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1
Chronicles Chapter Thirteen
1 Chronicles 13
Chapter Contents
David consults about the ark. (1-5) The removal of the ark.
(6-14)
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 13:1-5
(Read 1 Chronicles 13:1-5)
David said not, What magnificent thing shall I do now?
or, What pleasant thing? but, What pious thing? that he might have the comfort
and benefit of that sacred oracle. Let us bring the ark to us, that it may be a
blessing to us. Those who honour God, profit themselves. It is the wisdom of
those setting out in the world, to take God's ark with them. Those are likely
to go on in the favour of God, who begin in the fear of God.
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 13:6-14
(Read 1 Chronicles 13:6-14)
Let the sin of Uzza warn all to take heed of presumption,
rashness, and irreverence, in dealing with holy things; and let none think that
a good design will justify a bad action. Let the punishment of Uzza teach us
not to dare to trifle with God in our approaches to him; yet let us, through
Christ, come boldly to the throne of grace. If the gospel be to some a savour
of death unto death, as the ark was to Uzza, yet let us receive it in the love
of it, and it will be to us a savour of life unto life.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Chronicles》
1 Chronicles 13
Verse 2
[2] And
David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and
that it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every
where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the
priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather
themselves unto us:
David said —
After this was proposed by the king and accepted by the people, this great
assembly was dismissed, only some of them David reserved to go with him against
Jerusalem, which accordingly he did, and succeeded in his enterprize. But
before this resolution could be executed, the Philistines came and fought twice
with David, as is related 2 Samuel 5:17,22, etc. and here chap. 1 Chronicles 14:8, etc. And after they were
repulsed with great loss and shame, David sets upon the execution of what he
had resolved, and in order to it calls another general assembly of the people.
Of the Lord — If
this translation of the ark be pleasing to God.
Are left —
After the great desolations and destructions which God for their sins had made
among them.
Verse 3
[3] And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it
in the days of Saul.
For, … —
The ark was then neglected; and the generality of the people contented
themselves with going to Gibeon and offering sacrifices there, not caring,
though the ark, the soul of the tabernacle, was in another place. As soon as
David had power in his hand, he would use it for the advancement of religion.
It ought to be the first care of those that are enriched or preferred, to
honour God with their honours, and to serve him and the interests of his
kingdom among men, with their wealth and power.
Verse 6
[6] And
David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjathjearim, which
belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD, that dwelleth
between the cherubims, whose name is called on it.
That is —
The same city was called by both names.
Verse 10
[10] And
the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he
put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God.
Put his hand, … —
Let the case of Uzza warn us, to take heed of presumption or rashness with
regard to holy things; and not to think, that a right intention will justify a
wrong action.
Verse 11
[11] And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzza:
wherefore that place is called Perezuzza to this day.
Perez-uzza —
That is, the breach of Uzza. Let David's displeasure on this occasion caution
us, to watch over our spirit, lest when God reproves us, instead of submitting
to God, we quarrel with him. If God be angry with us, shall we dare to be angry
with him?
Verse 14
[14] And
the ark of God remained with the family of Obededom in his house three months.
And the LORD blessed the house of Obededom, and all that he had.
And the Lord blessed, … — Let this encourage us to welcome God's ordinance into our houses,
believing the ark is a guest no body shall lose by. Nor let it be the less
precious to us, for its being to others a rock of offence.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Chronicles》
13 Chapter 13
Verses 1-14
Verses 3-6
And let us bring again the ark of our God to us.
The ark in the royal city
A place of honour, influence, and right, as:--
I. The centre of
unity.
II. The source of
religious life. This act:
1. Purified religious life.
2. Unified religious life.
3. Organised religious life.
III. The sign of
God’s presence. (J. Wolfendale.)
The ark’s progress to Mount Zion
One of the Psalms composed by David to be sung on the removing of
the ark (Psalms 68:1-35.) is quoted by Paul (Ephesians 4:7-8) as having foretold what
this procession itself foreshadowed, viz., the ascension of Christ, and the
blessings which should flow therefrom upon every member of His Mystical Body.
We see in all this great procession nothing less than the Universal Church of
Christ, partaking with the Divine David in the glory of His ascension into the
Heavenly Zion. From the narrative of which the text forms a part we may
learn:--
I. General
lessons.
1. That periods of reformation, after past neglect, are those in
which we need more than ordinary caution, lest we mar the work which is
designed to promote God’s glory.
2. That all religious reformation which is the work of man can
scarcely fail to be blemished and disfigured more or less by human infirmities.
3. That the effects of those infirmities are not to be acquiesced in,
but to be confessed and corrected, if ever we would hope to obtain the Divine
approval, or even to escape the Divine chastisement.
4. Not to abandon our good intentions because we have been checked
and hindered in our efforts after amendment, but still to hold on and persevere
in our exertions; only taking heed to profit by the instruction which the
experience of past failure was designed to give.
5. “God will be sanctified in all them that come nigh Him,” by
obedience to His holy laws (Leviticus 10:2).
6. That ignorance and neglect, even when allowed to pass unchastised
in others, may bring upon His ordained ministers the severest punishment.
II. Particular
lessons.
1. That every Christian has his place in that great procession, which
is occupied in conveying the Ark of the Covenant (Revelation 11:19) up to its final
resting-place in Mount Zion; but every Christian has not the same place.
2. That it is not enough that we do, whatever we do, with a good
intention unless what is done be also good, good in itself, and good in us. (Bishop
Chris. Wordsworth.)
Verses 9-11
And when they came unto the threshing-floor of Chidon, Uzza put
forth his hand to hold the ark.
Perez-Uzza
Learn--
I. If God be
absent from a people and the ark be long in obscurity, that people will lose a
sense of reverence.
II. That God,
mindful of His honours, often singles out guilty men to be monuments of His
displeasure.
III. That by such
examples of terror God warns others. (J. Wolfendale.)
Uzza’s transgression
Consider--
I. The importance
of ritual and positive institutions, with the punctual observance which God
expects to them. Amongst all the trials which have been made of human nature,
in the way of worshipping a superior power, there hath been no instance of a
pure and holy worship without somewhat of institution to fix the forms of it. Even a
state of innocence did not subsist without a positive law for trial of our
first parents’ obedience. The first recorded act of worship after the Fall was
apparently of a ritual and positive nature; since human reason doth no more
direct to those sacrifices which we find offered to God by Cain and Abel, than
it directs us to baptism or the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The gross
superstitions of the heathen world were manifestly owing to the want of an
authorised ceremonial in their worship.
II. The enclosure
of the sacerdotal or priestly function, with the danger of invading or throwing
it open.
III. The respect
which is due to a relative holiness.
IV. The
insufficiency of a good or innocent intention to warrant an irregular or
forbidden action.
V. The reverence
and preparation of heart wherewith we should approach the solemn offices of
Divine worship.
VI. The danger of
an unauthorised, officious zeal. (N. Marshall, D. D.)
Touching the ark, and touching the Saviour
(1 Chronicles 13:10 with Matthew 9:21):--How characteristic are
these two incidents of the two dispensations under which they respectively
occurred? What a comment upon the declaration, “The letter killeth, the spirit
giveth life.”
I. I observe that
the Old and New Testaments present many such instructive contrasts, serving to
illustrate the different spirit of the legal as compared with the evangelical
economy--the one being mostly miracles of judgment, the other almost
exclusively miracles of mercy. For instance, there is the confusion of tongues
at Babel--the gift of tongues at Pentecost; the water turned into blood in
Egypt--the water turned into wine at Cana; the darkness of Egypt issuing in the
death of the first-born--the darkness of Calvary bringing many sons to glory.
And so in the text: the death of Uzza on touching the ark--the healing of the
sufferer that touched our Lord. It was in either case a touch; but the one was
fatal, the other a cure. The one was a case of presumption, if not of unbelief;
the other a case of humility and of the deepest faith. The Lord, the
heart-searcher, saw a difference in the intrinsic similarity of the acts which
man saw not. It was not altogether the difference in the dispensations, but the
difference in the persons. Uzza not only overlooked the law that prescribed the
Kohathite as the ark-bearer, but sacrilegiously intruded his hand to support an
emblem which had vindicated the sufficiency of its self-reliance by its
superhuman inflictions in the house of Dagon, and by its miraculous
over-rulings of natural instincts in the leading of the kine from their calves
when its mystic pilgrimage lay in an opposite direction; whereas the woman in
the Gospels ascribed merit and virtue even to the hem of the Redeemer’s garment,
and much more therefore to Himself. Hence the two, Uzza and the woman, enacted
in type the Pharisee and the publican, whereof the one “went down to her house
justified rather than the other.” Both intrinsically were slight,
inconsiderable acts in themselves--A mere touch externally in either case; the
one touching the sign, the other the thing signified. But the one brought his
support to the covenant ark, the other drew her support from the Ark; the one
approached in self-sufficiency, and was smitten for his presumption, the other
drew nigh in self-abasement, and was healed for her faith. Upon the one,
therefore, fell the terrible anathema of “the letter” that “killeth”; upon the
other descended as the dews of heaven “the Spirit” that “giveth life.”
II. In their
contrast is presented the light and shade of the profession-life in the church.
It is more agreeable to our natural pride to feel our personal hand to be the
stay of a declining Church, than to creep with a poor, dejected sinner to the
hem of the garment, the lowest place, the door-keeper’s post in the house of
our God. The pride of ecclesiastical office is in various shapes and degrees
the besetting sin of clergy and laity. It leads the former to rest upon
functional relations, those pretensions and reliances due only to the
endowments of grace, to the conscientious cultivation of gifts, and to the
exercise of personal influence. It tempts the priest alike to supersede the man
and lose sight of God. Alas! for this thrusting the unbidden hand of the creature
upon the ark of God! It displays itself among the laity, too, in the love of
office in the Church, for the mere office sake, as a platform for self-parade.
It escapes even in the mode and amount of contributions to the Church, in
laying them like the corban on the altar, not for the glory of God, but as the
price of redemption from some unpalatable duty. There are men who can be
brought to church with the idea of playing the patron, to indulge the vanity of
their sense of being necessary to her standing and well-doing, who thus lay
unhallowed hands on her altar, like an Uzza, but who would disdain to be
indebted to that lowly touch of her spiritual garment, for the feeling that it
was that, and not their presumptuous handling of the ark of her strength, that
made them whole.
III. The doctrine of
the contrast is twofold--namely, the peril of the least sin, and the peace of
the least act of faith. As to the first: you are always in danger so long as
you allow yourselves in any known sin under the plea of Lot, who, by the side
of the enormities of Sodom, contended “is it not a little one?” The effect of
that friction with the world into which men’s eagerness in business or pursuit
of pleasure leads them, is to rub off the bloom from the fruits of the Spirit,
and to rub off, though in minutest particles, the fine gold, and turn it dim in
lustre and less in substance. The little sin, as you imagine it, of putting
your hand, say, upon a portion of the Sabbath, to do something in your
business, or to spend it in recreation, or in reading the news, or in secular
gossiping, leaving the sound of the service chimes to die away among the graves
of the dead, who are no more insensible to its calling than yourselves--in
these supposed little sins begins the course, that deceiving and being
deceived, waxes worse and worse, until the man’s life becomes at last a mere
chapter of practical Atheism, without prayer, without faith, without obedience.
Or suppose the little sin take another direction, confining its action to within
the sanctuary, and the moral delinquent lays his hand upon the ark in another
shape. Perhaps he does not realise Christ’s sufficiency as to an atonement or a
justifying righteousness, and must have a hand in the satisfaction of the one,
and the completeness of the other, and therefore looks to a baptism, or a
eucharist, or to his social charities, or moral duties, or evangelical
sentiments, or enthusiastic feelings and sensations, or the suffrages of
fellow-sinners, or even fellow-saints, if the phrase be more acceptable. If by
these, by all of them or by any of them, the man looks to commend himself in
the sight of God, and supplement that which was lacking, in his theory, in the
finished work of Christ, his hand is on the ark, and unless it be removed
betimes, the hand of an indignant God will be upon him, and he that “sinneth
with a high hand,” for whom neither, law nor Gospel provided an atonement,
“shall suddenly be cut off, and that without remedy.” On the other hand, the
contrast exhibits the peace and advantage of the least act of faith, even if
the faith be so weak and feeble as to be likened to “a grain of mustard seed,
which is the least of all seeds.” Faith as little as that, like the woman’s
touch, has strength to remove mountains. A spark of Omnipotence is struck out
of the rock by its feeblest blow. (Joseph B. Owen, M. A.)
Verse 13
But carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom
The “asides” of God
How much we owe to the “asides” of God.
Obed-edom owed the benediction which descended upon his house to this “aside.”
God’s way through life is thus wondrous: always indeed one great line of
progress, yet who can count the detours which He makes, the asides, the
incidental variations, the small things which men regarded as unworthy of
notice,--who can tell how all these are wrought up into a comprehensive
revelation of wisdom and love. If we only took the things which came to us on
the great main thoroughfares of life, some people would hardly be blessed at
all. A study of the “asides” of life would confirm us in our general Christian
faith. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 14
And the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.
The selection of the house of Obed-edom
Why was the house of Obed-edom selected for the three months’
sojourn of the ark? The choice of the ark’s resting-place was David’s first-fruits
of repentance. He was terrified at the judgment upon their act of disobedience
to the law, which enjoined that none but the Levites of the family of Kohath
should bear it, and that upon their shoulders, too; and they at once retraced
their steps, so far as they could by conveying the sacred emblem to the house
of Obed-edom, the Gittite, that is of Gath. This city was distinguished from
several other towns of the same name by the addition of Gath-rimmon (Joshua 24:21). It was not only one of the
cities of the Levites in general, but of the Kohathites in particular, the very
family to whom was specially assigned the post of “bearing the ark upon their
shoulders.” From 1 Chronicles 15:18 we find that
Obededom was actually one of the “porters” employed to bear upon their
shoulders, instead of in a cart, after the manner of the idolatrous
Philistines, the sacred symbol of the presence of the Lord of hosts on the
occasion of its final translation to Jerusalem. (Joseph B. Owen, M.
A.)
The house of Obed-edom
I. The service
which Obed-edom rendered.
II. The spirit in
which he performed the service.
III. The reward which
he gained.
1. A personal blessing.
2. A social blessing.
3. An extensive blessing.
None suffer whose guest is the ark of God. Piety is the best
friend to prosperity. (J. Wolfendale.)
Churches blessing or a curse
I. What was this
ark of God?
1. It was a sign of the covenant God had made with His people.
2. It was a record of God’s dealings with them under all their
rebellions.
3. It was an instrument of communion between Him and them.
II. How was this
ark to be treated, and what was the consequnce of its presence?
1. See what it was amongst the heathen (1 Samuel 5:4; 1 Samuel 5:11).
2. See what it was amongst God’s own people, when they made
themselves like unto the Gentiles and learned their works (1 Samuel 6:19; 1 Samuel 7:8). In the sight of these
judgments we may plainly see that the mere having among them the appointed sign
and instrument of God’s presence was no blessing, but the having it for a
lawful use, and the treating it after a godly manner. God’s ark was a blessing
where it was duly prized; its presence was a blessing or a curse according to
the character of those it visited.
III. Those churches
which adorn our land are the signs of God’s presence, as the ark was of old.
What blesses any district as thus bringing home to it the presence of God? What
is the effect on ungodly and irreverent men of seeing and attending churches?
It brings down on them God’s heavy judgments. (Bishop Samuel Wilberforce.)
The blessing of God upon those who honour His institutions
The ark was a small elegant chest, which contained the two tables
of the law--the Hebrew Bible--written by the finger of God. This was probably
the first alphabetical writing in the world. Though the Egyptians and other
heathen nations used to employ hieroglyphics, to record past events, and denote
the actions and intellectual and moral qualities of men, yet they were totally
ignorant of letters which compose words and sentences by their particular
sounds. Obed-edom knew that the ark contained the written Word of God, and
esteemed it, as David did, “better unto him than thousands of gold and silver.”
The subject is that God will bless those families who treat His Word with
proper respect. I shall show:
I. That they ought
to treat it with proper respect. Observe--
1. That every family ought to have the Word of God in their house.
2. Parents should read it seriously every day in their families.
3. The Bible ought to be read in a family with a view to understand
it.
4. The Bible is to be read and heard in a family with a sincere
desire and intention to do whatsoever God has commanded.
II. That if they do
read and hear the bible with such proper respect God will bless them.
1. Because such pious families are the preservers of the Word of God.
2. Because they lay the greatest check and restraint upon every
species of irreligion and impiety. No evil practices can be found in any family who daily
read and love and obey the Bible.
3. God will bless pious families because they are the important
instruments of promoting and transmitting pure religion from generation to
generation.
Improvement.
1. It is the wisdom as well as duty of every family to pay a cordial
and sacred regard to the Bible.
2. Those families that neglect these duties have reason to expect the
frowns of Heaven upon them.
3. If those families only are religious who pay proper respect to the
Word of God, then there is ground to conclude that there are many families in this place who are not
religious.
4. How important it is that heads of families should be truly
religious.
5. The great criminality of irreligious children who have been
religiously educated. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
The house of Obed-edom
The ark was the symbol of God’s presence. Every truly Christian
household now had the blessing that so enriched the home of Obed-edom. The
subject is--Religion in the home.
I. It is a power
of fulfilment. Religion is the sole power of fulfilment in regard to the very
purpose and idea of home. A house may be full of persons who are very dear to
each other, very kind to each other; full of precious things--affections,
hopes, living interests; but if God is not there as the Ruler and Father of the
house, the original and true idea of home will not be realised; vacancy and
need will still be at the heart of all. Good things will grow feebly and uncertainly, like
flowers in winter, trying to peep out into the sunshine, yet shrinking from the
blast. Evil things will grow with strange persistency. Little things will
produce great distresses. It will be as when a man of ingenuity tries in vain
to put together the separated parts of a complicated piece of mechanism. He
tries it this way and that, puts the pieces into every conceivable mode of
arrangement, then at last stops and says, “There must be a piece wanting.” Home
without the Divine presence is at best a moral structure with the central
element wanting.
II. It is a
principle of harmony. Religion is the only principle of harmony in the
endeavour after this highest and best home life. It supplies the missing
element which unites and quickens all the rest. It conducts its progress as a
regulative force. It is hot contended that the principle bears all its proper
fruits, and that every Christian home is a scene of unbroken harmony. Some
Christian homes are very peaceful. One enters them with the same kind of
soothed and comforted feeling with which a traveller, after a toilsome walk
over the breezy hills, comes down on a little placid lake, hardly ruffled by
the breeze, and fringed with freshest green. Others again are more troubled.
But we must not hastily conclude that the uniformly placid house is really
further advanced in the harmonies of Christian living than some others which
are less serene. It may be so; but it may also be quite the reverse. Sometimes
the jarrings are brought out just by the endeavours after the higher harmonies.
Failures are more apparent if the efforts are high. The dearest harmonies in
all the social life of men are sounding only in the Christian home; and those
imperfections of which some make so much, and of which no one ought to make too
little, are, after all, but like the flitting shadows of a sunny day--but like
the chafing of the stream as it rushes against the rocky barrier on its passage
to the peaceful plains which it will fertilise, or to the depths of ocean where
it will rest.
III. Religion in the
house is a source of prosperity. Life in the present day is more complex; it
has greater interests, heavier tasks and higher prizes. The Lord still blesses
the house of Obed-edom and all that he has.
1. Character.
2. Plans of usefulness.
3. Controversies with evil principles and with evil men.
4. Reverses. A thoughtful, earnest man now feels himself connected
with politics--law--battles--civilisation--churches--religion--life in all its
phases. He has some stake, some property in all these things, and in proportion
to the earnestness and greatness of his mind, he will feel that these are the
real interests of his life, for which he needs “blessing” from the Lord.
IV. Religion in the
house of a good man, is likely to be a legacy to his children. In the piety of
the living, and in the laws of Christian family life, he makes provision for
what we may call the transmission of religion to those who shall come after. In
the rule of their house, and in the spirit of their life, godly parents are
casting the forms which will be peopled and animated with the future “families
of Israel.” (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》