II. DIBAPPOINTED EXPECTATION AND HOPE, .All through the course pursued by Absnlom, David doubtless cherished the hope that: 1. He might see the error of hie way, and, constrained by bis father's 11:ff'ection, repent of hie sine. He may have ~upposc<l him penitent at the time of bis return (c.b. xiv. 23), and that hie reconcilia• tion (eh. xiv. 33) would be followed by filial love and obedience. 2, He might fulfil the ~nticipations formed at his birth, strengthened by the brilliant promise of his early youth, and apparently justified by bis more reoent diligence and religious zeal (eh, xv, ~. S). The love of a parent often blinds him t.o the many defects and malicious designs or his son. Until this moment David hoped (ver. 6) that: 3. His life, at least, might he ~par<'d and his destruction averted. .All is suddenly extinguished; his "sun is gone ,!own while it wss yet day;" and the remembrance of its brightness remains only to deepen the gloom of the succeeding night. III. PERSONAL COMPUNCTION. Had the righteous judg:ment of God overtaken Absalom because he bad" risen up against him" (ver. 31)? Was David himself, then, blameless ? He could not but remember that: 1. He had despised the commandment ol the Lord, and rebelled against the Divine King of Israel. 2. He had contributed by his own conduct to the misconduct of his son. " The worst ingredient in this cup of anguish would be, I think, the consciousness in David's heart that, if he had himself been all he ought to have been, his son might not thus have perished" (W. M. Taylor). 3, He was now suffering the chastisement of Heaven, of which bis son's death was a part. "Absalom's sin and shame had two sides-there was in it the curse that David's sin brought on David's house (eh. xii. 10), the misdeed of the father's that is visited on the children (Exod. XL 5); and not less, .Absalom's own wickedness and recklessness, which made him the bearer of the family curse. David looks at .Absalom's deed not on the latter side, but on the former (for his own guilt seems to him so great, that he looks little at Absalom's); hence his deep, boundless compassion for his misguided son" (Kurtz). "The heart-broken cry,' Would God I had died for thee I' was•not only the utterance of self-sacrificing Jove, but the confession that he himself deserved the punish- ment which fell upon another" (Kirkpatrick). IY. IBREPARillLE LOSS AND SEPARATION. ".As that young man is;" his life "as water spilt upon the ground," etc. No cries nor tears can restore him to his father or "the land of the living" (1 Sa.m. xxv. 29; c.b. iv. 11; Ps. xxvi. 9; xli.x, 8). What- ever Dal'id may have thought of his condition in SMDl, no parent can contemplate the death of a rebellious and impenitent son without heart-rending grief, arising from the fear of his exclusion from the presence of God, sharing the doom of the Lord's enemies, and endless separation from the fellowship of saints. ".All hope abandon, ye who enter here! " (Dante, 'Inferno,' ill.). REMARKS. 1. It is possible, under circumstances most favourable to goodness, to become exceedingly bad. 2. One of the greatest evils in the world is that of dis- obedience to parents (2 Tim. iii. 3). 3. 'l'he love of an earthly parent toward his children is a shadow of the eternal Father's love to men. " He is affected with fatherly love towards the whole human race. Inasmuch as we are men, we must be dear to God, and our salvation must be precious in his sight" (Calvin, on Ezek. xviii. 4). 4. Tl,e Divine sorrow over men when they fall into sin and ruin, as revealed in the holy tears of Jesus, indicates their final state in" the world of infinite mourning."-D.
Ver. 3.-The 11Wf'11<1,S$ing worth of Ohrist. "Thou art worth ten thousand of us." The doctrine that all men are equal is true in some important respects, but its applica- tion and use are very limited. It is equally true that all men are unequal, that no man is of exactly the same weight and worth as any other man. Men differ infinitely in body and mind, in intelligence and goodness, in position and influence, in their value to society; and so in the degrees of their responsibility t.o God, In domestic and social civic national, and Church life, one man is often worth many others, David's •<'people'" felt this now that they were going forth to meet the forces of Absalom in battle; and they give as a reason why he should be content to remain in the city instead of expobing himself to the dangers of the battle-field, that he was worth ten tbou.,a.nd of them; that it wu better that ten thousand of them should be slain tl,an be, though he was only one. This sentiment underlies a11d justifies the 1wtnral feeling of loyalty to a sovereign, the willingness to protect him at the cost of on. XVIII. 1-33.] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 457