The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 144

Samuel : "God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, ... therefore I ho.ve called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do." Something touching in way in which, to the end, he believes in Samuel, and longs to heo.r o.gain something from his lips, and prefers to bear his doom from him if he has to hear it at all. And disobedience leading to despair, the two soon lead to destruction. Oh what a loss was absence of David on that battle-day! Just for want of him, with his heroic following, fate of battle adverse. And there is deplorable defeat where there would have been grandest victory. All that Saul got by opposing David was a sadder life, a shorter reign, a darker fate. And, instead of bis ranking with great heroes that have wrought deliverance in the earth, he stands a majestic, melancholy might-have. been, and nothing more. A truncated life; a. casting spoilt in the moulding. The mere possibility of such a. thing should rouse solicitude in all our hearts, II. WHAT LESSONS EMERGE FROM THIS? This is the second point I have to dwell on. 1. Likelihoods are not certainties. Your career may have every prospect of being honourable, useful, happy. But probability is not certainty. Whether probability realized will depend alto.'fether and exclusively on degree of faithfulness you man•fest. ~- Danger of self-will. "Our wills are ours to make them Thine," says poet, nobly uttering grand philosophy of life. But reservation of some thing from God is one of the commonest temptations. We say, "We will do much, but not this. We will sacrifice much, but not this. We will follow, but will choose our own time and our own way." Especially are we liable to be deflected from path of duty when wayward- ness of will strengthened by some strong passion-greed, revenge, dislike. Let us heware of this self-will. lt has a look ,f force and energy; but it really destroys both. It changes the may-be into the might-have-been. We cannot be Christ's disciples unless we deny self and follow him. Self-will never is allowed in any soul without conse- 'l uences of saddest kind. Therefore : 3. Let us take our Savour as entire Master. Give Lim absolute control. Withhold nothing. The more consecrated we 'are, the more glorified we shall be. Man keeps back nothing from Christ save to his own hurt. You give up nothing but to your profit. Don't let our lives be mere might-have-beens. But keep faithfully to the path of duty as shown by Christ, and then, although men of grandest early advantages and powers make grievous shipwreck, you, with no advantages and no special power, will find that "that which concernetµ you God will perfect."-G. Vers. 11, 12.-.A deed of honour. "And when all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, they arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days." It is well to study deeds of honour. Honour is integrity, gratitude, or courage in its finest bloom. If we aim no higher than the fulfilment of our legal obligations, our action will be apt to droop beneath that meacrre level. Courage is an essential quality of faith. Gratitude a fine grace, which fost:rs the growth of every other. So that to aim at honourable action is essential if we would live a worthy life. Sometimes a Falstaff gives us a philosophy of honour, sounding very shrewd, but really very shallow. Sometimes Judas is followed ~n h)s example of cynical criticism, and we begin to nsk, Cui bono 1 "To what purpose 1s this waste?" Mary's anointing of the Saviour "for his burial; " the honou: done here, at great risk, to the dead Saul ; the honour done David, when men cut their way through a host to bring him a draught of water from the well of Bethlehem ;-are_ above su~h critics. They see no use in such activities. They believe in money and m power, m avoiding injuries and cratherin" comforts. But fine enthusiasms, high devotion, costly tributes of affection, they camt'ot understand. But some can. 'l'he wri~er of the B~ok of Samuel could see a beauty in this act of Jabesh-gilead, and relates 1t as somethmg that gives a. little relief to the darkness of the field of Gilboa. The author of t~e Chronicles felt it worth recordincr, David blessed them for their courage and their gratitude. It is worth our whil~ simply to ponder the noble deed. To make this victory as crushing in its humiliation for Israel as proud for the cities of the Philistines, Saul's head is put in the temple of Dagon, and his body, dismembered, is hung insult- ingly on the walls of Ilcth-shan. Jabesh-gilead was a city nbout six miles to tho cnsl,, as Beth-shan was about six miles to the west of Jordan. It had owed to the energy of oII. x. 1-14.] THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 135