They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets. All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found by them. Then Yahweh gave them rest all around.
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When Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed Yahweh’s altar that was before Yahweh’s porch. He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon; for they came to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep. They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets. All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found by them. Then Yahweh gave them rest all around.
Parallel Translations
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They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;
and that whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
They swore to Yahweh with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets.
All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found by them. Then Yahweh gave them rest all around.
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And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.
Show all 3 translations
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And they entered into the covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;
and that whosoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
And they swore unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with horns.
And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire; and He was found of them; and the LORD gave them rest round about.
Cross-references (52)
- 2 Chronicles 14:7 (v15) For he said to Judah, “Let’s build these cities, and make walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars. The land is yet before us,…
- Exodus 22:20 (v13) “He who sacrifices to any god, except to Yahweh only, shall be utterly destroyed.
- 2 Chronicles 15:12 (v15) They entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;
- Acts 24:14 (v12) But this I confess to you, that after the Way, which they call a sect, so I serve the God of our fathers, believing all things which are…
- Deuteronomy 10:12 (v12) Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve…
Show all 49 cross-references
- Deuteronomy 29:18 (v13) lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of…
- 2 Chronicles 23:16 (v12) Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king, that they should be Yahweh’s people.
- Isaiah 26:8 (v15) Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.
- 2 Corinthians 1:12 (v15) For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of…
- 2 Chronicles 15:4 (vv12, 15) But when in their distress they turned to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.
- 2 Chronicles 29:10 (vv12, 15) Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us.
- Deuteronomy 13:5-15 (v13) That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your God, who brought you…
- Deuteronomy 17:2-5 (v13) If there is found among you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in Yahweh…
- 1 Kings 18:40 (v13) Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!” They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the…
- Psalms 32:11 (v15) Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous! Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!
- Psalms 115:13 (v13) He will bless those who fear Yahweh, both small and great.
- Psalms 119:111 (v15) I have taken your testimonies as a heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
- Acts 26:22 (v13) Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the…
- Nehemiah 10:29 (vv12, 14) joined with their brothers, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the…
- Deuteronomy 4:29 (v12) But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Deuteronomy 26:11 (v15) You shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is…
- Deuteronomy 29:1 (v12) These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to…
- Deuteronomy 29:12 (v12) that you may enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God, and into his oath, which Yahweh your God makes with you today,
- Joshua 23:1 (v15) After many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,
- 1 Kings 8:48 (v12) if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you…
- 2 Kings 23:3 (v12) The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and…
- 2 Chronicles 15:2 (v15) and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you, while you are with him; and if…
- 2 Chronicles 15:6 (v15) They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God troubled them with all adversity.
- 2 Chronicles 29:36 (v15) Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced, because of that which God had prepared for the people; for the thing was done suddenly.
- 2 Chronicles 34:31-32 (v12) The king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies,…
- Nehemiah 5:13 (v14) Also I shook out my lap, and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that doesn’t perform this promise;…
- Nehemiah 8:9 (v15) Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, “Today is…
- Nehemiah 9:38 (v12) Yet for all this, we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal it.”
- Job 34:29 (v15) When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? He is over a nation or a man alike,
- Psalms 81:1-4 (v14) Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob! Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre…
- Psalms 119:106 (v15) I have sworn, and have confirmed it, that I will obey your righteous ordinances.
- Proverbs 3:17 (v15) Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace.
- Isaiah 45:19 (v15) I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh,…
- Jeremiah 29:12-13 (v12) You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me…
- Jeremiah 50:5 (v12) They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting…
- 2 Corinthians 8:5 (v12) This was not as we had expected, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God.
- Philippians 1:23 (v15) But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
- Revelation 20:12 (v13) I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of…
- Genesis 19:11 (v13) They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the…
- Exodus 12:29 (v13) At midnight, Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of…
- 2 Chronicles 23:16-21 (v15) Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king, that they should be Yahweh’s people. All the people went to the…
- Job 3:19 (v13) The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.
- Job 34:19 (v13) He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.
- Revelation 6:15 (v13) The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the…
49 distinct cross-references across this passage (52 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 These were the words of their covenant, which commanded…
These were the words of their covenant, which commanded all idolaters to be put to death, according to the Law of God, Deut. 13:5, 9, 15.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–15 2Ch 15:12 And they entered into a covenant to…
2Ch 15:12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
Ver. 12. And they entered into a covenant.] As well knowing the fickleness of their own hearts, they do hereby think good to bind them to the good abearance; a commendable practice, by holy vows to bind ourselves to the performance of bounden duties.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15 They entered into a covenant; they engaged themselves by…
They entered into a covenant; they engaged themselves by a serious and solemn covenant before the Lord and this great assembly.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–15 And they entered into a covenant,.... Asa and all…
And they entered into a covenant,.... Asa and all his people; that is, as Piscator remarks, they went between the pieces of the calf cut asunder, for the confirmation of the covenant, see Jer 34:18,
to seek the Lord God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soul; to serve and worship him most truly, sincerely, and cordially.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 15 Into covenant - The matter of this covenant was…
Into covenant - The matter of this covenant was nothing but what they were before obliged to. And tho' no promise could lay any higher obligation upon them, than they were already under, yet it would help to increase their sense of the obligation, and to arm them against temptations. And by joining all together in this, they strengthened the hands of each other
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v12 Verse 12. They entered into a covenant] The covenant…
Verse 12. They entered into a covenant] The covenant consisted of two parts:
1. We will seek the God of our fathers with all our heart, and with all our soul.
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2. Whosoever, great or small, man or woman, will not worship the true God, and serve him alone, shall be put to death. Thus no toleration was given to idolatry, so that it must be rooted out: and that this covenant might be properly binding, they confirmed it with an oath; and God accepted them and their services.
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 vv13, 15 2Ch 15:13. That whosoever would not seek the Lord…
2Ch 15:13. That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel — Would either worship other gods, or refuse to join with them in the worship of the true God; that was either an obstinate idolater, or an obstinate atheist, should be put to death — Which was not a new law of their own making, but an order to put in execution the law of God to this purpose, contained Deu 18:2, &c., which, if it had been duly executed in former times, would have kept the land clear of those many abominable idols which were found in and brought God’s wrath upon it: compare Heb 10:28. But though they might do well in executing the sentence of the law upon idolaters, this ought not to be pleaded by any persons professing Christianity as a precedent for persecuting any of their fellow-Christians, much less for putting them to death who may happen to differ from them in any point of doctrine, or mode of worship; because all Christians, as such, however they may disagree as to some lesser points, yet worship one and the same living and true God; and, added to this, the spirit of the gospel is very different from that of the Jewish law: see Luk 9:55. Nor may we, under our mild dispensation, attempt to compel by force any man to become religious. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
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 Solemn renewals of the original covenant which God made…
Solemn renewals of the original covenant which God made with their fathers in the wilderness Exo 24:3-8 occur from time to time in the history of the Jews, following upon intervals of apostasy. This renewal in the reign of Asa is the first on record. The next falls 300 years later in the reign of Josiah. There is a third in the time of Nehemiah (see the marginal references). On such occasions, the people bound themselves by a solem oath to observe all the directions of the Law, and called down God’s curse upon them if they forsook it.
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 vv12, 13, 15 He went. Hebrew and Septuagint, "They proceeded, according to…
He went. Hebrew and Septuagint, "They proceeded, according to the covenant, to seek." (Haydock) --- They swore upon the altar, or passed between the divided victims, Genesis xv. 9, 17. (Calmet) --- This solemn act was usual, and more necessary in times of trouble. (Menochius)
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).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12–13 12. They entered into a covenant — Compare a…
12. They entered into a covenant — Compare a like event in the time of Josiah, 2Ch_34:31; 2Ki_23:3; and in the time of Nehemiah, Neh_10:28-29.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–15 12. they entered into a covenant] Cp. 2Ch_29:10; 2Ki_23:3.
12. they entered into a covenant] Cp. 2Ch_29:10; 2Ki_23:3.
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 vv12–15 (12) And they entered into a (the) covenant.—Jer_34:10. The…
(12) And they entered into a (the) covenant.—Jer_34:10. The phrase means that they bound themselves by an oath (2Ch_15:14). Comp. Neh_10:30.
To seek the Lord . . . with all their heart . . .—See the same phrase in Deu_4:29.
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 vv12–15 They entered into a covenant. For the original, see…
They entered into a covenant. For the original, see Exo_24:6-8; Deu_4:29; for two other solemn renewals of it, see 2Ki_23:1-3; 2Ch_34:29-33; where, however, the stringent engagement of the following verse, though sufficiently to be inferred, is not notified. To seek; Hebrew, vwOrd (for similar use of l, with infinitive after, etc., see Neh_10:30; Jer_34:10)
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 v12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the…
2Ch_15:12-15
And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers.
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The covenant renewed
Entering into a covenant is what we name a revival; they made it a national act, we separate it entirely from political affairs.
I. The preparations for revival.
1. The persons who led. A faithful prophet and an obedient king. Of Azariah we know nothing beyond the short record of this chapter. This suggests that a man is important to the world only for the work he does. The king was ready to learn from this obscure prophet and to lead the people to consecration. Happy the pastor who finds the wealth, authority, and zeal of his Church willing to receive the sacred message humbly from his lips and faithfully lead where he points the way.
2. The truths they used. The same that inspire every true revival (verse 2). Divine faithfulness, human responsibility, mercy for the penitent, punishment for the hardened.
II. The revival. In this blessed work there was--
1. Repentance.
2. Atonement (verse 11).
3. Consecration.
III. The joy of reconciliation (verse 15). Lessons:
1. The reformer must begin at his own house.
2. Service for God may cost pain.
3. The true leader is called of God.
4. Every true leader is a rallying-point for others (verse 9). (Monday Club Sermons.)
A revival
I. We see here that the heart of a revival lies in a renewal of the covenant of the Church with God. An awakened Church is the pioneer of an awakened world,
2. A second feature in this ancient revival of religion was a public proclamtion of a revived faith before the world. Religious men are too much in earnest to be still about it. They are moved by a great power. It will express itself as becomes a great power. It is the instinct of religious faith to bear its witness to the world.
III. The old Jewish revival was attended with a great influx of converts from without. So commonly works a pure revival upon the world. Very rare is the exception in which the heart of the world does not respond to the heart of the Church.
IV. A fourth feature of a true revival of religion is a thorough reformation of public and private morals. To put away idolatrous worship was what we should call a reformation in morals. Idolatry was immorality concentrated in its most hideous forms. No religious zeal could have been genuine in a monarch which did not sweep the land clean of them.
V. Such awakenings are often followed by periods of temporal prosperity. The Lord gave them rest round about. No other civilising power equals that of true religion. It never hurts a man for any of the right uses of this world to make a Christian of him. (A. Phelps.)
A revival: an imperious necessity
The text gives an account of the ancient revival of religion under King Asa. Other revivals are portrayed by the sacred writers. From these we learn--
I. That revivals are by no means new things. Nor are they things of modern invention.
II. That the progress of religion is not in a uniform steady line.
III. That revivals of religion ordinarily commence in humble and obscure ways, and are ordinarily helped on by the humblest instrumentality.
IV. That they are ordinarily accompanied by a great deal of what people are pleased to term excitement.
V. That true revival of religion are marked by marvellous transformations of character and reformations in the life. (G. E. Reed.)
And all Judah rejoiced at the oath.
Judahs solemn engagement
I. The solemn engagement into which they entered, and the temper they manifested therein.
1. They bound themselves to nothing new. It was to seek the Lord God of their fathers.
2. They swore to do this.
3. They entered into this engagement with great sincerity and with great cheerfulness.
II. The happy consequence of judahs solemn engagement. The Lord was found of them. (Job Orton.)
And He was found of them.--The search that always finds:--
I. The seeking. The highest bliss is to find God, the next highest is to seek Him.
1. Our text lays emphasis on the whole-heartedness of the peoples seeking after God. One reason why the great mass of professing Christians make so little of their religion is because they are only half-hearted in it. If you divide a river into two streams the force of each is less than half the power of the original current; and the chances are that you will make a stagnant marsh where there used to be a flowing stream. All in all or not at all is the rule for life in all departments.
2. They sought; Him with all their heart. That does not mean that there are to be no other desires, for it is a great mistake to pit religion against other things which are meant to be its instruments and its helps.
3. The one token of seeking God is casting out idols. There must be detachment if there is to be attachment. If some climbing plant, for instance, has twisted itself round the unprofitable thorns in the hedge, the gardener, before he can get it to go up the support that it is meant to encircle, has carefully to detach it from the stays to which it has wantonly clung, taking care that in the process he does not break its tendrils and destroy its power of growth. The heart must be emptied of base liquors if the new wine of the kingdom is to be poured into it.
II. The finding which crowns such seeking.
1. Anything is possible rather than that a whole-hearted search after God should be a vain search. For there are in that search two seekers--God is seeking for us more truly than we are seeking for Him.
2. This is the only direction for a mans desires and aims in which disappointment is an impossibility.
3. Our wisdom is to make this search. What would you think of a company of gold-seekers, hunting about in some exhausted claim for hypothetical grains--ragged, starving--and all the while in the next gully were lying lumps of gold for the picking up? And that figure fairly represents what people do and suffer who seek for good and do not seek after God.
II. The rest which ensues on finding God. We have no immunity from toil and conflict, but disturbance around is a very small matter if there be a better thing--rest within. A vessel with an outer casing and a layer of air between may be kept at a temperature above that of the external atmosphere. So we may have conflict and strife, and yet a better rest than that of my text may be ours. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
Happy earnestness
This verse represents well the happy combination of sacrament and life. It brings before us whole-heartedness for God, with special regard to two of its features.
I. Joy. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, etc. A wholeness of devotedness to God is consistent with every department of activity and every form of interest which is not in itself sinful. It is as a soul to the body of all secular occupation, however absorbing. The wide onward lift of the tidal wave in mid-ocean does not more interfere with the commerce of the countries, the heightening sun of the springtime does not more embarrass the progress of the land over which it smiles, than the full-hearted service of God breaks in upon the lawful interests of a man among the engagements of his every-day existence. This joy implies--
1. Enthusiasm. This may be reckoned the atmosphere which surrounds the joy of whole-heartedness for God.
2. Willingness. A wide compliance with a competent and kindly force that presses on us from without. Predominant willingness contributes largely to a Christian mans joy.
3. Rightness. The approval of conscience.
4. Undividedness of affection.
II. Prosperousness. And He was found of them: and Jehovah gave them rest round about. This signifies--
1. That we find what we seek. There are neighbourhoods where the mists lie so often and so long upon the grand outlines of the landscape, that a clear day is in some sense a day of discovery, of finding, though nothing is there then which was not there always. There have been those who for years have looked through a filmy dimness of eyesight upon those they loved, whose movements were to them like the movements of featureless shades; when the films were one day purged from the eyes was it not almost more than a figure of speech they spoke when they said they had found those loved faces and forms again? So this energising of the heart for God restores vision, and vision restores reality. God in Christ becomes near.
2. That we miss much that we had hitherto found. Hostile movements from around are comparatively allayed, and the hush that has fallen upon these reflects itself upon the soul in restfulness. (J. A. Kerr Bain, M.A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v15 2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
THE SEARCH THAT ALWAYS FINDS
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2Ch 15:15.
These words occur in one of the least familiar passages of the Old Testament. They describe an incident in the reign of Asa, who was the grandson of Solomon’s foolish son Rehoboam, and was consequently the third king of Judah after the secession of the North. He had just won a great victory, and was returning with his triumphant army to Jerusalem, when there met him a prophet, unknown otherwise, who poured out fiery words, exhorting Asa and his people to cleave to God and to cast away their idols. Asa, encouraged by the prophetic words of this bold speaker for God, screwed himself up, and was able to induce also his people, to effect a great religious reformation. He made a clean sweep of the idols, and gathered the sadly-dwindled nation together in Jerusalem, where they renewed the covenant with the Lord God of their fathers. The text sums up their work and its result. ‘They sought Him with their whole heart, and He was found of them; and the Lord gave them rest round about.’ The words express in simplest form what should be the chief desire of our hearts and occupation of our lives, and what will then be our peaceful experience. We shall best bring out these points if we take the words just as they lie, and consider the seeking, the finding which certainly crowns that seeking, and the rest which ensues on finding God.
I. The seeking.
Now, of course, there is no doubt that what the chronicler meant to describe by the phrase, ‘seeking the Lord,’ was largely the mere external acts of ritual worship, the superficial turning from idols to a purely external recognition of God as the God of Israel. But while there may have been nothing deeper than a change in the nominal object of nominal worship, so far as many were concerned, no doubt a very real turning of heart to God underlay the external change in many other cases, of which the destruction of idols and the renewed observance of the form of Jehovah’s worship were the consequence and sign. That turning of mind, will, and affection towards God must be ours if we are to be among those wise and happy seekers who are sure to find that which-or rather Him whom-they seek and to rest in Him whom they find. That search is not after a lost treasure, nor does it imply ignorance of where its object is to be found. We seek that which we know, and which we may be assured of finding. Therefore there need be no tremors of uncertainty in our quest, and the blessedness of the search is as real as, though different from, the blessedness of the possession which ends it. The famous saying which prefers the search after, to the possession of truth, is more proud than wise; but the comparison which it institutes is so far true that there is a joy in the aspiration after and the efforts towards truth only less joyous than that which attends its attainment. But truth divorced from God is finite and may pall, become familiar and lose its radiance, like a gathered flower; and hence the preference for the search is intelligible though one-sided. But God does not pall, and the more we find Him the more we delight in Him; the highest bliss is to find Him, the next highest is to seek Him; and, since seeking and finding Him are never wholly separate, these kindred joys blend their lights in the experience of all His children.
But our text lays emphasis on the whole-heartedness of the people’s seeking of God. The search must be earnest and engaged in with the whole energy of our whole being, if any blessing is to come from it. Why! one reason why the great mass of professing Christians make so little of their religion is because they are only half-hearted in it. If you divide a river into two streams the force of each is less than half the power of the original current; and the chances are that you will make a stagnant marsh where there used to be a flowing stream. ‘All in all, or not at all,’ is the rule for life, in all departments. It is the rule in daily business. A man that puts only half himself in his profession or trade, while the other half of his wits is gone woolgathering and dreaming, is predestined from all eternity to fail. The same is true about our religion. If you and I attend to it as a kind of by-occupation; if we give the balance of our time and the superfluity of our energy, after we have done a hard day’s work-say, an hour upon a Sunday-to seeking God, and devote all the rest of the week to seeking worldly prosperity, it is no wonder if our religion languishes, and is mainly a matter of forms, as it is with such hosts of people that call themselves Christians.
Oh! dear brethren, I do believe there is more unconscious unreality in the average Christian man’s endeavour to be a better Christian than there is in almost anything else in the world:-
‘One foot on sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.’
That is why so many of us know nothing of a progressive strengthening of our faith, and an increasing conquest of ourselves, and a firmer grasp of God, and a fuller realisation of the blessedness of walking in His ways.
‘They sought Him with all their heart.’ That does not mean, remember, that there are to be no other desires, for it is a great mistake to pit religion against other things which are meant to be its instruments and its helps. We are not required to seek nothing else in order to seek God wholly. He demands no impossible and fantastic detachment of ourselves from the ordinary and legitimate occupations, affections, and duties of human life, but He does ask that the dominant desire after Him should be powerful enough to express itself through all our actions, and that we should seek for God in them, and for them in God.
Whilst thus we are to give the right interpretation to that whole-heartedness in our seeking God, on which the text lays stress, do not let us forget that the one token of it which the text specifies is, casting out our idols. There must be detachment if there is to be attachment. If some climbing plant, for instance, has twisted itself round the unprofitable thorns in the hedge, the gardener, before he can get it to go up the support that it is meant to encircle, has carefully to detach it from the stays to which it has wantonly clung, taking care that in the process he does not break its tendrils and destroy its power of growth. So, to train our souls to cleave to God, and to grow up round the great Stay that is provided for us, there is needed, as an essential part of the process, the voluntary, conscious, conscientious, and constant guarding of ourselves from the vagrancies of our desires, which send out their shoots away from Him; and when the objects of these become idols, then there is nothing for it but that, like Asa and his people, we should hew them to pieces and make a bonfire of them; and then renew our covenant before God. I desire to press that upon you and upon myself. The heart must be emptied of baser liquors, if the new wine of the Kingdom is to be poured into it.
True it is, of course-and thank God for it!-that the most powerful agent in effecting that detachment of ourselves from lower things is our fruition of higher. It is when God comes into the temple that Dagon falls on the threshold. It is when a new affection begins to spring in the heart that old loves are thrust out of it. But whilst that is true, it is also true that the two processes run on simultaneously; and that whilst, on the one hand, if we are ever to overcome our love of the world it must be through the love of God, on the other hand, if we are ever to be confirmed in a whole-hearted love of God, it must be through our conquest of our love of the world. ‘Unite my heart to fear Thy name’ was the profound prayer of the old Psalmist; and the ‘heart,’ according to Old Testament usage, is the central fountain from which flow all the streams of conscious life. To seek Him with the whole heart is to engage the whole self in the quest, and that is the only kind of seeking which has the certainty of success.
II. The finding which crowns such seeking.
‘He was found of them.’ Yes; anything is possible rather than that a whole-hearted search after God should be a vain search. For there are, in that case, two seekers-God is seeking for us more truly than we are seeking for Him. And if the mother is seeking her child, and the child its mother, it will be a very wide desert where they will not meet. ‘The Father seeketh such to worship Him,’ that is-the divine activity is going about the world, searching for the heart that turns to Him, and it cannot but be that they that seek Him shall find Him, or ‘shall be found of Him.’ Open the windows, and you cannot keep out the sunshine; open your lungs and you cannot keep out the air. ‘In Him we live and move and have our being,’ and if our desires turn, however blindly, to Him, and are accompanied with the appropriate action, heaven and earth are more likely to rush to ruin than such a searching to be frustrated of its aim.
Brethren! is there anything else in the world of which you can say, ‘Seek, and ye shall find’? You, with white hairs on your heads, have you found anything else in which the chase was sure to result in the capture; in which capture was sure to yield all that the hunter had wished? There is only one direction for a man’s desires and aims, in which disappointment is an impossibility. In all other regions the most that can be promised is ‘Seek, and perhaps you will find’; and, when you have found, perhaps you will feel that the prize was not worth the finding. Or it is, ‘Seek, and possibly you will find; and after you have found and kept for a little while, you will lose.’ Though it may be
‘Better to have loved and lost,
Than never to have loved at all,’
a treasure that slips out of our fingers is not the best treasure that we can search for. But here the assurance is, ‘Seek, and ye shall find; and shall never lose. Find, and you shall always possess.’
What would you think of a company of gold-seekers, hunting about in some exhausted claim, for hypothetical grains, ragged, starving-and all the while in the next gully were lying lumps of gold for the picking up? And that figure fairly represents what people do and suffer who seek for good and do not seek for God.
III. The rest which ensues on finding God.
‘The Lord gave them rest round about.’ We believe that the Jewish nation was under special supernatural guidance, so that national adherence to the Law was always followed by external prosperity. That is not, of course, the case with us. But which is the better thing, ‘rest round about’ or rest within? We have no immunity from toil or conflict. Seeking God does not cover our heads from the storm of external calamities, nor arm our hearts against the darts and daggers of many a pain, anxiety, and care, but disturbance around is a very small matter if there be a better thing, rest within.
Do you remember who it was that said, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation . . . but in Me ye shall have peace’? Then we have, as it were, two abodes-one, as far as regards the life of sense, in the world of sense-another, as far as regards the inmost self, which may, if we will, be in Christ. A vessel with an outer casing and a layer of air between it and the inner will keep its contents hot. So we may have round us the very opposite of repose, and, if God so wills, let us not kick against His will; we may have conflict and stir and strife, and yet a better rest than that of my text may be ours. ‘Rest round about’ is sometimes good and sometimes bad. It is often bad, for it is the people that ‘have no changes’ who most usually ‘do not fear God.’ But rest within, that is sure to come when a man has sought with all his desire for God, whom he has found in all His fullness, is only good and best of all.
We all know, thank God! in worldly matters and in inferior degree, how blessed and restful it is when some strong affection is gratified, some cherished desire fulfilled. Though these satisfactions are not perpetual, nor perfect, they may teach us what a depth of blessed and calm repose, incapable of being broken by any storms or by any tasks, will come to and abide with the man whose deepest love is satisfied in God, and whose most ardent desires have found more than they sought for in Him. Be sure of this, dear friends! that if we do thus seek, and thus find, it is not in the power of anything ‘that is at enmity with joy’ utterly to ‘abolish or destroy’ the quietness of our hearts. ‘Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.’ They who thus repose will have peace in their hearts, even whilst tasks and temptations, changes and sorrows, disturb their outward lives. ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation.’ Be it so; it may be borne with submission and thankfulness if in Christ we have peace.
Thus we may have the peace of God, rest in and from Him, entering into us, and in due time, by His gracious guidance and help, we shall enter into eternal rest. Whilst to seek is to find Him, in a very deep and blessed sense, even in this life; in another aspect all our earthly life may be regarded as seeking after Him, and the future as the true finding of Him. That future will bring to those whose hearts have turned from the shows and vanities of time to God a possession of Him so much fuller than was experienced here that the lesser discoveries and enjoyments of Him which are experienced here, scarcely deserve in comparison to be called by the same name. So my text may be taken, as in its first part, a description of the blessed life here-’They sought Him with all their heart’-and in its second, as a shadowy vision of the yet more blessed life hereafter, ‘He was found of them, and the Lord gave them rest round about,’ as well as within, in the land of peace, where sorrow and sighing, and toil and care, shall pass from memory; and they that warred against us shall be far away.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 14 with all their heart and with all their soul
with all their heart and with all their soul
Together, these two phrases form an idiomatic expression that refers to a person's entire being. AT: "with all their beings" or "wholeheartedly" (See: Idiom and Doublet)
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be put to death
This can be stated in active form. AT: "should die" (See: Active or Passive)
whether the person was small or great
Possible meanings are 1) a person's importance within the community is spoken of as if the person were small or great. AT: "whether the person was important or not" or 2) a young person is spoken of as if he were small and an old person is spoken of as if he were great. AT: "whether the person was young or old" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
covenant
heart
soul
die
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.