The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 245

(var. 15). 2. That God's presence would be granted to them. "The Lord will be with you" (ver. 17). 3, Tho.t God had promised them his salvation, and would therefore work on their behalf. "The salvation of the Lord" (ver.17). This was enouo-h even for the timid o.nd the feo.rful-hearted. This should be enough for us. Consci~us that the bnttle_we figh~ is that of the Lord himself, a?d is not ours only or chiefly; knowing tho.t he will be with us, and assured that he will work out a bleSBed issue, we may be co.Im, and even confident, though the enemy is advancing. IV. THAT WE MUST DE READY TO TAKE OUR PART AND TO DO OUR WORK, whatever that mny be. "Go ye down agair.st them" (ver. 16); "Set yourselves, stand ye still" (ver. 17). To do this may have been too much for the inclination of the cowardly or the indulgent; it may have been too little for the active and the militant among the people; but it was enough for the obedient and the trustful. God will have us bring our contribution of activity as well as devotion to the great spiritual campaign. But it may not be just that kind or just that measure which we should select if we had our choice. We must let him choose our service as well as our inheritance (Ps. xlvii. 4) for us; and whether that be high or humble, greater or smaller, we should be more than content that he is calling us to the field in which Christ is our Captain. V. THA'l' A BPmIT OF REVERENT GRATITUDE IS ALWAYS BECOMING. (Vers. 18, 19.) Before the shouts of victory are in the air, while we are going forth to the battle in which God is leading us, while we are serving under a Divine Saviour, while we are Bllticipating the issue, so long as we are trustful in him and not confident in owrselves, we do well to let our hearts be filled and to let our songs be heard with reverent joy.-C. Vers. 23-37.-.At and after the battle: lessons. Armed with a holy trust in God, the king and his people advanced to meet their multitudinous enemies with bounding heart and tuneful lip. Nor were they unwarranted in so doing; the event completely justified their hopes. We learn- L THAT OUR ENEMIES SOMETIMES DISPOSE OF ONE ANOTHER. (Ver. 23.) We some- times find that the enemy is best "left well alone." Let Shimei "cast stones" at us; even though they be words of false accusation, they will do him much more harm than they will do us. Let the enemy blaspheme ; his profanities will be a dead weight in his own balances. Let men make virulent attacks on our holy religion; they will answer one another; we can better spend our time (as a rule) in positive endeavours to build up the kingdom of God. II. That, under God's hand, THE EVIL WE FEAR IS MORE THAN BALANCED BY THE GOOD WE GAIN. When the Jewish army returned from the wilderness of Tekoa, richly laden with spoil (ver. 25), they would doubtless have said that it was much better for them to have had their agitation followed by their success than not to have had any invasion of the enemy. '!'hey certainly congratulated themselves upon the entire incident, and, in their hearts, blessed those Moo.bites and Ammonites for giving them such an opportunity of enrichment. When God is on our side we may expect that our dangers will disappear, and that from the things that threaten us we shall ultimately derive blessing. Such is now and ever "the end of the Lord" (John v. 11; Job xiii. 10). Only we must make quite sure that God is on our side; and this we can only do by making a full surrender of ourselves to him and to his service, and by seeing to it that we choose the side of righteousness and of humanity, and not that of selfishness and of guilty pride. Ill. THAT GOODNESS OF HEART SHOULD FIBST TAKE THE FORM OF GRATITUDE. Whither but to " the house of the Lord" should that jubilant procession move? (ver. 28). Gladness finds its best utterance in sacred song, its best home in the sanctuary of God. Thus and there it will be chastened ; it will be pure, it will be moderated, it will leave no sting of guilty memories behind. Moreover, if we are not first grateful to God for our mercies, but rather gratulatory of ourselves, we shall nurse a spirit of complacency that is likely to lead us astray from the humility which is our rectitude e.nd our wisdom, IV. THAT IT IB WELL WHEN OUR TRIUMPH IS LOST IN THE FURTHERANCE OF THJ!I 0AUBE OF Goo. It we.a much that Jerusalem was safe; but it was more that "the fear of God was on all the kingdoms" (ver. 29). We may heartily rejoice that our  THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [err. xx. 1-37.