Part 13 (1/2)
”And the Lord said unto Sa I have rejected hi over Israel?” These words let us into the secret of Sa period of his separation from him In the last verse of chap xv
we read, ”And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul” This was natural There wasto the heart in the melancholy fall of this unhappy man He had once elicited fro” Many an eye, full of enthusiasoodly,” and now all this was gone; Saul was rejected, and Samuel felt constrained to take a position of entire separation from him as one whom God had set aside This was the second office-bearer whom it had been Samuel's lot to see stripped of his robes of office; he had been the bearer of heavy tidings to Eli, at the opening of his career; and now, at the close of it, he was called upon to deliver, in the ear of Saul, the announceainst his course However, Sahts of God in reference to Saul ”How long wilt _thou__I_ have rejected him?” Communion with God will ever lead us to acquiesce in His ways
Sentirasps the great truth that God's unerring counsel shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure Faith could not shed a tear over Agag, when hewed in pieces before the Lord, neither would it continue over a rejected Saul, because it ever flows in harmony with God, in His ways But there is a wide difference between nature and faith; while the former sits down to weep, the latter arises and fills the horn with oil
It is well to ponder this contrast We are all too apt to be carried away by erous Indeed, inasmuch as it is of nature, it hts of the Spirit of God Now, theofconviction of the reality of the purpose of God In the view of this, sentimentality withers and dies, while, on the other hand, faith lives and flourishes in the atmosphere of the purpose of God
This is i wilt thou o: I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehe his sons”
Yes; human sorrow must flow on until the heart finds repose in the rich resources of the blessed God The varied blanks which human events leave in the heart can only be filled up by the power of faith in the precious word, ”_I have provided_” This really settles everything This dries the tear, alleviates the sorrow, fills the blank The moment the spirit rests in the provision of God's love, there is a period put to all repinings May we all know the power and varied application of this truth; may we knohat it is to have our tears dried up, and our horn filled by the conviction of our Father's wise and ; it is difficult to get co Even a Sa a slowness to run in the way of simple obedience The Lord said, ”_Go_;”
but Sae inquiry! yet how fully it develops thefor Saul, and nohen told to go and anoint one to fill his place, his reply is, ”How can I?” Noe may be quite sure that faith never says this There is no such word as ”how” in the vocabulary of faith No; the divine command no soonerobedience, not counting the difficulties
However, the Lord, in tender mercy, meets His servant in his difficulty ”And the Lord said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord” Thus with a full horn and a sacrifice he sets off to the city of David, where an obscure and unthought-of youth tended a few sheep in the wilderness
Ast the sons of Jesse, there would seem to have been some very fair specimens of nature--soment, would have fixed upon to succeed to the crown of Israel ”And it came to pass when they were come, that he looked upon Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before Hi to do with the Lord's election
He looks beneath the gilded surface ofprinciples We learn sohty and self-sufficient spirit in chap xvii But the Lord puts no confidence in the legs of a man, and thus Eliab was not His chosen vessel It is very remarkable to find Sa for Saul, his hesitation to go and anoint David, his mistake about Eliab, all sho much astray he was as to the ways of God How solemn is the Lord's word, ”Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart”
This is the great difference; ”_the outward appearance_,” and ”_the heart_” Even Saraciously interfered to teach him the value of the latter ”Look not on his countenance” Memorable words! ”Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this Again, Jesse made _seven of his sons_ to pass before Samuel And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these” Thus the perfection, as it were, of nature passed before the prophet, but all in vain; nature could produce nought for God or His people And, what is still ht not of David in all this! The ruddy youth was in the solitude of the wilderness, with the sheep, and ca But, ah the eye of Jehovah was resting upon this despised youth, and beholding in hih which, according to the flesh, Christ should come, to occupy the throne of David, and rule over the house of Israel for ever Truly ”God seeth not as s of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound things which are s which are despised, hath God chosen--yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Cor i 27-29) If Eliab, or Shammah, or Abinadab, or any one of the ”seven sons” of Jesse had had the anointing oil poured upon his head, flesh loried in the presence of God; but the otten David--appears on the scene, we recognize in hilory to Him as about to put the sceptre into his hand
In a word, David stands before us as the st otten And I h David's instructive history, how strikingly he shadowed forth the true beloved of God
”And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There reest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for ill not sit down till he coht him in Noas ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to
And the Lord said, Arise, anoint hiest” Surely he could not be the elect one, thought Jesse Man cannot understand the ways of God The very instrument which God is about to make use of is overlooked or despised by man ”Arise, anoint hihts of Jesse and Samuel
And how happy it is to note David's occupation ”Behold, he keepeth the sheep” This was afterwards referred to by the Lord, when He said to David, ”I took thee fro the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel” Nothing can ly office than the work of a shepherd Indeed, when it is not executed in the spirit of a shepherd, it fails of its end King David fully entered into this, aswords, ”_These sheep_, what have they done?”
The people were the Lord's sheep, and he, as the Lord's shepherd, kept them on the mountains of Israel, just as he had kept his father's sheep in the retirement of Bethlehem He did not alter his character when he caed the crook for the sceptre No; he was the shepherd still, and he felt himself responsible to protect the Lord's flock from the lions and bears which ever prowled around the fold The prophetic allusion to the true David is touching and beautiful ”Therefore will I save My flock, and they shall no e between cattle and cattle And I will set up one shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David; He shall feed them, and He shall be their shepherd And I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David a prince a them; I the Lord have spoken it” (Ezek
xxxiv 22-24) Our Lord in John x presents Hiood Shepherd who loves and cares for His sheep; and, doubtless, in John vi, He had more or less reference to His shepherd character
”And this is the Father's hich hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” This is a great principle of truth Independent of His own personal love for the sheep--so wonderfully attested in life and in death--the Lord Jesus, in the above e, presents Himself as one responsible--voluntarily so, no doubt--to the Father, to keep every h all the vicissitudes of this life, and present thelory, at the last day Such is the Shepherd to whom a Father's hand has committed us; and, oh, how has He provided for us for ti us in such hands--the hands of an ever-living, ever-loving, all-powerful Shepherd, whose love many waters cannot quench; whose power no enemy can countervail; who holds in His hand the keys of death and hell, and who has established His clai down His life for it Truly we may say, ”The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” How can hile Jesus feeds us? Impossible Our foolish hearts may often desire to feed on noxious pasture, and our Shepherdus the use of such, but one thing is certain, that those who
There is so in the shepherd character which would seem to be much in harmony with the divine mind, inasmuch as we find the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, all acting in that character The 23d psalhting in the assurance of His Father's shepherd-care Then, in John x, we find the Son presented as the good Shepherd Lastly, in Acts xx and 1 Pet v, we find the Holy Ghost acting in that blessed capacity, by raising up and gifting for the work the subordinate shepherds It is edifying to mark this It is like our God to present Hi relationshi+p, and that most calculated to win our confidence and draw out our affections Blessed be His name forever! His ways are all perfect; there is none like Him
I would just direct the reader's attention to the contrast between the circumstances in which Samuel found David, and those in which he found Saul He will remember that Saul was in pursuit of his father's asses, when he came in contact with Samuel I do not interpret this fact, I merely refer to it I believe it is expressive, in the way of evil, just as David's occupation, in the sheep-cote, was expressive of his future career, as the shepherd of Israel[11] When we see David tending his father's sheep in the wilderness, overlooked, or thought little of in the circle of his brethren, we are led to look for so in his after-course; nor are we disappointed
Just so, e see Saul in search of his father's asses, we are led to look for so in his character and habits afterwards Trifling circureat deal David's affectionate and tender solicitude for the Lord's flock and forgetfulness of self, may all be traced in the circumstances in which he is introduced to our notice; and, on the other hand, Saul's a spirit may be traced in the object of his pursuit when he caestion with the reader to use as the Lord nificant which the Spirit has recorded concerning hout in such marked contrast, and who each, in his way, occupied such an important place in the history of the people of God
[11] ”Yea, man is born as a wild ass's colt” says Job xi 12, describing eable, unclean
Compare Exod xiii 13, and Hosea viii 9 Saul and Israel were only too manifestly pictured in this unsuccessful search after his father's asses David was the keeper of his father's sheep [Ed]
One can only say, Blessed be the grace which took up one to be ruler over His people, who manifested those traits of character which were most blessedly adapted to his work ”Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward” Thus, then, David is fully before us as the Lord's anointed, and we have now to trace his and vicissitudes, while rejected of dom
CHAPTER II
THE VALLEY OF ELAH
No sooner had the anointing oil of the Lord been poured upon David, than he was called forth fro Saul, now forsaken of God, and troubled with an evil spirit This unhappynotes of David's harp to dispel the horrid influence of that spirit which now haunted him from day to day
Wretchedcourse!