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, E 72–
EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE
^
OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES
BY
| 3 } (y_ ($ $ 5°
ISAAC ERRETT, A. M.
Founder of “The Christian Standard;” author of “Walks About Jerusalem,”
“Talks to Bereams,” “Letters to a Young Christian,” Etc.
VOLUME. I. ' &
CINCINNATI, OHIO
THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
PUBLISHERs of CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
*
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by
ISAAC ERRETT,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C.
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INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
These studies in the Old Testament first appeared in
the editorial columns of the CHRISTIAN STANDARD.
Their appearance in book form is in obedience to the
wishes of many of the readers of that paper. The fol-
lowing brief preface to the series, as originally pub-
lished, sufficiently indicates the character and object of
these meditations.
“We propose to publish, now and then, as we may
find space in our editorial columns, specimens of Bible
readings and meditations, such as may encourage a de-
votional study of the Scriptures. They are not intended
to be either critical or controversial—to combat theolog-
ical errors, or to deal with the doubts created by the
materialistic school of scientists; but to encourage the
believer to such a study of the Bible as will feed his
soul, and bring him into closer fellowship with God.
It is not enough that we read the Bible and learn what
was said and done, at this time or that, in behalf of this
or that person, or family, or nation; it remains to learn
what, in all this, is the lesson for us, the truth that we
can appropriate for our own spiritual growth. Of
course, in brief papers, we can furnish little more than
suggestions—such as may start the reader's mind into
413723
6 - INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
proper fields of meditation. This is all that we con-
template.”
We may now add that we were in part prompted to
write this series by a desire to overcome the indifference
of many, even among professed Christians, to the study
of the Old Testament scriptures. Regarding these
Scriptures as “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction which is in righteousness,” we
deemed it important to awaken, if possible, a new interest
in these ancient and inspired writings, assured that a
familiar acquaintance with the things “written afore-
time” would promote faith and piety, and prepare the
way for a better understanding of the New Testament.
We have deemed it of especial importance to sketch
the lives and characters of both good and bad men, as
they are brought to notice in the writings of the Old
Testament, because the pictures there furnished are
from inspired pencils, and drawn with the severe impar-
tiality of truth. Nowhere in the whole range of liter-
ature, sacred or profane, can there be found such a
gallery of portraits, true to life, as in the historical
books of the Hebrew scriptures.
The writer has often been urged, especially by pious
mothers, to prepare a series of lessons by the help of
which they may instruct their children in the way of
salvation—a duty which, unaided, they feel themselves
incompetent to perform. Such a work on the New
Testament is now in course of preparation. Mean-
while, the suggestion is ventured that this book may be
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 7
used to advantage in the family, as a preparation for the
forthcoming volume. The scriptures referred to in each
study can be read by the children, to be followed by a
reading of the study itself, and a free family conversation
thereon. This, with a hymn and a prayer, will make an
instructive and devotional exercise.
We send this volume forth with the prayer and the
hope that it may lead its readers into a more satisfactory
and profitable study of the word of God.
CINCINNATI, March 4, 1884.
EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
GOD THE CREATOR.
(Read the first chapter of Genesis.)
This chapter begins with God and ends with man—
God, the Creator of the universe; and man, for whom
it was created: the universe—the macrocosm—as it is
related to man, and man—the microcosm—in whom the
elements of the universe are wonderfully blended, and
who, by virtue of his exalted rank as the son of God, is
invested with dominion over the works of God’s hands.
It is of little concern to me so far as my faith in this
revelation is concerned, whether the Evolution theory be
true or false—whether every created thing sprung into
full perfection by an immediate act of creative power, or
was developed from one or more created germs, in
which were packed away all the possibilities and poten-
tialities of all the varieties of being, the various forms
and grades of life that were afterwards produced. In
any case, it requires this revelation to lift the veil be-
yond which science has never been able to penetrate,
and show in God himself the original fountain of life and
creative power. Among the remarkable utterances from
the oracles of modern science, we have this, from the
pen of Prof. Tyndall, in the Fortnightly Review:
If asked whether science has solved, or is likely in our day to
solve, the problem of the universe, I must shake my head in doubt.
IO EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
Behind and above and around us, the real mystery of the universe lies
unsolved, and, as far as we are concerned, incapable of solution. The
problem of the connection of body and soul is as insolvable in its modern
form, as it was in the pre-scientific ages.
Here, where man is dumb and helpless, God speaks;
here, where Reason and Science fail, Faith takes hold on
the word of God, and grasps the invisible Source of
light and life. Let me be devoutly thankful for the
light that beams from the spiritual universe to dispel the
thick darkness and appalling mystery in which science
leaves me—its lights all quenched, its oracles all dumb.
“Thy word is a light unto my feet, and a lamp unto my
path" to guide me to Thee, O God, my Creator and my
Father. Only in knowing Thee can I learn to know
myself, and to solve the sublime mysteries of my origin,
duty and destiny.
In all these wonderful developments of creative
energy and constructive wisdom, I find no hint of the
aim and end of these outlays of omnipotence until I
hear it said, “Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness, and let them have dominion.” Man was made
to be a sovereign over these vast dominions, tributary
only to his Maker. He was made in the image of God,
that he might possess godlike dominion and godlike de-
lights, and that in him God might be glorified. This
seems, at first, incredible. Man is, physically speaking,
so small, even among earthly objects, so utterly insig-
nificant in view of the inexpressible magnitudes of the
physical universe, that it appears to be the very madness
of presumption to speak of him as sovereign over the
stupendous works of God's hands. I find myself re-
peating the words of the awe-stricken psalmist: “When
I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the
GOD THE CREATOR. I I
moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is
man, that thou art mindful of him P and the son of man,
that thou visitest him (Ps. viii. 3, 4) P The brilliant
revelations of modern science but serve to intensify this
feeling. But when I read that man was made in the
image of God, I am compelled to regard the language
as importing something higher than the animal nature
which he possesses in common with the brute creation.
When I hear an apostle speak of man's being “re-
newed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him " (Col. iii. IO), and of his being created anew,
“after God, in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph.
iv. 24), it enables me to rise to a juster conception of
my nature. Here are the grand features of the divine
likeness—knowledge, righteousness and holiness. In
man's capacities for these is found the true dignity of
his being. “God is spirit,” and man's spirit is the off.
spring of God. While God is revealed as the Former
of our bodies, He is made known as the Father of our
spirits; and by virtue of our spiritual nature, we are
children of God. In a very grand sense, man is a
microcosm. All the elements of the universe—the
spiritual as well as the material—combine in him, from
the lime in his bones and the iron in his blood, up to
the immortal grandeurs of knowledge, righteousness
and holiness that link him in fellowship with the highest
celestial intelligences. Here I escape from the crushing
weight of physical greatness that threatens me on every
hand. The mind that can make a pathway through
the seas, utilize the winds, harness the lightnings for
service, travel over the vast fields of space and read the
mysteries of the stars, and plunge into the very fires of
the sun and compel it to disgorge its secrets, is greater
I2 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
than all suns and systems, and outweighs them all in
value. They are his servants. Were all their untold
wealth gathered and paid down, it could not express the
value of that spiritual nature which God has made to
have dominion over them all. “Thou madest him to
have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast
put all things under his feet” (Ps. viii. 6). Nor is it
presumption in man, because physically so insignificant,
to claim kinship with Deity, for he is God's own child,
made in His image, and partaker of His nature. Let
me not forget this. I know I am dust, and in some
respects
Frail as the leaf in autumn's yellow bower,
Dust in the wind, or dew upon the flower;
and it often perplexes and humbles me to find how
closely I am allied to earth and to the animals; but I
know, too, that I possess another nature which, when
allowed to reign in its native sovereignty, is capable of
lofty attainment and high dominion, and which never
rests in peace until it reaches the bosom of its Father
and has fellowship with the infinite and eternal. Let me
tremble lest I become so steeped in the sensuousness of
this earth-life that my spirit shall be bound in the fetters
of a gross materialism, and, like Samson, with its eyes
put out, shall expend its might in grinding in the prison-
house for the benefit of its enemies. Let me be thank-
ful that God is not only my Creator, but my Redeemer,
and that in receiving Christ, I am in a double sense the
child of God; and that, whatever mischief sin has
wrought in blinding the spirit and misleading it into
alienation and rebellion, it may now be restored, through
grace, to its rightful dominion, being “born again ’’ into
a new life of faith and obedience. And by all that is
GOD THE CREATOR. 13
lofty and grand in this original relationship to God, and
all that is loving and precious in the divine grace that re-
stores me from death in sin to life in Christ, enable me,
O my God and Father, to be indeed Thine own child,
loving Thee, walking in Thy ways, and glorifying Thee in
the body and spirit which Thou hast created and re-
deemed. -
Let me listen to some of the inspired utterances of
reverence and praise, addressed to God the Creator.
Blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above
all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou, art Lord
alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens,
with all their host; the earth, and all things that are
therein; the seas, and all that is therein; and thou
preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshipeth
thee (Neh. ix. 6).
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made,
and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap;
he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the
earth fear Jehovah : let all the inhabitants of the world
stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done;
he commanded, and it stood fast (Ps. xxxiii. 6–8).
Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the
heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth
the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giv-
eth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them
that walk therein (Isa. xlii. 5).
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath
created these things, that bringeth out their host by
number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness
of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one
faileth (Isa. xl. 26).
I4 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
Ah Lord God! behold thou hast made the heaven
and the earth by thy great power and stretched out
arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee (Jer.
xxxii. 17).
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his
hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and com-
prehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and
weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a
balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or
being his counselor hath taught him P. With whom
took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught
him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowl-
edge, and showed to him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are
counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he
taketh up the isles as very little thing. And Lebanon
is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof suffi-
cient for a burnt-offering. All nations before him are
as nothing; and they are counted to him less than
nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God?
or what likeness will ye compare unto him (Isa. xl.
12–18)? -
Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath
made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and
the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with
thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; be thank-
ful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is
good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth
to all generations (Ps. c. 3-5).
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and
for thy pleasure they are and were created (Rev.
iv. II). - -
GOD THE CREATOR. I5
Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Al-
mighty; just and true are thy ways, thou king of
saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify
thy name P for thou only art holy: for all nations shall
come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are
made manifest (Rev. xv. 3, 4).
I6 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
PRIMEVAL MAN.
(Read the second chapter of Genesis.)
This second chapter is not, as many conjecture, a
separate narrative of creation, different from the first,
and from an independent source; but rather a recapitu-
lation of the events narrated in the first chapter, and an
amplification of the narrative there given concerning
the creation of man. Man, as the microcosm in whom
is summed up all God's creative purposes, is the chief
among created objects in the first chapter—the head-
stone of the temple of creation, the crown of Jehovah's
creative skill, the last and best of his works. There is
therefore a fit pause, just here, to give a more detailed
account of the creation of man, and to sketch him as he
stands forth in his primeval dignity and happiness.
I. The compound nature of man—his relation to
the universe of matter and the universe of spirit—is
more fully set forth. His body is formed from the dust
of the ground, but his spirit is divinely inbreathed:
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and man became a living soul.” There is thus a spirit
in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him
understanding (Job xxxii. 8); so that we are taught
more than the beasts of the earth and made wiser than
the fowls of heaven (Job xxxv. 11), for he hath put wis-
dom in the inward parts, and given understanding to the
heart (Job xxxviii. 36). This incarnation of spirit, this
union of matter and mind, gives to man a peculiar place
PRIMEVAL MAN. 17
in the universe—a place “a little lower than the an-
gels,” but a place of sovereignty over all material
things. In the perfection of his nature there was com-
plete harmony between flesh and spirit—the impulses
and the energies of the former being under the direc-
tion of the latter, and each passion of the flesh and
faculty of the mind accomplishing its own function and
contributing to the general good, under the supreme
control of the religious nature, to which the Creator
gave the throne and the scepter.
2. The separate creation of the woman, and her
being taken out of the man—thus constituting her, as
one of the poets has expressed it, “Daughter of God
and man”—is another detail here worthy of notice. In
any attempt to convey an idea of the divine proceeding
in creation, there must necessarily be more or less of
anthropomorphism; and, in the age when this account
was written, and among the people for whom it was
written, there had to be much of this; for neither in
spiritual nor scientific matters had men yet become
familiar with abstract truth, nor had language been
seriously tasked to express fitly and accurately that
which belonged to the realms of the abstract and the
ideal. But taking all this into the account, we come to
three conclusions: (1.) That woman, as well as man, was
the offspring of Jehovah's creative power. (2.) That
humanity was not complete until woman was created—
she was formed from man, as part of man. “So God
created man in his own image, in the image of God cre-
ated he him; male and female created he them.” As
Paul says, “Neither is the man without the woman, nor
the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the
woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the
J.8 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
woman; but all things of God.” This separateness
and unity, involving mutual need, interdependence and
companionship, are facts that lie at the very basis of
human society, without a due regard to which there can
be no true happiness and no healthful development of
our nature. (3.) God's conception of marriage, as
adapted to the true objects of society and the symmet-
rical development of human nature, is the union of one
man and one woman for life. Polygamy is a wicked
perversion of this ordinance, which must always fear-
fully degrade woman; and the degradation of woman
always means a still deeper degradation of man. “Have
ye not read that he which made them at the beginning,
made them male and female P” Thus our Lord struck
at one of the most fruitful sources of the degradation of
humanity, by insisting on a return to the primitive in-
tegrity of the institution of marriage. It is one of the
dark features of society in this country, that the integ-
rity and sacredness of marriage are trifled with by
indulgent divorce laws, and still more by the undis-
turbed existence of polygamy in Utah, even in the face
of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States.
3. The bestowal of a home on man in a beautiful
garden, or park, and the work laid upon him “to dress
it and to keep it,” suggests that man's happiness, even
in an unfallen state, involved (1) a home, (2) employ-
ment. How much the well-being of society depends on
these two considerations, no one can tell. Certain it is
that the absence of home attachments, a withdrawal or
banishment from home influences, the decay of home
affections—these, associated with idleness, constitute a
fruitful source of lawlessness, vice and crime. It is a
PRIMEVAL MAN. I9
diseased condition of human nature that seeks a substi-
tute for home relations and enjoyments; nor is it less
indicative of a diseased condition when we look upon
labor as a curse, and seek to make a living in some
other way than by honest industry. Labor is not a
curse entailed by the fall. It was one of man's delights,
and one of the conditions of his healthful development,
when he was upright, as God made him. Let me be
thankful for all the sweet sanctities of home, and for
active employment, and may I always endeavor to com- .
bine fervency of spirit with diligence in business.
4. The happiness of man in his primeval innocence,
must have been of a high order. The bounding joy-
ousness of perfect health; his conscious sovereignty
over the earth and its inhabitants; the exercise of his
mind and heart in the study of the perfections of God's
works and in tracing the minute and wonderful adapta-
tions of one thing to another, and of all things to man;
the continual accumulations of knowledge, as scene after
scene of beauty and glory was unfolded to him in the
mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms; the charming
companionship of Eve in a beautiful home, the adorn-
ment of which invited them to employment which
brought delight without weariness; the joyous fellow-
ship of the spirit with its Creato, , with naught to dim
the confidence or poison the love of the child as he
looked into the face of his Father—not a cloud over his
path, not a jar in his nature, not a hot impulse of pas-
sion in his blood, no dread of evil, no experience of
pain, no fear of death—his whole being, like a perfectly
tuned instrument, yielding at every touch of every
string a sweet note of melody, and his whole life a
grand anthem of praise to his Maker: who can even
2O EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
imagine the “fullness of joy.” that thrilled and crowned
the life of sinless man P
5. But as a rational being, thus crowned with do-
minion, he owed fealty to Him who made him and
conferred on him this high sovereignty. Sovereign over
all beside, he must be subject to God. There is some-
thing grand in that selfhood with which man has been
invested, but it is a perilous thing should it exalt itself
against Godhood. The complete harmony, the perfect
poise, of selfhood and Godhood in man's life, is the per-
fection of human character. Much as the simple test of
obedience to which man was subjected in Eden has been
ridiculed, it was, in its very simplicity, the most admirable
that we can imagine. It left man's selfhood unembar-
rassed, except at the one point of acknowledging the
Godhood on which it was dependent; and that ac-
knowledgment was simply in respecting a prohibition
that rested on God's authority. In no simpler, more
effective, or less burdensome, form could such a test
be submitted. And here, in this beautiful home,
in this holy companionship, in this delightful employ-
ment, in the exercise of this splendid sovereignty, leave
we, for the present, our first parents, happy in each
other, and happy in the love of God.
THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL- 2I
THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL.
(Read the third chapter of Genesis.)
I. How long our first parents remained in a state of
innocence, enjoying paradisaical delights, we have no
means of knowing. The history is very brief. We
may reason as to the probabilities of the case, that the
tempter, who is introduced into the scene in this chap-
ter, would not delay to ply his arts, knowing that every
experience of the happy pair, in their unembarrassed
communion with God, and their constant increase of
wisdom and love, would make less possible the success
of his destructive arts. .
2. Whether we have in this chapter a literal narra-
tive of fact, or merely an objective representation of
subjective experiences, we do not pause to inquire. As
it is a question with many whether Satan appeared in
person at the temptation of our Saviour, or whether the
narrative translates into an objective form a subjective
history; so here, the same question is raised. To us, it
has little practical importance. The chapter may be an
embodiment of great moral truths in appropriate imagery.
It may have been that what is here described as a ser-
pent appearing to the eye, represents the glittering and
crafty suggestions made to the mind of Eve. But if so,
the Holy Spirit has seen fit to set this forth in an objective
form, as the best means of conveying it to the human
mind—as likely to be better grasped in this way than by
any attempt to describe literally a subjective experience;
and we are wise, therefore, to receive it as given. We
22 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
See no good reason, however, to doubt the genuine
historical character of the chapter. The method of con-
veying knowledge, even in an historical narrative, does
not forbid a resort to those arts of speech by which ab-
stract truth or invisible realities may be conveyed to the
mind in concrete form or in analogical representations.
Our Lord and his apostles refer to this and preceding
chapters as veritable history. See Matt. xix. 4, 5; II.
Cor. xi. 3; I. Tim. ii. 13, 14; Rom. v. I2–19.
3. The introduction of a tempter is a very sig-
nificant fact. Man was on trial, and the trial must be
adapted to the nature that is tested. Man's is a
rational nature. It must not be forced. But it may and
must have free play between antagonistic influences.
While all pure and true influences are brought to bear
by his Creator, yet in such a way as not to interfere with
man's self-sovereignty; so it is allowable that evil and false
influences shall play upon him, yet not in such a way as
to force him into evil. But the important considera-
tion here is, that these evil influences originate not with
himself; they come from without—they are the sug-
gestions and allurements of a tempter. On this point
Auberlen says (Göttliche Offenbarung, p. 153):
Though the sin of humanity rests on a free act of Adam, yet it can
not have in this its ultimate ground. Everything that exists, and es-
pecially that which has personality, is attached by an intimate bond to
its original. So must also the first human pair have been bound to God
by a native trait of the deepest piety. They had, as Melanchthon, in
his defense of the Augsburg Confession, so beautifully says, a pure,
good, joyous heart toward God and all divine things; they lived in and
from God, as the child lives in and from the mother. If now the
thought of breaking loose from God, of spiritual parricide, had risen
in their souls, then would they, in their own inmost self, have set them-
selves in opposition to God; evil would have been a thing not foreign
to the nature of man, but man would have been the evil one himself—
The TEMPtation AND THE FALL. 23
he would have satanized himself. But then, too,” it would be impos-
sible to remove evil from the nature of man; humanity would no longer
be capable of redemption. Inasmuch, therefore, as man is not a devil,
it follows that there must be a devil. Evil in its human form, if it does
not constitute the substance of the creaturely personality, and still
leaves room for redemption, can be explained only through temptation.
Have we here a solution of the mystery that the
fallen angels found no redeemer, while fallen man enlists
the sympathy and help of heaven for his recovery?
It is a puzzle to many why God should allow the ex-
istence of a malignant and powerful spirit such as this
tempter is represented to be. But there is nothing
more puzzling in it than in the existence of evil itself—
and the latter we know to be true, whether we can ac-
count for it or not. Evil dwells in human beings, and as-
serts itself through their agency, oftentimes ruinously.
There is nothing more mysterious in the existence of
evil spirits out of the flesh, than in their existence in
the flesh. These evil spirits in the flesh are not all of
equal power; they have leaders. So it is reasonable to
believe that evil spirits out of the flesh have leaders, and
that there is a chief leader, an arch-fiend, who is spoken
of in the Scriptures as, by way of eminence, the devil,
the Satan.
In this temptation, there is no unusual, overpower-
ing presence allowed, by which the parties on trial could
be bereſt of the free assertion of their own wills. Ad-
mitting that Satan—the mighty and crafty leader of
rebellious angels—was the real tempter (see John viii.
44; II. Cor. xi. 3; I. John iii. 8; Rev. xii. 9, xx. 2),
he approaches in the form of a serpent—an inferior
creature, whose presence could in no sense overawe
Adam and Eve. We must be careful not to transfer to
them our dread of serpents. They had, as yet, no
24 Evenings witH THE BIBLE,
reason to dread any of the creatures over which they
had been constituted sovereigns. Nor is there any
reason to believe that the speaking of a serpent would,
in their experience, be any more wonderful than a
thousand other things. As yet, everything was won-
derful. To a child, there are few things more at-
tractive than a glittering serpent, with its curving
motions, its brilliant colors, and the magnetic charm
of its eye. It is a fit symbol of the devil in his sly,
insidious approaches, his cunning, and the power to
charm that precedes his power to destroy. While,
through such a medium, Satan might disguise his
purpose, it is evident that no invasion could be
made of the liberty of our first parents to choose for
themselves. - - -
4. Notice the peculiarities of this temptation. We
have already seen, in studying the previous chapter, that
while God bestowed on man a noble selfhood, he re-
quired him to recognize and honor the Godhood from
which it was derived; and that the simple prohibition
by which his loyalty was tested, raised that issue be-
tween selfhood and Godhood, which man must meet
and decide. We sometimes hear the murmur that it is
unreasonable to suppose that so much misery and de-
spair should flow to all generations from so trifling an
act as the eating of an apple, or of some other fruit. But
this is a false view of the case. It was not the mere
eating of a certain fruit, but it was self-determined rebel.
lion against God, which the eating of that forbidden fruit
manifested. No difference whether tested by the eating
of an apple, or by any other act, great or small, provided
the test is such as to make a fair and square issue be-
tween the will of man and the will of God.
THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALA. 25
There is no reason to believe that there was any-
thing in the fruit of that particular tree to produce a
moral effect. The same prohibition, attached to any
other tree, would have made it a tree of knowledge of
good and evil. The result of man's conduct, whether he
obeyed or disobeyed the divine command, would be the
knowledge of good and evil. Had he obeyed, he would
have come to this knowledge in a legitimate way. For
as Murphy well says: “He would have perceived that
distrust of God and disobedience to his will, as they
were externally presented to his view in the suggestions
of the tempter, were evil; and that confidence and obe-
dience, internally experienced in himself in defiance of -
such suggestions, were good. And this was the germ
of the knowledge of good and evil. But by disregard-
ing the injunction of his Maker with respect to this
truth, he attained to the knowledge of good and evil in
an unlawful and fatal way.”
The tempter selects the woman as the first object of
approach. (I.) Because hers was the weaker and more
dependent nature, and therefore the more confiding.
Woman has more generally been injured and ruined
through an abuse of that affectionate trust, which
is really one of her main characteristics, than by any
other means. (2.) Because through her, man could
be most readily persuaded to evil. We are hence told
that “Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being
deceived, was in the transgression ” (I. Tim, ii. 14).
Whether this means that he was not the first to be de-
ceived; or, that he was not deceived by the serpent; or,
that he was not deceived at all, but sinned with his eyes
open; we will not attempt to decide. In any case, he
left God for the sake of his wife.
20 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
The temptation was not addressed to man's sensual
nature. True, “the tree was good for food, and was a
delight to the eyes;” but that was true of many other
trees also. Eve saw that there was nothing in the tree
that was harmful, nothing in its fruit that was of a ma-
lignant nature; that in these respects there was no
reason why the fruit of this tree should be prohibited
more than that of any other tree; but this was not the
temptation: this merely removed hindrances out of the
way of the tempter. But she was told that “the tree
was to be desired to make one wise.” “God knows
that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes will be opened,
and ye will be as God, knowing good and evil.” This
was the fatal appeal. They will be independent of
God—gods to themselves, free from all restraints, and
having all the materials of happiness within them-
selves. It was an appeal to selfhood against God-
hood; and the eating of the forbidden fruit was, on the
part of Eve and Adam, an attempt to erect selfhood
into Godhood. It was a renunciation of Jehovah's sov-
ereignty, the lifting up of a standard of rebellion against
their Maker, who had been to them the fountain of life
and blessedness.
It amazes us that men will talk of this as a little sin.
It is to us difficult to conceive of a more daring or
dreadful sin than this renunciation of the sovereignty of
Jehovah. Its only palliation is, that it was wrought
through the seductions of a wily tempter, and on this
account only it is not as bad as the worst of sins. They
were misled by a falsehood. They suffered their faith
in God to be subverted by a cunning lie. The loss of
faith in God was the root of all the mischief. They
were deceived by the “father of lies.” We emphasize
THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL. 27
this not in apology for them—for they can not be justi-
fied in abandoning their faith in God, nor in violating a
prohibition which they clearly understood—but because
of its pregnant suggestion that if man ever returns to
God it must necessarily be by faith ; that as he was led
away from God by falsehood, by the “father of lies,”
so he must be led back again by Him who is the Truth;
and that as his unbelief culminated in disobedience and
death, so his faith must culminate in obedience and life.
But we must linger yet over this tragic scene, ere we
can take in all its wonderful lessons.
28 JEVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL.
I. The direct and immediate result of the disobe-
dience of our first parents is expressed in verse 7:
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked. . . . And they heard
the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees
of the garden.” Here is, indeed, a fall—from the
serenity of innocence, where a pure heart so re-
flected its own purity upon everything, that in all the
universe there was to man no jar of discord, no sight
of uncomeliness—to the tumult of guilt, where the dis-
cordant heart lends its own dissonances to everything,
and external objects take on the deformity or the ter-
ribleness that springs from the soul's disturbed and dis-
torted vision. It is a fall, too, from the unembarrassed
confidence and delight with which Adam and Eve had
ever hailed the personal manifestations of their Creator,
to that dread of the presence of holiness which causes
them to flee and hide. The very fountain of life has
been poisoned by sin, and the poison will descend into
all its streams. -
Note, here, that no act on God's part caused this
terror and flight. Before He had spoken or even
looked—at the mere sound of His approach—they fled.
It is thus that what is sometimes called ‘‘the wrath of
God,” and which, too literally, we compare with the
fitful and capricious and unreasoning wrath of man, is
THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL. 29
but the legitimate result of the violation of law, and not
a special and arbitrary infliction of divine vengeance.
Who would think of charging God with making the
Snakes and demons that haunt the victim of delirium
tremens, and delighting to torment his erring child
with appalling terrors P. Yet in delirium tremens is seen
the wrath of God against intemperance. And in the
guilty terror of Adam and Eve is seen the wrath of God
against sin. And in the woe and despair of hell will be
seen the wrath of God against all unrighteousness. But
in all cases it is, after all, a self-inflicted wrath—a willful
plucking down upon one's self of wretchedness and de-
spair which are but the legitimate results of one's own
doings—the penalty of violated law which is fixed in the
nature of things, and not in an arbitrary or capricious
exercise of divine power. “The wages of sin is
death.” Let me ever learn to dread sin, in every shape
and hue it wears, because of the 2nevatable curse that
comes with it. It plants, itself, the seeds of death, and
kindles with its own breath the fires of hell.
2. Without entering into a detailed explanation of
the phraseology in which sentence is pronounced
on the transgressors, let us briefly note the sum and
substance of the punishments apportioned to the
tempter and his victims.
(1.) The tempter, in language drawn from the na-
ture of the reptile chosen as the instrument of his mis-
chievous designs, is doomed to peculiar degradation and
to the final defeat of his ruinous designs upon humanity.
Whether our first parents understood that the threat of
destruction to Satan involved a promise of salvation to
them through a second Adam, we may not be able to
decide; but that they would catch the idea, not only of
3O EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
continued warfare between good and evil, but of a final
victory of good over evil, there can hardly be a doubt—
although their ideas as to the extent and duration of the
warfare, and the means of victory, must necessarily
have been vague. It was a faint gleam of the star of
Hope breaking through the thick gloom of despair that
enshrouded them.
(2.) The degradation and oppression of woman is
the result of her sinning. In her innocence, she had
stood by the side of her husband—not, indeed, in all
respects his equal; in some things his superior, in others
his inferior, but by virtue of love and holiness his equal
partner in dignity, in the enjoyment of all blessings, and
in that sovereignty over Nature which was man's birth-
right. But in this rupture of the order of the universe
which sin has occasioned—this erection of false sove-
reignties—the highest sovereignty henceforth belongs to
might, and woman, as the weaker party, sinks into sub-
mission to the stronger will and the stronger arm. To
express what wall be as the fruit of sin, rather than what
ought to be, it is said, “Thy desire shall be to thy hus-
band, and he shall rule over thee.” In the uncertainties
and perils and alarms growing out of the reign of sin, in
her conscious weakness she would look to her husband
for protection, and desire to be under his wing; and he,
with his superior strength, would reduce her to slavery.
This has been, in all ages, the result, just in proportion
to the extent of the reign of sin. The history of sin is
the history of the oppression of woman. Only through
Christ has she been lifted out of this, and just in pro-
portion to the triumphs of Christianity in destroying
the works of the devil, will be the restoration of woman
to her original queenly dignity. Christian women
THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL. 3 I
should learn that their exaltation must depend on holi-
ness and love. But woman has taken a terrible ven-
geance on man for his oppressions. In degrading her,
he has ever been degraded himself; what she is, he must
be. He is her slave as well as her master.
(3.) Wearing toil, ending in death, is the doom of
man. Whether the earth was literally cursed, or the
curse was in man himself, so impairing his strength and
poisoning his energies that he could no longer control
or subdue the exuberance of Nature, the effect is the
same: the earth brings forth thorns and briers, and his
sovereignty over all material realms is impaired. The
fire in his eye, that made all the beasts of the field to
come crouching at his feet, is dimmed; the glory of his
personal presence has faded, and the scepter trembles
in his weak, mortal hand. His majestic mien and
kingly step are seen no more. He bends under the
curse that wilts his energies and urges him onward to
the grave.
(4.) What we read of the tree of life and the ser-
aphim, conveys the terrible truth that there is no escape
from the curse which man has plucked down on his own
head. God sees to it that there shall be no evasion of
the penalty—no approach to the tree of life. If ever
he comes back to the tree of life, it will be after he has
unlearned the lessons of rebellion, and is ready to own
that divine sovereignty against which he has so griev-
ously transgressed.
(5.) From all that we gather from the narrative, we
conclude that the fall of man involved the loss of no
faculty, the addition of no passion, to human nature. It
introduced disorder among man's faculties and forces;
the symmetry and harmony of his various powers
32 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
were lost. The religious sentiment, which had been
the crown of his being, is dashed from its supremacy;
self-will is exalted; he is cast forth from that Presence
which has been his life; and, left to himself, his selfish
passions, which had been but servants, become masters,
and the flesh gains control of the spirit. The original
image is not entirely defaced, but it is sadly marred;
and it will not be restored until, through redemption,
the spirit is again exalted to supremacy and the flesh
brought into complete subordination. From this we
may gather that in man's re-generation, there will be no
new nature imparted, no new faculties added, but a re-
adjustment of his disordered powers, such as will bring
his whole nature again into submission to God's will
and into the fellowship of His love. Hence as the steps
of de-generation were, I. Unbelief; 2. Disobedience;
3. Guilt; 4. Exile from God; 5. Death : so the process
of re-generation will be, 1. Faith; 2. Obedience; 3.
Forgiveness; 4. Union with God; 5. Everlasting Life.
3. The trial of Adam and Eve was the trial of hu-
man nature under the most favorable circumstances;
their sin was the sin of human nature; their fall was the
fall of human nature, involving all their posterity. We
enter here into none of the theological technicalities
respecting “original sin.” But the fact stands out in
painful clearness that, by the very constitution of our
nature, we are involved in the consequences of the
transgression of our first parents. As the writer of the
epistle to the Hebrews reasons from the race connection
between Abraham and Levi, that Levi paid tithes in
Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his father when
Melchisedec met him (Heb. vii. 9, Io), so may we say
that the whole human race was in the loins of Adam
THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL. 33
when he sinned against God, and sinned in him. It is not
now a question of personal responsibility, but a question of
race connection. Hence, when sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, we find that death passed through
to all men, because all had sinned in Adam. The proof
of this is, that the penalty of death is visited even on
those who have committed no actual personal sin. By
the disobedience of one the many are constituted sin-
ners. In Adam all die. The stream does not rise
above its fountain. From the very fact that Adam is
our father, we are born in exile from God, inherit a dis-
ordered nature, and live in a world where sin reigns and
death prevails. This is our heritage. The reason of it must
be sought, not in any arbitrary decree of Jehovah, but in
the constitution of the human race. And because this
is so—because (1) Adam fell through the power of a
tempter, and (2) we are involved in misfortunes and ca-
lamities which did not spring from our personal acts—
God gives a Saviour—a second Adam, from whom, and
not from ourselves, salvation will spring. We notice in
many quarters a growing dislike of the idea of salvation
flowing to us through the obedience and righteousness
of another; but whoever grasps the tremendous facts
that belong to the history of the temptation and fall of
man, will have no difficulty in conceding, in view of
those facts, that if man is saved at all, it will be by for-
eign intervention. Some second Adam must arise,
who, withstanding temptation, and obedient in all
things, shall make his righteousness the basis of hope to
our fallen race.
34 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
DEVELOPMENTS OF FALLEN HUMANITY.
(Read the fourth chapter of Genesis.)
In so exceedingly brief a record, much is left to be
inferred, or to be supplied by imagination, or to be in-
terpreted in the light of later inspired statements. It
requires both caution and boldness of inquiry.
Our inferences must be legitimate, or they had better
not be made. Some things may be fairly inferred, such
as the following:
1. That although our first parents were driven forth
from paradise, and their sin unfitted them to commune
with their Creator, the divine presence was not utterly
withdrawn from them. For we read that “Cain went
out from the presence of the Lord” into a region where
that presence would no longer be known. And we read
of God still holding converse with his sinful creatures.
In what way His presence was made known, or by what
means He spoke to them, we are not informed. Evi-
dently there must have been a great difference between
the free, unembarrassed, joyous intercourse enjoyed by
the sinless, and that which was now held between God
and his sinful children. It is not unreasonable to sup-
pose that our first parents still lingered in the vicinity of
the garden, in the immediate neighborhood of their once
happy home; that where the cherubim guarded the en-
trance, God would make known His will; and that Cain
was sent forth into regions hitherto unexplored, and un-
illumined with any tokens of the presence of Jehovah
beyond what Nature gave.
DEVELOPMENTS OF FALLEN HUMANITY. 35
2. That God had made known to our first parents
some means and methods of approach to Him, and that
their children were trained to the observance of these.
We can not suppose that Cain and Abel originated the
idea of offerings to God. Moreover, there are intima-
tions that from the very birth of Cain, and undoubtedly
before his birth, the favorable disposition of Jehovah to
bless and prosper His erring children, was recognized and
acknowledged; for Eve said, on the birth of Cain, “I
have gained a man from the Jehovah.” She confessed
her dependence on Jehovah, and acknowledged the
child as His gift—perhaps even cherished the thought
that this might be the seed of the woman that should
bruise the serpent's head. At any rate, there is a
cheerful confession of the goodness and mercy of God;
from which we conclude that they had intimations of
God’s purpose to deal graciously with them, notwith-
standing they had sinned.
3. That this approach to God was through sacrifice
—the offering of a life that stood for their lives. This
is not evident from the fact that they were clothed with
the skins of slain animals; for the animals may have
been slain for the purpose of obtaining their skins for
clothing; or, it is possible that, after the expulsion from
the garden, animal food was eaten. Nor is it evident
from the fact of an animal sacrifice being accepted and
a vegetable offering being rejected; for this may have
been owing to other reasons than the character or qual-
ity of the offerings. But it is made evident from two
allusions in the New Testament: 1. “By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain’’
(Heb. xi. 4). It could not be by faith, if God had not
given some law or testimony concerning sacrifice. This
36 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
law or testimony Abel regarded, and Cain disregarded.
The particular in which these offerings differed
was, that Abel's was an animal offering—the pre-
sentation of a life to God as the means of his own
acceptance. That it was a sin-offering, in some sense,
is evident from the declaration of Paul that “by it
he obtained witness that he was righteous.” He
was accepted as righteous before God, in view of the
offering he made—the life that he presented in place of
his own. 2. John declares (I. John iii. 12) that the
reason why Cain slew his brother was, that his own
works were wicked, and his brother's were righteous.
Cain's offering, then, was made in wickedness. It was not
such an offering as God had taught him to bring; but
made in willfulness, and in disregard of the divine au-
thority. It was not made in faith, for it had no testi-
mony or law to rest on. Here we have (1) unbelief, and
(2) disobedience. Scorning to own himself a sinner,
or to seek forgiveness at the hand of God, he brings
only such an offering as he pleases, which may be re-
garded as a thank-offering, but not as in any sense a
confession of sin or a supplication or plea for pardon.
There is unbelief in it; there is pride of heart in it;
there is rebellion in it. In Abel's case we learn that
there are two things essential, on man's part, to accept-
able religious service: I. That it be based in faith. 2.
That it be rendered according to the will of God, and
not according to one's own conceit or self-will.
How God made known His acceptance of Abel's
offering, and his rejection of Cain's, we are not told, nor
is it important to know. It is enough to know that He
did unmistakably accept the one, and as unmistakably
reject the other. In the doubt and terror that then

DEVELOPMENTS OF FALLEN HUMANITY. 37
rested on the souls of men on account of sin, it was per-
haps usual for some sign of divine acceptance to be given;
and in this way they were preserved from utter despair.
But what painful gropings in darkness there must have
been for those guilty souls, relieved only by the occa-
sional light that gleamed at the altar; and how grateful
should we be that we live in the full light of the gospel
of salvation, and no longer in the valley of the shadow
of death !
We sometimes listen to sneers at the conscientious
observance of ordinances, and often hear it suggested
that if morals had more attention, there need be small
concern about ritualistic observances. True, there may
be enslavement to a ritual, and especially to rituals of hu-
man contrivance, which partake more of the nature of
Cain's offering than of Abel's; and when precision in such
observances is exalted above a pure morality, it is a sad
day alike for the church and the world. But let it also
be remembered that when God has appointed a ritual
observance, the same spirit of evil that rejects it or cor-
rupts it, will also, when occasion serves, reject also all
that is good in morals. Hence the same evil spirit that
led Cain to despise God's law of sacrifice, led him also
to cast aside all moral restraints and to murder his
brother. The spirit of rebellion is the same, whether it
strikes at a divine ordinance or at the life of a brother.
We trifle with any of God's laws at our peril.
There is something beautiful in the tenderness with
which God deals with Cain. Cain had allowed his evil
spirit to reveal itself in an unauthorized self-willed offer-
ing; and when it was not accepted, his wickedness de-
veloped into envy, jealousy and rage. At this point the
Lord seeks to arrest him. “Why art thou angry P And
38 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
why is thy countenance fallen P If thou doest well, shalt
thou not be accepted P” God thus intimates that there
is yet a chance for Cain to retrace his steps; that there
will be for him a lifting up of his fallen countenance in the
joy of forgiveness, if he will but do as he is bidden. “And
if thou doest not well"—it was evidently a crisis in Cain's
life, when his whole future rested on the decision then to
be made—“sin croucheth at the door,” like a ravenous
beast, ready to spring upon his prey. It would go on
from bad to worse, if he did not now at once turn from
evil. “Unto thee shall be his desire.” Sin is personi-
fied and represented as greatly desiring to make a vic-
tim of Cain. “But thou shalt rule over him.” “You
may and will subdue this monster, sin, if you will but
determine to do according to my will.” This remon-
strance shows with what merciful condescension God
sought to lead men away from evil and guide them to
victory in this warfare with sin in which they were now
engaged. They were not abandoned. There was
mercy, in very beautiful and tender revelations, imme-
diately after the fall. Can anything better indicate
divine compassion than this gentle and tender pleading
with this angry and hateful man P
We have said that it was a crisis in Cain's life. He
was, we may reasonably suppose, a young man, just
released from the restraints of parental authority
and beginning life for himself. Hitherto his parents
had been responsible for him; he is now acting for him-
self. We have a right to conclude, from the narrative,
that this was the beginning of the assertion of self-sov-
ereignty on the part of Cain and Abel. The principles
now avowed will be apt to be the guiding principles of
their lives. Hence God meets Cain thus tenderly and
DEVELOPMENTS OF FALLEN HUMANITY. 39
faithfully at the threshold of his manhood, and pleads
with him and warns him that he is about to become a
prey to the monster that crouches at his door ready to
spring upon him. God standing before him, seeking to
win him to obedience and to lift him up; Sin crouching
at the door, ready to spring upon him and destroy him
A crisis, indeed. And in his hot passion, he turns from
God, and the crouching beast seizes him and drags him
to ruin. He goes out to murder his brother, to bear
upon his soul the dark curse of his crime, and, banished
from the presence of the Lord, to be haunted with ter-
rors, the mere anticipation of which extorts the cry,
“My punishment is greater than I can bear.”
But is this simply a curious piece of history? Has
it not been repeated ten thousand times P. How often,
when we start in a wrong path, and evil passions begin
to sway us, does God meet us in the way, and lovingly
chide us before we have gone too far, to arrest us in our
evil course. How often do we hear the voice of con-
Science, “If thou doest well, wilt thou not be ac-
cepted? But if thou doest not well, sin croucheth at
the door.” Lord, help me, in the light of this example,
to heed the impressive warning Thou hast given. Teach
me to beware of the offering of Cain—of that unbelief
which would lead me to trifle with Thy word, and to
substitute my own inventions for Thy commandments.
Let me learn to take alarm at the first uprising of rebel-
lion in my heart. And when evil passions seek to
sway me, and Thou meetest me in the way with admo-
nition and rebuke, forbid, O Lord, that I should be deaf
to Thy counsels and madly turn to the sin that crouches
at the door, ready to destroy me. Enable me to re-
trace my steps, knowing that if I do well I shall be
40 Evenings witH THE BIBLE.
accepted, and in a humble, believing approach to Thy
mercy, shall obtain witness that I am forgiven. Thanks
that I can come to Thee now, not through the lamb of
Abel, but through “the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world”—through that “blood of sprinkling
that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel.”
Trusting in that precious sacrifice, and obediently ap-
proaching Thine altar, may I obtain witness that I am
righteous; for I know that if, in pride and rebellion of
heart, I reject this sacrifice for sin, I must go out from
the presence of the Lord, a fugitive and a wanderer, un-
blessed of Thee, and incapable of blessing in myself.
THE TWO SEEDS, 41
THE SEED OF THE SERPENT AND THE SEED
OF THE WOMAN.
The outgoing of Cain from the presence of Jehovah
is a sad fact to contemplate. To the guilt of murder he
added that of falsehood—denying that he knew any-
thing about his brother; and there is a cropping out of
that selfishness which is the root of all wickedness, in
his scornful inquiry, “Am I my brother's keeper?”
The exaltation of self-will against God's will in offering
an unauthorized sacrifice, is followed by the exaltation
of self-interest against the interests of his brother.
Thus the fundamental law of love is violated in both its
branches—love to God, and love to man. But when the
curse of God is pronounced against him, it seems to startle
him into a consciousness of the awfulness of his crimes,
for he cries out, “My punishment is greater than I
can bear.” Yet even here, there is more of a dread of
the evil consequences to himself of the crime he had
committed, than of the crime itself. “It shall come to
pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” A
very selfish sort of repentance, such as most criminals,
when detected, are capable of. It is not the “godly
sorrow that worketh repentance unto Salvation, not to
be regretted.” *
He went out a “fugitive and a wanderer,” com-
forted only by the sign or token that God gave him as a
safeguard to his life. There was no civil government as
yet. God was supreme Governor, and He saw fit to
guard him from that private revenge which otherwise
42 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
must surely have overtaken him. But he went not out
alone. His wife went with him. She must have been
his own sister. Adam and Eve may have had many
children. It is evident that they had sons and daugh-
ters of whom we have no account (Gen. v. 4). A
marriage connection that is now justly regarded as in-
cestuous, was then a necessity, and was doubtless
guarded from evil moral consequences by the plea of
necessity, and from evil physical consequences by the
immense vitality and vigor that belonged to the human
constitution when man stood so near to the fountain of
the race. Though the curse of death was upon the
body as well as the soul, it worked slowly, and the orig-
inal vigor of the human constitution kept men living for
nearly a thousand years. It is said concerning the in-
habitants of Pitcairn's Island, that the intermarriage of
blood relations which has been practiced there, is
marked by none of the evidences of degeneracy that are
so striking and even appalling as the result of such in-
termarriages in civilized society generally. Their phys-
ical vigor, resulting from life in the open air, simple
diet, constant exercise, and freedom from the enervating
influences of our civilized life, seems to preserve them
from the evil results to mind and body which we are apt
to trace to such intermarriages as their source.
We must not be misled by the word “city” in ver.
17. In its primary use the word meant no more than
an entrenched encampment—a keep or fort—a wall or
barricade—for security, perhaps only temporary security
for himself and family and flocks against enemies. It
does not contradict verse 12, but rather confirms and
illustrates it. It was because he was “a fugitive and a
vagabond in the earth,” without help from God or man,
THE TWO SEEDS. 43
that he found it necessary thus to protect himself. A
migratory life is not thus disproved.
The posterity of Cain—the seed of the serpent—is
traced in a certain line for six generations. We are not
to suppose that these were entirely godless. The
knowledge derived from their ancestors of God the
Creator, of the garden, of the fall of their first parents
and its consequences, must have been preserved with
more or less distinctness from generation to generation,
though liable to be corrupted in the transmission; and
as there were no means of access to the presence of the
Lord, no divinely appointed ordinances, no teachers of
religious truth, they would necessarily drift, in the
course of time, far away from all remedial influences.
Accordingly we find no developments in the line of
spiritual life. We find the invention of useful arts—
those which sustain and give comfort to life—and, later,
of those which embellish life and add to its attractive-
ness, in the line of Cain, and not in the line of Seth.
There are two reasons for this: I. To Cain's descend-
ants, this life was all, and they determined to make the
most of it. In the line of Seth, the things of God had
prečminence, and the present life had for them inferior
attractiveness. 2. Necessity is the mother of inven-
tion; and these people, driven out by themselves, with
nothing but their own efforts to rely on to make life
even tolerable, were impelled by necessity to seek out
such means as would relieve it of its hardships and its
cheerlessness. This part of the narrative is chiefly im-
portant to us as suggesting that much that enters into
civilization, of art and science, however valuable, be-
tokens nothing of spiritual, or even of moral, advance-
ment. The period when art flourishes, in the history of
44 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
any civilization, is a period of decay of manly virtues.
The ruins of Pompeii are not more wonderful in their
revelations of art than startling in their revelations of
the corruptness of domestic and social life. Notwith-
standing all the talk we hear of the moral influence of
aesthetics—and we doubt not it has a seasoning of truth
—it is a fact that, to-day, skill in music, for instance,
is as likely to be associated with immorality and
irreligion as with morality and piety. Art is not on
this account to be despised; but neither is it to be
relied on as an essential factor in the problem of human
redemption. .
Here we find that corruption of the marriage insti-
tution which, later, wrought such fearful degradation to
woman, and through woman to man himself, and there-
fore to society at large. “And Lamech took to him-
self two wives.” Their names—Adah (beauty), and
Zillah (shade or tinkling)—seem to refer to personal
charms, as does also the name of Lamech's daughter,
Naamah (lovely). Irad (fleet); Lamech (youth); Jabal,
Jubal, Tubal, all from a root signifying to flow, run, go
forth; all these indicate the qualities that were prized,
the charms that were potent, among the Cainites. They
are all physical, sensuous, of the earth, earthy.
Lamech's song or poem gives a glimpse of the social
life of the Cainites. Lamech had killed some one. It
was done in a personal rencontre, in self-defense, and
the account of it coming in immediate connection with
the mention of the name of his daughter Naamah,
noted for her personal charms, leads to the suggestion
that this bloody strife was in some way associated
with her beauty. Lamech comforts his wives with the
assurance that as he acted in self-defense, he will cer-
THE TWO SEEDS. 45
tainly be more secure from personal vengeance than was
Cain, who had no such plea to make.
Already in this violence, this polygamy, this en-
slavement to personal beauty, this godless and supreme
devotion to the comforts and embellishments of the
present life, we discover the trail of the serpent, and
the plentiful growth of the seed of Cain's apostasy,
which is to ripen into that atheistic corruption and out-
rage of which we shall learn a little further on.
On the other hand, we trace here some historical
landmarks concerning the seed of the woman that was
to bruise the serpent's head. It is interesting to study
the names given, as they unquestionably were intended
to have significance: Cain (gain) indicated Eve's senti-
ment—“I have gained a man from Jehovah”—a con-
viction that through him there would be gain over all
the bitter loss they had sustained in being exiled from
Paradise. Perhaps she expected to find in him the seed
of the woman that was to bruise the serpent's head.
But so utterly was she disappointed of her hopes, that
when another child is born she calls him Abel (breath,
vapor, vanity). Yet now, when another child is given
after the death of Abel, she calls him Seth (appointed),
“for God hath appointed me another seed, instead of
Abel, whom Cain slew." She has recovered from her
despondency, and recognizes a purpose to be divinely
wrought out in the line of Seth as in opposition to the
line of Cain. She is still clinging to God, and cherishing
a hope that in her posterity God is to be honored as
Abel would have honored Him had he lived. We may
not enter into the anxious forecastings of the maternal
heart over this child, who seems to have been regarded
as, in a peculiar sense, the gift of God; but we think we
46 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
can clearly discern a confident and joyful hope, which
must have relieved much of the gloom that brooded
over her home—a hope that the earth would be blessed
with a godly seed through Seth, and that in his line
would come the seed of the woman that should bring
redemption. Other children came after Seth ; all of
whom, it is fair to presume, she would diligently train
to stand with Seth as representatives of faith and piety.
The chapter winds up with a statement of a remark-
able event: “Then began men to call on the name of
Jehovah.” This was when the race was nearly two cen-
turies and a half old. What was it that was peculiar in
this? Some say that Jehovah is the emphatic word:
they had not hitherto called on God by this name.
Others think that there is an intimation that idolatry had
begun to take root, and that this was a public, solemn
protest against it. Others still are disposed to trans-
late, “Then began men to call themselves by the name
of Jehovah'—sons of Jehovah, as distinct from the
Cainites. To us the most obvious sense of the sentence
—“Then was it begun to call on the name of Jehovah”
—is, that now men began to pray to God. “What no
prayer for 235 years 2" None, we answer, that we read
of. We who have lived from infancy in the full light of
gospel Salvation, can not readily place ourselves in the
thick darkness of that period; nor can we, who have
never dwelt in the unvailed presence of Jehovah in spot-
less innocence, imagine the horrors of the desolation
that sin wrought in the souls of Adam and Eve. Even
in the garden, while God talked to them, they do not
appear to have talked much to Him; their happiness
was in seeing and hearing. But when sin made a great
gulf between them and Him, it is not surprising that.
THE TWO SEEDS. 47
they did not venture to do more than to listen, and
tremblingly to approach, with spotless lamb, the altar
of sacrifice, and receive whatever token of divine accept-
ance heaven was pleased to grant. The harmony of
their powers was destroyed. Their nature was full of
discords. A terribly despairing sense of guilt drove
them from the presence of God. They did not dare to
pray. Their highest courage was witnessed in a
broken-hearted approach to the altar with a life to be
offered in place of their own. But after the lapse of
235 years they had so far emerged from this crushing
despair, and were so far encouraged by the merciful
dealings of Jehovah with them, that they ventured to
pray. “Then began men to call on the name of Je-
hovah.” Note the progressive development of spiritual
life. I. They were mute offerers at the altar. 2.
They talked with God. 3. They walked with God
(chap. v. 24).
Let me learn, O Lord, in meditating on these an-
cient records, to cherish a deep and lively sense of the
exceeding sinfulness of sin–its fearful curse in blight-
ing the peace and confidence of the Soul; its growth
into deeper and darker and vaster curses in the life that
owns its sway; its power to discourage even the souls
that seek Thy mercy: and let me be ever grateful that
I am permitted to live in the full light of Thy glorious
gospel, and can come boldly to Thy throne of grace to
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
48 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
FROM ADAM TO NOAH. THE SAD RE-
FRAIN.
(Read the fifth chapter of Genesis.)
It is possible, but by no means certain, that “the
book [or rather register] of the generations of man,”
points to a genealogical list from which this was copied.
The origin of writing is altogether obscure, and it is not
impossible, or even improbable, that it was known and
practiced by the antediluvians.
“And called their name man, in the day when they
were created,” confirms what we have already pointed
out—that this is a generic term, denoting the species,
and including male and female. These together, and
these collectively, constitute man, one man, or the race
of man. Adam is not man without Eve. In discuss-
ing man's rights and woman's rights, it should never be
forgotten that each is half of the other. This was true
originally, and Christianity proposes to reëstablish this
truth. They are “one in Christ Jesus.”
Two expressions, in close proximity, and close re-
semblance, arrest our attention. In verse I, it is said
of man, “In the likeness of God made he him;” and
in verse 3 we are told that Adam “begot a son in his
own likeness, after his image.” This latter sentence is al-
most an exact copy of chap. i. 26; only, in one, man is
created; in the other, begotten. In regard to the image
in which man was created, we saw, from apostolic teach-
ing, that it referred to his spiritual nature—to knowl-
edge, righteousness and holiness. This is the image
FROM ADAM TO NOAH. 49
that was lost, or terribly marred, by transgression; and
this is the image which the gospel proposes to restore.
What is said of Seth, must be understood to refer to
the intellectual and moral nature. We can not under-
stand the meaning to be that Seth, in his physical or-
ganization, looked like his father. Seth was born in
exile from Paradise; he was the child of sinful parents,
over whom hung the sentence of death; he inherited
from them the capacity for knowledge, righteousness
and holiness, but subject to all the drawbacks of a mor-
tal frame, of exile from Paradise, and of the disorder
into which sin had plunged the once symmetrical and
harmonious nature of man. These two likenesses seem
to be mentioned here to indicate the terrible misfortune
that sin had brought to the race. Man is not born in
the image of God, but in that of his sinful parents; and
it is only as we recognize this truth that we are prepared
to appreciate the divine oracle from the lips of Jesus,
“Ye must be born again.” A birth of the flesh is not,
and can not be, to a race descended from degenerate
parents, a birth in the image and likeness of God.
When we find the list of saints, or God's book of life,
it will be “the register of the re-generations of man.”
The genealogy in this chapter is traced to, the tenth
in descent from Adam. It must be understood that
this is in the line of the righteous, and especially in the
line of the Messiah. The genealogy in the line of Cain
had previously been given, up to that point of apostasy
at which were developed the main features of godless
society, and the elements of wickedness and unbelief
through which the whole race was led away from God.
Then this genealogy is given, reaching down to the .
flood, showing the line in which was preserved the
50 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
promises and the purposes of Jehovah. It is not in-
tended to be a complete list of those who were known
as “the sons of God,” but gives only the direct line
from Adam to Noah, in whom the promises and pur-
poses of Jehovah were carried over from one world to
another. The family of God's children may have in-
cluded all the ‘‘sons and daughters” of Adam—apart
from Cain and his wife—together with their posterity,
and the sons and daughters of all the patriarchs men-
tioned in this list, with their descendants. How
numerous these familes were, we have no means of
knowing; but from the fact that men lived so many hun-
dred years, and are mentioned as parents at the age of
sixty-five—and we have no positive testimony that the
children born to them at this age were their first-born—
it is probable that their children were numerous, and
that the “children of God,” on one hand, and the
“children of men,” on the other, were large forces.
The extreme longevity of these patriarchs is
doubted by many. It is insisted on as a strict physio-
logical deduction, that men can not ever have lived
more than 200 years. But it is not in the power of
physiological science to say how long men may ever
have lived; it can legitimately attempt nothing more
than to show how long men may possibly live under
the present condition of things—and even this it can
not demonstrate. It has to be governed by the facts of
longevity—facts which are as patent to the ordinary ob-
server as to the physiologist. We read, not long since,
of what appears to be a well authenticated case of
longevity—a man now living who is 180 years old. But
how long men may have lived who were so near the
original fountain of a life that was provisionally immor-
rROM ADAM to Noah. 51
tal, inheriting much of Adam's original vigor, when as
yet there was little, if any, taint of hereditary disease,
and the habits of men were simple, and life was undis-
turbed by great excitements, unharassed by excessive
toil, and free from many of the enervations of luxury
and of the arts of a later civilization, it is not in the
power of physiology to declare. The great Haller de-
clared the problem one which could not be solved on ac-
count of the absence of sufficient data; while Buffon, by
no means disposed to adhere credulously to the author-
ity of Scripture, accepted the scriptural statements, and
thought he saw physical reasons why life in the early
ages should have been so greatly extended. The voice of
tradition is in favor of great longevity as a characteristic
of the early ages. In the four ages of the Hindoos,
they assign to man in the first age freedom from dis-
ease, and a life of 400 years. The Babylonian tra-
ditions assign to their early monarchs immensely long
reigns. The Greeks told of a time when men were
children until they reached a hundred years. Pliny
mentions a number of authors, according to whom men
had lived from 300 to 800 years. Josephus relates that
the Egyptian, the Phoenician, Babylonian and Grecian
historians united in declaring that there had been cases
of persons living nearly 1,000 years. When it is known
that, with all the corrupting and disintegrating forces
that have been generated by the long and terrible reign
of sin, and the fearful accumulations of death-dealing
power in all human civilizations, men are known to live
to the age of from 150 to 200 years, it ought not to be
incredible that in the ages free from most of these fatal
influences, and partaking largely of the original er,dow.
ment of vigor bestowed upon man, simple, quiet, tem.
52 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
perate lives should have attained a longevity such as is
here mentioned. Indeed, but for our exceedingly bad
heritage and irrational indulgences, the average of life
would doubtless be much greater than it is at present.
“He that would love life and see good days, let him re-
frain his tongue from evil, and his lips, that they speak
no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good; and seek
peace and pursue it.”
It may be, however, that there is more of real life
crowded into the modern limits of threescore years and
ten—more power for good, more real achievement—
than belonged to the life of Methusaleh. If life is in
deeds, and not in mere heart-beats, the conquests of
material forces and of time and space made by modern
science and art, give so much greater potency to human
effort, and so godlike a grandeur to human achieve-
ments, that we have little reason to envy the antedilu-
vians their long but slow and uninspired existence—
tame, monotonous, limited in its range of activities and
enjoyments, and equal to ours only in the sorrows and
ills with which it was burdened. The shortest life
recorded among them—that of Enoch—is also the
grandest.
In one point of view, their longevity possesses great
interest. Methusaleh was contemporary with Adam
243 years, and Lamech was Adam's contemporary for
56 years. Everything, therefore, that Adam knew
could be transmitted to Noah by his father and grand-
father—for Methusaleh lived to the year of the flood.
All the wonderful knowledge of creation, of the tempt-
ation and fall, with the subsequent developments of hu-
man nature and the history of God's dealings with man,
could be handed over to Noah through Methusaleh.
FROM AIDAM TO NOAH. 53
There was little opportunity for mistake or exagger-
ation, even if there were no written history of this
wonderful period.
Yet as we stand, as it were spell-bound, gazing on
these venerable patriarchs on whose heads rest the
frost and snows of nearly a thousand years, evermore
comes the sad refrain, “And he died.” It is death at
last. A thousand years are but as yesterday when
it is past; and life was then, as now, a dream, a vapor
which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth.
Protracted as was the contest between Life and Death,
and grandly as these patriarchs struggled through the
centuries, death conquered at last, and the grave se-
cured its prey. If death ends all, there is little to
be desired in so long and weary a contest. The battle
may as well be short, sharp and decisive; and if death
does not end all, we may as well have our work done
quickly, and enter on the unfading life beyond.
This brings us to the most remarkable statement in
this chapter. Of Enoch it is not said, “And he died;”
but, “He was not, for God took him.” Paul says
(Heb. xi. 5) that he was “translated”—carried out of
this life into another—“that he should not see death.”
Adam had been dead but little more than half a cen-
tury when Enoch was translated. We have no record
of any other natural deaths up to this time. Abel's
life was cut short by violence. It is highly probable
that men were, as yet, but little familiar with the terrors
of death, except in prospect. It was therefore a won-
drous mercy that while these terrors, as yet scarcely
tasted, brooded over them, God should give them a
demonstration of a power stronger than Death, and of a
mercy which triumphed over judgment in opening the
54 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
gates of heaven to one of their number, and bearing
him over the barriers of death, and away to the glorious
realms of everlasting life. They were thus made to
know that not only is there another life, but that it is
greatly superior to this present life; for Enoch was taken
before he had lived out half his days here. If this life
is the highest good, his reward for his superior piety
would have been a life here, prolonged beyond that of
his inferiors in goodness. But his early release from
this life as a reward for his faithfulness, and his easy,
joyous, grand translation to another world, taught them
that God has another life in store for his children; that
there is redemption from the power of death; and that
the life beyond is greatly nobler and more blessed
than this.
Another lesson taught in this translation was, that
the life beyond is for such as please God—that to live
with God there, we must walk with God here. This is
a very brief but wonderfully expressive history: “And
Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took
him.” It is not to be inferred that no others walked
with God, but that he was prečminent in this respect.
It indicates a life of faith. See Heb. xi. 5, 6. It was
, through a lofty faith in God's being and providence, and
not on account of any sensible demonstrations of the
divine Presence, that he lived a holy life. It was a life
of fellowship with God; for “how can two walk to-
gether unless they be agreed?” He was one with God
in his love of truth and holiness. It was a life of ac-
tivity. He walked with God. It was not the life of an
ascetic or a hermit—lived away from temptation, and
divorced from the ordinary bonds of human affection.
“And Enoch walked with God after he begot Methusa-
FROM ADAM TO NOAH. 55
leh three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.”
As a husband and a father, he walked with God. Jude's
mention of him (14, 15) indicates that he was engaged
in hot conflicts with the ungodly of that time. In the
world, surrounded by its blandishments, and subject to
all its temptations, he walked with God. It is not, per-
haps, too much to say that the average Christian of to-
day has no heavier discouragements, but vastly greater
facilities for a godly life, than belonged to Enoch. It is
surely a possible thing to walk with God to-day, as
faithfully, as intimately, as successfully, as Enoch did.
Wonderfully rich in suggestion is this chapter,
though at first glance it seems only a dry genealogical
list.
O Lord, write on my heart the lessons of this chap-
ter. Though born in the image and after the likeness
of sinful parents, let me rejoice that there is a second
birth in which I may become Thy child and be re-
stored to Thy image and likeness. As such may I, like
Enoch, walk with Thee, believing that Thou art, and
that Thou rewardest all who diligently seek Thee.
Surely if Enoch, in the dim light of that age, could
live this life of faith and piety, I, in the full sunlight of
Thy gospel, may thus walk with Thee. Thanks, O
Lord, that I am permitted to know not only of Enoch
and Elijah, in whose translation Thou didst display Thy
power over death, but of Jesus, my Saviour, who died
and rose again, to give hope to all Thy Saints of a
resurrection from the dead unto everlasting life.
56 Evenings witH THE BIBLE,
THE TRIUMPH OF FLESH OVER SPIRIT
(Read Genesis vi. 1–7.) &
Chapter v. gives us a sketch of the “sons of God”
—that is, of those who “called on the name of the
Lord” and “walked with God.” They were the de-
scendants of Adam in the line of Seth. How numerous
they were, we have no means of knowing—one name
only of each generation being given, for the purpose of
tracing the line of succession from Adam down to
Noah, in whom the promises and purposes of Jehovah
were carried over from one world to another. That
they formed, from Seth's time, a separate people, em-
bracing all those who called on God and walked with
Him, is evident. Among these may have been others
of Adam's children besides Seth, with their descend-
ants. As reverencing and obeying God, and therefore
living for ends higher than those of earth and flesh,
they are called “sons of God.” They were so far
spiritual in their affections and actions, as to be entitled
to this designation.
The other class—Cain and his descendants, with
whom also may have been joined other children of
Adam and their descendants—are described simply as
“men.” Men, and nothing more—everything godlike
being banished from their thoughts and aims. The de-
velopment of character in this line is worthy of note.
The lawlessness of Cain develops into sensuality and
cruelty in Lamech; and into extreme violence in suc-
ceeding generations. Mephilºm, translated “giants,”
THE TRIUMPH OF FILESH OVER SPIRIT. 57
does not necessarily refer to stature, although it has
that meaning in Num. xiii. 33; and it is not unlikely
that it may include that meaning here; but if so, it is
only as suggesting the use they made of their great
physical strength in accomplishing deeds of violence.
See verses II, 13. In this respect many of them be-
came “mighty men, men of renown,” even before the
unholy alliances were formed of which this chapter
treats. The fact that their “renown '' was based on
their might and their violence, indicates the brutal
degradation of the Cainites, notwithstanding the refin-
ing influence that is supposed to have been associated
with the arts that flourished among them.
The Cainite women are described as “the daughters
of men,” not daughters of God. The phrase describes
not women merely, but women entirely estranged from
God. They are not described as meek, or gentle, or
loving, but simply as “fair.” They were physically
beautiful and attractive. Doubtless the culture of the
fine arts had supplied them with means of enchantment
of a sensuous nature; so that they presented to the eye
that most perilous of temptations—beauty and grace,
concealing heartlessness, cruelty, and all ungodliness.
The Sethites were captivated by those women. In-
fatuated by their personal charms, and blinded by
passion to all the fatal consequences of such alliances,
they “took them wives of all that they chose ’’—lan-
guage which not only expresses the fact of matrimonial
alliances, but also suggests polygamy. This was a fear-
ful surrender of the spirit to the flesh. It is not likely
that they were aware of all that it involved. Herein
lay the danger. They doubtless reasoned with them-
selves that they were acting a generous part in subduing
58 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
the hostilities that had reigned between the two portions
of the race, and flattered themselves with the prospect
of winning over these atheists to the service of the liv-
ing God. But, as in all compromises with evil, the
advantages were all on the wrong side. God was
forsaken. The children of these marriages were
trained in a godless school, and became “men of re-
nown '' for violence and wickedness—winning a high
reputation in these respects, even among the Cainites.
The result of these intermarriages was the subversion of
faith and piety, until but one family remained true to
Jehovah: the whole world beside became corrupt before
God, and the earth was filled with violence. The
description of the moral and spiritual condition of the
earth's population, though brief, is startling : “And
Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth, and every device of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil, all the day.” This is total depravity.
It does not prove that all men are totally depraved,
but it does prove that the antediluvians had reached
that awful depth. There were not only evil devices,
but every device—every intent, purpose, invention,
every plan of life, every pursuit, every pleasure, every
enterprise—was evil. Not only were they all evil, but
only evil. And this not merely at seasons—now and
then, under strong incitements, during the reign of hot
impulses, but “all the day”—all the time. It seems
impossible for language to go beyond this in picturing
utter depravity. Society was morally rotten. Read
Enoch's prophecy in Jude 14–16. No worthy end of
human life or of human society could be served by con-
tinuing a race so hopelessly corrupt. In the large view,
it was a mercy to blot them from existence.
THE TRIUMPH OF FLESH OVER SPIRIT. 59
“And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not always
strive with men in their erring. He is flesh; and his
days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” Whether
we take this as referring to the divine Spirit, or to the
spirit that God had given to man, the meaning is
not materially different. If the Spirit of God strove
with man, it was by appealing to the spirit within him;
and if man had so far become flesh that reason no
longer prevailed with him, his spirit being utterly en-
slaved to the flesh, of course the pleadings of the Holy
Spirit, however uttered, would avail nothing. It ap-
pears, however, that one hundred and twenty years of
respite were allowed, during which these “spirits in
prison,” shut up to judgment, were to be warned by
Noah, a preacher of righteousness (I. Pet. iii. 20; II.
Pet. ii. 5). We can not understand the one hundred
and twenty years as indicating the future limitations of
human life, for, thus understood, it is not true. See
chap. xi. Io–26. Its most natural interpretation is, that
although God had determined to cease pleading with a
corrupt race, and to abandon them to destruction, He
would nevertheless grant a respite of one hundred and
twenty years before the execution of His purpose, and
give them that space for repentance. *;
The anthropopathic expression, “It repented the
Lord,” and the very expressive anthropomorphism,
“It grieved him in his heart,” are evidently employed,
from the necessity of the case, to enable us to under-
stand, from the results of repentance and grief in our
own hearts, all that we are capable of understanding of
the operations of the divine Mind. We know that God
does not repent as man repents (I. Sam. xv. 29); nor
can we suppose that He who is the fountain of all bless-
6o EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
edness can be subject to grief, as we are. But when
we are grieved over the failure of our plans, and repent
that we undertook them, there are preparations for a
change in our course of proceeding. Just as we adapt
ourselves to the conceptions of a child in endeavoring
to convey an idea to the child's mind, and use the lan-
guage best adapted to a child's stage of mental develop-
ment, so the Scriptures use language more or less an-
thropomorphic to convey the best ideas men are capable
of entertaining of the nature and the doings of the Infi-
nite One. Nor is there anything in these expressions
to warrant the thought that Jehovah is mutable. The
immutability of God is shown, not in always doing the
same things, but in always acting on the same principles.
He is immutably just and true, in rewarding righteous-
ness and in punishing iniquity. The immutability which
leads Him to bless the race that serves Him, must lead
Him to punish the same race when it disobeys Him.
There is no change, therefore, in the principles on
which He rules the world; but, as in this case, there is a
change in His conduct towards those who have changed
their conduct towards Him. Hence He says, “I will de-
stroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the
earth.”
There is abundant room, here, for reflection.
I. Beware of the witcheries of sense. We live in
a world where, through the senses, the spirit is liable to
be beguiled into forgetfulness of its true dignity, and to
be lured into a surrender of its high dominion. “The .
lust of the eyes,” and “the lust of the flesh,” and “the
pride of life,” are as powerful as ever. In a thousand
glittering forms the charms of a sinful world appeal to
our lusts, and we are constantly liable to be “drawn
THE TRIUMPH OF FLESH OVER SPIRIT. " 61
away by our own lust, and enticed.” “Then the lust,
when it hath conceived, beareth sin; and the sin,
when it is full grown, bringeth forth death.” We have,
therefore, while in the body, a constant warfare between
the flesh and the spirit. “The flesh lusteth against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are con-
trary the one to the other, so that ye can not [of your-
selves] do the things that ye would " (Gal. v. 17).
2. This calls for a separation of the spiritual nature
from all corrupting and ensnaring associations of the
ungodly. “Come out from among them, and be ye
separate, and touch not the unclean,” is the divine
requirement. This is especially wise as to the intimate
associations of married life. We need the aid of all
pure, spiritual fellowships to strengthen us for holy
living; we are too weak to stand up against the per-
petual blandishments and corruptions of evil associ-
ations. It is quite enough that we are compelled daily
to mingle with the ungodly in the business pursuits
of life.
3. Reflect upon the fearful fall of the “sons of
God.” From this exalted dignity they sank into such
depths that “every device of the thoughts of their
hearts was only evil, all the day.” Such a ruin of once
glorious spiritual men is too frightful to be expressed
in words.
4. Though God is long-suffering and of very tender
mercy, his judgments will surely overtake the im-
penitent. Another destruction of the earth, another
day of righteous judgment, is decreed in view
of the ungodliness of men (II. Pet. iii.). While
the day of mercy lasts, let us repent and flee from
the wrath to come.
62 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
O Lord, I beseech Thee to arm me against the
witcheries of sin, and help me to keep free from all cor-
rupting associations. In the fierce and perilous con-
flicts between the flesh and the spirit, give victory to
the spirit, and let the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus emancipate me from the bondage of the law of
sin and death. May I ever dread the inroads of sin
upon the Soul, and guard against every approach of
even the shadow of a sin, lest I be brought under its
power and led into utter depravity and hopeless ruin.
Noah. 63
NOAH.
(Read Genesis vi. 8–22.)
Just a few bold, rapid touches of the pencil of in.
spiration give us the outline of a truly grand character.
Many a large volume has been written in memory of
men not possessing a thousandth part of the greatness
of Noah. Yet a few lines contain all that was written
in his honor. The Bible is a book for thinkers. Only
as we pause to think and reason, can we do justice to
the very brief and few, but pregnant, sentences in
which it concentrates what modern verbosity would ex-
pand into as many volumes. That Noah's character
was highly approved by the “Judge of all the earth,”
is evident from Ezek. xiv. 14, 20: “Though these
three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, as I live,
saith the Lord God, they should deliver but their own
souls by their righteousness.” That is to say, “If
three of the best men that ever lived were to plead with
me in behalf of this corrupt people, I would not hear
their prayers for a generation so utterly apostate.”
These men stand, along with Moses and Samuel (Jer.
xv. 1), head and shoulders above the masses of earth's
population—God's princely men, who had influence at
the throne.
Let us see what there was in the character of Noah
to give him a place on one of these few loftiest pin-
nacles of human excellence.
I. Noah was contemporary with Enos 84 years;
with Cainan 179 years; with Mahalaleel 234 years;
64 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
with Jared 366 years; with Methusaleh 600 years; with
Lamech 595 years. Lamech, Noah's father, was con-
temporary with Adam 56 years; and Methusaleh, who
lived until the year of the flood, was contemporary
with Adam 243 years: so that all the knowledge pos-
sessed by Adam and his successors, was derived to
Noah, either by personal intercourse with the patri-
archs, or, as it relates to Adam, through his father
Lamech, and his grandfather Methusaleh. All the sav-
ing knowledge possessed by the antediluvians was,
therefore, communicated to him with a directness and
certainty that left no room for doubt. Everything re-
lating to the creation; the fall of man; the provisional
arrangements for man's redemption from sin and death;
the wickedness of Cain and his posterity; the life and
character of Enoch, and his translation; the apostasy of
the descendants of Seth : all this was familiar to him
from his childhood; and he must be regarded, in rela-
tion to all things moral and spiritual, as among the most
highly educated of the race.
2. He was “faithful among the faithless.” When a
deluge of wickedness swept over the earth, and en-
gulfed nearly all the posterity of Seth—“the sons of
God,” who for a time had maintained a spiritual char-
acter—Noah remained true to the teaching of his pious
ancestry, and of him, as of Enoch, it was said, “he
walked with God.” It required a lofty faith and great
decision of character, thus to stem the tide of universal
corruption. He rode triumphantly on the raging bil-
lows of this flood of impiety and violence before he
was called to ride in triumph over the flood of waters
that drowned an apostate race. There is involved in
this a wondrous moral heroism. While altar after altar
NOAH. - 65
of the families of apostatizing saints crumbled into
ruin, and the Smoke of sacrifice no longer rose to bear
witness to faith in God through the sin-offerings of the
contrite in heart, the fire never went out at Noah's
altar; it sent up at last the only column of smoke that
told of faith still living among men. Noah, Lamech,
and Methusaleh, for more than two hundred years, kept
up the fires of this lone altar. Lamech died, and Me-
thusaleh and Noah still fed the flames and renewed the
sacrifice. Then Methusaleh died, and Noah was left,
lone witness, with his family, for Jehovah His altar-
fires never died away until quenched in the waters of
the deluge.
3. He was “a preacher of righteousness” (II. Pet.
ii. 5). Through him Christ “went and preached to
the spirits in prison’’ (I. Pet. iii. 19) while the ark was
in course of preparation—to an ungodly race, shut up
under sentence of death, and awaiting the day of execu-
tion. Never had preacher a more trying mission. He
made not a single convert during the one hundred and
twenty years of his ministry. As the seed sown on the
beaten wayside path bounces from its surface, finding
no welcome, so the warnings and expostulations of this
man of God flew back in his face, accompanied with the
mockeries and maledictions of the ungodly. Yet he
went his weary rounds and toiled on in his fruitless mis-
sion, setting his face like a flint against the scoffing
populace—now thundering against the iniquities that
stalked unblushingly at noonday, and anon tearfully
beseeching his impious and reckless auditors to flee
from the impending vengeance; nor ever ceased his
warnings and entreaties until the flood came. At their
feasts, at their weddings, in their public places, in the
66 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
presence of the violence and monster wrongs and
crimes that everywhere prevailed, undismayed by
threats, unconquered by the rage of untamed passions,
unaffected by the profanities and jeers and scoffs that
answered his most earnest appeals, ever and always he
was “a preacher of righteousness” at God's command.
Who ever equaled him as a preacher P Where, in the
Christian ministry, can we find faith and perseverance
like this? Who, among our evangelists, elders, or
Sunday-school teachers, could abide such a test? Two
or three protracted meetings without converts is about
as much as the average preacher can endure before his
faith and patience give way. A year of unsuccessful
work in the Sunday-school is quite enough to crush out
the hope and zeal of the Sunday-school teacher. A
year or two of mission-work in foreign fields, without re-
sults, would freeze out all our faith.
Let us ask, with still more emphasis, Who could
run the gantlet of the witching temptations of such an
apostate age, unharmed P. It is here that Noah's char-
acter rises to the sublime. We can not even imagine
the strength and the subtlety of the carnal allurements
of an age entirely divorced from God, and utterly aban-
doned to the cunning arts of sinful pleasure. Their
subtle power penetrated all the ramifications of society,
entered into the business of life, and impregnated the at-
mosphere. Vice was at a premium ; virtue had not even
a nominal value. God was not in any of the thoughts
of men. Every voice of popular applause, every
smile of woman, every prattle of children, was linked
with evil, and evil only. There was nothing left to
sustain the virtuous heart but the approbation of the
unseen God and the encouraging voice of conscience.
NOAH. 67
Yet against this tremendous pressure, and in the midst
of these intoxicating pleasures of sin, Noah maintained
his integrity and “walked with God.” Grand man
4. Noah is described as “just and perfect” in his
generations, or before the men of his age. “The just
is the right in law; the perfect is the tested in holi-
ness.” We take the idea of perfectness to be that of
completeness. He was not great merely in this or that
particular, but in the full and harmonious development of
all the parts and features of a righteous character—in
the symmetry that admits of no deformity in the shape
of undeveloped or over-developed traits, or of excres-
cences. He therefore “found grace in the eyes of the
Lord.” Here, for the first time, the word grace comes
to view. Noah was an object and a subject of the grace
of God (1) as a man of faith, who placed implicit trust
in the divine mercy; (2) as a man of obedience—for
“according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”
It was by his unreserved obedience, in building the ark
in the face of a scoffing world, that he “became an
heir of the righteousness which is by faith ” (Heb.
xi. 7).
We regard Noah, then, as a man, 1. Of great faith.
2. Of large education. 3. Of genuine piety. 4. Of re-
markable decision of character. 5. Of wholeness of
character—combining intellect and heart, faith and
obedience, meditativeness and energy, morality and
piety, gentleness and firmness; and illustrating all
these in a life of unswerving integrity before a gain-
saying world.
His salvation through water, which Peter (I. Pet. iii.
20, 21) makes typical of salvation by baptism, may be
regarded from several different points of view.
68 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
1. It was salvation by faith. Had there been no
faith, there would have been no salvation. -
2. It was salvation by obedience. It was only
through obedience to God that the water was made a
means of salvation. Without faith and obedience, it
would have been the means of his destruction.
3. The water drew a line of separation between the
believing and the unbelieving. This, too, is the office
of baptism. -
4. The water lifted him out of one world into an-
other. It is the office of baptism to take the believer
out of the world of unbelief and sin and place him in
the kingdom of God. -
5. The water brought him into a new sacrificial
covenant with God. Baptism brings the believer into
covenant with God through the death of Jesus Christ.
Yet, after six hundred years spent in the fear of
God; after the formation of such a rock-ribbed charac-
ter as we have been contemplating; after the sublime
heroisms of his one hundred and twenty years of mis-
sionary service; after the wonderful salvation of himself
and family in the ark: this “just" and “perfect” man
is found prone in drunkenness, an object of shame and
of sport to his children! Alas! alas! “Let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Let those
; especially who preach righteousness take heed to their
ways, and walk with fear and trembling. Let no attain-
ments in righteousness and holiness inspire us with such
a sense of security as to lead to a cessation of watchful-
ness and circumspection, even for an hour.
O Lord, write these lessons on my heart. Let this
example of faith, obedience, perseverance and holy
courage lead me to a more complete consecration to
NOAH. - 69
Thy service. And let not any length of service or con-
scious strength of devotion interfere with a ceaseless
watch over a heart in which weakness and deceitfulness
ever lurk, and over a life which to the end will be beset
with snares, and whose holiest triumph may be suc-
ceeded by defeat and disgrace.
7o EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
THE FLOOD.
(Read Genesis vii., viii.)
It does not accord with the character of these medi-
tations to enter on the investigation of mooted ques-
tions, such as that of the universality of the deluge, the
capacity of the ark, etc. We merely remark that the
traditions of a great flood are almost universal. The
account translated from Babylonian tablets by George
Smith, F. Delitzsch, and others, is almost identi-
cal with that given in Genesis. The Hindoos, the
Chinese, the Persians, the Polynesians, the American
Indians, and others, have similar traditions, more or
less corrupted; but in them all the main fact stands out
with remarkable distinctness. But we are more con-
cerned with the lessons taught by this great fact, than
with the geological, traditional, or historical difficulties,
which belong to another sphere of inquiry. It is
enough for our purpose to say that our Lord (Matt.
xxiv. 37–39; Luke xvii. 26, 27) and Peter (II. Pet. ii.
5, iii. 5, 6) recognize and sanction the historical state-
ments of Genesis. So also do the Old Testament
prophets. It will not do, therefore, to consign this
well supported history to the realms of myth or of mere
tradition. -
Let us consider—
I. The righteous judgment against ungodliness here
displayed.
It calls for much care and discrimination to guard
against wrong impressions from the anthropomorphisms
THE FLOOD. 7.I
of the earlier Scriptures. In transferring to the human
mind, by means of language, any definite conceptions
of the operations of the divine mind, and of the pro-
ceedings of the divine government, human passions and
the processes of the human mind are often attributed to
God. This was especially true in the infancy of the
race. It proceeds on the same principle as baby-talk to
the little ones, in which what is literally false and
absurd is often employed to convey to the infant mind
what truth it is capable of receiving. To the mature
mind, such talk does not mean what it meant in early
childhood. In the riper style of later revelations much
of this anthropomorphism is dropped, and in the clearer
light of a perfected revelation we interpret much that is
said in the earlier revelations in a truer sense—although,
since we are still, even at our best, in a state of child-
hood, more or less of this style of communication be-
longs to all Bible revelations. Thus, when we read of
God's repenting, of His being grieved at His heart, of the
pouring out of His wrath, etc., we must not think that
God is changeable, or that He abandons Himself to blind
rage. What in man is wrath, is in God the loftiest jus-
tice. Nay, His judgments are, in the larger view, often
His greatest mercies, and always the outbirth of His
love. Sometimes we see a man so hopelessly corrupt, so
utterly wedded to evil, that a perpetuation of his exist-
ence is an unmitigated curse; and there is relief when
death releases society from the mischiefs and the ter-
rors of his presence. This is true, also, of nations.
When they become incorrigible in crime, and truth
and mercy have exhausted their power on them in vain,
they have forfeited their right to be; and it is not only
a righteous, but a benevolent, procedure to blot them
72 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
from existence. Their further continuance could issue
in no good to them, but must issue in injury and ruin
to others. Those who have read Mr. Dugdale’s “The
Jukes,” must be impressed with the thought of the
extensive and fearful results of one corrupt life. More
than one thousand paupers and criminals are traced back
to one man, and this within a period of about one hun-
dred and fifty years. What, then, must be the result
of such a life multiplied by thousands or by myriads, as
in the case of the Canaanitish nations in the time of
Moses, and in that of the antediluvians? In no heat of
passion, but in the calmest justice and in the largest be-
nevolence to the race, and in a wise regard to the inter-
ests of the whole moral universe, the decree goes forth
for the overthrow and annihilation of those who are
past recovery. Viewed in itself, such a sweep of de-
structive power is appalling; but viewed in all its bear-
ings, it is a healthy and benevolent exercise of divine
Sovereignty; even as the lightning-flash and thunder-
peal, and the sweep of the hurricane, are terrific, yet at
the same time execute benevolent purposes, and leave
in their path blessings compared with which their mo-
mentary terrors are small and feeble. Moreover, it
must be kept in mind that God, in dealing with our
race, is teaching great lessóns to a gazing universe, and
conducting this conflict between good and evil through
all its ever-varying phases so as to bind all pure hearts
more reverently and lovingly and adoringly to His ser-
vice. Thus “the Lord is known by the judgments
which he executeth.” Hence, says David, “I will
*“The Jukes,” a Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease and Heredity, by R. L.
Dugdale, member of the Executive Committee of the Prison Association, N. Y.
Issued by the Putnams, New York, 1877.
THE FLOOD. 73
sing of mercy and of judgment.” While “truth and
mercy go before God’s face,” it still remains true that
“justice and judgment are the habitation of his
throne.” We should therefore stand reverently in the
presence of the tremendous judgment here executed,
and adore that Justice which visits the hopelessly im-
penitent with a righteous doom, and illustrates the
odiousness and enormity of lawlessness and godlessness.
It was not until truth and grace had exhausted their
treasures, that this doom was pronounced upon the
hopelessly apostate.
2. The glorious triumph of righteousness. Noah,
the just, was not forgotten when this dire destruction
came. He remembered God when all others forgot
Him, and now God remembers him in the day of
trouble. He obeyed God implicitly amid the jeers
and scoffs of the ungodly: “according to all that God
commanded him, so did he ;” and now the same ele-
ment that overwhelms the disobedient with destruction,
bears him and his aloft in the ark—a saved family.
Eight righteous souls are “saved through the water,”
and this royal man becomes the father and founder of
a new world. As the smoke of sacrifice ascends from
the altar, and the bow of peace in the heavens encom-
passes with its seven-fold splendors the earth new-born
by its strange baptism, this ransomed family enters into
covenant with God, and through their righteousness by
faith, and their personal righteousness in keeping the
commandments of God, the race is rescued from utter
destruction, and a new experiment with humanity is
begun. Righteousness never fails. “The eyes of the
Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to
show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart
74 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
is perfect toward him " (II. Chron. xvi. 9). Never fear
for even a moment that a righteous life will pass un-
noticed or unguarded. “Say ye to the righteous, it
shall be well with him.” “Rest in the Lord and wait
patiently for him ; fret not thyself because of him who
prospereth in his way, because of the man who bring-
eth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and for-
sake wrath; fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For
evil doers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the
Lord, they shall inherit the earth’’ (Ps. xxxvii. 7–9).
3. This catastrophe is made to foreshadow another
and greater catastrophe yet to come. Peter teaches us
that the same word that doomed the old world to
destruction by water, has decreed a second destruction,
or rather regeneration, by fire (II. Pet. iii.), so that
there shall be new heavens and a new earth, wherein
righteousness shall dwell forever, and the tabernacle of
God shall be with men, and he shall dwell among them
and be their God, and they shall enjoy “an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled and unfading.” This is by no
means improbable. The present earth bears witness to
incompleteness and unrest. It is swept by tempests. It
is rocked by earthquakes. It breeds pestilence and
death. It is filled with the sighs of the weary, the
tears of the sorrowing, the groans of the dying.
The whole creation groans and travails in pain—thus
prophesying of a day of deliverance. Earth's king-
doms decay, its monuments crumble to dust, its races
perish. Earth is rugged and thorny; poison and death
lurk in its luxuriant fields; desolation reigns in its
deserts; treacherous oceans usurp a large part of its
territory; strife and blood stain all its fairest scenes; sin
reigns in horrid forms in all its borders, and it abounds
THE FLOOD. 75
in the habitations of cruelty. As a school for the train-
ing of the race, and a theater for the display of God's
wisdom, righteousness and grace, it has served and
still serves an important purpose; but the time will
come when this mixture of good and evil shall end:
when the territory of this long reign of ungodliness
shall be purged by fire, and all its ungodly pomps and
monuments of idolatry and crime be turned to ashes.
In that great day the universe shall behold
- “Our God in grandeur and the world on fire.”
And He whose right it is shall take unto him. His great
power and reign, when He comes “to be glorified in his
saints, and to be marveled at in all them that believed.”
Science, not less than revelation, answers to the
world's unrest and Sorrow with the assurance of coming
catastrophe and the introduction of a new order of
things. If, as many think, Evolution has lifted the
earth through all its changes to its present con-
dition, it as surely foretells other evolutions into
“new heavens and a new earth,” or it dismally
prophesies the end of the present order and a retro-
gression through ages, resulting in utter ruin, until our
globe shall swing in the air a scarred and charred and
desolate mass of matter. On any hypothesis, the earth,
as it now is, is moving on to a revolution on its surface
and in its depths; and the Scriptures point, with eager
and glad finger, beyond the catastrophe, to an emer-
gence from its baptism in fire into a new life, under
kindlier stars and serener heavens, clothed with a
beauty and filled with a bliss so perfect that the former
heavens and earth shall not come into remembrance.
Let us respond, in the closing words of the Apocalypse:
“Amen; come, Lord Jesus.”
76 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
4. The utter hardihood which braved all the warn-
ings and despised all the premonitions of coming woe,
is something fearful to contemplate. It is awful—this
petrifaction of heart and conscience by unbelief. This
obdurate generation, in foolhardy defiance of all divine
warnings, delighted to venture to the very edge of the
precipice, and sport on the brink of ruin until the day
of vengeance burst upon them in all its fury. They ate
and drank, and married, and feasted, and persisted in
their revelries and madnesses “until the day that Noah
entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed
them all.” It is the nature of sin to multiply its
power by repetition, until its victim is steeped in insen-
sibility to all that is good, and cursed with incapacity
to know or believe the truth. The soul descends into
animalism, and knows nothing beyond what the senses
perceive. Nor was this true in Noah's time only. It
is still true. We are surrounded with perils. A sword
suspended by a single hair hangs over every head. There
is not a day nor an hour when dangers do not lurk in
our path that may involve us in instant death and seal
our fate forever. Yet we close our hearts against all
these considerations, and live as though we never were
to die—Scheming and toiling and sinning, in utter dis-
regard of every voice of conscience, every lesson of
history, every warning that comes from the daily ex-
periences of life, and every admonition of the word of
God. There is something terrible in the suddenness
with which the final calamity always bursts upon the
unbelieving.
Lord, teach me to live a life of faith. Cause me to
tremble at the very thought of sinning against Thee.
Let me learn the lessons of Thy righteous judgments.
THE FLOOD. 27
Teach me to bless and adore Thy justice and holiness,
as well as Thy redeeming love, and to be at one with
Thee in Thy righteousness as well as in Thy mercy.
And while I am content to be schooled in virtue by the
rugged experiences of earth, let me rejoice in the assur-
ance that beyond the tempests and floods are new
heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness shall
dwell forever.
78 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
THE COVENANT WITH NOAH.
(Read Genesis viii. 15-ix. 19.)
Is it possible to imagine the feelings of Noah
and his family when they came forth from their long
and dreary confinement in the ark, and set foot again
upon the earth that had emerged from its baptism
smiling in the light of God and springing into new and
joyous life? That they were filled with gratitude for
the wonderful salvation wrought in their behalf, and
felt a deep sense of dependence on the covenant
mercy of Jehovah, in their new and strange and re-
sponsible position as founders of a new world, is evi-
denced in the fact that their first act was to rear an altar
and make an offering “ of every clean beast and every
clean fowl.” The distinction of clean and unclean
among animals was already established, showing that
there was a law of sacrifice already in existence; and it
is reasonable to suppose that sin-offerings, as well as
thank-offerings, were recognized in this law. The first
act, therefore, of this saved family, is an act of worship,
in which they give thanks for their great deliverance
and invoke the presence and the mercy of Jehovah,
that they may be divinely guided in the new life on
which they enter. It must have been with much anx-
iety about the future that they thus sought unto God,
as well as with great thankfulness for past mercies.
They knew nothing, as yet, of God's purposes respecting
them, nor at what time the wickedness of man might
again provoke the wrath of heaven, and cause another
THE COVENANT WITH NOAH, 79
desolation of the earth. They did not seek in vain. A
quick response to these offerings came from the divine
Presence, and God graciously condescends to enter
into covenant with man: not that God needs to bind
Himself by covenant, but that man needs that God
should meet him on the level of human transactions
and give him pledges and tokens by which his weak and
doubting heart may be led into confidence and repose.
The philosophy of covenants between God and man
is unfolded in Heb. vi. 16–18: “For men swear by the
greater: and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final
for confirmation. Wherein God, being minded to show
more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the im-
mutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath: that
by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for
God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement who
have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before
us.” It will be seen that this is a merciful condescension
on God’s part—a gracious adaptation to the weakness
and the wants of man—that by the adoption of human
modes of confirmation, men may have “strong en-
couragement” in trusting to ratified promises.
We must, however, guard against the idea of a
mere bargain between equals, in the covenants between
God and man. God, the superior party, dictates, and
man, the inferior party, accepts; but God condescends to
bind Himself to the performance of His promises, that
man may have evident and tangible assurances on which
to rest his faith. Some of these covenants are condi-
tional. The present covenant is unconditional. It is
made not only with man, but with “every living crea-
ture, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of
the earth,” and that “for perpetual generations.” The
3O EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
substance of it is, that the earth shall not again be de-
stroyed by a flood, and that “while the earth remaineth,
seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and Summer
and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.” All
the blessings, therefore, of what we call the regular
course of nature, are covenant blessings, and they are
not conditioned on man's rectitude. Even though the
imaginations of men's hearts should be evil from their
youth, the sun will rise, the moon will wax and wane,
the rains will descend, and seed-time and harvest will
come in their appointed seasons. Men in their wicked-
ness may deprive themselves of the blessings God thus
deigns to bestow; but His promise is none the less
fulfilled. He makes the sun to rise on the evil and the
good, and sends His rains on the just and the unjust
alike; for this is His promise. Thus, as Paul says
(Acts xiv. 17), God “ left not Himself without witness
among men, giving them rains from heaven, and fruit-
ful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness.”
When we pause to reflect on what science unfolds to us
of the ceaseless motions of innumerable worlds, and
learn how the slightest variation from the established
order might plunge system after system into con-
fusion and disaster, we can not but adore that ever-
lasting truthfulness and unfailing goodness which
hold all the mighty worlds and systems in harmony,
and enable the astronomer to foretell for ages the
sun's rising and setting, the transits of the planets, the
eclipses of the sun and moon, and even the motions of
comets. God's covenant of the day and night secures
all this. God is forever true.
What immense forces are set in motion; what
unnumbered worlds and systems are guided in their
THE COVENANT WITH NOAH. 8I
revolutions; what wondrous agencies of light, heat,
electricity, magnetism, what unimaginable forces of
the chemistry of Nature, are ceaselessly controlled, in
their minutest and vastest action, that God may fulfill
this covenant with man and beast ! And that, too, in
behalf of a world that has been and is mainly a theater
of crime and rebellion, in behalf of a race that answers
this gracious covenant of day and night with mad
idolatries, with deeds of darkness that will not bear the
light, and with unblushing and audacious crimes in the
light of the noonday sun The longer we pause over
this gracious covenant, the more will our hearts be
penetrated by a sense of the adorable goodness and
mercy of Jehovah. -
The token or pledge of this covenant is singularly
beautiful and appropriate—not the less so that the bow
may have spanned the heavens a thousand times before.
Its appropriateness is found in its nature—not in the
fact that it then for the first time appeared. There is
sunshine as well as rain when the bow appears. Nature
smiles through her tears, and the joint production of
her smiling and weeping is the glorious arch of seven-
fold splendor, painted on the dark storm-cloud, en-
trancing us into forgetfulness of the wrathful storm as
we gaze upon the beautiful pledge of peace that
touches earth and heaven. Thus the very waters that
we dread combine with the sun to relieve our fears and
to remind us of God's covenant of peace.
It does not follow that the present order of things
is always to last. The very words of promise contain
an intimation to the contrary: “While the earth re-
maineth '' intimates that the earth will not always
remain. But it will not again be destroyed by water.
82 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
It will next be swept by fire, in the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men. The present is not a
perfect state. There are tears as well as smiles, storm
as well as sunshine, when the bow appears; its blended
colors tell of a mixed state of things, in which joy and
sorrow both reign. We look for new heavens and a
new earth, in which tears shall all be wiped away.
Let me learn to adore the condescending goodness
which stoops to man's weakness and adapts itself to
his imperfections. We are but infants, and God speaks
to us in the prattlings of infancy, that we may under-
stand Him. When I bow the knee to Him, I can have
confidence in the assurance that He is a covenant-
making and a covenant-keeping God; and when I see
how day and night, and summer and winter, attest His
immutable truthfulness, I may rest assured that He will
be equally true in the covenant of redemption.
“Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Al-
mighty Just and true are thy ways, thou King of
saints ſ”
Lord, let me not fail to behold Thee in Thy works,
or to adore Thy unchangeable truth and goodness.
Let the testimonies of the day and night, of the
seed-time and harvest, gladden me with the assurance
of Thine eternal power and divinity. When I see the
bow in the cloud, let me be happy in the thought that
in wrath Thou rememberest mercy—that even the
storm-cloud is eloquent in attestation of Thy unde-
served mercy. Let me be still more grateful for the
covenant of Thy grace—for the Love that smiles upon
us through the blinding tears of sorrow and con-
trition, and spans even the clouds of wrath with the
bow of peace. Let me rest in Thy covenant promises,
The covenant with Noah. 83
and wait for the day when tears shall cease, and storms
shall no more darken the sky, and the glory of Thy
redeemed ones shall be forever unclouded.
84 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
ABRAM.
(Read Genesis xi. 26–2:ii. 9.)
Notwithstanding the terrible judgments of God up-
on the antediluvians, and the faith and piety of the
family from which the earth was repeopled, tendencies
to a new apostasy were soon developed. That pride
and ambition to which Satan so successfully appealed
when he said, “Ye shall be as God, knowing good and
evil,” reasserts itself, in various efforts of the different
branches of Noah's family to make governments and
religions of their own; and since the Lord had cov-
enanted that he would not again destroy the earth by a
flood, even though the imaginations and purposes of
men's hearts should be evil from their youth ; and the
solemn guarantees of the constitution of man's rational
nature forbade all compulsory treatment; there was noth-
ing left but to allow these wayward families and tribes
to try to the full the experiment of self-direction, until,
in the rugged school of experience, they should learn
the lesson which the prodigal in the parable is repre-
sented to have learned, and be prepared, in humility
and self-renunciation, to return to their Father. “As
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a reprobate mind" (Rom. i. 28).
Meanwhile, to restrain, as far as possible, their power
for evil, and to hold them within reach of stronger re-
deeming influences than could be found in the tradi-
tional knowledge of God and of duty which they car-
ried with them, and which would necessarily become
ABRAM. 85
fainter and more liable to corruption with every suc-
ceeding generation, we find two measures adopted.
I. The unity of the race was broken up, because it
was proving to be an apostate and idolatrous unity.
There is no stronger argument in behalf of the spiritual
unity and ecclesiastical union proposed in the gospel as
a conquering power to subdue the world to God, than
this divine hostility to, and dread of, the unspiritual
and godless unity by which the early post-diluvian
families were characterized. Any such concentration
of power and community of interest must soon reduce
the human race to the universal godlessness, rebellious-
ness, and utter depravity of the antediluvians. It
would prove irresistible. And while they all spoke one
language, there would be a bond of union that could
not be broken. Hence, the confusion of tongues was
a necessity. With different languages, there would no
longer be a universal fellowship of the race, but nar-
rower fellowships, limited by the range of the language
which formed the common medium of communication;
and conflicting fellowships, since a difference of lan-
guage would be a source of selfish distinctions and
rivalries that would cause even “lands intersected by a
narrow frith ” to “abhor each other.” In other words,
it caused the “house” of humanity to be “divided
against itself.” The power for evil in this tremendous
experiment of self-government was thus very much
abridged. There is in this a profound lesson, which we
have only space to suggest. If one language thus fur-
nished so strong a bond of union to the ungodly, and a
confusion of tongues was needful to break this bond
and scatter the forces that were arrayed in opposition to
God, then will not one language—“a pure language”
36 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
(Zeph. iii. 9)—form a bond of union for the godly?
Will the spiritual unity and union for which Jesus
prayed (John xvii. 20, 21) ever be realized, until the
confusion of tongues, the sad heritage of the Saints in
Babylon, shall be overcome by a return to the language
of Canaan—the pure, tried words which the Holy
Spirit has given? “I beseech you, brethren, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the
same thing, and that there be no divisions among you;
but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same
mind and in the same judgment” (I. Cor. i. IO). The
power of language as a unifying element, is worthy of
much graver consideration than it receives.
2. After the lapse of four centuries, and the at-
tempt to effect a unification of the race in a universal
apostasy, it was divinely determined, while leaving the
tribes and nations to a full experiment in self-direction,
to raise up a people that should be God's peculiar peo-
ple—a holy or separate nation—and give them a
country of their own, centrally situated with reference
to the present and prospective ruling powers of the
earth, and make this nation the depositary of the coun-
sels and purposes of God, and operate through them on
the various centers of worldly governments, until the
world should be ripe for the coming of the divine Re-
deemer, and a sin-sick, despairing race should be ready
to listen to the invitations of divine mercy. This is the
source of much that we afterwards find in the Script-
ures of divine purposes, callings, elections, and pre-
destinations. God chose, or elected, Abram as the
fountain and head of this nation. It was an election
of grace, not of works. While it was a fit choice—
that is, God saw in Abram the elements capable of
ABRAM. 8;
being wrought up into a life and character worthy of
the honorable position to which he was elected—it was
not made in view of any merit that Abram possessed,
but because God pleased to make it. Nor was it an
election to eternal life, but an election to be the father
of a great nation which should be known as God's own
nation, and to be the progenitor of that Messiah in
whom the hopes of the world at last should center.
Abram's family were Shemites (Genesis xi.), but
they were idolaters (Josh. xxiv. 14, 15), and evidently
living in the midst of idolatry, and sharing in all its
polluting and degrading influences. It was when the
rising tides and swelling currents of idolatry were sub-
merging or sweeping away the faith and piety inherited
from Noah which yet lingered among men, that the call
came to Abram: “Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a
land that I will show thee.” Of course this call was
based on such evidences and demonstrations as left no
doubt that “God is, and is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him.” But it was a stern requirement;
family, kindred, country—to turn one's back on all
these, and go forth to seek a home in an unknown land,
moved only by faith in an invisible God. But there is
something beautiful and touching in the suggestions of
the brief narrative. The call was to Abram alone. Yet
when the time of departure came, we find the family
starting forth under Terah, the father, and not under
Abram, the son—Terah, Abram, Lot, Sarai, and we
judge Nahor and Milcah also, for we find Nahor after-
wards settled at Haran or Charran—the place at which
the company tarried for five years, until Terah's death
(Gen. xxiv. 15, xxvii. 43). Haran, the eldest son, had
88 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
died in Ur. Abram and Nahor had married among
their relatives—Nahor taking his brother's daughter
Milcah, and Abram choosing Sarai, his half-sister or
his niece. Terah was now two hundred years old.
Abram was the son of his old age, for if the age
of Terah at the time of his death was 205 years, he
must have been 130 when Abram was born. To give
up his darling youngest son just after the death of his
eldest, and part with the beloved Sarai also, was more
than the old man could bear. Imagine the family con-
versation over this grave question—the pleading with
Abram to yield his purpose, the appeals to his holiest
affections against abandoning his mother's and brother's
graves, his beautiful native country, the associations of
his childhood, and his fond old father, whom he would
never see again! Firmly he stood against all these
powerful appeals, and was ready to abandon home,
friends, and country, and even the venerable and loving
father that wept upon his neck—for Jehovah had
called him And does it not speak well for the
princely power of Abram in his father's house, that he
was so loved and honored—he, the youngest member
of the household—and that his word concerning the
one living and true God was so respected, that, rather
than part with him, the entire family determine to
abandon their native country and the graves of their
ancestors, and go forth on this strange pilgrimage to an
unknown land? The patriarch of two hundred years
heading an emigration over the desert, “not knowing
whither he went l’” It is a beautiful glimpse of family
affection that we catch between the lines. But Abram
was the ruling spirit of the movement. We are al-
ready impressed with his strength of character and
ABRAM. 89
ruling influence. Let the reader, with these scant out-
lines, fill in the picture. -
They had only journeyed as far as Haran when the
aged Terah failed in strength; and here they tarried
for five years, to care for him until he died. How
many start for Canaan who fail to reach it! Let us
hope that the venerable patriarch was led by his be-
loved son into a knowledge of the true God, and that
he died in hope of Sweet rest in the heavenly Canaan.
There is a true philosophy in this call to separation
from home and kindred and country. It was not meant
merely for a trial of faith. True religion required a
separate sphere in which to unfold itself. It would have
been smothered in Mesopotamia, by the thorns of un-
belief and wickedness that preoccupied the soil.
Abram, firm as he was, could not have stood up against
the overpowering influences of error and sin that must
have assailed him everywhere, even in his own home.
Afterwards, a sojourn of only a few years in Egypt be-
trayed him into grievous sin; how, then, could he have
been loyal to Jehovah in Mesopotamia! Human nature,
even when consecrated to truth and righteousness, is
not proof against perpetual temptation. A continual
dropping wears even the rock. It is a wise prayer that
Jesus taught His disciples, and one that we need to re-
peat daily and hourly: “Lead us not into temptation.”
There was need, therefore, that Abram should be re-
moved from his idolatrous environments, to grow up
into a noble championship of a true faith under more
favorable conditions. And let us not forget that Chris-
tians, while their sphere of activity is in the world, in con-
tact with its temptations and sins and crimes, are still
warned against intimate association with the ungodly
90 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
and profane. They are called out from the world, to be
a separate people. “What fellowship hath righteous-
ness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath
light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with
Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infi-
del? and what agreement hath the temple of the living
God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God;
as God hath said: I will dwell in them, and walk in them;
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Therefore come out from among them, and be ye sepa-
rate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I
will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Al-
mighty” (II. Cor. vi. 14–18).
Grant, Lord, such an increase of faith, that I may
go forth at Thy command, content to trust Thee,
though the way to me may seem dark, and I know not
whither I go. Give me strength to break every tie
that holds me from Thy ways, and inspire me with that
faith which overcomes the world.
ABRAMTS FAITH. 91.
ABRAM'S FAITH.
(Read Genesis xii. 1–10.)
“And they went forth to go into the land of
Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.”
There is significance in the last clause of this sentence.
They had started once before “to go into the land of
Canaan’’ (chap. xi. 31), but into the land of Canaan
they did not come. There are suggestions springing
from this brief utterance which we may make available
for practical ends.
I. It is one thing to start; it is quite another to
reach the end of the journey. How many start for the
heavenly Canaan, who halt by the way, and never reach
the promised land Is there not a tremendous signifi-
cance in the fact that out of six hundred thousand
fighting men (Num. i. 45, 46) that went forth from
Egypt to go into the land of Canaan, but two succeeded
in gaining the land of promise? (See Num. xxxii. 11–
13.) There surely is, when we remember that “all
these things happened unto them for types, and are
written for our admonition upon whom the ends of
the [Jewish] ages are come.” (See I. Cor. x. 1–12.)
2. However worthy may be our aim, we need not
expect exemption from disappointments and temporary
defeats in the execution of our purposes. Many who
are conscious of worthiness of aim, take it hard that
they should be encompassed with trials and subjected to
defeats; and they are disposed to murmur against what
seem to them to be unjust and cruel providences. But
92 Evenings witH THE BIBLE.
this is a short-sightedness that ought to be cured by a
careful study of the life of the grand patriarch upon
whose history we are now entering. No character is
accepted as worthy until it is tried. Trials of faith,
and tests of principle, are mercies, not judgments.
“Blessed is the man that endureth trial, for, zwhen he is
tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord
hath promised to them that love him.” It is a good
thing to struggle, even if we seem to fail; and to die,
if need be, trying for that which we fail to accomplish.
Terah started for the land of Canaan, but reached no
farther than Haran. He was old and frail. It was a
long and perilous journey for him to undertake. But
he did his best. It was in his heart to go to Canaan, but
death claimed him by the way. Doubtless He who
condemns unjustifiable anger as murder, and a lustful .
look as adultery (Matt. v. 22, 28), also accepted Terah's
desire and purpose and best effort as obedience to the
divine call to go to Canaan.
But there were others who probably failed through
another cause. If Nahor and his family started with
the rest for Canaan, as we think it quite probable, they
never got beyond Haran. The death of the father may
have discouraged him. The first experiences in the
migration from Ur to Haran may have worn out his
feeble faith and quenched his faint purpose. The
attractions of Haran may have charmed him into a re-
nunciation of his original intention, for we find that he
settled there (compare chap. xxiv. Io and xxvii. 43).
How often is it that “the soul of the people is
discouraged because of the way;” and how many of
whom it has to be written, as Paul once wrote, “Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.”
ABRAM's FAITH. 93
3. But, though we meet with trials, discouragements,
and delays, we must never let the purpose fail. Abram
was delayed for years by the feebleness of Terah.
It became his immediate duty to care for his father.
Duties do not in reality conflict. “Mercy” has claims
superior to “sacrifice.” The duty of the hour was to
comfort and watch over his beloved parent. But the
purpose to obey the call of Jehovah was never aban-
doned. Perhaps, after the death of Terah, Nahor's
refusal to proceed farther made an additional trial for
Abram, and compelled a separation from beloved kin-
dred who, he had fondly hoped, would stand with him
in the true faith, and strengthen the feeble force that
was about to venture anew on a perilous journey. This
dropping out of friends by the way is always discourag-
ing. But the true test of loyalty to the divine Sovereign
is, “Whoso loveth father or mother, son or daughter,
brother or sister, husband or wife, houses or lands, more
than me, is not worthy of me.” And Abram turned his
back on all of his father's house that would not be one
with him in the service of the one living and true God.
Then there were the perils of the Syrian Desert. A
journey of some three or four hundred miles, in those
days, much of it through a barren and perhaps un-
friendly region, was a serious matter. It is evident
from chap. xii. 5 that they had enough property to ex-
cite the cupidity of the rovers of the desert, but not
enough force to protect their wives and their substance
from marauders. We are told nothing of the incidents
of the journey; but we can see at a glance that it was
one of danger, in which only faith in God could give
them a sense of security; and one of sadness, as every
step bore them farther away from all they loved toward
94. EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
a strange land. To trust an unseen God in a journey to
an unknown land, with all visible and tangible objects
drawing or urging in an opposite direction, is a sublime
reach of faith. Talk as we may of the dim light and
the low plane of spiritual life in patriarchal times, such
robust faith as this is seldom seen, these days
Through all these trials and delays, Abram never
swerved from his purpose. Though it must have
strained his heart-strings—for he was a man of warm
affections and strong adhesiveness—faith triumphed
over sense, and through all trials and dangers “into the
land of Canaan they came.”
It is a great crisis in one's life when he breaks up
finally his home associations, and starts out to act for
himself. Happy he who carries with him the fear of
Abram's God, and, under His protection, with a faith
that looks steadily to the heavenly Canaan, is divinely
led in all his goings. Alas! alas ! that so many go out,
even from religious homes, unmindful of their depend-
ence on the God of Abram, ambitious only to gather
riches or indulge in carnal pleasure, who fall into
temptations and snares, and many foolish and hurtful
lusts, that drown them in destruction and perdition.
“Into the land of Canaan they came.” Entering
by way of Damascus, they traversed the land from
northeast to southwest, until they reached Shechem—
beyond the center of the land. Here, indeed, they
found a paradisaical spot, in the charms of which they
might well forget Ur and Haran. “The land of Syria
is beloved by Allah beyond all lands,” said Mohammed,
“and the part of Syria which he loveth most is the dis-
trict of Jerusalem; and the place which he loveth most
in the district of Jerusalem is the mountain of Nab-
ABRAM's FAITH. 95
ulus.” Here is a narrow valley, only about fifteen
hundred feet wide, lying between the two mountains of
Ebal and Gerizim, the valley being eighteen hundred
feet above the level of the sea, and the mountains rising
about eight hundred feet higher. “As the traveler de-
scends towards it from the hills,” says Dr. Clarke, “it
appears luxuriantly embosomed in the most delightful
and fragrant bowers, half concealed by rich gardens,
and by stately trees collected into groves, all around the
bold and beautiful valley in which it stands.” “The
whole valley was filled,” says Robinson, “with gardens
of vegetables, and orchards of all kinds of fruits,
watered by fountains which burst forth in various parts
and flow westward in refreshing streams. It came
upon us suddenly, like a scene of fairy enchantment.”
We may well believe that to Abram and his associate
weary pilgrims, in what was then perhaps its wild lux-
uriance and untamed grandeur, it was enchanting, and
rapturously welcomed as the terminus of their journey-
ings. What dreams of rest, of peaceful enjoyment, of
permanent delight, in their new home ! But the cup of
pleasure is dashed to the ground almost before their
lips have touched it. They learned—it may have been
in a very startling way—that “the Canaanite was then
in the land.” No such beautiful spot would be over-
looked or unclaimed. It is to be no home for them.
They speedily remove from the presence and threats of
enemies, to Beth-el, some twenty miles south of She-
chem. But before they go, in what must have been an
hour of bitter disappointment—and it is in such hours
that faithful souls find their richest experiences of divine
help and strength—Jehovah appeared to Abram, and
assured him that this land would be the inheritance of
96 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
his children. And there, under the oak of Moreh-
which was probably before this “the oak of sorcerers.”
(Judges iz. 37, where “the plain of Meonenim" is
properly “the oak of sorcerers,” and refers, we judge,
to the same tree)—boldly, in face of the iniquitous
idolatries of the times, he rears an altar to the one true
God, and thus openly avows his faith. At Beth-el, too
—though its name of Beth-el was given afterwards
(chap. xxviii. 19)—where many would have given up to
murmurings over a hard fate and the non-fulfillment of
promises, “he builded an altar to Jehovah, and called
upon the name of Jehovah.” Christian parents ye
who look back on Abraham's time as “the starlight
age,” and rejoice that you now bask in the beams
of the Sun of Righteousness, where is your altar?
Shall this homeless pilgrim dot the land with altars to
Jehovah, and you be praiseless and prayerless in your
settled homes P
Beth-el affords no permanent home. Crowded
by those who dispute his right, or compelled by
lack of pasturage for his flocks, he journeyed, “go-
ing on still toward the south "–the southern extrem-
ity of the land. But nowhere is there rest. Soon
there is a famine, and he is driven by necessity out of
the land for the sake of which he had abandoned his
native country and his kindred, and compelled to
resort to .the more favored land of Egypt for sus-
tenance. Thus at every step his faith is tried, and dis-
couragements accumulate. He gave up all at the
divine command, and what has he received? He is
landless, homeless, friendless, childless—but he is rich
in faith, is heir of a kingdom, and gives glory to God!
Nor must we regard this as a blind, unreasoning super-
ABRAM's FAITH. 97
stition, such as rejects all sober reasoning, and sense-
lessly trusts to impossibilities. “Abraham believed in
God;” but he undoubtedly had good reasons for cast-
ing away the superstitions of his age and implicitly
trusting in Him whom he had learned beyond question
to be the Source of life and of truth. And, to our
mind, this faith was not only well founded, but was
much more clear and penetrating than is generally
supposed. We gather this from New Testament dec-
larations. Our Lord says, “Abraham rejoiced to see
my day; he saw it and was glad " (John viii. 56). Did
he not understand, when “the gospel was preached
beforehand ” unto him (Gal. iii. 8), that his chief dis-
tinction was to be that of the progenitor of the Messiah
and the father of the great family of believers? And
did he not believe that the land promised to him was at
best but a type of time heavenly land—the true Canaan
—where he and his innumerable family of believers—
the “heirs according to the promise ’’ (Gal. iii. 29)—
should find eternal rest? Read Heb. xi. 8–16, and
learn how far-reaching and spiritual was the faith of
Abram ; and you will understand why, though shut out
from the earthly inheritance, he never lost his faith in
God, but purposely led a wandering life, that his faith
might be seen to reach beyond the changing, fading
scenes of earth, as he
“Nightly pitched his roving tent
A day's march nearer home.”
Shall we, in the sunlight of gospel truth, be less
heavenly minded ? Shall we not confess that we are
strangers and pilgrims in the earth, and, while pausing
a moment amid the charms of Shechem to rear an altar
unto God, and resting a little while in the house of God
98 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
at Beth-el, still clutch but lightly all earthly inheri-
tances, and look and hope and labor to enter into that
eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God?
O thou invisible but ever present God, may I learn
more and more to walk by faith and not by sight—to
“endure as seeing Him who is invisible.” And may
every trial of my faith, being much more precious than
gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, be
found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation
of Jesus Christ.
ILYING, 99
LYING.
(Read Genesis xii. Io-20.)
Abram and Lot went down to Egypt. It was from
no vain curiosity, nor from any fondness for Egyptian
associations, that this journey was made; but from
stern necessity. Yet even when duty calls us into asso-
ciation with the ungodly, there is peril in the way, and
the best of men have need to pray that wisest of
prayers, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us
from evil.” Perhaps it would be too much to say that
Abram's faith and piety were greatly imperiled by his
sojourn in Egypt; yet we read of no altar built to Je-
hovah in that land: but we do read of money-getting,
and of something that sounds very much like lying; and
as for Lot, it looks to us as if the taint of Egyptian folly
was never afterwards washed out.
Abram, with that business tact and thrift which
have become proverbial in his descendants, turned the
adversity which drove him into Egypt into high pros-
perity, so that he became not only rich, but “very
rich;” and that not only in cattle, but also “in silver
and gold.” But in making these accumulations, he
risked his integrity; for he necessarily cultivated close
friendship with the Pharaoh of that time, and came into
close contact with the carnality and intrigues of the
Egyptian court. Sarai, although at this time over sixty-
five years of age, was fresh and beautiful. She had
only lived out about half her days (see chap. xxiii. 1),
and was just in the prime of her strength, stateliness
i
;
IOO Evenings witH THE BIBLE.
t
gº
2.:
:
;
;
and loveliness—a physical perfection granted to a free,
roving life, not overburdened with toil, which is not de-
veloped amid the stiff conventionalities of modern fash-
ionable society, and is sought in vain among the throngs
of overworked children of toil that swarm in the nar-
row streets and dark alleys of our cities. While Abram
was gaining money, he feared to lose his wife. The
loose morals of the Egyptians placed him in a danger to
which he could not be blind; and in view of this, it
would have been better had he broken up his encamp-
ment and returned to Canaan, to brave the terrors of
famine. But he sought to provide for the emergency
by arranging with Sarai a deliberate deception—to put
it in its mildest form, an equivocation, a prevarication.
Sarai was to say that she was Abram's sister. This was
not an out-and-out lie. See chap. xx. I I, I2. But it
was a lie, nevertheless; and, from a just point of view,
admitting degrees of comparison among lies, it must be
said it that it was a very bad kind of a lie. It was not
a reckless lie, told for the sake of lying; nor a ma-
licious lie, spoken to do injury to others; nor an impul-
sive lie, uttered in the heat of passion as the only means
of safety in a sudden emergency: it was rather a pru-
dential lie, quietly and carefully arranged as a guard
against danger. It must be confessed that it was a
foolish and cowardly lie. All lies may be said to be
foolish, since nothing can stand against the truth; but
this one was cowardly as well as foolish. It was foolish,
since Sarai would be exposed to greater danger of being
appropriated as Abram's sister, for the harem of the
Egyptian monarch, than as Abram's wife. And it was
cowardly, (I) in that it had not the merit of a bold,
plump falsehood, but sought to hide itself under cover
LYING. - IOI
of the truth; (2) in that Abram sought thereby to shel-
ter himself by exposing his wife to greater danger,
when he ought rather to have risked his life to preserve
her honor.
Let us say here, that it is a false and ruinous policy
that seeks to explain away, or apologize for, a sin like
this, out of tenderness for Abram's reputation. We
subvert the design of the sacred narrative when we thus
deal with it. It is intended to picture human lives just
as they are—to present human characters truthfully,
without suppression, exaggeration, vindication or apol-
ogy; daguerreotyping the good that appears in a bad
man's life, and the bad that appears in a good man’s
life, with divine impartiality, that we may have a gal-
lery of portraits drawn to the life, from which to study
the strangely contradictory nature we possess. Human
biographies lack this essential characteristic. Herein
lies the priceless value of the Old Testament life-
sketches. It is, essentially, a spirit of falsehood that
seeks to tone down these inspired portraitures. It is
well to defºl the Old Testament saints when they are
unjustly assailed, as they often are; but wherein they
were justly at fault, let us not interfere with the beacon-
lights kindled by a divine breath, to warn us of the
dangers that threaten us along the coasts of the perilous
sea over which we sail.
How often we are reminded that Abram's age was
one of comparative darkness, and that he is not to be
judged by the standards of these enlightened times
In some particulars this is unquestionably true, and the
reminder should not be neglected; but in regard to
truth-telling, we have to remark (I) that it was not
ignorance on Abram's part that led to this equivocation,
I O2 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
for we find him repeating the sin, in the face of this
painful experience (chap. xx.); (2) it is by no means
certain that these present “enlightened" times are at
all in advance of the patriarchal age in regard to truth-
fulness. Lying is one of the abounding sins of the
present time in Christian lands—lying in word and lying
in deed. Falsehoods in some form may be said to be a
staple in social life, in business, in politics, and too
often in religious controversy and in church life.
Flatteries, shams, fashionable conventionalisms, false
weights, adulterated articles of merchandise, exagger.
ated representations of values, humbugs, frauds, for.
geries, reckless promises, violations of contracts, rose-
colored descriptions of men and movements, of parties
and their doings, suppressions of truth and perversions
of truth, malicious assaults on the good, and ingenious
defenses of the wicked: how all these forms of decep-
tion and falsehood, in almost infinite variety, stare us in
the face continually, and seem to prosper! If Abram
were living now, he might feel that his modest and un-
skillful attempt at lying was altogether &rshadowed
by the performances of even professed saints.
It is important to note how this sin, in some of its
Protean forms, stains the lives of even good and noble
men; and how few characters are unsmirched by insin-
cerity and deception. David says, “I said in my
haste, All men are liars.” He must have been stung
on every hand by the falsehood and hypocrisy of court-
life, and his large experience with men in all stations of
life must have been exceedingly painful, to have led him
into such a judgment, even in a moment of exaspera-
tion. It was unquestionably a hasty judgment. If he
had said that all men would lie, it would still have been
LYING. iO3
a wrong judgment, but much more excusable. But to
say that all men are liars—that this is their character—
is unquestionably false. That Abram and Sarai con-
spired to practice a foolish and wicked deception, is to
us beyond question ; but if any one call them liars, we
indignantly repel it as a slander. Abram was a man of
truth. For the truth's sake he turned his back on
country, kindred and home, and became a wanderer all
his life. His character stands before us lofty in its
integrity, transparent in its sincerity, grand in the gen-
uineness of its devotion to truth and righteousness.
It is just because he is so eminently a man of truth,
that his equivocations in two instances are so repulsive,
taking on exceeding blackness by their contrast with his
clean, white life. And just here is the value of the les-
son to Christians. When we see that even eminently
truthful men and women can be betrayed into equivoca-
tions with a view to deceive, let us learn to guard
against the approach of the slightest shadow of false-
hood. Truthfulness is the only sure foundation of a
trustworthy character. A serious defect here leaves
the whole character, whatever may appear to be its ex-
cellences, exposed to ruin. It has no adequate sup-
port. It may be propped and bolstered by false preten-
sions; but these will fail, and the whole life will tumble
into destruction. No one thing is equal in importance,
in the education of children, to their culture in rev-
erence for truth, and hate of falsehood in every form it
wears, and the encouragement of the utmost sensitive-
ness of conscience in reference to truth in the heart, on
the tongue, and in the life.
There is evidently much dullness of conscience on
this question. Equivocation, by many, is not regarded
IO4 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
as a violation of truth. If they are only able to say
what, in one sense, is true, it does not trouble them to
know that they have caused it to be understood in
a different sense; that in the sense in which they have
caused it to be understood, it is not true; and that
they have purposely caused it to be understood in a
false sense, with a view to deceive. This may be called
a refinement in lying, involving much more of decep-
tion than many a bold, outspoken lie; and a more
guilty thing, because it involves deliberation and inge-
nuity in order to mislead. This was just the character
of Abram's deception. Let it be understood that truth
itself may be perverted to false uses; that a half-truth
is often a whole lie; that suppression of the truth, or of
part of the truth, with a view to make a false impres-
sion, is one of the worst forms of lying; and that every
form of deception brings bad results. We do not say
that we are always bound to tell the truth. There are
truths which are better kept in our own breasts. Duty
may sometimes require of us absolute silence. But if
duty calls us to speak, it is always best so to speak the
truth as not to deceive. “Wherefore, putting away
lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor.”
In this series, we may have written some papers
more entertaining than this, but none of graver im-
portance.
O Lord, grant me the Spirit of Truth. Let me
speak the truth in my heart, and enthrone it in my in-
ward parts. And from all insincerity and dishonesty
of thought, speech and act, grant me perpetual deliver-
ance, that my soul may have fellowship with Thee, who
art a God of truth and without iniquity, just and true
forever.
ABRAM AND LOT. IOS
ABRAM AND LOT.
(Read the thirteenth chapter of Genesis.)
The character of Lot can not be regarded as a lofty
one. Nor can it be called a decidedly low one. His
departure from his native land in company with his
uncle Abram, indicates that he had renounced idolatry,
and was a believer in the one living and true God. He
is recognized in the New Testament as a just man, who
in his heart was at war with the iniquitous practices of
the Sodomites. That he had the strength to resist the
corrupting influences that were around him in Sodom,
is evidence that the fear of God was rooted in his heart.
Yet apart from his quiet, unobtrusive, almost passive,
resistance of vice and ungodliness, there is little in his
life, as far as it is recorded, to lead us to award him a
place of honor among the righteous, or to give him
fame for strength of character.
He evidently owed much to his uncle's oversight.
Under his instruction, it is fair to presume, and follow-
ing his example, he learned to accumulate property; so
that when they returned from Egypt to Canaan, he is
found in possession of flocks and herds and tents. It
may have been that, in addition to his own wealth, he ex-
pected to inherit that of his uncle. This would be quite
natural, for, in the absence of any children of Abram's
own—and he was about fourscore—who so likely to
succeed him as the son of his own brother, the nephew
who had joined with him against the idols of his native
land, and had forsaken all to follow him to this strange
IO6 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
country? And if, afterwards, Abram could think of
Eliezer of Damascus (chap. xv. 2) as his heir, much
more likely was he, at this time, to think of Lot as
most deserving to inherit his fortune. This, it is true,
is only conjecture. If true, it goes to show that the
proposal of separation made by Abram on occasion of a
strife between the herdsmen, was a very serious matter
to Lot, as a probable end to his high hopes, and to
Abram himself as a frustration of his purpose.
Apart from all such considerations, however, such a
separation of kindred who had been accustomed to
dwell together, and who possessed a common faith—a
divergence of their paths in a strange land, where there
was none other with whom they could have intimate and
congenial association—could not be other than painful.
Yet to separate is better than to strive. Very sug-
gestive, in connection with the strife of the herdsmen,
is the remark, “And the Canaanite and the Perizzite
dwelled then in the land.” Should those idolaters be
allowed to feast upon a strife between these champions
of the doctrine of one God? And should these men—
Strangers in the land- imperil all the interests that
occasioned the strife by alienations that would render
them an easy prey to their enemies? If for no other
reason, for the honor of Jehovah, and for their own
protection against the common enemy, they must avoid
strife. Unquestionably, Abram's force was much
larger than Lot's, for he was “very rich in cattle, in
silver, and in gold,” while the language concerning Lot
is not at all so strong. Abram could have defeated
Lot; but then—how would this look to the Canaanite
and the Perizzite P Would not Jehovah be signally dis-
honored before these enemies of the true faith? It
ABRAM AND LOT. Io?
would be well for Christians, when they are tempted to
strive, to remember that the Canaanite and the Periz-
zite are still in the land. Abram saw that it was better
to separate peaceably, and still be brethren. He made
a generous proposal. He would not insist on the rights
of a Superior in age, in wealth and in power, or on what
was due to him as a benefactor. He waives all this, and
gives Lot his choice, content to suffer any disadvantage
rather than be involved in a quarrel with his kinsman.
“We be brethren.” Alas! while we talk of the dim
visions of the patriarchal age, how few there are now, in
the sunlight of the gospel, who are Abram's equals in
magnanimity, generosity and piety—who for Jehovah's
sake, and for the sake of brotherhood, will suffer any
earthly loss to avoid strife!
We see nothing to admire in Lot's choice. In the
first place, it was a great risk to him to go in any direc-
tion in a land where, apart from his uncle's family, there
was none to sympathize with him in his religious con-
victions. Looking at it from this distance, we are com-
pelled to suspect that religious considerations had noth-
ing to do with his choice. His appetite for riches had
been whetted by his acquisitions in Egypt, and he had
grown so self-reliant and ambitious, that he did not
appreciate his uncle's religious watch-care, or he would
have made any sacrifice rather than leave him ; nor did
he feel the need of divine guidance, or he would, in this
solemn crisis of his life, have sought unto God for
direction. Alas ! how often, in the critical periods of
life, when all the future is wrapped up in our decisions,
do we act in a foolish self-reliance, forgetting that “it is
not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Secondly,
if he decided to go, it was due to his uncle, as his
IO3 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
superior and as his benefactor, that he should modestly
decline to abuse his generous offer. He should either
have insisted that Abram take the first choice, or he
should have been less selfish in the choice he made.
But, in his selfish ambition and greed, he chose the
well-watered and fertile plain for himself, leaving to
his uncle the less favored and rugged hill country, and
“pitched his tent toward (or near) Sodom.” From
the altar of Jehovah to Sodom at a single step 2 No,
not quite that. It was only toward, or near to, Sodom,
at first. Perhaps he did not intend to go in. Yet when
we next hear of him, he is in Sodom, and so firmly
settled there that the angels of God can hardly get him
out! Christians, be warned. Do not read this as
merely a curious history. It means you. Learn your
lesson. How many are pitching their tents toward
Sodom | When you begin your wine-tippling, or card-
playing, or dancing, or attendance at horse-races, or
adventurous speculation, at best of doubtful morality,
you are pitching your tent toward Sodom. You are
Zooking that way, and moving that way. You do not
mean to go in. Neither, it is presumable, did righteous
Lot. But he did go in ; and so will you. You are
charmed with the rich pastures and pleasant streams;
but remember, Sodome is migh. Better stay up in the
rugged hills, near the altar of God! And how many
Christians go West and select rich lands, crazed with the
dream of growing rapidly in wealth, who never pause to
inquire whether, for their families, there will be churches,
and Schools, and pure associations. In their greed for
gain they imperil their own souls and the souls of all
that are dear to them. Yet they are good men; so
was Lot: but Lot was weak, and foolish, and blinded
ABRAM AND LOT. IO9
by his earthly passions; and so are these. There are
thousands of Lots in this Christian land and age.
And what a sad history we have from this on Lot
eagerly grasped for riches, but lost all he gained, and
was carried captive as a slave. Had it not been for his
faithful and magnanimous and chivalrous uncle, he
would have ended his days in slavery. But when res-
cued and restored, he again takes up his abode in
Sodom. He must now regain what he has lost; so he
still stays in Sodom, though his righteous soul is vexed
from day to day by the filthy behavior of the wicked.
How many histories are written in this How many
venture to the very brink of perdition for the sake
of gain, even when in their souls they abhor the society
in which they live! They think they can withdraw
when they have gained their end. But read carefully at
this point the history of Lot. The angels were com-
pelled to pull him out! His property was there. His
wife and daughters did not want to leave. There were
prospective weddings. His daughters were about to
make honorable marriage connections. To give up all
this, and become a second time impoverished Even
though the tempest of divine wrath was about to break
upon the accursed city, he lingered and lingered, until
the angels forced him out, and bade him run for his life
(chap. xix. 15–17). Scarcely saved' And his wife, so
thoroughly bewitched with Sodom's sorceries that, even
with the tempest almost upon her, she casts a longing,
lingering look behind, and sighs for a return to that vile
nest of abominations, until the fierce storm overtakes
her, and she is buried beneath the shower of flaming bit-
umen or lava, and encrusted with salt, and turned into
a monument of the wrath of God. Marvel not at
I IO EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
this. You need not journey to Palestine to behold a
pillar of salt. You may see such monuments all over
our land—those who were once numbered with the
righteous, whom God's mercy followed through all
their wanderings, and saved out of the worst perils
of sin; and yet, their hearts, only half delivered from
the spell of unbelief and idolatry, looked back to the
scenes they had forsaken, and they perished by the
way. “He that, having put his hand to the plow,
looketh back, is not fit for the kingdom of God.”
“Remember Lot's wife.” “Escape for thy life; look
not back; tarry not in all the plain.” The half-hearted
can not be saved.
We drop the curtain here. The closing scenes of
Lot's life are too painful to dwell upon. Poor Lot
He was glad enough to escape to the mountain at last
—quite as eager as he had been in the first place
to come down into the valley. Stripped of all that had
tempted him toward Sodom—homeless, wifeless, penni-
less and hopeless, he hides away in a cave, a broken-
hearted old man; and upon all his misfortunes are
heaped domestic dishonor and crime that shroud his
last days in appalling darkness. While we rejoice that
in so weak a character God saw enough of goodness to
entitle him to a place among the righteous, and adore
the mercy that rescued him, in his weakness, from im-
pending destruction, let us learn to doubt the ability of
even good men to shape their own ways, and the dan-
ger of walking by sight rather than by faith.
ABRAHAM'S CHARACTER. I I I
ABRAHAM'S CHARACTER.
(Read Genesis xiv., xvi., xviii., xxii.-xxv. 10.)
The change of name from Abram to Abraham im-
parts to him an enlarged idea of God's purpose. He
is no longer merely eminent as a father, but as “a
father of many nations” (chap. xvii. 5).
We may not linger too long on the history of
Abraham; yet, as he stands before us as the father of
believers, we must not pass too hastily over those por-
tions of the narrative which bring out his true char-
acter.
If there was magnanimity in the offer to Lot to
choose for himself the portion of land that pleased him
best, there was a higher magnanimity in the prompt-
ness with which Abraham came to the rescue of his
nephew in the hour of calamity. We are not informed
of any intercourse between the uncle and nephew from
the time Lot departed toward Sodom until the time of
his capture by the confederate kings from beyond the
Euphrates. Abraham evidently shunned association with
the wicked inhabitants of the plain, and Lot was too
much absorbed in his schemes for accumulating prop-
erty, and too confident in his ability to shape his own
course, to care to resort for farther counsel even to one
who had ever been his truest friend. With the peculiar
advantages of his new residence in Sodom, there came
new perils. A region so productive was a temptation
to spoilers. Hence we find the kings of the plain at-
tacked, overwhelmed and spoiled by haughty foes
II 2 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
against whom they had rebelled, and Lot, among the
rest, was stripped of his property and carried captive.
No sooner did Abraham hear of it than he gathered
his trained servants, enlisted his allies, and started in
pursuit. The forces that defeated the kings of the
plain had been victorious in every conflict in this bold
marauding expedition, and it is reasonable to suppose
that they were much stronger than any force that
Abraham could muster at short notice. Yet with the
feeble following he could command, he pursued the con-
querors for one hundred and twenty miles, and by the un-
expectedness and boldness of his attack, succeeded
in overcoming forces that had hitherto swept every-
thing before them. In this he had just one intention
—to rescue Lot and restore to him his property. He
had no personal ends to accomplish ; neither he nor his
property was endangered by the invaders. While his
former dealings with Lot showed him to be pre-
eminently a man of peace, his present conduct shows
that his peaceable disposition had no kinship with
weakness or cowardice. When necessity was upon
him, he could command skillfully and fight bravely,
and was every inch a warrior. It is impossible not to
admire this generous and heroic interposition in behalf
of his kinsman.
If he was wise and brave in battle, and magnan-
imous towards his unfortunate nephew, he was not less
wise or less manly when victory crowned his effort.
As a conqueror, we presume that the usage of the time
gave him a right to all that he won in the fight—per-
sons and property. The king of Sodom was, we
opine, seeking an undue advantage when he proposed a
division of the spoils (Gen. xiv. 21), and we doubt if he
ABRAHAM's CHARACTER. I 13
was prepared to appreciate the noble disinterestedness
of Abraham when he surrendered everything, beyond
the tithes paid to Melchizedek and the portion that be-
longed, by the rights of war, to his confederates. The
reason he assigns is one that does him honor: “Lest
thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich.” He
would not be under even a semblance of obligation to
those heathen rulers. It would only serve as a basis
for exactions in the future. It would establish a seem-
ing friendship with parties from whom he preferred to
be entirely separated. He wanted no “entangling
alliances” with these corrupt men. Nor would he have
it appear that he had any but the noblest motives in
the battle he had fought. There is in this, not only
manly independence, but also faithfulness to Jehovah.
He was the representative, among peoples given largely
to idolatry and its accompanying corruptions, of the
one living and true God. He would not compromise
the honor of Jehovah's name by what would be re-
garded as in some sense an affiliation with the wicked.
He had won the battle by the blessing of Jehovah, and
he would not share its honors with idolaters. He could
well afford to be their benefactor, but he could not
afford to be their partner, or the recipient, even in ap-
pearance, of favors from their hands.
There is a great lesson here. How often, and in
how many ways, Christian integrity is tainted by ac-
tions and by associations which bring the church un-
der the patronage and power of the world; and the
voice of truth is smothered in consequence | Let
this lone champion of truth, with his noble disdain of
the spoils of victory, and his lofty faith in Jehovah,
teach us to remain true to our religious principles, and
II.4. EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
avoid all embarrassing complications with the world of
unbelief and ungodliness. Lot's example, in this re-
spect, is in painful contrast with that of Abraham; and
the result stands also in painful contrast with the result
of Abraham's manly independence and loyalty to truth.
Lot is a type of those in whom sense triumphs over
faith; Abraham a type of those in whom faith triumphs
over sense. There are many more Lots than Abrahams.
In the cheerful and hearty hospitality pictured in
chapter xviii., we do not perceive that there is any-
thing superior to the hospitality of Lot, described in
chapter xix. Some of the best features of Lot's char-
acter shine forth in his entertainment of strangers.
There have been, no doubt, thousands of instances of
oriental hospitality equal to either of these. But in
what follows, in Abraham's case, there is something ten-
der as well as noble. He had learned something, at
least, of the character of his heavenly visitants, and of
their mission to the cities of the plain; and again his
soul goes out in tenderest sympathy with, and anxiety
for, his foolish nephew. He mentions him not by
name; yet who does not see that in all that humble,
reverential, but earnest and persistent, pleading in
behalf of the “righteous men’’ of Sodom, it was for
Lot and his family that he interceded ? Lot might be
weak and erring, too eager for earthly gain, too self.
reliant, too regardless of spiritual good, too weak in
faith—but he was “righteous,” nevertheless. All
Sodom had not been able to destroy his faith in Je-
hovah, or to persuade him to adopt their wicked ways.
He lived in Sodom, but, after all, he was not of it.
His righteous soul was vexed, from day to day, with
the filthy behavior of the wicked. If he did not openly
ABRAHAM's character. 1 IS
protest against their wickedness, or wisely flee from it,
he yet testified in his daily life against it—perhaps the
most emphatic of all testimonies. If he reared no altar
to Jehovah in the midst of the abominations of that un-
godly city, he had not forgotten Abraham's altars and the
solemn worship of the thousand men, women and chil-
dren that gathered around them. Hence, Abraham's in-
tercession is in behalf of “righteous” persons. If there
were none others of that character in Sodom, he felt
sure that Lot was still worthy to be thus designated,
and that out of his household and friends there could be
mustered nine that would be worthy to stand with him.
Do we intercede as we ought for others? Have
even those we love a large place in our supplications?
Or are we supremely selfish in our prayers? If there is
any power in prayer to secure blessings for one's self,
surely it may prevail in behalf of others, inspired, as
such prayers must be, by a benevolence and sympathy
always pleasing to God. When every other means of
help for others fails, we can still pray for them. This is
a treasury of benevolence that need never be exhausted.
It is suggestive of the real experience of every spir-
itual life, that as Abraham's blessings increased, his trials
also increased. The cup of life was bitter-sweet all the
way through. If he had joy in the birth of Ishmael,
and began to comfort himself with the assurance that in
him he would find the promised heir, his joy was
quenched in the domestic troubles that ensued and
resulted in banishing the mother and child from his
home and his protection. If, at last, he knew supreme
joy in the birth of Isaac, and his old age was crowned
with gladness in watching the growth and development
of this child of promise—this crowning reward of his
I 16 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
faith—what a thick cloud of darkness must have gath-
ered over his soul when he was required to surrender
this beloved son to death | Such a trial did not come
until he had been trained to a lofty faith—a faith that,
to him, had all the certainty of knowledge. Thus it is
that, in our spiritual experiences, we do not escape trials
through our growth in faith and holiness, but often
are visited with heavier burdens, proportioned to the
strength we have accumulated. “Every branch in me
that beareth fruit, he pruneth it, that it may bring forth
more fruit.” Find in this the solution of many a mys-
tery of spiritual life. But if there came this tremen-
dous trial of faith, it brought forth, doubtless, a sweeter
and richer and holier joy than the venerable patriarch
had ever known. We imagine that the supreme moment
of joy in Abraham's life was when he stood before the
altar on which smoked the sacrifice that had become
Isaac's substitute, and, with the son of his love, received
back from death, at his side, looked from this scene of
sacrifice to the death of the Son of God and His resurrec-
tion from the dead. For then, interpreting the love of
God from the love of his own suffering heart, he said ex-
ultingly, “Jehovah-jireh "-Jehovah will provide a lamb
to take away the sin of the world, and open the pathway
to eternal life. “Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he
saw it, and was glad " (John viii. 56). Thus it is that
the mount of sacrifice becomes the mount of vision, and
out of our deepest trials are born our holiest joys.
There is a calm dignity in the hour of bereavement,
when the beloved Sarah is taken from Abraham (chap.
xxiii.), such as befits a pilgrim who looks “for a better
country, that is, a heavenly.” The divinely-appointed
heir of the land buys—insists on buying—a burying-
ABRAHAM's chARACTER. 117
place. His true inheritance was beyond. From this
time on, there is a deliberate preparation for the close of
life—a careful disposing of all his earthly interests—in
perfect keeping with his whole character. A wife was
selected for Isaac; the sons of Keturah were provided
for; the inheritance was settled upon Isaac ; and at the
end of one hundred and seventy-five years—in which
is found a whole century of faith, self-sacrifice, hero-
ism, patient endurance, unfaltering obedience and un-
murmuring submission to the divine will—he “died in
a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was
gathered unto his people.”
Reader, did you ever pause to reflect on all that is
sweet, mellow, beautiful and precious, expressed in that
phrase—“a good old age "P Study this character, and
learn that a pure faith, an obedient spirit, a heart
trained to be submissive to God, and a life thronged
with memories of patient endurances, noble hero-
isms, generous deeds, brave conquests of temptation,
and cheered and sustained all through with ever-
growing trust in God, will infallibly secure “a good
old age" of tranquillity, love and joy.
O God of Abraham, be Thou my God, and let me
be, like him, obedient unto Thee. Let me learn to
emulate the virtues that shone so brightly in his life.
In the richer light of the gospel, and the higher privi-
leges and blessings of the kingdom of heaven, enable
me to abound in all the fruits of righteousness to the
praise of Thy holy name.
I 18 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
MELCHIZEDEK.
(Read Genesis xiv. 18–20; Heb. vii.)
There is something so mysterious about Melchi-
zedek, and the Old Testament Scriptures are so reticent
—having but two brief flashes of his name, character
and work—that it is not surprising to find many sin-
gular speculations concerning him, among Bible stu-
dents. Many of the Jews regarded him as Shem, the
son of Noah ; Calmet identifies him with Enoch;
Origen thinks he was an angel; some have thought
he was the Holy Ghost; and not a few have regarded
him as the Divine Word in one of those “goings forth "
which have been “from everlasting ” (Micah v. 2).
This but shows the folly of attempting to be wise above
what is written. While it is perhaps impossible to
avoid conjecture in regard to one who flits across the
stage just once and for a moment, never to appear
again on the historic page except in his divine antitype,
our conjectures should not be with a view to make bare
what has been purposely concealed ; nor should we ven-
ture out of sight of land on the sea of conjecture, but
closely follow the shore—admitting no suppositions
but such as seem necessary to explain the facts made
known to us, or such as legitimately spring from the
facts themselves.
It is quite probable that there would have been
comparatively little attention paid to one occupying so
small a place in sacred history, had it not been for that
singular declaration in Psalm cr. 4, and Paul's com-
MELCHIZEDEK. I 19
ments on this and on the brief history in Genesis. This
should teach us not to pass hastily over the inspired
narrative, since, where the surface appears unpromising,
there may be hidden precious treasures for those who will
“search for wisdom as for silver.” This is especially
true of the earlier Scriptures, that relate to the patriarchal
age. The more closely we examine them, the more
thoroughly are we convinced that the patriarchal dispen-
sation had hidden in it the germs cf all the spiritual
truths that wave as a golden harvest in the ripe revela-
tions of the New Testament. The Jewish dispensation
is a huge parenthesis, more fully unfolding and illus-
trating the purposes of God in regard to human re-
demption from sin and death, but which can be skipped
without disturbing the relation between the Patri-
archal and Christian dispensations. “The law was
added.” to the patriarchal revelations, for certain pur-
poses, and for a certain time; but the original “seed of
the kingdom " is to be traced in its germinations in this
patriarchal soil. Here is found, not only “the gospel”
in promise, but the grandest type of the Son of God de-
voted to death, and of the unchangeable, universal,
eternal and royal priesthood of Jesus, the Christ.
In the light of Old Testament facts and New Testa-
ment comments, the following conclusions seem to us
reasonable.
1. The royalty of Melchizedek does not necessarily
link itself with any earthly throne or special territory.
He may or may not have been a king among the
kings of that land. But his royalty was of a far no-
bler type than theirs. He was king of Righteousness,
and, consequentially, king of Salem, or peace. Malchi,
king; taedek, righteousness; salem, peace. “First
I2O EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
pure, then peaceable.” “The work of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness
and assurance forever” (Isa. xxxii. 17). Melchizedek
swayed not a golden scepter, but a scepter of righteous-
ness; and the fruit of his reign was peace. Nor had he
any royal, any more than he had a priestly, genealogy.
He descended from no long line of kings. He was
born to his dominion, “not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” How
often is a man seen growing up to a high sort of royalty
in a neighborhood, merely by force of character.
Every one seeks to him for counsel; every one carries
to him his troubles; the entire township wishes to
know his judgment about everything that is proposed,
and when his judgment is expressed, it has the force of
law. It is simply a universal tribute to superior wis-
dom and goodness. He was never elected to an office
by vote; he holds no official authority. Nor does
he owe anything to his ancestry. Simply by the at-
traction of superior wisdom, righteousness and good-
ness, he draws all to him for sympathy, counsel and
assistance. Sometimes one man may be found in a
county, of whom this is largely true; and occasionally
such an one appears in a State, and is a power behind
the throne greater than the throne itself. Thus, it
seems to us, this man grew up to dominion as a king of
righteousness and peace. Hence, everything relating to
his ancestry is hidden from us, and all that pertains to
his birth and his death. He appears only in the full-
grown strength of a righteousness so lofty that kings
like the king of Sodom own his power, and even Abra-
ham, the friend of God, does him homage. Among
the numerous princes or kings of that region, between
MELCHIZEDEK, |[2] :
whom there were many conflicting interests, and often
bloody wars, he seems to have acted as counselor and
arbiter, checking their violence, rebuking their injus-
tice, and, by his personal influence, establishing peace.
In these respects, his sway may have been quite exten-
sive. It was certainly a grand type of royalty. He
was greater than the kings of the earth.
2. Nor does the priesthood of this man link itself
with any line of priests. It was complete in itself; was es-
tablished by no law save the law of righteousness; and
was limited by no statute. The priestly power of that
age was the prerogative of the head of the family—the
father, or the first-born son who succeeded him. (See
Job i. 5.) It was not, even when thus limited, an insig-
nificant office. In a family like Abraham's, composed
of perhaps a thousand persons, it was a high dignity to
be permitted to draw near to God in their behalf, and
bear their interests on one's heart to the heart of God at
the altar of sacrifice. But such a priesthood, by virtue
of fatherhood or sonship, is not the highest or broadest
type of priesthood. In Melchizedek we behold the
priest, not of one family, but of any and all the sinful,
who, crushed under the weight of their own guilt, sought
unto him because they recognized, in the princely
power of his righteousness, a means of prevailing with
God beyond any other known to them. He who had
such power with men because of his righteousness, they
thought must have power with God also. Perhaps his
priestly office came to be exercised in connection with
his peace-making. Those whose sins he rebuked and
whose wrongs he prevailed with them to abandon, ac-
quiescing in the universally acknowledged sovereignty of
his righteousness, would most readily trust in him as a
H22 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
priestly intercessor to obtain for them forgiveness from
God. Indeed, we have a glimpse of such a proceeding
in the case of Job, who, by divine direction, tran-
scended the limits of his family priesthood by appearing
at the altar in behalf of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar,
and interceding with God for their forgiveness. We
can imagine, from this incident, how Melchizedek may
have grown into the exercise of priestly functions with-
out beginning or end of days in their performance, and
without a priestly genealogy. And we can not but be
impressed with the genuineness and ripeness of a right-
eousness that thus drew to him the sin-stricken from
any and every quarter of the land, as their surest re-
source against despair and against the wrath of God. It
adds to the weight of this estimate of his character and
influence, that even as noble and princely a man as
Abraham, himself on intimate terms with Jehovah and
approved as the friend of God, should feel honored in
receiving the priestly blessing of Melchizedek, and
should do homage to him as a priest of the most high
God by paying tithes to him out of the vast spoils won
in battle from confederate heathen kings. In the per-
son of Abraham, Aaron and all the priests of the Jew-
ish dispensation did homage to Melchizedek as the
possessor of a priesthood nobler than theirs. It was a
priesthood of flesh and blood, constituted by law,
bowing before the overpowering majesty of a priesthood
of righteousness.
3. Melchizedek was “a priest of the most high
God.” This is important. It was at a time when idola-
try was rampant. The faith that Noah brought from
the old world was rapidly dying out. Such instances as
those of Job and his friends, Abraham and Melchiz-
MELCHIZEDER. 123
edek, show that it still lingered among men. Doubt-
less there were many thousands, scattered here and
there, that had not bowed the knee to false gods. Of
these, Melchizedek was the friend and counselor and
comforter; while at the same time he championed the
truth concerning the most high God which seemed so
rapidly fading away from the earth—championed it so
successfully and worthily that kings and princes,
even heathen kings like the king of Sodom, evidently
owned his power. We may imagine something of the
interest belonging to this meeting of Abraham and Mel-
chizedek—both of them mighty champions of the truth
—the dignity and power of the former, in the sight of
the heathen, resting on his wealth and his military ex-
ploit; the dignity and power of the latter resting on the
gentler but more potent attractions of righteousness.
It is from this point of view that we must consider
what Paul says of Melchizedek in the epistle to the He-
brews. A fleshly priesthood has only a genealogical
glory. Its integrity is merely an integrity of flesh and
blood. It is marked by beginning of days and end of life
in all its functionaries. Its widest scope and highest dig-
nity are national. It has no kingly power, but is sub-
missive to the royalty of others. But a priesthood of
righteousness is in its nature royal, rests not on the ac-
cident of birth, and knows no national or racial limita-
tions. It rests on a basis eternal and unchangeable, and
reaches out wherever there are wrongs to be rebuked,
sins to be banished, guilt to be atoned for, or woes to
be healed. Without regard to father or mother, with-
out reference to age or place, righteousness allies a man
with God and gives him power to prevail in behalf of
man. All that gave dignity and excellency to the Le-
I24 gi. EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
vitical priesthood, dwelt potentially in Abraham, from
whom all its luster was derived; therefore the homage
of Abraham to Melchizedek was, proleptically, the bow-
ing of that priesthood before the superior excellence and
power of this priest-king of righteousness and peace.
It is worthy of note here, that even where, for
God's purposes, the principle of fleshly descent was
recognized as having great importance, it was neverthe-
less divinely degraded, so to speak, in the presence of
higher considerations. . Thus in the matter of birth-
right, Isaac is preferred to Ishmael, Jacob to Esau,
Judah to Reuben, Ephraim to Manasseh; in the
matter of priesthood, Melchizedek outranks Aaron and
his descendants; as a leader, Moses takes precedence of
Aaron. .
Let us not make our boast in ancestry. Better to be
“without father and without mother,” and possess per-
sonal righteousness, than to cling to genealogical honors
while personally worthless. “For every man shall
give an account of himself unto God.”
Thanks be to God for that unchangeable, universal,
royal priesthood, of which Melchizedek furnished so
significant a type, in which the sin-laden of all lands and
every age may trust.
ISAAC AND REBEKAH. 125
ISAAC AND REBEKAH.
(Read Genesis xxii. 1–19, xxiv., xxvi., xxviii.,
xxxv. 27–29.)
Dean Stanley, in his account of a visit, in company
with the Prince of Wales, to the Mosque at Hebron,
with a view to inspect the Tombs of the Patriarchs, in
1862, says:
But on requesting to see the tomb of Isaac, we were entreated not
to enter; and on asking, with some surprise, why an objection which
had been conceded for Abraham should be raised in the case of his far
less eminent son, were answered that the difference lay in the charac-
ters of the two patriarchs. “Abraham was full of loving kindness; he
had withstood even the resolution of God against Sodom and Gomor-
rah; he was goodness itself, and would overlook any affront. But
Isaac was proverbially jealous, and it was exceedingly dangerous to ex-
asperate him. When Ibrahim Pasha [as conqueror of Palestine] had
endeavored to enter, he had been driven out by Isaac, and fell back as
if thunderstruck.”
This is worth quoting as an illustration of the ex-
travagance into which tradition runs, especially in the
hands of the superstitious. How different from the
portrait drawn by the pencil of inspiration. “And
Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had
digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the
Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abra-
ham ” (Gen. xxvi. 18). They did not dare to fill up
the wells while Abraham was alive. Such an act would
have been equivalent to a declaration of war, and they
knew that if Abraham were aroused by such an act of
injustice, his fiery indignation and military heroism
could not be withstood. They had not forgotten his
126 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
swift vengeance on Chedorlaomer and his allies, when
Lot was carried captive. But they had no fear of
Isaac. He had made no impression on them as possess-
ing sufficient force of character to cause them any
alarm. They afterwards envied his prosperity (Gen.
xxvi. 14), and feared his growing power; but of his
personal courage, ambition, or aggressiveness, they
had so little fear that they did not hesitate to trifle with
him, and to violate his rights, as they never had dared
to do with his father.
All the glimpses we obtain of Isaac's character,
leave the impression of gentleness, inoffensiveness,
meditativeness, submissiveness—almost of passiveness.
Ishmael bullied him when he was a child. In his youth
or early manhood, when his father took him to Mount
Moriah to offer him up for a burnt-offering, there was
entire submissiveness. He could have resisted. He
could have run away. Whatever may have been Abra-
ham's visions of faith, we can hardly suppose Isaac to
have shared them. It seems to have been unquestion-
ing submissiveness to the father whom he loved and
revered, and whose word he trusted, that the Lord
would conduct this fearful trial to a happy issue.
The fact that, at forty years of age, he had nothing
to do in choosing his own wife, leaving the choice to
Abraham and Eliezer, does not say much for his
force of character. While the customs of the times
may be pleaded in favor of parental authority in the
selection of a wife for the son; and while Jacob's long
journey in search of a wife may be accounted for on
other grounds than his right to choose a wife for him-
self; it is nevertheless hard to believe that Jacob would
have willingly consented to have a wife chosen for him,
ISAAC AND REBEKAH. 127
and we know that Esau took the matter in hand for
himself. But Isaac gladly accepts the wife that is
brought to him—thankful, no doubt, to be spared all
the trouble of the search and the courtship. And if
there was peace in the family during their married life,
we suspect it was much more due to the meekness of
Isaac than to the submissiveness of the high-spirited
Rebekah. Sarah, although evidently having a mind of
her own, is yet presented as a model of wifely submis-
siveness (I. Pet. iii. 6); but Rebekah is never so men-
tioned. Judging from her management of her hus-
band in the matter of the birthright (Gen. xxvii), we
opine that without any open rebellion against her
husband's authority, she knew how to outwit him, and
that he, when he found himself outwitted, quietly
yielded to his “better half.”
We obtain another glimpse of Isaac's character in
the fact that about the time of the arrival of his bride,
he went out into the field at eventide to meditate (Gen.
xxiv. 63). He was not waiting in feverish anxiety for
the arrival of his bride. He was a lover of quiet. He
loved to be alone with his thoughts—alone with God.
The world within him was more the source of his en-
joyment than the world without him. He was not
lazy, idle, or luxurious. He was not a stuffed spec-
imen of a contented and sleek animal. He was a man
of industry, as his successful farming and his ever.
growing riches testify; and he was a man of thought,
as this fondness for meditation sufficiently evinces. But
there was in him nothing warlike, nothing aggressive.
His submission to repeated injuries, as in the matter
of the wells (Gen. xxvi. 18–22), shows that he was a
man of peace. While there seems to have been want-
128 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
ing that force of character by which his father was
distinguished; and his love of quiet is seen in his aban-
donment of the roving life which his father had led;
there is much that is praiseworthy in his life. The
gentler virtues—and these we take to have been rare in
that age—shine with a sweet, pleasant and steady light,
like the stars in the heavens. His faith in God never
trembles. He injures none. He is diligent in business,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. He steadily main-
tains the worship of Jehovah, honors the memory of
his father, cherishes great affection for his mother, is
true to his wife, and works righteousness day by day.
His life comes nearer to the tame, monotonous every-
day life of good people, whose history has nothing
startling in it, whose virtues are the steady, unob-
trusive, modest virtues on which the peace of home,
and the security of the commonwealth, and the pros-
perity of life, depend. Let us not, then, turn away
from the contemplation of his character, because it
lacks brilliancy, or treat his life with indifference be-
cause it is destitute of romance. The picture of a
plain, patient, plodding man, making the earth pleasant
by his gentleness and amiability; making a home, with
many elements of strife in it, peaceful by his meekness
and patience; prospering by honest industry; linking
his soul to heaven by holy meditation, and leaving
everywhere the odor of sanctity unmingled with any
memory of unrighteousness or oppression, is a picture
more encouraging and inspiring for the great multitude,
than one of bolder features. Under the dominion of
faith and the fear of God, such a nature, without much
inherent force, takes on fair proportions of moral vigor
and excellence, and teaches us “the might of gentle-
ISAAC AND REBEKAH. 129
ness.” “The meek shall inherit the earth.” Were
the world peopled with men and women of Isaac's gen-
tleness and patience, there would be no need for the
ruggedness and boldness which are chiefly valuable in
resisting wrong; and military heroism would lose all its
charms. The world would be none the worse to-day
for many more men of this type.
I 30 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
ESAU AND JACOB.
(Read Genesis xxv. 27–34; xxvi. 34, 35; xxxiii.
I-17.) -
The chief interest that centers in these persons, be-
longs to them in their representative characters, standing
as they do for nations that were to spring from them.
But at present we propose to view them in their per-
sonal characters. And it must be said, at the start,
that each of them had a strangely mixed character.
There is such a mixture of good and bad as to be some-
what puzzling; yet on this very account we need to
study them, for our characters are apt to be so strangely
mixed as to make us often a puzzle to ourselves; and it
is well to be able to stand off and look at such charac-
ters in others, since we are not able to stand off and
view ourselves. Do not be too hasty in passing cen-
sure, until you have first inquired whether what you .
are so ready to condemn in them has not its counter-
part in your own life. Remember, too, how much
greater your privileges, your means of moral culture,
and how much more favorable your surroundings; and
then, if you find your character stained with the same
faults, be sure to make the lesson profitable to your
own soul; for “the things that were written aforetime
were written for our learning, that through patience and
through comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope.”
The key to Esau's character is found in the epistle
to the Hebrews, where he is styled a “profane person”
—that is, of a low order of thoughts and desires, desti-
ESAU AND JAcob. I31
tute of spiritual affections and aims. He was irreligious;
his life was largely one of animal excitement and enjoy-
ment. “He did eat and drink, and rose up and went
his way” (Gen. xxv. 34). Present good, present enjoy-
ment, was worth more to him than all beside; hence the
ease with which he sold his birthright—which had no
value except in the distant future, and even then a
religious value chiefly—for a mess of pottage to make
him happy in the present hour. Possessed of strong
animal forces, he loved to roam over the fields and
enjoy the excitements of the chase; and for the
rest, he loved to loll in idleness, and “eat and drink,
and rise up and go his way ” to some new physical
excitement, without a thought of being of use to him-
self or to others. He was a jolly, rollicking sports-
man—not destitute of affection; not given to cruelty or
wrong; frank, open-hearted, truthful, but swayed
largely by impulse, and caring more for the gratifica-
tion of his own desires than for all else. Any interfer-
ence with these he would resent; but if these were not
interfered with, he was doubtless a good friend and a
jolly companion. No divine or parental claim on him was
allowed to oppose his wishes. Hence, the judgment
of his parents was not at all taken into the account in
his selection of his wives; and just as little did he
care about the spiritual or religious outcome of his
marriages. The maidens pleased him, and that was
enough. In natural traits of character, he was, in some
important particulars, superior to Jacob. In frankness
and generosity he was greatly his superior. The mag-
nanimity with which he passed over the great fraud
practiced against him by Jacob, is greatly to his honor,
notwithstanding, in the first heat of passion, he had
I 32 - EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
threatened his brother's life. The true objection to
Esau’s character is a most serious and fatal one—his
utter irreligiousness, his contentment with a life on the
low plane of animalism. But are we sure that this
most serious fault does not inhere in us? Making all
due allowance for the change in circumstances, and for
the modes in which animalism reveals itself, is not “a
mess of pottage ’’ valued more highly, even by many
professed Christians, than the highest spiritual good?
Is not this hirsute hunter—this vigorous, jolly, and
withal, honest and generous animal—the type of myr-
iads in Christian lands, who, like him, “eat and
drink, and rise up and go their way,” despising their
birthright? There may be more refinement of sensual-
ity in modern pleasures; but are not intellectual strength
and dignity bartered for merely animal enjoyments or
physical excitements; moral excellence for the indul-
gence of passion ; Spiritual attainments and enjoyments
for fun and frolic; pure affections, home delights, social
standing, for the disgusting associations and worse than
beastly degradation of the whisky and beer saloon?
Do not men barter their honor, their integrity—all that
is manly and noble in character—for money P Do not
men sell their souls for gain P Are not the blisses and
dignities of everlasting life surrendered, that men may
enjoy “the pleasures of sin for a season ''P Is not the
favor of God abandoned for the momentary applause of
the fickle multitude P Take away all that ministers
to merely earthly and animal desires and wants, and
what is left to make life in any way desirable to multi-
tudes, even of those who are classed as respectable, and
who often possess some very desirable traits of charac-
ter? The progress of civilization may have elevated
JACOB AND ESAU. 133
them above the grossness and rudeness of Esau’s time,
and the price of their enjoyments may involve more
of intellectual culture; but at bottom, it is the same
enslavement to earth and sense. They seek their por-
tion in this life; God is not in all their thoughts; they
are “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” As
in Esau's case, their lives are divorced from all high
spiritual aims, and the inspirations of the love of God
are unknown in their hearts. The enduring moral dig-
nities and spiritual delights to which they were heirs by
the very spiritual faculties with which they were born,
are recklessly bartered for a mess of pottage. And
among those who profess to have been “begotten
again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead ''-those who starve their souls in
their greed for worldly good, who hoard their money
and turn a deaf ear to the calls of suffering and perish-
ing humanity, or lose in the whirl of carnal pleasure
their interest in things divine—who, like Demas, “love
this present world ;” the churches that forsake the sim-
plicity that is in Christ, and exchange their trust in
God for worldly policy, and, for a show of success,
truckle to a godless world to obtain its patronage; the
preachers who surrender the approval of God and the
love of souls, and, in a spirit of self-seeking, shape
their course to win popular applause: all these, for a
paltry mess of pottage sell their glorious birthright.
The Esaus and Demases may be counted by myriads.
Even in Paul's day this earthliness and selfishness and
enslavement to present charms were so well nigh uni-
versal that he was led to say, “All seek their own,
not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” Is it any
better now P
I 34 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
There is such a thing as parting with one's birthright;
else the warning in Heb. xii. 16, 17, is vain. Not only
so, but there is an intimation that it may be so fatally
parted with, under the pressure of present attractions,
that it can not be recovered. The time came when Esau,
with a better appreciation of its value, desired to regain
the birthright. It is touching to behold his sorrow when
he finds that no portion of it can be regained. He
sought, with many tears, to bring his father to repent of
the complete bestowal of his blessing on Jacob; but he
“found no space for repentance” in his father's heart.
And thus may the Christian so despise his birthright,
and, under some infatuation of passion, Surrender it
for a momentary gratification, or for gains limited to
his mortal life, that he may never be able to restore the
integrity of his wrenched conscience, or recover sight to
the eyes that he suffered to be blinded by the glare of
temptation, or regain the tenderness and sensitiveness of
his moral nature which he allowed to be hardened by
the deceitfulness of sin; and he may come at last, bank-
rupt in faith, in righteousness, in holiness—bankrupt in
the very power to recover these—and cry at the gates of
Mercy, “Bless me, even me too, O my Father,” when
even mercy has no means of relief; and he must turn
away, self-ruined, to darkness and despair.
Merciful God, teach us to prize as we ought our
spiritual birthright. Save us from profane desires and
ambitions. Let not the charms of sense overpower
our faith. May we endure as seeing Him who is in-
visible, and choose rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. Deliver us from the folly of Esau, and from
the sin of Demas, and enable us ever to be true to
JACOB AND ESAU. I35
Thee, and to our own best interests. May we walk by
faith, not by sight, that when all that is visible shall
perish, we may possess the abiding treasures of ever-
lasting life. 4.
I36 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
JACOB.
(Read Genesis xxvii.-xxxii., xxxvii., xlii., xlv. 25
—xlvi. 7, xlvii. 7–IO, xlviii., xlix.) -
Jacob, as the inheritor of the promises, figures much
more prominently in the sacred narrative than Esau,
who sold his birthright. His character, too, as a whole,
is much more commendable, although, in Some particu-
lars, it suffers in comparison with the character of Esau.
The history of Jacob, so far as it bears on the study
of his character, readily divides itself into two chap-
ters—the struggle at Peniel making the dividing line.
In the first chapter we have Jacob the self-seeker. He
was not, like Esau, profane and sensual. The ground-
work of his character, we are led to believe, was re-
ligious faith; yet it was a faith so feeble, or so far car-
nalized, that for a long time it was overborne by self.
sufficiency and a selfish ambition. His appreciation of
the value of the birthright indicates faith in the covenant
promises; but his method of obtaining it displays
great selfishness. To take advantage of what he knew
to be his brother's weakness, and thus to extort from
him the honors and privileges of the birthright, was
meanly selfish. He had faith enough in Jehovah's
promises to inspire him with a strong ambition to in-
herit them ; but he had more confidence in his own
method of obtaining the inheritance than in God's
method of bestowing it. Hence, he fails to trust God
to fulfill his own purpose, and resorts to cunning to
obtain that which God had announced his intention
JACOB. I37
to bestow. There is such a thing as divorcing religion
from morals; and in Jacob's case his religious faith
seems to have had but little control of his conduct.
But what right have we to expect any high moral or
spiritual development in the child of such a mother as
Rebekah P. The family of Isaac presents an ungainly
picture for our contemplation. The parents had each a
pet. Such partialities in a family are sure to work mis-
chief. Even if they are felt, they ought to be care-
fully suppressed. In Isaac's case, it was a blind, un-
reasoning partiality, leading—whether by a deliberately
formed purpose or not, we can not say—to a disregard
or a misinterpretation of the divine election of Jacob to
the superior place. In Rebekah's case, while her
preference may have been founded on the divine
preference as expressed in Gen. xxv. 23, and she may
have felt that she was acting in harmony with this
divine purpose, her resort to artifice and falsehood
to accomplish her desire is a shocking revelation of
unfaithfulness to her husband and to both her children.
Her sin takes on a deeper dye in that she not only prac-
ticed deception herself, but taught Jacob to utter false-
hood and practice deception upon his poor old father.
We need not wonder at the son, when we see the father
slyly, almost clandestinely, attempting to accomplish
his purpose, and the mother, with greater skill, seeking
by artifice and falsehood to thwart her husband's plans.
It was a sad schooling for children, so far as honesty and
truthfulness were concerned. When Jacob had to flee
from the face of his brother Esau, to thwart his mur-
derous purpose, we see the same features of character
developed—a religious faith overborne by earthliness
and selfishness. The dream of the ladder (chap. xxviii.)
138 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
calls out his religious feeling, and he is reverent in the
presence of God. Yet there is a spirit of dickering
in his piety. “If God will be with me, and will keep
me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat
and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my
father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God
and of all that thou shalt give me, I will
surely give the tenth unto thee.” We are aware that the
language is capable of a construction that Somewhat
lightens the selfishness of this piety; but at best it is
a low order of religious devotion. There is too much of
the quid pro quo about it. It has a mercenary Smack.
It is saying to God, “You be good to me, and I will be
good to you, and pay you ten per cent. On all you
invest in me.” This is not like Job’s “Though he
slay me, yet will I trust in him.” It is not, “I will
henceforth forsake my sins, and be true to God, and
trust him to guide my steps;” but, “If God will be as
good as his word, I will choose him for my God.” It is
better than nothing; but, we repeat, it reveals a low
order of piety. The religious is overwhelmed by the
worldly element. It is a sort of piety altogether too
common. There be many who prize religion simply
or mainly for the worldly advantages it confers; it is,
with them, one of the conveniences of life; or, their
stock in it is regarded as a good investment, morally,
politically, or in a business point of view ; but that
consecration to truth and duty which holds life itself at
their command, is unknown.
During Jacob's residence in Padan-aram, there is
little that is new in the development of his character.
That his life was marked by fidelity to the various trusts
committed to him, would appear from his challenge to
JACOB. I39
Laban (chap. xxxi. 36–42). That he was affectionate
and faithful in his domestic relations, there is no room to
doubt. He probably did as well as any man with so
many wives, primary and secondary, could do; it
speaks well for him that amid the jealousies and rival-
ries that must ever spring up among several wives and
their children, he managed to hold them all in sub-
jection and in tolerable harmony. But the same cool
cunning and sharp practice is evident in his dealings
with Laban, that we saw in his dealings with Esau; yet
Laban was a pretty good match for him in this respect;
there is little to choose between them. The reader
can Scarcely help indulging a sense of righteous satisfac-
tion when he finds this cunning schemer paid back
in his own coin by Laban; nor is this satisfaction
lessened when Laban, in turn, is the victim. It is,
however, a very unsatisfactory moral picture; yet we
doubt, if we became familiar with the tricks and frauds
of business life to-day, whether we should find com-
mercial morality much improved since Jacob's time.
It is to be said, to the honor of Jacob, that he kept
himself free from idolatry, although Laban's family,
and of course Jacob's wives, seem to have been some-
what inclined to it. Jacob fears God and “takes care
of number one;” and his life has in it that mixture
of good and evil which must necessarily grow out of his
mixed principles. He has never yet made an unre.
served surrender of himself to God. God is not cast
off, but self is uppermost.
On his return, by divine direction, to the land of
promise, there occurs a change which gives a new
phase to his character. He had, doubtless, been ripen-
ing for it in the strange experiences of the last twenty
I40 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
years, but the crisis came during this journey. He had
not hitherto met a rival or antagonist for whom he was
not a match; and at the end of every contest he could
say, in self-complacency, “Well done, Jacob.” But he
was now about to meet the brother whom he had
wronged, and the sins of former years stared him in
the face and unmanned him. He sent messengers to
Esau, that he might learn whether the vengeance
he had vowed in former times was still cherished; but
there came no answer, only, “He cometh to meet
thee with four hundred men.” Jacob's Own guilty coin-
science would necessarily interpret this as meaning the
destruction of him and his. For the first time he is ap-
palled under a sense of his own weakness as well as guilt-
iness. He flees to God now with a humility and earn-
estness he had not known before. “I am not worthy of
the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which
thou hast showed unto thy servant.” At the same
time, true to the business instincts which seem to have
prompted all his past movements, he fails not to send in
advance magnificent presents to his brother, with very
cordial, yet deferential, messages of good will. After
taking every precaution that his practical wisdom sug-
gested for the safety of his family and his property, he
retires into a solitary place, and is alone with his
thoughts and with God. These hours of solitude and
silence, in the crises of our lives, when we face our own
deeds and then come face to face with God—how
awfully solemn they are We are removed from the
excitements of passion that blinded us, from the plead-
ings of self-interest that corrupted us, from the applause
of the world that flattered us; and our follies and
sins rise up in their real proportions. Self-conceit and
JACOB. I4I
pride, that braced us when we stood in the presence of
others, and even when we stood alone in the days
of our prosperity, Subside now in the silence which is
broken only by the voices of Memory and Conscience,
in the solitude which is inhabited only by our own
fears and terrors, and the felt presence of the invisible
God. Such a solitude and silence were Jacob's now.
Under a sense of weakness which crushed out all his
self-sufficiency; under circumstances in which his nat.
ural cunning, sharpened by long practice, could avail
him nothing; hedged in, as it were, under God's own
direction, where he is made to feel all his littleness and
nothingness, and to realize how incapable he is to
direct his own steps, he is led to wrestle with the prin-
ciples and the habits of a lifetime. His sins all rise up
before him. His life all passes in review. It has been
stained with sins; it has been spoiled by unworthy
aspirations; it has been inspired by ambitions all too
low ; its very best portions are beneath the dignity
of an heir of the promises. As it is laid bare in
this searching introspection, its selfishness and self.
sufficiency are odious. There must be a revolution.
His character must be taken down, and rebuilt on a
new foundation. He must thoroughly purge himself
of the errors and sins of the past, and put himself
under the care and guidance of Jehovah, with holier
purposes than he had at Beth-el. As he is thus racked
with conflicting emotions, he discerns a form beside
him. Whether this was merely a subjective conception,
or an objective reality, makes no difference as to the
lesson taught. We take it to have been an objective
reality, and that in harmony with the heat and strife
within—with the tempest that broke over his spirit and
I42 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
the turmoil that raged in his brain—he threw all his
strength into a contest with this strange being who
seemed thus rudely to intrude into his presence. But
here we must pause for the present.
WRESTLING. I43
WRESTLING.
We left Jacob engaged in that mysterious wrestling-
match with the angel of Jehovah. We may not be
able to understand it fully. The record is brief. We
are disposed, however, to say that it was not a mere
trial of muscular strength. It was an intense spiritual
conflict. “By his strength he had power with God;
yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he
wept and made supplication unto him " (Hos. xii. 3, 4).
The physical wrestling, on Jacob's part, was but an
outer expression of the soul-wrestling within. Several
things are suggested by the narrative, of which we
note—
I. That the conquest of sin and evil calls for heroic
and persevering endeavor. The reason for this is found,
not in God's unwillingness to bless, but in our own
need that the soul should be brought into a proper con-
dition to receive the divine blessing. We can not for a
moment believe, in view of all the Scriptures reveal of
God's willingness to bless, that He needs to be plied
with earnest and protracted and agonizing supplica-
tions, in order to prevail with Him to be gracious.
He knows what we need before we ask Him ; and we
are especially cautioned against “vain repetitions,”
as if a mere clamor of words could be pleasing to Him.
He will not hear us for our much speaking. Yet
our Lord teaches us to practice importunity in prayer
(Luke xi. 5–10; xviii. 1–8); and Paul teaches us not
only to “pray always,” but to “watch thereunto with
I 44 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
all perseverance” (Eph. vi. 18). All high attainments
are the result of persevering toil and conflict, involving
serious and even desperate wrestlings with temptations
without and corruptions within. When our Lord said,
“Agonize to enter in at the strait gate,” he but ex-
pressed a condition of success—a law of life—which is
universal in its application to every department of life,
as the condition of reaching eminent success in the at-
tainment of that which is lawful and good. In the
pursuit of learning, wealth, fame, power, moral excel-
lence, or spiritual purity and dignity, this law holds
good. There are times of wrestling in every true and
noble life—in every life that seeks to be true and noble
—similar to that in the life of Jacob, though they may
not take on the same objective form. And there are
crises, here and there, in every true life, when the
whole future seems to be crowded into the decision of
an hour, when these wrestlings become fearfully in-
tense. When one of the prophets sought to account for
the deplorable condition of the Jewish people, he said,
“None stirreth up himself to lay hold of God” (Isa.
lxiv. 7). It is because of the fearfulness that shrinks
from the struggle that so many fail of all high attain-
ments; and this, perhaps, is what the great Teacher
means, in bidding us “agonize to enter in at the strait
gate,” when he adds, “For many, I say unto you,
shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” They
seek, but they seek in their own way; they would
enter without the agonizing, by some royal road that
only skirts the territory of self-sacrifice. They would
live with Christ, but they will not be crucified with Him;
they would know the power of His resurrection without
knowing the fellowship of His sufferings; they would
wrestLING. . I45
wear the crown, if only they could do so without first
bearing the cross.
Not so strange a scene of wrestling, after all, that of
Jacob and the angel, as is that of our blessed Lord in
the garden. “Being in an agony”—a bitter and
tremendous strife; and this, too, was with “strong
cryings and tears ” (Heb. v. 7). If, in the pathway of
our Saviour, such conflicts awaited Him, let us not
think it strange that the sinners He seeks to redeem
must also partake of the strife.
If it be asked why Jacob should be required to
struggle all night long, our answer is, For his own sake.
He must be taught the great lesson of manful struggle
—of conquest by a brave and direct warfare with antag-
onisms. He must be taught the necessity of conquer-
ing his own sins, whatever the agony of the moral con-
flict, before he can receive the blessing of God. He
was not in a condition to receive the blessing that God
was ready to bestow, until he had thus wrestled and
conquered. Moreover, this must be done, not by
any strength of his own, but by laying hold of the
strength of God. And this leads us to say—what we
regard as the true significance of this history—
2. That this strange scene presents us a vivid pic-
ture of human weakness clinging to God's strength. It is
not a mere trial of strength between man and God.
In dislocating Jacob's hip-joint by a slight touch, the
angel rendered him incapable of continuing the strug-
gle, and taught him that he had been permitted to pro-
long an unequal contest in which he could have been
crushed at any moment. The sublimest feature of the
scene is where the crippled and helpless Jacob, when he
can no longer wrestle, still clings in his utter weakness,
I46 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
and out of the depth of his helplessness and woe,
weeps and makes supplication to the angel for the
blessing he desires. It is then and thus that he con-
quers—not by means of his superior wrestling, but by
unconquerable perseverance and the pathos of the plea
of utter helplessness. His weakness is his strength.
He is crowned with princely honors when he throws
himself on the mercy of God and clings to that mercy
as his own strength. It is thus that our strength is
made perfect in our weakness. It was not the strong,
rugged, brawny athlete, in the pride of his strength,
that conquered ; but the wounded, panting, exhausted
and subjugated mortal, who turned defeat into victory
by clinging to the victor in this pitiable weakness, and
making that very weakness a plea for the blessing
he desired. Poor Jacob how long he had fought
against God's ways and sought to conquer by his own
strength and cunning—and his whole life had been put
out of joint by it! Now he learns the lesson that it is
useless to fight against God—that the true victory
comes when man learns his own weakness, renounces
his own strength, and clings to God with tears and Sup-
plications for that blessing that maketh rich, and to
which is added no sorrow. God has respect unto the
lowly, but sets himself in battle array against the
proud. There is no plea so prevailing with God as con-
Scious weakness and helplessness. We may struggle
against Him, and never prevail; but when we cease
to strive against Him, and in our brokenness and weak-
ness cling to His strength, we prevail, and win princely
honors from His gracious hand. O that we all might
learn this lesson in time, and save our lives from the
vain experiments of pride and self-sufficiency in which
WRESTLING. I47
so many of our best years are wasted: for if we ever
conquer, it will be by abasing ourselves and taking hold
of the strength of God.
From this time on Jacob is a new man. He is
no longer Jacob, the supplanter; but Israel– one
who, in striving, has power with God. He has
prevailed with God, and is henceforth to prevail with
men. The self-seeking of his old life is known no
more. We begin to read now of altars erected to
Jehovah, about which his family are gathered to be
taught in the way of the Lord, to confess their sins,
and to seek mercy through sacrifice. His spiritual
training proceeds from this time forth: prosperity does
not elevate him ; adversity ripens him into mellower
submissiveness. Rachel—his first and only love—dies.
His children sorely try him by their wicked ways. Jo-
seph, the beloved son of the beloved Rachel, is lost.
And when the famine comes, Benjamin too is taken
from him. No wonder that he cried out under such an
accumulation of griefs, “All these things are against
me.” Ah, how often are we thus encompassed with
sorrows and misfortunes, until it looks as if God
had forsaken us! Yet, in all this, Jacob no longer seeks
his own ways, nor loses his hold on God. In the thick
darkness he patiently submits to the hand that Smites
him, and leaves everything to the disposal of Jehovah's
wisdom and mercy. Had not his brother Esau been
pacified? Had he not returned to Beth-el—where God
had talked with him—and reërected the pillar which
first he placed there, as a memorial of the divine good-
ness? Had not God given him peace and prosperity in
the land of promise? Had not the angel of Jehovah
crowned him with princely greatness? Why should he
148 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
now doubt the goodness of his God because griefs had
overtaken him P No.: as he had clung to Him at Peniel
and prevailed, so would he yet cling to Him through
this long, dark night of adversity, and wait for the
breaking of the day. And the day did break. To the
upright there arose light in darkness. He lived to
know of joys that could never have been but for
this ſong night of sorrow. Perhaps one of the most
deeply interesting scenes in Jacob's life, could we enter
into it, was that at Beer-sheba, on his way to Egypt.
His long-mourned son Joseph was alive, and occupied the
highest seat of power in Egypt, next the throne. Ben-
jamin was safe. The famine had no more terrors.
All the perplexing discords of past years were being
translated into harmonious strains of gladness and tri-
umph. He was on his way to see his long-lost son. But
he paused at Beer-sheba. Ah, what thrilling memo-
ries thronged about him there ! Here were the scenes
of his boyhood. Here had been for a long time the
home of his father Isaac. Here he had bidden adieu to
father and mother when he had fled from the face of his
brother Esau. Here his grandfather Abraham had
dwelt. Here were the wells he had digged and the re-
mains of the altar on which both Abraham and Isaac
had made their offerings to Jehovah, and where Jacob
himself had many times formed one of the company in
the solemn hours of sacrifice. And to this sacred spot,
after so many wanderings and bitter experiences, he
had now returned, and the sunlight of God's favor was
bursting through the clouds that had for so many years
hung over him and his. The mysterious passages in his
past life were taking on new meaning, and what had
been painfully obscure and perplexing was growing ra-
WRESTLING. I49
diant with the light of divine wisdom. What sig-
nificance attaches, under these circumstances, to the
fact that he here “offered sacrifices unto the God of
his father Isaac,” and that “God spake unto him in
the visions of the night.” Face to face again with
God—but no longer in strife. He is going in the right
way now, and his visions are visions of peace and
blessedness.
And are there not such hours in the journey
of every true pilgrim—when the scattered events of
life are drawn to a focus, and we read, in their combina-
tion, what we never could make out when we traced
them separately P Happy is it for us, at such times, if
our obediences overpower our sins, and we are per-
mitted, after a stormy day, to enjoy a peaceful and
cloudless evening of life, blessed with interpretations of
our sorrows and griefs that are tenderly eloquent of the
faithfulness and mercy of God. &
It is needless to write much of the closing years of
Jacob's life. They were spent peacefully in Egypt,
undisturbed, it would seem, by calamity or misfortune
of any kind, his chastened spirit patiently waiting and
hoping for a greater Salvation than any he had yet ex-
perienced (Gen. xlix. 18). His life here had been but
a “pilgrimage,” and he was drawing near to that heav-
enly country which his fathers had sought, and to which
they had gone. With true patriarchal dignity, he coun-
sels his children, and gives them his dying charge; “and
when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons,
he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the
ghost, and was gathered unto his people.”
Happy he who hath the God of Israel for his help,
and the God of Jacob for his refuge.
ISO EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
O God of Beth-el! God of Israel! while I adore the
mercy and forbearance so tenderly manifest in Thy
dealings with Thine erring children, teach me to wrestle
with my sins, with false principles and evil habits that
tyrannize over my soul; and may I never cease my
supplications to Thee in this tremendous warfare until
I win power with God and with men to prevail. And
may the God before whom Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob did walk, who fed them all life long—the angel
who redeemed them from all evil—bless me, even me,
also, and be my Guide even unto death.
JOSEPH. I5 I
JOSEPH.
The character of Joseph approaches perfection more
nearly than any other in the Old Testament. The
child of the beloved Rachel, after her death the father
seems to have doated on him, and there was every
opportunity for the cultivation of the waywardness,
selfishness and arrogance of a spoiled child. But
Joseph proved to be an obedient son, gentle, affection-
ate, truthful, frank, and free from the recklessness and
rebelliousness by which the lives of his older brothers
were characterized. When sold into slavery, there was
no abandonment of his soul to evil. His genuine
goodness soon challenged the confidence of his master,
and the cheerful, conscientious and skillful performance
of his duties won for him a very honorable and responsi-
ble position. When, through his steadfast resistance of
temptation and his devotion to righteousness, he became
the innocent victim of falsehood and revengefulness,
and was cast into prison, in place of abandoning himself
to despair, he manfully accepted his fate, and set about
the performance of his duties with such faithfulness
as to win the heart of the keeper of the prison and
secure for himself a useful and responsible position in
the prison-house. When elevated to a proud dignity
next the throne, we witness no more of exultation than .
in the prison we saw of depression. He is the same
honest, faithful, conscientious, God-fearing man with
the gold chain of the king of Egypt about his neck,
that he was with the galling fetters of the slave and
I52 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
the criminal upon his limbs. Always and everywhere
he feared God, served his fellows, and wrought right-
eousness. Unsubdued by adversity, unconquered by
temptation, uncorrupted by wealth and power, gentle,
patient, forgiving, strong, brave, energetic, true to God
and true to himself, his character stands before us
without a flaw. Free alike from the infirmities of weak
and the excesses of strong characters, he stands before
us one of the few glorious creations in which we are
permitted to see what human nature is capable of
becoming under the blessing of God and the sway of
genuine piety. We do not see in him what every one
is capable of becoming, but we see what eminence
of goodness human nature is capable of reaching under
given conditions, and which it ought often to reach un-
der circumstances in many respects more favorable than
those which encircled the life of Joseph.
But it is chiefly as unfolding and illustrating God's
methods of providence, that the life of Joseph has value
to us; and it is to the lessons on this subject, suggested
in his remarkable history, that we now call attention.
Our space will not allow of an exhaustive treatment of
a deeply interesting subject.
I. Let it be observed that neither innocence nor
virtue exempts us from bitter trials. Joseph had both.
His character was marked by childish innocence when
he was sold into slavery, and by the loftiest virtue when
he was cast into prison. Yet he was a victim of the
grossest injustice. That which sorely tries our faith,
many times, is the fact of suffering and wrong heaped
upon us when we are conscious of entire integrity
of motive and of conduct, while those who are no-
toriously wicked and vile enjoy unbroken prosperity.
JoSEPH. I53
This perplexed Job greatly. It was a sore puzzle to
David. “But as for me, my feet were almost gone;
my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at
the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no bands in their death : but their
strength is firm. They are not in trouble like other
men; neither are they plagued like other men. There-
fore pride compasseth them about as a chain; vio-
lence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand
out with fatness; they have more than heart could
wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concern-
ing oppression: they speak loftily. They set their
mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh
through the earth. Therefore his people return hither,
and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed
my hands in innocency” (Ps. lxxiii. 2–17). This has
been in all ages a vexatious, and is to this day an
unsolved, problem. But it enters into the methods of
God’s providence. Two things, amid all our perplexi-
ties, we may discover: I. Adversity brings out in
grand development qualities of soul and attributes of
character which in prosperity would ever have re-
mained latent. 2. It is often for others, rather than
for ourselves, that we are called to endure these bur-
dens of sorrow and anguish. Both these results are
are seen in Joseph's case. He never could have been
the grand man he was, but for the trials through which
he passed. Not one in a thousand of those who have
admired and wept over this pathetic but glorious narra-
tive, would ever have so much as read it, had it been
merely the history of unbroken prosperity. But what
were great wrongs to him, issued in untold blessings to
I54 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
millions; and even while he lived he reached a higher
joy than could ever have sprung from mere personal
good fortune—the joy of knowing that his personal
sufferings had been made the means of ministering to
the happiness of multitudes. We are often too narrow
in our interpretations of Providence.
2. It is worthy of note that in the darkest seasons of
adversity, when it seems as if God had utterly forsaken
us, He is really very near to us, steadily working out
His gracious ends. How thick was the darkness in
Jacob's tent when the despairing patriarch cried out,
“All these things are against me”! All these things
were really for him, as he afterwards joyfully learned ;
but he could not see it then. How dark it must have
been in Joseph's prison when he waited day after
day for a message from the chief butler, and two
full years passed by without a word, until his heart
abandoned all hope. Yet at that very time God was
guiding all the affairs of Pharaoh's court for Joseph's
deliverance, and causing the silence of the butler to
serve his purposes much more effectually than his
speech could have done. The speech came at the right
time. Often our strength is to sit still (Isa. xxx. 7).
“It is good both to hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord ” (Lam. iii. 26).
3. In the long run, Providence surely guides virtue to
success, and as surely visits iniquity with righteous retri-
bution. When David saw the end of the wicked whose
prosperity he had envied, he was no longer puzzled (Ps.
lxxiii. 16–2O). We observe and reason in circles too
small. Not a virtuous act of Joseph's life was in vain.
Not a wrong of his brothers that did not return to
haunt and distress them. But in the wide sweep of
JOSEPH. I55
God's purposes all this could not be made manifest in a
day. The influences of our acts are far-reaching, and
enter into manifold combinations. The harvest from
the seed we sow may be long ripening; but it will
ripen, and “whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall
he reap.” Set it down that it is always right to do
right, and that no permanent harvest of blessedness can
ever come from wrong-doing.
4. Do not fail to observe how quietly and naturally
God brings about his designs. Here is no miracle—no
crushing out of any one's freedom to choose and act—
no overpowering array of extraordinary agencies.
Everything proceeds as if it were entirely at man's dis-
posal. God simply links events and influences, over-
ruling men's actions by means of dreams in such a way
as to bring out into the light the virtue of the virtuous
and the crimes of the wicked. Unless there was in-
spiration in Joseph's interpretation of dreams, we
fail to see a single touch of the supernatural in all
this remarkable history, except in impressions made
in dreams. This ought to teach us that God can
can work out providential ends without robbing us of
our freedom of action, and can make himself more im-
pressively heard and felt in the “still, small voice,”
than in the tempest, or fire, or earthquake. Though
there are times when in swift and terrible judgment He
rides upon the whirlwind, and directs the storm, and
the clouds are the dust of His feet; yet are the con-
stant revelations of His presence and love in quiet
ways and with noiseless step. We scarcely know His
presence but by the blessings He leaves behind Him,
the deliverances He has wrought with unseen hand.
“Thy gentleness,” says David, “hath made me great.”
156 Evenings witH THE BIBLE.
5. Pay attention to this also: If God's hand was in
the elevation of Joseph to high dominion in Egypt,
it was also busy in the fashioning of that “coat of
many colors” which provoked the jealousy and the rage
of Joseph's brothers. In other words, if God controls
the great events of life, He must also control the appar-
ently insignificant events of life out of which the great
ones spring, or by which they are influenced. All the
talk we hear of God displaying His sovereignty in
great affairs only, is absurd ; since what we call great
affairs spring often from what we call very trifling
events. The fate of a nation may hang upon a word, a
look; it may be inwoven with the smiles or tears of a
child, with the sigh of a woman, with the intrigues
of a slave, with what we call a mere accident in the
overhearing of a conversation, with the slow or fast
movement of an army, which in turn may depend on
the heavy sleep or the unusual wakefulness or restless-
ness, the sobriety or drunkenness, of a military leader;
or it may, as Gibbon notes in one instance, depend on
the movement of the lance of an Arab. So, if God
rules at all, He rules over all ; and it should comfort us
to know that He encompasses all our paths, and knows
our downsitting and uprising, and is acquainted with all
our ways, and that of Him, and to Him, and through
Him, are all things, to whom be honor and glory
everlasting.
Let us trust in God and do right.
Lord, let me never fail to trust in Thy providential
care, even in the smallest affairs of my life. And in
adversity, when Thou seemest to hide Thyself, and
I look in vain for release from trouble, give me
“Songs in the night" to cheer my way, and in-
JOSEPH. , " 157
spire me with the assurance that the day will
dawn, and deliverance shall surely come. Under
the most trying circumstances, may my faith in
Thee, and in the final triumph of righteousness, hold
me fast to duty.
158 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
MOSES.
(Read Exod. ii. 1 1–22; Acts vii. 21–29; Heb. xi.
24-27.)
The history of Moses divides itself into three equal
periods of forty years. With the first and second
of these periods we deal in this chapter.
That which strikes us as most noteworthy in the
first period, is his strong, triumphant faith. Adopted
by the daughter of the king, and educated in all the
learning and wisdom of Egypt, dwelling in the midst of
the luxuries, pomps and corruptions of the Egyptian
court, and probably having a prospect of succeeding
to one of the most powerful thrones in the world,
he still preserved for forty years such a sympathy with
his own despised and oppressed race as led him finally
to renounce all the honors and hopes connected with
his adoption, and turn his back on the treasures and
pleasures of Egypt. For, let it be observed that his
exile from Egypt was not owing to an accident or
an impulse, in discovering a strife between an Egyptian
and an Israelite and smiting the Egyptian. On the
contrary, the Smiting of the Egyptian was the result of
a settled purpose to place himself on the side of his
oppressed brethren. Paul says, “He supposed his
brethren would have understood how that God by his
hand would deliver them.” His act was therefore
a deliberate, and intended to be a significant, act—an
intentional renunciation of his Egyptian interests and
prospects, the result of a settled conviction as to the
MOSES. 159
work to which God had called him. Josephus, indeed,
tells a story of a diadem being jestingly placed on his
brow when he was yet a child; and that he threw it on
the ground—an intimation that even from childhood a
divine impulse led him to scorn the proffered honors of
that tyrannous and idolatrous government. We do not
know that any importance is to be attached to this tra-
dition. We have, however, from Paul, a word that
indicates a careful weighing of motives on one side and
the other, and perhaps a conflict severe and protracted,
before the final decision was made. That word is
‘‘choosing ” (Heb. xi. 25). He made a deliberate
choice. He was not forced into it, nor did he act from
impulse. His assault upon the Egyptian was the result
of a choice already deliberately made.
While we are not permitted to read what must have
been an intensely interesting heart-history of forty
years, we know enough of human nature to be assured
that Moses did not reach this final choice without
severe and frequent struggles between flesh and spirit,
and that he could not have made it had it not been
preceded by steady and severe self-discipline.
I. All his surroundings were hostile to such a
choice. From childhood his environments were such
as to inspire him with a love of luxury, of pomp, and
of power, and to endear to him those who were the op-
pressors of his race. Evidently treated with respect and
affection, he could easily have yielded to the softening
influences of his royal home. The constant influence
of such surroundings, like the continual dropping that
wears a stone, would, in the course of forty years, be
likely to wear out any impression his parents may have
made on him in his earliest years. A fight against this
I6o 4. EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
perpetual seductiveness it would be very difficult to keep
up through so long a period. Through the impressible
years of youth and early manhood, his sensitive nature
was constantly played upon by the blandishments and
witcheries of a home and a court whose splendors and
delights were enough to intoxicate the strongest mind
and corrupt the purest heart. Not one in ten thou-
sand, we presume to say, could successfully endure
such a test.
2. It is not supposable that Moses was destitute of
ambition. A nature born to command, and showing
such aptitude for the exercise of authority, could not be
otherwise than ambitious. And here, if not the very
highest honors, certainly those next to the highest in one
of the great kingdoms of the earth were at his command
—for “the treasures of Egypt” were involved in the
choice he was called to make. What a temptation
It was similar in kind to that by which our Lord
was assailed—‘‘the kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them.” All Egypt was at Moses’ command, if
he would but fall down and worship its idols. The lust
of wealth and the lust of power are two of the strongest
of the forces that corrupt and ruin men. For the grati-
fication of these, men are led into a surrender of con-
science, and the practice of every sort of crime and
outrage. The earth has been soaked with blood in the
strifes for place and power, and ages have been darkened
with wrongs and cruelties and horrors the thought
of which curdles the blood, all because of the infat-
uations of wealth and dominion. Even where the
attainment of these is legitimate and peaceful, there is
a peculiar glamour cast by them over the soul, the evil
influence of which it is almost impossible to withstand.
MOSES. I6 I
Even in our own land, the eager strife for place and
power is so far deluding and demoralizing that not one
of a hundred comes out of political strifes as clean
as when he went in. To say that such prospects as
Moses had, offered no temptation to him, and that
it cost him no struggle to decide against them, is
simply to betray a childish ignorance of human nature.
3. Everything visible on the Hebrew side was for-
bidding. His people were a degraded and despised
race—not only oppressed, but held in abomination.
To identify himself with them was to accept an im-
mense burden of reproach. Moreover, they did not
court his favor. When he slew the Egyptian, and sup-
posed they would understand that he was ready to
undertake their cause, “they understood him not.”
There was no cry for his help, no enthusiasm to greet
him if he were to interfere in their behalf. Nor was
there, humanly speaking, any prospect of success in
such an undertaking. An undisciplined, degraded,
helpless horde of slaves against the disciplined forces .
and immense resources of Egypt: what possible chance
was there of success P
4. We are made aware of no special feeders to his
faith, in opposition to the unceasing influence of the
grand and gorgeous visibilities of Egypt's temptations.
We read of no special revelations. The statement that
he “endured as seeing Him who is invisible,” favors
the conclusion that there had been no visible manifesta-
tions of Jehovah's presence. He had no favorable
religious associations to strengthen his faith or rouse his
enthusiasm. What influence came from his parental
home, we know not. He had doubtless learned of the
covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of
162 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
the dying words of Joseph. He knew, of course, the
history of his marvelous preservation in the ark of bul-
rushes, and his adoption by the daughter of the king.
Beyond this, we are aware of no hint, even, that he
was the subject of any special culture in the faith of his
fathers. The only constant source of inspiration known
to us, was the knowledge of the enslavement and
wretchedness of his people—presenting a fearful con-
trast to his own ease and luxury and fullness of earthly
honors. The conviction was burning in his bones that
he was called to deliver them.
Under these circumstances, he was called to make
a choice between duty and interest ; between honor and
dishonor; between toil and self-denial, and ease and
luxury; between poverty and wealth; between suffering
and pleasure. It is not a solitary case. Such a crisis
arrives in every life, when one is compelled to decide
between the allurements of pleasure, the seductions of
sin, with all their glittering and bewildering charms,
and stern truth and rugged duty, without promise of
earthly reward. May God stand by you, dear reader,
when this crisis comes. May the shining example of
Moses cast light on the path which you shall choose.
Moses made a choice that all worldly maxims of pru-
dence and policy and success would condemn as un-
Speakably absurd. He chose poverty, reproach, toil
and suffering. He turned his back on pleasures, wealth
and honor. Doubtless when he put these in opposite
sides of the scales, that which he rejected immensely
outweighed that which he chose. Why, then, did he
choose it P Because faith placed on that side the honor
and the approval of the invisible God, the glory of the
coming Christ, the everlasting pleasures of righteous-
MOSES. 163
ness, the eternal recompense of the soul that suffers
for duty's sake. He esteemed the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, and chose
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the transitory pleasures of sin; for he had re-
spect unto the eternal recompense of the righteous.
When God was in one side of the balance, and the idols
of Egypt in the other; when the throne of Egypt was
in one, and immortal dominion in the other; when the
“pleasures of sin” for a season were in one, and
“pleasures for evermore ” at God's right hand were in
the other—faith triumphed over sight, and Moses
elected himself to toil, dishonor and suffering here,
that he might attain to rest, glory and joy hereafter.
Let the world pile up all its momentary grandeurs and
blisses on one side, against the eternal realities of
heaven,
Weighed in the balance, all appear
Light as a puff of empty air.
It is only by faith that we can make a true decision,
for faith alone opens to us the sublime and eternal real-
ities of the spiritual universe, and enables us to decide
in the presence of God, of heaven and hell, with the
unspeakable solemnities of eternity gathered about us.
Not less a trial of faith must the second period
of forty years have been to Moses, though the trial
took on an entirely new phase. Fleeing from the wrath
of the king of Egypt, he found a home in the land of
Midian; and here, for forty years, he led the humble
and tame life of a shepherd, cut off from everything he
had loved, and finding little to take its place. That he
felt deeply the loneliness of his lot, is evident from the
name he gave to his first-born son: “And he called his
164 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
name Gershom; for he said, I have been a stranger in a
strange land.” He had shown his readiness to under-
take the mission to which he deemed himself called,
and for duty's sake had turned his back on all the
honors of Egypt; yet he is left in exile for forty years,
without a voice from God to call him to his work, or a
solitary intimation that his heroic self-sacrifice was
accepted. If his faith, in Egypt, was in danger of
wearing out under the constant abrasion of royal and
idolatrous associations, it must have been in danger of
rusting out—of dying of mere inaction—in this tame life
of exile. If few could have withstood the tempta-
tions of Egypt, fewer still, we judge, could have with-
stood the discouragement of this forty years of inac-
tivity. Yet through it all Moses “endured as seeing
him who is invisible.”
Here we must pause for the present, but not without
gathering up some of the lessons to be learned from
this deeply interesting narrative.
I. We often excuse ourselves for our unfaithfulness
on the ground of our unfavorable surroundings. . We
are cut off from the communion of saints; or, our daily
employments call us into contact with the ungodly; or,
we lack the encouragements to faithfulness which are so
much needed. But do you think it possible that your
surroundings can be more unfavorable to faith and piety
than were those of Moses P Or is it possible for the
world to ply you with motives more powerful than were
continually, for forty years, playing upon his heart?
Yet Moses was loyal to truth and duty; and so may you
be. It is not wise to elect ourselves to such perilous
positions; but when God places us in them, He does not
mean that we shall be left unblessed with strength to do
MOSES. 165
right. It is possible to be true to God in any position
to which duty calls us.
2. It is possible to make faith a dominant principle
in heart and life—to walk through this visible world
influenced more by things unseen than by the objects of
sense around us. But this must result from culture.
Faith is capable of growth (II. Thess. i. 3). It is only
as we call it into exercise in every-day life, and nurse it
into strength by its daily employment, that we can grow
it into a dominant life-power. It is not likely that
Moses, at twenty years of age, could have made the
choice which he made at forty.
3. There come crises in our lives, here and there,
when we must decide between the flesh and the spirit;
between the pleasures of sin and the reproach of Christ;
between luxurious indulgence and self-denial; between
the ephemeral treasures and delights of earth and the
eternal treasures and delights of heaven; between Egypt
and Canaan. If we have not faith in God, we shall be
sure to make a wrong choice. Standing by Moses in
Egypt, his choice may seem to be foolish and absurd ;
but standing by the glorified Moses, on the Mount of
Transfiguration, we know that his choice was the only
wise one. Nothing is so much needed in this material-
istic age, amidst the glitter of earthly prosperity and
the glare of false philosophy, as simple faith in God; no
prayer should be more frequently on our lips than this:
“Lord, increase our faith.”
4. When God has a great work for men to do, he
takes time to prepare them for it. Moses thought him-
self ready at forty; and most young Americans would
be insulted if it were insinuated that they could not be
ready at half that age. But God was not ready for
I66 Evenings witH THE BIBLE.
Moses until twice forty years had been spent in pre-
paring him for the work to which he was to be called.
It is not best to be in too much of a hurry to assume
responsibilities. They will come fast enough. Let it
be our anxiety to get ready for duty, and God will open
the way for us in due time.
O Lord, though Thou art invisible to me, may I
have that faith that will enable me to endure as seeing
Thee; and in every crisis of life when I am called to
decide between the world and Thee, may that faith
which overcomes the world lead me to victory over the
charms of sense.
MOSES AS A LEADER. 167
MOSES AS A LEADER.
(Read the third and fourth chapters of Exodus.)
It was during the last forty years of the life of Moses
that he appeared in the ripeness of his wisdom and the
true greatness of his character. We can do no more
here than point out some of the most prominent and
important features of a character which, as a whole, is
truly great, and worthy of all admiration. It is another
of the instances to be placed along with that of Joseph,
of the excellency and dignity that even fallen human na-
ture may reach, under proper conditions. Both Joseph
and Moses were related to Egypt, but in very different
ways. Joseph came a slave into Egypt, and rose from
the prison-house to a place next the throne; Moses
was adopted into the royal family in infancy, and had a
place next the throne, but was driven from this into
exile. Joseph was tried in the furnace of affliction, and
thus prepared to enjoy prosperity; Moses was tried in
the more perilous environments of high prosperity, and
thus prepared to endure affliction. Thus God deals
with men in different ways, and by various methods
purifies and ennobles the natures that are submissive in
His hands.
1. Let us look at the humility of Moses. When, at
eighty years of age, the Lord meets him and proposes
to invest him with power and authority as the emanci-
pator and leader of Israel, he shrinks from the task and
declines the honor of a divine commission At forty,
he was ready to undertake the work, but at eighty
168 Evenings witH THE BIBLE.
he dreads to accept it. Men, when free from responsi-
bility, can talk loudly and bravely of what they would
do if they had the power. Talk is cheap. But clothe
these men with the power, and how soon their valor
oozes out! We have seen the most intense radicals,
when elevated to places of trust, become even timidly
conservative. But we judge that, in the case of Moses,
his forty years' exile had done much to abate his self-
confidence and chasten his ambitions. In quiet Com-
munion with Nature and Nature's God, and with him-
self, he had been brought into self-abasement. Flat-
tered and petted at the proud court of Egypt, living in
an atmosphere by no means favorable to humility of
spirit, it was too much to expect that he would be free
from pride and self-sufficiency. The only wonder
is, that he preserved himself so free from unholy
ambitions—that he only sailed around the edge of the
maelstrom of passions that continually whirled there,
and was not swallowed up in its boiling flood. But,
away from the glamour of the court, from its atmos-
phere of deceit and flattery, from the illusions of
royalty and the witcheries of pleasure, in the solitudes
of the desert, in the quiet pursuits of pastoral life, he
talked with his own heart and listened to the voice
of God as never before ; and he was humbled in the
dust in view of his littleness and God's greatness. A
broader, deeper, higher view of God had made him feel
his own insignificance, and know the meretriciousness of
the charms of earthly power and royal pomp. Reuel
was a wise man, though a simple shepherd; and his
counsels were doubtless influential in leading Moses
to a juster estimate of the pomps and splendors and ex-
citements of the Egyptian cities, of the ambitions of
MOSES AS A LEADER, 169
courtiers, and of the hollowness of all merely human
greatness. Hence, when called to the work which,
forty years before, he had courted, he drew back from
it. “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and
that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt?” “They will not believe me.” “I am not
eloquent, but slow of speech and of a slow tongue.”
We must not interpret this as rebelliousness. It was
unaffected humility. It was that genuine self-distrust
which belongs to men of real merit and solid worth,
and usually accompanies true greatness. Those who are
sincerely self-glorifying are shallow men. They have
never sounded the depths of their own hearts. Only
those who have learned enough to know how little they
know, and have views of God and man broad enough
and deep enough to oppress them with a sense of their
own exceeding littleness and feebleness—only such can
ever be truly great; for they are driven away from false
trusts and vain conceits to the only true source of wis-
dom and strength, and cherish that docility of spirit
which alone enables one to escape from error and walk in
the truth. God knew His man, and He had trained
him until he was ready for his task. Trembling under
a sense of his own weakness, but strong in his reliance
on God, while in the distance he viewed the work with
a crushing sense of his own incapacity, even as the
truest soldiers are said to fear before the battle begins,
he would, from these very considerations, be all the
bolder and firmer when once he had assumed the task
and entered on its performance.
What a lesson here for preachers, and for all who as-
pire to honorable positions. Alas! that so many should
selfishly covet places of great responsibility, and chafe
Iyo EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
and fret because they are not “appreciated" | They
are not fit for high places. If they were, they would
not, from mere ambition, covet them. And, strive
as they may, they will not succeed. . They will
be overshadowed by humble, noiseless men, who
are content to work wherever God has placed them,
and who tremble at the responsibilities of even a
very humble position. God opens the way for such
men, and they find places of honor thrust upon
them more rapidly than they are prepared to accept
them, while the men that sought these places are
invited to a lower seat, or passed by altogether. God
has no use for vain, proud, self-sufficient, restlessly am-
bitious men—place-hunters, self-lauders and self-seekers.
We tremble for men even of good parts, and possess-
ing some admirable traits of character, whose over-
weening vanity and selfish ambition lead them into
continual schemings and scramblings for higher posi-
tions. A man who could not spend forty years in the
wilderness without murmurings, gladly doing the duty
that was nearest to him, would not have been entrusted
with the leadership of Israel. And the man who is
not content to be a doorkeeper in the house of God, or
the servant of all, is utterly unfit for a chief place in the
service of the church. If we have a word of advice to
give to young preachers, which we consider of more
importance than any other, it is this: Renounce all self.
seeking. Be content with the sphere in which God
has placed you, and be anxious only to do your whole
duty there. If there is anything higher that God has
in store for you, it will be made apparent in due time.
“He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” The
only lawful way to go up, is to go down.
MOSES AS A LEADER. I71
But there is another extreme. We may grow mor-
bid in this humility until we became unmanly, and
dishonorably shrink from what is clearly our duty,
because it seems too great for us. Moses was verging
on this extreme; for he resisted until it is said, “The
anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” True
humility does not require us to deny our own con-
sciousness of the gifts and culture we really possess, or
to refuse to employ them when duty calls for their
exercise. We may learn to love a quiet life until
we selfishly shrink from activities and excitements and
cares which are repulsive to us. Some men waste their
lives ignobly in retirement and contemplativeness, not
because God has forced such retirement on them, not
because no way has been opened for them into greater
labor and higher responsibilities, but purely because
they love quiet and hate the bustle and confusion and
wearing toil of the life to which duty has called them.
This is not humility; it is selfishness; and such men
should beware lest the anger of the Lord be kindled
against them as it was against Moses. Do not move
until God calls you ; but when He calls, away with your
eXCUISCS.
Let us notice another thing in this history. God
honors men of deeds, rather than men of zwords. Moses
complained that he was not eloquent—that he was slow
of speech. Aaron, his brother, was more voluble—
more oratorical, it may be. These men of words can
captivate the multitude, and we are very apt to be
bewitched by them. Doubtless they have their place.
But it is by no means so important a place as we
are generally willing to assign to them. Even in the
pulpit, it is doubtful whether mere glittering orators
172 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
have not, on the whole, been more of a curse than
a blessing. We have known more than one case in
which men indisputably criminal have been tolerated,
to the dishonor of religion and the disgrace of the
church, merely because they were so eloquent In the
long run, the preacher who is a man of deeds—who
lives his religion every day, practicing what he
preaches, even though he be but moderately gifted
in speech, will prove to be the man of permanent
power in his community. Aaron was a fine talker, and
Moses humbly stood behind him while he made the
speeches to the tribes of Israel and to Pharaoh. Yes,
he was a fine talker, but it was all words—words—
words. Moses lives to-day in the heart of civilized
humanity, among the noblest of earth's benefactors;
but what about Aaron 2 If it were not for his relation
to the man who so meekly stood aside while he made
his fine speeches, his name would have perished ages
ago from the memory of man. What did he do that is
worth remembering P He sought to raise a family dis-
turbance because Moses had not married to please him
He tamely and meanly consented to construct an idol for
the ignorant and capricious Israelites, when Moses was
away in the mount to receive the law of Jehovah. He
countenanced the people, if he did not lead them,
when they abandoned themselves to the madnesses of
heathen orgies—thus treacherously forsaking the God
who had led them out of bondage. Although, as the
brother of Moses, he was made high-priest for the
nation, there is really little, if anything, besides his
fine talk, to commend him to respect or admiration.
But Moses is immortal among men. Let us learn a
valuable lesson here. Better to be slow of speech and
MOSES AS A LEADER. - I73
quick of action, than to be quick of speech and barren
of noble deeds. “Covet earnestly the best gifts,” and
among them the gift of tongues, if you will; but there
is a more excellent way than this: covet earnestly a
life of righteousness and noble deeds.
If every one can not talk for Jesus, every one can
live for Him, and the eloquence of a true life will abide,
with ever-increasing power, long after the last echo of
eloquent words has died away.
O Lord, may I, like Moses, be “swift to hear, slow
to speak, slow to wrath.” May I serve Thee, not in
word only, but in deed and in truth.
I 74 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
THE CHARACTER OF MOSES.
(Read Exodus v.–xv. ; Numbers xi.-xx. ; Deut.
xxxiv.)
There is no special development of character on
the part of Moses in Egypt, after his return. There is
a calm dignity and a lofty heroism in the contest he
waged with the oppressors of his race; but it is God,
and not Moses, that comes to the front there, to dash
the idols of Egypt to the dust. Moses appears simply
as the humble agent through whom God speaks and
acts. But in the forty years’ wandering in the wilder-
ness there were many opportunities of showing himself
in his true character, and of some of these we will now
speak.
Nothing strikes us more forcibly than his unselfish.
mess. In this excessively selfish world, and in a church
so little redeemed from selfishness that Paul was con-
strained to say, even amid the peculiar splendors of the
victories of grace in apostolic times, “All seek their
own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's" (Phil. ii.
21), it is refreshing to find, now and then, a genuinely
unselfish character. Alas, that it should be so rarel
We have already received intimations of his unselfish-
ness in his renunciation of the pleasures and honors of
Egypt, in his voluntary association with a despised
and oppressed people, and in his anxiety that Aaron
should share the high honors which God offered to him
alone. It is witnessed through all his subsequent
career. There was not, the slightest favoritism in his
THE CHARACTER OF MOSES, 175
administration of affairs. His own tribe (Levi) was the
only one that was left without any earthly possession,
and entirely destitute of any political consequence.
His own sons received no prominence, but were lost in
the common mass of Levites. And, as Dr. Adam Clarke
notes, when he died he left no property but his tent
behind him. The leadership passed over to one of
another tribe. In all his writings, he honors not him-
self farther than a historical narrative compels him to
state the naked facts in his dealings with the children of
Israel. The Jews are never the children of Moses, but
always the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. An
illustrious instance of this unselfishness is found in Ex.
xxxii., xxxiii. In view of the unspeakable baseness as
well as fickleness of the Israelites, in forgetting Jehovah
and setting up the vile worship of Egyptian gods, the
Lord proposed to annihilate them, and to raise up from
the offspring of Moses a nation for Himself. It was a
splendid opening for a greatness which Moses had not
sought, but which was thrust upon him, as it were, and
that, too, by a divine hand. Did he not deserve it?
Did not the tribes of Israel richly deserve such a fate?
Had they not worried and abused him until he had
ample reason to give them up as incorrigible? And,
moreover, was not this a divine offer P Must it not,
then, be right? If ever ambition had a right to vin-
dicate itself as just and honorable, this was an instance
in which such a vindication must have been admitted as
unanswerable. Nor can we suppose Moses to have
been indifferent to the honor here proposed to him.
But if there were any risings of such an ambition, they
were instantly suppressed. He is not only the repre-
sentative of Jehovah to the people, but the representa-
176 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
tive of the nation before Jehovah. He knows not
even himself and his family. They are lost to view in
the weighty interests of the nation whose mediator he
is. His plea in their behalf is not in any degree per-
functory. He throws his whole soul into it, and
enforces it by the strongest possible considerations.
“Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For
mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the
mountains, and to consume them from the face of the
earth P Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this
evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and
Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own
self, and said unto them, I will multiply your seed as
the stars of heaven: and all this land that I have
spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall
inherit it forever. . . . Oh, this people have
sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold;
yet, now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not,
blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast
written.” See also Num. xiv. II–19. Is it possible
for devotion to the interests of others to go farther
than this? There are few things so genuinely beautiful
as a human soul thoroughly devoted to one grand ob-
ject, and, forgetting every selfish interest in its supreme
purpose to accomplish that object, resolved to con-
quer or die. Such was the supreme devotion of Moses
to the interests of others. In the presence of such an
example, how contemptible and despicable are the
petty ambitions and restless self-seekings of many who
profess to be the disciples of a greater than Moses, and
the preachers of His word
Closely allied to this is the magnanimity of the man.
He was superior to all the contemptible littlenesses that
THE CHARACTER OF MOSES. 177
are often found associated with elements of greatness,
which sadly disfigure the lives of great men, and which,
among men of ordinary gifts, constantly breed envy
and strife. When the seventy elders were gifted with
divine utterance, and began to prophesy round about
the tabernacle, before it was known that more than two
were prophesying, a messenger ran to Moses with the
intelligence: “Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the
camp.” Joshua, indignant at what he deemed an
invasion of the peculiar prerogative and high official
dignity of Moses, cried out, “My lord Moses, forbid
them.” “Enviest thou for my sake P” replied Moses.
“Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets,
and that Jehovah would put his spirit upon them "
(Num. xi. 25–29). But, in fact, the strain upon the
magnanimity of his nature was constant and severe; yet
he never was at fault. Paul seems to us to rise to
a very unusual hight of magnanimity when he says to
the Corinthians, “I will very gladly spend and be
spent for you, although the more abundantly I love you,
the less / be loved ” (II. Cor. xii. 15). It was just such
a magnanimity as this that marked the forty years
of Moses’ public life. His best endeavors, his ceaseless
and unselfish care and toil, were unappreciated, misin-
terpreted, and abused by an unreasoning and ungrateful
people. They were frequently rebelling and perpet-
ually murmuring; and when they reaped the legitimate
fruits of their own folly and wickedness, they were
pretty sure to charge all their misfortunes to him. Yet,
generously overlooking all these wrongs and injuries,
keenly as he must have felt them, he bore his heavy
responsibilities without a murmur, and labored on as
steadily for their good as if they had been gratefully
178 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
appreciative of all his self-denying efforts. This is
really one of the highest possible achievements in the
line of goodness. Few are capable of it, even among
those who profess to be governed by the spirit of
Jesus Christ. It is easy enough to work hard, and
even to suffer, when the hosannas of the people are
ringing in one's ears; but when one is misrepresented
and slandered, and those whom he has blessed catch
up the revilings and cast them in his teeth, who is able
to say, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you,
although the more abundantly I love you, the less I be
loved " ? Even the noble few, who, from a sovereign
regard to duty, determine to spend and be spent under
such circumstances, would find it difficult to say with
truth that they do it gladly. A few magnanimous men
and women of this type would be a royal gift to the
churches just now.
His meekness. There is a very significant little edi-
torial remark in Num. xii. 3, evidently from the hand of
Ezra, or some other editor of the writings of Moses:
“Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the
men which were upon the face of the earth.” We are
afraid that this word meekness carries to most minds the
idea of a merely negative quality—a sort of passiveness
or moral imbecility—a nature too weak to assert itself
in anger or violence. This is a great mistake. Genuine
meekness is the enforced calm which a strong nature com-
mands and produces by saying to its own tempestuous
passions: “Peace! be still !” It is the fruit of the
resolute control of stormy and dangerous emotions—
the final result of a grand sovereignty over all the hot
and rebellious forces that often rage in a strong and
earnest nature. That Moses was capable of tempest-
THE CHARACTER OF MOSES. 179
uous outbreaks, is evident from the wrath that burst
upon the people when the second time he smote the
rock to bring forth water in answer to their mur-
murings (Num. xx.). His smiting the Egyptian, and
his dashing the tables of the law to the ground, also
tell of a nature hotly impulsive. It was by the steady
control of a strong and stormy nature that he won a
just reputation for meekness, and it is saying much to
say of such a man that only a few times, amid the
keen and perpetual provocations of forty years, did he
betray anything of this impulsiveness, and that only
once in all his life did he call down the divine disappro-
bation on his conduct. Even then, the sin seems so
indefinite that it is not easy to locate or define it. He
“spake unadvisedly with his lips,” we are told; but
there is nothing in what he said more fretful than impul-
sive people are apt to speak under slight provocations.
He failed to magnify God in the eyes of the people, we
are told. Whether this was by the use of a too egotistic
term—“Must we fetch you water out of this rock P”—
or in the fact of angrily smiting the rock when he was
told only to speak to it, thus disregarding God's coun-
sel, and making the miracle depend more on his own
action than on the invisible power which he was in-
structed to invoke, we can not say. But it was the
one violation of meekness which barred his entrance to
the land of promise.
This is a great lesson. Every life meets with
numerous provocations. How we frown, and fret, and
scold, and threaten But not one in a million is tried
to the extent that Moses was tried in his management
of an ignorant, capricious, lawless people, as unreason-
ing and impulsive and unmanageable as so many un-
I8o EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
trained children; indeed, vastly more difficult of con-
trol. Yet, with the exceptions we have noted, he was
meek and gentle through his entire life, and has left a
record unmarred by the violence of unregulated im-
pulses. It teaches us what may be done, and it reminds
us of what the New Testament teaches concerning
“the meekness and gentleness of Christ.”
We do not speak of Moses as a lawgiver, or a
statesman, because in this line there is nothing indica-
tive of his personal character. It was God revealing
Himself through Moses, and the laws and institutions of
that dispensation were the result of divine wisdom, and
not of the wisdom of Moses.
It has always been to us a source of Sadness that
Moses was not permitted to enter the land of promise.
He had toiled so long and so hard to reach it; he had
conducted that vast multitude through so many perils
to the very edge of the promised inheritance; he had
fought his way so bravely through all obstacles, and
had set his heart so entirely upon a triumphant entrance
into the covenant land as the crown of all his mighty
endeavors and the fulfillment of all that he had prom-
ised to an unbelieving people; it would have been
so gratifying to him, to have led the hosts of Israel
over Jordan, in the face of all the predictions of failure
that had rung in his ears for forty years, not only from
his own people, but from Egypt and all the surround-
ing principalities of idolaters; and he begged so hard
to be allowed this one sweet gratification, for which he
had sacrificed everything, that our deepest sympathies
go with him as he turns his back on the tents of Israel,
and toils up the mountain-side to catch a mere glimpse
of the land of his hopes and then yield up his life in the
THE CHARACTER OF MOSES. I81
land of an enemy Who would not rather that such a
life had closed in Canaan, amid shouts of victory !
But the life of Moses had been a life of self-forget-
fulness and self-surrender all the way through, and it
was fitting that his death should harmonize with his
whole life by crowning it with a submission to the will
of God in which his most cherished hopes should be laid
in the dust. Not for himself, but for others, had been
the rule of his whole life; let not this supreme altruism
be marred or spoiled by a supreme self-gratification at
the last. His reward was not to be here. He found
in the heavenly Canaan infinitely more than he lost
in giving up the earthly Canaan. He “endured
as seeing Him who is invisible,” and “had respect
unto the recompense of the reward.” With his eyes
undimmed and his natural force unabated, in a glorious
prime of a grand manhood, with a mighty work faith-
fully done, he surrendered his charge with his life, and
in his death, as in his life, abandoned all that was dear
to his own heart in this world, that God might be hon-
ored, and that others might be blessed. These are great
lessons for us all, and especially for those who accept
public trusts as servants of the living God.
There is something grand in a life that never ceases
its activities. We never read this narrative of the
death of Moses, that we do not think of Charles Wes-
ley's lines:
O that without a lingering groan
I may the welcome word receive;
My body with my charge lay down,
And cease at once to work and lºve.
Dear reader, when your work is done, and the mes-
sage comes to call you from toil to rest, may God be
I82. EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
with you in that solemn hour, and unfold to your
enraptured vision the widespread beauties and glories of
the land beyond the river.
THE REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL. 183
THE REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL.
(Read Exodus, chapters v.–xv.)
In our attention to leading characters, we must not
overlook the prominent events connected with their his-
tory. The redemption of the Israelites from Egyptian
bondage marks an epoch in Bible history. It is not too
much to say that the Christian civilization of the
present time can be traced back to that significant and
wonderful event as one of its sources; for no intelligent
reader of the Scriptures needs to be informed that every-
thing connected with that mighty achievement was di-
vinely ordered with a view to prepare the way for Christ
and the spiritual redemption to be wrought by Him in
behalf of a world enslaved to sin and death. Just here
we are reminded that we have lately received in this
country an Egyptian monument bearing witness to a
greater antiquity than that of Moses, in the obelisk
which has found a place in the Central Park of New
York City. It serves to show how little we are in-
debted to an Egyptian civilization which only survives
in such mocking monuments as this—witnesses of a
power that has passed away forever—in comparison
with what we owe to Moses and the Israelites, the help-
less prey of Egypt's tyranny at a time when this
obelisk, before the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis,
bore testimony to a greatness which it was fondly hoped
would always endure. Hon. Wm. M. Evarts, Secretary
of State, in his address at the presentation of this obe-
lisk, said with much force:
184 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
At the very time that Thothmes was rearing these great mon-
uments of his power, a feeble Hebrew infant, doomed to death from
his birth, uttered a feeble cry amid the bulrushes, when the daughter of
Pharaoh disturbed his sleep. And Moses has come here, long before
this obelisk; Moses, the greatest lawgiver that the world ever saw;
Moses, with his ten commandments, is in possession of the churches and
of the schools, and of the literature, and of the morals of society.
Egypt is perpetuated not only here, but throughout our system of civ-
ilization, by the cry of the infant Moses, which has been expanded into
a voice spreading over the whole modern world. Twenty-two years
after this obelisk was raised at Alexandria, to mark perpetual domin-
ion, there was born in the neighboring and subject province of Palestine
another infant, destined also to death. Christ, the Saviour, born then,
has been a power and a light before which all kings and conquerors, all
dynasties, all principalities and powers, have fallen in obedience.
Before this obelisk from Alexandria reached our shores, we had heard
of the names of Moses and Christ, and had seen the morality of Moses
and the religion of Christ made a basis for civilization, for society, for
national strength and national permanence, which will last forever and
forever, and which can never be overthrown by any of the causes that
overwhelmed dynasties and ruined nations.
So perishable is earthly greatness; so indestructible
are truth and love; so triumphs the spiritual over the
material. It is worth while to pause and think of
the kingdoms and empires that have risen and fallen
since that time, and of the deathless power of the
principles of truth and righteousness which, flowing
silently upon the world from that ark of bulrushes
in Egypt and that rude manger in Palestine, has sur-
vived all wrecks of empires, all changes of fortune, and
to-day molds the destinies of the races and the nations
of the world.
There are two things which strike us with especial
force in tracing the events of this history. -
I. We gain much insight into the purpose of Jeho-
vah, in selecting one people for his own. It was not
that he capriciously preferred them to other peoples;
THE REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL, 185
24
nor that He intended to save just this handful of slaves,
limiting His mercy to an insignificant race, and to a nar-
row strip of territory which He had promised them as
an inheritance, while the masses of human kind were
left to perish eternally. No, no. They read to little
purpose this splendid Old Testament history who com-
press its sublime import within the pitiful limits of such
an interpretation. He chose this people to champion
His truth against the world-wide empire of idolatry,
falsehood, oppression and iniquity by which the bodies
and souls of the human race had been subjugated, that,
through their ministries, the world might be prepared
for the Christ and His spiritual kingdom. And in
accomplishing this purpose, He moved against the great
centers of this false and ruinous dominion. As after-
wards upon Nineveh and Babylon, so here upon Egypt
as the great radiating center of false religion and false
government, He makes this chosen people the instru-
ment of His power. Egyptologists are very zealous,
at present, in their efforts to prove a great antiquity
and a high civilization for Egypt. They fail to agree in
this, however; but, if an extreme antiquity can be
proved, the more fully they prove it, the more force do
they add to this divine demonstration against the false
religions and the false governments of a rebellious race.
A blow struck at the idols of Egypt would resound
throughout the idolatrous world. A succession of
blows, bringing the priesthood of Egypt into the dust,
overwhelming her haughty monarch with defeat, and
breaking the power of her magicians, would send echo
after echo of crashing destruction over the habitable
earth, to proclaim the downfall of the strongest of the
gods and the proudest and mightiest and most enlight-
I86 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
ened of idolatrous kingdoms before the resistless power
of the God of Israel—the one living and true God. In
the history of that feeble, but remarkable, people—the
Israelites—we see Jehovah facing the most enlightened
and powerful nations of antiquity in their most famous
centers of literature, science, philosophy, government
and religion, and forcing issues upon them, the decision
of which would be known and felt throughout the
world. We have an intimation of this in the language
addressed to Pharaoh through Moses: “And in very
deed for this cause have I raised thee up—for to show in
thee my power, and that my name may be declared
throughout all the earth’’ (Ex. ix. 16). In the light of
this consideration must the chapters be studied which
we have mentioned as a reading lesson. These awful
miracles of power were directed mainly against the gods
of Egypt. As we learn more fully concerning the
extensive and complicated system of idolatrous worship
established in Egypt, and of its intimate connection
with the system of government, the more clearly does
it appear that the supernatural displays of power
in the judgments visited upon Egypt were not mere
displays of power, but triumphant demonstrations of
the power of Jehovah against all that was held in
honor or worshiped by that intensely idolatrous people.
Our space forbids us to enter into details; we merely
mention what is capable of abundant proof, to turn the
reader to this line of investigation, that he may under-
stand the deep and high significance of the miracles
wrought by the hand of Moses.
2. The typical character of this history. We are
not left to speculation here. Paul (I. Cor. x.) assures
us that “all these things happened unto them for types,
THE REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL. 187
and are written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the [Jewish] ages are come.” This gives a
new interest to all the events of this history. We see
the out-flashings, as it were, of the cherished purpose
of God to redeem our wretched race from the bondage
of sin and death.
(I.) In the bitter and ever-increasing bondage of the
Israelites, under the hand of an usurper, we see pic-
tured the wretched and hopeless bondage of the race to
sin, when “the whole world lay under the dominion of
the wicked one.”
(2.) In the pity and compassion with which Jehovah
responded to the cries of an enslaved people, we learn
how heaven looked upon a world of sinners, and was
moved with compassion in their behalf.
(3.) In Moses, the chosen saviour of that people,
we behold a type of Jesus, our Saviour.
(4.) In the miracles of Moses, wrought not only to
break the power of the oppressor, but to inspire faith in
himself as the deliver of the oppressed, we have fore-
shadowed the mighty works of Jesus, which were
wrought ‘‘that we might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we might
have life through his name " (John xx. 31).
(5.) In the slaying of the paschal lamb, and the
redemption of Israel through the blood of sacrifice, we
are permitted to read that “Christ, our paschal lamb,
was sacrificed for us.” (I. Cor. v. 7), that we might
have “redemption through his blood, even the forgive-
ness of sins.” The power of sin is broken through the
offering of the Lamb of God. “By means of death he
destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil, and delivered them who through fear of death
188 * - i.”. EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb.
ii. 14, 15).
(6.) The going forth of the ransomed Israelites from
the house of bondage, trusting in Moses, and turning
their backs upon their old life, indicates the faith in
Christ and repentance toward God, in which we turn
from the power of Satan unto God.
(7.) Their baptism “into Moses in the cloud and in
the sea” (I. Cor. x. 1, 2), was the type of our baptism
into Christ. Note here,
(a) Their deliverance was not complete until this
baptism was effected. They did not sing their song
of deliverance until they emerged from this baptism
(Ex. xv.).
(b) It was in this baptism that a complete separation
from the dominion of Pharaoh was effected.
(c) It was in their baptism that they definitely and
finally renounced the Sovereignty of Pharaoh and ac-
cepted Moses as their leader. Had they refused this
baptism they would have been reduced again to bond-
age. Pharaoh or Moses—which 2 Their baptism set-
tled that question. Hence they were “baptized into
Moses” as their leader, acknowledging his sovereignty
and identifying themselves with his fortunes.
(d) Their baptism was a burial and a resurrection.
“They all passed under the cloud, and through the sea,
and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the
sea." It required both the cloud and the sea to furnish
this typical baptism. The cloud was over them and
behind them, and the sea on either side. As dead
to Pharaoh, they were buried in this symbolical grave,
and rose out of this grave an emancipated people, res-
cued from the hand of Pharaoh forever.
THE REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL, 189
(e) Then, and not till then, they sung the song of
deliverance: “The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he is become my Salvation.”
In all this we read how, having by faith and repent-
ance become dead to sin, we are buried with Christ
through baptism, wherein also we rise with Him to walk
in newness of life, and sing our song of praise to Him
who has become Our Salvation.
But, though thus saved from the hand of Pharaoh,
they were not yet in the land of promise. The types
do not fail us here. They tell of long journeyings in
the wilderness, of sore trials, of bitter conflicts, and of
great deliverances, of which we must speak hereafter.
190 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
DIVINE NOURISHMENT.
(Read Ex. xv. 22—xvii. 7; I. Cor. x. I-4.)
It is surely a lesson to be heeded by Christians, that
of the six hundred thousand fighting men who were
“saved out of Egypt,” and sung the song of Salvation
after they emerged from their “baptism into Moses in
the cloud and in the sea,” but two persons—Caleb
and Joshua–entered the land of promise (Num. xiv.
27–38, xxvi. 63–65). They shared the first salva-
tion, but failed of the second, because of “an evil
heart of unbelief.” (Heb. iii. 12, 19). We, too, may
receive the present salvation from sin which the gos-
pel offers, and yet fail of an entrance into the ever-
lasting kingdom—the “rest that remaineth for the peo-
ple of God.” “He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved" from his past sins; but only “he that endur-
eth unto the end shall be saved ” from death and hell,
and possess the promised inheritance. “Wherefore, let
him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.”
It was not a very great journey from Egypt to
Canaan; yet the Israelites were kept forty years in the
wilderness before they reached the land of promise. It
was needful that they should undergo a process of educa-
tion for their future destiny; hence they were kept wan-
dering hither and thither, making acquaintance with God
and learning His holy laws. They were schooled to trust
in Him and obey Him; trained to a life of separation from
all other nations and tribes; led into battle with power-
ful foes, that alike in their victories and defeats, they
DIVINE NOURISHMENT, * I9 I
might be taught that in Jehovah alone was their
strength; and in the rugged but wholesome school of
adversity, under the discipline of affliction, they were
humbled, and chastened, and made meet for their
inheritance in the land of Canaan. In all this there is
much that is suggestive, and even typical, of Christian
life. See I. Cor. x. I-12; Heb. iii., iv. “I pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world,” said Jesus
in behalf of his chosen ones, “but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil.” In the world, but not of it,
should be characteristic of the disciples of Jesus, as it
was characteristic of their Master. We are here to be
trained for future dignities and honors—to be schooled,
through tempations and conflicts and heroic endur-
ances, into righteousness and holiness, that we may be
made “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.”
Let us attend to Some of these suggestions.
1. The wilderness afforded no adequate means of sub-
sistence. They were dependent on Jehovah for their
daily food and drink, and for all the means of success-
fully accomplishing their journey.
And this world is to Christians a wilderness, in that
it furnishes to them no spiritual supplies. Let us be
careful to distinguish here between this world as a source
of supply for our mortal life, and as a source of supply
for spiritual life. We hear many ungrateful and abusive
expressions concerning this present world which, in our
judgment, are impious rather than pious. It is a beau-
tiful world, a glorious world, stored with treasures,
beauties and sublimities which demand perpetual grati-
tude and praise. In the presence of glorious sunlight
or gentle moonlight and starlight, towering mountains,
smiling valleys, broad plains, flowing rivers, magnificent
I92 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
seas and oceans, green grass, bubbling streams, beauti-
ful and fragrant flowers, grand forests, the hum of
insects, the songs of birds, the lowing of cattle, the
springing plants and the waving harvests—heaven and
earth and sea teeming with life and beauty in infinite
variety—it is anything else than a healthy piety that
whines about “this dreary wilderness.” True piety
will catch the inspiration of this vast beauty and mag-
nificence, and interpret its sublime meaning in out-
bursts of gratitude, praise and adoration to “the Father
of Lights, from whom descendeth every good and
perfect gift.” In Dr. Muhlenberg’s beautiful poem, “I
would not live always"—part of which has become a
standard hymn, and well expresses the feelings and
aspirations of afflicted and weary Souls—we have this
double stanza:
I would not live always: I ask not to stay
Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way;
Where, seeking for peace, I but hover around,
Like the patriarch's bird, and no resting is found;
Where Hope, when she paints her gay bow in the air,
Leaves its brilliance to fade in the night of despair;
And Joy's fleeting angel ne'er sheds a glad ray,
Save the gleam of the plumage that bears him away.
It is true that evil is mixed with good in the cup of
life here, and wisely so. Suffering has, after all, a
needful and gracious ministry. But let us not make
this life worse than it is. The circumstances that war.
rant such language as that of Dr. Muhlenberg are com-
Paratively rare. The average of human joyfulness and
hopefulness is much higher than is expressed in the
doleful strain we have quoted. But this world is a
wilderness so far as spiritual supplies are concerned.
Not only for pardon, but for all the means of sustaining
DIVINE NOURISHMENT. I93
spiritual life, we are dependent on another world.
Heaven is the source of our supplies.
2. God gave them bread from heaven to eat. And
Jesus is the “true bread from heaven.” See John vi.
31–35. “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness,
and are dead; this is the bread which cometh down
from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.”
And as the Jews had to gather this food daily, and feed
upon it, so we must seek our daily support in the knowl-
edge of Jesus, and in the appropriation of His truth
and grace to our needy souls. Only he who eats Christ
(John vi. 57)—appropriates Christ to his own spiritual
needs—can live by Him. And as the Jews, when they
wearied of the manna, and sighed for the flesh-pots of
Egypt, brought a curse upon themselves, so when we
grow weary of Christ, and turn again to the weak and
beggarly elements of the world, we perish in the
wilderness.
3. God gave them water from the rock to drink.
“They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them,
and that rock was [represented] Christ.” We learn
thus that there was a spiritual signification in the rock
and the water. It is worth while to pause over this,
and inquire as to its significance.
(1.) They sought everywhere else for water, and
failed.—The narrative implies that they searched for
water, and failed to find it. And how have men
searched and digged for water to slake the thirst of
their spirits!
The history of our race is largely a history of vain
efforts to obtain that which would satisfy the spirit's
cravings. It has been sought in the conflicts of war and
in the arts of peace; in superstitions, in philosophy,
I94 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
in wealth, in dominion, in the pleasures of sin, in
adventures, in retirement, in the gayeties of the outside
world, and in the solitudes of the desert; and of each
it has been written, as the final lesson of experience,
“It satisfieth not.” Every earthly fountain has been
drained, and still the Soul is athirst. The Israelites did
indeed find water sometimes, but it was bitter. Or, if
once they found a good supply amid the groves of
Elim, they could enjoy the luxury but a little while.
Their pleasure was scarcely more than tantalizing. And
thus it is that when we think we have discovered what
we are in search of, it proves to be but the bitter waters
of Marah, or the transient refreshment of the springs of
Elim. It is only after a dismal succession of these sad
experiences that men are willing to bring their despair-
ing hearts to Jesus.
(2.) They found what they sought where they least
expected it.—The supply came from the hard, unprom-
ising rock. And thus it is in Christ crucified, “to the
Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness,”
that thirsty, perishing Souls find at last the fountain of
truth and mercy, of love and life, at which they may
drink, and live forever.
(3.) The water gushed from the SMITTEN rock.—“And
that rock was Christ.” From the smitten and bruised
Jesus flows the healing stream of salvation. His death
is our life,
Of every hope bereft,
Sinners to Jesus go;
Behold the Rock of Ages cleft,
And living currents flow.
How many myriads who have been saved from per-
ishing by the living waters of this stream of divine
DIVINE NOURISHMENT. I95
mercy, have cheered their pilgrimage and closed their
weary journeyings with Toplady's inspiring hymn:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me!
(4.) It was a permanent refreshment.—The rock
“followed" them. That is, we take it, He who was
their Rock in this season of distress, was with them in
all their journeyings, and gave them relief in every time
of need, as He did at Horeb. And so it is with our
Rock. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day and
forever. He is a present help in trouble. He will never
leave us nor forsake us. The streams of grace that flow
from His pierced side and broken heart are never
exhausted. In youth and age, in health and sickness,
in prosperity and adversity, in life and death, His truth
and love are ever fresh, life-giving and life-sustaining.
Hence said Jesus, “He that drinks of the water that I
shall give him, shall never thirst; but it shall be in him a
well of water, springing up unto everlasting life.”
While through life's desert wastes we stray,
This stream shall follow all the way;
Best flowers shall spring where'er it flows,
And deserts blossom as the rose.
(5.) Wot until they had slaked their thirst was the law
given.—Grace first, and then the lessons of duty. Thus
it is that the first thing God does is to save us. The
grace of God first brings salvation, and then teaches us
that “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously and godly in the world” (Tit.
ii. I I, I2).
(6.) While God provided relief for all, each had to
drink for himself-In vain did God open that fountain of
life, if the perishing would not approach the stream and
drink. There was enough for all, but none for him who
196 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
would not drink. And Jesus died for all. His salva-
tion is offered to all. But we must accept it, or it is not
ours. We must drink, or die.
Let us be thankful that God has thus provided abun-
dantly for our spiritual wants—that while we journey
through a spiritual wilderness, barren of all that can
satisfy the soul's cravings, there is bread from heaven
and water from the smitten rock to strengthen and re-
fresh us, until we reach the heavenly city and sit down
in the shade of the tree of life, on the banks of that
crystal stream that flows from the throne of God and of
the Lamb; when it shall be said of all the weary pilgrims
that have come up out of great tribulation: “They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither
shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb
that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and
shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
O Lord, in the toilsome journeyings of the wilder-
ness, grant me daily to feed upon the bread of life and
drink of the waters of salvation. May that stream
which makes glad the city of God, make glad also the
desert through which I travel on my way to the heav-
enly home. Let not unbelief dry up its waters; let not
unhallowed longings for Egypt cause me to loathe the
heavenly manna. Lead me to the Rock that is higher
than I, that in its grateful shelter I may repose, and
drink of the healing streams of grace that flow from
its smitten side, and thirst no more.
THE DAY OF BATTLE. I97
THE DAY OF BATTLE.
(Read Exodus xvii. 8–16.)
It is a significant fact that the Israelites had to fight
their way to Canaan. Wonderful as were the divine
protections granted to them, they were not on that
account exempted from conflict with the hostile tribes
that peopled the wilderness. Hence, the next thing
we read of, after the people were refreshed with water
from the rock, is a bitter and desperate conflict with
the powerful Amalekites. They were thus educated
and trained for the life that awaited them in their prom-
ised inheritance—for which, as yet, they were not
“made meet.” It was not enough that they should be
guided to that land; they must be made ready for the
work that awaited them there. And is not this true of
Christians in their journey to the heavenly Canaan P
Paul speaks of being “made meet for the inheritance
of the saints in light” (Col. i. 12). “Heaven is not
reached at a single bound.” The faith by which we are
justified must become operative as an inspiring and
transforming power, in purifying the heart within, con-
trolling the life without, and urging us on to the
attainment of holiness. The “newness of life’’ into
which the believer is born by baptism, must find
growth, development, progress into manhood—“unto
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
That which is yet in germ in our conversion must grow
to harvest ripeness in a progressive spiritual life—“first
the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.”
198 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
Many of the noblest features of a spiritual character
can be brought out only in conflicts and wrestlings with
“the world, the flesh, and the devil; ” hence the apos-
tolic admonition: “Fight the good fight of faith; lay
hold on eternal life.” As this contest of Israel with the
Amalekites was brought on soon after the deliverance
of the tribes from Egyptian bondage; and as Jesus was
led up from his baptism to that tremendous conflict
with Satan in the wilderness; young Christians ought to
be admonished that even in the flush of their earliest
spiritual joy they may be fiercely assaulted by the
enemy of souls. It is the policy of the enemy to sap
the soul's loyalty to God before it has had time to strike
deep its roots and establish itself firmly. Let churches
and preachers be admonished that spiritual infancy is a
perilous stage of life, which must be diligently guarded
and fostered. The Amalekites will be found in force
hovering about the army of Israel while as yet the sol-
diers are raw and undisciplined.
It is noteworthy, in this contest with Amalek, that
the victory was not easily gained. There were ebbings
and flowings of the tide. Sometimes Amalek pre-
vailed, sometimes Israel. It was found that when
Moses, who stood on a hill with the rod of God in his
hand, held up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he
grew weary, and his hands drooped, Amalek prevailed;
and when Aaron and Hur “stayed up his hands, and
his hands were steady until the going down of the sun,”
victory perched upon the banner of Israel, and “Joshua
discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the
sword.” A suggestive lesson, truly Do not neglect
the two lessons that are combined here. I. Israel had
to fight. In vain would Moses have held up his hands,
THE DAY OF BATTLE. I99
if the people had not put forth their best efforts to beat
down the foe. 2. Doing their best, they could not con-
guer the Amalekites save in the strength of Jehovah. Not
by their own strength did they conquer, but in the
strength of God. The battle and the victory were
Jehovah's. But God met them with His strength when
they were putting forth their own. Is it necessary to take
space to make the application to the Christian life? There
are pietists and quietists who pray, but do not fight;
and there are foolhardy, self-sufficient adventurers,
who fight, but do not pray. All such will be defeated.
We must fight our best, but in so fighting, must “be
strong in the Lord and in the power of his might;"
“strengthened with might through his Spirit in the
inward man.” Hence, when Paul arms the Christian
soldier, and sends him forth clothed with “the whole
armor of God, that he may be able to stand in the evil
day,” and bearing in his valiant right hand “the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” he does not
let him go until he says, “Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there-
unto in all perseverance and supplication for all the
saints” (Eph. vi. Io-18). The prayerlessness of this
time is one of its most discouraging features. And yet,
what confidence should we have to pray ! “The Cap-
tain of our salvation,” from the hights of Mt. Zion,
surveys every battle-field and every struggle, and his
aplifted hands never grow weary. He needs no Aaron
and Hur to give vigor to His intercessions. “He ever
liveth to make intercession for us,” and he is “able to
save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by
him.” He who sprang from His throne and was seen
“standing,” in lively sympathy with the suffering
2OO EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
Stephen (Acts vii. 55, 56), has a heart that thrills in
sympathy with every struggling saint, and a hand,
mighty and unwearying, to lift in his behalf.
Christian soldier, how goes the battle P Are the
Amalekites too strong for thee P Remember, “the
race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.”
In the strength of God, “one shall chase a thousand,
and two put ten thousand to flight.” “The Lamb shall
overcome" his foes; “for he is Lord of lords, and King
of kings, and they that are with him are called, and
chosen, and faithful.” There is rest ahead, but we must
fight and labor to enter into that rest. It will be a soft
pillow for your head in a dying hour, if, with Paul, you
can say, “I have fought a good fight.” It will be one
of the brightest and grandest gala-days heaven ever
knew, when the soldiers of the cross return from the
wars, battle-scarred and weary, but victorious and
loaded with the spoils of victory, to lay down their
trophies at the feet of their Leader and Commander,
and catch the words that echo through the vast temple
of God: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit
down with me in my throne, even as I also overcame,
and sat down with my Father in his throne.” They
shall receive white robes, and crowns of glory, and
golden scepters. When He who is Faithful and True
shall head the procession of heroes on a white horse,
with many crowns on His head, the armies of heaven
shall follow Him “upon white horses, clothed in fine
linen, white and clean,” cheered with ‘‘the voice of a
great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia:
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth '' (Rev. xix).
“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and
THE DAY OF BATTLE. 2OI
come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy upon
their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and
sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
O Lord God Almighty, by whose power Amalek
was overcome, and who art ever strong to deliver them
that trust in Thee, grant that I, looking unto Jesus,
the Author and Finisher of the Faith, may fight and
overcome, and be brought off “more than conqueror
through Him who loveth me.”
2O2 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
UNBELIEF. SINFUL RETROSPECTIONS.
(Read the thirty-second chapter of Exodus.)
It is, at first view, almost incredible that, after the
wonders wrought in Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in
the victory over Amalek, and after the overwhelming
displays of divine majesty at Sinai, this ransomed peo-
ple could, within a few days, and upon so slight a
pretext, turn away from Jehovah, demand an Egyptian
idol to worship, and give themselves up to the frenzy
and shame of idolatrous revelries. But it must be
remembered that, for centuries, they had been the vic-
tims of a cruel and degrading slavery, were almost
entirely destitute of religious culture, and had been
constantly exposed to corrupting contact with the idols
and superstitions of Egypt. With such a people,
neither reason nor faith could, in the start, exercise
much control. They were on a very low plane of
moral and religious life. They were swayed by the
visible and outward, not by the invisible and spiritual.
The sensuous and sensual attractions of Egyptian
superstitions had made a deep impression. They
would, in their ignorance and debasement, readily
submit to their sway. They were attracted and awed
by the visible displays of Jehovah's power while they
lasted, but the impression was soon effaced. As with
the ignorant and fickle masses under despotic sway,
who must be amused by spectacular attractions, ever
changing and ever new, such as were furnished in
Roman amphitheaters to preserve the government
UNBELIEF. SINFUL RETROSPECTIONS. 2O3
from outbreaks against its authority; so with this rude
and ignorant mass of people, and especially with the
“mixed multitude” that accompanied them. The
absence of Moses, therefore, for less than forty days,
and the cessation of wonders, led them to seek some
new excitement, which they found in a base imitation
of what they had seen in Egypt. We say this in
explanation, but by no means in justification, of their
fickleness. It was want of faith that led them into this
daring rebellion.
But, while we stand appalled before this demonstra-
tion of human weakness, fickleness and wickedness, is
is not worth while to pause and ask whether a similar
weakness and unfaithfulness are not to be detected
in ourselves? We were not abandoned, in infancy and
childhood, as were they, to ignorance and corrupting
associations. We have been reared in a Christian land,
in Christian homes; educated in Christian schools, with
the wing of the Church's protection spread over us. If
the bondage of spiritual Egypt has been felt, we have
nevertheless been saved from its worst horrors by
means of Christian culture. And yet, coming out of
bondage, being baptized into Christ, singing our song of
salvation, and drinking of the streams of mercy that
gladden Christian pilgrims on their wilderness journey,
how often have we forgotten the Rock of our salvation,
and turned back in forbidden and wicked longings after
the idols we have renounced | We may have fashioned
no image like the god Apis, but the visible and tangible
attractions of earth—its gold, its pomps, its revelries,
its honors, have drawn us away from the invisible God,
and our best affections and energies have been given to
these idols of the heart. The truth is—and it would
204 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
save many from oppressive and paralyzing doubts, if
they understood it—regeneration obliterates none of our
faculties or passions, and creates no new ones. It is
rather a readjustment of the forces of our nature, taking
from the flesh and restoring to the spirit that domin-
ion over the life to which the spirit is entitled. But the
flesh is merely subdued, not destroyed. The old passions
are there, ready to spring into new dominion whenever
spiritual watchfulness and vigor cease. Hence, says
Paul, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body.” It is
there—but it is not now a ruling power; your Spiritual
nature has been lifted to its proper dominion; but have
a care lest, by your lack of watchfulness and diligence,
the subdued passions again usurp dominion, and re-
enslave the spirit in the bondage of sin.
Not only are these passions still in existence, but
the world, with its visibilities and its tangibilities, is still
constantly appealing to them ; and unless the spirit is,
by faith, laying hold of the sublime invisibilities of the
universe, and thus strengthening its power, sense will
triumph over faith, the spiritual will surrender to the
material, and the enslaved soul will perish in the wil-
derness. In seasons of depression, at times when God
seems to hide Himself, when we are thrown upon our
own resources, and difficulties throng our heavenward
path, and there is nothing but faith in the invisible to
hold us steady, the glittering charms of sense appeal to
us with great power. At such times, there is apt to be all
too near us some supple Aaron, to listen to our foolish
and sinful demand: ‘‘Up, make us gods which shall go
before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought
us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is
become of him.” -
UNBELIEF. SINFUL RETROSPECTIONS. 2O5
The spirit must be fed and muzzured, or the flesh
will triumph; for “the spirit lusteth against the
flesh, and the flesh lusteth against the spirit, so
that ye can not [of yourselves] do the things that ye
would.” Only as we, by faith, lay hold of the
strength of God, can we resist the syren songs and
witcheries of sin that enchain the senses and intoxicate
the soul. There is, therefore, peculiar impressiveness
in Paul’s admonition, based on the facts in Jewish
history which we are now contemplating: “Beware
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in
departing from the living God.” There was a gospel
preached to the Israelites, “but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them
that heard it.” A nobler gospel has been preached to
us; yet we are liable to fall after their example of
unbelief. Let us heed the warning. Amid the be-
wildering and captivating allurements of sense that
throng our paths every day, it is an arduous, and must
be a ceaseless, task, to cultivate that faith that reaches
into the unseen and enables us to “endure as seeing
nim who is invisible.” -
There is another thought of great practical import-
ance suggested by this strange history: the tendency of
the soul to sinful retrospections. No sooner is faith dis-
turbed by trial or weakened by neglect, than memory
calls up the images of the past, and fancy decks in false
colors the distant and forsworn “pleasures of sin” that
once delighted us. When the majesty of Jehovah is
withdrawn, the ox-form of Apis—the animalism that
was formerly deified—again looms up to view. It is
dangerous to brood over these memories and imagina-
tions. The backward look is a dangerous one. “Re-
2O6 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
member Lot's wife.” Remember the prophet that
turned back, at the bidding of a false voice, in defiance
of the clearly expressed will of God. Beware, or the
heaven-descended manna will become distasteful to you,
because of your sinful broodings over the memories of
the cucumbers and flesh-pots of Egypt. Learn to govern
your thoughts. There is an idol equal to the golden
Apis waiting to be evoked by Memory's wand, and
decked with beauty by an evil imagination, before
which your soul will prostrate itself in base and damning
worship. Never pause to indulge in idle reveries, or
the chains of sin will again be bound upon you. For-
get the things that are behind, and reach forth to the
things that are before. Evil thoughts and evil memo-
ries may flit over your spirit, but beware of inviting
them to lodge with you. If your heart is empty, and
the door is open to them, they will come in, like the
unclean spirits in the parable into the house that was
swept and garnished, and your last state will be worse
than the first. The government of the thoughts is a
matter of the gravest importance in spiritual life. Let
your associations, your readings, your meditations, be
pure and elevating. If, in spite of your efforts, you find
yourself assailed by evil desires, or sinful recollections,
flee to the throne of grace in your hour of need, and
never leave it until you have received strength from
God to banish these hateful intruders and open your
heart anew to the inspirations of faith.
BALAAM, THE COVETOUS. 2O7
BALAAM, THE COVETOUS.
(Read Numbers xxii.—xxv. 9.)
Balaam's is one of those subtle characters in which
the ruling passion is concealed under pious pretenses,
and which not only deceives others, but is apt to de-
ceive the possessor himself. , *
He belonged to Mesopotamia, where the influence
of the patriarchal religion still lingered, and it is evident
that he had a knowledge of Jehovah, and was in some
sense His prophet. But he is called (Josh. xiii. 22) a
soothsayer, or diviner, and is spoken of as “seeking
enchantments” (Num. xxiv. 1); from which we infer
that his was a mongrel religion—a mixture of the prim-
itive patriarchal faith and worship with various corrup-
tions borrowed from the apostate nations and tribes of
Asia. His character corresponded with his religion—it
was a similar mixture of the true and the false, but, on
the whole, when drawn out into the light, must be
stamped as basely false and idolatrous. Owing to its
compound and complex nature, it is not easily under-
stood. It demands careful analysis, and in analyzing it,
perhaps we may obtain some insight into the mysteries
of our own characters; for, generally, it will be found
that human characters are strange mixtures, and we are
often self-perplexed through our inability to perform
such an analysis upon ourselves.
Balak, king of Moab, terrified at the crushing defeat
of the Amorites and the triumphs of Israel, followed
the promptings of heathen superstition in sending for
2O8 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
Balaam, renowned, it would seem, as a prophet and
soothsayer, to come and pronounce a curse upon an
otherwise invincible enemy: “For I wot,” said the
king, “that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and
he whom thou cursest is cursed.” The messengers of
Balak took with them the usual “rewards of divina-
tion,” and delivered their message to Balaam. The
answer of Balaam is, on the surface, honorable to him :
“Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word
again, as Jehovah shall speak to me.” Upon inquiring
of Jehovah, the answer came : “Thou shalt not go
with them ; thou shalt not curse the people: for they
are blessed.” This was plain, direct, positive; there
was no mistaking it. And Balaam acted in harmony
with it. He said to the messengers: “Get you into
your land: for Jehovah refuseth to give me leave to go
with you.” Thus far, all seems right, and Balaam,
doubtless, felicitated himself on his loyalty to Jehovah.
We are not authorized, however, to call it a great
victory over evil, for it is possible, and even probable,
that the “rewards of divination ” tendered to him were
only moderate, and presented no great inducement
to undertake such a journey, even if Jehovah's will
were left out of the question. How apt we are to
exaggerate the virtue that brings down the beam merely
because the weight in the opposite scale is very light /
Balak seems to have understood his man. When he
found that his suit was unsuccessful, he concluded at
once that Balaam had not received a sufficiently loud
call—that he was a higher-priced prophet than the
Moabites had supposed him to be. He therefore utters
a louder call: “I will promote thee unto very great
honor, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me:
BALAAM, THE COVETOUS. 209
come, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.”
Ah, soul of mine ! be not too confident, too secure, in
thy victories over temptation. Because thou hast
gained a trifling advantage in a feeble contest, it does
not follow that a stronger force may not overcome thee.
Cry not Victory, because in the first skirmish the
enemy retired from the field. There is hotter fighting
ahead. “If Balak would give me his house full of sil-
ver and gold, I can not go beyond the word of Jehovah
my God, to say less or more.” Bravo, Balaam | Here
is at least one soul that dares to be unselfish in its devo-
tion to truth and duty. “Now, therefore ” what?
“Now, therefore, get out of my house, insulting mes-
sengers of a low-lived king ! Go, tell your base-minded
sovereign that I am not to be bought with money.”
Was that it? Oh, no. The lofty virtue of the first
sentence quoted above, exhausts itself in a breath.
But listen to the next sentence: “Now, therefore, I
pray you, tarry yet also here this might.” Evidently he
was not insulted by the offer of the increased bribe.
But why tarry here this night? “That I may know
what Jehovah will say to me more.” But why seek for
more ? Had not Jehovah said, “Thou shalt not go with
them — thou shalt not curse the people’’ P What
“more ” was needed? Is not truth, truth P Is not
duty, duty P Is not enough, enough 2 Beware, O
soul, how thou questionest the unequivocal voice of
duty, seeking to persuade it into some change of key to
please thee. Thou shalt get the answer thou desirest,
and become the victim of thine own falseness. Balaam
got a reply that suited him: “If the men come to call
thee, rise up and go with them.” The supreme motive
of his soul reveals itself (I) in dallying with the mes-
2 IO EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
sengers, insteading of dismissing them indignantly from
his presence; (2) in seeking unto God a second time for
an answer, when the first answer left no room for doubt
—thus dealing with God as insultingly as Balak had
dealt with him; (3) in disregarding the condition on
which he was permitted to go, namely: “If the men
come to call thee, rise up and go;” for, without waiting
to be called, Balaam, all too eagerly bent on going,
“rose up in the morning and saddled his ass, and went
with the princes of Moab.” When we are stubbornly
bent on getting a divine Sanction of an unlawful course,
we can generally succeed: we will either hear the voice
we want to hear, or, if it does not exactly suit, we
can manage to forget the restraining or qualifying por-
tion of the message, and dwell on that “clause ’’
which suits our purpose. Balaam heard the words,
“Rise up and go with them ;” for that was what he
wanted to hear. But the qualifying portion of the sen-
tence, “If the men come to call thee,” he seems not
to have heard, or to have speedily forgotten. The
clink of Balak’s gold and silver filled his ears, and he
could only catch the delightful words, “Rise up and go
with them.” There are two admonitions from our
blessed Lord, which demand most religious attention:
“Take heed what ye hear,” and, “Take heed how ye
hear.” The plainest, clearest words of truth and duty
may be readily perverted by a corrupt or prejudiced
heart. It is not enough that we have ears—we must
have honest ears, doing duty for an honest soul, or the
clearest voice of truth will be but falsehood when it
reaches us. Balaam is not alone. There are messages
of duty in the Scriptures, to the sinner and to the saint,
quite as clear, direct, positive, and, one would think,
BALAAM, THE coveTOUs. 2 I I
quite as unmistakable, as the message from Jehovah to
Balaam, which are every day tortured and perverted
into the very opposite of their obvious meaning. The
ear of the bigot or of the zealous sectarian will only
hear from God what it wants to hear. The selfish ear
never hears “not” in the passage, “Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth,” and is sure to hear
“not” before “blessed '' when it listens to the
Saviour's words, “It is more blessed to give than to
receive.” The ear of the angry man is not apt to catch
the words, “Be Swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to
wrath.” It is next to impossible for a faith-alone man
to hear or see the words we italicize in the following
sentence: “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be
saved,” although they flowed from the lips of Jesus.
And so on, through all the moods of passion and preju-
dice. Let us not be too hard on Balaam. If we deplore
the “madness” of the prophet—a madness to rebuke
which God chose an ass as a fitting and sufficiently dig-
nified instrument—let us be careful lest a similar mad-
ness possess us; a madness which will array the angels
of God against us, and which, as a perversion of reason,
ought to be rebuked by the honest instincts of the
brutes that serve us.
And so Balaam managed to get on his way after the
gold and silver he coveted; persuading himself all the
while that he was obeying the voice of God! Even the
angel with his drawn sword, and the protest of the
faithful beast he rode, did not arrest him. He managed
still to believe that he was doing the will of God—that
he could reconcile God and mammon The Balaamites
are, we judge, the most numerous and powerful sect in
this and in all lands. We leave the mad prophet, for a
212, EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
little while, when we will visit him again—merely re-
marking that, up to the time in his history which we
have reached, he probably did not half know himself,
or what fearful possibilities of evil slumbered in him,
ready to be evoked by circumstances. When we start
on a false principle, or with mixed motives, we can not
tell where, in spite of pious pretensions, we shall land.
The evils of ignorarce are great, but there are
greater evils than these. It is not so much from a lack
of knowledge that men do wrong, as from a lack of loy-
alty to truth ; not from the absence of eyes and ears, or
of voices of truth, but from a lack of honest eyes and
ears to receive truth's genuine messages. Again we
say, Take heed what ye hear; take heed how ye hear.
BALAAM, THE COVETOUS. 213
BALAAM, THE COVETOUS.
(Readings same as in last chapter.)
We left Balaam confronted with warnings which, had
his conscience been true, should have sent him home in
a hurry. The dumb beast that he rode startled him
with a rebuke that ought to have been instantly effective
—but, as is usual with souls intent on seizing forbidden
fruit, rebuke but inflamed his passions. No matter
that the rebuke came from a meek and patient beast of
burden, hitherto always submissive. “Am not I thine
ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine
unto this day ? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee?”
When men grow proud ard corrupt in spirit, the
rebukes of even the humblest and most faithful only
provoke wrath. Blinded by his rage, Balaam could not
see the angel of Jehovah, with the drawn sword, that
blocked his way. How often, alas! are we thus made
blind and deaf to all divine monitions by the power of
unholy passions, and the just and merciful warnings of
the better angels of our nature are given in vain
It was only when “the Lord opened the eyes of
Balaam ” that he saw the angel with a drawn sword.
He now hears another rebuke, so direct and positive
that he could not mistake it: “Thy way is perverse
before me.” Does he wheel about and flee from his
perverse way? No. He has smooth expressions of
humility and penitence, such as flow readily from the
oiled lips of hypocrites; but he falters still, with a view
to get past the angel and push on for the gold and silver
2I4 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
of Balak. “Now, therefore, if it displease thee, I will
get me back again.” “If it displease thee!” as
though any more positive testimony of displeasure
could possibly be given, than in the words just uttered:
‘‘I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is per-
verse before me.” Beware, my soul, of the subjunctive
mode, in the presence of positive and undoubted reve-
lations of duty. Throw your ifs to the winds. Many
a soul rides to perdition on this little conjunction. It is
possible to raise doubts over the clearest questions of
duty. A disloyal soul will if itself into doubts and sup-
posititious theories which ultimately bereave it of the
power of seeing with true vision, and of hearing the
voice of truth. Balaam was allowed to go on his way---
for, base in spirit as he had proved himself to be, God
meant to use him to promote the ends of truth and
righteousness.
Let us not fail to catch a lesson here which ought to
be of great value to every soul that is exposed to the
“deceitfulness of sin.” Balaam was not all bad. His
character was mixed; and that conglomerate character is
most prevalent, in the church and out of it. He was
religious, in his way. Other things being equal, he
would doubtless have preferred truth to falsehood, right-
eousness to unrighteousness. The apostle Peter does
not say that Balaam loved unrighteousness; but, that
he “loved the wages of unrighteousness” (II. Pet. ii.
I5). If righteousness had offered the same wages as
unrighteousness, he would have preferred the service of
the former to that of the latter. But righteousness did
not “pay;” and for the sake of the wages of unright-
eousness, he entered its service. He was just religious
enough to cloak his selfishness and wickedness under a
BALAAM, THE COVETOUS. 2 I 5
pious pretense; and probably he persuaded himself that
he was acting most religiously, even when he was warned
that his way was perverse before God. Such self.
deceptions are common. There are many in the church
who have just enough of religion to mask their selfish-
ness and dishonesty, and to enable them to persuade
themselves that they are piously seeking the glory of
God, when in fact they are most selfishly seeking their
own advantage at the sacrifice of truth and righteous-
ness. They have a way of fing God's warning angels
out of their path, and of hearing just such voices of
counsel as they want to hear; and they pursue their
perverse ways with pious avowals that they go not
beyond the word of the Lord, to say less or more. If
these self-deceived souls escape the uplifted sword of
justice that glitters in their forbidden paths, and manage
to if themselves past the angels sent to warn them, it is
only a momentary escape. A terrible day of reckoning
will come. Balaam’s religiousness was overslaughed by
his covetousness. There are, alas! many Balaams. A
noticeable instance we have in the New Testament, in
that young ruler who came so eagerly to inquire,
“What good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life?” He was moral, he was religious; but, above all,
he was a lover of money. He would not sacrifice his
possessions for eternal life (Mark x. 17–22).
To the superficial reader, the subsequent history of
this money-mad prophet may seem to be every way hon-
orable to him. He disappointed Balak. He blessed
Israel. He spoke only the word that God gave him to
speak. All this, on the surface, seems without fault.
But it only serves to show how the subtle influences of
sin may be concealed under godly appearances—how
2I6 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
Satan may transform himself into an angel of light.
Read Num. xxiv. I : “And when Balaam saw that it
pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at
other times, to seek enchantments.” Previously he
had sought enchantments, with a view to serve Balak's
purpose. His desire and intention was to curse Israel.
He had done what he could to secure this object; but
every time God overpowered him, and turned the curse
into a blessing. There was no more virtue in this, on Ba-
laam’s part, than in the act of the beast that rebuked him
by a message it was compelled to deliver. He was
the unwilling instrument of a higher power—the subject
of an overmastering force. The beautiful and blessed
words spoken by Balaam were not his ; he was con-
strained to utter them. That all this was contrary to
Balaam's purpose, is evident from after-developments.
Read Num. xxv. 1–3, xxxi. 16; Rev. ii. 14. It will
be seen that when Balak failed to procure a curse upon
the people that “ dwelt alone,” he determined to mask
his hostility under the guise of friendship. He began
to profess great respect for the Israelites; sent out the
daughters of Moab to entice them to Moab's idolatrous
and licentious revels; and what could not be accom-
plished while Israel dwelt alone, was swiftly accom-
plished when “Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor,
and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods: ”
for the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,
and twenty-four thousand perished under a divine curse.
This, it will be seen, from Num. xxxi. 16, was accom-
plished “through the counsel of Balaam.” He brought
the curse on Israel, and doubtless received the gold and
silver he had coveted; but he did it through a deter-
mined and daring violation of what he knew to be the
BALAAM, THE COVETOUS. 217
will of God, because “he loved the wages of unrighteous-
ness.” See how, when a man yields to evil desires, he
is borne, in the face of divine admonitions, from the first
trembling step in perverse ways to a daring and reckless
opposition to all that is good. Doubtless he received
his reward; but, like all ill-gotten gains, it brought no
good. His success in gaining the rewards of divination
seems to have held him among the enemies of Israel,
and in a battle of the Hebrews with the Midianites,
among whom he was probably reaping a new harvest of
riches for his apostasy, he was slain by the people whose
destruction he had so wickedly plotted (Num. xxxi. 8).
Thus it was, and is, and evermore shall be, that “they
that are minded to be rich fall into temptation, and a
snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown
men in destruction and perdition.”
There is another deeply important lesson in this his-
tory of Balaam. While God's chosen people dwelt
alone, there was “no divination against Jacob, nor
enchantment against Israel.” They were invincible as
long as they maintained their separate character, and were
true to their mission as “a peculiar people.” “Lo, the
people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned
among the nations.” In that separate position, Balaam
knew they were unconquerable. “How shall I curse
whom God hath not cursed ? and how shall I defy whom
God hath not defied?” Yet the curse came. It came
when Israel was lured from that separateness, by the
blandishments and wiles of the enemy, into a com-
promise, and enticed by Moab's deceitful smiles and
false courtesies into a surrender of the sacred trust
received from Jehovah. This was “the doctrine of
Balaam ”—the doctrine of compromise. He taught
218 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
the Moabites that if they could succeed in luring the
Israelites to their idolatrous feasts and revels, they need
do no more—Jehovah himself would curse them. And
so it proved. And so it proves always. Spiritual
Israel has a special mission, the accomplishment of
which depends on maintaining the separate character
received from God as a humble, pure, truthful, right-
eous, spiritual people. The Church is the called-out
Assembly, placed in antagonism to all falsehood and
iniquity, and consecrated to the interests of truth and
righteousness. “Come out from among them, and be
ye separate, saith the Lord, and I will receive you.”
If, through evil influences, the people are carried
captive into Babylon, the divine call comes, “Come
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” While
the Church of God is true to this call, her triumph
is sure. There is no divination or enchantment against
her. It is not wealth, or eloquence, or political favor-
itism, that secures prosperity to the Church. These
may have some value, if used aright, but they are full
of perils to spiritual interests. The Church can prosper
without them. “Not by might, nor by power, but by
my Spirit, Saith the Lord of hosts.” God himself will
guide to victory the hosts that trust in His name. The
world in arms against the Church is not to be dreaded.
“More are they that be with us than they that be with
them.” “Thére is no wisdom, nor counsel, nor under-
Standing, against the Lord.” It is when Israel is enticed
into the company of Moab–when that “friendship of
the world” which is “enmity against God” beguiles
and corrupts the Church—that defeat and disgrace
ensue. And right here is the peril of the Church to-day.
BALAAM, THE COVETOUS. 219
The daughters of Moab have bewitched the sons of
Israel, and spiritual whoredom provokes the curse of
God in spiritual barrenness, leanness and impotency.
The rage of covetousness in the Church; the reign of
pride and luxury; the captivity of God's people, dragged
in the silken chains of carnal pleasure at the chariot-
wheels of a triumphant world: these are the sad spectacles
witnessed to-day. The Church is enslaved; the world
is master. Lured to the feasts and revelries and idola-
trous abominations of the world—Christians with their
heads in the lap of this Delilah, are shorn of their
strength, and with their limbs fettered, and their eyes
put out, are made to grind at the mill of their enemies
and do the Service of slaves for those who hold them in
thrall. “For what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with
darkness P and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or
what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and
what agreement hath the temple of God with idols P”
Beware of “the doctrine of Balaam.”
We write this late Saturday night (June I I, 1881),
just as the eclipse of the moon is beginning, and find in
this revelation of Nature an impressive lesson. The
moon shines with a borrowed light, as does the Chris-
tian. The moon reflects the light of the invisible sun,
and the Christian reflects the light of the invisible God;
and as the soft light of the moon gently but effectively
penetrates the darkness of the night and bathes the
earth in gentle radiance, so is the light of the Church to
reflect the glory of God, in subdued splendor, upon
a benighted world, driving away the darkness of igno-
rance and sin. But when the earth comes between the
moon and the sun, the moon itself is darkness; and
22O * - * EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
when the earth comes between the soul and God—between
the Church and the glorious Sun of Righteousness—
the Church, too, is darkness. Such an eclipse does not
come in a moment. It steals on slowly and quietly,
and there is still a partial, but ever decreasing light,
until finally the obscuration is total. Thus stealthily
comes the eclipse of the soul, and of the Church. Just as
earth is allowed to come in between the soul and its
God, the light departs, and darkness creeps on apace
until—all earth and no God—the eclipse is total, and the
darkness appalling. The moon can not help it, but the
soul can. Beware of an eclipse of the soul.
Lord, preserve me from going in the way of Balaam
for reward. Keep me from that root of all kinds of evil
—the love of money. Let me not forget the impres-
sive warnings of Thy word concerning those who are
bent on being rich, and have erred from the faith
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Preserve me, O my God, from this base idolatry, and fix
my affections on the true riches, and enable me to love
Thee with all my heart, and soul, and mind and strength.
NADAB AND ABIHU. —STRANGE FIRE, 22I
NADAB AND ABIHU.—STRANGE FIRE.
(Read Leviticus x. I-7.)
Here is a brief, but very significant portion of his-
tory, which we shall do well to consider. Nadab and
Abihu were sons of Aaron, and nephews of Moses. In
virtue of their position as the kindred of the great
leader of the people, and as the chosen priests of God,
they were under obligations to present an example of
obedience that would encourage the people to walk
in the ways of the Lord. “Sin in high places” is
peculiarly odious, because its influence is so general and
so far-reaching. Moreover, these men had been admit-
ted to peculiar privileges and honors. By divine invi-
tation they went up into the mountain with Moses and
Aaron, and seventy of the elders of Israel; “and they
saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as
it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were
the body of heaven in its clearness” (Ex. xxiv. I, IG).
As far as it was possible for mortal eyes to behold
the beatific vision, the ineffable glories of the uncreated
God were unveiled to them. They had a demonstration
of the divine origin of the law under which they were to
serve, and of the awful majesty and glory of God whose
representatives they were, that left them without excuse
for the slightest deviation from the law which He had
given them. It would seem, moreover, that the sin
which is here recorded against them was committed
shortly after their solemn consecration to the priestly
service and that glorious exhibition of God’s presence
222 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
when, as the appointed offerings of Aaron and his sons
lay upon the altar of burnt-offering, “there came a fire
out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar
the burnt-offering and the fat ; which, when all the peo-
ple saw, they shouted and fell on their faces” (Lev.
ix. 24).
In burning incense at the golden altar, the Lord
directed that they should “take a censer full of burning
coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord ” (Lev.
xvi. 12). Neither “strange fire" nor “strange in-
cense” (Ex. xxx. 9) was to be allowed. The fire at
the altar was a heaven-descended flame, and was never
to be extinguished (Lev. vi. 13).
Very likely the sons of Aaron could see no good
reason why incense should be burned with this fire
rather than any other. If only it was fire, and the
incense was consumed by it, what difference did it make
as to where the fire came from ? If any priest thought it
was right to use other fire than that at the altar, and was
only sincere in using it, and had a pious intention in what
he did, who but a hopeless bigot or a fierce ritualist
would presume to find fault? It was only a form, any
way; and why be so particular about mere forms ? If
they reasoned this way, they have plenty of company in
the priests and clergy and people of the present time,
by many of whom such reasoning is deemed unanswera-
ble. But God, in arranging that pictorial religion, had
reasons for requiring that the incense should be burnt
with fire from the altar, whether the sons of Aaron
understood these reasons or not. A great truth was
thus to be taught in type, which would be turned to a
falsehood if other than sacred fire were employed in the
service.
NABAB AND A BIH.U. —STRANGE FIRE. 223
That this was their process of reasoning, we can not
be absolutely certain ; but for some reason—and clearly
an unjustifiable one—they saw fit to disregard the
injunction concerning the sacred fire, and “offered
strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them.
not.” It was setting up their own will against the will of
Jehovah; “and there went out fire from the Lord, and
devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” Their
charred remains were carried forth without the least
sign of mourning. “Uncover not your heads, neither
rend your clothes, lest ye die, and lest wrath come on
all the people,” was the stern injunction laid upon the
father and brothers of these presumptuous and rebel-
lious priests.
We have sometimes questioned whether this impious
act of the Sons of Aaron was not done in a drunken
frolic—for it is immediately afterwards enjoined upon
Aaron: “Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou,
northy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle
of the congregation, lest ye die; it shall be a statute
forever throughout your generations.”
The first lesson suggested by this history is, that
when God commands, He must be obeyed, even in the
minutest particulars. Many times, when a command is
given, the means of performing it are not specified; and
then we are at liberty where God has left us without
law. Thus, if God had merely required the burning
of incense, and had said nothing about the fire to be
used, the priests would have been at liberty to procure
fire wherever it could be most easily obtained. But
when God made a certain fire sacred, and limited them
to the use of that, there was no discretion in this par-
ticular left to the officiating priest. It must be that
224 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
fire, and no other. It is always safe to do just what
God commands. It is never safe to trifle with His au-
thority. It is rebellion to substitute our own will
or any other will for the will of God. Let all who
trifle with God’s ordinances take warning.
But there is more than this in the lesson before us.
We have said that the religion of the Jews was pic-
torial. Great spiritual truths were pictured to the eye,
embodied in forms. We know what the burning of in-
cense on the golden altar, without ceasing, with sacred
fire, was meant to teach. “Let my prayer be set forth
before thee as incense,” said the psalmist, “and the lift-
ing up of my hands as the evening sacrifice ’’ (Ps. cxli.
2). “For from the rising of the sun even to the going
down of the same, my name shall be great among the
Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered
unto my name, and a pure offering” (Mal. i. 11).
“The four living creatures and the four and twenty
elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a
harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the
prayers of the saints" (Rev. v. 8).
How impressively are we taught that our devotions,
to be acceptable to God, must be kindled by a sacred
fire—a heaven-descended flame; that no mere offering of
the lips, no merely selfish prayers, no petitions for bless-
ings to consume upon our lusts, no praying “to be seen
of men,” no spectacular or sensuous worship arranged
to “draw " the multitude, can be more acceptable to
God than was the incense-burning of Nadab and Abihu.
We often hear complaints that prayer is not answered.
Perhaps it is a great mercy that it is not—for the answer
might be a consuming fire from the Lord. Are you burn-
ing incense with strange fire? We hear much lamenta-
NADAB AND ABIHU. —STRANGE FIRE. 225
tion over the spiritual decadence of the churches. Is it
any wonder? With what fire do you approach the altar?
How much, in your worship, is mere formalism, mere
sound and ceremony, while the heart is besotted by car-
nality and pride and selfishness? “This people draweth
nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with
their lips—but their heart is far from me.” Such incense
is an abomination unto God. He is “nigh unto them
that are of a broken heart, and saves such as are of a
contrite spirit.” The “strange fire" of selfishness, of
self-righteousness, of pride, of party zeal, of carnal
desire, is the flame which burns much of the incense
professedly offered at the altar of God, and not live
coals from the altar of sacrifice.
Lord, save us from the great sin of the sons of
Aaron. May our hearts be altars consecrated to Thee
alone; may all our offerings be pure and true ; and may
the flame of our devotion be kindled by the heaven-
descended fire of love divine. May we banish all
strange fire from our hearts and from the house of God.
226 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
JOSHUA.
(Read the twenty-fourth chapter of Joshua.)
Next to that of Moses, Joshua's is the most remark-
able character in the history of the redemption of Israel.
First, his name is remarkable. Joshua, or Jehoshua,
carries with it the idea of a divine saviour. His original
name (Oshea or Hoshea) seems to have been changed
to indicate the part he was to act in the salvation of
Israel; and it is not improbable that this was in view
also of the typical character he was to bear as fore-
shadowing the really divine Joshua through whom the
greater salvation was to be wrought—the Captain of
Salvation by whom the enemies of the true Israel of
God were to be overthrown—the Divine Guide who,
leading the chosen people in triumph through the Jor-
dan, should establish them in “the rest that remaineth
for the people of God.” Joshua and Jesus are the
Saſſle Ila Iſle.
No one person could adequately typify Him in
whom all perfections were to meet, and by whom the
whole work of redemption was to be accomplished.
Moses delivered the people from bondage and led them
through the wilderness; but he died short of the prom-
ised land, and another had to complete the work he
had begun.
Joshua was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim
(I. Chr. vii. 27). We know nothing of his early
history, except that he was one of the bondmen in
Egypt upon whom the hand of oppression fell. He
JOSHUA. 227
must have been about forty years of age when Moses
entered on his work; hence, had not known him pre-
viously, being born about the time Moses fled into the
land of Midian. It is evident that Moses discovered in
him those qualities that fitted him to command, since
he placed him in command of the Israelite forces in
that memorable battle with the powerful Amalekites
(Ex. xvii. 9). He is also spoken of as in a peculiar
sense the minister of Moses (Ex. xxiv. 13, xxxiii. 11),
denoting an intimate association with him in all his
work, as one to be trained to succeed him or to co-
operate with him in the duties and responsibilities of
leadership. He went with Moses into the mount of
God at the time the law was given, even when Aaron
and Hur and the seventy elders were forbidden to
go farther (Ex. xxiv. 13–15), and was the first to meet
him when he descended from that lofty summit which
even Joshua was not permitted to ascend (Ex. xxxii.
17). When one from each tribe was selected to search
the land of Canaan (Num. xiii.), Joshua was chosen to
represent the tribe of Ephraim; and when these
returned, and the great majority made a very discour-
aging and even alarming report, he stood up with
Caleb and made a minority report full of faith and
hope and courage, urging the people to go and possess
the land. "The great mass of the people listened to the
faithless ones, and were so utterly disheartened as
to prepare to elect a captain to guide them back to
Egypt; and when Caleb and Joshua bravely protested,
their lives were threatened by the infuriated mob. Of
all terrible things, we know nothing so terrible as a
thoroughly infuriated mob. That bravery is peerless
which can confront a host of lawless men swayed only
228 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
by fierce passions, beyond all control of reason, and
holding supreme power in their lawless hands. It
strikes us as one of Paul's sublimest hours when he
dared to face such a mob, and by the spell of his own
manliness and courage, awed them into silence (Acts
xxi., xxii.). Only a few of even heroic men are ade-
quate to such a task. But in Joshua's case it was not
an ordinary mob that he defied, but the whole mass of
Israel with its 600,000 fighting men in mutiny against
their leader, and swayed by a resistless tempest of pas-
sion—a cyclone of indescribable fury. And it is here
that we gain the best insight into his real character.
I. He was a man of high courage. Neither the
towering and belligerent sons of Anak nor the tribes of
Israel in mutiny, had any terrors for him. He “stood
foursquare to all the winds that blew.”
2. He was a man of principle, not of passion. He
stood for the right, because it was the right. There
was no cringing to the popular voice. He dared to
stand with Caleb against all his fellows, and against the
nation, when he knew them to be in the wrong. He
would rather have perished at the hands of the mob, in
defense of duty, than to have been greeted with their
plaudits through a base surrender of his convictions of
right.
3. He was a man of faith. He believed what God
had spoken; and there was no wisdom, nor understand-
ing, nor counsel against Jehovah. What were the sons
of Anak against the right arm of Israel's God? This
faith seems never to have been surrendered or even
shaken during all the trials and perils of the wilderness.
While that whole generation that came forth from
Egypt fell under the curse of God because of unbelief,
JOSHUA. 229
Caleb and Joshua, lofty and noble sons of faith, stood
up in their integrity, never faltering—stood like twin
rocks in the restless, heaving ocean, bidding defiance to
wind and wave, and grandly surviving every storm
It is worth while to read and ponder the lives of
such heroic men; for, in every life there will come
seasons of trial and discouragement, when all visibilities
will wear a threatening aspect, and one's hopes must be
anchored “within the vail” if he is to outride the tem-
pest. In such seasons only faith in the invisible can
save us from being swept into destruction; and such
examples as we are now contemplating, in which the
triumphs of faith are so illustriously displayed, should
come to us in such seasons like a voice from heaven,
and inspire us to look beyond the darkness and the
tempest to the higher and heavenlier region, where stars
ever shine and suns ever glow with unfailing light,
“and the most ancient heavens are fresh and strong.”
It is easy enough to have courage when courage is not
needed. The most arrant coward can be brave enough
them. But God bless the men that stand firm when
everything is against them, and dare to be true even in
the face of death—“faithful among the faithless.” -
We have not space to detail the successive perform-
ances of this wonderful man in guiding a nation into
their promised inheritance, and subduing before them
the hostile tribes that possessed the land. While there
was divine help, it was divine help awarded to bravery
and skill and perseverance. “In six years, six nations,
with thirty-one kings, swell the roll of his conquests;
amongst others, the Anakim—the old terror of Israel
—are specially recorded as destroyed everywhere,
except in Philistia.”
23O EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
When war had accomplished its bloody mission,
Joshua spent his old age in making a division of the con-
quered land among the tribes; and then, after the peace-
ful enjoyment of his own inheritance at Timnath-serah,
closed his life at the age of I Io years, about 70 of
which had been spent in the public service, either in
serving or commanding. His last public interview with
the people reveals a heart supremely bent on maintain-
ing the law of Jehovah in its integrity, and the painful
anxiety with which he contemplated the possibility of
an apostasy on the part of the nation. -
There is not a single stain upon the name of Joshua.
Though his official life is narrated with much more of
detail than most of the lives on record in the Old Testa-
ment, there is not in it all the slightest intimation of sin
against God or man. He was as gentle as he was brave,
as pure as he was wise, as unselfish as he was uncompro-
mising; as good and kind in peace as he was brave and
terrible in war; and alike as a civilian and a military hero,
was supremely devoted to the best interests of the peo-
ple he was appointed to command. This blameless life
was not a mere negative blamelessness, owing to the
absence of dangerous elements. Every such hero as
Joshua is necessarily a man of strong animal forces,
subject to powerful temptations, and liable to disastrous
overthrow by the violence of his passions. That, with
such a nature, he triumphed over all evil in his pecu-
liarly trying position, and spent 1 Io years in the midst
of temptations without one wrong to smirch his fair
fame, is certainly worthy of note. It is a significant
indication of the moral power of his steadfast faith and
piety, that “Israel served the Lord all the days of
Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived
JOSHUA. 23 I
Joshua.” And the secret of this power is revealed in
his own memorable utterance: “But as for me, and my
house, we will serve Jehovah.” The man who is him-
self true to duty, and leads his household in the way of
truth and righteousness, will always be a power for
good; and after he is dead will still live in the hearts of
the people.
Joshua is another instance of the lofty possibilities
of human nature when possessed of faith in God.
232 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
JABEZ.
“And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his
mother called his name Jabez [Sorrowful], saying, Because I bore him
with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that
thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine
hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil,
that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he
requested ” (I. Chron. iv. 9, Io).
A few evenings since, while threading our way
through the dry genealogical details of the first eight
chapters of I. Chronicles, we lighted on the curious
statement which we have quoted at the head of this
study. It occurred to us that we had, some twenty
years ago, read an excellent New Year's sermon based
on this text, by the eminent Henry Melvill, which
greatly interested us at the time; and it would not be
surprising if, in what we are now to say, we should
reproduce some of his thoughts; for over that stretch
of twenty years, memory links us not only with his
name, but with his teaching.
I. Do not skip what seem to be the dry places in
the Bible. You may be the loser if you do. Perhaps
nothing in the Bible is so dry to the reader as the gene-
alogies. They ought not to be dry; for if there were
nothing but names and dates, births and deaths, it
ought to awaken serious reflections to note the names
of men and women who once figured in the busy scenes
of time, to whom life was as real and as dear as it is to
us, who have gone to people the realms of the dead, and
are, so far as this world is concerned, as if they had
JABEZ. 233 .
never been. In a little while, all that will be left of us
will be a name and a date—if even that much shall
be preserved. “For what is our life! it is even a vapor
that appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth
away.”
But it is not all dry genealogical record. Like a
flower blooming in the desert, or a treasure hidden in
the Sand, or a star peeping through dark clouds, this
text is found in these uninviting records of births and
deaths. You know not on what spiritual treasure you
may stumble in making your way patiently through the
least interesting parts of the sacred histories. So do
not skip, but read every word.
We know not who Jabez was ; but there is much in
this brief history that is instructive and stimulating. It
appears that he was born under Sorrowful circumstances.
What peculiar sorrow burdened his mother's heart, we
may not know. Perhaps the father had died before
this child was born, and her widowed heart was lonely
and hopeless as she thought of the new cares and
responsibilities that would come upon her in behalf of
the fatherless child. It may be that the family had
been left in deep poverty, and she saw not how she
could provide for an additional helpless child. Ah,
how many such poor toiling widows there are, to whom
the new year brings no joy—for day and night they
must fight to keep from the door the wolf that would
devour their already half-starved children'ſ Braver than
the martyrs are many of these poor women, who toil
without ceasing for their children's sake, and often go
breakfastless or supperless themselves that they may
nourish their fatherless ones and train them up, through
a thousand snares and perils and troubles, in the ways of
234 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
virtue. It touches the heart of God to look upon
them, and He has tenderly revealed Himself as the
Judge of the widow, and the Father of the fatherless.
It may have been that the mother of Jabez was the sub-
ject of unusual suffering and peril in giving him birth,
and, expecting to die, like Rachel who, “when her soul
was in departing," called her son Ben-oni, “the son of
my sorrow,” she called the babe whom she expected to
leave motherless in a cold and stormy world, Jabez-
sorrowful. Whatever was the cause, the little stranger
found no cordial welcome. His sorrow-stricken mother
looked on him with sad eye, and pressed him to an
aching heart. And yet this child of her sorrow became
the joy and the pride of her heart—for he was “more
honorable than his brethren.” How often, in the
feebleness of our reason and our faith, we misjudge'
That which we most dread as a sore evil, proves to be
fruitful in blessings; and that on which we set our
hearts with highest expectation becomes a source of
bitter anguish ' What calamity can crush the heart
like that of the waywardness and wickedness of a
beloved child P And what joy as bright, and pure and
precious as that which fills a mother's heart when she
looks upon her children walking with stately step in the
paths of truth and righteousness
Beware, O mothers, how ye wrong the Father in
heaven by murmurs over your hard lot in the glorious
task of rearing the children He has given you; and be-
ware, too, how ye let foolish fondness make special pets
of children that may yet break your hearts. The neg-
lected child of sorrow may prove “more honorable
than his brethren.” Rule with an even hand; but if
you must have preferences, let them rest on those whom
JABEZ. 235
Providence has marked out as least favored and best
entitled to care. Do not too hastily write “Jabez” on
that which comes to you in sorrow, for you may live to
be reproved for your faithlessness in the final blessed
results of an unpromising beginning.
It was probably the result of the sorrow in which
Jabez was nursed, that he became “honorable.” The
School of rugged adversity graduates much more stal-
wart scholars than the school of soft luxury or of sunny
pleasure. Somehow human nature needs the vigorous
discipline of poverty and adversity to develop the high-
est manliness. This child of sorrow grew up in the fear
of God, and learned to trust Him as the guide of his
life. Listen to his prayer to “the God of Israel”—
not merely his God, but the God of all who, like Israel,
wrestle with difficulties and strive with God for His
blessing, and thus obtain power with God and with
men. It is an admirable prayer with which to begin
the new year.
O that thou wouldest bless me indeed.—There are
many things that seem to be blessings, but are not.
We are apt to pray for wealth, for success, for honor,
etc., when these may prove to be curses rather than
blessings. But Jabez prayed for that, whatever it might
be, that would prove to be a real blessing, even though,
for the present, it might be grievous rather than joyous.
‘‘Bless me indeed.” s -
And enlarge my coast.—He had an inheritance in the
land of promise which was not yet redeemed from the
enemy. He was about to go forth to conflict, to obtain
full possession of his inheritance; and he looks to the
God of Israel to bless him in the strife. And is there
not yet much of our rightful spiritual domain unpos-
*
236 Evenings WITH THE BIBLE.
sessed—knowledge to be gained, virtues to be cher-
ished, faith, hope and love to be enlarged, and rich
clusters of the vines of Eshcol, “righteousness, peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit,” to be gathered 2 What
more fitting prayer than that the God of Israel would
“enlarge our coast"? -
But Jabez was not content with a mere prayer for
this enlargement; he intended to fight for it, and doubt-
less had his forces marshaled and equipped before he
offered this prayer. Hence he says: -
And that thine hand might be with me.—He does
not ask that God's hand shall do it all. It is no prayer
for a premium to laziness or indifference. He intends
to do his best; but, knowing how feeble and short-
sighted are man's best efforts, he prays that the hand of
God may be with him for guidance, protection and vic-
tory. And is not this just the prayer we need to offer,
and the spirit in which we should offer it? If we would
enlarge our coast, we must go forth to battle against the
world, the flesh and the devil. We must take unto us
“the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand
againt the wiles of the devil.” We must put brave
hand to “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God,” and be prepared to wield it skillfully; and then,
with our armor on, and sword in hand, ready for battle,
let us pray, “and that thine hand might be with me.”
And that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may
not grieve me.—It is not a prayer that no evil may befall
him, but that he may be so preserved from its power
that it may not overcome him. Much of what is called
evil is a necessary discipline for us; but we must not
fall under its power. We must not serve it, but make
it serve us. Do not, therefore, fear to face evil, or pray
*
JABEZ. 237
to God that it may not come; but rather ask that your
hidden source of strength in Him may be such that
evils, when they do befall, shall not grieve or dishearten
you. That is a noble, manly prayer, and we need not
wonder that we immediately read: “And God granted
him that which he requested.” And He will grant it to
you, too, O son of sorrow, and to every brave child
of faith who prays to be blessed indeed—who prays
with his armor on, and his face already turned to the
battle-field.
238 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
ENVY AND JEALOUSY.
(Read the twelfth chapter of Numbers.)
Among the lowest and most mischievous passions
of our nature are envy and jealousy. It is right to
desire to be all that we are capable of being, in the line
of goodness and usefulness, and to be emulous of the
virtues and excellences of those who stand above us.
Hence the examples of faith and holiness set before us
in the Scriptures. As Pope says:
Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a slave,
Is emulation in the learn’d or brave.
But when either a consciousness of our inferiority or
a conceit of our superiority leads us to undervalue the
character or the work of others, blinds us to their gen-
uine merits, or inclines us to pull down their reputation
that we may exalt ourselves at their expense and build
up our name on the ruin of theirs, it is a base selfish-
ness and wickedness which, if encouraged, will eat out
everything that is good, and leave our souls a prey to
evil principle and unholy passion. It leads to falsehood
and slander, to the sacrifice of all generous feelings and
sentiments, to all sorts of injustice, and to a disregard of
all laws, whether of God or man, that stand in the way
of the gratification of a vile ambition. “Envy,” said
Solomon, “is the rottenness of the bones.” “Wrath
is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to
stand before envy P” It should make us tremble at the
fearful possibilities of wrong and crime that slumber in
this base passion, when we read concerning the greatest
ENVY AND JEALousy. 239
crime ever perpetrated in a world so full of crime as
ours—the condemnation of Jesus of Nazareth—that
“for envy they delivered him up" (Matt. xxvii. 18).
The chapter selected for this reading presents an
exhibition of envy which is well worth studying. We
can stand off and behold this hideous deformity in
others as we can not behold it in ourselves; yet a
knowledge of its hideousness in others may help us to
detect and abhor it as a self-deformity. If there were a
self-revelation of its native ugliness, we could not but
detest it even in its smallest manifestations; but it is
generally cloaked in a seeming zeal for righteousness,
and we deceive ourselves as to the motive that sways
us. Miriam—who, we judge, was in some respects
a superior woman—did not allow herself to believe that
she was influenced by envy, when she rose in rebellion
against Moses as Jehovah's appointed leader and law-
giver. Oh, no; it was only virtuous disgust at his
marriage to a Cushite or Ethiopian woman This can
hardly refer to Zipporah, who was not an Ethiopian.
Moreover, it is not reasonable to suppose that Miriam
would now raise such an objection to Zipporah, after
she had been married probably long enough to have
been entitled to a golden wedding ! It is to us more
likely that Zipporah had been some time dead; and that
Miriam had largely taken her place as the confidant and
counselor of Moses—a position which gave her pecu-
liar eminence among the women of Israel; and now
when Moses took a second wife, and Miriam Saw
that she must retire from her proud position, she
became envious; and, when she could find nothing else
on which to base a complaint and with which to feed
her jealousy, she must vent her spleen on this Swarthy
24O EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
Ethiopian woman, and raise a storm of indignation be-
cause her brother had not married to please her ' Yet,
when the truth comes out, it is not the Ethiopian
woman at all. “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by
Moses? hath he not also spoken by us?” There was
the real trouble—envy of the superior distinction and
authority of Moses; Miriam and Aaron simply tried to
deceive themselves by clothing this envy and jealousy
with a professed indignation at what they may have
sincerely regarded as an ill-assorted marriage. We
must be very careful as to our motives. We are often
deceived about them. There may be much of mean-
ness and vileness inspiring our actions, when we are
unwilling to admit it, even to ourselves; and if we can
only import some worthier reason for our conduct, such
as will give some coloring of honesty and righteous-
ness to our proceeding, it is easy to emphasize this, and
allow the motives that chiefly inspire us to be over-
looked. The Ethiopian woman may have been the
occasion, but she certainly was not the cause, of this
outbreak.
Miriam appears to have been the chief malcontent.
Aaron was probably controlled by her influence. This
appears from the fact that Miriam is first mentioned,
and also for the reason that the punishment fell on her.
Aaron was a weak man. This was seen in his yielding
to the demands of the people for an idol to worship.
It is more strikingly seen here in allowing himself to be
Swayed by his envious and ill-natured sister, against
a brother whom he had every reason to love and rever-
ence, and whose preeminent position, he well knew, was
divinely bestowed. There is nothing noble to be seen
in Aaron's character. While it may not be a pleasant
ENVY AND JEALOUSy. 24. I
task to hold up a woman like Miriam as the chief trans-
gressor, the truth requires it; and there is a lesson in it
which women ought to heed. We sometimes hear it
said, in behalf of woman suffrage, that if women were
allowed to vote, we should soon see an end to wicked
rulers and unrighteous legislation. We must be per-
mitted to doubt this. It may be that women should be .
allowed to vote. We are not sure that they have not the
best of the argument on the question of their equal right
with men to a voice in the government of the country;
but if so, it does not rest on the consideration that they
would be purer or wiser on most questions of right
than men. They are subject to the same passions as
men, and are as capable of utter demoralization. Some
of the best and some of the worst rulers have been
women. They are capable of cunning, of reckless-
ness, of cruelty, and of the most appalling crimes,
equally with men. This is no reason why they should
be shut out from the full rights of citizenship, but it
is a claim against the reason that if women had the
elective franchise it would end unjust and corrupt legis-
lation. We incline to think that, except on questions
vitally affecting their own happiness, like that of tem-
perance, their votes would not largely alter the com-
plexion of State or National politics. They would not
be apt to prove either better or worse, on an average,
than men, in political affairs. Miriam is here a leader
in mischief, and Aaron is her humble follower.
Miriam was a prophetess (Ex. xv. 20); the Lord
/had spoken by her. She evidently held the first rank
among the women of Israel. Aaron was high-priest—
a preeminent dignity. There was enough of honor to
satisfy a reasonable ambition in either position. But
242 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
Moses was greater than they—and this became to them
intolerable.
Base envy withers at another's joy,
And hates that excellence it can not reach.
Although they knew that Moses held his place
by divine appointment, they had cherished this envious
feeling until it broke out in actual rebelliousness against
the will of God, as well as against a brother whom they
had every reason to love and honor.
Moses quietly bears their reproaches, but Jehovah
quickly interferes in his behalf, and Miriam is smitten
with the loathsome and terrible disease of leprosy, and
becomes an outcast. Then these ambitious and fretful
spirits are humbled before Moses, and beseech his
intercessions in their behalf. The generous Moses
pleads with God for them, and Miriam, after a brief
punishment, is restored to her place—let us hope a
wiser and better woman.
We must postpone the consideration of a second
instance of envy, and the application of the lessons
which we need to learn. Meanwhile, it will do to med-
itate on these weighty words of Lord Bacon : “A man
that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth virtue in
others; for men's minds will either feed upon their own
good, or upon others’ evil; and who wanteth the one
will prey upon the other; and whoso is out of hope to
attain to another's virtue, will seek to come at even
hand by depressing another's fortune.”
It is one of the unmistakable evidences of true great-
ness of soul—a generous appreciation of the merits
of others and a sincere delight in their honorable
achievements.
ENVY AND JEALOUSY. 243
ENVY AND JEALOUSY.
(Read the sixteenth chapter of Numbers.)
We have contemplated envy and jealousy as exhib-
ited in the conduct of Miriam and Aaron. We have
here another example of the fierce play of the same
mean passions.
Korah, the leader of the rebellion here described,
was the son of Izhar, who was the brother of Amram,
the father of Moses and Aaron (Ex. vi. 18); so that
Korah was the cousin of the men whom he envied, and
whose authority he sought to overthrow. He belonged,
therefore, to the tribe of Levi. He was one of those
men who are ever complaining that they are not appre-
ciated, and who, from their unhappy spirit, fail to reach
the positions to which they aspire. He was a Kohath-
ite, and the eldest born of his father's sons (Ex. vi. 21),
yet Elizaphan, belonging to the youngest branch of the
Kohathites, descended from Uzziel, was made chief of
the families of the Kohathites (Num. iii. 27–30).
Korah's ambition, it is likely, was wounded by the ele-
vation to the chieftainship of one from a younger
branch of the Kohathite family, and he nursed his
discontent until it broke forth in this assault on the
authority of Moses and Aaron. This, we say, is prob-
able; but what is certain is, that he envied the family of
Aaron because of their superior priestly distinction
(verse IO), and aspired to sacerdotal honors for himself.
Dathan and Abiram and On—the last named being
mentioned only here—belonged to the tribe of Reuben.
244 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
We are left to conjecture the cause of their discontent.
The most probable supposition is, that as Reuben was
the first-born (Gen. xlix. 3), and forfeited his birth-
right, and his descendants had thus lost the superior
place among the tribes, they were chafing under this
serious misfortune, and were disposed to hazard some
thing to regain the lost primacy. This unhappy spirit
led these men to work secretly among the chief men of
the other tribes until “two hundred and fifty princes of
the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of
renown,” joined them in a conspiracy to overthrow the
authority of Moses and Aaron. But it did not suit to
avow their real intention. Probably the two hundred
and fifty were not aware of the real motives of Korah,
Dathan and Abiram. The avozved purpose was to
divide the honors of the priesthood and leadership
among all the people (verse 3)—“the dear people” was
the honeyed phrase of demagogues then, as it is now—
but the real purpose was to break down the authority of
Moses and Aaron, that Korah and his family might
obtain the priesthood, and the Reubenites procure to
themselves the leading position among the tribes which
Judah now occupied. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's
commentary gives the following views of the motives
that inspired this rebellion:
The latter mentioned individuals (Dathan, Abiram and On) being
all sons of Reuben, the eldest of Jacob's family, had been stimulated to
this insurrection on the pretext that Moses had, by an arbitrary
arrangement, taken away the right of primogeniture, which had vested
the hereditary dignity of the priesthood in the first-born of every family,
with a view of transferring the hereditary exercise of the sacred func-
tions to a particular branch of his own house; and that this gross
instance of partiality to his own relations, to the permanent detriment
of others, was a sufficient ground for refusing allegiance to his govern-
ENVY AND JEALOUsy. 245
ment. In addition to this grievance, another cause of jealousy and
dissatisfaction that rankled in the breasts of the Reubenites, was the
advance of Judah to the leadership among the tribes. These malcon-
tents had been incited by the artful representations of Korah, with
whom the position of their camp on the south side afforded them
facilities of frequent intercourse, and who, in addition to his feeling of
personal wrongs, participated in their desire, if he did not originate
the attempt, to recover their lost rights of primogeniture.
At this distance, how contemptible appears this
strife for distinctions which could last but for a few fleet-
ing years! Yet the same strife goes on to-day for place
and power, even in the ranks of spiritual Israel. Nay,
it revealed itself even in the band of apostles who had
“left all ” for Christ. Their harmony was more than
once disturbed by the question, “Who shall be great-
est?” and the most saintly of them ventured out to the
borders of intrigue to secure for themselves the chief
places in the kingdom (Matt. xx. 20–24). The cor-
ruptions of the gospel, culminating in the great Apos-
tasy, were largely owing to this lust of place and power.
In the bud, it was men like Diotrephes (III. John), who
“loved to have the preeminence,” and who “prated,”
even against the beloved apostle John, “with malicious
words,” as Korah and his associates prated against
Moses and Aaron, and “‘lorded it over God's heri-
tage.” In the blossom, it was rulers in the cities
aspiring to “diocesan ’’ authority, and then mounting,
when it was possible, to “metropolitan’’ power. In its
full-formed fruit, it was popery. In its ripeness, it is
the infallibility of the Pope.
And there are a great many little popes, even where
there is so-called congregational government. It was
Martin Luther, we believe, who said that “every man
is born with a pope in his stomach "–a strong and
246 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
rather coarse way of describing the general disposition
to rule or ruin. Not only are envyings and jealousies
frequently found among preachers, and still more nota-
ably among singers; but in churches, among rival
members, and in neighborhoods among rival families,
the everlasting question, “Who shall be greatest?”
produces constant agitation and perpetual mischief.
Peter therefore found it necessary to exhort all young
disciples to “put away all envies and all evil speaking,”
knowing how almost universal was the tendency to this
evil spirit. Let any one become at all conspicuous as
an orator, or a writer, or a leader in good works in
a church or a neighborhood, and directly envious
tongues are wagging against him—always, of course,
under some pious pretense, but really in answer to the
question propounded and answered affirmatively in their
own envious hearts, “‘Hath not the Lord spoken by us
also P” One such envious, artful man as Korah could
set all Israel aflame by his insinuations, flatteries, and
apparent zeal for the rights of others; and one such en-
vious spirit in a church or neighborhood can spread the
bitterness of strife through a whole community, and
blast the influence of a hundred faithful Christians. No
one who has read the history of the divine call of Moses
and Aaron, can believe that Korah was sincere in his
pretense that they were usurping authority. It was a
hypocritical pretense—the artful effort of a demagogue,
under cover of zeal for the rights of “the dear peo-
ple,” to advance his own interests and gratify his
own ambition. And a similar mean selfishness will
be found at the base of many of the disgraceful
strifes that rend churches and block the progress of
the gospel.
ENVY AND JEALOUSy. 247
It is one of the discouraging Jhings in the earnest
and honest efforts of self-sacrificing Christians, that they
must be assaulted by envy and jealousy. Even Paul,
at Corinth, had his own spiritual children turned against
him by envious and malignant spirits, and his most be.
nevolent deeds tortured into evidences of a mean ambi-
tion and selfish purpose. Our blessed Lord roused
against himself the hate and rage of the rulers in Jeru-
Salem, because they envied His growing power among
the people. The most devoted philanthropists have
been slandered and persecuted because of the very phil-
anthropy which their enemies did not possess and could
not understand. Every one who would truly serve his
fellows, must run the gauntlet of jealous spirits and en-
vious tongues. Very often, death must come, and
generations succeed, before good men are understood
and appreciated; and then reparation is sought to be
made by building monuments in their honor by those
who are ready to repeat the same wrong to the worthy
of their own generation (Matt. xxiii. 29–33).
When we come to analyze these passions, there is
found at their base the lowest and vilest grade of selfish-
ness—a selfishness that tolerates nothing superior to
itself, and which, once allowed to dominate, will put at
defiance the laws of God and men to gratify its unhal-
lowed purposes. This is clearly illustrated in the case
of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
If any one finds himself possessed of these demons,
he should never cease his humiliation and supplication
before God until, however painful the exorcism, they are
cast out. We must learn to regard the rights of others;
in honor to prefer one another; and to find our own
joy in sympathizing with the success of others. How
248 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
hard it is to say, as John the Baptist said: “He must in-
crease, but I must decrease—this my joy therefore is
fulfilled.’’
We can not sympathize very deeply with Aaron.
He was but receiving a dose of his own medicine, and
we can not pity him when he was compelled to swallow
it and know its horrid taste. But Moses—the magnan-
imous Moses—who said, “Enviest thou for my sake?
would God all the Lord's people were prophets; ” and
who would have said with equal generosity of soul,
“Would God all the Lord's people were priests;” that
he should be worried by this swarm of envious and ma-
lignant spirits, was indeed a sore trial to him and a deep
disgrace to Israel. Let us beware how we allow these
foul, slimy serpents to nestle in our hearts.
O Lord, preserve me from the domination of base
and malignant passions. Teach me to rejoice in all the
good that others do, and let me be so constantly im-
pressed with my own imperfections and failures that I
shall have no disposition to exalt myself above others.
In lowliness of spirit may I esteem others better than
myself, and take delight in awarding honor to whom
honor is due.
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT, 249
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT.
(Read I. Samuel, chapters i.—iv.)
Here is a lesson on which we may wisely linger for
meditation and introspection. The failure of Eli in the
government of his children, and the terrible conse-
quences; the self-denying faithfulness of Hannah, and
its blessed results, alike call for serious study. Eli's
exalted position in the priesthood, and the hereditary
honors and responsibilities that rested on his sons, made
it imperative that he should most carefully educate his
children in the fear of the Lord, and exercise his au-
thority firmly and persistently. The obligation of all
Jewish parents to train their children in the knowledge
and fear of the Lord, was made most impressive in the
law of Moses. See Deut. vi. 6–25. And if, after all
their efforts, their children proved hopelessly rebellious,
it was a crime of such magnitude as to call for the
severest treatment. See Deut. xxi. 18–21. The family
was regarded as the fountain of the national life and
character; there was hope for the nation only as its
families were trained to pure faith and pious obedience.
But, while all parents were thus taught to be faithful in
the moral and religious training of their children, it was
especially incumbent on those in high places—the
leaders of the people—to set, in this as in all other
respects, a good example; because their position, and
the reverence of the people for them, gave immense
power to their example for good or for evil. Eli appears
to have been, in a general way, a good man and faithful
25O - EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
in his official duties; but he was radically defective in
the government of his family. His children grew up
in unrestrained self-will and irreverence. They looked
upon their sacred calling as only a means of gain and of
self-indulgence. They had no care for the welfare of
the people, no concern for their religious interests. If
they could but secure gain to themselves, and gratify
their corrupt passions, it was nothing to them whether
the people were helped or hindered by their ministra-
tions. Hence they outraged the altar of God, despised
the offerings of worshipers, and were guilty of the most
glaring offenses against the divine law, and against that
morality which, even without a written law, the uni-
versal conscience approves. It is possible—barely pos-
sible—that Eli was not responsible for the wickedness of
his sons. Children sometimes resist the purest home
influences, and allow these to be overridden by evil
influences from without. But this is not the rule. As
a rule, if children are trained up in the way they should
go, when they are old they will not depart from it.
When children are lawless and corrupt, it may generally
be pretty Surely traced to sinful neglect in their educa-
tion. But even if Eli was not to blame for the wicked-
ness of his sons, he was certainly to blame for that
partiality which led him to tolerate their shameful
conduct in the priesthood. The law we have quoted
from Deut. xxi. made it binding on him to bring his
rebellious sons to justice, even had he been but a
private person; much more when he knew that, in their
official position, they were publicly dishonoring God,
insulting the religious feelings of the people, and expos.
ing the divine service to public contempt (I. Sam. ii.
I7). And this is the sin which is specially laid to his
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT. 25 I
charge. “For I have told him that I will judge his
house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because
his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them
not ” (chap. iii. 13). He mildly expostulated (chap. ii.
23–25), but that was all. He took no measures to
bring them to justice. That this was the result of
foolish fondness, of blind partiality for his children, is
evident from chap. ii. 29, where God charges him with
honoring his sons above Him. His reverence for God's
law was overridden by his affection for his children—not
that true affection which sought their good, but that
foolish fondness which led him to wink at their iniquities,
and consent that Israel and Israel's Lord should be dis-
honored if only family interests could be promoted.
The ruin which this brought upon him and his
house should cause unfaithful parents to tremble. His
own sad fate, the death of his sons, and the degradation
of his posterity, shows how God looks upon parental
infidelity, and should teach us that the safety, honor
and prosperity of our homes depend on the faithfulness
and diligence with which we bring up our children in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The mercy
and righteousness of the Lord are indeed pledged to
“children's children,” but only to “such as keep his
covenant, and to those who remember his command-
ments to do them " (Ps. ciii. 18). We are treasuring
up wrath against our own families when we are faith-
less to our trust as the moral and religious edu-
cators of our children.
Turn we now to the pious Hannah, who longed for
a child, not for her own sake, but that she might conse-
crate him to the service of God. The child was the
fruit of prayer, and was devoutly consecrated to God's
252 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
service. Her heroic self-denial in depriving her own
home and her own eyes of the light and joy of her
child's presence, while the special form of that self.
denial is not required of parents now, is a noble exam-
ple of the spirit that should reign in a God-fearing
mother, and of the self-abnegation with which parents
should devote themselves to the highest interests of
their offspring. In a word, as a mother, she sought
to honor God, and was therefore honored of God. The
superior character of Samuel—his manliness, purity,
justice, devotion to the people's interests, and stout
vindication of God’s law—may be traced to the deep
piety of his mother, and her supreme devotion to
duty. The child of many prayers and of holy conse-
cration becomes the leader of spotless integrity and of
boundless influence for good.
To-day the conservative influence on which the
safety and prosperity of our nation depend, is not
in Congress, nor in our legislatures, nor even in
our schools, but in our homes. These are the fountains
of life. Schools and legislatures and churches are sup-
plied from our homes, and they bear the impress of the
lives and characters which our families furnish. The
stream must not be expected to rise above the fountain.
The most patriotic as well as the most philanthropic
Service we can render to our country and to humanity,
is to furnish from our homes men and women thor-
oughly established in the fear of God, the love of jus-
tice, the practice of virtue, and the exercise of benevo-
lence. This is not to be done by the sinful fondness
that grants to children unlimited indulgence, checked
only by an occasional outburst of passion; nor by
nursing them in selfishness; nor by abandoning them
Ö,
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT. 253
to the follies and vices of the age, through corrupting
literature and unguarded associations; nor by culti-
vating an ambition for distinguished place among the
devotees of wealth and fashion. The mischievous and
ruinous results of these courses are seen when it is too
late for remedy, and the heart-breaking agony over
ruined lives and hopeless graves finds no relief in the
remembrance of such unfaithfulness to the best inter-
ests of the children committed to our care. Homes
where prayer is never heard; where the god of this
world banishes the living God from the heart and the
lips; where the ideas of life and of character that
are inculcated are practically godless; where selfish
ambitions, avarice, or devotion to giddy pleasures, is
the reigning spirit, have a terrible fate awaiting them.
There may have been too much sternness in the old
Puritan homcs, but it was vastly better than the lawless-
ness and soft indulgences of the homes of the present
time. It produced greatly firmer and nobler charac-
ters. If there is no call for so much sternness of spirit
and rigor of discipline, there is a call for the exercise
of vigilance, the maintenance of authority, the culti-
vation of the moral and religious nature in the love
of truth and justice, and in an intelligent and fervent
piety, such as will lead our children to reverence God
and regard man, and secure them against the dangers of
idleness, pride, voluptuousness and dishonesty. In
family government, we shall reap as we sow. Frivo-
lous, fashion-loving, money-loving, self-seeking parents
need expect nothing better in their children than they
find in themselves. God-fearing, truth-loving, diligent,
unselfish parents, who live and move and have their
being in truth, righteousness and love, and who cherish
254 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
the sacred and awful responsibility of educating their
children for usefulness here and blessedness hereafter,
though they may sow in tears, will reap in joy, and find
their highest happiness in the purity, goodness and
nobleness of the children in whom their own lives
are reproduced. º
O Lord, graciously reign in our home, and in the
hearts of all its inmates. Enable me to walk before
my family in a perfect way, and to bring up my children
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, that they
may keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judg-
ment. May they all become Thy children, and heirs of
eternal life.
SAMSON THE STRONG. 255
SAMSON THE STRONG.
(Read Judges xiii.-xvi.)
The long period from Joshua to Samuel was largely
marked by anarchy, the stormy or feeble rule of such
leaders as are apt to come to the surface in anarchical
times, and the oppressions of neighboring powers—op-
pressions invited by the lawlessness and helplessness of
the tribes. Three centuries and a half of anarchy,
misrule and oppression, only occasionally relieved
by the righteous administration of a wise judge, had
brought Israel very low at the time of the birth of Sam-
son. The Philistines during this time had grown
greatly in commercial strength and in military valor
and power, until even Sidon, one of the greatest com-
mercial cities of the world, quailed before their prowess,
and was smitten with a destruction from which she
never recovered. The tribes of Israel had become
hopelessly subject to the sway of the haughty, idol-
atrous and oppressive Philistines, until even Judah, the
most powerful of the tribes, succumbed to their resist-
less power, and God's elect people were reduced to the
extremest dependence and wretchedness. See Judges
vi. 3; I. Sam. xiii. 19–22, for intimations of the utter
dependence and poverty to which the tribes were at
times reduced, and which grew worse and more hope-
less, until it culminated in that miserable subjection
pictured in the last quoted passage. The social, moral
and religious condition of the people may be learned
from such facts as are recorded in Judges xix.-xxi., and
256 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
from the corruption and degradation of the public wor-
ship in Eli's time, succeeding the time of Samson. It
was true then, however, as it has ever been in the
darkest periods of apostasy, that there were, here and
there, faithful ones, who were superior fo all the cor-
rupting influences of the times. We catch a cheerful
glimpse of surviving faith and piety in Boaz, Naomi
and Ruth, who belong to this period; and in Elkanah
and Hannah, who lived in the same disastrous period of
apostasy, lawlessness and hopeless subjection. It will
be well, just here, to read the Book of Ruth, and I.
Sam. i. Samson was ordained to break the power of
the oppressor and give new hope and courage to Israel,
and thus prepare the way for the revival to take place
under Samuel, and open the dawn of that day of
triumph in which David was so gloriously and perma-
nently to triumph over the Philistine forces. Samson
was to “begin to deliver Israel” (Judg. xiii. 5).
These facts will enable us to understand and appre-
ciate the character and mission of Samson. He must
be studied in the light of the facts of that time. When
a leader or deliverer is raised up to break the bonds of op-
pression, he must possess the qualities and do the work
demanded by the circumstances of his own age and coun-
try. Samson's age was not the period for the wisdom of
Solomon, which could only be studied and applied in a
reign of peace, when business pursuits were regular, when
domestic, social, civil and ecclesiastical relations were
permanently established, and when commerce and arts
flourished. Nor did it demand the skill of a military
leader like Saul or David, for there was no army to
command, no arms with which to wage war. Neither
were the judicial and prophetical gifts of Samuel now
SAMSON THE STRONG. 257
available. Samuel, in Samson's time, would have been
little better than a nonentity. It was a time when phys-
ical force was the only argument that could meet the
emergency, and when personal prowess must go before
organized force, and make possible a reorganization of
the annihilated army of Israel. No army, no arms, ao
faith, no hope: the times demanded a Hercules—and,
indeed, it is not impossible that all the traditions and
myths of Herculean prowess sprang from the wide-
spread reports of the prodigies and valor of this God-
appointed hero.
Two things are especially observable in Samson:
his strength and his patriotism. He consecrated his
strength to the deliverance of his countrymen, in
obedience to divine impulses. Beyond this, there is
nothing noble or attractive in his character—but it was
for this especial purpose that his strength was given,
and to this especial work he was called. Born and
reared on the borders of the Philistine territory, where
the Jews would most readily and most frequently feel
the iron hand of the oppressor; looking down from his
lofty home in Zorah upon the Philistine plain, under
constant irritation from what daily met his eyes, of the
prosperity of the proud and cruel foe and of the degra-
dation and wretchedness of his own people; and con-
scious of fiery impulses stealing over him to crush this
haughty and idolatrous power, with its usurped domin-
ion over that fair portion of Israel's inheritance, his
youth was lived in scenes that continually inspired
him with a determination to spend his superhuman
strength in what was to him a holy task of ven-
geance upon the foes of God's suffering people. It
was for such a work that God prepared him.
258 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
Here let us drop a word of caution. When we
read of the Spirit of Jehovah moving him, our ideas of
the regenerating and sanctifying power of the Spirit
lead us to regard Samson as, in our sense of the word,
a holy man, an eminent Saint. He was a holy man in
the sense of being consecrated to a special work; but it
was a work of judgment and vengeance that did not call
for qualities of purity and goodness. A work of de-
struction in a semi-barbarous age, for the deliverance of
a semi-barbarous people, did not call for those spiritual
features of character which, in their harmonious combi-
nation, constitute “the beauty of holiness.” God is
the source of all power, and wisdom, as well as of all
holiness. The Spirit of God came upon Bezaleel, and
Aholiab, and Ahisamach (Ex. xxxv. 30–35), to give
them wisdom and understanding for the preparation of
the materials of the tabernacle; and the same Spirit
came upon Samson, to give him strength to humble the
cruel foes of his people. But it is not as the Spirit of
holiness that this divine visitant comes to endow Samson
for his special mission. In Heb. xi. 32, Samson is
mentioned among the heroes of faith, and justly so;
for if he had not possessed great faith in God, whose
name had been so grievously insulted, whose law had
been so recklessly set at naught, and whose elect people
had been so ruthlessly down-trodden, he could not have
undertaken or accomplished his wonderful exploits.
But it was the faith of a patriot in the God of his coun-
try and his people—a patriotic inspiration to dare and .
do great things for his country in obedience to the will
of God; not a faith that broke the power of sin, or led
in the paths of holiness. Apart from a religious pur-
pose to fulfill the will of God in delivering his chosen
SAMSON THE STRONG. 259
people, there is nothing that lifts the life of Samson
above the animal grade.
. There are some important lessons taught in his
strange and wonderful life.
I. He was a Nazarite—the first Nazarite, indeed,
brought to our attention in the Scriptures. His mother
drank no wine, no strong drink, nor ate any unclean
thing. It is a great thing to inherit vigor from a
mother whose constitution has not been corrupted or
enervated by any intemperance whatsoever. Let
mothers make a note of this. Samson himself was, as
a Nazarite, reared in strictest total abstinence. He
drank no wine, no strong drink, and as a Nazarite, his
hair remained unshorn. Understand, that when God
raises up a specimen of full physical vigor—a man
worthy to be endowed with superhuman strength—he
absolutely prohibits wine and strong drink. Let him
that readeth understand.
2. Samson's choice of heathen women is not justly
subject to the censure that is often passed upon it.
We are told that it was ‘‘ of the Lord ” for a certain
purpose. And if there were no intimation of a divine
purpose, the most reasonable supposition would be that
the choice was swayed by a desire to get into closer
relations with the Philistines, such as would give him
opportunities to accomplish his purposes on them.
What he did he had to do alone. Even the men of
Judah were all too willing to betray him into the hands
of his enemies—an illustration of the utter demoraliza-
tion of the Jewish people. His marriage connection
was to subserve his purpose of overthrowing his
enemies. Patriotism—his ruling passion—made even
marriage subservient to the one aim of his life.
26o EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
3. But his base subjection to the sway of heathen
women is pitiable to think of. It shows that while
in physical strength he was peerless, in moral strength
he was an infant. There are few more humiliating
spectacles than that of this mighty man, at whose
name all Philistia trembled, with his head in the lap of
Delilah, charmed into the surrender of his glorious
strength, so as to become the slave of his enemies, and,
with his eyes put out, compelled to do a woman's Servile
work in grinding at the mill, subject to the mockeries
and taunts of the hated Philistines | Such strength, and
such weakness! The glory of man is not in his animal
nature. He that ruleth his spirit is stronger and better
than he that taketh a city.
4. Samson's strength was not in his hair; it was
in faithful obedience to God. The law of the Nazarite
required that his hair should not be shorn. In yielding
to have it shorn to gratify the caprice of a charming
woman, he violated the law of God most shamefully.
His strength went with his hair, because with his hair
went his honor as an obedient servant of Jehovah.
Violation of God's law, disregard of His authority, is
sure to bring a curse. We may dishonor God by de-
spising a divine regulation concerning hair, as certainly
and as wickedly as in despising a divine regulation con-
cerning our conduct to our neighbors. The surrender of
God's authority brings the strongest man to the dust.
The closing scene in a life which was a continual
succession of wonders, is the sublimest of all. Cut
short in a glorious career by his own guilty weakness,
and doomed in blindness and hopeless captivity to be
the sport of his foes, he evidently comes back in heart
to the law of Jehovah, and bitterly repents of his great
SAMSON THE STRONG. 26 I
sin; for his strength returns to him again. The grim
humor which streaks his former life is witnessed no
more. Silently he nurses a stern purpose to redeem
his honor and vindicate anew the honor of Jehovah in
the face of the idols of Philistia. Brought out on a
gala day to make sport for his captors in the temple of
Dagon, and provoking roars of merriment from the
great throng of spectators by his performances, he con-
ceals, under his apparently joyous antics, his stern and
bitter resolve, until, in answer to his reasonable demand
for rest, he is allowed to lean against one of the two
middle pillars by which the roof was supported, and
then, beseeching heaven to strengthen him “only this
once,” he “took hold of the two middle pillars upon
which the house stood, and on which it was borne up,
of the one with his right hand, and of the other with
his left, and he said, Let me die with the Philistines.
And he bowed himself with all his might; and the
house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that
were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death
were more than they which he slew in his life.” Pre-
ferring death to dishonor, he freely gave his life to
achieve deliverance for Israel, and to honor by a willing
sacrifice and a mighty achievement the God whom he
had so fearfully dishonored by his sins. The power of
the Philistines was broken ; their idols were crushed
in the fall of their temple; by the startling achieve-
ments of one man, hope and courage were revived
in Israel; the pathway was opened for the suc-
cessive ministries of Samuel, Saul and David, and
a century of victories culminating in the peaceful
and glorious reign of Solomon, when the scepter of
Israel extended over the whole land of promise.
262 EvENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
SAMUEL.
(For the biography of Samuel and Saul, the first
book of Samuel should be carefully read.)
In considering the history of Samson, we saw
that his life and exploits must be viewed in the light
of the utter helplessness and hopelessness of the
tribes of Israel, and the impossibility, under the then
existing circumstances, of organizing them for self-
defense, or for any aggressive movement against their
conquerors, the Philistines. Hence God revealed His
power and executed His judgments through one man,
making the name of Jehovah illustrious by means of
the marvelous ministries of Samson. This saved Israel
from despair, and prepared the way for the missions of
Samuel and Saul, who were to reorganize the demoral-
ized forces of the tribes, lead them to victory against
their proud oppressors, and open the way for the king-
dom of David.
Samuel's ministry began at a very dark period in
the history of the Israelites. Religion had fallen into
contempt through the profligacy of the priesthood; the
ark of God had been taken; Shiloh, the center at that
time of religious influence, was given to the flames;
and twenty years of bitter oppression followed. The
people had, through the ministry of Samson, partially
recovered out of their hopelessness, so as to be able to
gather for battle, but their own ungodliness plunged
them in defeat and disaster. Samuel was ordained of
God to be their deliverer. This was to be done, not by
SAMUEL. 263
feats of physical strength, like those of Samson, but by
an advanced step of the greatest importance—by reviv-
ing their religious faith and reawakening their reverence
for the name and the law of Jehovah. Like Moses—
next to whom he occupies the foremost rank as a
leader—he appears in the character of a prophet, to
proclaim and enforce the law of God; yet combining in
himself, as the exigencies of the times required, the
threefold office of prophet, priest and king; instructing,
judging, leading armies, sacrificing at the altar, and, in
the absence of established authorities and classified
functions, doing whatever needed to be done, under
that necessity which overrides all the distinctions of
authority that prevail in times of peace and prosperity.
For such a mission he was the inheritor of the patriot-
ism, piety and unconquerable faith of his mother, and
had his training in the house of God, amid the solemni-
ties of its daily worship, in the constant study of the
law, being favored from his childhood with divine intima-
tions of the arduous but glorious work to which Jehovah
had appointed him. From the time of his boyhood,
when he was the divinely chosen messenger to predict
the downfall of the house of Eli, a knowledge of his
extraordinary character was spread among a disheart-
ened and oppressed people, and all eyes seem to have
been turned to him for counsel and guidance; so that
quietly and by general consent he grew into the leader-
ship of the tribes, being recognized as a prophet sent
from God. His own pure life as a Nazarite caused him
to shine, amid the prevailing lawlessness and moral
degradation, as a bright, particular star, whose light
attracted universal gaze and inspired new faith and
hope. From all we can gather from the brief history,
264 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
we conclude that he not only acted as a prophet
in calling the people back to a knowledge of God's
law, and in fearlessly rebuking their faithlessness,
idolatries and immoralities, but that he organized and
educated other preachers and teachers (I. Sam. xix.
20), to go through the land and call the people to repent-
ance. Of these protracted and anxious labors we have
only hints here and there; but it is evident that a long
and arduous work of preparation of this kind was done,
and, in view of the low state of religion and morals, it
must have been attended with great difficulty. When
this work had progressed far enough to warrant a public
gathering of the people for an aggressive movement
against their oppressors, Samuel gathered them at Miz-
peh (I. Sam. vii.), where they confessed their sins,
renounced their idolatries, and covenanted to Serve
Jehovah and Him only. They thus came again under
the outspread wing of Jehovah. The Philistines, hear-
ing of this great assembly, took prompt measures to
disperse it; but in a way peculiarly fitted to nourish
the yet trembling faith of the people in the presence
and power and covenant fidelity of the invisible God,
the mighty forces of the Philistines brought against the
unarmed and terrified Israelites were overwhelmingly
defeated and driven back to their own territory. Israel
was not only freed, but regained possession of her con-
quered cities; and from that date the name of Samuel
was a terror to the Philistines and all idolaters, and a
safeguard to the tribes, now entering on a new career
of peace and prosperity. Samuel continued to be the
center of authority, passing through the country on
a judicial circuit, settling strifes, punishing wrongs,
rebuking sins, and perfecting the work of reformation
SAMUEL. 265
already begun. We are left to imagine the details of
his work, but it is clear that in addition to the ordinary
duties of the judge, he performed the high and sacred
functions of a prophet, acting as the special messenger
of God to man. As far as these rude times would
allow, he reorganized society, reëstablished the priest-
hood and the worship of the sanctuary, and had an
oversight of all civil and military as well as ecclesiastical
affairs. Step by step he recovered the nation out of
the chaos in which he found it, and caused it to be
respected by all the heathen principalities round about.
He was at once the deliverer, the religious guide, and
the civil ruler and judge of the nation. That in all this
he kept his hands clean from bribes, and his life free
from stain, is evident from his challenge to the people
in his old age, and their answer to it: “Behold, here I
am: witness against me before the Lord, and before
his anointed: whose ox have I taken P or whose ass
have I taken P or whom have I defrauded ? or of whose
hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes
therewith ? and I will restore it to you. And they
said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed
us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man’s
hand” (I. Sam. xii. 3, 4). In view of a power al-
most absolute, and opportunities for self-aggrandize-
ment ever recurring, and the general propensity of
those in power to rob and oppress, this is a remarka-
ble testimony at the close of a long official life. Here
is a character that deserves to be studied in these days
of political corruption. It is a noble picture of disin-
terested patriotism, unsullied righteousness, and unfalter-
ing loyalty to the King of Israel. It reinvigorates one's
faltering faith in humanity to contemplate such an
266 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
instance of lifelong devotion to truth and righteousness,
under the greatest difficulties, with every temptation to
an opposite course, and the largest liberty to abuse the
power lodged in his hands.
But in addition to the burdens of his public life, he
was afflicted with one of the keenest of domestic trials.
Samuel had evidently indulged the fond hope of trans-
mitting to his sons the civil honors, and dignities which
he had recreated or rehabilitated in his own toilsome
career. It would sweeten and brighten his old age to
know that his family would reap the reward of his
toils, and that the people whose national life he had
restored would honor his children and children's chil-
dren as the heirs of the dignities he had so honorably
won. So “he made his sons judges over Israel,” and
thought, by giving them the fruits of his own ex-
perience, and lending to them the prestige of his
own universally honored name, to see them estab-
lished in power before he died. But, alas ! these
fond dreams of a father's heart were cruelly disap-
pointed. “His sons walked not in his ways, but
turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted
judgment”; and the people besought him to deliver
them from such unworthy rulers, and give them a king
to reign over them | That this went to the old man's
heart, like a serpent's fang, and poisoned the last years
of his life, can not be mistaken by the thoughtful reader
of the sacred narrative.
Sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child.
Yet, whatever of family pride or selfish ambition
there may have been in the appointment of these de-
generate sons of a noble sire to places of trust and
SAMUEL. 267
power, no sooner did he receive a divine intimation that
all these honors must be transmitted to other hands,
than he dismissed all his ambition, smothered all his
disappointment, and in a self-forgetfulness and mag-
nanimity seldom witnessed, busied himself to make
the transfer, and stood forth the devoted friend and
champion of the man chosen to succeed to power—
never ceasing his efforts until Saul was anointed and
clothed with royal honors, and established as the
acknowledged ruler of the people. This brief portion
of history may be read through in a few minutes, but
there is imbedded in it a magnanimity, moral heroism
and piety, that call for long and earnest study.
But there was one honor that Samuel did not lay
down at the feet of Saul—that of a prophet; and
this places him head and shoulders above Saul, as Saul
was head and shoulders above all the people. It seems
to us impossible to read this portion of Samuel's history
without perceiving how poor and empty a thing is royalty
compared with the majesty and authority of a prophet
of God; or without realizing how high and grand is
the prophetic office over all that belongs to kingly or
priestly dignities. The crowned king bends to the un-
crowned prophet. The sceptered monarch is a mere
babe in the presence of the messenger of truth, whose
scepter of righteousness brings the king to his knees,
a humble suppliant for the prophet's favor. How fear-
less and terrible the rebukes of Samuel when Saul
departs from the right way ! and how helpless is the
sinful king without the friendship and the counsels of
the righteous Samuel ! This forlorn king seeks, even in
the grave, for the presence of Samuel to comfort and to
guide him.
268 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
Disgusted with Saul's rebelliousness and the growth
of pomp and show in his court, Samuel retires to the
beloved mountains of Ephraim, whence he had issued
forth in early life upon his eventful career, and spends
his last days in the school of the prophets which he had
founded—for in prophets, and not in kings, now rested
his hope of deliverance from the sins and corruptions
which he plainly saw would flow from the court
and the throne.
The divine estimate of Samuel's character may be
learned from the fact that he is placed with Moses,
Noah, Job and Daniel, as one of God's grand men,
with chief influence at His throne. Compare Jer. xv.
I, Ezek. xiv. I4.
This brief history is richly suggestive. Let no one
say that the study of the Old Testament is profitless.
It is a mine of wisdom, but it yields its treasures
only to those who search for wisdom as for silver, and
dig as for hidden treasures. s
O God of Samuel, be Thou my God. Let my soul
ever be found in a waiting posture before Thee, saying,
“Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth.” In all my ways
may I acknowledge Thee. Let not the wickedness of
others deter me from obedience to Thy law. Clothe
me with the power of a righteous life, that I may not
only walk in the paths of righteousness, but lead others
to walk therein.
SAUL, FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 269
SAUL, FIRST KING OF ISRAEL.
Saul can not be regarded as in any sense a spiritual
man. His greatness was physical. “He was higher
than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.”
“There was not among the children of Israel a goodlier
person than he ” (I. Sam. ix. 2). He belonged to a
wealthy and influential family. These considerations of
physical prowess and material prosperity gave him favor
in the eyes of the people; for the mission to which
he was called was one of war, and, in the still weak
condition of the tribes, a military leader who “out-
topped the foremost chieftains by a head" would excite
the enthusiasm of the people more than one possessed
of all the intellectual and moral worth of Samuel.
Though the might of Samuel's name had restrained
for a score of years incursions from the surrounding
heathen principalities, Israel was still unarmed and
helpless, save as they found protection in the personal
influence of Samuel, who was now growing old and
must soon pass away, while his degenerate sons had no
place in the hearts of the people. The tall, stately,
courageous Saul was welcomed as Israel's leader.
Moreover, he was the divine choice for the lead-
ership in a time of bloody strife and bloody victory
—the period of transition from the rule of the Judges to
the dominion of the throne of David. It was for
this transition period, to unify the tribes and lift them
out of their weakness and dependence, and train them
to submission and organized military discipline, that
27o EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
Saul was called and anointed to kingly honors. Up to
the time of his call, he does not seem to have man-
ifested any ambition, or any superior ability or skill,
such as would attract public notice. He was content to
care for his father's flocks and herds, and rather shrank
from notoriety (I. Sam. x. 20–21). He was probably
as yet unaware of the forces that slumbered within him.
But his meeting with Samuel was the great crisis of his
life. He was then forty years of age, just entering on
his prime, having passed through the period of youth in
peaceful industrial pursuits, his body inured to toil, his
magnificent physical frame unimpaired by vice, and his
mental energies unwasted by the rage of passion or the
fretfulness of restless and ungratified ambition. He
was above the average in physical strength and courage,
social position, mental vigor, and steadiness of charac-
ter. After his interview with the prophet Samuel, we
read of the Spirit of Jehovah coming upon him,
and that “God gave him another heart.” But in all
this there is nothing spiritual. We have before ob-
served that mechanical and artistic gifts are spoken
of in the Old Testament as endowments from the Spirit
of God. Samson's superhuman strength was a similar
endowment. We must not conclude, because the
Spirit of God is mentioned as the author of these, that
the communications of the Spirit were either convert-
ing or sanctifying in the New Testament sense of these
words. It was when Saul was informed by the Spirit,
through Samuel, of the purposes of God concerning
his future, that God gave him another heart. The
change in the hitherto tame and peaceful current of his
life; the opening up of this unexpected prospect of
a new, honorable and mighty career; the assurance of,
SAUL, FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 271
and anointing to, a crown and a throne, of this humble
shepherd, belonging to the feeblest of the tribes,
touched the hidden Springs of his life, and there
sprang up a troop of new desires, hopes and ambitions
belonging to “another heart.” He was “a new
creature,” but not in a spiritual sense. No new facul-
ties or powers were conferred on him ; but faculties
that until now had slumbered, and powers of which he
had hitherto been unconscious, leaped into the fore-
ground and swayed his nature and his life. But that he
was at all a more godly man than before, we have
no evidence. The case is instructive, as showing what
hidden forces of our nature may be developed by new
surroundings. How many who, at home and under
the restraints of home and church, are free from
immorality, and give fair indications of piety, when
they remove into some other region and are at liberty
to act without restraint, dismiss all religious pretensions
and surrender themselves to vice and folly! It looks as
if they had received another heart. They are, in fact,
but developing what, unknown to themselves, perhaps,
was lurking in them, waiting a chance to assert itself.
It is no easy task to understand one’s self.
As a military leader, Saul was successful. Under
great discouragements, and against great odds, he
achieved brilliant victories over the Ammonites, Philis-
tines and Amalekites, and reëstablished the military
renown of the Israelites. A careful study of the nar-
rative will show that not only in personal bravery, but
in capacity to inspire his soldiers with courage,
ability to plan and execute military campaigns, and
above all, in the power to conquer circumstances and
rise superior to the most appalling discouragements,
272 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
Saul deserves great eminence. Had he possessed one
other characteristic—that is, had he possessed Samuel's
supreme loyalty to Jehovah—he might have risen to
the loftiest position of honor and fame. Israel's gov-
ernment was theocratic—as much so under kings as
under judges. Kings were but Jehovah's vicegerents.
They had no absolute authority. Their office was to
execute the will of Jehovah and champion His cause
against the false gods of the nations. It became them,
therefore, to live not for their own glory, but for the
glory of God. It was here that Saul failed; and this
was the secret of his downfall. Samuel was Saul's
superior, inasmuch as he was Jehovah's messenger, and
Saul was to do nothing except as instructed by him; but
Saul could not and would not understand that there was
any will superior to his own. When the Philistines
were gathering a tremendous force to resubdue Israel,
Samuel told Saul to go to Gilgal, and tarry there several
days until he should come to him and show him what to
do (I. Sam. x. 8). Saul went to Gilgal; the Philistines
gathered in mighty force; the Israelites were affrighted,
and deserted, or hid themselves in caves and pits;
even those who remained with Saul were filled with
alarm, and “followed him trembling.” It was a
perilous time. Nothing but faith in Jehovah, whose
representative he was, could sustain the king under
these trying circumstances. Saul waited until the sev-
enth day, and Samuel did not appear. Impatient and
alarmed, he proceeded to offer, himself, the sacrifice
which it was usual to offer before entering on battle.
At this juncture Samuel appeared. Saul pleaded the
emergency as a justification of his unauthorized act;
but Samuel, divining the self-will and rebelliousness of
SAUL, FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 273
spirit in which the act originated, said to him : “Thou
hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the command-
ment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee;
for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom
upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not
continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his
own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be
captain over his people, because thou hast not kept
that which the Lord commanded thee" (I. Sam. xiii.
1–14). There is a solemn lesson here. The thrusting
of self-will into the service of God, even when a plaus-
ible necessity may be pleaded in justification, is an
abomination in the sight of God. The reader of the
narrative may be, at first, disposed to sympathize with
Saul, and to regard the circumstances as warranting his
act; for that Saul was in a great strait, no one can
doubt. But subsequent developments prove that Sam-
uel judged him rightly—that he justly regarded this
unauthorized and presumptuous act as an exaltation of
self against Jehovah. Some time after this, Saul was
divinely commissioned to go against the renowned
Agag and his powerful Amalekites. He was specially
instructed to make an utter destruction of them. Had
his former act of disobedience been merely the result of
the pressure of necessity, here was a splendid oppor-
tunity to retrieve his lost reputation, and show how he
revered the will of God. But no : the same self-will
and rebelliousness now come forth when no plea of
necessity can be entered. Read I. Sam. xv. Agag
was spared, and the best of the sheep and oxen and
fatlings and lambs, and all that was good; but every-
thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed
utterly. That is, Saul did just as he pleased, without
274 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
reference to the divine command. It would add to his
glory to exhibit the renowned Agag as his captive, and
to show the immense spoil taken from the enemy.
Saul's self-exaltation was further exhibited in setting up
some sort of monument at Carmel to commemorate his
great victory (I. Sam. xv. 12). So elated was he with
his own performances, that he was not in the least
conscience-stricken over his failure to fulfill the strict
and emphatic charge given to him ; nor did his own
inordinate vanity have to him the least unseemliness.
He met Samuel with the utmost assurance, saying unto
him, “Blessed be thou of the Lord; I have performed
the commandment of the Lord.” It was not until he
listened to Samuel's pointed and reproachful question,
that he awoke to some slight sense of imperfection in
the performance of his duty: “What meaneth then this
bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing
of the oxen which I hear P” In vain he now strove to
justify his conduct by a plea of religious intentions in
sparing the best of the spoil, and by throwing on the
people the blame of actions which sprung from his
own self-will and unholy ambition. Like a voice of
doom came the words of rebuke from the stern old
prophet: “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-
offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the
Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to
hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as
the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity
and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of
the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”
And Samuel turned away from him, and “came no
more to see Saul until the day of his death.” The
stern prophet would not brook this rebelliousness.
SAUL, FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 275
Saul, like many other sinners, undertook to atone
for his sin by excessive zeal for the honor of God in
other directions. He would smite and utterly destroy
the Gibeonites, against whom he had no commission,
and rout the diviners, sorcerers and necromancers,
though he afterwards violated his own decree respect.
ing these ! Indeed, from the time that Samuel an-
nounced to him the divine purpose to remove the
crown from his family, his life was a persistent warfare
against the will of God. He loved the power and
pomp of royalty. He was determined to possess these
and transmit them to his children. He set himself,
therefore, to seek out God's chosen “captain over
Israel,” that he might destroy him. When he ascer-
tained that David was his divinely appointed successor,
all the jealousy and malignity of his nature was
stirred up against him, and a succession of God-defying
and murderous enterprises to rid the earth of the
presence of Jehovah's elect king blackens his history.
Of this we will speak more fully hereafter. It is
enough to say here that, as in every instance where
men suppress conscience and give unbridled rein to
their selfish passions, Saul grew worse and worse, until,
forsaken of God, surrounded by hostile forces, and
racked by torturing passions, he took his own life on
the field of battle, when the flower of the army of
Israel lay dead on the slopes of Gilboa, three of his
own sons among them, and the Philistines, whom he
had formerly so gloriously conquered, again held the
territory over which he had reigned. His skull was
hung up in the temple of Dagon, at Ashdod, his
weapons of war in the temple of Astarte, at Beth-
shean, and his headless corpse was exposed to the pub-
276 Even INGS WITH THE BIBLE,
lic gaze. He fought like a hero to the last. His giant
form was seen in the hottest of the strife, performing
wonders of valor; but it was the valor of desperation
and despair. Faithless, hopeless, helpless, his soul
unlit by even a single ray from heaven, abandoned by
God and men, he forced his way out of a world which
had no longer a place for him into a world which invited
him to no peace or honor—a godless destiny springing
from a godless life. A reign which opened so brightly,
closed in dishonor, ruin and despair.
The lesson is not difficult to trace. The highest and
noblest possibilities were within Saul's reach. Heaven
favored his reign. There were no obstacles in his way
but his own base passions. With everything else to
lift him to abiding success and fame, he lacked the fear of
Jehovah, and exalted himself above the God who sought
to honor him. Self-will and self-exaltation were his
ruin, as they will prove the ruin of all, even the most
favored, who yield to their accursed sway.
Lord, preserve me from self-will and self-sufficiency.
RUTH AND NAOMI, 277
RUTH AND NAOMI.
Before we proceed to the history of David, so inti-
mately associated with that of Saul, whose character
was our last study, we pause to notice a charming epi-
sode in the history of the period of the Judges. It is
especially valuable for one reason: From our previous
papers, it would appear as if faith and piety had about
disappeared from Israel, and the history of the tribes
were a history of faithlessness, apostasy and moral
degradation. But this beautiful episode reveals to us
that faith and godliness and nobility of character still
lingered in quiet scenes—that, even as in Elijah's time
there were thousands who had not bowed the knee to
Baal, so now, God had his chosen ones whose light had
not gone out, and whose virtue was still the salt of the
earth. Here is a good lesson to start with. Let us not
be too much discouraged when, in churches, districts of
country, or in the nation, evil seems to abound. Let us
not flee from our post of duty, as Elijah did, murmur-
ing in faithlessness, “I, even I, am left alone '' to serve
God. It is never so bad as this. God always has wit-
nesses. Truth never dies. Goodness never dies. If
insulted and driven from the high places of the earth, so
as to seem to have perished, they still live in humbler
scenes and in purer hearts, waiting for the day when
they shall again be sought by the multitude, and mean-
while giving of their divine treasures to such as seek
them. In the worst days there is “a remnant’’ true
to God, and whoever lifts a voice for truth and right-
278 Evenings witH THE BIBLE.
eousness will find many whom he had reckoned with the
dead, rise at his call.
Had we only drawn our impressions from the records of violence
and crime contained in the book of Judges, we should have been ready
to conclude that all the gentler virtues had fled from the land, while the
children of Israel were alternately struggling for their lives and liberties
with the tribes of Canaan, or yielding themselves to the seductions of
Canaanite idolatry. But the Book of Ruth, lifting up the curtain which
veiled the privacy of domestic life, discloses to us most beautiful views
of piety, integrity, self-sacrificing affection, chastity, gentleness and
charity, growing up amidst the rude scenes of war, discord and strife.
—Bishop of Bath and Wells, in Speaker’s Commentary.
The Book of Ruth relates to the period of the
Judges, probably to the early part of that period,
though the precise date of the events is a matter of con-
jecture. It is likely that Israel's apostasy was not so
great at this time as afterward. An Ephrahthite family,
driven by famine from Bethlehem-Judah, took refuge in
the land of Moab. Elimelech, the head of the family,
died ; and the two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, took
wives of the women of Moab–Mahlon marrying Ruth
(chap. iv. IO), and Chilion finding a wife in Orpah.
Such marriages were contrary to the spirit of the Jewish
law (Deut. vii. 1–3), and to the special malediction on
Moab (Deut. xxiii. 3–6). Yet the marriage of these
Israelites to women of Moab can not be regarded as
a deliberate violation of the law. They had acted
without any intent of dishonoring the law, from the
force of circumstances—not preferring heathen women
to those of Israel, but accepting heathen women be-
cause they were shut up to such a choice, or their
name must perish. If this does not justify their action,
it at least mitigates their guilt. But there was no bless-
ing on their marriage. The husbands both died. How
RUTH AND NAOMI. 279
often calamities come in clusters Driven from their
own beloved land by famine, it was grief enough to
true Israelites to be compelled to sojourn among a
heathen people in a strange land. But to this grief is
added the more bitter one of widowhood and orphanage,
the husband and father dying in this self-imposed but
seemingly necessary exile. There are few more trying
positions in life than that of a widow, desolate and
poverty-stricken, cut off from her kindred, and left
alone to deal with sturdy boys and provide sustenance
for them. Perhaps it added sorely to this grief when,
after doing her best to instruct them and nurture their
faith in Jehovah, she saw their hearts drawn to heathen
women, and marriage connections formed regarding
which she could do no more than pray that the curse of
God might be averted. Next to the calamity of death in
a family, is the calamity of unfit marriages. Indeed, they
often bring terrors worse than death. But there comes,
in this case, the additional grief of other bereavements.
Both these sons die. A widow, after she recovers
from the stunning blow of bereavement, and rouses
herself to face loneliness and poverty, soon learns to
sweeten her griefs and cares with fond hopes of her
children's future. She looks forward to the time when
she can have a just pride in them as the reward of her
toils and counsels, and when she can lean on their
strong arms for support and comfort. But here, both
her sons are smitten down in the strength and glory of
their young manhood, and she is not only husbandless,
but childless. Poor, stricken, crushed Naomi ! Is it
any wonder she said, in the bitterness of her soul,
“The hand of Jehovah is gone out against me!” Can
it be thought strange that she should say to her old
28O EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
neighbors, on her return to Bethlehem, “Call me not
Naomi (pleasant): call me Mara (bitter) : for the Al-
mighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out
full, and Jehovah hath brought me home again empty;
why then call ye me Naomi, seeing Jehovah hath testi-
fied against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me.”
(chap. i. 13, 20, 21)? Alas! alas! in many a home
to-day some lone Naomi, sitting alone by a once
thronged fireside, wanders in her musings into a bright
past when her heart and home were “full"—husband
and children all there—and then roams through the
halls and chambers that echo only to her lone footsteps
—every voice of love hushed in death, every form
of beauty buried in the gravel And if any voice of
memory should be tuned to the joys of the days that
are no more, her withered heart must respond, “Call
me not Naomi; call me Mara : for the Almighty hath
dealt very bitterly with me.” But let the comforting
suggestions of this history not be lost on those that
mourn. Naomi was evidently a woman of faith and
courage. Keenly as she felt her griefs, she was not
mastered by them. Learning that the famine in her
own land had ceased, she arranged at once to return.
Thus should our afflictions always send us to our
Father's house. If by any means our souls have
become alienated, or present material interests have
drawn us away from the means of ministering to the
higher interests of the spiritual nature, the first sanctify-
ing power of affliction should be seen in a return
from the Moab where God is not, to the Bethlehem
where He may yet be found. Naomi did not sit down
to brood over her sorrows, or plunge into Moabitish fol-
lies and sins in order to forget her griefs. No; whatever
RUTH AND NAOMI. º 281
ties had been formed during a residence of many years
in Moab, she promptly broke them all, and set her face
towards Bethlehem. Her two daughters-in-law, with
whom she seems to have lived on pleasant terms,
accompanied her, as an act of Oriental courtesy, to the
borders of their own land. Then she bade them return.
She would thus snap the last links that bound her to
that heathen territory, and make her way back, lone
and broken-hearted, to the home of her fathers.
Just here there are significant developments of char-
acter. Both these daughters-in-law proposed to return
with her to her own people. She did not absolutely
forbid them, but set before them her own poverty, the
prospect to them of continual widowhood, their per-
petual separation from their people and their gods.
When Orpah saw what was involved, and a direct issue
was formed between her people and her gods, on one
hand, with the probability of a new marriage alliance—
and, on the other hand, a life of widowhood and
poverty, and the loss of all the witching indulgences
connected with the idol worship of Moab, she decided
to return home. She loved Naomi, but she loved
“her people and her gods” more. In her first impulse
of sorrow at parting with Naomi, she had felt like going
on with her; but when she counted the cost, it was
more than she was willing to pay; and So, with tears and
kisses, she bade adieu to Naomi and turned back to her
old home. Like the young man we read of in the gospels,
she “went away sorrowful,” but still she went away.
Not so, however, with Ruth. Here is a stronger,
nobler character. She could not be persuaded, even by
Orpah's example, to turn back. “Entreat me not to
leave thee,” she said to Naomi, ‘‘ or to return from fol-
282 * EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
lowing after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go;
and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall
be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest
will I die, and there will I be buried : Jehovah do so to
me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and
me.” How deeply solemn the moment when one thus
finally decides on a complete revolution in life and
in character | Ruth breaks the last tie that binds her to
her own country and people; abandons her kindred,
renounces her gods, and by a sublime act of faith
weds herself to a new religion, a new people, and a new
life—a life which holds out to her no other earthly
charms than poverty and toil among strangers. This
is an act of faith worth studying. During her ten
years' life with these Israelites she had learned so
much of Jehovah and his covenant people, and she
had already known so much of the heartlessness and
the abominations of her heathen religion, that she is
ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of that
which she had already learned to approve. It was no
small sacrifice—it was all, and with no prospect of
compensation, except in the approval of the living
Jehovah in whom she put her trust. She can not be
supposed to have been brought to this decision
merely through her love of Naomi. Naomi's influ-
ence had probably led her to respect Naomi's re-
ligion ; but such a change as this can only be per-
fected through the faith which she had been taught
by her husband and her mother-in-law to cherish, and
by the heroic decision of a nature true to its best
convictions of duty.
Do we not often see just such types of character?
There are those who, upon impulse, seem ready to
RUTH AND NAOMI. 283
follow what are, for the moment, the heart's strongest
pleadings, but who, when tested by the stern exactions
of duty—when they “count the cost” of their conver-
sion—find there is something stronger and deeper in
their hearts than the momentary impulse to which they
were about to yield—and so turn back “to their people
and their gods.” They go, like Orpah, never to be
heard of again. Then there are those who, like Ruth,
give room in their heart for all of truth they can gather,
and nurse it with religious care, who “buy the truth
and sell it not,” and who, when the time of trial comes,
are equal to the test—calmly, bravely, even joyfully
surrendering everything in the world for the sake of that
truth which is above all price. And if nothing else is
gained by this present study, it will be rich in blessings
to every reader, if he will but be at pains to note the
outcome of this heroic decision of Ruth's. We shall
take another chapter to complete this study, but we will
so far anticipate as to point to the rich rewards of the
heathen woman’s consecration to duty. Quoting again
from the Speaker's Commentary, we beg attention to
the lesson which the quotation embodies, as one of
great practical moment:
The moral of the history is also very encouraging to unselfish
virtue. For while Orpah, whose love was satisfied with tears and kisses
to her husband’s mother, forfeited the place she had half-gained in
Israel, and returned “unto her people and unto her gods;” and while
the “kinsman * who, in his selfish care of his own interests, withheld
what was due to the living and the dead, has had his name blotted out
from the book of God’s worthies; Ruth, on the contrary, who sacrificed
everything that could fascinate a young woman, to the claims of affec-
tion and duty, and Boaz, who unhesitatingly did the kinsman’s part,
have their names crowned with blessings and handed down to the
church wherever God’s word is known, as worthy of all praise, and as
progenitors of that illustrious line which gave kings to Israel through
284 - EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
near five hundred years, and from which was born at last, in the city of
David, “the Saviour who is Christ the Lord.”
True, Ruth and Boaz, in their decisions, dreamed
not of these results. It is well they did not. They
acted from a profound regard for truth and duty. Had
they acted because it would pay, it would have robbed
their conduct of its true glory. We will not urge any
one to be true to truth and duty because it will “pay.”
We should be thus true, if there were nothing but loss
and shame in it to the last day of life. Yet it should be
instructive and encouraging to learn that when brave
souls thus give up all for the sake of truth and right,
God, when He has tried them, and they come forth as
gold, meets them in the way of righteousness and
crowns them as His own; while those who place interest
before duty, lose all, and perish from remembrance.
DAVID, THE SHEPHERD BOY. 285
DAVID, THE SHEPHERD BOY.
(In connection with I. Samuel, the second book of
Samuel should be read, for a knowledge of the life and
character of David.)
No other character in the Old Testament stands out
with a prominence equal to that of David, and none has
for us so great an interest. This interest centers in the
fact that he was one of God's elect men—specially chosen
for a lofty mission. Such elections were based on a di-
vine knowledge or foreknowledge of fitness for the work
on the part of those who were appointed. The work to
be performed by David was much higher and more
difficult than that assigned to previous chiefs of the
people, calling for nobler qualities and more command-
ing abilities. In Samson, physical strength was the
chief thing needed for his special mission—personal
power to smite a foe against whom it was impossible,
under the circumstances, to rally any considerable por-
tion of the tribes. In Samuel, we have the prophet
and judge needed in troublous times—one capable of
winning the confidence and reverence of the people, of
recruiting them for military service, and of holding them
together by his authority as a Prophet of Jehovah and
as a Judge in Israel. In Saul, a leader was found of
captivating physical beauty and strength, to carry the
tribes that Samuel had prepared to serve under him
through the transition from former anarchy and help-
lessness to the permanent government of the monarch
who was to succeed him. But David was to establish
286 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
the kingdom, subdue all its enemies, and lift the nation
to a permanent power and splendor that should give it
a proud position among the powers of the earth, and
cause it to sound out Jehovah's praise among all the
nations. He was divinely chosen for this high mission.
He was, for this work, “a man after God's own
heart.” No popular judgment marked him out for the
position. No blind fortune set him apart as a favorite.
Even Samuel would have made another choice. When
he looked on the splendid form of Eliab he was cap-
tivated, and said to himself, “Surely Jehovah's anointed
is before me.” “But Jehovah said to Samuel: Look
not on his countenance, nor on the hight of his stature;
because I have refused him ; for Jehovah seeth not as
man seeth ; for man looketh on the outward appear-
ance, but Jehovah looketh on the heart” (I. Sam. xvi.
7). David was chosen, therefore, because of God's
knowledge of his intellectual and spiritual forces, and of
the grand possibilities of the power which as yet slum-
bered within him. It is this which gives peculiar
interest to the study of David's life and character: he
was God's man—the man for the hour.
David belonged to Bethlehem and to the tribe of
Judah. He was the youngest Son, perhaps the young-
est child, of a family of ten children—eight sons and
two daughters (I. Chron. ii. 13–16, comp. with I. Sam.
xvi. IO, II). His father appears to have been a man of
property, as we find David afterward bestowed lands in
the vicinity of Bethlehem, which probably came from
his father (compare II. Sam. xix. 37–38, with Jer. xli.
I7). David was the son of his old age (I. Sam. xvii.
I2), and probably on that account received the name of
David, meaning the beloved, or the darling. Of his
DAVID, THE SHEPHERD BOY. 287
mother nothing is known, except that David speaks of
her as the handmaid of the Lord (Ps. lxxxvi. 16, czvi.
16), and that she lived until the time of David's rupture
with Saul (I. Sam. xxii. 3). Of the various conjectures
concerning her, we need not speak. That David was
small of stature, compared with his brother Eliab, is
evident from I. Sam. xvi. 7. He was “ruddy, and of
a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to ” (I.
Sam. xvi. I 2). Some commentators regard the red-
ness as referring to his auburn hair, and the “beautiful
countenance” to the brightness of his eyes. From Ps.
xviii. 32–34, we gather that he was Swift of foot, and
strong enough to break even a bow of steel. With
a wallet slung around his neck, a staff in his hand, and
a sling ever ready for service (I. Sam. xvii. 40), he
followed the occupation of a shepherd on the same
plains of Bethlehem occupied by shepherds when the
more illustrious Son of David was born (Luke ii. 8–11).
Here, in communion with Nature, surrounded with
scenery beautiful, rugged and expansive, his poet's
eye took in the beauties and sublimities which were
afterwards reproduced in many of his poetical effusions,
and his reverential spirit was nourished and inspired by
the glorious works of the Creator whose perfections he
loved to celebrate. Here he was trained to be “the
sweet psalmist of Israel;” for here, accompanied by the
harp on which he skillfully performed (I. Sam. xvi. 18,
23), and perhaps by other instruments of his own inven-
tion (Amos vi. 5), he poured forth his soul in joyful
song, and, it may be, whiled away the hours in com-
posing psalms inspired by the scenery around him.
Here, too, he was trained to physical hardihood, power
of endurance, and feats of strength and bravery; for a
288 Evenings witH THE BIBLE.
shepherd's task in protecting his flocks often called for
great physical strength and courage. See I. Sam. xvii.
34–36. Here, too, he became an expert in the use of
the sling, as shepherds were apt to defend their flocks by
this means. Indeed, we have an intimation that David
had shown his bravery otherwise than in defense of his
flocks. He had taken a prominent part in the defense
of the country against Philistine raids, so that he was
already known as “a mighty valiant man and a man of
war" before he became known to Saul (I. Sam. xvi.
18). These are but gleams of a nature and a life as yet
largely undeveloped—foretokens of the grand possibili-
ties that lay concealed in a nature whose limited range
of occupation and humble surroundings concealed from
public view, and even from himself, the elements of
greatness that belonged to him. He was striking root
downwards during these years of obscure shepherd life,
as a preparation for the mighty growth upward and out-
ward that was afterward to be witnessed. It is worth
noting how God, in preparing his great men for high
and holy service, schools them long in quiet, obscure,
toilsome life—thus laying the foundations, in self-
knowledge, in self-denial, in hard toil and brave endur-
ance, in soul-communion with Himself, for the work
they are afterwards to perform. Thus Moses spent
forty years as a servant in the wilderness, in a shep-
herd's life, before he was entrusted with the leadership
of Israel; and our Lord spent thirty years in the ob-
scurity of Nazareth, in the severe toil and discipline of
a Jewish peasant's lot. And thus David is drilled in
the hard service and exposure of a shepherd's life, and
is taken from the sheep-cote to reign over Israel and
subdue Israel's proud and fierce enemies. Let us not
DAVID, THE SHEPHERD BOY. 289
be in too much haste to assume the responsibilities
of public life, nor repine at the severe discipline of
poverty and toil which may be our only true prepa-
ration for the work God has for us to do.
The anointing of David by Samuel (I. Sam. xvi.)
was evidently a turning-point in his life. This is
broadly intimated in the declaration that “the Spirit
of Jehovah came upon David from that day forward ”
(I. Sam. xvi. I3). Samuel must have informed him
what this private anointing meant. It opened to him
a new world. And although he carefully and re-
ligiously kept the secret, and continued in his humble
occupation, the revelation necessarily stirred his soul
with new thoughts and new ambitions, and must
have brought his reverential and truthful nature into
a closer fellowship with God: for the election was
God's, not man's, and to God alone could he breathe
out the new feelings kindled within him, and from God
alone could he seek the wisdom and strength and
guidance he so much needed. Among the other
characteristics of David's youth, it is mentioned that
he was “prudent in matters” (I. Sam. xvi. 18), and
it is added, “Jehovah is with him.” His native wis-
dom, and the tokens of God's loving care already
enjoyed, would lead him to conceal carefully, even from
all human confidants, this great Secret whispered in his
ear by the prophet Samuel, and to seek unto God as the
Guide of his youth, to whom, in a special sense, his
future now belonged. To a thoughtful, modest and
conscientious nature, there are few, if any, moments in
life so overwhelmingly anxious and oppressive as those
in which the sense of a new, unexpected and heavy
responsibility looms into view—a responsibility from
29O EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
which one is apt to shrink in humility in view of its great-
ness, and in weakness and fear in view of the toils and
perils it involves. But God knows how to strengthen and
comfort the trembling Soul in such an hour, if one is wise
enough to cast his care upon Him; hence we read that
“the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that
day forward.” The lightness of youth was succeeded
by the grave consciousness of a dawning manhood—
a manhood elected to a high service. Well is it for us
if, when God calls us to a responsible work, it humbles
rather than exalts us, and urges us into deeper depend-
ence on Him who calls us; for then we may expect
that, according to our needs, the Spirit of the Lord will
come upon us from that day forward.
In due time, the opportunity for David's manifesta-
tion to Israel came. He had reached the stature of man-
hood—otherwise the towering Saul could not have put
his own armor on him. The Philistines had come up
to Ephes-dammim, to provoke Israel to battle, or on a
marauding excursion such as they frequently engaged in.
Marching across the rolling plain at the foot of the hills, they
ascended the broad Wady Sunt, the Wady of the Terebinth, then
known as the valley of Elah—one of the many ravines worn out in the
course of ages by winter torrents, rushing from the uplands of Judah
to the lower level of the coast plain. Coming up by this hollow, as
through an open gate, into the hill country, the Philistine host, in
great numbers, had pitched their camp at a spot known as Ephes-
dammim, “the staying of bloodshed,” doubtless from the closing of
some ancient feud. The Wady is, as nearly as possible, three miles
long, and is broad and open ; a deep trench with perpendicular sides,
the bed of the winter torrents, winding hither and thither down
its center, impassable except at some spots, and forming a natural
barrier between forces drawn up on opposite sides of the valley. The
ridges of hills on each side run nearly east and west, rising from 7oo
to 8oo feet above the central trough; that on the north throwing out
five bastions or spurs; the southern, more continuous hights, being
DAVID, THE SHEPHERD BOY. 29I
broken only by a bifurcated recess. Marching out instantly with
his standing host of 3,000 men, and such additions as might be availa-
ble by a hurried levy, Saul stood at bay on the low rocky hills of the
northern side of the ravine, face to face with the enemy on those of the
southern slope. Between them lay clumps of bushes and a wide
expanse of ripening barley, cut in two by the red banks fringing
the white shingly bed of the torrent. The distance between the two
ridges is about a mile, but the spurs on the north side run out nearly
to the middle of the wady, which is here only about 400 or 500 yards
wide at the bottom. Behind Saul’s camp, closing in the view, rose the
blue hill-walls of Judah. The hights behind the Philistines shut out
the opposite view of the country, sinking ridge after ridge to the sea-
coast plains.—Geikie's Hours with the Bible.
A giant of the race of Anak, named Goliath, six
cubits and a span high—which would be, according to
the estimate of the cubit at sixteen inches, 8 feet, 9 inches
—came out from the Philistine camp, challenging any
Israelite to come forth and decide the fate of battle by
single combat. Forty days he renewed the challenge,
mingling his words of defiance with words of bitter
raillery; but no man was found in all the army of Israel
to accept the challenge, although the king had promised
to any one who would kill the proud boaster great
riches, the king's daughter for a wife, and the freedom
of his father's house in Israel. When they looked at the
towering giant, in his coat of mail, with his huge spear
and terrible sword, “all the men of Israel fled from him
and were sore afraid.” er
David came a distance of fourteen miles, to carry
provisions to his three brothers who were in the army.
Hearing the defiance and blasphemous vauntings of
this uncircumcised Philistine, and witnessing the dismay
in the Israelitish camp, his spirit was stirred in him,
and, youth as he was—although not the half-grown lad
he is generally taken to have been—he offered himself
292 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
to answer the defiance which struck the whole army
dumb with terror.
Nor was his offer the unreasoning impulse which
it is often supposed to have been. He had faith in
Jehovah, it is true; but it was not a blind faith, nor
a superstition. His practice with the sling in fighting
wild beasts had made him expert as a Benjamite, who
could “sling stones at an hair-breadth and not miss ''
(Judg. xx. 16). The reasons he gave to the king for
undertaking the combat (I. Sam. xvii. 34–37) show
that he had a rational basis for his trust in God, in his
past achievements. It is well to remember this, that we
may not make his example a pretext for fanatical under-
takings. The king gave a reluctant consent, and in the
presence of the gazing armies, with the fate of his na-
tion resting in his young hands, the handsome but
slender youth sallied forth to meet the terrible giant.
Gathering a few pebbles from the dry bed of the chan-
nel as he crossed it, and bearing a staff in his hand, he
appears on the territory occupied by the enemy. The
haughty son of Anak, enraged that such an unarmed
stripling should appear against him, breaks forth in
fearful threats and curses, to which the undaunted youth
replies in language as bold and defiant as it is pious and
dignified: “Thou comest to me with a sword, and
with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in
the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies
of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will Jeho-
vah deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee
and take thy head from thee; and I will give the
carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto
the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth;
that all the earth may know that there is a God in
DAVID, THE SHEPHERD BOY. 293
Israel. And all this assembly shall know that Jehovah
saveth not with Sword and spear; for the battle is Jeho-
vah's, and he will give you into our hands.” Brave
words, and as pious as brave. No self-boasting, no
self-seeking. He is Jehovah's champion, and he dares
to trust Him to be his shield against the ponderous
spear and sword of his gigantic foe. The enraged
giant rushes toward him, spear in hand. David places
a pebble in his sling, and, running to meet his advancing
antagonist, hurls the stone with such force and unerr-
ing accuracy that, striking the proud monster in the
forehead, he is brought on his face to the earth; and
then the brave youth, mounting the prostrate form, and
drawing forth the giant's own sword, severs his head
from his body, and bears away the head and the sword
as trophies of his victory. Forthwith the Philistine
hosts flee in dismay, pursued by the now exulting
forces of Israel even to the gates of their cities, with
great slaughter.
Thus this modest youth vindicates the honor of Je-
hovah, and lifts up Israel from despair, by one deed of
heroism, one act of faith in God. The first period of
his life is crowned with a heroism and a modesty that fix
upon him the eyes of the nation. Already he begins
to show himself “a man after God's own heart.”
294 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
DAVID AND SAUL.
As our object is not mere narration, but rather
to point out the treasures of moral and religious truth
in the Old Testament, we concern ourselves with narra-
tive only so far as is needful to bring out the characters
that figure in Old Testament history, or to illustrate the
great lessons of faith and righteousness which we wish
to teach. We do not attempt, therefore, any connected
historical sketch of David's life, but rather point to
those incidents which bring out his character, and the
characters of others who stand in various ways related
to him. The period of his life which we now contem-
plate—from the victory over Goliath to his occupancy
of the throne of Israel—abounds in stirring incident,
and brings to light various strongly marked characters,
each teaching its own lesson.
First, then, of the relations between Saul and
David. At the time when David first appeared in pub-
lic life, Saul was under the control of evil passions,
which rendered him gloomy and malignant. Samuel
had warned him that the kingdom would be taken from
him and given to another, not of his house. It was
this that troubled him. In place of yielding penitently
to the divine decree, he madly set himself to thwart it.
The selfish ambition to perpetuate royal power in
his own family, constantly fed and nourished, grew
into insane strength and swept away all barriers of
piety and virtue. At times it took on the fury of in-
Sanity, and it required the tranquillizing and captivating
DAVII) AND SAUL. 295
power of music to subdue the frenzy. It is probable,
but not certain, that even before the combat with
Goliath, David had been employed as a “cunning
player on an harp,” to soothe and comfort the king
when these furious spells were upon him (I. Sam. xvi.
14–23). Let us learn to guard against the overmaster-
ing power of evil passions. They may be fostered
until we are helpless in their grasp. It is fearful to see
a mighty man like Saul swayed by bad passions, as help-
less as a leaf in a whirlwind, and dependent on the skill
of a shepherd-lad for even brief respites from their
cruel domination. -
When Abner presented the youthful conqueror of
Goliath to Saul, he was graciously received. The king
had at first no suspicion that this slender shepherd-
youth was to supplant him in the kingdom. David was
welcomed to court, and became, first, armor-bearer to
the king, then captain of a thousand, and was finally
elevated to the position of captain of the king's body-
guard—one of the highest positions under the throne.
In all these he bore himself prudently, winning the
hearts of the soldiery and the people, conducting him-
self so modestly as to give no offense, and performing
such acts of bravery as to increase his already great re-
nown (I. Sam. xviii. 5). But greatness has its perils,
and David's increasing greatness exposed him to the
jealousy and wrath of Saul. On his return from a suc-
cessful raid against the Philistines, in which he seems to
have crippled them so effectually that they never recov-
ered until the close of Saul's reign, the women came
out from all the cities of Israel through which they
passed, “singing and dancing, with tabrets, with joy,
and with instruments of music.”; and while they hon-
296 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
ored Saul by singing “Saul hath slain his thousands,”
their superior admiration for David was shown when
they added, “And David his ten thousands.” It
was this that turned the jealousy and rage of Saul
against David. “They have ascribed unto David ten
thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thous-
ands; and what can he have more but the kingdom P”
It now flashed upon him that David was Jehovah's elect
man to succeed him in the kingdom ; but, instead of
acquiescing in the divine purpose, and Saying as John
the Baptist afterwards said of the growing power of
Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” he
set himself stubbornly and madly against what he
knew to be the will of God, determined to fight it
out to the bitter end. It may be that Saul saw not,
in its nakedness, the enormity of his sin. Passion
blinded him. Yet he knew, in spite of the blinding
influence of passion, that he was fighting not merely
against David, but against Jehovah, and he abandoned
himself to the frenzy of passion that he might drown,
if possible, the voice of God in his own conscience.
He was the willing victim of his own lawless ambi-
tion and jealousy. Let the reader pause here, and
reflect that a similar conflict, though it may not be
on So large a scale, belongs to every life. There
come crises in our lives when we must make our sel-
fish passions bend to the known will of God, or, in
surrendering to the unholy demands of passion, re-
nounce the authority of Jehovah, and madly set our-
selves in battle array against Him: and this is at our
election. Read in Saul's dark and dreadful history
from this time forth, the tremendous woe and ruin
involved in a departure from God, and—beware'
DAVID AND SAUL. 297
At first, Saul concealed his rage, and, under pre-
tense of madness, twice attempted to take the life of
David when he played before him. David, regarding
these murderous attempts as mere outbreaks of insanity,
was not seriously alarmed. Then Saul violated his
promise to David, by marrying his eldest daughter,
Merab, to another man, doubtless hoping that David
would seek to avenge the wrong and lose his life in the
attempt. But as Michal, another daughter, loved
David, Saul, with apparent sincerity, proposed that
David should marry her, imposing, however, a new and
unrighteous condition to a promise whose conditions
had been already perfectly fulfilled—that David should
kill a hundred Philistines. The secret of this new and
strange condition was, that he hoped David would lose
his life in the attempt. Thus darkly and malignantly
wrought the spirit of jealousy in the heart of Saul.
David, however, took the lives of twice the number of
Philistines required in the condition, and the king was
compelled to give his daughter to the man whom he so
intensely hated. Then his rage broke out more openly;
but Jonathan, Saul's son, and Michal, David's wife,
gave David notice of the diabolical plot against his life,
and he escaped and fled to the school of the prophets at
Ramah, where Samuel was, where it is not unlikely
that David in his younger days had been familiar with
the sons of the prophets, and may have learned from
them much of his own musical skill. Here again we
are made to know the extent to which Saul had yielded
himself to the dominion of evil. Thrice he sent officers
to Ramah to arrest David, but they were all brought
under a divine spell, so that they could not accomplish
their object. Then Saul went himself; but he too came
298 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
under the same overpowering influences, and was help-
less to achieve the purpose on which he had been so
desperately bent. Yet even this only momentarily
subdued his murderous jealousy and hate, and David
was compelled to flee from Ramah. Driven from his
own land, he sought refuge among the Philistines. Re-
jected by them, he was forced into the life of an out-
law, gathering about him many discontented spirits and
adventurous characters, and also many sympathizing
friends, until his adherents numbered six hundred—
among them many of the bravest and strongest men—
who supported themselves mainly by raids upon the
enemies of Israel, or by defending and protecting the
Israelites themselves against marauders. Exposed to
constant dangers, brought often into great extremities,
surrounded by lawless and desperate men, he preserved
through all these exciting and trying scenes his faith in
God and his spiritual aspirations. He learned, also,
how to govern, and was schooled in military affairs.
Hunted from place to place by the forces of Saul; mov-
ing in the midst of enemies ready to give him up; in
danger of betrayal even by those whom he had delivered
from their foes—as in the case of the inhabitants of
Keilah—and driven into the most desolate regions for
hiding-places from his relentless enemy, he yet pre-
served himself from the dominion of evil passions, and
displayed a magnanimity of the loftiest character.
Twice King Saul was completely in his power. A
single blow would have ended the strife. But in both
instances David Smothered all revengeful impulses, and
refused to lift a hand against “the Lord's anointed.”
As he was not seeking the throne—as God had ap-
pointed him to it—he left it to God to open the way to
DAVID AND SAUL. 299
its possession in His own time-and manner. This
forbearance and magnanimity touched even Saul’s
hard heart, and he tearfully confessed that David
was a better man than he. But even this subdued
his malignity only for a moment—so completely had
the king sold himself to work evil' Again we say,
Beware ! Bad passions, fed and strengthened, will
steel the heart against the noblest appeals of good-
ness, and render it dead to every righteous and gen-
erous impulse. The forgiving and forbearing spirit
and magnanimous conduct of David were of the highest
order, and Saul knew it and felt it; yet even this did
not cause him to relent in his desperate purpose.
He rushed on in his mad career, adding sin to sin,
and outrage to outrage, until the prophets, the priests
and the people despised him. When Samuel died,
the last link that held him in the least degree to
righteousness and to hope, was severed; and when
the Philistines again rose up to strength and invaded
the land, he had none in all the land to whom to look
for counsel. In his desperation he sought to break
the barriers of death, that he might hear the voice of
Samuel once more, and comfort his forsaken and de-
spairing soul with even a forbidden gleam of light
from the world beyond ' Thus, step by step, had his
guilty spirit descended into wretchedness and hope-
lessness. Of his last battle with the Philistines, and
his terrible overthrow, we have already spoken. We
refer to it now, for the sake of saying that the down-
fall of his relentless foe did not cause David to exult.
He was not of those who rejoice in another's calam-
ity, even though it should be that of his bitterest
enemy. The nobleness of his nature shines out here
3OO EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
with peculiar luster. When he heard of the sad fate of
Saul, forgetting all his wrongs, he summoned all his men
to mourn and weep and fast; he put to death the man
who boasted that he had slain the king, and composed
an elegy such as might have been written by an enthu-
lastic follower of the fallen monarch. Alike for its
poetical beauty and tenderness, and for its generosity
as the lamentation of a heart that had been cruelly out-
raged by the subject of the song, it has lived through
the ages, and generous hearts still linger over its strains
with intense admiration. O ye professedly Christian
men and women, who “nurse your wrath to keep it
warm,” and gloat over the misfortunes of those who
have offended you, and whose gossiping tongues wag
freely even against the unoffending, listen to the tender
and loving strain that comes from a semi-barbaric age,
from the harp of a Jezv used to scenes of blood, and
from a heart bleeding under unprovoked wrongs in-
flicted by the monarch now fallen on the field of battle:
Thy glory, O Israel,
Lies slain on thy hights.
Ah! how are the heroes fallen t
Ye mountains of Gilboa,
Pet no dew come upon you, or rain ;
Let no fruitful fields on your hights yield offerings;
For there the shield of the heroes has been stained;
The shield (also) of Saul I
The weapons of him who was anointed with oil
The bow of Jonathan,
Which never resounded
Without drinking the blood of the slain,
And piercing the fat of the mighty:
The sword of Saul,
Which was sheathed only when satisfied 1
DAVID AND SAUL. 3OI
Saul and Jonathan,
Loved and loving in their lives,
Even in death were not divided.
They were swifter than eagles,
Braver than lions !
Ye daughters of Israel,
Weep for Saul,
Who clothed you in purple to your delight;
Who hung your apparel with golden ornaments.
How have the heroes fallen I
How have the mighty men of war perished
While there is here no attempt to attribute to Saul
virtues which he did not possess, there is an apparent
forgetfulness of all that was odious in his personal
character, and a generous recognition of the only
noble qualities left in him—his heroism, and his gener-
osity to those who came within reach of his royal
bounty. If there were no other good wrought by the
numerous and protracted trials to which David was sub-
jected, this development of magnanimity is richly worth
all it cost. But, indeed, had it not been for these
varied experiences of wrong, of peril, and of great ad-
versity, those immortal psalms, which have spoken to
the hearts of the wronged and the suffering through all
subsequent ages, and given comfort and hope to mil-
lions of tempted souls, had never been written.
David's harp is never so inspiring as when its strings
are touched by sad fingers, in his desolate hours and
in his sore trials in the wilderness.
3O2 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
DAVID AND JONATHAN.
There may have been, and may yet be, many in-
stances of friendship as honorable to human nature as
that of David and Jonathan ; but certainly few such in-
stances have gone to record. It is refreshing to turn
from the contemplation of the Selfishness, jealousy and
cruelty of the father, to the unselfish devotion and
magnanimity of the son.
Of Jonathan's early years we know nothing. He is
probably thirty years of age when he first appears
to view as commander of a thousand men at Gibeah of
Benjamin, when his valor much more than his discretion
appears in an assault upon a Philistine garrison (I. Sam.
xiii.) at a time when it was rash to provoke a powerful
enemy against an oppressed, disheartened and unarmed
people. Of his physical strength and agility, David
says alike of him and his father (II. Sam. i. 23), “they
were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than
lions.” It would be fair to presume that, as a brave
Benjamite, he would excel in archery and in slinging
(I. Chr. xii. 2); and this is sustained by various refer.
ences, especially to his archery. See II. Sam. i. 22; I.
Sam. xviii. 4, xx. 35, 36. Trained in adversity so far
as his military life was concerned, he became inured to
hardships, and devoted to deeds of daring. It is
Scarcely possible to conceive of anything more daring
than his second attack upon a Philistine garrison (I.
Sam. xiv), when, with his armor-bearer, and none be-
side, he climbed the almost perpendicular hight to the
DAVID AND JONATHAN. 3O3
fortress of the enemy, and made such a slaughter that
the foe fled in dismay, and Israel won a great victory.
It is evident, moreover, that he possessed noble quali-
ties that gave him favor with the people; for when the
cruel and superstitious caprice of his father doomed him
to death, even amid the joys of the victory that followed
his brave exploit, the people rose up in stern rebuke of
the mad purpose, Saying, “As Jehovah liveth, there
shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for
he hath wrought with God this day. So the people
rescued Jonathan that he died not ” (I. Sam. xiv. 45).
When David vanquished the stalwart champion of
the Philistines—accepting a challenge which the bravest
in the army of Israel feared to answer—there was some-
thing in the demeanor and the achievement of the
modest but brave youth that instantly won the affection
of Jonathan. “The soul of Jonathan was knit with
the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own
soul” (I. Sam. xviii. 1). Jonathan knew not how to
express his enthusiastic admiration and love of his
young friend. He “stripped himself of the robe that
was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments,
even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.”
Jonathan was presumably heir to his father's throne;
yet, when his father became jealous of David, as likely
to supplant him in the throne and rob Jonathan of the
kingly honor and power which he meant to leave to
him, the son and heir suffers not a shadow to pass upon
his friendship with David on this account. He was per-
suaded that David would be the next king. “Thou
shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto
thee” (I. Sam. xxiii. 17); and in the fullness of his
affection and admiration, he was willing to have it so.
3O4. EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
Not often in this selfish world has friendship endured
such a test as this. How grand it is, when Saul is bent
on taking David's life, to see Jonathan pleading with
his father for the life of his friend with the genuine
earnestness and eloquence that breathe in the speech
recorded in I. Sam. xix. I–7. He even risked his own
life in pleading for David (I. Sam. xx. 25–34).
In the covenant made between these friends (I.
Sam. xx. I I-16), Jonathan required David to repeat
his oath, not because he doubted his sincerity, but
“because he loved him ;” it was a delight to him to
hear, over and over, his friend's asseverations and oaths
of undying attachment. When it became certain that
David's life was no longer safe at court, and Jonathan
faithfully informed him of it, their parting was pecu-
liarly sad and tender. “And they kissed one another,
and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, forasmuch
as we have sworn both of us in the name of Jehovah,
saying, Jehovah be between me and thee, and between
my seed and thy seed forever.’ And he arose and de-
parted, and Jonathan went into the city.”
Only once more did they meet— in the wilder-
ness of Ziph, when Saul was pursuing David with
revengeful purpose (I. Sam. xxiii. 16–18). Jonathan
stole away from the army of Saul unobserved, to
comfort David in his afflictions, and “strengthened
his hand in God.” He wanted David to know
that no ambition to possess the throne interfered
with his affection for him—that he acquiesced in what
he knew to be the divine purpose to exalt David
to reign over Israel, and was willing to accept a subor-
dinate place for himself. They renewed their cove-
DAVID AND JONATHAN. 3O5
nant with this understanding, and parted—never to meet
again on earth. Their covenant was never broken.
What adds to the merits of Jonathan in all this is,
that while he was thus singularly true to David, he was
just as true to his father. He did not, as his fervent
affection would have prompted, throw in his fortunes
with David, and turn his back on a father who had for-
feited all claim to his respect and obedience. He
recognized his duty to his father, and delicate and diffi-
cult as the task was, he remained on terms of intimacy
with him. What David said in his elegy is strictly
true: “they were lovely and pleasant in their lives.”
But they were this only through Jonathan's profound
reverence for duty, and his great tact. When David
expressed a fear that Saul had a murderous purpose
that he concealed from Jonathan, the latter replied:
“Behold, my father will do nothing, either great or
small, but that he will show it me" (I. Sam. xx. 2).
The whole history shows that this was no vain boast.
Although in moments of frenzy Saul would bitterly
complain of Jonathan's love for David (I. Sam. xxii. 8),
such was the charm of Jonathan's devotion and high
integrity, that he retained his father's confidence and
shared in all his counsels. In the last fatal battle at
Gilboa, Jonathan was by his father's side, and fell
bravely fighting in his father's service. There is a les-
son here for children in their conduct towards their
parents. It is something very hard to submit to the
unceasing tyranny and blind stubbornness of unworthy
parents. Yet it is not often that sons have as capri-
cious, tyrannous and cruel parents to deal with as Jona-
than had ; and he managed, without being untrue to
himself or to others, to be reverential and loyal to his
306 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
father, and even to sway a great influence over him for
good. This called for much patience, but it called
chiefly for a complete devotion to principle—and this is
what made Jonathan at once a true son and constant con-
fidant of his father, and also a true friend to David. His
love for David did not lead him away from his duty to
the king, and his love for the king did not prevent him
from entire faithfulness to his friend. Honest, brave,
true, patient under wrong, undazzled by the splendors
and uncorrupted by the temptations of the court, he
sought to be dutiful in all respects—to the throne, to his
ſamily, to the people, to his covenant friend. He is an
example of a son rising superior to his father's exam-
ple, yet without forfeiting his father's confidence; of an
heir to a throne so far unspoiled by selfish ambitions as
to honor the divine decree that gave that throne to an-
other; of a hero born to command, yet through all his
life respecting the rights of others; of a friend so true
that not even rivalry for a throne could alienate him, nor
his father's rage turn him from his steadfastness. We
can not help weeping with David when this matchless
friend falls on the field of battle, and his soul pours out
its lamentation : “I am distressed for thee, my brother
Jonathan : very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy
love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women!”
DAVID AND DOEG. 3O7
DAVID AND DOEG.
It may be unpleasant, but it ought not to be unprof-
itable, to study the lives of infamous men; for we see
in them just what human nature is capable of in the
line of wickedness, and just what, under given circum-
stances, we might ourselves be guilty of. If we have
been saved from such enormities and horrors of ini-
quity, we have no reason for boasting, as if by our own
inborn goodness or native strength we had preserved
ourselves from wrong and crime; but must say, in view
of the fearful possibilities of evil in our nature, and in
an enlightened estimate of the restraining and saving
influences that have wrought out better things in our
history, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” We
may not, therefore, exult over wrong doers, but we may
and should cherish profound gratitude that we have
been mercifully preserved from participation in their
crimes.
Nor should it be discouraging when we are made to
know of the awful depths of vice and crime into which
so many sink; for in these terrible perversions of human
nature we ought to read the lesson of the grand achieve-
ments in virtue of which that nature, in its integrity, is
capable. We sometimes hear it said, as a keen satire
upon humanity, that men sink into depths of degrada-
tion which even brutes know not of. The statement is
true, but the satire is pointless. For why do not
brutes sink to such depths P Because they can not.
They are incapable of it, even as they are incapable
308 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
of rising to hights of virtue. Their nature occupies
a level, from which it lacks capacity to ascend or de-
scend. Only a nature that can rise, can fall. A free,
rational nature, capable of ascending to hights of
knowledge, virtue and moral greatness, is, from its very
constitution, capable of descending into depths of igno-
rance, vice and infamy. It is in the perversion of its
faculties and affections that the descent is accomplished;
and these perversions, often sublime in their enormity,
reveal what such a nature, in its integrity, and under
suitable enlightening and sanctifying influences, is capa-
ble of achieving in the direction of righteousness and
holiness. Hence, as Young says of man :
His very crimes attest his dignity.
The contemplation of human sin and wrong, there-
fore, while it is shocking and humiliating, should never
lead to despair, but should impress us with the great-
ness and glory of the work of redeeming such a nature
from its perversions and placing it anew in harmonious
relations with God and truth and righteousness.
If the Jewish tradition be true, Doeg was the slave
of Kish (I. Sam. ix.), who went out with Saul in search
of the stray asses. He had been captured, probably,
in some raid into Edomite territory, and as a captive
was made a slave, and became, from necessity, in-
corporated with the Jews as a subject of their law and
of their religion, not only without choice of his own,
but it may be with scorn and hate of his conquerors
nursed in his heart. If even a willing subject of Jewish
authority, his ancestry, his early surroundings, and his
Subsequent lot as a slave, were all unfavorable to the de-
velopment of high moral qualities. That he was physi-
DAVID AND DOEG. 309
cally strong and swift of foot, and mentally active,
appears from his being made chief of Saul's herdmen
(I. Sam. xxi. 7), and from his position, afterwards, of
captain of Saul's body-guard (I. Sam. xxii. 7–9). The
word translated footmen (verse 17) means runners,
guards, posts, and is used here, we conclude, to de-
scribe men selected for their strength, bravery and
agility, to serve the king as a body-guard, as couriers,
and perhaps also as having oversight of his herds.
See I. Sam. viii. I I. Saul's knowledge of Doeg's
bravery, physical strength, swiftness of foot, and
shrewdness, and perhaps, also, his confidence in Doeg's
personal attachment to him as his young master, with
whom he had been raised, led him to place this Edom-
ite in command of his body-guard, and to give him
the oversight of the royal establishment in all that
pertained to the herds and the stables.
True to Saul he may have been, as he shared some-
what in the pride of the family in Saul's elevation, and
rose himself to an importance and dignity which could
only be his as he remained true to the king. But
beyond this, he seems to have had no attachment to
Israel, no friendships but mercenary ones, no love
of his adopted country that could overcome his Edom-
itish hate. His especial value to Saul was that of a
first-class sneak, who found his highest gratification in
acting as a spy in the king's behalf—prying into every-
body's business, and gratifying his own Edomitish hate-
fulness, and the king's abnormal suspiciousness, by act-
ing as informer. Sly, cunning, stealthy, heartless, he
catered to Saul's morbid jealousy and stirred up mis-
chiefs by his accomplishments as a tale-bearer. One
such wretch as this, when he has wormed himself into
31o EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
the confidence of a ruler, can do untold mischief, as we
shall see in this instance.
When David fled from the face of Saul and knew
not whither to direct his steps for safety, he came to
Nob—not far from Jerusalem—at that time the place of
the tabernacle and headquarters of the priesthood. He
was hungry and weary, and being known to the high-
priest as the king's son-in-law, who was often abroad on
the king's business, he the more readily obtained his
request for bread—even though, in the absence of other
supplies, it had to be the sacred bread from the altar.
David obtained also from Ahimelech the Sword of Go-
liath, which had been laid up in the sanctuary as a
memorial of a great victory. The Edomitish sneak,
Doeg, was sure to be about when anything of an extra-
ordinary character was transacted. It is said (I. Sam.
xxi. 7) that he was “detained before the Lord ”—per-
haps on account of Some legal uncleanness or physical
defilement which required him to remain for a time at
the sanctuary; or, it may be, under cover of performing
some vow, that he spent the time there to spy out, if pos-
sible, something that he could report to the king, and
thus gain additional credit as a faithful servant. He
saw the priest giving bread to David, and handing him
the Sword of Goliath. Here was precious material for
an alarming story, and on his return to the royal res-
idence he watched his opportunity to bring it out
with startling effect. In I. Sam. xxii. 6, we read:
‘‘Now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah,
having a spear in his hand, and all his servants were
standing about him. Then Saul said to his servants
that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will
the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vine-
DAVID AND DOEG. 3 II
yards, and make you all captains of thousands and cap-
tains of hundreds, that all of you have conspired
against me, and there is none that showeth unto me
that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse,
and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or show-
eth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant
against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?” While we
can not prove it to be positively true, we are unable to
avoid the conclusion, in reading between the lines, that
all this was the cunning device of Doeg, to create an
opportunity for bringing forth his startling story con-
cerning David and Ahimelech. He had taken the king
in one of his gloomy moods, when it was easy to per-
suade him to believe what was evil, and had insinuated
suspicions of the loyalty of Jonathan, and of the mem-
bers of the body-guard generally, with a view to impress
him that he, Doeg, was the only one about him worthy
to be trusted. Filled with these false fears, the king
takes occasion to vent them when his military attend-
ants are gathered about him, and this gives Doeg
the coveted opportunity to tell his story, as if reluc-
tantly, and only at the king's command. Nor is he
content to tell the simple truth. He makes the lying
statement that Ahimelech “inquired of the Lord” for
David; but of this this there is not a hint in the narra-
tive, and Ahimelech (I. Sam. xxii. I5) denies it. But
without this, Doeg's story would not have been alarm-
ing. Feeding a hungry man was no evidence of Ahim-
elech's disloyalty. But consulting the sacred oracle in
David's behalf, and then giving him a sword with the
assurance that Jehovah would prosper his rebellious
purpose—this was treason; and as it required a lie
to make it out, the lie was told. Ahimelech and all
312 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
the priests at Nob were summoned to the royal pres-
ence. They came. In vain did Ahimelech deny the
charge of inquiring of the Lord for David; in vain did
he protest that he knew nothing of the quarrel between
the king and David, and had treated the latter only with
the courtesy due to the king's son-in-law, whom he only
knew as being high in the royal favor. The cruel jeal-
ousy of the king doomed the innocent high-priest to
instant death, and with him all the priests that were
under his authority. Turning to the guards that stood
about him, the king commanded them to slay the
priests on the spot. But it was so daring and cruel an
injustice, and so wanton a sacrilege, that, to their honor
be it spoken, every one of them determined to brave
the wrath of the king rather than commit so hideous
a crime. This but confirmed the suspicions of their
disloyalty which Doeg had cunningly created and fos-
tered. Turning to Doeg, the king committed to him
the infamous task, which just suited his mean and cruel
nature and heathenish revengefulness. “Then Doeg
the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and
slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did
wear a linen ephod.” The Septuagint reads: “three
hundred and five men;” and Josephus says, “three
hundred and eighty-five.” This may include the mem-
bers of those families that were at Nob, for the
slaughter did not end at Gibeah. This Edomite mon-
ster proceeded to Nob, the city of the priests, and
“smote with the edge of the sword both men and
women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses,
and sheep.” It is horrifying---this slaughter of hun-
dreds of innocent persons, even of little harmless babes;
this almost utter annihilation of a sacred order, on the
DAVID AND DOEG. 3I3
word and by the hand of a sneaking, lying Edomite,
whose only title to confidence was his cringing sub-
serviency to the king in his worst moods and his
most insane ambitions—moods and ambitions which
were doubtless humored and nursed by this sly and
cunning wretch for his own base purposes.
It is impossible to read this dark history without
burning indignation. If Psalm lii. was written, as its
title indicates, “when Doeg the Edomite came and
told Saul,” we can enter fully into the spirit of its
burning words: “Why boastest thou thyself in mis-
chief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth
continually [in my support and defense]. Thy tongue
deviseth mischiefs, like a sharp razor, working deceit-
fully. Thou lovest evil more than good, and lying
rather than to speak righteousness. Thou lovest all
devouring [destructive] words, O thou deceitful tongue.
God shall likewise destroy thee forever; he shall take
thee away, and pluck thee Out of thy dwelling-place,
and root thee out of the land of the living. The right-
eous shall also see and fear, and shall laugh at him: Lo,
this is the man that made not God his strength; but
trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strength-
ened himself in his wickedness.” We judge from this,
that this sly, cruel, mischief-loving, mischief-making
wretch came, as he deserved, to a bad end, and that SO
openly that the righteous retribution, with its whole-
some lessons, was publicly known.
That David had a just estimate of Doeg, appears
from his observation, when Abiathar, son of Ahimelech,
escaped from Nob and brought him intelligence of this
terrible massacre. “I knew it that day,” said David,
“when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would
3I4 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
surely tell Saul.” He knew him for the hypocritical
spy he was, in spite of all his efforts to live under a
mask, and boded no good from his presence at Nob on
that occasion.
There are few characters more abhorrent to a manly
man than the velvet-footed sneak, stealing noiselessly
about on errands of mischief. The Doegs are not all
dead. They are to be found in families, in neighbor-
hoods, in churches, and in political circles; and wher-
ever they are, the innocent suffer, and all private and
public interests are sacrificed to their selfishness and
malignant cunning. -
I earnestly beseech Thee, O Lord, to preserve me
from falsehood and treachery. Let the odiousness of
these sins, as they are revealed in other lives, cause such
an abhorrence of even the shadow of deceit, that I may
ever cling to truth, and ever be honest and sincere
in my dealings with my fellow-men. May I be able to
say, from the depths of my soul, with Thine ancient
servant, “I have chosen the way of truth.”
DAVID, THE KING. 315
DAVID, THE KING.
A reign of over forty years gives the fullest oppor-
tunity to judge of David's real character; for now,
freed from the discipline of adversity and the restraints
that inhered in his former dependent position, he
bears the more difficult test of prosperity, and reveals
himself in the possession of a power which none could
resist. We do not mean that his power was absolute—
for he was made king by the suffrages of the people; his
power was limited by the demands of the popular voice
(II. Sam. v. 3); and, as Jehovah's chosen one, he could
expect no prosperity except as he governed according
to the divine will. Nevertheless, his power was well-nigh
absolute: it was checked by no legislature; its principal
restraints were found in the advice and warnings of
such prophets as Nathan and Gad, whom he wisely
kept near him as confidential counselors. Men are
most apt to show what is in them when they possess
the power to assert themselves without restraint. Noth-
ing is grander in the life of Jesus than the voluntary
restraint he put upon his power, even under the pres-
sure of hunger, under the provocations received from
his foes, under the temptations with which Satan sorely
pressed him. Many men are esteemed harmless and
amiable, when their gentleness is owing to the lack of
power and of opportunity to develop their true nature;
many are regarded as honest who, when the opportun-
ity and the means of dishonesty are in their possession,
show themselves capable of stupendous rascalities.
316 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
Many who were gentle and kind as servants, show
themselves cruel tyrants when they become masters.
We have seen David in subordinate positions, and
we have followed him with admiration as he passed
through the fierce fires of adversity, coming forth as
gold. What will he show himself to be, now that
royal power and high prosperity are bestowed on him P
Let us see.
He reigned seven and a half years in Hebron, over
the tribes of Judah and such portions of the other
tribes on the west of the Jordan as, in the unsettled
state of affairs, came under his authority (II. Sam. ii.
II). Thirty-three years he reigned over the twelve
tribes (II. Sam. v. 5).
I. His course was marked by great prudence in the
beginning of his reign. It was a time of trouble and
peril. The Philistines were victorious and arrogant.
Other hostile powers were only waiting for an oppor-
tunity to take advantage of the divided sympathies and
the rivalries of the Israelites. Saul's son Ishbosheth
had been proclaimed king, and Abner, the virtual king,
was among the foremost in ambition and in military
prowess, and succeeded in conquering a portion of the
territory from the Philistines, leaving little more than
Judah to David. The other tribes, especially the de-
scendants of Joseph, looked with fierce jealousy on the
rising power of Judah. To thread his way through
all the complications and intricacies of Jewish affairs
during these seven years—especially in view of the fiery
ambitions and fierce rivalries of Joab and Abner—
So as to bring about a union of the tribes, and secure to
himself a unanimous and authoritative choice as their
sovereign, evinces extraordinary prudence, skill and
DAVID, THE KING. 317
statesmanship on the part of David. He showed him-
self to be, in the best sense, a master of men.
2. The selection of a capital on the borders of
Judah and Benjamin, in a position that could be ren-
dered well nigh impregnable, and where, if rebellion
arose, he could be secure in his position, defended by
his own powerful tribe, was a master-stroke of practical
wisdom (II. Sam. v.).
3. The removal of the ark to the royal city, so as to
make Jerusalem at once the center of religious and
political influence, and bind all the tribes together in a
common attachment to the national shrine of worship,
is another indication of masterful policy (II. Sam. vi.).
We must not suppose that it was mere religious fervor
that inspired this movement. Fervent in spirit, as a
worshiper of Jehovah, David was ; but as the sovereign
of tribes disturbed by tribal and family ambitions, and,
withal, fickle in their attachments, he wisely recog-
nized the immense power of unity in religious faith and
worship, and the security to his own throne that would
result from uniting loyalty to Jehovah with loyalty to
the King. All the power of the priesthood was at once
secured, and Jerusalem was not only the city of David,
but the city of God. It was henceforth the center of
national religious enthusiasm.
4. The organization and development of his king:
dom was begun in a time favorable for it. Egypt was
no longer powerful as in former times, and Assyria had
been humbled by the Babylonians and Hittites. These
two great powers, between which the territory of
David's kingdom was situated, were not now formidable
or threatening. There was an opportunity for the new
monarchy to rise to greatness undisturbed. That
3.18 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
David's ideal of this theocratic kingdom was pure and
lofty—far beyond what he ever realized—there can be
no doubt. He aspired to build up a monarchy that
should conserve every interest of righteousness and
godliness. This, rather than any selfish ambition, or
mere lust of power, inspired him. Hence he says (Ps.
xxiv. 3–6): “Who shall ascend into the hill of Jeho-
vah P or who shall stand in his holy place P He that
hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted
up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall
receive the blessing from Jehovah, and righteousness
from the God of his salvation. This is the generation
of them that seek thee, that seek thy face, O God of
Jacob.”
What his purposes were, as to his personal aims of
life, we may learn from Ps. ci. : “I will behave myself
wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto
me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes; I hate the
work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
A froward heart shall depart from me; I will not know
a wicked person. Whoso vilely slandereth his neigh-
bor, him will I cut off: him that hath a high look and a
proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eyes shall be upon
the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me:
he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He
that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house; he
that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early
destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all
wicked doers from the city of Jehovah.”
David was doomed to grievous disappointment in all
this—and mainly through his own folly in establishing a
harem. But it serves to show with what noble pur-
DAVID, THE KING. 319
poses he had entered on his reign; and although he so
sadly failed to realize anything approaching this ideal,
his “last words” prove that he had never lowered his
standard of kingly excellence: “The Spirit of Jehovah
spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The
God of Israel Said, the Rock of Israel spake to me: He
that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of
God. And he shall be as the light of the morning,
when the Sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as
the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear
shining after rain. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure; for this is all my salvation, and
all my desire, although he make it not to grow " (II.
Sam. xxiii. 2-5).
The organization of the departments of the govern-
ment, military, civic, ecclesiastic and domestic—too large
to be spoken of here in detail—shows a superior organiz-
ing power, although much of it may have been derived
from, or suggested by, the previous order in the king-
dom of Saul. So little was there of selfish appropria-
tion, or family or courtly aggrandizement, that during
his long reign we hear no complaints of excessive taxa-
tion, or of any suffering from royal oppression. It is
also worthy of note, how much time and effort were
personally given to the organization of the priestly and
Levitical forces. The division of the priests into
twenty-four courses, the organization of the singers and
musicians, the invention of musical instruments, and the
personal part he took in religious and even in priestly
functions, in offering sacrifice and pronouncing benedic-
tions upon the people, as well as in his personal and
delighted attendance on public worship, all go to show
32O EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
the importance David attached to the cultivation of
faith and piety, as an element in the permanency and
prosperity of his kingdom. No cares of state ever
smothered his religious devotion ; no pride of royalty
ever interfered with the prostration of his soul in humil-
ity and dependence before the living God. The two
prophets that were kept as the king's advisers; the two
high priests—Abiathar and Zadok, heads of the two
rival houses of Aaron—whom he united in Superintend-
ing the religious interests of the nation; and the
prophets or seers—Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun–
whom he placed over the musical department: all these
tell alike of the combination of religious fervor and
judicious policy, having in view the welfare of the
nation.
5. King David's military achievements were nume-
ous and brilliant. The Philistines, the Moabites, the
Syrians, the Edomites and the Ammonites were in turn
subdued (II. Sam. viii., x., xii.), and he reigned from
the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. “From Gaza on
the west to Thapsacus on the east, and from all the
subject nations in this vast empire, yearly tribute was
exacted.” He had reigned at first over one tribe; he
then became king of the twelve tribes, with a territory
only reaching “from Dan to Beer-sheba;” now he
rises to almost imperial grandeur, holding the entire
territory promised to Abraham—winning it by a series
of victories, with an army of infantry of inferior equip-
ment and limited numbers, sometimes against over-
whelming numerical odds and strong cavalry forces.
This will in part explain the language of many of the
Psalms, in which his victories are so gratefully ascribed
to Jehovah.
DAVID, THE KING. 32 I
It is worthy of remark that, in general, David's
treatment of his conquered foes was, for that age, mag-
nanimous. At least we so judge from the fact that the
treatment of the Ammonites after the capture of Rab-
bah (II. Sam. xii. 29–31) appears as exceptional.
“And he brought forth the people that were therein,
and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron,
and under axes of iron, and made them pass through
the brick-kiln; and thus did he unto all the cities of the
children of Ammon.” But it must not be forgotten
that the Ammonites had given great provocation, and,
had made tremendous efforts to overwhelm Israel with
defeat; and this terrible retribution was intended to
overawe surrounding peoples of equally hostile feeling
and purpose, who, degraded in morals as they were,
could appreciate no argument so readily as that which
appealed to their fears. That it was a terrible ven-
geance, it is useless to deny.
This leads us into a digression. In many of the
psalms, and sometimes in the midst of lofty devotional
utterances, there are outbreaks of revengeful feeling,
of terrible imprecations which, it is vain to deny, are
utterly at war with the spirit of Christ. It must be re-
membered (1) that David was not a Christian, but a
Jew; (2) he speaks not merely as a Jew, but as a king,
representing all the interests of a nation, and that
nation the authorized champion of Jehovah—the chosen
depositary of the spiritual purposes and treasures on
which the salvation of the world depended. Laying
aside the idea of a Christian, and retaining only the
idea of an ardent patriot, and a king of patriots, it will
readily be seen how an invasion of his country, the
overturn of its authority, the destruction of its inhabit-
322 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
ants, the spoliation of its treasures, and the dishonor
thus done to Jehovah—and all this by idolatrous and
half savage hordes, unprincipled, cruel, and grossly cor-
rupt—must awaken all the ardor of Jewish patriotism,
and all the indignation and hate against these blood-
thirsty marauders which the psalmist expresses. A re-
gard for the welfare of humanity and for the honor of
Jehovah would prompt the wish that all such foes of
God and man might meet with just retribution. There
is more of piety and humanity in such utterances, from
a Jewish point of view, than revengefulness or blood-
thirstiness.
6. We must not omit to mention, what is especially
deserving of consideration, that, amid all the cares of
State, or previously amid the harassments of his enforced
exile from the court of Saul, David always found time
to cultivate a devotional spirit. Under all circum-
stances, he clings to God as the rock of his salvation,
his refuge, his strong tower, his joy and the strength of
his heart. Troubles only urge him to a firmer depend-
ence on Jehovah. Indeed, we are indebted to his
adversities, distresses and sufferings for many of his
most delightful psalms, which have been adopted by
millions of the children of suffering as the most satis-
factory expression of their own wants and aspirations;
and in their breathings of trust and love pious hearts
have ever delighted. Lord Byron was not extravagant
when he wrote:
The harp the monarch-minstrel swept,
The king of men, the loved of heaven,
Which music hallowed while she wept
O'er tones her heart of hearts had given,
Redoubled be her tears, its cords are riven :
It softened men of iron mold,
DAVID, THE KING. 323
It gave them virtues not their own;
No ear so dull, no heart so cold,
That felt not, fired not, to the tone,
Till David’s lyre grew mightier than his throne.
It told the triumphs of our King;
It waſted glory to our God;
It made our gladdened valleys ring,
The cedars bow, the mountains nod;
Its sound aspired to heaven, and there abodel
Since then, though heard on earth no more,
Devotion, and her daughter, Love,
Still bid the bursting spirit soar
To sounds that seem as from above,
In dreams that day's broad light can not remove.
And if this busy, anxious man, in the tumultuous
scenes of an unusually stirring life, could thus hold on
to God, and find time to pour out his soul in prayer
and praise, shall not we, even in the busiest scenes of
our tamer lives, keep our hearts fixed on Jehovah, and
find time for meditation and worship P
O Lord, may my heart be fixed, trusting in Thee.
Morning, noon and night may I praise Thee. Let Thy
praise be continually in my mouth. Let the words of
my mouth and the meditations of my heart be accept-
able in Thy sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Re-
deemer.
324 Evenings witH THE BIBLE,
DAVID, THE KING.
We are now to consider some of the darker features
of the reign of David—for we must learn lessons of wis-
dom from men's failures as well as from their successes
—from their follies and sins as well as from their wis-
dom and their virtues. One of the most valuable
features of Old Testament history and biography is the
severe truthfulness with which it deals with men and
with events. Without laudation, and often without con-
demnation, it daguerreotypes men and women fust as
they are: every spot, every wrinkle, every deformity is
given, along with all that is comely and attractive. It
is, therefore, more than any book in existence, the book
of human nature.
1. The multiplication of wives is one of the regret-
ful features of David's reign. In this, it is true, he was
in harmony with the spirit of his age and the usages of
his time. He simply failed to rise above the prevailing
sentiment and practice of his time; but as he did rise
above these in many other particulars, he is not be be
excused for his failure in this particular—especially as
his knowledge of men and of society must have warned
him of the tremendous evils and perils to his monarchy
to arise from this source. The fearful extreme of folly
and madness into which his son Solomon afterwards
plunged, must be reckoned among the bitter fruits of
the father's example. It is not to be supposed, in
David's case, that the multiplication of wives was the
result of mere sensuality. It is quite possible, and
DAVID, THE KING. 325
even probable, that some of these marriages grew out
of political considerations. For instance, his marriage
with Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur
(II. Sam. iii. 3), was probably with a view to strengthen
Thimself against Ish-bosheth and Abner by securing the
sympathy and aid of a powerful Syrian prince—chief of
the old native population of Geshur. From considera-
tions of policy he thus set at naught the spirit and let-
ter of Jehovah's law, and took to his home a half-wild
Arab wife, whose son, Absalom, inheriting her restless
spirit, filled the land of Israel with turbulence and
crime. See Ex. xxxiv. 16; Deut. vii. 3; Josh. xxiii.
I2, and especially Deut. xvii. 17. Absalom, Amnon,
Tamar, Adonijah—the mention of these names of
David's children calls up sad and awful reflections.
The pride and ostentatious displays of the children of
different wives, their unholy rivalries and ambitions,
and the crimes growing out of these, make dark chap-
ters in the history of this reign, and show how impossi-
ble it was for David to realize his ideal of family life, as
expressed in one of the quotations made in a former
study.
That, amidst the vexatious complications continually
arising in his family life, David aimed to be kind, affec-
tionate and impartial, is, we think, beyond question.
Indeed, there is apparent an over-fondness, an excessive
devotion, which interfered with the ends of justice.
Amnon's appalling crime went unavenged, until Absa-
lom took it in hand in a lawless way. Absalom not
only went unpunished, but “the soul of king David
longed to go forth to Absalom " (II. Sam. xiii. 39); and
even after this ingrate had abused his father's generos-
ity, taking advantage of it to win the hearts of the
326 Evenings witH THE BIBLE.
people from him, to organize a rebellion, and to
usurp the throne, such was the tenderness of the
father's heart, that when his forces were going out
to battle against this rebellious son, he gave the captains
a special charge : “Deal gently for my sake with the
young man, even with Absalom " (II. Sam. xviii. 5).
His lamentation over the death of Absalom, while it is
supremely tender, is an unreasoning outburst of blind
parental fondness, and utterly ignores the demands
of justice upon one who, in addition to his other
crimes, added those of a traitor and usurper, filling the
land with the horrors of a civil war. We can sym-
pathize with the unhappy father in his griefs, but our
sympathy is frozen when we see these domestic griefs
exalted in importance above the interests of the throne,
the demands of justice, and the welfare of the people.
All the fruits of polygamy are bitter and poisonous.
2. A second unhappy feature of this reign is the
overpowering influence of Joab. We do not see that
in this David was to blame. He was loud in his pro-
tests against Joab's cruel murder of Abner (II. Sam. iii.
31–39). It was a foul murder, inspired by Joab's selfish
ambition to maintain the chief military authority, even if,
for this selfish purpose, the union of the twelve tribes
should be prevented, and the land continue to be
cursed with the horrors of a civil war. The murder of
Amasa (II. Sam. xx. 9–12) was equally cold-blooded
and treacherous. The facts show that David, though
king, was unable to do as he wished. “I am weak,
though anointed king; and these men, the sons of
Zeruiah, are too hard for me.” (II. Sam. iii. 39). That
the king was indignant at these outrages is evident from
his dying charge to Solomon: “Moreover, thou know-
David, THE KING. 327
est also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and
what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel,
unto Abner, the Son of Ner, and unto Amasa, the son
of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in
peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that
was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his
feet. Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let
not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace”
(I. Ki. ii. 5, 6). Joab did much for the kingdom of
David, and more than once saved it in a time of great
peril. His military skill and prowess were unquestion-
ably great. He was brave, bluff, heartless, selfish and
cruel. He had a large share in the intrigues of Absa-
lom, although he fought against him and slew him when
he rebelled. He also took part with Adonijah against
Solomon, and paid for his crime with his life. That
David abhorred him, and yet was compelled to endure
him through his long reign, is evident from the dying
charge above quoted. Ish-bosheth was completely
the creature of his general, Abner; David, of vastly
stronger character, was not so completely the creature
of Joab, yet it is evident that he was so far in his
power as to be compelled to wink at his crimes, and to
be sometimes overshadowed by his greatness.
3. The numbering of the people by David, for some
reason, was sinful. It was not because the numbering
in itself was sinful, for Moses numbered the people by
divine authority. We are not distinctly informed of
David's motive in this matter, and in his motive must
be found his condemnation. That there was something
grossly perverse in it, is evident from the fact that even
the unscrupulous Joab protested against it. To us, the
most probable conjecture is that David, in his prosper-
328 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
ity, was emboldened to nurse the thought of extending
his conquests and taking a place among the great con-
querors and rulers of empires; and that this wicked
ambition led to the taking of this census with a view,
should it be found that he could command a sufficient
force for the conquests he was projecting, to compel the
people into military service. This is the nearest ap-
proach to that abuse of power of which we spoke in
a former chapter, that we find in the history of this
monarch. It serves to show how perilous a thing
is irresponsible power, and how liable we are to be cor-
rupted by prosperity. Only the severe chastening of
the Lord saved him from a mad ambition which must
inevitably have plunged his kingdom in disaster and
ruin.
4. The blackest chapter in the life of David is that
which relates to Uriah the Hittite, and Bath-sheba his
wife. Crime here, as it is apt to do, grows in clusters.
It is fearful to see this hitherto Saintly monarch in the
grasp of unholy passion, urged on from crime to crime,
until he stands before us a monster of iniquity. It is
dreadful to reflect on what even a good man is capable
of under the dominion of one evil passion, and of the
crimes, before undreamed of, into which one false step
may lead him. There are just two things to be said, in
this instance, in mitigation. I. It was exceptional in the
life of David. It is contrary to the tenor of his life, and
does not exhibit his genuine character. He is like
a mighty oak, bent from its integrity under a fierce
tempest, some of its strong limbs wrenched off, its
symmetry destroyed, and even its roots so far uptorn
that it loses its erectness and majesty, and will ever
after bear the marks of the calamity. 2. If he greatly
DAVID, THE KING. 329
sinned, he bitterly repented. No one can read Psalms
li. and xxxii. without feeling that the writer had passed
through terrible, torturing experiences of remorse and
shame, grinding him to the very dust in humiliation and
self-abhorrence. It is useless to attempt any palliation
of his guilt. It is pictured, in the history, in its naked
enormity and hideousness—purposely so, that he who
thinketh he standeth may take heed lest he fall, and
that none may covet irresponsible power, which human
nature in its best estate is unworthy to possess. Much
more space is given in the Bible to this one crime of
David, than to many of his virtuous achievements. The
first gleam of light that breaks in upon this thick dark-
ness is when the brave and faithful Nathan so skillfully
and fearlessly approaches the presence of the king and
fastens his crimes upon him (II. Sam. xii.); and, in
place of driving the bold reprover from his presence
and dooming him to death, he meekly bows beneath
the terrible rebuke and confesses, ‘‘I have sinned
against the Lord.” No longer hiding his sins, or shel-
tering himself under the majesty of his throne from the
rebukes of the righteous, he pours forth his soul in the
penitential strains to which we have referred, and be-
wails his inquity openly, that all the people may know
his shame and his repentance. -
We are aware of an objection frequently made,
that David, the adulterer and murderer, should be
called “a man after God's own heart” (I. Sam. xiii.
14; Acts xiii. 22). But it must be remembered that
it was not with reference to his sins that he is called a
man after God's own heart, nor was it after he had
so terribly sinned that this was said of him. It was
with reference to his readiness to do the will of God in
330 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
the affairs of the kingdom that he was thus spoken of, in
contrast with Saul, who, in his conduct as king, stub-
bornly followed his own ways, and set at naught the
divine instructions given to him through Samuel. In
this respect David was a man after God’s own heart, as
the history of his forty years' sovereignty fully proves.
But that God approved any of his wicked ways, is not
true. On the contrary, the royal sinner was divinely
rebuked and divinely punished, and made to know how
fearful a thing it is to depart from the living God.
5. Carlyle, one of the crabbedest of pessimists and
most censorious of censors, nevertheless says with
reference to this, in his “Lectures on Heroes”:
David had fallen into sins enough; blackest crimes; there was no
want of sins. And therefore the unbelievers sneer and ask, “Is this
your man according to God's own heart?” The sneer, I must say,
seems to me but a shallow one. What are faults P what are the out-
ward details of a life, if the inner secret of it, the remorse, tempta-
tions, true, often baffled, never-ended struggle of it, be forgotten ? “It
is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Of all acts, is not, for
a man, repentance the most divine P The deadliest sin, I say, were that
same supercilious consciousness of no sin; that is death: the heart so
conscious is divorced from sincerity, humility and fact; is dead: it
is “pure” as dead dry sand is pure. David's life and history, as writ-
ten for us in these psalms of his, I consider to be the truest emblem
ever given of a man's moral progress and warfare here below. All
earnest souls will ever discern in it the faithful struggle of an earnest
soul towards what is good and best. Struggle often baffled, down
as into entire wreck; yet a struggle never ended; ever with tears, re-
Pentance, true, unconquerable purpose, begun anew.
6. It would not be proper to close this study with-
out reverting to an instance of that inexorable justice
which asserts itself perpetually in avenging crime, and
brings the transgressor face to face with his sin and with
the God against whom he has sinned. We have already
referred to Absalom as the bitter fruit of a marriage of
DAVID, THE KING. 33 I
policy—a marriage with a heathen princess—and how
David was made to suffer in Absalom's rebellion, for
this unhallowed matrimonial alliance. We have now to
add that Ahithophel, David's secret counselor (I. Chron.
xxvii. 33), and reputed to be the wisest of counselors,
was the grandfather of Bath-sheba. Compare II. Sam.
xi. 3 with xxiii. 34. So keenly did he feel the shame
brought on his family by the king's criminal conduct,
that he became entirely alienated from him, and used
all his ability and cunning to promote Absalom's rebel-
lion (II. Sam. xv. 12); and had his advice been fol-
lowed, David would almost certainly have been defeated
(II. Sam. xv. 32–37, xvii. 1–14). Even as it was, the
partial success of Absalom and the great calamity to
David was made possible through the astute counsel of
Ahithophel. Thus this terrible adversity is traceable to
David's sin.
Such is a brief sketch of David and his reign. He
found Israel on the edge of destruction—defeated and
helpless. He left a kingdom whose authority was un-
disputed from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and
from the Orontes to the Red Sea. “It is to David's
honor,” says Geikie, ‘‘that, with every temptation to
play the Eastern despot, he bore himself, on the whole,
with a tender moderation which never invaded the an-
cient liberties of the nation, endearing him in life and
making his memory sacred among his people forever.”
332 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
SOLOMON.
From the very prosperity and brilliancy of his
reign, Solomon is less interesting to us than many
who were less favored, but greatly superior to him in
real grandeur of character. The heart goes out in
sympathy toward those who are fighting contrary
winds, rowing against the current, breasting the waves,
Struggling in furious storms against shipwreck; rather
than toward such as are joyously sailing on smooth
Seas, with sails filled with gentle breezes, or are lazily
drifting with the current. We linger over the sublime
struggle of the life of David with an absorbing inter-
est which we never know in the study of the life of
his fortunate son. Lord Bacon said:
Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the
blessing of the New—which carrieth the greater benediction, and the
clearer revelation of God’s favor. Yet, even in the Old Testament, if
you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs
as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in
describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Pros.
perity is not without many fears and disasters; and adversity is not
without comforts and hopes. We see in needleworks and embroideries
that it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn
ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon lightsome
ground: judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure
of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odors—most fragrant
when they are incensed or crushed; for prosperity doth best discover
vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue.
There is profound truth in this. Yet there are les-
Sons to be learned from the lives of the prosperous,
and from none more fully than the life of Solomon.
SOLOMON. - 333
It is for the sake of these lessons that we make him
the subject of our present study.
Solomon was born and reared in the atmosphere of
the court—which is not, at best, a healthy atmosphere.
Great hopes centered in him. His name—Solomon,
Peaceable, or the Man of Peace—indicates the wish and
the hope of his friends, that he might escape the
turbulence and boisterousness and perils of his father's
bloody reign. The name given him by Nathan the
prophet—Jedidiah, “the beloved of Jehovah”—is
more significant, as indicating that his life and reign
would be under the loving care of the Almighty King,
whose vicegerent he was to be. With earthly and
heavenly love to encompass him, Surely if prosperity
can develop a noble character, we shall find it here. It
is, however, a real misfortune for one to be born with a
golden spoon in his mouth, and especially to be born
heir to a throne. It is about impossible to persuade
such to take any but selfish and morally debilitating
views of life; or to indulge in any but luxurious, self-
indulgent dreams and visions of their future. They
will not gird themselves for struggles that are never to
be, or subject themselves to self-denial and virtuous
conflict, when all their surroundings and the very
atmosphere they breathe invite to self-gratification,
pride and extravagance. Only the wisest and firmest
parental government can save such a child of fortune
from the corrupting influences that encircle him.
David, with all his heroic qualities, was an over-fond,
foolishly tender parent. He found it easier to gov-
ern his kingdom than to rule wisely in his own house.
That he sought to instill lessons of wisdom and piety,
especially in Solomon's case, there is no doubt. There
334 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
are few, if any, wiser or more impressive lessons taught
by parents to their children than that of David to this
favored son: “And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou
the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect
heart and with a willing mind; for Jehovah searcheth
all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the
thoughts; if thou seek him, he will be found of thee;
but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever"
(I. Chron. xxviii. 9). Next to his parents, the prophet
Nathan seems to have had his education in charge;
and from what we know of the stern, unbending integ-
rity of the man who dared to rebuke the king to his
face for a great crime, we conclude that there was
no good fortune in Solomon's life superior to that of
enjoying the instructions and care of so noble and
godly a teacher. Reared in the soft luxury of the
court, and restrained from evil only by the pious at-
mosphere of his home and the faithful counsel of his
teacher, he ascended the throne when he was but
twenty years of age—a mere youth, without expe-
rience, destitute of the rugged virtue which is born
only of adversity, but well disciplined in mind, well
instructed in the law of God, and, we judge, a con-
scientious if not very devout adherent of the faith of
his fathers. It is said of him that he “loved the
Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father;”
yet even at this early day there is apparent a dispo-
sition to exalt his own wishes above the law of God;
for it is added, “only he sacrificed and burnt incense
in high places” (I. Ki. iii. 3). Such offerings were
condemned in the law (Lev. xvii. 3, 4; Deut. xii. 13,
14; see also Jer. vii. 31; Ezek. vi. 3, 4; Hosea x. 8)
as tending to idolatry; and it does not speak well
SOLOMON. 335
for Solomon's supreme devotion to the law that, even
in these his purest days, he so readily inclined to a
popular violation of the law of the realm. Nor do we
think that his dream or vision at Gibeon (I. Ki. iii.
5–15) authorizes the conclusion that Solomon was the
godly and unselfish man he is generally taken to have
been ; for “behold, it was a dream.” It was not a
lesson of noble purpose from Solomon, but to him.
God comes to him in a dream, and teaches him what
his choice ought to be. Doubtless he was anxious at
this time as to the fortunes of the kingdom over which
he was a young and inexperienced sovereign; perhaps
the munificent offering of a thousand bullocks at Jeho-
vah's altar at the sanctuary was meant as a petition to
God for divine direction ; perhaps his waking anxieties
had something to do in shaping his dreams: but it still
remains true that not his own choice is recorded here,
but God's instructions as to what his choice ought to be.
It was a beautiful dream, and we have no reason to
doubt that it made a deep impression on Solomon; but
it can hardly be taken as an index to his character. His
conduct, even in the beginning of his reign, does not
harmonize with such a conception of character. As an
illustration of this, look at his choice of a wife. The
law of Moses was clearly against the intermarriage of the
Israelites with those of the heathen nations (Ex. xxxiv.
16; Deut. vii. 3, xvii. 17); yet when Solomon was to
select a queen—one who would sympathize with the ob-
jects of his reign and be a nursing mother to the people
of Jehovah—in place of seeking her among his own
people, he “made affinity with Pharaoh, King of
Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter.” That in this he
was governed by considerations of vanity and policy,
336 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
rather than by love for God or regard to the religious
interests of his people, there can be no doubt. Al-
though it is possible, as was common in such alliances,
that the queen conformed to the king in religion, such a
compliance was merely formal. It is not to be assumed
that she cherished a living faith in Jehovah, or in her
heart renounced the idols of Egypt; indeed, there are
intimations that she was instrumental in leading Solo-
mon into idolatry (I. Ki. xi. 1–8). This false step led to
other false steps in the same direction, as the passage
last referred to shows. He added heathen wives and
concubines until they numbered a thousand. Un-
warned by the evils of polygamy in his father's house,
uninfluenced by the emphatic warnings in the Jewish
Scriptures, prompted by policy in forming influential
heathen alliances, and abandoning himself to a gross
sensuality in the exercise of his despotic power, he be-
came at last himself a base idolater—not only profaning
the City of God by establishing idolatrous shrines for
his wives “in the hill that is before Jerusalem,” but
prostrating himself before “Ashtoreth, the goddess of
the Zidonians, and Molech, the abomination of the Am-
monites,” and giving his heart to filthy and cruel super-
stitions, alike dishonoring to Jehovah and degrading to
himself. While, therefore, the early part of his reign
was characterized by a general conformity to the law of
Jehovah, and he was warmly interested in promoting
the established religion of the realm, there is no evi-
dence that his love for Israel's God was supreme and
all-controlling. He does not seem to have been the sub-
ject of any deep religious experiences, or to have been
in any strong sense spiritual in his desires. He was
greatly inferior to his father in this particular,. . .
SOLOMON. - 337
That he had abundance of practical wisdom, is evi-
dent. He knew how to carry out a cunning policy
in his dealings with other nations, so as to strengthen
his own kingdom ; he understood how to avail him-
self of his peculiar geographical position and his peace.
ful relations with surrounding peoples, to control the
commerce of the world for the benefit of his own
land. The great commercial and military highways to
Babylon and Assyria were in his possession, so that he
could command the trade between the Euphrates and
the Nile. By founding Tadmor in the wilderness, he
intercepted the trade of Egypt and Phoenicia with
Western Asia. He understood how to utilize the
friendship of the Phoenicians, who then largely con-
trolled the commerce of the world, so as to become a
sharer in their commercial enterprise and its huge
profits; and thus his kingdom was lifted to the highest
prosperity. “And all King Solomon's drinking ves-
sels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of
the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were
of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of
Solomon. For the king had at sea a navy of Thar-
shish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came
the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory,
and apes, and peacocks. So King Solomon exceeded
all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
And all the earth sought to Solomon to hear his
wisdom, which God had put in his heart. And they
brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and
vessels of gold, and garments, and armor, and spices,
horses and mules, a rate year by year. And Solomon
gathered together chariots and horsemen; and he had a
thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thou-
338 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
sand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for
chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem. And the
king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars
made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the
vale, for abundance” (I. Ki. x. 21–27). “And Judah
and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and
under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the
days of Solomon’’ (I. Ki. iv. 25). A brilliant reign,
was it not? a blessed reign, alike for monarch and sub-
jects? Certainly—as far as mere material prosperity is
concerned. But is such material prosperity the highest
good of a nation, or of a family—even a royal family P
We shall see, before this sketch is completed. Ye
children of poverty and toil, ye sons and daughters of
affliction, who, in your humble homes, or on beds of
sickness and suffering, or amid your shattered hopes and
loves, are envious at the prosperity of others, watch
closely this history. Perhaps you may yet learn that
the poor are often the richest, the humble are often the
greatest, the suffering are often the happiest of mor-
tals. Even “Solomon in all his glory” may be more
to be pitied than these.
SOLOMON's GLORY. 339
SOLOMON'S GLORY.
The wealth and luxury of Solomon's reign are so
clearly indicated as to leave no room for doubt or
dispute. During the previous reign, the conquests
of David had enabled him to gather, for that age
and that kingdom, an enormous amount of treasure.
For one purpose alone—the building of a temple to Je-
hovah—the gold and silver treasured up by David
amounted, according to some estimates, to over five
billions of dollars, rating after the present value of
those metals. But if we take the Chaldaean instead of
the Jewish talent as the standard—and this we regard as
more reasonable—the amount would still be three bil-
lions of dollars. At the lowest estimate—that based on
the value of the Syrian talent—the amount would be
six hundred millions of dollars.
But in addition to the temple, Solomon built a royal
palace of such dimensions, luxurious appointments and
costliness, that it required thirteen years to complete it;
also, “the house of the forest of Lebanon,” and “a
house for Pharach's daughter" (I. Ki. vii. 1–12), and
numerous other structures. To accomplish this im-
mense work, between 150,000 and 200,000 workmen
were employed, foreigners and natives being alike
drafted into the service (I. Ki. v. 13–16). Then there
were fortifications, extensive gardens, costly aqueducts,
summer retreats, and every luxury that wealth could
purchase or absolute power compel to be furnished.
The daily supply for his table was 30 oxen, IOO sheep,
349 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
besides harts and roebucks, and fallow deer and fatted
fowl, 30 measures (about 660 gallons) of fine flour, and
sixty measures of meal (I. Ki. iv. 22–24). He ob-
tained 1,400 chariots, and horses for them, besides a
cavalry force of 12,000. All the plate and the drinking
vessels were of gold. There were hosts of servants, of
officials, courtiers and guests. All the appointments
and equipments of the court were on the grandest scale.
The immense harem was provided for on a stupendous
scale of luxury and display. And with all the resources
at his command, the king gave himself up to the full
enjoyment of earthly good, resolved to use his opportun-
ity to drink to the full of every cup of pleasure, and to
minister to his pride, his love of pomp and of glory,
until, in his ample round of experiment, he could
say, “What can the man do that cometh after the
king?” In addition to this, he sought all the delights
and refinements of intellectual culture. “And God
gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding
much, and largeness of heart, even as the Sand that is
on the sea-shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled
the wisdom of all the children of the east country,
and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser
than all men . . . and his fame was in all the
nations round about. And he spake 3,000 proverbs,
and his songs were 1,005. And he spake of trees,
from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even unto the
hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spake also
of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of
fishes. And there came of all people to hear the
wisdom of Solomon from all kings of the earth, which
had heard of his wisdom" (I. Ki. iv. 29–34). He was
the wonder and envy of Oriental monarchs. -
SOLOMON's GLORY. 34I
He was not a mere voluptuary or sensualist.
He explored the fields of science and art and lite-
rature and morals, and excelled his age in learning
and wisdom. But we will let him tell in his own
words of the variety and eagerness of his pursuits of
pleasure: “I communed with mine own heart, say-
ing, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten
more wisdom than all they that have been before me
in Jerusalem : yea, my heart had great experience of
wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to
know wisdom, and to know madness and folly.
I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee
with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure. . . . I
sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet
acquainting mine heart with wisdom, and to lay hold
on folly, till I might see what was that good for the
sons of men, which they should do under heaven all
the days of their life. I made me great works; I
builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me
gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of
all kinds of fruit; I made me pools of water, to water
therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees; I got me
servants and maidens, and had servants born in my
house; also I had great possessions of great and Small
cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me; I
gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treas-
ures of kings and of the provinces; I gat me men-singers
and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of
men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So
I was great, and increased more than all that were be-
fore me in Jerusalem ; also my wisdom remained with
me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not
from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for
342 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
my heart rejoiced in all my labor. . . . And I
turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and
folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the
king? even that which hath been already done” (Eccles.
i. I6—ii. 12).
Here is surely an ample experience. Here is not
only the power and the opportunity to ascertain what
there is of genuine good in every form of earthly grati.
fication, but there is an enthusiastic purpose to ascertain
it. At the same time there is a superior practical wis-
dom to restrain the seeker from the degradation of mere
bestiality, and from gross excesses—so that the pursuit
of pleasure is made as rational as possible, and there is
the skill to extract every sweet, and to reject every bit-
ter. There is no earthly good we crave, in the posses-
sion of which we imagine we should be supremely
happy, that Solomon did not possess, and which he did
not fully test. Its real worth he was enabled to know
thoroughly. What it might be worth to us, we may
learn from his experience. What, then, was the final
result of his experience 2 This question will be an-
swered in another place.
Meanwhile, it is well to think of this: Solomon was
enthusiastic in the pursuit of everything but piety.
Here he was half-hearted. His wisdom was, after all,
worldly wisdom. His proverbs relate mostly to the
practical affairs of life, and are the lessons of experience
and observation as applied to the regulation of personal,
domestic, social and political affairs. In many instances
they teach lessons of trust in God and obedience to His
law; but rather with an eye to the earthly blessings to
be thus secured. In the building and dedication of the
SOLOMON's GLORY. 343
Temple, Solomon appears in the best religious phase of
his character, and his dedicatory prayer (I. Ki. viii.) is
one of the loftiest and sublimest on record. Yet it
must be kept in mind that religion was so interwoven
with State affairs, that it is more the statesman than the
man of God that appears in all this. He was devout
after the fashion of all monarchs who look to religion as
a pillar of the monarchy. In his best days, Solomon's
piety wears a utilitarian hue, never unmixed with con-
siderations of State policy; and, starting with this in-
ferior piety, he was led, step by step, farther away from
God, into an eager effort to find happiness in self-exalt-
ation. The book of Ecclesiastes is evidently the off-
spring of his varied experiences—a psychological, phil-
osophical, moral and religious revelation of his own life.
It is scarcely possible to overestimate the importance of
the lessons to be learned from such a life—yet they are
mostly lessons of warning. It is remarkable that our
Lord found nothing worthy, in the way of illustration,
in the life of Solomon, and was content with bare
allusions to his wisdom and his glory.
344 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE,
SOLOMON'S SHAME.
And what, after Solomon’s immense range of ex-
perience in his enthusiastic search for happiness, was
his conclusion ? The book of Ecclesiastes contains the
answer. It is a book of experiences in the search for
happiness. Its somber hue is lent to it by his own dis-
appointed spirit. In chapter xii. 26, he says:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and
keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
It will be observed that the word duty is in italics,
being supplied by the translators. It is seriously ques-
tionable whether they supplied the right word. The
book is not so much a treatise on duty, as on happiness
—a record of the determined and unrestrained experi-
ments of the writer with every element and every com-
bination of elements of earthly good. Its language is
that of a sated and disgusted devotee at the shrine of
pleasure. It reminds us of the life of Lord Byron.
There is a larger and longer experience than Byron's,
and the demonstration is more complete; but there
is the same abandon—the same reckless and selfish devo-
tion to personal enjoyment—the same admixture of
high intellectual pursuits and low sensual gratifications;
and in the record of its results we hear a wail in Ec-
clesiastes like that of Byron :
My days are in the yellow leaf;
The flowers and fruits of love are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief,
Are mine alone.
SOLOMON's SHAME. 345
The subject, therefore, all through this book, is, A
Search for Happiness, and its results.
O Happiness, our being's end and aim!
Good, Pleasure, Ease, Content —whate'er thy name;
That something still which prompts th’ eternal sigh,
For which we bear to live, or dare to die.
This, from Pope, may be adopted as the key-note of
the book. It is anything else than a record of devotion
to duty. The supplemental word, therefore, is happi-
ness, in the verse quoted, and it should read:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and
keep his commandments; for this is the whole happiness of man.
Let us note the confessions wrung from this great
explorer of the realms of earthly pleasure.
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities; all is
vanity (chap. i. 2).
All things are full of labor; man can not utter it: the eye is not
satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing (chap. i. 8).
Alas ! that it should require the waste of a great
life to reach this conclusion | The spirit within us is
allied with the infinite and eternal, and can never be
satisfied with the transient and perishable. The effort
to quiet its cravings even with the riches and glories
and might of a reign like Solomon's, is a vain attempt
To satisfy the ocean with a drop,
To marry immortality to death,
And with the unsubstantial shades of time
To fill th’ embrace of all eternity.
I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly:
I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is
much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow (i.
17, 18).
That is, earthly knowledge and wisdom, as ends, not
as means to the great end which God sets before us.
346 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth,
therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said
of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it (ii. 1, 2) *
While mirth and laughter have their place, and serve
healthy purposes, yet as the end of human pursuit,
or as means of satisfying the cravings of the spirit, they
are indeed “vanity.”
After trying architecture, vineyards, gardens, or-
chards, agriculture, gold, silver, wine, vocal and instru-
mental music, and gratifying every desire of the eye
and craving of the heart, so that he “withheld not his
heart from any joy,” and so completely draining every
fountain of carnal pleasure as to be able to say, “What
can the man do that cometh after the king P” he
confesses: *.
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and
on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and
vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. . . .
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun
is grievous unto me; for all is vanity and vexation of spirit (ii.
3–II, I?).
The inequalities of life—the triumphs of wrong and
the defeats of righteousness—perplexed and confounded
even the wise Solomon, as they must perplex and con-
found all who seek to make this life on earth complete
in itself:
So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done
under the sun; and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and
they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was
power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead
which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Yea,
better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not
seen the evil work that is done under the sun. Again, I considered all
travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neigh-
bor. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit (iv. 1-4).
SOLOMON'S SHAME. 347
Does it not appear that Solomon's large experience
and keen observation led him to look upon what we
would call his enviable fortune as a child of wealth and
possessor of a throne, as, after all, a great misfortune?
Hear him :
Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who
will no more be admonished. For out of prison he cometh to reign;
whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor (iv. 13, 14).
The following, partly the result of experience, and
partly of observation, shows how the charms of life
that so glittered before him and entranced him in early
life, had proved to be an illusion.
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that
loveth abundance with increase: this also is vanity. When goods in-
crease, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the
owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? The
sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much : but the
abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely,
riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches per-
ish by evil travail; and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his
hand. As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return
to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he
may carry away in his hand. And this also is a sore evil, that in
all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath
labored for the wind 2 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he
hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness (v. Io–17).
And what pleasure did this devotee derive from his
royal harem—his seven hundred wives and three hun-
dred concubines? Let him tell:
I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and
nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from
her : but the sinner shall be taken by her. Behold, this have I found,
saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account—which
yet my soul seeketh, but I find not : one man among a thousand have I
found ; but a woman among all those have I not found (vii. 26–28).
348 EVENINGS WITH THE BIBLE.
Nor did he deserve to find one. Had he taken
a wife from among his own people, who feared God and
would have delighted to exercise her queenly power for
His glory and the good of His people, he might have
found what he searched for in vain among a thousand
godless, ambitious and corrupt idolaters, who joined
themselves to him from Selfish and base motives.
Doubtless these unhallowed marriages were as disap-
pointing to them as to him.
Ye seek for happiness—alas, the day !
Ye find it not in luxury nor in gold,
Nor in the fame, nor in the sway
To which, O willing slaves to Custom old,
Severe taskmistress! ye your hearts have sold.
It seems to have taken Solomon long to learn that
the cup of life is a mixture of good and evil, which
imparts no perfect happiness, but may serve to pre-
pare us for true happiness hereafter. But at last he
says:
Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to
see the sun: but if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet
let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All
that cometh is vanity (xi. 7, 8).
But, in addition to his experience of the emptiness of
earthly joys—the disgust with earthly treasures and
pleasures which Solomon realized in his own heart—
there were evils to others growing out of his mad pur-
suits which should not be passed unnoticed, and a degra-
dation of his own nature from which it is doubtful if he
ever recovered.
Not all the profits of commerce, added to the heavy
tribute paid by conquered provinces, were sufficient to
meet the expenditures of Solomon's household and
kingdom. He was compelled, to meet the demands on
SOLOMON'S SHAME. 349
his treasury, to levy burdensome taxes on his own peo-
ple, until their yoke was “grievous” (I. Ki. xii. 4).
The splendor of his reign was at the expense of the
prosperity of his people. The external glare and
glamour of prosperity but concealed the oppression and
suffering of the nation. The abundance of gold and sil-
ver was in the hands of the few, and that which should
have been employed for the general welfare was selfishly
consumed in ministering to the king's own pride, luxu-
riousness and sensuality. The result was, finally, the
division of the kingdom ; and although this did not
take place during his own reign, the dark portents of
the approaching calamity hung threateningly over his
last years, and he foresaw that the united and powerful
kingdom which he received in his youth would be shat-
tered as soon as he was in his grave.
His departures from God in other particulars pre-
pared the way for that final apostasy, when “his wives
turned away his heart after other gods,” and he “went
after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after
Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites,” and
built “a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of
Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Mo-
lech, and likewise did he for all his strange wives,
which burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods”
(I. Ki. xi, 4–8). It is known that the ancient rites
connected with some, at least, of these forms of idol-
worship were distinguished alike by impurity and
cruelty; indeed, there is scarcely anything vile or
shocking in vice and crime that was not fostered
by these gross and foul superstitions. That this
wisest of men, who owed all his greatness to Jehovah,
who had been twice visited in dream and vision by the
35Q Evenings WITH THE BIBLE.
God of Israel, and who was under obligation to give
to the nation an example of faith and piety, should de-
scend so low in his base slavery to vice and sin as
to prostrate himself before the hideous idols of these
abominable superstitions, and insult the majesty of
Jehovah by suffering the incense and smoke of heathen
sacrifices to rise close to the temple in which the Divine
Glory dwelt, and under the walls of the city known as
the City of God—is one of those terrible commentaries
on the weakness, fickleness and ingratitude of man that
cause us to blush for human nature and tremble in view
of its awful possibilities. Solomon's life was a tremen-
dous failure. If his sun rose in splendor, it set behind
dark and threatening clouds. Worn out with self-
indulgence—far more exhausting than all the cares and
turmoils and bloody conflicts belonging to his father's
reign,-he went down to the grave when he ought to
have been in a glorious prime—not yet sixty years old,
muttering as he went, ‘‘Vanity of vanities, vanity of
vanities; all is vanity' "
Are not these facts enough to dispel the illusions
that glare, especially about the paths of the young?
Should not this example serve as a beacon-light on the
rugged coast of life to warn us of the rocks that have
wrecked so many noble vessels—of the whirlpools that
have swallowed up so many precious lives? Must we
go personally through the whole round of glittering
temptations and painful experiences—madly chasing
the ignes fatui that lure us on in feverish pursuit through
fen and marsh, until we sink hopelessly in the mire,
before we can believe that “vanity” is written on all
such efforts? There is no sadder thing in the universe
than a wrecked life. The wreck of thrones and king-
SOLOMON'S SHAME. 35 I
doms is a trifle, except as it involves the wreck of souls.
Nothing more dismal can be imagined than a once glo-
rious life laid in ruins by folly, vice and crime; and a soul
once full of ardent ambitions for greatness and hap-
piness, wandering amid these ruins, repeating evermore
in hopeless strain, “Vanity of vanities; vanity of van-
ities; all is vanity.”