1. To cherish a lofty ideal for his son. This does not require that the father should undertake to decide the particulars of his son’s career. This would involve the danger of weakening his will, of lessening his power of independent judgment and free choice. I have seen an apricot tree trained to a wall, trunk and branch fastened to it by nails and bands. It made a vine of what was meant to be a tree. If it had been taken from the wall it would have lain limp on the ground.
2. To make the example of his own daily living one which will help and stimulate his son. A wise father will recognise the fact that he commends to his boy, not that which he praises, but that which he pursues. It is not by telling our children what we wish them to become that we mould them most effectually; it is by the evidence which they get from our daily living, as to bur main desire and hope for them. The unintended influence of the home is that which will move them most. The atmospheric influence is more pervasive than that which comes from medicine.
3. He may provide means by which his son may carry out his purpose and friends to help him in it.
II. A son’s advantage. From all that a good father thus can do a son has no small advantage.
1. By the law of heredity.
2. By this harmonious environment a wise father can largely shape the influences under which his son grows up.
3. By the improved opportunity which comes to him as his father’s son and heir. Solomon has but to keep with care what David has acquired with hard work. The son stands naturally upon the platform to reach which the father has come by climbing the steep ladder. Many a son to-day has grand opportunity for noble living which has been gained for him by the toils of those who have gone before him. But only opportunity. There is a sermon in the word opportunity. It is that which is ob portus, over against the harbour; but there your fleet may rot at anchor as readily as it may be submerged at sea. The skilful master must raise the anchor, set the sail, take advantage of the favouring breeze, steer his craft to port, or all the shipbuilder’s skill has been for naught. All the advantages of the most favoured son will amount to nothing unless he will himself arise and build. Honour is not in what is inherited, but in what is accomplished. (Monday Club Sermons.)
David’s charge to Solomon:--
Learn
I. That some originate a good work, but are not permitted to execute it.
II. That others may be called to execute work which they never originated.
III. That when called, they should finish the work given them to do. (J. Wolfendale.)
But the word of the Lord came to me, saying.--
God’s word to David
How the word of the Lord came to David we do not know. In what way soever the communication was made to David, the communication itself is of singular moral value.
1. Say that the Lord delivered the message immediately in audible words, we have then the doctrine that God will not permit men of blood to end their career as if they had been guiltless of blood-shedding.
2. Say that David uttered these words out of the depths of his own consciousness, then we have the doctrine that there is a moral fitness of things that hands stained with blood should not be put forth in the erection of a house of prayer. The house of God is to be a house of peace, the sanctuary of rest, a Sabbatic building, calm with the tranquillity of heaven, unstained by the vices and attachments of earth. (J. Parker,D. D.)
Behold, a son shall be born to thee.
A son predicted
I. Son of David; so was Christ.
II. A man of rest; so was Christ.
III. The giver of peace; so was Christ.
IV. He had a significant name; so has Jesus Christ.
V. He was a glorious king; so is Christ.
VI. His great work was the building of the temple; so is the work of Christ. (Biblical Museum.)
The prediction of Solomon’s birth
This is a forecast which is full of moral instruction; it shows how God knows every man who is coming into the world, what his character will be, what function he will have to discharge, and what will be the effect of his ministry upon his day and generation. The Christian believes that every event is ordered from above, that every man is born at the right time, is permitted to live for a proper period if he be obedient to providence, and that the mission of every man is assigned, limited, and accentuated: all wehave to do is to say, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” and to obey what we honestly believe to be the voice from heaven. (J. Parker,D. D.)
