SOLD BY LAVIS, FULHAM.
LONDON
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.
SERMON.
2 Samuel xxiv. 10.
“And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.”
At the time here spoken of, David had been, for nearly forty years, king over “the Lord’s people.” The youngest of eight sons of one of the shepherds of Israel, and raised from that lowly station to the throne by the express appointment of Jehovah, it may well excite our surprise to observe his conduct on the occasion to which the text refers. We might have supposed that the incidents of his early life, no less than the experience of his riper years, would have taught him a more simple spirit of faith and trust than that which he now showed. “A lion and a bear” came upon him while he was yet a boy, and took a lamb out of his father’s flock which he was keeping; and he was not only delivered from them, but enabled alone and unharmed to slay them. [3] At another time, when the Philistine giant defied the armies of the living God, David went forth of his own accord to meet him. Mindful of the same power which had saved him from “the lion and the bear,” he asked no armour for his protection. He sought no weapon for the fight. “Strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might,” he prevailed, “with a sling and with a stone.” [4a] And “the weak thing, and the base thing, and the thing that was despised,” was chosen to confound and to “bring to nought the thing that was mighty, in order that no flesh should glory in the presence of God.” [4b] Then, again, how often had David been rescued from the personal jealousy of Saul! What signal success had been granted him against the enemies of Israel! And how strikingly had even the rebellion of his own misguided son been overruled to the promotion of his safety and glory!
But it appears that all this instruction had been given him in vain. He was still disposed to depend, in the transaction before us, upon the “arm of flesh.” Proud of the extent of his dominions and of the multitude of his subjects, and secretly pleased with the proof it would afford to other nations of his own wisdom and good government, he caused the people to be numbered; although, as the opening of this very chapter shows, it was against the advice, and even the entreaties, of his own officers. For “Joab, the captain of the host, had said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? Notwithstanding the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host.” [4c] The heart of David, however, was soon opened by Divine grace to confess and to deplore the offence which he had committed. And the fearful judgment that followed served at once, in the most instructive manner, to humble and to disappoint him, by showing him how entirely he was dependent upon God for that very source of strength and greatness which his conceit led him to prize so highly, and how suddenly he might be stripped of it. The account is given in the verses which follow immediately upon the text. For being allowed to choose between three visitations, famine, war, and pestilence, and preferring that which he supposed would fall upon his country most lightly, “the Lord,” we read, “sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed, and there died of the people seventy thousand men.”
It may be right for us to bear in mind, that what made this act of numbering the Israelites so very offensive to God, was that it tended to draw off the hearts of the king and of his people from that single and undivided regard which they owed to Him. All the trials of that nation carried on for such a long course of years, and all the statutes and laws given for their guidance, were meant to keep this conviction uppermost in their minds. They had been singled out from the rest of mankind, not only as the guardians of the true faith and worship, but as witnesses to all the world of the power, and love, and faithfulness of the Lord. Special mercies, continued miracles, wonderful deliverances were wrought for them, in order that they might feel, at every stage of their eventful history, that they were peculiarly His people. If bread was wanting to allay their hunger, or water to assuage their thirst, or raiment to cover their bodies, it was not provided by any of the slow contrivances of human industry. But the hard rock poured forth their water, and the heavens showered down their food, and their “raiment waxed not old upon them,” even during the long period of forty years. If the inhabitants of every other land gave way before them as they advanced, they were taught, and they might have learnt, from the utter disproportion of their own powers, that it was “the Lord their God” who drove them out. And if, in the restlessness of their spirit, they desired to have a king to reign over them, they were reminded that “the Lord their God” was their King. However few, in any case, were the numbers of their hosts, they always proved sufficient for the work which they were charged to achieve. And however numerous they were at other times, it might yet please Him, as it did on the occasion here recorded, to turn their strength into weakness in an instant. This numbering of the people, therefore, showed an utter distrust of that goodness which had never failed them, and called down a judgment so severe, that it must have warned them for ever against a repetition of the offence.
The question will have occurred already, perhaps, to the minds of some who hear me, Can any similar degree of guilt attach to that numbering of our own people which is going on at this time throughout the land, from one end of it even to the other? If, in the case of David, the measure was condemned so fearfully, and involved so signal a punishment, what are the circumstances in our own case that tend to remove from it any such reproach, and may even lead us to hope that instead of thwarting the will and pleasure of our God, we are really proceeding in conformity to it, and even promoting his purposes of grace and goodness to our land?
My brethren, in order to answer such an inquiry aright, it seems only necessary that we should remember the essential difference already pointed out between the chosen nation and any which the world has since seen. Never in any other case has the civil government of kingdoms been carried on by the immediate agency of Almighty power. Our national welfare depends not upon miracles, but upon those provisions of human forethought or experience, which, under the Divine blessing, appear best adapted to meet each exigency that arises. And although there is often cause to lament that this blessing is so seldom implored by us distinctly and publicly as a Christian people, and so little acknowledged by us in the many mercies, which, as a Christian people, we are enjoying, yet still we may humbly believe that the inquiry now conducted cannot be displeasing to God. Many facts will be learnt from it conducive to the common good, and tending either to suggest or to mature provisions for our social improvement. Many practical lessons will be gained, teaching us how we may better “bear each other’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” [7a] Many truths will be derived from the results of this Census, which may strengthen our hands as “members one of another;” [7b] and some objects, it may be hoped, will be answered by it, in the advancement of which we may cheerfully join in giving effect to the counsels of our rulers.
At the same time there are thoughts mingling with this subject of a more serious and personal kind, to which I could desire, in the guidance of God’s Spirit, to direct your minds. And the occasion for suggesting them appears so seasonable, and occurs so seldom, that it may reconcile us to the omission of other topics of inquiry, and the endeavour to found upon it some which may be made, under the teaching of that Spirit, conducive to our edification and salvation.