Lord God?" &c. (ver. 20). (1) A conviction of his transcendent and awful holiness. "Our God is a consuming fire" (Heh. xii. 29). (2) A feeling of their own deep sin- fulness, which the former never fails to produce (Isa. vi. 5; Luke v. 8). (3) A per- suasion of the necessity of" righteousness and true holiness" in those among whom hr: dwells; for their request to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, "Come ye down, ar d fetch it up to you," was the expression of something more than selfish dread (eh. v. 7), being caused by the belief that it would be more worthily honoured by others than by themselves. The conduct of a single city sometimes reveals the moral condition of a whole nation.- And Israel was evidently not prepared to receive openly and fully tlr~ sign of God's presence among them, nor, until they should have passed through long and painful discipline, any further signal manifestation of his favour. IV. REINSTATED IN RESPECTFUL BUT IMPERFECT HONOUR (ver. 21 ; eh. vii. 1). From Beth-shemesh it was taken (not to Shiloh, which had been rendered unworthy, and was now perhap3 in ruins, but) to Kirjath-jearim (city of forests or woods, Ps. cxxxii. 6), where it was -1. Settled among a willing people, and in the house of a devout man-Abi11adab, "on the hill." "God will find out a resting-place for the- ark." When one people prove themselves unworthy of it, and wish to part with it, he will provide another people of greater worth, and ready to welcome it. "It is no new thing for the ark to hP. in a private dwelling-house." 2. Placed under speci~! and proper guardianslii:p. "Sanctified (consecrated) Eleazar his son to keep the ark from profane intrusion.' Even in the most corrupt times there are individual in- stances of true piety. These are honoured of God, and for their sakes others are- spared (Isa. i. 9). 3. Disassociatecl from the tabernacle and its services. After the capture of the ark the desecrated tabernacle appears to have been removed from Shiloh to Nob, where we find it long afterwards (eh. xxi. 6), attended by more than eighty priests, and subsequently to Gibeon (1 Kings iii. 4; 1 Chron. xvi. 39; xxi. 29; 2: Chron. i. 3, 6, 7), where it finally fell into decay and perished ; •the ark itself remained in Kirjath-jearim about seventy years, when it was removed to the house of Obed-edom (2 Sam. vi. 3, 11. Gibeah = the hill); and shortly afterwards to Jerusalem, where it abode "in curtains" until deposited in the temple of Solomon. The separation was anomalous, preventive of the full observance of the prescribed order of Levitical services, and indicative of the imperfect moral relations which subsisted between the- people of hrael and their Divine King. 4. Long disregarded by the nation. No public assemblies appear to have met at the place where it stood ; no sacrifices to- have been offered there, no festivities held, as previously at Shiloh. It is not even mentioned again until the time 0£ David, when it was said," We inquired not at ( or for) the ark in the days of Saul" (1 Chron. xiii. 3). Its neglect was permitted because- its proper use was impossible until a thorough internal reformation and more com- plete union of the nation should be effected. 11 It was made evident that the nattoll was not yet worthy to receive the perfect fulfilment of the promise, 'I will dwe!I in your midst.' They endeavoured to dispose of the ark in the best possible way. It was bm·ied, as it were, in Kirjath-jearim until the time when God would bring ab,rnt its joyful resurrection" (Hengstenberg).-D.
Ver. 13. (BETH-SHEMESH.)-The ark in harvest. It was in the time of harvest that the ark was restored to Israel. Whilst the cornfields of the Philistines wero- wasted by an extraordinary plAgue, the valley of Beth-shemesh was covered with golden grain, and the men of tbnt city were busily occupied in gathering it in (Ruth i. 6). But at the sight of the sacred symbol they left their secular occupation, gathered around it with greo.t joy, and spent the day in II offering burnt offerings an, [ sacrificing sacrifices to the Lord " (ver. 15). We may regard the harvest as repre- senting material blessings, which o.re more richly bestowed at this season of the yeu r- than any other; the ark as representing spiritual blessings: "the law which came by Moses," and "the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ; '' the throne of grace, and the mercy and grace which arc there obtained. And the facl just men- tioned suggests a comparison between the former and the latter. Both come from the same hand; but spiritual are superior to material blessings, inasmuch as they- I. REVEAL MORE OF THE DIVINE GOODNESS. Consider them-1. 111 the principle from which they proceed. The one class of benefits from bene,·olence in general; 120 THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. [en. ,·1. 1-21.