211 In the days of David they were short of food for three years, year after year; and David went before the Lord for directions. And the Lord said, On Saul and on his family there is blood, because he put the Gibeonites to death. 2 Then the king sent for the Gibeonites; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but were the last of the Amorites, to whom the children of Israel had given an oath; but Saul, in his passion for the children of Israel and Judah, had made an attempt on their lives:) 3 So David said to the Gibeonites, What may I do for you? how am I to make up to you for your wrongs, so that you may give a blessing to the heritage of the Lord? 4 And the Gibeonites said to him, It is not a question of silver and gold between us and Saul or his family; and it is not in our power to put to death any man in Israel. And he said, Say, then, what am I to do for you? 5 And they said to the king, As for the man by whom we were wasted, and who made designs against us to have us completely cut off from the land of Israel, 6 Let seven men of his family be given up to us and we will put an end to them by hanging them before the Lord in Gibeon, on the hill of the Lord. And the king said, I will give them. 7 But the king did not give up Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the Lord's oath made between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul. 8 But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Saul to whom Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had given birth; and the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whose father was Adriel, the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: 9 And he gave them up to the Gibeonites, and they put them to death, hanging them on the mountain before the Lord; all seven came to their end together in the first days of the grain-cutting, at the start of the cutting of the barley.
10 And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took haircloth, placing it on the rock as a bed for herself, from the start of the grain-cutting till rain came down on them from heaven; and she did not let the birds of the air come near them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. 11 And news was given to David of what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, one of Saul's wives, had done. 12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had taken them away secretly from the public place of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had put them, hanging up the bodies there on the day when they put Saul to death in Gilboa: 13 And he took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from that place; and they got together the bones of those who had been put to death by hanging. 14 And they put them with the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the resting-place of Kish, his father, in Zela in the country of Benjamin; they did all the king had given them orders to do. And after that, God gave ear to their prayers for the land.
15 And the Philistines went to war again with Israel; and David went down with his people, and while they were at Gob they had a fight with the Philistines: 16 And there came against David one of the offspring of the Rephaim, whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, and having a new sword, he made an attempt to put David to death. 17 But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to his help, and, turning on the Philistine, gave him his death-blow. Then David's men took an oath, and said, Never again are you to go out with us to the fight, so that you may not put out the light of Israel.
18 Now after this there was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Sibbecai the Hushathite put to death Saph, one of the offspring of the Rephaim. 19 And again there was war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan, the son of Jair the Beth-lehemite, put to death Goliath the Gittite, the stem of whose spear was like a cloth-worker's rod. 20 And again there was war at Gath, where there was a very tall man, who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on his hands and six toes on his feet; he was one of the offspring of the Rephaim. 21 And when he was purposing to put shame on Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei, David's brother, put him to death. 22 These four were of the offspring of the Rephaim in Gath; and they came to their end by the hands of David and his servants.
221 And David made a song to the Lord in these words, on the day when the Lord made him free from the hands of all his haters, and from the hand of Saul:
2 And he said, The Lord is my Rock, my walled town, and my saviour, even mine; 3 My God, my Rock, in him will I put my faith; my breastplate, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my safe place; my saviour, who keeps me safe from the violent man. 4 I will send up my cry to the Lord, who is to be praised; so will I be made safe from those who are against me. 5 For the waves of death came round me, and the seas of evil put me in fear; 6 The cords of hell were round me: the nets of death came on me. 7 In my trouble my voice went up to the Lord, and my cry to my God: my voice came to his hearing in his holy Temple, and my prayer came to his ears. 8 Then the earth was moved with a violent shock; the bases of heaven were moved and shaking, because he was angry. 9 There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it. 10 The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and it was dark under his feet. 11 And he went through the air, seated on a storm-cloud: going quickly on the wings of the wind. 12 And he made the dark his tent round him, a mass of waters, thick clouds of the skies. 13 Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and coals of fire. 14 The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out. 15 And he sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled. 16 Then the deep beds of the sea were seen, and the bases of the world were uncovered, because of the Lord's wrath, because of the breath of his mouth. 17 He sent from on high, he took me, pulling me out of great waters. 18 He made me free from my strong hater, from those who were against me, because they were stronger than I. 19 They came on me in the day of my trouble: but the Lord was my support. 20 He took me out into a wide place; he was my saviour because he had delight in me. 21 The Lord gives me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean before him. 22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not been turned away in sin from my God. 23 For all his decisions were before me, and I did not put away his laws from me. 24 And I was upright before him, and I kept myself from sin. 25 Because of this the Lord has given me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean in his eyes. 26 On him who has mercy you will have mercy; to the upright you will be upright; 27 He who is holy will see that you are holy; but to the man whose way is not straight you will be a hard judge. 28 For you are the saviour of those who are in trouble; but your eyes are on men of pride, to make them low. 29 For you are my light, O Lord; and the Lord will make the dark bright for me. 30 By your help I have made a way through the wall which was shutting me in: by the help of my God I have gone over a wall. 31 As for God, his way is all good: the word of the Lord is tested; he is a safe cover for all those who put their faith in him. 32 For who is God but the Lord? and who is a Rock but our God? 33 God puts a strong band about me, guiding me in a straight way. 34 He makes my feet like roes' feet, and puts me on high places. 35 He makes my hands expert in war, so that a bow of brass is bent by my arms. 36 You have given me the breastplate of your salvation, and your mercy has made me great. 37 You have made my steps wide under me, so that my feet make no slip. 38 I go after my haters and overtake them; not turning back till they are all overcome. 39 I have sent destruction on them and given them wounds, so that they are not able to get up: they are stretched under my feet. 40 For I have been armed by you with strength for the fight: you have made low under me those who came out against me. 41 By you their backs are turned in flight, so that my haters are cut off. 42 They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer. 43 Then they were crushed as small as the dust of the earth, stamped down under my feet like the waste of the streets. 44 You have made me free from the fightings of my people; you have made me the head of the nations: a people of whom I had no knowledge will be my servants. 45 Men of other countries will, with false hearts, put themselves under my authority: from the time when my name comes to their ears, they will be ruled by me. 46 They will be wasted away, they will come out of their secret places shaking with fear. 47 The Lord is living; praise be to my Rock, and let the God of my salvation be honoured: 48 It is God who sends punishment on my haters, and puts peoples under my rule. 49 He makes me free from my haters: I am lifted up over those who come up against me: you have made me free from the violent man. 50 Because of this I will give you praise, O Lord, among the nations, and will make a song of praise to your name. 51 Great salvation does he give to his king; he has mercy on the king of his selection, David, and on his seed for ever.
24 And Jesus, looking at him, said, How hard it is for those who have wealth to get into the kingdom of God! 25 It is simpler for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a man who has much money to come into the kingdom of God. 26 And those who were present said, Then who may have salvation? 27 But he said, Things which are not possible with man are possible with God. 28 And Peter said, See, we have given up what is ours to come after you. 29 And he said to them, Truly I say to you, There is no man who has given up house or wife or brothers or father or mother or children, because of the kingdom of God, 30 Who will not get much more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.
31 And he took with him the twelve and said to them, Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things which were said by the prophets will be done to the Son of man. 32 For he will be given up to the Gentiles, and will be made sport of and put to shame: 33 And he will be given cruel blows and put to death, and on the third day he will come back to life. 34 But they did not take in the sense of any of these words, and what he said was not clear to them, and their minds were not able to see it.
35 And it came about that when he got near Jericho, a certain blind man was seated by the side of the road, making requests for money from those who went by. 36 And hearing the sound of a great number of people going by, he said, What is this? 37 And they said to him, Jesus of Nazareth is going by. 38 And he said in a loud voice, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. 39 And those who were in front made protests and said to him, Be quiet: but he said all the more, O Son of David, have mercy on me. 40 And Jesus, stopping, gave orders that he was to come to him, and when he came near, he said to him, 41 What would you have me do for you? And he said, Lord, that I may be able to see again. 42 And Jesus said, See again: your faith has made you well. 43 And straight away he was able to see, and he went after him, giving glory to God; and all the people when they saw it gave praise to God.
(Read Luke 18:18-30)
Many have a great deal in them very commendable, yet perish for lack of some one thing; so this ruler could not bear Christ's terms, which would part between him and his estate. Many who are loth to leave Christ, yet do leave him. After a long struggle between their convictions and their corruptions, their corruptions carry the day. They are very sorry that they cannot serve both; but if one must be quitted, it shall be their God, not their wordly gain. Their boasted obedience will be found mere outside show; the love of the world in some form or other lies at the root. Men are apt to speak too much of what they have left and lost, of what they have done and suffered for Christ, as Peter did. But we should rather be ashamed that there has been any regret or difficulty in doing it.
(Read Luke 18:31-34)
The Spirit of Christ, in the Old Testament prophets, testified beforehand his sufferings, and the glory that should follow, 1 Peter 1:11. The disciples' prejudices were so strong, that they would not understand these things literally. They were so intent upon the prophecies which spake of Christ's glory, that they overlooked those which spake of his sufferings. People run into mistakes, because they read their Bibles by halves, and are only for the smooth things. We are as backward to learn the proper lessons from the sufferings, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, as the disciples were to what he told them as to those events; and for the same reason; self-love, and a desire of worldly objects, close our understandings.
(Read Luke 18:35-43)
This poor blind man sat by the wayside, begging. He was not only blind, but poor, the fitter emblem of the world of mankind which Christ came to heal and save. The prayer of faith, guided by Christ's encouraging promises, and grounded on them, shall not be in vain. The grace of Christ ought to be thankfully acknowledged, to the glory of God. It is for the glory of God if we follow Jesus, as those will do whose eyes are opened. We must praise God for his mercies to others, as well as for mercies to ourselves. Would we rightly understand these things, we must come to Christ, like the blind man, earnestly beseeching him to open our eyes, and to show us clearly the excellence of his precepts, and the value of his salvation.
