Certainty of Death
T. Macconnel. 1 Samuel 20:3 And David swore moreover, and said, Your father certainly knows that I have found grace in your eyes; and he said… IT WAS SEEMINGLY TRUE CONCERNING DAVID. 1. This teaches us how liable we are to be wrong in our judgments. We can only judge from appearances; therefore we should draw all inferences of importance with caution. 2. Yet this judgment of David's, perhaps, was the instrumental cause of his preservation. It made him cautious. Thus Providence sports with our calculations; "man knoweth not his appointed time, but is like the fishes ensnared in an evil net." II. THE TEXT IS REALLY TRUE CONCERNING SOME INDIVIDUALS NOW IN THE WORLD. 1. Let us in the first place look at the great number of the sick scattered over the face of this well-peopled world. 2. Go into the gloomy ceils of condemned criminals, whose life must, pay the forfeit of their crimes on the coming morning. 3. Look at the combatants that are now preparing for deadly battle; their country's cause palpitates at their heart, and burns on their tongue. They are destined to fall in the struggle. 4. Listen to the cries of those mariners in distress; "they are going up to the heavens, and now down to the depths." 5. View those men of apoplectic structure. How precarious the hold they have of life! Fresh and hale one minute — the next dead. III. THE DECLARATION IN THE TEXT MAY BE TRUE WITH REGARD TO SOME OF US. 1. Sentence of death has been passed on all men. 2. This sentence has never been repealed. It has not become obsolete; it is not like the antiquated page of an almanac of past times. 3. But this respite is not for any given length of time. It is frugally extended only from moment to moment. A respited criminal knows the length of his respite; we do not. (T. Macconnel.) Parallel Verses KJV: And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. WEB: David swore moreover, and said, "Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, 'Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:' but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."