The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 186

The historic dl!Velopment of God's purpose conceMing man. •In vers. 4-11 we have an exposition of the grounds on which God declined to accept David's proposal to build a house for him. The motive was good, and there was a certain perception of propriety in the design. but as its unseasonableness resulted from imperfect knowledge of the Divine will, that will is here made known. I. Gon HAS A PURl'OSE CONCERNING MAN. This is the basis of the declaration to David. It may, indeed, be said that there is e. Divine purpose in the existence of every atom and form of force, since each is what it is by the will of God, and is related to all the rest of the universe in e. definite way, so as to issue in a progressive order. Every change is thus the working ont in the material world of a purpose of the eternal mind.. But while this is true or man e.lso considered as an organized creature in the world, it is further true of him that there is a purpose in the eternal mind of which he is the object, and to work out which all other things e.re means and a.gents. God has something to effect for man as well as by man. The New Testament informs us that it is spiritual in its nature, and abounding with good to man and glory to God, IL Gon's PUJ!l'OBE OONCERNING liAN IS INCORPORATED WITH HUMAN AFFAIRS. It is pointed out to David that the history of his ancestors in Egypt and under the judges, and also his own personal history, have been the vehicle through which this purpose has been gradually working. God's thoughts for man assume concrete forms. They enter as the golden thread into the rough web of human life. Human wills work in their own free way, but another will works with them, and uses them in their free course for the manifestation of itself. Abraham's domestic life, Israel's sojourn in E:zypt and the deeert, the struggle for existence during the period of the judges, e.nd the raising up and fall of Saul, and the exploits of David, were occasions and forms by whi.ch that redemptive purpose revealed itself which later on in Judrea., in Pilate's ball and in the ages of Christendom, became more distinct and yet more one with human interests. Ill. 1N THE OUTWORKING OF THE PURPOSE TEMPOBABY INSTITUTIONS ABE CREATED, The ark and the tabernacle were the creation of the Divine purpose working along the line of human history. They were the product of two things-the purpose and the incidents of Israel's existence. David was right in viewing the tabernacle as essentially temporary; but he is reminded (ver. 6) that it expressed the Divine will for the time because of the hume.n element through which that will was working onwards. A succession of temporary expedients is traceable from the first to the second Adam, One by one they disappeared before the approach of the true Light. Many of the modern expedients of the Church will prove their temporary character in so far aa Christ's holy will works its way into the heart of the world, and men, possessing this life, become in the best sense a law to themselves (1 Cor. xiii. 8-10). CII, VII, 1-20.] ·rnE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. l!ll