailed to the tree and executed
not sin
doing its own deadly work. Once again you turn your gaze to the cross of
Christ. Is there anything more to be seen? You strain your powers of vision to
the utmost
with the eager concentrated gaze of faith. What do you see now? You
have seen the dying man; you have seen the Son of God; you have seen crucified
sin. What do you see there now? I will tell you what I see. I see my guilty
self nailed to that cross--myself
the felon
represented in the person of Him
the Holy One
who has voluntarily consented to identify Himself with me; I see
my corrupt “old man” obtaining what its sin has deserved. St. Paul saw this as
he looked at the cross
and boldly exclaimed
“I am crucified with Christ.”
What then? If I be crucified with Christ
then
thanks be to God
between me
and my old self
upon which the law of God has done its work
there is an
actual separation. I have done with that old life of mine. The crucified old
nature is left in Jesus’ tomb; there the burden of my sins is cast. Henceforth
the power of my sins is broken
and I enter into a new life
and rote novel and
blessed relationships. “I live
yet not I
but Christ liveth in me.” Do you not
see that a man cannot claim the benefit of the Atonement without admitting
first the justice of the sentence illustrated by the Atonement; and
in the
second place
without seeing himself by faith as cut off by force of that
sentence
thus undergone
from all connection with the former life of sin; nor
in the third place
without entering into a new and glorious relationship with
the living God. He who is buried and raised again with Christ is already in possession
of the power of an endless life
and thus enjoys a new moral force
animated by
new motives
and fired with new desires. Thus he goes forth from the cross a
“new creature” in Christ Jesus. You cannot afford to dispense with the
Atonement. Your heads need it
your hearts need it
your lives need it. Would
to God we all understood its mystic power motet Now
our text states that God
has devised means whereby His banished should not be expelled from Him. At this
moment we are banished
but
thank God
we are not yet expelled. Those of you
who are not yet restored to the Divine favour are banished. The joyful light of
God’s mercy does not rest upon your lives or upon your hearts. You are
banished: the terrible sentence of banishment has already been recorded against
you. Young men
do you know what it is to be in anything like spiritual
communion with God? Is God a reality to you--a present Friend? Does He dwell in
your hearts? Nay: for you are banished--already banished--some of you. But
remember
though you are banished
the heart of God is yearning over you. The
message from the Cross to you--if you will but hear it--surely amounts to this:
“Come home
come home
ye banished! Come home
come home
ye wandering souls!
ye who have found your way out from the Divine presence
and have lost your way
in a desolate world
come home!” (W. Hay Aitken
M. A.)
The banished restored
I. The banishment.
Absalom is living at Geshur. It is not his native place
it is not his
fatherland; he is there an exile and a foreigner; he is living a life of
banishment. As a transgressor Absalom is under sentence of the law
and in
order to escape that sentence he is living at Geshur
a banished man. He has
banished himself; his conscience acknowledges the crime that he has committed
and the justice of the doom that hangs over him
so he flees from his country
from his father’s house. Here we have a picture of man’s state as a sinner.
Man
as a sinner
is living in banishment. Sometimes this banishment will make
itself felt: there are times in which the soul of man will cast a longing
thought back upon the Father’s house
like the prodigal in the far-off land
when the famine pinches
when the pleasures of sin have worn themselves out
and a sense of want presses; then the memory of home comes up
These longings
are but the memories of home
the sighing of men in banishment
for though the
banishment has gone on through long generations
the memories of home have not
altogether faded from the soul.
II. The means
devised. “Yet doth He devise means
etc.” The expression seems to imply that
there was a difficulty in the way. Means must be devised
wisdom must set to
work to discover a plan
a scheme whereby the banished might be restored. What
was the difficulty? The king was very anxious that Absalom should come back (2 Samuel 13:39). He made no secret
of it. Joab perceived it. Here
then
was the king longing after his banished
son. He loved him though he was a transgressor. Now translate the temporal into
the spiritual. There is man
. as we have shown you
in a state of banishment
an exile from God’s presence on account of sin
living far off from God; and
there is God
full of love to the banished
longing for his return; but there
is the difficulty--His love cannot set aside His justice. “Shall not the Judge
of all the earth do right?” What means shall be devised? Where shall wisdom be
found to solve the difficulty? The text says
God doth devise means. In the history
you see there is a third person brought upon the scene. The king says nothing
of bringing Absalom back. Absalom sends no request to be restored; but Joab
takes the matter up
and by the political craft of which he was such a thorough
master
he gains his end. Now in the means that God has devised
a third person
appears
one comes between the Father and the banished one. He sees the
Father’s heart yearning over the lost; He knows that while God hates the sin He
loves the sinner
and so he undertakes the matter. “Lo
I come to do Thy will
O God.” Here is the means that He doth devise. “God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish
but have everlasting life.” “Yet doth He devise means.” The gospel message is
just the declaring of this. The difficulty is overcome; the barrier is removed;
the way is open; there is nothing now to prevent God from receiving back the
sinner
nothing to prevent the sinner from coming back in confidence to God. When
the king was pacified toward Absalom
because of Joab’s intercession
Joab
we
read
went to Geshur
and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. There was no
hesitation
no unwillingness on the part of Absalom to return. Joab told him
that all was made right with the king
that the king longed for his return
and
so he came at once to Jerusalem. But in spiritual things the matter is very
different. The ambassador of Christ is continually urging the exiles to return.
He tells them that peace has been made
propitiation for their sin
and that
the Father is longing for their return
ready to welcome them
and receive them
in His embrace of love. Yet there is hesitation
indifference
disinclination
procrastination
if not absolute neglect and scorn. Is banishment so sweet
is
exile so to be desired? You know you are not happy
you cannot be
away from
God
away from home. Then why hesitate; why demur; why halt between two
opinions? Is it that you think of what you will have to give up? What! things
which cannot satisfy
can impart no solid happiness
but must perish in the
using
put them all into the balance
and you shall find them lighter than
vanity itself.
III. The result. You
have it in the last verse. “The king kissed Absalom.” That kiss was the kiss of
peace. It told of perfect forgiveness
it told of a reinstatement in the
father’s heart of love. So with those who accept the gospel message
and by
faith in Christ return to God. They have the Father’s kiss of peace. Theirs the
promise
“I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions
and as a
cloud thy sins.” “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus.” They are reinstated in the Father’s favour and
affection. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we
should be called the sons of God.” “The king kissed Absalom.” There was no
distance
no reserve. Freedom of access to God at all times through Christ is
the portion of every true believer. The Father has no word of reproof or
upbraiding for his repentant child. It is written
“Their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more.” (R. Page
M. A.)
The Christian scheme a device of love
It is a Divine device
consisting of moans arranged by our Father
in heaven to prevent his banished ones being finally expelled from him. It is
not a scheme for awakening God’s compassion
but a design which manifests and
reveals and expresses and conveys the mercy which endureth for ever. This
Divine design is therefore a scheme of Divine paternal love. And seeing that
love in its ordinary forms cannot reach objects when they sink below their
normal state
the love which planned the Christian system is that variety of
love which we call “grace
” that is
love going after its objects as they
retire clad in the scarlet robe of guilty shame
love clinging to it
objects
when they have proved themselves most unworthy
love overcoming evil with good
and love assuming a gracious form to the unloving and unlovable. Such love is
like a plant of renown
or a flower of paradise
blooming in a horrible pit; it
is like a choice vine or a tree of precious produce bearing its golden fruit
not in its own rich and warm soil
but in cold and miry clay; it is like an ark
of refuge floating on waters so stormy that they have caused every other craft
to founder; it is like precious light lingering
above the horizon after the
sun has suddenly set in awful storms. It is like--ah! to what shall we liken
it? We want a high class of figures beyond all we have ever seen
and a style
of metaphors which we have no power to create. Never do we feel our poverty and
helplessness as when we try to speak of the grace of God. But what we wish now
to say is that the Christian scheme is created by the genius of Divine grace.
All love can devise and design
but this form of love is most skilful and
fertile in invention. The genius of the imagination can write poetry
but the
expressions of grace are the sweetest
deepest
divinest poetry. The former can
paint beauty
but grace creates and restores beauty
giving beauty for ashes.
The former may represent life
but grace restores life. The Christian scheme is
the product of Divine love. (Samuel Martin.)
Verse 25
But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom
for his beauty.
Absalom a contradiction
The ancients
and in particular the Orientals
were very fond of
remarking upon a man’s height. Their notion was that the greater the stature
the more fit the man was for the society of the gods. The Old Testament is to a
large extent a book which takes notice of outward features
and praises
physical excellence
and estimates at high price all material blessings. But
what an irony there is in such a case as Absalom’s! Given
a grand physique and
a little soul
and say if any irony can be more ghastly and humiliating. Such
contradictions we are to ourselves sometimes
and to one another. Our
circumstances may be the best part of us: the house may be greater than the
tenant; the furniture may be more worthy than its owner. What
then
is to be
done? A blot like this ought not to be tolerated. Wherein a man is conscious
that he represents this irony
he should look about him
and say that to-day
shall end the intolerable disharmony
and at least seek to introduce a
reconciliation as between the outward and the inward
so that the soul may
prosper and be in health as the body
or the body may prosper and be in health
as the soul
according to the special circumstances of each individual case. (J.
Parker
D. D.)
Verses 29-32
Absalom sent for Joab . . . but he would not
come to him.
The barley-field on fire
Absalom had fled from Jerusalem under fear of David’s anger; he
was after a time permitted to return
but he was not admitted into the presence
of the king. Earnestly desiring to be restored to his former posts of honour
and favour
he besought Joab to come to him
intending to request him to act as
mediator. Joab
having lost much of his liking for the young prince
refused to
come; and
though he was sent for repeatedly
he declined to attend at his
desire. Absalom therefore thought of a most wicked
but most effective plan of
bringing Joab into his company. He bade his servants set Joab’s field of barley
on fire. This brought Joab down in high wrath to ask the question
“Wherefore
have thy servants set my field on fire?” This was all that
Absalom wanted; he
wished an interview
and he was not scrupuluous as to the method by which he
obtained it. The burning of the barley-field brought Joab into his presence
and Absalom’s ends were accomplished. Omitting the sin of the deed
we have
here a picture of what is often done by our gracious God with the wisest and
best design. Often he sendeth for us
not for his profit
but for ours; he
would have us come near to him and receive a blessing at his hands
but we are
foolish
and cold-hearted and wicked
and we will not come. He
knowing that we
will not come by any other means
sendeth a serious trial--he sets our
barley-field on fire
which he has a right to do
seeing our barley-fields are
far more his than they are ours. In Absalom’s case it was wrong; in God’s case
he has a right to do as he wills with his own. He takes away from us our most
choice delight
upon which we have set out heart
and then we enquire at
his
hands
“Wherefore contendest thou with me?”
I. The text with
reference to believers in christ. We cannot expect to avoid tribulation. If
other men’s barley-fields are not burned
ours will be. If the Father uses the
rod nowhere else
he will surely make his true children smart. Your Saviour
hath left
you a double legacy
“In the world ye shall have tribulation
but in
Me ye shall have peace.” Gold must be tried in the fire: and truly the Lord
hath a fire in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem.
1. You have first
this sweet reflection
that there is no curse in
your cross.
2. That your troubles are all apportioned to you by Divine wisdom and
love. As for their number
if He appoint them ten they never can be eleven. As
for their weight
he who weigheth the mountains in scales and the hills in a
balance
takes care to measure your troubles
and you shall not have a grain
more than His infinite wisdom sees fit.
3. That under your cross you have many special comforts. There are
cordials which God giveth to sick saints which He never putteth to the lips of
those who are in health. Dark caverns keep not back the miners
if they know
that diamonds are to be found there: you need net fear suffering when you
remember what riches it yields to your soul. There is no hearing the
nightingale without night
and there are some promises which only sing to us in
trouble. It is in the cellar of affliction that the good old wine of the
kingdom is stored. You shall never see Christ’s face so well as when all others
turn their backs upon you.” When you have come into such confusion that human
wisdom is at a nonplus
then shall you see God’s wisdom manifest and clear.
4. That your trials work your lasting good by bringing you nearer and
nearer to your God.
II. A few words to
the sinner.
I. God also has
sent for you
O unconverted man
God has often sent
for you. Early in your
childhood your mother’s prayers sought to woo you to a Saviour’s love
and your
godly father’s first instructions were as so many meshes of the net in which it
was desired that you should be taken; but you have broken through all these and
lived to sin away early impressions and youthful promises.
2. If God is sending these
are you listening to them? (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Burning the barley field
Now
just as the shrewd young prince dealt with Joab in order to
bring him unto him
so God employs a regimen of discipline very often in order
to bring wayward hearts to Himself. Many a reader may have had his barley-field
set on fire; there are some even now whose fields are wrapped in flames or are
covered with the ashes of extinguished hopes. With backsliders this method is
often God’s last resorts. He sees that the wayward wanderers care more for
their earthly possessions than they do for His honour or His service. So He
touches them in the tenderest spot
and sweeps away the objects they love too
well. They have become idolaters
and He sternly dashes their idols to atoms.
Compulsory measures
For two whole years Joab paid no attention to the returned son of
David
but the moment his barley-field was set on fire he paid Absalom a visit
of inquiry. It was crafty on the part of Absalom. Perhaps he looked upon it as
a last resort and thought the end would lustily the means. But there is a
spiritual use of this incident which is well worth considering. Is it not so
that when we will not go to God lovingly
voluntarily
He sets our
barley-fields on fire
saying
Now they will pray? We desert His Church
we
abandon His book
we release ourselves from all religious responsibilities; God
calls
and we will not hear; then He sets all the harvest in a blaze
and we
become religious instantaneously. We are richer if we have lost a barley-field
and found the God of the harvest. He will make up the barley-field to us
if so
be we accept the providence aright
and say
“This is God’s thought concerning
us.” (J. Parker
D. D.)
Verse 33
And the soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom.
A father’s tender solicitude for his son
“I well remember
” says a present-day writer
“the effect produced
on my mind on being told by a servant
soon after I had recovered from a
dangerous illness
that during the crisis of the malady my father was seen to
shed tears. Though far from being a stern parent
he was not an emotional man;
and the statement was a revelation to me
at least in degree. It is now more
than half a century ago
but it will never be forgotten.”.
──《The Biblical Illustrator》