The Expositor's Bible: The First Book of SamuelBlaikie, William Garden
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The First Book of Samuel
Blaikie, William Garden
Bible. Samuel, 1st -- Commentaries
But in full harmony with the character of Old Testament typology, the
glory of the thing symbolized was infinitely greater than the glory of
the symbol. Much though the nation owed to the godly administration of
him whom God "took from the sheepfold, and brought from following the
ewes great with young, to feed Jacob His people and Israel His
inheritance," these benefits were shadows indeed when compared with the
blessings procured by the great "Shepherd of Israel," "the good Shepherd
that giveth His life for the sheep," whose shepherd care does not
terminate with the life that now is, but will be exercised in eternity
in feeding them and leading them by living fountains of water, where God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
There are other points of typical resemblance between David and Christ
that demand our notice here. If it was a strange-like thing for God to
find the model king of Israel in a sheepcot at Bethlehem, it was still
more so to find the Saviour of the world in a workshop at Nazareth. But
again; King David was chosen for qualities that did not fall in with the
ordinary conception of what was king-like, but qualities that commended
him to God; and in the same manner the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Elect,
in whom His soul delighted, was not marked by those attributes which men
might have considered suitable in one who was to gain the empire of the
world. "He shall grow up as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry
ground; He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him there
is no beauty that we should desire Him." In bodily form the Lord Jesus
would seem to have resembled David rather than Saul. There is no reason
to think that there was any great physical superiority in Christ, that
He was taller than the common, or that He was distinguished by any of
those physical features that at first sight captivate men. And even in
the region of intellectual and spiritual influence, our Lord did not
conform to the type that naturally commands the confidence and
admiration of the world. He had a still, quiet manner. His eloquence did
not flash, nor blaze, nor flow like a torrent. The power of His words
was due more to their wonderful depth of meaning, going straight to the
heart of things, and to the aptness of His homely illustrations. Our
Lord's mode of conquest was very remarkable. He conquered by gentleness,
by forbearance, by love, by sympathy, by self-denial. He impressed men
with the glory of sacrifice, the glory of service, the glory of
obedience, obedience to the one great authority--the will of God--to
which all obedience is due. He inspired them with a love of
purity,--purity of heart, purity after the highest pattern. If you
compare our blessed Lord with those who have achieved great conquests,
you cannot but see the difference. I do not mean with conquerors like
Alexander, or Caesar, or Napoleon. Napoleon himself at St. Helena showed
in a word the vast difference between Christ and them. "Our conquests,"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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