From the princes of the congregation David turns to Solomon his son. Every line is full of instruction. "Know thou the God of thy father." We may conclude Solomon already knew something, and perhaps much, of God. But this refers to a further and deeper knowledge of him, as his father David had experienced. It is this deeper knowledge of God that is spoken of in the New Testament. St. Paul, though he knew Christ well, still says, "That I may know him." However much we know there is always more to be known. It is this knowledge of him that our Lord refers to when he says (John 7:17), "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine." There is a knowledge of Christ as the Saviour from sin; there is a still further knowledge which springs from obedience in all things to his will. But David continues, "And serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind." Mark here, service and the character of it depend on the knowledge of God, and this knowledge a deepening one. This is ever the Divine order. All the graces of the Christian character act and react on each other. True knowledge ever begets service, and faithful service deepens real knowledge. But there are always two conditions attached to real knowledge and true service, viz. "A perfect heart and a willing mind." A perfect, or as the word means, an "undivided" heart, is one that is whole-hearted. Not "a heart within a heart" which God hates. Not a heart that will follow and serve the Lord when it is convenient but not when it is inconvenient. Not "in season" only, but also "out of season." Next to this is a "willing mind," or a mind that desires only that which will please God. A mind that will say always and in everything, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" A heart devoted and a will given up—this is what David means, and this is what God asks for. David enforces this by the statement of God's omniscience. Solomon might deceive men by having the outer life fair, while inwardly the other might be lacking, but he could not deceive God; and to him Solomon and every man will have eventually to render account. David further enforces these words by a solemn warning: "If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. Take heed now." It reminds us of Paul's solemn words to Timothy: "Take heed to thyself, and to the doctrine; continue in them: for in so doing thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." The soul must be watched and kept, and then the doctrine will be sound. If we seek the Lord he will ever be found; but if we turn our backs on him, then we shall experience that spiritual darkness and misery within that will be practically, though to one saved in the Lord may never be judicially, a casting off from God. Though a true believer may never fall from God, he may fall from the grace of God; and this, though not judicial, is yet practical and experimental exclusion from God. David enjoins Solomon to "take heed" because he is "chosen." It is the dignity conferred that demands the responsibility and gives the power to rule. Is it not so with men put into high places over our land? Before men get into office, what do they not say? and how do they not act? But when they are in office the dignity controls and directs, and gives wisdom and judgment. So is it in the Divine ]tie. God's grace chooses a man, makes him one of his children, puts upon him the highest dignity, and thus he possesses a motive power for holiness which nothing else can give him. David's final words to Solomon at the close of this chapter are equally solemn and suggestive. "Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed." What a string of holy exhortations! On what are they built? On God's presence with his people; "for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord." God's presence is the believer's joy; it is also his strength and power for work. The expression "my God" reminds us again of Paul: "My God shall supply all your need." It was the personal and experimental acquaintance with God's unchanging love and faithfulness, and that alone, which gave to David and Paul such confidence, and made them speak thus. But Solomon might have said, as many others often say, "These are precious promises and encouragements, and I am but 'young and tender,' and the work is so great; how shall I get the means, and who will help me, and how shall I know they will be ready and willing?" These and a thousand other questions rise up in the soul when God sets a clear path before us, or a plain duty. How often we stand, we hesitate! We are already taking one step back. God comes in again to strengthen our faltering faith. "The priests and Levites shall be with thee,… and there shall be with thee every willing and skilful man,… the princes and all the people will be wholly at thy commandment." What a promise—"All things are yours"! So it is always. Having the Lord with us, we shall have everything else: "life and death, things present and things to come," yea, "all things are ours." How completely every question of the soul is met from the unchanging faithfulness and love of our God!—W.
1 Chronicles 28:11-19.-David's transfer of the patterns to Solomon.
After the solemn charge to the congregation and to Solomon, David handed over to Solomon the patterns of the temple, the enumeration beginning from outside to inside, and from thence to the courts and buildings and the vessels, and they include the minutest details of all pertaining to it. Let us mark the spiritual truths connected with this portion of God's Word, and they are many. We refer only to a few. First, as to the patterns themselves. How did David get them? They came from "the Lord" (see 1 Chronicles 28:19). Secondly, they came by a "writing." Thirdly, they came "through the Spirit," or by Divine inspiration. Fourthly, they came through God's "hand upon him." These are all important points in the narrative. This great temple of old was a type of the great spiritual temple now—the kingdom of God in this world. In a secondary sense it may be taken as the believer himself: "Ye are the temple of the living God." Mark, then, first, everything of a Divine character comes from the Lord himself. The Lord himself is the Architect of his own house, whether it be in a man's soul or the Church of Christ. Secondly, the Divine pattern of everything spiritual comes through the "writing," the Word of God written. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit is the Divine Communicator of this Word. He speaks through that Word, which is the breath of God. And, lastly, it is through the "hand" of the Lord laid upon us that the Word becomes effectual and operative. As David handed the patterns to Solomon, so should these be the patterns handed down now, through the Word and the Spirit, and applied with power by the "hand" of the Lord. Solomon could not lay a single stone, nor make a single beam, nor deviate one hair's breadth from this pattern thus handed to him. No more may we. There is one truth more in this narrative. It is a very precious one. It is brought before us in the fourteenth verse, and again in 1 Chronicles 29:2-5. "Gold for things of gold, and silver for things to be made of silver, brass for things of brass, iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood." In other words, whatever golden things were needed, David had the gold provided for them; or whatever things of silver, brass, iron, or wood, David had the silver, brass, iron, and wood ready for them. It is so still in the Church of Christ as well as in the individual Christian's own history. What is our need? Do we occupy a golden position, or one of iron or wood? In Christ, the true David, there is the fulness to meet it. There is all we need for every position, every duty, every want, every hour of need. These needs may be great or small, lofty or lowly, corresponding to the "gold" or the "wood;" but he has exactly what is suited to meet the emergency or the need, whatever it may be: "My God shall supply all your need out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." How truly the teaching of the New Testament is contained in the Old!—W.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
1 Chronicles 28:2.-Old men's testimony.
The emphatic sentence, "Then David the king stood up upon his feet," brings before us a vivid picture of the aged and infirm king making a great effort, gathering up all his strength, and once again standing up that he might render a last testimony for Jehovah. "Towards the end of David's life, he was obliged to keep to his chamber, and almost to his bed. In those later and quiet days he seems to have reviewed his long and checkered career, and his last song embodies the thoughts with which he regarded it. That last song (2 Samuel 23:1-7) is full of mingled regret and hope; over the scenes of his shame he lingers for a moment sadly, but from them he turns to look up to the faithful God, whom he had ever desired to serve, and assured his heart of the permanence of that everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. In those closing words the old prophet-power came back to him, and we wish that such sentiments of humility, trust, and joy in God were the only dying utterances of his that had been preserved for us." The occasion of the effort recorded in our text was a public one: the solemn commendation of Solomon to the people, and closing public instructions for Solomon himself. The subject suggested is the moral influence exerted by the aged godly man, who has behind him the varied experiences of a long and checkered life. The importance of the witness of such a man's life, and of such a man's own expression of the results of his life, and of his moods of mind on coming to its close, need to be pointed out, as these may bear on the men of his own age, and as they may bear on the young generation that is growing up to take the place of those who are "passing away." As the treatment of these divisions must directly depend on the feeling and experience of the preacher, we prefer to give only the barest outline, at most suggesting lines along which the development and illustration of each point may run. As far as possible the treatment should be made cheerful and hopeful, the experience of those who see more good than evil in life being preferred.
I. THE OLD MAN'S TESTIMONY CONCERNING LIFE. He will say that he has found it other—but, on the whole, better—than he expected. Contrast the sunny anticipations of the youth with the serious reviews of the aged. A thousand anticipations have never been realized, but more than a thousand good things, of which youth could not have dreamed, have crowned the passing days with beauty and joy. Many an old man speaks brightly of the "good way wherein the Lord his God has led him."
II. THE OLD MAN'S TESTIMONY CONCERNING MAN. Looking back, he can to some extent know himself and judge his fellows. This at least the old man has learned. Man imagines and even purposes more than he can ever accomplish, and he lives, works, and dies with scaffoldings all about which were but beginnings of buildings that were never built. He has to shelter in the great hope that God will accept his purposes. And so God will, if the unwrought schemes were no mere sentimental dreams, but resolves as serious as David's, to build a temple for the Lord his God.
III. THE OLD MAN'S TESTIMONY CONCERNING GOD. He says he is the Wonder-worker who always gets his will over man's. And he is the faithful One, who keeps covenant and fulfils promise, and may be wholly trusted. He says, "I have been young, and now am old, yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." The light of the old men's experience may well brighten and cheer the young men's toil, and make easier the yoke of those who bear the burden and heat of the day.—R.T.
1 Chronicles 28:2
God's earthly footstool.
Using a striking poetical figure, David speaks of the ark as being "the footstool of our God;" regarding God as enthroned above it in the Shechinah-cloud. The figure is otherwise used in Scripture, in Psalms 99:5; Psalms 132:7; Isaiah 66:1; Lamentations 2:1; Matthew 5:35. We must not imagine that the ark contained God, or that in any sense he dwelt in the ark. He came, in the gracious symbol of the bright cloud, above the ark, between the attendant angel-figures, only resting, as one rests his feet on a footstool, upon the lid of the ark. This lid, from another point of view, is regarded as the propitiatory, or mercy-seat. Some idea of an Eastern throne may aid in the proper realization of this figure. Van Lennep says, "Solomon's throne was" made of ivory, overlaid with the best gold; it had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind. And there were stays on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays." It is generally supposed that this description implies a form of chair similar to ours, in which the feet rest upon a stool. There were such chairs in Egypt, and there is a picture of Rameses seated upon a throne, bearing, apparently, a close resemblance to that of Solomon, with the exception of some peculiarly Egyptian emblems. The Assyrian kings also sat upon thrones of this kind. It should, however, be remembered that this mode of sitting has ever been exceptional in the East; and though it cannot be denied that princes sometimes sat in state, after what we call the European mode, yet the analogies of the case favour the supposition that the king's throne was more commonly in the form of a sofa, or divan, upon which he sat cross-legged." It may be well to point out that, in this figure, we have an instance of anthropomorphic representation, or God s way of graciously aiding our apprehension of himself and of his relations, by speaking of himself, or allowing himself to be spoken of, as if he were a man. What is suggested by such figures, rather than the form of the figure, requires our attention. Three things are suggested by the figure on which we are now dwelling.
I. GOD'S FOOTSTOOL IMPLIES THAT GOD IS THERE. Evidently the footstool is in use. David conceives of God as really present, and in his time the "glory-cloud" did rest between the cherubim, and the high priest might even see it on the ark-lid, which is regarded as the footstool. All the interest David felt in building the new temple depended upon his strong assurance that God, as the great King, was "making his abode with them." He wanted the palace to be worthy of the King. Show how this presence of God is now spiritually realized. Our Lord made so much of it in his teaching, even promising that his Father and he would come, and sup with, and dwell with, the open and trusting heart, making it his footstool. Such promises should make us also anxious that the uprising temple of our character and life should be in every way worthy of the indwelling Deity. "Know ye not that ye are the temples of the Holy Ghost, which is in you? '
II. GOD'S FOOTSTOOL IMPLIES THAT HE IS THERE IN CONDESCENSION. This seems a prominent point in the message sent by Isaiah," Heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool." We think properly of the footstool as having a lowly office, and so easily regard willingness to put a foot upon it as a condescending act. We cannot think any temple we can build is worthy to be God's throne. He must condescend to enter our very noblest. And so of the temple of our character and life, it can be no more than his footstool. "Will God in very deed dwell with man on the earth?" It is wonderful grace that he is found willing to rest upon it his foot.
III. GOD'S FOOTSTOOL IMPLIES THAT GOD IS NOT LIMITED TO THE PLACE WHERE HIS PRESENCE IS APPREHENDED. His throne is not there. Only his foot is there. We must keep the sublime thought that he is above all things, though he fills all things. Show in what senses God may now be thought of as present in our churches. And earnestly impress the need of keeping up the sense of his non-limitation by any human places or human forms. All earth can at best be but a footstool, which he may touch if he will.—R.T.
1 Chronicles 28:8.-Persuasions to obedience.
"Keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God." 'Speaker's Commentary' says, "The sense would be clearer if the words were, 'I charge you, keep and seek;' and some commentators suppose that they did so run originally." In view of the connections of this verse, the following persuasions may be illustrated and enforced. Obedience to God's commands is man's natural duty; the duty that necessarily attends upon the dependent relation in which he stands towards God. But such is man's deterioration, through sin, that now he needs to be urged to his duty by all kinds of inspiring persuasions.
I. GOD'S GRACIOUS PROMISES ARE A PERSUASION, (1 Chronicles 28:6, 1 Chronicles 28:7.) David urges that those promises rest upon Solomon, and the grace of them should ever lead him to say, "What manner of person ought I to be?" But David realizes that even the promises are conditional upon man's constant, so they always urge to faithfulness.
II. GOD'S PRESENCE IS A PERSUASION. Illustrate the moral influence exerted by the actual presence of the schoolmaster, the farmer, the business man, or the king. "Thou God seest me" ought to be to us, not a terror, but the inspiration to all goodness. For our moral culture no assurance is more important than this: "Certainly I will be with thee."
III. SURROUNDING PEOPLE BECOME A PERSUASION TO EACH ONE. David has this scene enacted publicly that Solomon may feel how every man's expectations and hopes rest on him, and every eye will anxiously watch his career. For others' sakes we must be true, obedient, and faithful, for we "are made a spectacle unto men and unto angels."
IV. THE CONDITIONS OF OUR RELATIONS WITH GOD ARE A PERSUASION. Their maintenance depends entirely on our obedience (1 Chronicles 28:9). They are not sovereign relations, but distinctly conditional. It we forsake God, he will cast us off for ever. So the burden of responsibility is made to lie heavily on our own shoulders. We must "take heed;" we must" seek for" and "keep" the commandments of our God, the all-comprehensive commands of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.—R.T.
1 Chronicles 28:9.-The faithfulness of the great Heart-searcher.
"For the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts." For this conception of God, compare 1 Samuel 16:7; Psalms 7:9; Psalms 139:2; Jeremiah 11:20; Jeremiah 17:10; Jeremiah 20:12. The expressions of the text suggest the accuracy and intimacy of the Divine knowledge of men's affairs. Apprehend God rightly, and his interest in us fills us with grateful surprise. Illustrate David's feeling, "When I consider thy heavens… what is man that thou art mindful of him?" Solomon's, "Will God in very deed dwell with man on the earth?" Isaiah's, "To whom then will ye liken God?… He giveth power to the faint," etc. See the Divine interest:
1. In the spheres of natural life; i.e. in us as beings. He is near as Creator, Sustainer, Provider. Birth, preservation, and death are all his.
2. In the spheres of associated life; i.e. as beings in relations. Government, family, and Church are all under his Divine inspections.
3. In the spheres of mental life; i.e. as intellectual beings. All movements of mind he presides over.
4. In the spheres of spiritual life; i.e. as moral beings. God knows and watches all unfoldings of character and religion. All spheres are accessible to him. "All things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Dwell on the subtlety of the human heart; its labyrinths and hiding-places and self-deceivings. How imperfect, at its best, is a man's own knowledge of his heart! How impossible it is for one man to know the intricate workings of the heart of another man! Searching the heart is required, that its subtle evils may be discovered. But all depends on who it is that does the searching work, and with what aim and purpose the searching is done.
I. GOD CAN SEARCH THE HUMAN HEART. He can, for he designed it, and knows all its possibilities. He can, for he has never let it slip away from his observation and. control, and so all its "latent mazes" he knows, and all its wilfulnesses he controls.
II. GOD SEARCHES THE HUMAN HEART WITH A DEFINITE AND GRACIOUS PURPOSE. Even its deliverance from evil and perfecting in holiness. This purpose makes good men regard the Divine searching as a most precious thing. In view of it David can pray, "Search me, O God." He feels, "God does not know me as a mere ordinary matter of knowledge. He is graciously and lowngly interested in me, and so he knows me helpfully, that he may adapt his grace to my various and subtle needs." This personal interest in our highest good, which gives tone to his searching, is brought home to our hearts by the tender interest shown in humanity, and in individuals of humanity, by the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. We feel that we never can resist his searching us through and through, and knowing us altogether. The close inspections of God may be:
1. A terror to us. Illustrate the influence of the words, "Thou God seest me," sometimes on little children. They are even used to frighten them into goodness. Compare Jacob's, "How dreadful is this place!" From Job, Isaiah, and John we learn that solemnity and awe should always attend the consciousness of God's near presence.
2. It may be a real practical help to us, as David expected it to be to Solomon, He who knows us so well, does not only know; he also gives strength. David, who trembles at God's searchings, can only say, "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect."
3. It may be cherished as our holiest joy. No harm can come to us, for God's eye and hand are always on us. No good thing can fail us, for God knows all our real wants. Our Lord taught so often about the intimate knowledge and care of the heavenly Father, who keeps the sparrows, clothes the grass, watches over the seeds, paints the lilies, waves the harvests, and knows that we are of more value than flowers or sparrows.
Show that this truth, of God's knowledge and heart-searchings, bears upon men's tendency to self-deception. It is only possible to sin on when we have deluded ourselves into the idea that "God doth not see."—R.T.
1 Chronicles 28:20.-Personal relations with God.
"The Lord God, even my God." It is possible for us to have thoughts of God that keep him wholly external to us, and altogether unrelated to us. And it may be feared that such are the thoughts of God usually cherished by men, Though they may have a certain influence on us, the full and saving power of God cannot be known until we have appropriated him, and come into direct and personal relations with him. A man finds God a living force upon thought, heart, life, and conduct when he calls him my God. The work of Christ is, in great part, the bringing about of this relation, and the persuasion of the man to recognize it fully. Man lost says, "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, and hid myself." Man redeemed, and standing right with God, says, "I flee unto thee to hide me." "For thou art my God."
I. How CAN GOD BE THUS PERSONALLY APPREHENDED?
1. By accepting the revelation of his fatherhood which he makes in Christ the Son, and entering into the privilege and duty which it involves.
2. By winning the trustful, thankful love of those who know they are forgiven and redeemed.
3. By maintaining those close and intimate communions with God which bring freshly to us the joy of his care.
II. WHAT IS INVOLVED IN SUCH PERSONAL RELATIONS?
1. On God's part. Just what God loves, and what he is sure to meet with the fullest bestowments of his grace, is man's love and trust expressed in the words "my God."
2. On man's part. The relation becomes the most hallowing force exerted on the whole life. The man wants to be worthy of, wants to be like, his God.
III. WHAT MAY IMPERIL SUCH RELATIONS AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN APPREHENDED? This may be treated in detail, or in the general principle. To say, "my God," involves maintaining the trustfulness of full and obedient submission; and, therefore, the peril lies in some returning form of wilfulness. This separates us at once, in feeling, from God, so that the words "my God" will not rise to our lips.—R.T.
1 Chronicles
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