Now then do it (ver. 18). Having resolved to transfer his allegiance, Abner here persuades the elders of Israel to make David king over the whole land; as they afterwards did (2 Samuel 5:1-3). A similar appeal may be addressed to others, urging them to submit to the royal authority of Christ, of whom David was a type (1 Samuel 2:10). Translated into New Testament language, it is, "We beseech you, on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). Consider -

I. WHAT YOU SHOULD DO. Jesus Christ is King, anointed and exalted to the right hand of God; he reigns in grace and righteousness in many hearts; but his kingdom is not yet fully revealed and universally extended on earth, and it cannot be set up "within you" except by your own consent. You must:

1. Receive him heartily as your King and Lord, your absolute Owner and supreme Ruler, as well as your Redeemer and Saviour; by a personal, inward, voluntary act; in the renunciation of whatever is opposed to his will, and the submission and surrender of your whole being to his direction and control. "Now be ye not stiff necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord" (2 Chronicles 30:8; Romans 6:13).

"Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours to make them thine."

2. Confess him openly, by uniting with his people, testifying your faith in him, and proclaiming his Name before men. "With the heart man believeth," etc. (Romans 10:10; 2 Corinthians 8:5). "Whosoever therefore shall confess me," etc. (Matthew 10:32).

3. Serve him loyally, by obeying his commandments, assisting his friends, resisting his foes, seeking his honour and the spread of his kingdom. "It is not enough that I should love the Lord myself alone; every heart must love him, and every tongue speak forth his praise."

II. WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT. "NOW then do it: for Jehovah hath spoken," etc.

1. It is the purpose of God that he should reign over you. "He must reign," either in mercy or in judgment.

2. It is the promise of God that through him you may be saved from your enemies - sin, Satan, death, and hell. "There is none other Name."

3. It has been your own desire in times past that he might be your King. "Ye sought for David both yesterday and the day before to be king over you: now then do it." Under the bitter oppression of the ruler chosen by yourselves, in view of the superior worth of "the man of God's choice," in weakness, fear, and misery, you have often said. "Oh for one glorious hour of him who, in the Name of the Lord of hosts, smote Israel's most formidable foe!" But your wishes led to no practical result. "Your goodness was as the morning cloud." And now your reason, conscience, and all that is best within you urge you to accept Christ as your King. Let your feelings be translated into definite and decisive action, without which they are worse than useless. "Now then do it." "Crown him Lord of all."

III. WHEN YOU SHOULD DO IT. Whatever reason exists for doing it at all should induce you to do it now. There are not a few who are persuaded of their duty, yet break the force of every appeal by delay and the intention of doing it at a future time. But:

1. The present is a most favourable opportunity. The King "waits to be gracious," and sends you the message of reconciliation. "Men and brethren, to you is the word of this salvation sent." "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 2:1, 2).

2. If you do it today, tomorrow and all your future days will be days of peace and happiness.

3. If you wait till tomorrow, it is probable that you will never do it. Your susceptibility to Divine influences will be lessened, your indisposition, which is the real cause of delay, will be increased; life is uncertain, probation is brief, the end is nigh. "Our gracious Ahasuerus (Esther 4:11) reacheth out the golden sceptre to all that have a hand of faith to lay hold of it; but then he shall take his iron mace or rod in his hand to bruise his enemies and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Say not, with the procrastinator, "To morrow" (Exodus 8:10); "Go thy way for this time" (Acts 24:25); for "the Holy Ghost saith, Today" (Hebrews 3:7). "'Cras! cras!' (Tomorrow! tomorrow!) is the cry of the raven. This is the thing that destroys many; while they are saying, 'Cras! cras!' suddenly the door is shut" (Augustine). "The man that procrastinates struggles ever with ruin" (Epictetus). "There is a circumscribed space of time appointed thee, which if thou dost not employ in making all calm and serene within, it will pass away and thou wilt pass away, and it never will return" (Marcus Antoninus, 2:4).

"Defer not till tomorrow to be wise;
Tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise." = - D.

The kingdom was to pass from the house of Saul to the house of David, and David was to be king "over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba." The thought is that kingdoms of an earthly kind change hands, and therefore they are to be regarded as belonging to things temporary and mutable, and not to things eternal and unchangeable. What hast thou that thou hast not received? By long use men come to entertain the idea of sole proprietorship, and thus the sense of monopoly increases. Our children are not ours, they are God's; our lives are not our own, they belong to the Creator; we have no, thing, except in the sense of stewardship and in the sense of involving responsibility for the use we make of it. It is well that men can only reign for a certain time; it, would be well if royalty could change its point of origin, so that human vanity might be checked and human ambition might be baffled in many a course. We are not to think of earthly kingdoms alone as meaning political sovereignities; we are to think of personal influence, institutional functions, and all arrangements made to meet the necessity of the present day; all these things must be changed in order to be purified; the direction may be altered in order that attention may be wakened; those who imagine themselves secure for ever must be shaken out of their security, that they may learn that there is no permanence but in God. The Lord reigneth. All men reign under Him, and are subject to His will. They only are happy who use the world as not abusing it, and who hold it with so light a hand that at any moment they can lay it down again.

(J. Parker, D. D.)