| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
1 Kings Chapter
Eight
1 Kings 8
Chapter Contents
The dedication of the temple. (1-11) The occasion.
(12-21) Solomon's prayer. (22-53) His blessing and exhortation. (54-61)
Solomon's peace-offerings. (62-66)
Commentary on 1 Kings 8:1-11
(Read 1 Kings 8:1-11)
The bringing in the ark
is the end which must crown the
work: this was done with great solemnity. The ark was fixed in the place
appointed for its rest in the inner part of the house
whence they expected God
to speak to them
even in the most holy place. The staves of the ark were drawn
out
so as to direct the high priest to the mercy-seat over the ark
when he
went in
once a year
to sprinkle the blood there; so that they continued of
use
though there was no longer occasion to carry it by them. The glory of God
appearing in a cloud may signify
1. The darkness of that dispensation
in
comparison with the light of the gospel
by which
with open face
we behold
as in a glass
the glory of the Lord. 2. The darkness of our present state
in
comparison with the sight of God
which will be the happiness of heaven
where
the Divine glory is unveiled.
Commentary on 1 Kings 8:12-21
(Read 1 Kings 8:12-21)
Solomon encouraged the priests
who were much astonished
at the dark cloud. The dark dispensations of Providence should quicken us in
fleeing for refuge to the hope of the gospel. Nothing can more reconcile us to
them
than to consider what God has said
and to compare his word and works
together. Whatever good we do
we must look on it as the performance of God's
promise to us
not of our promises to him.
Commentary on 1 Kings 8:22-53
(Read 1 Kings 8:22-53)
In this excellent prayer
Solomon does as we should do in
every prayer; he gives glory to God. Fresh experiences of the truth of God's
promises call for larger praises. He sues for grace and favour from God. The
experiences we have of God's performing his promises
should encourage us to
depend upon them
and to plead them with him; and those who expect further
mercies
must be thankful for former mercies. God's promises must be the guide
of our desires
and the ground of our hopes and expectations in prayer. The
sacrifices
the incense
and the whole service of the temple
were all typical
of the Redeemer's offices
oblation
and intercession. The temple
therefore
was continually to be remembered. Under one word
"forgive
" Solomon
expressed all that he could ask in behalf of his people. For
as all misery
springs from sin
forgiveness of sin prepares the way for the removal of every
evil
and the receiving of every good. Without it
no deliverance can prove a
blessing. In addition to the teaching of the word of God
Solomon entreated the
Lord himself to teach the people to profit by all
even by their chastisements.
They shall know every man the plague of his own heart
what it is that pains
him; and shall spread their hands in prayer toward this house; whether the
trouble be of body or mind
they shall represent it before God. Inward burdens
seem especially meant. Sin is the plague of our own hearts; our in-dwelling
corruptions are our spiritual diseases: every true Israelite endeavours to know
these
that he may mortify them
and watch against the risings of them. These
drive him to his knees; lamenting these
he spreads forth his hands in prayer.
After many particulars
Solomon concludes with the general request
that God
would hearken to his praying people. No place
now
under the gospel
can add to
the prayers made in or towards it. The substance is Christ; whatever we ask in
his name
it shall be given us. In this manner the Israel of God is established
and sanctified
the backslider is recovered and healed. In this manner the
stranger is brought nigh
the mourner is comforted
the name of God is
glorified. Sin is the cause of all our troubles; repentance and forgiveness
lead to all human happiness.
Commentary on 1 Kings 8:54-61
(Read 1 Kings 8:54-61)
Never was a congregation dismissed with what was more
likely to affect them
and to abide with them. What Solomon asks for in this
prayer
is still granted in the intercession of Christ
of which his
supplication was a type. We shall receive grace sufficient
suitable
and
seasonable
in every time of need. No human heart is of itself willing to obey
the gospel call to repentance
faith
and newness of life
walking in all the
commandments of the Lord
yet Solomon exhorts the people to be perfect. This is
the scriptural method
it is our duty to obey the command of the law and the
call of the gospel
seeing we have broken the law. When our hearts are inclined
thereto
feeling our sinfulness and weakness
we pray for Divine assistance;
thus are we made able to serve God through Jesus Christ.
Commentary on 1 Kings 8:62-66
(Read 1 Kings 8:62-66)
Solomon offered a great sacrifice. He kept the feast of
tabernacles
as it seems
after the feast of dedication. Thus should we go
home
rejoicing
from holy ordinances
thankful for God's Goodness
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Kings》
1 Kings 8
Verse 1
[1] Then
Solomon assembled the elders of Israel
and all the heads of the tribes
the
chief of the fathers of the children of Israel
unto king Solomon in Jerusalem
that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of
David
which is Zion.
Elders —
The senators
and judges
and rulers.
Heads —
For each tribe had a peculiar governor.
Chief —
The chief persons of every great family in each tribe.
Jerusalem —
Where the temple was built.
Bring the ark — To
the top of Moriah
upon which it was built; whither they were now to carry the
ark in solemn pomp.
City of David —
Where David had placed the ark
which is called Zion
because it was built upon
that hill.
Verse 2
[2] And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the
feast in the month Ethanim
which is the seventh month.
All Israel —
Not only the chief men
but a vast number of the common people.
The feast —
The feast of the dedication
to which Solomon had invited them.
Seventh month —
Which time he chose with respect to his peoples convenience
because now they
had gathered in all their fruits
and were come up to Jerusalem
to celebrate
the feast of tabernacles. But the temple was not finished till the eighth
month
chap. 6:38
how then could he invite them in the
seventh month? This was the seventh month of the next year. For although the
house in all its parts was finished the year before
yet the utensils of it
were not then fully finished: and many preparations were to be made for this
great and extraordinary occasion.
Verse 3
[3] And
all the elders of Israel came
and the priests took up the ark.
The priests —
For although the Levites might do this
Numbers 4:15
yet the priests did it at this
time
for the greater honour of the solemnity; and because the Levites might
not enter into the holy-place
much less into the holy of holies
where it was
to be placed
into which the priests themselves might not have entered
if the
high-priest alone could have done it.
Verse 4
[4] And
they brought up the ark of the LORD
and the tabernacle of the congregation
and
all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle
even those did the priests
and the Levites bring up.
The tabernacle —
That made by Moses
which doubtless before this time had been translated from
Gibeon to Zion
and now together with other things
was put into the treasuries
of the Lord's house
to prevent all superstitious use of it
and to oblige the
people to come up to Jerusalem
as the only place where God would now be
worshipped.
Verse 5
[5] And king Solomon
and all the congregation of Israel
that were assembled
unto him
were with him before the ark
sacrificing sheep and oxen
that could
not be told nor numbered for multitude.
Sacrificing —
When the ark was seated in its place: for although they might in the way offer
some sacrifices
as David did; yet that was not a proper season to offer so
many sacrifices as could not be numbered. This is more particularly related
below
verse 62
63
64
which is here signified by way of
anticipation.
Verse 6
[6] And
the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place
into
the oracle of the house
to the most holy place
even under the wings of the
cherubims.
Cherubim — Of
Solomon's new made cherubim
not of the Mosaic cherubim
which were far less
and unmovably fixed to the ark
Exodus 37:7
8
and therefore together with the
ark
were put under the wings of these cherubim.
Verse 8
[8] And
they drew out the staves
that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy
place before the oracle
and they were not seen without: and there they are
unto this day.
Drew out —
Not wholly
which was expressly forbidden
Exodus 25:15; Numbers 4:6
but in part.
Seen out — In
the most holy place
which is oft called by way of eminency
the holy place
and the Hebrew words rendered before the oracle
may be as well rendered
within the oracle. And these staves were left in this posture
that the
high-priest might hereby be certainly guided to that very place where he
was
one day in a year to sprinkle blood
and to offer incense before the ark
which
otherwise he might mistake in that dark place
where the ark was wholly covered
with the wings of the great cherubim
which stood between him and the ark when
he entered in.
Verse 9
[9]
There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone
which Moses put
there at Horeb
when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel
when
they came out of the land of Egypt.
Nothing —
Strictly and properly: but in a more large sense
the pot of manna
and Aaron's
rod were also in it
Hebrews 9:4
that is
by it
in the most holy
place
before the ark of the testimony
where God commanded Moses to put them.
Verse 10
[10] And
it came to pass
when the priests were come out of the holy place
that the
cloud filled the house of the LORD
The cloud —
The usual token of God's glorious presence.
Filled — In
testimony of his gracious acceptance of this work
and their service; and to
beget an awe and reverence in them
and in all others
when they approach to
God.
Verse 12
[12] Then
spake Solomon
The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
Then spake —
Perceiving both priests and people struck with wonder at this darkness
he
minds them
that this was no sign of God's disfavour
as some might possibly
imagine; but a token of his approbation
and special presence among them.
Said — He
hath declared
that he would manifest his presence with
and dwelling among his
people
by a dark cloud
in which he would appear.
Verse 14
[14] And
the king turned his face about
and blessed all the congregation of Israel:
(and all the congregation of Israel stood;)
Turned —
From the temple to the body of the congregation.
Stood — In
token of reverence
and of their readiness to receive the blessing.
Verse 16
[16]
Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt
I chose no
city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house
that my name might be
therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.
Since
… —
Until David's time; for then he did chuse Jerusalem.
That my name —
That my presence
and grace
and worship
and glory
might be there.
Chose David —
And in and with him the tribe of Judah
of which he was
and Jerusalem where he
dwelt.
Verse 21
[21] And
I have set there a place for the ark
wherein is the covenant of the LORD
which he made with our fathers
when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
The covenant —
The tables of the covenant
wherein the conditions of God's covenant with Israel
are written.
Verse 22
[22] And
Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the
congregation of Israel
and spread forth his hands toward heaven:
Stood —
Upon a scaffold set up for him in the court of the people
2 Chronicles 6:13.
Verse 24
[24] Who
hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou
spakest also with thy mouth
and hast fulfilled it with thine hand
as it is
this day.
Hast kept —
That branch of thy promise concerning the building of this house by David's
son.
Verse 25
[25]
Therefore now
LORD God of Israel
keep with thy servant David my father that
thou promisedst him
saying
There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit
on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way
that they
walk before me as thou hast walked before me.
Keep —
Make good the other branch of thy promise.
Verse 27
[27] But
will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold
the heaven and heaven of heavens
cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
But will — Is
it possible that the great
and high
and lofty God should stoop so low
as to
take up his dwelling amongst men? The heaven - All this vast space of the
visible heaven.
And heaven
… —
The third and highest
and therefore the largest heaven
called the heaven of
heavens for its eminency and comprehensiveness.
Contain —
For thy essence reacheth far beyond them
being omnipresent.
Much less —
This house therefore was not built as if it were proportionable to thy
greatness
or could contain thee
but only that therein we might serve and
glorify thee.
Verse 28
[28] Yet
have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant
and to his supplication
O
LORD my God
to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer
which thy servant
prayeth before thee to day:
Yet —
Tho' thou art not comprehended within this place
yet shew thyself to he
graciously present here
by accepting and granting my present requests here
tendered unto thee.
Verse 29
[29] That
thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day
even toward the place
of which thou hast said
My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto
the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.
Open — To
behold with an eye of favour.
My name — My
presence
and glory and grace.
This place —
This temple
to which Solomon did now look
and towards which
the godly
Israelites directed their looks in their prayers.
Verse 30
[30] And
hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant
and of thy people Israel
when
they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place:
and when thou hearest
forgive.
In heaven —
Which he adds to direct them in their addresses to God in this temple
to lift
up their eyes above it
even to heaven
where God's most true
and most
glorious dwelling-place is.
Forgive —
The sins of thy people
praying
and even of their prayers; which
if not
pardoned
will certainly hinder the success of all their prayers
and the course
of all thy blessings.
Verse 31
[31] If
any man trespass against his neighbour
and an oath be laid upon him to cause
him to swear
and the oath come before thine altar in this house:
Trespass — If
he be accused of a trespass.
Laid on him —
Either by the judge
or by the party accusing him
or by the accused person
himself: which was usual
when there were no witnesses.
Thine altar —
For here God
who was appealed to as witness
was especially present. Hence the
Heathens used to swear at their altars.
Verse 32
[32] Then
hear thou in heaven
and do
and judge thy servants
condemning the wicked
to
bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous
to give him
according to his righteousness.
His way —
The just recompence of his wicked action.
Give him
… — To
vindicate him
and manifest his integrity.
Verse 33
[33] When
thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy
because they have sinned
against thee
and shall turn again to thee
and confess thy name
and pray
and
make supplication unto thee in this house:
Confess —
Give glory to thy name
by acknowledging their sins
and by justice; and by
accepting the punishment of their iniquity; and by trusting to thy power and
goodness alone
for their deliverance.
Verse 35
[35] When
heaven is shut up
and there is no rain
because they have sinned against thee;
if they pray toward this place
and confess thy name
and turn from their sin
when thou afflictest them:
Heaven —
The lower heaven in which the clouds are.
Shut up —
Heaven is compared to a great store-house in God's keeping
out of which
nothing can be had
so long as it is close shut up.
Verse 36
[36] Then
hear thou in heaven
and forgive the sin of thy servants
and of thy people
Israel
that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk
and give
rain upon thy land
which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.
Good way —
The way
of their duty
which is good in itself; and both delightful and
profitable
to those that walk in it.
Give rain —
The order of Solomon's prayer is very observable; first and chiefly
he prays
for their repentance and forgiveness
which is the chief blessing
and the only
solid foundation of all other mercies: and then he prays for temporal mercies;
thereby teaching us what to desire principally in our prayers; which also
Christ hath taught us in his perfect prayer; wherein there is but one petition
for outward
and all the rest are for spiritual blessings.
Verse 38
[38] What
prayer and supplication soever be made by any man
or by all thy people Israel
which shall know every man the plague of his own heart
and spread forth his
hands toward this house:
The plague —
His sin
which may be called the plague of his heart
in opposition to the
other plagues here mentioned; so the sense is
who
by their afflictions are
brought to a true and serious sense of their worse and inward plague of their
sins
which are most fitly called the plague of the heart
because that is both
the principal seat of sin
and the fountain from whence all actual sins flow.
Verse 39
[39] Then
hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place
and forgive
and do
and give to every
man according to his ways
whose heart thou knowest; (for thou
even thou only
knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)
Thou knowest —
Not only the plagues of their hearts
their several wants and burdens
(these
he knows! but he will know them from us
) but the desire and intent of the
heart
the sincerity or hypocrisy of it.
Verse 41
[41]
Moreover concerning a stranger
that is not of thy people Israel
but cometh
out of a far country for thy name's sake;
A stranger — A
proselyte.
But cometh —
That he may worship
and glorify thy name.
Verse 43
[43] Hear
thou in heaven thy dwelling place
and do according to all that the stranger
calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name
to fear
thee
as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house
which I
have builded
is called by thy name.
Calleth for —
Agreeable to thy will and word. It is observable
that his prayer for the strangers
is more large
and comprehensive
than for the Israelites; that thereby he
might both shew his public-spiritedness
and encourage strangers to the worship
of the true God. Thus early were the indications of God's favour
toward the
sinners of the Gentiles. As there was then one law for the native and for the
stranger
so there was one gospel for both.
Verse 44
[44] If
thy people go out to battle against their enemy
whithersoever thou shalt send
them
and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen
and
toward the house that I have built for thy name:
To battle — In
a just cause
and by thy warrant or commission.
Shall pray —
Whereby he instructs them
that they should not trust
either to the strength
or justice of their arms
but only to God's help and blessing.
Chosen —
For thy dwelling-place
and the seat of thy temple.
Towards the house —
For to it they were to turn their faces in prayer; to profess themselves
worshippers of the true God
in opposition to idols; and to strengthen their
faith in God's promises and covenant
the tables whereof were contained in that
house. Soldiers in the field must not think it enough that others pray for
them: they must pray for themselves. And they are here encouraged to expect a
gracious answer. Praying should always go along with fighting.
Verse 48
[48] And
so return unto thee with all their heart
and with all their soul
in the land
of their enemies
which led them away captive
and pray unto thee toward their
land
which thou gavest unto their fathers
the city which thou hast chosen
and the house which I have built for thy name:
And return —
Sincerely
universally
and steadfastly.
Verse 49
[49] Then
hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place
and
maintain their cause
Their course —
Heb. their right
against their invaders and oppressors. For they had forfeited
all their rights to God only
but not to their enemies; whom tho' God used as
scourges to chastise his peoples sins
yet they had no pretence of right to
their land.
Verse 55
[55] And
he stood
and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice
saying
He stood — He
spoke this standing
that he might be the better heard
and because he blessed
as one having authority. Never were words more pertinently spoken: never was a
congregation dismissed
with that which was more likely to affect them
and to
abide with them.
Verse 56
[56]
Blessed be the LORD
that hath given rest unto his people Israel
according to
all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise
which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.
Blessed
… —
This discharge he gives in the name of all Israel
to the everlasting honour of
the Divine faithfulness
and the everlasting encouragement of all those that
build upon the Divine promises.
Verse 58
[58] That
he may incline our hearts unto him
to walk in all his ways
and to keep his
commandments
and his statutes
and his judgments
which he commanded our
fathers.
Incline —
That he may not only bless us with outward prosperity
but especially
with
spiritual blessings: and that as he hath given us his word to teach and direct
us
so he would by his holy Spirit
effectually incline us to obey it.
Verse 61
[61] Let
your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God
to walk in his statutes
and to keep his commandments
as at this day.
Perfect —
Let your obedience be universal
without dividing; upright
without
dissembling; and constant
without declining.
Verse 63
[63] And
Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings
which he offered unto the LORD
two and twenty thousand oxen
and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the
king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.
Offered —
Not all in one day
but in the seven
or it may be in the fourteen days
mentioned verse 65.
Verse 64
[64] The
same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house
of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings
and meat offerings
and the
fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the LORD
was too little to receive the burnt offerings
and meat offerings
and the fat
of the peace offerings.
Middle of the court — Of
the priests court
in which the great altar was. This he consecrated as he did
the great altar
by sacrifices; but with this difference
that he consecrated
that for perpetual use: but this only for the present occasion
being warranted
to do so both by the necessity of it for God's service
and for the present
solemn work
for which the brazen altar was not sufficient; and by the
direction of God's spirit
wherewith Solomon was endowed
as being a prophet
as well as a king. Here therefore he suddenly reared up divers altars
which
after this solemnity were demolished.
Verse 65
[65] And
at that time Solomon held a feast
and all Israel with him
a great
congregation
from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt
before
the LORD our God
seven days and seven days
even fourteen days.
Seven —
Seven for the dedication of the temple
or altar; and the other seven for the
feast of tabernacles. And it seems to be expressed in this manner
to intimate
that these fourteen days of rejoicing
were not altogether
but that there was
some interval between them
which indeed was necessary
because the day of
atonement was on the tenth day of this month
Leviticus 23:27. And because these fourteen days
ended on the twenty-second day
2 Chronicles 7:10
it may seem most probable
that the feast of the dedication was kept before the tenth day: and the feast
of tabernacles some days after it.
Verse 66
[66] On
the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king
and went
unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD
had done for David his servant
and for Israel his people.
He sent —
Solomon having joined with the people in the solemn assembly
which was kept on
the eighth day; in the close of that day took his solemn farewell
and
dismissed them with his blessing; and the next morning when the heads and
elders with divers of the people came to take their leave of the king
he sent
them away.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Kings》
08 Chapter 8
Verses 1-11
Verses 1-9
Then Solomon assembled the
elders of Israel.
A royal priest
It is remarkable in
connection with the dedication of the temple how the leading part was taken
throughout by King Solomon. One would have thought that in the dedication of a
sanctuary the leading men would have been the priests
Levites
scribes
and
other persons distinctively identified with religious functions and
responsibilities. We find
however
that exactly the contrary is the case. The
priest occupied a second and tributary position
but it is the king who
consecrates the sanctuary
and it is the king who offers the great prayer at
its dedication. The question arises
Was not Solomon in reality more than king?
Or
being a king
was he not
according to the Divine ideal of Israel
a priest
unto God Did he not indeed occupy a kind of typical position as being in
anticipation none other than the great high priest Jesus Christ Himself? The
kingship and the priesthood are combined in the Christian character of the
later dispensation: “Ye are a chosen generation
a royal priesthood
a holy
nation.” This is precisely what Solomon was
namely
a “royal priest”! (J.
Parker
D. D.)
A king dedicates a church
A
missionary in the Hawaiian Islands gives an account of the dedication of a
place of worship by the king. He says: “Quite 4000 persons were present
including most of the great personages of the nation. An elegant sofa
covered
with satin damask of a deep crimson colour
had been placed for them in the
front of the pulpit. The king
in his gorgeous uniform
sat at one end
and his
sister
in a superb dress
at the other. Before the religious services
commenced
the king arose from his seat
and
addressing himself to the chiefs
teachers
and people generally
said that this house
which he had built
he
new publicly gave to God
to be appropriated to His worship. The religious
exercises were appropriate; and when these were closed
the king again stood
up
and saying
‘Let us pray
’ addressed the throne of grace
commending the
building and the people to God.”
Verses 6-11
Verses 12-61
Verses 17-19
And it was in the heart of
David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.
Unaccomplished aims
We are often conscious of
inability to carry into effect cherished designs of the soul. As David vainly
wished to build the temple
so do all noble souls project service which the
limitations of this poor life forbid. Our plans are many and grand
our performances
few and small at best. It is a perilous voyage from desire to realisation
and
many a gracious speculation is shipwrecked ere it reaches port. Therefore are
we often fretted
and regard these unrealised aspirations as a disheartening
phase of experience. Why was David prevented from carrying this gracious
thought into effect? His purpose seemed in harmony with the Divine commandment:
“When He giveth you rest from all your enemies round about
so that ye dwell in
safety; then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to
cause His name to dwell there.” Further
David’s purpose seemed altogether pure
and generous. David was forbidden to build the house. God saw an unfitness in
him for this particular service which had escaped other eyes. There was an
impropriety in the red hands of War building the temple of Peace and Mercy
so
God excluded His servant from this ministry. Thus we may believe that God often
sees deep and cogent reasons for putting aside His servants
even when they contemplate
desirable and magnanimous service. The reasons may not be apparent; may never
in this life be discovered
and yet such reasons may exist. “Trophimus have I
left at Miletum sick” (2 Timothy
4:20).
Another grand source of practical failure is here touched. How many broken-down
servants of God are there to-day
who have proved their sincerity
but whose
thin hand can do little or nothing in raising the stones of the shrine they so
passionately desire to build. As in the busiest thoroughfares of great cities
we behold wistful faces looking down from hospital windows
longing to share in
the strong life of the streets; so are there frail
broken watchers of the work
of God who long to share the toil and sacrifice of God’s workmen. “And Moses
said unto the Lord
O my Lord
I am not eloquent
neither heretofore
nor since
Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech
and of a slow
tongue” (Exodus
4:10).
Physical and educational defects are often real limitations of practical
service. Gifted
warm
aggressive souls
without the orator’s tongue or
scholar’s pen
do what they can and sorrowfully wish it more. “Moreover
brethren
we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of
Macedonia; how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy
and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to
their power
I bear record
yea
and beyond their power they were willing of
themselves” (2 Corinthians
8:1-3).
Here is another example of restricted power. Out of much poverty the
Macedonians revealed a rich generosity
and would have gone still further
but
their power fell behind their will. “My days are past
my purposes are broken
off
even the thoughts of my heart” (Job
17:11).
Job views his life as at an end
and in consequence of the premature ending
his cherished designs frustrated. “My heart-purposes are broken off; my
profoundest hopes disappointed.” This limitation is felt by all genuine
vehement natures--the longest]ire not being long enough to realise all the
great
gracious ideas which spring up in the soul under the brooding of God’s
Spirit. And here we
may distinguish between those who have a real interest in the consolatory
teaching of the text and those who have none. Folks of a certain order are very
ready to infer how differently they would have acted if their fortune had been
different
whilst they give no proof of sincerity by doing what is possible to
them; in fancy they are ministering cups of wine
whilst in fact they deny the
cup of cold water. There are several sources of consolation which ought not to
be overlooked by sorrowing souls denied the service on which they have set
their affection. Life is not so cruel as it seems
and with all these high aims
and great failures
these epic purposes and fragmentary results
it is well to
remember several compensations.
1. God
knows and accepts the generous purpose of the heart. “God is a Spirit
” and all
within the realm of mind is most real to Him. He knows as a fact whatever is
felt in the heart
sanctioned by the judgment
determined by the will
anticipated by the imagination. In the count of God
thoughts are things
desires deeds
purposes performances. As a man “thinketh in his heart
so is
he”; and God knows not only the tangible world
but that ampler
richer world which is veiled
to the senses. The artist knows that his glowing picture tracing the line of
beauty with purple of Tyre and gold of Ophir is but a soiled
blurred
reproduction of his dream. So is it with all life. We feel a thousand times
and some baffled ones feel with special grief
how the practical life has come
short of the large purpose. The contrast is depressing indeed. But the grand
truth in all this is the ideal
is the real; the intentional
the actual; and
all these non-suits of life stand accepted and rewarded before Him.
2. Again
the sense of unrealised desire is an index of character we may regard with some
satisfaction. We live in the presence of a world of infinite need; the infinite
love of Christ expands our heart; and we feel the hope and inspiration of
immortality. What wonder that purposes should be born of such sentiments
transcending the possibilities of this encumbered life and inelastic world! The
power of an endless life works in us
and it is not strange that our desires
and designs should outrun these narrow means
rude instruments and fading
years.
3. Another
manifest consolation in the midst of unfinished work is
what we are not
allowed to do will yet be done. David was not to build the temple
but God had
a builder in reserve.
4. Finally
wounded by disappointment may we not be comforted in this: that our apparently
abortive desires really facilitate the work we have at heart? David proposed
and Solomon executed; and this is frequently the order still. One man schemes
and another operates; one generation invents and another executes; and if one
had not dreamed the other had not executed. It has been said that Lord
Falkland’s life was sacrificed in “an indecisive action”; so thousands of the
noblest servants of the race have fallen in indecisive actions
but if they had
not fought bravely and fallen thus
we had never celebrated the decisive
battles
the magnificent victories! (W. L. Watkinson.)
Unwrought purposes
I. That
men often leave our world with the great purposes of their heart unwrought.
David was sincere in his purpose
and God approved of it; but it was
nevertheless unaccomplished. With many
the brightest ideals of life are
unfulfilled. Life with most is only a broken column--e.g.
man of
business
student
minister
philanthropist
patriot
politician
etc. By this
we are taught the mystery of Providence and the incompleteness of human life.
Among the things which contribute to such disappointments are:
The Master’s life is the
only exception. He could say
“It is finished.”
II. That
God is pleased to accept the sincere
though unwrought
purposes of the heart.
David did not withhold or withdraw. In his heart and mind he saw in intention a
beautiful temple erected to the honour and glory of God
and God accepted the
will for the deed
because nothing more than purpose was within his power. Many
poor
devoted
godly men and women have resolved to do great things
if only
etc.; weak ones
if only they had strength given; enthusiastic workers
if only
doors should open
etc. But the purposes have remained unaccomplished
and God
has said to each and all
“Thou didst well that it was in thine heart.”
III. That
the good purposes unwrought by one man may be taken up and completed by
another. Solomon did what David could not. He completed what David began. No
man is indispensable. Workers die
but God’s work goes on. We enter into other
men’s labours
are heirs of the affluence of the ages. Responsibility is commensurate
with privilege and opportunity. Let us
above all
seek to have our hearts
right with God
filled with love for His works
ways
and word. (F. W.
Brown.)
Success in failure
All of us have failed
especially those who have been really in earnest. We started full of hope and
of high purpose; but “the heroic proved too hard
” and now in poignant regret
it is our portion to contrast what has been with what might have been. We
lament that the prizes of life are so few and the blanks so many; but is it not
best that it should be so? While it is true that some who have attained success
are great men
it is also true that the great majority of those who succeeded
are by no means great men. Be it said with all needful reservation
success
does not usually develop the best qualities of a man. It frequently vulgarises
and generally hardens
Failed! But
why did they fail? There are ignoble
failures: yes
but they are not so numerous as the ignoble successes.
1. The
finest things in this world’s history have been the world’s great failures. Nor
should you be surprised to hear that spoken in church
where we worship a
crucified Man. There are some failures more beautiful and useful to mankind
than a thousand triumphs. It is impossible to weigh the value or to judge the
legitimacy of a hopeless but heroic sacrifice. Those who die in a forlorn hope
are remembered long years after their attempts have failed.
2. Then
be it remembered
failures have made success possible. One success comes after
many failures
one victory after many defeats. The work of every great
discoverer and inventor
every legislator and reformer
rests on the
unrecognised work of unknown predecessors. Our national liberties were won for
us
less by the men whose names are blazoned on our historic rolls than by the
men who dared too much and were beaten
who died and made no sign.
3. Again
I say that the men who “succeed” are not the men who deserved most
or
contributed most. We speak of “Solomon’s Temple
” and but few remember that it
was David who gathered the materials. Solomon’s was but the executant hand the
son administered the father’s will. David’s ideal became the accomplished work
of his successor. And we call it “Solomon’s Temple
” but its foundations were
laid in David’s
heart. The way of the world is to render tribute to the man who lays the
coping-stone. Men lightly say of the idealists and would-be reformers
“Their
efforts went for nothing; things got no better for all their trying.” Not so.
No true work perishes; the good of it remains. Every noble life (as Ruskin so
finely says) leaves the fibre of it interwoven for ever in the work of the
world. Oh
there is a fine rebuke to despondency
if you will but take a long
view of the past.
4. Finally
failure will put iron into your blood
and make a man of you. I suppose that
David was all the better man because he had cherished an ideal that was never
to be realised by himself. I suppose that it helped to purge the blood of
battle from his robes
and to mellow his old age. I am sure that it lifted and purified his thoughts.
“He did well that it was in his heart
” The best thing in your life is your
finest failure. That is the Trinity-high-water-mark of your life: not the
greatest thing done
but the greater thing that you tried to do and could not
do. Thank God
this world’s judgment is not the final court of appeal.
Wordsworth did not feel himself a failure because the British public would not
read his poetry: he bated not one jot of heart or hope
but pressed right
onward. (B. J. Snell
M. A.)
The will for the deed
I. Our
master is most generous with His appreciation. He does not seem to be afraid of
spoiling us. He is too good and wise a Father to pamper us
but He is not
niggardly with His commendations
as if there were fear of puffing us up
or
making us presumptuous. He has other ways of preventing those excesses
but
wherever He sees an opportunity to praise
the praise is ungrudgingly given.
1. God
did not blame David for any error of judgment. A harder master would have found
fault with his servant for his ignorance. Nor does He charge him with
presumption. There is no sort of blame. God regarded the motive; since that was
pure He approved
so far
the purpose. David thought that it seemed incongruous
that while he dwelt in a house of cedar
God should abide within mere curtains.
He was jealous for the Lord his God.
2. Moreover
it is evident from this that God never despises the day of small things. So
far
it was only in the heart
and
as we know
it was to get very little further.
Only in the heart
and yet God could approve
though He Himself knew that the
purpose was now to be restrained. You have in your heart many a holy desire
many a blessed aspiration
many a noble ambition. God says to you that He does
not despise the day of small things. This is just a seed-corn in the heart
and
it may seem to die
to spring up to glorious harvest
or it may actually die.
It matters little which if God is in it.
3. Notice
next that God actually commends what He eventually forbids.
II. God
always us some perfectly righteous reason for disappointing His people. It must
he admitted that David’s plan appeared not only honourable and reasonable
but
most commendable. Nathan
“who was a prophet of the living God
a specially
far-seeing and faithful prophet
approved the plan. This he did
not because it
was the king s plan
for when occasion demanded he could rebuke King David to
his face. Said he
“Do all that is in thine heart
for God is with thee.” Yet
for all that
God steps in and says
“No.” Can you understand this? Of one
thing we are certain; God does not break off our threads just out of caprice.
It is something other than whim that causes God to step in and blast our
gourds. He is not arbitrary. You know that in David’s case there were reasons.
The time had not fully come
for one thing. The throne was not sufficiently
established yet; peace was not by this time perfectly secured. But there was
also a personal unfitness. God said to David
“Thou hast been a man of war
and
hast shed blood.” That was God’s reason
and a sufficient one. In any ease you
like to quote there is a reason
though it may not be apparent. There is a
reason
a right good reason in every case
why the Lord says
“No
I prefer
that this purpose of yours shall be nipped in the bud. You would like to see it
grow
but I like to have some buds on My table sometimes.” There is a charm
about a half-grown flower
is there not? I wonder who of all this congregation
needs just such a word as this. You hoped for a nobler service. You did well
that it was in your heart
but the Lord is right
you are better in the humbler
position; be content to serve Him there.
III. The
Lord never leaves His disappointed ones without compensation. He never takes
away a blessing without giving another in return. If He empties one hand
He
fills the other; if He does not allow the plan to come to maturity
He gives
some blessing that more than makes up for the denial. None like He can
interweave mercy with judgment. What did David get? We have seen what he missed and
might have mourned.
1. He
gave him credit for originating and cherishing this holy des”. “Thou didst well
that it was in thine heart.” God’s “Well done” is the best compensation that
even heaven can give.
2. Then
David had the pleasure of preparing for the erection of the temple
the special
joy of collecting the material and
as I suppose of designing the building and
certain of the vessels.
3. God
gives a corresponding blessing to that which He removes. David said
“Lord
I
want to build Thee a house
” and God replied
“‘Tis good
David
that is a kind
thought. It cannot be
however
but I tell you what--I will build you a house
instead.” God said
“I will build thee a house
” not a structure of stone and
wood and gold and silver
but a living house
a posterity that should ever sit
upon His throne. God pays us in our coin sometimes
and if He seems to rob us
with one hand He pays us with the other
and pays us in a corresponding
fashion.
4. Then
the greatest compensation of all was this
the assurance that the work that
David could not do should nevertheless be done. “Nevertheless thou shalt not
build the house
but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins
he shall
build the house unto My name.” That sufficed; there could be no murmuring after
that. (T. Spurgeon.)
David’s purpose to build
the house of God
I. It
was well that David in his prosperity remembered God as the author of all
prosperity. This proved David’s own piety. But others
besides himself
were
concerned in what David did. He was a king
and had the interests of a people
to promote. And it was well that such were his thoughts
because it proved that
David knew the real foundation of happiness; that happiness of his subjects
which it was his duty to consider. The house of God is the main instrument of
religion. Without it
religion can hardly exist
certainly can only be in a
languid state
unless there is a place where the word of God be regularly
proclaimed
to teach the ignorant
to satisfy the inquirer
to warn the
careless
to edify the devout and godly. And without religion
what is human
life? We might compare it to
a dream
except for the awful difference
that a dream leaves no consequence
behind. David
therefore
judged well
rightly understood the welfare of his
subjects
when he resolved to build an house to God’s name
and so provided
as
far as in him lay
that the rich among his people should walk in the fear of
God
and live to his glory.
II. It
was well
because he thus gave proof
understood his wealth and honour to be
talents for which he must give account. It was well that he did not incur the
reproof due to one who is “rich to himself
and is not rich towards God.” And
further
it was well
it showed a right state of mind
a concern for the real
welfare of the community under his charge
that he desired to raise a temple
where “the rich and the poor might meet together
” and worship the Maker of
them all.
III. The
divine testimony to a character. Judge concerning yourselves by this analogy.
All religion must be judged of by its fruits; by the conduct to which it leads.
David was approved
because he set himself strenuously to promote God’s glory;
because
having been placed upon the throne of Israel his first thought was to
honour the God that is above. (J. B. Sumner
D. D.)
Verses 22-61
Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord.
The dedicatory prayer
Now we approach the great prayer by which the temple was
dedicated. The house itself was nothing. It was but a gilded sepulchre
an
elaborate and costly vacancy. First of all
therefore
we stand convinced that
however much we may do technically
it can only be regarded as in a preparatory
or introductory capacity. We can build the house
but we cannot supply the
tenant.
1. Solomon’s
conception of the personality and dignity of God stands out quite conspicuously
in the pages of history for its unrivalled sublimity. He speaks as one who was
well instructed in the mysteries of the kingdom. In this prayer of Solomon’s
there is what some persons often mistakenly call preaching even in the language
of devotion. Prayer is not request only
it is fellowship
communion
identification with God; it is the soul pouring itself out just as it will in
all the tender compulsion of love
asking God for blessings
praising God for
mercies
committing itself to God in view of all the mystery and peril of the
future. Solomon having thus addressed the God of Israel
turns to Providence as
revealed in the history of the chosen people
goes back even so far as the
bringing-forth of Israel out of Egypt
and indicates point after point
at
least suggestively
until David was elected to reign over the people Israel
and purposed as king to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.
Solomon does not take the whole credit to himself for the origination of this
idea of the temple. He connects his action with the purpose that was in the
heart of David his father. The temple
so beautiful and so costly
is not to be
associated with anything that is merely religiously mystic. This is not a tent
of superstition
not a habitation created for the purpose of indulging
spiritual romances which can never have any bearing upon actual human life.
Throughout his prayer we discover on the part of Solomon how thoroughly he
identifies the house of God with all human interests.
2. How natural it
is that human imagination should be confounded by the impossibility of the
infinite God locating Himself within finite space. We do not consider that it
is because God is infinite that He can
so to say
thus become finite. The
finite never can become infinite
but it would seem to belong to infinite
perfection to adapt itself to human limitation and necessity. God Himself has
addressed the ages in a tone precisely coincident with the language of Solomon:
“Thus saith the Lord
The heaven is My throne
and the earth is My footstool:
where is the house that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My rest?”
Solomon was therefore strictly within the line of revelation when he propounded
the solemn inquiry. Everything depends upon our point of view in considering
this great Question of God’s condescension.
3. One might well
think that the millennium had set in with the solemn dedication of the temple
and that all things would begin anew
and certainly that the time of tragedy
rebellion
and suffering had for ever passed away. We find
however
that
Solomon orders his prayer in such a manner and tone as to recognise distinctly
the fact that all things which had ever occurred which could try the faith
the
patience
and the virtue of men would occur again and again to the end of the
chapter. No; on the contrary: though the temple stands as a monument of human piety
and as a fulfilment of a divine promise
human life will go on in all the
variety of a divine promise
human life go on in all the variety of its
experience much as it had gone on from the beginning. What then
is there
nothing in the point of history thus established by the building of this holy
house? Henceforth it is to be understood that whatever happens admits of
religious treatment
and is to be taken to the temple itself for consideration
and adjustment. Solomon recognises God as the ruler of providence and the
controller of all nature. He is not afraid to trace the absence of rain to an
ordinance of the Most High. A perusal of the history of his own people would
make it clear that from early times God had been recognised as ruling over the
elements of nature. Thus is the dominion of God enlarged by the religious
imagination of Solomon; and thus
from the other point of view
is the
revelation of God confirmed by the testimony of those who have most profoundly
studied his ways and purposes in the earth.
4. Solomon
having
ended his prayer
“stood
and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a
loud voice
” and in that blessing he made one declaration which cannot but be
quoted from age to age with increasing emphasis and joy--“There hath not failed
one word of all his good promise.” This is the continual testimony of the
Church. Thus with hardly any variation of language is the continuance of the
Divine goodness reaffirmed. This is matter of personal experience. Every man
can examine his own life
and see wherein he has been faithful
and wherein he
has been faithless
and say distinctly whether faithfulness has not been
followed by benediction
and faithlessness by disapprobation. Many promises
remain yet to be fulfilled. Specially there remains the promise to be fulfilled
that God will be with His people in the valley of the shadow of death. There is
no discharge in that war! These triumphant conditions can only be realised by
continual and growing faith in Him who is the resurrection and the life.
(J. Parker
D. D.)
The Temple dedicated
I. The Church is
the house of God. Every home in Israel had its family worship and secret
prayer; but the cloud of glory came only upon the Temple. So now God is present
in His house with a blessing which we can get nowhere else.
II. The Church
brings blessings to the nation. All other institutions
our good schools and
happy homes
depend upon it. Just to see in a town a building consecrated to
God makes men think of Him; it is His sign
inviting people to come for
heavenly riches and heavenly healing.
III. The Church has
a special promise for children. God’s covenant with David brought to Solomon
much of his glory and honour. The covenant with Abraham included his
descendants. The Heavenly Father knows how dearly earthly parents love their
children
and promises that if they will bring them up rightly
He Himself will
take especial care of them. The special lessons we can learn to-day are very
plain.
1. Reverence the
House of God.
2. Love the
Church.
3. Attend Church
regularly.
4. Consecrate
yourself to God. (Monday Club Sermons.)
The Temple dedicated
The undivided kingdom of Israel reached the zenith of its course
in the reign of Solomon. Like Julius Caesar
David was the military hero and
champion of his nation. He extended its territory from Egypt to the Euphrates
and centralised its government on the conquered heights of Jerusalem. But
Solomon
the Augustus of Hebrew history
was an organiser and administrator.
Jehovah
instead of teaching his hands to war
gave him rather “a wise and an
understanding heart
” and “both riches and honour
” so that he was the greatest
king of his day (1 Kings
3:1-28; 1 Kings
12:13; 1 Kings
4:24). These gifts
and opportunities naturally made him also the Pericles of his race. His reign
was distinguished for its magnificent architecture. This dedicated temple of
Solomon is a pregnant type.
1. It Is a type of
Jesus Christ. The architectural magnificence of Solomon’s temple but feebly prefigures the
perfection of Christ’s wonderful person. Solomon’s temple was to Israel a
symbol of permanence
but Jesus
looking at its second successor
declared that
not one stone should be left upon another; and there
thinking of his own
mastery even over death itself
declared
“Destroy this temple
and in three
days I will raise it up. But he spake of the temple of his body” (John 2:19-20). The temple
was the dwelling-place of God; Jesus Christ is God incarnate. The temple was
the meeting-place for God and man; Jesus is the divine-human Mediator
and
whatsoever we ask in his name we receive (John 16:23). The temple
was the place for intercession and atonement; Jesus ever liveth to make intercession
for us
and he is the sacrificial Lamb whose blood cleanseth us from all sin.
The temple contained the ark of the covenant; Jesus has fulfilled all law
and
in love he binds all filial souls to the divine Father.
2. Solomon’s
temple is a type of heaven. It is Jehovah’s permanent dwelling-place (1 Kings
8:30; 1 Kings
8:32
etc.).
3. Solomon’s
temple is a type of every Christian. For the Christian is the temple of God
and the Spirit of God dwells in him
demanding a pure home (1 Corinthians
3:16-17). Thus the
glory of Solomon was the temple which bears his name; the glory of that temple
was its typifying of Christ
of His Church and His heaven; and the glory of
Christ
of the Church
even of heaven
is a human life fully consecrated to God
in Christ. (S. J. Macpherson
D. D.)
The dedication of the Temple
I. Solomon begins
with the expression of his sober sense of the Divine greatness. He exclaims
“Lord God of Israel
there is no God like thee
in heaven above
or on earth
beneath.” Now it will be of no use whatsoever for any human being
who is
intelligently proposing to consecrate himself fully to God’s service
to
attempt to covenant with the Almighty without realising that he has entered
upon the most awfully serious moment of his life: for he is dealing with the
one supreme Head of the universe.
II. Then comes an
affecting remembrance of the Divine grace. Solomon openly admits that he is now
in the immediate presence of that God who was accustomed to keep covenant and
mercy with his servants that walk before him with all their heart.
III. Solomon makes a
humble acknowledgment of the Divine condescension. He has prepared for God this
palace. But now in this moment of his highest satisfaction he appears surprised
by a fresh revelation of the glory of God. No sentence in all this extraordinary
address is more pathetic in its disclosure of experience than that we find
here: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth behold
the heaven and heaven of
heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded!” It
is the grand simplicity of such an exclamation that fixes an unusual character
upon it. The candour of the confession shows a heart penetrated with the
consciousness that its very best gift must be sanctified by the altar of God it
lies upon before the infinite holiness of Jehovah can accept it.
IV. Solomon
trustfully accepts the fulness of the Divine invitation to continue to hold
communication with him in the building he was offering. Attention was long ago
caned to the fact that the disciples going to Emmaus were not enlightened so as
to recognise Jesus all along the way where they conversed with Him; not until
they fulfilled His commands in the exercise of hospitality did they suddenly
discover how their hearts had burned with the thoughts He had given them. “Not by
hearing His precepts
” says Gregory in one of his homilies
“but by doing them
did they receive illumination.” The souls that only freely receive
it is not
at all certain will be those who will understand. It is when souls freely give
they begin to grow intelligent. Mystery then ceases
mysticism ends
and
reality begins. One of the loftiest steps of Christian consecration is reached
when a man is beginning to realise fully that God has invited him to pray for
all he needs
in that very moment in which he has given away all he has in this
world.
V. Solomon
suggests his sense of a lifelong need for the divine companionship and favour.
(C. S. Robinson
D. D.)
Verse 24
Who hast kept with Thy servant David my father that Thou
promisedst him.
The promises of God
I. It has pleased
God to deal with His people in all ages
by way of promise.
II. His power is
constantly engaged in fulfilling His promises.
1. His power is
exercised in illustration and vindication of His truth in the promises.
2. In proof that
His power is supreme and unlimited. Is not His power equal to the love of His
heart? All resources are His.
3. His power is
always exercised in proof of His faithfulness.
III. There are some
special seasons when we are called upon to bear testimony to His faithfulness
in His promises.
1. When looking
back to the advent of the Saviour.
2. And to another
period
not less memorable
the effusion of the Holy Ghost.
3. And to the day
of individual conversion.
4. Another special
season is that of our consecration and dedication.
5. When we have
received extraordinary mercies
we ought to acknowledge His faithfulness. (Evangelical
Preacher.)
Trust in God’s faithfulness
“God was under no obligation to covenant with you for your
redemption; but since He has covenanted it ceases to be a matter of mercy and
becomes a matter of truth. It had nothing to do with your deserts
but it has
something to do with His honour. Like the coloured woman in the South
who was
very old
and poor
and ignorant
but very confident she was going to heaven.
‘Why
’ said one
‘nobody knows anything about you
and if you go to hell the
universe will be ignorant of it.’ ‘No
’ said she
‘it won’t make any difference
to the universe
but it will make a great difference to the Lord
because His
honour would be for ever gone.’ So
the great thing is to trust Him
and He
will be true to Himself and to you
and the habit of meditating on His mercies
begets the confident hopefulness of His future absolute fidelity.” (A. T.
Pierson
D. D.)
God’s promises
To turn to the promises of God is like turning to a sky lighted
with constellations of suns; or to a world bespangled with rarest flowers; or
to a land flowing with milk and honey. To record the promises would be a task
almost equal to transscribing the Bible. (R. Venting.)
Verse 27
But will God indeed dwell on the earth?
Of the omnipresence of God
I. The truth of
the assertion itself. That God must of necessity be omnipresent; ‘tis to be
observed that if being or existence be at all a perfection
it will follow
that in like manner as continuing to exist through larger periods of Time
so
also extent of existence through larger portions of space
is the having a
greater degree of this Perfection. And as that Being
which is absolutely
perfect
must with regard to duration be Eternal; so
in respect of greatness
it must likewise be immense. Otherwise its perfections will be limited; which
is the notion of imperfection; and
by being supposed to be finite in extent
the perfection of its power will as totally be destroyed
as it would be
supposing it to be temporary in duration. For as any Being
which is not
always; at the time when it is not
is as if it never was; so whatever Being is
not everywhere; in those places where it is not
is as if it had no Being in
any place at all. For no being can act where it is not
any more than when it is
not. Power
without existence
is but an empty word without any reality; and
the scholastic fiction of a being acting in all places without being present in
all places
is either making the notion of God an express contradiction
or
else a supposing Him so to act by the ministry of others
as not to be Himself
present to understand and know what they do. It cannot but be evident
that He
who made all things
as He could not but be before the things that He made
so
it is not possible but He must be present also
with the things that He made and governs. For things
could not be made without the actual presence of the Power that made them; nor
can things ever be governed with any certainty
unless the Wisdom that governs
them be present with them. Whatever arguments therefore prove the Being of God
and His unerring Providence
must all be understood to prove equally likewise
His actual omnipresence. He who exists by necessity of nature
‘tis manifest
must exist in all places alike. For absolute necessity is at all times and in
all places the same. Whatever can be absent at any time
may be absent at all
times; and whatever can be absent from one place
may be absent from another;
and consequently can have no necessity of existing at all. He therefore who exists
necessarily
must necessarily exist always and everywhere: that is
as he must
in duration be eternal
so he must also in immensity be omnipresent.
II. To offer some
particular observations concerning the nature and circumstances of this Divine
attribute.
1. The excellency
of the perfections of God does not consist in impossible and contradictory
notions
but in true greatness
dignity
majesty
and glory. The eternity of
God does not consist in making time past to be still present
and future time
to be already come
but it consists in a true proper everlasting duration
without beginning and without end. And in like manner the Immensity of God does
not consist in making things to be where they are not
or not to be where they
are
but it consists in this; that whereas all finite beings can be present but
in one determinate place at once: and corporeal beings even in that one place
very imperfectly and unequally
to any purpose of power or activity
only by
the successive
motion of different members and organs; the Supreme Cause on the contrary
being a uniform Infinite Essence
and comprehending all things perfectly in
Himself
is at all times equally present
both in His real essence
and by the
immediate and perfect exercise of all His attributes
to every point of the
boundless immensity
as if it were all but one single point. ‘Tis worthy of
observation
that this right notion of the omnipresence of God
will very much
assist us to form a just apprehension of the nature of that Providence
which
attends to and inspects
not only the great events
but even the minutest
circumstances of every the smallest action and event in the world: Even that
Providence
without which not a sparrow falls to the ground
and by which the
very hairs of our head are all numbered. There is a certain determinate number
or quantity of things
which every intelligent creature
according to the
proportion of its sphere of power and activity
is able to attend to. And by
this we may judge
that as creatures of larger capacities can observe a much
greater number of things at one and the same time
than beings of a lower rank
can imagine it possible they should
so God
who is present everywhere
can
with infinitely greater ease direct and govern all things in the world at once
than we can attend to those few things which fall within the compass of our
short observation.
3. As the beams of
the sun are not at all soiled by the matter they shine upon
and as the purity
and holiness of the Divine nature is not in the least diminished by beholding
all the wickedness and moral impurity which is acted in the world
so the
omnipresent Essence of God is not at all affected
by any natural impurity of
things or places whatsoever; it being the superlative excellency and
prerogative of His nature
to act always upon all things everywhere
and itself
to be acted upon by nothing. All the sensible qualities of matter are merely
relative to us in our present state
depending on the frame of our bodily
organs
and not being anything really inherent in the things themselves. We
behold only the outward surfaces of things
and are affected only by the various motions and
figures of certain small parts of matter
which
by the help of microscopes
appear even to us to be really very different in themselves from what our
senses represent them; and to a spirit
which sees the inward real essences of
things
and not the external sensible images which affect us
they have no
similitude at all with our imaginations.
4. The true
meaning therefore of God’s being in heaven
is to express His height and
dignity
not in place
but in power: It being only a similitude drawn into
common speech
from the situation of things in nature. As the heavenly bodies
the sun and stars
are high above us in place
and all earthly blessings depend
on the sun and rain and the
descent of kindly influences literally from above
so
by an easy figure of
speech
whatsoever is above us in power
we are from hence used to represent as
being above us in place.
III. Some useful
inferences from what has been said.
1. By this
character of omnipresence
the true God of the universe is distinguished from
all false deities; and the vanity of idolatry
made plainly to appear. The gods
of the nations pretended to be but gods of particular countries; as the gods of
Henah
Ivah
and Sepharvaim (2 Kings
18:34). Or
of
particular parts of the same country; as gods of the hills
and not of the
valleys (1 Kings
20:28).
2. If God is
omnipresent
from hence it follows that he is to be worshipped and reverenced
everywhere
in private as well as in public. Honour is to be paid Him
not only
by angels before His throne in heaven
and by the congregation publicly in His
Temple on earth
but also by every man singly in his most private retirements.
3. From the
consideration of God’s being omnipresent
it follows that His power (as well as
knowledge) is unlimited; to Be everywhere relied on by good men
and to be
feared by bad. As there is no time
so neither is there any place
where He is
not at hand to protect His servants (Psalms 46:1). (S. Clarke
D. D.)
God’s dwelling-place
Collins the free-thinker met a simple countryman one Sunday
morning going to church. He asked him where he was going. “To church
sir
” was
the man’s reply.
“And what do you do when you get there” said the free-thinker. “I worship God.”
“Pray tell me
” said Collins
“whether your God is a great God or a little
God?” “He is both
” said the man. “How can He be both?” said Collins. “Why
sir
” was the answer
“He is so great that the heavens cannot contain Him
and so little that He can
dwell in my heart.” Collins afterwards declared that this simple answer from
the countryman had more effect upon his mind than all the books the learned men
had written against him. (Quiver.)
Verse 29
This place.
Meditations in a new church
I. What the house
of God is not.
1. In this place
is no architectural type; it is no homage to the esthetics of form.
Architecture is but a help and a convenience; it is not a religion.
2. “This place” is
not reared in homage to any principle
so called
of Natural Religion; on the
contrary
it is an admission that Natural Religion is not enough to satisfy the
heart of the worshipper; it is true the groves were God s first temples; it is
equally true that the early Persian made his peak an altar
and worshipped the
Lord of nature from the tops of earths o’er-gazing mountains; it may be true
that our Gothic architecture is an attempt to torture the stone to the grace
and grandeur of the forest aisles
but it will not do
it will not do. “This
place” is not reared to emulate “in the long-drawn aisle and the fretted
vault
” the mysteries of the groves and the trees; it is to point to one
tree--the Cross; it is not to celebrate the mountain majesties of heaven
but
to be a cleft of the rock
in which the people may hide themselves while the
tempest and the wrath pass by.
3. “This place” is
not an Ecclesiasticism; it is not the place for mere hierarchical assumption;
it does not exist to symbolise any particular creed; it derives any value it
may boast
not from man or men
but from God.
4. “This Place” is
not built in homage to Intellectual Achievement
or to the consecrating efforts
of Taste.
II. What the house
of God is.
“This place” is the assertion that a new church has come to view.
Hebraism was a church--the Jew was
in fact
a Christian. But he was so
pictorially
and he must represent to us God as working the salvation over and
independent of him. What
then
is suggested to us by “this place”?
1. It is
Consecration. This is the stone for a memorial; and the prayers of the people and their
dedication words are the holy oil poured upon the stone. This is the place of
an almond-tree
beneath whose shade the weary Jacob rests
and beholds the
vision of ascending and descending angels; and says
“Lo
God is in this place;
this is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
2. And with that
idea goes this other of seclusion
seclusion even here. But it will be said
is
not every place God’s--is not every place equally Divine? To Him
Yes; to us
I
must say
No
certainly not. Is not God equally diffused over all creation? To
Himself
Yes; to us
No
certainly not. As well ask
Does magnetism reside
equally in all substances? Is there not a loadstone
and a magnetic needle? The
Sabbath is an answer to our necessities
by being a seclusion in time; the
temple is an answer to our necessities by being a seclusion in space. Man
needs
not only Sabbath hours
he needs Sabbath spots. Cannot man worship
alone
it is said
in his own life and heart
and have there his own still
Sabbath? What some may do
I will not say; but on the whole
I shall reply
Certainly not; man’s true seclusion will be the temple; seclusion in such a place
is very beautiful. As consecration is the act of setting apart
to and for God
so seclusion is that retiring into ourselves; we always enter into our closet
when we retire into ourselves; but how large and mighty is the idea that in
this place we retire not only into ourselves but into and with God.
3. But this place
reveals the principle of association as surely as of seclusion or consecration. Here is
revealed the unity of the Church--here is realised the image of the harmonious
interworkings of countless spirits
who
though scattered over the whole globe
endowed with freedom
and possessing the power to strike off into every
deviation to the right or to the left
yet preserving still their various
peculiarities
constitute one great brotherhood for the advancement of each
other s spiritual existence
representing one idea
that of the reconciliation
of men with God
who
on that account
have been reconciled with one another
and have become
one body.
4. But
again
this place is not merely emotional
it is conservative
it is the centre of
doctrine
and therefore there is associated with it the idea of teaching it is the House of God;
it is the home “of the chosen of the living God”; it is the depository of “the
pillar and ground of the truth.”
5. Another
sentiment suitable to “this place” is
that it is perfectly in harmony with all
that has gone before; it may be naturally described as the centre of
conversion. “Repent and be converted
for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand”--this is the word which must often be uttered here
“and of this man it
shall be said
he was born there.” These buildings exist for the purpose for
which the Gospels were written; they were built that believers “may have life
”
but they were built also that men “may believe.” Lessons: To regenerated hearts
this place is a memory. Here we pierce back into the night of time
and the eye
surveys the splendid piles of ancient days. This place is an anticipation: it
is a promise from God to man of his future home
and it is the declaration to
man’s heart
from the deeper instincts of his being
of the great
the
hallowed
and all-hallowing truth that “there remaineth a rest for the people
of God”--our rest in this place is the assurance of our rest yonder. (B. P.
Hood.)
The place of worship
I. The house of
god. Our text speaks of heaven as God’s dwelling-place. Perfectly true. But
where is heaven? Heaven is above us
but it is also beneath and about us. Now
it was this thought that appealed even to Solomon aa he knelt with outspread hands
before the glory lit altar of the new temple. For a moment he seems to have
been staggered: But he recovers himself speedily
however. It was God’s house.
Why was it God’s house? He Himself had selected the site; it had been built on
the Divine-plan; the builders had been directed in all the arrangements. God’s
own promise was in the matter
and it had been fulfilled to the letter.
II. The house of
prayer. I like
however
to remember that it is
in the second title
a place of worship
a House of Prayer. Solomon used the first Temple for that purpose at the
outset
and named it so from the beginning. And those who could not tread its
sacred courts were to open their windows toward Jerusalem
and throw the arrows
of their prayers through the lattice which looked that way. The Temple
in a
word
was to be the medium and the mediator between the yearning hearts of men
and the bounteous hands of the Lord God of Israel. Things have changed since
then; old things have passed
away; behold
all things have become new.
III. The house of
mercy.--“When thou hearest
forgive.” Forgive! Ah yes
yes
we shall need to
pray that prayer amongst the rest. Prayers for succour and for strength
prayers for comfort and for joy
will need to be supplemented with prayers for pardon.
Some nowadays profess to have got far away beyond this. I am not ashamed to
confess in one sense that I have not. The Lord has taught us so to pray
“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Thomas Spurgeon.)
Verse 30
When thou hearest
forgive.
The first prayer in Solomon’s Temple
Simple
touching
and beautiful were the words of the first prayer
offered under the roof of Solomon’s Temple. Forgiveness is the first thing
asked for. Solomon takes it for granted that forgiveness will be the great
thing needed by those who in after days would pray in that house. He does not
tell us what shall be the prayer
further than as the nature of the prayer is
implied in the nature of the answer he bespeaks for it. In that single request
in that one word
Solomon gathers up the essence
as it were
of all the
prayers that ever should be offered beneath that Temple’s roof.
I. That all men
are sure to need forgiveness: that whatever differences there may be among them
in other respects
they all agree in this
that they are sure to need
forgiveness. Now
what is forgiveness? Forgiveness implies that a man has done
something that is wrong--some wrong that is especially directed against some
other being--and so which might justly excite the being wronged to regard the
wrong-doer with an unfriendly and angry feeling
and seek to inflict punishment
upon him: but that the being wronged resolves to pass by the offence done him--to
blot it out from recollection
so far as may be--to cherish no angry spirit
towards the offender
and to take no vengeance upon him for that which he has
done.
II. The chief thing
which beings like us ought to ask for in our prayers
is the pardon of our
sins. Solomon seems to have thought that there was nothing which men needed so
much; nothing which it was so important that they should get; nothing which
included and meant so much. It was of this
no doubt
that our Blessed Lord was
thinking
when
alluding to something which He did not name
but which all
would understand
He said
“One thing is needful.” For see what is meant by
being an un-forgiven sinner. It means that a man has the anger of the Almighty
God resting upon him. It means that the creature
weak
helpless
dependent
is
at enmity with the Creator
without whose aid he cannot draw a breath
move a
limb
live a moment. It means that the word of the True is solemnly plighted to
destroy him: that the power of the Almighty is solemnly engaged to destroy him.
It means that he is one of those
concerning whom God has declared that when
they leave this world
they must enter into a place of infinite and never
ending woe and wretchedness; and there dwell through eternity still under the
burden of His wrath. That is what is meant by being a sinner
not forgiven; it
means that everything is wrong! And what is meant by being forgiven? It means
that everything that was wrong before
is now set right. It means that
everything that was ban before
is now made good. It means that God
before an
enemy
is now a friend. It means that God
formerly the angry Judge
is now the
reconciled and gracious
Father. It moans that God’s true word
formerly
plighted to destroy us
and God s Almighty power
formerly engaged to destroy
us
are now plighted and engaged to preserve and bless us.
III. God is the only
being who can forgive
in the large and full sense of that word. Yell will
remember
when I say this
the remark of the Scribes and Pharisees when our
Saviour told a certain man that his sins were forgiven: they said
“This man
blasphemeth: who can forgive sins but God only?” And they said what was true
if Christ had been a mere man. No one but God can forgive sin. And it is quite
easy to show you how and why it is so. For
you know quite well
an offence can
be forgiven only by the person against whom it was committed. Now all sin is in
its essential nature
something committed against God; and therefore it can
only be forgiven by God. There is a striking illustration in Scripture of this
great truth
that sin especially consists in wrong done to God--that its great
aggravation consists in this--and that when the conscience is awakened
the
thing that weighs most heavy on a man s heart is
that he has sinned against
God.
IV. Prayer is the
way to obtain the forgiveness of sins. You see Solomon looked forward to days
when sinful beings should
under the consciousness of guilt
employ the natural
and recognised means for getting that guilt forgiven. He took it for granted
that when men felt they needed forgiveness
they would pray to God to forgive
them: and so he himself
in anticipation of very many prayers which would be
offered for pardon
says
“Hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling-place; and when
Thou hearest
forgive.” But indeed it is so plain that when you want anything
from God
the right way to get it is to ask for it: this is so completely the
dictate of common sense
that the matter needs no enforcement or illustration.
(A. K. H. Boyd.)
Possibility of the soul’s recovery
If Kant emphasised the starry heavens and the moral law
if Daniel
Webster emphasised the thought of personal responsibility to God
Hawthorne
believed the greatest thought that can occupy the human mind is the thought of
justice and its retributive workings through conscience. Doubtless there are a
thousand problems that compete for the attention of youth; but for men grown
mature and strong life offers no more momentous question than this: Can the
soul
injured by temptation and scarred by sin
ever recover its pristine
strength and beauty? Is there no place of recovery
though men seek it long
with tears? “I do not know
” answers the old Greek
“I do not know that God has
any right to forgive sin.” But Dante
having affirmed that man cannot forgive
himself
thinks that sin may be consumed
and therefore makes the transgressor
walk up a stairway of red-hot marble that pain may consume his iniquities.
Hawthorns felt that somewhere life holds a fountain divine for cleansing the
dust from the soul’s wing. Therefore
at the very gates of the jail into which
the prisoner enters
Hawthorne makes a rose-bush grow
with thorns indeed to
typify the sharp pains that society inflicts upon the wrong-doer
but with
blossoms
too
offering fragrance to the prisoner as he goes in
and suggesting
that if the petals fall through the frosts of to-day
these falling petals
passing into the roots will reappear in me richer blossoms of to-morrow. As if
another life might recover the disasters of this; as if
no matter what man’s
harshness
great nature and nature’s God hold a wide
deep pity that can atone
forgive
and save. (N. A. Hillis
D. D.)
Verse 33-34
When Thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy.
Thy people England
I. The conditions
of national unity. When any one desires to understand what is meant by a
nation
he had better look unto God’s people Israel first of all
for they
fulfilled the two great conditions of national unity. The first is faith in
God
and no nation has ever risen to greatness
and no nation
having arisen
has ever maintained its greatness except so far as it believed in--and publicly
as a nation
and privately by individuals--acknowledged Almighty God. There is
this analogy between the individual and the nation
that an individual is not
able to say “I
” with any intelligence of what “I” means
except in God; and an
individual is not able to say “I will
” with any force in the will
except in
God. It is in the Unseen and Eternal that we realise ourselves. The other
condition of national unity with Israel was vocation. Therefore the prophets
were perpetually telling the people that their fathers had been called and
blessed not for their own sake--and there is no man ever blessed for his own
sake
but for the sake of the man that is next him--that their fathers had not
been called and blessed for their own sake
but for the sake of the world. They
were the receptors of a Revelation
and received the touch of truth to pass it
down from hand to hand
and every man to blow it brighter as it went from
patriarch to prophet
from prophet to psalmist
from psalmist to martyr
till
the day came when the nation could be sent out
each man a torch-bearer
unto
the ends of the earth
carrying the light of eternal truth.
II. A message of
righteousness. What was the message they were to carry to the world? The
message they were to carry to the world was righteousness. As the Greek was
raised up of God to give us the sense of beauty
so was the Jew raised up to
give us what is far better than beauty
the sense of righteousness; and to
write the ten words of Moses upon the conscience of the individual and the
conscience of the nation. Comes then the question: Is there any nation to-day
that has
as it were
succeeded to a great and world-wide mission
and a
mission of the same practical and ethical nature as that which God gave to His
people Israel? Is there any nation that has been secluded in its island home
and guarded round from other people so that the invader could not touch it; is
there any nation that within its own home
being men of mixed blood
has
gradually been welded together by common human sympathy and common faith in
God; is there any nation that has gradually been led into a fuller sense of the
truth of God; into political
and religious
and social liberty; is there any
nation whose ordered and beneficent freedom is the admiration of every people
of its enemies and friends alike? Finally
is there any nation whose members
have gone unto the ends of the earth
and wherever they have gone have been
able to teach
to govern
to give justice unto the nations placed under their
charge? There is only one nation of whom these things can be said; only one
nation with whose history you can draw out this analogy to Israel
and that is
the English people. Ought we not to ask ourselves whether as a nation--and
having had this great favour of the Eternal--whether
as a nation we have borne
ourselves like the servant of God? In one--in perhaps the most tender and
beautiful passage in all the Old Testament
Isaiah 53:1-12.
there is a description of God s servant
which is supposed by some
to be the Messiah
by some to be God’s people Israel; but the mark of Him is
not only that He is the means of great blessing to the world
but His humility
His tenderness
His sympathy
His lowliness. Have we been
as a nation
courteous to foreign nations
as we go by individuals through their midst? Have
we
in our Literature and in our tress
always done justice to foreign peoples
and never blown our trumpet
our brazen trumpet
loudly in their faces? Is our
character such--the character which we have earned through centuries such--that
a foreigner will at once appreciate the goodness that is in us?
III. The sin of
materialism. The other sin which we always realise in a national crisis is the
sin of Materialism
which also greatly beset Israel. While Israel was a handful
of farmers
Israel was more or less spiritual. When Israel became rich and
increased in goods
you have only to read the prophets to note how the race for
wealth entered
and the power of the rich and the suffering of the poor made an
unhappy and miserable nation. We have grown rich
and I am told--though you
know better about these things than I do--that we were never richer than at the
present day. Rich in goods? I pray you to define goods; and when we define
goods
how are they defined? I think it is the money in the savings bank
which
is very good so far as it represents thrift and intelligence; and the railways
which we have made
which represent enterprise and the development of the
country; these things and many other things. But these in themselves are not
the goods of a nation. No
not exports and imports
and population and
money--these are not the goods of a nation. The goods of a nation are its
intelligence; the goods of a nation are its integrity; the goods of a nation are
its charity; the goods of a nation are its high and just spirit before God.
Wherefore be not too lifted up
but let us remember this
that if our nation
ever decay
it will not be from any power from without
or any unfaithfulness
on the part of our God. It will be because some men have too much money
and
some other people-have too little; and the west end of a city is one place
and
the east end is another
and the west and the east they come not together. (J.
Watson
D. D.)
Verse 53
For Thou didst separate them.
Solomon’s plea
I. The fact.
“Thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth.”
1. That separation
commenced in the eternal purpose of God. Or ever the earth was He had set apart
unto Himself a people whom He looked upon in the glass of His foreknowledge
and viewed with infinite affection.
2. This first act
of separation was followed up by a distinct act of grace
in which the chosen
were given over to the Lord Jesus Christ. “Thine they were
” says Jesus
“and
Thou gavest them Me.”
3. So far the
separation is hidden from us
but what is hidden in the purpose in due time
develops itself in the event
for all the people of God are at the proper moment
called out by effectual caning
and in this way they are separated from among
the people of the world.
4. Believers
become separate from the hour of their conversion by possessing a new nature.
5. The
separateness of the believer tomes out in his life.
6. There shall be
a final separation by and by when the wheat shall be gathered into the garner
and the tares cast into the oven
when the great Shepherd shall come and set
His sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left. Oh
in that day of final
separation
may we be found among those of whom He has said
“They shall be
Mine in the day when I make up My jewels.”
II. The design.
What has the Lord aimed at by separating His people from among men?
1. The text tens
us: “to be Thine inheritance.” God has made choice of a people who are to be
called “the Lord’s portion
the lot of His inheritance
” by which is meant that
He would have a peculiar interest in them.
2. A man when he
takes anything to be his inheritance expects to have it used for his own purposes.
3. A man will
generally take up his abode in the spot which he has selected to be specially
his own. “For the Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This
is My rest for ever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it.”
4. In a man’s
inheritance He takes His delight. “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is
mighty; He will save
He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His
love
He will joy over thee with singing.”
5. When a man
takes a portion to be his inheritance he means never to give it up.
III. A Plea. If you
have realised that you are separated to belong to the Lord
this is a plea; and
the plea applies in prayer to all your trials. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Detachment from the world through attachment to Christ
The first duty is to attach ourselves
detachment comes
afterwards. The chrysalis covering in which the butterfly was imprisoned only
breaks and falls away when the insect’s wings have grown--it is by opening that
these burst their melancholy integuments. We only begin to detach ourselves
from the world when we have learned to know something of a better. Till then we
are capable of disappointment and weariness which are not detachment. (The
Twofold Life.)
Verse 55
And
he stood
and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice.
The king
“blessing” his people
The
great ceremonial of dedicating the temple was threefold. The first stage was setting the ark
in its place
which was the essence of the whole thing. God’s presence was the
true dedication
and that was manifested by the bright cloud that filled the
sanctuary as soon as the ark was placed there. The second stage was the lofty
and spiritual prayer
saturated with the language and tone of Deuteronomy
and
breathing the purest conceptions of the character and nature of God
and all
aglow with trust in Him. Then follows
thirdly
this “Blessing of the
Congregation.”
1. Note the thankful retrospect of the nation’s past (verse 56).
2. Note the prayer for obedient hearts (verses 57
58). The proper
subject-matter of this petition is “that He may incline our hearts to walk in
His ways
” and God’s presence is invoked as a means thereto. The deepest desire
of a truly religious soul is for the felt nearness of God. That goes before all
other blessings
and contains them all But Solomon desires that God may be with
him and his people for one specific purpose. As in his choice in his dream
so
now
he asks
not for these things
but for an inward influence on heart and
will. What he wants most for himself and them is moral conformity to God’s
will. All will be
right if that be right. The prayer implies that
without God’s help
the heart
will wander from the paths of duty.
3. Note the prayer for God’s defence (verses 59
60). The proper
subject-matter of this petition is that God would maintain the cause of king
and nation; and it is preceded by a petition that
to that end
the long former
prayer may be answered
and is followed by the desire that thereby the
knowledge of God may fill the earth. The prayer for outward blessings comes
after the prayer for inward heart-obedience. Note the grand aim of God’s help
of Israel--the universal diffusion of His name among all the peoples of the
earth. Solomon understood the Divine vocation of Israel
and had risen above
desiring blessings only for his own or his subjects’ sake. God’s choice of
Israel was not meant for the exclusion of the Gentiles
but as the means of
transmitting the knowledge of God to them. The one nation was chosen that God’s grace might fructify
through them to all. The fire was gathered into a hearth
that the whole house
might be warmed.
4. The blessing ends with one brief
all-comprehensive charge to the
people
which seems based
by its “therefore
” on the preceding thought of
Jehovah as the only God. The only attitude corresponding to His sole and
supreme Majesty is the entire devotion of the heart
which leads to
thorough-going obedience to His commandments. We
too
are tempted to bring Him
divided hearts
and to carry some of our love and trust as offerings at other
shrines. But if there be one God
and none other but He
then to serve Him with
all our hearts and strength and mind is the dictate of common sense
and the
only course which He can accept
or which can bring our else distracted natures
peace and satisfaction. His voice to us is
My son
give Me thy whole heart.
Our answer to Him should ever be that prayer
“Lord unite my heart to fear Thy
name.” (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
Verses 57-60
The Lord our
God be with us
as He was with our fathers.
The travail of the ages
This text
plants us on the border-line between two generations. A king was dead. A king
was born. Only a heart-throb divided the two reigns
but within the secrecy of
that moment a new age began to be. Our text stations us at a point where
with
dramatic impressiveness
we witness the onward march of time
sweeping past and
burying in shadow the workers of yesterday; creating fresh conditions
calling
out new men
commissioning advanced endeavour
for the day that is to be.. But
the text erects for us a higher platform. It lifts our thought to the Eternal
and plants us by the ageless throne. It speaks to us of our God
our fathers’
God
the God of ages. The very name works magic
and lifts us above the
fleeting shadows of time and sense. Earth with its grinding effort and its
vanishing forms
with its intermittent lights and shifting scenes
fades into
mist beneath us. Our souls are loosed. Upward we pass into the white radiance
of eternity. Time knows no succession. Space surpasses measurement. Progress is
a heightening consciousness without the undulations of effort or the tide-marks
of accumulation. Motion is rest. Life is an eternal joy
in which all memory
and all hope centralise in a present of infinite peace. Boundless and
changeless is the vision. And suffusing it all
constituting it all
is God
our
God
our fathers’ God
the God of ages. We think of Him as surpassing the
limits of past or future. But the text affords us still another platform. It
has shown us man
the shifting. It has unveiled God
the Eternal. Now it passes
into petition
and reveals subtle links of love and purpose joining God above
to men beneath
and throwing a chain of union across the moving ages. The
Eternal fills and saves the temporal. The nations and epochs of a fading life
are united in origin and destiny. The children of a day are made sons of God.
And that vision is best and brightest of all. God is shown in contact with man.
He was with our fathers. He is to be with us. His heart feels. His power obeys
His love. Heaven enswathes earth. God in very truth dwells with men. The
Eternal becomes the Gracious. The Strong becomes the Worshipful. But if this
revelation is necessary to God’s praise
it is not less needful to man’s
uplifting. The mere lateral outlook on life has in it the germs of all despair.
“That way madness lies.” Ill were it for any man to dwell long on the sight of
swift-declining generations
till he has learned to link them with a stable
purpose and a noble destiny. Time must be looked at from eternity. Man can only
be seen as we stand close by God. History is an enigma and a despair till we
read its pages under the lamps of the light eternal. And under those lamps we
stand to-day. The light is dimmed by many an earth-cast shadow. Round and above
us sweeps the purple haze of mystery. Such are the three outlooks of the text.
They are instinct with an atmosphere which is favourable to my purpose. I am to
speak to the new generation. I am to commend to young men and maidens the tasks
which come from vanished hands
or hands now failing for lack of strength; to stir
in them the sense of kinship to the travail of humanity; to create or to revive
that zeal for Christ which is the service of man; and to arouse ambition to
help the weary ages to the issue of their pain. Where better could I ask them
to meet and meditate than amid these outlooks?
I. Achievement. That word is capable of two meanings. In one sense it
suggests something absolutely completed; not only work well done
but so done
as to overtake all necessity and leave nothing to be added. With that
significance we gratefully apply the word to the great facts and provisions of
religion
and supremely to that central sacrifice by which Christ offered
Himself once for all to put away sin. The gospel is an achievement in the
absolute sense; there is no more sacrifice for sin--it is finished--and the
last age no more than the first can add to its efficacy or dispense with its
grace. But there is another and equally admissible use of this word. It is
spoken approximately to denote stages of accomplishment and single steps of
progress. In this sense only can we apply it to the upward toil of the ages.
Man has finished nothing. He has cleared primeval forests of difficulty
and
dug out many a vein of silver thought
and quarried goodly stones of
excellence
and made the trenches and laid the foundations for noble structures
he had seen in dreams. But he never finished anything. It was not his business
to complete. Alas for us if it had been! Imagine a civilisation
an educational
system
a political standard
a social ideal
a compact religion
completed
once for all by Aaron or Isaiah
by John Knox or Oliver Cromwell! No. It was
not their business to finish things
--theirs to contribute to the one toil of
progress
to add to the slow structure of humanity. But in that sense they
bequeathed achievements. Behind us lie armies of heroes and centuries of toil.
Had they not been
and been what they were
we were not here to-day. We do well
to recall their memory. Augustine
patiently erecting his city of God as an
ideal of the new home in which the new humanity might dwell; Anselm
silent
profound
meek of heart
looking with fixed gaze and reverent soul into
universal questions that have no certain answers; Melancthon
the man of brave
and gentle spirit
possessed of piercing insight and persuasive speech
abler
perhaps to see than to do
yet an architect who made the builder possible;
Luther
inspired of God to man’s much-needed service
a man of lion heart and
iron will
the executor of Europe’s prayers and God’s purposes
the father of
our new liberty because the saviour of our ancient faith. These are they who
have done God’s work and lifted humanity into a fairer heritage. From them have
we sprung. To them we owe all. Our age has outgrown theirs. In many directions
our faiths and outlooks have advanced and broadened. But it is on the
foundations which they laid that we have been able to build.
II. Succession. Achievements
as we have seen
grow from age to age.
But the workers are taken. The generations move onward with ceaseless change.
Abraham had been and was not. David did a big day’s work and then slept with
his fathers. Fresh faces greet us as we travel each mile through history. New
voices take up the old-time song. It was ever thus. God’s work needs many
workmen
and workmen oft renewed. No man
no age
is allowed to stay on. There
was one Melchizedek whose presence spanned a longer time; but men know nothing
of him
and his like was not repeated. There was one Methuselah who measured
years as days
who lived as long as many a dynasty; but he did nothing in
particular
and was not made a copy. No age can do God’s whole work
so He puts
ages in succession. No man can do more than a set portion
so God is ever
sending fresh men. God’s method of rejuvenescence is not to dip an old man in a
stream which renews his youth
nor to mix for him an elixir to wing away his
years. It is the spring-time method of rejuvenescence which sends fresh leaves
upon the ancient tree. But there is another point to note in this succession. The
generations are made to overlap each other. Not at one fell moment does one age
go and another come.. Every hour men die. Every hour men are born. The change
proceeds silently
. and secretly. God enables the succeeding ages to clasp
hands. He has so
ordered it that the lessons of experience shall wait upon the
untried energies of youth. Ours to-day is this glory of inheritance
this
solemn duty of broad human service. Do we perceive? Have we considered? Are we
ready? The time is short. We must soon make room for others. What shall the
record mark when our day is done! Shall its increase of wealth measure a
decrease in heroism
godliness
humanity? Shall its more accessible means of
life end in the loss of all that makes life worth living? Because our age has
discovered the path to a new and swifter possession of what life can give
are
we to allow our larger place to degenerate into a bog of barren selfishness?
God forbid.
III. Progress. Solomon not only followed David
he increased upon him.
The ages have not only come in succession
but with steady improvement. Isaiah
the prophet was more and better than Jephthah the judge. Paul the apostle was
of higher capacity and nobler mission than Solomon the king. In this sense
history
controlled by providence
has ever moved up as it has pressed on.
Succession
spoken of highest things
carries with it the idea of advancement.
A horse is not a successor; he is a repetition. Anatomists will tell you that
even in a horse there is development; but the most searching study will show
you only modifications of a function and adaptations of a limb. A horse is as
horses have been--a repetition. But the world was not made for horses
nor for
repetitions
else Christ had never supplanted Adam
nor our fair English piety
the iron paganism of Rome. Progress marks the ages
and still must mark our
time. But what do we mean by progress? There are some things we cannot move
from. Would you call that world progressive that broke away from the sun? Would
you call that man progressive who in his business repudiated the principles of
arithmetic? That word “progress” needs guarding by careful definition.
Progress
as the cry of a party
is often the emptiest of all hypocrisies.
Progress with some men is only a euphemism for that excitable restlessness
which is ever seeking change. But it is not in such sense we speak of progress.
That is not progress which leads us away from the fixed sources of spiritual
energy. The modern locomotive presents a remarkable advance upon the gaunt
machine which first did duty in drawing a train; but it depends on the same
force and is governed by obedience to the same laws. Progress does not mean the
repudiation of ancient force
but its fuller recognition. And progress can mean
nothing else in the spiritual advancement of mankind. Christ was more and
better than Moses
had a larger message to speak and a grander work to do; but
He came from the same God
and in the same God found His inspiration. The
modern teacher of religion presents an interpretation of truth and duty which
distances a great stride from early or medieval instruction; but the foundation
is the same
and by the same Spirit does he accomplish his task. And because
Christ is the “fulness of the Godhead
” our progress must be on Him
not
from Him.
IV. Solidarity. The ages are many and fleeting; the race is one and
permanent. The work is partial and progressive; the purpose and the goal are
ever the same. David departs and Solomon comes
but humanity remains. One age
reforms
another consolidates
but the work is one. “The individual withers
and the world is more and more.” And as in destiny so in interest are all men
joined. Humanity was made for God: only in God can it find the solution of its
problems and the realisation of its dreams. And we shall best help to its issue
the pain of progress by first giving ourselves to God
and then by striving to
set in right relation to God the weary hearts of men and the multiplied
interests of mankind. (C. A. Berry.)
Prayer for the New Year
I. The need that suggested the prayer.
II. The faith that prompted the prayer.
III. The love that dictated the prayer.
IV. The hope that inspired the prayer
V. The memories that sustained the prayer. (F. W. Brown.)
Verse 59
At all times
as the matter shall require.
A good practice for the New Year
But the marginal and more literal rendering of the last clause is
“as the thing of a day in its day shall require.”
I. Living by the
day
as the thing of a day in each day shall require
will wholesomely remind
us of our dependence upon God. We are dependent upon God
whether we think of
it or not. It is a good thing to think of it. When we think of things in bulk
we are not so apt to recognise the giver as when we think of things piecemeal.
Just take the days thoughtlessly
in bulk
and you will not be apt much to
recognise God as the Giver of them. But take each day
as it really is
as a
special gift from God’s gracious hand
and such separating
piecemeal thought
of the days will necessarily breed in you a feeling of dependence upon the God
who gives the days. And this feeling of dependence as you take each day as a
separate gift from God will prompt you to much nobleness.
1. To prayer concerning
each day.
2. To attempt at
loftier living in each day.
3. To flushing the
service that each day brings with the religious colour of the motive--for the
sake of God.
II. Living by the
day
as the thing of a day in each day shall require
will deliver us from
foreboding.
III. Living by the
day
as the thing of a day in each day shall require
will best help us to
vanquish the duties of each day and so all the duties of the new year which
will be made up of days. “I’m no hero; I’m just a regular
” said an officer of
the army. What he meant was that it was not in his profession to be a man
spectacular and of spasms; that he must steadily do whatever his country called
for
whether the great
resounding thing or the small: This is what we all need
to be--not searchers after the heroic
but just regulars
ready for service
lofty or lowly
as it may come. And the way to do it is to do each day as the
thing of the day in each day shall require. There is nothing so discouraging
perplexing
preventing
as a herd of undone duties rushing pellmell into
to-day
which duties ought to have been finished in the days gone.
IV. The best way to
overcome a bad habit is to overcome it by the day.
V. We shall best
keep our loyalty to our Lord and to His Church as we keep it by the day. I
cannot be loyal to my Lord and His Church in a lump and all at once in this New
Year. I can only be thus loyal as each day brings its tests of loyalty
and I
answer to them
day by day
triumphantly. (W. Hoyt
D. D.)
The matter of a day in its day
Now
I think in the words “the matter of a day in its day” we may
see both a principle in reference to God’s gifts
and a precept in reference to
our actions. Just let us look at these two things.
I. A principle in
reference to God’s gifts. Life comes to us pulsation by pulsation
breath by
breath
by reason of the continual operation
in the material world
of the
present God’s present giving. He does not start us
at the beginning of our
days
with a fund of physical vitality upon which we thereafter draw
but
moment by moment He opens His hand
and lets life and breath and all things
flow out to us moment by moment so that no creature would live for an instant
except for the present working of a present God. If we only realised how the
slow pulsation of the minutes is due to the touch of His finger on the
pendulum
and how everything that we have
and the existence of us who have it
are results of the continuous welling out from the fountain of life
of ripple
after ripple of the waters
everything would be sacreder
and solemner
and
fuller of God than
alas! it is. But the true region in which we may best find
illustrations of this principle in reference to God’s gifts is in the region of
the spiritual and moral bestowments that He in His love pours upon us. He does
not flood us with them; He filters them drop by drop
for great and good
reasons. Let me lust quote three various forms of this one great thought.
1. God gives us
gifts adapted to the moment. “The matter of a day
” the thing fitted for the
instant
comes. In deepest reality
it is all one gift
for in truth what God
gives to us is Himself; or
if you like to put it so
His grace.
2. He never gives
us the wrong medicine. Whatever variety of circumstances we stand in
there
in
that one infinitely simple and yet infinitely complex gift
is what we
specially want at the moment.
3. God gives
punctually. Peter is lying in prison. Herod intends
after the Passover
to
bring him out to the people. The scaffolding is ready. The first watch of the
night passes
and the second. If once it is fairly light
escape is impossible.
But in the grey dawn the angel touches the sleeper. He gets safe behind Mary’s
door before it is light enough for the jailers to discover his absence and the
pursuers to be started in their search. “The Lord shall help her
and that
right early”--“the matter of a day in its day.”
4. Again
God
gives gifts enough
and not more than enough. He serves out our rations
for
spirit as for body
as they do on ship-board
where the sailors have to take
their pots and plates to the galley every day
and every meal
and get enough
to help them over the moment’s hunger.
So all the variety of our changeful conditions
besides its
purpose of disciplining ourselves
and of making character
has also the
purpose of affording a theatre for the display
if I may use such cold
language--or rather
let me say
affording an opportunity for the
bestowment--of the infinitely varied
exquisitely adapted
punctual
and
sufficient grace of God.
1. Of course
we
have to look ahead
and in reference to many things to take prudent forecasts
but how many of us there are who weaken ourselves
and spoil to-day by being
“over-exquisite to cast the fashion of uncertain evils.” It is a great piece of
practical philosophy
and I am sure it has a great deal to do with our getting
the best out of the present moment
that we should either take very short or
very long views of the future.
2. Again I say
let us fill each day with discharged duties. If you and I do not do the matter
of the day in its day
the chances are that no to-morrow will afford an
opportunity of doing it. So there will come upon us all
if we are unfaithful
to this portioning out of tasks to times
that burden of an irrevocable past
and of the omitted duties that will stand reproving and condemning before us
whensoever we turn our eyes to them.
3. I would say
keep open a continual communion with God
that day by day you may get what day
by day you need. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
Content to see only the inch
I want to give my readers a little counsel which I think is not
sufficiently emphasised. We frequently hear advice as to the wisdom of looking
far enough ahead
and of taking the broad view of things. Everybody counsels
the telescopic vision
but not everybody advises the vigilant use of the
microscope. Now I want to urge the long vision for the sake of the short one.
All true looking into distance should aid us to a better discernment of what is
immediate. There is an old belief in the North of England that our eyes are
strengthened by gazing into deep wells. Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote home
to his father from Paris: “I am lonely and sick and out of heart
but I still
believe. I still see the good in the inch and cling to it!” That is the kind of
sight I want to encourage. Cultivate the eyes which see the good in the inch
and this kind of sight is obtained by peering into the infinite. I was once
talking to an old resident on the shores of Westmoreland
and was somewhat
lamenting the blackness of the beach at that particular spot. It seemed as
though it were thickly coated with coal-dust. The old man replied: “Have you
ever stooped down
sir
and looked closely at the spot? You will find it
crowded with exquisite shells.” I found it was as the old man said. To gaze
upon the whole shore was to be oppressed with the sense of blackness and dirt.
To gaze at the inch was to find most exquisite treasure. Let us first of all
contemplate our God
and then with our strengthened eyes gaze at the inch that
is nearest to us
and I think we shall find many of the treasures of grace.
This inch of disappointment
this little patch of sorrow
this space of
adversity--let them be looked at with microscopic intensity
and we shall find
that in the darkness the Lord has hidden jewels of rare price. (Hartley
Aspen.)
Verses 62-66
Verse 66
On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the
king.
The earthly fellowship of the good
I. The fellowship
of the good on earth is imperfect. Secular concerns
physical infirmities
incongruities of mind
temper
education
worldly condition
and other
circumstances
expose it to interruption. “On the eighth day he sent the people
away.” Follow them in imagination. Some go south to Bethlehem
and Hebron
and
Libah; some to the east
to the pleasant vales of the Jordan
etc.
II. The fellowship
of the good on earth tends to the promotion of all good feeling.
1. Increased attachment to those who are over them in the Lord. “And
they blessed the king” (1 Peter 2:13-17).
2. Increased sympathy with
and delight in the work of God. “Joyful
and glad of heart
for
” etc. No petty jealousies
no sectarian strifes
no
proud boasting. The tribes are lost in “ Israel.” Solomon and David are one.
“The Lord” is “all in all.” What a lesson to Christians.
3. Increased aptitude for the service of God in their several houses.
They seem to have had a deep sense of the transitoriness of earthly things.
“Went unto their tents.” The word stands for houses. It had come down from the
time of the patriarchs. Would suggest the thought
“we are pilgrims. What are
our houses
and the fabric of our families
the organisations of our churches
but tents?” (Hebrews 12:27-28).
III. The fellowship
of the good on earth prophesies of a more perfect and enduring fellowship
hereafter.
1. More perfect. No distractions
no weariness
no incongruities
nothing to mar or interrupt the universal harmony.
2. More enduring. All things earthly are transitory. The sweetest song must come to
an end
the pleasantest book must be laid aside
the most endearing
“fellowship
” etc. Not so hereafter. In heaven there is no sending away. (William
Forsyth.)
The afterwards of Divine worship
“After the worship of the Lord’s Day
and especially after the
Lord’s Supper
we should continue in devotion
and make the whole day a
post-communion. As civet boxes retain their scent when the civet is taken out
so
when the act of visible communion is over
our thoughts and discourse and
actions should still savour of the solemnity. Certainly it is an argument of
much weakness to be all for flashes and sudden starts. This retaining of their
perfume by boxes and drawers in which sweet scents have been placed is a
fragrant figure of the abiding nature of grace in a heart wherein it has once
been stored up. II ordinances yield the influence designed by them
their
savour will remain in our lives. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》