1 Samuel 6:13 And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark… The words of the text give a harvest scene. I. SIGNS FROM GOD. Every harvest scene is a new Divine revelation. Thousands of years have rolled away since He promised that "while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest shall not fail." In the fulfilment of that promise, how much of God is seen! 1. There is His goodness. Provision is made for man and beast. 2. There is His power. 3. There is His faithfulness. 4. There is His eternity.He who fulfils today in fields of ripened corn a promise made thousands of years ago, must be independent of the revolutions of times and circumstances. It is said that Dr. Johnson took off his hat whenever he passed a steeple. But he must have a dull soul who feels no reverence when walking through ripened cornfields. In the harvest fields we see — II. LIFE FROM DEATH. The grain which the sower dropped into the soil in spring underwent the process of dissolution and death. For weeks it lay buried in the dust. All this exuberance of the harvest field has come out of apparent death. 1. It symbolises spiritual labour. The true Christian teacher, philanthropist, reformer, minister, like the husbandman, has his seed buried for a time. However, though he dies, the seed lives, and will rise, grow, and ripen to perfection. 2. This exuberance in the harvest field illustrates human life on earth. The harvest field reminds us of the true education of man. Like the seed sown, it is the bringing out of what is in the soul — the moral ego. Some teachers speak of the mind as a vessel, some as a stone. And the idea is to fill up the vessel, to polish the stone. But it is neither stone nor vessel; it is a seed. You cannot fill it, you cannot polish it. You must bring it out. Man at birth is sown into the earth, like seed, in two respects. The seed existed before it was sown. Man existed before he was born into this world. The seed required sowing in order for its development. Man required birth into this world in order for the development of his powers. As a seed, man differs from other germinant existences in two respects: — (1) He has a self-formative power. (2) He has boundless possibilities. In the harvest field we see — III. LIKE FROM LIKE. Each seed has come forth in its own kind. Man reaps like what he sows. 1. It is thus in spiritual things. 2. It is thus in bodily development. In the harvest field we see — IV. MUCH FROM LITTLE. Each seed is multiplied, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred fold. So wondrously prolific is the seed that one single grain in the course of time will cover continents. One thought has formed a character and one character has changed the destiny of a nation. Much from little characterises all God's operations. In the harvest field we see — V. BLESSINGS FROM LABOUR. The crops would never have appeared had man not cultivated the soil and sowed the precious grain. Every harvest field is a testimony to the importance of human agency. In the harvest field we see — VI. MATURITY FROM PROGRESS. From the commencement of germination, the seed went on until it appeared in the multiplied grains of harvest. All things tend to ripeness: — 1. All things in nature. 2. All things in society. 3. All classes of character. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. |
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