The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 89

the lesson. And where are these people of God seen next? "And the God of hrael stirred up the spirit of Pul King of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser King of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, anrl the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Hala.h, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day." God will chastise. His people must know the bitterness of their sin. And what strange places the sins of God's people have brought them into I Some have gone back into the world; some are seen walking no more with Jesus; some are buried in different forms of error; some are seen hankerin" aftc:r the world and its vanities with a fervour and anxiety of which the world itselr°would be ashamed; some are seen with marks and shadows in their Christian character, that have proved and are proving a sad stumbling-block to others. Yes; these are "Halah" and "Habor" and "Hara," into which their great enemy bas brouo-ht them. They have been "carried away." And what has done it? Let the prophet answer: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Christian reader, learn the solemn lesson. Know your heart, but only to dis- trust it. Trust only in Jesus, Abide in him. Only thus can you be safe.-W. Ver. !.-Instability. For the earlier references to Reuben, see Gen. xxix. 32; xxxv. 22; xlix. 3, 4; comp. xlviii. 15, 2i. The joy Leah felt at Reuben's birth was not maintained as bis character and disposition unfolded. The weakness of his character is fixed in a sentence by his father, "Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." Evidently the one act of sin to which Jacob referred in illustration did but seal the impression which Jacob previously had of his firstborn son. This subject may be effectively introduced by a picture of the aged Jacob spending bis failing strength in prophetic messages to his children. These were evidently based on paternal observa- tion of their characteristic qualities, but they involve the seer's power to discern how those qualities affect the future developments of each tribe. Compare Moses' prophecy concerning Reuben (Deut. xxxiii. 6). The figure of the water (unstable as water) is that of water boiling over, or swelling in flood, or driven up in storm; and includes sudden passion, violent impulses, lack of self-restraint, 11s well as uncertainty, unsteadi- ness. 'l'he general lessons to be learned from this recalling of Reuben to mind may be thus set forth. I. EACH MAN HAS ms PROVIDENTJAL PLACE, It is by no accident that men have their places in families as firstborn or younger sons, or that they belong to families of particular rank and class. These are all in the Divine arrangement. They fit into tho precise endowments and possibilities of the individual, and the Divine method of his testing and culture by trial. Reuben was the firstborn, and in the faithful keeping of that place lay all the noble possibilities of his life. A man may come to occupy other places, and after foilure may recover position and influence to some extent; but it should ever be deeply impressed upon us that our highest hopes and best possibilities of service to God and to our race must always depend on our recognizing, keeping, and worthily filling, our providential place. II. KEEPING TIii!: PROVJDC:NTIAL PLACE DEPENDS ON CHARACTER, NOT CIRCUMSTANCE. Illustrate that the firstborr. of a family often loses his place, and one of the younger members becomes practically the family head, the one on whom all depend. Tllis may occur through such circumstances as the removal of the firstborn to a distance, but more often it is due to failure in the unfolding of character, 'l'ime shows that the firstborn cannot be relied on, cannot carry the family burden or help to realize the family hope. So, apart from all the plottings of Jacob, Esau, by reason of failure in character, failed from the family headship; and Reuben proves himself unfitted by his untamed impulsiveness for the place of influeuce and authority. The birthright is not taken away from a man, but the man loses it himself, or the providential workings shift all the honour and responsibility and dignity of it on to the worthy shoulders. It is largely true that a man wins and keeps what he deserves. III. 'l'HE ONE THING THAT MAKES MEN MISS OPPORTUNITY AND PLACE IS INSTABILITY. They cannot be "steadfast, u.nmovable." So much of men's failure is not open an,] manifest wrong. Some of the saddest failures in life arc of men who arc morally good, but weak; men who cannot reach" patient coutinuance in well-doing." Tile Apustlo  80 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [cH, v. 1-26.