The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1889-11-08
it's GRIEF FOR HIS SON.
LESSON VI, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATloNAL SERIES, NOV. 10.

Tsst Of the Lesson. II Sam. xviii. 1888
Commit Verses -. SS-0oiden Text
Prov. xvii. aS-Connsntary by the Rev
d. n. stearns.
COMPILED from Lesson Helper Quastsrly by per
mission Of n Holman. publisbor, Philadsl
phia.l
David, hearing Of Absalom* rebellion, tool
his servants, and followed by six hundred
faithful Philistines under Ittai the Githte
ned from Jerusalem. Zadok and Abiathar
also. with the Levites bearing the ark, went
with him, but David sent back the ark, say.
Ing that II God delighted in him he would
bring him back to his city and throne.
Hushai, the archite, Davids friend, was also
sent back, In order that, perchance, he might
be used of God to defeat the counsel Of
Ahithophel, who had turned traitor to David
and become Absaloms counselor. 1t turned
out as David had trusted it would; Absalom
accepted the advice Of Hushai rather than
that Of Ahithophel, and Hushai sent word to
David which led him and all who were with
him to cross over Jordan to the other side,
and they came to Mahanaim, Levitical city
OF God, where long before the angels Of God
met Jacob (Gen. xxi, o. Absalom and his
army also crossed the Jordan, and then fol-
lows the record of the conflict, and the death
OF Absalom at the hands Of Joab as he hung
by his head in an oak. The verse immediate
ly preceding the one which begins our lesson
says, "They took Absalom and cast him into
q great pit in the wood, and laid a very great
heap Of stones upon him." Thus persisted
beautiful Absalom
Is. "Absalom's monument" This is the
.l~As- -
place" Here is the record of something this
wicked, willful, hayward son had done in his
lifetime that his name might be perpetuated.
Saul, the king, did the same thing after he
defeated the Amalekites q Sam. Nv. ~,
like those whose inward thought is that their
houses shall continue for ever, and who call
their lands n ter their own names. Ps. xix,
ILL., In Absalom's life everything was for
Absalom, and his name, and his pleasure; it
might be said of him as Of Belshazzar, 1.-THE
!. God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose
Z are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified."
dan. v, 23.) The life of Christian is to
deny self and please God, magnifying His
name; unto such He says: ~ will give in
mine house, and within my walls, place and
= name better than Of sons and Of daughters;
~ will give them an everlasting name that
nll not be cut off," Qsa wi, 81
20. "Then said Ahimaaz the son of
ok, Let me now run and bear the king
ngs" This was the son of Zadok the
est, and he had already endangered his
for David when he and Jonathan, son of
athar, brought word from Hushai to
Fid that he should flee across the Jordan
Up. xviii; now he is anxious to convey to
vid what he thought would be glad It'd
for him, but Joab will not consent.
''Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the
what thou hast SEEM" We do not know
bything more about this man than is here
rocorded, nor why Joab sent him instead of
Ahimaaz, unless the reason is found in the
words what thou hast SEEM" His name sig
mites "black," and he may have been per-
sonal attendant upon Joab and seems to
have witnessed the killing Of Absalom.
%, 90 Then Ahimaaz ran by the way Of |
the plain and overran Cushi." This power |
fil. BROTHER" for snch Is the Significance of /
his name was so eager to bear tidings that he
again pleaded with Joab to let him run after
Cushi, and Joab finally consented. He was
so swift Of foot that he outran Cushi and got |
to David first. This reminds US of that other |
disciple who outran Peter and came first to |
the sepulcher John *, A.
"a. ''And David sat between the two gates, |
and the Waterman went up to the roof over |
the gate" Wenow pass from the battle field |
with its twenty thousand slain verse ., and |
the monument which Absalom did not build |
for himself the heap Of stones), to behold |
David as he receives the tidhEs from the mes
sengers Ahimaaz and Cushi As the thou
sands Of David's soldiers marched out OF the |
city Of Mahanaim he stood by the gate side,
and all the people heard as he charged the
captains, Joab and Abishai and lttai, to deal
gently with Absalom for his sake. It may be
that he remained there until the tidings came,
soanxious was he concerning his son Absalom.
25, &c. 'And the Waterman cried and told
the king" He sees first the one and then the
other running alone, and he reports each to
the king as he comes in sight, and now we
may fancy the anxiety Of the kings trembling |
heart till he hears the tidings.
81, 2S. "All is we'll" This was the shout |
of Ahimaaz as he drew near to the king with |
the tidings that the kings enemies were over
come ''Say ye to the righteous that it shall
be well with him Woe unto the |
wickedl It shall be ill with him." II know
that it shall be we'll with them that fear God,
which fear before Him; but it shall not be
well with the wicked, neither shall he pro-
long his days which are as shadow because
he feareth not before God" lisa. iii, 10, II;
Eccl viii, II, 1877 The time will come when
all who make war with the Lamb shall be
overcome, for He is King of Kings and Lord
of Lords REV. xvii, 14.
90, 80. "And the king said, Is the young |
man Absalom safer Ahimaaz had cried,
ut is WE'LL" but the king replies, SIS it well |
with Absalom7" He seemed to have no heart |
for any but this wicked son.
81. ''And Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the
king; for the Lord hath avenged thee this
day Of all them that rose up against thee"
Thus from the mouth of two witnesses the
fact is established that the enemies of the |
king are defeated. For the ninth time in
this lesson we find in this verse the word |
''tidings;" it would almost seem as if the
Golden Text should have been a verse con-
corning tidings, such as lisa. Xxi, !, or xl,9 We
should always be as ready as these runners
to bear good tidings, but we see how the best
tidings may fail to affect . heart that has an |
idol, and prefers it's idol to the welfare Of |
others
So 1.-THE enemies Of my lord the king be
as that young man is" Still unaffected by
the good tidings Of the defeat Of the enemy
r Il 4