The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 79

However gratifying the completion of one's aims may seem, it is a vain anrl mieerahlp issue when regarded in the clear light of pure principle. In the real moral world-the sphere in which God alone a.wards the prizes of life-he is not crowned who does not "strive lawfully" (2 'rim. ii. 6), that is, is not observant of all the great and holy prin- ciples on which alone God would have men act. It is certain, therefore, that men of the .Abner stamp, who a.re doing the right things, not because they a.re right and of God, but for persona.I ends, will one de.y find that their efforts will, while being used up by God in furtherance of the dominion of Zion's King, bring to them11elves none of the glory and honour which alone fall to those who persist in "well-doing" (Rom. ii, 6, 7). GENERAL LESSONS. 1. It becomes us now and then to search into the mainsprings of life, to ascertain what really are the principles or feelings which dominate our conduct. 2. We may rest assured, in our appeals to men on behalf of Christ, that there is in their conscience, confronting their actual life of rebellion, a witness for him the Divine authority of which they must secretly recognize. 3. Any change from an externally wrong to an externally right course is to be tested by its being or not being the out- come of pure love of what is plea.sing to God. 4. There is a. day coming when the actions which seem to lie in the direction of the kingdom of Christ, and, in fact, as right actions, a.re due to him, will be unveiled so as to be seen in their rela.tion to the actual feelings in which they originated, and then those, who during a part of their life were regarded as good worker~, will be known as "workers of iniquity" (Matt. vii. 21-23). 5. In the lives of some men one portion is spent in endeavouring to undo the deeds of former misspent days, and not always with clean hands in the sight of God. 6. The secret of every life is to be found in the heart, and hence the need con- stantly of the prayer that God would create within us a clean heart. 7. It is a right thing for men of influence, when the force of truth is openly admitted by themselves, to do what lies within their power to bring others over to its practical recognition. 8, The great mass of the people are very much influenced in the course they take in public affairs by the reasonings of able leaders; hence the responsibilities of leaderships in the government of God. Policy with principle. A careful examination of facts will show that David's conduct in this narrative, and indeed all through his early career, was the very reverse of Abner's. His entire course, from the day of his call from the sheepfold to the proffered allegiance of Abuer, was one of simple honest desire to do the will of God. Age.in and again had he resisted temptations to grasp at power; and -bis conduct in the interview with Abner, and use of his services, proceeded from the same principle, that, in its very nature, excluded selfish motive. l. AOTION GOVERNED BY DIVINE PURPOSE IS THE NORMAL COURSE FOB A RATIONAL CREATURE, In inanimate and irrational things the Divine purpose is so stamped upoa. their being or wrought into the texture of their nature that as a matter of course they, in their movements, follow in the line appointed. Their action is necessarily normal. In creatures endowed with a rational will there comes in the prerogative of option. The possibility of an abnormal conrse belongs to such beings as an essential element of their constitution. 'l'he angels that have kept their first estate, and falleu angels and man, illustrate the two sides of the case. In the affairs of ancient Israel the revealed purpose of God was that David should be king (ver. 9). This was the will of the Eternal, by which every man, from Samuel and Saul in the highest ranks to the lowliest descendant of Jacob, was to be guirled in his political life. How Samuel and Jonathan conformed to this law is beautifully seen in their respective careers. How David was governed by it is to be seen in the strong faith in his own destiny which ran through his patient endurance of exile; in his firm but restrained opposition to Ishbosheth; and also in his negotiations with Abner. It is this conscious conformity of action with the Divine purpose in relation to public affairs that raises the strong assertions of integrity in the Psalms above the suspicion of being the outgoings of a t1elf-righteous spirit that claims perfect internal holiness in the sight of God. As a rule, our private conduct is normal in so far only as it is the carrying out in action of the J.efinite purpose of God that we should govern self for him. Hence sin is properly said to be a fa.II (Hos. xiv. 1). Hence our Saviour's was the only true life. He was man  78 'l'RF. SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL [en. m, 1-30,