This is stated in the last verse. "There were no bounds to (or, stability in') all this people, even to all those that were before them; nor shall they that come after (or, nor shall the coming generation,' the descendants of the former) rejoice in him." This means that Israel in the days of David had no bounds to their desire for innovations, and with the appearance of any rebel all lifted the banners of mutiny and revolt, and with one voice exclaimed, "We have no part in David, nor any inheritance with the son of Jesse, every man to his tent, O Israel!" Hence, the old king Solomon judged by experience that they that come after them-viz., the descendants of those mutinous and discontented people, were not likely to "rejoice in him," viz., in the "second youth" Rehoboam, the legitimate king from David's family; but that as soon as his rival—the first youth, Jeroboam-would appear, Israel would instantly desert their legal prince, and put themselves under the banners of his rival, were it but for the sake of change. Having so exactly foreseen-partly through the prophet, and partly by inspired calculation-all that really came to pass after his death, hence he concludes this melancholy consideration with the words so characteristic of this book, "Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit." So have always been and are still even matters of crowns and thrones in this valley of change and mortality. Kings on their thrones are surrounded by many a thornbush, and the deep wounds that are often inflicted on the hearts of the mightiest and most prosperous sovereigns are sorer than we throneless and crownless people can either feel or imagine. Let us therefore leave these unto, and on the heads of those whom the great King of kings has chosen for these dignities, and let us pray the Lord that He would enable these mortal sovereigns, and us along with them, to lift our hearts, eyes, and souls above this sublunary tumult of changes and disappointments, towards the regions of eternal bliss and unmingled joy, where the Ancient of Days, the Lord of the whole universe, sits on a glorious throne never to be shaken, and where His redeemed children in Christ inherit crowns of glory which no rivals can contest, and no rebels take from their heads. (CHAPTER V. VER. 1.) 1. Observe thy feast days,* When thou shouldst go to the house of God; "Observe thy feast days." the Hebrew text, but from the points to the original text. reading with the Rabbies Here we do deviate, not from Rabbies, who added the vowel Thus, we think that, instead of (Shemor Raglecha), " keep thy feet,”—which has no meaning whatever-it should be pointed and read (Shemor Regalecha) meaning, "Observe thy feast-days," referring to Exod. xxiii. 14, where the Lord commanded Israel (Shalosh Regalim) "three appointed times (or three ordered feasts) shalt thou solemnize unto me in the year," &c. The word "Regalim," signifying "repeated times" (as the steps of man which are regularly repeated-see Numb. xxii. 28, 32, 33, &c.) So it is applied to signify the three ordered Jewish feasts which followed regularly one upon another; and so in our passage it signifies the three ordered Jewish feasts, when all male persons were to come from the whole country and appear before God at Jerusalem. That (Shemor) is often used to signify, "observe," or, "sanctifying," as Sabbath and feast days, see Exod. xxiii. 15; Lev. xviii. 4, 5; xxvi. 2, 3; Deut. v. 12; xvi. 1, &c., &c., in all which places Shemor means, "Observe." And be thou more ready to obey For they consider not that they do evil. In the book of Exod. chap. xxiii. ver. 17, we read, "three times in the year all males shall appear before the Lord God ;" and in Deut. xvi. 16, "three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty; every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessings of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee." Again, we read in the same book, chap. xii. 17: "Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithes of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or of the firstlings of thy herds, or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy free will offerings, or heave offerings of thine hand: But thou must eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.” Precepts and regulations like the above were enjoined unto Israel in great numbers in the law of Moses, and in having to observe such a great number of different ceremonials, there was also great danger that the simple-minded among that people would build castles of self-righteousness, of justification by works alone; or that they would multiply sin that sacrifices may abound. The more the religion abounded in ceremonial exercises, in sacrifices, and free gifts, in the performance of vows and lustrations, the more it was to be feared that some would entirely neglect the sacred foundation of the law, which was the faith in, the fear of, and the obedience to Jehovah their God and His holy will, and that they would depend entirely on reconciling Him with their sacrifices. Moses already had taken strong measures against the probability of ceremony gaining ground over substance, and therefore, among other warnings, he said, "And now, O Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good ?" (Deut. x. 12.) From this, as well as from numerous other passages, Israel could learn that the basis of their holy religion was the love and fear of God, and the obedience of his children to his expressed will in the law which he gave them, and that sacrifices were only to atone for sins committed unawares, or by mistake, but not for wilful transgression. Still, after all warning, we read in sacred history that not only Israel as a nation, but even some illustrious individuals fell very deep into the pernicious error of thinking that they may willingly commit sin and atone for it by sacrifice. It caused the ruin of King Saul, when, in his war against Amalek, he broke the commandment of the Lord, sacrificing first to his covetousness the irrevocable order of God, and then thinking to atone for his rebellion by bringing on his altar some of the accursed things doomed to destruction. But the prophet of the Lord soon undeceived him, "And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." (1 Sam. xv. 22.) David endeavoured to improve this doctrine, and to impress its important truth upon Israel by devoting to it a conspicuous place in his precious songs. (Ps. 1. li.) But, nevertheless, his illustrious son, King Solomon, fell headlong into that great error. Having erected a magnificent temple unto Jehovah, and having been profuse in the number of sacrifices offered on the great altar on feast-days and other solemnities, he thought that he needed not now be scrupulous in other matters of religion, that he might neglect the love and fear of God in the intervals, and indulge in the love of this world and its perishing objects, and that he would atone for the neglect of the Lord's commandments on the next feast-day by offering hundreds of bulls and rams. Too late only did he awaken from that deceiving dream, when already a sealed sentence had been communicated to him from Heaven's tribunal that he had forfeited the Lord's favour, and irretrievably lost the crown of ten of the tribes of Israel. It was then that he saw that Lebanon may be wholly kindled on the altar, and all the fatlings of Bashan and Carmel sacrificed, and all the incense of Sheba consumed along with it, and that all this will not atone for one wilful neglect of Jehovah's commandments. In the foregoing chap. Solomon concluded by stating the great loss he sustained because of his errors, imprudence, and unwatchfulness, and as the chief design of that sinful but deeply repenting king was, to make in this book a full confession of his past errors, and to give warnings to future generations, so he opens this chap. in warning Israel not to depend on sacrifices for wilfully committed sin, and not to be exposed to its hard consequences. the above quoted passages from the law of Moses we have seen that it was on the three appointed feast days that Israel was to come into Jerusalem from all the corners of their land, and bring with them their In |