1 Chronicles 29:30

1 Chronicles THE WAVES OF TIME1 Chronicles 29:30 . This is a fragment from the chronicler’s close of his life of King David. He is referring in it to other written authorities in which there are fuller particulars concerning his hero; and he says, ‘the acts of David the King, first and last, behold they are written in the book of Samuel the seer . . . with all his reign and his might, and the times that went over him, and over all Israel, and over all the kingdoms of the countries.’ Now I have ventured to isolate these words, because they seem to me to suggest some very solemn and stimulating thoughts about the true nature of life. They refer, originally, to the strange vicissitudes and extremes of fortune and condition which characterised, so dramatically and remarkably, the life of King David. Shepherd-boy, soldier, court favourite, outlaw, freebooter and all but brigand; rebel, king, fugitive, saint, sinner, psalmist, penitent-he lived a life full of strongly marked alternations, and ‘the times that went over him’ were singularly separate and different from each other. There are very few of us who have such chequered lives as his. But the principle which dictated the selection by the chronicler of this somewhat strange phrase is true about the life of every man. I. Note, first, ‘the times’ which make up each life.

Now, by the phrase here the writer does not merely mean the succession of moments, but he wishes to emphasise the view that these are epochs, sections of ‘time,’ each with its definite characteristics and its special opportunities, unlike the rest that lie on either side of it. The great broad field of time is portioned out, like the strips of peasant allotments, which show a little bit here, with one kind of crop upon it, bordered by another little morsel of ground bearing another kind of crop. So the whole is patchy, and yet all harmonises in effect if we look at it from high enough up. Thus each life is made up of a series, not merely of successive moments, but of well-marked epochs, each of which has its own character, its own responsibilities, its own opportunities, in each of which there is some special work to be done, some grace to be cultivated, some lesson to be learned, some sacrifice to be made; and if it is let slip it never comes back any more. ‘It might have been once, and we missed it, and lost it for ever.’ The times pass over us, and every single portion has its own errand to us.

1 Chronicles 29:30 . The times that went over him — The transactions of his reign, and the changes that befell him; both his troubles and successes, the word time or times being often put for things done or happening in them. And over all the kingdoms of the countries — Those countries which bordered upon, or were not far distant from the land of Canaan, the history of which was in part connected with that of the Israelites. For the sketch of the character of David, we refer our readers to our notes on 2 Samuel 24:25 .

Verse 30. - The phrase in this verse, The times that went over him , is noticeable as an hapax legomenon. There are, however, not a few phrases more or less nearly approaching it in sense, and all hinging on the word times ( 1 Chronicles 12:32 ; Esther 1:13 ; Job 24:1 ; Psalm 31:15 ; Daniel 7:25 ). The last sentence of this chapter is illustrated, and most suggestively, by 2 Chronicles 12:8 ; 2 Chronicles 17:10, 11 , 22-30; Ezra 9 . 1 Chronicles 29:30