The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 449

has pleasure in uprightness," we shall not venture to rejoice if we have not within us tl,at sense of spiritual rectitude which will allow us to say with David, "As for me, in the uprightness of my heart," etc.; with Paul," I have kept the faith;" with John, "If our _heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God" (1 John iii. 21). If we reJ01ce as those who are members of a community (family, Church, or nation), we must also believe that our fellows also are right in the sight of the heart-searching One, even as Dadd was able to add, " Thy people which are present here." JI. THAT IT WILL BE ACCOMPANIED WITH A SENSE OF OUR OWN LITTLENESS AND UKWORTHI1''ESS. (Vers. 14, 15.) Whatever angelic, heavenly piety may be, that of man on earth always includes humility. Jn the conscious presence of God we must focl our own nothingness; the exceeding smallness of our brief span of life," We are strangers before thee and sojourners," etc. ; our unworthiness to do anything for the holy and eternal One, "\Vho am I," etc.? The sense of our own insignificance and ill desert is one of those marks of genuineness which we should see with satisfaction in ourselves and others, the absence of which may well lead us to ask serious questions as to the genuinen6118 of our piety. III. THAT IT UTTERS ITSELF IN ADORATION. (Vers. 11, 12.) There are no nobler words in which human reverence has found expression before the Divine Sovereign than these. We do not co.re to analyze them ; we use tLem; we take them on to our own lips as we find them; they perfectly voice our own hearts' homage. All joy before God should be profoundly reverential, and here David gives it simple but admirable utterance. IV. THAT IT EXPBESSES ITSELF IN THANKSGIVING, and in thankful acknowledgment (vers.10, 13, 16, 20). David himself" before all the congregation" (ver. 10), and then at bis desire all the congregation itself, "blessed the Lord God of their fathers" (ver. 20); he and they thanked and praised him ( ver.13). David freely and frankly acknowledged that, in giving to God, they were but presenting to him that which was his own: "Of thine own have we given thee" (ver.14). When we contribute to the cause of God we should bear in mind that God claims all that we have; that at any time he may be pleased to resume it; that we do but willingly make over to some special work of bis that which be has entrusted to us for his glory and the well-being of his children. V. THAT IT FINDS AMPLE BOOM FOB PRAYER. (Vers. 18, 19.) In the midst of our gratitude and joy we remember our dependence on God. And this is no jarring note; it does not anywise detract from our thankfulness or our gladness of heart. Let praise al ways pass into prayer, both for ourselves and ( as here) for others, and especially for those whose youth or other insufficiency makes them to be peculiarly in need of hdp from above. VI. THAT IT ENDS IN CONSECRATION AND COMMUNlOY. (Vere. 21, 22.) The whole scene ended in burnt offerings and peace offerings, in sacrifice and sacred festivity. Our riety finds its worthiest expression in devoting ourselves and our substance_ to the cause and kingdom of Christ, and also in communion with ou1· Lord and with one another.-C. Vera. 22-30.-IJavid and Solomon : contrast. "They made Solomon the son o( David king" (ver. 22). "Then Solomon sat on the throne .•• instead of Da~id his father" (ver. 23). "And David died in a good old age . . . and Solom~n h1~ son reigned in his stead" (ver. 28). We have our thought directed to ~ho. reepect1v? virtues of the two kings, father and son, and the comparative value of thmr life and rmgn. In some respects they are open to comparison, but in others to contrast. Both_were (1) kings of united Israel; (2) servants of Jehovah; (3) writers of i1;1spired and 1mmorte.l literature. But we are more struck with the contrasts than the likenesses between the two. We gather from a survey of their lives and public careers- I. TH.A'!' THE END AND THE BEGINNING OF A COURSE DO NOT ALWAYS ANSWER TO ONE AN0TiiER. Who could have supposed that of the shepherd lad of Bethlehem it would be written, "He died full of days, riches, and honour" (ver. 28); that a_ prophet of the Lord would write of "his reign and his might" (vers. 29, 30)? His path wos an ascending one : from a shepherd he became a victorious combatant, a leader of_ a ban_d of men, the king of a tribe, the monarch of the land, the sovereign who re.1sed hie country to the fulness of its dominion, and impressed on it the love of the Law of the ou . .lllx.1-30.] THE FIRS'f BOOK OF THE CIIRONICLES. 453