Bible Commentaries

The Second Adam—The Mighty Dead

1 Chronicles 11:5

"And the inhabitants of Jebus [Jerusalem, which is Jebus ( Joshua 15:8; Judges 19:10),] said [for the full speech of the Jebusites on this occasion see2Sam, 1 Chronicles 5:6] to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion [the "stronghold" of 2 Samuel 5:7 is better than the "castle" of this place. The Hebrew word means "a fortified place,"] which is the city of David." [This name is applied in Scripture to two different places. (1) In2Samuel5 we read that David having taken Jerusalem, and stormed the citadel on Mount Zion, "dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David" ( 1 Chronicles 11:7). After that time the castle and palace of Zion appear to have been called "the city of David," as contradistinguished alike from Jerusalem generally, and from Moriah and other sections of it ( 1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 8:1; 2 Chronicles 5:2). In it David and most of his successors on the throne were buried ( 1 Kings 2:10; 2 Chronicles 9:31, etc.). Mount Zion, or the city of David, is on the south-west side of Jerusalem, opposite Moriah, or the temple-mount, with which it was connected by a bridge spanning the deep valley of Tyropoean. The tomb of David on Zion is to this day one of the most honoured sanctuaries of the Mohammedans; and the square keep, called the Castle of David, on the northern end of Zion,

Spiritual Portresses

"The castle of Zion."

THIS beautiful expression may be so accommodated as to yield some useful spiritual suggestions. Understand, however, the difference between accommodation and exposition. In the present instance we avail ourselves exclusively of the uses of accommodation. Every Christian dwells in the castle of Zion; that is to say, he does not dwell in a wilderness, in an uncertain place, in a temporary cloud, but in a fortress or stronghold. Men should always dwell upon the strong points, and not upon those that are doubtful or half-proved in connection with Christian experience and speculation. For example, it is possible for a man to have the distinctest conviction of the existence and government of God, and yet to be quite unable to give any metaphysical explanation of the nature of the Godhead. Be very careful about making clear distinctions here. A child is absolutely sure that such and such a man is his father, and yet he may be wholly unable to give an account of the psychology of that 1 Chronicles 1:44.

This expression occurs again and again in this chapter, and is full of spiritual instruction.—The picture is both gratifying and depressing: so long as the man reigns, we have light, and joy, and music; as soon as he dies, we have darkness, and sorrow, and silence. Yet when the man dies there comes in the announcement almost at once that some one "reigned in his stead."—We say the king never dies. What is said of the king may be said of all true institutions and policies: they change their forms, but the essence remains the same, and is always open to 1 Chronicles 1:54.

Of how small consequence is this announcement to the men of to-day!—Importance, however, is not to be denied simply because it is limited.—Every man must look upon his importance from his own point of view,—a father may be important in a family, and yet may be nobody in the state; a man may be of some importance in one state, and hardly known in the next province.—Then there is an importance which is limited by time.—Men walked according to the light they had.—We are not to blame the dukes of Edom because they were not as intelligent as the children of this day.—If they walked according to the degree of light which was given to them, they faithfully fulfilled their responsibilities.—The great lesson teaches the transitori-ness of all human dignity and glory. Where are the dukes of Edom now? Who knows the names of Timnah, Aliah, Jetheth?—Yet we must not mock these names because we do not know them.—How far are our own names known? What will be thought of them in the next century?—Men are not to be estimated by their renown, but by their personal goodness and their local usefulness.—Not every man can handle a state, yet the man who can help us to carry our daily burden may be quite as useful to us as if he had been entrusted with genius of the highest order.—All our words should tend to the encouragement of simplicity, modesty, local utility, and should show the hollowness of mere fame, or splendour, or titular elevation.—In the Christian Church we have come to a higher order of names than was ever known in secular history.—Men may now be called the sons of God, saints, slaves of Jesus Christ, inheritors of the world of light: let us aspire after these higher titles, for they never perish; we are not born to their enjoyment; verily, these are not hereditary dignities, but we are introduced to them by the right of the new birth, by the creation of a spiritual aristocracy.—The titles which men give soon expire: the titles which God confers are vital with his own eternity.—It would be a poor thing to have been a duke of Edom as compared with being a child of pious parentage, if in the one case the dignity has been but a name, and in the other has been a discipline and a stimulus.—Aim after the highest designation.