There is considerable uncertainty as to the meaning of the words (ver. 3), "put the holy ark in the house," etc. (see Exposition). But whatever interpretation we give them, it is clear that Josiah intended the Levites to understand that he required them to render a different and a higher service than that of carrying the ark as a burden on their shoulders; they were to "serve now the Lord their God, and his people Israel;" they were to do this by "standing in the holy place," by "killing the Passover," and thus enable "their brethren to do according to the Word of the Lord." In other words, instead of the work of sacred porterage to which they had been accustomed, they were to render important services in the sanctuary; were to be instrumental in the keeping of a sacred feast by all their brethren; were to render valuable assistance in aiding them to carry out the commandments of the Lord. They were to give up the lower for the higher service, the mechanical one for that which was more spiritual; one that was no longer needed for that which was urgent; the comparatively unprofitable for that which was likely to be fruitful of devotion and piety. We thus judge -

I. THAT ALL WORK FOR GOD MAY BE GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE. Josiah could not have meant that the carrying of the ark was not "service." Although the words, as they stand in the third verse, certainly bear that construction, we conclude that he could not have intended them to have that significance. No devout Jew would have questioned the statement that the work of carrying the ark of the covenant under Divine commandment was an act of sacred service. Indeed, it matters not how humble or even slight and trivial be the work we do in the cause of God, so long as it is rendered

(1) cheerfully, and not of constraint or grudgingly

(2) faithfully, diligently, taking our part and carrying it out with loyalty and thoroughness;

(3) harmoniously, in concert with our fellow-labourers;

(4) religiously, devoutly, doing what we do as unto Christ, and not only as unto man; it is then good and sacred and acceptable unto God our Saviour.

"All works are good, and each is best
As most it pleases thee;
Each worker pleases when the rest
He serves in charity;
And neither work nor man unblest
Wilt thou permit to be." But there is another side to this truth. There are works which are to be preferred to others, if they can be rightly undertaken, because they are intrinsically better. Hence we urge -

II. THAT THERE IS WORK WHICH IS TO BE PREFERRED WHEN THE CHOICE IS OFFERED US.

1. The spiritual to the mechanical; e.g. leading in prayer or urging to religious decision or to deeper and fuller devotedness, (to be preferred) to the work of "the doorkeeper in the house of the Lord," good as that is in its time and way.

2. The practical to the speculative; e.g. doing some work of rescue or reformation rather than indulging in speculations as to the employments of the heavenly country, or trying to read the riddle of the Apocalypse.

3. The sympathetic to the argumentative. It may be well to demolish the arguments of the assailant of the faith; it is better to "visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction;' to carry consolation and hope to those who are ready to.faint or to despair. The logical man does well to argue, but the work of "the man who is a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest" is of a nobler, a Christlier kind.

4. The costly to the costless. No sum is too small for the treasury of the Lord, no word too simple for the sanctuary; yet is it a better thing to bring to Jesus Christ that which costs us something (2 Samuel 24:24) - the work which commands and requires our strength, the word on which we have spent patient and prayerful thought, the feeling which is a real expenditure of ourselves. - C.

I. THE NATURE AND QUALITY OF THE LAMENTATION.

1. Extensively. All Judah and Jerusalem.

2. Intensively. Bitter lamentation.

3. Protensively. Of long duration, "an ordinance in Israel."

II. THE CAUSE AND GROUND OF IT. The loss of a good leader whose life had been useful.

III. DOCTRINE. That faithful, active, and public-spirited men in the Church of God should not be laid in their graves without great lamentations. In replication I will show —

1. Negatively. On what account the death of good men is not to be lamented.

2. Positively. The true grounds and causes of such lamentation.(1) Because so much of the Spirit of God as dwelt in them, when amongst us, is now recalled and gathered up from this lower world. As it is a real loss to a company when any merchant withdraws a great stock he had running in trade, out of the bank; so certainly it is a great loss to the Church of God, when the precious gifts and graces of the Spirit, dwelling in the saints, are drawn out by death.(2) Because thereby a breach is made to let in the judgments of God upon the remnant that is left.(3) The beauty and ornaments of the places they lived in are defaced and removed by their death.(4) Because the propagation of religion is obstructed in the places from whence they are removed.(5) The consideration of the time in which good men die aggravates the loss, if it falls out, —

(a)In a declining state of religion.

(b)When the numbers of the godly are thinned and lessened.

(c)When the spring and succession of good men is obstructed.(6) When we consider what influence our sins and provocations have had upon those judgments and calamities. I look upon every good man, as a good book, lent by its owners for another to read, and transcribe the excellent notions and golden passages that are in it for his own benefit, that they may return with him when the owner shall call for his book again. But in case this excellent book shall be thrown into a corner, and no use made of it, it justly provokes the owner to take it away in displeasure.Application. This reproves —

1. The worst of men, such as secretly rejoice at the removal of such men.

2. The insensibleness of good men, who are apt too slightly to pass over such tremendous strokes of. God (Isaiah 57:1).

3. The very best of men, who though they do bewail and lament the loss of such men, yet they do not lament it in the due manner.

( John Flavel..)