The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 195

Vers. 17-21.-.The oovenant and its results. Jehoiada was faithful to God. All that he _had hithe;to done was but the work of a pioneer, preparing the way for the re8torat1on of Goos worship and God's Law in the land. We have here- I. '.fHE_ OOVENANT MAD~. ~ery early in the hi~tory of God's people we find them enterrng rn~ covenants with him. \Vhen Jacob had that. comforting vision at Bethel, I,e entered mto a covenant. "If God will be with rue, and will keep me in this way that I go, ••. so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then she.II the Lord be my God; and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that. thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." The pillar he set up was the witness of the covenant. When God gave the ten commandments to the children of Israel, they entered into a covenant that they would keep them and do them. That cov~nant they pu?licly renewed and ratified many times in their subsequent history. They renewed 1t shortly before the death of Moses. They renewed it shortly before the death of Joshua, and on that occasion Joshua set up a great stone to be a witness of what they had done. On the occasion before us they renew it under the influence of Jehoiarla. "And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord's people; between the king also and the people." They renewed it also in the reign of Josiah, and under Ezra and Nehemiah after the return from the Captivity. In all these cases we find three important features, common to them all In each case the duty of _making the covenant was en_joined upon the people by eminent men of God-prophets, priests, and kings. In each case it was a public covenant, entered into by all the people. And in each case, when the covenant was renewed, it was accompanied by moral anJ spiritual revival and reforma- tion. Have we net in the New Testament the same duty pointed out and practised, though not indeed under the same name? It was a public covenant with the Lord when on the Day of Pentecost the three thousand souls were baptized. When l'anl praises the Churches of Macedonia for that "they first !!:ave their own selves to the Lord;" when he calls his readers to present themselves a living sacrifice unto God; to remember that they are not their own, but are bought with a price; to come out from among the godless and be separate ;-all these are just different ways ofreminding them that ns Christians they have entered into a covenant with God. Passing over the dark ages which =e upon the Christian Church, we find that when the Bible truths began to shed their light once more in the surrounding darkness, the early Reformers found it necessary to band themselves together in a solemn covenant with God and with one another. By this means they kept before them their great purpose. By this means they stimulated and strengthened and encouraged one another. By this means they lifted up a testimony against surrounding error. Such a covenant was publicly agreed to by the Protestant :i,rinces and states Qf Germany, and also by the Huguenots of France. But the best-known and most memorable covenants are those of Scotland. John Knox le.id the foundation of the Reformalion in Scotland, but the covenants built it up a:c.d strengthened it. The :first of these was called the National Covenant, first drawn up in the year 1580. It was signed by the king, nobles, and persons of e.11 ranks-the king being James VI. of Scotland, afterwards James I. of England. By this memorable document the whole people of Scotland pledged themselves to renounce and resist all the errors of popery, and to maintain the truth as it is in Jesus. It was this covenant which was afterwards renewed in the Greyfriar'e Churchyard at Edinburgh, when, among the immense multitude who signed it, many opened their vein~ and wrote their names with their own blood. The other was the Solemn League ao.d Cove~nt, entered into between the two parliaments of England and Scotland, also for resistance to popery, and the maintenance of pure religion throughout the land. These things suggest to us that, in times of prev~iling wickednes~ or _of ~revaili!1g error, it is the duty of God's people to make public avowal of their faith 10 ~hr1st and allegia.nce to him. It is a duty pointed out both in the Old Testament anrl m the New, and confirmed by the experience of God's Church both in Scriptur~ ti!11~s and in more recent days. If ever there was a time when it was the duty of Christ s people OU. XI. 1-21.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 237