1 Samuel 25:1 And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose… "And Samuel died; and all Israel lamented him." What an epitaph! What a character to have deserved such an epitaph! The humblest mortal can so live as to leave a gap when he goes — a fact we realise with difficulty, for we say, "Oh! the great ones are missed, but I am poor and humble; my attainments are so insignificant." No life need be insignificant. "And Samuel died; and all Israel lamented for him." Some poor housewife in far Beersheba, who had never been five miles from home, when the word comes that Samuel is dead, she goes to the corner, lifts her apron to her eyes and weeps. Such is the result of a good life. We do not know how far its influence may travel. Are we not all of us largely influenced by men and women whose faces we have never seen, whose voices we have never heard? Do they not lead us, cheer us, inspire us on our way? 1. The self-forgetting life. We want to learn to do good quietly, unostentatiously. 2. Joy in daily tasks. 3. Disinterested virtue. To live a good life in order to be missed, and nothing more, is one thing. But to live it without any such intention is another. Our virtue must be disinterested. 4. The life of service. So we speak of the useful life as the true one. The ideal life is that of consecrated service. Is there anyone living in loneliness who will say: "When I had not a friend in the world, when I came up from come country place and went into a certain church, that man befriended me?" 5. Active religion. "And Samuel died, and all Israel wept for him." We, too, must die. Will men weep for us? Will the world be sorry or will he clap his hands? (Ebenezer Rees.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran. |
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