This chapter opens with an account of David's wars, followed by a succession of brilliant victories. Following on the previous chapter, though separated from it by a considerable length of time, it brings before us much spiritual instruction. The previous chapter contains an account of the many "exceeding great and precious promises" made to David, his confidence in them, and also that which invariably flows out of such grace—his communion with God. Communion with God is the outcome of grace received. But out of realized grace and communion with God flow warfare and victory. This is the opening record of this chapter. The former supplies strength for the latter, and he who goes forth from his knees to fight the good fight of faith will, in every battle, be "more than conqueror'' through him that loves him. And mark how David is single-handed among many foes, and all of diverse character. "Edom, Moab, the children of Ammon, the Philistines, Amalek, and the Syrians. What a host, and how diverse! Yet God's eye follows the single-handed servant amid all these foes. A "wall of fire" is round about him—"the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went." So is it with every servant of God who goes forth to fight the Lord's battles direct from communion. "Victory!" is inscribed on his banner. He is invincible, because "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." He may be single-handed, and his foes may be legion and of every character, but he triumphs over all and, like David here, lays all the trophies of victory at the Saviour's feet.—W.
1 Chronicles 18:4, 1 Chronicles 18:9-11.-David, Hadarezer, and Tou.
The Spirit of God is a faithful Biographer. If he records the good features of character in God's children, he is no less faithful in describing the dark side of their character. In this the Word of God is a striking contrast to all human biography. David's cruel conduct in "houghing the chariot-horses" is in keeping with the imperfect light of that dispensation, and is not recorded for our imitation any more than the records of crime in our daily press. It teaches us that there is only One perfect. There is a blot on every escutcheon except that of the Lord Jesus; and they are recorded by the Spirit of God in order that the eye of the soul should be ever turning from the best of earth's heroes to him who is the "chief of ten thousand, and the altogether lovely." Let us be warned by the cruelties of David's time and mark his graces, and follow him so far as he followed Christ. Hadarezer's spoils and every other are consecrated to God. Not a trophy falls into David's hands but is laid there. Hadarezer's spoils and Tou's gifts are all alike—the Lord's. May we follow him here, and cast every crown at the feet of Jesus!—W.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
1 Chronicles 18:6, 1 Chronicles 18:13.-Divine preservations in work and war.
In the record given of David's expeditions and wars, one thing stands out prominently and impressively; it is twice repeated here, as if to it attention was to be particularly drawn: "The Lord preserved David whithersoever he went;" or, in the quaint language of Nehemiah, "The good hand of his God was upon him for good." It may be noted—
I. THAT DAVID WAS IN ALL THINGS GOD'S SERVANT, This relation set him in an especial manner under God's care. As his creatures, we come under his providences. As his children, we come into the grace of his fatherly tending. And as his servants, we are assured of his safe keeping while engaged in his mission. The fuller and nearer are our relations with God, the more complete may be our security and our rest in the Divine hands. Compare the expression, "Man is immortal till his work is done." Our Lord Jesus knew that no harm could come to him while he was about "his Father's business."
II. THAT DAVID'S WHOLE LIFE WAS IN GOD'S KEEPING. Because he never broke free of the idea of service. He never wanted to isolate any part of his life, and keep it for self. It is this which alone severs a man from Divine keeping. A man's wilfully taking his life into his own hand involves the withdrawing of special Divine grace, and then the man learns the evil of his own waywardness by the unrelieved troubles into which he falls. This is the permanent lesson for the ages taught by Eve's wilfulness in the garden of Eden. The man who can say, "We serve the Lord Christ," and apply it to his whole time and powers and spheres, may be sure that he is altogether safe in "the secret place of the Most High, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty." The angels have charge concerning him, to keep him in all his ways. They will be so near that they shall even bear him up lest he "dash his foot against a stone."
III. THIS IN NO WAY INTERFERED WITH HIS SHOWING ENERGY AND ENTERPRISE, It might seem that such assurance of Divine preservation would give a sense of security that would lead to indolence and indifference. But it never does do so, because such a temptation is resisted and overcome by the impulse to faithfulness. To look at, the good man's life should in these respects be the same as the worldly man's. On the surface there should be the energy, enterprise, perseverance, and skill, which are the conditions of success in worldly undertakings. The difference lies below. The good man lives and labours for God, and in his strength. The worldly man has no other end than his own fancied good. It may be fully proved and illustrated, from Bible examples, and from those of the Christian history, that full consecration to the service of God has ever been the impulse to a nobler living than any other motive can inspire men to reach. God's servants always strive to be the best possible in every sphere where they are set.
IV. IT BROUGHT DAVID STRENGTH FOR DUTY, AND BEST FOR THE HEART, TO BE ASSURED THAT GOD'S SHADOW WAS OVER HIM. Compare such expressions as, "I will both lay me down in peace and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety;" "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" And compare such experiences of strength as when fighting the lion and bear, or the giant Goliath; and such experiences of preservation as when hunted by King Saul upon the mountains. All new undertakings were entered upon with the quiet heart. God hath kept; he has promised to keep. "He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps."
Here meet the ever-recurring difficulty of practically fitting together man's energy and God's inspirations; man's enterprise and God's preservations; man's free-will and God's absolute will. Show that to the man who fully trusts, the difficulty fades away; and that, in a most real and practical sense, God's care and preservation and grace are the sanctifying shadow under which noble lives are now lived.—R.T.
1 Chronicles 18:11.-Loyalty to God in the time of success.
It is noted that the best of the spoils of David's wars he loyally "dedicated unto the Lord," thus proving himself as faithful in the time of prosperity and success as he had proved himself in the time of failure and trouble. The testing power of adversity is often considered, and D, indeed, one of the familiar topics of public teaching; but the testing power of prosperity is not worthily estimated or efficiently treated. Yet God works by both, and the second provides the more searching and severe forms of testing. Many a man's root-weakness of character has been discovered by success. It is harder work to go up in life, keeping hold of God's hand, than it is to go down. And it says much for David, and little for Solomon, that under God's temporal blessings David held fast his integrity, and Solomon virtually forsook the God of his fathers. In the instance now before us, David had a grand present from Tou, the King of Hamath. Such a present would seem to be his own exclusive property, and no man could have blamed him if he had added it to his private estate. But, in pious loyalty to God, he looked upon it as a part of the success.with which God had attended his labours, so he dedicated it to the honour and service of God, and gained a far richer blessing out of the gift than if he had kept it for himself.
I. SUCCESS IN LIFE MAY SEPARATE US FROM GOD. It may, by filling our life with fresh interests, and crowding out God. It may, by nourishing pride, and destroying the conditions on which alone God can dwell with us. It may, by making the real god of our worship to be self, and so dethroning the living God. It may, by declaring our unfaithfulness as we use the success for self, and not for God, and so bring ourselves under Divine judgments. Or it may, by nourishing carnal security, and bringing us into a spiritual condition that must grieve and quench the Holy Spirit.
II. SUCCESS IN LIFE MAY BIND US CLOSELY TO GOD. It will, if we fully recognize the Source whence all success comes. It will, if we are watchful over our spiritual culture, through the means of grace, while the success is growing. It will, if we are fully resolved to consecrate to God's use any success we may gain. It will, if we carefully reproportion our gifts, to God's house and service, as our success advances. Compare Jacob's early vow at Bethel (Genesis 28:22), "Of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give a tenth to thee." And illustrate David's sacrifices for the tabernacle and temple during his reign, culminating in his splendid gift out of his "own proper good," his own private property, just at the close of his career (1 Chronicles 29:3-5). We may be directly helped in maintaining the right spirit, under advancing prosperities, by the devotement of portions of our success to pious uses. Making the gift of portions testify that we hold the whole as God's, and only entrusted to our stewardship in the mystery of the Divine grace. "What have we that we have not received?" Offer what we may to God's service, of it we must say but this, "Of thine own have we given thee.'—R.T.
1 Chronicles 18:14.-King's justice.
Of all the features of royalty the chronicler selects one, or apparently two, as special characteristics of David's reign. "He executed judgment and justice among all his people." Magistracy, the deciding of disputes, and the punishment of criminals, are always prominent parts of kingly duty. They are less, apparently, in our times, because our sovereign does not preside in person in our law-courts, but delegates her duty to her judges. They were more, apparently, kingly work in ancient times, and under Eastern conceptions of royalty. When Solomon entered on the responsibilities of kingship, the thing that seemed most serious to him was his duty as a judge. He felt the need of judicial insight, seeing that, as a young man, he had no treasured stores of experience. His request of wisdom chiefly referred to this necessary gift of Eastern kingship. Kitto says, "The wisdom which he craved was that of which he had already enough to be able to appreciate the value of its increase—practical wisdom, sagacity, clearness of judgment and intellect in the administration of justice and in the conduct of public affairs." The administration of justice may well be set thus prominently forward, for probably nothing bears so directly upon the well-being of a nation as the wisdom and the purity of its judges. The terms used in this verse are, however, intended to include more than court-justice, and we may see that —
I. KINGLY JUSTICE IS THE EXPRESSION IN THE NATION OF THE PATERNAL RULE. The family is the first aggregation of human individuals, and its head and ruler is the father. The next aggregation of men is that of the tribe; a number of families uniting their interests, and dwelling together, and at the head of the tribe, as ruler and judge, is the patriarch, or tribal father. The larger aggregation of men is the union of tribes in the nation, but the same idea is preserved, and the recognized head and ruler is the king-father, or the fatherly king. The associations of these two terms need to be carefully given; and it should be shown how the one tones the other. This distinction being set prominently forward,—The king seeks to do the absolutely right without any more than a general knowledge of and interest in his people; a king cannot be expected to know individuals. But exactly this is of the very essence of fatherhood. The father is as loyal to the right as the king, but he seeks to apply the claims of right to the actual condition of individuals, whom he knows with precision, and in whom he feels a direct and personal interest. And so it may be said that the perfect idea of a king is expressed in the term father, and that a true father must have all that is essential to a king. It is always said of the good king, "He is the father of his people."
II. KINGLY JUSTICE IS THE REVELATION TO MEN OF THE DIVINE JUSTICE. No one word can suffice to present the relations of God with men. And that because no words contain an absolute and necessary meaning. Their connotation differs for different individuals. Show that neither king nor father are sufficient alone. We want for God a word which shall bring home to our hearts the conviction that he is dominated by the sense of right; but we as certainly want a word which shall assure us that all his ways with us are toned with personal interest in us, perfect knowledge of us, and the gentlest consideration for our weaknesses and wants. So the justice of God must be to us both kingly and fatherly.
This subject opens up the discussion of the true basis of the "atonement." Only by fully estimating Divine justice as both kingly and fatherly can we discern the "needs be" for a satisfaction of eternal law, and a persuasive manifestation of eternal love.—R.T.
1 Chronicles
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