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impulses. These impulses are not such as we may, perhaps, imagine, or suppose them
to have become under the influence of religion. For the natural man always remains
what he had been -what birth, nationality, education, and circumstances had made him.
This consideration should keep us from harsh and, probably, erroneous judgments of
others, and may likewise serve for our own warning and instruction.
Happily, this history also presents a brighter picture. It is that of the grand patriarchal
chieftain, Barzillai, who had supported David in his adversity, and now came, despite
the weight of his years, to escort the king over the Jordan. No reward or
acknowledgment did he seek - in fact, the suggestion seemed almost painful. A good
and true man this, happy in his independence, though not too proud to allow his son
Chimham to go to court - all the more that he had nothing to gain by it. May we not
legitimately infer, that his conduct was influenced not merely by loyalty to his earthly
sovereign, but by the recognition of the higher spiritual truths, and the hope for Israel
and the world, symbolized by the reign of David. For nearly eighty years Barzillai had
watched in distant Rogelim the varying fortunes of his loved people. He remembered
the time when Samuel was "judge;" he recalled the hope enkindled in the hearts of
Israel when, after the brilliant exploit in his own Jabesh-gilead, Saul was proclaimed
king. He had followed the waning glory of that same Saul - for far and wide are tidings
carried in the East, told by watch-fires, and borne from home to home - until hope had
almost died out in his soul. Then came the story of David, and increasingly, as he
followed his career, or when some one would repeat one of those new Psalms - so
different from the old war-songs in which Jewish deeds of valor had been recorded -
ascribing all to Jehovah, and making man of no account, it all seemed to mark a new
period in the history of Israel, and Barzillai felt that David was indeed God's Anointed,
the symbol of Israel's real mission, and the type of its accomplishment. And at last,
after the shameful defeat of Israel and the sad death of Saul, he had hailed what had
taken place in Hebron. The capture of Jerusalem, the erection of a central sanctuary
there, and the subjection of Israel's enemies round about, would seem to him bright
links in the same chain. And though David's sad fall must have grieved him to the
heart, it could never have influenced his views of Absalom's conduct, nor yet shaken
his own allegiance. And now that David's reign, so far as its spiritual bearing was
concerned, was evidently coming to a close - its great results achieved, its spiritual
meaning realized - he would feel that nothing could undo the past, which henceforth
formed part of the spiritual inheritance of Israel, or rather of that of the world at large.
And so, in the spirit of Simeon, when he had witnessed the incipient fulfillment of
Israel's hopes, Barzillai was content to "turn back again" to his own city, to die there,
and be laid in the grave of his father and mother, who had lived in times far more
troubled than his own, and had seen but "far off" that of which he had witnessed the
happy accomplishment.
(^)