The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 87

of this chapter, iu the prominence given to the tribe of Judah. The nalural birthriaht is set aside. It is so always. Nature's order is reversed in the kin,,dorn of G-;d, " The last shall be first, and the first shall be last." This is the law of God's kin "<lorn. Man's rejected is God's chosen. Grace, and not nature, takes the lead. Litt~ did Heu ban's posterity judge of the chief reason why he was set aside. Little did J udah's posterity know the chief reason for his pre-eminence. God was putting down one and raising up another with reference to the future manifestation and glory of his dear Son. '].'o human eye this did not appear. Thus was God working behind the scenes workin" out the counsels of his own will, and all with a view to the glory of Christ.' So it i~ now. We see the sin of man as in Reuben; we see the counterworking of Satan, crossing, to all human appearance, the purposes of God; but behind all God is working. God is raising up one and putting down another, and all with reference to the advancement of the kiugdom and glory of his dear Son, It does not appear so to our short-sighted judgment, but we are no judges of God's ways and thoughts: "His ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts." Behind every little event in your daily life God is working. And he is never more really carrying out his purposes of wisdom and grace and love than when those events seem to run counter to this end. Judge of God's way11 by the opposite. The more apparently opposed the more really he is there.-W. Vers. 18-24.-Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh: their valour. We have first a descrip-- tion of the men brought before us. They were " valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war." Such are God's chiJ.iren to be at all times. They are not to rest in their Christianity, not to sit down and fold their hands because they are saved. No; they are to" fight the good fight of faith," to" war a good warfare," to" put on the whole armour of God," to be" good soldiers of Jesus Christ." In order to be "good soldiers" they must be "valiant" for the truth; they must be " able " men, endued with the power of the Holy Spirit. They must be men able to bear "buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skiljui in war." They must be men trained of God's Holy Spirit, men "able" to use all the spiritual weapons of truth in the armoury of God. They must be "able to shoot with bow "-to send home some pointed arrow of truth to some heart and conscience by word and by deed. They must be "able to bear the sword "-to use the Word of God, the "sword of the Spirit," with power. So that the "sword" and the" bow" may be said to take in the near and the distant-the "sword" the hand-to-hand conflict; the bow the distant weapon, the arrow well aimed. The different aspects of truth, the different ways of using it, the different attitudes which the Christian is to take with regard to the enemy ,-thc5e are the points of instruction shadowed forth by this variety of weapon. He is to be taught of God's Spirit, disciplined by prayer, by meditation, by the reading of the Word, by dependence on God, yea, and by his own defeats aud failures, his sorrows and sins, so as to be "skilful in war." And observe that this spiritual warfare is to be no mere head-knowledge, no mere talk, no hollow profession. It is o. real thing. Mark it here-" they went out to the war;" "they made wo.r;" "they wcru helped against" the enemy in the war; they conquered in the war (vers. 18-20). Here are the four stages of Christian warfare in all its reality-they "went out;" they "made;" they were "helped;" they conquered. And why did they conquer? What was the secret of their victory? Was it their" valour," their" sword," their" bow," their "buckler," their "skill"? Ah, no I All would have been in vain if it had depended on these. "The Hagarites were delivered into their hand, ... for tl~y cried to God in the battle." "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Illessed be the Lord, who bath not given us as a prey to their teeth" (Ps. exxiv. 1-6). Nor were the Reubenites conquerors only. "They took away their cattle; of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifly thousand, and of asses two thousar,d, of men an hundred thousand." What a victory, and what abund,mco of spoil I Yes; the Lord's battles are always sure things-sure victory and sure spoil. He giveth great victory; he enables us to carry away rich blessings from tha spiritual 78 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [OH, V, 1-26.