l Sam. xvii. 82. The Revised Version puts oopula. Here lhe oorreot translation ia, this in the margin ; "Therefore hath thy And flOtc, 0 Lwd Jeho11ah, thou art the God; 11erv&nt been bold to pray this pra.yor." i.e. the one real, true God. Ver. 28.-And now, 0 Lord God, thou art ~er. 29.-Let iti_pleaae thee to bleaa; or, that God. The pronoun rnndered "that" begin and bless. Literally, the verb signifies is really a. personal pronoun nsed 88 the to make up the mind and set about tho mpul&, whioh the Authorized Version in- doing of the thing purposed. 'l.'hus David ll!erts in ita.lice. As this grammatiool usage, prays that the blessin~ may now o.t once whioh is oommon to all the Semitic la.n- begin to take effect. It is often rendered gua.ges, WB.1! not understood at the time when "please" in our version, because the verb is our version was me..de, we find all the parts one used only of a determination resolved of the verb "to be" oollllt1lntly printed in upon of the free-will of the purposer. Its ita.lics, as though absent., while really they foroe is well seen in Job vi. 9, where what are expressed in the Oriental way. This Job prays for is that God would deliberate no has the advantage, however, of reminding longer, but deoide the m11.tter and set about the reader that wherever the verb "to be " destroying him. The Authorized Version is printed in Roma.n oharaoters it he.s a WB.1! led, by the use of this verse "please," mnch stronger meaning than the mere to adopt the optative form. Really, it is the union of subject and predicate. Thus in language of firm faith, and should be ren- Gen. i. 2 the :first "was," in Roman type, dered, ..4.nd note [there is no "therefore"] means "existed," or possibly "became;" begin of thy OIL"A good will, and blese the the second " wu," in italics, is simply the house of thy servant. 1
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-11.-'l'he fact.a are: 1. David, being settled in his kingdom and furnished with a permanent place~ of abode, is dissatisfied that the ark of the Lord should remain in a frail tent. 2. He sends for Nathan, and intimates his desire to build a fitting house for the Lord, and receives encouragement from the prophet. 3. During a vision of the night N atban is directed to inform David that his desire cannot be realized; that all along it had been God's will to move from place to place in a tent (ver. 6); that it was never his purpose to have any other abode while Israel was unsettled (ver. 7). 4. He is further to inform David that the dwelling in a tent, and his own call from the sheep- cote (ver. 8) to be a leader of Israel, were both parts of one design, and that the success vouchsafed to him (ver. 9) was evidence of this. 6. Also, David is to know that, in pursuance of the same purpose, God gave his people a land of their own, and planted (these verbs to be taken as perfects, not as converted into futures) them in a permanent abode, free from the embarrassment of suoh powerful assailants as annoyed them in the time of the judges, and from which they now have rest. 6. The good desire of David, though not to be now realized, is acknowledged by the assurance that God has further purposed to establish his house in Israel
Omnmeruiabl,e but ttnseasonabl,e ual. Every reader of the narrative at once feels how natural and beautiful it was in David to desire, for the symbol of God's presence among his people, an abode somewhat commensurate with its glory and suggestive of per- manence. It was in keeping with all the antecedents of his life, and there was manifested an exquisite spiritual sensibility in mentioning first of all so important a subject as a change in the abode of the ark to the prophet who represented the Divine source of guidance as distinguished from civil authority. What are the elements which render such zeal commendable and at the same time unseasonable ? I. THERE IS A PERSONAL .AJISOBPTION JN THE INTERESTS OF Gon's KINGDOM: AllONG HEN. God's kingdom among men was the great fact to be emphasized and illustrated in the life of the chosen race, suggestive of a more developed kingdom in later times. This fact had absorbed the energies of Moses, but was somewhat obscured when the people, wee.ry of the existing form of the theooracy, asked for and obtained a king in Saul. From the first David had, in his own life, restored the idea of the Divine kingdom to the distinctness of Mosaic times, and counted himself to have no funotion in the world apart from seeking to realize it in the national experience. For it he lived and ruled; for it he prayed, and of it he sang. This was the fountain-head of all his zeal, and the key to the communication made to Nathan. Herein also is tht1 on. vu. 1-29.] 'fHE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 189