Words of Truth
In the books of Samuel and Kings, we have the histories of David and Solomon. There they are considered historically. In Chronicles they are to be considered in their moral and typical character, whether as showing forth the Lord Jesus or His saints.
Did you ever meditate on the difference between David and Solomon? David teaches of grace, and Solomon of glory. Grace is illustrated through David's whole course. He was a poor shepherd boy, despised by man, a stripling. Samuel asks Jesse, "Are here all thy children?" The right man was almost passed by, but Samuel says, "Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither." This was the Lord's anointed, chosen by grace when despised by man, sustained by grace when destroyed by man, and ultimately, when set on the throne of Judah, kept there by grace.
There is still more: He was chosen, anointed, sustained and raised to the kingdom, but, besides that, when he had fallen, he was restored by grace. It was by grace through righteousness he was restored— that was grace. But the sword never departed from his house—that was righteousness. When defiled, he was kept to the end and allowed to depart in peace—that indeed was grace.
Solomon teaches us of glory. I he had never been a despised shepherd boy nor, like a partridge, been I hunted upon the mountains. We catch our first sight of him on the throne. The tale of glory is less affecting than that of grace. We live in the midst of scenes more affecting than those of glory, more sweet than eternity can tell.
Again, in David we have the warrior king, in Solomon the peaceful king. If David views the surrounding nations, he finds them enemies, and sallies forth against them, sword in hand. Solomon, from the quiet dignity of his palace, accepts their homage, and is honored and sought unto by them. Lastly, David is the servant, Solomon the son. The book of 1 Chronicles gives David as the servant; 2 Chronicles gives Solomon as the son.
These combinations often occur in Scripture, and the more we are let into the secret of the dispensations, the more we can enjoy the Word of God. For instance, Enoch gives us heavenly strangership, Noah earthly blessing. Moses on Pisgah takes us to heaven, while Joshua follows taking possession of the land. Elijah is the heavenly stranger, and Elisha is the man of the earth. These things show unity of purpose throughout the whole Book and prove that God's own principles and purposes have been always before Him. His Book is no mass of confusion with a bright thought glittering here and there. It has a well-defined, premeditated character framed for eternal blessing.
David illustrated the blessing of God in His servant. Solomon sat in the fruit of David's labors. Jesus in His first coming was the Servant; in the second coming He will be manifested as the Son. Was He not always the Son? Most assuredly He was from all eternity. But He came as a servant, and when He comes again shall He not serve you? Surely He "will come forth and serve," but it will be in the character of the Son. In all these combinations of which we have spoken, from Enoch and Noah, David and Solomon, we are in company with the Christ of God.
At the end of 1 Chronicles 12 we find David established in full blessing. By the unanimous voice of the tribes, he is anointed king in Hebron with hosannas! It was an intoxicating moment, more so than any we have known, yet we can understand it, for we know that it is easier to gain a victory than to use it. The use is more moral, while the gaining of the victory is more, so to speak, physical.
David in his humiliation had gone from strength to strength, but in his day of triumph he got restless and summoned his captains to bring home the ark from Kirjath-jearim. How could he think of entrusting the ark to his captains? Ah! there it was, he had just been among them, the favorite of the nation. It was a moment of intoxication, and David was thrown off his guard. Very, very natural.
There was, besides this act of the flesh, a very beautiful one of the Spirit. It was the desire to bring home the ark; never had Saul attempted it. It might have lain at Kirjath-jearim forever, as far as Saul was concerned, but David desired to bring it back. The Spirit and the flesh were acting together. The flesh demanded the captains, and set the ark upon a cart. The Spirit had set David's heart on having God with His people, and made him resolve that his throne should be where God was.
How interesting to see these two agents working together in one act, and to trace each as clearly as if the other were absent. Cannot we often see this in our own doings? This is a vivid instance of the complex nature in the saint of God. If the carelessness of the flesh puts the ark upon a cart and commits it to the care of the captains, it is the earnestness of the Spirit that desires to bring God back to His people and cares not for the kingdom in His absence. If God be not king, neither will I be!
Let me ask, Will God form an alliance with your carelessness? He could as easily join with your lusts! "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other" (Gal. 5:1717For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians 5:17)).
You might say, Perhaps it was a pardonable fault in David. I grant you, indeed, it was very different from the matter of Uriah the Hittite. But can God be as indifferent as I am about His own Word? We think the Levite and the cart equally suitable; God thinks differently. He surely pities me, but He never complies with my ignorance. The idea of the ark on a cart!
Could there have been greater carelessness of Scripture, yet where is there more beautiful energy of the Spirit than the desire to have the ark of God at home?
Now David quite misunderstood the dealings of God. He was displeased. He was quite in a sulk about the death of Uzza. After all my hilarity and my merry-making in the presence of God, after all my desire to bring the ark home, is this all I get? David allows the ark of God to pass into the hand of a Gentile (1 Chron. 13:1313So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. (1 Chronicles 13:13)). Have you not sometimes felt in a sulk, out of humor with God? Has He ever crossed a day of your festivity, and dashed all your joys to the earth, so to speak? David sulkily judges that God has interfered without reason with his spiritual enjoyment.
As we go through chapter 14, we find the Philistines assembled against David, and he applies to God to know if he should go against them. God says, "Go up; for I will deliver them into thine hand." And again they come against him, and again he asks, and again God says that He would deliver them. Think about this. If we were more familiar with the Word of God, we could never be puzzled as to what to do in any emergency. Here is a man, coming back to God, yet needing to be nearer still. Have you not seen this at home, a shadow in the family, yet they are thrown together still?
Now God does not deal with David's temper. He melts all the sulkiness clean out of him by heaping coals of fire on his head. This is what you must do; you must not be overcome of evil. God overcomes evil. He does not resent the ways of His children, but gives sulky David victory over the Philistines. God takes coals of fire and heaps them on David's head and melts the sulkiness out of him! God never tells you to do anything that He does not do Himself. He tells you to love your enemies and give them food, and He does it Himself. He tells you to overcome evil, and He does it Himself.
Here it is. The consequence is that David finds out his mistake. I see how it is, he says, "none ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites" (ch. 15:2). It was late in the day to discover the mistake, but David had to say, "Perez-uzza" (the breach of Uzza), at his own door at last.
Blessed is the moment in which I find myself wrong and God right! I can bear to find out that I am wrong—to find that God was wrong would be eternal ruin. No doubt it is very humbling to discover that I have been sulky, unwarrantably sulky, and with God, but then no two things more sweetly combine than broken heartedness and joy. You cannot be truly happy, unless you know a broken heart. Joy in God demands a broken heart. I do not speak of the measure but of the fact. How can you be happy in God's presence, unless you know that you are a sinner?
David no longer sulks with God. He blames himself now, though God has never upbraided him. Was the prodigal upbraided when he returned brokenhearted? And when Jesus spoke to the woman of Samaria, did He reproach her? One beam from Sinai He let fall to discover to herself her condition, but the moment she saw herself, He let the matter go.
The ark was in Obed-edom's house. The Lord blessed Obed-edom for its sake and used this blessing to melt David. The process works the cure; David discovered it all now. Poor foolish David! How like ourselves he was! We all blame God when the mischief is at our own door, but He restores us, and leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
David calls Aaron and the Levites. He is now with God. David brings no cart now; he calls the house of Aaron and the Levites. Ah, brethren, "I commend you to God." Is that all? Nay, "I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace." Devotional feelings won't do; you must get the illumination and seal of Scripture.
“Because ye did it not at the first" (1 Chron. 15:1313For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order. (1 Chronicles 15:13)). I do not blame David a bit for putting blame on the Levites; they ought to have resented it. They ought to have protected the purity of the house of God. The Levites in Uzziah's days were more faithful. When Uzziah dared to go into the sanctuary, they forced him out. "It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed" (2 Chron. 26:16-2116But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 17And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men: 18And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God. 19Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. 20And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. 21And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. (2 Chronicles 26:16‑21)). And Uzziah was angry and became a leper until the day of his death.
In 1 Chronicles 15, we have the great preparations that were made to bring the ark home; there is neither stumbling nor smiting now. All is in accordance with the Scriptures, as well as with the piety of the mind, and the ark is safely brought to the tent prepared for it.
In chapter 16 David steps into millennial days and gives us, as it were, a rehearsal of them. David has singers; Moses never prepared a song for the tabernacle. David does for the temple and delivers it into the hands of Asaph and his brethren. There had been a burst of music on the banks of the Red Sea, Moses and Miriam answering each other, but there was no music for the tabernacle. There could not be, for Israel was not at rest. The songs of Asaph could not be awakened till David had prepared for Solomon. Then they could rehearse the songs of the kingdom.
Can you do it? The kingdom is not yet come, but you can be tuning your cymbals about the door! David does it, and puts in the hand of Asaph a composite song, made up of patches of various psalms, where Israel leads the praises and the Gentiles join the chorus. "O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever." Yes, whatever may have been the depths of wickedness, whatever the impious apostasy, the kingdom will be the witness of this—that God's mercy has prevailed!
We have seen David restored. Can anyone enter the kingdom without being restored? Rare it would be indeed, for grace reigns through righteousness.
Does David ask if he may sing his songs to God? Does he ask liberty to do so? No, he knows his title to praise his God, and you should know your right to tune your instruments about the gates of heaven, till they burst asunder, and you join the shout of the kingdom, "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever.”
Nothing keeps the soul in such peace
as a settled confidence in God.