Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 15:25
And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and show me [both] it, and his habitation:
25. his habitation ] Jerusalem, and in particular the tent where the Ark was kept, was “the habitation” (Exo 15:13), the earthly “dwelling-place,” of Jehovah (1Ki 8:13), so far as that could be said of any special locality (1Ki 8:27). For the thought cp. Psa 43:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2Sa 15:25-26
And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God unto the city.
Davids dependence
Taking Davids conduct as an example to ourselves, we have brought before us the following truths:–
I.
true Godliness engages the souls supreme attention, even in time of trial.
1. It draws the thoughts away from self. Dwelling on sorrow increases its bitterness. It grows with observation. We concentrate our mind upon a thing until it becomes far larger than it really is.
2. It fills the void in the heart with consolation. Of all subjects religion is the most powerful thing in the world to occupy the attention, and in its presence every temporal affair sinks into the meanest insignificance.
II.–true Godliness places Gods honour ever before selfish ease. When David left the city in flight, Zadok, the High Priest, brought the ark of God to follow the King.
1. David rejected mere outward symbols and signs. The symbolism of the temple had its proper place and use. It was to accomplish a great, and mighty, and mysterious purpose. But if religion has its public representation and form, it has also its private and individual functions as well.
2. God could help him just as welt without the help of priest, or tabernacle, or service as He could with. Time and place are nothing to God. The tears of the prisoner are as precious to him as the orison of a pope. David was very well content to leave himself in the hands of God without any extraneous help.
III. True religion identifies mans interests with gods purposes. We learn practically that the part for us to perform is,
(1) Passive trust and resignation to the divine will, and
(2) Constant faith in Gods dealing. David did not for one moment doubt. His trust was unshaken amid all his trouble. If I find favour in His eyes, He will bring me again, but if not, let Him do to me as seemeth good unto Him. I am content to leave it in His hands. (David Howell, D. D.)
David and the ark
I. His spiritual mindedness. He looked beyond the outward symbols to Him who had appointed the use of those symbols as a means of good. Carry back, he says, the ark of God into the city. He felt that it alone could do nothing for him in his banishment. Here was spirituality of mind, brought, it may be, into livelier exercise by trial, but evidently forming a part of Davids character. And it would be well for us to inquire, How far are we of the same mind with the sweet psalmist of Israel?
II. The simplicity of Davids faith. If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me again and show me both it and His habitation. Here was an unwavering confidence in the power of God to bring good out of evil; and a conviction that if the Lord saw fit He would do so. And here we may mark the peculiar and proper office of faith. It leads to effort; it encourages in duty while it prevents a departure from the way of Gods commandments. We beseech you to cultivate more of this spirit, which appeared so conspicuously in the man after Gods own heart; view every turn in your history as appointed by the Lord, and seek to have continually a lively apprehension of His overruling providence.
III. Davids humble resignation to the divine will. That Christian is much to be envied, who, happen what may, can exclaim with sincerity of heart, It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good; I desire to acquiesce in the Divine appointments, because I know in whom I have believed; I know, that though deep are the water-floods that roll over me, the wisdom of God is deeper than them all. Let us keep in mind, that the sources from whence we look for comfort may become the fruitful springs of bitter anguish. Let us not forget that the most secure of all our earthly comforts are in reality insecure. (S. Bridge, M. A.)
Acquiescence in the will of God.
I. His estimation of divine means and ordinances. The ark and the tabernacle were much mere to him than his throne and his palace. And therefore he only mentions these. Carry back, says he, the ark of God–if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again–he will bring me again, ands show me both it and his habitation–the ark and the tabernacle. Not that he undervalued the privilege of a safe return. Religion is not founded on the destruction of humanity. We are not required to contemn the good things of nature and providence.
II. His faith in divine providence. David views his defeat or his success, his exile or his return, as suspended entirely on the will of God. He does not balance probabilities. Not that he acted the part of an enthusiast, and despised the use of means. This appears obviously from the measures he devised, especially his employing the counsel of Hushai. David knew it was easy for him to take wisdom from the wise, and courage from the brave; and to confound all his devices. He knelt also that it was equally easy for God to turn again his captivity.
III. He professes a full acquiescence in the disposal of the Almighty. But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee: behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good to him. Here are no imprecations of vengeance against seditious subjects, and a rebellious son; no bitter complaints of instruments; no charging God foolishly; no teaching God knowledge. He falls down at his feet wishing to be raised up, but willing to remain. He mourns, but he does not murmur. What helped to produce this disposition in David? There were two things in himself.
(1) The one was–a sense of his own unworthiness. A consciousness of our desert is necessary to our submission under the afflictive dispensations of Providence.
(2) The other was–his ignorance. For while the former convinced him that he had no right to choose, this persuaded him that he had no ability.
There were also two things in God which aided this acquiescence.
(1) First, his sovereignty. Has he not a right to do what he wilt with his own?
(2) Secondly, his goodness. The authority of God awes us, But it is something else that produces the cheerfulness of submission. It is the principle which actuates him–which is love; it is the end he has in view–which is our profit: It is a belief that, however things may be determined, with regard to our feelings–they shall all work together for our good. Let us be followers of David in this holy resignation of ourselves to the pleasure of God.
1. It will be very advantageous to yourselves. Now this acquiescence in the will of God is the preparation of the Gospel of peace, with which you are to be shod: Thus prepared, you may travel on through the wilderness. To vary and enlarge the metaphor–impatience turns the rod into a scorpion. While the yoke presses the neck, patience lines it with down; and enables the man to say, It is good for me to bear it.
2. Nothing can be more honourable to religion. To surrender ourselves to the Divine disposal is the purest act of obedience: to subdue our unruly passions is the greatest instance of heroism. It ennobles the possessor. It renders him a striking character. (W. Jay.)
When Gods will is ours
That is the perfection of a mans nature when his will fits on to Gods like one of Euclids triangles super-imposed upon another, and line for line coincides. When his will allows a free passage to the will of God, without resistance, as light travels through transparent glass; when his will responds to the touch of Gods finger upon the keys, like the telegraphic needle to the operators hand; then man has attained all that God and religion can do for him, all that his nature is capable of. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The trial-bearing force of spiritual religion
In this chapter David and Absalom appear as the embodiments and representatives of two opposite principles of action:-love of power, and love of God. In Absalom you have the one, and in David the rather. The love of power is an element in our spiritual constitution, implanted for benevolent purposes; and when properly directed, like all other native principles, subserves the most important ends. Like fire or water, as a servant it is a great blessing, but as a master, a great curse. When it grows into a passion, ascends the throne, and grasps the sceptre, it puts down conscience, and turns the man into a ruthless tyrant; ever ready to violate all the laws and trample on all the rights of his species. It has gained this power now in the breast of Absalom; and four evils of character are here developed as the consequence:–
1. Filial rebellion. Inspired by this ambitious impulse, Absalom now east off the authority of David, not only as his sovereign, but as his parent.
2. Mean-spiritedness. In order to gain his ends see what mean manoeuvres he adopts; he rises early in the morning, he goes beside the way of the gate, where men resorted to have their social disputes settled by the judgment of the king; and here he clandestinely endeavours to undermine his fathers authority with the people, and to insinuate himself into their affections. Oh! the weakness of the people to be thus cajoled. Yet it has ever been so. Let a prince shake the people by the hand, as Absalom did, and they will forget their own self-respect, their grievances, and even his tyrannies, and follow him. The people must have a higher moral education before they can obtain a better govermnent.
3. Religious hypocrisy. Under the pretence of paying a vow which he had promised to render unto the Lord in Hebron. I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, &c. (2Sa 15:7-9.) Wicked men have often sought and won their wicked ends in the holy name of religion.
4. Underhanded cunning. And Absalom sent spies throughout all tribes of Israel, &c. (2Sa 15:10-12.) In striking and glorious contrast with this, we have the principle of love of God, or spiritual religion, developed in the character of David, before us.
I. Spiritual religion engages the supreme attention of the soul under trial. Two facts will illustrate this.
1. That whatever subject has the most power to draw away the mind from itself, will always be effective in supporting it under trials. The depressing influence of a trial depends greatly upon the amount of attention which the man gives to it.
2. Of all subjects, religion has the most power to draw sway the mind from itself. David felt more interest in the ark now than he felt in the loss of his throne, the wreck of his kingdom, the peril of his life. And so the good man ever feels in his religion.
II. That spiritual religion recognizes Gods superintendence under trial.
1. He regarded it as personal. If I shall find favour.
2. He regarded it as being sovereign. If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me again.
3. He regarded it as being adequate. If it is agreeable to His rains, He will bring me again. He has the power to do so. All that is required is His will.
III. That spiritual religion identifies mans will with Gods, under trial. But if He thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let Him do to me as seemeth Him good. A thorough surrender of oar being and will to God is the first duty of all intelligences, and the necessary condition of all true progress in power and blessedness. (Homilist.)
Meek submission to Divine chastisement
Before corn can be ripened it needeth all kinds of weather. The husbandman is glad of showers as well as sunshine; rainy weather is troublesome, but sometimes the season requireth it. Even so the various conditions of mans life are needful to ripen him for the life to come. Sorrows and joys, depressions and exhilarations, have all their part to play in the completion of the Christian character. Were one grief of a believers career omitted it may be he would never be prepared for heaven: the slightest change might mar the ultimate result. It is our wisdom to believe in the infallible prudence which arranges all the details of a believing life. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Faith in troublous times
Not when the sun shines, but when the tempest blows and the wind howls about his ears, a man gathers his cloak round him, and cleaves fast to his supporter. The midnight sea lies all black; but when it is cut into by the oar, or divided and churned by the paddle, it flashes up into phosphorescence. And so it is from the tumults and agitations of mans spirit that there is struck out the light of mans faith. There is the bit of flint and the steel that comes hammering against it; and it is the contact of these two that brings out the spark. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. Carry back the ark] David shows here great confidence in God, and great humility. The ark was too precious to be exposed to the dangers of his migrations; he knew that God would restore him if he delighted in him, and he was not willing to carry off from the city of God that without which the public worship could not be carried on. He felt, therefore, more for this public worship and the honour of God, than he did for his own personal safety.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Carry back the ark of God into the city; partly, out of care and reverence to the ark, which though sometimes it was and might be carried out to a certain place; yet he might justly think unfit to carry it from place to place he knew not whither, and to expose it to all the hazards and inconveniences to which he himself was likely to exposed; partly, out of respect to the priests, whom, by this means, he thought he should expose to the rage of Absalom, as he had before exposed them to Sauls fury on another occasion 1Sa 22; and partly, that by this, means he might have the better opportunity to search out and to counterwork Absaloms plots; which was so necessary, not only for himself, but for the defence and maintenance of the ark, and all Gods ordinances, and of the true religion.
His habitation, i.e. the tabernacle which David had lately built for it, 2Sa 6:17, in which the ark, and God, by means thereof, ordinarily dwelt. And hereby he insinuates another reason of his returning the ark to Jerusalem, be cause there was the tabernacle made for the receipt of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the king said unto Zadok, carry back the ark of God into the city,…. The reason of which is not easy to account for, since being carried back it would fall into the hands of the conspirators; and now the priests were with it to take care of it, and there might be occasion to inquire at it before the Lord; but David thought it being a sacred thing would not be violated by Absalom and his men, and that it would be safest in its own habitation or tabernacle, which David had built for it; for, that the reason of it should be, what Procopius Gazaeus suggests, cannot be given into, that he could not bear to carry about him the law, which accused of adulteries and murders:
if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord: if he will appear for me, be on my side, and deliver me from those who have risen up against me:
he will bring me again: to Jerusalem, and to his palace there:
and show me [both] it and his habitation; the ark, and the tabernacle he had erected for it, 2Sa 6:17.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2Sa 15:25-27. The king said,Carry back the ark of God David sent back the high-priests, as knowing that their character was too sacred to suffer any violence from the usurper, though he knew their fidelity to himself; and for the rest, he wholly submitted himself to the divine disposal. He besought God, as Alexander Severus told his soldiers a generous and a wise man should, praying for the best things, and bearing what should befal. David saw plainly that God had raised this war against him in punishment of his guilt; that God had raised up this evil to him out of his own house: find I imagine that I now hear him taking up the same lamentation which Alphonsus the wise, king of Arragon, afterwards did upon a like occasion: “I wonder not so much at my people’s ingratitude to me, as at my own to GOD.” In this spirit of humiliation, David would not presume to have the ark, the symbol of the divine presence, borne before him in the war: that was an honour of which he deemed himself utterly unworthy; and therefore, referring himself and his affairs with entire resignation to the disposal of the Divine Providence, he remanded Zadok and Abiathar back to the city with the ark. When David had given the reasons relating to himself, why he would not have the ark carried before him into the field, he then adds a reason personal to Zadok, Art not thou a Seer? Return in peace. It should seem from hence, that Zadok was a prophet: however, as a priest, he was a teacher; and as such bound to stay with his people in the greatest exigencies, and instruct them in their duty; besides that, by staying to do his duty to his people, he might also do good offices to his prince. And, accordingly, David concerted both with Zadok and Abiathar a method of corresponding with him, and sending him intelligence of all the enemies’ measures by their sons, Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 319
DAVID DRIVEN FROM HIS THRONE BY ABSALOM
2Sa 15:25-26. And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city; if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation: but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.
SIN, though forgiven, rarely passes unpunished in this present world: on the contrary, God marks his indignation against it here, in order to embitter it the more to the offender who has committed it, and to endear to him the more that mercy which has been exercised towards him. At the very time that he forgave the sin of David, he declared to the pardoned penitent, that the sword should never pass from his house, even to the latest hour. Accordingly we find, that David was afflicted in no common degree in his own family; and in such a way as strongly to bring his sins to his remembrance. He had dishonoured the wife of his friend Uriah; and his own son Amnon violates his daughter Tamar. He had contrived and accomplished the death of Uriah; and his son Absalom contrived and accomplished the death of his own brother Amnon. He had dishonoured God in the face of the whole world; and he himself is driven with scorn and infamy from his throne. Yet, though in this respect a monument of Gods displeasure, he was now living nigh to God, in the exercise of all holy duties, and heavenly affections. At no period of his life was grace more in exercise within him, as appears from the spirit which he manifested under his afflictions. To exhibit this spirit in its true colours, and to make a suitable improvement of it for our own souls, is the scope and object of our present discourse.
I.
Mark his spirit and conduct under his afflictions
To two points in particular the text calls our attention:
1.
His reverence for God
[David having suddenly fled from Jerusalem in order to escape from the sword of Absalom, Zadok and the Levites brought forth the ark to David, that he might be able in this emergency to consult it. But David ordered Zadok to carry it back: for, though nothing in the world was so desirable to him as the presence of God, he regarded this measure as highly inexpedient.
It was unauthorized; and therefore wrong. That sacred symbol of the Deity was not to be moved about according to the wishes or conceits of men. In the wilderness it had never moved, but as the pillar and the cloud, in which the Deity resided, led the way. And to dispose of it in this manner, without any direction from God, was such an act of impious presumption as he dared not to commit. He well remembered the rebuke which he himself had met with, when, with the best intentions, he had moved the ark without attending to the forms prescribed by God himself; suffering it to be drawn in a cart by oxen, instead of carrying it on the shoulders of the Levites: for the smiting of Uzzah was a testimony of Gods displeasure against him for his inattention, no less than against Uzzah himself for his presumption [Note: 1Ch 15:13.]. He remembered too the judgments inflicted on above fifty thousand men of Bethshemesh for daring to look into the ark [Note: 1Sa 6:19.]: and therefore he trembled at the thought of acting towards it with irreverence or indiscretion.
It was also unnecessary. He knew by experience that Gods presence was not confined to the ark; but that he was accessible to his people at all times, and in all places. Often had he, when driven out from Jerusalem by Saul, made known his requests in prayer to God, and obtained from him the most gracious answers: and therefore he doubted not but that God would still continue to him his gracious communications in the time of need, notwithstanding the absence of that symbol, through which, under other circumstances, he ought to have been approached.
It was moreover unavailing. What could the ark do, unless accompanied by God himself? What had it done for Israel when taken from Shiloh to protect them against the Philistines? Of itself it had no power: and therefore it was taken prisoner by the Philistines, whilst those who bare it were slain [Note: 1Sa 4:11.]. And what if this unauthorized measure should lead to a similar result? How could he ever lift up his head again, after having brought such dishonour upon God?
It was impious. What was this, but to transfer to a creature the attributes of Deity, and to expect from, the ark the help which could proceed from God alone? This would have been to provoke God to jealousy, and to excite his displeasure at the very time that he most needed an interest in his favour.
On these grounds David sent back the ark; and humbly committed his cause into the hands of his invisible but almighty Protector.]
2.
His submission to God
[Exceeding heavy were the afflictions of David at this time. He was driven from his throne; in hourly danger of being destroyed with all his faithful attendants; and this through the ambition and cruelty of his favourite son. Forsaken by some of his most endeared friends, and loaded with curses by his envenomed enemies, he fled in the most disconsolate state that can be imagined. Hear the pathetic account given of him in the following context: David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered; and he went barefoot. And all the people that were with him covered every man his head; and they went up, weeping as they went up [Note: ver. 30.]. But his afflictions were great, no less in a spiritual than in a temporal view. Indeed it is in this view that he chiefly complains of them throughout the Psalms [Note: See Psa 42:1-5; Psa 42:10; Psa 43:3-4; Psa 84:1-4.]
But in the midst of all, he submitted meekly to the painful dispensation, leaving it to God to order for him whatsoever in His wisdom he should see fit. He knew that, if God should interpose in his behalf, all should yet issue well, and he should yet again worship God in his sanctuary: but, if God had ordained otherwise, he was prepared to kiss the rod, and to bless the hand that chastised him with it. If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and shew me both the ark and his habitation: but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do unto me as seemeth good unto him.
In all this he was doubtless actuated by a sense of his own extreme unworthiness: he saw that the affliction which was laid upon him, was an accomplishment of the threatening long since denounced against him by God himself, and he received it as the punishment of his iniquity. At the same time, assured in his own mind that the strokes were inflicted by a loving Father, and not by an avenging Judge, he desired only that God should glorify himself in any way which he saw best: I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because thou didst it [Note: Psa 39:9.].]
Confine not however your views to David; but,
II.
Improve the subject for the benefit of your own souls
1.
See here the sufferings of that Saviour whom he typified
[David was a most remarkable type of Christ, no less in his sufferings than in his exaltation to the throne of Israel. In all the Psalms where he speaks of his sufferings, he speaks quite as much in the person of the Messiah as in his own person [Note: See Psalms 22, 69.] Even where he seems most exclusively to refer to his own case, he is quoted by St. Paul as pre-eminently typifying the Lord Jesus: Innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart faileth me. Doubtless these words, as far as they relate to Christ, speak of him only as bearing the sins of others, whilst David suffered only for his own: but the whole Psalm is in a very peculiar degree descriptive of the Lord Jesus [Note: Compare Psa 40:6-8 with Heb 10:5-9.]. Behold Jesus then as cast out by his whole nation, who said, We will not have this man to reign over us [Note: ver. 23 with Joh 18:1.]! Behold him forsaken by his own Disciples whom he loved, and betrayed by one who had eaten bread with him, even by Judas, who was actually typified by Achitophel [Note: Psa 41:9 with Joh 13:18.]! Behold him going over that very brook Kedron [Note: Joh 18:1.], pursued by armed bands [Note: Joh 18:3.], who sought and laboured to destroy him!
But behold more particularly His deportment under his afflictions. Here was David pre-eminently a type of Him. When the bitter cup was put into his hands, though he prayed for the removal of it, he said, Not my will, but thine be done. When loaded with execrations, as David was by Shimei, he submitted meekly to the insults, as the Apostle says; When he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed himself to Him that judgeth righteously. As David too was chiefly solicitous for the welfare of the very man who sought his life, (giving express charge to all to spare the life of Absalom,) so did our blessed Lord pray and plead for his murderers; Father, forgive them! for they know not what they do.
Thus whilst you admire the spirit and conduct of David, you may well take occasion to admire the infinitely sublimer spirit of the Lord Jesus.]
2.
Look to him as an example under any sufferings which you yourselves may be called to bear
[This is the improvement which an inspired Apostle teaches us to make of the subject: Take, my brethren, says St. James, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. We ourselves are all exposed to sufferings, even as David was: for we are born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward: nor do we know how soon troubles may come upon us. The possession of a crown was no exemption to David; nor can any situation, in which we may be, prove an exemption to us. The more secure we are in our own apprehension, the more reason we have to expect that some calamity is near at hand. The saying, My mountain stands strong; I shall not be moved; will be a prelude to the hiding of Gods face, and the incursion of some heavy trouble [Note: Psa 30:6-7.]. The very things to which we looked for comfort may become an occasion of the bitterest anguish. Absalom was considered as the most beautiful youth in all Israel, and no doubt had often been looked upon by David with inexpressible delight; yet this was the man who assassinated his brother and dethroned his father. And thus it is often found, at this day, that the objects of our fondest delight become, not the innocent occasions only, but even the guilty sources, of our bitterest affliction.
Are there then any amongst us oppressed with trouble? Let us look to David, and after his example commit our cause to God with meek submission and with humble affiance. Let us see the hand of God in our trials, and view men only as his instruments, raised up by him to fulfil and execute his will [Note: Psa 17:13; Isa 10:5; Isa 10:15.]. Let us view men and devils only as the axe or saw in the hand of him that uses it; and, under a sense of our own extreme unworthiness, let us receive evil at the Lords hands as well as good, and bless him equally for whichever in his providence he ordains for us [Note: Job 1:21.].]
3.
Seek a kingdom of which you can never be dispossessed
[David was at that time the mightiest monarch upon earth: yet how soon, and how easily, was he dispossessed of his throne. To what then can we look as stable and permanent? Alas! like Shebna, we may in an instant be cast out from all that we possess, even as a stone is cast out from a sling [Note: Isa 22:15-19.]. But there is a kingdom which cannot be moved, and against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. This is the inheritance which our Lord Jesus Christ will give to all who truly believe in him Of this David was secure: and therefore he regarded not the loss of an earthly kingdom; but willingly submitted to it, if God had so ordained. Do ye likewise secure a portion that is out of the reach of any enemies. Have God for your friend; and you need not care who is your enemy: for if He be for you, none can with any effect be against you. You may look with complacency on the gathering storm, and defy all the powers of earth and hell to hurt you. So did David [Note: Psa 46:1-3.]; and so did Paul [Note: Rom 8:35-39.]: and so may the least and weakest of the human race: for the lame shall take the prey [Note: Isa 33:23; Isa 26:6.]: though they were prisoners too, they should take those captives, whose captives they were; and should rule over their oppressors [Note: Isa 14:2.]: yea, though they were even skin, yet should they rise to resume the conflict; and their enemies should fall under the slain [Note: Isa 10:4.]. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom [Note: Luk 12:32.]: and, once possessed of that, all tears shall be wiped away from your eyes for ever [Note: Rev 21:3-4.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
2Sa 15:25 And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me [both] it, and his habitation:
Ver. 25. Carry back the ark. ] He believed that in his banishment God would be unto him as “a little sanctuary,” Eze 11:16 and not withdraw from him his powerful presence and assistance.
If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, &c.
“ Sic est, Sancte Deus, sio fert tua sancta voluntas:
Ergo silens oris comprimo labra mei.
Quin me redde meis si vis; si reddere nolis,
En adsum, quo me pergere eunque voles. ”
Of Mr Robert Bolton a
a Life of Mr Bolton, by Mr Bagshaw.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
if I shall find favour, &c. God’s grace is the basis of all blessing. Compare Num 14:8. Deu 10:15. Deu 22:20. 1Ki 10:9. 2Ch 9:8. Psa 18:19; Psa 41:11; Psa 86:2 (marg). Act 7:46.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Carry back: 2Sa 12:10, 2Sa 12:11, 1Sa 4:3-11, Jer 7:4
he will bring: Psa 26:8, Psa 27:4, Psa 27:5, Psa 42:1, Psa 42:2, Psa 43:3, Psa 43:4, Psa 63:1, Psa 63:2, Psa 84:1-3, Psa 84:10, Psa 122:1, Psa 122:9, Isa 38:22
habitation: 2Sa 6:17, 2Sa 7:2
Reciprocal: Num 14:8 – delight 1Sa 22:3 – till I know 2Ch 9:8 – which delighted Psa 131:2 – quieted Ecc 9:1 – that the Dan 9:25 – restore and to build Jerusalem Jon 4:8 – and wished Act 21:14 – The will Jam 4:15 – If
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 15:25-26. The king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark This he ordered, 1st, Through his care of and reverence for the ark, which, though it might be carried out to a certain place, yet, he might justly think, ought not to be taken about from place to place, he knew not whither. And, 2d, Lest, if he had carried it about with him everywhere, he should seem to trust in that which was but the token of Gods presence, more than he did in God himself, who had preserved him in the persecution of Saul, when he had not the ark with him. But was he not exposing the priests to the violence of the usurper, by thus sending them back to Jerusalem; especially as they had just given such evidence of their fidelity to their king? To this it may be answered, that David hoped the sacredness of their character would be a security to them against all violence. If I find favour in the eyes of the Lord, &c. If he shall be pleased to pardon the sins for which he is now justly, although so severely, chastising me. He will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation Will restore me to the enjoyment of the privileges of his house, and the ordinances of his worship, which I shall consider one of the greatest evidences of the return of his favour, and one of the greatest blessings his goodness can confer upon me, even greater than the being restored to my palace and throne. But if he say, I have no delight in thee I will not receive thee into my favour, nor restore thee to thy throne and city, and to the enjoyment of my ordinances. Here I am Ready to obey him, and to submit to his will and pleasure concerning me. David saw plainly that God, according to his threatening, had raised up this evil to him out of his own house, and was punishing him for his sins, and he receives the chastisement with resignation. I imagine, says Dr. Delaney, I now hear him taking up the same lamentation which Alphonsus the Wise, king of Arragon, afterward did upon a like occasion: I wonder not so much at my peoples ingratitude to me, as at my own to God. Hence, in this spirit of humiliation, David would not presume to have the ark, the symbol of the divine presence borne before him in that war: that was an honour of which he deemed himself utterly unworthy. And, therefore, referring himself and his affairs to the disposal of the Divine Providence, he remanded Zadok and Abiathar back to the city with the ark. Let him do with me as seemeth him good I have nothing to object; it is all well that God doth. Thus ought we cheerfully to acquiesce in the will of God, whatever befalls us. And that we may not complain of what is, let us see Gods hand in all events. And that we may not be afraid of what shall be, let us see all events in Gods hand.