1. Before the days of Saul, Israel had been brought very low; during his
government it had suffered from internal strife, and his reign was closed by an
overwhelming disaster at Gilboa. David found himself the possessor of a
tottering throne, troubled with the double evil of faction at home and invasion
from abroad. He traced at once the evil to its true source, and began at the
fountainhead. His were the politics of piety, which after all are the wisest
and most profound. He knew that the displeasure of the Lord had brought
calamity upon the nation, and to the removal of that displeasure he set himself
by earnest prayer. O God, thou hast cast us off. Thou hast treated us as
foul and offensive things, to be put away; as useless dead boughs, to be torn
away from the tree which they disfigure. To be cast off by God is the worst
calamity that can befall a man or a people; but the worst form of it is when
the person is not aware of it and is indifferent to it. When the divine
desertion causes mourning and repentance, it will be but partial and temporary.
When a cast-off soul sighs for its God it is not indeed cast off at all. Thou hast scattered us. David clearly sees the fruits of the divine anger.
Whoever might be the secondary agent of these disasters, he beholds the Lord’s
hand as the prime moving cause, and pleads with the Lord concerning the matter.
These first two verses, with their depressing confession, must be regarded as
greatly enhancing the power of the faith which in the later verses rejoices in
better days, through the Lord’s gracious return unto his people. Thou hast been displeased. Had we pleased thee, thou wouldst have pleased us; but as
we have walked contrary to thee, thou hast walked contrary to us. O turn thyself to us again. Forgive the sin and smile once more; turn us to thee,
turn thou to us. Some read it, “Thou wilt
turn to us again,” and it makes but slight
difference which way we take it, for a true-hearted prayer brings a blessing so
soon that it is no presumption to consider it as already obtained. There was
more need for God to turn to his people than for Judah’s troops to be brave, or
Joab and the commanders wise. God with us is better than strong battalions; but
if he withdraw his presence we tremble at the fall of a leaf.
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