The Use of the Bow

DELIVERED AT THE THURSDAY EVENING LECTURE,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan
his son: (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the
bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher)." 2 Samuel 1:17,18

THE translators have acted very properly in inserting the words, "the
use of," for that is what the passage means. But if you read it without
those words, the sense is still the same– "He bade them teach the
children of Judah the bow," that is to say, how to use the bow. In
modern times, critics have said that by the expression, "the bow," is
meant the song which David composed. And to sustain their notion, they
quote from the Koran of Mahomet in which they tell us that there is a
certain chapter called, "the Bow," and, therefore, David called his
song, "the bow," as if so late an instance of oriental usage was at all
to the point. I declare that there is nothing whatever in Scripture to
justify the statement that the words, "the bow," can be applied to
David's lament!

No doubt, some of the Psalms have titles given to them, but there is
never an instance of a Psalm being quoted by its title. It is quoted by
its number, never by its name. I accept the passage as our learned
translators understood it–David bade them teach the children of Judah
the bow. If any enquire, "What, then, is the connection? Why should
David teach the people the use of the bow because Saul and Jonathan
were slain? Why is the military order concerning the use of a certain
instrument of war inserted here, when the passage is full of
lamentation?" If any ask, I say, I answer most fitly, as I shall have
to show you–it was the best memorial of that skillful archer,
Jonathan, and of the other princes who had fallen by the arrows of the
Philistines, that from the disastrous day of their slaughter, David
caused his own tribe, over which he had chief power, to be trained in
the use of that special weapon of war.

I. But now to our work. From my text I want to gather a few useful
lessons. And the first is this–ACTIVITY IS A VALUABLE SOLACE FOR
SORROW. The people were very grieved, for Saul and Jonathan, the king
and the crown prince, were slain. David indulges their grief–he writes
them a plaintive song which the daughters of Israel may sing. But to
take their minds off their distress, he, at the same time, issues the
order to teach the children of Judah the use of the bow–for activity
is an effectual remedy in the time of sorrow. Certainly the opposite of
it would tend towards blank despair. Are any of you in great grief?
Have you suffered a supreme loss?

Do not be tempted to brood over your affliction and to think that you
ought to be excused from further service! Do not shut yourself up to
meditate upon the great ill that has befallen you, so as to nurse your
wrath against God. This can do you no good whatever! Rather imitate
David, who, when his child was sick, fasted and prayed, but when it was
dead, went into the house and ate bread, for he said, "Can I bring him
back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." I
beseech you do not fall under the temptation of Satan to cease from
your daily activity–and especially from any holy service in which you
are engaged for Christ.

It may be that your sorrow is not a bereavement, but disappointment in
your work. You have not won those souls that you looked to win and,
some that you thought were converted, have gone back. And now Satan
tempts you to do no more–never to cast the net again, for you have
toiled all night and taken nothing–never to sow again, for you have
wasted your seed by the highway, and birds have devoured it. This is a
suggestion of the Evil One. It will lead you into deeper anguish. I
would say to you, O mourner, get up from the couch of ease! Shake
yourself from the dust, O virgin daughter of Zion! Sit not down upon
the dunghill in your grief, but bestir yourself, lest you sink into
blacker woe and your bitterness become as wormwood and gall! While
inaction will lead into blank despair, I am certain that work distracts
the mind from the sad point upon which it is apt to thrust itself.

Nothing is more healthy than to have work to do. I have seen persons of
leisure give way, most terribly, in the case of the loss of children.
While I have known laboring people, who, I believe, have been as
sensitive in heart, who have kept up bravely. Under God, I have
attributed the difference to the fact that the poor woman must go to
earn her daily bread, or must get about her domestic duties whatever
happens, and the poor man must do his daily task, or else the family
will be in need. Thus, toil has proved to be a blessed necessity by
withdrawing the mind from the sorrow which would have engrossed it. You
have heard of Alexander Cruden. Perhaps you do not know that he was
crossed in love and met with certain other trials which drove him
nearly mad–and yet Alexander Cruden did not become insane, for he
engaged upon the immense work of forming a concordance of sacred
Scripture–which concordance has become the great instrument by which
we search the Word of God. This work kept him from becoming altogether
insane. If I had to prescribe to "a mind diseased," I would say, "Enter
upon good work and keep at it."

Dear Friends, if you are in trouble and Satan tempts you to get alone
and to cease from the work of the Lord, resist the injurious
suggestion! God the Holy Spirit is most likely to comfort you and to
apply the precious promises of His Word to your soul if you pursue your
Master's work with all your heart. Attend to His business and He will
attend to your business! Tell poor sinners about His wounds and He will
bind up yours. Forget your cross in His! Forget your griefs in the
griefs of the sons of men who are perishing for lack of knowledge–and
you shall find the readiest way to consolation. A valuable solace for
sorrow is activity, especially, I think, in reference to new work. It
will help you much if a new trouble suggests to you new service. Old
work does not always take the mind off from its vexatious, for we are
apt to do it mechanically and as a matter of routine. But something
altogether fresh will aid us sweetly to forget our trial.

Oh, to strike out some new path! To invent new honors for Jesus, new
enterprises for His Kingdom, new attractions for His Gospel–this will
help to charm away our grief! With many, the doing of any kind of
service for Christ will be quite a novelty. I grieve to say it. These
people are desponding. I am not so grieved at that, because if any man
will not work, neither shall he eat. And if a Christian will not serve
his Master, he shall not feast with the King's worthies. Oh, how much
of joy many of you miss by not doing more for the poor, more for the
ignorant, more for Christ!

The poet, Rogers, tells us and he throws the story into poetry which I
forget–of a rich man in Venice who was the subject of despair. He
became such a hypochondriac that he went down to the canal to drown
himself. But on the way he was met by a poor little boy who tugged at
his trousers and begged for bread. When the rich man called him an
impostor, the boy besought him to come home with him and see his father
and mother who were dying of starvation. He went up into the room and
found the family literally perishing for lack of food! He immediately
laid out the money which he had in his pocket in making them all glad
with a hearty meal. And then he said to himself that there was
something worth living for, after all. He had found a novel enjoyment
which gave a fresh motive for living!

I would like to ask you who have suffered a great trouble whether the
Lord may not be pressing you, by this means, into a new path of
delight, directing you to a fresh method of glorifying God and doing
good to your fellow men? I will sing you a song if you will, as
sorrowful as David's lament, but I would rather teach you the use of
the bow! I believe that I shall minister better to your comfort if I
enlist you as soldiers in Christ's army and teach you to use His
weapons, than if I should console you with the most plaintive
minstrelsy of sadness. Do I speak to any here present who endure great
earthly afflictions, but know nothing of spiritual things? Is it not
the case that God often brings His wandering children to Himself by
distresses? The way in which you are to be comforted, dear Friends, is
not by going into the world, again, and seeking further pleasures
there.

If God means to bless you, He may allow you to become so hungry that
you may wish to fill your belly with the husks. You have spent your
living riotously and now you are ready to despair. Round by that dark
corner of despair may be the way to your Father's house! To expel your
present temporal grief, you need a spiritual grief concerning sin. If
you learn of Jesus at this hour to repent of sin and to put your trust
in Him, your soul will be awakened to say, "I will arise and go unto my
Father," and then you will lose your hunger and forget the swine
trough! Where? Why, amidst the music and dancing of your Father's house
and in the joy of hearing Him say, "Let us eat and be merry, for this,
My son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found."

Yes, David was right. The way to raise the people out of their
despondency was to teach them the use of the bow– their own arrows
would slay their grief–and the way to get you mourning ones out of
your sorrow is to teach you those

holy activities which lead a soul to trust in Christ and to find
salvation at His feet. That is the first lesson which, I think, the
text most sweetly teaches.

II. A second lesson is that AN ADMIRABLE USE OF DISASTER IS TO LEARN
ITS LESSONS. What was the disaster? Saul and Jonathan had been shot by
archers. The Philistines were evidently strong in the use of the bow,
but Saul's army was short of archers and so they were not able to
strike the Philistines at a distance. Before they came to close
quarters, where Israel might have been a match for Philistia, the
arrows of the Philistines had reached their king. Had they known how to
use the bow, they might have been conquerors and, therefore, David
hastens to teach the men of Judah the use of the bow.

Beloved Friends, I will suppose that you have met with failures–I
refer to disasters peculiar to yourselves. What shall you do? Sit down
and fret and trouble yourselves, and give up in despair? God forbid! As
the men of Judah learned the use of the bow through their being beaten
by the bow, so you gather wisdom from that which has befallen you! Have
you been made to fly before your adversary? Then find out where your
weakness is. Search and see. Is it a sin indulged? Is it some point
where you ought to have been guarded, but where you have been
unwatchful? Is it weakness in prayer? Is it neglect of the Word of God?
Is it indifference to Divine Truths of God? Is it coldness of heart? Or
what is it? If you have been defeated, there is a cause for it. If you
have been cast down and brought low, say unto God, "Show me why You
contend with me."

Has the Lord a controversy with you? Be not content till you have got
to the bottom of it and found out the root that bears this gall and
wormwood. Is not this the way of wisdom? May it not happen that the
cause of the disaster is that God is not with you? What if nothing
prospers with you? What if it is vain for you to rise up early, sit up
late and eat the bread of carefulness, since the hand of God is against
you? What if you are to have no pleasure in the things that once gave
you satisfaction because God has set you as a target for His
arrows–and in wrath is shooting at you? It may be so. Or you may not
be one of His children at all, as yet, and He may be tossing you to and
fro like a ball, that you may never find rest until you humbly come and
cry to Christ and seek mercy at His hands. Look and see whether it is
so!

It is of no use to worry about the disaster–search out the cause of
it. Strive to learn the lesson which it is meant to teach you. Is there
any secret sin with you? Perhaps by looking at the defeat you may learn
the way to victory. David judged that if they were defeated by the bow,
they might yet win by the bow. It is right to learn from our
adversaries. There is something to be learned from Satan. If he goes
about, let us be diligent. If he seeks whom he may devour, let us seek
whom we may save! And if he watches carefully to find out our weak
points, let us watch those whom we would bless to find out how we may
best reach their hearts. Many a man has grown rich through poverty,
healthy through sickness and holy by being made conscious of sin! When
he has been struck down, then has he cried out to God, and God has
lifted him up. Woe to that man who will not "hear the rod, and Him that
has appointed it." I pray that you may diligently learn the lesson
which every disaster would teach.

May not a misfortune which happens to a Church and to Christian people
be, to them, a call to action–to general action? Saul had a little
standing army and did not drill all the nation for war. But David says,
"I will teach all my own tribe the use of the bow." Now, whenever a
Church begins to get low, dull, stupid–and many Churches go in that
direction–when everybody seems to be asleep and the minister's sermon
is a kind of sanctified snore, and all the worship is steeped in
slumber, why, what is to be done? Then is the time to teach the
children of Judah the use of the bow and to wake them all up to holy
enterprise! Say to them, "You must not allow a few to be doing the work
of Christ, but all must do it! You must all be taught the use of the
bow."

It was the glory of the Moravians that all their members were
missionaries and such ought to be the glory of every Church–every man,
woman and child in the Church should take part in the battle for Jesus.
This, by God's Grace, is the cure for spiritual decline–teach the
people the use of the bow! Let us learn lessons from defeat. Let us
learn from the sin which has cast us down to cry unto God, the Mighty
One, to hold us up! If we are, at this time, under some great failure
in life, let us learn greater care. If we have been permitted to err,
let us learn to watch. Do not sullenly confess, "I have done wrong,"
but repent of it and ask God for Grace that you may be upheld in the
future, like Peter, who was stronger after his fall than before it, and
was set to strengthen his Brethren.

What is done cannot be undone, but we may so learn from it, by God's
teaching, that we may never do the same again. May God grant that this
may be the case. If it were proper, I could sing to you tonight a song
of mourning over

the disasters of a soul, or of a Church, but I believe that I would not
do you half as much good as by stirring you up to learn the use of the
bow, that is to say, to rectify your errors and supply your defects!

III. Now, thirdly, another lesson. A NOBLE MONUMENT TO A FRIEND IS TO
IMITATE HIS EXCELLENCES. How does that come from the text? Why, thus.
When Jonathan and David communed together, they fixed the meeting by
Jonathan's shooting certain arrows. It is evident that Jonathan was a
man who greatly favored the use of the bow. And though his father did
not largely introduce it into the army, yet Jonathan was well skilled
therein. "Well then," says David, "in memory of Jonathan, instead of
piling up a great monument, we will teach the children of Judah the use
of the bow." Come, Brothers and Sisters, let this be your memorial to
your dear father–if he was a child of God, be like he! If you want to
keep in memory your beloved mother, exhibit in yourselves the virtues
that shone in her.

That sweet child of yours has gone to Heaven and can never be
forgotten. Her likeness hangs over the mantelpiece. I mean that dear
little child who sang of Jesus when she died–if you want to remember
her beyond all forgetfulness, then love her Savior and go where little
Jane has gone! No memorial is more fit than imitation–be, yourself,
the monument by exhibiting within yourself all that was good in the
dear departed one. How specially true is this in connection with our
Divine Lord! I see the Romanist continually putting up crosses by the
roadside and, sometimes, on these there are hideous representations of
a person dying by crucifixion. There are nails, a sponge, a spear and I
know not what. This arises out of a natural desire to perpetuate the
memory of the crucified Redeemer–but you will do far better, dear
Brother, if you are, yourself, crucified with Christ–and if you
exhibit in your own person that Divine self-denial, that blessed love,
that superlative holiness which was found in Him.

Some will build a Church and lavish money upon architecture. I shall
not condemn them, for their splendid generosity may savor of the spirit
of that woman who broke the alabaster box and poured the ointment upon
the Savior's feet. But I would suggest that to build up within one's
self, by the power of God's Spirit, the Christ-like character is a
better memorial than the best piece of architecture that can ever be
put together! What if you should employ the greatest of sculptures and
he, with cunning hands, should mold the marble till it emulated life?
Would not the monument mainly keep in mind the artist and rather make
men think of the costliness of the work than of anything else? Whereas,
if you become, yourself, not in marble, but in living flesh, the image
of Christ, then men will take notice of you–that you have been with
Jesus and have learned of Him–and this will keep Him best in memory.
If we do what Christ would have done under our circumstances, we shall
be exhibiting a far better memorial of Him than wealth can possibly
purchase.

When David taught these people the use of the bow, every time they
stringed an arrow they might remember Jonathan! And whenever a regiment
of archers went through the streets to the battle, they brought
Jonathan before the public mind. David instituted this form of royal
artillery, on purpose, so that Jonathan might be kept in mind. And you,
dear Friends, every time you go forth to do the service of God,
obediently and zealously, as Jesus did it, you put men in mind of Jesus
and they say, "God has set these men in the world to be witnesses for
Christ, to keep His name alive in the earth. These men are a blessing
because Jesus, Himself, has blessed them."

I would thus stir you all up to endeavor all the days of your life to
live and serve God, that the name of Jesus Christ shall be kept alive
in this nation and throughout the world!

IV. Lastly, and but for a moment, I think that the form which this
military order took, to teach the children of Judah the use of the bow,
may be allegorically applied, tonight to you, dear Friends. IT IS A
GREAT ADVANTAGE TO BELIEVERS TO LEARN THE USE OF THE BOW, SPIRITUALLY.
First, there is the bow of prayer. Its use has not gone out of date,
but I wish that all of us knew how to shoot the arrows of the Lord's
deliverance much better than we do. Holy men of old would pick out an
arrow and when they had chosen it, they knew how to use it. They knew
what they needed and they prayed for it. They fitted their arrow on the
string–that is to say, they took God's promise, the promise that
answered their desire–and, fitting the one to the other, they took
straight aim at Heaven and watched the flight of the arrow petition!
They knew to whom they were praying, as well as what they were praying
for, and why they expected to be heard–and so they drew the bow of
prayer with all their might.

When the man of God went up to the top of Carmel and there took his bow
and drew it, there was no fear of his missing the mark. Or if, perhaps,
the arrow had not force enough, he would pull the bow a second time,
and a third time, and a fourth time, and a seventh time, till, at last,
the arrow struck the mark. He would not come down from his watchtower
till he knew that the arrow of his prayer was lodged in Heaven! In all
times of tribulation, what is needed is that the children of Judah
should know the use of the bow of prayer. When we heard of those
fearful assassinations in Ireland, the news reached the bulk of us on
the Lord's Day, and men of God went to their loopholes of retreat and
shot up to Heaven prayers for poor Ireland! It was the best thing that
could be done.

I have more faith in prayer than in police and prisons. In any time of
national need, the men that save a nation are the men of prayer! What?
Not the wise statesmen? Certainly, wise statesmen–but who makes them
wise? God has power over all minds and, in answer to the prayer from
this pulpit, He can visit yonder mind in St. Stephen's! From a humble
cottage in the western highlands, there may go up to God a cry that
shall come down upon the Prime Minister and direct his thoughts!
Remember what Queen Mary used to say when she tried to bring popery
back to Scotland? She said that she was more afraid of John Knox's
prayers than of all the armies that the Scottish lords could get
together! She was right, for once! When men overlook prayer, they
overlook the greatest factor in human affairs! The mystic rod of God is
still in the hand of many a Moses among us–a rod which brings victory
to Israel and defeat to Amalek.

The strength of the Church lies not in the oratory of the pulpit, but
in the oratory of the closet! That Church of God that shall do most for
the world is the Church that shall do most with God! He can rule men
for God who is ruled by God for men! He that gives up his soul to God
that God may write His will upon his life, is the mighty man! The man
who has had the will of God worked in him by the Holy Spirit and can
work it out into fervent prayer–he is the man, who, though princes and
potentates know it not, sits nearer to the helm of affairs than they
can reach! I could write you a plaintive hymn about the woes of Ireland
and about the sins of men and the evils of the times, but I had far
rather teach you the use of the bow of prayer–for then, if you could
send your longings up to the Lord, full many a blessing would come upon
the land and the adversaries of the Lord would be discomforted–and
peaceful and happy days would dawn.

Perhaps I speak to some here who do not know anything about praying. I
dare say that the Brother is here who listened to a sermon on Peckham
Rye, which was rather a wild one, I am afraid. In that discourse the
preacher said to all his congregation that if they would go home and
ask God for anything, the Lord would give it to them. I cannot endorse
so wild a statement! However, this man thought that the preacher,
having said it, it was true–and having never prayed before in all his
life, he put the question to the test of a certain event–and that
certain event fell out as he desired. Then he began to tremble, for he
judged that, assuredly, there is a God!

Now, I do not say to you, dear Hearers, that whatever all of you shall
ask in prayer you shall receive. I would not say that to you ungodly
ones. But I do say that if you will ask for mercy and salvation and
eternal life–and anything that is promised to believing sinners–you
shall have it. I wish you would try the experiment, for you would find
that the Lord never breaks a promise. If you read a promise made to a
sinner, it is made to you! Go ahead and plead it, and the Lord will
grant it. I will be surety for Him that He will keep His word. Trust
Him and try, and thus learn the use of the bow! God bless you for
Christ's sake. Amen.
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The Orphan's Father