So Gad came to David, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Take your choice: either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and Yahweh’s angel destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.’ ”
Parallel Translations
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So Gad came to David, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Take your choice:
either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and Yahweh’s angel destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.’ ”
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So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee
Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
Show all 3 translations
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So Gad came to David, and said unto him: 'Thus saith the LORD: Take which thou wilt:
either three years of famine; or three months to be swept away before thy foes, while the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to Him that sent me.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (29)
- Exodus 12:23 (v12) For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door posts, Yahweh will pass…
- Leviticus 26:10 (v12) You shall eat old supplies long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new.
- Leviticus 26:17 (v12) I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when…
- Leviticus 26:25-29 (v12) I will bring a sword upon you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. You will be gathered together within your cities, and I will…
- Leviticus 26:36-37 (v12) “ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf…
Show all 29 cross-references
- Deuteronomy 28:15 (v12) But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which…
- Deuteronomy 28:22 (v12) Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They…
- Deuteronomy 28:25 (v12) Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You…
- Deuteronomy 28:27 (v12) Yahweh will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed.
- Deuteronomy 28:35 (v12) Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the…
- Deuteronomy 28:51-52 (v12) They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine,…
- 2 Samuel 21:1 (v12) There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for…
- 2 Samuel 24:13-14 (v12) So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months…
- 1 Kings 17:1 (v12) Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there…
- 2 Kings 8:1 (v12) Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while…
- 2 Kings 19:35 (v12) That night, Yahweh’s angel went out, and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the…
- 1 Chronicles 21:15-16 (v12) God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, Yahweh saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the…
- Psalms 91:6 (v12) nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.
- Proverbs 19:20 (v11) Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter end.
- Isaiah 66:16 (v12) For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh; and those slain by Yahweh will be many.
- Jeremiah 12:12 (v12) Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the…
- Jeremiah 42:16 (v12) then it will happen that the sword, which you fear, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are…
- Jeremiah 47:6 (v12) “ ‘You sword of Yahweh, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard; rest, and be still.’
- Lamentations 4:9 (v12) Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for lack of…
- Ezekiel 14:19-21 (v12) “Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal; though Noah, Daniel,…
- Matthew 13:49-50 (v12) So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the…
- Luke 4:25 (v12) But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a…
- Acts 12:23 (v12) Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory. Then he was eaten by worms and died.
- Revelation 7:1-3 (v12) After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v12 Or, smite thee.
Or, smite thee.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v12 1Ch 21:12 Either three years’ famine; or three months…
1Ch 21:12 Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh [thee]; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
Ver. 12. Either three years’ famine.] It is in Samuel, seven years’ famine. Seven years, say some, was God’s first offer: but David, praying for a shorter time - as Abraham brought God down from a fifty to ten persons, {Gen 18:24-32} and as Ezekiel obtained ox dung for man’s dung {Eze 4:15} - he reduced it to three years. See a better solution to this seeming contradiction in 2Sa 24:13. {See Trapp on "2Sa 24:13"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v12 Verse 12. Three days - the pestilence in the…
Verse 12. Three days - the pestilence in the land] In 2Sa 24:13, seven years of famine are mentioned: see the note there.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v12 1Ch 21:12-13. Either three years of famine — In…
1Ch 21:12-13. Either three years of famine — In 2Sa 24:13, it is said the prophet propounded to David seven years of famine, concerning which see the note there. Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord — The pestilence is more properly called the hand, or sword of the Lord, than other common calamities. For they have visible causes, but none know whence this sudden destruction comes, unless immediately from the hand or stroke of God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v12 And the angel of the Lord destroying ... -…
And the angel of the Lord destroying ... - These words are not in Samuel, which puts the third alternative briefly. They prepare the way for the angelic appearance 1Ch 21:16, on which the author is about to lay so much stress.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v12 Three years’ famine; which joined with the three foregoing…
Three years’ famine; which joined with the three foregoing years of famine, mentioned [in] 2 Kings xxi., and the seventh year of the land’s resting, would make up the seven years proposed by the prophet, 2 Kings xxiv. 13. (Challoner) --- Perhaps it would be as well to acknowledge a mistake, (2 Kings; Haydock) on account of the similitude of the Hebrew words signifying three and seven: (Tirinus) unless the prophet reduced the time from seven to three years; as in Ezechiel (iv. 15.) God mitigates the severity of his first threat. (Sanctius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v11 Choose thee, &c.--To the three evils these correspond in…
Choose thee, &c.--To the three evils these correspond in beautiful agreement: three years, three months, three days [BERTHEAU]. (See on Sa2 24:13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v12 12. three years’ famine] 2 Sam., seven years of…
12. three years’ famine] 2 Sam., seven years of famine (LXX. however three, as Chron.).
three months to be destroyed] R.V. three months to be consumed (Heb. nispeh). Some scholars would correct the text of Chron. into agreement with 2Sa_24:13, or wilt thou flee three months?
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the angel of the Lord] Cp. 2Ki_19:35; Act_12:23.
throughout all the coasts] Render, in every border, i.e. through the whole extent.
advise thyself] R.V. consider.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–12 (11) And said unto him.—Samuel has the pleonastic, “And…
(11) And said unto him.—Samuel has the pleonastic, “And told him, and said,” &c.
The following curse from the Annals of Tiglath Pileser I. (circ. 1120 B.C.) well illustrates the three penalties proposed by God to David: “May Assur and Anum, the great gods my lords, mightily rebuke him and curse him with grievous curse . . . The overthrow of his army may they work! In presence of his foes may they make him dwell altogether! May Rimaron with evil pestilence his land cut off! Want of crops, famine, corpses, to his country may be cast!”
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Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee.—Not in Samuel, which has instead a direct question: “Shall there come to thee seven years’ famine in thy land?” Our “choose” (take) is a word of later use in Hebrew. The Syriac gives the same term (qabbél).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–12 The necessary connection between sin and judgment.
Vers. 11, 12.
The necessary connection between sin and judgment.
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Prove and illustrate the universality of the connection. Illustrations may be found in every age and every sphere. See the idea of a Nemesis; and show that pointing out this connection is the commonplace of the moral and religious teacher.
I SEE CLEARLY WHAT SIN IS. Give the theories about sin; but apart from theory, or doctrine, endeavour to understand what sin is
(1) in itself;
(2) in its power of growth;
(3) in its subtle and mischievous influences;
(4) in its interference with the Divine order;
(5) in its relations with the Divine Law;
(6) in the sight of God, as intimated in the Scriptures.
When a suitable impression is gained of what sin is, we are prepared to
II SEE WHY IT MUST BE MET WITH JUDGMENTS. Because
(1) it beclouds mans conscience, and judgment alone removes such clouds;
(2) it subverts Divine authority, and such authority judgments alone can vindicate;
(3) it interferes with the Divine plans and purposes, and these judgments alone can rectify. The importance of the relation between sin and suffering, transgression and judgment, is best shown by the effort to realize what would now be the moral sentiments of men if this connection had not been assured, and men could now plead that any one of their number had ever sinned with impunity. So essential, indeed, is the connection, that when God grants forgiveness of the sin he seldom, if ever, interferes with the external consequences of the wrong. They are left to work on their severe but beneficent mission. Judgment, in both the small and the large spheres, is the minister, the angel, of the Divine mercy; and we may bless God for his judgments. Note also that Christ, as man, came, for man, under Divine judgments, because he was the Representative of sinners. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v11 Thus saith the Lord, choose thee.
1Ch_21:11-15
Thus saith the Lord, choose thee.
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The awful judgments
I. Judgments entailed by one mans sin.
II. Judgments easily prepared for execution.
III. Judgments sent according to human preference.
IV. Judgments arrested by earnest prayer.
Davids choice
I. As the result of an awakened conscience.
II. As the revelation of a principle of Christian life. He left himself confidently with God.
III. As a picture of future doom to all. (J. Wolfendale.)
Davids choice of chastisements
Davids preference justified when we Consider--
1. The harsh judgments which men pronounce on each other.
2. The harsh treatment of the guilty who are in mens power.
3. The absence of sympathetic kindness in human warfare.
4. That when God punishes He does so in righteousness.
5. That in the treatment of the guilty God always shows mercy.
Lessons:
1. Submission to God,
2. Hopeful trust. (J. Wolfendale.)
God an emblem of the true minister
Let us look at God as representing every true minister of Jesus Christ.
I. Gods message was Divine. The gospel is a message from God. This is attested--
1. By the facts of history,
2. By its congruity with the spiritual constitution of men.
3. By the experience of thousands of every age who have felt it to be the power of God unto salvation.
II. Gods message was an appeal to choice. Advise thyself. Deliberate, choose for thyself. The gospel message is submitted to your choice.
1. You can accept it.
2. You can reject it.
III. Gods message was to be accounted for.
1. He was responsible for its delivery. So with every gospel minister, and woe be to him if he declares not the whole counsel of God.
2. David was responsible for its results. So are also the hearers of the gospel. (Homilist.)
Religious lessons of pestilence
I. Pestilences are striking witnesses to the majesty of Gods law.
II. Pestilences are striking illustrations of the moral connection between men. Epidemics run rapidly from one to another. No man can live alone to himself. Every one who comes near us is the better or the worse for our influence upon them.
III. Pestilences may be the agency for executing Divine judgments. Nowadays men hesitate to believe that there can be any connection between a nations sin and a nations suffering. With eye fixed upon the natural and physical laws and conditions out of which disease comes, men fail to see Him who overrules all physical conditions, and controls all laws. What, then, is the attitude which Christians should take in relation to epidemic disease 7
(1) We ought to cherish a reverent awe of God, the spirit that is becoming in times of storm and tempest, awe of Him who is Lord of the great things.
(2) We should seek by prayer, and in the spirit of penitence, for the removal of the chastening hand.
(3) We should ask for grace that we may be brave, brotherly, and self-denying, should disease come actually into our spheres.
(4) We should, with calm seriousness, inquire whether we are prepared to face the risks of disease, prepared to die, prepared to meet our God. (R. Tuck, B. A.)
Alternative judgments
The whole story is mysterious. We feel at each step that much is kept back from us.
1. The fault of the king is mysterious. It is not enough to say that there was pride and vainglory in his heart. If this were all, it might have made the act sinful in the sight of God, but it would not account for the view taken of the act either by the minister or by the historian. There are many things in Scripture, as there are many things in life, which we must leave in the hands of God.
2. The mode of his punishment is full of mystery. A choice of punishments is offered him; but the punishments are all national. Rulers sin and peoples suffer has passed into a proverb. Scripture and Providence are at one in this matter. On a kings edict of passion or foolishness may hang a nations misery or a nations dishonour. A kings caprice or a kings miscalculation may hand over a nation to a bloody and ruinous war of which it may be the occupation of a century to bear or repair the consequences.
3. The peculiarity of Davids penalty is the choice offered him. The day of Divine alternatives is not ended. Every example of a sin brought face to face with its suffering presents an aspect of choice as well as of compulsion. The mere question of confession or denial, with the consequences of either, is such an alternative in the case of individual wrongdoing. The adoption of this expedient rather than that, in the way of avoidance or mitigation of consequences, is an alternative. The way of bearing punishment, the language of regret or of hardness, the tone of submission or of defiance, most of all the spirit of repentance or of impenitence, is an alternative for the individual transgressor. The question of stopping or continuing a hopeless struggle, of accepting a defeat, of submitting to abduction, of desiring conditions of peace, or on the contrary, of persisting in warfare for the chance of a turn of fortune--the question of renewing a struggle, years or generations afterwards, on the plea of a hereditary title or a popular invitation--is an alternative, real or responsible, on the stage of kings and nations.
4. How shall we read the words, Let me now fall into the hand of the Lord? Is it a choice made? or is it a choice referred back to the offerer? Is it, I choose pestilence? or is it, Let God choose? So the Lord sent the pestilence upon Israel indicates perhaps on the part of our translators a preference of the former. I choose that punishment which has no human inflicter. But, whatever the application, the principle stands steadfast. In everything let me be in Gods hands. Anything which God inflicts is preferable to any suffering which comes through man. But if this be the force of Davids words considered as a choice, there is at least an equal interest in them regarded as a refusal to choose. Yes, let us love to live these lives absolutely under Gods direction. War, famine, pestilence--if He sees any one necessary, leave Him to choose. Let us not fall into the hands of man--our own, or any others. We are ill judges--worst of all for ourselves. Our mercies to ourselves are not Gods mercies. We are self-sparers as well as self-excusers. If we had our choice, no nerve would ever throb, no hair would ever turn grey. We should grow up, we should go to the grave, we should wake from the dust of the earth spoilt children--with all the irregularities, and all the selfishness, and all the unhappiness, which cling to and cluster round that name. What are we to one another? How does selfishness warp our judgments--selfish love first, then selfish fear. (Dean Vaughan.)
The choice of troubles
Who is there that has not wished that God would give him the choice of the evils which he had to suffer; and who is there that would not have been seriously embarrassed if that wish had been fulfilled? But, it may be said, the text does not support that view. Does it not?
1. David was very much troubled when the time for decision came: he was in a great strait.
2. His choice was more devout in form than in substance; for, had he chosen defeat in war, he would still have been in the hand of God.
3. It is highly probable that, after the choice was made, David was doubtful of its wisdom. We may consider--
I. The element of choice in the evils of life.
Two things are open to us here.
1. One relates to the measure of trouble we experience. By healthy habits, by obedience to the laws of our spiritual and our physical nature, by keeping within the lines of wisdom and virtue, by commending ourselves to the approval of man and also of God, we may materially reduce the measure of evil which otherwise we should endure.
2. The other relates to the kind of trouble we are called to face. It is often left to our choice to decide whether we will meet the dangers, the difficulties, the temptations, the trials of our condition in life, or those of the opposite condition--whether those of ignorance or of learning, of loneliness or of society, of obscurity or of conspicuousness and responsibility. It may be timidity or cowardice that inclines us to the one, and high-minded courage that incites us to the other; or it may be modesty and wisdom that urge us to the one, and nothing better than an unhallowed ambition, or even an exaggerated sense of importance, that allures to the other. Ii; behoves us, as we stand in front of the future, with our path in life before us, very earnestly to seek the guidance of God, that we may choose that course, the perils of which we may face with hope, the evils of which we shall endure with calmness and fortitude.
II. The working of the Divine hand in them. The measure and the nature of our troubles is uncertain. That they will come is as certain as anything can be. No good fortune, no sagacity, no caution will exclude them from the experience of life.
1. Our preference in regard to their form. Like David, we prefer to feel ourselves in the hand of God rather than in the hand of men. We feel that our burden is heavier when it is due to human carelessness, and heavier still when due to human heartlessness and malignity. The severest aggravation of trouble is where the evil that has been wrought is the work of some near relative or some familiar friend, or some old colleague from whom we had a right to expect quite opposite treatment (see Psa_55:12-14). We feel that if we are to have suffering or sorrow we should much prefer the unaccountable sickness, or the unavoidable loss, or the inevitable bereavement which we can refer at once to the ordinary will of God.
2. The truth we recognise when we consider it. As we think on this subject we realise that all trouble is ultimately of God.
(1) Much of it is penal, the just consequence of ill-doing, the outcome of those laws which originate in Divine holiness.
(2) Much of it is disciplinary; it is the pruning, the refining process of Him who is seeking spiritual fruit; it is the ordering of the wise and faithful Father of spirits (Heb_12:1-12).
(3) All of it is permissive. If the sparrow does not fall without the Divine permission, how much less does the obedient son or daughter suffer grief or pass through troublesome times or go down to death without the sanction of the present and watchful Lord. So that, whatever comes and whencesoever it comes, we are free to think and say, Thy will be done, Lord; the trial never comes to us when we are not in the hand of the Lord.
3. The attitude we should assume toward it. Even when we have to reproach ourselves, or even when we are obliged to condemn our neighbours or our ancestors as the immediate authors of our trouble, we may and we should accept it as that which comes in the providence of God.
(1) We should bow submissively to His will who (to say the least) suffers us to be tried as we are.
(2) We should seek from Him the sustaining strength which will empower us to bear all things unrepiningly and even cheerfully.
(3) We should have an open mind to perceive, and an open heart to welcome the practical lessons which our heavenly Father is desiring to teach us. (William Clarkson, B. A.)
Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord.--
Falling into the hand of the Lord
The doctrine is, that as sinners, as sinners before God, and as sinners towards each other, our highest hope is not in the incomplete and perverted mercy of men, but in the infinite mercy which is founded upon the infinite righteousness of God. We may perhaps help ourselves to a clearer understanding of this doctrine by first considering that it is better to fall into the hands of the highest class of men than into the hands of the lowest.
1. Take a legal case. In the first instance it may be brought before the local magistracy; but very possibly the result may be considered unsatisfactory by one party or the other, hence the case may be moved to the court above; there again dissatisfaction may be the result, and an appeal may be carried to the highest court in the land. The result even then may not be satisfactory; still by so much as the case has been carried to the highest tribunal and pronounced upon by the highest wisdom, there is strong ground to rest upon. Not only so, but there is a point beyond this; for by so much as a man wishes that there were yet another superior court to which an appeal might be made does he show how deeply graven upon the heart is the law that it is better to fall into the hands of the highest than into the hands of the lowest; that it is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men.
2. What is true in the law is equally true in all criticism.
3. Take the case of the young speaker. It will be for the advantage of such a man to be judged by the greatest orators which the country can supply. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Why is it better that the sinner should fall into the hand of God rather than into the hands of men
Good use might be made of the many pleasing considerations which arise in connection with Gods wisdom, Gods righteousness, and Gods perfect knowledge of facts; but we shall include all these in a higher answer, viz., because in His whole treatment of human sin God is constantly seeking not the destruction, but the salvation of the sinner. (J. Parker, D. D.)
David falling into the hand of God
We shall look at Davids exclamation here in three aspects.
I. As indicating what is a. Natural tendency in all souls. There is a strong propensity in all men to fall into the hand of others, giving up their judgment, freedom, individuality to others. This shows itself in the exercise of unbounded trust. Man is essentially dependent. Hence his existence is one of trust in others. This trust is the very base and bond of social life. Trusting others within certain limits is right and necessary, but when the principle carries us to the entire subjection of ourselves to our fellow-men, we have gone wrongly and ruinously.
II. As revealing the true spirit of life. Davids tendency to trust took the right direction.
1. His preference was right.
(1) God is our Owner.
(2) God is all-powerful in His character. There is everything in His character to command our unbounded trust, our entire surrender.
2. This preference is expedient. It is far better to fall into the hand of God than man.
(1) Unbounded trust in man must destroy your freedom. Such trust in God secures it.
(2) Unbounded trust in man pollutes and degrades the character. Such trust in God purifies and elevates it. He whom we most trust exerts the most influence on our characters.
(3) Unbounded trust in man must issue in the utmost disappointment and misery. Such trust in God leads to the highest blessedness.
III. As foreshadowing the inevitable doom of all. In one of two ways every man must fall into the hand of God.
1. Voluntarily, by the influence of His grace.
2. Compulsorily, by the force of justice. (Homilist.)
The hand of God and the hands of men
I. Davids strait.
II. The grounds of his choice.
III. Divine punishment and human punishment. Human punishment is necessarily to a great extent for self-protection, and therefore selfish. When the laws of society punish the crime of murder or of theft, it is primarily with the object of preventing the committal of more murders and more thefts. Gods laws have penalties attached to them, but when God punishes He seeks not the destruction of the sinner, but his healing and reformation. While mans punishments are in principle revengeful, or at best for the defence of society, Gods punishments are remedial and reformatory; and therefore it is better to fall into the hand of God than into the hands of men. Application:
1. God in human redemption.
2. Human legislation directed to the repression of wrong incomplete, because it can only reach the outward action. Gods laws deal with motives, and are therefore complete and perfect (1Sa_16:7; Heb_4:12). (Literary Churchman.)
Mans inhumanity
There is more mercy in the fang of a rattlesnake and in the tooth of a wolf than in the heart of men and women for a poor soul who has gone astray; and if she try to swim ashore and finally come up to the rock and get the tips of her fingers on the rock and try to climb up, then you will come out and with your hard heels smash the tips of her fingers until she falls off. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v12 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
Marg
(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 being caught by their swords
being caught by their swords
Here "their swords" represents death in battle. AT: "being killed by them in battle" (See: Metonymy)
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Yahweh's sword, that is, a plague in the land
Here the plague is spoken of as Yahweh's sword because the "sword" is a metonym for death. (See: Metonymy)
destroying throughout all the land
"killing people who live in every part of the land"
I should take to the one who sent me
The one who sent him was Yahweh. This can be stated explicitly. AT: "I should take to Yahweh who sent me" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
famine
adversary
sword
plague
angel
send
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.