The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 263

more; arranging for the services of the sanctuary, he gave a liturgy for the closet. While in the sacrifices men found the proper form for approaching God, in the psalter they caught the proper spirit. In my judgment the stronger grip that Judah took of the Law of God than Israel; hor greater wealth in saintly kings and prophets• her unity; her power to learn the sweet uses of adversity; her recurrence after the Captivity to a purer and more ardent service of God than she bad ever reached before• her grander sorvico to mankind; her endurance in national existence till the destructi~n of Jerusalem by Titus; the strange persistence that bas marked the children of Judah from that day to this; all were due in a i:reat degree to the tabernacle of David, the temple of Solomon, the temple of Ezra. From the hour when the ark rested in Zion, Zion was the sacred centre of the land, the source of holy influences binding men to God and to one another. Was it only external arrangements that David ma.de? And is it only an external arrangement that he makes who builds a chapel, or erects a school, or helps men to come together unitedly to observe God's sacraments and learn his ways? David, who knew more of private communion with God than any of us, said, "Ono thing l have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." Let there be no latitudinarianism, the poor substitute for true charity. If we can help to give back to the Church of Christ a lost sacrament, a neglected truth, a means of freer fellowship with one another and with God, we do something on which the blessing of God will rest, and from which the good of mau will flow.-G. Vers. 1-43.-David's thanbgiving psalm. .After having brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom and set it in the tent that David had made for it, there was a general offering of sacrifices by David and the congregation as thank offerings to the Lord, and David blessed the people. Of these thank offerings be ordered that certain portions should be given to every man and woman in Israel-" a loaf of bread, a good piece of flesh, and a. flagon of wine." Having done this, he set in order the service of the Levites in the holy tent on Zion. "Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph a.nd his brethren." The meaning of this passage is that David committed to Asaph tho carrying out of the service of song; that liturgical singing was then to be introduced. This beautiful psalm was doubtless composed by David himself for liturgical song in the public worship. The first half of the psalm (vers. 8-22) recurs in Ps. cv. 1-15; the second half (vers. 23-33) in Ps. xcvi.; and the conclusion (vers. 34-36) in Ps. cvi. 1, 47, 48. '!'here is a. swelling ascription throughout the psalm, commeucing with ver. 8. From that verse down to the end of ver. 22 the call is to Israel to praise tho Lord. From ver. 23 to ver. 29 the call is to the heathen or Gentile nations to praise the Lord. From ver. 30 to ver. 34 the call is to the whole earth and to inanimate nature to praise him. Ver. 35 seems a prophetical anticipation which David commands to take the form of a prayer that the time may soon come when God's ancient people shall be gathered to their own land, and when tho Church of God redeemed from among men shall assemble round his throne throughout eternity to praise his holy Name. Then the earthly people of God, having accepted the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, and the Church of Christ gathered to him at bis coming, shall sing their hnllelujnhs of praise, and the glory of the Lord fill heaven a.nd earth.-W. Vere. 1-3.-Signs of entire consecration. When the ark was safely placed within the curtains of David's new tabernacle on Mount Zion, a.nd the fact of God's.dwelling with hie people was freshly impressed by the permanent presence of his symbol, it was fitting that, in some most solemn and expressive way, t_ho full consecr~tion of the pe?ple to the service of Jehovah should be declared. For this purpose special burnt offenags and peace offerings wore presented. 'l'he special features of these two kinds of offering may be indicated so as to bring out their particular adaptation to the circumstances of the day. The victim, in the case of the " burnt offering," might ho any kind of a.nimal fit for sacrifices, but it must be a male. And it must be wholly offered, and burnt with fire. Kurtz says that this "burning by firo" marked it as an expre~sion of perpetual obligation to complete, sanctified self-surrender to Jehovah. '!'his kind 260 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [ea. xvI. 1-43,