The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 216

Vere. 7-13.-T/ie imperfection, of human service. We cannot read this story of CH, xm.1-14.J THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 209 ------------------------------- the first att~mpt to bring the ark to the c~pital wi~hout being impressed, if not depressed, with a sense of the weakness and 1mperfect1on characterizinu 0 our human service. We learn- J. THAT A BLIGHT DEPARTURE FROM THE DIVINE WILL HAY LEAD TO SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES. David, in a moment of thoughtlessness or presumption, decreed that the ark of God should be "made to ride" (ver. 7, marginal reading)" in a new cart." This wu not the way prescribed in "the Book of the Law of the Lord" (see Numb. iv. 15). This irregularity led to the act of Uzza (ver. 9), and this to the stroke of Divine wrath which so sadly and seriously interrupted the day's proceedings (vers. 10-13). We are not now called upon to conform our ritual to any prescribed order. The commandment of Christ does not go into the details of outward observance. But it is nevertheless true that any actual departure from his will, though it may seem to be but slight, may lead on and down to a most serious breach. This may apply to his revealed will in regard to (1) the temper and spirit we should cherish, (2) the attitude we should assume, (3) the relations we should enter upon, in our various spheres. II. THAT IT IS A MATTER OF GREAT MOMENT TO KNOW OUR PLACE IN THE SPHERE OP' THE SACRED, AND TO KEEP IT. Uzza was not entitled to lay his hand on the ark of God; he exceeded his right; he intruded into a position for which he was not qualified, and he paid for his presumption the last penalty of sudden death at the hand of God. Those who now attempt a work for which God did not design them and to which Christ does not summon them, whether that of the Christian ministry, of missions, or any other sacred calling, will find that they have committed themselves to duties and responsibilities, the faulty and (perhaps) mechanical, the uncongenial and therefore unspiritual discharge of which will redound to their own serious if not mortal injury. We must take care to keep within the sphere for which our Lord designed us, in the realm of the sacred as well as the secular. Ill. THAT OUR BRIGHT AND HOLY JOYS HAY BE MOST UNEXPECTEDLY DASHED, The eighth verse gives us a picture of a company of men in the full enjoyment of sacred pleasure; they were exulting before God in the a.et of service they were rendering. Sacred joy had reached its very summit, and in the "ery midst of it, without a moment's interval of preparation, there occurred the transgression and the punishment. Song was turned into lamentation, danoing into weeping, gladness into perplexity and sorrow, day into night. So may it be with us at any hour in this lower earthly sphere. We cannot reckon on the continuance of any present good. Even our joy in God, our delight in his service, may suffer sudden and sad eclipse, and our noon of devout exultation descend at once into the midnight of discomfiture and grief. IV. 'l'KAT GOOD HEN MAY BE MU0H PERPLEXED AT DIVINE DISPOSALS. We read that David was" displeased" (ver. 11), and also that he was "afraid" (ver. 12). We also often find ourselves both perplexed and alarmed at the dealings of God with us. God's way is often "in the sea, his path in the great waters, and his footsteps a.re not known." He is sometimes "terrible in his doings toward the children of men.'' Why he lets the assassin do his deadly work so well, the storm wreck the vessel which is carrying missionaries to their post, the father of the family catch the fatal fever, the irreplace- able minister perish in the railway accident, etc., we do not know and cannot think. Onr hearts are saddened, perplexed, troubled, awed. Let us feel that we are but very little children trying to understand a Divine Father, whose wisdom and love must be unfathomably deep, must go down far lower than our poor plummet will sound. "Blessed are they who do not see, and yet believe.'' We "walk by faith, not by sight.''-O. Vers. 13, 14.-Snperstitious error and religious truth. We must take care to read these verses intelligently, or we may misread them altogether. It is possible to draw from them a conclusion which is not in accordance with the mind of God. There is- I. A BUPERSTITIOUB ERROR AGAINST WHICH TO GUARD, It would be a great mistake to suppose that the mere fact of the presence of the ark in the house ensured prosperity; or that, similarly, the mere presence of sacred rites or persons will now .:ommand the favouring reuard of God. That there was something more than this in the case of Obecl-edom i; proved by the facts: 1. That the presence of the ark in the mi 1lst of tl~e Philistines proved to be disastrous (1 Sam, v.), 2. 'l'hat the presence of the ark HI l. 0HRONl0LES, F  210 THE FIRST IlOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [cu. xm. 1-14.