Ver. 13.-Falling into the hand of the Lord. There is something very simple and touching in this expression. "The band of the Lord" is, for the most part, mentioned in Scripture as the emblem of God's protecting, upholding, preserving power. Here it indicates chastisement. How truly submissive and filial was the spirit which was manifested in this petition! Whether God's band was raised to deliver or to smite, bis servant was content-so that it was God's. L THE LORD SOMETIMES CHASTENS EVEN REPENTING OFFENDERS. Some unthinking persons may wonder why, if the sinner be penitent and the sin forgiven, there should be any necessity for punishment at all. But facts cannot be explained away. The great Lord and Judge of all does sometimes, as in the instance before us, permit the sinner to endure temporal consequences of sin, although his anger is turned away from the repentant heart. God thus avenges bis own Law, upholds his own authority, shows himself a righteous Sovereign and Ruler. IL THERE .ARE RE.ASONB FOB MEEKLY SUBMITTING TO DIVINE 0HASTISEMENT, .An alternative of punishment is not God's usual offer to repenting sinners. There is much to commend in the choice which David made when Gad, at the Lord's command, per- mitted the king to elect one form of penalty rather than another. David referred the matter wholly into "the band" of a wise and merciful God. 'l.'bere are many reasons why we should thus submit when the Lord chastens. 1. God. is the .All-merciful. For this reason his people may well be content to" fall into his hand." "Very great are his mercies." He is " merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.n His character, his promises, and especially bis "unspeakable gift," should encourage us to lay aside all rebellion, murmuring, and fear, and to submit with patience, and "endure chastening." It is, no doubt, in bis power to punish with for greater severity than any human enemy is capable of doing. But whilst "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," the mercy of God is boundless as bis nature. 2. God knows, ,10t only the sin, but the repentance by which it is fallowed. He reads the heart, and bears the sighs, and marks the tears of every contrite penitent. He sees when a deep impression of the sinfulness of sin bas been produced. He knew that though David was a great sinner, he was a sincere, submissive, and lowly penitent. He makes a distinction between the punishment which is a mark of his righteous displeasure with the sin, and that which is needed to bring the offender to a just sense of his ill desert. 3. God tempers his chastisements with Divine consolations and support. He does not desert bis children, even in their deserved distresses. He is with them in the furnace. When they are ready to sink beneath their merited sorrows, lo I his everlasting arms llH, lll, 1-30.] THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 337
are fo~nd ~o _be underneath the~. 4. God ~esigns, by aU his chastening, to secure his peoples spiritual good. He afflicts, not for his pleasure, but for our profit. His purpose is that we may "bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness." Men may wreak malicious vengeance; God's discipline is that of a holy and compassionate Father.-T.
Ver. 15.-God's repentance. How often, in the Scriptures, are human emotions attributed to God I The charge of "anthropopathy" has, in consequence, sometimes been brought against what we hold to be Divine revelation. The truth is that objectors do not truly believe in the personality of God. The Bible does teach us to think of God as a Person-a living, conscious Being, with moral attributes and purposes. It even speaks, as in the text, of God's repentance. I. THIS IS NOT THE REPENTANCE OF ONE WHO HAS DONE WRONG, This is the usual application of the word, but it obviously bas no place here. The penalty inflicted upon David was a just and deserved one. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do ri.,ht?" As a Ruler of inflexible righteousness, the Lord demands our reverence and confidence in all the proceedings of bis providence. II. IT IS THE REPENTANCE OF PITY. We find a satisfaction in attributing to the Lord the emotions of pity, of long-suffering, and of love. The spectacle of the sufferin"' nation, and the humbled, afflicted, contrite king, was one which deeply affected th~ Divine and fatherly heart. Repentance arose upon the perception that the chastening had now answered its purpose in rousing the sense of sin, in brin~ing the sinner low before the feet of a justly offended Judge and Lord, When the Lord saw this result, his heart relented and his wrath assuaged. III. IT 19 REPENTANCE ISSUING IN SALVATION. Then" he said to the angel 'that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thy hand." Pity may be sincere, but ineffectual. Not so with the Divine King, He utters his fiat, and" in the midst of wrath remembers mercy." P1u.OTICAL LESSONS. 1. Adore and gratefully praise the forbearance and forgiving mercy of God. 2. Consider the gracious terms upon which clemency is offered. 3. Recognize in the gospel of Chiist the supreme illustration of the principle exemplified in the incident recorded in the text.-T.