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Spiritual Gifts, Volume 4a
his distress, and his compassion for Israel. He begs of God to save
the sheep. In anguish he confesses, “I have sinned, and I have done
wickedly. Let thine hand be against me, and against my father’s house,
and not upon the people.” God speaks to David by his prophet, and bids
him make atonement for his sin. David’s heart was in the work, and his
repentance was accepted. The threshing-floor of Araunah is offered
him freely, where to build an altar unto the Lord; also cattle, and
everything needful for the sacrifice. But David tells him who would
make this generous offering, that the Lord will accept the sacrifice
which he is willing to make, but that he would not come before the
Lord with an offering which cost him nothing. He would buy it of him
for full price. He offered there burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.
God accepted the offering by answering David in sending fire from
Heaven to consume the sacrifice. The angel of God was commanded
to put his sword into his sheath, and cease his work of destruction.
David composed many of the Psalm in the wilderness, to which
he was compelled to flee for safety. Saul even pursued him there,
and David was several times preserved from falling into the hands
of Saul by the special interposition of Providence. While David was
thus passing through severe trials and hardships, he manifested an
unwavering trust in God, and was especially imbued with his Spirit, as
he composed his songs which recount his dangers and deliverances,
ascribing praise and glory to God, his merciful preserver. In these
Psalm is seen a spirit of fervor, devotion and holiness. He sung these
songs, which express his thoughts and meditations of divine things,
accompanied with skillful music upon the harp and other instruments.
The Psalm contained in
2 Samuel 22
, was composed while Saul was
hunting him to take his life. Nearly all the sacred songs of David were
arranged in the earlier period of his life, while he was serving the Lord
with integrity and purity of heart.
David purposed to build a house for God, in which he could place
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the sacred ark, and to which all Israel should come to worship. The
Lord informed David through his prophet that he should not build the
house, but that he should have a son who should build a house for God.
“I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity,
I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the
children of men. But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I
took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.” God manifests pity