Tlie gentleness of God. This beautiful saying of David's, in ver. 36, is a wonderful illustration of the tenderness of his own heart, and of the deep and thoroughly evan- gelical thoughts he entertained of the character of God. There is mnch in this song to remind us of terrible power (vers. 7-18); but it was to David tlle power and terribleness of One who pities the poor and needy, and, out of his deep compassio □, throws the shield of his almightiness over them. In one respect this display of power is an expression of gentleness ; it is tender care and loving-kindness for the needy in their defensive aspect. It was gentleness that took David from the sheepcote to make him King of Israel; that succoured and consoled him when exiled in lonely mountains and heathen lands; that spared his soul and healed his wounds when he fell bto his dreadful sin; that upheld his broken spirit when the crushing blow ot rebellion came as chastisement for sin; that gradually fashioned his character in spite of adverse influences of the age, and made him a blessing to Israel; and that so toned his life that now in old age, instead of being a proud monarch boasting of his strength, lie is constrained to ascribe all the glory of his life to God. It is the gentleness of l/od that elevates and ennobles all his people. J. THIS QUALITY IS MOST CHAI\ACTERISTIO OF GoD IN ms DEALINGS WITH us. To it -called in the New 'festarnent, love-we owe our redemption through Christ. The reve- lation of "righteousness," of which the Apostle Paul speaks (Rom. i. 17), is made because of the deep love of God, his tender pity for his erring children. Our Sa\·iour, who is the express lmRge of his Person, was, during his earthly course, the ttmbodiment of all that is sii-eet, tender, pitiful, gentle. 'l'he bruised reed, the smokiug flax, knew his gentleness. Weeping widows, fnllen women, outcast lepers, despised srnners, little 64:4 THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. [en. xxn. 1-51,
children, a. sorrowing Ma.ry a.t the cross, were only a. few instances in which the infinite tenderness of his nature went forth in words and deeds of blessing. 'l'he spirit of his gospel is that of tender c ~ for all men. In our personal e.-i;perience the same spirit is revealed. He found us bruised, defiled, without hope; and he tenderly bound up our wounds, took 11way our guilt, and gave us power to become his sons. In our occasi~l lapses, how tender, bow patient, and pitiful I When adversity has come, home laid deso~ate, or health taken away, how gently his hand has held us up ond assuaged our grief! Aud when by the open grave, and broken down with sorrow, his all-sufficing gentleness has come and turned our sorrow into joy. 0 blessed gentleness I How dear and precious is our God to our often weary and sinful hearts I II. THE INFLUENOE OF Gon's GENTLENESS ON us IS TO ELEVATE OUR LD'E. It made David "great." That was its object, and he, appreciating its blessedness, found that it did secure its object. A knowledge of this as the distinguishing quality in God's dealings with men, tends in itself to raise our conceptions of God, and of the order of his government. The end for which his gentleness found expression in the work of Christ is that we may be raised from our low estate, and be heirs of his own glory. When we open our hearts to his gentle Spirit, we, like the pro!iigal, rise from our degradation and become reinstated as beloved and honoured children. In seasons of calamity it gives us strength to endure and to wait, and a deep consciousness of its reality often throws over the character a more than earthly beauty; and when his love has done all its blessed work in us, we shall rise to a far more glorious position than that occupied by David when, as king, he reached the highest honour attainable among men (John xtii. 24). IlL THE REli.EHBII.ANCE OF HIS GENTLENESS IN THE PAST IS AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO us FOR THE FUTURE. David was evidently able to look on to the future witli perfect composure. 'l'he love of the past was pledge for the future. Our review of God's gracious dealings with us will cause us to sing of his loving-kindness, and to fear no evil. Having given us his beloved Son, we are sure he will give us all things, Li,fe'& warfare. From ver. 38 to ver. 44 David takes a general survey of his life's conflicts, and is able to say at the close that his triumph over enemies is complete, The language is strong, and to modern ears fierce and vindictive; but we have to consider the position which he believed himself to hold under God, and which he believed to be imperilled by his adversaries. He was, and knew it well, the anointed of the Lord, set over the people as the representative of God, and for the distinct purpose of preparing the way for the realization of those vast promises of good to the world made to Abraham, and devoutly cherished by every enlightened Hebrew. Con- sequently, the personal element in his case largely disappeared. The attacks on him were attacks on God's government, an effort to frustrate God's purposes; and, believing those purposes to be the wisest and best, he regarded the attempt to put them aside as most wicked; indeed, as the crime of high treason against the Eternal King. That men who thus oppose the Lord's anointed, and are instrumental in committing so great a sin or doing so serious a mischief in the world, deserved the judgment which God allowed to come is obvious, or he would not have allowed it; and, admitting this, there is no obvious sin in David expressing in figurative terms his acquiescence and even satisfaction in that judgment. There is no sin in a man's spiritual vision being so hiuh and wide tha.t he sees justice, and is glad that justice is done. It is only when we i;troduce the more personal element, and judge by it alone, that David's words are felt to be improper. His life's warfare suggests ours, and that being led on by the Captain o! our salvation. I. THEBE All.E STRONG AND BI'l"l'ER FOEB AROUND us. Cruel men under Saul's leading, Amalekites, Philistines, and rebels within the kingdom, sought the ruin of David, both personally and in his capacity as anointed king. No words can set forth ao.equately the number, strength, e,ctivity, and combinations of the spiritual foes that practically seek our spiritual life, and also oppose the claims and prerogatives of Obrist. Every Christian life is a spiritual reproduction of David's temporal life; and in the antagonism of our own Christian experience we have a miniature view of the great conflict going on between the King in Zion and the principalities and powers of dark- ness e.nd the countless forces that lie concealed in the depths of human depravity, an. xxn. 1-51.] THE B:ECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. li45