The end ef the wicTred. The course run by Ahithophel was very wicked. It combined some of the basest crimes of which human nature is capable, the more base because of the intelligence and former professions of the man. His name is the symbol of craftiness, cunning, faithlessness, cruelty, pride of intellect, and ambition. Every reader of the narrative feels that he was most justly cut off from the land of the living, and is not much surprised that he should be cut off by his own hand. The end seems in some dreadful sense natural and befitting. But while that is, perhaps, the sponta- neous judgment of men because of what may be termed his exaggerated vileness, yet, looking at the facts in the light of Scripture, we really see here, in very dark colours, what is virtually the end of all who are guilty of treason against Christ, the Anointed One, and seek to frustrate his righteous purposes in the world. Observe that in antagonism to Christ- I. THERE IB AN ANOINTED KING OPPOSED. Ahithophel's crime lay chiefly in being in antagonism to one whom God had anointed to be king over Israel. The qualities of craft and cunning and cruelty were incidents of the antagonism. The essence of his guilt lay in the fact of setting himself against the Lord and his anointed. And those who persist in a sinful life and will not, because of the love of their own way, bow to the yoke of Christ (Matt. xii 28-30), are as truly guilty of rebellion. In so far as they thus seek to dispense with his authority, they are guilty of high treason. To say that there is no intention to do so counts for nothing in a matter of resistance to his authority. '!'he facts of life are the tests of loyalty. 'l'he position of an impenitent sinner is one of enmity against God. Thie the Apostle Paul declares, and it is the admisRion of all who awake to a sense of their state and cry for mercy. The tendency to kine <luwn resistance to Christ's personal authority over the entire life is dangerous. on. XVII, 1-29.] TIIE SECOND BOOK OF SAMOEL, 425 ---------------------------- - - - II. THERE 18 INGRATITUDE AND CRUELTY IN TBE BE8I8TANOE TO CHRIST. We can easily eee the ingratitude and cruelty of Ahithophel. He had been cared for by the king, and blessed with many favours (Ps. Iv. 13). And yet what David had been and done for this man was as nothing compared with what Christ, our anointed King, has been and has done for men who rebel against his authority. He hae loved them; suffered and died for them ; he has crowned their lives with loving-kindness, and even conferred on them the very powers which they refuse to submit to ,his governance. If Christ was once wounded in the house of his friends by their rejection of him, he surely feels the pain of beholding the ingratitnde of those who say in their hearts, " We will not have him to reign over us." There is positive cruelty in deliberately rejecting One who so tenderly loves and has suffered so much for those who scorn him. The appeal of the prophet to heaven and earth as to whether there could be found any parallel to Israel's crime (Isa. i. 2-4) certainly applies in the instance of those who enjoy clearer light and listen to more earnest exhortations, and yet rebel against him who has brought them up. III. THERE 1B NO PALLIATION OF THE CRIME. No ingenuity can find an excuse for Ahithophel. As to the character and qualities of the two, he knew that Absalom was not to be thought of for a moment in comparison with David. As to the administration of government, no good could possibly come from exchanging a wise, generous king for a vain and selfish young man. Reason and good sense and policy alike condemn the deed of Ahithophel. And those who reject the Son of God are without excuse. No other authority can compare with his in wisdom, goodness, or range of beneficence. No single fault can be found with his holy administration. No policy so sound as the policy of the sermon on the mount, and the submission demanded (Matt. xii. 28). 'l'he extreme evil as well as folly of the sin of rebellion should be insisted on with all urgency. 'IV. '!'HERE IS AN END OF DISAPPOil!TMENT AND DOOM. Ahithophel came to his violent end with pride· mortified and prestige gone. The cause in which he had so wickedly em barked was seen to be hopelessly lost by the adoption of the counsel of Hushai. Nor was he free from the terrors of an evil conscience. The suicide was an incident only-the result of the interaction of these causes. The actual inner facts of his end find a counterpart in the experience of all who die in rebellion against Christ. They cease to be the great ones, and are classed among those of whom the obscurity of "I never knew thee" is true (Matt. vii. 23). Whatever social prestige they had in the conventional life of this world, they lose it all where only the obedient and faithful are recognized as blessed of the Father, and are as kings and priests unto God for ever (Rev. i. 5, 6). They become aware of the presence of a conscience which is as a worm that dieth not, and as a fire that is not quenched. There is no hiding these'great facts concerning the end of the wicked. They are declared in the "IVord of God.
Sympathy'in the day of adversity. The brief record of the kindness of Shobi, Machir, and Barzillai is refreshing after the previous account of the devices of the wicked against the life and authority of David. The conduct of these men, and the reference to it in the sacred record, bring under our notice the subject of sympathy in the day of adversity. Consider, then- I. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE SYMPATHY. So far as the conduct of these three men reveals the characteristics of true sympathy, they are seen to be these. 1. It is spontaneous. As soon as David's trouble was known, their hearts went forth towards him ; they took to themselves his sorrows. There wa.s no effort ab extra to produce it, and no inward process of reasoning to call forth deeds which would have the semblance of coming from deep compassion and sincere regard. It was natural to the men and the circumstances. That had been the character of David's s_vmpathy for those in trouble when he was in prosperity (1 Sam. xxix. 21-24; eh. i. 11, 12, 19-27). It was pre-eminently so with Christ in all his relations to sorrow and need. It is a test by which we can estimate our own and others' professions. 2. It is practical. It did not spend itself in mere feeling cherished or word spoken, but found expression in abundant provision for David's wants (ver. 28). The measure of the feeling cau be seen in an estimate of the pains and toil required to bring so great an amount of food and comforts to David's camp. Our Saviour, during his earthly life, ldt us an example cf 4:26 THE SEOOND BOOK OF SAMUEL, [OH, XVII, 1-29.