PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Expositions of Holy Scripture
Alexander Maclaren, 1826-1910 · 262,303 words · 371 reading sections
The Second Book Of Chronicles
Produced by Tiffany Vergon, David King and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. ESTHER, JOB, PROVERBS AND ECCLESIASTES THE STORY OF HAZAEL (2 Kings viii. 9-15) IMPURE ZEAL (2 Kings x. 18-31) JEHOIADA AND JOASH (2 Kings xi. 1-16) METHODI…
348 wordsSECTION 2The Proverbs
THE EVE OF THE RESTORATION (Ezra i. 1-11) ALTAR AND TEMPLE (Ezra iii. 1-13) BUILDING IN TROUBLOUS TIMES (Ezra iv. 1-5) THE NEW TEMPLE AND ITS WORSHIP (Ezra vi. 14-22) GOD THE JOY-BRINGER (Ezra vi. 22) HEROIC FAITH (Ezra viii. 22, 23, 31, 32) THE CHARGE OF THE PILGRIM PRIESTS (Ezra viii. 29) A REFORMER'S SCHOOLIN…
440 wordsSECTION 3The Story Of Hazael
WHAT PASSES AND WHAT ABIDES (Eccles. i. 4; I John ii. 17) THE PAST AND THE FUTURE (Eccles. i. 9; I Peter iv. 2, 3) TWO VIEWS OF LIFE (Eccles. i. 13; Hebrews xii. 10) 'A TIME TO PLANT' (Eccles. iii. 2) ETERNITY IN THE HEART (Eccles. iii. 11) LESSONS FOR WORSHIP AND FOR WORK (Eccles. v. 1-12) NAKED OR CLOTHED? (Ecc…
662 wordsSECTION 4The Story Of Hazael
Then there followed the prophet's weeping, and the solemn announcement of what Hazael would do when he had climbed to the throne. He shrank in real horror from the thought of such enormity of sin. 'Is thy servant a dog that he should do such a thing?' Elisha sternly answers: 'The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be …
666 wordsSECTION 5The Story Of Hazael
All this should teach us-- Lessons of wary walking and humility. We are good because we have not been tried. Lessons of charity and brotherly kindness. Every thief in the hulks, every prostitute on the streets, is our brother and sister, and they prove their fraternity by their sin. 'Whatever man has done man may do.…
548 wordsSECTION 6Impure Zeal
'And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much. 19. Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall …
828 wordsSECTION 7Impure Zeal
The story gives a double picture in verse 24. Within are the jubilant worshippers; without, the grim company of their executioners, waiting the signal to draw their swords and burst in on the unarmed mob. Jehu carried his deception so far that he himself offered the burnt offering, with Jehonadab standing by, and then …
700 wordsSECTION 8Impure Zeal
Many a great name in the annals of the Church has fallen before that temptation. We all need to remember that 'the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God,' and to take heed lest we should be guided by our own stormy impatience of contradiction, and by a determination to have our own way, while we think ourse…
671 wordsSECTION 9Jehoiada And Joash
The last point in the story is the imperfection of the obedience of Jehu. He contented himself with rooting out Baal, but left the calves. That shows the impurity of his 'zeal,' which flamed only against what it was for his advantage to destroy, and left the more popular and older idolatry undisturbed. Obedience has to…
777 wordsSECTION 10Jehoiada And Joash
The king of Judah has been killed, his alliance with the king of Israel having involved him in the latter's fate. Jehu had also murdered 'the brethren of Ahaziah,' forty-two in number. Next, Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah and a daughter of Ahab, killed all the males of the royal family, and planted herself on the thro…
747 wordsSECTION 11Jehoiada And Joash
Jehoiada's plans are somewhat difficult to understand, owing to our ignorance of the details as to the usual arrangements of the guards of the palace, but the general drift of them is plain enough. The main thing was to secure the person of the king, and, for that purpose, the two companies of priests who were relieved…
749 wordsSECTION 12Methodical Liberality
So ended the all but bloodless revolution which crushed Baal worship in Judah. It had been begun by Elijah and Elisha, but it was completed by a high priest. It was religious even more than political. It was a national movement, though Jehoiada's courage and wisdom engineered it to its triumph. It teaches us how God wa…
762 wordsSECTION 13Methodical Liberality
We note, first, the true source of money for religious purposes. There was a fixed amount for which 'each man is rated,' and that made the minimum, but there was also that which 'cometh into any man's heart to bring,' and that was infinitely more precious than the exacted tax. The former was appropriate to the Old Test…
798 wordsSECTION 14Methodical Liberality
But all this system of checks seems to break down at the very point where it should have worked most searchingly, for 'they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money' to pay the workmen, 'for they dealt faithfully.' That last clause looks like a hit at the priests who had not dealt so, and con…
394 wordsSECTION 15The Spirit Of Power
'And Elisha said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands.'--2 KINGS xiii. 16. This is part of one of the strangest narratives in the Old Testament. Elisha is on his deathbed, 'sick of the sickness' wherewith he 'should die.' A very…
710 wordsSECTION 16The Spirit Of Power
I. Here we have the power communicated. Now the story seems to indicate that it was only for a moment that the prophet's hands were laid on the king's hands, because, after they had been so laid, he is bidden to go to the window and fling it open, and the bedridden man could not go there with him; then he is bidden to…
725 wordsSECTION 17The Spirit Of Power
Further, this strength communicated is realised in the effort to obey Christ's great commands. Joash felt nothing when the prophet's hand was laid upon his but, perhaps, some tingling. But when he got the bow in his hand and drew the arrow to its head, the infused power stiffened his muscles and strengthened him to pul…
752 wordsSECTION 18The Spirit Of Power
III. That brings me to my last point, the partial victory that is actually won. 'Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten the Syrians till they were consumed. But now thou shalt conquer but thrice.' All God's promises and prophecies are conditional. There is no such thing as an uncondition…
680 wordsSECTION 19A Kingdom'S Epitaph
'In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 7. For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land…
746 wordsSECTION 20A Kingdom'S Epitaph
I. The less culpable apostasy before the prophets' warnings. The first words of verse 7, rendered as in the Revised Version, give the purpose of all that follows; namely, to declare the causes of the calamity just told. Note that the first characteristic of Israel's sin was ungrateful departure from God. There is a wor…
746 wordsSECTION 21A Kingdom'S Epitaph
II. Verse 13 gives the pleading of Jehovah. The mission of the prophets was God's reply to Israel's rebellion, and was equally the sign of His anger and of His love. The more sin abounds, the more does God multiply means to draw back to Himself. The deafer the ears, the louder the beseeching voice of His grieved and ye…
844 wordsSECTION 22Divided Worship
To be swept out of His sight is the fate of obstinate rejection of His commandments and pleadings. Israel made itself the slave of evil, and was made the captive of Assyria. Self-willed freedom, which does as it likes, and heeds not God, ends in bondage, and is itself bondage. God's anger against sin speaks pleadingly …
726 wordsSECTION 23Divided Worship
This was the beginning of the Samaritan people, whom we find through the rest of Scripture even down to the Acts of the Apostles, retaining some trace of their heathen origin. Simon Magus bewitched them in his sorceries. They began as heathen, though in lapse of years they came to be pure monotheists, even more rigid t…
692 wordsSECTION 24Divided Worship
Fear was never meant to be permanent, it is only the alarum-bell which rings to wake up the soul that sleeps on when in mortal peril. And it should pass into penitence, faith, joy in Jesus. 'We have access with confidence by the faith of Him.' The brightness is great and awful, but go nearer, as you can in Jesus, and l…
647 wordsSECTION 25Hezekiah, A Pattern Of Devout Life
'Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel.... 6. He clave to the Lord, and departed not from following Him, but kept His commandments.'--2 KINGS xviii. 5,6. Devout people in all ages and stations are very much like each other. The elements of godliness are always the same. This king of Israel, something like two tho…
697 wordsSECTION 26Hezekiah, A Pattern Of Devout Life
First of all, remember that sweet picture of the widow woman from Moab and the two daughters-in-law, one sent back, not reluctantly, to her home; and the other persisting in keeping by Naomi's side, in spite of difficulties and remonstrances. With kisses of real love Orpah went back, but she did go back, to her people …
720 wordsSECTION 27Hezekiah, A Pattern Of Devout Life
Then the third stage, or the third story, in this building is that, cleaving to the Lord, 'he departed not from following Him.' The metaphor of cleaving implies proximity and union; the metaphor of following implies distance which is being diminished. These two are incongruous, and the very incongruity helps to give po…
653 wordsSECTION 28'He Uttered His Voice, The Earth Melted'
And on the other hand, let us learn that all attempts to be obedient to a divine will which do not begin with trust and cleaving to Him are vain. There is no other way to get that conformity of will except by that union of spirit. All other attempts are beginning at the wrong end. You do not begin building your houses …
890 wordsSECTION 29'He Uttered His Voice, The Earth Melted'
But it is noteworthy that, with that brief, sufficient assurance, Hezekiah, as it were, is put aside, and instead of three fighters in the field, the king, with God to back him, and on the other side Sennacherib, two only, appear. It is a duel between Jehovah and the arrogant heathen who had despised Him. Jerusalem app…
864 wordsSECTION 30'He Uttered His Voice, The Earth Melted'
The definite promise of deliverance in verses 32-34 is addressed to Judah, and emphasises the completeness of the frustration of the invader's efforts. There is a climax in the enumeration of the things that he will not be allowed to do--he will not make his entry into the city, nor even shoot an arrow there, nor even …
716 wordsSECTION 31The Rediscovered Law And Its Effects
'And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the ho…
699 wordsSECTION 32The Rediscovered Law And Its Effects
I. We have, first, the discovery of the law. The important and complicated critical questions raised by the narrative cannot be discussed here, nor do they affect the broad lines of teaching in the incident. Nothing is more truthful-like than the statement that, in course of the repairs of the Temple, the book should b…
650 wordsSECTION 33The Rediscovered Law And Its Effects
The dread of punishment sprang up in the young king's heart, and though that emotion is not the highest motive for seeking the Lord, it is not an unworthy one, and is meant to lead on to nobler ones than itself. There is too much unwillingness, in many modern conceptions of Christ's gospel, to recognise the place which…
670 wordsSECTION 34The End
But the second half of her message told that in wrath God remembered mercy. And that is for ever true. His thunderbolts do not strike indiscriminately, even when they smite a nation. Judah's corruption had gone too far for recovery, and the carcase called for the gathering together of the vultures, but Josiah's peniten…
701 wordsSECTION 35The End
The narrative falls into two principal parts--the fate of the king and that of the city. It is unnecessary to dwell on the details. The confusion of counsels, the party strife, the fierce hatred of God's prophet, the agony of famine, are all suppressed here, but painted with terrible vividness in the Book of Jeremiah. …
760 wordsSECTION 36The End
Now this fall of Jerusalem is like an object-lesson to teach everlasting truth as to the retributive providence of God. What does it say? It declares plainly what brings down God's judgments. The terms on which Israel prospered and held its land were obedience to God's law. We cannot directly apply the principles of G…
670 wordsSECTION 37The End
Again, we learn the Divine reluctance to smite. More than four hundred years had passed since Solomon began idolatry, and steadily, through all that time, a stream of prophecy of varying force and width had flowed, while smaller disasters had confirmed the prophets' voices. 'Rising up early and sending' his servants, G…
379 wordsSECTION 38The King'S Potters
'There they dwelt with the king for his work.'--1 CHRON. iv. 23. In these dry lists of names which abound in Chronicles, we now and then come across points of interest, oases in the desert, which need but to be pondered sympathetically to yield interesting suggestions. Here for example, buried in a dreary genealogical…
752 wordsSECTION 39The King'S Potters
So if we rightly appreciate our position as dwelling on the King's lands, our delusion of possession will vanish, and we shall feel more keenly the pressure of responsibility while we feel less keenly the grip of anxiety. We are for the time being entrusted with a tiny piece of the royal estates. Let us not strut about…
782 wordsSECTION 40The King'S Potters
We are to hallow all our deeds by drawing the motive for them from the King and by laying the fruits of them at His feet. Thus, and only thus, will the most 'secular' actions be sanctified and the narrowest life be widened to contain a present Christ. There are subsidiary motives which may legitimately blend with the …
265 wordsSECTION 41David'S Choristers
'They stood in their office, according to their order.'--1 CHRON. vi. 32 (R.V. margin). This brief note is buried in the catalogue of the singers appointed by David for 'the service of song in the house of the Lord.' The waves of their choral praise have long ages since ceased to eddy round the 'tabernacle of the tent…
660 wordsSECTION 42David'S Choristers
It used to be said that they who watched for providences never wanted providences to watch for; it is equally true that they who are on the watch for opportunities for service never fail to find them, and that ears pricked to 'hear what God the Lord shall speak,' summoning to work for Him, will not listen in vain. Paul…
888 wordsSECTION 43David'S Choristers
'God said, "A praise is in Mine ear; There is no doubt in it, no fear: Clearer loves sound other ways: I miss My little human praise."' The song of the redeemed has in it a minor strain that gives a sweetness far more poignant than belongs to those who cannot say: 'Out of the depths I cried unto Thee.' 'The sweetes…
678 wordsSECTION 44Drill And Enthusiasm
'[Men that] could keep rank, they were not of double heart.'--1 CHRON. xii. 33. These words come from the muster-roll of the hastily raised army that brought David up to Hebron and made him King. The catalogue abounds in brief characterisations of the qualities of each tribe's contingent. For example, Issachar had 'un…
753 wordsSECTION 45Drill And Enthusiasm
And yet again what are we organised for? Not merely for our own growth or spiritual advantage, but also, and more especially, for spreading faith in Christ and advancing His glory. All our organisation, then, is but an arrangement for doing our work, and if it hinders that, it is cumbrous and must be cut away or modifi…
890 wordsSECTION 46Drill And Enthusiasm
Subordination is required as well as co-operation. For if there be harmonious co-operation in varying offices, there must be degrees and ranks. The differences of power and gift make degrees, and in every society there will be leaders. Of course there is no commanding authority in the Churches. Its leaders are brethren…
689 wordsSECTION 47Drill And Enthusiasm
Consider its effect on the individual. It will give tenacity of purpose, will brace to strenuous effort, will subdue self, self-regard, self-importance, will subdue fear. It is the true anaesthetic. The soldier is unconscious of his wounds, while the glow of devotion is in his heart and the shout of the battle in his …
333 wordsSECTION 48David'S Prohibited Desire And Permitted Service
'Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for the Lord God of Israel. 7. And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God: 8. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great w…
742 wordsSECTION 49David'S Prohibited Desire And Permitted Service
The reason for the frustrating of David's desire, as here given, is his career as a warrior king. Not only was it incongruous that hands which had been reddened with blood should rear the Temple, but the fact that his reign had been largely occupied with fighting for the existence of the kingdom showed that the time fo…
663 wordsSECTION 50David'S Prohibited Desire And Permitted Service
III. There is something very pathetic in the old king's enumeration of the treasures which, by the economies of a lifetime, he had amassed. The amount stated is enormous, and probably there is some clerical error in the numbers specified. Be that as it may, the sum was very large. It represented many an act of self-den…
460 wordsSECTION 51David'S Charge To Solomon
'And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers,…
657 wordsSECTION 52David'S Charge To Solomon
David's address to this gathering is directed to secure these two points. He begins by recalling his own intention to build the Temple and God's prohibition of it. The reason for that prohibition differs from that alleged by Nathan, but there is no contradiction between the two narratives, and the chronicler has alread…
658 wordsSECTION 53David'S Charge To Solomon
After such knowledge comes an outward life of service. Active obedience is the expression of inward communion, love, and trust. The spring that moves the hands on the dial is love, and, if the hands do not move, there is something wrong with the spring. Morality is the garment of religion; religion is the animating pri…
534 wordsSECTION 54The Waves Of Time
'The times that went over him.'--1 CHRON. xxix. 30. This is a fragment from the chronicler's close of his life of King David. He is referring in it to other written authorities in which there are fuller particulars concerning his hero; and he says, 'the acts of David the King, first and last, behold they are written i…
861 wordsSECTION 55The Waves Of Time
How solemn that makes our life! How it destroys the monotony that we sometimes complain of! How it heightens the low things and magnifies the apparently small ones! And how it calls upon us for a sharpened attention, that we miss not any of the blessings and gifts which God is meaning to bestow upon us through the mini…
825 wordsSECTION 56The Waves Of Time
III. Lastly, let me remind you, too, how eloquently the words of my text suggest the transiency of all the 'times.' They 'passed over him' as the wind through an archway, that whistles and comes not again. The old, old thought, so threadbare and yet always so solemnising and pathetic, which we know so well that we for…
614 wordsSECTION 57The Duty Of Every Day
'Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord ... Even after a certain rate every day.'--(A.V.) 'Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord, even as the duty of every day required it.'--2 Chron. viii. 12-13 (R. V.). This is a description of the elaborate provision, in accordance with the commandment of …
674 wordsSECTION 58The Duty Of Every Day
Then there is another piece of advice from this thought of each day having its own work, and that is--keep your ears open, and your eyes too, to learn the lesson of what the day's work is. There is generally abundance of direction for us if only we are content with the one-step-at-a-time direction, which we get, and if…
664 wordsSECTION 59The Duty Of Every Day
So, then, take that first thought: What we want is a religion that will go all through our lives. A great many of you keep your religion where you keep your best clothes: putting it on on Sunday and locking it away on the Sunday night in a wardrobe because it is not the dress that you go to work in. And some of you kee…
672 wordsSECTION 60The Duty Of Every Day
Lastly, take the other suggestion, that every day has its own supplies. That does not lie in the text properly, but for the sake of completeness I add it. Every day has its own supplies. The manna fell every day, and was gathered and consumed on the day on which it fell. God gives us strength measured accurately by th…
341 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.