The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 104

,ia,~." So _Je~ozadak had. his mission in his name.. Down into captivity he went, but m all his intercourse with the humbled and caph\"o people, he pleaded with his name, saying, "Jehovah is righteous." Aud so we may learn that the least thing about us, a matter as seemingly unimportant as our name, may be taken up into God's ser,ice, and used by him. Therefore we" present our bodies" (our entire selves)" a li .-ing sacrilioe." II. 'lHE l'OSSIBLE OO~""TR..\ST BET'\\"E!.~ A JU..."{'S XAllE (OR THE PROl!ISE OF A UAN'B i:.,_R:-!i'I ~""D B.!$ C~<~=:.,~CES. It look,,J. k? be a must unlikely thin~ that a man w~~ "'l'Y D:U:.l<" C.t'\.'s:t~ th:tt "JeL,w:.\h was nght<c>ous" would CHI' go into captivity a:~..i be ;t'm&rbbi.t- for a sutferiug :w,l humilid,>J. life. Aud yet this is the contrast ~,1.-en ot-,~. h pur.zled Asaph ~,l the wri~ of Job and ~e writer ?f Ecclesiastas, in the olden time. h puu.les Gods people still. Men bom m sunshine spend lives in the e,er-J.eepening shadows ; and sufferers for life, lying in their i:ick-beds, are the n,,biest of all witnesses that "Jeho,ah is righteous." Illustrate by the exquisite reference in the life of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, to the beautiful witness for God made through long years by his im·alid sister. Can there be Jehovah's righteousness seen e\""cn in the sufferings which come upon men as the natural fruitage of their own wrong-doings? for that is precisely the case with Israel crushed under the Babylo- nian tyranny. The presence of Jehozadak and Zedekiah among the captives declared that there can be. Look below the train of causes of which captivity seems the n.a.roral effect. and we may see God's purpose& being accomplished, God's laws beina Tiooi.ca.ted, and God's J"udgmenta being executed.. Ever we may turn away from th~ mere co= oC history and details of events, and watch the" Judge of all the earth OOi.llg rigb.i.0 Ii, bow-ever, the sufi'ering of the good troubles us,-we may find rest in ~ ~ to the~ (DSl!------Om" Loni suffered.. He was not merely "smitten of God =a affiicted." T"nere was Divine rightl!DUS'IUS in the affliction. He was man's Sin- bc:a..-a-, and j~oed for others. Here is & firm foundation-truth, then, which no earthly apy-=ces or stra.n,,,a-e hnman experiences can shake. Proclaim it. once again, and proclaim it ever-" Jehovah is righteons."-R. T. Vers. 31, 32.-The ministry of song. To King David is traced the ordering and arranging of the service of song in connection with Divine worship, but we are hardly justified in regarding him as the originator of sacred music and song. Miriam's chant, and the songs of Moses, Deborah, Hannah, etc., indicate previous culture of both the gifts of poetry and of music, and the relation in -which both stood to public acts of worship. In the earlier Mosaic system there was the clanging of cymbals and blowing of trumpets on special occasions, but probably the connection of intelligent words of trnst and praise with the musical chant, in which the worshippers may unite, led by a trained choir, must be traced to David. It is one of his great achievements that ho helped to make Divine worship more interesting and attractive, lifting it from tbo sacrifice of things to the sacrifice of praise, the utterance to God of thankful, trustrul, and loving feelings; man offering to God the sacrifice of his own emotions, and finding soch sacrifice ac.counted a "sweet savour." It will at once be recognized that the poetieal and ,,,-IU6ical endm.omenJ, of David prepared him to serve his God a11d his fellows in this particalar ministry. .A.nd his own practice and culture of the g1:·t~ en.laraed hl.,i preparation, and so hi3 fitne&a for the work, when the providential time for ii°ca.me. The service of song was comrnc,nced in the new tabernacle erecUd by David on Mount Zion, but probably not until after the ark was restored and made to rest wittin it ; and the 11ervice was greatly extended and elaborated to fit in with the more gorgeous surroundings of Solomon's temple. Many of the psalms were composed for use in the public worship, and are arranged for solo and chorus, or for answering choruses. " David put the musical part of the service under the direction of Asaph. Distinctions are made between the different kinds of instruments for which different psalms were suited, indicating that bands composed of stringed instruments, and othet banca compoeed of wind instruments, were employed. We have also notices of trained men and women singer■. The 11inging was managed by responses, or by solo and chorwi, many of the pialm■ l&iiling themselves readily to these forms of music." Taking tr.e referenr,ee in the11e verae11 as ,rnggestive of a general truth, we dwell on- L Tm: n»r THAT f(J!iO 111.A. D1vurE ouT. Amcmgthe pagans It was ao recognized, 011, v1. 1-81.] THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRO~ICLES. 95