I Chronicles 16
These three verses rather belong to the close of the last
chapter, and they carry on
the
parallel of II Samuel 6:17-19.
1 “So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of
the tent that
David had pitched
for it:” - So ch.
15:1 distinctly states that David had “pitched
a tent” for the ark, and evidently
to be ready for its arrival. On the other hand,
there is no mention of
any such tent having been got in readiness in ch. 13.
or in
II Samuel 6:1-11,
which give the account of the attempt that disastrously failed. The
expressions which are there used would rather lead to the conclusion
that
David’s intention was to take the sacred structure into his
own home (Ibid. vs. 9-10;
I Chronicles 13:12-13), for a while, at all events. The lh,ao
(tent) of the original
designates, when intended strictly, a haircloth covering, resting on
poles or planks
(Exodus 26:7, 11; 36:14, 19). The first occasion of the use
of the word is found in
Genesis 4:20. The jK;su (booth) was
made of leaves and branches interwoven
(Leviticus 23:34, 40, 42; Deuteronomy
16:13). The ˆK;v]mi (tabernacle) was the
dwelling-place or pavilion, which owned to the ten inner curtains as well
as the
outer covering and the framework (Exodus 25:9; 26:1,12-15; 39:32;
40:2, 29).
The first occurrence of this word is in the first of these
last quoted references –
“and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings
before God.”
The identical words of II Samuel 6:17-18, where the
Authorized Version translates
“burnt offerings and peace offerings.” These were the two great sacrifices
— the former speaking of atonement
(Leviticus 1:3-9), the latter of reconciliation
effected
and the enjoyment of peace (Leviticus
3:1-5). Neither here nor in the
parallel place is any mention made of the altar upon which these
sacrifices were
offered.
2 “And when David had made an end of offering the burnt
offerings
and the peace
offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the
LORD.” - i.e. reverently in the Name of the Lord, and as
vividly conscious of
being in His presence, he
pronounces blessings upon the people, and by short
spontaneous prayer and holy
wish further begs for them those blessings
which
God only can give. In
the time of David and Solomon (I Kings 8:14) the king
realized far more closely the idea of the paternal relation to the
people than
had
ever been since the time of the patriarchs of the elder days.
3 “And he dealt to every one of
one a loaf of
bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine.”
Each little clause of this verse is replete with interest.
The royal giver, who now
dealt to
every one of
channel, through which the fullness and the bounty of the
royal Giver of every
good and perfect gift, of all good whatsoever, of all
things necessary to life and
godliness, are supplied to every one of his
creature-subjects (James 1:17).
But it is highest honor, as servant and instrument alone,
to figure forth Him
in any way. The second little clause tells us either that women took a
recognized place on occasion of this joyous festival, or
that the hospitality of
such an occasion did not forget them and their homes. And the
following three
little clauses require closer examination. The word here
translated “loaf” in the
expression loaf of bread is rK"Ki, for which in this sense we may turn to Exodus
29:23; Judges 8:5; I Samuel 2:36; 10:3; Proverbs 6:26;
Jeremiah 37:21. The
corresponding word, however, in the parallel place is jl"j"
(for which see Exodus
29:2, 23; Leviticus 2:4; 7:12-13; 8:26; 24:5; Numbers
6:15,19; 15:20). The essential
meaning of the former word is a circle, hence
applied to the cake because of its
shape, and of the latter word perforation, hence
applied to the cake because it was
perforated. A good piece of flesh. This is the Authorized Version rendering of
rP;v]a,, which occurs only
in the parallel place and here. The Vulgate translates
assatura bubulae carnis; the Septuagint, ejscari>th – escharitae - of flesh –
The imagined derivation of the word from rP; (ox) and vae
(fire), or from dp"v;
(to burn), seems to be what has led to these translations,
helped, perhaps, by the
apparent convenience of adapting meat from the
sacrifice to the bread. But Gesenius,
Rodiger, Keil, and others prefer the
derivation rp"v;
(to measure), and they would
render “a measure” of wine. And a flagon. This is the
Authorized Version rendering
of the original hv;yvia}, found in the parallel place as well as here, and also
in the only other places (two in number, and in the plural)
where it occurs
(Song of Solomon 2:5; Hosea 3:1). But there is no doubt, or
but little,
that the rendering should rather be “dried, pressed cakes of raisins or
grapes.” It is then to be derived from the root vv"a;
(to press). The
substantive has both masculine and feminine form in plural.
The Vulgate
translates similam frixam oleo, which means a “baked cake of flour and
oil;” and the Septuagint, la>ganon ajpo< thga>nou – laganon apo taeganou
–
a
cake of rasisn - in the
parallel places. But here the Septuagint reads a]rton
e{na ajrtokopiko<n kai< ajmori>thn – arton hena
artokopikon kai amoritaen -
a loaf of bread , and a portion of flesh and a cake of
raisins - as the whole
account of the loaf, the good piece of flesh, and the
flagon.
The next four verses contain a statement of the arrangement
David made of a more
permanent nature, but to date from this commencement, for
the service of thanksgiving
by the Levites.
4 “And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before
the ark
of the LORD,” - i.e. to officiate, as
we should say, in the service before the ark.
The verse seems to describe what should be the essence of that service. It was
threefold — “and to record, and to thank and praise the
LORD
God of
(to remember), and is remarked upon by Gesenius
as a title strictly
appropriate to the character of Psalms 38 and 70, on the
head of
which it stands, as meaning, “to make others remember” (see
also such
passages as Exodus 20:24; II Samuel 8:16; 18:18; 20:24;
Isaiah 43:26; 63:7).
The minds of the people were to be refreshed in this
service and in their very
psalm of praise (so note in this sense vs. 8-9, 12, 21), by
being reminded or told,
so far as the youngest of them might be concerned, of God’s
marvelous and merciful
deeds for their forefathers of many, many a generation.
Then they were to give
intelligent and hearty thanks. And, lastly, they were to
offer to approach that purest
form of worship which consists in adoring praise. One might
imagine with what
zest they would have accepted, with what fervor they would
have added
lip and instrument of music to it — that one verse which
needed the
revolution yet of nearly another three thousand years, that
it might flow
from the devotion or’
“When
all thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported
with the view I’m lost
In wonder, love, and praise.”
5 “Asaph the chief, and next to him
Zechariah, Jeiel, and
Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah,
and Obed-edom: and Jeiel with psalteries and with harps; but Asaph
made a sound with
cymbals;” Obed-edom. No colon should follow this name.
And the first time
of the occurrence of the name Jeiel in
this verse should probably
have shown the Jaaziel of ch.
15:18. The contents of this verse put
us, then, into possession of this much, that Asaph presided (ch. 6:39) at this
musical service, and that his instrument was the cymbals
(ch.15:19), with which
time was kept; that Zechariah was next to him, and, with
eight others formed a band,
who played on psalteries (or lutes) and harps.
If we may guide ourselves by
Ibid. vs.20-21, three of these — viz. Mattithia,
Jeiel, Obed-edom —
performed
on the harp, the other six on the psaltery, or lute.
6 “Benaiah also and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually before the
ark of the
covenant of God.” Jahaziel. Probably the Eliezer, who in
ch.15:24 is
coupled as priest with Benaiah,
should stand in the place of this name or
else vice versa.
7 “Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank
the LORD into
the hand of Asaph and his brethren.” The rendering should run, On that day did
David first commit to
the hand of Asaph and his brethren to render praises
to
Jehovah; i.e. after the following manner and words.
The word first marks
the solemn establishment of set public worship in the
metropolis.
Verses 8-36 provide the form of praise which David wished
to be used on this,
and probably in grateful repetition on some succeeding
occasions. David makes
selections from four psalms already known; for it cannot be
supposed that the
verses we have here were the original, and that they were
afterwards supplemented.
The first fifteen verses (vs.8-22) are from Psalm 105:1-15.
The next eleven verses
(23-33) are from Psalm 96:1-13; but a small portion of the
first and last of these
verses is omitted. Our thirty-fourth verse is identical
with Psalm 107:1; 118:1; 136:1;
and forms the larger part of Psalm 106:1. It is, in fact, a
doxology and vs. 35-36
consist of a short responsive (“and say ye”) invocation,
followed by another doxology.
These are taken from Psalm 106:47-48. Hereupon “all the people” are
directed to find the final outburst of praise to Jehovah,
and “Amen.” In the
first of these selections (vs. 8-23) there is no material
variation from the
language of the psalm itself. Yet the original psalm has Abraham,
where
our own thirteenth verse reads
person, where our fifteenth and nineteenth verses have the
second person.
In the second selection it is worthy of note that our v. 29,
“Come before
him,” probably preserves the ante-temple reading, while Psalm
96:8
was afterwards, to fit temple times, altered into, “Come
into His courts.”
The arrangement of all the succeeding clauses does not
exactly agree with
the arrangement of them found in the psalm, as for instance
in the latter
half of our v. 30 and in v. 31, compared with the clauses
of vs. 10-11
of the psalm. Again, one clause of the tenth verse of the
psalm, “He shall
judge the people
righteously,” is not found in either alternative
position
open to it through the inversion of clauses, in our vs.
30-31. The rhythm
and meter of the psalm are, however, equally
unexceptionable. The whole
of the twenty-nine verses of this Psalm of praise (vs. 8-36
inclusive) are
divided into portions of three verses each, except the
portion vs. 23-27
inclusive which consists of five verses. As regards the
matter of it, it may
be remarked on as breaking into two parts, in the first of
which (vs. 8-22)
the people are reminded of their past history and of the
marvelous
providence which had governed their career from Abraham to
the time they
were settled in
enlarged, their sympathies immensely widened, so as to
include all the
world, and their view is borne on to the momentous reality
of judgment.
8 “Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon His name, make known
His
deeds among the
people. 9 Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him, talk ye
of all His
wondrous works. 10 Glory ye in His holy
name: let the heart of
them rejoice that
seek the LORD.” These verses are an animated invocation
to thanks and praise.
11 “Seek the LORD and His strength, seek His face
continually.”
We are bidden, in seeking the Lord, to seek both His strength
and His face;
and these two are set in such a connection of parallel
sentences that we
may assume them to be differing expressions for the same
thing, though
each helps to throw light on the other. The uses of the
terms in the Book of
Psalms need careful study. In this passage God’s strength
is thought of as
having been illustrated in the successful bringing back of
the ark; but that
event was quite as fully a proof of the Divine favor — it
indicated that
God’s face was turned smilingly towards both the king and
the people.
Such experiences of God’s “strength” and “face” should establish the
permanent resolve to seek that “strength” and “face” in
all the more
ordinary scenes in the life of the individual and the
nation. “When thou
sadist,
Seek y my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord
will
I seek.” (Psalm 27:8) For “strength,” compare I Samuel 15:29;
Psalm 27:1; 29:1; Job 9:19; Psalm 46:1; 62:11; 68:34;
73:26; Isaiah 26:4;
45:24. For “face,”
compare Psalm 31:16; 67:1.
energy depends upon his vital
force, and his religious life upon his spiritual
force. God has access to these secret sources, and can renew them
with His
own vitality. He “strengtheneth us with strength in our soul” (Psalm 138:3).
He makes “all grace
abound, so that we may have all-sufficiency
in all things” (II
Corinthians 9:8). The experience of the
religious life
unfolds the marvelous
adaptations and fitnesses of Divine grace to the
thousand-fold needs that arise.
No matter what may be our circumstances
of perplexity and difficulty, there is always strength for us in God. It may
come as an efficient help for
bearing actual life-burdens, or for doing actual
life-duties; and we should undertake none without prayerfully seeking
to lay hold of the Divine strength. How it can be perfect in human
weakness, so that a man may be strong
to bear the unusual ills, and zealous
to do the unusual duties, of life, is
taught us in the example of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and, after Him, in the
example of His servant Paul. But we should be
quite sure that it will come as an inward renewal, if it may not
come for the
achievement of material success.
We may be “strong in the Lord and in
the power of His
might” (Ephesians 6:10); and this is
the assurance of the
eternal triumph, if it is not of the
earthly.
gives His strength with a smile.
The turning of His face towards us is the
sign of His approval and
acceptance. The influence of such a mark of
Divine regard may be
illustrated.
Ø
It cheers and encourages. “If God be for us, who can be
against us?” (Romans 8:31)
Ø
It recovers us from depressions. There can be nothing
overwhelming in our
circumstances if God smiles on us. We look
into His face and feel that
they are causing Him no anxiety, and so
our heads are lifted up. He
can make “ways in seas and paths
in great waters” (Psalm 77:19).
Ø
It renews our fervour and zeal. The smile tells of
such love that
we feel we can do or bear anything
for His sake. (“I
can do
all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me”
(Philippians
4:13)
Ø
It glorifies the right; for it is only on that God ever smiles.
He approves the good,
but turns away from the evil. And that
must ever seem to to
be the most beautiful on which God’s
smiling face can rest.
God’s strength and face, He is ever ready to give to those
who with true hearts
wait upon Him. Those promises in effect say, “I will help thee, yea, I will
uphold thee”
(Isaiah 41:10). And the uplifted smile
says, “I have loved thee
with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn
thee.” (Jeremiah 31:3)
12 Remember His marvelous works that He hath done, His
wonders,
and the judgments
of His mouth; 13 O ye seed of
ye children of
Jacob, His chosen ones.” The call to thanksgiving and to the
praise of adoration is
now in these verses succeeded by an earnest admonition
to
practical seeking of the Lord, and
mindful obedience to Him.
The Contents of Godly Memory (v. 12)
“Remember, recall the records of Divine dealings;
set afresh before your
minds your own
personal experiences of the Divine goodness and mercy.”
The conception of the “solidarity of the race” is matched
by that of the
essential unity of the race, in its mental and spiritual experiences,
throughout all the ages. Really to know God’s dealings with any one
people is to know His dealings with all peoples. And
therefore the story of
His relations with the Jews is so minutely recorded, and so
graciously
preserved for us on whom the “ends
of the world are come” (I Corinthians
10:11).
And yet, further, it may be shown that an individual experience
really
affords the race-type. GOD IS
ESSENTIALLY TO EACH WHAT HE IS
TO ALL! We too often fix our attention
on the changeable accidents of a man’s
career, and then think that his experience is unique. If it were
so it were of little
use
to keep any record of the Divine dealings with men, for one man’s experience
could not help another. What then, are the usual contents of the
godly memory?
We can only deal with such as are suggested by the terms of
the verses before us.
GOODNESS. Not merely
has the godly man a general belief in God and
God’s merciful ways, but he has the assurance that GOD HAS BEEN
MERCIFUL TO HIM! He can see in page after page
of his life’s story
how guidance, restraint, comfort, teaching, and strength
have come in precise
adaptations to his own conditions and needs. He can speak of the “good
hand of his God which has ever been upon him for good” (Ezra 7:9).
We need to fix
the memory of God’s dealings:
Ø by pious attention
to them at the time,
Ø and by frequent review of them afterwards.
A richly stored memory becomes an UNFAILING
WELL-SPRING
OF COMFORT IN
LATER LIFE! To
our view all our past should be
dotted over with pillars we have raised, on which we have
inscribed our
“Ebenezer” — “Hitherto the Lord hath helped us”
(I Samuel 7:12),
and at any time we should be able to look back and bid these
pillars
remind us of the “wonderful works that He hath done.” (Psalm 78:4)
Scripture tells us of God’s
dealings with men, both before He separated the
Jewish people
and while He had them under his special leadings. “The God
of the whole earth shall He be called” (Isaiah 54:5). It
is characteristic
of David’s psalms that they are full of large broad thoughts
of God’s relations
to the whole world. And both Scripture and secular history
should provide
us with stores for the memory, as they reveal God’s workings
towards His
gracious ends of substantial and eternal good. If
Lord our God,” it must go on to say, “His judgments are in all the earth.”
(v.14)
GOD’S GOODNESS.
This is the. peculiar treasure of the godly. We have
the Bible records of the covenant race — God’s peculiar
people, whom He
had chosen for Himself. God’s ways with His covenant people are to us
the
model and example of all His dealings, and upon these we argue
what He is
and will be in His ways with us. But they are wonderful ways, marvelous
works (“and that my soul knoweth
right well” – Psalm 139:14); often
mysterious, often severe; ways of judgment as well as mercy. Impress that
the use of due occasions for considering the contents of the memory,
for
refreshing the memory, and for making new grounds of praise and
trust, is a
most important, but often neglected, part of Christian duty, bearing direct
relation to Christian strength and joy.
14 “He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the
earth.
15 Be ye mindful always
of His covenant; the word which He
commanded to a
thousand generations; 16 Even of the covenant which
He made with
Abraham, and of His oath unto Isaac; 17 And hath confirmed
the same to Jacob
for a law, and to
18 Saying, Unto thee
will I give the
inheritance; 19 When ye were but
few, even a few, and strangers in it.
20 And when they went from nation to nation, and from one
kingdom
to another
people; 21
He
suffered no man to do them wrong: yea,
He reproved kings
for their sakes, 22 Saying, Touch not mine anointed,
and do my
prophets no harm.” These verses rehearse the ancient and blissful
covenant which
had made
my
prophets, in harmony with what we read in the splendid passage,
Exodus 19:3-6. The
substitution in our vs. 15, 19 of the second
person pronoun plural, in place of the third person of the
psalm, helps
speak the reality of this occasion and its dramatic
correctness. The literal
original of our Authorized Version in v. 19, but few,
even a few, is, men
of number, i.e. men
who could easily be numbered.
The grandeur and unusual comprehensiveness of the adoration
and homage here
proclaimed (vs. 23-36), as to be offered to the omnipotent Ruler of all nations,
SHOULD BE WELL PONDERED!
Our
eye and ear may have
become too familiar with it, but when put a little into
relief, and referred to
its original time of day, it is fit to be ranked among the
strongest moral
evidences of inspiration in the word and the speaker.
23 “Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew
forth from day to day His
salvation.” This
verse is composed of the latter half of each of the first
two verses of the Psalm 96.
24 Declare His glory among the heathen; His marvelous works
among
all nations. 25 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be
praised: He also is
to be feared above
all gods.”
Christian Joy a Witness (vs. 23-25)
These verses reappear in Psalm 96. In that psalm the sacred
nation is
charged to praise Jehovah,
and to spread the good tidings in all places.
Such praise is fitting, seeing that all other deities are
nothing, and Jehovah
is
God alone. Calvin, writing on this psalm, says, “It is an exhortation to
praise God, addressed not to the Jews
only, but to all nations. Whence we
infer that the psalm refers to the
to
the world His Name could not be called upon anywhere but in
It is said that when the sun is going out of sight the
pious Swiss herdsman
of
the
the Lord.” Then a
brother herdsman on some distant slope takes up the
echo, “Praise ye the Lord.” Soon another answers, still higher up the
mountains, till hill shouts to hill, and peak answers to peak, the sublime
anthem of praise to THE LORD
OF ALL! Characteristic of
the psalmist
is joy in God: and in
this he is the one great Scripture example; Isaiah,
perhaps, coming next after him, and Paul having much of the
same feature
marking even his toilsome and suffering life. Joy, as an element
of religious
life, must in part depend on:
disposition. Some can easily turn everything into song, while others
can
never get beyond stern prose. We are not responsible for our
natural
dispositions, but we are for their due modification, harmony, and
culture.
Often latent and unsuspected
faculties can be developed, and it is seldom
wise to excuse failure and shortcoming on the ground of “human
nature’”
easy; yet, on the other side, it may be said that poets are
often sad-toned
men, probably because accompanying the poetical faculty is a
power of
insight which brings to the
poet’s eye the wrong that lies at the heart of so
much that is seemingly good. But this cannot apply to thoughts
and views
of God. Insight and faculty can only find reasons for joy and song when
they have to do with HIM
AND HIS
brightness and gladness and joy of full trust on their whole
religious lives
which the later-renewed can never reach. This is one of the best of the
rewards given to early piety.
hold of revealed truth, and to deeper experiences of Divine
communion,
bears directly upon the joy side of Christian feeling.
When attained,
Christian joy becomes a witness
for two reasons or in two ways.
IT MEETS THE
COMMON SENTIMENT THAT A THING MUST
BE GOOD IN
ITSELF IF IT TENDS TO MAKE US BRIGHT AND
HAPPY. How common this sentiment is may be shown from ordinary
life.
The people who always cheer us, we feel sure, must
be good people, and
the
same may be said of books, etc. In this way, therefore, our personal joy
in God may become a gracious moral power on all who are
around us.
And happy Christians have
a most noble and blessed witness.
“Sing
on your heavenward way,
Ye ransomed sinners, sing.”
A weary world sadly needs the sweet relief
and cheering of Christian song.
IT SETS
CHRISTIANITY IN A DISTINCT AND IMPRESSIVE
CONTRAST WITH
ALL OTHER RELIGIONS. They are familiar
enough
with the sentiment of fear. In perilous rebounds they know seasons of
intense sensual excitement, which caricature true joy. But the prevailing
tone of all other religions EXCEPT
CHRISTIANITY is sad. Only the
Christian may “abound in joy
through the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17;
15:13).
Who could fail to sing and give praise, and say, “This God is our
God for ever and ever; He will be our Guide even unto
death!”
(Psalm
48:14)
26 “For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
27
Glory and honor are in
His presence; strength and gladness are in His
place. 28 Give
unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the people, give unto
the
LORD glory and
strength. 29 Give
unto the LORD the glory due unto His
name: bring an offering,
and come before Him: worship the LORD in the
beauty of
holiness. 30 Fear
before Him, all the earth: the world
also shall be
stable, that it be not moved. 31 Let
the heavens be glad, and let the earth
rejoice: and let men say
among the nations, The LORD reigneth.”
God’s Present Reign (v. 31)
“The Lord reigneth,” or “Jehovah is king.”
David saw, in the restoration of
the
ark, a new and solemn resumption of his direct government by Jehovah;
and
of this glorious fact he bids the people
make acknowledgment and
render witness. Explain
fully the Jewish conception of the theocracy, and
show how it was connected with a present and abiding outward symbol —
at
first the pillar-cloud, and then the ark. The importance of the theocratic
idea, and the actual influence of it on mind and heart, depended on the
differing religious dispositions of the people. To the worldly
minded Jew it
would be a vague
notion, a sort of sublime, but impractical, philosophical
conception — a sort of
hereditary national sentiment, and nothing
more.
To the truly
spiritually minded man it was the first, most impressive, and
most practical of all truths. It was the thought that put glorious meaning
into commonplace life and labor. Life has its holy issues, and it might well
have its shrouded mysteries, for “the Lord reigneth.” This Jewish notion
passes over into Christianity, and we realize Jehovah’s present
spiritual
reign in the administration of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Maccabean
times there was a tendency to lose the idea that “the Lord doth
reign,” and
to
substitute for it a phrase which indicated a great outlooking
for a
coming Deliverer and a golden age, “the
Lord shall reign.” And a similar
evil tendency still affects the Christian Church; failing to realize Christ’s
present rule, some sections of the Church keep looking on to some
fancied
near time, when Christ shall come again and take to Himself His great
power and reign. And the antidote is full and faithful teaching
on the point
of
which the psalmist makes so much — the present direct, and every way
practical, present reign
over the earth and the Church, of Jehovah,
apprehended in the person of THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! Keeping
the
present reign in Christ before our minds, it may be instructive to show:
OF THE REIGN. The
reign of God the Spirit must ever seem to man an
unreal, intangible thing, unless it can take some outward and
material
shape; (Remember, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,
or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that
is in
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Exodus
20:4 – CY – 2012) and yet that
shape and form must be such as will in no
sense imperil the spiritual character of the reign. No merely human
sovereignty
could be satisfactory, for none could be worthy of that sublime
royalty which it
presumed to represent. Christ’s life on
earth was THE THEOCRACY
MATERIALIZED FOR HUMAN APPREHENSION!
Our Lord’s
humanity sets God before our thought in human terms and
figures
such as we can understand. And the kingship of Jesus was felt and
acknowledged by friend and foe, wherever He went, and not exclusively by
those disciples who knew Him most intimately. His teaching was given
“with authority;” His
personal relations were a rule. It can be no wonder
that people should cast their garments in His way, and wave
palm branches,
and shout, saying, “Hosanna to the
King that cometh in the Name of
the Lord!” (John
12:13) - His life IS THE EARTH
PICTURE of the
Divine reign over
the hearts and lives of men.
THE REIGN AS A
SPIRITUAL REIGN. It takes all the merely
carnal features out of it. The
reign is such a one as our exalted, glorified,
ascended, spiritual Lord and Saviour may
have, who is “Lord of lambs the
lowly, King of saints the holy.” The risen, heavenly Christ we
feel must
have, as the sphere for His rule, not our bodily actions only,
but:
Ø
our wills,
Ø
our choices,
Ø
our affections;
gaining, as He must, His beginnings in our souls, and extending His
holy
authorities over all the relations we sustain.
32
Let the sea roar,
and the fullness thereof: let the fields
rejoice,
and all that is
therein. 33 Then
shall the trees of the wood sing out at
the presence of the
LORD, because He cometh to judge the
earth.”
God Always Coming to Judge (v. 33)
“Judgment” is, in
Scripture, a large and comprehensive term. It is
sometimes synonymous with “rule,” or “government,” because in
ancient
monarchies actual magistracy — due personal consideration and
decision
of
rival claims, or accusations of crimes — took a prominent place.
Sometimes reference is intended to that appointment of
deserts in men’s
earthly experiences which may be regarded as a Divine judgment
continually working. And sometimes the
allusion is to that GREAT
OCCASION
on which THE ANOMALIES OF LIFE ARE TO
GAIN PERMANENT ADJUSTMENT and
the issues of human
conduct
to be ETERNALLY FIXED! Whatever other figures for
God may gain attraction to us, we may not lose our thought
of Him as the
“JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH” (Genesis
18:25). We fix attention on
the
fact that the judging of God is only a future thing, the glory of a
coming
day,
(although we know “THAT THE DAY OF THE
LORD WILL
COME!”
- II Peter
3:10 – CY - 2012). It may be urged that:
MEN’S CONSCIENCES. No
man has to wait for his judgment. He
has it at once in the inward conviction of the rightness or
wrongness
of his action. We should never, in
our thought, separate conscience
from the inward voice of God our Judge.
BETWEEN SIN AND SUFFERING. Suffering being the proper issue
of sin, and necessarily connected with it by God in order to reveal sin’s
character. All suffering may
be regarded as a beginning and present
illustration of God’s judgment.
WROUGHT BY THE PRESENCE AMONG US OF HOLY MEN.
Note how Enoch and Noah carried
God’s judgment on their sinful
generation, in the conviction produced by their holy lives. And in
the
fullest sense this was true of the Lord Jesus as the holiest of
men. His
presence among them was God’s abiding judgment on a sinful and
adulterous generation. ]n measure the same
is true still of both private
and public spheres — the presence of holy men and women tests
us,
and, too often, both judges and condemns. (Beware, lest that attitude
come upon you as came upon Cain, when in his jealousy of Abel,
he slew his brother. And why? “Because
his own works were
evil, and his brother’s righteous.” - I John 3:12 – CY – 2012)
DIVINE
signs of the Divine presence recognizing and dealing with willfulness
and sin. And this is quite as true when we are able to trace the
natural
laws according to
whose legitimate workings the calamities or failures
may have come.
JUDGEMENT ON THE LIVES AND RECORDS OF NATIONS
AND OF MEN. Of that
fact we are well assured; of the manner and
method of it we have only as yet
vague poetical figures, which we are
unable to translate into earthly fact.
Enough is told us to make the thought
of coming judgment a present
moral power. David connected the Divine “judgment” with “righteousness”
and with “truth,” as these, he knew,
had been so gloriously manifested in the fulfillment of ancient
promises.
(Remember that God has connected the resurrection with the judgment!
Acts 17:31; Revelation 20:4-6,
11-14 – CY – 2012) These
being the
characteristics of Jehovah’s judgment to which the view is directed in
this psalm, the essentially joyous tone of it is
accounted for.” Think aright
of God’s judgment, and of it we may even learn to sing.
34 O give thanks unto
the LORD; for He is good; for His mercy endureth
for ever. 35 And say ye, Save us,
O God of our salvation, and gather us
together, and
deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy
holy name, and
glory in thy praise. 36 Blessed be the LORD God of
for ever and
ever. And all the people said, Amen, and praised the LORD.”
These three verses, from Psalm106: 1,47-48, must have
suggested the sad intermediate
contents of that psalm, the significant key-note of which
is sounded in our v.35. The
suggestion in the midst of the unbounded gladness of this
day is affecting, and
must have been intended for salutary lesson and timely
warning. In the midst of
the fullness of praise and joy, the people are led to prayer — say ye — and the prayer
is an humble
petition for salvation, union, and protection from every
enemy. God’s
treatment of His anointed people had been on His
part one continued protection and
one prolonged salvation. Yet they had often
neither prayed for these nor acknowledged
them. Now they are led again by the hand, as it were, to
the footstool of the throne.
The next seven verses (37-43) give the now new-ordained
distribution of
priests and Levites, to minister and to attend to the
service of praise before
the ark. And the first of them may be considered to mark an
important step
in advance in the crystallizing of the world’s
ecclesiastical institutions.
37 “So he left there before the ark of the covenant of the
LORD Asaph
and his brethren,
to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work
required:” Asaph and his
brethren of song are left there before the ark of the
covenant… to
minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work
required. A permanent local ministry and choir are thus established,
with a
fixity of place on
38 “And Obededom with their
brethren, threescore and eight;
Obededom also the son of Jeduthun and Hosah to be
porters:”
Explanation is needed of the plural pronoun “their.” Either another name is
wanted with Obededom, or tacit
reference is made to “Asaph
and his brethren,”
as though the name Asaph had not
been followed in its own place by the clause
“and his
brethren.” Keil
draws attention to the “three score and
two” of
ch.26:8, in connection with the three score and eight
of this place; and it has
been proposed to make up this number by some of the sons of Hosah, of our
following verse and of ch.26:11. In this case the name Hosah might be the
name
missing before, “and
their brethren.” Conjecture, however, has not sufficient
clue here to warrant it,
and the textual state of this verse must be debited with the
obscurity. The ambiguity
respecting the name Obed-edom has already (ch. 13:14)
been alluded to. Neglecting this ambiguity, it may be
repeated that Obed-edom,…
son of Jedithun (as the Keri of this
passage is) was a Merarite
Levite, while
Obed-edom son of Jeduthun (ch.15:25) was
of Gath-rimmon, a Gittite
(II Samuel
6:10-12; Joshua 21:24),
a Kohathite (ch.6:66, 69), and a Korhite
(ch.26:1-5).
39 “And Zadok the priest, and his
brethren the priests, before the
tabernacle of the
LORD in the high place that was at
While those above-mentioned were to officiate before the
ark
on
staff at
tabernacle are in two separate places. The great ordinary sacrifices and
services, “all that
is written in the Law of the Lord,” are carefully observed
on the original altar (Exodus 38:2) in the tabernacle.
Other and special
sacrifices evidently were offered in the presence of the
ark. The tabernacle
erected in the wilderness was first stationed at
The occasion of its removal to Nob (I Samuel 21:1; 22:19)
is not narrated. The
present passage first tells us where it had been since the
slaughter of the priests
at Saul’s command by Doeg the Edomite. Some distinct statement, like that of
ch.21:29 and II Chronicles 1:3, might have been expected
here. Zadok the priest
is given (ch.6:4-9) as in the line of Eleazar.
40 “To offer burnt offerings” - i.e. the customary
morning and evening sacrifices.
“unto the LORD upon the altar of the burnt
offering continually morning
and evening, and
to do according to all that is written in the law of the LORD,
which He
commanded
41 “And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen,
who were
expressed by name, to give thanks to the LORD, because His
mercy endureth for ever; 42 And with them Heman and Jeduthun with
trumpets and
cymbals for those that should make a sound,
and with musical
instruments of
God. And the sons of Jeduthun were porters.” Comparing
these verses with vs. 4-6 and 37-40, it may be supposed that we are intended to
understand that of all who were set apart and who had been expressed by name
(as e.g. ch. 15:4-24),
some were now formally appointed to serve before the ark,
and some in the
tabernacle at
the repetition of the preposition with, and the proper
names Heman and
Jeduthun,
betrays some corruptness of text. The Septuagint does not
show them in the latter
verse. The sons of Jeduthun are
found in ch.25:3.
43 “And all the people departed every man to his house: and
David
returned to bless
his house.” (See II Samuel
6:19-20.)
The Inaugural Services on
The greater part of the contents of this chapter must be
viewed as borrowed matter —
the appropriating of portions of sacred songs or psalms
which already existed, to this
individual occasion. The stricter homiletic treatment,
therefore, of our vs. 7-36 may be
better found in the portions of the psalms concerned, in
their own proper place. But
there are some larger aspects offered by the matter of this
chapter, which may be
appropriately considered in this place. And we may notice:
indeed already gathered such
force as to conquer for itself the place which
it holds on this great day of
David. To this it has grown since the day of
Seth and Enos,
when we read of it thus, “Then began men
to call on the
Name of the
Lord” (Genesis 4:26). And though true
it is that we may
not critically make any great
doctrine or argument depend on the uncertain
exegesis of that one sentence,
yet we know that the facts, so far as we
require them now, were not
distant from what the sentence says. The
religion of mankind then, where
existent at all, was the pure, individual,
essential principle, Heaven-given and reigning in the hearts of a very few
— this still and evermore of necessity
its essence. Then, however, when
men could be numbered only by
the score, it was manifestly impossible for
religion to exhibit the “effects
n which it does in the time of David. Nay, of
ages afterwards it were, of
course, true to say the same thing, and to add
this also, that when, so far as
numbers were concerned, it became possible,
still it did not
become fact. Through all these ages,
however, with all
receding tides, and
notwithstanding some extraordinary checks, religion
never became utterly lost to
sight. Once during those ages it showed a
number not exceeding eight (The
Flood), another time not fewer than
seven thousand (I Kings 19:18),
and, for the most part, what the number was,
greater or less, God only knew —
He alone could say. Yet through good
report and ill, through good
times and bad, it was acquiring strength unmeasured
and immeasurable. It was
insisting on its own vitality; it was proving the courage
of its convictions; its tone was
of no uncertain kind; its mien was ever of the
undaunted. In patriarchal
succession of families, what pungent lessons
religion many a time taught and
made itself known thereby! In Egyptian
times, amid temptation and
snare, what various knowledge and
determination it was maturing!
In the wilderness, how carefully by form, by
sacrifice, by sign, by judgment,
it was shaping individual and national life.
Amid the dangers and the glories
of the people’s settlement in the land of
promise, amid the achievements
of judges and leaders and captains, and the
multitudinous strifes of little kings, its pronounced voice spoke the
word
and it was done, or, if the voice was silent, the people were undone. All
this time, measurable only by
thousands of years, it was betraying its
existence, indicating its
nature, betokening a large store of sleeping
strength, and anything but
seeming to exhaust or to strain its own energy.
But now the principle of religion seems to have burst into FULL
LIFE! Its many
and outspreading branches hang down with ripe and
golden fruit. Now it is the
light and life, the joy and strength, the reverence
and pride of a whole nation,
from the highest to the lowest. All business,
all pleasure, all other thought
or care, stand still to look, or throng to join in
a scene festive of festivity
itself. The day itself is ablaze, not with the ordinary
light and heat of a splendid sun
over
and joy of
religion in a hundred thousand hearts
— in “
and all Judea,” but culminating in
God is known, His
Name great in
tabernacle, and His dwelling-place in
glimpse of what it will be for
this world, when “God shall all
renew,” and
THE JOY BECOME
UNIVERSAL!
FOR RELIGION.
Though, at that time, the world of mankind was some
three thousand years old,
religion had been as yet but a wayfarer. It had never
deserted men. Its spirit had
influenced, guided, ruled their spirit; it had
consoled their sorrows,
heightened their joys ten thousand separate times; but it
has not yet had an honored
dwelling-place, a worthy throne, a fixed home. To
this it has now come, and to
this it has been brought up by the willing
enthusiasm of king and prophet,
priest and people. There can be no doubt
that its local habitation
exposes it to some danger, to some
misunderstanding. The long
process of ages has been undoing, is still
undoing the danger, correcting the misunderstanding. The city then
emphatically set on a hill has
never been hidden. Ten thousand
others, the
spiritual copies
of it, have taken its name upon them,
and have helped
thereby to prove practically
that
the exclusiveness of an
individual place, but only THE SURE
FOUNDATION AND
SETTLED FIRMNESS OF GOD’S OWN
CHURCH and its exalted, commanding prominence. The typical lessons,
therefore, of the day on which
David fixed
the symbols and the services and
the servants of a true, revealed religion on
itself is anything less than a pure, silent,
but mighty principle in the heart, but
rather that it is to be the avowed, conspicuous, and abiding PRINCIPLE
OF LIFE and of
the life of all. The distribution of religion is emphatically
not to be partial. The
influences of
it arre emphatically not to be intelligible
only
to an initiated few. The force of it is
emphatically not to expend itself invisibly,
and exhaust itself according to
individual fickleness or frailty. It is to state its
character, its quality, its
very nature before all the world, and under the blaze
of publicity itself — a testimony for or against every man to the eye or ear
of whom it has
become proclaimed. And in spite of one
or two temporary
and superficial appearances to the contrary, these were the
truths which that
day was proffering to teach. For
a while, perhaps, it was “
alone;” some thought it was to
be always “
history and imperious necessity
have proved the contrary, and have proved
that to have been never meant,
“Not
now on
Thy favoured worshipper may dwell.
* * * * * *
“To
thee, at last, in every clime
Shall
temples rise and praise be sung.”
GRANDEST FESTIVAL.
These are certainly not obscurely told here.
They consist in thanks for all
that is, and adoring praise for Him,
from
whom all good is. The mind and
memory have been stirred up, and
from their depth and their
breadth come the testimonials of His boundless
compassion, mighty deliverance, tenderest mercy, good gift and grace. The
heart knows the meaning, and,
though often too insensible, now owns the
joy. Happy is that teacher of
religion who, with Divine help and the Divine
Spirit, can make the mind and
memory do this, some of their highest and
most fruitful work. He will be a
useful teacher, preacher, pastor, guide of
souls. Angels very likely may
spring at once to adoration’s highest reach
and strain direct. But we are
permitted to rise thither through the appeal to
our nature of gratitude. The
religious service and language of this day is
the reiteration of appeal to give
thanks, while the ground for doing so is
simply and impressively told.
This mingles a vein of pathos, of confession,
of dependent
prayer; and then acclamation and the praise not of
thanksgiving,
but of adoration, fill every heart and
tongue. Such is the
worship for such as we have
been, when we get above. Such are the songs
of heaven and its temple. Such the joy of each and of all, who there
recount
with the fullness of gratitude dangers
past, sin forgiven,
guilt cleansed away, SALVATION FREELY
GIVEN till the
enraptured soul is lost in ADORATION and “glories in the praise”
of JEHOVAH!
A Psalm (vs. 7-36)
When the king had organized a choir of musicians, had
provided them with
their instruments, had assigned them their duties and their
maintenance, it
remained for him to decide what they were to sing. He was
himself “the
sweet psalmist of
must have been before the time of David. It is a grand vocation — that of
putting words of praise into the lips of worshippers. And it was a glorious
burst of sacred song which pealed from the heights of
sublime odes of David were first rolled to heaven upon the
wings of the
wind. What a revelation of God, what an inspiration for
man, what new life
to the world, when the psalms were first wrought into shape
by the
glowing heart and the glorious eloquence of David! The
later Levitical
psalms are perhaps more reflective and elaborate, but those
composed by
the lyrical sovereign of
profoundest feeling, and the most vigorous eloquence. The
occasion of the
composition, or, at all events, the first public rendering
of David’s odes,
was one worthy of such efforts. When the ark found a
resting-place in the
city of
recognition of the Divine Law, when the Levites solemnly addressed
Jehovah in the name of
now in melodious recitative, and again in resounding
chorus, to the
accompaniment of cymbal, of trumpet, and of harp. It was a
fitting
inauguration of a series of sublime solemnities. When we
examine the
structure of the psalm, we are surprised and filled with
admiration at the
appropriateness, the beauty, the comprehensiveness of the
composition.
The psalm, as it is recorded in this place, agrees with
what we find in
Psalms 105, 96, 107 and 106. Taken as we here find it, it contains:
This is addressed to nature
(vs. 30-33), to mankind in general (v. 28),
especially to
(vs. 15-18), and to
displayed in the most critical
period of their history (vs. 19-22).
29, 34.) Never had these been so
devoutly and at the same time so
poetically celebrated as now and
here.
naturally out of what precedes.
In the register of Divine acts, in the
recounting of Divine attributes,
a foundation had Been laid for this devout
and urgent entreaty.
psalm. “All the people” here concurred with, adopted as their own, the
worship of the Levites. The
royal psalmist’s heart must have beat high with
sacred joy when his plans proved
successful, when his ministers rendered
his compositions in a manner
worthy of their substance, and when the soul
of a nation was raised into
fellowship with God
The Constituents of Piety (vs. 8-14)
In our psalms and in our prayers we often indicate the real
elements of religion as fully,
and perhaps as clearly, as in our exhortations. In this
psalm of David we have the
essential principles of piety.
12.) We cannot feel toward Him
as we should except we consider “His
deeds among the people,” except we “talk of all his
wondrous works,”
except we “remember his
marvelous works.” Calling these to mind,
we
shall be powerfully and rightly
affected by a realization of His Divine power
and goodness. We shall naturally
dwell on His works in nature, His power
as displayed in the creation and
sustenance of our own spirit and our own
human life, His handiwork in the
providential ordering of the world.
TO THE WHOLE WORLD.
(Vs. 13-14.) As the children of
that they were chosen of God,
having received direct and special
communication and consideration;
as they could speak of themselves as His
“chosen ones,” and
could say, “He is the Lord our God;” so we may and
must feel that we all are the
objects of his Divine regard, that He looks with
benignant eye on us and
stretches out the hand of Divine friendship toward
us, that He is the Lord our God
who has chosen us and whom we have
chosen. And as they were taught
to feel that “His judgments are in all the
earth,” so we also
are to think of Him as the supreme almighty Power
reigning and ruling everywhere,
“speaking and it is done, commanding
and it stands fast” (Psalm 33:9).
MERCY. (Vs. 8-9.) A
large part of the sacred service of the Jews
consisted in praise. In
heathendom there was much of deprecation,
something of supplication,
little or nothing of praise. God’s own people
had such a sense of His absolute
excellence that they “gave thanks at the
remembrance of his holiness,” and such a remembrance of His
distinguishing goodness to them
that they sang psalms of praise because
they were such large recipients
at his hand. The piety of the Hebrew was
vocal with constantly recurring
praise; the psalms of the “sweet singer
of
thanksgiving, that we always associate the thought of praise with the
name
of them. And from us, for whom
as for them God has done such great
things, for whom, indeed, God
has done greater things than for them, it
may well be that praise is found
to be the prevailing note of our worship,
the chief strain
in our piety.
God’s holy
Name,” to triumph in the thought that
they were worshipping
Him who was the “Holy One of
profoundest adoration; also to “rejoice” in Him as in One
the knowledge
and service of whom was the
spring of truest and abiding satisfaction. We
may well do the same; and having
“such an High Priest” as we have,
such a Saviour
and Divine Friend, such a Refuge of our soul, we may glory
and rejoice with more intense
joy than they.
heritage of the people of God
until we “seek the face of the Lord
continually.” Both in His house and in our own home, we are to seek Him,
to “seek His strength,” to come consciously into His presence, to draw nigh
with our spirit to His Spirit, to
walk with Him, to hold converse with Him, to
pour out our
heart before Him, to dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever,
beholding His beauty as well as
inquiring in His temple (Psalm 27:4).
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