HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-Unbelief and its 1tnworlh'/f device. This history metes out equal justice, -and, having shown to us the perversity of Saul, immediately exposes to us the fault of David, for he also, though no fool, returned to folly.· In both cases equity and •-charity allow some 'plea of extenuation. • Saul's hostility to David was due in some measure to an unsound brain, unable to shake off morbid suspicion. And David's mistrust of the Divine protection was the result of a very sensitive temperament tried beyond measure, a chafed and weary spirit. How far such pleas may be con- ·-sidered in weighing actions -is a question for the Divine justice rather than for our sentence, Enough for us to·recognise them, that we may the better understand how -Saul could renew a pursuit which he had abandoned with tears, and how David could return to H,e land of the Philistines, from which he had formerly escaped only by simulating madness. l. THE FAULT OF DAVlD WAS UNBELIEF, It was not his habit j but it came upon 1,im as a, fit or mood, and, while it lasted, led him into actions unworthy and unwise. l. He broke down at a strong point, as men often do. His faith rose to a heroic pitch in the valley-of Elah, when the stripling, as a believer, encountered the blas- pheming giant, But when he was put among princes his faith failed under rrppre• LL2 516 TUE FIRST BOOK OF S,UIIJEL. [rn. XX\11. 1-12.
il<'11sions of mortal peril, and he fled to Noh, nnd thence to the Philistine town of Gnth. He reco,-er<"d his faith in God, nnd, assured of Divine protection refused to lllJure Saul when the king on two occasions was within his power. B~t again his- faith failed, and he was afraid. There is no mention of his having prayed or con- sulted God through the priest as at other times. In his unworthy fear he to~k coun- sel "·ith himself, and "said in his heart" that he would surely perish. Sucli is man. He falls at a strong point. Noah stood in his integrity against a whole world of sin- ners, but "·hen he had no world to stand against he fell, and disgraced himself by intemperance. Moses was the meekest of men and most observant of the word of the Lord, and yet he erred at Kadesh in respect of self-control and fidelity to the Di1·i11e command, so forfE.iting his entrance into Canaan. Hezekiah was eminent for prnyerfulness and humility, and )'et he fell in not spreading a matter before the l.nrd, but giving way to vain boasting. Simon Peter was all ardour and devotion to his- i\laster, and yet. just after honest protestations of attachment, he lost courage, and <lenied l,is Lord. In like manner strong believers may fall into a fit of unbelief in which past blessings a~e forgotten, P:omises are doubted or let sli,p, dangers are ex~g- g<'rntcd, and the heart, mstead of askmg counsel of the Lord, takes counsel with itself, and suggests all sorts of folly. 2. Unbeluf seems to liave been the sin to which Davia ww; most tempted in his youth. ~re infer this both from this history and from the Psalter. The former tells how he more than once despaired of his life, and how Jonathan exerted himself to reassure his desponding mind. The latter reveals to us with touching- candour the apprehensions of his youth in those psalms which plainly refer to his wanderings and hairbreadth escapes. The sorrows of death had compassed him, and the floods of the ungodly made him afraid, He saw his enemies ready to swallow him up. And though he was naturally brave, unbelief enfeebled and distracted him, so that his "heart was sore pained" within him. Indeed David's cries to God in the Psalms, and his way of repeating to himself that God was on his side, and was able to defend and deliver him, indicate not obscurely his inward struggle. If he had felt no fear he would not have thought of writing, " I will not fear what man can do to me." If he had known no failure of faith he would not lrnve said so much as he has of crying after God and putting his trust in him. We read of Abraham simply that he believed. He fell on his face and listened to the voice of God; then he acted, journeyed, obeyed in faith; but we do not find him speak of his believing. David had a struggle to hold fast his confidence, and there- fore has he given so much expression to the life of faith and its conflict with doubt and fear. II. UNBELIEF LEADS A SERVANT OF Goo TO UNWORTHY DEVICES. "Nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines." Now we know that God did order and overrule this flight for the good of David and of Israel; but none the less was it, on the part of his servant, an unworthy action springing from unbelief. Better surely to have lived by faith in the forests and caves of Judrea than li\·e by sight and behave lik: a freeboo~er in the laJ?-d of th~ heathen Philistines.. H_is stay at Ziklag, the town assigned to him by the kmg Achish, marks a bad penod m the life of David. His incursion into the territory of certain southern tribes was moat unjust and cruel. TLe injustice, indeed, may not have been apparent to his mind; for David and his men had, of course, been educated in the ideas of their own age and country, and had no scruple about invading and laying waste any territory of the heathen. They had also little, if any, respect for the lives of the heathen. Yet David must have sinned against his conscience in the cruel maaaacr~ of the southern tribes. One sin leads to another. And the son of Jesse added deceit to cruelty, and exulted in covering the first sin by the second, leaving no man or woman alive to contradict the tale he told to the Philistine king. Lord, what is man? When thou didst not hold up the goings of th)'. serY'ant, !nto what miry places did h~ stray, into wliat a ditch did he fall I When his faith failed, what a break-down of his character and conduct I Restraint of prayer, self-direction, then rapine, bloodshedding, and falsehood I What are we that we should have immunity from similar deteriotation of character if we give way to unbelief? A Christian in good repute takes some course that we should ha~e thought incredible and impossible. We ask in amazement, What infatuation seized him? or, Can it be that he was always insincere, 1md wicked at en. XXVII. 1-12.) 'l'lm FIRST BOOK OF SA:.\IUEL. 517