Then said Solomon, The Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.
God dwelling in darkness
His dwelling in darkness has a symbolical meaning. It tells us of the darkness in which Divine and spiritual things are enveloped. It conveys to us this truth--that only a certain portion of light is given us in anything, enough to guide the conduct but not enough to satisfy the reason; and it suggests, that if we will accept nothing until we satisfy the doubts that may be raised concerning it, we shall end in accepting nothing.
I. In regard to God himself, any perfect knowledge of Him is impossible to man. The smaller must comprehend the greater, before man can comprehend Deity as He is in His absolute nature. This secrecy of God is one of the attributes and perfections of the Almighty. He who sees all and is Himself unseen must be the Creator. The words of the inspired writer contain a literal truth, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.”
1. Under this condition God has ever revealed Himself: to our first parents in the garden of Eden; to Moses in the bush and in the clouds of Sinai; to Elijah. He was present in each case, but could not be traced; revealed, but unseen. The answer of the old heathen philosopher respecting Him is the true one: “When I look for Him I find Him not, when I look not for Him I find Him everywhere.”
2. Not otherwise was it in the Incarnation. A light in a dark place, and the darkness comprehended it not. “There standeth One among you whom ye know not.”
3. It is the same with God’s manifestation through the Holy Spirit. He has been, and is, a Presence and a Power in the earth, working wondrously but inscrutably.
4. As with the Person, so it has been with the Word of God; an obscure light, enough to try faith, not to gratify human speculation. Take, e.g., prophecy. In its broad features the cast corresponds with the mould. But when we enter into details, the exact literal completion is difficult to trace.
5. It was the same with the parables of Christ. They were truth under a veil.
6. So it is in numberless instances of the deeper truths revealed in Scripture.
II. Pass now to the providence of God. It is a true idea that represents God as manifest in history, ruling the world in righteousness and justice. But immediately we leave this general truth and examine the case of particular nations or particular periods, what perplexity arises! Civilised nations falling back into darkness and degradation; eras of barbarism intervening; wars springing up and throwing a continent back fifty years in its progress; evil of all kinds permitted; wrong and injustice prevailing. “His way is in the sea, and His paths in the great waters.” “His footsteps are not known.” It would be easy to illustrate this in numberless other instances--in our individual lives; in moral science; in physical science. The lesson from all this is that all truth is beset with some obscurity, but must not be rejected on that account. “In this world there is little to be known but much to be done.” It teaches us in matters of right and wrong, in matters of religion, to trust but little to our reason, but much to our inward consciousness, the instinct of conscience and the aspirations of faith. (Archdeacon Grant, D.C.L.)