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1
Chronicles Chapter One
1 Chronicles 1
Chapter Contents
Genealogies
Adam to Abraham. (1-27) The descendants of
Abraham. (28-54)
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 1:1-27
(Read 1 Chronicles 1:1-27)
This chapter
and many that follow
repeat the
genealogies
or lists of fathers and children in the Bible history
and put
them together
with many added. When compared with other places
there are some
differences found; yet we must not therefore stumble at the word
but bless God
that the things necessary to salvation are plain enough. The original of the
Jewish nation is here traced from the first man that God created
and is
thereby distinguished from the obscure
fabulous
and absurd origins assigned
to other nations. But the nations now are all so mingled with one another
that
no one nation
nor the greatest part of any
is descended entirely from any of
one nation
nor the greatest part of any
is descended entirely from any of
these fountains. Only this we are sure of
that God has created of one blood
all nations of men; they are all descended from one Adam
one Noah. Have we not
all one father? Has not one God created us? Malachi 2:10.
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 1:28-54
(Read 1 Chronicles 1:28-54)
The genealogy is from hence confined to the posterity of
Abraham. Let us take occasion from reading these lists of names
to think of
the multitudes that have gone through this world
have done their parts in it
and then quitted it. As one generation
even of sinful men
passes away
another comes. Ecclesiastes 1:4; Numbers 32:14
and will do so
while the earth remains. Short is our passage through time into eternity. May
we be distinguished as the Lord's people.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Chronicles》
1 Chronicles 1
Verse 1
[1]
Adam
Sheth
Enosh
Sheth —
Adam begat Sheth: and so in the following particulars. For brevity sake he only
mentions their names; but the rest is easily understood out of the former
books. This appears as the peculiar glory of the Jewish nation
that they alone
were able to trace their pedigree from the first man that God created
which no
other nation pretended to
but abused themselves and their posterity with
fabulous accounts of their originals: the people of Thessaly fancying that they
sprang from stones
the Athenians
that they grew out of the earth.
Verse 5
[5] The sons of Japheth; Gomer
and Magog
and Madai
and Javan
and Tubal
and Meshech
and Tiras.
The sons of Japheh —
The historian repeating the account of the replenishing the earth by the sons
of Noah
begins with those that were strangers to the church
the sons of
Japheth
who peopled Europe
of whom he says little
as the Jews had hitherto
little or no dealings with them. He proceeds to those that had many of them
been enemies to the church
and thence hastens to the line of Abraham
breaking
off abruptly from all the other families of the sons of Noah
but that of
Arphaxad
from whom Christ was to come. The great promise of the Messiah was
transmitted from Adam to Seth
from him to Shem
from him to Eber
and so to
the Jewish nation
who were intrusted above all nations with that sacred
treasure
'till the promise was performed
and the Messiah was come: and then
that nation was made not a people.
Verse 14
[14] The
Jebusite also
and the Amorite
and the Girgashite
The Jebusite —
The names which follow until verse 17
are not the names of particular persons
but
of people or nations. And all these descended from Canaan
though some of them
were afterwards extinct or confounded with others of their brethren by
cohabitation or mutual marriages
whereby they lost their names: which is the
reason why they are no more mentioned
at least under these names.
Verse 17
[17] The
sons of Shem; Elam
and Asshur
and Arphaxad
and Lud
and Aram
and Uz
and
Hul
and Gether
and Meshech.
The sons —
Either the name of sons is so taken here as to include grandsons
or
these
words
the children of Aram
are understood before Uz
out of Genesis 10:23
where they are expressed.
Verse 18
[18] And Arphaxad begat Shelah
and Shelah begat Eber.
Begat —
Either immediately
or mediately by his son Cainan
who is expressed
Luke 3:35.
Verse 19
[19] And
unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his
days the earth was divided: and his brother's name was Joktan.
Divided — In
their languages and habitations.
Verse 24
[24]
Shem
Arphaxad
Shelah
Arphaxad —
Having given a brief and general account of the original of the world and the
people in it
he now returns to a more large and particular account of the
genealogy of Shem
from whom the Jews were descended.
Verse 28
[28] The
sons of Abraham; Isaac
and Ishmael.
The sons of Abraham —
All nations but the seed of Abraham are already shaken off from this genealogy.
Not that we conclude
no particular persons of any other nation but this found
favour with God. Multitudes will be brought to heaven out of every nation
and
we may hope there were many
very many people in the world
whose names were in
the book of life
tho' they did not spring from the loins of Abraham.
Verse 36
[36] The
sons of Eliphaz; Teman
and Omar
Zephi
and Gatam
Kenaz
and Timna
and Amalek.
Timna —
There is another Timna
the concubine of Eliphaz
Genesis 36:12
but this was one of his sons
though called by the same name; there being some names common both to men and
women in the Hebrew and in other languages.
Verse 38
[38] And
the sons of Seir; Lotan
and Shobal
and Zibeon
and Anah
and Dishon
and
Ezer
and Dishan.
Seir —
One of another nation
prince of the Horims; whose genealogy is here described
because of that affinity which was contracted between his and Esau's posterity;
and those who were not united and incorporated with them
were destroyed by
them. See Deuteronomy 2:12.
Verse 54
[54] Duke
Magdiel
duke Iram. These are the dukes of Edom.
These are the dukes of Edom — Let us
in reading these genealogies
think of the multitudes that have
gone thro' the world
have successively acted their parts in it
and retired
into darkness. All these and all theirs had their day; many of them made a
mighty noise in the world; until their day came to fall
and their place knew
them no more. The paths of death are trodden paths. How soon are we to tread
them?
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Chronicles》
01 Chapter 1
Verses 1-54
Adam
Sheth
Enosh.
Israelite descent
Israel was Jehovah’s chosen people
His son
to whom special
privileges were guaranteed by solemn covenant. A man’s claim to share in this
covenant depended on his genuine Israelite descent
and the proof of such
descent was an authentic genealogy. In these chapters the chronicler has taken
infinite pains to collect pedigrees from all available sources and to construct
a complete set of genealogies exhibiting the lines of descent of the families
of Israel. These chapters
which seem to us so dry and useless
were probably regarded by the
chronicler’s contemporaries as the most important part of his work. The
preservation or discovery of a genealogy was almost a matter of life and death
(Ezra 2:61-63; Nehemiah 7:63-65). (W. H. Bennett
M.
A.)
Names
The first nine chapters contain the largest extant collection of
Hebrew names.
1. These names have an individual significance. A mere parish
register is not in itself attractive
but if we consider even such a list
the
very names interest us and kindle our imaginations. It is almost impossible to
linger in a country churchyard
reading the half-effaced inscriptions upon the
headstones
without forming some dim picture of the character and history and even
the outward semblance of the men and women who once bore the names. A name
implies the existence of a distinct personality. In its lists of what are now
mere names the Bible seems to recognise the dignity and sacredness of bare
human life.
2. These names have also a collective significance. They are typical
and representative--the names of kings and priests and captains; they sum up
the tribes of Israel
both as a Church and a nation
down all the generations
of its history.
3. The meanings of names reveal the ideas of the people who used
them. “The Hebrew names bear important testimony to the peculiar vocation of
this nation. No nation of antiquity has such a proportion of names of religious
import.” The Old Testament contains more than a hundred etymologies of personal
names
most of which attach a religious meaning to the words explained.
4. How far do these names help us to understand the spiritual life of
ancient Israel? The Israelites made constant use of El and Jehovah in their
names
and we have no parallel practice. Were they then so much more religious
than we are? Probably in a sense they were. Modern Englishman have developed a
habit of almost complete reticence and reserve on religious matters
and this
habit is illustrated by our choice of proper names.
5. According to the testimony of names
the Israelites’ favourite
ideas about God were that He heard
and knew
and remembered; that He was
gracious
and helped men and gave them gifts; they loved best to think of Him
as God the Giver. This is a foreshadowing of the Christian doctrines of grace
and of the Divine sovereignty. God hears and remembers and gives--what? All
that we have to say to Him and all that we are capable of receiving from Him. (W.
H. Bennett
M. A.)
The genealogies indicative of universal brotherhood
The existing races of the world are all traced back through Shem
Ham
and Japheth to Noah
and through him to Adam. The Israelites did not claim
like certain Greek clans
to be the descendants of a special god of their own
or
like the Athenians
to have sprung miraculously from sacred soft. Their
genealogies testified that not merely Israelite nature
but human nature
is
moulded on a Divine pattern. These apparently barren lists of names enshrine
the great principles of the universal brotherhood of man and the universal
Fatherhood of God. The opening chapters of Genesis and Chronicles are among the
foundations of the catholicity of the Church of Christ. (W. H. Bennett
M.
A.)
The genealogies and heredity
Each nation rightly regards its religious ideas and life and
literature as a precious inheritance peculiarly its own; and it should not be
too severely blamed for being ignorant that other nations have their
inheritance also. Such considerations largely justify the interest in heredity
shown by the chronicler’s genealogies. On the positive practical side religion
is largely a matter of heredity
and ought to be. The Christian sacrament of
baptism is a continued profession of this truth: our children are “clean”; they
are within the covenant of grace; we claim for them the privileges of the
Church to which we belong. This was also part of the meaning of the
genealogies. (W. H. Bennett
M. A.)
The genealogies: what we owe to the past
We are the creatures and debtors of the past
though we are slow
to own our obligations. We have nothing that we have not received; but we are
apt to consider ourselves self-made men
the architects and builders of our own
fortunes
who have the right to be self-satisfied
self-assertive
and selfish.
The heir of all the ages
in the full vigour of youth
takes his place in the
foremost ranks of time
and marches on in the happy consciousness of profound
and multifarious wisdom
immense resources
and magnificent opportunity. He
forgets
or even despises
the generations of labour and anguish that have
built up for him his great inheritance. The genealogies are a silent protest
against such insolent ingratitude. They remind us that in bygone days a man
derived his gifts and received his opportunities from his ancestors; they show
us men as the links in a chain
tenants for life
as it were
of our estate
called upon to pay back with interest to the future the debt which they have
incurred to the past. (W. H. Bennett
M. A.)
Genealogies as symbols of the solidarity of our race
The genealogies that set forth family histories are the symbols of
the brotherhood or solidarity of our race. The chart of converging lines of
ancestors in Israel carried men’s minds back from the separate families to
their common ancestor. As far as they go
the chronicler’s genealogies form a
clear and instructive diagram of the mutual dependence of men on men and family
on family. They are in any case a true symbol of the facts of family relations;
but they are drawn
so to speak
in one dimension only
backwards and forwards
in time. Yet the real family life exists in three dimensions. A man has not
merely his male ancestors in the directly ascending line--father
grandfather
great-grandfather
etc.
but he has female ancestors as well. By going back three or four
generations a man is connected with an immense number of cousins; and if the
complete network of ten or fifteen generations could be worked out
it would
probably show some blood bond throughout a whole nation. The further we go back
the larger is the element of ancestry common to the different individuals of
the same community. The chronicler’s genealogies only show us individuals as
links in a set of chains. The more complete genealogical scheme would be better
illustrated by the ganglia of the nervous system
each of which is connected by
numerous fibres with the other ganglia. Patriotism and humanity are instincts
as natural and as binding as those of the family; and the genealogies express
or symbolise the wider family ties
that they may commend the virtues and
enforce the duties that arise out of these ties. (W. H. Bennett
M. A.)
The antiquity and unity of man
Other nations have had more or less imperfect visions of ancient
history and of the unity of the race
but in the Bible alone do we find an
authoritative declaration made concerning the antiquity and unity of man and
the ultimate destiny of the human race. The Chaldeans had a tradition of ten
antediluvian patriarchs or kings. They made the duration of this first period of human
history four hundred and thirty-two thousand years. All other chronicles have
been bewildered by their polytheism
whereas in the Hebrew history we have all
the sublime unity which would seem to be necessitated by the monotheism of the
writers. They who believed in one God were likely to believe in one humanity.
Monotheism accounts for the two commandments which relate first to God
and then to man.
(J. Parker
D. D.)
Adam
Sheth
Enosh.
Israelite descent
Israel was
Jehovah’s chosen people
His son
to whom special privileges were guaranteed by
solemn covenant. A man’s claim to share in this covenant depended on his
genuine Israelite descent
and the proof of such descent was an authentic
genealogy. In these chapters the chronicler has taken infinite pains to collect
pedigrees from all available sources and to construct a complete set of
genealogies exhibiting the lines of descent of the families of Israel. These
chapters
which seem to us so dry and useless
were probably regarded by the
chronicler’s contemporaries as the most important part of his work. The
preservation or discovery of a genealogy was almost a matter of life and death
(Ezra 2:61-63; Nehemiah 7:63-65). (W. H. Bennett
M. A.)
Names
The first nine
chapters contain the largest extant collection of Hebrew names.
1. These names have an individual significance. A mere parish
register is not in itself attractive
but if we consider even such a list
the
very names interest us and kindle our imaginations. It is almost impossible to
linger in a country churchyard
reading the half-effaced inscriptions upon the
headstones
without forming some dim picture of the character and history and
even the outward semblance of the men and women who once bore the names. A name
implies the existence of a distinct personality. In its lists of what are now
mere names the Bible seems to recognise the dignity and sacredness of bare
human life.
2. These names have also a collective significance. They are typical
and representative--the names of kings and priests and captains; they sum up
the tribes of Israel
both as a Church and a nation
down all the generations
of its history.
3. The meanings of names reveal the ideas of the people who used
them. “The Hebrew names bear important testimony to the peculiar vocation of
this nation. No nation of antiquity has such a proportion of names of religious
import.” The Old Testament contains more than a hundred etymologies of personal
names
most of which attach a religious meaning to the words explained.
4. How far do these names help us to understand the spiritual life of
ancient Israel? The Israelites made constant use of El and Jehovah in their
names
and we have no parallel practice. Were they then so much more religious
than we are? Probably in a sense they were. Modern Englishman have developed a
habit of almost complete reticence and reserve on religious matters
and this
habit is illustrated by our choice of proper names.
5. According to the testimony of names
the Israelites’ favourite
ideas about God were that He heard
and knew
and remembered; that He was
gracious
and helped men and gave them gifts; they loved best to think of Him
as God the Giver. This is a foreshadowing of the Christian doctrines of grace
and of the Divine sovereignty. God hears and remembers and gives--what? All
that we have to say to Him and all that we are capable of receiving from Him. (W.
H. Bennett
M. A.)
The genealogies indicative
of universal brotherhood
The existing
races of the world
are all traced back through Shem
Ham
and Japheth to Noah
and through him to
Adam. The Israelites did not claim
like certain Greek clans
to be the
descendants of a special god of their own
or
like the Athenians
to have
sprung miraculously from sacred soft. Their genealogies testified that not
merely Israelite nature
but human nature
is moulded on a Divine pattern.
These apparently barren lists of names enshrine the great principles of the
universal brotherhood of man and the universal Fatherhood of God. The opening
chapters of Genesis and Chronicles are among the foundations of the catholicity
of the Church of Christ. (W. H. Bennett
M. A.)
The genealogies and
heredity
Each nation
rightly regards its religious ideas and life and literature as a precious
inheritance peculiarly its own; and it should not be too severely blamed for
being ignorant that other nations have their inheritance also. Such
considerations largely justify the interest in heredity shown by the
chronicler’s genealogies. On the positive practical side religion is largely a matter
of heredity
and ought to be. The Christian sacrament of baptism is a continued
profession of this truth: our children are “clean”; they are within the
covenant of grace; we claim for them the privileges of the Church to which we
belong. This was also part of the meaning of the genealogies. (W. H.
Bennett
M. A.)
The genealogies: what we
owe to the past
We are the
creatures and debtors of the past
though we are slow to own our obligations.
We have nothing that we have not received; but we are apt to consider ourselves
self-made men
the architects and builders of our own fortunes
who have the
right to be self-satisfied
self-assertive
and selfish. The heir of all the
ages
in the full vigour of youth
takes his place in the foremost ranks of
time
and marches on in the happy consciousness of profound and multifarious
wisdom
immense resources
and magnificent opportunity. He forgets
or even
despises
the generations of labour and anguish that have built up for him his
great inheritance. The genealogies are a silent protest against such insolent
ingratitude. They remind us that in bygone days a man derived his gifts and
received his opportunities from his ancestors; they show us men as the links in
a chain
tenants for life
as it were
of our estate
called upon to pay back
with interest to the future the debt which they have incurred to the past. (W.
H. Bennett
M. A.)
Genealogies as symbols of
the solidarity of our race
The genealogies
that set forth family histories are the symbols of the brotherhood or
solidarity of our race. The chart of converging lines of ancestors in Israel
carried men’s minds back from the separate families to their common ancestor.
As far as they go
the chronicler’s genealogies form a clear and instructive
diagram of the mutual dependence of men on men and family on family. They are
in any case a true symbol of the facts of family relations; but they are drawn
so to speak
in one dimension only
backwards and forwards in time. Yet the
real family life exists in three dimensions. A man has not merely his male
ancestors in the directly ascending line--father
grandfather
great-grandfather
etc.
but he has
female ancestors as well. By going back three or four generations a man is
connected with an immense number of cousins; and if the complete network of ten
or fifteen generations could be worked out
it would probably show some blood
bond throughout a whole nation. The further we go back the larger is the
element of ancestry common to the different individuals of the same community.
The chronicler’s genealogies only show us individuals as links in a set of
chains. The more complete genealogical scheme would be better illustrated by
the ganglia of the nervous system
each of which is connected by numerous
fibres with the other ganglia. Patriotism and humanity are instincts as natural
and as binding as those of the family; and the genealogies express or symbolise
the wider family ties
that they may commend the virtues and enforce the duties
that arise out of these ties. (W. H. Bennett
M. A.)
The antiquity and unity of
man
Other nations
have had more or less imperfect visions of ancient history and of the unity of
the race
but in the Bible alone do we find an authoritative declaration made
concerning the antiquity and unity of man and the ultimate destiny of the human
race. The Chaldeans had a tradition of ten antediluvian patriarchs or kings.
They made the duration of this first period of human history four hundred and
thirty-two thousand years. All other chronicles have been bewildered by their
polytheism
whereas in the Hebrew history we have all the sublime unity which
would seem to be necessitated by the monotheism of the writers. They who
believed in one God were likely to believe in one humanity. Monotheism accounts
for the two commandments which relate first to God
and then to man. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Verse 10
Verses
19-46
Verse 19
Because in his days the
earth was divided.
The division of the earth
The chief value of the
genealogical records consists--
1. In
enabling us to view the origin of nations historically.
2. In
enabling us to trace out the various tribes of the sons of Jacob.
3. In
enabling us to prove the lineal descent of Christ to have been of the house and
lineage of David; and that He was the fulfiller of the promise to Abraham
“In thy seed shall all
nations of the earth be blessed.”
4. Independently
of all this we meet with a sentence or a paragraph suggestive of the deepest
thought
or illuminating a principle expressed in another part of the
Scriptures with light as clear and bright as it is beautiful and enchanting.
Such an instance we have in the text.
I. Consider
the division of the earth as ordained without sin. Sin alters and affects
everything. There is not a duty you perform or matter you can engage in
in
which you do not find sin exerting a pernicious influence. And here it is
I
think
that many persons make great error when seeking to interpret to themselves
the trials and calamities which come upon them. “Providence ordained it
” is
the common philosophy on the matter
when I humbly think the truer account of
every calamity would be
“Providence ordained and desired my happiness
but sin
has deformed it
and for a time blasted the intended joys and filled me with
anxieties.” The division which God intended would be but a repetition in every
case of what He had done at the beginning; there would have been allotted to
the sons of men certain portions of this fair earth to govern and to till
and
every child of Adam would be taught
in the beautiful homilies of nature
the
first principles at least of homage to the Creator
and of confidence
and of
love. The division Jehovah ordained was division without disunion. Distinction
but not discord. Partition
but still perfect peace. This first inquiry
then
is of much value
and will prove
ere many years
of vast importance in
refuting the errors of the sceptical writers which abound. Nor will it perhaps
be without its use
to have noticed the character of that division which God
intended among the sons of men
one which should have promoted the equal
comfort of all
amidst the blessings of universal peace and brotherhood. It may
be
that when grace shall have triumphed in our sin-stained earth even but a
little more
you may see a disposition to revert to these very principles of
division which the Eternal desired to be followed
but which (as we shall
notice directly) have been marvellously distorted ever since the day of which
it is recorded in the text--“Unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one
was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided.”
II. Now
let us inquire into the division of the earth among nations as it does exist
under the influence of sin. Now you notice
by referring to the text (Genesis
10:25)
that the division took place before the building of Babel
and according to
some persons
some considerable period before that epoch. At all events
the
narrative implies that this division preceded the dispersion
and must
therefore have occurred when all men spoke but one language. Remember
then
that God’s will was that men should divide (though without discord) and
replenish all the earth. Recollect
too
that from the text we learn that the
first step in this had been taken
even as Eber names his child Peleg
(division) in memory of the event. Observe
then
what we are told immediately
after the division in the days of Peleg. You read in the eleventh chapter of
Genesis that the whole earth was of one language and of one speech; but that in
their journeyings from the east
instead of dividing (as probably was the
intention when they started)
finding a large and inviting plain in Shinar
they counsel each other: “Let us build a city and tower whose top may reach to
heaven
and let us make us a name lest” (mark) “we be scattered abroad on the
face of the whole earth.” So that sin at once interrupted the beneficent designs
of God
and interposing its corrupting leaven
sought to change His ordinances
by promising greater benefits than He
but which have ever been found
productive of evil. And now
that which was ordained for a blessing in every
age
forthwith becomes a curse while it is yet obeyed; for God coming down
and
seeing the injurious moral effect which would follow from this congregating
together
disperses them by a division wholly unlooked for. God confounded
their speech
made them talk in different languages
and they are obliged in
consequence to disperse
and the division is accomplished. But how? Not in
peace and harmony
and with a “God be with you.” But brother utters jargon to
brother
and words of blessing and adieu are impossible
and now it is no more
division with love
but confusion
and disunion
and discord
and ill-will. For
I ask you what is the history of nations
but a continuation of this story?
Nations for the most part are distinguished from one another by their
difference of speech. But this is not the only difference. Scarcely a nation in
the world but has at one time or another
been at war with other nations
and
almost every kingdom of importance has
in its turn
encountered the armies of
all other kingdoms in the dread attack of war and slaughter
at some period of
their history. And this is the place for observing another very striking result
of sin in the division of the earth. God
we saw
intended it so to be
conducted as to subserve the advantage of all; but man decreed in his pride of intellect
and reasoning that he would live in the dense vastness of a thickly populated
city. And though God indeed dispersed them from Babel
the tendency of our
nature seems to be far from eradicated. Still mankind crowd into cities
until
they are so closely populated
that disease and death are fearfully increased.
So you may notice how the retributive hand of judgment has followed these
transactions. Man is a social being
and intended by God to congregate
but
intended not so to congregate as we find he has done
and will still persist in
doing
until by a strange anomaly his next-door neighbour is the veriest
stranger to him. God ordered earth to be divided; and the plan by which
thousands are huddled in close
dark
narrow alleys and areas is only sin’s
development of its influences
as it reverses God’s intended method of
division
and says with towering vanity
“Go to
let us build rather a city
that we may not be scattered.” It is a known fact
that there is less religion
in large towns than small ones
and far less where the poor are obliged to pack
together as I have described. The reason is also plain. The cause is
that
since the days of
Peleg
the earth has been divided according to sin
and the dispersion of
nations is the result of God’s anger
in confounding their speech. But the
reason is
because the human mind
cut off from the beauties of nature
and
those countless sources which it possesses for preparing the mind for religion
becomes prejudiced in its fearfully artificial state of town life
and by the
evil customs and habits which surround it
against every sense of real
godliness
which it thus learns to regard as belonging only to the rich.
III. But
though you see sin so plainly operating
you are assured that christ will conquer
and grace finally prevail. In the day of glory which awaits you (described in
the last two chapters of the Revelation)
it is very interesting to observe
that the city of the new Jerusalem described there bears a peculiar likeness to
those which would have existed if the division of the world had been such as
God ordained
and which began in the days of Peleg. In Christ’s kingdom there
will be division without discord
that is
every person in his right place
in
perfect love
and unity with all the rest.
Verse
44
Johab the son of of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.
Successors
Never let it be supposed that Providence is limited to any one man
in the matter of kingship and dominion. Men who are reigning should lay to
heart the reflection that their reign is to come to an end. Every man is bound
to consider his successor; it is not enough to vacate office; every man should
leave behind him a character worthy of imitation
an example that will
stimulate in all highest directions. Let every man prepare himself to succeed
the king--in the family
in the state
in the social circle: we should always
be preparing ourselves for some higher office
and the best way of so preparing
is to fill with faithfulness the office which we have at present assigned to
us. There is only one King who shall have no successor
and that King’s name is
Jesus Christ. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Verse 48
And when Samlah was dead
Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead.
The race and the
individual
“The king is dead. Long
live the king!” After the Saxon comes the Norman; after George the First George
the Second
and then George the Third. So is history written with wearying
monotony. These chapters have their lessons
and not the least significant is
contained in the words “reigned in his stead.” We hear the tramp of many
generations as we read these verses. The march of the human family has been
always towards a grave. That is the end of every life. “And so death passed on
all men; for all have sinned.” Who were Bela
and Jobad
and Husham
and Hadad
Samlah
and Shaul? They were kings once
but who cares anything about them now?
They are dead
and their deeds are forgotten. Another man shall fill my pulpit;
another man shall attend to your business; another man shall sit in your chair.
Our text suggests the thought of the death of the individual and the
perpetuation of the race. Instead of father comes the son. Whether we like it
or not
our children will soon be pushing us out of our places. The world
demands strong hands and nimble intellects. The cry is for young men. It is
pathetic
it is sometimes heart-breaking
to see how cavalierly the world
treats the aged. With rude hands it pushes them aside to make way for their
successors. The moral suggestiveness of the genealogical chapters is great. The
Bible has a wonderful method of epitomising. It informs us of the creation of
the world
the sun
moon
and stars
earth
heaven
and sea in a single
chapter. It tells the whole story of Redemption in one verse (John 3:16). The very brevity is significant. What importance we poor
mortals attach to very trifling things! Our pleasures
our troubles
our work
our family
its marriages
its funerals; and we sometimes feel aggrieved that
these things have not a deeper interest for others. Here are many generations
of men all crammed into one chapter. “Behold God is very great.” And so He
tells of many generations of men in a few verses. It is such a small thing to
Him. The individual passes away
but the race continues. Men die
but man
endures. “One generation cometh and another goeth.” The earth is very
beautiful
hut it is
after all
one vast cemetery
in which repose the ashes
of our forefathers. It is a lovely garden full of flowers and singing birds
but in the garden there is always a new tomb. The dead outnumber the living. We
pride ourselves on our possessions. A few years ago they were not ours
they
belonged to the departed; in a few years to come they will not be ours
they
will be held by our successors. God lends us a house to live in
clothes to
wear
money to use
and we grow arrogant
and exclaim
” See how rich I am!” We
shut our fists tight over our gold
and say
“This is mine; I will keep it.
Nobody else shall have it.” And Death comes
and says
“Give it up. Thou mayest
retain it no longer.” Twenty--thirty generations of men. What solemn thoughts
the words suggest! But who could not weep over this vast host who have all felt
the joy and beauty of life
but are now dead? Where are the ancient seers and
prophets whose eagle vision peered through the mists of time and read with
unerring certainty the fate of great nations and the purposes of God? Gone!
Prepare thyself! Thou shalt die and another reign in thy stead. Our text
suggests the solidarity of our race. We are all children of one earthly father
as we are an the children of one Heavenly Father. All the fountains of history
have their rise in the solitary pair who were driven from the gates of Paradise
by the flaming sword of the angel sentinel of God. We are all descendants of a
gardener
and the proudest crest might well have upon it a spade. The common
brotherhood of the race is
I trust
soon to receive practical recognition by
statesmen. Long enough have poets sung of equal rights and preachers repeated
stale platitudes about “all men being as one in God’s sight”; and yet the
nations have gone on murdering one another
and
under the plea of extending
civilisation
have extirpated many a tribe whose only crime was that they would
not give up the land of their fathers to satisfy the territorial greed of the
white man. Our text reminds us of our indebtedness to the past. Every man is an
epitome of the race. In him history has its reflection and development. He is
the incarnation of the past and the prophecy of the future. No man can isolate
himself. Where did this man get that imagination which transforms the
commonplaces of life
and gives to the veriest mudbank hues of iridescent
beauty? Where did that other get his logical faculty
his mathematical
accuracy
or his genius for construction? You would have to trace his ancestry
back through centuries to answer those questions. Some of us
alas! have
inherited from the past other qualities which are the bane and cross of our
life. But there is another way in which we are indebted to the past. We have
come into a heritage of noble deeds and splendid thoughts. We are heirs of all
the ages. For us the thinkers of past ages burned the midnight oil
for us the
workers tolled when Nature bade them sleep. For a shilling I can purchase the plays it
took Shakespeare a lifetime to write. A few coppers will make Milton my life
companion. We are indebted to the nameless dead
as well as to those favoured
few who have snatched immortality from the hand of fate. The world is better for
their unrecorded heroism
their quiet
patient suffering
as the atmosphere is
sweeter for the fragrance of the violet. The civil liberties we enjoy
the
freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience
have
been bought for us by the rich blood of brave men and women. Let us hand to our
sons unimpaired the holy legacy of our sires. Our text also suggests the debt
we owe to the future. Posterity has a claim upon us as well as the past. Let it
be ours to make the bounds of freedom wider yet; to leave at least one evil
less than when we were born. It is glorious
and yet it is awful to think that
in writing our own history we are also determining the character of generations
to come. To the young I say
Prepare yourselves to take our places. We mean to
make it as easy for you to reign in our stead as we can by removing out of the
way some of the difficulties and dangers that have beset our own lives. We mean
to make it u hard for you to succeed us as we can by living so well that it shall
only be by the most strenuous efforts that you shall surpass us in moral
effort
in high purpose
in brave deeds
and aspiring thoughts. Get ready
I
say
for the larger duties and greater responsibilities the future has in store
for you. The business of the world
its philanthropies and its religion
will
soon be in your hands. Another lesson of these chapters is that of our own
insignificance. They tend to correct our overwhelming self-esteem. Men come and
pass away
but the old world goes on. There is no place but what can be filled;
no man is indispensable. Who will succeed you? Who will lift the sword that you
lay down
who will wear your mantle
who will fill your office? Can anybody do
it? Yes; but you have nothing to do with that. It is yours to make it difficult
for any man to succeed you by doing your work so well that it cannot be done
better. We are all apt to magnify our own importance. Our place may not be so
hard to fill as we imagine. Some ruddy country lad may come with his sling and
stone
and in simple faith hurl a pebble in the name of God at the giants
before where we have trembled and fled. At the weaver’s loom may be another
David Livingston
in the market garden a Robert Moffat
at the cobbler’s bench
a William Carey
in the school a Charles Haddon Spurgeon. One closing thought
rues to us
and that is
in the common aspirations
longings
and desires of
men; in their common origin and destiny
we find an argument for a common
redemption. “As in Adam all die
even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Generation after generation of men and not one absolutely holy save Him who
bore all our sins on the Cross
but had no sin of His own. In due time Christ
died for the ungodly. The cry of all ages has been a cry for deliverance from
the curse of sin. That cry found its answer at Calvary. Jesus is the only King
of whom the text will never be true. He sits on an eternal throne. His crown
will never lose its lustre. We sinners cannot do without the Redeemer. The
gospel we proclaim is a resurection gospel. Because He lives we shall live
also. (S. Horton.)
Verse 54
These are the dukes of Edom.
A high order of names
The great lesson teaches the transitoriness of all human dignity
and glory. Where are the dukes of Edom now? Who knows the names of Timnah
Allah
Jetheth? How far are our own names known? What will be thought of them in the
next century? Men are not to be estimated by their renown
but by them in the
next goodness and their local influence. In the Christian Church we have come
to a higher order of names than was ever known in secular history. Men may now
be called sons of God
saints
slaves of Jesus Christ
inheritors of the world
of light: let us aspire after these higher titles
for they never perish. The
titles which men give soon expire: the titles which God confers are vital with
His own Eternity. (J. Parker
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》