THE BEGINNING OF A BRILLIANT REIGN
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1 Kings 2:3. Keep the charge of Jehovah—i.e., preserve the Theocracy, maintain the piety and dignity becoming the Hebrew monarch, who rules by Divine right, and is entrusted with the representation and vindication of the Divine laws. Keep his statutes, חֻקּתֹ—the prescriptions of the law. Commandments, מִצְוֹת, the expressions of the Divine will. Judgments—מִשׁמָּטִים objective sentences and ordinances, the violation of which involves punishment. Testimonies—עֵדְוֹת solemn declarations of God’s will against sin (Keil). That thou mayst prosper—Not so much “have good fortune” (Gesenius, De Wette), but be skilful, carry yourself wisely, as he surely will do who acts harmoniously with the Divine “statutes, commandments,” &c., 1 Kings 2:4. The Vatican Sept. omits “concerning me,” and “with all their soul.” Not fail thee a man: assures “not a completely unbroken succession, but only the opposite of a break for ever” (Hengstenberg); lit. “there shall not be cut off from thee a man on the throne;” i.e., thy posterity shall hold the throne in perpetuity: the royal house of David became imperishable in “great David’s greater Son.”
HOMILETICS OF 1 Kings 2:1-4
OBEDIENCE THE PATHWAY OF BLESSING
I. That the supreme standard of obedience is the Divine will (1 Kings 2:3) Will expresses itself in significant actions, or in positive commands. The statutes are the prescriptions of the law, so far as its obedience is connected with definite rules and usages: the commandments, as the expression of the Divine will, which is to be fulfilled: the judgments, as the objective sentences and ordinances, the violation of which draws punishment after it: the testimonies, as solemn declarations of the will of God against sin. All these statutes, commandments, judgments, and testimonies are found in the law of Moses, to obey which David binds his son.—Keil. According to Patrick, the “statutes”are explained as the positive ordinances of the law, e.g., the command not to sow two seeds of different kinds together: the “commandments” as the moral precepts, not to steal, &c.; the “judgments” as the laws belonging to civil government: and the “testimonies” as the laws directing the commemoration of certain events (compare Psalms 19:7-8): the Written Word is the latest declaration of the Divine will, and the supreme rule by which obedience must be regulated.
II. That obedience consists in the strict conformity of the whole life to the Divine will. This implies—
1. Knowledge. There is to be a personal acquaintance with the will of God “as it is written in the law of Moses” (1 Kings 2:3), and in the books of Revelation and of nature. The Divine Word has been the subject of pious instruction from sire to son, through succeeding generations. As in the case of David, it has often constituted the last solemn charge of a dying father. It has been illustrated in the lives of the good, and enforced by the impressive teachings of many a wondrous providence. There has been line upon line and precept upon precept. Every opportunity has been afforded for becoming acquainted with the Divine will, so that ignorance thereof is inexcusable and blameworthy
2. Circumspection. “And keep the charge of the Lord thy God” (1 Kings 2:3). In general, this means to take care of God, His person, His will, His rights. A trust of tremendous significance is committed to us: the honour of Jehovah is in our hands. It is only by an exact obedience that we can discharge the duties of our sacred trust: and to do this involves incessant thought, anxious care, and sleepless vigilance. There is reference to the charge given to all kings in Deuteronomy 17:18-20. The monarch is amenable to the same moral law as his meanest subject. If obedience is careless and defective in the higher social circles, a similar spirit will soon infect the lower, and the moral integrity of the nation be seriously damaged. “The least deviation in the greatest and highest orb is both most sensible and most dangerous.” Keep the charge—as the sentinel the post of danger, as the physician in the critical stage of disease, as the stern and faithful guardian of untold treasure.
III. That obedience should be resolute and manly. “Be thou strong, therefore, and shew thyself a man” (1 Kings 2:2). Solomon’s youth clearly constituted one of the chief difficulties of his position. His exact age at his accession is uncertain. Eupolemus made him twelve. According to Josephus he was fourteen, but this may be no more than a deduction from David’s words, “Solomon, my son, is young and tender” (1 Chronicles 22:5), and from Solomon’s own declaration (1 Kings 3:7), “I am but a little child.” Moderns generally have supposed that he was about twenty, which is probably an over rather than an under estimate. For a youth of nineteen or twenty, known to be of a pacific disposition (1 Chronicles 22:9), to have rule over the warlike and turbulent Hebrew nation, with a strong party opposed to him, and brothers of full age ready to lead it, was evidently a most difficult task. Hence he is exhorted, though in years a boy, to show himself in spirit a man.—Speaker’s Comm. It is not always easy to obey. It demands a firm, bold, intrepid spirit to dare to do the right, when by doing so it bears painfully upon those we love. Obedience to the highest law sacrifices all lower considerations, at whatever cost of personal feeling. The obedient man is the true man—the bravest and the best. They who would be faithful to God have need of courage.
IV. That obedience is the pathway of blessing.
1. It insures the fulfilment of Divine promises. “That the Lord may continue his word which he spake” (1 Kings 2:4). The promises of God are conditional, “which is as an oar in a boat, or stern of a ship, and turneth the promise another way.” The original promise to David that Messiah should come out of his loins was apparently absolute and unconditional (2 Samuel 7:11-17); but the promise as to his children occupying the throne of Israel was conditioned on their obedience (Psalms 132:12). David reminds Solomon of this in order to impress upon him a powerful motive to continued fidelity. We never lose the blessedness of the promise till we first neglect the precept.
2. It confers blessing on every undertaking. “That thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself” (1 Kings 2:3). To infringe law in any department brings confusion and suffering; obedience is not only the way of safety, but of success. The man whose ways please God shall not lack any manner of thing that is good. Abraham, when at the call of Jehovah he stepped into the region of the untried and unknown, little dreamt of the wealth of blessing that was destined to rest upon him and his posterity as the reward of his faith and obedience. There is no peace so calm and abiding as that which flows from conscious rectitude. “That happiness is built on sand or ice which is raised upon any other foundation besides virtue.” Ill-gotten prosperity is transient and full of bitterness.
3. It leads to the highest honour. “There shall not fail thee a man on the throne of Israel” (1 Kings 2:4). This promise, confirmed by the Lord himself to Solomon on his prayer at the consecration of the temple (1 Kings 8:25), which was repeated by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 33:17) at the time of the greatest humiliation of the royal house of David, for the strengthening and consolation of the faithful, found its full realization in Christ, the greatest descendant of David, whose dominion will endure as long as the sun and moon stand (Psalms 72) Fidelity in a lower sphere is an excellent preparation for the honours and duties of a higher. The career of the obedient is like a river, small and unnoticed in its beginning, but gathering volume, momentum, and majesty in its expanding flow. Obedience is, to quote the language of Carlyle, “an everlasting lode-star, that beams the brighter in the heavens, the darker here on earth grows the night around.”
LESSONS:—
1. Obedience is the earliest and most difficult lesson to learn.
2. It is often richest in blessing when it is most difficult to practise.
3. We are called to its exercise by the most solemn considerations.
DAVID’S DYING CHARGE TO SOLOMON
The scene before us is solemnly impressive. The youth that had slain a giant is now, after a most eventful life, about to fall before a mightier arm than that of Goliath; the friend that had wept over his beloved Jonathan, is now going the way of all the earth; the monarch who had exclaimed over the remains of a child, still lovely in death, “I shall go to him, but he cannot return to me,” is now at the end of his last stage, and about to mingle his ashes with the departed. We will draw near, and hear his last words of parental tenderness and dying counsel to his royal son and successor. “Be thou strong, and show thyself a man.” If the king of Israel needed strength, and was required to show himself a man in the government of his kingdom, no less necessary, nay—onerous as the duties and cares of a sovereign might be—far greater, is the courage which the vigorous maintenance of our moral and religious principles demands.
I. It behoves us to be strong, and quit ourselves as men, as it respects the truth and doctrines of the Gospel. If on any question manliness of character is demanded, it is on this. If the Scriptures are a revelation of God’s will to man, receive them as such, and obey them accordingly. How many are there who, manly, perhaps, in many things besides, are here most irresolute, timid, hesitating, or double-minded. It is not acting as a man to own the Bible to be true, and at the same time treat it as if it were a fiction, a fable, a falsehood. Sustained by the clearest evidence, and published to the world by the highest authority, the Word of God is worthy of all confidence. It is no doubtful question whether the Lord Jesus was sent by the Father to be the Saviour of the world, nor what is the substance of His doctrine and teaching. Whatever He has expounded, it is for us, with a single, simple heart, to follow; to take the truth as He left it; to grasp it firmly as our life, and hold it with the same tenacity as a sinking man would hold the hand that was stretched forth to save him from the gurgling vortex. If we truly believe that we possess the treasure of a true revelation from God, then it is manly to espouse, to defend, to diffuse it for its own inestimable value, for the honour of Him from whom it comes, for the purity, peace, and safety of our own souls, and for its power to regenerate and bless the world.
II. To carry out the admonition is to shrink from no duty and no sacrifice which it may require. It is not the way of the world, even where the Christian religion is professed, to render obedience to the Divine commands. A kind of respectful treatment of the Word of God—nothing bold, nothing decided—is all that it will render; and the love and fear of the world will prompt us to do no more. A still stronger persuasion of the flesh speaks from within. It is sloth, it is selfishness, it is the predominance of some master passion, that governs the irreligious mind, and places men in rebellion against the will of God and the dearest interests of the soul. And then the Evil Spirit, the great tempter, the subtle adversary of man, will suggest all discontented and rebellious thoughts. Thus beset, multitudes, instead of quitting themselves like men and resisting the devil, readily yield. Does he show himself a man who yields to every temptation to neglect the house of God on the Sabbath, and to follow the allurements of pleasure? Does that youth show a manliness of mind who consents to the enticements of sinners, and surrenders himself to companionship with those whose house is the way to hell? Does that misguided and miserable creature show himself a man who, for the sake of indulging the lowest and worse than brutal propensities of his nature, will beggar his wife, starve his children, cover himself with rags, and make his home the scene of poverty, strife, and every hateful and disgusting passion? Ought we not to carry with us as Christians the same resolute and decided temper, the same open and obvious manliness in all matters that refer to eternity, as we do to those which are limited to time? In a word, to serve God is to show the same spirit towards Him which every one of us, who has the heart of a man, would show in defence of the health, the welfare, the happiness, and the life of the members of his own family.
III. To carry out the admonition, we must be bold and persevering in the work of God, till He shall relieve us from all further service. It is manly to begin well, but it is most unmanly to forsake or negligently execute a task once begun. There is a mighty class of inducements to instability in religion, such as are not brought to operate upon the mind in any other sphere of action. Here, as everywhere, success and satisfaction are the recompense, not of half deeds, but of manly, hearty energy, industry, and perseverance. Who is sufficient for these things? No one of himself; but He who gives us the command will not fail us if we rely upon Him for its fulfilment. When He bids us be strong, He is ready to give us power to obey. Heaven is the prize, every effort shall have its reward. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses who have finished their manly course, and reached the crown. They invite us onward. Let us not fear the troubles that beset the way, but be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Arise, for the work is great, the time is short, but the prize is eternal.—T. W. Hamilton, D. D.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Kings 2:2. “I go the way of all the earth.” Death a journey.
1. Silent and mysterious in its commencement.
2. Interminable in its pathway.
3. A journey on which all must enter.
4. Demands diligent and serious preparation.
5. Is a period of sad farewells and solemn counsels.
David lives to see a wise son warm in his seat; and now he that yielded to succession yields to nature. Many good counsels had David given his heir; now he sums them up in his end. Dying words are wont to be weightiest; the soul when it is entering into glory breathes nothing but divine; “I go the way of all the earth.” How well is that princely heart content to subscribe to the conditions of human mortality, as one that knew sovereignty doth not reach to the affairs of nature! Though a king, he neither expects nor desires an immunity from dissolution, making no account to go in any other than the common tract to the universal home of mankind, the house of age. Whither should earth, but to earth? And why should we grudge to do that which all do?—Bishop Hall.
“Be thou strong, therefore, and shew thyself a man.” Be firm, and be a man!
1. What is requisite to be one?
2. How shall one become one?
3. Of what use? (Hebrews 13:9; 1 Corinthians 15:5-8; 1 Corinthians 16:13.)—Lange.
Even when David’s spirit was going out, he puts spirit into his son; age puts life into youth, and the dying animates the vigorous. He had well found that strength was necessary to government, that he had need to be no less than a man that should rule over men. A weak man may obey, none but the strong can govern.—Bishop Hall.
1 Kings 2:3. The last and best will of a father to his Song of Song of Solomon 1. Trust in God’s protection of yourself and all whom God has confided to your care.
2. Walk in His ways; let Him lead and guide you; He will do it well (Proverbs 23:26; Psalms 35:5).
3. Keep His ways and ordinances (Ecclesiastes 12:13; Psalms 1:1-6; Tob. 4:6). God-fearing parents are more anxious about their children keeping close to God and His word than about leaving them temporal goods.—Lange.
Graceless courage were but the whetstone of tyranny. The best legacy that David bequeaths to his heir is the care of piety. Himself had felt the sweetness of a good conscience, and now he commands it to his successor. If there be anything that, in our desires of the prosperous condition of our children, takes place of goodness, our hearts are not upright. Here was the father of a king, charging the king’s son to keep the statutes of the King of kings; as one that knew greatness could neither exempt from obedience, nor privilege sin.—Hall.