A Dead Dog\u20142Sa_9:8<\/p>\n
When the son of Jonathan received the assurance of kindness and protection from David, he said, \u201cWhat is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?\u201d This, according to Jewish notions and phraseology is the strongest expression of humility and unworthiness, nay of vileness, that could be devised, or that the language could express. On account of its various unclean habits, the dog was abhorred by the Hebrews, and became the type of all that was low, mean, and degraded\u2014although, by reason of its usefulness, its presence was endured in certain capacities\u2014chiefly in the care of flocks and in hunting. To be called a dog, was therefore the height of ignominious reproach and insult, and for a man to call himself a dog, was the depth of humiliation and self-abasement. The reader will call to mind many instances of this, which it is therefore not needful to point out. Now, if such were the disesteem in which the living animal was held if to be called \u201ca dog\u201d merely was so shocking\u2014for one to be called, or to call himself, not merely a dog, but \u201ca dead dog,\u201d is the strongest devisable hyperbole of unworthiness and degradation, for in a dead dog the vileness of a corpse is added to the vileness of a dog.<\/p>\n
And who is it that uses this expression? One who was by his birth a prince, of whom we know nothing but what is good\u2014whose sentiments, whenever they appear, are just, generous, and pious\u2014whose private character appears to have been blameless, and his public conduct without spot. Yet this man calls himself a \u201cdead dog\u201d\u2014that is, the most unworthy of creatures\u2014the vilest of wretches. The phrase \u201cI am a worm, and no man,\u201d is nothing to this. Allowing for the hyperbole, it may thus seem that Mephibosheth abused himself far more than he needed, and confessed himself to be that which he really was not.<\/p>\n
This raises a question of wider meaning than the particular instance involves, and which concerns us very deeply. It touches upon one of the things that are foolishness to the wisdom of the world, and which its philosophy cannot apprehend, because it is spiritually discerned. The world sees men like Mephibosheth, not only \u201cdecent men,\u201d as they call them in Scotland, and \u201crespectable men,\u201d as they are called in England\u2014men not only of stainless moral character, but men of distinguished piety, jealous in every work by which God may be glorified and mankind advantaged\u2014men ready, if need be, to suffer the loss of all things, and to give their bodies to be burned for conscience\u2019 sake, and who, like Count Godomar, would \u201crather submit to be torn to pieces by wild beasts than knowingly or willingly commit any sin against God;\u201d the world sees this, and yet bears these very men speak of themselves in terms which seem to them applicable to only the vilest of criminals\u2014the offscourings of the earth. This is a case the world\u2019s philosophy has never yet been able to fathom. It sees but the alternative of either taking these men at their own valuation, and holding that whatever fair show they present, they really are what they say, and therefore unfit for the company of honest men\u2014unfit to live upon the earth; or else, that they speak with a disgusting mock humility, in declaring themselves to be what they know that they are not; and there is, perhaps, a general suspicion in the world that these persons would not like to be really taken for such \u201cdead dogs\u201d as they declare themselves to be.<\/p>\n
How does this matter really stand? The obligations of truth are superior to all others. A man must not consciously lie even in God\u2019s cause, nor even to his own disparagement, nor to express his humility. He has no more right to utter untruths to his own disparagements than to his own praise. Truth is absolute. It is obligatory under all circumstances, and in all relations. There is nothing in heaven or on earth that can modify the obligation to observe it. Yet such is the tendency to think well of ourselves, that although it is counted ignominious and contemptible for a man to utter a falsehood, or even a truth, to magnify himself, it is not observed to be in the same degree dishonorable for him to speak in his own disparagement. Perhaps it might be so, were it supposed that be spoke the truth, or what he believed to be true; for so intense is the degree of self-love, for which men give each other credit, that perhaps no man is ever believed to be sincere in whatever he says to his own disadvantage; and it is because nobody believes him\u2014because it is concluded that he either deceives himself, or says what he knows to be untrue, that self-disparagement is not regarded as dishonorable in the same degree with self-praise. Yet it is not less the fact, that if self-disparagement be knowingly untrue, it is not less culpable than self-praise.<\/p>\n
Yet Mephibosheth calls himself a \u201cdead dog;\u201d Agur calls himself \u201cmore foolish than any man,\u201d Pro_30:1-3; and Paul declares himself \u201cthe chief of sinners,\u201d 1Ti_1:15. Nevertheless, Mephibosheth was a worthy man\u2014and there were far more foolish men than Agur\u2014far greater sinners than Paul. What, then, did they lie? By no means. The man of tender and enlightened conscience knows that in God\u2019s sight the very heavens are not clean, and that he charges even his angels with folly. The more advanced he is in spiritual life the more clear is the perception which he realizes of the holiness of God, the more distinctly he feels how abhorrent all sin, of thought, word, or action, must be to Him, and how it separates the soul from Him. He knows not the heart of others, and he does not judge them. But he knows something of the evil of his own heart; he knows that he is to be judged according to his light\u2014according to what he has, and not according to what he has not; and judging by that measure, considering how much has been given to him, he knows, he feels, that a doubt, a misgiving, an evil thought, a carnal impulse, involves him\u2014with his light, and with the proofs of God\u2019s love in Christ towards him, which have been brought home to his heart, in far greater sin than belongs to the grosser offences of less instructed men. He reasons also that if he, with eyes blinded by self-love, is able to see so much of the plague of his own heart, what must be the sight presented to the view of the pure and holy God, who sees far more of defilement in the best of our duties, than we ever saw in the worst of our sins. What man of wakeful conscience is there, who, when he looks well to the requirements of God\u2019s holy law\u2014meditates upon the essential holiness of the Divine character\u2014considers his own neglected means and mercies\u2014sees how the remaining depravities of his nature have defiled his holiest things\u2014and knows how unthankful, how wayward, how rebellious, his heart has often been, is not compelled to smite upon his breast and cry out, \u201cBehold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee?\u201d Ah, it is well for him that he is not required to answer. Through the cloud of sin and grief, he hears that Voice which it is life to hear, \u201cSon of man, be not afraid.\u201d This is He who has taken the burden not only of his cares but of his sins. This is his Beloved; this is his Friend. All is well.<\/p>\n
Autor: JOHN KITTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Dead Dog\u20142Sa_9:8 When the son of Jonathan received the assurance of kindness and protection from David, he said, \u201cWhat is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?\u201d This, according to Jewish notions and phraseology is the strongest expression of humility and unworthiness, nay of vileness, that could … Continue reading ““301. A DEAD DOG\u20142 SAMUEL 9:8””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}