Homilist 1 Chronicles 21:1-30 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.… I. MAN, THROUGH THE DEVIL, BRINGING TREMENDOUS EVILS ON THE WORLD. "Satan stood up," etc. The existence and influence of this grand chief of evil agencies are here, and everywhere through the Bible, stated as facts too well authenticated to require argument. He tempted the progenitor of the race; he assailed the Redeemer of the world; and he leads humanity captive by his will. He now had access, by means not stated, to the mind of the monarch of Israel. One might have thought that age, which had cooled in him the fires of life, would also have extinguished all the fires of worldly ambition; but Satan can rekindle the smouldering embers of evil within us: he did so now. The ambitious feeling awakened was not one of those passing waves of emotion that rise from the depths of the soul and break upon the shore and are no more; it took the form of an obstinate purpose. 1. That Satan's influence on man, however successful, interferes not with man's personal responsibility. David was held responsible for the crime which the devil suggested to his mind. Great is the might of Satan, and great are the influences which he can bring to bear upon us; albeit he has no power to break down our wills by force, no power to coerce us into the wrong. We feel we are not mere engines in what we do, that our actions, good or bad, are our own. 2. That one man's sins may entail misery on thousands. It was so now: David's sin brought death on thousands and agony into the heart of the nation. 3. That the Eternal has agents ever at hand to execute His judgments. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.WEB: Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. |
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