The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 173

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vars. 1, Ii (latter part), 6, 7.-" Rest on every side." It is significant enough that the Chronicler considered it a noteworthy. fact that "in his days the land was quiet ten yea.re." It indicates very forcibly that the chronic condition of the country in those times was one of unsettlement and strife. We should think it strange, indeed, if the historian of our country thought it worth while to record that for ten years the sove- reign" had no war" (ver. 6). But it is painful to think that for very many centuries, in many lands, if not in all, war was regarded as the normal cvndition; an attitude of armed hostility toward the neighbouring nation was considered the necessary and natural relation. History then was not the account of discovery, of invention, of achievement, of advance; it was the story of international or civil war. This was the rule which, we may thank God, is now the exception, and which, we devoutly hope, will soon be obsolete. But for ten years the land " was quiet;" it had "rest on every side." We may glance at- I. THE NATIONAL ASPEOT OF THE SU».TECT. A nation has " rest on every side,, when it (1) is at peace will all surrounding powers; and (2) is enjoying internal tranquillity, its various subjects living in concord, one class with another. To obtain and to pre- serve such a desirable condition, there need to be (1) a "foreign policy" that is not aggressive in aim or provocative in address; and (2) an internal administration that is based on justice, that promotes wholesome and fruitful labour, that encourages and rewards merit and ability, that observes a strict impartiality amidst all differences i,f custom and belief. Then there is likely to be " rest on every side," more especially if the citizens of the land are serving tbe Lord according to their conscientious convic- tions, and are continually seeking his blessing and asking for "peace in their time" (ver. 6). But let us rather consider- 11. 'l'HE INDIVIDUAL ASPEOT OF IT. How shall we have" rest on every side"? 1. Not by securing outward and temporal success. A man may clasp the goal of honour, or of wealth, or of affection, and may think himself possessor of complete and lasting rest, and he may awake any morning to find that all his pleasant conditions are dis- turbed, and that the prize of peace is snatched ruthlessly from his brow. The heavens may be cloudless and the sun be shining in its full light and warmth to-day; but to-morrow those heavens may be draped in gloom, and the rain may be pelting pitilessly upon us. Not that way lies "rest on every side." 2. Nor by going down into ths grave. The "rest of the grave" is only a false poetical metaphor. That is not rest which excludes all present consciousness and provides no refreshment and invigoration for the future. The darkness of death which the despairing suicide seeks and finds is not rest at all; it is entirely undeserving of the name ; the word is a complete misnomer as thus applied. It is not rest on any side; it is defeat; it is loss; it is destruction. 3. It is found in holy, filial service; in the happy, honourable, rightful service of a Divine Redeemer. There is (1) peace with God-the rest that looks upwa-rd; (2) peace in our own heart-rest within, all our spiritual faculties consenting to the con- dition-the reason, the conscience, the will, the affections; (3) rest in relation to those that are without-a prevailing spirit of good will and of love toward all men-" rest on every side."-C. Vers. 2, 3, 5.-Destructive godliness. Human energy and capacity show themselves in two forms-in the destructive and in the constructive. Though action of the latter kind is the more honourable and admirable of the two, yet that of the former is also useful and needful in its time. Moses did a very good work for the people of Israel when he ground to powder the golden calf; and Hezekiah, when he broke in pieces the brazen serpent and called it "e. bit of brass;" and the Christians of Ephesus did a 1 wise as well as e. worthily sacrificial thing when they burnt the "books" out of which  li4 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [oH, xiv. 1-15'