1 Samuel 13:13-14 And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly: you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you… I. IT IS PLAIN BY A REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT THAT THE TITLE "AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART" WAS ONLY COMPARATIVE, NOT ABSOLUTE. Meant that, by the side of Saul, David was the man who attracted favour and confidence of God. The faith by which he walked with God; gained the victory over Goliath; became at all worthy to be God's vicegerent; remained unconquered, though not unhurt, through many a defeat and fall, through a life-long struggle. II. TITLE WAS GIVEN HIM IN EARLY DAYS, BEFORE HIS LIFE HAD BECOME OVERCAST WITH THE CLOUD OF SIN AND ERROR. "The Lord hath sought Him a man," etc. And when God found him he was still the David of the 23rd Psalm. Do not say that God did not love him after his fall, or did not give him large praise until his death, and after his death. But he is certainly never called the man after God's own heart again. III. DAVID'S REPENTANCE WAS FAR MORE DEEP THAN APPEARS ON THE SURFACE OF THE NARRATIVE. How deep and true it was we know from 51st Psalm, which has supplied so many millions of penitent souls with very words they wanted. IV. IT IS MOST NECESSARY TO BEAR IN MIND, IN CONSIDERING THE CAREER OF DAVID, THE SEVERITY OF PUNISHMENT WHICH FOLLOWED UPON DAVID'S SIN. Let anyone look at David's old age, and say whether the justice of God is not an inexorable and an awful thing. For every sin there is forgiveness, but for all that it may be that every sin leaves its mark, its effect for ill. (R. Winterbotham, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. |
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