Our readings for today at first sight afford little connection one with the other, and yet we feel there is a theme that does connect them. Our first reading, 1 Samuel 25 is the well known story of David and Nabal. We recall how David had showed kindness to Nabal’s house in a very definite way. We read in verse 2: “And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal ; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings ; and he was of the house of Caleb.”
The man was churlish (or mean) and evil in his doings, and thus we are presented with a type of personality, of which we see much today; a person with great possessions, of a mean countenance, of an evil disposition in all his doings. Nabal evidently placed much value in the possessions which he had. We read further at verse 5: “And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up in Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name : And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find for your in thine eyes: for we come in a good day : give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David. And when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David ? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto them, whom I know not whence they be?”
How much do we see the truth of the statement that Nabal was churlish (mean) in his doings ? No doubt he was a very selfish character, one who was interested in no one but himself. In verse 13 we see that David had prepared himself and his men to take vengeance on this man. The story develops that one of Nabal’s young men told Abigail of David’s kind treatment to them. Through Abigail’s entreaty to David he withheld his hand from the destruction of Nabal and his house. The chapter concludes by telling us of the death of this evil man. We read at verse 37: “But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became a stone. And it came to pass about ten days later, that the Lord smote Nabal, and he died. And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil, for the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head.”
What a fitting description of God’s dealings with the wickedness of man. In a very small way this is a type of the retribution that God will visit upon those who despise His ways. Let us look at our middle portion for today. We see again a description of an evil nature, not in one individual only, but in many, for we see in this second chapter of Jeremiah, a warning against God’s people : Verse 11: “Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, 0 ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils ; they have forsaken me them fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” They had changed their glory for that which did not profit, and they had forsaken their God, the living fountain of waters. Truly a pitiful condition, isn’t it? Yet, it existed with God’s chosen people. They were spiritually dry, exceedingly dry, and in great need of this living water. How forcefully are they described as having hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that could hold no water. Water in itself can perform miracles. If directed for irrigation purposes in dry areas, it can make the desert blossom as the rose. We have indeed seen that very thing happen in Israel in the last few years. But for God’s people to forsake the living fountain of waters, for them to be unable to hold these living waters, was a terrifying condition.
With these thoughts in mind let us go to our third reading this morning, to Matthew 13, and see if these ideas become somewhat strengthened.
We are presented in this chapter with the parable of the sower, referred to by Bro. Carter as the parable of the soils, which we feel to be a good description. Verse 3 says : “And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow ; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth : and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth : And when the sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them : But others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty-fold, some thirty fold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” We have its explanation at verse 18: “Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it ; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while : for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word ; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word ; and understandeth it ; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
We are all well acquainted with this parable. The sower primarily is Christ, the seed is the word, and the ground is the people. There is nothing wrong with the sower, or the seed, but what of the people ? With certain types of people there is plenty basically wrong. What we may overlook is that the soil can also refer to us, as well as those outside the hope of salvation. Could this be the reason that the Truth has not caught hold more than it has ? Has the seed of Truth found good ground in us so that it may grow ? We might reason, “of course it has”, but has it ? Are we good soil, or are we poor soil ? If we are good soil, we should in the language of verse 23 be bearing fruit. Whether or not we are good soil, will be very evident in our lives. We may congratulate ourselves on the amount of our collections, on our advertising efforts, on our defence of the Truth, but if that seed of the word implanted in our soil does not grow, then our soil is indeed worthless.
Nabal refused to listen to David, and was destroyed by the Hand of the Lord. Had he been offered hope of eternal salvation he would have very likely rejected it. Nabal would have been considered poor soil. Israel had changed their glory for that which had no profit. They had forsaken the living fountain of waters. Again we have illustration of poor soil. We might reason that it is God that grants the increase, and that is true, but it is not for us to choke the word, to hinder its growth. Soil, to good soil, must be cared for per nutrients must be added to, and so we must build up our soil through the reading, and study of God’s word. We will be worthless if our soil becomes worn out and depleted. We often refer to the 3rd chapter of the Revelation, to the church at Sardis. “I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” That is a sorry state of affairs indeed, but it is well for us to realise that this same condition may be said of our own ecclesia at the day of Judgement. We have no need to congratulate ourselves until every man, woman and child in our city has heard of the Christadelphians, and the things we stand for. We have more than enough to do in our town, and in the state in which we live. Maybe it will require more of our time, more of our money, but the light of Truth must never go out.
It is imperative that we be on our guard against the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches. We must make doubly sure that the seed of God’s Truth is carefully guarded by our soil, that the roots which emerge from the seed will be deeply embedded in our soil, and that our soil is nurtured by that living fountain of waters.
We have considered this morning two very good examples of poor soil. We live in a world that is spiritually dry. But that does not mean there is no good soil, greatly in need of the seed of Truth, the nutrients of God’s word, the living fountain of waters. If we are good soil, we will take to heart the exhortation of Matthew 13:23: “But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it ; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” That challenge rests with each of us.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One