The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 604

But doubtless, ordinarily, it depends on RUch causes; the crowding together of great numbers of people, the accumulation of filth, the state of the atmosphere, the suscepti- bilities of the persons affected by it. "The peculiar source of the thought that e numbering of the people brought mischief lies probably in the experience that epidemic sicknesses often broke out in such numberings, because therein a great mass of people was crowded together, to facilitn.te tbe business, in e. proportione.lly small space" (Tbenius). Most of the great plagues the.t have afflicted mankind appear to have origine.ted in the East, where the climate, the soil, and the social habits of the popu- lation nfford conditions favourable to their production. In all CBSes, however, the band of God must be recognized in the consequences of violating his laws, physical and moral; and in the employment of them "for correction." Consider- I. ITS MOURNFUL PREVALENOE; 88 at this time in Israel, so in other ages and nations (Exod. xii. 29; Numb. :xxv. 9; 2 Kings xix. 35; J er. xxvii. 13). 1. Its sudden appearance. 2. Its rapid diffusion; "from the morning to the [a] time appointed [the time of assembly]." "It burst upon the people with supernatural strength and violence, that it might be seen at once to be a direct judgment from God" (Keil). 3. Its extensive presence;," from Dan to Beersheba." 4. Its dreadful destructiveness ; •• seventy thousand men" (fourteen in the thousand of the whole population). "Such a pestilence nnd loss of life as this [at Athens, 430 B.c.J wa.q nowhere remembered to have happened" (Thucydides, ii. 47). At Rome (A.D. 80) ten thousand perished daily; in England (1348) more than half the population; in London (1603) over thirty thousand; and again (August, 1665) eight thousand persons weekly. These are only a few of the many recorded instances of the awful "visitation of God." II. h's MERCIFUL ARREST. "And the angel" (1 Sam. xxix. 9; eh. xiv. 17; xix. 27; Ps. civ. 4; xxxiv. 7; xxxv. 5; xci. 11), who had been "destroying through all the territories of Israel" (1 Chron. xxi. 12), "stretched out his hand" (having a drawn sword therein, 1 Chron. xxi. 6) "upon Jerusalem to destroy it," etc. The pestilence approached the city, threatening its destruction, ,µid filling all hearts with terror (1 Chron. xxi. 16, 20). We can conceive that it might have spread until the whole human race perished. But its destructive force was limited (as it al ways is): 1. When its purpose was accomplished and the law of retribution satisfied. "It is enough." 2. By the same Divine power as sent it. "Stay now thine hand." God has placed irn the human constitution a self-healing power. "Onr natures are the physicians of our diseases" (Hippocmtes). He provides special remedies for special diseases; alleviates and often cures them in unexpected, extraordinary, and mysterious ways. The Christian religion is a remedial system by which mortality itself is "swallowed up of life." "I am Jehovah thy Physician" (Exod. xv. 26; Matt. viii. 16; John iii. 14, 16; Rev. xxii. 2). 3. With tender pity toward the afflicted, involving a change of his procedure. "And Jehovah repented him of the evil" (1 Sam. xv. 24-31). 4. In connection with the moral condition of men and their altered relation to himself-humiliation (ver. 10), trust (ver. 14), and prayer (ver. 17). "Then David and the- elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces" (1 Cbron. ui. 16), their spirit being doubtless shared in by the people, whose representatives they were. God deals with men according to the state of their hearts (ver. 1), and commences doing so even before it is fully expressed in outward actions. Ps. xci. (" by David," LXX.), • Under the shadow of the Almighty.' "Because he bath set his love npon me, 'fherefore will I deliver him," etc. (Ps. xci. H:.) "Some years ago an eminent physician in St. Petersburg recommended this psalm as the best preservativo against cholera" (Perowne). III. 1TB MORAL USEB, with respect to those who suffer from it or to mankind genemlly, in: 1. Producing efficient impressions of the majesty of God; his sovereignty, justice, and might. 2. -Proving the real condition of the hearts of men; whether they will" keep his co=andments or no" (Deut. viii. 3). 3. Inducing, in those who are rightly disposed, proper feelings of penitonce, humility, dependence, submission; and correcting vanity, pride, and self-will. 4, Inciting a purer and loftier trust in God, and more complete devotion and self-sacrifice. "Plagues to us are not funerals of terror,  620 THE SEOOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. :, [en. :uuv. 1-25.