Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 23:3
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that ruleth over men [must be] just, ruling in the fear of God.
3, 4. The oracular brevity of these verses hardly admits of translation, and makes the meaning of them obscure. They may be rendered:
A ruler over men, a righteous one!
a ruler in the fear of God!
and he shall be as the light of morning when the sun riseth;
a morning without clouds;
when from sunshine, from rain, grass springeth from earth.
The second half of 2Sa 23:3 draws, with a few strong strokes there are but six words in the original an outline portrait of an ideal king, ruling with perfect justice, controlled and guided by the fear of God. 2Sa 23:4 depicts in figurative language the blessings of his reign.
His appearance will be like the life-giving sunshine of a cloudless morning; blessings will follow him as verdure clothes the earth from the united influences of sunshine and rain.
In order to appreciate the force of the latter figure, it must be borne in mind that verdure is not perpetual in Palestine, as with us. There what in June is “a brown, hard-baked, gaping plain, with only here and there the withered stems of thistles and centaureas to tell that life had ever existed there” is clothed in spring after the rains with “a deep solid growth of clovers and grasses.” David had been familiar with the yearly transformation of the dry and dusty downs of Beth-lehem into a lovely garden of brilliant flowers; an apt emblem of the gracious influences of the perfect rule of an ideal king upon a hard and desert world. Cp. Isa 32:15; Isa 35:1-2. See Tristram’s Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 454.
This prophecy is the companion and complement of the prophecy in ch. 7 There the promise of an eternal dominion is given to the house of David, finding a partial fulfilment in his descendants, and a complete fulfilment only in Christ: here David himself is taught by inspiration to draw the portrait of a ruler, some features of which were partially realised in Solomon and the better kings of Judah, but which finds it perfect realisation only in Christ.
The features of the portrait are developed and the outlines filled in by subsequent prophets, with ever increasing clearness pointing forward to Him Who was to fulfil and more than fulfil all the anticipations of prophecy.
Thus for the ruler cp. Mic 5:2: for the characteristic of righteousness cp. Psa 72:1-3 (primarily referring to Solomon); Isa 11:1-5: Zec 9:9: and especially Jer 23:5; Jer 33:15: for the fear of the Lord, cp. Isa 11:2. The figure of the fertilising rain is borrowed in Psa 72:6: cp. Isa 44:3-4: that of the light is repeated in Pro 4:18: and the closing words of the last prophet, “Unto you shall the Sun of righteousness arise” (Mal 4:2), combine and re-echo these last words of David.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2Sa 23:3
The Rock of Israel spake to me.
The voice of a rock
The phraseology is peculiarly dramatic and picturesque.
I. The rock has a voice; the Rock of Israel had been speaking to him ever since he had been in the kingly seat of power. Davids wild and outlaw life had made him know what was the value of a stronghold, a shelter, a refuge. Rocks had been in his experience his best friends for many a year. Rocks were unchanging in their affection for him; they were immovable in their stability; they were impregnable for defence; often he had found rest under the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. What had this Rock of Israel said to him during this wonderful career?
1. For one thing, it had told him, as a counsel of superior wisdom, that he ought to reign righteously all his life: He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
2. For another thing, the Rock had spoken the terms and the conditions of a fine promise. A just ruler would be prospered in proportion to the purity and piety of his administration: 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.
3. And for the best thing of all, the Rock had assured him graciously of a permanent continuance of the Divine favour: Although my house be not so with God, yet He hath made with me 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. Modern religious experience. What are the conditions of implicit trust in the Lord of our salvation, such trust ah will insure peace and comfort?
1. The main condition of resting in the Lord is found in looking outside of ones self. There is a habit of morbid self-examination which needs to be shunned. The more conscientious any believer is, the more apt he is to press unnecessary scrutiny of introspection.
2. The next condition of spiritual repose is found in the avoiding of unwise counsellors. Once a Christian friend wrote a letter to me, saying that she had just, after a long struggle, come to something like peace in believing, when along came a so-called evangelist to torment her before her time, telling her that all we have to do is to accept salvation as we would accept a book from Christs hand. She could not do this so easily, and hence she was informed again that her faith had no foundation upon which to be secure. It would break up two-thirds of the business firms in the United States if an evangelist were to keep going round among the counting-rooms, telling people that they were in jeopardy every hour unless they could come to absolute confidence in their senior partners; and then they must be sure, still, that they have the-right kind of confidence in them; and then they must be modest, and become surest of all that they are not becoming over-sure of anything this side of heaven. Human beings cannot get on with this; they cannot live so with God or with man. We must cultivate some measure of unquestioning trust. We must learn to trust our trust, and not keep rooting it up. No plant grows which is continually being rooted up.
3. Another condition of rest in God is found in drawing a clear distinction between historic faith and saving faith. What secures to us a perfect salvation is spiritual trust in the Saviour, and this is the gift of the Holy Ghost. And whoever says that we receive Divine grace as we would receive a book from a mans hand, is simply mistaken in ignorance, or is misunderstood in his statement. Mechanical acts are frightfully poor illustrations of deep religious exercises. Some sort of fervour, some degree of emotion, is needed in order to appreciate Divine grace and receive it fitly. Tameness and lukewarmness are simply insipid. It is a heart-trust that God asks for, not a mere head-trust. A maiden may be told by her enthusiastic lover that it is as easy to trust him for ever with her life as it is to take a flower he offers; she knows better. It is easy to receive facts, perhaps, but not so easy to understand experiences which lie deeper than any mere outward acts. Historic faith is not necessarily saving faith.
4. Yet again: we are to cultivate confidence in the slowly reached answers to our prayers for Divine grace.
5. Yet again: we must distinguish between emotions, and religious states. The one may vary, the other is fixed Faith is a very different thing from the result of faith; and confidence of faith is even a different thing from faith itself; and yet the safety of a soul depends on faith, and nothing else. We are justified by faith–not by joy or peace or love or hope or zeal. These last are the results of faith, generally, and will depend largely upon temperament and education.
6. Finally, this unbroken courage is a condition of rest. We must not think everything is lost when we happen to have become beclouded. That faith is the best which has been tried and tested. In my study lies a little flower. It came to me long ago, by the hand of one who plucked it upon the highest ridge ever reached in the Rocky Mountains. It is of a rich purple colour, light and graceful in form, and retains yet, I imagine, a faint and delicate perfume. The lesson which it teaches me is one of endurance and patience. Away up there, where the snow lies late and the storms come early, it has held its own. The bleak solitudes had no charm for it; nay, I think that this flower was created to give a charm to a solitude which would have been the bleaker without it. To me it is the symbol of trust–absolute and implicit trust in God. It is a living thing that knows how to keep its warmth in despite of ice, and its beauty in despite of desolation all around it. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
He that ruleth over men must be just.
The importance of character in rulers
Mr. Stead quotes from Major Lennards How We Made Rhodesia, a passage to illustrate Dr. Jamesons opinions on morality and public life. What differences can it make in a man as a legislator what his morals are, if he has genius and intellect, and can use them? I cannot see how in any way morals can affect a mans intellect, and so long as he keeps his immoralities to himself, I do not see how they can affect any one else. So the Prime Minister of Cape Colony. The man who cannot see the influence of morality upon mind, how it affects motive and outlook, and his whole attitude and action in public affairs may have many gifts, but he is unfit to be Prime Minister of any colony or state. Far higher than the view of the modern Prime Minister of South Africa was that which inspired that ancient, Prime Minister of North Africa, who regarded his position as a trust, and his work as a mission from God. And Joseph said: It was not you that sent me hither, but God; and He hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all ills house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
A righteous monarch
When Alfred made his laws his difficulties were only beginning. He had to depend for their execution on the Ealdermen and Thanes, most of whom were rude, uncultivated warriors, unable even to read the laws they had to administer. Many also were careless and unprincipled, either taking no pains about the matter at all, or favouring the rich against the poor. Alfred accordingly undertook the enormous labour of going over in person and in detail almost all cases in the kingdom. When he found, as he did very often, that the judgment given was unjust, he would send for the offending judge, and ask him why he had delivered it, taking great pains to ascertain whether this was done out of greed or partiality, or out of simple ignorance. Probably a judge who was convicted of the former would be suspended or superseded. But more often the perplexed Thane or Ealderman, when hard pressed, would stammer out the candid confession, An it please you, my lord king, I did not know any better. Asset has preserved us a specimen of the reproof that would follow, which he calls discreet and moderate. I wonder truly at your insolence that, whereas, by Gods favour and mine, you have occupied the rank and office of the Wise, you have neglected the studies and labours of the Wise. Either, therefore, at once resign your office or endeavour more zealously to study the lessons of wisdom. Such are my commands. He adds that the judges, almost without exception, chose to learn their duties properly rather than to resign them. (J. Alcock.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. The Rock of Israel] The Fountain whence Israel was derived.
He that ruleth over men must be just] More literally, moshel baadam tsaddik, He that ruleth in man is the just one; or, The just one is the ruler among men.
Ruling in the fear of God.] It is by God’s fear that Jesus Christ rules the hearts of all his followers; and he who has not the fear of God before his eyes, can never be a Christian.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Rock of Israel; he who is the strength, and defence, and protector of his people; which he here manifests by obliging and directing kings and rulers so to manage their power and authority. as may most conduce to their comfort and benefit.
Spake to me, by way of command; or, of me, by way of prediction and promise concerning me and my house, and the Messias who is to come out of my loins.
He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God: thus it is a precept or declaration of the duty of kings, and particularly of Solomon his son, (to whom as a dying man he gives this advice,) and of his successors the kings of Gods Israel, for whose instruction he gives this rule. And so here are the two principal parts of a kings duty, answerable to the two tables of Gods law, justice towards men, and piety towards God, both which he is to maintain and promote among his people; to which if you add benignity and clemency, whereby a king renders his government not frightful and burdensome, but acceptable and amiable to his people, which possibly may be meant by the following similitudes, here is a complete character of an excellent prince or governor. Others make it a prophecy of Christ; and then the words are or may be thus rendered, There shall be a Ruler over men, (or rather, among men, as the Hebrew word properly signifies, to wit, the Messias, who, though he be the eternal and invisible God, yet shall visibly appear and rule among men,) a just or righteous one, (a title oft given to Christ, as Isa 53:11; Jer 23:5,6; 33:15; Zec 9:9)
ruling in the fear of the Lord, making it his great business to advance the service, and worship, and glory of the Lord; or, as it is in the Hebrew, ruling the fear of the Lord, i.e. governing and ordering the worship of God, which is oft called the fear of God. And so this clause is added to prevent or remove scandals and offences which might be taken at the Messias when he should come, because of his changing and abrogating the ceremonial law; and to insinuate that he should have no less power in the governing of Gods house and worship than Moses had, and that he might make such laws as he thought meet. And if this be the meaning of the place, then as Jacob, being greatly afflicted with the troubles which he by the Spirit of prophecy foresaw were coming upon his posterity, comforts himself with the thoughts of that great and glorious salvation of God, which he also foresaw and waited for, Gen 49:18; so David, reflecting upon the great disorders, and miscarriages, and calamities which had already arisen in his house, and either wisely presaging or foreseeing by the Spirit of the Lord, 2Sa 23:2, that the same sins and miseries should be fall his posterity and successors, he supports and comforts himself with this consideration, that one of them should be a most excellent person, just, and pious, and merciful, and an unspeakable blessing to David himself, and to all his family and people, and to the whole world, even the great Messias, who was undoubtedly revealed to and expected by David, as appears by many passages of the Psalms, and by other scriptures.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. the Rock of IsraelThismetaphor, which is commonly applied by the sacred writers to theAlmighty, was very expressive to the minds of the Hebrew people.Their national fortresses, in which they sought security in war, werebuilt on high and inaccessible rocks.
spake to meeitherpreceptively, giving the following counsels respecting the characterof an upright ruler in Israel, or prophetically, concerning David andhis royal dynasty, and the great Messiah, of whom many think this isa prophecy, rendering the words, “he that ruleth””thereshall be a ruler over men.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The God of Israel said,…. To David, or by him; he who was the covenant God of Israel literally considered, and is the covenant God and Father of the whole spiritual Israel, and who is owned, believed in, and worshipped by them:
the Rock of Israel spake to me; the same with the God of Israel in other words, who is the strength and security of Israel; or the second divine Person, the Son and Word of God, is meant, who is often called a rock in Scripture; and is the rock on which the Israel or church of God is built, and in whom it remains safe and firm, the gates of hell not being able to prevail against it; and so here is an instance and proof of a trinity of persons in the Godhead; the God of Israel, Jehovah the Father; the Rock of Israel, Jehovah the Son; and the Spirit of Jehovah, as in 2Sa 23:2, who is Jehovah the Spirit: now what was said by these three divine Persons to David, and by him, and concerning himself as a type of the Messiah, follows:
he that ruleth over men [must be] just, ruling in the fear of God; which is a character every king among men ought to have, administering justice to their subjects; ruling not only according to the laws of the land, but according to the law of God; having his fear before their eyes, and acting with a view to his honour and glory, whose vicegerents they are, and to whom they are accountable; they should rule with gentleness and humanity, considering they are men, and not brutes, they rule over. Agamemnon in Homer is often called “king of men”. This character, in all respects, was found in David, 2Sa 8:15; and may be here given as an instruction to his son and successor, Solomon; and is in all respects applicable to the Messiah, who is a “ruler” or King by the designation of his father; a ruler “over men”, even over all men, yea, over the greatest of men, King of kings, and Lord of lords, and especially, and in an eminent sense, King of saints; and he is “just”, a King that reigns in righteousness, righteous in all his ways and works, and particularly just as a King, as well as in all his other characters, see Jer 23:5; and upon whom, as man and Mediator, the Spirit of “the fear of the Lord” rests, and under the influence of which, as such, he has acted, Isa 11:1; so the Targum applies these words to the Messiah thus,
“the true Judge said, he would appoint to me a King, who is the Messiah, who shall arise and rule in the fear of the Lord:”
and they may be rendered, there shall be “a ruler over men, just, ruling in the fear of God”; or ruling, appointing, ordering, and directing the worship of God, and the ordinances of it under the Gospel dispensation, as Christ did, see Mt 28:18.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) The Rock of Israel.Comp. 2Sa. 22:3. A frequent Scriptural comparison, appropriate here, to show the perfect reliability of what God declares.
He that ruleth.The English gives the true sense, but the original is exceedingly elliptical, both here and in the following verse. The fundamental point of all just government has never been more perfectly set forth:that it must be in the fear of God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Rock of Israel So called because he was their firm foundation, their sure protection and defence. See Deu 32:4.
He that ruleth The exact grammatical construction of the word thus translated ( it is impossible to decide, for it seems to be left designedly uncertain. The psalmist, by a few master strokes, draws the picture of a righteous, God-fearing ruler, and the blessings of his reign, but he does not say that he himself was that ruler, nor does he say decidedly at all who he was, or when he should appear; but the reference in 2Sa 23:5 to the everlasting covenant which God had made with his house makes it very evident that his eye was upon that promised “Seed” of Nathan’s prophecy, of whom Jehovah said: “I will be his father and he shall be my son.” Chap. 2Sa 7:14.
Righteous An epithet describing the character and administration of him that ruleth. The inspired singer portrays that coming Ruler by the disconnected exclamatory utterances of an emotional style. The meaning is, however, clear. Under the righteous rule of the person here described, no worthy subject shall go unrewarded, no offender escape the strictest penalties of law. The prominent virtue of the model ruler and magistrate is righteousness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Sa 23:3. He that ruleth over men must be just We prefer Dr. Grey’s translation of this verse, which appears most agreeable to the whole tenor of the prophesy. He observes, that this is the first time that we meet with the Messiah, or great expected Deliverer of the Jews, under this title of the Just One. He is so called, not so much for having fulfilled all righteousness in his own person, and performed an unsinning obedience to the will of God, as because by his righteousness we are justified or accounted righteous before God upon the terms of the Gospel. The prophet Isaiah, Isa 53:11 is more explicit upon this point: By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities; i.e. the punishment of them: and Zec 9:9. He is just, and bringing or causing [not, as in the English translation, having] salvation, as all the ancient versions agree. Hence it was, that, as the time of his appearance drew nearer, we find the Messiah was frequently spoken of, and expected by the Jews, under that name; (see Act 3:14; Act 7:52; Act 22:14. 1Pe 3:18.) insomuch that even the Centurion is by some supposed to have applied to him upon the cross; Luk 23:47. Certainly this man was [not a righteous man, but] the Just One, or expected Messiah. The construction of the latter part of this verse in the original is remarkable. It is not in the fear of God, which would rather have expressed the religious character of the ruler, than the spiritual nature of his kingdom; but ruling the fear of God; that is, his rule and dominion should be such as was founded in the fear of God, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Sa 23:3 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.
Ver. 3. The God of Israel. ] God the Father.
The Rock of Israel.
He that ruleth over men must be just.
Ruling in the fear of God.
a Lib. i.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 Samuel
THE DYING KING’ S LAST VISION AND PSALM
THE ROYAL JUBILEE 1
2Sa 23:3 – 2Sa 23:4
One of the Psalms ascribed to David sounds like the resolves of a new monarch on his accession. In it the Psalmist draws the ideal of a king, and says such things as, ‘I will behave myself wisely, in a perfect way. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me.’ That psalm we may regard as the first words of the king when, after long, weary years, the promise of Samuel’s anointing was fulfilled, and he sat on the throne.
My text comes from what purports to be the last words of the same king.
He looks back, and again the ideal of a monarch rises before him. The psalm, for it is a psalm, though it is not in the Psalter, is compressed to the verge of obscurity; and there may be many questions raised about its translation and its bearing. These do not need to occupy us now, but the words which I have selected for my text may, perhaps, best be represented to an English reader in some such sentence as this-’If or when one rules over men justly, ruling in the fear of God, then it shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds.’ With such a monarch all the interests of his people will prosper. His reign will be like the radiant dawn of a cloudless day, and his land like the spring pastures when the fresh, green grass is wooed out of the baked earth by the combined influence of rain and sunshine. David’s little kingdom was surrounded by giant empires, in which brute force, wielded by despotic will, ground men down, or squandered their lives recklessly. But the King of Israel had learned, partly by the experience of his own reign, and partly by divine inspiration, that such rulers are not true types of a monarch after God’s own heart. This ideal king is neither a warrior nor a despot. Two qualities mark him, Justice and Godliness. Pharaoh and his like, oppressors, were as the lightning which blasts and scorches. The true king was to be as the sunshine that vitalises and gladdens. ‘He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth.’
We do not need to ask the question here, though it might be very relevant on another occasion, whether this portraiture is a mere ideal, floating in vacuo, or whether it is a direct prophecy of that expected Messianic king who was to realise the divine ideal of sovereignty. At all events we know that, in its highest and deepest significance, the picture of my text has lived and breathed human breath, in Jesus Christ, who both in His character and in His influence on the world, fulfilled the ideal that floated before the eyes of the aged king.
I do not need to follow the course of thought in this psalm any farther. You will have anticipated my motive for selecting this text now. It seems to me to gather up, in vivid and picturesque form, the thoughts and feelings which to-day are thrilling through an Empire, to which the most extended dominion of these warrior kings of old was but a speck. On such an occasion as this I need not make any apology, I am sure, for diverging from the ordinary topics of pulpit address, and associating ourselves with the many millions who to-day are giving thanks for Queen Victoria.
My text suggests two lines along which the course of our thoughts may run. The one is the personal character of this ideal monarch; the other is its effects on his subjects.
I. Now, with regard to the former, the pulpit is, in my judgment, not the place either for the discussion of current events or the pronouncing of personal eulogiums. But I shall not be wandering beyond my legitimate province, if I venture to try to gather into a few words the reasons, in the character and public life of our Queen, for the thankfulness of this day. Our text brings out, as I have said, two great qualities as those on which a throne is to be established, Justice and Godliness. Now, the ancient type of monarch was the fountain of justice, in a very direct sense; inasmuch as it was his office, not only to pronounce sentence on criminals, but to give decisions on disputed questions of right. These functions have long ceased to be exercised by our monarchs, but there is still room for both of those qualities-the Justice which holds an even balance between parties and strifes, the Righteousness which has supreme regard to the primary duties that press alike upon prince and pauper, and the Godliness which, as I believe, is the root from which all righteousness, as between man and man, and as between prince and subject, must ever flow. Morality is the garb of religion; religion is the root of morality. He, and only he, will hold an even balance and discharge his obligations to man, whose life is rooted in, and his acts under the continual influence of, the fear of God which has in it no torment, but is the parent of all things good.
We shall not be flatterers if we thankfully recognise in our Sovereign Lady the presence of both these qualities. I have spoken of the first inaugural words of the King of Israel, and the resolutions that he made. It is recorded that when, to the child of eleven years of age, the announcement was made that she stood near in the line of succession to the throne, the tremulous young lips answered, ‘It is a great responsibility; but I will be good.’ And all round the world to-day her subjects attest that the aged monarch has kept the little maiden’s vow. Contrast that life with the lives of the other women who have sat on the throne of England. Think of the brilliant Queen, whose glories our greatest poets were not ashamed to sing, with the Tudor masterfulness in her, and not a little of the Tudor grossness and passion, and remember the blots that stained her glories. Think of her sister, the morbidly melancholy tool of priests, who goes down the ages branded with an epithet only too sadly earned. Think of another woman that ruled over England in name, the weak instrument of base intrigues. And then turn to this life which we are looking upon to-day. Think of the nameless scandals, the hideous immorality of the reigns that preceded hers, and you will not wonder that every decent man and every modest woman was thankful that, with the young girl, there came a breath of purer air into the foul atmosphere. I am old enough to remember hearing, as a boy, the talk of my elders as to the probabilities of insurrection if, instead of our Queen, there had come to the throne the brother of her two predecessors. The hopes of those early days have been more than fulfilled.
It is not for us to determine the religious character of others, and that is too sacred a region for us to enter; but this we may say, that in all these sixty years of diversified trial, there has been no act known to us outsiders inconsistent with the highest motive, the fear of the Lord; and some of us who have worshipped in the humble Highland church where she has bowed have felt that on the throne of Britain sat a Christian.
Nor need we forget how, from that root of fear of God, there has come that wondrous patience and faithfulness to duty, the form of ‘Justice’ which is possible for a constitutional monarch. We have little notion of how pressing and numerous and continual the royal duties must necessarily be. They have been discharged, even when the blow that struck all sunshine out of life left an irrepressible shrinking from pageantry and pomp. Joys come; joys go. Duties abide, and they have been done.
Nor can we forget, either, how the very difficult position of a constitutional monarch, with the semblance of power and the reality of narrow restrictions, has been filled. Our Sovereign has never set herself against the will of the people, expressed by its legitimate representatives, even when that will may have imposed upon her the sanction of changes which she did not approve. And that is much to say. We have seen young despots whose self-will has threatened to wreck a nation’s prosperity.
Nor can we forget how all the immense influence of position and personality has been thrown on the side of purity and righteousness. Even we outsiders know how, more than once or twice, she has steadfastly set her face against the admission to her presence of men and women of evil repute, and has in effect repeated David’s proclamation against vice and immorality at his accession: ‘He that worketh wickedness shall not dwell within my house.’
Nor must we forget, either, the simplicity, the beauty, the tenderness of her wedded and family life, her love of rural quiet, and of wholesome communion with Nature, and her eagerness to take her people into her confidence, as set forth in the book which, whatever its literary merits, speaks of her earnest appreciation of Nature and her wish for the sympathy of her subjects.
Then came the bolt from the blue, that sudden crash that wrecked the happiness of a life. Many of us, I have no doubt, remember that dreary December Sunday morning when, while the nation was standing in expectation of another calamity from across the Atlantic, there flashed through the land the news of the Prince’s death; thrilling all hearts, and bringing all nearer to her, the lonely widow, than they had ever been in her days of radiant happiness. How pathetically, silently, nobly, devoutly, that sorrow has been borne, it is not for us to speak. She has become one of the great company of sad and lonely hearts, and in her sadness has shown an eager desire to send messages of sympathy to all whom she could reach, who were in like darkness and sorrow.
Brethren, I have ventured to diverge so far from the ordinary run of pulpit ministrations because I feel that to-day all of us, whatever may be our political or ecclesiastical relationships and proclivities, are one in thanking God for the monarch whose life has been without a stain, and her reign without a blot.
II. Now let me say a word as to the other line of thought which my text suggests, the effect of such a reign on the condition of the subject.
Now, of course, in the narrowly limited domain of that strange creation, a constitutional monarchy, there is far less opportunity for the Sovereign’s direct influence on the Subject than there was in the ancient kingdoms of which David was thinking in his psalm. The marvellous progress of Britain during these sixty years is due, not to our Sovereign, but to a multitude of strenuous workers and earnest thinkers in a hundred different departments, as well as to the evolution of the gifts that come down to us from our ancient inheritance of freedom. But we shall much mistake if, for that reason, we set aside the monarch’s character and influence as of no account in the progress
A supposition, which is a violent one, may be made which will set this matter in clearer light. Suppose that during these sixty years we had had a king on the throne of England like some of the kings we have had. The sentiment of loyalty is not now of such a character as that it will survive a vicious sovereign. If we had had such a monarch as I have hinted at, the loyalty of the good would for all these years have been suffering a severe strain, and the forces that make for evil would have been disastrously strengthened. Dangers escaped are unnoticed, but one twelvemonth of the reign of a profligate would shake the foundations of the monarchy, and would open the floodgates of vice; and we should then know how much the nation owed to the Queen whose life was pure, and who cast all her influence on the side of ‘things that are lovely and of good report.’
Take another supposition. Suppose that during these years of wonderful transition, when the whole aspect of English politics and society has been transformed, we had had a king like George III., who set his opinion against the nation’s will constitutionally expressed. Then no man knows with what storm and tumult, with what strife and injury, the inevitable transition would have been effected. Be sure of this, that the wise self-effacement of our Sovereign during these critical years of change is largely the reason why they have been years of peace, in which the new has mingled itself with the old without revolution or disturbance. It is due to her in a very large degree that
‘Freedom broadens slowly down
From precedent to precedent.’
Nor need I dwell upon the ecclesiastical signs of the times, in which, mingled as they are, there is at least this one great good, that never since the early days have so large a proportion of Christian men been ‘seeking after the things that make for peace,’ and realising the oneness of all believers who hold the Headship of Christ.
All this review falls more properly into other hands than mine. Only I would put in a caution-do not let us mingle self-conceit with our congratulations; and, above all, do not let us ‘rest and be thankful.’ There is much to be done yet. Listening ears can catch on every side vague sounds that tell of unrest and of the stirrings into wakefulness of
‘The spirit of the years to come,
Yearning to mix itself with life.’
I need not go over the catalogue of desiderata, of agenda -things that have to be done-in the near future. Only this I would say-Christian men and women are the last people who should be ready to ‘rest and be thankful,’ for the principles of the Gospel that we profess, which have never been applied to the life of nations as they ought to be, will solve the questions which make the despair of so many in this generation. We shall best express our thankfulness for these past sixty years by each of us taking our part in the great movement which, in the inevitable drift of things to democracy, is going to ‘cast the kingdom old into another mould,’ and which will, I pray, make our people more of what John Milton long ago called them, ‘God’s Englishmen.’ We have taught the nations many things. Our Parliament is called the Mother of Parliaments. Ours is
‘The land where, girt with friends or foes,
A man may say the thing he will.’
We, members of the free Churches of England, come seldom under the notice of royalty, and have little acquaintance with courts, but we yield to none in our recognition of the virtues and in our sympathy with the sorrows of the Sovereign Lady, the good woman, who rules these lands, and we all heartily thank God for her to-day, and pray that for long years still to come the familiar letters V.R. may stand, as they have stood to two generations, as the symbol of womanly purity and of the faithful discharge of queenly duty.
1 Preached on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Israel. The higher title (not Jacob), because human instrumentality not in question here.
said. Here Hebrew. ‘amar, referring to the matter of the Divine revelation. See App-73.
spake. See note on “spike”, 2Sa 23:2.
men. Hebrew. ‘adam, App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
fear
(See Scofield “Psa 19:9”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
God: Gen 33:20, Exo 3:15, Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Exo 20:2
the Rock: 2Sa 22:2, 2Sa 22:32, Deu 32:4, Deu 32:30, Deu 32:31, Psa 42:9
He that ruleth: or, Be thou ruler, etc. Psa 110:2
must be just: Exo 23:6-8, Deu 16:18-20, Psa 82:3, Psa 82:4, Pro 31:9, Isa 11:4, Isa 11:5, Isa 32:1, Jer 23:5, Zec 9:9, Heb 1:8
ruling: Exo 18:21, 2Ch 19:7-9, Neh 5:14
Reciprocal: Gen 44:17 – God forbid Deu 1:16 – Hear Deu 25:1 – General 1Sa 15:1 – hearken 2Sa 8:15 – David executed 1Ki 10:9 – to do 2Ch 9:8 – to do judgment 2Ch 19:9 – in the fear Neh 7:2 – feared God Job 34:17 – even Psa 58:1 – Do Psa 69:6 – O God of Israel Psa 75:2 – When Psa 99:4 – strength Pro 16:10 – A divine sentence Pro 17:7 – much Son 2:10 – spake Isa 16:5 – judging Jer 22:3 – Execute Jer 33:15 – and he Luk 6:48 – rock Act 24:25 – righteousness Phi 4:8 – are just Heb 7:2 – King of righteousness