The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 291

nnd thnt :mother should have the honour! This is often hard to bear, Nothing but the grace of God ruling in a man's heart can enable him to do this. Moses endured forty years' trial and hardship in leading God's people out of Egypt, and yet just as he gets in sight of the promised land all his brightest anticipations are to be unrealized, and another steps in to reap the reward. David had formed the kingdom, fought the battles of the Lord, and brought up the ark to its resting-place; but just ns he is about to reap a full reward in sesing the temple built for the Lord, his son is to step in and enjoy it, while David, like Moses, is to lie down and die. Life is full of unrealized 11.nticipations; but in the case of God's people all to be realized in a brighter and better world, to a degree that "eye hath not seen, nor car heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive." Oh for grnce to be passed over, nay, even to rejoice in being passed over, and that others should receive the honours for which we have toiled, pro- ,·ided only that it is God's will and for his glory! Oh to be nothing, nothing; only a" vessel fit for the Master's use," to be used by him when he will, how he will, and where he will I This should ever be the Christian's desire and prayer.-W. Vers. 3-15.-God's message to David. Though David was not to build the house of the Lord, God gives him "great and precious promises" with respect to his pos- terity and to the future glory of his people Israel. We see here that there is one thing nearer to the heart of our God than an outward building, however grand it may be. "I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another." The Lord loves to be identified with his children in a.II their circumstances, however lowly those circum- stances may be. "I dwell with the humble and contrite heart." This is the joy of the Lord's heart, and it comes infinitely before a grand house or a magnificent palace. Mark further the prophetical character of God's message (sec ver. 9). I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither sba.11 the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning." Israel has been "moved" and " wasted" since this promise was made, and is being "moved " and "wasted" at the present moment. It is clear, there- fore, that this is an unfulfilled prophecy of blessing yet in store for wasted and scattered Israel. That time is at hand. When "the Lord shall set his hand the second time [it was done the first time by Cyrus the Persian] to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, ancl gather together the dispersed of Judahfrom the four corners of the earth" (Isa. xi. 11, 12). Mark another truth: ".And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thon must go to be with thy fathers." Three thoughts are suggested by this passage. 1. Man lives by days, not by years. ".As thy days, so shall thy strength be;" "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the days." We speak of years and look for- ward to them. God would teach us that we have only days to count on, and should therefore use each one for him. 2. "Thou must go." David was wanted in another world. There are places to fill there. Just as the stones that were to form the temple on Mount Zion were hewn, shaped, and polished in Lebanon 1 and were sent for just as they were wanted, so is it with the departure of every true child of God. What may be the nature of the employments we cannot tell; but of each one ~ho is taken we may hear the Lord's voice saying of him to the weeping ones left behmd, " He ~ust go," for he is wanted there." 3. "Thou must go to be with thy fathers." It 1s a family gathering. In the Old Testament how frequently is thi~ word 1;1sed ! It is not death. It is-" gone to join the family gathering." "Dead" 1s the B1b~e word for those out of Christ. ".Asleep" is the word for God's children. What a prec(OUS word_ I It is a striking contrast to our word "dead" which is always on the hps. It 1s like another word we use. .A manufacturer looks upon his men and women in bis employ and regards them as goods, and calls them "hands"-" so many hands." The Bible word is" souls"-" the souls he had gotten in Haran." Ho'! sadly men have departed from the spirit of patriarchal days I Vers. 12-14 ai:e 1?an.1festly a reference to tl,e Messiah, of whom Solomon was a type, and to the Mes~1amc times of rest yet to come, of which his reign was a shadow. It i11 clear from David's prayer (ver. 17) that err. xvn.1-27.] THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 289