The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 608

fold mercies (ver, 14), above all;the unspeakable Gift of hie only Son (Rom. viii. 32; xii. 1). 3, Ea;pressive of a right feeling toward God. Reverence, gratitude, love, self- oonsecmtion, holy zeal (John xii. 3). "Everything depends on the predominant principle and purpose. If a man's prime feeling be that of self, he will go the easieat and moat economic way to work and worship; if a man's prime feeling be tha.t of God, he will rebuke all thoughts of cheapness and facility. In the first case, he will seek the largest possible results from the least possible expenditure; in the second, the expenditure will be itself the result. Now, it is the end a.nd essence of all religion to turn the mind from self to God; to give it absorbing views of the Divine beauty and glory ; to fill it with Divine love and zeal; to make it feel honoured in honouring God, blessed in blessing him ; to make it f~el that nothing is good enough or great enough for him; and when the mind is thus affected and thus possessed, it will under- stand and share the spirit of David's resolve" (A. J. Morris,' The Unselfish Offering'). 4. Essential to the true service of God ; for this depends not so much upon the form or amount of the offering as upon its relation to the offerer; its being the genuine expression of the heart (as it professes to be); without which the service i~ formal, unreal, and insincere. That which costs nothing is worth nothing (Mal. i, 8; Isa. i. 11; Ps. li. 16, 17). 5. Necessary to the assured acceptance of God. It alone is attended with the sign and sense of his approval (1 Chron. xxi. 26). 6. 'Jonducive to the proper honour of God amongst men; in whom it begets a spirit lib its own. 7. Embodied in highest perfection in .Christ; "who gave himself up for us, an Offering and a Sacrifice to God," etc. (Eph. v. 2), "A Spanish proverb says, • Lnt that which is lost be for God.' The father of a family, making his will and disposing of bis goods upon his death-bed, ordained concerning a certain cow which had strayed, and had been now for a long time missing, if it were found it should be for his children, if otherwise for God. Whenever men would give t.o God only the lame and blind, that which costs them nothing, that from which they hope no good, no profit, no pleasure to themselves, what are they saying in their hearts but ihat which this man said openly, 'Let that which is lost be for God'?" (Trench, 'Proverbs ').-D. Ver. 25 (1 Chron. xxi. 26-30; xxii. 1).-(MoRIAH.) The new altar. "And David built there an altar unto Jehovah," etc. 1. .An altar was a place of sacrifice (Gen. iv. 3, 4; viii. 20; xxii. 14); consisting (according to Divine direction, Exod. xx. 24, 25) of el).rth or unhewn stqne, and constituting (according to Divine assurance) a point of meeting or reconciliation between God and men; the offerings which it sustained and sanctified (and with .which it was identical in purpose) being of divers kinds, symbolic of certain truths, and expressive of various feelings on the part of those who .brought them. It was a prime necessity of religioas worship in ancient time; the appointed way of access to God; the table at which Divinity and humanity held fellow- ship with one another. 2. The altar erected by David on the threshing-floor of Araunah marks the commencement of a new chapter in the history of the kingdom of God under the old covenant. Heretofore sacrifice was offered in different places (1 Sam. i. 3; ii. 33; vi, 15; vii. 9, 17; ix. l2; xi. 15; xiv. 35; xvi. 3; xx. 6; ch.vi. 13, 17; xv. 12); and the requirement of the Law (Deut. xii. 13, 14) was imperfectly fulfilled, in consequence of the unsetHed condition of the nation and the disorganized state of religious worship (1 Kings iii. 2). Whilst the ark wns at Jerusalem, "the altar of the burnt offering" remained at Gibeon ( 1 Chron. xxi. tl9, 30); and although not finally abandoned till some time after (1 Kings iii. 4), it l:enceforth began to be superseded by the new altar, which was divinely appointed an,I consecrated by fire from heaven (1 Chron. xxi. 26), and chosen by Jehovah (Deut. x1•i. 15) as the place of his worship, the central sanctuary for succeeding ages. " Now when King David saw that God had heard his prayer, and had graciously accepted of bin ijacrifice, he resol v~d to ~al! that entire place the altar of all the people" (Josephus}. "And Dav1u. said, This 1s the house of the Lord God," etc. (1 Chron. xxii. 1, 2 ; Gen. xxviii. 17) ; " And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David," etc. (2 Chron. iii. 1). Ps. xxx., inscription : 'A song at the 1icdication of the house' (see Hengstenberg). "I will extol thee, 0 Lord," etc. "And as for we-I had sai,l, iu my prosperity, J !'hl\ll not be UIOYed for ever," eto. (Ps, uxi. 6-10.) 6'.:4 THE SEOOND BOOK OF SAMUEL, (011, XXIV, 1-26,