The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-09-13
SUNDAY SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
SEPTEMBER 40
Lcsson Tcxt: David sparing SAUL,
sam. xEss.SAaz-*seiaen
Text: Rom. xii, A.
Commentary.

Behold the day, Of which the Lord said unto
thee" Saul, who 50 persistently sought
David's life, is now completely In David's
power and his men seem TO suggest that now
he slay him; but as David himself had cried,
"Re merciful unto me, 0 God, be mercifui
unto u,e' FPS. II, I and Title), so he would
show mercy even to Saul. and is content to
lay no hand upon him, but simply cut Off the
skirt Of his robe privily to show him after
ward that he had him in his power. Jesus
our King could any moment overthrow and
Danish Satan forever from this earth, and
He will do II In due time, but He Is content
to wait patiently. and permit His people and
His earth 10 groan litth, longL'.
s. "Davids heart smote him because he
had cut off Saul's skirt" Even for asserting
this slight token of his power, he feels con,
demned. His spemy was of his guard and
unable to defend himself, and David would
he mot the lion and the bear and Goliath,
| i'm open fight that the power of God might be
manifest. There lis nothing Of the Spirit of
Christ in secret sayings or doings which will
| not bear the light.
g. 'sThe Lord forbid thot I should do this
Here Here S is sno1 -:fsS, guy wase; Saul was
not acting like the ano,nted Of the Lord
should act his life did not testify in that di-
rcction, but as to his Office he was ''the
anointed Of the Lord" aud therefore respon:
sible to God to act as such; and IL he failed
it was for the Lord and not for David to deal
with him, Two great practical thoughts are IRE
| presented here: II we are children OF God by
! faith Of Christ Jesus, then we have received
the Spirit, and are anointed kings and priests
unto God, and are responsible every day 10
walk worthy Of our High Calling; and on
the other hand, though failure and even sin
may be manifest In the lives Of the anointed
of the Lord It is for their Lord and not for
their fellows to judge and chasten them =,
Z. $50 David stayed his servants with
these words; Saul rose up out of
the cave and went his way" We may do
very much by kind words and the manifesto
tion of Christ-lko spirit to hinder others
from speaking against or touching i'm any
way the nnointed OF the Lord: We should
eth you toucheth the apple of His eye"
,Zech H., 81 Every redeemed one, however
full of failure, is dear to God; even Israel, in
all hcr sins, He called "the dearly beloved of
His soul" (Jer. xii, ~ Saul, rising up
and going his way, unconscious Of the loss of
n part Of his robe, reminds us that when we
are not i'm the Lords way we may lose many
things and yet be unconscious OF it.
ing NY Loro 7ne King sd sfter nss saui .t,sSs scy
with his face to the ear .i" Notwithstanding
David's fearsan ofttimes questionable con
duct here is truly humble and forgiving
| spirit. Whatever were his sins, his heart
was in the main right with God, and his fail.
ures tell us the truth of that which he him.
self wrote: "Vcrily, every man at his best
estate is altogether vanity" FPS. XXxix.. ~
8. "Whercfore heareSt thou mems words,
saying. Behold David seeketh thy hurtT'
Saul had turned a deaf ear to the words OF
God, and was giving heed to the lying and de.
ceitful words of men, and was, therefore, fer
from the way OF peace. The only rest of
soul for man is upon the words and thoughts
Of God; but how few, even among Chris.
tians, rest quietly there? The words Of this
or that man, what some one has said or re-
ported, is constantly needed. and there is,
therefore, such unrest while all the while
the God Of peace is speaking peace and long,
ing to give peace to all who will hear Him.
As to the false reports that David sought
Saurs hurt. is 1t not commonly believed by
the unsaved that to be n Christian would de
words, that Jesus is seeking their hurtY
10, II. Some bade ME Kill thee; but mine
eye spared thtx yet thou huntest
my soul to tak5it." Here David recounts
proof of the truth of it the part of Saul'srobe
which he had cut OFF, thus testifying most
Enthusiastically that there was no evil in his
heart against Saul
H. The Lord Judge between me and thee
and the Lord avenge me Of thee; but my hand
shall not be upon thee" This is beautiful on
Davds part: this is surely casting his burden
upon the Lord. Oh, what a resting place it
| Is; we have not to fight our own battles, for
it is God who .fghteth for us: we have not to
|
| Him: we have no revenge to take, but mas
much as whosoever touche.h us toucheth the
apple of Gods eye just let Him see to it in
His own good time and way.
! 13. "WickcdnesS proceedcth from the
wicked, but mine hand shall not be upon
thee IL the boys of all our Sunday schools
would act upon this principle, and remem
bering that wicked words and deeds proceed
from wicked hearts, avoid all such, refusing
even, when injured by them, to lay hand
upon them, it might bs that some wicked
hearts would be won by such spirit and
learn of the new and clean heart which alone
cen act iE.4s.ch aAnp5. e men and women
| who bear the beautiful name of Jesus would
in this respect show more of His spirit, how
many they might win to Him.
IA. After whom dost thou pursue? After
n dead dog, after q flea" David was as
harmless to Saul as dead dog, for he had
Saul tempted by tho evil spirit of envy which
had taken possession of him, fancied all
manner of things against David, and his
fancies were helped by The liars and
slonderers about him. How many wretched
people live to-day who imagine that evil is
surely coming to them from this or that
direction, while the truth is that the i'm
| aginary source of evil is as harmless as q
| dead dog or n flea.
Is. 1.-The Lord he Judge, 3" and sec
and plead my cause and deliver mo out of
thine hand, Judge nothing before the
stand before the Judgment seat Of Christ
Every one of ms shall give account of him
self to God" These are some helpful words
of tho Holy Spirit upon this matter from the
| New Testament.
| 16. Saul said is this thy voice, my son
David? And Saul lifted up his voice and
wept." There are many such words and
tears nowadays, but they do not amount to
anything. That they did not mean much
! from Saul at this time is evident from chap.
XVI, where we see him as \. Fly as ever pur.
oCnason SUNG i,fpSf. ft;p. t"ohf'tTf "of good
against laSnd against God: and if his }
,ears had fated true penitencc, it. had
been well i'm; but he saeins to stand with !
ESan and Is and others whose repentance q
hte"eo Frepented of, and whose sorrow
was h"tht deep.
H. And he said to David, Thou art
m"fe3teous than I, for thou hast reward
"o MOD, whereas | have rewarded thee :.
cNl,' hes" are true words from Saul's lips.
ana on read to the end Of the chapter and
np' ill he said, and especially the words .
an"David ond the Kingdom, and if this
MeS, last wc ever heard of Saul we might
say Xel. surely Saul is a changed man.
iDr u kouId not otherwise talk this way"
| fbo p-ir rl Il nr