A TIGHT GRIP
T. DeWitt Talmage
II Sam. 23:10
A great general of King David was Eleazar, the hero of
the text. The Philistines opened battle against him,
and his troops retreated. The cowards fled. Eleazar
and three of his comrades went into the battle and
swept the field, for four men with God on their side
are stronger than a whole regiment with God against
them. "Fall back!" shouted the commander of the
Philistine army. The cry ran along the host: "Fall
back!" Eleazar having swept the field throws himself
on the ground to rest, but the muscles and sinews of
his hand had been so long bent around the hilt of the
sword that the hilt was imbedded in the flesh, and the
gold wire of the hilt had broken through the skin of
the palm of the hand, and he could not drop this sword
which he had so gallantly wielded. "His hand clave
unto the sword." That is what I call magnificent
fighting for the Lord God of Israel. And we want more
of it. I propose to show you how Eleazar took hold of
the sword and how the sword took hold of Eleazar. I
look at Eleazar's hand, and I come to the conclusion
that he took the sword with a very tight grip. The
cowards who fled had no trouble in dropping their
swords. As they fly over the rocks, I hear their
swords clanging in every direction. It is easy enough
for them to drop their swords. But Eleazar's hand
clave unto the sword.
In the Christian conflict, we want a tighter grip of
the Gospel weapons, a tighter grasp of the two-edged
sword of the truth. It makes me sick to see those
Christian people who hold only a part of the truth,
and let the rest of the truth go, so that the
Philistines, seeing the loosened grasp, wrench the
whole sword away from them. The only safe thing for us
to do is to put our thumb on the Book of Genesis and
sweep our hand around the Book until the New Testament
comes into the palm, and keep on sweeping our hand
around the Book until the tips ...
T. DeWitt Talmage
II Sam. 23:10
A great general of King David was Eleazar, the hero of
the text. The Philistines opened battle against him,
and his troops retreated. The cowards fled. Eleazar
and three of his comrades went into the battle and
swept the field, for four men with God on their side
are stronger than a whole regiment with God against
them. "Fall back!" shouted the commander of the
Philistine army. The cry ran along the host: "Fall
back!" Eleazar having swept the field throws himself
on the ground to rest, but the muscles and sinews of
his hand had been so long bent around the hilt of the
sword that the hilt was imbedded in the flesh, and the
gold wire of the hilt had broken through the skin of
the palm of the hand, and he could not drop this sword
which he had so gallantly wielded. "His hand clave
unto the sword." That is what I call magnificent
fighting for the Lord God of Israel. And we want more
of it. I propose to show you how Eleazar took hold of
the sword and how the sword took hold of Eleazar. I
look at Eleazar's hand, and I come to the conclusion
that he took the sword with a very tight grip. The
cowards who fled had no trouble in dropping their
swords. As they fly over the rocks, I hear their
swords clanging in every direction. It is easy enough
for them to drop their swords. But Eleazar's hand
clave unto the sword.
In the Christian conflict, we want a tighter grip of
the Gospel weapons, a tighter grasp of the two-edged
sword of the truth. It makes me sick to see those
Christian people who hold only a part of the truth,
and let the rest of the truth go, so that the
Philistines, seeing the loosened grasp, wrench the
whole sword away from them. The only safe thing for us
to do is to put our thumb on the Book of Genesis and
sweep our hand around the Book until the New Testament
comes into the palm, and keep on sweeping our hand
around the Book until the tips ...
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