I. A DOUBLE VISION—GOD'S AND MAN'S. It is precisely noticed that as the angel was engaged in his work of destruction, "the Lord beheld." Here is set before us something more than God's perfect knowledge of everything that happens. It impresses upon us his personal interest in his administration of human affairs; his immediate attention to the execution of the judgments he denounces; and his sensitiveness to the effects of his judgments on those who suffer them. So it convinces us of what we may call the paternity of God. We also gain the assurance that suffering, when it comes as penalty, can never get beyond God's inspection and control. This conviction makes us willing, as David was, to "fall into the hands of God." Compare our Lord, in his extreme suffering, commending himself to the "hands of the Father." Further, it reveals to us the fact that God brings his pitying mercies into our very calamities. David also saw the angel, and by the sight was enabled distinctly to recognize the Divine agency in what otherwise he might have called a calamity.
II. A DOUBLE REPENTANCE. Give explanations of the Old Testament and New Testament uses of the term. Distinguish metanoia from metameleia. Begin with general idea of repentance as change of mind; reconsideration with a view to a new course of conduct. Show in what senses the term can be applied to God, and not to man; to man, and not to God. Especially show that m God s changes of action, or relation, there is adaptation to new conditions, without any regret, conviction of mistake, or sense of wrong. In the case before us God repents, in the sense of recognizing a sufficient fulfilment of his purpose in the judgment, and so the possibility of relieving Israel of the plague. David repents in a wholly different sense. He is aroused to full conviction of his sin, and humbles himself before God in solemn confessions. David now sees the connection between suffering and sin; the relation of one man's sin to many men's sufferings; and above all, the exceeding sinfulness of his own sin.—R.T.
1 Chronicles 21:17.-Conviction of personal sin.
For the particular character of David's sin reference may be made to the sketch given on 1 Chronicles 21:2. And for the kind of conviction which David cherished when acts of sin were brought home to him, illustration may be taken from Psalms 51:1-19. His sin might have been the sin of David the man; as was his sin in the matter of Bathsheba. Or it might have been the sin of David the king; and so God regarded it, adjusting his judgments accordingly. When convicted, it is a point of exceeding nobility in David that he seeks to bring the whole responsibility upon himself, asking God to treat the sin as that of the man, not of the king. We may fix attention upon this point. In this instance David stood for and acted for the nation, without the nation's consent. It is a most solemn thing for parents, masters, magistrates, etc; that they cannot always separate the official character from their acts; and they are responsible for the well-being of the children, the servants, or the citizens, whom they represent. Placed in such relations, men may act in ways that do not carry the feeling or wish of those for whom they stand; and so they may be the means of bringing upon them undeserved Divine judgments. The case of Jonah may be compared. The sailors' lives were imperilled by his act, though in it they had taken no share.
I. MAN MAY BE OFFICIALLY—Or even by his temporary relations—THE CAUSE OF THE INNOCENT SUFFERING,
II. SUCH CASES MUST ALWAYS BE REGARDED AS EXCEEDINGLY PERPLEXING AND PAINFUL. See Asaph's psalms, and the discussions in the Book of Job.
Ill. THE RIGHT-HEARTED MAN WILL EARNESTLY SEEK TO HAVE THE SUFFERING LIMITED TO HIMSELF, and to this end will be ready fully to acknowledge his personal guilt.
Impress that our relationships give the overwhelmingly painful character to our sins.—R.T.
1 Chronicles 21:24.-Right feeling concerning giving to God.
David apprehended that the value of a gift greatly depends on the self-denial for which it finds expression. Compare the very interesting scene of Abraham negotiating with the sons of Heth for the purchase of the field and cave of Machpelah. There, considerations of personal dignity prevented his taking the property; and he felt that he could not lay his beloved partner down, save in a place which was his by purchase. Here, in the case of David, the feeling is a different one, yet it is in full harmony with the sentiment of the elder patriarch; right religious feeling, the sense of what was due to God, prevented David from offering what was not really his by right of purchase. Personal dignity, and sensitiveness to what is befitting, both in social intercourse and in matters of religion, have their appropriate place; and their due cultivation is a part of Christian duty. Some account of the symbolical significance of the burnt offering may fitly explain why David chose this form of sacrifice as appropriate to this occasion. Its central and characteristic meaning may be thus expressed in the words of Ewald: "In this, man's share in the consumption of the offering altogether vanished. The sacrificer consecrated to the Deity alone the enjoyment of the whole, and this not to punish himself, or because he was punished, on account of a special consciousness of guilt by deprivation of sensuous participation, but rather from free resolve and purest self-denial." Kurtz says, "The burning by fire was the chief point in this class of offering, and marked it as an expression of perpetual obligation to complete, sanctified, self-surrender to Jehovah." The sacrifice was a solemn declaration that the offerer belonged wholly to God, and that he dedicated himself, soul and body, to him, and placed his life at his disposal. We treat David's burnt offering as a typical religious service, and consider —
I. THAT THE VALUE OF ALL RELIGIOUS SERVICE LIES IN THE SPIRIT OF HIM WHO BENDERS IT. A burnt offering is in itself a valueless and unacceptable thing; and so is every act of formal worship. Therefore in the unspiritual days of later Judaism, the prophets, as Isaiah, went so far as to say that God "hated" the mere formalities of religion, and found them a "weariness" to him. All a man's gifts and acts must, like his words, carry a feeling, and express a desire and purpose. A man must utter himself in his words, or his words will be worthless. And so a man must utter himself in his offerings, sacrifices, and services, or God will say he "cannot away with them." This point may be searchingly applied to our spiritual fitness for present-day services. Still it is true that our feeling must be the life of our worship.
II. THE BEST THING WE CAN EXPRESS TO GOD IS OUR SELF-DEVOTEMENT. This is the main idea of the burnt offering. This is the proper feeling cherished by David, and expressed in his sacrifice. It may be shown as the ultimate and comprehensive demand of St. Paul, in Romans 12:1, "I beseech you… that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice."
III. Such SELF-DEVOTEMENT CAN BE BEST EXPRESSED BY SELF-DENIAL. This David felt, and it led him to refuse to offer to God some one else's self-denial. He would have it to be his own sacrifice, the act of his own self-denial. Show that what is given to God should be a man's own, and all the better if it is a man's own by conscious effort, and if to set it aside for God involves some severe self-mastery. Such self-denials carry into expression the soul-feeling which alone is acceptable to God.
This subject lends itself to careful applications connected with modem religious worship and duty. It would be the dawn of a glorious day for the Church if every man felt as David did that he must utter his soul to God in gifts and offerings, and that these must come out of his "own proper good," and carry a noble burden of self-denials.—R.T.
1 Chronicles 21:26.-Propitiation.
On a subject of so much complexity, it is hardly fitting to raise a full discussion from a merely incidental illustration, especially in view of the fact that this incident is in harmony with the Old Testament conceptions of propitiation, and fuller and clear doctrinal light has since come in the teachings of the apostles. Here we note that David offered himself to God by a sacrifice, as a man convicted, penitent, and recovered to a right mind, and cherishing a spirit of full consecration. This offering God was pleased to accept by a symbol of fire, and to make a ground on which he could be propitiated. With the distinct understanding that we do but touch one side or aspect of a profound and mysterious subject, and that to deal with a part fully recognizes the importance of the other parts which go to make up the whole, we suggest the consideration of the following points: —
I. JUDGMENT IS THE DIVINE RECOGNITION OF A MAN'S WRONG STATE. Carefully distinguish between a man's wrong state of mind and will, and a wrong act. Both must be evil in the sight of God, but he must consider the wrong state as more serious than the wrong act. Judgment, coming as it must in the human and earthly spheres, will always seem to us to be the recognition of wrong acts; but when we come to see the deeper truth, we find it is Divine revelation of man's state, and due punishment of it. This David found out. The plague seemed to be judgment on his wrong act, in ordering the "census." When he came to his right mind, he found that it was Divine recognition of the wilfulness and self-glorying out of which the foolish command to take the census had come. Show that precisely the convictions which God's judgments aim to produce are convictions of inner wrong, heart-evil, sin of will.
II. PROPITIATION IS THE OFFERING TO GOD OF A MAN'S STATE RECOVERED TO RIGHT. This is the essence, but, as may be seen in David's example, it may properly find outward expression in fitting acts. And this view helps us most materially in our apprehension of the propitiation made by the Lord Jesus Christ. In the light of his spotlessness and sinless obedience, we can see that, standing for man, as man's Representative and Head, he presented to God man recovered to right.
III. UPON THE RECOGNITION OF MAN'S RIGHT STATE, JUDGMENT CAN BE REMOVED AND THE SENSE OF ACCEPTANCE GRANTED. Because the end of judgment is evidently reached (for we can only conceive of Divine judgments as revelational and corrective) and mercy may have its free, unhindered path. And it therefore appears that all the humiliations and all the persuasions of the gospel have this for their supreme aim, to bring us men into a right state so that we may actually be represented by the infinitely acceptable Son of God and Son of man. For what Christ pledges on our behalf we are bound actually to be. But this further truth needs to be here stated, that Christ is now working in us, by his Spirit, that right state of mind and heart which he has, in his great sacrifice, pledged us to win.—R.T.
1 Chronicles 21:28.-Answer to prayer consecrating the place of prayer.
It is noted that David felt the threshing-floor to have become a sacred place, precisely because there he had gained the answer to his prayer. A similar feeling is illustrated in the case of the patriarchs. Abraham erected his altars where the signs of the Divine favour came to him; and Jacob raised his pillow-stone as a pillar, and consecrated his place of vision, Bethel, the house of God. We may recognize instances of the same kind in our own religious experiences. Certain places are, to our feeling, peculiarly sacred, and we know that they have gained their sacredness out of prayer-times, wrestling scenes, and gracious Divine responses. It appears that David had received answer to his prayer under two symbols.
I. THE FREEDOM OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP FROM ALL LIMITATIONS OF PLACE. Every place is holy ground. God's temple-dome is the "arch of yon unmeasured sky;" God's temple-area is the floor of the whole earth. This point may be illustrated from the large variety of places which the holy men of Scripture made prayer-places: e.g. the inside of an ark, a cave in a mountain, the belly of a fish, etc. Or from the striking language of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 66:1): "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?" Or from the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, in John 4:21-23: "The hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father… The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth," This point being well established and efficiently illustrated, there may be shown —
II. THE HELPFULNESS THAT MAY LIE IN LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS OF WORSHIP. There is a right and reasonable attachment to particular churches, places, and ordinances. Buildings and rooms gain a sacredness by their devotement to prayer and religious uses. And this feeling is to be encouraged, though we need to be reminded how easily it may become mere sentiment and superstition. The house of God where our fathers worshipped should be sacred to us. The sanctuary where the truth of God's saving love first came home to our hearts must seem sacred to us. And it should be easier to win reverence, worship, and power of prayer in such consecrated places.
III. THIS APPLIES TO A MAN'S PERSONAL RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES IN HIS PRIVATE RELIGIOUS LIFE. Illustrate from such instances as may be typified by an instance in the life of Luther. That spot in the forest where Alexis was struck down by the lightning, and he himself spared, must have been ever after a sacred spot to him. Or take a case of prayer under some particular pressure, as when a beloved one, in sickness, seemed to be passing away. The place where prayer was offered and answered seems never to lose the hallowing associations. Our lives, indeed, ought to be fall of consecrated spots, where we have raised, again and again, our pillars, inscribing thereon our Ebenezer, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
Impress that if our religion is to be, in any real and vigorous sense, personal, we must have made our own sacred place. The sanctuaries set apart for worship are most precious and most helpful, and the true hearts in all the ages have said, "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house." But more is needed. Each man wants a temple of his own, raised in response to Divine goodness personally apprehended—a sacred place where, with the fullest emotion, he may offer his sacrifice of love and praise, even as David did.—R.T.
1 Chronicles 21:29, 1 Chronicles 21:30.-The relics left on feeling from the humbling scenes of life.
"Some have supposed that the terror which David had felt at the sight of the destroying angel (1 Chronicles 21:16) produced a bodily infirmity which made it physically impossible for him to go to Gibeon; but probably no more than a moral impediment is meant. David, knowing that by sacrifice on this altar he had caused the angel to stay his band, was afraid to transfer his offerings elsewhere, lest the angel should resume his task, and pestilence again break out." David seemed ever after to see that sword before the tabernacle. It may be said that all Divine dealings have an immediate, and also a remote and permanent design. We are often dwelling on the immediate lessons that are impressed, but probably the best lessons are those which are learned by-and-by, after a while, when the excitement of the incidents has passed, and the whole is taken into quiet and serious review. Things seem so different when they are calmly looked back upon;,aspects and relations come into view which we had not previously suspected. We know how true this is of our review of the lives of those whom we have known and loved; but it is equally true of the events and incidents of our own lives.
I. A MAN'S SINS AND FAILINGS LEAVE THEIR TRACES ON CHARACTER AND FEELING. Even when they are forgiven, and a man is fully recovered from their influence, he cannot be rid of them altogether. There is a new reverence, or a fear of self, or a perilous openness to particular temptation, or a strange shyness left behind, of which the man will never be rid. Illustrative cases from Scripture and modem life may be given. A good Scripture instance, in which there was a humbling experience, but one free from the bitterness of personal sin, is that of King Hezekiah (see Isaiah 38:15, "I shall go softly all my [spared] years in the bitterness of my soul").
II. SUCH CONTINUED FEELING INSENSIBLY GUIDES FUTURE CONDUCT. This is seen in the case of David. Perhaps he hardly admitted to himself what it really was that kept him from going to inquire of God at Gibeon. And so we find in our fellow-men and in ourselves singular hesitations; we feel difficulties and shrink back, when there seems no real occasion. We cannot tell others, we hardly like to admit to ourselves, that it is the relic of some great stumble, or even fall and sin and shame; the very real ghost of our former ill. Compare the man who, late in life, said, remembering his riotous youth-time, "I would give my right arm if I could be quit of the evils left in thought from my youthful sins."
III. SUCH CONTINUED FEELING INDICATES A CONTINUED SANCTIFYING WORK, For God graciously uses, not merely things themselves, but their after-effects. No influence has its bare limits. The after-effects may differ greatly in different dispositions, but some of God's best work in our hearts and lives is done by means of them. This may be illustrated by the after-influence exerted on the Apostle St. Peter by his sad and shameful fall. And David expresses this continuous sanctifying influence of remembered humblings when he says, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now will I keep thy Word."
Apply especially to that great work of sanctifying, the producing of the humility of the true dependence. Show that it is most perfectly wrought in the fallen and forgiven, who ever live in the solemn shadow of the great experience.—R.T.
1 Chronicles
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