The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 281

"'fho wrnth of God is revealed," etc. (Rom. ii. 18). This is confirmed by conscience In which his displeasure is reflected as a clouded sky in the surface of a lake. ' II. DESERVED. Sin is rebellion against his authority, di110bedience to his Law opposi- tion to his holiness, ingratitude toward his goodness; a. transgression of the- c~venant "a coming short of tho mark," iniquity (Ps. xxxii. 1). Every wrong done to ma.~ is a dishonouring of God (Ps, li. 4). Jn the sin of David there were elements of peculiar o.nd aggravated guilt (eh. xii. 7-9), But in every case it is" exceedin" sin[ul" "the 0 abominable thing which he bates" (Jcr. xliv. 4). It is the one real evil in man: "Bin alone is that Which doth disfranchise him, and make u-nlike To the chief good; for that its light in him Is darken'd." (Dante.) Ill. IMPARTIAL. The Holy One of Israel is unaffected by any of those influences that make human displeasure at wrong-doing partial and defective. Ile is neither blind nor indifferent to the sins of his children (eh. vii. 14). They have not, any more than others, a licence to sin. David, "his chosen," is not above the Law, nor exempt from due punishment. "For there is no respect of persons with God" \Rom. ii. 11). " Without respect of persons, the Father judgeth according to every man s work," etc. (1 Pet. i. 17; Amos iii. 2); estimating it according to its exact moral "weight,. (1 Sam. ii. 8). - IV. UNAVOIDABLE. However men may conceal it from others, or endeavour to hide it from themselves, they cannot hide it from God (Job xxii. 13). What pleases men may displease him (1 'fhess. ii. 4). His knowledge is infinite; his righteousness and justice essential, unchangeable, and eternal. Wherever and whenever sin exists, the holy energy of his wrath must burn against it; " for our God is a consuming fire," an "almighty foe to ill." Although delayed, it is not extinct. "A year had passed since his fall. The child of his sin had been born. And all this time God was silent. Yet like a dark cloud on a summer's day hung this sentence over him, 'But the thing that David did,' etc. Soon it would burst in a storm of judgment." V. EFFIOENT AND DREADFUL. As "in the king's favour there is life," so in his displeasure there is death. It is manifested in the punishment of the sinner, both inwardly and outwardly; BB in the case of David (eh. xii. 10, 11). Every future moment must answer for the present. '!'he penalties of transgression in this life are numerous and terrible. And who shall tell what will follow hereafter, when the wind becomes a whirlwind? -VI. MINGLED WITH MERCY. God is displeased with sin rather than with the sinner (except i_n so far as he voluntarily identifies himself with it); whom, in his essential nature, he loves; who possesses the capacity of restoration; whose salvation he seeks; and to whom, on his repentance, punishment becomes chastisement, a means of purifi- cation and blessing ( eh. vii. 16). "There is no more terrible, there is no more instruc- tive, portion of the Word of God than this whole record. The long death-sleep of that once living soul; its awakening under the prophet's voice; its deep repentance; its free forgiveness; its long, heavy, repeated, almost incessant chastisement ;-speak to every ear which is not altogether deaf lessons of the holiness and truth, of the severity and love, of the justice and mercy, of the Lord our God, which is borne perhaps with equal force in:no other record of his ways with man" (' Heroes of Hebrew History'). "0 God, thou hadst never suffered so dear a favourite of thine to fall so fearfully, if thou hadst not meant to make him a universal example to mankind. of not presuming, of not despairing. How can we presume of not sinning, or despair for sinning, when we fiud so great a saint thus fallen, thus risen?" (Hall).-D. Ver. 21.-David'sfall. "But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord." One guarantee, even to the most unlettered, of the truthfulness of sacred history is the impartiality of its accounts of its greatest heroes, whose sins and follies are faithfully recorded as well as their virtues. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Peter, are cases in point. David is another instance, whose fearful sins are recorded in this most distressing chApter, ending with the significant words of our te:xt, "But the thing that David had duue displeased the Lord,"  28G THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUl<1L. [en, :xr. 1-27,