1 Chronicles 28:1-8 And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes… In the last two chapters we have David's final words to the princes of the people and to his son Solomon. In order to pass the kingdom over to his son and to secure the succession, he summoned the princes, and solemnly, in the presence of them all, appointed Solomon his successor. These princes included the princes of the tribes enumerated in 1 Chronicles 27:16-22; the princes of the divisions which served the king (1 Chronicles 27:1-15); the princes of thousands and hundreds; the chiefs and captains of the twelve army corps (1 Chronicles 27:1); the princes of the domains and possessions of the king (1 Chronicles 27:25-31). The king "stood up upon his feet" to address this assembly. Previously, on account of age and feebleness, he had sat in bed. The first part of David's address we have had previously (1 Chronicles 22:7-13). In the fourth verse he states how his election to be king was of God who had chosen Judah to be ruler, and that in the same way God had chosen Solomon from among his sons to be heir to the kingdom, and had committed to him the building of the temple, and concludes it by exhorting the whole assembly to continue faithful to God. Observe, the blessings of the throne and kingdom are linked to an inseparable condition (ver. 7) - that Solomon be "constant to do my commandments and my judgments." Thus temporal prosperity is inseparably connected with faithfulness to God's truth. Without this neither king nor kingdom, man nor his work, can prosper in the true sense of the word. In this consists real "establishment." What the foundation is to a house God's truth is to a king's throne, and to a man's soul and all his ways. David goes into particulars as to how this is to be done. "Keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God." The soul must hold fast to the truth, must treasure it up within the inmost recesses of its being. This is to keep the truth. And it must "seek for" it - looking out for it in everything as for special treasure, setting the heart on it and gathering it up for use. The degree and earnestness with which we seek for it will depend upon the way in which we "keep what we have gathered. To him that hath shall more be given," is God's universal law in nature and in grace. Keeping is digestion, by which the appetite is stimulated to "seek." Mark, also, it is not seeking some truths or some favourite truths; it is "all the commandments." It is whole-heartedness to the whole truth. Pet doctrines and pet passages make us half-Christians - narrow, one-sided, harsh, and sectarian. It is the heart's preparedness for every message from God that makes a whole Christian - such a one as God would have us all to be. Mark the two results. "That ye may possess this good land." It was one thing for an Israelite to be in the land; it was quite another to possess it. It is one thing to be in Christ; it is quite another to possess so as to make our very own all the treasures of grace and truth that are in Christ. Some Christians, like some Israelites, are all their lives in the land without possessing a foot. Have you life in Christ? "Lay hold on eternal life." Are you one of God's elect? "Make your calling and election sure. Have you that Divine faith that will carry you into the kingdom? Add to your faith," so that you may have an "abundant entrance into the kingdom.' This is to "possess the land." It was Joshua's continued exhortation to Israel; it has need to be ours too. Look at the second result: "And leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever." Mark, it. is only those who possess the good land who shall "leave it for an inheritance. It is your half-Christians, your narrow-souled, crooked, unwise Christians, who leave no spiritual influences behind. Their children get soured by the caricature of religion they see in their parents. When parental restraint is over, there are no deep spiritual principles laid in the soul in early life, and they cast off what they feel has been a yoke. As a rule, most parents have to blame themselves for what they mourn over in their children. - W. Parallel Verses KJV: And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem. |
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