The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 150

rlestined to be supreme, so entirely conducive to the temporal as also spiritual interesta of nil men, should be slow in progress and skill is a puzzle to many. Indolence wild interpretations of prophecy, and Intent scepticism are often but indications of ~ wish that God had not so ordained the constitution of things. II. The PLEA FOR DISCONTENT IS PLAUSIBLE. The plea of the Israelites was that Samuel's sons were untrustworthy-the sources of justice were corrupt. The argu- ment urged seemed to indicate a love of purity, concern for the moral welfare of the state, a fine sense of national honour, a real advance from the degradation which had acquiesced in the vices of Eli's sons, and an appreeintion of Samuel's own character. But men often pay homage to conscience by creating delusive arguments wherewith to set aside the behests of conscience. This reference to the sons of Samuel was only a pretext; for the evil could have been remedied by demanding their removal. It is clear that the plea was only a cover for a deep aversion, a pre- determined plan to get rid of the present system, whether the prophet of God approved or not. Nor is the discontent of men with other of the methods of God without apparent reason. As in Samuel's time, so now, men who cherish or express uneasiness with respect to God's ways in the government of the world and revela- tion seize hold of some incident, some human aspect, some partial truth that really does not touch the main issue, and make it the cover for an aversion of deeper moral origin. An everlasting universal government has only had time to exhibit its first principles, and yet some transitory phenomenal inequalities are seized on as grounds of dissatisfaction with what must be of immeasurable range and ceaseless development. From scattered incidents of which the circumstances are not fully known, and from forms of representation suited to men not blessed with full gospel light, the discon- tented draw a plea for a revelation to the individual man apart from Scripture. To· a plain, unbiassed mind an objective revelation and an objective :Ltonement are as truly facts as was God's government by judges, and as is his present government of the world in spite of apparent inequalities; but earnest desire to see the world blessed with "true ideas" and "beneficent influences" are pleas for explaining away what is very clear. The plea sounds well ; but if men will look deeper it may be found to cover a settled aversion to submit to a ruling not chosen by self. No revealed truth is in moral antagonism with our true natnre. Ill. The EFFECT OF THIS DISCONTENT ON THE LOYAL IS TO AW.A.KEN THEIR DEEP SYMPATHY WITH GOD. Samuel was deeply wounded, not by the allusion to his sons, but by the people's evident aversion to God's ways and time. That any one should dare to suggest a variation from what God had approvedwas to him incomprehensible. He felt that God's method and time must be wisest, best, safest, because they were his. As a true man of God,he naturally seeks counsel from on high. In Samuel's displeasure there was an element of surprise, but his dominant feeling was sympathy with all that was of God. Sympathy with God is one of the natural fntits of piety. It was seen in Caleb and Joshua when the people were averse to the Divine procedure. Jeremiah knew it when wishing that his bead were waters and his eyes a fountain of tears. 1 In "Not my will, but thine be done" it received its highest expression. In proportion as it is strong does the resistance of men to the ways of God cause wonder, shame, I and anguish. To such a soul all the works of God are excellent; they shine with I supernal glory. Providences dark and painful are even welcomed as parts of the Father's blessed discipline. What men call imperfections are felt to be only dim' mtiruations of some glorious, loving purpose. "Whatever is is right," comes from the heart when the intellect is baffled. This blessed sympathy with God I This belief which no argument can shake I This glorious optimism resting on the fact that the all~wise and loving One cannot but do right I It is not any so-called Christian that attains to it. Yet it is the truest philosophy ; for it is rest in God, content with his will. "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." IV. The DIVINE TREATMENT OF DISCONTENT IS CHARACTERISED BY WONDERFUL PATIENCE. No sudden vengeance came on the rejecters of God. Consolation is poured into the heart of the sorrowing prophet; a reference of their conduct to their ineradicablo perversity is made, and they are to have their way under protest (vers. 7-9). This patience is in keeping with the record of God's treatment of lsrael in the seventy-eighth Psalm. "He remc!I'bered that they were but flesh; l\ L2  THE l<InST DOOK OF SAMUEL. ten. vm. 1-22.