“Now it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead. And David said, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father shewed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. So the servants of David came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? are not his servants come unto thee for to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land? Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the midst hard by their buttocks, and sent them away,” 1 Chronicles 19:1-4.
These verses formed part of my daily Bible reading on Monday, 25th November. As I read them I thought of the parallel there is between the kindness of David, the reaction of the Ammonite king and princes to his kindness and the parallel reaction of men to the greater kindness, by far, of the Word that the Lord sends to sinful man, amidst the mourning that sin has wrought universally amongst us!
The Saviour uttered those immeasurably kind words, recorded in Matthew: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30.
The two terms the Saviour uses to describe mankind are “labour” and “heavy laden”. The word “labour” carries the meaning of ‘weary, tired, exhausted with toil or burdens or grief.’ “Heavy laden” refers to the ‘placing of a burden upon, to load up.’
The Lord Jesus knows the heart and state of mankind better than any! In truth, apart from the Bible and the faithful expositions of its teaching by godly witnesses, there is nothing in all the annals of men that has come anywhere near describing the miserable state of the human heart or the origins of that misery!
The consequences of that misery and man’s reaction to it, the fruitless seeking after relief through drugs and alcohol, the delving deep in to pleasure-seeking, even man-contrived religion – all have availed nothing!
Yes, men have linked such behaviour, to a degree at least, to the wretched distress that is everywhere present among men. However, they have not, cannot, truthfully identify the reason for such misery nor prescribe an answer!
Man, the most intelligent and educated, is incapable of understanding his own heart. It is only revealed to men by the Word of God.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings,” Jeremiah 17:9-10.
Only the Lord can “search” and “try” (examine) the human heart. It remains an ‘enigma’ to the wisest of men who reject the Bible’s revelation of it.
The Gospel is God’s cure for the miseries that SIN has brought upon mankind. The origins of sin amongst men goes back to the day when Adam, the representative of humanity, for in him physically the seed of all humanity resided, disobeyed the terms of the Covenant which the Lord made with him as our representative.
The ‘Shorter Catechism’ explains the matter with great proficiency!
Question 16: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
Answer: The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity (1); all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression (2).
(1). And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28, KJV).
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17, KJV).
(2). Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of life. (Romans 5:18, KJV).
Question 17: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
Answer: The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery (1).
(1). Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12, KJV).
Question 18: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
Answer: The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adams first sin (1), the want of original righteousness (2), and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called Original Sin (3); together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it (4).
(1). For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:19, KJV).
(2). As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (Romans 3:10, KJV).
(3). And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1, KJV).
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalms 51:5, KJV).
(4). For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are [the things] which defile a man. (Matthew 15:19-20, KJV).
Question 19: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
Answer: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God (1), are under his wrath and curse (2), and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever (3).
(1). Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. So he drove out the man. (Genesis 3:8, 24 KJV).
(2). And were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:3, KJV).
Cursed [is] every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Galatians 3:10, KJV).
(3). The wages of sin [is] death. (Romans 6:23, KJV).
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matthew 25:41, KJV).
I have included the proof texts that are part of the answers given.
In those answers you have an explanation of the teaching of the Bible of the origins of man’s sin and the misery that followed.
Adam was created perfectly sinless and in harmony with his Creator and enjoying utter tranquility and peace. BUT his disobedience brought him into sin and thereby he lost his communion with the Lord and died spiritually and began to die physically.
That is the state he passed on to all his offspring!
The next two questions in the Shorter Catechism deal with the Lord’s response in mercy to man’s transgression.
Question 20: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
Answer: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life (1), did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer (2).
(1). According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Ephesians 1:4, KJV).
(2). But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. (Romans 3:21-22, KJV).
Question 21: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A:The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ (1), who, being the eternal Son of God, became man (2), and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person (3), for ever (4).
(1). For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1Timothy 2:5, KJV).
(2). And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. (John 1:14, KJV).
(3). Whose [are] the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ [came], who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:5, KJV).
(4). But this [man], because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. (Hebrews 7:24, KJV).
There you have the heart of the Gospel! It is the message of kindness to man, living amidst the sorrows of sin and separation from God.
Paul the apostle, in particular being the apostle evangelising the heathen Gentile nations, explains in detail to them in his epistles, the lost condition of mankind.
Here are some examples of his explanations.
“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh,”Ephesians 2:11-17.
“Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,” Colossians 1:25-28.
“For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come,”1 Thessalonians 1:5-10.
These sample verses reveal what the sinner is before the grace of God, presented in the Gospel, brings to him the wonderful change that God in mercy can perform.
This is stated most succinctly in 2 Corinthians 5:17.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
As I have already stated in my opening words, the events in 1 Chronicles 19 parallel to a wonderful degree man’s reaction to Gospel kindness.
There is set forth in the account of the kindness of David to the young king, Hanun, and the reaction of him and his princes to that kindness, the universal reaction of men to the greater kindness by far, of the Word that the Lord sends to sinful man amidst the mourning that sin has wrought universally down upon him!
We will consider these parallels in our next study.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
28th November 2025