2 Sam. xxiii. 5. jUthough my house he not so loith God ; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure : for this is all my salvation, and all my desire.
IN all the trials and troubles of life, religion alone can afford us any effectual support. To this the
saints in all ages have fled for refuge, and in this they have found all the consolation they could desire. The latter days of David were a continual scene of domestic sorrows. The defilement of Tamar by her brother Amnon, the murder of Amnon by his brother Absalom, the rebellion and untimely death of Absa- lom, and the conspiracy and consequent destruction of Adonijah, all embittered his life: and God had foretold, that such afflictions should await him, as a punishment for the horrible sins he had committed in the matter of Uriah. David however was not without his consolations. Though he could not have the happiness of seeing his house walking in the ways of God, yet he had good reason to believe that God had accepted him; and in the view of the covenant which God had made with him, he could not but rejoice. We do not apprehend that this covenant related exclusively to the succession of his posterity upon the throne of Israel, or even to the advent of the Messiah from his loins : it can be no other than that covenant which God made with his own Son, and with us in him ; for no other covenant corresponds with the description here given of it, nor could David speak of any other as all his salvation and all his desire. That covenant relates to the salvation of a ruined world by the blood and right- eousness of the Lord Jesus.
The representation which David here gives us of it will lead us to shew,
I. The excellence of this covenant —
This is set forth in a striking view in the words before us. We notice,
1. Its duration —
[Long before man had fallen, God, who foresaw his fall, devised a plan for his recovery : and in this plan his co-equal, co-eternal Son concurred : " The council of peace was between them both," says the Prophet '"'. To tliis St. Paul alludes, when he says, that he was " in hope of eternal life, which God had promised before the world began''." To whom could that
a Zech. vi. 13. » Tit. i. 2.