1 Chronicles 13:4
And because this proposal seemed right to all the people, the whole assembly agreed to it.
Sermons
Politics and MoralsJ.R. Thomson 1 Chronicles 13:4
Unity in Religious EnterprisesR. Tuck 1 Chronicles 13:1-3, 4
Piety and PolicyW. Clarkson 1 Chronicles 13:1-6
David and the ArkF. Whitfield 1 Chronicles 13:1-8
The Ark in the Royal CityJ. Wolfendale.1 Chronicles 13:3-6
The Ark's Progress to Mount ZionBishop Chris. Wordsworth.1 Chronicles 13:3-6














David no sooner set before the people their duty with regard to the ark than they immediately resolved to act in accordance with his counsel. The chronicler explains why they did so; he tells us, in language remarkably dignified and simple: "For the thing was right in the eyes of all the people."

I. A NATION SOMETIMES NEGLECTS TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT THROUGH INATTENTION. The ark seems to have been overlooked during the years it remained at Kirjath-jearim: "We inquired not at it in the days of Saul." It is singular that nations sometimes connive at great national sins, that national conscience seems to slumber. How otherwise can we account for the prevalence of war, of slavery, of cruelty to prisoners, and other evils, which have disgraced civil and Christian communities?

II. IT IS A HAPPY THING WHEN THE QUESTION IS PUT TO A NATION - WHAT IS RIGHT? It is too common to ask the people - What is customary and in accordance with precedents? What is expedient? What will contribute to national fame? But nations as well as individuals are under the government of a righteous moral Ruler and King. And there is one question which those who would elevate and guide a nation should ever raise - What is right?

III. THE NATIONAL CONSCIENCE SOMETIMES CORDIALLY RESPONDS TO THE REVELATION OF RIGHT. Let not the multitude be flattered; they are prone to bow before the furious gust of passion; yet, when the impulse of prejudice or anger is past, they are capable of proving themselves amenable to higher motives. Great acts of justice and self-sacrifice have, in such cases, been performed by a morally awakened society. If "the thing be fight in the eyes of all the people," then there may be witnessed magnificent displays of heroism and unselfishness. Then is the adage true, Vox populi vox Dei.

IV. NATIONAL CONSCIENCE ONLY FULFILS ITS PART WHEN IT LEADS TO NATIONAL ACTION. "All the congregation said that they would do so." Feeling must lead to corresponding achievement, or it is mere worthless sentimentality. A people's protest is good, but a people's action is better still.

LESSONS.

1. Let those who would forward a great movement appeal to the people at large, and seek to enlist the national judgment and conscience on their side.

2. Let nations that would enjoy the Divine favour seek it by doing the Divine will, by pursuing "the thing that right is." - T.

And let us bring again the ark of our God to us.
A place of honour, influence, and right, as: —

I. THE CENTRE OF UNITY.

II. THE SOURCE OF RELIGIOUS LIFE. This act:

1. Purified religious life.

2. Unified religious life.

3. Organised religious life.

III. THE SIGN OF GOD'S PRESENCE.

(J. Wolfendale.)

One of the Psalms composed by David to be sung on the removing of the ark (Psalm 68.) is quoted by Paul (Ephesians 4:7, 8) as having foretold what this procession itself foreshadowed, viz., the ascension of Christ, and the blessings which should flow therefrom upon every member of His Mystical Body. We see in all this great procession nothing less than the Universal Church of Christ, partaking with the Divine David in the glory of His ascension into the Heavenly Zion. From the narrative of which the text forms a part we may learn: —

I. GENERAL LESSONS.

1. That periods of reformation, after past neglect, are those in which we need more than ordinary caution, lest we mar the work which is designed to promote God's glory.

2. That all religious reformation which is the work of man can scarcely fail to be blemished and disfigured more or less by human infirmities.

3. That the effects of those infirmities are not to be acquiesced in, but to be confessed and corrected, if ever we would hope to obtain the Divine approval, or even to escape the Divine chastisement.

4. Not to abandon our good intentions because we have been checked and hindered in our efforts after amendment, but still to hold on and persevere in our exertions; only taking heed to profit by the instruction which the experience of past failure was designed to give.

5. "God will be sanctified in all them that come nigh Him," by obedience to His holy laws (Leviticus 10:2).

6. That ignorance and neglect, even when allowed to pass unchastised in others, may bring upon His ordained ministers the severest punishment.

II. Particular lessons.

1. That every Christian has his place in that great procession, which is occupied in conveying the Ark of the Covenant (Revelation 11:19) up to its final resting-place in Mount Zion; but every Christian has not the same place.

2. That it is not enough that we do, whatever we do, with a good intention unless what is done be also good, good in itself, and good in us.

(Bishop Chris. Wordsworth.)

People
Abinadab, Ahio, David, Hemath, Israelites, Levites, Obededom, Perez, Saul, Uzza, Uzzah
Places
Baalah, Egypt, Hebron, Kiriath-jearim, Lebo-hamath, Nile River, Perez-uzza
Topics
Agreed, Assembly, Congregation, Seemed
Outline
1. David fetches the ark with great solemnity from Kirjath Jearim
9. Uzza being smitten, the ark is left at the house of Obed-Edom

Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Chronicles 13:1-14

     5089   David, significance

1 Chronicles 13:3-14

     7306   ark of the covenant

Library
Importance of Small Things in Religion
You have before you now the picture. I shall want you to look at it, first, in detail, to bring out certain truths which I think it teaches to us; and then, I shall want you to regard the picture as a whole, to run your eye along the whole length of the canvas, and sea the fullness of its meaning. I. First, then, we shall take THE PICTURE IN ITS DETAIL. 1. The first observation I make upon it is this, that God's judgment of sin must differ exceedingly from ours. Who among us when be has read this
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

Emmaus. Kiriath-Jearim.
"From Beth-horon to Emmaus it was hilly."--It was sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem.--"To eight hundred only, dismissed the army, (Vespasian) gave a place, called Ammaus, for them to inhabit: it is sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem." I inquire, whether this word hath the same etymology with Emmaus near Tiberias, which, from the 'warm baths,' was called Chammath. The Jews certainly do write this otherwise... "The family (say they) of Beth-Pegarim, and Beth Zipperia was out of Emmaus."--The
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Of Preparation.
That a Christian ought necessarily to prepare himself before he presume to be a partaker of the holy communion, may evidently appear by five reasons:-- First, Because it is God's commandment; for if he commanded, under the pain of death, that none uncircumcised should eat the paschal lamb (Exod. xii. 48), nor any circumcised under four days preparation, how much greater preparation does he require of him that comes to receive the sacrament of his body and blood? which, as it succeeds, so doth it
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Chronicles
The comparative indifference with which Chronicles is regarded in modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been shared by the ancient Jewish church. Though written by the same hand as wrote Ezra-Nehemiah, and forming, together with these books, a continuous history of Judah, it is placed after them in the Hebrew Bible, of which it forms the concluding book; and this no doubt points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than they. Nor is this unnatural. The book
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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