The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 418

Ee.eh in 0. large number sh11ll sometimes sufficiently feel that the address is to himself. In the brief language of David much is contained. Its sententiousness is tellincr and emphatic. The great throng of human witnesses is instanced. The supreme omnii~'cient Witnesser is pointed to, is well held up to view. "In the sight of all Israel the con- gregation of the Lord, and in the audience of our God;" these are the imposincr 0 sanc- tions which precede the solemn burden itself of command or earnest exhorting. The!! follows such exhortation-it is entreaty itself: "Keep and seek for all the command- ments of the Lord your God." The rule for nation, leaders, ay, and for individual, if they are to be safe and sure, is thus constituted. Obedience, inquiring obedience, and impartial, uniform obedience, are the triple essentials of that wise and holy law. And the scriptural reward of obedience is set forth, and in that finer form to which Scripture gives, in one way or another, so unique a prominence, viz. the reward not to self and present time alone, but to the future and to generations yet unborn. This tendency to suggest the future, to point to it, and to urge the taking it into account, is one of the noteworthiest marks of the diviner methods of monition and impression. Where the subject-matter may make it impossible in one way, it will, if possible, insist on appear- ing in another way. "That ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inherit- ance for your children after you for ever." (2) The charge to bis own loved son. Now all the father's heart and soul are moved. Every short clause, in its full, majestic Hebrew vocabulary, thrilled with the deep conviction and earnest persuasion that the abounding experience of an aged and holy father would bring to bear upon his son. What influences they are that offer themselves to produce an ever-remaining impression on the young man! At a moment when all the eyes of a vast and august assembly are bended on the young Hebrew prince, a solemn individual appeal is made to him. Again the beaming of the height of paternal love and pride is shining on him. Again the familiarly known earthly father's name is raised into union with the Name of the one Being above all : " Know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind." Then 11re brought into prominence the grand characteristics of that Being, as One " who searches all hearts, :md perfectly understands all the imaginations of them." His gracious approachableness, if sought, and his deep offence and sure punishment, if neglected, are declared, till the close of all is reached. This consists (a) of the distinct admonition to watch; of the (b) suggestion of slrong comfort and support that lie in the thought of the Lord's choice aml decree ; and ( c) of the challenge, in the name of all which had gone before, to " be strong and do it," Vers. 12, 19.-Divine inspiration the gitide of human work. These ve1ses amount to a very real and very interesting assertion of Divine inspiration. The "things that float before the mind," to use Berthean's words, without his meaning in them, may none the less be the fruit of inspiration. But beside and in addition to the mind's ordinary command of its own gifts, in addition to the exercise of reason, to the aids of tho accumulations of experience, and of even some touch of foresight, which belong by nature to nil, and which attach to some in a very high degree by training 11nd by purity of mind, the Divine Spirit gives as be lists special impulses and sure guidance, uu unusual discernment and unerring correctness of deliverance, and truth absolute betimes. The leading instance and type of such inspiration i~ to be found, no doubt, in those impulses and that Divine superintending and Divine informing of certain men's minds in the essential matter of spiritual truth, which by many an instalment and through a very long stretch of ages secured for us at last the grand total we now call our Dible. This may be called the inspiration of word or of truth; while that exercise of inspiration which the present passage leads us to notice might rather be designated the inspiration of work. 'fhere is, of course, nothing m11nifest to distinguish these in their nature, for the same gracious Spirit, the same mighty and heavenly Force, is in either case at work. But there are important and grateful thoughts suggested to us in the fact that the quickening, informing, revealing Spirit c?mes to ?Ur aid not only in the deepest and highest things that can touch soul, but in the literal works of our hands. Let us notice-- I. THE SPIRIT DOES NOT DISDAIN TO CO-OPERATE WITH MEN, IN SUGGESTING, SHAPINO, AND COMPLETING THAT WHICH IS TO BE MADE BY THEIR HANDS, AND TO AFFECT THEM THOUGH THE MINISTRY OF THE SENSES. Though the inevitable and just inference in our 422 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [cH. xxvm. 1-21.