(18) Is not the Lord your God with you?--The proof appears in what follows. And hath he not?--Rather, and he hath given you rest (1Chronicles 22:9). He hath given the inhabitants of the land into mine hand.--The surrounding people, whose reduction is described in 1 Chronicles 18-20 (Comp. for the phrase, Joshua 2:24.) And the land is subdued before the Lord . . .--The chronicler, or his authority, thinks of passages like Numbers 32:22; Numbers 32:29, and Joshua 18:1. Verse 18. - The whole of this verse should have been suggestive of memories thrilling with interest. What David says here is equivalent to the declaration of the perfect fulfilment of the promises of nine hundred years ago. By faith of those very promises how many generations had lived! What journeyings, suspense, punishment, and struggle, the intervening centuries had witnessed! And now at last it is given to the lip of the aged David to pronounce the termination of a nation's prolonged conflict, its entrance into peace, and the fulfilment of the most impassioned wishes, ima-ginings, end prayers of the patriarchs, of Moses, and of a long line of the faithful. It was well for David that he could not foresee and did not know how near the culminating of a nation's glory and prosperity might be to its woeful fall and prolonged decay. The analogy that obtains in this respect between the history of an individual and of a nation is as remarkable as it should be instructive and turned to the uses of warning. 22:17-19 Whatever is done towards rendering the word of God generally known and attended to, is like bringing a stone, or an ingot of gold, towards erecting the temple. This should encourage us when we grieve that we do not see more fruit of our labours; much good may appear after our death, which we never thought of. Let us not then be weary of well doing. The work is in the hands of the Prince of peace. As he, the Author and Finisher of the work, is pleased to employ us as his instruments, let us arise and be doing, encouraging and helping one another; working by his rule, after his example, in dependence on his grace, assured that he will be with us, and that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.Is not the Lord your God with you?.... Blessing them with wealth and riches:and hath he not given you rest on every side? from all enemies within and without; so that they had peace and quietness, and leisure to attend the service he recommended to them: for he hath given the inhabitants of the land into my hand; meaning the rest of the Canaanites, who before were unsubdued, as even the Jebusites in Jerusalem: and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before his people; and the extent of it carried to its utmost bounds, as God had promised. |