THIS Section is added to complete the plan of the work. As the text is in the main a transcript from Genesis 5th, 10th, 11th, 25th, and 36th, it is not deemed necessary to insert it here. B. The genealogical tables, though to us comparatively uninteresting, were highly important among the Jews, who were made by prophetic promises extremely observant in these particulars. These tables give the sacred lives through which the promise was transmitted for nearly 3500 years; a fact itself unexampled in the history of the human race. Angus.—It was fit to begin these Chronicles of Jewish history by tracing the original and descent of this select people of God to the very first man, who was the son of God. This was the peculiar glory of the Jewish nation, that they alone were able to derive their pedigree from the first man that God created; of which no other nation could boast, or even make a shadow of pretence. For no book in the world shows the original propagation of mankind, but only the Holy Scriptures [originating with and preserved by the chosen People, the children of Israel]. Patrick. 1. Chron. chap. 1. The whole of these Patriarchal forefathers of the house of David down to Israel and Edom, sons of Isaac, appear to be divided into two nearly equal parts, to the second of which is added an appendix on the descendants of Edom till the times of David. The first part (vs 1-23) enumerates the ten Antediluvian Patriarchs from Adam to Noah, the three sons of Noah, and the Seventy Nations descending from them. In the second part (vs. 24-42) are given the ten generations from Shem to Abraham, the sons of Abraham by Hagar, Keturah, and Sarah, and the stocks derived from them, which again amount to Seventy. The Appendix (vs. 43-54) mentions the kings of the Edomites before David (Gen. 36) and the eleven dukes of Edom. Lange. 1-23. ADAM'S LINE TO NOAH. Only that one member of the family is mentioned who came in the direct order of succession. 4-23. Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth—The three sons of this patriarch are enumerated, because they were the founders of the new world and because the fulfilment of Noah's prophecy (Gen. 9 : 25-27) could not otherwise appear to have been verified. 14-17. In these verses the names are not those of individuals, but of people who all sprang from Canaan; and as several of them became extinct or were amalgamated with their brethren, their national appellations are given instead of the personal names of their ancestors. 17. Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech; these were the children of Aram and grandsons of Shem (Gen. 10 : 23). 24-28. SHEM'S LINE TO ABRAHAM. 24. Shem, etc.—This comprises a list of ten, inclusive of Abraham. 29-31. SONS OF ISHMAEL. 23. These are their generations—The heads of his twelve tribes. The great northern desert of Arabia, including the entire neck, was colonized by these tribes; and if we can recover, in the modern geography of this part of the country, Arab tribes bearing the names of those patriarchs, i.e., names corresponding with those preserved in the original catalogue of Scripture, we obtain at once so many evidences, not of mere similarity, but of absolute identification. Nebaioth—Gave rise to the Nabathæans of the classic, and the Beni Nabat of Oriental writers. Kedar—The Arab tribe, El Khedeyre, on the coast of Hedgar. Abdeel—Abdilla, the name of a tribe in Yemen. 30. Dumah—Dumah and Tema, the great Arab tribes of Beni Teman. Thus Forster traces the names of all the heads of the twelve tribes of Ishmael as perpetuated in the clans or tribes of the Arabs in the present day. 32,33. Sons of Keturah. 32. Sons of Keturah—These became founders of nomadic tribes in the north of Arabia and Syria, as Midian of the Midianites (Gen. 36 : 35). Shuah—From whom Bildad sprang (Job 2 : 11). Jamieson. Even where we are unable to perceive the historical importance of the prominent names, and the grounds on which they must have been of interest to every devout Israelite, the fact of such importance is to be presumed in every case. Lange.—These dry names from a hoary antiquity, when we know how to awaken them from their sleep, announce and revive the most important traditions of the ancient nations and families, like the petrifactions and mountain strata of the earth, which, rightly questioned, tell the history of long-vanished ages. Ewald. | 序号 | 名称 | 内容 | 备注 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 2017年1月1日 | 《中国共产党章程》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 2 | 2017年1月2日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 3 | 2017年1月3日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 4 | 2017年1月4日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 5 | 2017年1月5日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 6 | 2017年1月6日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 7 | 2017年1月7日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 8 | 2017年1月8日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 9 | 2017年1月9日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 10 | 2017年1月10日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 11 | 2017年1月11日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 12 | 2017年1月12日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 13 | 2017年1月13日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 14 | 2017年1月14日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 15 | 2017年1月15日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 16 | 2017年1月16日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 17 | 2017年1月17日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 18 | 2017年1月18日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 19 | 2017年1月19日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 20 | 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2017年1月100日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | [The titles and publishers of leading works, additional to those given in previous volumes, are here appended to the names of authors. A helpful service in the interest of readers and writers is thus subserved.] | W. A. | William Adams, D.D. The Three Gardens. (Scribners, N. Y.) | | --- | --- | | N. A. | Nehemiah Adams, D.D. L. Agassiz. W. Aikman, D.D. | | J. W. A. | Jas. W. Alexander, D.D. Wm. L. Alexander, D.D. | | Alf. | Henry Alford, D.D. Com. on Genesis, etc. (Strahan, London.) Bp. L. Andrewes, d. 1626. S. J. Andrews, D.D. God's Revelations, etc. (Scribners, N. Y.) Lieut. Anderson. Joseph Angus, D.D. | | An. | An Unknown Writer. Thomas Aquinas. Duke of Argyll. Primeval Mas. (Routledge, London.) | | G. D. A. | Geo. D. Armstrong, D.D. Nature and Revelation. (Funk &Wagnalls, N. Y.) Thomas Arnold, D.D. Athanasius. C. A. Auberlen. The Divine Revelation. (Clark, Edin.) | | Aug. | Augustine, d. 430. Lord Bacon, d. 1626. Isaac Barrow, D.D., d. 1677. E. P. Barrows, D.D. W. Barrows, D.D. Alfred Barry, D.D. | | C. G. B. | C. G. Barth, D.D. Chron. Com. | | S. C. B. | S. C. Bartlett, D.D. Sources of History in the Pentateuch. (Randolph, N. Y.) Wm. Bates, D.D., d. 1699. M. Baumgarten, D.D. Rev. D. N. Beach. A. J. F. Behrends, D.D. J. A. Bengel, D.D., d. 1752. Chas. Bertheau, D.D., d. 1732. Bp. Wm. Beveridge, d. 1708. | | W. G. B. | Wm. G. Blaikie, D.D. Bib. History, etc. (Nelson, London.) J. J. Blunt. Undesigned Coincidences, O. &N. T. (Carters, N. Y.) | | --- | --- | | G. D. B. | Geo. D. Boardman, D.D. Studies in Creative Week. (Appletons, N. Y.) Francis Bowen, LL.D. Layman's Study of Eng. Bible. (Scribners, N. Y.) Rev. Chas. Bradley. Chas. A. Briggs, D.D. Biblical Study. (Scribners, N. Y.) Rev. S. A. Brooke. Thomas Brooks, d. 1680. Bp. E. Harold Browne. Bible (Speaker's) Com. Genesis. (Scribners, N. Y.) Francis Brown, D.D. Amyriology. (Scribners, N. Y.) Sir Thomas Browne. Robert Bruce, D.D., d. 1631. D. Henry Brugsch. Hist. Egypt under Pharaohs. Rev. W. S. P. Bryan. Jacob Bryant, D.D., d. 1804. Bp. George Bull, d. 1710. Rev. Thos. Bulloch, d. 1730. John Bunyan, d. 1688. Rev. J. W. Burgon. N. C. B. N. C. Burt, D.D. Land and its Story. (Appletons, N. Y.) George Bush, D.D. Com. on Gen. and Exod. (Ivison, N. Y.) Horace Bushnell, D.D. Bp. Joseph Butler, d. 1752. W. A. B. Wm. Archer Butler, D.D. J. Glentworth Butler, D.D. T. R. Birks, D.D. The Pentateuch, etc. (Hatchards, Lon.) E. C. Bissell, D.D. J. B. Bittinger, D.D. Prof. J. S. Blackie. Sir Wm. Blackstone. | | | John Caird, D.D. | | --- | --- | | | John Cairns, D.D. | | | Henry Calderwood, LL.D. | | Cale. | John Calvin, d. 574. | | | R. S. Candlish, D.D. | | | Joseph Caryl, d. 1673. | | | P. A. Chadbourne, D.D. | | T. C. | Thomas Chalmers, D.D. | | | Scripture Readings. (Carters, N. Y.) | | | Talbot W. Chambers, D.D. | | | On Revised Old Testament. (Funk &Wagnalls, N. Y.) | | | Stephen Charnoch, d. 1680. | | | Geo. B. Cheever, D.D. | | | Theodore Christlieb, D.D. | | A. C. | Adam Clarke, D.D. | | | Com. on Gen. and Exodus. | | | Edson L. Clark, D.D. | | | Fundamental Questions, etc. (Putnam, N. Y.) | | | Samuel Taylor Coleridge. | | | The Friend; Aids to Reflection. | | | E. R. Conder, D.D. | | | F. R. Conder. | | | Bp. John Conybeare, d. 1755. | | T. J. C. | Thomas J. Conant, D.D. | | | Com. on Genesis. (Bap. Bd., Phila.) | | | F. C. Cook, D.D. | | | Bible Com. Exodus. (Scribners, N. Y.) | | | Joseph Cook. | | H. C. | Henry Cowles, D.D. | | | H. brew History; Pentateuch. (Cong Pub. S. c., Boston.) | | | Rev. Samuel Cox. | | | Expositions, etc. | | | Howard Crosby, D.D. | | J. C. | John Cumming, D.D. | | | George Cuvier, d. 1832. | | Pul. Com. | Pulpit Commentary. | | | (Kegan, Paul &Co., Lon.) | | | R. S. Dabney, D.D. | | | R. W. Dale, D.D. | | | Prof. Jas. D. Dana. | | | Sam'l Davidson, D.D. | | | Introd. to O. T. | | | John Davison, D.D., d. 1834. | | | C. Daubeny, D.D., d. 1827. | | | Sir William Dawson, LL.D. | | | Foeil Men (Dawson Bros., Montreal); Egypt and Syria (Rel. Tr. Soc., Lon.); Nature and the Bible (Carters, N. Y.); Origin of World (Harpers, N. Y.) | | | Rev. G. Deane. | | Delit. | Franz Delitsch, D.D. | | | Introd. to O. T.; Com. on Gen., etc. (Clark, Edin.) | | Dic. B. | Dictionary of the Bible. | | | (Wm. Smith.) | | | Morgan Dix, D.D. | | | Marcus Dods, D.D. | | | Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. (Macmillan, N. Y.) | | | Prof. Henry Drummond. | | --- | --- | | | John W. Dulles, D.D. | | | Ride Through Palestine. (Pres. Pub. Bd., Phila.) | | | J. Oswald Dykes, D.D. | | | Abraham, the Friend of God. (Carters, N. Y.) | | | John Eadie, D.D. | | A. E. | Alfred Edersheim, D.D. | | | World before the Flood, etc.; Exodus, etc. (Rel. Tr. Soc., Lon.) | | | Jonathan Edwards, D.D. | | | History of Redemption. | | B. B. E. | B. B. Edwards, D.D. | | Enc. Met. | Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. | | | G. H. A. Ewald, D.D. | | | History of Israel. | | P. F. | Patrick Fairbairn, D.D. | | | Typology of Scripture. (Tibbals, N. Y.) | | | Fred'k W. Farrar, D.D. | | | F. Ferguson, D.D. | | G. P. F. | Geo. P. Fisher, D.D. | | | John Flavel, d. 1691. | | | Robert Flint, D.D. | | | Robert Forsyth. | | J. F. | John Foster. | | | Lectures, 2 vols. | | D. F. | Donald Fraser, D.D. | | | Synoptical Lectures on O. T. (Carters, N. Y.) | | | Wm. Fraser, D.D. | | | Reading Lights. (Am. Tr. Soc., N. Y.) | | | J. A. Froude. | | | E. Garbett. | | | Fred'k Gardiner, D.D. | | | O. &N. T. in their relations, etc. (J. Pott, N. Y.) | | | L. Gaussen, D.D. | | | Cunningham Geikie, D.D. | | | Hours with Bible, Vol. I. (J. Pott, N. Y.) | | Gerl. | Otto von Gerlach, D.D. | | | Com. on Pent. (Clark, Edin.) | | | Wm. Gesenius. | | | J. Monro Gibson, D.D. | | | Ages before Moses; Mosaic Era. (Randolph, N. Y.) | | E. H. G. | E. H. Gillett, D.D. | | | Life Lessons. (Pres. Bd. Pub., Phila.) | | | C. D. Ginsburg, D.D. | | | Rev. J. H. Gladstone. | | | Hon. W. E. Gladstone. | | | F. Godet, D.D. | | | Studies on O. T. (Dutton, N. Y.) | | | A. Gosman, D.D. | | | Large's Cem. on Gen. (Scribners, N. Y.) | | | P. H. Gosse. | | E. M. G. | E. M. Goulburn, D.D. | | | Bp. Robert Gray, d. 1834. | | | Richard Graves, D.D., d. 1829. | | W. H. G. | Wm. H. Green, D.D. | | | Moses and Prophets. (Carters, N. Y.) | David Gregg, D.D. E. D. Griffin, D.D. F. Guizot. Thomas Guthrie, D.D. Arnold Guyot, LL.D. Creation. (Scribners, N. Y.) H. B. Hackett, D.D. Bios. of Scripture. (Sheldon, N. Y.) Sir Matthew Hale, d. 1676. William Hales, D.D., d. 1819. Bp. H. Bp. Joseph Hall, d. 1656. Contemplations on O. T. Robert Hall, D.D., d. 1831. Sermons, etc. James Hamilton, D.D. Sermons and Lectures. (Carters, N. Y.) W. H. William Hanna, D.D. The Patriarchs. (London.) Rev. Thomas Harmer, d. 1788. J. H. John Harris, D.D. Man Primeral. (London, 1849.) Samuel Harris, D.D. Rev. F. Hastings. H. A. Hävernick, D.D. On the Pentateuch. (Clark, Edin.) E. W. Hengstenberg, D.D. Egypt and Books of Moms. (Clark, Edin.) H. Matthew Henry, D.D., d. 1714 Com. on Gen. and Exodus. (Carters, N. Y.) J. G. Herder. George F. Herrick, D.D. J. M. Hifferman, D.D. John Hill, D.D. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D.D. Edward Hitchcock, D.D. Charles Hodge, D.D. Archibald A. Hodge, D.D. M. D. Hoge, D.D. Rev. W. B. Homer. M. H. Mark Hopkins, D.D. Evidences of Christianity: Law of Love; Sermons. Bp. George Horne, d. 1792. Bp. Samuel Horsley, d. 1806. F. D. H. F. D. Huntington, D.D., Bp. Cent. N. Y. E. P. Humphrey, D.D. Bp. J. F. Hurst. Prof. T. H. Huxley. M. W. Jacobus, D.D. Com. on Gen. (Carters, N. Y.) Thomas Jackson, D.D., d. 1640. R. Jamieson, D.D. Com. on Gen. Wm. Jenkyn, d. 1685. Wm. Jones, of Nayland, d. 1800. Flavius Josephus, d. 93. Kal. M. M. Kalisch. J. F. Keil, D.D. Introd. to Pent.; Com. on Gen. (Clark, Edin.) John Ker, D.D. Sermons. (Carters, N. Y.) Bp. Richard Kidder, d. 1703. David King, D.D. Kit. John Kitto, D.D. Dai'y Bible Elus. (Carters, N. Y.) K. J. H. Kurtz, D.D. Hist. Old Covenant. (Clark, Edin.) J. Laidlaw, D.D. J. P. Lange, D.D. Com. on Gen. and Ex. (Scribners, N. Y.) S. V. Leach, D.D. Stanley Leathes, D.D. Wm. Lee, D.D. Archbp. Robert Leighton, d. 1684. F. Lenormant. Beginnings of History. (Scribners, N. Y.) T. L. Tayler Lewis, LL.D. Divine Human in the Scriptures: Six Days of Creation. (Carters, N. Y.) H. P. L. H. P. Liddon, D.D. Bampton Lectures, 1867. (Scribners, N. Y.) Bp. J. B. Lightfoot. Philip Lindsley, D.D. John Locke, d. 1704. Wm. Lord, D.D. C. E. Luthardt, D.D. Martin Luther, d. 1546. James McCosh, D.D. Alex. McCaul, D.D. Hon. T. B. Macanley. D. M. Donald Macdonald, D.D. Introd. to Pent., 2 vols. (Clark, Edin.) A. M. Alex. Maclaren, D.D. Hugh Macmillan, D.D. Archbp. Wm. Magee, d. 1831. R. Maguire, D.D. Brownlow Maitland. S. C. Malan, D.D. Thomas Manton, D.D., d. 1667. E. M. Erskine Mason, D.D. Geo. Matheson, D.D. H. Martensen, D.D. Fred'k D. Maurice, D.D. Patriarchs and Lawgivers. (Macmillan, N. Y.) P. G. Medd, D.D. The One Mediator. (Young, N. Y.) Joseph Mede, d. 1638. Henry Melville, D.D. A. G. Mercer, D.D. Bible Characters. (Putnam, N. Y.) S. M. Selah Merrill, D.D. East of the Jordan. (Scribners, N. Y.) Sir J. D. Michaelis, d. 1791. Com. on Laws of Moms. Hugh Miller. Wm. Milligan, D.D. T. S. Millington, D.D. H. H. Milman, D.D. History of the Jews. (Harpers, N. Y.) | M. | George Moberly, D.D., Bishop of Salisbury. J. F. Montgomery, D.D. J. B. Mozley, D.D. Rolling Pools in Early Ages, etc. (Dutton, N. Y.) Max Muller. | G. R. | Leopold Ranke. George Rawlinson, D.D. Origin of Nations; Egypt and Babylon. (Scribners, N. Y.) Present Day Tracts. (Rel. Tr. Soc., Lon.) Histor. Illus. (Samner.) P. LeP. Renouf. Religion of Anet. Egypt. (Scribners, N. Y.) J. H. Riggs, D.D. B. &F. Ev. Review, British and Foreign Evangelical. | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | J. P. N. | Jas. G. Murphy, D.D. Com. on Gen. and Exodus. (Estes, Boston.) H. B. Nadal, D.D. Ernest Naville. Sore-City of Pilhorm, etc. (Trubner, London.) J. H. Newman, D.D. Sermons—many volumes. Bp. Thomas Newton, d. 1782. Rev. J. P. Norris. | S. R. | Brit. Quar. Rev. Review, British Quarterly. No. Brit. Rev. Review, North British. Cont. Rev. Review, Contemporary. F. W. R. Fred'k W. Robertson, D.D. E. Robie, D.D. Edward Robinson, D.D. Thos. H. Robinson, D.D. Stuart Robinson, D.D. Printed but unpublished Lectures on the O. T. sent by the author for use in these volumes. Prof. Henry Rogers. Super. Origin of Bible. (Scribners, N. Y.) G. Rorison. H. O. Rowlands. Bib: Student. (W. R. Harper.) John Ruskin. | | O. | G. F. Oehler, D.D. Theology of O. T. (Funk &Wagnalls, N. Y.) C. Von Orelli. O. T. Proph. of God's Kingdom. (Clark, Edin.) B. M. Palmer, D.D. E. H. Palmer. Hist. of Jewish Nation. (Lon. Rel. Tr. Soc.) Wm. Paley, D.D., d. 1805. E. A. Park, D.D. C. H. P. C. H. Parkhurst, D.D. Sermons, 2 vols. (Randolph, N. Y.) Bp. Symon Patrick, d. 1707. Com. on Gen. and Exodus. Joseph Parker, D.D. People's Bible, Gen. and Ex. (Funk &Wagnalls, N. Y.) S. R. Pattison. Pres. Day Tracts, Vol. 3. (Rel. Tract Soc., Lon.) W. W. Patton, D.D. Andrew Peabody, D.D. Bp. John Pearson, d. 1686. George Peck, D.D. Sabbath Essays. (Meth. Book Conc., N. Y.) J. J. S. Perowne, D.D. Dr. Fred'k Pfaff. Austin Phelps, D.D. Studies of O. T. (Cong. Pub. Soc., Boston.) H. W. P. Rev. H. W. Philpott. Pic. Bib. Pictorial Bible. A. T. Pierson, D.D. E. H. Plumptre, D.D. Matthew Pool, D.D., d. 1679. Annotations on Bible. R. S. Poole. W. B. Pope, D.D. J. L. P. J. L. Porter, D.D. Noah Porter, D.D. Bp. B. Porteons, d. 1808. Prof. R. Proctor. E. B. Pusey, D.D. Rev. Philip Pyle, d. 1799. | R. P. S. P. S. P. S. R. P. S. P. S. R. P. S. P. S. R. P. S. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. R. P. S. | | | 序号 | 名称 | 内容 | 备注 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 2017年1月1日 | 《中国共产党章程》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 2 | 2017年1月2日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 3 | 2017年1月3日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 4 | 2017年1月4日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 5 | 2017年1月5日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 6 | 2017年1月6日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 7 | 2017年1月7日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 8 | 2017年1月8日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 9 | 2017年1月9日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 10 | 2017年1月10日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 11 | 2017年1月11日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 12 | 2017年1月12日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 13 | 2017年1月13日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 14 | 2017年1月14日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 15 | 2017年1月15日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 16 | 2017年1月16日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 17 | 2017年1月17日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 18 | 2017年1月18日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 19 | 2017年1月19日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 20 | 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2017年1月40日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 41 | 2017年1月41日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 42 | 2017年1月42日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 43 | 2017年1月43日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 44 | 2017年1月44日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 45 | 2017年1月45日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 46 | 2017年1月46日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 47 | 2017年1月47日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 48 | 2017年1月48日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 49 | 2017年1月49日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 50 | 2017年1月50日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 51 | 2017年1月51日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 52 | 2017年1月52日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 53 | 2017年1月53日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 54 | 2017年1月54日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 55 | 2017年1月55日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 56 | 2017年1月56日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 57 | 2017年1月57日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 58 | 2017年1月58日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 59 | 2017年1月59日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 60 | 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2017年1月80日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 81 | 2017年1月81日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 82 | 2017年1月82日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 83 | 2017年1月83日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 84 | 2017年1月84日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 85 | 2017年1月85日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 86 | 2017年1月86日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 87 | 2017年1月87日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 88 | 2017年1月88日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 89 | 2017年1月89日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 90 | 2017年1月90日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 91 | 2017年1月91日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 92 | 2017年1月92日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 93 | 2017年1月93日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 94 | 2017年1月94日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 95 | 2017年1月95日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 96 | 2017年1月96日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 97 | 2017年1月97日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 98 | 2017年1月98日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 99 | 2017年1月99日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 100 | 2017年1月100日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) \( \therefore m = \frac{3}{11} \) | 序号 | 名称 | 内容 | 备注 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 2017年1月1日 | 《中国共产党章程》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 2 | 2017年1月2日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 3 | 2017年1月3日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 4 | 2017年1月4日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 5 | 2017年1月5日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 6 | 2017年1月6日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 7 | 2017年1月7日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 8 | 2017年1月8日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 9 | 2017年1月9日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 10 | 2017年1月10日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 11 | 2017年1月11日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 12 | 2017年1月12日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 13 | 2017年1月13日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 14 | 2017年1月14日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 15 | 2017年1月15日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 16 | 2017年1月16日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 17 | 2017年1月17日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 18 | 2017年1月18日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 19 | 2017年1月19日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 20 | 2017年1月20日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 21 | 2017年1月21日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 22 | 2017年1月22日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 23 | 2017年1月23日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 24 | 2017年1月24日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 25 | 2017年1月25日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 26 | 2017年1月26日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 27 | 2017年1月27日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 28 | 2017年1月28日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 29 | 2017年1月29日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 30 | 2017年1月30日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 31 | 2017年1月31日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 32 | 2017年1月32日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 33 | 2017年1月33日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 34 | 2017年1月34日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 35 | 2017年1月35日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 36 | 2017年1月36日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 37 | 2017年1月37日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 38 | 2017年1月38日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 39 | 2017年1月39日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 40 | 2017年1月40日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 41 | 2017年1月41日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 42 | 2017年1月42日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 43 | 2017年1月43日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 44 | 2017年1月44日 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | 《中华人民共和国公司法》 | | 45 | 2017年1月45日 | 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Offerings. The Nazarite Vow. | 432 | | 147 | Offerings of First-Born of Man and Beast. Of First Fruits, etc. Of Tithes. | 436 | | 148 | Ordinances Respecting Food : Clean and Unclean Animals ; The End and Purpose of these Ordinances. | 440 | | 149 | Ceremonial Uncleanness and Purification : Leprosy in the Person, the Garments, and the Dwelling. | 446 | | 150 | Ceremonial Uncleanness and Purification : Water of Purification for Contact with the Dead. Childbirth. Bodily Issues. | 451 | | 151 | Thoughts Respecting the Hebrew Ritual. | 456 | | 152 | Unlawful Marriages. Divorce. Marrying a Brother's Widow. Jealousy Offering. Punishment of Defaming Husband. Sins against Chastity. | 458 | | 153 | Idols and Altars to be Destroyed. Idolaters, Enticers to Idolatry, False Prophets, and Wonder-Workers to be Put to Death ; and Idolatrous Cities to be Burned. Magical Arts and Divination Penally Condemned ; Also Child-Sacrifice to Molech. | 463 | | 154 | The Civil Government Instituted by Moses : Its Distinguishing Elements, and Its Influence upon Subsequent Civilizations. | 468 | | --- | --- | --- | | 155 | The Appointment of Judges, by Jethro's Counsel. Requisites of Character. Classification. | 476 | | 156 | The Administration of Justice : Supreme Court ; Charges to Judges : Witnesses ; Punishments, Design and Kinds. | 483 | | 157 | Crimes, Injuries, and Penalties : Theft and Burglary ; Damage or Loss ; Injuries to Persons and to Cattle. The Law of Retaliation. Death-Penalty for Special Crimes (Other than Murder). Stoning of the Sabbath-Breaker ; And of the Blaspheming Son of Shelomith. Modes of Inflicting Death. | 490 | | 158 | Death Penalty for Murder. Cities of Refuge for Accidental or Justifiable Homicide. Purgation of a Community for a Hidden Murder. | 496 | | 159 | The Widow and the Fatherless ; The Stranger and the Poor. Gleanings of Harvest and Vintage. Usury. Pledges for Loans. | 501 | | 160 | Humane and Merciful Precepts : Parapet on Roof ; Exemption from Public Service ; Straying or Overburdened Animals Restored or Helped ; Muzzling of the Ox, etc., Forbidden. | 507 | | SECTION | | PAGE | | --- | --- | --- | | | Canaan. Exhortations to Obedience, based upon JEHOVAH'S Gracious Disclosures and Dealings. | | | 183 | Second Parting Address : Introduction. Reminders ; Warnings ; Entreaties. | 640 | | 184 | Same, Continued : Past Wilderness Dealings and the Prospective Canaan Inheritance as Motives to Fidelity. | 647 | | 185 | Same, Continued : Warnings, Reminders, and Pleadings : A Blessing and a Curse Set before them. | 652 | | 186 | Same, Continued : One Central Sanctuary. Law Respecting the King. | 658 | | 187 | Same, Continued : The Prophet like unto Moses. Intimation of a Succession of Prophets. Directions Concerning Warfare. | 666 | | 188 | Same, Concluded : Forbidden and Allowed Fellowship. Thanksgiving and Prayer at Presentation of First-Fruits and of Second Tithe. Summary of Engagements between JEHOVAH and Israel. | 672 | | 189 | Third Address : Stone Monuments Inscribed with the Law to be Erected on Mount Ebal. Blessings and Cursings to be Proclaimed on Gerizim and Ebal. The Twelve Curses Pronounced on Ebal. | 678 | | 190 | Blessings Promised to Obedience : At Sinai ; Afterward on the Plains of Moab. | 682 | | 191 | Prophetic Curses : At Sinai ; Amplified on the Plains of Moab. Promises of Restored Favor upon Repentance. | 686 | | 192 | Closing Address, in Connection with Solemn Renewal of Covenant. Renewed Appeals to Past Mercies, Calls to Fidelity, and Warnings of Punishment for Apostasy. | 697 | | 193 | Great Truths Respecting the Divine Revelation. . . . | 701 | | 194 | Conclusion of Final Address. . . . . | 708 | | 195 | Special Messages : of Moses, to the People, to Joshua, to the Priests and Levites ; of Jehovah to Moses, and to Joshua. | 715 | | 196 | The Dying Song of Moses. . . . . | 721 | | 197 | Blessing of the Tribes by Moses. . . . . | 731 | | 198 | Vision of Canaan from Pisgah. Death, Burial, and Encomium of Moses. | 737 | | 199 | Supplementary : Genealogical Outline of 1 Chron. . . . | 748 | EXPLANATORY NOTE.—Dislocations of text, in this volume, are made in the interest of chronological order, as respects the History ; and of natural sequence in the subjects, as respects the Legislation. While the matter of the Books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy is largely re-distributed in the codifying process, yet careful note is made throughout of the distinctive character, the special relation, and the true unity of each of these Books. Further, as to subjects of critical inquiry, it is believed that the main points both of positive exposition and definite refutation are sufficiently presented in these pages. CHRISTIANITY stands in organic connection with the Old Testament religion, both being parts of a gradually developing system. Of the Hebrew people, Ewald writes: "The history of this ancient people is, at the foundation, the history of the true religion passing through all the stages of progress by which it attained to its consummation; the religion which, on this narrow territory, advances through all struggles to complete victory, and at length reveals itself in its full glory and might, to the end that, spreading abroad by its own irresistible energy, it may never vanish away, but may become the eternal heritage and blessing of all nations." G. P. F. —While the economies are two, while the Old and the New Testaments differ widely in their literary features, there still remains the one series of truths revealed by God to man for his salvation. The Old and the New Testaments are still one book in virtue of the absolute unity of the truths which they reveal. They are the great fundamental truths of Christianity: the truths of the one living and holy God; of man made in the image of God but fallen; of sin; of man's inability to save himself; of God's desire to save him; of the salvation provided by the merciful God; of atonement; of the friendship of God; of his communion with man; of prayer; of providence; of holiness; of a complete redemption. The two religions, in virtue of this community of truth, are one religion; the two theologies are one theology; and the two Testaments—the Old Testament and the New—to quote the words of Chalmers, are not "cross-lights that dazzle and perplex the beholder, but are the two golden candlesticks lighted up for the Church of Christ upon earth, and which, while that Church has being, will never be taken away." De Witt. The Bible occupies a place in the literature of the world distinct from that held by any other volume. It contains the bulk of the literary productions of one race—the Hebrew; it lies at the foundation, permeates all the materials, forms the very capstone itself of the splendid literary structure reared by another race—the Anglo-Saxon; while other peoples the globe over acknowledge its surpassing merit. The Bible holds a like position in religion. Among religious writings, this book stands pre-eminent; its morals are purer, its teachings nobler, its influence more notable than all other so-called sacred books. Where its precepts are honored, there progress in all that concerns man's betterment is found. Its followers are earnest and aggressive; and as the Book is known, men acknowledge its truth and become its devoted adherents. The Bible claims supreme authority over men. It enters into the State, comes into the social circle, opens the door of the family, and penetrates the soul of each individual; everywhere declaring the true principles whereby all the relations of this life should be governed. This authority is demanded as a right, for the Book claims Divine origin. It is a revelation, disclosing the one God, man's distance from him, and the bridge that spans the distance. In its spiritual aim the Bible differs from other books. "Instruction in righteousness" is its aim. All that pertains to the spiritual welfare of man is its object. It reveals God as one regarding justice and loving mercy, it pictures man as guilty and condemned, it displays God's great purpose of redemption in Christ Jesus. This purpose seen in dimmest outline in Eden as the triumph of the good over the evil, reflected in shadowy form through patriarch, priest, and prophet ever develops—its shadows ever lessening, its outline ever filling until it bursts in the grand, full splendor of the Cross and the Resurrection. We, looking backward, see God's purpose thus accomplished, and in this light much of the mystery is dissolved. What to Hebrew sage and people appeared as a flickering rushlight, to us blazes as the full-orbed sun at noonday. Here then is seen the aim of the Book in the Divine Man, the Lord Christ. This aim must guide our interpretation; forgetting it, we are wanderers on the desert and all around is strange and dreary. The Bible is one, yet many; giving each book its value as a unit, they combine in one grand integer. "It is," to use the words of Dr. Briggs, "the unity of the ocean, where every wave has its individuality of life and movement. It is the unity of the continent in which mountains and rivers, valleys and uplands, flowers and trees, birds and insects, animal and human life, combine to distinguish it as a magnificent whole from other continents. It is the unity of the heaven, where star differs from star in form, color, order, movement, size, and importance, but all declare the glory of God." E. R. Pope. The Old and New Covenants are identified morally and spiritually. The same moral principles of benevolence, truth, and justice prevail throughout the Scriptures. The moral code of both covenants is the same. The Decalogue is the moral law for all men and for all ages. It consists of two grand principles, supreme love to God and sincere love to man, on which hang not only the law and the prophets but also the apostles, like all the branches of a tree on the trunk. The ground of all obedience is the revealed character of God, and especially his love as the Lord our God and Redeemer, and the motive or mainspring in the human soul is felt love. The righteousness of this law the Son of God, as the Son of Man, has not only fulfilled, but magnified and made honorable. Consequently, obedience under the Gospel is enjoined on the same grounds and from the same motives—love to God for his revelation of his love in the person and work of Christ. The new moral commandment of the Gospel is certainly not that we love God supremely or one another with a pure heart fervently, but that we love each other as Christ hath loved us. It is a new yet an old commandment, old as Adam in its principle, and as Moses in its formal basis, and new merely in its formal motive, the gracious work of Christ; which is a new thing in the earth, a new form of the Divine love. And all the spiritual or gracious feelings required and exercised under the Law and the Gospel are the same. The form of worship is different, but the spirit is the same. The former accordingly is changed, but the latter remains unchanged and unchangeable. The same faith and the same fear, the same hope and the same joy, the same humility and the same holiness, run like a perennial and pearly stream throughout both economies. The principles of subjective religion are the same throughout. A complete moral and spiritual identity prevails. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ 3. Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to 8 him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night : and he said, Divine unto me, I pray thee, by the familiar spirit, and bring 9 me up whomsoever I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land : wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? 10 And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment 11 happen to thee for this thing. Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? 12 And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice : and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. 13 And the king said unto her, Be not afraid : for what seest thou? And the woman said unto 14 Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up ; and he is covered with a robe. And Saul perceived 15 that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed ; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams : therefore I have called thee, 16 that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. And Samuel said, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine adversary? 17 And the LORD hath wrought for himself, as he spake by me : and the LORD hath rent the 18 kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David. Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, and didst not execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek, there- 19 fore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the LORD will deliver Israel also with thee into the hand of the Philistines : and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be 20 with me : the LORD shall deliver the host of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. Then Saul fell straightway his full length upon the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel : and there was no strength in him ; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all 21 the night. And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, Behold, thine handmaid hath hearkened unto thy voice, and I have put my life in my 22 hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou speakest unto me. Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of 23 bread before thee ; and eat, that thou mayest have strength, when thou goest on thy way. But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him ; and he hearkened unto their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat upon the bed. 24 And the woman had a fatted calf in the house ; and she hastened, and killed it ; and she took 25 flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof : and she brought it before Saul, and before his servants ; and they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night. At this point the history is suspended for the purpose of narrating the experiences of King Saul. Saul had mustered his army on the mountains of Gilboa which skirt the eastern portion of the great plain of Esdraelon. H. C. — Three miles north of them is the parallel chain of Little Hermon. These two heights mark the position of the two armies ; Saul and his men on the western heights of Gilboa ; the Philistines on those of Hermon. Endor is beyond Hermon on the northern slope. Coleman. — The Philistine army was encamped at Shunem, now Solam, on the northern side of the valley, while the Israelites “pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel,” the spring which rises up at the foot of the mound on which the city of Jezreel was built ; and it was while the two armies were thus mutually facing each other that Saul made his adventurous night journey to visit the witch at Endor, which lay on the farther side of Little Hermon in rear of the Philistine camp. Wilson. 5. About forty years have come and gone since, as their first elected king, he had led out the Israelites to raise the siege of Jabesh Gilead. More than half of that time has passed with the awful doom—“the kingdom has been rent from thee and given to another”—hanging over his head, drinking up his spirit, unsettling reason on her throne. Ten of these years have been spent in the unreasonable, ungenerous blood-thirsty persecution of David. All the time he has been trying to reign without God over Israel — too often has been engaged in direct attempts to resist God’s will. It has been a long and weary conflict ; for woe ever is to the man that striveth with his Maker; and, strong man as he was, Saul is well-nigh worn out. Jaded, hopeless, heartless, he surveys that widespread camp of the bold enemies of Israel, and his heart trembles. Hanna. There were three courses open to him: he might sit down in quiet hopelessness, and let the evil come; or he might in faith and penitent submission commit the whole matter to God, even amid the awful silence; or he might betake himself to hell for counsel, since heaven was deaf. He chooses the last! "God has cast me off; I will betake myself to Satan. Heaven's door is shut; I will see if hell's be open." Bonar. 7. Aindur, as the home of Saul's far-famed witch is now called, is a wretched-looking place, and yet the position, at the northeast corner of Little Hermon, facing Tabor, and overlooking the valley between them, is really beautiful. The declivity of the mountain is everywhere perforated with caves, and most of the habitations are merely walls built around the entrance to these caverns. The "witch" doubtless occupied one of these caves. Thompson. 8. As the journey was very dangerous, Saul disguised himself, and went by night, accompanied only by two men; and nothing could more plainly set before us his mental anguish, and also his intense desire to pry into the secrets of futurity, than this strange journey. All faith and hope are gone, and a feverish excitement, ready to catch at any aid, however lawless and untrustworthy, had taken their place. R. P. S.—It was eight miles round the eastern shoulder of Hermon to Endor; and he has to steal round the back of the position of the Philistines, who lie on the front slope of Hermon. A. E. Two hundred years before the battle in which Saul was slain, another leader of Israel had stood upon that same battle-range of Gilboa. A like innumerable hostile array was encamped below, or upon the opposite slope of Little Hermon. But Gideon, to meet the enemy, had only three hundred men; Saul had "all Israel." Yet Gideon made ready for the onset, hopeful and stout-hearted, while Saul "greatly trembled," because Gideon's sword was also "the sword of the Lord," while from Saul the Spirit of God had long since departed. Within twenty-four hours preceding either battle, both these chieftains had taken brief excursions from their camps. Both were attended by only one or two retainers. Both stole away by night clandestinely. Both went where it was peril to go: Gideon within the enemy's lines, Saul into a witch's den. Yet Gideon returned exultant, while Saul "fell all along on the earth, sore afraid," because Gideon went where God had sent him; Saul against God's express statute. Jerome. 9-11. With unendurable remorse within, and a vague premonition of doom blackening the very night which overhung his secret, silent steps, Saul sought from the woman at Endor that knowledge of the future which he could no longer receive from a rejected God. And, strangely enough, too, it is Samuel, God's prophet, that he would see and hear—a fact which shows where his inmost belief has rested all through his evil career—a fact which includes confession with conviction of guilt, but the confession of remorse, like that of Judas, leading only to self-murder. B.—All human history has failed to record a despair deeper or more tragic than his, who having forsaken God and being of God forsaken, is now seeking to move hell, since Heaven is inexorable to him; and, infinitely guilty as he is, assuredly there is something unutterably pathetic in that yearning of the disanointed king, now in his utter desolation to change words once more with the friend and counsellor of his youth, and if he must hear his doom, to hear it from no other lips but his. Trench. 15. We hear the wail of a perturbed spirit—"I am sore distressed;" but no confession of sin, no accent of repentance. Saul never fairly faces the question of his own misconduct, always palliates his sin, always evades self-judgment and self-reproach. D. F.—"What shall I do?" The silence of God and the words of Samuel show that practically this was a question for which no answer was possible. The day for doing was in the past, when Samuel delivered instructions in the name of God. Years of persistent impenitence for disobedience and of self-willed warring against the purposes of God had brought the unhappy man to a time and position in which no action on his part could reverse the judgment impending. Too late! So is it in human life still. Men may persist in evil ways till ruin is inevitable, and no course is open for retrieval. Chapman. 16-25. The time for doing was now past. In quick succession it comes, like thunderbolt on thunderbolt: "Jehovah thine enemy;" "Jehovah hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to David;" "thy sins have overtaken thee!" All this Saul knew long ago, although he had never realized it as now. And then as to his fate: to-morrow—defeat, death, slaughter, to Saul, to his sons, to Israel! One by one, each stroke heavier than the other, they had pitilessly fallen on the kneeling king, weary, faint from want of food and smitten to the heart with awe and terror; and now he falls heavily, his gigantic length, to the ground. The woman and Saul's companions had stood aside, nor had any heard what had passed between the two. But the noise of his fall brought them to his side. With difficulty they persuade him to eat ere he starts on his weary return to Jezreel. At last he yields; and, rising from his prostrate position, sits down on the divan, while they wait on him. But he has no longer speech, or purpose, or thought. As one driven to the slaughter, he goes back to meet his doom. It must have been early morning when once more he reached Gilboa—the morning of the dread and decisive battle. A. E. 19. To-morrow shall thou and thy sons be with me. The case does not require us to press the words beyond the sense of being in the state of the dead. There was no occasion then and there to indicate whether his condition in that state would be happy or miserable. It was enough for his purpose then to apprise Saul that he and his sons must die on the morrow and pass into the state of the dead. Samuel, however, did say enough to show that in his belief and certain knowledge, there could be neither fellowship nor sympathy in either this or any other world between such a spirit as that of Saul and his own. The leading facts of this narrative are clearly stated and easily understood. I take the most obvious sense to be the true one, and must believe, therefore, that the sorceress called for Samuel, and that Samuel in fact came and talked with Saul, uttering words most true and terribly appalling. H. C.—The gravity and sultableness of the answer show that it was the spirit of Samuel himself; and the event shows that it was from God. Bp. Wilson.—The narrator all along says it was Samuel, which is better authority for the fact than the assertion of the woman, or the impression of Saul. The latter, indeed, forthwith bent himself low in humble obeisance, which he was not likely to have done unless he saw the figure visibly before him, and felt assured that it was Samuel. The historian says that it was Samuel whom he saw, Samuel to whom he spoke, Samuel who spoke to him. All the circumstances agree with this, and are unaccountable under any other hypothesis; the woman had no time for collusive arrangements; the answer given by the apparition was true, was fulfilled to the letter. Kit.—The history appears to leave us in no doubt, namely, that, though not through the incantations of the wretched enchantress, but to her own unaffected surprise no less than terror, and only by the will of God, Samuel himself, under whatever inexplicable conditions, delivered the dread message which is put into his lips. The importance of that message—its importance in relation to the whole history of Saul—justified any means, however extraordinary, which might be required to invest it with due authority and impressiveness. W. Lee. That the spirit of Samuel himself appeared was the view of the ancient Jewish church. This is attested (a) by the Sept. addition in 1 Chron. 10 : 13; "Saul asked counsel of her that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of her; and Samuel made answer to him: (b) by the Book of Ecclesiasticus (46 : 20); "After his death [Samuel] prophesied, and showed the king his end, and lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy:" (c) by Josephus; and the generality of Jewish commentators. The same opinion was maintained by early Christian writers—e.g., Justin Martyr, Origen, Augustine, and others. Unquestionably it is the plain and natural meaning of the narrative. The expressions in verse 15, "Samuel said to Saul;" verse 16, "Then said Samuel;" verse 20, "the words of Samuel;" leave no doubt of this. A. F. K. The most terrible fact of all is the total absence of all penitence on the part of Saul. He was clear of offences which make some pages in David's history nothing better than one huge blot. But oh! how much better it would have been to have sinned like David, if only he had repented like David; if a temper resembling at all the temper which dictated the fifty-first Psalm had found place in him. But all this was far from him. Darkness is closing round him; anguish has taken hold of him; but the broken and the contrite heart, there is no remotest sign or token of this; no reaching out after the blood of sprinkling. We listen, but no voice reaches us like his who exclaimed, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow;" but dark and defiant and unbelieving, he who had inspired such high hopes, he who for awhile seemed about to justify them all, goes forward to meet his doom. Abp. Trench. Saul's history is a stern warning of the fatal consequences of uncontrolled self-will, of the inevitable descent of an unrepentant heart from bad to worse, of the hopeless hardening which results from neglect to use grace given. A. F. K.—How many who have despised the advice of a father or a mother, and grieved them by opposition and disobedience, long bitterly to bring them back when they have gone down to the grave, that they may have the benefit of the counsel which they once slighted and scorned! If they could go to the necromancer in the hour of their distress, it would not be, "Bring me up the companion who cheered me in my gayeties;" but, "Bring me up the father or the mother who with weeping eyes and broken voice admonished me against sinful indulgences." . . . And yet, if you neglect the Lord and continue to resist the strivings of his Spirit, so that at length he departs from you as he departed from Saul, what would it avail that the grave could give up its inhabitant—if the parent, the friend, or the minister should return at your bidding? Melvill. The spirits of the departed live in the region that God hath given them—out of the body we know; but whether by knowledge and sympathy in any close connection with the living, we cannot tell. But across the gulf that divides us and them, one utterance of theirs falls upon our listening ear—"To-morrow,"—they say to us—a few more days—a few more years it may be to us—to-morrow to them,—"thou, too, shalt be with us." Let us drink the message in; and as we know that the passage into the world of spirits is so near, and shall bring with it such solemn issues, so let this short day of life be spent by each of us humbly, watchfully, prayerfully, dutifully, that when that morrow cometh, instead of lost spirits rising to mock our advent with the scornful question, "Art thou also become one of us?" happy spirits with outstretched arms may welcome us to the sunbright shores of an unshadowed eternity. Hanna. 28 4 And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem : and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. 29 1 Now the Philistines gathered together all their hosts to Aphek : and the Israelites pitched by the fountain which is in Jezreel. 31 1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel : and the men of Israel fled from before the 2 Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons ; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shus, 3 the sons of Saul. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him ; and 4 he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. Then said Saul to his armor-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith ; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armor-bearer would not ; for he was sore afraid. Therefore 5 Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, 6 he likewise fell upon his sword, and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons and 7 his armor-bearer, all his house and all his men, that same day died together. And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were beyond Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled ; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8. And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they 9 found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the tidings unto 10 the house of their idols, and to the people. And they put his armor in the house of the 11 Ashtaroth : and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. And when the inhabitants 12 of Jabesh-gilead heard concerning him that which the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons 13 from the wall of Beth-shan ; and they came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. 1. Chron. 10 13 So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the LORD, because of the word of the LORD, which he kept not; and also for that he asked counsel of one 14 that had a familiar spirit, to inquire thereby, and inquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse. In the great plain of Esdraelon, the most signal battle-field of the world from the days of Joshua to those of Napoleon, extending almost from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, in the southern part of Galilee, in a locality where places are found still bearing the names of Gilboa and Endor, this greatest and most decisive conflict between Saul and the Philistines was fought. B.—Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Crusaders, Egyptians, Persians, Druses, Turks, Arabs, and French, warriors out of every nation under heaven, have pitched their tents upon the plains of Esdraelon, and have beheld their banners wet with the dews of Tabor and Hermon. Clark. 28 : 4. The Philistines broke in upon Israel in an unexpected quarter. Instead of advancing upon their enemies' territory directly from the west, and up through the mountains, they made a long détour to the north, advancing along the plain of Sharon to Mount Carmel, thence turning eastward and passing from Carmel into the plain of Esdraelon, and thence pursuing their march through that plain to the edge of Little Hermon—to a point on the north side of the valley of Jezreel, by the town of Shunem. Here was an admirable field for the employment of their horses and chariots, and doubtless they fully availed themselves of it. Saul and his forces, marching, in all probability, directly northward from about Gibeah, encamped on the northern edge of Gilboa, by the fountain of Jezreel. The two armies were thus on opposite sides of the valley of Jezreel, the Philistines on the north, the Israelites on the south, with a level grassy plain between. N. C. B. Gilboa is still a barren, bleak, and desolate range. It is about ten miles long, and not more than 500 or 600 feet above the plain, reaching from near Jezreel in the west to Bethshan at the eastern extremity. It separates the southern plain of Jezreel from the central portion, which slopes between Gilboa and Little Hermon to the Valley of the Jordan. On the top of the mountain, at the east end, a village called Jelbon preserves the old name of Gilboa. The battle of Gilboa was fought on the northern slopes of the mountain. The Philistines had collected their army at Shunem, now Salem, under the hill Moreh (Little Hermon), on the opposite side of the middle portion of the eastern plain (28 : 4), and pitched in Aphek (29 : 1) a place we cannot now identify; while Saul gathered the troops of Israel opposite to them at the fountain of Jezreel, the same as the spring Harod of Gibeon. H. B. T. (See cut, p. 355, and other maps, pp. 184, 213. B.) Though wearied with the long night journey and broken in spirit, Saul drew up his troops in the morning at the fountain of Harod. The position was badly chosen. The ground slopes down from Shunem, and the Philistines had thus all the advantage for attack; while both front and flanks of the Israelites were exposed, and flight all but impossible, owing to the steepness of the mountain behind. The Israelites were broken by the first impetuous charge of the enemy, and the slaughter was dreadful as they attempted to flee up Gilboa. Porter. A person who compares the Bible account of this battle with the region around Gilboa, has the same sort (if not degree) of evidence that the account relates what is true, that a person would have that such battles as those of Yorktown or Waterloo really took place, who should compare the current histories of those achievements with the places where they were performed. Gilboa, as the name of a hamlet on the ridge of mountains anciently known under that appellation, as well as Jezreel, Shunem, Endor, Bethshan, are all found still bearing the same names. They lie almost within sight of each other. A person can start from any one of them and make the circuit of them all in a few hours. Aphek is the only one of the cluster not yet identified. Jezreel is on the northern slope of Gilboa, and at the distance of twenty minutes to the east is a large fountain, and a smaller one still nearer; just the position which a chieftain would select, both on account of its elevation and the supply of water needed for his troops. Opposite to Jezreel, across a narrow valley, on the side of a parallel ridge, is Shunem, where the Philistines could watch the movements of the enemy with great advantage. Again, a village—Endor—lies on the northern side of the same ridge; so that Saul, leaving his camp at Jezreel, could steal his way under cover of the night across the intervening valley, and over the moderate summit which he would have to ascend, and, after his consultation with the woman of Endor could return to his forces without having been missed by any, except PLAIN OF ESDRAELON, OR JEZREEL, WITH PLACES NOTED IN THE BATTLES OF BARAK, GIDEON, AND SAUL.  those in the secret. Finally, Bethshan (now Beisan) a little to the east in the Valley of the Jordan, visible from Jezreel, must have been, judging from its natural facilities, a strong place; and hence the Philistines, after the battle, would naturally take possession of such a town; so that we find them intrenched precisely where we might expect, when we read of their mutilating there the body of Saul, as a part of their barbarous celebration of the victory. Hackett. Saul's forces were gathered about the fountain of Jezreel; and the Philistines were encamped across the valley of Jezreel northward, under Little Hermon—just as the Midianites had been, only farther west, near Shunem. Endor, on the northern slope of Little Hermon, east of Shunem, where Saul by night consulted the witch; the heights of Gilboa, on which the principal slaughter of the Israelites occurred, and on which Saul and his sons perished; Bethshan, a few miles to the east, the town occupied by the Philistines after the battle, and on whose walls the headless bodies of Saul and his sons were exposed; all these places, as well as Shunem and the fountain of Jezreel, being well identified, mark the history of this battle with a vivid distinctness even surpassing that of its predecessors. N. C. B. 2. 3. Saul's three sons are slain, and Saul himself is mortally wounded. The fate of his sons is almost of necessity bound up with that of Saul. Nobly and valiantly they met that fate, Jonathan, the faithful, royal son and friend, with his brothers. If truth and courage, excellence of character and faith in God, could have averted the stroke, then Jonathan had not fallen, but lived to share in the prosperity and rejoice in the friendship of David. But God willed it thus, and "the arrows of the Philistines dismissed his princely spirit to a more exceeding weight of glory than that which he relinquished to the brother of his love." By his death, too, we can see in the light of subsequent events, how the providence of God made the way of David to the kingdom more clear and open, by removing the only son of Saul whom the people loved and would have constrained to assume the throne. B. That death on Gilboa was a fitting finish to his career! It was well that he who in life had given the world its greatest example of faithfulness to a friend should in death show to all sons, down to the end of time, that neither a father's failings, nor even a father's crimes, must be allowed to quench filial affection and fidelity. It was a noble thing in Jonathan that when sin had come with its desolating hand and destroyed the beauty of his father's character, he carried himself as one who would say, "He is my father still; I will live for him; and, if need be, I will die for him." C. Vince.—Jonathan's history shows the beauty, the excellence, and the power of single-hearted trust in God, and the joy and helpfulness of mutual trust in man. It affirms that such trust in God will stand trial without being cast down; nay, will help a weaker brother whose fortitude is feebler than his courage. And it shows how beautiful and helpful may be the ministry of human friendship if the Lord be a party to its covenant of affection and service. B. 4. The heavy cloud which had brooded so long over the doomed Saul broke in lightning crash on the disastrous field of Gilboa. Where is there a sadder and more solemn story of the fate of a soul which makes shipwreck "of faith and of a good conscience," than that awful page which tells how, godless, wretched, mad with despair and measureless pride, he flung himself on his bloody sword, and died a suicide's death, with sons and armor-bearer and all his men, a ghastly court of corpses, laid round him? He had once been brave, modest, and kind, full of noble purposes and generous affections—and he ended so. Into what doleful regions of hate and darkness may self-will drag a soul when once the reins fall loose from a slackened hand! A. M.—Without trace of repentance or any fear of God, with no thought of the eternal result to his soul, at the instigation of pride and fear and shame as to the consequences of his capture by the Philistines, he proved the tremendous force of a hardened, reckless will by self-destruction. Some would call this courage, but courage is a reasonable, principled thing, which may lead to endurance of death by the stake or the battle, but never to self-murder. This is only an effect of cowardice and an act of guilt, for it is a desertion of the post assigned us of God, it is a presumptuous assumption of God's sole right as the arbiter of life. Saul "played the fool," as he said to David, in his life, but he crowned his folly with cowardice and the deepest guilt, in his self-inflicted death. B.—His end was in wild and awful keeping with the whole of his kingly career. So true is it that as men live they die; nor is it the most fearful and affecting of incidents, nor the known and felt approach of death in its most terrible form, that can of themselves turn any human spirit to God. Hanna.—As a man sows he reaps. As a life is shaped, so is the death determined. We speak of the penalty on evildoers, but it is no mere arbitrary infliction; it is the natural fruit and necessary result of the  misconduct. One leads a sensual life, and the penalty on him is that of exhaustion, disease, and premature decay. One leads a selfish life, hardening his heart against appeal or reproach, and his doom is to lose all power and experience of sympathy, to pass through the world winning no love, and pass out of the world drawing after him no regret. D. F. 5-13. The final result of the battle and treatment of Saul's body. The neighboring cities were forsaken by the men of Israel, and permanently occupied by the Philistines, from which they were not dislodged for a considerable period. From the following chapter (2 S. 1) we learn that an Amalekite, who had witnessed the death of Saul and his armor-bearer, and who professed to have aided in Saul's self-destruction, took the crown and the bracelets, the ancient and still subsisting insignia of royalty, from the body of the king, and brought them to David at Ziklag. Then followed the savage mutilation and maltreatment of the bodies of Saul and his sons by the Philistines. Severing the head from the body of Saul, they bear it, with his royal armor, in triumph through their cities, afterward putting the head in the idol temple of Dagon, and hanging the armor as a trophy and offering in the house of Ashtaroth. His body and the bodies of his sons were nailed upon the wall of Bethshan, from whence they were soon after taken down by the loyal warriors of Jabesh and honorably buried there. B. 7. The plain of Esdraelon is interrupted, and in a sense divided into two, by three hills—Tabor, Gilboa, and Little Hermon. On the eastern side of these hills the plain is continued on to the Jordan Valley. The effect of the battle of Gilboa was that all the rich settlements in that part of the plain had to be forsaken by the Israelites and given up to the Philistines. W. G. B. 11,12. There was still truth, gratitude, and courage in Israel. And the brave men of Jabesh-gilead marched all the weary night; they crossed Jordan; they climbed that steep brow, and silently detached the dead bodies of Saul and his sons from the walls of Bethshan. Reverently they bore them across the river for burial, and ere the morning light were far out of reach of the Philistines. A. E.—For this act of loyalty David sent special messengers to bless them (2 S. 2 : 5). Some years afterward David removed the bones and buried them in Saul's ancestral sepulchre at Zelah (2 S. 21 : 12). H. B. T. In the character of Saul and that of David we find great and marked changes brought about by different agents and causes, and through various occasions and instruments. In each we can mark distinct periods of progress, in evil or good. The characters, too, while each to some extent is mixed, are opposed—evil predominating in the one, and good in the other. And there is a difference in the preparation for the kingdom. Saul was subjected to no previous discipline, no trial which might lead to self-knowledge and self-struggle. Yet God had given him a bright, genial, kindly nature, which, if he had only yielded to the Spirit of the Lord (also given him at his anointing), might have been developed into true spiritual nobleness, and made his reign a joy to himself and a glory to Israel. But he had a crown without a cross, and his career is simply typical of all that attain to any of earth's prizes without previous struggle or denial. His elevation did but act upon the uncrucified selfish principle in his heart, stimulated an unhumbled self-will to supplant God's will, and made self-interest the supreme object of thought, purpose, and seeking. Long as He could, the Spirit of God wrought with Saul, by kindness, bounties, successes, by instruction, entreaty, and warning, striving to hold him or bring him back to obedience—but with no avail. Then the good Spirit departed, and the evil spirit, the same who since the fall has "worked in the hearts of the children of disobedience," entered in. No peace had he while living, and there was no hope in his death. B. The fatal defect in Saul was the want of true piety. It was never the first law of his soul to obey God in everything, with no possible exception. In this point he was in utter contrast with David. Help from God toward self-control and toward the formation of a noble character, Saul never sought. He was never a man of prayer. David was. In this one vital and fundamental respect they stand before us in total contrast with each other. True, Saul sought after the Lord in his great distress when overwhelmed with fear; but never in other circumstances. The great moral lesson which Saul's history leaves for the instruction of mankind is, therefore, precisely this: That without true piety, the finest qualities of character and the highest position in society will fail utterly to make a true and noble man. If Saul's heart had been true to God he would have been one of the grandest specimens of humanity. But, lacking this true obedience to God, he made his life an utter failure, and his character a moral wreck. H. C.—His own sorrowful verdict upon his life we read in ch. 26 : 21: I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. At the outset never was a life so fair in its promise, ample in its resources, and grand in its opportunities. At its close never was a life so full of remorse in the retrospect, so desolating in its waste, and awful in its misuse of means and opportunities. Never a career that illustrated so pointedly the effects of prosperity upon a selfish spirit; the length in wickedness to which the unrestrained human heart will go. Never a career that showed so conclusively how the principle of evil, acting through ambition, vanity, avarice, and passion, will crush every natural and kindly feeling, debase every fine and ennobling element, and finally lead, through almost every crime, to utter destruction. And the saddest recorded history of man is that of Saul's closing years—abandoned of God, beset and tormented by the Evil Spirit before his time, and, finally, in the very anguish of despair, rushing suicidally into the eternal darkness. B. The history of Saul brings home to us these facts: That the life we now live is a life of probation; that God takes men and puts them in certain conditions to try them. We are each upon our trial as certainly as Saul was upon his. All the finer qualities of Saul display themselves at the outset of his career; they gradually fade and fail from him, pride, meanwhile, and defiance of God coming in their room, until at last caprice, and jealousy, and envy, and an open contempt of all the high qualities which he once owned, only the courage, last gift to forsake a man, often abiding when every other has departed—until this only remains. We learn from Saul not to build on any good thing which we have in ourselves. Let us bring that good thing to God and receive it back from God, with that higher consecration which He alone can give. Trench. In the career of Saul we find the most signal example on record of the natural and inevitable tendencies of determined self-rule and self-seeking. There is but one right rule, and that the rule of God; but one right aim, and that the service of God. When once the man has deliberately swung loose from God's commands, wilfully forsaken His service, and determinedly turned aside from His ways, then begins a deterioration of character that ceases not until transformation into the likeness of the Arch-spirit of evil is complete; then the soul enters upon a course of evil-doing which leads irresistibly downward with ever accelerating speed; a course which, while it deadens the heart to all influences of good, quickens every sensibility to "the fearful looking for of judgment," and at length, anticipating very doom, fills the conscience with an anguishing foretaste of "the undying worm and unquenchable fire." So "the wicked is driven away in his wickedness," driven away, utterly and forever, from peace and hope, driven into unmitigated misery and despair! So "sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death!" We read in this history, further, a signal illustration of God's entire dealing with the self-willed, self-abandoned soul; on the one hand, multiplying blessings, exhortations, warnings, helps to good and hindrances to evil; and on the other hand, when all these have failed, interposing to overrule and restrain the outacting of evil by the determined, hardened sinner. One only parallel we find, a striking one in all these points if closely traced, in the case of Judas. Differing widely, indeed, in all its incidents, and differing in its subordinate motives, but alike in the spirit of the actors, in resistance to the Spirit of God, and in breaking away from all Divine restraint, alike in the Divine overruling of their deeds, and alike in the closing act! B. 2. S. 5:1 THEN came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Be- 2 hold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said to thee, Thou shalt feed 3 [or, be shepherd of] my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince [or, leader] over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Samuel. 4,5 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. 1. Chron. 12 : 23 And these are the numbers of the heads of them that were armed for war, which came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the LORD. Verses 24-37. Numbers of the armed men of the several tribes. 38. All these, being men of war, that could order the battle array, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to 39 make David king. And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking: for 40 their brethren had made preparation for them. Moreover they that were nigh unto them, even as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, victual of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance: for there was joy in Israel. In the remaining text we harmonize 2 S. 5 : 6-10, and 1 Chron. 11 : 4-9. And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (the same is Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there. And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. And David said on that day, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and smite the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul. Wherefore they say, There are the blind and the lame; he cannot come into the house. And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief. And David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the city of David. And he built the city round about, from Millo even round about and inward: and Joab repaired the rest of the city. And David waxed greater and greater; for the LORD of hosts was with him. The consummation to which events in God's Providence had been leading was now come. Saul and Jonathan, Abner and Ishbosheth, were all dead; there was no one of the house of Saul capable of taking the lead; David was already head of a very large portion of Israel; the Philistines, and perhaps the remnants of the Canaanites, were restless and threatening; and it was obviously the interest of the Israelitish nation to unite themselves under the sovereignty of the valiant and virtuous son of Jesse, their former deliverer, and the man designated by the Word of God as their Captain and Shepherd. Bib. Com. 2. S. 5 : 1-5. David's final anointing and establishment as King of all Israel. Moved by a unanimity of spirit,—wrought indirectly and largely by the severe Providences through which they had been led, but effectually seconded by the Spirit of God, stirring into fresh glow the fire of devout patriotism through the remembrance of God's great promises and deeds in their behalf as a people,—an immense representation from all the tribes came to David at Hebron. Three hundred thousand men (1 Chron. 12 : 23-40), gathered in convocation, expressed their desire for national unity, recognized his personal fitness for the throne, called to mind the days in which he so valiantly and successfully led the armies of Saul, frankly admitted and gladly accepted his Divine appointment to the kingdom (which, it plainly appears, they all, like Abner, had long understood); then, by their elders, entered into solemn covenant with David—the covenant being as solemnly accepted by him—and finally, “before the Lord they anointed David King over Israel.” The seven years of patient waiting in Hebron, years of trustful submission to God’s will, years of forbearance with the disunited tribes, even in their warfare against himself, years of Divine inward maturing of his own spiritual character, years of wise, faithful, foundation work in teaching and training the people of Judah, these long secluded years of patient waiting were not in vain. According to God’s plan, by the interworking of his Providence and Spirit, they had borne abundant fruit of good, and now had established him in the kingdom. And, let us not fail to remark it in passing, in the actual result, in the methods by which it was brought about, crowned and completed as these methods were by the spontaneous united action of the tribes, we find one of the most extended and effective illustrations in all history of the perfect accord of human freedom with Divine sovereignty; of voluntary human action in the widest combination of varying interests and events, in the end concentrating upon the fulfilment of Divine purpose and prediction. A kindred illustration we read in that other greater event in the history of David’s Son and Lord, His elevation through the Cross to a universal everlasting throne as the Redeemer King! B. It is interesting to notice the grounds on which the elders offered him the crown (verses 1-3). He possessed the general but requisite qualification of being one of themselves—“Thou art our bone and our flesh.” He had been in former times their leader, and had proved himself worthy to be their king: “In time past, when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel.” But above all, the Lord had nominated him to the kingdom: “The Lord said to thee, thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be captain over Israel.” They knew this seven years ago as well as they knew it then, and their acknowledgment is somewhat tardy. It is, however, satisfactory to find them so distinctly placing his nomination on this footing; and the acknowledgment of the constitutional validity of his claim to the throne is important. David then “made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord.” Certain conditions were agreed to on both sides, defining his rights and theirs; and where such conditions exist, the monarchy is constitutional, not absolute. The conditions were doubtless such as had been established by Samuel, forming something like a coronation oath—which all future kings seem to have taken at their accession, although the limitations it involved do not appear to have been very exactly observed by all of them—the tendency of all power in the East, however formally limited, being toward absolutism. David was then anointed king over all Israel—being the third anointing he had received. Kit. Thus, without any advantage of birth, without any dexterous scheming or violent revolution, in ripeness of mind and body, at the moment when he was most needed, the greatest man of the age reached the highest position in it, the headship over the whole of God’s chosen people. The shepherd-lad, musician, courtier, warrior, poet, outlaw, and tribal king, had reached the throne of united Israel. He had experienced the trials of solitary watching in the wilderness, of jealousies and plots at court, of being hunted like a wild beast in the mountains, of being an exile in the land of Israel’s deadliest enemies. There remained the severest trial of all, the possession of supreme power. Plummer. 1. Chron. 12 : 23-38. Here is a record of the numbers from each of the tribes who had espoused the cause of David. But besides giving the numbers from each tribe, it often briefly characterizes them. Thus the two hundred captains of Issachar are described as men “who had understanding of the times so that they could see what Israel ought to do”—men, i.e., of fine political sagacity; “and all their brethren acted according to their mouth”—i.e., took the advice of these skilful statesmen. The fifty thousand of Zebulun are described as “expert in war, and in the use of all weapons of war,” as men “who could keep rank, because they were not of a heart and a heart, because they were animated by a single overmastering purpose, by an entire and perfect devotion. In each man, as in the whole army, there was a single and supreme aim. When the chronicler sums up, he says of the whole three hundred thousand what he had already said of the fifty thousand of Zebulun: “All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel.” No wonder that they succeeded in their aim. Three hundred thousand men who knew how to keep rank, and were of a single heart, might still overturn a kingdom, if not overrun the world. And it is this unity of heart, this singleness of motive and purpose, which is still the secret of order and victory. The secret of unity in our individual lives is one with the secret of unity in a camp or an army. We bring order and peace into our lives as we become of one heart, and a perfect heart before God. Coz. 38-40. And now Hebron witnessed a wondrous and joyful spectacle. The nation, wearied with war and persuaded toward David, not only send their elders, but in counted thousands and ten thousands come themselves, to crown him king over the whole country. The choice men, not only of the neighboring tribes of Simeon and Benjamin and Ephraim, but also of the tribes beyond the Jordan, and of Issachar in the plain of Esdraelon, and of the three tribes still farther north—all flock to Hebron, bringing “bread and meat, meal-cakes of figs and bunches of raisins, and wine and oil and oxen and sheep abundantly;” “on asses and on camels and on mules and on oxen.” This valley before Hebron and these hills surrounding it were doubtless covered with the joyful multitudes keeping the coronation festival and celebrating the praises of the new king of the united country. N. C. B. 28.6-10; 1 Chron. 11:4-9. Jerusalem chosen as the Capital. David—now thirty-eight years old—was established as king over Israel. A capital for the new kingdom was next to be chosen. This should contain the royal residence, should be the established seat of government and worship, and so be regarded as the centre of the national unity. A new site was desirable, in which all the tribes might have a common interest. Such a locality was chosen in the natural stronghold of Jebus, on the borders of Benjamin and Judah. For four hundred years it had withstood Israel’s assault. The situation combined beauty with strength, in both far surpassing any other city on earth. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,” David justly said of it in its splendor. Between deep gorges on either side and on the south, and with a depressed valley on the north, rose up lofty elevations. The highest point, and most impregnable, was that so long held by the Jebusites, afterward called the hill of Zion. It was on the southwest of, and a hundred feet above, the whole city area. This fastness was taken by Joab, after its defenders had scornfully taunted David with the folly of his attempt to subdue it. Upon the next highest hill, on the east, Moriah, Abraham had erected the altar of sacrifice for Isaac, a type of the after sacrifice on Calvary. And upon Moriah the three Temples were afterward built. The name, Jerusalem, has been interpreted, Inheritance of Peace. And now at its founding, we remember that the hill of Zion, the Temple structure, and the City itself, after bearing distinguished and memorable part in the sublime associations of all the centuries to Christ, are reproduced in the apocalyptic symbols of the heavenly city. Thus in its duration, its wonderful yet incomplete history, and its typical connections with the heavenly state, we find ground for peculiar interest in Jerusalem, the City of the great King. B. So great was their confidence in the natural strength of their citadel that the Jebusites believed the blind and lame of their number were adequate for its defence. Subsequently these words passed into a proverb: Because of the blind and the lame, he shall not enter the house; or as given by Perowne: “The blind and the lame are there; let him enter if he can.” Joab was the first to master the ascent and thus secure the honor of being David’s chief captain. The reference to “the watercourse” suggests that the ascent was made through some water-worn passage. The citadel once mastered, David proceeded to enlarge the area of this lofty summit and to strengthen its fortifications. H. C. From Millo and inwards. The fortification “inwards” must have consisted in the enclosure of Mount Zion with a strong wall upon the north side, where Jerusalem joins it as a lower town, so as to defend the place against hostile attacks on the north or town side. The “Millo” was at any rate some kind of fortification, probably a large tower or castle. The definite article before Millo indicates that it was a well-known fortress, probably one that had been erected by Jebusites. Keil. The City of Jerusalem, said by the monkish writers to be the centre of the earth, is emphatically the centre of Palestine. It is exactly on the watershed of the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, 2650 feet above the level of the former: a truly mountain city. Built on the very backbone of the country—the summit of that long ridge which traverses the Holy Land from north to south, and only approachable by wild mountain roads—the position of the city was one of great natural strength. The twin hills of Zion and Moriah are enclosed, excepting on the north, by the ravines of Hinnom and of Kedron. They rise to the north of Jerusalem, very near each other. The westernmost, the Valley of Hinnom, runs southward for a mile and a quarter, skirting the city of David to the west, then turns suddenly to the east, and, passing through a deep gorge, joins the Kedron at Bir Eyub, a deep well, southeast of the city. The Valley of Kedron or Jehoshaphat, Wady en När, beginning to the north of the city, runs eastward for a mile and a half, and then makes a sharp bend southward, skirting the Mount Moriah, separating it from the Mount of Olives, and rapidly descends, till, at its junction with the Valley of Hinnom, it is 670 feet below its original starting point. H. B. T. (For diagrams, etc., see pp. 660-63, New Testament, Vol. I.) Here David established his seat of government, and centuries of history have ratified the wisdom of his choice. The creation of the national capital is therefore contemporaneous with the establishment of the monarchy in its complete form, and both are the work of David. That it should be called "the city of David" was doubly justified by his having captured it, and by the use he made of it. Strategically its position is very strong. Most of the approaches to it are too intricate and precipitous for large armies; and the one that is least so, the one that has almost invariably been used by hostile armies, is very circuitous—from Jaffa and Lydda, over the pass of the Beth-horons to Gibeon, and thence over the hills to the north side of Jerusalem. History shows that the armies of Egypt and Assyria often marched by along the plain, and sometimes fought there, without in any way interfering with Jerusalem. Plummer. Thus Jerusalem was the city of David, born to greatness in the first year of his reign over all Israel. In the result it came to be more richly embalmed in sacred song and hallowed with more sweet associations and blessed memories than any other city brought before us in the holy Scriptures; indeed, we might say, above any other city known to history. H. C.—Zion was memorable because it was God's dwelling-place, Jerusalem because it was the city of the great King. If Jerusalem and Zion impress our imagination even above other places, it is because God had so much to do with them. We recall the unrivalled moral and spiritual forces that were concentrated there: the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of the martyrs, the glorious company of the apostles, all living under the shadow of Mount Zion, and uttering those words that have moved the world as they received them from the mouth of the Lord. We recall Him who claimed to be Himself God, whose blessed lessons, and holy life, and atoning death were so closely connected with Jerusalem, and would alone have made it forever memorable. Century after century, millennium after millennium has passed; and still Zion and Jerusalem draw all eyes and hearts. W. G. B. Established at Jerusalem as his capital, David reigns for some ten years with unbroken prosperity over a loyal and loving people, with this for the summary of the whole period, "David went on and grew great, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him." These years are marked by three principal events—the bringing up of the ark to the city of David, the promise by Nathan of the perpetual dominion of his house, and the unbroken flow of victories over the surrounding nations. A. M. "NAMES OF THE MIGHTY MEN WHOM DAVID HAD" DURING HIS OUTLAW LIFE AND AT HEBRON, AND SOME OF THEIR HEROIC DEEDS. 2. S. 5 : 11** And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons : and they built David an house. And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. Verses 13-16. Wives taken and children born in Jerusalem. 17. And when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David ; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold. Now the 19 Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines ? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand ? And the LORD said unto David, Go up : for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into 20 thine hand. And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there ; and he said, The LORD hath broken mine enemies before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he 21 called the name of that place Baal-perazim. And they left their images there, and David and his men took them away. 1. Chron. 14 : 12** And David gave commandment, and they were burned with fire. 2. S. 5 : 22** And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 1. Chron. 14 : 14** And David inquired again of God ; and God said unto him, Thou shalt not go up after them : turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry 15 trees. And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle : for God is gone out before thee to smite the host 16 of the Philistines. And David did as God commanded him : and they smote the host of the 17 Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer. And the fame of David went out into all lands : and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations. 2. S. 9 : 1** And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may 2 shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake ? And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, and they called him unto David ; and the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba ? 3 And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him ? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath 4 yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, Where is he ? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar. 5 Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from 6 Lo-debar. And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came unto David, and fell on his face, and did obeisance. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold, thy servant ! And David said unto him, Fear not : for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father ; and thou 8 shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he did obeisance, and said, What is thy servant, 9 that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am ? Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, All that pertained to Saul and to all his house have I given unto 10 thy master's son. And thou shalt till the land for him, thou, and thy sons, and thy servants ; and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have bread to eat : but Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons 11 and twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king commandeth his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he 12 shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem : for he did eat continually at the king's table ; and he was lame on both his feet. 28.5:11. With a just and generous appreciation of David's Divine appointment to the throne, Hiram, King of Tyre, proposed to erect a palace for the royal residence. David assented, and the structure was erected, with all the art and beauty of the times. Thus was laid the foundation of a lasting friendship with Hiram, continued after David's death by Solomon. B.—When we look to the name borne by this prince—the first Phœnician mentioned by name in Scripture—we are at once struck with its authentic character. That Hiram was really a Phœnician name, and one which kings were in the habit of bearing, is certain from the Assyrian Inscriptions and from Herodotus, as well as from the Phœnician historians, Dius and Menander. And these last-named writers show moreover that the name was actually borne by the Tyrian king contemporary with Solomon and David, and they speak distinctly of the close connection between Hiram and Solomon; adding facts, which, though not contained in Scripture, are remarkably in accordance with the sacred narrative. G. R. 11. Tyre.** One of the two great cities of Phœnicia, celebrated for its commerce, its mechanical skill, and its wealth. When the Israelites entered Canaan, it was already noted for its strength (Josh. 19:29). Three causes co-operated to bring Phœnicia into close and friendly relation with Israel. (a) The contiguity of the countries, and the short distance between their capitals. From Tyre to Jerusalem by land was scarcely more than one hundred miles, so that intercourse was easy. (b) Similarity of language. Phœnician so closely resembles Hebrew, that it must have been readily intelligible to the Israelites. (c) Tyre depended upon Palestine for its supplies of wheat and oil, and in return sent to Jerusalem its articles of commerce, and provided skilled workmen for the buildings erected by David and Solomon. A. F. K.—This kind of intercourse accounts for the remarkable fact that the Phœnicians are the only neighboring nation with whom the Israelites never had any war. The Israelites could thus possess themselves in large abundance of the various foreign commodities which abounded in the Phœnician markets, while their diffusion through the land produced a marked change for the better in the attire, the arms and armor, the dwellings, the furniture, the domestic utensils, and probably the agricultural implements of the Hebrews. Of this we find frequent indications in the later books of Scripture. What was a convenience to the Hebrews became in time a vital necessity to the Phœnicians, and always continued to be such. So late as the time of the Acts of the Apostles, we find the Phœnicians of Tyre taking the most earnest and even humiliating means of overcoming some resentment that Herod Agrippa had conceived against them, and why? "Because their country was nourished by the king's country" (Acts 12:20). Kd. Build David an house. This was erected upon Mount Zion, the highest and the largest of the hills on which the city stood. The crest of Zion is more than three hundred feet above the Kedron at En-Rogel. It was the first spot in Jerusalem occupied by buildings. Probably the Salem of Melchizedek, Zion was certainly the Jebus of the Jebusites, and then the City of David. Here David built his palace, and for more than a thousand years the kings and the foreign rulers who succeeded him resided here. In it David constructed the Royal Sepulchre, where he and fourteen of his successors were laid in the grave. Zion was the last spot which held out against Titus and the Romans. When the Temple fortress had been stormed, the last remnant of the Jews crossed the Tyropœon by the bridge, and held the City of David and the old palace of their kings till the very last, and perished among its ruins. H. B. T. 12. And David perceived that the Lord had established him to be king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for His people Israel's sake.** When David saw that all conspired steadily and harmoniously to the enlargement and establishment of his kingdom, he perceived that the Lord was with him, and was now visibly fulfilling to him that great principle of His government which He had so solemnly declared to Eli, "Them that honor Me, I will honor." W. G. B.—David's kingdom was lifted up on high, not for his own sake, that he might look great; but because of his people Israel, that he might be a guide and protector to them. We are therefore blessed, that we may be blessings. We are not born, nor do we live, for ourselves. H. David's early and later life illustrates to us the value of discipline to right character and conduct. In his earlier years, the long period of persecution and the patient waiting at Hebron, and in his later years, the sore visitations of God because of his fearful sin, were the means by which, first patience and fortitude, and then penitence and a deeper trust were wrought in his soul. But, apart from this teaching, the life and character of David interest and instruct us at every point. In his youth he is brightest, noblest, most attractive. Then he is modest and manly, heroic and meek, wise, trustful, and devout. Faith prompts and nerves his acting, and humility quenches the natural pride and self-relation of victory or success. It is true, he failed again and again in the subsequent days of adversity, and therefore these days were lengthened that he might not only learn patience, but the higher lesson (the highest we all can learn) that he and his life were not for himself but for God. Well he learned this lesson, during the seven years of quiet waiting at Hebron, and never afterward was it forgotten, even in his greatest exaltation. Well may it be emphasized! This rare excellence in David was not simply the utter absence of self-will—by which indeed he was always distinguished—but higher and better than this, it was the conviction that himself, his faculties, gifts, possessions, and honors, his very crown and kingdom, all were supremely, entirely, for God's use and glory, not for his own. And no sin of David, many and enormous as were his sins, revealed the least forgetfulness of this, the least tendency unduly to exalt himself. B.—The king ruled so long as his throne was based upon righteousness; the moment he sought for any other foundation, he would become weak and contemptible. All David's discipline had been designed to settle him in this truth. He was the man after God's own heart, because he so graciously received that discipline and imbibed that truth. The signal sin of his life confirmed it still more mightily for himself and for all ages to come. Maurice. 13-16. "David took to him more concubines and wives" in Jerusalem. With all his light and grace, he had not overcome the prevalent notion that the dignity and resources of a kingdom were to be measured by the number and rank of the king's wives. W. G. B.—David stopped short of that fatal step contemplated in the warning of Moses, and taken by Solomon, of multiplying to himself wives from heathen nations, so as to turn away his heart from God; but the miseries he suffered in his family give the best answer to the folly which quotes Scripture in sanction of polygamy. P. S. 71-20. David's first victory over the Philistines. This warlike and powerful people had been for centuries the cause of Israel's sorest trials, since Joshua's death the chief hindrance to any approach to unity and consolidation of the tribes. The first necessity of the new government, the thing most essential not merely to peace and general prosperity among the tribes, but to their existence and homogeneous develdevelopment as a nation, was the utter overthrow of this long dominant and powerful foe. And the achievement of this overthrow was brought about, still under the overruling of God's Providence, first and foremost by the natural yet aggressive action of the Philistines themselves. So soon as they saw all Israel united under the only man who had in former days invariably vanquished their forces in conflict, they saw that their dominant power, nay, their very existence was threatened. At once, therefore, before time or opportunity could be given for the consolidation and training of the forces of Israel, they gather in mighty force in the Valley of Rephaim, southward from Jerusalem, on the frontier which separated Judah from all the other tribes. And now mark the trustful spirit and the dauntless courage of David, in meeting this immense array of Philistia. Well he still understands and believes that the battle is the Lord's, and that the people are the Lord's. So he asks of the Lord not merely direction to go against the Philistines, but a Divine assurance that the Lord will give him the victory. And with the certainty of success, wrought by his implicit faith in God, he leads his unprepared, unequal army to conflict and to an overwhelming victory. And then in the same faith (verse 20) he reverently and gratefully ascribes the success to Him whose interposition had assured it. B. 20,21. David called the field of battle Baalperazim—i.e., "God has by my hands scattered mine enemies." In this war the Philistines lost even their images, which must have reminded them of Israel's loss of the ark on a former occasion. David burned them. C. G. B.—By this David afforded sufficient evidence that he regarded hostility to idolatry as belonging to the functions of his office, being the only indication of practical hostility against the gods of the heathen, when not introduced for worship among the Israelites, that has hitherto appeared. Kit. 1. Chron. 14: 14-17.** Israel's final and decisive triumph over the Philistines. With a yet more numerous and mightier force the Philistines return to the same battle-field. But now the Lord gave another answer to the inquiry of His anointed King. Now He will more directly and effectually interpose for the utter destruction of his people's enemies. He bids David set his army in ambush, aside from their foes, and declares that He will go before them and smite the host of the Philistines. But he commands that David shall follow up and complete the work of destruction. "And David did so." He obeyed the Divine direction, and God fulfilled his promise. The hosts of Philistia fled panic smitten from the field, and were pursued for a great distance with immense slaughter, so that their power was permanently broken. B. Once more the sacred oracle was consulted, and this time he was forbidden to go out and assail them in front, but to fetch a compass, and to come out secretly behind them over against a certain mulberry plantation. He was to remain quiet till he heard "the sound of a going upon the tops of the mulberry trees"—a sound probably like the rush of a mighty host to battle—which was to be a signal to him that the Divine power was moving forth to destroy and defeat his enemies; and then he was to march out against them. The king followed these directions implicitly, and the enemy hearing, it would seem, the sound of a mighty army in their rear, which they might easily imagine to be even more numerous and formidable than that led by David, and which appeared at the very moment these sounds were heard, fell into panic and confusion and were easily put to the rout. The victors pursued them hard for many long miles, even to the frontier of their own territory. Kit. Let David's inquiry of God, once and again, upon occasion of the Philistines' invading him, direct us in all our ways to acknowledge him, in distress to fly to him, when we are wronged, to appeal to him, and when we know not what to do, to ask counsel at his oracles, to put ourselves under his conduct, and to beg of him to show us the right way. And let the sound of the going in the tops of the mulberry trees direct us to attend God's motions, both in his providence and in the influence of his Spirit. When we perceive God to go before, let us gird up our loins, gird on our armor, and follow him. H. Being thus repulsed, and then reduced to a tributary condition, the Philistines appear to have done little mischief during the remainder of David's reign or during that of Solomon his successor. In the after-portion of the period of the kings, they sometimes encroached on Judea and sometimes in turn yielded the advantage, until, by-and-by, they became involved in the wars of the great empires of Assyria and Egypt, being on the highway of communication between those countries. Just when the Philistines lost their identity as a people is not known; perhaps not before the Mohammedan invasion in the seventh century. Their country has outlived them, and on the field of their goings for two thousand years other races have come. N. C. B. David's Kindness to Jonathan's Son. The wars of David occupy but a small space in the history of his reign. An act of kindness toward the son of his early friend, Jonathan, is told at greater length than the battles and triumphs of these numerous wars. Of his own accord, and in remembrance of his vows of friendship, he caused inquiries to be made for any of the house of Saul to whom he could show kindness. Sime.—When Ishbosheth was slain, and all Israel went over to David, Mephibosheth was about twelve years old, and there were obvious reasons why the friends who had taken charge of him should desire his existence to be forgotten. Thus Mephibosheth lived a quiet and peaceful life among his friends at Lo-de-bar; and when he grew to manhood, he married and had a son. When David was well established on his throne, he inquired one day of those about him, "Is there yet any left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" One Ziba, a servant of Saul, now a prosperous man with fifteen sons and twenty servants, it was supposed could acquaint the king with that which he desired to know. This man was sent for. The king asked: "Is there yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him?" Ziba then told him of Mephibosheth, and where he was to be found; on which the king forthwith sent messengers to bring him to Jerusalem. Kit.—The kindness he promised to show, he calls the kindness of God; kindness in pursuance of the covenant that was between him and Jonathan, to which God was a witness. Jonathan's request to David was, "Show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not, and the same to my seed." The kindness of God is kindness done with an eye to God and his honor and favor. 9,10. He gives him all the land of Saul his father,—that is, his paternal estate, which was forfeited by Ishbosheth's rebellion, and added to his own revenue. Though he had thus given him a good estate, sufficient to maintain him, yet, for Jonathan's sake, he will take him to be a constant guest at his own table, where he will not only be comfortably fed, but have company and attendance suitable to his birth and quality. H.—The estate now made over to Mephibosheth was assigned for cultivation to Ziba, who, with his sons and servants, was to devote himself to it, and was to retain one half the produce in recompense for his expense and labor, paying the other moiety as rent to the owner of the land. Mephibosheth was thus enabled to keep up a becoming establishment for his family in Jerusalem, while habitually taking his principal meals at the royal table, and associating with the king's sons, some of whom were nearly of his own age. As men do not sit down at table with their wives and children in the East, this constant dining at court was a distinction unaccompanied by any of the drawbacks it would bring to us. Kit. THE ARK REMOVED FROM KIRJATH-JEARIM. UZZAH SMITTEN, AND IT REMAINS THREE MONTHS WITH OBED-EDOM. TAKEN TO ITS TENT IN JERUSALEM. DAVID'S PSALM FOR THE FIRST APPOINTED SONG-SERVICE. 2. S. 5:1 THEN came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Be- 2 hold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said to thee, Thou shalt feed 3 [or, be shepherd of] my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince [or, leader] over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Samuel. 4,5 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. 1. Chron. 12 : 23 And these are the numbers of the heads of them that were armed for war, which came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the LORD. Verses 24-37. Numbers of the armed men of the several tribes. 38. All these, being men of war, that could order the battle array, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to 39 make David king. And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking: for 40 their brethren had made preparation for them. Moreover they that were nigh unto them, even as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, victual of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance: for there was joy in Israel. In the remaining text we harmonize 2 S. 5 : 6-10, and 1 Chron. 11 : 4-9. And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (the same is Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there. And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. And David said on that day, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and smite the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul. Wherefore they say, There are the blind and the lame; he cannot come into the house. And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief. And David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the city of David. And he built the city round about, from Millo even round about and inward: and Joab repaired the rest of the city. And David waxed greater and greater; for the LORD of hosts was with him. The consummation to which events in God's Providence had been leading was now come. Saul and Jonathan, Abner and Ishbosheth, were all dead; there was no one of the house of Saul capable of taking the lead; David was already head of a very large portion of Israel; the Philistines, and perhaps the remnants of the Canaanites, were restless and threatening; and it was obviously the interest of the Israelitish nation to unite themselves under the sovereignty of the valiant and virtuous son of Jesse, their former deliverer, and the man designated by the Word of God as their Captain and Shepherd. Bib. Com. 2. S. 5 : 1-5. David's final anointing and establishment as King of all Israel. Moved by a unanimity of spirit,—wrought indirectly and largely by the severe Providences through which they had been led, but effectually seconded by the Spirit of God, stirring into fresh glow the fire of devout patriotism through the remembrance of God's great promises and deeds in their behalf as a people,—an immense representation from all the tribes came to David at Hebron. Three hundred thousand men (1 Chron. 12 : 23-40), gathered in convocation, expressed their desire for national unity, recognized his personal fitness for the throne, called to mind the days in which he so valiantly and successfully led the armies of Saul, frankly admitted and gladly accepted his Divine appointment to the kingdom (which, it plainly appears, they all, like Abner, had long understood); then, by their elders, entered into solemn covenant with David—the covenant being as solemnly accepted by him—and finally, “before the Lord they anointed David King over Israel.” The seven years of patient waiting in Hebron, years of trustful submission to God’s will, years of forbearance with the disunited tribes, even in their warfare against himself, years of Divine inward maturing of his own spiritual character, years of wise, faithful, foundation work in teaching and training the people of Judah, these long secluded years of patient waiting were not in vain. According to God’s plan, by the interworking of his Providence and Spirit, they had borne abundant fruit of good, and now had established him in the kingdom. And, let us not fail to remark it in passing, in the actual result, in the methods by which it was brought about, crowned and completed as these methods were by the spontaneous united action of the tribes, we find one of the most extended and effective illustrations in all history of the perfect accord of human freedom with Divine sovereignty; of voluntary human action in the widest combination of varying interests and events, in the end concentrating upon the fulfilment of Divine purpose and prediction. A kindred illustration we read in that other greater event in the history of David’s Son and Lord, His elevation through the Cross to a universal everlasting throne as the Redeemer King! B. It is interesting to notice the grounds on which the elders offered him the crown (verses 1-3). He possessed the general but requisite qualification of being one of themselves—“Thou art our bone and our flesh.” He had been in former times their leader, and had proved himself worthy to be their king: “In time past, when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel.” But above all, the Lord had nominated him to the kingdom: “The Lord said to thee, thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be captain over Israel.” They knew this seven years ago as well as they knew it then, and their acknowledgment is somewhat tardy. It is, however, satisfactory to find them so distinctly placing his nomination on this footing; and the acknowledgment of the constitutional validity of his claim to the throne is important. David then “made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord.” Certain conditions were agreed to on both sides, defining his rights and theirs; and where such conditions exist, the monarchy is constitutional, not absolute. The conditions were doubtless such as had been established by Samuel, forming something like a coronation oath—which all future kings seem to have taken at their accession, although the limitations it involved do not appear to have been very exactly observed by all of them—the tendency of all power in the East, however formally limited, being toward absolutism. David was then anointed king over all Israel—being the third anointing he had received. Kit. Thus, without any advantage of birth, without any dexterous scheming or violent revolution, in ripeness of mind and body, at the moment when he was most needed, the greatest man of the age reached the highest position in it, the headship over the whole of God’s chosen people. The shepherd-lad, musician, courtier, warrior, poet, outlaw, and tribal king, had reached the throne of united Israel. He had experienced the trials of solitary watching in the wilderness, of jealousies and plots at court, of being hunted like a wild beast in the mountains, of being an exile in the land of Israel’s deadliest enemies. There remained the severest trial of all, the possession of supreme power. Plummer. 1. Chron. 12 : 23-38. Here is a record of the numbers from each of the tribes who had espoused the cause of David. But besides giving the numbers from each tribe, it often briefly characterizes them. Thus the two hundred captains of Issachar are described as men “who had understanding of the times so that they could see what Israel ought to do”—men, i.e., of fine political sagacity; “and all their brethren acted according to their mouth”—i.e., took the advice of these skilful statesmen. The fifty thousand of Zebulun are described as “expert in war, and in the use of all weapons of war,” as men “who could keep rank, because they were not of a heart and a heart, because they were animated by a single overmastering purpose, by an entire and perfect devotion. In each man, as in the whole army, there was a single and supreme aim. When the chronicler sums up, he says of the whole three hundred thousand what he had already said of the fifty thousand of Zebulun: “All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel.” No wonder that they succeeded in their aim. Three hundred thousand men who knew how to keep rank, and were of a single heart, might still overturn a kingdom, if not overrun the world. And it is this unity of heart, this singleness of motive and purpose, which is still the secret of order and victory. The secret of unity in our individual lives is one with the secret of unity in a camp or an army. We bring order and peace into our lives as we become of one heart, and a perfect heart before God. Coz. 38-40. And now Hebron witnessed a wondrous and joyful spectacle. The nation, wearied with war and persuaded toward David, not only send their elders, but in counted thousands and ten thousands come themselves, to crown him king over the whole country. The choice men, not only of the neighboring tribes of Simeon and Benjamin and Ephraim, but also of the tribes beyond the Jordan, and of Issachar in the plain of Esdraelon, and of the three tribes still farther north—all flock to Hebron, bringing “bread and meat, meal-cakes of figs and bunches of raisins, and wine and oil and oxen and sheep abundantly;” “on asses and on camels and on mules and on oxen.” This valley before Hebron and these hills surrounding it were doubtless covered with the joyful multitudes keeping the coronation festival and celebrating the praises of the new king of the united country. N. C. B. 28.6-10; 1 Chron. 11:4-9. Jerusalem chosen as the Capital. David—now thirty-eight years old—was established as king over Israel. A capital for the new kingdom was next to be chosen. This should contain the royal residence, should be the established seat of government and worship, and so be regarded as the centre of the national unity. A new site was desirable, in which all the tribes might have a common interest. Such a locality was chosen in the natural stronghold of Jebus, on the borders of Benjamin and Judah. For four hundred years it had withstood Israel’s assault. The situation combined beauty with strength, in both far surpassing any other city on earth. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,” David justly said of it in its splendor. Between deep gorges on either side and on the south, and with a depressed valley on the north, rose up lofty elevations. The highest point, and most impregnable, was that so long held by the Jebusites, afterward called the hill of Zion. It was on the southwest of, and a hundred feet above, the whole city area. This fastness was taken by Joab, after its defenders had scornfully taunted David with the folly of his attempt to subdue it. Upon the next highest hill, on the east, Moriah, Abraham had erected the altar of sacrifice for Isaac, a type of the after sacrifice on Calvary. And upon Moriah the three Temples were afterward built. The name, Jerusalem, has been interpreted, Inheritance of Peace. And now at its founding, we remember that the hill of Zion, the Temple structure, and the City itself, after bearing distinguished and memorable part in the sublime associations of all the centuries to Christ, are reproduced in the apocalyptic symbols of the heavenly city. Thus in its duration, its wonderful yet incomplete history, and its typical connections with the heavenly state, we find ground for peculiar interest in Jerusalem, the City of the great King. B. So great was their confidence in the natural strength of their citadel that the Jebusites believed the blind and lame of their number were adequate for its defence. Subsequently these words passed into a proverb: Because of the blind and the lame, he shall not enter the house; or as given by Perowne: “The blind and the lame are there; let him enter if he can.” Joab was the first to master the ascent and thus secure the honor of being David’s chief captain. The reference to “the watercourse” suggests that the ascent was made through some water-worn passage. The citadel once mastered, David proceeded to enlarge the area of this lofty summit and to strengthen its fortifications. H. C. From Millo and inwards. The fortification “inwards” must have consisted in the enclosure of Mount Zion with a strong wall upon the north side, where Jerusalem joins it as a lower town, so as to defend the place against hostile attacks on the north or town side. The “Millo” was at any rate some kind of fortification, probably a large tower or castle. The definite article before Millo indicates that it was a well-known fortress, probably one that had been erected by Jebusites. Keil. The City of Jerusalem, said by the monkish writers to be the centre of the earth, is emphatically the centre of Palestine. It is exactly on the watershed of the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, 2650 feet above the level of the former: a truly mountain city. Built on the very backbone of the country—the summit of that long ridge which traverses the Holy Land from north to south, and only approachable by wild mountain roads—the position of the city was one of great natural strength. The twin hills of Zion and Moriah are enclosed, excepting on the north, by the ravines of Hinnom and of Kedron. They rise to the north of Jerusalem, very near each other. The westernmost, the Valley of Hinnom, runs southward for a mile and a quarter, skirting the city of David to the west, then turns suddenly to the east, and, passing through a deep gorge, joins the Kedron at Bir Eyub, a deep well, southeast of the city. The Valley of Kedron or Jehoshaphat, Wady en När, beginning to the north of the city, runs eastward for a mile and a half, and then makes a sharp bend southward, skirting the Mount Moriah, separating it from the Mount of Olives, and rapidly descends, till, at its junction with the Valley of Hinnom, it is 670 feet below its original starting point. H. B. T. (For diagrams, etc., see pp. 660-63, New Testament, Vol. I.) Here David established his seat of government, and centuries of history have ratified the wisdom of his choice. The creation of the national capital is therefore contemporaneous with the establishment of the monarchy in its complete form, and both are the work of David. That it should be called "the city of David" was doubly justified by his having captured it, and by the use he made of it. Strategically its position is very strong. Most of the approaches to it are too intricate and precipitous for large armies; and the one that is least so, the one that has almost invariably been used by hostile armies, is very circuitous—from Jaffa and Lydda, over the pass of the Beth-horons to Gibeon, and thence over the hills to the north side of Jerusalem. History shows that the armies of Egypt and Assyria often marched by along the plain, and sometimes fought there, without in any way interfering with Jerusalem. Plummer. Thus Jerusalem was the city of David, born to greatness in the first year of his reign over all Israel. In the result it came to be more richly embalmed in sacred song and hallowed with more sweet associations and blessed memories than any other city brought before us in the holy Scriptures; indeed, we might say, above any other city known to history. H. C.—Zion was memorable because it was God's dwelling-place, Jerusalem because it was the city of the great King. If Jerusalem and Zion impress our imagination even above other places, it is because God had so much to do with them. We recall the unrivalled moral and spiritual forces that were concentrated there: the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of the martyrs, the glorious company of the apostles, all living under the shadow of Mount Zion, and uttering those words that have moved the world as they received them from the mouth of the Lord. We recall Him who claimed to be Himself God, whose blessed lessons, and holy life, and atoning death were so closely connected with Jerusalem, and would alone have made it forever memorable. Century after century, millennium after millennium has passed; and still Zion and Jerusalem draw all eyes and hearts. W. G. B. Established at Jerusalem as his capital, David reigns for some ten years with unbroken prosperity over a loyal and loving people, with this for the summary of the whole period, "David went on and grew great, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him." These years are marked by three principal events—the bringing up of the ark to the city of David, the promise by Nathan of the perpetual dominion of his house, and the unbroken flow of victories over the surrounding nations. A. M. "NAMES OF THE MIGHTY MEN WHOM DAVID HAD" DURING HIS OUTLAW LIFE AND AT HEBRON, AND SOME OF THEIR HEROIC DEEDS. 2. S. 5 : 11** And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons : and they built David an house. And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. Verses 13-16. Wives taken and children born in Jerusalem. 17. And when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David ; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold. Now the 19 Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines ? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand ? And the LORD said unto David, Go up : for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into 20 thine hand. And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there ; and he said, The LORD hath broken mine enemies before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he 21 called the name of that place Baal-perazim. And they left their images there, and David and his men took them away. 1. Chron. 14 : 12** And David gave commandment, and they were burned with fire. 2. S. 5 : 22** And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 1. Chron. 14 : 14** And David inquired again of God ; and God said unto him, Thou shalt not go up after them : turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry 15 trees. And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle : for God is gone out before thee to smite the host 16 of the Philistines. And David did as God commanded him : and they smote the host of the 17 Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer. And the fame of David went out into all lands : and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations. 2. S. 9 : 1** And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may 2 shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake ? And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, and they called him unto David ; and the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba ? 3 And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him ? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath 4 yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, Where is he ? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar. 5 Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from 6 Lo-debar. And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came unto David, and fell on his face, and did obeisance. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold, thy servant ! And David said unto him, Fear not : for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father ; and thou 8 shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he did obeisance, and said, What is thy servant, 9 that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am ? Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, All that pertained to Saul and to all his house have I given unto 10 thy master's son. And thou shalt till the land for him, thou, and thy sons, and thy servants ; and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have bread to eat : but Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons 11 and twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king commandeth his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he 12 shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem : for he did eat continually at the king's table ; and he was lame on both his feet. 28.5:11. With a just and generous appreciation of David's Divine appointment to the throne, Hiram, King of Tyre, proposed to erect a palace for the royal residence. David assented, and the structure was erected, with all the art and beauty of the times. Thus was laid the foundation of a lasting friendship with Hiram, continued after David's death by Solomon. B.—When we look to the name borne by this prince—the first Phœnician mentioned by name in Scripture—we are at once struck with its authentic character. That Hiram was really a Phœnician name, and one which kings were in the habit of bearing, is certain from the Assyrian Inscriptions and from Herodotus, as well as from the Phœnician historians, Dius and Menander. And these last-named writers show moreover that the name was actually borne by the Tyrian king contemporary with Solomon and David, and they speak distinctly of the close connection between Hiram and Solomon; adding facts, which, though not contained in Scripture, are remarkably in accordance with the sacred narrative. G. R. 11. Tyre.** One of the two great cities of Phœnicia, celebrated for its commerce, its mechanical skill, and its wealth. When the Israelites entered Canaan, it was already noted for its strength (Josh. 19:29). Three causes co-operated to bring Phœnicia into close and friendly relation with Israel. (a) The contiguity of the countries, and the short distance between their capitals. From Tyre to Jerusalem by land was scarcely more than one hundred miles, so that intercourse was easy. (b) Similarity of language. Phœnician so closely resembles Hebrew, that it must have been readily intelligible to the Israelites. (c) Tyre depended upon Palestine for its supplies of wheat and oil, and in return sent to Jerusalem its articles of commerce, and provided skilled workmen for the buildings erected by David and Solomon. A. F. K.—This kind of intercourse accounts for the remarkable fact that the Phœnicians are the only neighboring nation with whom the Israelites never had any war. The Israelites could thus possess themselves in large abundance of the various foreign commodities which abounded in the Phœnician markets, while their diffusion through the land produced a marked change for the better in the attire, the arms and armor, the dwellings, the furniture, the domestic utensils, and probably the agricultural implements of the Hebrews. Of this we find frequent indications in the later books of Scripture. What was a convenience to the Hebrews became in time a vital necessity to the Phœnicians, and always continued to be such. So late as the time of the Acts of the Apostles, we find the Phœnicians of Tyre taking the most earnest and even humiliating means of overcoming some resentment that Herod Agrippa had conceived against them, and why? "Because their country was nourished by the king's country" (Acts 12:20). Kd. Build David an house. This was erected upon Mount Zion, the highest and the largest of the hills on which the city stood. The crest of Zion is more than three hundred feet above the Kedron at En-Rogel. It was the first spot in Jerusalem occupied by buildings. Probably the Salem of Melchizedek, Zion was certainly the Jebus of the Jebusites, and then the City of David. Here David built his palace, and for more than a thousand years the kings and the foreign rulers who succeeded him resided here. In it David constructed the Royal Sepulchre, where he and fourteen of his successors were laid in the grave. Zion was the last spot which held out against Titus and the Romans. When the Temple fortress had been stormed, the last remnant of the Jews crossed the Tyropœon by the bridge, and held the City of David and the old palace of their kings till the very last, and perished among its ruins. H. B. T. 12. And David perceived that the Lord had established him to be king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for His people Israel's sake.** When David saw that all conspired steadily and harmoniously to the enlargement and establishment of his kingdom, he perceived that the Lord was with him, and was now visibly fulfilling to him that great principle of His government which He had so solemnly declared to Eli, "Them that honor Me, I will honor." W. G. B.—David's kingdom was lifted up on high, not for his own sake, that he might look great; but because of his people Israel, that he might be a guide and protector to them. We are therefore blessed, that we may be blessings. We are not born, nor do we live, for ourselves. H. David's early and later life illustrates to us the value of discipline to right character and conduct. In his earlier years, the long period of persecution and the patient waiting at Hebron, and in his later years, the sore visitations of God because of his fearful sin, were the means by which, first patience and fortitude, and then penitence and a deeper trust were wrought in his soul. But, apart from this teaching, the life and character of David interest and instruct us at every point. In his youth he is brightest, noblest, most attractive. Then he is modest and manly, heroic and meek, wise, trustful, and devout. Faith prompts and nerves his acting, and humility quenches the natural pride and self-relation of victory or success. It is true, he failed again and again in the subsequent days of adversity, and therefore these days were lengthened that he might not only learn patience, but the higher lesson (the highest we all can learn) that he and his life were not for himself but for God. Well he learned this lesson, during the seven years of quiet waiting at Hebron, and never afterward was it forgotten, even in his greatest exaltation. Well may it be emphasized! This rare excellence in David was not simply the utter absence of self-will—by which indeed he was always distinguished—but higher and better than this, it was the conviction that himself, his faculties, gifts, possessions, and honors, his very crown and kingdom, all were supremely, entirely, for God's use and glory, not for his own. And no sin of David, many and enormous as were his sins, revealed the least forgetfulness of this, the least tendency unduly to exalt himself. B.—The king ruled so long as his throne was based upon righteousness; the moment he sought for any other foundation, he would become weak and contemptible. All David's discipline had been designed to settle him in this truth. He was the man after God's own heart, because he so graciously received that discipline and imbibed that truth. The signal sin of his life confirmed it still more mightily for himself and for all ages to come. Maurice. 13-16. "David took to him more concubines and wives" in Jerusalem. With all his light and grace, he had not overcome the prevalent notion that the dignity and resources of a kingdom were to be measured by the number and rank of the king's wives. W. G. B.—David stopped short of that fatal step contemplated in the warning of Moses, and taken by Solomon, of multiplying to himself wives from heathen nations, so as to turn away his heart from God; but the miseries he suffered in his family give the best answer to the folly which quotes Scripture in sanction of polygamy. P. S. 71-20. David's first victory over the Philistines. This warlike and powerful people had been for centuries the cause of Israel's sorest trials, since Joshua's death the chief hindrance to any approach to unity and consolidation of the tribes. The first necessity of the new government, the thing most essential not merely to peace and general prosperity among the tribes, but to their existence and homogeneous develdevelopment as a nation, was the utter overthrow of this long dominant and powerful foe. And the achievement of this overthrow was brought about, still under the overruling of God's Providence, first and foremost by the natural yet aggressive action of the Philistines themselves. So soon as they saw all Israel united under the only man who had in former days invariably vanquished their forces in conflict, they saw that their dominant power, nay, their very existence was threatened. At once, therefore, before time or opportunity could be given for the consolidation and training of the forces of Israel, they gather in mighty force in the Valley of Rephaim, southward from Jerusalem, on the frontier which separated Judah from all the other tribes. And now mark the trustful spirit and the dauntless courage of David, in meeting this immense array of Philistia. Well he still understands and believes that the battle is the Lord's, and that the people are the Lord's. So he asks of the Lord not merely direction to go against the Philistines, but a Divine assurance that the Lord will give him the victory. And with the certainty of success, wrought by his implicit faith in God, he leads his unprepared, unequal army to conflict and to an overwhelming victory. And then in the same faith (verse 20) he reverently and gratefully ascribes the success to Him whose interposition had assured it. B. 20,21. David called the field of battle Baalperazim—i.e., "God has by my hands scattered mine enemies." In this war the Philistines lost even their images, which must have reminded them of Israel's loss of the ark on a former occasion. David burned them. C. G. B.—By this David afforded sufficient evidence that he regarded hostility to idolatry as belonging to the functions of his office, being the only indication of practical hostility against the gods of the heathen, when not introduced for worship among the Israelites, that has hitherto appeared. Kit. 1. Chron. 14: 14-17.** Israel's final and decisive triumph over the Philistines. With a yet more numerous and mightier force the Philistines return to the same battle-field. But now the Lord gave another answer to the inquiry of His anointed King. Now He will more directly and effectually interpose for the utter destruction of his people's enemies. He bids David set his army in ambush, aside from their foes, and declares that He will go before them and smite the host of the Philistines. But he commands that David shall follow up and complete the work of destruction. "And David did so." He obeyed the Divine direction, and God fulfilled his promise. The hosts of Philistia fled panic smitten from the field, and were pursued for a great distance with immense slaughter, so that their power was permanently broken. B. Once more the sacred oracle was consulted, and this time he was forbidden to go out and assail them in front, but to fetch a compass, and to come out secretly behind them over against a certain mulberry plantation. He was to remain quiet till he heard "the sound of a going upon the tops of the mulberry trees"—a sound probably like the rush of a mighty host to battle—which was to be a signal to him that the Divine power was moving forth to destroy and defeat his enemies; and then he was to march out against them. The king followed these directions implicitly, and the enemy hearing, it would seem, the sound of a mighty army in their rear, which they might easily imagine to be even more numerous and formidable than that led by David, and which appeared at the very moment these sounds were heard, fell into panic and confusion and were easily put to the rout. The victors pursued them hard for many long miles, even to the frontier of their own territory. Kit. Let David's inquiry of God, once and again, upon occasion of the Philistines' invading him, direct us in all our ways to acknowledge him, in distress to fly to him, when we are wronged, to appeal to him, and when we know not what to do, to ask counsel at his oracles, to put ourselves under his conduct, and to beg of him to show us the right way. And let the sound of the going in the tops of the mulberry trees direct us to attend God's motions, both in his providence and in the influence of his Spirit. When we perceive God to go before, let us gird up our loins, gird on our armor, and follow him. H. Being thus repulsed, and then reduced to a tributary condition, the Philistines appear to have done little mischief during the remainder of David's reign or during that of Solomon his successor. In the after-portion of the period of the kings, they sometimes encroached on Judea and sometimes in turn yielded the advantage, until, by-and-by, they became involved in the wars of the great empires of Assyria and Egypt, being on the highway of communication between those countries. Just when the Philistines lost their identity as a people is not known; perhaps not before the Mohammedan invasion in the seventh century. Their country has outlived them, and on the field of their goings for two thousand years other races have come. N. C. B. David's Kindness to Jonathan's Son. The wars of David occupy but a small space in the history of his reign. An act of kindness toward the son of his early friend, Jonathan, is told at greater length than the battles and triumphs of these numerous wars. Of his own accord, and in remembrance of his vows of friendship, he caused inquiries to be made for any of the house of Saul to whom he could show kindness. Sime.—When Ishbosheth was slain, and all Israel went over to David, Mephibosheth was about twelve years old, and there were obvious reasons why the friends who had taken charge of him should desire his existence to be forgotten. Thus Mephibosheth lived a quiet and peaceful life among his friends at Lo-de-bar; and when he grew to manhood, he married and had a son. When David was well established on his throne, he inquired one day of those about him, "Is there yet any left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" One Ziba, a servant of Saul, now a prosperous man with fifteen sons and twenty servants, it was supposed could acquaint the king with that which he desired to know. This man was sent for. The king asked: "Is there yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him?" Ziba then told him of Mephibosheth, and where he was to be found; on which the king forthwith sent messengers to bring him to Jerusalem. Kit.—The kindness he promised to show, he calls the kindness of God; kindness in pursuance of the covenant that was between him and Jonathan, to which God was a witness. Jonathan's request to David was, "Show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not, and the same to my seed." The kindness of God is kindness done with an eye to God and his honor and favor. 9,10. He gives him all the land of Saul his father,—that is, his paternal estate, which was forfeited by Ishbosheth's rebellion, and added to his own revenue. Though he had thus given him a good estate, sufficient to maintain him, yet, for Jonathan's sake, he will take him to be a constant guest at his own table, where he will not only be comfortably fed, but have company and attendance suitable to his birth and quality. H.—The estate now made over to Mephibosheth was assigned for cultivation to Ziba, who, with his sons and servants, was to devote himself to it, and was to retain one half the produce in recompense for his expense and labor, paying the other moiety as rent to the owner of the land. Mephibosheth was thus enabled to keep up a becoming establishment for his family in Jerusalem, while habitually taking his principal meals at the royal table, and associating with the king's sons, some of whom were nearly of his own age. As men do not sit down at table with their wives and children in the East, this constant dining at court was a distinction unaccompanied by any of the drawbacks it would bring to us. Kit. THE ARK REMOVED FROM KIRJATH-JEARIM. UZZAH SMITTEN, AND IT REMAINS THREE MONTHS WITH OBED-EDOM. TAKEN TO ITS TENT IN JERUSALEM. DAVID'S PSALM FOR THE FIRST APPOINTED SONG-SERVICE. 1. Chron. 15 : 1** And David made him houses in the city of David ; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. 13 1 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. And David said unto all the assembly of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and if it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad everywhere unto our brethren that are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us : and let us bring again the ark of our God to us : for we sought not unto it in the days of Saul. And all the assembly said that they would do so : for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. So David assembled all Israel together, from Shihor the brook of Egypt even unto the entering in of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, the LORD that sitteth upon the cherubim, which is called by the Name. 2. S. 6 : 2, 3** Even the name of the LORD of hosts that sitteth upon the cherubim. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in the hill : and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was in the hill, with the ark of God : and Ahio went before the ark. And when they came to the threshing-floor of Nacon, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it ; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah ; and God smote him there for his error ; because he put forth his hand to the ark : and there he died before God. 1. Chron. 13 : 11** And David was displeased, because the LORD had broken forth upon Uzzah : and he called that place Perez-uzzah, unto this day. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me ? So David removed not the ark unto him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months : and the LORD blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had. 2. S. 6 : 12** And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. 1. Chron. 15 : 3** And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD unto its place, which he had prepared for it. And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites : sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye bare it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance. So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the 16 staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD. And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music,19 psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy. So the Levites appointed the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, with cymbals of brass to sound20 aloud; and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and21 Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth; and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps set to the Sheminith, to lead.22 And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the song: he instructed about the song, be-23, 24 cause he was skilful. And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. And Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, did blow with the trumpets before the ark of God: and Obed-edom and25 Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark. So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of26 Obed-edom with joy: and it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of27 the covenant of the LORD, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams. And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with28 the singers: and David had upon him an ephod of linen. Thus David and all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and29 with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with psalteries and harps. And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised16 him in her heart. And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings before God.2 And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he3 blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins.1 Chron. 16: 43 And all the people departed every man to his house: and David returned to bless his household.2 S. 6: 20-23. Michal's reproach and David's reply.1 Chron. 16: 4 And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to celebrate and to thank and praise the LORD, the God of Israel.7 Then on that day did David first ordain to give thanks unto the LORD, by the hand of Asaph and his brethren.8 O give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name; Make known his doings among the peoples.9 Sing unto him, sing praises unto him; Talk ye of all his marvellous works.10 Glory ye in his holy name: Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.11 Seek ye the LORD and his strength; Seek his face evermore.12 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;13 O ye seed of Israel his servant, Ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.14 He is the LORD our God: His judgments are in all the earth.15 Remember his covenant forever, The word which he commanded to a thousand generations;16 The covenant which he made with Abraham, And his oath unto Isaac;17 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a statute, To Israel for an everlasting covenant:18 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance:19 When ye were but a few men in number; Yea, very few, and sojourners in it; 20 And they went about from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people. 21 He suffered no man to do them wrong; Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; 22 Saying, Touch not mine anointed ones, And do my prophets no harm. 23 Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; Shew forth his salvation from day to day. 24 Declare his glory among the nations, His marvellous works among all the peoples. 25 For great is the LORD, and highly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods. 26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols: But the LORD made the heavens. 27 Honor and majesty are before him: Strength and gladness are in his place. 28 Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the peoples, Give unto the LORD glory and strength. 29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: Bring an offering, and come before him: Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 30 Tremble before him, all the earth: The world also is stablished that it cannot be moved. 31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, the LORD reigneth. 32 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; Let the field exult, and all that is therein; 33 Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before the LORD, For he cometh to judge the earth. 34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: For his mercy endureth forever. 35 And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us together and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks unto thy holy name, And to triumph in thy praise. 36 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people said, Amen, and praised the LORD. Omitted verses mainly repetitions. David had recognized the superior kingship of Jehovah, and loyally acknowledged his elevation over Israel as God's sole act. More than this, he had openly admitted that the new kingdom, and he, its king, were for the people's sake, and not his own. And this sublime and just conception of God's relation which had actuated him in assuming the government, and in all his civil and military arrangements, at the same time led him now to engage in the work of reforming religion among the tribes. In this greatest work of all, the first essential was the restoration to a fitting place of the Ark of the Covenant, the golden shining symbol of God's presence and supreme sway over king and people. This sacred coffer, with mercy-seat and cherubim of gold above, with the tables of the Law and other lesser memorials within, which had been for centuries the central point and object of Israel's representative worship, had now been neglected for seventy years. The Philistines took it upon the defeat of Israel, but were glad to escape the visitations of God by its speedy surrender. And in comparative neglect it had long remained in the house of Amishdab at Kirjath-jearim, or Baale of Judah, ten or twelve miles northwest of Jerusalem. B.—No greater event signalized the reign of David than the removal of the Ark of the Covenant from the place of its exile in Kirjath-jearim to what was henceforth to become not only the "royal" but the "holy" city. W. Lee. 1. Chron. 15 : 1.** A tent is specially prepared by David for the reception of the Ark. Though no particulars are given, we know, from the number of servitors in the worship, and the character of the service and offerings, especially the sacrifices, that this Tabernacle must have been the centre of various and extensive temporary structures, like those of the Temple which succeeded. B.—The tabernacle which Moses had made was in Gibeah, and there, since the murder of the priests at Nob, Zadok officiated, while Abiathar acted as high-priest with David. Neither of these two could be deposed; and so there must be two tabernacles, till God Himself should set right what the sin of men had made wrong. And for this, as we believe, David looked forward to the building of a house for the God of Israel. A. E. 1. Chron. 13 : 1-6.** In befitting state David goes to bring again the Ark of God. His object in convoking so immense a representation of Israel's chosen men was twofold. He would thus signally honor the symbol of the Divine Majesty. And he would reinculcate upon the long forgetful and careless people the solemnity and need of their appointed religious observances; he would reimpress the fact, so manifest to himself, that regard to religious duty alone gave value to other reforms, vitality and permanence to all national institutions. B.—The Ark had been in the house of Abinadab for seventy or eighty years—twenty during the Philistine oppression, forty or fifty under Samuel and Saul, and perhaps ten of David's reign. A. F. K. 2. S. 6 : 3-7.** The Ark brought on its new carriage part of the journey. The first error, which led to all the rest, was an inconsiderate haste, which hindered their noting the simple ordinance respecting the bearing of the ark. They simply followed the last custom, though seventy years before, of the Philistines, in transporting it upon a new carriage. They had forgotten that the Levites were bidden to bear it on their shoulders, and not to touch it, lest they should die. So it was set in a new carriage, and the oxen were driven by the sons of Abinadab, in whose home, perhaps, the ark had become too familiar a thing for the reverence which was its due. We are then in some measure prepared for the sad close of David's first undertaking with the ark. In a seeming peril, Uzzah, one of these sons, laid hold upon the ark to keep it firm. And for this error God visited instant death upon him, in the very act. This visitation of God, with all the sorer ones, of family and national destructions for great transgrestransgressions, can readily be reconciled with a wise and right judgment of God. It needs mainly that we understand the very low mental and moral culture attained by the Israelites in those ages; and that we study the long process of training which God was constrained to employ in connection with stringent ordinances and ceremonials. At this juncture they had fallen back, had lost the reverence due to God in losing all sense of his presence in symbol and ordinance. Uzzah simply showed this, as an example of the many who had forgotten Jehovah, in neglecting and holding irreverently the Ark of His presence. And now that God comes with this chief symbol of a restored religion, He must prove his presence, and must waken awe fresh in their minds, by visiting the death he had before, by Moses, specifically threatened against him that should touch the sacred symbol. Uzzah died, but God used that death to invest Himself and the institutions of His worship with a vastly higher sacredness in the estimate of all the tribes of Israel. B. 7. God smote him there for his error.** As before at Bethshemesh an act of irreverence toward the Ark was punished with death. The Ark was the symbol of His presence, and the Levitical ordinances were designed to secure the strictest reverence for it. It was to be carried by the Levites, but they might not come near until it had been covered by the priests, nor touch it except by the staves provided for the purpose, upon pain of death. The occasion was an important one. It was the first step in the inauguration of a new era of worship, in the newly-established capital of the kingdom; and if these breaches of the Divine ordinances had been left unpunished, the lessons they were intended to teach might have been neglected. Uzzah's death was necessary for a solemn warning to David and the people. A. F. K. 1. Chron. 13 : 11-14.** Afraid and displeased, David leaves the Ark for three months in the house of Obed-Edom. Very mercifully God had dealt with David's fault, and that of the Levites, in the matter of their common inconsideration. But David does not at once see it. Like a believer of ordinary grade, even with all his superior instruction by the Spirit, he indulged in hard feelings against God for what had been done to the heedless Uzzah. God suffers him to deposit the ark by the way, and to return home for reflection awhile. Then He sends His blessing upon the whole family of the man who had gladly received and reverently watched over the ark. Afterward He brings the fact of this blessing to the knowledge of David. B. This event hath helped Obed-Edom to a guest he looked not for. God shall now sojourn in the house of him, in whose heart he dwelt before by a strong faith: else the man durst not have undertaken to receive that dreadful ark, which David himself feared to harbor. Oh, the courage of an honest and faithful heart! Obed-Edom knew well enough what slaughter the ark had made among the Philistines, and after that among the Bethshemites, and now he saw Uzzah lie dead before him; yet doth he not make any scruple of entertaining it. But he opens his doors with a bold cheerfulness, and notwithstanding all those terrors, bids God welcome. The God of heaven will not receive anything from men, on free cost. He will pay liberally for his lodging; a plentiful blessing upon Obed-Edom and all his household. It was an honor to that zealous Gittite, that the ark should come under his roof; yet God rewards that honor with benediction: never man was loser by true godliness. 2. S. 6: 12.** Now, David and Israel were not more affrighted with the vengeance upon Uzzah, than encouraged by the blessing of Obed-Edom. The wise God doth so order his just and merciful proceedings, that the awfulness of men may be tempered by love. Bp. H. 1. Chron. 15: 3-29; 16: 1, 2.** David at length brings the Ark of God into Jerusalem. With reflection his wrong fears and thoughts of God all gone, his frank admission that all his own doing had been wrong before, led him now to repair the previous error. "None ought," he said, "to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for them hath the Lord chosen." So, with a retinue of nearly a thousand priests, and "gathering all Israel," "he went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness." With every solemn ceremonial, with every token of reverence and joy, with all instruments of melody, with multitudinous song and shouting, led by David, who laid aside his royal majesty and dress in the Divine presence, the mighty throng, with one heart and voice, rendered praise and honor to Jehovah, their nation's God. "So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God." B. 15: 26. God helped the Levites that carried it. The ark was no very great burden, that they who carried it needed any extraordinary help. But the Levites, remembering the breach upon Uzzah, were ready to tremble when they took up the ark; but God helped them—that is, he encouraged them to it, silenced their fears, and strengthened their faith. God helped them to do it decently and well, and without making any mistake. God's ministers that bear the vessels of the Lord have special need of Divine help in their ministrations, that God in them may be glorified and his church edified. And if God help the Levites, the people have the benefit of it. H. 27. A linen ephod.** David laid aside his royal robes and appeared in the distinctive dress of a priest. As the head and representative of "a kingdom of priests" (Ex. 19: 6), the king possessed a priestly character; and David on this occasion exercised priestly functions in directing the sacrifices, even if he did not offer them himself (verses 17, 18), and in blessing the people. A. F. K. 1. Chron. 16: 1, 2.** The ark was placed in a tent which David had prepared to receive it, and burnt-offerings and peace-offerings were then largely offered, for the first time in Jerusalem. When these religious solemnities were performed, the king "blessed the people in the name of the Lord." Kit.—Jehovah thus returns once more to Israel, and takes up his abode in the midst of his people. The return of the Ark is not merely the bringing forth into notice of a long neglected and sacred vessel belonging to the sanctuary; it is the coming back of God himself to a people whom he had temporarily forsaken. W. H. G.—Jerusalem thus became the sanctuary as well as the capital of the kingdom. This union of the political and religious centres inaugurated a new epoch in the nation's history. It was a visible realization of the true principle of the Theocratic Monarchy. The day on which he welcomed the Ark into Zion, his own city, as a very Advent of Jehovah to dwell in the midst of His people, was the greatest day of David's life. From that day dates the beginning of the sanctity of "the Holy City," round which so many sacred associations cluster, and which has become the earthly type of heaven. A. F. K. 2. S. 6: 20-23.** Michal's reproach and David's reply. Michal is intentionally designated the daughter of Saul here, instead of the wife of David, because on this occasion she manifested her father's disposition rather than her husband's. The proud daughter of Saul was offended at the fact that the king had set himself down to the level of the people. She availed herself of the shortness of the priest's shoulder-dress to make a contemptuous remark concerning David's dancing, as an impropriety that was unbecoming in a king. Keil and Dlitzech. 21. Before the Lord, who chose me rather than thy father, yea I will play before the Lord. "Before the Lord" stands emphatically at the beginning of David's answer. No service offered to the God to whom he owed all his advancement could be degrading. Thus he defends his own conduct, and at the same time he humbles Michal's pride by alluding to Saul's rejection. A. F. K.—22.** "I will be base in mine own sight, and will think nothing too mean to stoop to for the honor of God." In the throne of judgment, and in the field of battle, none shall do more to support the grandeur and authority of a prince than David shall; but in acts of devotion he lays aside the thoughts of majesty, humbles himself to the dust before the Lord, joins in with the meanest services done in honor of the ark, and yet thinks it no diminution to him. H. 23. David came to bless his house; Michal brings a curse upon herself. Her scorns shall make her childless to the day of her death. Barrenness was held in those times none of the least judgments. God doth so revenge David's quarrel upon Michal, that she shall not be held worthy to bear a son to him whom she unjustly contemned. Bp. H. 1. Chron. 16: 4.** After the tabernacle and ark were established on Zion, he began that grand order of musical service which he enriched from time to time with his psalms, until it was ready for Solomon's grander introduction into his temple. Knox.—It was the happiness of David, not only as a warrior to draw warriors round him, and as an able ruler to attract statesmen, but also, as a born musician and poet to surround himself with musicians and poets, who assisted in the production of the psalter and composed suitable melodies for the lyrics in which the king delighted. Suddenly there came upon Jerusalem the golden age of Hebrew music and song. The songs are, happily, preserved for the admiration and use of the Christian Church. It is of great importance to note well the period at which sacred song established its place in Divine worship. By the law, came neither psalm nor sacred music. Praise is united with the spirit of prophecy. Moses sang, as a prophet, over the redemption and exodus from Egypt, and sang again before his death, or better exodus to rest with God. Deborah, the prophetess, sang of victory. A company of prophets, in the days of Samuel, prophesied, as the Spirit of God moved them, "with a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe, and a harp." So David prophesied, and Asaph and Heman "prophesied and sang." It was a time of the operation of the Spirit of God, in which sweet song obtained a leading place in the religious service. It was the time of the kingdom, too, a decided advance on that of Moses and the Law. The throne of David was established in grace, and secured by a covenant of promise. Then, and not till then, was heard the voice of praise in the courts of the house of the Lord. Why is it that the Christian Church has had, from the beginning, impulse and capacity for sacred song? It is because the Spirit of God has been poured out, and because Christ reigns in grace, and "sings praise in the midst of the Church." It is meet that there should be a continual offering of the sacrifice of praise from every Christian assembly. D. F. 7-36. We have here the thanksgiving psalm which David, by the Spirit, composed, and delivered to the chief musician, to be sung upon occasion of the public entry the ark made into the tent prepared for it. H.—It is so closely and beautifully connected in its various parts, as to give the impression of one whole, parts of which may afterward have been inserted in different Psalms, just as similar adaptations are found in other parts of the Psalter (compare, for example, Ps. 40: 17, etc., with Ps. 70). Whatever may be thought of its original form, this "Psalm" of eight stanzas, as given in the Book of Chronicles, is one of the grandest hymns in Holy Scripture. From first to last the hymn breathes a missionary spirit, far beyond any narrow and merely national aspirations. The placing of the Ark in the capital of Israel, thus making it "the city of God," was an event not only of deep national but of such typical importance, that it is frequently referred to in the sacred songs of the sanctuary. A. E.—There are many Psalms to be referred to the removal of the ark to Jerusalem, both on the ground of tradition and of their own internal evidence. At the head of these is the 132d, in which David in his own name describes the removal of the ark from the first desire of his heart to its final accomplishment, records God's eternal covenant with him and his house, and celebrates Jehovah's choice of Zion for his abode. The 68th is equally suitable for the first removal of the ark; it begins with the words appointed by Moses to be sung when the ark was lifted, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered," and it advances from the record of victory after victory to the final establishment of God's house at Jerusalem, and the prediction of the worship He should receive from all nations of the earth. The 24th marks the entrance of the ark into the citadel of Zion by its grand refrain, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in" words which clearly set forth the idea which runs through all these psalms, of victory as well as praise. They celebrate not only the inauguration of the place of religious worship, but the installation of Jehovah, the glorious King, in the citadel from which he shall still go forth to conquer all the world. The 96th, 105th, 106th, are probably the full form, adapted to the Temple service, of the Psalm which David delivered to Asaph and his brethren at the close of this great ceremony. P. S. Truths suggested by the incidents under review. (1) The disuse of God's Word and the neglect of His worship always go together. Each leads to the other, and both lead, through heedlessness, to irreverence and disobedience. These in their turn bring results of unhappiness. (2) God's work must be done in His way, to the letter where He gives a literal command. His cause cannot be advanced, will be hindered, by any other way. Nor will He suffer men to judge of right or wrong, when he has clearly spoken. (3) God's people sometimes misinterpret His dealings, and cherish hard thoughts concerning his doings. But even then He will not judge them harshly. He will give them time for reflection, and will help them back to right thinking and feeling by gentler and instructive Providences. (4) As individual piety brings the largest personal blessings, so household piety invariably ensures the best of household blessings. Where God's presence is always desired and welcomed, where fidelity to the covenant is regarded and faith in the Covenant-Maker is firmly cherished, and where the incense of the family altar keeps up its heavenward ascent throughout the day, like the incense flame of old, there God abides. Every such household may share a kindred blessing with that bestowed on the family of Obed-Edom. (5) Joy underlies all true worship. It was a leading characteristic of the Old Testament service; instruments, and even dancing before the Lord, were only an allowed expression of a holy enthusiasm and gladness. So joy belongs equally to the spiritual worship of the New Testament. Its hallowed and beautiful ministry should be oftener invoked, and more heartily responded to, in all the services of private and public devotion. B. DAVID'S DESIRE TO BUILD A HOUSE FOR JEHOVAH. GOD'S MESSAGE BY NATHAN. THE GREAT COVENANT PROMISE. DAVID'S GRATEFUL PRAISE AND PRAYER. 2. S. 5:1 THEN came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Be- 2 hold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said to thee, Thou shalt feed 3 [or, be shepherd of] my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince [or, leader] over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Samuel. 4,5 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. 1. Chron. 12 : 23 And these are the numbers of the heads of them that were armed for war, which came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the LORD. Verses 24-37. Numbers of the armed men of the several tribes. 38. All these, being men of war, that could order the battle array, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to 39 make David king. And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking: for 40 their brethren had made preparation for them. Moreover they that were nigh unto them, even as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, victual of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance: for there was joy in Israel. In the remaining text we harmonize 2 S. 5 : 6-10, and 1 Chron. 11 : 4-9. And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (the same is Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there. And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. And David said on that day, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and smite the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul. Wherefore they say, There are the blind and the lame; he cannot come into the house. And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief. And David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the city of David. And he built the city round about, from Millo even round about and inward: and Joab repaired the rest of the city. And David waxed greater and greater; for the LORD of hosts was with him. The consummation to which events in God's Providence had been leading was now come. Saul and Jonathan, Abner and Ishbosheth, were all dead; there was no one of the house of Saul capable of taking the lead; David was already head of a very large portion of Israel; the Philistines, and perhaps the remnants of the Canaanites, were restless and threatening; and it was obviously the interest of the Israelitish nation to unite themselves under the sovereignty of the valiant and virtuous son of Jesse, their former deliverer, and the man designated by the Word of God as their Captain and Shepherd. Bib. Com. 2. S. 5 : 1-5. David's final anointing and establishment as King of all Israel. Moved by a unanimity of spirit,—wrought indirectly and largely by the severe Providences through which they had been led, but effectually seconded by the Spirit of God, stirring into fresh glow the fire of devout patriotism through the remembrance of God's great promises and deeds in their behalf as a people,—an immense representation from all the tribes came to David at Hebron. Three hundred thousand men (1 Chron. 12 : 23-40), gathered in convocation, expressed their desire for national unity, recognized his personal fitness for the throne, called to mind the days in which he so valiantly and successfully led the armies of Saul, frankly admitted and gladly accepted his Divine appointment to the kingdom (which, it plainly appears, they all, like Abner, had long understood); then, by their elders, entered into solemn covenant with David—the covenant being as solemnly accepted by him—and finally, “before the Lord they anointed David King over Israel.” The seven years of patient waiting in Hebron, years of trustful submission to God’s will, years of forbearance with the disunited tribes, even in their warfare against himself, years of Divine inward maturing of his own spiritual character, years of wise, faithful, foundation work in teaching and training the people of Judah, these long secluded years of patient waiting were not in vain. According to God’s plan, by the interworking of his Providence and Spirit, they had borne abundant fruit of good, and now had established him in the kingdom. And, let us not fail to remark it in passing, in the actual result, in the methods by which it was brought about, crowned and completed as these methods were by the spontaneous united action of the tribes, we find one of the most extended and effective illustrations in all history of the perfect accord of human freedom with Divine sovereignty; of voluntary human action in the widest combination of varying interests and events, in the end concentrating upon the fulfilment of Divine purpose and prediction. A kindred illustration we read in that other greater event in the history of David’s Son and Lord, His elevation through the Cross to a universal everlasting throne as the Redeemer King! B. It is interesting to notice the grounds on which the elders offered him the crown (verses 1-3). He possessed the general but requisite qualification of being one of themselves—“Thou art our bone and our flesh.” He had been in former times their leader, and had proved himself worthy to be their king: “In time past, when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel.” But above all, the Lord had nominated him to the kingdom: “The Lord said to thee, thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be captain over Israel.” They knew this seven years ago as well as they knew it then, and their acknowledgment is somewhat tardy. It is, however, satisfactory to find them so distinctly placing his nomination on this footing; and the acknowledgment of the constitutional validity of his claim to the throne is important. David then “made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord.” Certain conditions were agreed to on both sides, defining his rights and theirs; and where such conditions exist, the monarchy is constitutional, not absolute. The conditions were doubtless such as had been established by Samuel, forming something like a coronation oath—which all future kings seem to have taken at their accession, although the limitations it involved do not appear to have been very exactly observed by all of them—the tendency of all power in the East, however formally limited, being toward absolutism. David was then anointed king over all Israel—being the third anointing he had received. Kit. Thus, without any advantage of birth, without any dexterous scheming or violent revolution, in ripeness of mind and body, at the moment when he was most needed, the greatest man of the age reached the highest position in it, the headship over the whole of God’s chosen people. The shepherd-lad, musician, courtier, warrior, poet, outlaw, and tribal king, had reached the throne of united Israel. He had experienced the trials of solitary watching in the wilderness, of jealousies and plots at court, of being hunted like a wild beast in the mountains, of being an exile in the land of Israel’s deadliest enemies. There remained the severest trial of all, the possession of supreme power. Plummer. 1. Chron. 12 : 23-38. Here is a record of the numbers from each of the tribes who had espoused the cause of David. But besides giving the numbers from each tribe, it often briefly characterizes them. Thus the two hundred captains of Issachar are described as men “who had understanding of the times so that they could see what Israel ought to do”—men, i.e., of fine political sagacity; “and all their brethren acted according to their mouth”—i.e., took the advice of these skilful statesmen. The fifty thousand of Zebulun are described as “expert in war, and in the use of all weapons of war,” as men “who could keep rank, because they were not of a heart and a heart, because they were animated by a single overmastering purpose, by an entire and perfect devotion. In each man, as in the whole army, there was a single and supreme aim. When the chronicler sums up, he says of the whole three hundred thousand what he had already said of the fifty thousand of Zebulun: “All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel.” No wonder that they succeeded in their aim. Three hundred thousand men who knew how to keep rank, and were of a single heart, might still overturn a kingdom, if not overrun the world. And it is this unity of heart, this singleness of motive and purpose, which is still the secret of order and victory. The secret of unity in our individual lives is one with the secret of unity in a camp or an army. We bring order and peace into our lives as we become of one heart, and a perfect heart before God. Coz. 38-40. And now Hebron witnessed a wondrous and joyful spectacle. The nation, wearied with war and persuaded toward David, not only send their elders, but in counted thousands and ten thousands come themselves, to crown him king over the whole country. The choice men, not only of the neighboring tribes of Simeon and Benjamin and Ephraim, but also of the tribes beyond the Jordan, and of Issachar in the plain of Esdraelon, and of the three tribes still farther north—all flock to Hebron, bringing “bread and meat, meal-cakes of figs and bunches of raisins, and wine and oil and oxen and sheep abundantly;” “on asses and on camels and on mules and on oxen.” This valley before Hebron and these hills surrounding it were doubtless covered with the joyful multitudes keeping the coronation festival and celebrating the praises of the new king of the united country. N. C. B. 28.6-10; 1 Chron. 11:4-9. Jerusalem chosen as the Capital. David—now thirty-eight years old—was established as king over Israel. A capital for the new kingdom was next to be chosen. This should contain the royal residence, should be the established seat of government and worship, and so be regarded as the centre of the national unity. A new site was desirable, in which all the tribes might have a common interest. Such a locality was chosen in the natural stronghold of Jebus, on the borders of Benjamin and Judah. For four hundred years it had withstood Israel’s assault. The situation combined beauty with strength, in both far surpassing any other city on earth. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,” David justly said of it in its splendor. Between deep gorges on either side and on the south, and with a depressed valley on the north, rose up lofty elevations. The highest point, and most impregnable, was that so long held by the Jebusites, afterward called the hill of Zion. It was on the southwest of, and a hundred feet above, the whole city area. This fastness was taken by Joab, after its defenders had scornfully taunted David with the folly of his attempt to subdue it. Upon the next highest hill, on the east, Moriah, Abraham had erected the altar of sacrifice for Isaac, a type of the after sacrifice on Calvary. And upon Moriah the three Temples were afterward built. The name, Jerusalem, has been interpreted, Inheritance of Peace. And now at its founding, we remember that the hill of Zion, the Temple structure, and the City itself, after bearing distinguished and memorable part in the sublime associations of all the centuries to Christ, are reproduced in the apocalyptic symbols of the heavenly city. Thus in its duration, its wonderful yet incomplete history, and its typical connections with the heavenly state, we find ground for peculiar interest in Jerusalem, the City of the great King. B. So great was their confidence in the natural strength of their citadel that the Jebusites believed the blind and lame of their number were adequate for its defence. Subsequently these words passed into a proverb: Because of the blind and the lame, he shall not enter the house; or as given by Perowne: “The blind and the lame are there; let him enter if he can.” Joab was the first to master the ascent and thus secure the honor of being David’s chief captain. The reference to “the watercourse” suggests that the ascent was made through some water-worn passage. The citadel once mastered, David proceeded to enlarge the area of this lofty summit and to strengthen its fortifications. H. C. From Millo and inwards. The fortification “inwards” must have consisted in the enclosure of Mount Zion with a strong wall upon the north side, where Jerusalem joins it as a lower town, so as to defend the place against hostile attacks on the north or town side. The “Millo” was at any rate some kind of fortification, probably a large tower or castle. The definite article before Millo indicates that it was a well-known fortress, probably one that had been erected by Jebusites. Keil. The City of Jerusalem, said by the monkish writers to be the centre of the earth, is emphatically the centre of Palestine. It is exactly on the watershed of the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, 2650 feet above the level of the former: a truly mountain city. Built on the very backbone of the country—the summit of that long ridge which traverses the Holy Land from north to south, and only approachable by wild mountain roads—the position of the city was one of great natural strength. The twin hills of Zion and Moriah are enclosed, excepting on the north, by the ravines of Hinnom and of Kedron. They rise to the north of Jerusalem, very near each other. The westernmost, the Valley of Hinnom, runs southward for a mile and a quarter, skirting the city of David to the west, then turns suddenly to the east, and, passing through a deep gorge, joins the Kedron at Bir Eyub, a deep well, southeast of the city. The Valley of Kedron or Jehoshaphat, Wady en När, beginning to the north of the city, runs eastward for a mile and a half, and then makes a sharp bend southward, skirting the Mount Moriah, separating it from the Mount of Olives, and rapidly descends, till, at its junction with the Valley of Hinnom, it is 670 feet below its original starting point. H. B. T. (For diagrams, etc., see pp. 660-63, New Testament, Vol. I.) Here David established his seat of government, and centuries of history have ratified the wisdom of his choice. The creation of the national capital is therefore contemporaneous with the establishment of the monarchy in its complete form, and both are the work of David. That it should be called "the city of David" was doubly justified by his having captured it, and by the use he made of it. Strategically its position is very strong. Most of the approaches to it are too intricate and precipitous for large armies; and the one that is least so, the one that has almost invariably been used by hostile armies, is very circuitous—from Jaffa and Lydda, over the pass of the Beth-horons to Gibeon, and thence over the hills to the north side of Jerusalem. History shows that the armies of Egypt and Assyria often marched by along the plain, and sometimes fought there, without in any way interfering with Jerusalem. Plummer. Thus Jerusalem was the city of David, born to greatness in the first year of his reign over all Israel. In the result it came to be more richly embalmed in sacred song and hallowed with more sweet associations and blessed memories than any other city brought before us in the holy Scriptures; indeed, we might say, above any other city known to history. H. C.—Zion was memorable because it was God's dwelling-place, Jerusalem because it was the city of the great King. If Jerusalem and Zion impress our imagination even above other places, it is because God had so much to do with them. We recall the unrivalled moral and spiritual forces that were concentrated there: the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of the martyrs, the glorious company of the apostles, all living under the shadow of Mount Zion, and uttering those words that have moved the world as they received them from the mouth of the Lord. We recall Him who claimed to be Himself God, whose blessed lessons, and holy life, and atoning death were so closely connected with Jerusalem, and would alone have made it forever memorable. Century after century, millennium after millennium has passed; and still Zion and Jerusalem draw all eyes and hearts. W. G. B. Established at Jerusalem as his capital, David reigns for some ten years with unbroken prosperity over a loyal and loving people, with this for the summary of the whole period, "David went on and grew great, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him." These years are marked by three principal events—the bringing up of the ark to the city of David, the promise by Nathan of the perpetual dominion of his house, and the unbroken flow of victories over the surrounding nations. A. M. "NAMES OF THE MIGHTY MEN WHOM DAVID HAD" DURING HIS OUTLAW LIFE AND AT HEBRON, AND SOME OF THEIR HEROIC DEEDS. 2. S. 5 : 11** And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons : and they built David an house. And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. Verses 13-16. Wives taken and children born in Jerusalem. 17. And when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David ; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold. Now the 19 Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines ? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand ? And the LORD said unto David, Go up : for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into 20 thine hand. And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there ; and he said, The LORD hath broken mine enemies before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he 21 called the name of that place Baal-perazim. And they left their images there, and David and his men took them away. 1. Chron. 14 : 12** And David gave commandment, and they were burned with fire. 2. S. 5 : 22** And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 1. Chron. 14 : 14** And David inquired again of God ; and God said unto him, Thou shalt not go up after them : turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry 15 trees. And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle : for God is gone out before thee to smite the host 16 of the Philistines. And David did as God commanded him : and they smote the host of the 17 Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer. And the fame of David went out into all lands : and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations. 2. S. 9 : 1** And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may 2 shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake ? And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, and they called him unto David ; and the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba ? 3 And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him ? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath 4 yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, Where is he ? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar. 5 Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from 6 Lo-debar. And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came unto David, and fell on his face, and did obeisance. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold, thy servant ! And David said unto him, Fear not : for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father ; and thou 8 shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he did obeisance, and said, What is thy servant, 9 that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am ? Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, All that pertained to Saul and to all his house have I given unto 10 thy master's son. And thou shalt till the land for him, thou, and thy sons, and thy servants ; and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have bread to eat : but Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons 11 and twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king commandeth his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he 12 shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons. And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem : for he did eat continually at the king's table ; and he was lame on both his feet. 28.5:11. With a just and generous appreciation of David's Divine appointment to the throne, Hiram, King of Tyre, proposed to erect a palace for the royal residence. David assented, and the structure was erected, with all the art and beauty of the times. Thus was laid the foundation of a lasting friendship with Hiram, continued after David's death by Solomon. B.—When we look to the name borne by this prince—the first Phœnician mentioned by name in Scripture—we are at once struck with its authentic character. That Hiram was really a Phœnician name, and one which kings were in the habit of bearing, is certain from the Assyrian Inscriptions and from Herodotus, as well as from the Phœnician historians, Dius and Menander. And these last-named writers show moreover that the name was actually borne by the Tyrian king contemporary with Solomon and David, and they speak distinctly of the close connection between Hiram and Solomon; adding facts, which, though not contained in Scripture, are remarkably in accordance with the sacred narrative. G. R. 11. Tyre.** One of the two great cities of Phœnicia, celebrated for its commerce, its mechanical skill, and its wealth. When the Israelites entered Canaan, it was already noted for its strength (Josh. 19:29). Three causes co-operated to bring Phœnicia into close and friendly relation with Israel. (a) The contiguity of the countries, and the short distance between their capitals. From Tyre to Jerusalem by land was scarcely more than one hundred miles, so that intercourse was easy. (b) Similarity of language. Phœnician so closely resembles Hebrew, that it must have been readily intelligible to the Israelites. (c) Tyre depended upon Palestine for its supplies of wheat and oil, and in return sent to Jerusalem its articles of commerce, and provided skilled workmen for the buildings erected by David and Solomon. A. F. K.—This kind of intercourse accounts for the remarkable fact that the Phœnicians are the only neighboring nation with whom the Israelites never had any war. The Israelites could thus possess themselves in large abundance of the various foreign commodities which abounded in the Phœnician markets, while their diffusion through the land produced a marked change for the better in the attire, the arms and armor, the dwellings, the furniture, the domestic utensils, and probably the agricultural implements of the Hebrews. Of this we find frequent indications in the later books of Scripture. What was a convenience to the Hebrews became in time a vital necessity to the Phœnicians, and always continued to be such. So late as the time of the Acts of the Apostles, we find the Phœnicians of Tyre taking the most earnest and even humiliating means of overcoming some resentment that Herod Agrippa had conceived against them, and why? "Because their country was nourished by the king's country" (Acts 12:20). Kd. Build David an house. This was erected upon Mount Zion, the highest and the largest of the hills on which the city stood. The crest of Zion is more than three hundred feet above the Kedron at En-Rogel. It was the first spot in Jerusalem occupied by buildings. Probably the Salem of Melchizedek, Zion was certainly the Jebus of the Jebusites, and then the City of David. Here David built his palace, and for more than a thousand years the kings and the foreign rulers who succeeded him resided here. In it David constructed the Royal Sepulchre, where he and fourteen of his successors were laid in the grave. Zion was the last spot which held out against Titus and the Romans. When the Temple fortress had been stormed, the last remnant of the Jews crossed the Tyropœon by the bridge, and held the City of David and the old palace of their kings till the very last, and perished among its ruins. H. B. T. 12. And David perceived that the Lord had established him to be king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for His people Israel's sake.** When David saw that all conspired steadily and harmoniously to the enlargement and establishment of his kingdom, he perceived that the Lord was with him, and was now visibly fulfilling to him that great principle of His government which He had so solemnly declared to Eli, "Them that honor Me, I will honor." W. G. B.—David's kingdom was lifted up on high, not for his own sake, that he might look great; but because of his people Israel, that he might be a guide and protector to them. We are therefore blessed, that we may be blessings. We are not born, nor do we live, for ourselves. H. David's early and later life illustrates to us the value of discipline to right character and conduct. In his earlier years, the long period of persecution and the patient waiting at Hebron, and in his later years, the sore visitations of God because of his fearful sin, were the means by which, first patience and fortitude, and then penitence and a deeper trust were wrought in his soul. But, apart from this teaching, the life and character of David interest and instruct us at every point. In his youth he is brightest, noblest, most attractive. Then he is modest and manly, heroic and meek, wise, trustful, and devout. Faith prompts and nerves his acting, and humility quenches the natural pride and self-relation of victory or success. It is true, he failed again and again in the subsequent days of adversity, and therefore these days were lengthened that he might not only learn patience, but the higher lesson (the highest we all can learn) that he and his life were not for himself but for God. Well he learned this lesson, during the seven years of quiet waiting at Hebron, and never afterward was it forgotten, even in his greatest exaltation. Well may it be emphasized! This rare excellence in David was not simply the utter absence of self-will—by which indeed he was always distinguished—but higher and better than this, it was the conviction that himself, his faculties, gifts, possessions, and honors, his very crown and kingdom, all were supremely, entirely, for God's use and glory, not for his own. And no sin of David, many and enormous as were his sins, revealed the least forgetfulness of this, the least tendency unduly to exalt himself. B.—The king ruled so long as his throne was based upon righteousness; the moment he sought for any other foundation, he would become weak and contemptible. All David's discipline had been designed to settle him in this truth. He was the man after God's own heart, because he so graciously received that discipline and imbibed that truth. The signal sin of his life confirmed it still more mightily for himself and for all ages to come. Maurice. 13-16. "David took to him more concubines and wives" in Jerusalem. With all his light and grace, he had not overcome the prevalent notion that the dignity and resources of a kingdom were to be measured by the number and rank of the king's wives. W. G. B.—David stopped short of that fatal step contemplated in the warning of Moses, and taken by Solomon, of multiplying to himself wives from heathen nations, so as to turn away his heart from God; but the miseries he suffered in his family give the best answer to the folly which quotes Scripture in sanction of polygamy. P. S. 71-20. David's first victory over the Philistines. This warlike and powerful people had been for centuries the cause of Israel's sorest trials, since Joshua's death the chief hindrance to any approach to unity and consolidation of the tribes. The first necessity of the new government, the thing most essential not merely to peace and general prosperity among the tribes, but to their existence and homogeneous develdevelopment as a nation, was the utter overthrow of this long dominant and powerful foe. And the achievement of this overthrow was brought about, still under the overruling of God's Providence, first and foremost by the natural yet aggressive action of the Philistines themselves. So soon as they saw all Israel united under the only man who had in former days invariably vanquished their forces in conflict, they saw that their dominant power, nay, their very existence was threatened. At once, therefore, before time or opportunity could be given for the consolidation and training of the forces of Israel, they gather in mighty force in the Valley of Rephaim, southward from Jerusalem, on the frontier which separated Judah from all the other tribes. And now mark the trustful spirit and the dauntless courage of David, in meeting this immense array of Philistia. Well he still understands and believes that the battle is the Lord's, and that the people are the Lord's. So he asks of the Lord not merely direction to go against the Philistines, but a Divine assurance that the Lord will give him the victory. And with the certainty of success, wrought by his implicit faith in God, he leads his unprepared, unequal army to conflict and to an overwhelming victory. And then in the same faith (verse 20) he reverently and gratefully ascribes the success to Him whose interposition had assured it. B. 20,21. David called the field of battle Baalperazim—i.e., "God has by my hands scattered mine enemies." In this war the Philistines lost even their images, which must have reminded them of Israel's loss of the ark on a former occasion. David burned them. C. G. B.—By this David afforded sufficient evidence that he regarded hostility to idolatry as belonging to the functions of his office, being the only indication of practical hostility against the gods of the heathen, when not introduced for worship among the Israelites, that has hitherto appeared. Kit. 1. Chron. 14: 14-17.** Israel's final and decisive triumph over the Philistines. With a yet more numerous and mightier force the Philistines return to the same battle-field. But now the Lord gave another answer to the inquiry of His anointed King. Now He will more directly and effectually interpose for the utter destruction of his people's enemies. He bids David set his army in ambush, aside from their foes, and declares that He will go before them and smite the host of the Philistines. But he commands that David shall follow up and complete the work of destruction. "And David did so." He obeyed the Divine direction, and God fulfilled his promise. The hosts of Philistia fled panic smitten from the field, and were pursued for a great distance with immense slaughter, so that their power was permanently broken. B. Once more the sacred oracle was consulted, and this time he was forbidden to go out and assail them in front, but to fetch a compass, and to come out secretly behind them over against a certain mulberry plantation. He was to remain quiet till he heard "the sound of a going upon the tops of the mulberry trees"—a sound probably like the rush of a mighty host to battle—which was to be a signal to him that the Divine power was moving forth to destroy and defeat his enemies; and then he was to march out against them. The king followed these directions implicitly, and the enemy hearing, it would seem, the sound of a mighty army in their rear, which they might easily imagine to be even more numerous and formidable than that led by David, and which appeared at the very moment these sounds were heard, fell into panic and confusion and were easily put to the rout. The victors pursued them hard for many long miles, even to the frontier of their own territory. Kit. Let David's inquiry of God, once and again, upon occasion of the Philistines' invading him, direct us in all our ways to acknowledge him, in distress to fly to him, when we are wronged, to appeal to him, and when we know not what to do, to ask counsel at his oracles, to put ourselves under his conduct, and to beg of him to show us the right way. And let the sound of the going in the tops of the mulberry trees direct us to attend God's motions, both in his providence and in the influence of his Spirit. When we perceive God to go before, let us gird up our loins, gird on our armor, and follow him. H. Being thus repulsed, and then reduced to a tributary condition, the Philistines appear to have done little mischief during the remainder of David's reign or during that of Solomon his successor. In the after-portion of the period of the kings, they sometimes encroached on Judea and sometimes in turn yielded the advantage, until, by-and-by, they became involved in the wars of the great empires of Assyria and Egypt, being on the highway of communication between those countries. Just when the Philistines lost their identity as a people is not known; perhaps not before the Mohammedan invasion in the seventh century. Their country has outlived them, and on the field of their goings for two thousand years other races have come. N. C. B. David's Kindness to Jonathan's Son. The wars of David occupy but a small space in the history of his reign. An act of kindness toward the son of his early friend, Jonathan, is told at greater length than the battles and triumphs of these numerous wars. Of his own accord, and in remembrance of his vows of friendship, he caused inquiries to be made for any of the house of Saul to whom he could show kindness. Sime.—When Ishbosheth was slain, and all Israel went over to David, Mephibosheth was about twelve years old, and there were obvious reasons why the friends who had taken charge of him should desire his existence to be forgotten. Thus Mephibosheth lived a quiet and peaceful life among his friends at Lo-de-bar; and when he grew to manhood, he married and had a son. When David was well established on his throne, he inquired one day of those about him, "Is there yet any left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" One Ziba, a servant of Saul, now a prosperous man with fifteen sons and twenty servants, it was supposed could acquaint the king with that which he desired to know. This man was sent for. The king asked: "Is there yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him?" Ziba then told him of Mephibosheth, and where he was to be found; on which the king forthwith sent messengers to bring him to Jerusalem. Kit.—The kindness he promised to show, he calls the kindness of God; kindness in pursuance of the covenant that was between him and Jonathan, to which God was a witness. Jonathan's request to David was, "Show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not, and the same to my seed." The kindness of God is kindness done with an eye to God and his honor and favor. 9,10. He gives him all the land of Saul his father,—that is, his paternal estate, which was forfeited by Ishbosheth's rebellion, and added to his own revenue. Though he had thus given him a good estate, sufficient to maintain him, yet, for Jonathan's sake, he will take him to be a constant guest at his own table, where he will not only be comfortably fed, but have company and attendance suitable to his birth and quality. H.—The estate now made over to Mephibosheth was assigned for cultivation to Ziba, who, with his sons and servants, was to devote himself to it, and was to retain one half the produce in recompense for his expense and labor, paying the other moiety as rent to the owner of the land. Mephibosheth was thus enabled to keep up a becoming establishment for his family in Jerusalem, while habitually taking his principal meals at the royal table, and associating with the king's sons, some of whom were nearly of his own age. As men do not sit down at table with their wives and children in the East, this constant dining at court was a distinction unaccompanied by any of the drawbacks it would bring to us. Kit. THE ARK REMOVED FROM KIRJATH-JEARIM. UZZAH SMITTEN, AND IT REMAINS THREE MONTHS WITH OBED-EDOM. TAKEN TO ITS TENT IN JERUSALEM. DAVID'S PSALM FOR THE FIRST APPOINTED SONG-SERVICE. 1. Chron. 15 : 1** And David made him houses in the city of David ; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. 13 1 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. And David said unto all the assembly of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and if it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad everywhere unto our brethren that are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us : and let us bring again the ark of our God to us : for we sought not unto it in the days of Saul. And all the assembly said that they would do so : for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. So David assembled all Israel together, from Shihor the brook of Egypt even unto the entering in of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, the LORD that sitteth upon the cherubim, which is called by the Name. 2. S. 6 : 2, 3** Even the name of the LORD of hosts that sitteth upon the cherubim. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in the hill : and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was in the hill, with the ark of God : and Ahio went before the ark. And when they came to the threshing-floor of Nacon, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it ; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah ; and God smote him there for his error ; because he put forth his hand to the ark : and there he died before God. 1. Chron. 13 : 11** And David was displeased, because the LORD had broken forth upon Uzzah : and he called that place Perez-uzzah, unto this day. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me ? So David removed not the ark unto him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months : and the LORD blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had. 2. S. 6 : 12** And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. 1. Chron. 15 : 3** And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD unto its place, which he had prepared for it. And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites : sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye bare it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance. So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the 16 staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD. And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music,19 psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy. So the Levites appointed the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, with cymbals of brass to sound20 aloud; and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and21 Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth; and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps set to the Sheminith, to lead.22 And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the song: he instructed about the song, be-23, 24 cause he was skilful. And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. And Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, did blow with the trumpets before the ark of God: and Obed-edom and25 Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark. So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of26 Obed-edom with joy: and it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of27 the covenant of the LORD, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams. And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with28 the singers: and David had upon him an ephod of linen. Thus David and all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and29 with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with psalteries and harps. And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised16 him in her heart. And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings before God.2 And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he3 blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins.1 Chron. 16: 43 And all the people departed every man to his house: and David returned to bless his household.2 S. 6: 20-23. Michal's reproach and David's reply.1 Chron. 16: 4 And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to celebrate and to thank and praise the LORD, the God of Israel.7 Then on that day did David first ordain to give thanks unto the LORD, by the hand of Asaph and his brethren.8 O give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name; Make known his doings among the peoples.9 Sing unto him, sing praises unto him; Talk ye of all his marvellous works.10 Glory ye in his holy name: Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.11 Seek ye the LORD and his strength; Seek his face evermore.12 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;13 O ye seed of Israel his servant, Ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.14 He is the LORD our God: His judgments are in all the earth.15 Remember his covenant forever, The word which he commanded to a thousand generations;16 The covenant which he made with Abraham, And his oath unto Isaac;17 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a statute, To Israel for an everlasting covenant:18 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance:19 When ye were but a few men in number; Yea, very few, and sojourners in it; 20 And they went about from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people. 21 He suffered no man to do them wrong; Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; 22 Saying, Touch not mine anointed ones, And do my prophets no harm. 23 Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; Shew forth his salvation from day to day. 24 Declare his glory among the nations, His marvellous works among all the peoples. 25 For great is the LORD, and highly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods. 26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols: But the LORD made the heavens. 27 Honor and majesty are before him: Strength and gladness are in his place. 28 Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the peoples, Give unto the LORD glory and strength. 29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: Bring an offering, and come before him: Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 30 Tremble before him, all the earth: The world also is stablished that it cannot be moved. 31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, the LORD reigneth. 32 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; Let the field exult, and all that is therein; 33 Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before the LORD, For he cometh to judge the earth. 34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: For his mercy endureth forever. 35 And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us together and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks unto thy holy name, And to triumph in thy praise. 36 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people said, Amen, and praised the LORD. Omitted verses mainly repetitions. David had recognized the superior kingship of Jehovah, and loyally acknowledged his elevation over Israel as God's sole act. More than this, he had openly admitted that the new kingdom, and he, its king, were for the people's sake, and not his own. And this sublime and just conception of God's relation which had actuated him in assuming the government, and in all his civil and military arrangements, at the same time led him now to engage in the work of reforming religion among the tribes. In this greatest work of all, the first essential was the restoration to a fitting place of the Ark of the Covenant, the golden shining symbol of God's presence and supreme sway over king and people. This sacred coffer, with mercy-seat and cherubim of gold above, with the tables of the Law and other lesser memorials within, which had been for centuries the central point and object of Israel's representative worship, had now been neglected for seventy years. The Philistines took it upon the defeat of Israel, but were glad to escape the visitations of God by its speedy surrender. And in comparative neglect it had long remained in the house of Amishdab at Kirjath-jearim, or Baale of Judah, ten or twelve miles northwest of Jerusalem. B.—No greater event signalized the reign of David than the removal of the Ark of the Covenant from the place of its exile in Kirjath-jearim to what was henceforth to become not only the "royal" but the "holy" city. W. Lee. 1. Chron. 15 : 1.** A tent is specially prepared by David for the reception of the Ark. Though no particulars are given, we know, from the number of servitors in the worship, and the character of the service and offerings, especially the sacrifices, that this Tabernacle must have been the centre of various and extensive temporary structures, like those of the Temple which succeeded. B.—The tabernacle which Moses had made was in Gibeah, and there, since the murder of the priests at Nob, Zadok officiated, while Abiathar acted as high-priest with David. Neither of these two could be deposed; and so there must be two tabernacles, till God Himself should set right what the sin of men had made wrong. And for this, as we believe, David looked forward to the building of a house for the God of Israel. A. E. 1. Chron. 13 : 1-6.** In befitting state David goes to bring again the Ark of God. His object in convoking so immense a representation of Israel's chosen men was twofold. He would thus signally honor the symbol of the Divine Majesty. And he would reinculcate upon the long forgetful and careless people the solemnity and need of their appointed religious observances; he would reimpress the fact, so manifest to himself, that regard to religious duty alone gave value to other reforms, vitality and permanence to all national institutions. B.—The Ark had been in the house of Abinadab for seventy or eighty years—twenty during the Philistine oppression, forty or fifty under Samuel and Saul, and perhaps ten of David's reign. A. F. K. 2. S. 6 : 3-7.** The Ark brought on its new carriage part of the journey. The first error, which led to all the rest, was an inconsiderate haste, which hindered their noting the simple ordinance respecting the bearing of the ark. They simply followed the last custom, though seventy years before, of the Philistines, in transporting it upon a new carriage. They had forgotten that the Levites were bidden to bear it on their shoulders, and not to touch it, lest they should die. So it was set in a new carriage, and the oxen were driven by the sons of Abinadab, in whose home, perhaps, the ark had become too familiar a thing for the reverence which was its due. We are then in some measure prepared for the sad close of David's first undertaking with the ark. In a seeming peril, Uzzah, one of these sons, laid hold upon the ark to keep it firm. And for this error God visited instant death upon him, in the very act. This visitation of God, with all the sorer ones, of family and national destructions for great transgrestransgressions, can readily be reconciled with a wise and right judgment of God. It needs mainly that we understand the very low mental and moral culture attained by the Israelites in those ages; and that we study the long process of training which God was constrained to employ in connection with stringent ordinances and ceremonials. At this juncture they had fallen back, had lost the reverence due to God in losing all sense of his presence in symbol and ordinance. Uzzah simply showed this, as an example of the many who had forgotten Jehovah, in neglecting and holding irreverently the Ark of His presence. And now that God comes with this chief symbol of a restored religion, He must prove his presence, and must waken awe fresh in their minds, by visiting the death he had before, by Moses, specifically threatened against him that should touch the sacred symbol. Uzzah died, but God used that death to invest Himself and the institutions of His worship with a vastly higher sacredness in the estimate of all the tribes of Israel. B. 7. God smote him there for his error.** As before at Bethshemesh an act of irreverence toward the Ark was punished with death. The Ark was the symbol of His presence, and the Levitical ordinances were designed to secure the strictest reverence for it. It was to be carried by the Levites, but they might not come near until it had been covered by the priests, nor touch it except by the staves provided for the purpose, upon pain of death. The occasion was an important one. It was the first step in the inauguration of a new era of worship, in the newly-established capital of the kingdom; and if these breaches of the Divine ordinances had been left unpunished, the lessons they were intended to teach might have been neglected. Uzzah's death was necessary for a solemn warning to David and the people. A. F. K. 1. Chron. 13 : 11-14.** Afraid and displeased, David leaves the Ark for three months in the house of Obed-Edom. Very mercifully God had dealt with David's fault, and that of the Levites, in the matter of their common inconsideration. But David does not at once see it. Like a believer of ordinary grade, even with all his superior instruction by the Spirit, he indulged in hard feelings against God for what had been done to the heedless Uzzah. God suffers him to deposit the ark by the way, and to return home for reflection awhile. Then He sends His blessing upon the whole family of the man who had gladly received and reverently watched over the ark. Afterward He brings the fact of this blessing to the knowledge of David. B. This event hath helped Obed-Edom to a guest he looked not for. God shall now sojourn in the house of him, in whose heart he dwelt before by a strong faith: else the man durst not have undertaken to receive that dreadful ark, which David himself feared to harbor. Oh, the courage of an honest and faithful heart! Obed-Edom knew well enough what slaughter the ark had made among the Philistines, and after that among the Bethshemites, and now he saw Uzzah lie dead before him; yet doth he not make any scruple of entertaining it. But he opens his doors with a bold cheerfulness, and notwithstanding all those terrors, bids God welcome. The God of heaven will not receive anything from men, on free cost. He will pay liberally for his lodging; a plentiful blessing upon Obed-Edom and all his household. It was an honor to that zealous Gittite, that the ark should come under his roof; yet God rewards that honor with benediction: never man was loser by true godliness. 2. S. 6: 12.** Now, David and Israel were not more affrighted with the vengeance upon Uzzah, than encouraged by the blessing of Obed-Edom. The wise God doth so order his just and merciful proceedings, that the awfulness of men may be tempered by love. Bp. H. 1. Chron. 15: 3-29; 16: 1, 2.** David at length brings the Ark of God into Jerusalem. With reflection his wrong fears and thoughts of God all gone, his frank admission that all his own doing had been wrong before, led him now to repair the previous error. "None ought," he said, "to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for them hath the Lord chosen." So, with a retinue of nearly a thousand priests, and "gathering all Israel," "he went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness." With every solemn ceremonial, with every token of reverence and joy, with all instruments of melody, with multitudinous song and shouting, led by David, who laid aside his royal majesty and dress in the Divine presence, the mighty throng, with one heart and voice, rendered praise and honor to Jehovah, their nation's God. "So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God." B. 15: 26. God helped the Levites that carried it. The ark was no very great burden, that they who carried it needed any extraordinary help. But the Levites, remembering the breach upon Uzzah, were ready to tremble when they took up the ark; but God helped them—that is, he encouraged them to it, silenced their fears, and strengthened their faith. God helped them to do it decently and well, and without making any mistake. God's ministers that bear the vessels of the Lord have special need of Divine help in their ministrations, that God in them may be glorified and his church edified. And if God help the Levites, the people have the benefit of it. H. 27. A linen ephod.** David laid aside his royal robes and appeared in the distinctive dress of a priest. As the head and representative of "a kingdom of priests" (Ex. 19: 6), the king possessed a priestly character; and David on this occasion exercised priestly functions in directing the sacrifices, even if he did not offer them himself (verses 17, 18), and in blessing the people. A. F. K. 1. Chron. 16: 1, 2.** The ark was placed in a tent which David had prepared to receive it, and burnt-offerings and peace-offerings were then largely offered, for the first time in Jerusalem. When these religious solemnities were performed, the king "blessed the people in the name of the Lord." Kit.—Jehovah thus returns once more to Israel, and takes up his abode in the midst of his people. The return of the Ark is not merely the bringing forth into notice of a long neglected and sacred vessel belonging to the sanctuary; it is the coming back of God himself to a people whom he had temporarily forsaken. W. H. G.—Jerusalem thus became the sanctuary as well as the capital of the kingdom. This union of the political and religious centres inaugurated a new epoch in the nation's history. It was a visible realization of the true principle of the Theocratic Monarchy. The day on which he welcomed the Ark into Zion, his own city, as a very Advent of Jehovah to dwell in the midst of His people, was the greatest day of David's life. From that day dates the beginning of the sanctity of "the Holy City," round which so many sacred associations cluster, and which has become the earthly type of heaven. A. F. K. 2. S. 6: 20-23.** Michal's reproach and David's reply. Michal is intentionally designated the daughter of Saul here, instead of the wife of David, because on this occasion she manifested her father's disposition rather than her husband's. The proud daughter of Saul was offended at the fact that the king had set himself down to the level of the people. She availed herself of the shortness of the priest's shoulder-dress to make a contemptuous remark concerning David's dancing, as an impropriety that was unbecoming in a king. Keil and Dlitzech. 21. Before the Lord, who chose me rather than thy father, yea I will play before the Lord. "Before the Lord" stands emphatically at the beginning of David's answer. No service offered to the God to whom he owed all his advancement could be degrading. Thus he defends his own conduct, and at the same time he humbles Michal's pride by alluding to Saul's rejection. A. F. K.—22.** "I will be base in mine own sight, and will think nothing too mean to stoop to for the honor of God." In the throne of judgment, and in the field of battle, none shall do more to support the grandeur and authority of a prince than David shall; but in acts of devotion he lays aside the thoughts of majesty, humbles himself to the dust before the Lord, joins in with the meanest services done in honor of the ark, and yet thinks it no diminution to him. H. 23. David came to bless his house; Michal brings a curse upon herself. Her scorns shall make her childless to the day of her death. Barrenness was held in those times none of the least judgments. God doth so revenge David's quarrel upon Michal, that she shall not be held worthy to bear a son to him whom she unjustly contemned. Bp. H. 1. Chron. 16: 4.** After the tabernacle and ark were established on Zion, he began that grand order of musical service which he enriched from time to time with his psalms, until it was ready for Solomon's grander introduction into his temple. Knox.—It was the happiness of David, not only as a warrior to draw warriors round him, and as an able ruler to attract statesmen, but also, as a born musician and poet to surround himself with musicians and poets, who assisted in the production of the psalter and composed suitable melodies for the lyrics in which the king delighted. Suddenly there came upon Jerusalem the golden age of Hebrew music and song. The songs are, happily, preserved for the admiration and use of the Christian Church. It is of great importance to note well the period at which sacred song established its place in Divine worship. By the law, came neither psalm nor sacred music. Praise is united with the spirit of prophecy. Moses sang, as a prophet, over the redemption and exodus from Egypt, and sang again before his death, or better exodus to rest with God. Deborah, the prophetess, sang of victory. A company of prophets, in the days of Samuel, prophesied, as the Spirit of God moved them, "with a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe, and a harp." So David prophesied, and Asaph and Heman "prophesied and sang." It was a time of the operation of the Spirit of God, in which sweet song obtained a leading place in the religious service. It was the time of the kingdom, too, a decided advance on that of Moses and the Law. The throne of David was established in grace, and secured by a covenant of promise. Then, and not till then, was heard the voice of praise in the courts of the house of the Lord. Why is it that the Christian Church has had, from the beginning, impulse and capacity for sacred song? It is because the Spirit of God has been poured out, and because Christ reigns in grace, and "sings praise in the midst of the Church." It is meet that there should be a continual offering of the sacrifice of praise from every Christian assembly. D. F. 7-36. We have here the thanksgiving psalm which David, by the Spirit, composed, and delivered to the chief musician, to be sung upon occasion of the public entry the ark made into the tent prepared for it. H.—It is so closely and beautifully connected in its various parts, as to give the impression of one whole, parts of which may afterward have been inserted in different Psalms, just as similar adaptations are found in other parts of the Psalter (compare, for example, Ps. 40: 17, etc., with Ps. 70). Whatever may be thought of its original form, this "Psalm" of eight stanzas, as given in the Book of Chronicles, is one of the grandest hymns in Holy Scripture. From first to last the hymn breathes a missionary spirit, far beyond any narrow and merely national aspirations. The placing of the Ark in the capital of Israel, thus making it "the city of God," was an event not only of deep national but of such typical importance, that it is frequently referred to in the sacred songs of the sanctuary. A. E.—There are many Psalms to be referred to the removal of the ark to Jerusalem, both on the ground of tradition and of their own internal evidence. At the head of these is the 132d, in which David in his own name describes the removal of the ark from the first desire of his heart to its final accomplishment, records God's eternal covenant with him and his house, and celebrates Jehovah's choice of Zion for his abode. The 68th is equally suitable for the first removal of the ark; it begins with the words appointed by Moses to be sung when the ark was lifted, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered," and it advances from the record of victory after victory to the final establishment of God's house at Jerusalem, and the prediction of the worship He should receive from all nations of the earth. The 24th marks the entrance of the ark into the citadel of Zion by its grand refrain, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in" words which clearly set forth the idea which runs through all these psalms, of victory as well as praise. They celebrate not only the inauguration of the place of religious worship, but the installation of Jehovah, the glorious King, in the citadel from which he shall still go forth to conquer all the world. The 96th, 105th, 106th, are probably the full form, adapted to the Temple service, of the Psalm which David delivered to Asaph and his brethren at the close of this great ceremony. P. S. Truths suggested by the incidents under review. (1) The disuse of God's Word and the neglect of His worship always go together. Each leads to the other, and both lead, through heedlessness, to irreverence and disobedience. These in their turn bring results of unhappiness. (2) God's work must be done in His way, to the letter where He gives a literal command. His cause cannot be advanced, will be hindered, by any other way. Nor will He suffer men to judge of right or wrong, when he has clearly spoken. (3) God's people sometimes misinterpret His dealings, and cherish hard thoughts concerning his doings. But even then He will not judge them harshly. He will give them time for reflection, and will help them back to right thinking and feeling by gentler and instructive Providences. (4) As individual piety brings the largest personal blessings, so household piety invariably ensures the best of household blessings. Where God's presence is always desired and welcomed, where fidelity to the covenant is regarded and faith in the Covenant-Maker is firmly cherished, and where the incense of the family altar keeps up its heavenward ascent throughout the day, like the incense flame of old, there God abides. Every such household may share a kindred blessing with that bestowed on the family of Obed-Edom. (5) Joy underlies all true worship. It was a leading characteristic of the Old Testament service; instruments, and even dancing before the Lord, were only an allowed expression of a holy enthusiasm and gladness. So joy belongs equally to the spiritual worship of the New Testament. Its hallowed and beautiful ministry should be oftener invoked, and more heartily responded to, in all the services of private and public devotion. B. DAVID'S DESIRE TO BUILD A HOUSE FOR JEHOVAH. GOD'S MESSAGE BY NATHAN. THE GREAT COVENANT PROMISE. DAVID'S GRATEFUL PRAISE AND PRAYER. 1. Chron. 15 : 1** And David made him houses in the city of David ; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. 13 1 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. And David said unto all the assembly of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and if it be of the LORD our God, let us send abroad everywhere unto our brethren that are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us : and let us bring again the ark of our God to us : for we sought not unto it in the days of Saul. And all the assembly said that they would do so : for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. So David assembled all Israel together, from Shihor the brook of Egypt even unto the entering in of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, the LORD that sitteth upon the cherubim, which is called by the Name. 2. S. 6 : 2, 3** Even the name of the LORD of hosts that sitteth upon the cherubim. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in the hill : and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was in the hill, with the ark of God : and Ahio went before the ark. And when they came to the threshing-floor of Nacon, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it ; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah ; and God smote him there for his error ; because he put forth his hand to the ark : and there he died before God. 1. Chron. 13 : 11** And David was displeased, because the LORD had broken forth upon Uzzah : and he called that place Perez-uzzah, unto this day. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me ? So David removed not the ark unto him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months : and the LORD blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had. 2. S. 6 : 12** And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. 1. Chron. 15 : 3** And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD unto its place, which he had prepared for it. And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites : sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye bare it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance. So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the 16 staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD. And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music,19 psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy. So the Levites appointed the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, with cymbals of brass to sound20 aloud; and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and21 Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth; and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps set to the Sheminith, to lead.22 And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the song: he instructed about the song, be-23, 24 cause he was skilful. And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. And Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, did blow with the trumpets before the ark of God: and Obed-edom and25 Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark. So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of26 Obed-edom with joy: and it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of27 the covenant of the LORD, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams. And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with28 the singers: and David had upon him an ephod of linen. Thus David and all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and29 with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with psalteries and harps. And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised16 him in her heart. And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt offerings and peace-offerings before God.2 And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he3 blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins.1 Chron. 16: 43 And all the people departed every man to his house: and David returned to bless his household.2 S. 6: 20-23. Michal's reproach and David's reply.1 Chron. 16: 4 And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to celebrate and to thank and praise the LORD, the God of Israel.7 Then on that day did David first ordain to give thanks unto the LORD, by the hand of Asaph and his brethren.8 O give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name; Make known his doings among the peoples.9 Sing unto him, sing praises unto him; Talk ye of all his marvellous works.10 Glory ye in his holy name: Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.11 Seek ye the LORD and his strength; Seek his face evermore.12 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;13 O ye seed of Israel his servant, Ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.14 He is the LORD our God: His judgments are in all the earth.15 Remember his covenant forever, The word which he commanded to a thousand generations;16 The covenant which he made with Abraham, And his oath unto Isaac;17 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a statute, To Israel for an everlasting covenant:18 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance:19 When ye were but a few men in number; Yea, very few, and sojourners in it; 20 And they went about from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people. 21 He suffered no man to do them wrong; Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; 22 Saying, Touch not mine anointed ones, And do my prophets no harm. 23 Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; Shew forth his salvation from day to day. 24 Declare his glory among the nations, His marvellous works among all the peoples. 25 For great is the LORD, and highly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods. 26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols: But the LORD made the heavens. 27 Honor and majesty are before him: Strength and gladness are in his place. 28 Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the peoples, Give unto the LORD glory and strength. 29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: Bring an offering, and come before him: Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 30 Tremble before him, all the earth: The world also is stablished that it cannot be moved. 31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, the LORD reigneth. 32 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; Let the field exult, and all that is therein; 33 Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before the LORD, For he cometh to judge the earth. 34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: For his mercy endureth forever. 35 And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us together and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks unto thy holy name, And to triumph in thy praise. 36 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people said, Amen, and praised the LORD. Omitted verses mainly repetitions. David had recognized the superior kingship of Jehovah, and loyally acknowledged his elevation over Israel as God's sole act. More than this, he had openly admitted that the new kingdom, and he, its king, were for the people's sake, and not his own. And this sublime and just conception of God's relation which had actuated him in assuming the government, and in all his civil and military arrangements, at the same time led him now to engage in the work of reforming religion among the tribes. In this greatest work of all, the first essential was the restoration to a fitting place of the Ark of the Covenant, the golden shining symbol of God's presence and supreme sway over king and people. This sacred coffer, with mercy-seat and cherubim of gold above, with the tables of the Law and other lesser memorials within, which had been for centuries the central point and object of Israel's representative worship, had now been neglected for seventy years. The Philistines took it upon the defeat of Israel, but were glad to escape the visitations of God by its speedy surrender. And in comparative neglect it had long remained in the house of Amishdab at Kirjath-jearim, or Baale of Judah, ten or twelve miles northwest of Jerusalem. B.—No greater event signalized the reign of David than the removal of the Ark of the Covenant from the place of its exile in Kirjath-jearim to what was henceforth to become not only the "royal" but the "holy" city. W. Lee. 1. Chron. 15 : 1.** A tent is specially prepared by David for the reception of the Ark. Though no particulars are given, we know, from the number of servitors in the worship, and the character of the service and offerings, especially the sacrifices, that this Tabernacle must have been the centre of various and extensive temporary structures, like those of the Temple which succeeded. B.—The tabernacle which Moses had made was in Gibeah, and there, since the murder of the priests at Nob, Zadok officiated, while Abiathar acted as high-priest with David. Neither of these two could be deposed; and so there must be two tabernacles, till God Himself should set right what the sin of men had made wrong. And for this, as we believe, David looked forward to the building of a house for the God of Israel. A. E. 1. Chron. 13 : 1-6.** In befitting state David goes to bring again the Ark of God. His object in convoking so immense a representation of Israel's chosen men was twofold. He would thus signally honor the symbol of the Divine Majesty. And he would reinculcate upon the long forgetful and careless people the solemnity and need of their appointed religious observances; he would reimpress the fact, so manifest to himself, that regard to religious duty alone gave value to other reforms, vitality and permanence to all national institutions. B.—The Ark had been in the house of Abinadab for seventy or eighty years—twenty during the Philistine oppression, forty or fifty under Samuel and Saul, and perhaps ten of David's reign. A. F. K. 2. S. 6 : 3-7.** The Ark brought on its new carriage part of the journey. The first error, which led to all the rest, was an inconsiderate haste, which hindered their noting the simple ordinance respecting the bearing of the ark. They simply followed the last custom, though seventy years before, of the Philistines, in transporting it upon a new carriage. They had forgotten that the Levites were bidden to bear it on their shoulders, and not to touch it, lest they should die. So it was set in a new carriage, and the oxen were driven by the sons of Abinadab, in whose home, perhaps, the ark had become too familiar a thing for the reverence which was its due. We are then in some measure prepared for the sad close of David's first undertaking with the ark. In a seeming peril, Uzzah, one of these sons, laid hold upon the ark to keep it firm. And for this error God visited instant death upon him, in the very act. This visitation of God, with all the sorer ones, of family and national destructions for great transgrestransgressions, can readily be reconciled with a wise and right judgment of God. It needs mainly that we understand the very low mental and moral culture attained by the Israelites in those ages; and that we study the long process of training which God was constrained to employ in connection with stringent ordinances and ceremonials. At this juncture they had fallen back, had lost the reverence due to God in losing all sense of his presence in symbol and ordinance. Uzzah simply showed this, as an example of the many who had forgotten Jehovah, in neglecting and holding irreverently the Ark of His presence. And now that God comes with this chief symbol of a restored religion, He must prove his presence, and must waken awe fresh in their minds, by visiting the death he had before, by Moses, specifically threatened against him that should touch the sacred symbol. Uzzah died, but God used that death to invest Himself and the institutions of His worship with a vastly higher sacredness in the estimate of all the tribes of Israel. B. 7. God smote him there for his error.** As before at Bethshemesh an act of irreverence toward the Ark was punished with death. The Ark was the symbol of His presence, and the Levitical ordinances were designed to secure the strictest reverence for it. It was to be carried by the Levites, but they might not come near until it had been covered by the priests, nor touch it except by the staves provided for the purpose, upon pain of death. The occasion was an important one. It was the first step in the inauguration of a new era of worship, in the newly-established capital of the kingdom; and if these breaches of the Divine ordinances had been left unpunished, the lessons they were intended to teach might have been neglected. Uzzah's death was necessary for a solemn warning to David and the people. A. F. K. 1. Chron. 13 : 11-14.** Afraid and displeased, David leaves the Ark for three months in the house of Obed-Edom. Very mercifully God had dealt with David's fault, and that of the Levites, in the matter of their common inconsideration. But David does not at once see it. Like a believer of ordinary grade, even with all his superior instruction by the Spirit, he indulged in hard feelings against God for what had been done to the heedless Uzzah. God suffers him to deposit the ark by the way, and to return home for reflection awhile. Then He sends His blessing upon the whole family of the man who had gladly received and reverently watched over the ark. Afterward He brings the fact of this blessing to the knowledge of David. B. This event hath helped Obed-Edom to a guest he looked not for. God shall now sojourn in the house of him, in whose heart he dwelt before by a strong faith: else the man durst not have undertaken to receive that dreadful ark, which David himself feared to harbor. Oh, the courage of an honest and faithful heart! Obed-Edom knew well enough what slaughter the ark had made among the Philistines, and after that among the Bethshemites, and now he saw Uzzah lie dead before him; yet doth he not make any scruple of entertaining it. But he opens his doors with a bold cheerfulness, and notwithstanding all those terrors, bids God welcome. The God of heaven will not receive anything from men, on free cost. He will pay liberally for his lodging; a plentiful blessing upon Obed-Edom and all his household. It was an honor to that zealous Gittite, that the ark should come under his roof; yet God rewards that honor with benediction: never man was loser by true godliness. 2. S. 6: 12.** Now, David and Israel were not more affrighted with the vengeance upon Uzzah, than encouraged by the blessing of Obed-Edom. The wise God doth so order his just and merciful proceedings, that the awfulness of men may be tempered by love. Bp. H. 1. Chron. 15: 3-29; 16: 1, 2.** David at length brings the Ark of God into Jerusalem. With reflection his wrong fears and thoughts of God all gone, his frank admission that all his own doing had been wrong before, led him now to repair the previous error. "None ought," he said, "to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for them hath the Lord chosen." So, with a retinue of nearly a thousand priests, and "gathering all Israel," "he went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness." With every solemn ceremonial, with every token of reverence and joy, with all instruments of melody, with multitudinous song and shouting, led by David, who laid aside his royal majesty and dress in the Divine presence, the mighty throng, with one heart and voice, rendered praise and honor to Jehovah, their nation's God. "So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God." B. 15: 26. God helped the Levites that carried it. The ark was no very great burden, that they who carried it needed any extraordinary help. But the Levites, remembering the breach upon Uzzah, were ready to tremble when they took up the ark; but God helped them—that is, he encouraged them to it, silenced their fears, and strengthened their faith. God helped them to do it decently and well, and without making any mistake. God's ministers that bear the vessels of the Lord have special need of Divine help in their ministrations, that God in them may be glorified and his church edified. And if God help the Levites, the people have the benefit of it. H. 27. A linen ephod.** David laid aside his royal robes and appeared in the distinctive dress of a priest. As the head and representative of "a kingdom of priests" (Ex. 19: 6), the king possessed a priestly character; and David on this occasion exercised priestly functions in directing the sacrifices, even if he did not offer them himself (verses 17, 18), and in blessing the people. A. F. K. 1. Chron. 16: 1, 2.** The ark was placed in a tent which David had prepared to receive it, and burnt-offerings and peace-offerings were then largely offered, for the first time in Jerusalem. When these religious solemnities were performed, the king "blessed the people in the name of the Lord." Kit.—Jehovah thus returns once more to Israel, and takes up his abode in the midst of his people. The return of the Ark is not merely the bringing forth into notice of a long neglected and sacred vessel belonging to the sanctuary; it is the coming back of God himself to a people whom he had temporarily forsaken. W. H. G.—Jerusalem thus became the sanctuary as well as the capital of the kingdom. This union of the political and religious centres inaugurated a new epoch in the nation's history. It was a visible realization of the true principle of the Theocratic Monarchy. The day on which he welcomed the Ark into Zion, his own city, as a very Advent of Jehovah to dwell in the midst of His people, was the greatest day of David's life. From that day dates the beginning of the sanctity of "the Holy City," round which so many sacred associations cluster, and which has become the earthly type of heaven. A. F. K. 2. S. 6: 20-23.** Michal's reproach and David's reply. Michal is intentionally designated the daughter of Saul here, instead of the wife of David, because on this occasion she manifested her father's disposition rather than her husband's. The proud daughter of Saul was offended at the fact that the king had set himself down to the level of the people. She availed herself of the shortness of the priest's shoulder-dress to make a contemptuous remark concerning David's dancing, as an impropriety that was unbecoming in a king. Keil and Dlitzech. 21. Before the Lord, who chose me rather than thy father, yea I will play before the Lord. "Before the Lord" stands emphatically at the beginning of David's answer. No service offered to the God to whom he owed all his advancement could be degrading. Thus he defends his own conduct, and at the same time he humbles Michal's pride by alluding to Saul's rejection. A. F. K.—22.** "I will be base in mine own sight, and will think nothing too mean to stoop to for the honor of God." In the throne of judgment, and in the field of battle, none shall do more to support the grandeur and authority of a prince than David shall; but in acts of devotion he lays aside the thoughts of majesty, humbles himself to the dust before the Lord, joins in with the meanest services done in honor of the ark, and yet thinks it no diminution to him. H. 23. David came to bless his house; Michal brings a curse upon herself. Her scorns shall make her childless to the day of her death. Barrenness was held in those times none of the least judgments. God doth so revenge David's quarrel upon Michal, that she shall not be held worthy to bear a son to him whom she unjustly contemned. Bp. H. 1. Chron. 16: 4.** After the tabernacle and ark were established on Zion, he began that grand order of musical service which he enriched from time to time with his psalms, until it was ready for Solomon's grander introduction into his temple. Knox.—It was the happiness of David, not only as a warrior to draw warriors round him, and as an able ruler to attract statesmen, but also, as a born musician and poet to surround himself with musicians and poets, who assisted in the production of the psalter and composed suitable melodies for the lyrics in which the king delighted. Suddenly there came upon Jerusalem the golden age of Hebrew music and song. The songs are, happily, preserved for the admiration and use of the Christian Church. It is of great importance to note well the period at which sacred song established its place in Divine worship. By the law, came neither psalm nor sacred music. Praise is united with the spirit of prophecy. Moses sang, as a prophet, over the redemption and exodus from Egypt, and sang again before his death, or better exodus to rest with God. Deborah, the prophetess, sang of victory. A company of prophets, in the days of Samuel, prophesied, as the Spirit of God moved them, "with a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe, and a harp." So David prophesied, and Asaph and Heman "prophesied and sang." It was a time of the operation of the Spirit of God, in which sweet song obtained a leading place in the religious service. It was the time of the kingdom, too, a decided advance on that of Moses and the Law. The throne of David was established in grace, and secured by a covenant of promise. Then, and not till then, was heard the voice of praise in the courts of the house of the Lord. Why is it that the Christian Church has had, from the beginning, impulse and capacity for sacred song? It is because the Spirit of God has been poured out, and because Christ reigns in grace, and "sings praise in the midst of the Church." It is meet that there should be a continual offering of the sacrifice of praise from every Christian assembly. D. F. 7-36. We have here the thanksgiving psalm which David, by the Spirit, composed, and delivered to the chief musician, to be sung upon occasion of the public entry the ark made into the tent prepared for it. H.—It is so closely and beautifully connected in its various parts, as to give the impression of one whole, parts of which may afterward have been inserted in different Psalms, just as similar adaptations are found in other parts of the Psalter (compare, for example, Ps. 40: 17, etc., with Ps. 70). Whatever may be thought of its original form, this "Psalm" of eight stanzas, as given in the Book of Chronicles, is one of the grandest hymns in Holy Scripture. From first to last the hymn breathes a missionary spirit, far beyond any narrow and merely national aspirations. The placing of the Ark in the capital of Israel, thus making it "the city of God," was an event not only of deep national but of such typical importance, that it is frequently referred to in the sacred songs of the sanctuary. A. E.—There are many Psalms to be referred to the removal of the ark to Jerusalem, both on the ground of tradition and of their own internal evidence. At the head of these is the 132d, in which David in his own name describes the removal of the ark from the first desire of his heart to its final accomplishment, records God's eternal covenant with him and his house, and celebrates Jehovah's choice of Zion for his abode. The 68th is equally suitable for the first removal of the ark; it begins with the words appointed by Moses to be sung when the ark was lifted, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered," and it advances from the record of victory after victory to the final establishment of God's house at Jerusalem, and the prediction of the worship He should receive from all nations of the earth. The 24th marks the entrance of the ark into the citadel of Zion by its grand refrain, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in" words which clearly set forth the idea which runs through all these psalms, of victory as well as praise. They celebrate not only the inauguration of the place of religious worship, but the installation of Jehovah, the glorious King, in the citadel from which he shall still go forth to conquer all the world. The 96th, 105th, 106th, are probably the full form, adapted to the Temple service, of the Psalm which David delivered to Asaph and his brethren at the close of this great ceremony. P. S. Truths suggested by the incidents under review. (1) The disuse of God's Word and the neglect of His worship always go together. Each leads to the other, and both lead, through heedlessness, to irreverence and disobedience. These in their turn bring results of unhappiness. (2) God's work must be done in His way, to the letter where He gives a literal command. His cause cannot be advanced, will be hindered, by any other way. Nor will He suffer men to judge of right or wrong, when he has clearly spoken. (3) God's people sometimes misinterpret His dealings, and cherish hard thoughts concerning his doings. But even then He will not judge them harshly. He will give them time for reflection, and will help them back to right thinking and feeling by gentler and instructive Providences. (4) As individual piety brings the largest personal blessings, so household piety invariably ensures the best of household blessings. Where God's presence is always desired and welcomed, where fidelity to the covenant is regarded and faith in the Covenant-Maker is firmly cherished, and where the incense of the family altar keeps up its heavenward ascent throughout the day, like the incense flame of old, there God abides. Every such household may share a kindred blessing with that bestowed on the family of Obed-Edom. (5) Joy underlies all true worship. It was a leading characteristic of the Old Testament service; instruments, and even dancing before the Lord, were only an allowed expression of a holy enthusiasm and gladness. So joy belongs equally to the spiritual worship of the New Testament. Its hallowed and beautiful ministry should be oftener invoked, and more heartily responded to, in all the services of private and public devotion. B. DAVID'S DESIRE TO BUILD A HOUSE FOR JEHOVAH. GOD'S MESSAGE BY NATHAN. THE GREAT COVENANT PROMISE. DAVID'S GRATEFUL PRAISE AND PRAYER. 2. S. 7 : 1** And it came to pass, when the king dwelt in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies round about, that the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee. And it came to pass the same night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou (Thou shalt not, Chron.) build me an house for me to dwell in? for I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedar? Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that thou shouldst be prince over my people, over Israel: and I have been with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I will make thee a great name, like unto the name of the great ones that are in the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the 11 first, and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will cause thee to rest from all thine enemies. Moreover the LORD telleth thee that the LORD will 12 make thee an house. When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his king- 13 dom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom 14 forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten 15 him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my mercy shall 16 not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before thee: thy throne shall be established for- 17 ever. According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. 18. Then David the king went in, and sat before the LORD; and he said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far? 1. Chron 17:** 17 And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; but thou hast spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate 18 of a man of high degree, O LORD God. What can David say yet more unto thee concerning 19 the honor which is done to thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant. O LORD, for thy word's sake, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou wrought all this greatness, to make thy servant know all these great things. 2. S. 7:** 22 Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is 23 there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem unto himself for a people, and to make him a name, and to do great things for you, and terrible things for thy land, in driving out nations from before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee out 24 of Egypt, from the nations and their gods? And thou didst establish to thyself thy people 25 Israel to be a people unto thee forever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God. And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, 26 confirm thou it forever, and do as thou hast spoken. And let thy name be established and magnified forever, saying, The LORD of hosts is God over Israel: and the house of thy servant 27 David shall be established before thee. For thou, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found 28 in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O LORD God, thou art God, and thy 29 words are truth, and thou hast promised this good thing unto thy servant: now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee: for thou, O LORD God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever. The same desire to exalt the Lord which had distinguished David thus far now manifests itself in reference to a house for God. He dwelt in a permanent and splendid abode. God dwelt in a temporary and plain tent. The contrast impresses him painfully, and he forms the design of erecting a costly temple for God's worship. This feeling and design he communicated to the Prophet Nathan, who approved and encouraged its execution. But neither had consulted God, and both were mistaken in their confident assurance of the Divine approval. For that very night God intimated His will in the matter to Nathan. He has not desired as yet "a house of cedar," nor will he accept one at the hands of David. Elsewhere and at another time, God commends David's purpose, and assigns the reason for declining it—that David had been a man of war and of blood. Further, in the message by Nathan, David is reminded of his lowly shepherd lot, out of which God had taken him, and advanced him to a great kingdom and name. And this, not for David's sake, as David himself had before "perceived," but to establish His people Israel as a nation; to give them a permanent home and rest in the land He had promised before to Abraham, and now bestowed on them. B. 2. S. 7: 1, 2.** To complete the history of the religious movement of that period, the sacred writers insert in this place the account of David's purpose to build a temple. The introduction to the narrative (verse 1), and the circumstance that at the time most if not all the wars mentioned in 2 S. 8 and 10 were past, sufficiently indicate that in this, as in other instances, the history is not arranged according to strict chronological succession. Still it must have taken place when David's power was at its zenith. A. E. 31-11. The impulse of generous devotion, which cannot bear to lavish more upon self than it gives to God, at first commended itself to the prophet; but in the solitude of his nightly thoughts the higher Wisdom speaks in his spirit, and the Word of God gives him a message for the king. The narrative makes no mention of David's war like life as unfitting him for the task, which we find from 2 Chron. was one reason why his purpose was set aside, but brings into prominence the thought that David's generous impulse was outrunning God's commandment. So the prophetic message reminds him that the Lord had never, through all the centuries, asked for a house of cedar, and recalls the past life of David as having been wholly shaped and blessed by Him, while it pointedly inverts the king's proposal in its own grand promise, "The Lord telleth thee that He will make thee an house." A. M. Of David's purpose to build a house God took notice, and he was well pleased with it, as appears (1 K. 8 : 18), Thou didst well that it was in thine heart; yet he forbade him to go on with his purpose. David is a man of war, and he must enlarge the borders of Israel, by carrying on their conquests. David is a sweet psalmist, and he must prepare psalms for the use of the temple when it is built, and settle the courses of the Levites; but his son's genius will better suit for building the house, and he will have a better treasure to bear the charge of it. 11. David had purposed to build God a house, and, in requital, God promises to build him a house. Whatever we do for God, or sincerely design to do, though Providence prevents our doing it, we shall in no wise lose our reward. He had promised to make him a name (verse 9), here he promises to make him a house, which should bear up that name. These promises God faithfully performed to David, and his seed, in due time. Though David came short of making good his purpose to build God's house, yet He did not come short of making good His promise to build him a house. Such is the tenor of the covenant we are under; though there are many failures in our performances, there are none in God's. H. 12-16. God's Covenant with David, a covenant with immediate and far-reaching promises. In reach, meaning, and preciousness, this finds its main parallel in the Covenant with Abraham. Both are but amplifications of the brief promise to the fallen Adam. Like the promise made to Abraham, this to David has a twofold reference and meaning. It refers to David's natural posterity and his earthly kingdom, and, in this refreference, is conditional upon right conduct, and is a contingent and temporary promise (1 Chron. 28 : 9). Its larger and sublimer reference is to Christ and His spiritual kingdom. Here the promise is absolute and unlimited. With this double meaning in thought, read the terms of this Divine pledge to David: I will make thee a house. I will set up thy seed after thee, and will establish his kingdom. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. Thine house and thy throne shall be established forever. This promise had a literal fulfilment, in the establishment of David's dynasty, in the enthronement of Solomon, despite the machinations of his elder brethren, and in the long perpetuation of the house of David; virtually, in the desire and will of the Jewish people, until the coming of Christ. Then the temporal part of the promise was linked on to the spiritual, of which it was the designed type and pledge. Christ was the promised seed and son of David, His kingdom that which should be established forever, according to the Old Testament and New. Paul's simple utterance sums up the substance of both: "Of this man's (David's) seed hath God, according to his promise (this very promise before us), raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus." And as this text thus expounds and explains the promise to David in its ultimate supreme reference to Christ, so it as plainly intimates that the nation Israel stands here, not for the Hebrew race, but for the greater spiritual nation or kingdom of believers in all ages. This, too, is the cheering doctrine of the whole Old Testament and New. This "royal nation," this "people all His own," shall have an everlasting habitation and rest under the enduring dominion of Jesus. Based upon this covenant with David, from this time forth Christ's Kingship is dwelt upon by David himself, and referred to by the prophets. And because the vital meaning of the Priestly office and sacrifice had been lost, it came to pass that at the Advent and onward this Kingship was the exclusive thought of the Jewish people respecting the looked-for Messiah. B. This promise has ultimate respect to Christ, the seed of David, and is fulfilled in him only; for the kingdom of David has long since ceased, any otherwise than it is upheld in Christ. That this covenant which God now established with David by Nathan the prophet, was the covenant of grace, is evident by the plain testimony of Scripture in Isa. 55 : 1-3. There we have Christ inviting sinners to come to the waters. And in the third verse he says, "Incline your ear, come unto me; hear, and your souls shall live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David." Here Christ offers to sinners, if they will come to him, to give them an interest in the same everlasting covenant that he had made with David, conveying to them the same sure mercies. But what is that covenant but the covenant of grace? This was the fifth solemn establishment of that covenant. The first was with Adam, the second was with Noah, the third was with the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the fourth was in the wilderness by Moses, and now the fifth is this made to David. This establishment of the covenant of grace with David, David always esteemed the greatest smile of God upon him, the greatest honor of all that God had put upon him; he prized it, and rejoiced in it above all the other blessings of his reign. You may see how joyfully and thankfully he received it here. And so, in his last words, he declares this to be all his salvation, and all his desire (2 S. 23 : 5). Edwards. From the very exalted emotions which the promise raised in his breast, and the enthusiasm with which he poured forth his thanksgivings for it, we infer that David saw in it far more than a promise that for generations to come his house would enjoy a royal dignity. He must have concluded that the great hope of Israel was to be fulfilled in connection with his race. God's words implied that it was in His line the promise to Abraham was to be fulfilled—"In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." He saw Christ's day afar off and was glad. W. G. B. 15. Under no circumstances would God withdraw his favor from David's royal house, or annul his gift of the kingdom, as he had done in the case of Saul. Hence, when the ten tribes revolted and set up a separate kingdom, in memory of this promise, Judah was preserved faithful to the house of David; and in the confidence that the kingdom should be given to the great Son of David in the future, the prophets speak of "the sure mercies of David." 16. The perpetuity of David's house and kingdom is further emphasized by a double "forever." The promise here made to David forms the basis of most of the Messianic hopes and prophecies from this time forward. It is dwelt upon by David in his last words (2 S. 23 : 5), and in his charge to Solomon (1 K. 2 : 4); it is more or less prominently the theme of several of the psalms (e.g., Ps. 89 : 19-37 ; 132 : 11, 12), and of the predictions of the prophets (Isa. 9 : 6, 7 ; 11 : 1, etc. ; Jer. 33 : 20, 21). W. H. G. This prophecy marks an important stage in the Old Testament revelation which prepared the way for the Messiah's coming. The primeval promise to Adam held out the hope of deliverance through "the seed of the woman." Abraham received the assurance that "in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed;" Jacob in his dying blessing assigned the sceptre to Judah. Thus the whole human race, one nation of the race, and one tribe of the nation, were successively designated to be the means of realizing the promise of blessing to mankind. And now by this prophetic declaration a further limitation was made, and the family of David was chosen out of the tribe of Judah as the depository of the promise. At this epoch of the national history, Israel's hopes centred in the theocratic kingdom, in the establishment of a government whose head was to be the visible representative of Jehovah. And now by God's message through Nathan this kingdom was forever promised to the house of David. To it therefore men's hopes were now directed as the destined instrument of salvation. But this prophecy does not speak of the Messiah as an individual; it does not predict the perfect reign of a sinless king. It contemplates a succession of kings of David's line, who would be liable to fall into sin and would need the discipline of chastisement. The perfect king in whom, as we now know, the line was to culminate, and the prophecy receive its highest fulfilment, is not yet foreshadowed. It remained for prophet and psalmist, developing this fundamental revelation, to draw the picture of the ideal king who should spring from David's seed, and exercise dominion as the true representative of Jehovah on earth. As each human heir of David's line failed to fulfil the expectation, hope was carried forward and elevated, until He came to whom is given the throne of His father David, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end. The subsequent references to this great promise should be carefully studied: David applies it to Solomon (1 Chron. 22 : 9, 10 ; 28 : 2). Solomon claims it for himself (1 K. 5 : 5 ; 2 Chron. 6 : 7 ff. ; 1 K. 8 : 17-20). It is confirmed to Solomon (1 K. 9 : 4, 5). It is repeatedly affirmed, that in spite of the sin of individual kings, the kingdom shall not be withdrawn from David's house for his sake (1 K. 11 : 31-39 ; 15 : 4, 5 ; 2 K. 8 : 18, 19). Ps. 89, written no doubt in the dark days when the monarchy was already tottering to its fall, recapitulates this promise, and pleads with God that He should not suffer it to be frustrated. See especially verses 19-37. A. F. K. This prophecy is a covenant-promise which, extending along the whole line, culminates in the Son of David, and in all its fulness applies only to Him. These three things did God join in it, of which one necessarily implies the other, alike in the promise and in the fulfilment: a unique relationship, a unique kingdom, and a unique fellowship and service resulting from both. The unique relationship was that of Father and Son, which in all its fulness only came true in Christ (Heb. 1: 5). The unique kingdom was that of the Christ, which would have no end (Luke 1: 32, 33; John 3: 35). And the unique sequence of it was that brought about through the temple of His body (John 2: 19), which will appear in its full proportions when the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven (Rev. 21: 1-3). Such was the glorious hope opening up wider and wider, till at its termination David could see "afar off" the dawn of the bright morning of eternal glory; such was the destiny and the mission which, in His infinite goodness, God assigned to His chosen servant. Many were his failings and sins, and those of his successors; and heavy rods and sore stripes were to fall upon them. But that promise never failed. Apprehended from the first by the faith of God's people, it formed the grand subject of their praise, and continued the hope of the Church, as expressed in the burning language and ardent aspirations of psalmists and prophets. Brighter and brighter this light grew, even unto the perfect day; and when all else seemed to fail, these were still "the sure mercies of David" (Isa. 55: 3), steadfast and stable, at last fully realized in the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. A. E. This is a germinal or seed prophecy—a standard prediction which leads the thought of numerous subsequent prophecies, and which furnishes largely the current phraseology—the symbols and terms in which later prophecies of the Messiah were clothed. The Messiah was subsequently presented very generally as a King—a king after the type of David, with a kingdom analogous to his; as a successor to David, on his throne; and as bearing in prophecy the name, David. The latter point is the more conclusive because he was never known by this name during his incarnation. It appears in prophecy only, and, therefore, has the more unquestionable allusion to this great germinal prophecy. The Messianic Psalms, especially those written by David himself, must be high authority on this point, since they reveal his own conceptions of the promised Messiah. Remarkably these Psalms do everywhere represent the Messiah as King. The Messiah, as seen by Isaiah, is in several visions a King on the throne of David (9: 6, 7, etc.) In Isa. 55: 3 the phrase "the sure mercies of David," looks toward this very passage (2 S. 7) as embodying and embosoming in itself the fullness of Messianic promise—the great idea of Divine mercy to a lost world. It can scarcely be necessary to follow this argument through the Messianic prophecies of the other prophets. But we ought not to overlook the sublime strains of those latest prophets who, standing in the presence of the infant Jesus, foresaw his future triumphs and gave their interpretation of these earliest promises made to David. The angel Gabriel brought down these words prophetic of Jesus: "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1: 32). So Zacharias, filled with the Holy Ghost: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for having raised up an horn of Salvation (a powerful Saviour) for us in the house of his servant David, under whom we shall be saved from our enemies,"—he being a real king over his people. Further, note the testimony of Peter, given under the special inspiration of the great day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 30): "David, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath unto him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne," etc. There seems to be no room to doubt that Peter refers to this passage in 2 S. 7, for there is no other promise of God to David on record to which he can refer. Peter inferred (very justly) that the promise of an eternal throne to one who was a descendant of David must assume and imply his resurrection, and an immortal life beyond. Let us close with the testimony of Paul, from whose sermon at Antioch (Acts 13: 22, 23) we may read—"I have found David the Son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart; of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus"—the promise referred to being none other than this in 2 S. 7. H. C. Now we can understand why David was overcome with ecstasy of emotion; why he thought that all which Jehovah had done for him in raising him to a throne was a small thing compared with this new covenant promise. He felt himself now exalted to the position of the Adam, in that, like Adam and Noah and Abraham, he had been selected to stand as the great representative and typical man, and the starting-point of a new covenant, in the grand series through which the scheme of redemption was to be developed to men. And this new covenant with David becomes a new and additional development of the relations and office of the promised Deliverer to the faith of the church. Before, he has been revealed, in every age, as her Prophet, to reveal the will of God. Thus was he revealed in all the Theophanies of the Patriarchal era, in the Sinai revelations, and in the oracles of the Theocratic era. Before, he has been revealed, in every age, as her Priest. So he was revealed in all the varieties of the ritual of atonement by sacrifice. Now he is revealed also as her King, to rule his chosen people and conquer all enemies. And henceforth, while faith contemplates him none the less as Prophet and Priest, it contemplates him chiefly as coming in his Kingly office to gather out of all nations and all ages a great spiritual kingdom as the result of his prophetic and priestly work. From this time forward the chief purpose of the prophetic teachings and revelations is to develop the nature, the functions and the destiny of this peculiar typical kingdom, organized by the covenant with David, under the administration of the great Founder and King typified in David's royal line. The key-note to which the harp of prophecy is attuned henceforth is "Thy throne, Oh God, is forever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." The fundamental form of the Church's theology is moulded in this promise of a coming King to administer a universal kingdom. The Church gospel becomes a proclamation, as in Isaiah, "I will make an everlasting covenant with you according to the sure mercies of David." As this conception of a spiritual kingdom to come is that with which the series of Old Testament revelations closes, so it is that with which the New Testament opens. Jesus has come to sit upon the throne of his father David, is the grand annunciation at the incarnation of the Son of God, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" is the first New Testament preaching. This kingdom according to the covenant with David, as the kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God, was the grand subject of the preaching of Jesus during his personal ministry. The great truth first proclaimed by the Apostles after his ascension and the outpouring of the spirit was, "Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour." The last vision of him by mortal eye is as the "Lamb in the midst of the throne." The last gospel that closes up revelation, comes from Jesus as "the root and the offspring of David." Thus, in the entire Scriptures Jesus Christ is exhibited as the Prophet who reveals all and the Priest who redeems all, in order that He may be the King that rules all. S. R. 18-21. David gratefully acknowledges God's unmerited favors. Profoundly moved by the message of Nathan, he goes to the tabernacle, and there continues for a time before the Lord. Accepting without a word the disappointment of his desire to build a House for the Lord, rejoicing, as we learn, that it would be erected by his son, and content with the humble part of garnering material for the sacred structure, David now simply responds almost in terms to the words of Jehovah. "Thou didst take me," he says, "from the sheep-cote, thou didst choose me from a lowly household. And it was a small thing for thee to do, to elevate me to the highest honor. Now thou hast added to all this the promise to perpetuate my name and house! How can I express my obligations?" Then gratefully he traces "all these great things" to previous promises, and to God's own love and grace alone. "Not from any desert of mine, but of thine own heart hast thou been moved in doing all." Next he passes from this gracious dealing with himself to the higher election of the Jewish nation. 22-24. David recognizes God's sovereign love in his choice and confirmation alike of the earthly and the spiritual Israel. "Nations, like individuals, are subjects of thy sovereign dealing. And Israel thou hast 'redeemed to thee' from among the nations. In all the way thou hast led this people, in all the great and terrible things thou hast done for their protection and deliverance, thou hast shown thy sovereign power and thine electing love." Then, recurring to the enlarged promises in behalf of His people, just uttered at the mouth of Nathan, David recognizes in the words God's own eternal confirmation of His long-covenanted blessings, His pledge that the spiritual Israel shall be His people, and that He will be their God forever. To these words in this sublime interpretation, Isaiah refers in that wonderful Gospel invitation, his fifty-fifth chapter, where he declares in God's name "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." So Zacharias in his song, Peter and Paul in their discourses make similar reference to these words of David in this their larger application to God's spiritual Israel. Nay, more than this, as already intimated, David himself afterward, in his Messianic Psalms, the Evangelical Prophet, and the Apostles, centre all the blessings of this everlasting covenant in the person and work of Christ the Son of David, the only King eternal. Here then, let it be noted again, in this higher significance of God's covenant with David, we find the central truth which links all truths of the entire Revelation of God. And here we learn that David's kingship and David's kingdom are distinguished from others only as they represent the Almighty Kingship and the everlasting Kingdom of the Lord Jehovah, Jesus. B. 26. David prays for the glorifying of God's name; Let thy name be magnified forever; this ought to be the summary and centre of all our prayers, the Alpha and the Omega of them; begin with Hallowed be thy name, and end with Thine is the glory forever. 29. Let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, and again, with thy blessing; let the house of thy servant be truly and eternally blessed. Those whom thou blessest are blessed indeed. The care of good men is very much concerning their families; and the best entail on their families is that of the blessing of God. The repetition of this request is not a vain repetition, but expressive of the value he had of the Divine blessing, and his earnest desire of it, as all in all to the happiness of his family. H. 25-29. In these verses we have a characteristic supplication of an Old Testament believer. David's one request is that God will do as He has said, that He will establish and bless His servant's house forever. This request is presented in many forms and with various urgent pleas. Yet one plea is strongest, and blends with all others. It is God's promise, His voluntary promise. He says, "Thou hast promised this goodness, and thy words be true!" "Thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it, and thou art that God" who "for thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast done all these great things!" His simple faith affirms, "Thou canst not deny thyself, thy promised mercies are sure!" Yet while he thus believes, he well understands that true faith and desire must and will find expression in earnest prayer—that God wills that true faith and desire shall turn promises into prayers, and so insure that prayers be turned into fulfilments. Hence his many, varied, importunate requests. We take this as the first of several pointed suggestions that may be gathered out of this entire prayer of David. The soul that truly prays first considers God's promises; realizes that the good promised is that which it needs and desires; believes, from what God is and has done, that He will keep the promise and give the desired good; and, under the quickening of desire and faith, earnestly asks and pleads for it. Whatever increase of spiritual breadth and light the New Testament brings, it adds nothing to the teachings of the Old respecting the elements and practice of prayer. The prayers of Paul are grander in their reach, sublimer in their spiritual depth, but the prayers of Abraham, Moses, and David deeply touch and teach our hearts with their simplicity of faith and fervor of expression. Most effectively do these Old Testament saints "teach us how to pray." Another suggestion from David's prayer. He believed and therefore prayed the Scripture doctrine of God's sovereignty. Belief in the doctrine did not hinder, but prompted his prayer. He admitted the fact of this sovereignty exactly as God asserted it. Then he applied it to himself, to his people, and to all peoples forevermore. Nay more, he found motive and comfort in it, motive to pray, and comfort in praying. And this kind of prayer, this reference to God's sovereign greatness and grace, and these repeated, intense pleas based on His sovereignty, were accepted of God. So to-day, with us. The same faith in God's gracious control over life's daily events, admitted and cherished, will prompt and help, not hinder prayer; will strengthen motive and increase comfort in praying. And now, as ever, God delights in and will respond to every plea resting upon His sovereign gracious willing and doing. Specially instructive, also, in this same connection, are two expressions of this prayer when set together. Because "according to thine own heart thou hast done," "thy servant hath found in his heart to pray." Here God's heart and man's are referred to as the ultimate spring of action. And here the acting of God's heart is counted as the moving influence in the acting of man's heart. David believed that the heart of God actuated His doing, that love impelled and executed His plans, therefore his own heart was moved to love, to gratitude and devotion. Here is the Divine love waking the human. Here is the Divine Plan exhibited as actuated and formed under the instigation of Divine Love. Here, in a word, is the Old Testament way of rendering that incomparable utterance of Christ, "God so loved the world," etc. And as God's heart moves His will and hand in all his deeds toward men, so it is in man's heart He seeks response, in man's love He supremely delights. A final point is, that the heart quickened to pray as David's was, may well imitate the simplicity and directness of his pleading. Such pleading is not common—is scarce counted reverent by some. But if the heart be in it, if an object desired be promised, if there be faith with desire, then, however simple, plain, or defective the form of expression, God will see in it no disrespect, but the attempt to do honor to Him. No matter how large the blessing sought, if it come within the reach of promise, and if faith turn the promise into prayer, then God will turn the prayer into praise by its fulfilment. B. 1. The whole of the Jewish dispensation was designed by God to be a preparation for the coming of Christ. Many of its institutions, ordinances, events, and characters were typical—that is to say, they were intended to be as it were outlines drawn beforehand to prefigure and foreshadow Christ, and to prepare men's minds to expect His coming. 2. The Kingdom of God in Israel was typical of the Kingdom of God afterward to be established in the world; and the King of Israel was typical of Christ, the King of that universal kingdom. The characteristics of his office, as interpreted by a succession of prophets, led men to look for One who should perfectly realize the ideal, which had been imperfectly realized by the best of their human kings. 3. The Theocratic King was typical of Christ in the following respects: (1) His distinctive title was "the Lord's Anointed:" and under this very title men were led to look for the coming Deliverer as the Messiah or the Christ. (2) He was the visible representative of Jehovah, who was Himself the true King of Israel; the instrument of the Divine government, through whom He dispensed deliverance, help, and blessing. He would therefore be a conquering king, before whom no enemies could stand, if he was true to his calling. So Christ came as the representative of God, with supreme authority in earth, delegated to Him by His Father, and destined finally to conquer all His enemies. (3) His will was therefore to be in perfect harmony with the will of God; and his kingdom would be, in proportion as it realized its purpose, a kingdom of righteousness and peace; foreshadowing imperfectly what was never perfectly accomplished except by Christ. (4) In virtue of this intimate relation to God he received the lofty title of God's Son (2 S. 7 : 14), a title given to no other individual, signifying God's parental care over him, and the filial obedience due from him to God. This title is a most striking anticipation of the mysterious relationship of Christ to God. 4. In these respects any king of Israel, who at all fulfilled his office, was to some extent a type of Christ; and David, because he was the truest example of a king after God's own heart, was the most prominent and striking type of Christ among them. And David, more than any other single individual, was a type, an anticipatory likeness, of Christ the Perfect Man. In the fervency of his aspirations, in the closeness of his communion with God, in the firmness of his trust, in the strength of his love, he was unrivalled by any human character of the Old Testament. No man ever "touched humanity at so many points;" and the many-sidedness of his character, and the variety of his experience, which qualified him for practical sympathy with all ranks and all conditions of life among his subjects, made him again a type of Him whom "it behoved in all things to be made like unto his brethren." He was an eminent example of the spiritual capability of the human soul as a recipient of Divine illumination, preparing the way for the highest Example of all. (7) In these respects, both as king and as man, David was an undoubted type of Christ. Many other striking correspondences between him and the antitype whom he prefigured may be noted; for example, his occupation as shepherd, first of his flock, and then of Israel: his persecution by enemies, and elevation to reign through many sufferings and trials: the misunderstandings and scorn he met with from his own relations: his betrayal by one who had been admitted to his closest confidence, and so forth: but though these analogies are most interesting and instructive, it may be questioned whether they can, strictly speaking, be called typical. A. F. K. DAVID'S VICTORIES OVER PHILISTIA, MOAB, TWO SYRIAN KINGDOMS, AND EDOM. GATHERED TREASURE DEDICATED TO GOD'S HOUSE. HIS WISE, JUST REIGN. CIVIL OFFICERS. 2. S. 8 : 1** And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them : and David took the bridle of the mother city Gath, and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smote Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground ; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, and brought presents. David smote also Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River Euphrates. And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen : and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots. And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succor Hadadezer king of Zobah, David smote of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus : and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought presents. And the LORD gave victory to David whithersoever he went. And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceeding much brass. And when Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer, then Toi sent Joram his son unto king David, to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and smitten him : for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And Joram brought with him all manner of vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass : these also did king David dedicate unto the LORD, with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued ; of Syria, of Edom, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt, even eighteen thousand men. And he put garrisons in Edom ; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the LORD gave victory to David whithersoever he went. And David reigned over all Israel ; and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people. And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host ; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder : and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests ; and Seraiah was scribe ; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites ; and David's sons were chief about the king. By a fitting arrangement, the record of God's promise to establish the kingdom of David is followed by an account of all his wars, though here also the order is not strictly chronological. In fact, we have merely a summary of results, which is all that was necessary in a history of the kingdom of God—the only exception being in the case of the war with Ammon and their allies the Syrians, which is described in detail in 2 S. 10 and 11 because it is connected with David's great sin. A. E. 2. S. 8 : 1-15. His own throne, and the service of God's sanctuary, being thus established, David advanced to the final subjugation of the enemies of Israel. 1.** The Philistines were now, in their turn, invaded and subdued by David, who took the proud frontier city of Gath, "The bridle of the mother-city," with its "daughter towns." Except one or two minor combats, we hear of no further trouble from the Philistines during David's reign. This conquest secured to Israel its promised boundary on the southwest, the "river of Egypt." 2. Turning to the eastern frontier, David exacted from Moab a signal vengeance for all her enmity against Israel down from the time of Balak. Two thirds of the people were put to death, and the other third reduced to tribute. David's personal relations to this nation, whose blood he shared, had been so friendly that we have seen him committing his father and mother to the care of the King of Moab, but we may be quite sure that David's vengeance was provoked by some treacherous insult, as in the later case of Ammon. Thus was Balaam's prophecy fulfilled:—"Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of Ar" (the metropolis of Moab). 3-6. The eastern frontier being now secured, for Nahash the Ammonite was his friend, David advanced to the conquest of the promised boundary on the northeast, "the great river Euphrates." Two Syrian kingdoms lay between him and his purpose. That of Zobah, which has been mentioned more than once before, was then governed by Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, whom David defeated, taking from him his force of 1000 chariots, 700 horse, and 20,000 infantry. The chariot-horses were hamstrung, according to the command of Moses, but David could not resist the temptation of reserving 100 chariots as an ornament for his royal state. The Syrians of Damascus, coming to the help of Hadadezer, were defeated with the loss of 22,000 men: and that fairest and oldest of the cities of the world was made tributary to David, and garrisoned by his troops. "Thus did Jehovah preserve David whithersoever he went." 9-12. These victories led to an alliance with Toi, king of Hamath (the Cœle-Syria of the Greeks), who sent his son Joram to congratulate David on the defeat of Hadadezer, his own enemy. This, together with the old friendship of Hiram king of Tyre, secured the northern frontier; and David returned to Jerusalem, laden with the golden shields of Hadadezer's body guard, the brass taken from his cities (verse 8) and the vessels of gold and silver and brass which Joram had brought as presents. All these, together with the spoils of Moab and the Philistines, the plunder formerly taken from Amalek, and that gained afterward from Edom and the sons of Ammon, he dedicated for the service of the future Temple. 13, 14. The long conflict of Edom with his brother Israel was now brought to its first decision by a great victory gained by Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, in "the valley of Salt" (on the south of the Dead Sea), in which the Edomites lost 18,000 men. David was probably in Syria at the time of this battle, which was followed up by a great army under Joab, who in six months almost exterminated the male population. David then visited the conquered land, and placed garrisons in all the cities. The young king, Hadad, however, escaped to Egypt, and became afterward a formidable enemy to Solomon. These victories, which David celebrates in the 60th and 110th Psalms, carried the southern frontier of Israel to the eastern head of the Red Sea; and from that point to the frontier of Egypt, the Arab tribes had felt enough of his power as an exile not to molest him in the hour of his triumph. The bounds of the promised land were now fully occupied, though not even now so completely as if Israel had been faithful from the first. For, besides the scattered remnants of the old inhabitants, several of whom (as Itai the Gittite, Uriah the Hittite, and others) were conspicuous among the king's great men; besides that the Philistines and others, who had been devoted to extermination, were only reduced to tribute; there was one fair province unsubdued, the whole coast of Phoenicia, the great cities of which still flourished under their native kings, the chief of whom was David's first ally. These extended limits were only preserved during the reigns of David and of Solomon, a period of about sixty years. For that time, however, the state formed no longer a petty monarchy barely holding its own among the surrounding nations, as under Saul; but it was truly one of the great Oriental monarchies; too truly, indeed, for the magnificence of Solomon sapped its strength, and prepared its speedy dissolution. Meanwhile David's position is thus described by the Prophet Nathan:—"Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: and I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth." 15. Thus "David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people." P. S. 2. In the first wars the conquerors gave no quarter at all, but destroyed all their enemies without distinction of age or sex. Prisoners were also destroyed in the same manner. This was the ancient war law. We are fully persuaded that it is for the very purpose of marking his humane consideration for the Moabites, contrary to all the rules of warfare in that age, the fact is mentioned, which has been fastened upon by thoughtless persons as a proof of his harshness. There can be no doubt, we think, that every man among the Moabitish prisoners fully expected to be put to death; and that the exemption of a large third was received as an act of unparalleled grace on the part of David. Kit. 6. This war is mentioned not only by Eupolemus, who appears to have been well acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures, but also by Nicolas of Damascus, the friend of Augustus Cæsar, who clearly draws his history from the records of his native place. "After this," says Nicolas, "there was a certain Hadad, a native Syrian, who had great power: he ruled over Damascus, and all Syria, except Phoenicia. He likewise undertook a war with David, the king of Judea, and contended against him in a number of battles; in the last of them all—which was by the river Euphrates, and in which he suffered defeat—showing himself a prince of the greatest courage and prowess." This is a testimony of the same nature with those already adduced from Berosus and Manetho; it is a separate and independent notice of an event in Jewish history, which has come down to us from the other party in the transaction, with particulars not contained in the Jewish account, yet compatible with all that is so contained, and strictly corroborative of the main circumstances of the Hebrew narrative. G. R. 7-12. The troops of Hadadezer seem to have brought something like Assyrian magnificence from beyond the Euphrates. There were not only the chariots and horses, but some of the troops had golden shields, which of course came into the hands of David. He found also valuable spoils of brass in some of the captured cities. All this, as well as the metallic spoils of his other wars, David appropriated, not to his own enrichment, but to the object he had most at heart,—the future temple of the Lord. He was forbidden to build it himself, but there was nothing to prevent him from gathering materials for it; and this he did to such an extent—not only by the treasure he accumulated, but by leaving a plan of the building, and by organizing the sacred ministrations—that a careful consideration of the matter may leave it doubtful, whether much more of the credit of the undertaking is not due to him than to Solomon. Kit.—David aimed at the glory of God. All the precious things he was master of were dedicated things; they were designed for the building of the temple; and a good omen it was of kindness to the Gentiles in the fulness of time, and of the making of God's house a house of prayer for all people, that the temple was built of the spoils and presents of Gentile nations. In allusion to which, we find the kings of the earth bringing their glory and honor into the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21: 24). H. 13,14. The superscription of Psalm 60 indicates that the main army of David was still occupied in the Syrian war, when Abishai was detached to oppose the Edomites. At such a time nothing but the most urgent necessity of resisting their aggressions could have constrained the king to weaken an army engaged in the most important campaign of all his wars. The Edomites, therefore, by their aggression brought down upon their heads the ancient doom of eventual subjection to the house of Jacob. On the approach of Abishai into the valley of Salt, at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, a most bloody battle was fought between the two armies, and the desperateness with which the Edomites contested the victory may be judged from the fact that they left eighteen thousand of their number slain upon the battle-field. From 1 K. 11: 14-17, it appears that as soon as Joab was released from the Syrian campaign, he marched to this new scene of action, in order to settle the conquered country. He remained there six months, with the bulk of the Hebrew army. Joab's mode of settling the country was after the Oriental fashion—of making a desolation, and calling it peace. Exasperated at the attempt of the Edomites, which might have endangered the large operations in the north, he caused the male Edomites to be hunted out and put to death, wherever they were found; and established Hebrew garrisons in the strongholds and principal towns of Edom. Thus Edom became subject to David. Kit. Since the days of Moses, Edom had never come into a collision with Israel. But in an evil hour, Edom had joined the great Ammonite confederacy. Brief as are the Scripture references, it is evident that this confederacy was one of supreme peril for the Israelite monarchy, and had been planned with consummate political skill by Hanun and Hadadezer. Humanly speaking, the battles of Helam and Betah were, as those of Bethhoron and Kadesh had been, four hundred and fifty years before, the decisive battles of the crisis of Israel's history. David, like all successful leaders, was prompt to strike, and never too late. While Joab and the bulk of his army was detained after his victories before the fortress of Ammon, he detached Abishai to inflict speedy vengeance on Edom. At the south end of the Dead Sea he won a signal victory, which left the pass of Akrabbim open. He ascended it, took the strong city (Ps. 60: 9)—that is, Petra, and penetrated every ravine and defile of the rugged mountains. Joab, when the eastern campaign was over, followed up his brother's success, gave no quarter to the male population, and completely subdued and garrisoned the whole country. Thus the frontiers of Egypt and Israel became conterminous. H. B. T. 15. God gives men power, not that they may look great with it, but that they may do good with it. When David reigned over all Israel, he executed judgment and justice among all his people, and so answered the end of his elevation. He was not so intent on his conquests abroad as to neglect the administration of justice at home. Herein he served the purposes of the kingdom of providence, and of that God who sits in the throne judging right; and was an eminent type of the Messiah, the sceptre of whose kingdom is a right sceptre. H.—This idea of equal justice to all, and especially to those who had no helper, was a very beautiful one in David's eyes. It gathered round it those bright and happy features which in the seventy-second Psalm are associated with the administration of another King. The thought is one on which the Psalmist dwells with great delight. "He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight." So far from need and poverty repelling him, they attract him. His interest and his sympathy are moved by the cry of the destitute. And in this we find the features of that higher government of David's Son which shows so richly His most gracious nature. The cry of sorrow and need, as it rose from this dark world, did not repel, but rather attracted, Him. Though the woes of man sprang from his own misdeeds, He gave Himself to bear them and carry their guilt away. All were in the lowest depths of spiritual poverty, but for that reason His hand was the more freely offered for their help. W. G. B. 16-18. A summary notice of the internal administration of the kingdom, with a list of David's chief officers of state, is appended to the account of his wars. Another list of these officers is given in ch. 20 : 23-26. A similar list of Solomon's officers is to be found in 1 K. 4 : 1-6. The principal civil officers of the king's court were the Counsellor, the Recorder or Remembrancer, the Scribe or Secretary of State, the King's Companion or Friend, and, in the later years of his reign, the Superintendent of the Levy. These, together with the king's sons, who had the title of "Ministers," the two High-priests, the Commander-in-chief of the army, and the Captain of the body-guard, formed the king's privy council. A. F. K. The systematic administration of his kingdom by King David was the fruit of a remarkable faculty of orderly arrangement that belonged to most of the great men of Israel. We see it in Abraham, in his prompt and successful marshalling of his servants to pursue and attack the kings of the East when they carried off Lot; we see it in Joseph, first collecting and then distributing the stores of food in Egypt; in Moses, conducting that marvellous host in order and safety through the wilderness; and, in later times, in Ezra and Nehemiah, reducing the chaos which they found at Jerusalem to a state of order and prosperity which seemed to verify the vision of the dry bones. We see it in the Son of David, in the orderly way in which all His arrangements were made: the sending forth of the twelve Apostles and the seventy disciples, the arranging of the multitude when He fed the five thousand, and the careful gathering up of the fragments "that nothing be lost." In the spiritual kingdom, a corresponding order is demanded, and times of peace and rest in the Church are times when this development is specially to be studied. W. G. B. David's conquests must have been considerable. The methods by which he subjected the immense territory between the frontiers of Egypt and the Euphrates must have given proof of uncommon military skill and prowess. Yet the sacred historian merely refers to them. His sufferings under Saul's persecutions, on the contrary, of which an ordinary historian would have made cursory mention, are in the Bible fully and graphically reported, because they formed the school in which the heart of that "man of God" was trained so as to make him truly a "man after God's heart." It is only from some incidental scraps of the sacred record that we know of David's extraordinary talents as a politician, a general, and a poet; but often-times it is from the most elaborate pictures that we obtain knowledge of his confidence in God in times of trouble, and of his deep contrition in times of sin and guilt. De Liefde. Thus began the powerful reign of David, during which, by a series of successful wars, he rendered the kingdom of Israel not only independent of foreign domination, but even extended its northern and eastern boundary to the Euphrates, and raised himself to a position of power which inspired other nations with fear. Thus the kingship of David becomes the type of the kingdom of God which overcomes the world. David was himself filled with the idea of a theocratic ruler: his life and acts were founded on the one thought of being found as the servant of Jehovah, the God who had chosen him and taken him from the sheepfolds to feed His chosen people (Ps. 78 : 70-72). This is evident in several of his psalms,—in that mirror of kings (Ps. 101), in which he portrays a sovereign as a righteous judge, and in the song of thanksgiving (Ps. 18). O. 1. Chron. Chs. 23 and 24: Courses and Office of Priests and Levites. Ch. 25: Courses and Service of Singers and Players in the Praise-Ministry of the House of God. Ch. 26: Courses of the Doorkeepers and the Treasure-Keepers of the House of God. Ch. 27: Monthly Courses of Chief Captains of the King's Host. Rulers over the Several Tribes. Receivers and Trustees of the Royal Revenue, as Annually Contributed from the Industries and Produce of the whole People. Established upon the throne in the full maturity of his powers, his wisdom and capacity of organization are illustrated in the great work of his life, for which God had anointed and prepared him—the consolidation of the long disunited tribes into an imperial nation. With a statesman's constructive genius he centralized the national power, and buttressed it with well-organized institutions of religion, education, justice, civil order, and even of industry. Many years passed ere the completion of this work, years of unbroken prosperity because years of trust and devotion, of pure aspiration and faithful toil. B. The ordinances of David are mentioned as of a parallel validity with those of Moses in 2 Chron. 23:18. The worship of Israel was perfected by David, by the addition that he made to the ceremonial law, which we have an account of in the 23d, 24th, 25th, and 26th chapters of the First Book of Chronicles, consisting in the several orders and courses into which David divided the Levites, and the work and business to which he appointed them, different from what Moses had appointed them to; and also in the divisions of the priests the sons of Aaron into four-and-twenty courses, assigning to every course their business in the house of the Lord, and their particular stated times of attendance there; appointing some of the Levites to a new office, that of singers, and others to the several services of porters, treasurers, officers, and judges: and these ordinances of David were kept up henceforth in the church of Israel, as long as the Jewish Church lasted. Thus we find the several orders of priests, and the Levites, the porters, and singers, after the captivity. So we find the courses of the priests appointed by David still continuing in the New Testament; so Zacharias the father of John the Baptist was a priest of the course of Abia; which is the same with the course of Abijah appointed by David, that we here read of (24:10). Edwards. It moves our veneration,—the majestic continuity of this holy office, the order of its courses reaching from the reign of King David, unbroken save by the short interruptions of captivity, and scarcely even then, for four of the courses returned to Jerusalem to take their places when the exile was over;—the priesthood itself, dating back to the wilderness, reaching over a tract of centuries that saw the rising and falling of many empires,—its ranks very commonly embracing thousands of men. The sublimity of it is only heightened when we recall the nature of that ministry committed to them by God himself. Constant as the morning and evening that daily open and shut their gates on the eyes of men, they waited around that altar which steadfastly prefigured and prophesied the Redeemer; they kept a sleepless watch over the fire on the altar of burnt-offerings, which typified Christ's eternal sacrifice, never letting it go out, day or night; they "fed the golden lamps outside the veil with sacred oil;" they offered the daily sacrifices, morning and evening, at the door of the tabernacle; they were always ready at hand to do the cleansing and comforting offices commanded in the law. F. D. H. The great improvement in the organization effected by David related to the Levites. He made their former duties more definite; divided them into classes, assigning to each its service; and he very considerably enlarged the field of their labors. They were still employed as before to wait on the priests and perform multitudinous services in purifying, cleansing, etc.; also in preparing the shew-bread and the materials for meat-offerings, etc., as we see in 23:28-32. They were also employed as porters, having charge of the gates; as scribes and recorders; and, not least, as treasurers—an important function after the large accession of consecrated wealth which came in from the spoils of war (26 : 20-28). The directions in which their service was greatly enlarged were chiefly these three : the service of instruction ; the service of civil officers and judges ; and the service of song. Very distinct reference to their service as teachers among the people appears in the history of the reformation under Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 17 : 9) ; also under Hezekiah (2 Chron. 30 : 22) ; and under Josiah (2 Chron. 35 : 3). Very probably this branch of their duties was a growth, advancing from the time of David onward. Much the same may be said of their functions as civil judges, this service, like that of public instruction, resulting from the fact that they were by profession devoted largely to the study of the Hebrew law. We read here (26 : 29) that David assigned "Chenaiah and his sons for the outward business over Israel, for officers and judges." Jehoshaphat made them prominent in the capacity of judges (2 Chron. 19 : 8-11). But by far the most important change made by David in the service of the Levites lay in the direction of sacred song. This was chiefly if not entirely a new service—a new appendage to the religious worship at the tabernacle. The provisions made for it were at once systematic and ample. As "the sweet Psalmist of Israel," who said of himself, "The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and His word was in my tongue," it was David's peculiar honor, not only for the Jewish Church, but for the Church Universal to the end of time, to direct that part of God's worship which is the best utterance of the heart, the tuneful notes of praise, inseparably blended with prayer and with the utterance of Divine truth. A great truth is expressed by the common title which names the whole book "The Psalms of David ;" for he founded psalmody as an institution, taught it to Asaph and his other immediate successors, and gave the model which all later psalmists followed. While he thus furnished the matter of psalmody, he regulated its manner, by arranging for the first time a full choral service. To this office David, in conjunction with the chiefs of the Levites, set apart three families, one from each of the three houses of the tribe, the Gershonites, Kohathites, and Merarites. They were prophets as well as singers, "to prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals ;" and they handed down their art from generation to generation by a systematic course of instruction, "the teacher as well as the scholar." These families were those of Asaph, the son of Berechiah the Gershonite, the chief singer, and also distinguished as a seer ; of Heman the Kohathite, son of Joel, and grandson of the Prophet Samuel, and himself "the king's seer in the words of God ;" and of Jeduthun (or Ethan), a Merarite, who is also called "the king's seer." The names of each of these leaders are found in the titles of particular Psalms ; and the tripartite division was observed till the Captivity, and probably restored after the return. At first they were divided between the ark at Jerusalem and the tabernacle at Gibeon, the family of Asaph being assigned to the former, and those of Heman and Jeduthun to the latter. The three families numbered 288 principal singers, divided by lot into twenty-four courses of twelve in each ; but the total of the Levites engaged in praising Jehovah "with the instruments which David made" was 4000. P. S. On this whole subject the passage (25 : 1-7) is classic, showing that those men were not mere performers—professional yet heartless singers and players on instruments ; but they poured their souls forth in sacred song ; "prophesied" the phrase is—"prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord." Due training in music was not neglected, for we read that they were instructed in the songs of the Lord, even all that were skilful—in number, 288. It is noticeable that this service of song was not merely occasional (as seems to have been the case before David) but was constant, for after locating the ark in its sacred tent, they "left there before the ark, Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually as every day's work required" (1 Chron. 16 : 37). Another allusion (1 Chron. 23 : 30) speaks of the office of these Levite singers "to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even." In the standard passages in 1 Chronicles which describe David's reorganization of the tabernacle worship and the introduction of music, we are not informed definitely at what stage in the course of sacrificial worship music and song were introduced—whether they preceded the offering of sacrifice, followed, or accompanied simultaneously. But in the historical account of the great passover under Hezekiah, the desired information appears in full. Having put the Levite choir in position with the orchestra also (instruments) "Hezekiah commanded to proceed with the burnt-offering ; and, when the burnt-offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded ; and all this continued until the burnt-offering was finished. And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped" (2 Chron. 29 : 25-30). Thus sacred song strictly accompanied the service of the burnt-offering till it was ended; after which, all, king and people, reverently oowed themselves and worshipped. Whether the music of that age would be pronounced "classic" in our own, we have absolutely no means of deciding. Yet of this we may be certain, it was music, the harmony of sweet sounds. It had the power to lift up human souls to a true devotional enthusiasm. It bore on high the outgoings of devout thanksgiving, praise, and adoration; it stirred pious souls to their depths of love and grateful trust; and, best of all, was well pleasing to God. Of the poetry of those songs, we fortunately have ample means of judging. If the music was worthy of the poetry—equal to it in beauty and in power, we can afford to wish it had come down to our age in all its glory. That it made the tabernacle worship attractive, inspiring, impressive—a most effective means of reviving true piety in Israel, there can be no manner of doubt. Such hallowed songs, embodying and impressing such lofty sentiments, bringing God so near to men and lifting men so near to God; and all this backed up by the earnest example and the noble enthusiasm of a king whom to know was to esteem and to honor—these influences and impulses must have wrought a great reviving in the piety of the Hebrew people. H. C. It would be taking a very narrow view of the duties of the Levites if we regarded them as limited to their services at the sanctuary. They were to read the volume of the Law publicly every seventh year at the Feast of Tabernacles. This public and solemn periodical instruction, though eminently useful, was not the entire of their duty; they were bound from the spirit of this ordinance to take care that at all times the aged should be improved, and the children be instructed in the knowledge and fear of God, the adoration of His majesty, and the observance of His Law. They acquired such influence and reverence among the people as were necessary to secure attention to their instructions; and they were led to study the rules of moral conduct, the principles of equity, and, above all, the Mosaic code, with unceasing attention; but they were not laid under any vows of celibacy, or monastic austerity and retirement, and thus abstracted from the intercourse and feelings of social life. Thus circumstanced, they were assuredly well calculated to answer the purpose of their institution, to preserve and consolidate the union of all the other tribes, and to instruct and forward the poor in knowledge, virtue, and piety. Dean Graves. 27 : 1-15. The general military arrangements of the kingdom were made on the same principle as the distribution of the priests and Levites. The men who bore arms were divided into twelve courses of twenty-four thousand each; these were regularly officered; and for one month of each year the officers, and probably the men of one of the twelve courses, attended in succession. W. G. B.—David's plan for maintaining the discipline of his army was the calling out of a part of the Hebrew militia for a month's duty every year. Twenty-four thousand soldiers were gathered into a camp of exercise at Jerusalem, as we would term it, for a month's training at a time. The chiefs of these twelve brigades were almost all men who had been trained along with David in the hardships of desert warfare. Sime. 27 : 16-22. Whatever changes David introduced in the central government, he did not supersede the local government of the tribes. Each tribe had still its prince or ruler, and continued, under a general superintendence from the king, to conduct its local affairs. The supreme council of the nation continued to assemble on occasions of great national importance; and though its influence could not have been so great as it was before the institution of royalty, it remained an integral element in the constitution; and in the time of Rehoboam, through its influence and organization, the kingdom of the ten tribes was set up almost without a struggle. 27 : 25-31. In developing the material resources of the country, King David seems, with rigorous conscientiousness, to have applied the rule of Christ—"let nothing be lost." He had storehouses in the fields, in the cities, in the villages, and in the castles; there were vineyards and wine-cellars, and cellars of oil, superintended each by appointed officers; in different valleys, herds and flocks grazed under the care of royal herdsmen and shepherds; an officer, skilled in agriculture, presided over the tillage of the fields; the sycamore and olive trees were under the eye of skilful foresters; nothing was wasted; nothing done lazily; all was regularity, order, and care. W. G. B.—While the management of the crown estates and revenues was thus intrusted to a number of officers stationed in different parts of the kingdom, the maintenance of law and order was committed to a numerous body of magistrates and judges (verses 16-22): each tribe was placed under the government of a prince or ruler. Thus far the scanty notices preserved in Chronicles indicate the existence of a thorough system of internal administration, though they do not enable us to determine its details. David's reign was always looked back to as the golden age of the nation, the type of a still more glorious age to which the national hope looked forward as the crown and consummation of its destiny. Himself a warrior, he led the nation to victory; himself a prophet, and the pupil of one of the greatest of the prophets, he sympathized with the prophetic work, and yielded himself, without losing his royal dignity, to prophetic guidance; himself, though not by descent a priest, performing priestly functions, he was the patron of the hierarchy; and thus for a brief space, all the strongest and noblest powers of the nation were brought into harmony, and full scope given to their influences. A. F. K. The age of David seems to have been recognized almost at once by the Jews themselves as the grandest epoch that the nation has as yet known; as we can now see that it has never since been surpassed. Hence the record of it has been preserved with a fulness of detail found nowhere else in the historical books of the Bible. Everything is of interest that belongs to that glorious time; every one is of importance whose fortunes are entwined with the career of that glorious king. Hence we have a full account, not merely (as in the case of Saul) of the opening and close of his reign, but of the whole of it. Hence also we have a very vivid account of a great deal of David's life previous to his ascending the throne. And in the Psalms of David we have the outpourings of his spirit and the secret workings of his soul, the key not only to that age and that reign, but to the human heart throughout all ages. We have the rare privilege of comparing the picture unconsciously drawn by himself in his songs with that which the native historians give us of him. Thus we are able to penetrate to the springs of the actions which they record, and also to judge how the events in which he shared told on that noble and tender spirit. Plummer. The glorious days of King David, which afterward became the national ideal of a polity, were days of the most faithful adherence to the Mosaic forms of worship. No Jew could thoughtfully ponder upon those prosperous days, and not remember that the son of Jesse inaugurated his reign by burning the Philistine images at Baalperizim, sanctified his capture of the stronghold of Zion by making it the central sanctuary, brought the ark to its resting-place with songs and sacrifices, coveted beyond conquest the honor of transforming the Tent into the Temple of witness, completed the organization of the priestly service which Samuel had begun, and laid his genius under contribution to provide psalms, which perpetually testified to his joyful recognition of the spiritual advantages of the tabernacle service. Cave. 2. S. 10:** 1 And it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon 2 died, and Hanun—his son reigned in his stead. And David said, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father shewed kindness unto me. So David sent by the hand of his servants to comfort him concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. But the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? hath not David sent his servants unto thee to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? So Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return. And when the children of Ammon saw that they were become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men. And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men. And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entering in of the gate of the city; and the Syrians of Zobah, and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians: and the rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother, and he put them in array against the children of Ammon. And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee. Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seemeth him good. So Joab and the people that were with him drew nigh unto the battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him. And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, they likewise fled before Abishai, and entered into the city. Then Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they gathered themselves together. And Hadadezer sent, and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the host of Hadadezer at their head. And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel together, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam, and came upon them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him. 1. Chron. 19:** 18 And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians the men of seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host. And when all the kings that were the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with David, and served him: neither would the Syrians help the children of Ammon any more. David had now reached the summit of his prosperity and power. The historian has now to record how he fell from that height into a sin which brought shame and suffering upon himself and disaster upon his kingdom. This war with the Ammonites is described in detail, because of its close connection with that act, which marked the fatal turning-point in David's reign. The war with the Ammonites is incidentally alluded to in ch. 8: 12 among David's other wars; and the war with the Syrians to which it led is not improbably the same as that recorded in ch. 8: 3-6. It is there related that Hadadezer sustained a crushing defeat, and that a great part of his vassals transferred their allegiance to David. The circumstances narrated here (verse 16) explain the otherwise obscure mention of the Euphrates in ch. 8: 3: the seat of war, the persons engaged, the results, and the general details, are so similar as to make it improbable that the narratives refer to two distinct wars. It is easy to assign a reason for this repetition. There the account forms part of the collected summary of David's principal wars, as it was probably by far the most important and most distant of them: here it appears as a necessary pendant to the history of the Ammonite war, which is being related in full in order to lead up to and explain the circumstances of David's fall. A. F. K. #### Hanun's Insult to David's Ambassadors. 4. The rights of ambassadors—the peculiar privileges belonging to their office, as representing the power from whom they came and as being still under its protection in a foreign land, were already well understood. We may therefore conceive the indignation of David when he heard that his ambassadors—men of rank and station—had been treated with the most gross indignity by the king of Ammon, under the pretence that they had come to spy the nakedness of the land. He shaved off half their beards, and cut off the skirts of their robes, so as to leave half of their persons bare. Kit.—The shaving of the beard was one of the highest indignities that the malice of man could invent in those countries, where all people thought their hair the greatest ornament : insomuch that they never shaved their heads or their beards, except in case of mourning ; and even in that case it was forbidden to the Israelites (Lev. 19 : 27). Thus when the Ammonites had caused one half of their beards to be shaven, they abhorred to cut the other. It is still a great mark of infamy among the Arabs to cut off the beard. Patrick. 6. The Ammonites did not wait for a formal declaration of war by David. Nor did they flatter themselves, when they came to their senses, that against one who had gained such renown as a warrior they could stand alone. Their insult to King David turned out a costly affair. To get assistance they had to give gold. The parallel passage in Chronicles gives a thousand talents of silver as the cost of the first bargain with the Syrians. These Syrian mercenaries came from various districts—Beth-rehob, Zoba, Beth-maacah, and Tob. Some of these had already been subdued by David ; in other cases there was apparently no previous collision. W. G. B. The text of Chronicles differs from that of Samuel in several points. It mentions the price paid to the Syrians, a thousand talents of silver, and names Medeba as the rendezvous where their forces assembled. The names of the countries from which the mercenaries were drawn are given as Mesopotamia, Maacah, and Zobah. Beth-rehob may be included under Mesopotamia. Tob is not mentioned : perhaps it was a dependency of Zobah, and is included under it. The contingent sent by each is not specified. The total number of thirty-two thousand besides the men of Maacah, agrees with the numbers here ; but the reading chariots in the present text of 1 Chron. 19 : 7 can scarcely be right. Thirty-two thousand chariots would be a force of unexampled magnitude. The text of Samuel also seems to be defective, as the force doubtless had some cavalry and chariots and did not consist of infantry only. 8. At the entering in of the gate.** This is generally supposed to be the gate of the Ammonite capital Rabbah. But the account in Chronicles states explicitly that the Syrian mercenaries mustered at Medeba, which was nearly twenty miles southwest of Rabbah, and clearly implies that it was the city which the Ammonites occupied. Further, it is evident from verse 9, which describes Joab as in danger of being crushed between the two forces, that the Syrians were at no great distance from the city. And how came the Syrian force to march past Rabbah to Medeba, if the Ammonites meant to make their stand at Rabbah ? or how could Joab possibly have advanced to Rabbah, leaving this huge Syrian force in his rear ? A. F. K. 12. Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God : and the Lord do that which seemeth Him good.** There are here four useful and practical lessons. (1) A lesson of mutual helpfulness. "As occasion demands," says Joab, "thou shalt help me and I will help thee." He was neither so vain as to think he could not possibly need a brother's help, nor so mean as to dream of standing aloof in a brother's difficulty. God intends that we shall be indebted to each other, and if Joab has to come to the help of Abishai, Abishai has no more reason to be ashamed than Joab. (2) A lesson of manly heroism. "Be of good courage and let us play the man." A hero is a man in the fullest sense of the word. There are heroes of the workshop, of the counter, of the office, of the market-place, on whose fortitude might be put quite as severe a strain as though they stood upon the battle-field, amid the glitter of cold steel or the rattle of musketry. If you are to play the part of the man, you must carefully cultivate the higher part of your nature. Lay the foundation of those intellectual and moral habits which will not only open up to you a vast range of elevating enjoyment, but will make you more capable of receiving the highest truth of all—the truth that concerns the kingdom of God. (3) A lesson of Christian patriotism. Great dangers put an edge upon true courage. "God and our country," was the cry of these two young men. It was a call to action and to danger, impelled by love to Israel and Israel's God. "Christian patriotism" was the term I used. You have no right to separate these words. The weal of our land is inseparably bound up with its religious condition. A true patriot will burn with desire to have his country leavened with real piety. (4) A lesson of trust and submission. "And the Lord will do that which seemeth Him good." I do not venture to say that Joab was a saint, but on this occasion, certainly, his conduct and language were admirable, and worthy of imitation. J. T. Davidson. Of poor sauntering triflers, in human shape and men's apparel, we have enough ; of literary Sybarites, bred on stories, fugitive poetry, and monthly magazines; of minute scholars, glorying in the niceties of metre and accent, college honors, and other tongues; of dressed creatures that sweeten soirées and playhouses with their odors; of things that flutter and die in the light of fashion, as moths about a lamp; of religious professors that almost ask leave to serve Christ of the sons of Belial who surround them; more than enough have we of such young men whose everlasting discourse is of the last amusement or the last scandal. But of MEN, spirits in earnest, souls that have an aim, bent toward some object, and that a great one; bearing and doing, training themselves by toil, by temperance, by self-denial, by prayer, for the benefit of the greatest number, it must be confessed with lamentation that we have but few. And if, as we suppose, the times which are coming on the earth will demand such men, strong to do and strong to suffer, our only mode of providing them is to deal with the young, and to pour the plastic masses into the shaping mould. J. W. A. 13,14. The Syrians were routed by Joab, and the Ammonites fled before Abishai, and retreated to their walled city Rabbah. B.—15-18. But the Syrians were not disposed to yield without another conflict. Determined to do his utmost, Hadadezer, king of the Syrians of Zobah, sent across the Euphrates, and prevailed on their neighbors there to join them in the effort to crush the power of David. That a very large number of these Mesopotamian Syrians responded to the invitation of Hadadezer is apparent from the number of the slain (verse 18). The matter assumed so serious an aspect that David himself was now constrained to take the field, at the head of "all Israel." The Syrian troops were commanded by Shobach, who appears to have been a distinguished general. It must have been a death-struggle between the Syrian power and the power of David. But again the victory was with the Israelites, and among the slain were the men of seven thousand chariots and forty thousand horsemen, along with Shobach, captain of the Syrian host. It must have been a most decisive victory, for after it took place all the states that had been tributary to Hadadezer transferred their allegiance to David. W. G. B.—The power of Hadadezer was so entirely broken that he no more appears in history. The Syrian tributary princes, who had been obliged to join him, made their own terms with David, and left the Ammonites to their own resources. Kit.—Thus the promise made to Abraham (Gen. 15 : 18) and repeated to Joshua (ch. 1 : 4), that the borders of Israel should extend to the river Euphrates, was performed at length. H. Ammon offered but a feeble resistance to the Hebrews after the battle of Helam. All their cities except Rabbah were taken in the beginning of the following year. Rabbah itself was closely beleaguered. Its strong position, the existence of a water supply within its walls, and the inability of the Hebrews to conduct siege operations, gave the survivors of the nation a respite from destruction. But the war yields in importance to events which were then taking place at Jerusalem. Sime. The close of the great wars of conquest just referred to brings us to the fiftieth year of David's age and the twentieth of his reign. It brings us also to the saddest and the most deplorable event in his history. The period of David's greatest worldly prosperity seems not to have been by any means one of corresponding prosperity as regarded his spiritual condition. Probably worldly success had itself been a snare to him. Whatever the true cause, it is evident there was a general falling away of spirituality and conscientiousness in the service of God on the part of David about this period. Lee.—The period which had now elapsed of David's reign comprehends a space of about twenty years; during which he had waged several wars, all righteously begun, and successfully ended. He had fought no battle during that period which he did not win, and assaulted no city which he did not take. In a civil war of five years' continuance he never once lifted up his sword against a subject; and, at the end of it, he punished no rebel, he remembered no offence, he revenged no injury, but the murder of his rival. To crown all, with all his rare and true felicities, their only sure source and security, his religion and his innocence, still remained with him; and, had his innocence still remained with him, his happiness would have continued also. But a new and sad scene, very different from the past, is now to be opened. Delaney. 2. S. 11 : 1 And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. 2 And it came to pass at eventide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, I am with child. And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto him, David asked of him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Art thou not come from a journey? wherefore didst thou not go down unto thine house? And Uriah said unto David, the ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to-day also, and to-morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die. And it came to pass, when Joab kept watch upon the city, that he assigned Uriah unto the place where he knew that valiant men were. And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people, even of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also. Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; and he charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling all the things concerning the war unto the king, it shall be that, if the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore went ye so nigh unto the city to fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall, that he died at Thebez? why went ye so nigh the wall? then shalt thou say, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for. And the messenger said unto David, The men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate. And the shooters shot at thy servants from off the wall; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him. And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. And when the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. Beautiful and most promising was the state of the nation at this period of David's life. Unbounded prosperity had flowed into the country. Every enemy had been subdued. There was no division in the kingdom, and no one likely to cause any. The king was greatly honored by his people, and highly popular. The arrangements which he had made, both for the civil and spiritual administration of the kingdom, were working beautifully, and producing their natural fruits. All things seemed to be advancing the great purpose of God in connection with Israel. Let this state of things but last, and surely the consummation will be reached. The promise to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will be fulfilled, and the promised Seed will come very speedily to diffuse His blessing over all the families of the earth. But into this fair paradise the serpent contrived to creep, and the consequence was another fall. W. G. B. David's career thus far has been one of singular excellence and attractiveness—not without great weaknesses, and blemishes of character, and many sins. Under Divine direction, and with Divine help, he engaged and conquered all neighboring hostile nations, and made them tributaries of Israel. He established a perfect system in the administration of all affairs, religious, judicial, and industrial, and so wrought the dissevered tribes into a united organic nation, holding imperial power. During the first half of his reign all his acts and all God's Providences tended toward this ultimate culmination of his power, and of the greatness of his kingdom. And through all his constant exposures to selfish pride and vain glory David stood fast in his integrity, proved himself a man after God's own heart. But there came a time when, through the sudden blinding power of evil passions, the pure man became vile, and under the prolonged madness of unrepented evil, for nearly a year deliberately planned crime after crime, adding baseness to lust and falsehood, and murder to hypocrisy. And from that hour of his great sin began the sad contrast to his previous history. That one grievous offence against God and man shadowed and embittered the latter half of his reign. Following it came the sorest personal and domestic griefs, an unrecovered loss of self-respect and previous peace of heart, civil distractions and revolts. But the same Inspiration that faithfully records all the enormity and aggravations of his sin, that reveals its life-long effects of sadness and calamity, discloses the depth and genuineness of his repentance, and the greatness of God's pardoning mercy. We have only to read, with our souls alive to the intense feeling of the writer, the 51st and 32d Psalms, and we shall learn that this royal penitent, though long and severely chastened, was forgiven. A sad contrast indeed find we in his latter Psalms, and yet there comes through all at length a burst of joy, the joy of sanctified, penitent grief! The "joy of God's salvation" was "restored" unto his broken, contrite spirit! B. Chronologically, these events fall within the period of David's last great war—that against Ammon and Rabbah. This one sin of David's known life is recognized by the sacred historian (1 K. 15 : 5) as so far surpassing all his other sins in enormity that it might be said he did that which was right in all else, "turning not aside from the things commanded of God, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." This great sin had in it almost every possible element of aggravation. It was flagrant adultery, for David already had not one wife only, but many; and Bath-sheba had a husband—one of the noblest of men, whose record as a brave, patriotic, self-denying warrior is pre-eminently spotless and grand. David's sin included not adultery alone, but murder—the deliberate murder of this heroic and self-sacrificing man, Uriah the Hittite. One sin naturally leads on to more sinning. Thus David sought first and desperately to cover his iniquity. Could he not bring Uriah, the husband, home to his own house and bed? He orders him sent back from the field of war; converses with him as if no dreadful guilt lay heavy on his soul; and then dismisses him to his home. "There followed him a mess of meat from the king." Surely (thought David) he will carry that home to his wife. No; the warrior slept with David's servants at the palace gate, ready for the stern duties of the soldier's life. But David cannot afford to be baffled, and therefore summons Uriah to his presence again and urges him to go to his home, but with the result only of bringing out more strongly the heroic spirit of the true warrior. "My Lord Joab and the servants of my king camp in the open fields;" my country calls me to like sacrifices; and so long as she does no home attractions can be heeded. Then it occurs to David that this heroic spirit may be overcome by wine. He therefore tempted him to eat and drink, "and made him drunk." Even then he failed of his purpose. In the next stage David rushed to the horrid purpose to take Uriah's life—for how could he meet the disclosure of his guilty connection with Uriah's wife, especially since Uriah himself is a man so noble, of a nature so pure and lofty? Did he let Joab into this guilty secret? He found him in this case a ready instrument for his purpose—viz, to put Uriah into the hottest of the fight, and then retire the supporting column and let him fall in battle. This letter of instructions to Joab, he sent by the hand of Uriah with no fear that he would break the seal and come at the awful secret. And he knew Uriah too well to fear that he would retreat before the foe even if all others did. Thus David slew Uriah by the sword of the warriors of Ammon. Some of the points of peculiar aggravation in this double sin of David are presented tersely and with telling force in the supposed case by which the prophet Nathan introduces his rebuke of his king. The poor man's one lamb—his household pet; nursed in his bosom; fed at his table; to him as a daughter—this lamb is torn away by his rich neighbor, who had lambs enough and to spare—the heartless tyrant! The case kindled David's indignation; but, oh, how did the application of it—"Thou art the man," pierce his soul with daggers of self-condemnation! He felt every word as a burning arrow. Conviction brought forth confession, penitent grief, and imploring cries for mercy. Now let it be distinctly noted: these sins not only had their aggravating circumstances, but the inspired pen records them. Not one is withheld. Not only is the crime charged upon David, but its points of special enormity are thoroughly unfolded. There is no attempt to suppress a single fact bearing upon the aggravation and guilt of these sins. Moreover, there is no concealment or suppression of the fact that these great sins were utterly displeasing to God. He did, indeed, forgive the royal penitent; but he took care that these dreadful sins should be rebuked over and over again; brought up to David's sad remembrance; brought out in sunlight before the nation and before the world. First, the babe is smitten, and after seven days of lingering life and prolonged suffering—David meanwhile on the ground, weeping, fasting, praying—the child dies. Then came those dreadful scenes of lust and murder among his own sons and daughters—Tamar ravished; the guilty Ammon, David's first-born, murdered by his brother Absalom:—how terribly suggestive of his own example before these very children! How hot with scorching rebuke! What griefs harrowed his sensitive spirit when it became known to him and to all Israel that Absalom had outraged his father's bed! Then he drove that father from his palace, city, and throne. Bitterest of all, Absalom dies in his sins! David could bear the vilest indignities; the basest ingratitude toward himself; the foulest treason; the sadness of enforced exile; but oh! when the tidings came that Absalom was dead—his own guilty son dead—gone—lost, amid the horrors of unpardoned sin—alas, this filled his cup of woe! Did he not then recall his own sin in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite? Alas, how does God bring the sins of men to their remembrance, and make them feel in the depth of their souls that it is a fearful thing to sin! Another line of thought and feeling is fitly awakened by these scenes in the life of David. We cannot think of him as if he were one of the fallen angels—a junior brother of Satan or of Moloch. He was one of our own fallen race, a brother to our very selves. If he had passions tempting him into awful sin, so have we. If he could so far forget his manhood, his piety, his obligations to his Infinite Benefactor, his relations to the noble warriors in the field and to their virtuous wives at home, as to fall into these most grievous sins, so, alas, may we! This fearful record lies against our own fallen nature. If we, personally, have been kept from sins so great and aggravated, let us rather honor the grace that has saved than plume ourselves on the assumption of better self-control and purer virtue. We have, then, a real though sad interest in the most tragic and painful scenes of human sinning. It were well if this interest shall move us to such a study of David's case as will be morally wholesome. It stands on the Scripture record for the sake of its great moral lessons. H. C. 1. The Ammonites, although beaten, having retired to their fortified towns, held out with much obstinacy. The next campaign against them was conducted by Joab, who, after ravaging the country, laid siege to the metropolitan city of Rabbah. It was while the army was engaged in these distant operations that David fell into those deep sins which have left a dark blot upon his name, that all his tears have not been able to expunge from the view of man, nor all his griefs to make man forget. Kit. It is, perhaps, not without bitter emphasis that the narrative introduces it by telling us that, "at the time when kings go forth to battle," David contented himself with sending his troops against Ammon, and "tarried still at Jerusalem." At all events, the story brings into sharp contrast the levy en masse, encamped round Rabbah, and their natural head, who had once been so ready to take his share of blows and privations, loitering behind, taking his quiet siesta in the hot hours after noon, as if there had been no soldiers of his sweltering in their armor, and rising from his bed to stroll on his palace roof, and peer into the household privacies below, as if his heart had no interest in the grim tussle going on behind the hills that he could almost see from his height, as they grew purple in the evening twilight. He has fallen to the level of an Eastern despot, and has lost his sense of the responsibilities of his office. Such loosening of the tension of his moral nature as is indicated in his absence from the field, during what was evidently a very severe as well as long struggle, prepared the way for the dismal headlong plunge into sin. A. M. How rare and fearless an outspokenness marks the language in which the sins of God's saints are recorded in that Book which is eminently a Scripture of truth, a Word of God. Reasons enough there were, and those bearing on the highest interests of our souls, why these should not be passed over. Thus what a proof do they furnish of the fatal readiness with which we, set as we are to keep this city of "Mansoul" against all forces of our spiritual enemy, too often shamefully betray our trust; or, if we do not advance so far as this, remit that watchfulness all round, that habitual circumspection of our spirits which we were set to maintain. It needs but a few easy triumphs over sins which do not mightily solicit us, a few ordinary temptations overcome, and we count that all is won, that we may now dwell securely, none making us afraid. What a commentary on such a vain confidence as this does this history supply, both in what it tells and also in what it does not tell. It is thus that the story of David's fall begins: "And it came to pass, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David"—did what? Is it, led forth the Lord's host? Alas! no; nothing of the kind; but what, then? that he sent Joab with others on this war-like errand; but "David himself tarried still at Jerusalem." If the king had been sharing the hard couch of earth in the open fields with Joab and Uriah and the rest before the walls of Rabbah, it is little likely that we should have ever heard of his sin. One page of his history, a page now so blurred and so blotted, would be looked for in vain. Trench. 2-4. Never was there a case which showed more emphatically the dreadful chain of guilt to which a first act, apparently insignificant, may give rise. His first sin was allowing himself to be arrested to sinful intents by the beauty of Bathsheba. Had he, like Job, made a covenant with his eyes; had he resolved that when the idea of sin sought entrance into the imagination it should be sternly refused admission; had he, in a word, nipped the temptation in the bud, he would have been saved a world of agony and sin. But instead of repelling the idea he cherishes it. He makes inquiry concerning the woman. He brings her to his house. He uses his royal position and influence to break down the objections which she would have raised. He forgets what is due to the faithful soldier who, employed in his service, is unable to guard the purity of his home. He forgets the solemn testimony of the law, which denounces death to both parties as the penalty of the sin. This is the first act of the tragedy. W. G. B. The aggravations of the sin. He was now in years, fifty at least, when those lusts should not have been violent in him. He had many wives and concubines of his own; this is insisted on (ch. 12 : 8). Uriah, whom he wronged, was one of his own worthies; a person of honor and virtue, one that was now abroad in his service, jeopardizing his life in the high places of the field, for the honor and safety of him and his kingdom, where he himself should have been. Bathsheba was of good reputation till she was drawn by him and his influence into this wickedness; nor perhaps could any one in the world but David have prevailed against her. The adulterer not only wrongs and ruins his own soul, but, as much as he can, another's soul too. David was a king whom God hath intrusted with the sword of justice and the execution of the law upon other criminals, particularly upon adulterers, who were by the law to be put to death; for him therefore to be guilty of those crimes himself was to make himself a pattern, when he should have been a terror, to evil-doers. Much more might be said to aggravate the sin; and I can think but of one excuse for it, which is, that it was done but once; it was far from being his practice; it was by the surprise of a temptation that he was drawn into it. H. With what unwillingness, with what fear, do I still look upon the miscarriage of the man after God's own heart! O holy prophet, who can promise himself always to stand, when he sees thee fallen and maimed with the fall? Who can assure himself of an immunity from the foulest sins when he sees thee offending so heinously, so bloodily? Let profane eyes behold thee as an excuse of sinning; I shall never look upon thee but through tears, as a woful spectacle of human infirmity. O God, whither do we go, if thou stay us not? Whoever among the millions of thy servants, could find himself furnished with stronger preservatives against sin? Against whom could such a sin find less pretence of prevailing? Oh keep thou us, that presumptuous sins prevail not over us; so only shall we be free from great offences. 10. Alas, instead of clearing thy sin, thou laborest to cloak it; and spendest those thoughts in the concealing of thy wickedness which thou shouldest rather have bestowed in preventing it. The best of God's children may not only be drenched in the ways of sin, but lie in them for the time, and perhaps sink twice to the bottom. What hypocrite could have done worse than study how to cover the face of his sin from the eyes of men, while he regarded not the sting of sin in his soul. Bp. II. 11. The consideration of the public hardships and hazards kept Uriah from lawful pleasures, yet could not keep David, though more nearly interested, from unlawful ones. Uriah's severity to himself should have shamed David for his indulgence of himself. The law was, When the host goeth forth against the enemy, then, in a special manner, keep thyself from every wicked thing (De. 23 : 9). Uriah outdid that law, but David violated it. H. 14. Uriah must be got rid of, not, however, openly, but by a cunning stratagem that shall make it seem as if his death were the result of the ordinary fortune of war. And to compass this David must take Joab into his confidence. To Joab, therefore, he writes a letter, indicating what is to be done to get rid of Uriah. Could David have descended to a lower depth? It was bad enough to compass the death of Uriah; it was mean enough to make him the bearer of the letter that gave directions for his death; but surely the climax of meanness and guilt was the writing of that letter. Surely it was a horrible sin—committed, too, by the head of the nation, who was bound not only to discountenance sin in every form, but especially to protect the families and preserve the rights of the brave men who were exposing their lives in his service. W. G. B.—If David had been but himself, how had he loved, how had he honored, this honest and religious zeal in his so faithful servant, whom now he cruelly seeks to reward with death! That fact which wine cannot hide, the sword shall. Is not this the man whom we lately saw so heart-smitten, for but cutting off the lap of the garment of a wicked master, that is now thus lavish of the blood of a gracious and well-deserving servant? Could it be likely that so worthy a captain could fall alone? Could David have expiated this sin with his own blood, it had been but well spent; but to cover his sin with the innocent blood of others was a crime above astonishment. Bp. II. 15. Uriah must die; that innocent, valiant, gallant man, who was ready to die for his prince's honor, must die by his prince's hand. David has sinned, and Bathsheba has sinned, and both against him, and therefore he must die; David determines he must. Is this he that executed judgment and justice to all his people? How can he now do so unjust a thing? See how fleshly lusts war against the soul, and what devastations they make in that war; how they blind the eyes, harden the heart, sear the conscience, and deprive men of all sense of honor and justice. Whoso committeth adultery with a woman, lacketh understanding, and quite loses it; he that doth it, destroys his own soul (Prov. 6 : 32). H. 16,17. In the letter which Uriah carried to Joab, David directed the general to place him at a point of danger, to provoke a sally from the town, to retire without withdrawing Uriah, and to make sure of his death in battle. Joab acted up to these orders, aware, perhaps, of the reason for them. A small body of Hebrews, led by Uriah, attacked one of the best-defended gates of Rabbah. Shooters discharged stones and arrows from the wall; soldiers rushed out of the town. A fierce fight ensued. No supports were sent to strengthen the handful of Hebrews in front of the gate. Uriah, with several of his soldiers, fell in battle; the rest of the assailants were repulsed. Their king had murdered those who fell. Vileness had triumphed, blood had been shed, and in the grave of a brave soldier the guilty king hoped all this wickedness was buried and forgotten. It was not so. There was an Avenger of blood looking on, who had seen the whole from beginning to end: "The thing that David had done displeased the Lord." Sime. 18-25. Joab had no principles apart from what he deemed his duty to the king and the people, and was quite as ready to serve his master's vices as his virtues, so long as they did not interfere with his own interests, or tended to promote them by enabling him to make himself useful to the king. His ready apprehension of the king's meaning in the matter of Uriah, and the facility with which he made himself the instrument of the murder, and of the hypocrisy by which it was covered, are proofs of this, and form as deep a stain upon his character as his own murders. Kit. Let not Joab be displeased, for David is not; he blames not his conduct, nor thinks they did ill in approaching so near the wall; all is well, now that Uriah is got out of the way. This point being gained, he can make light of the loss, and turn it off easily with an excuse, The sword devours one as well as another; it was a chance of war—nothing more common. He orders Joab to make the battle more strong next time, while he, by his sin, was weakening it, and provoking God to blast the undertaking. 26,27. He married the widow in a little time. She submitted to the ceremony of mourning for her husband as little a time as custom would admit, and then David took her to his house as his wife and she bare him a son. The birth of the child so soon after the marriage published the crime; sin will have shame; yet that was not the worst of it, The thing that David had done displeased the Lord; the whole matter of Uriah (as it is called, 1 K. 15 : 5), the adultery, falsehood, murder, and this marriage, at last—it was all displeasing to the Lord. He had pleased himself, but displeased God. God sees and hates sin in his own people. Nay, the nearer any are to God in profession, the more displeasing to him their sins are, for in them there is more ingratitude, treachery, and reproach, than in the sins of others. H. If the composition of the Bible had been in human hands it would never have contained such a chapter as this. There is something quite remarkable in the fearless way in which it unveils the guilt of David; it is set forth in its nakedness, without the slightest attempt either to palliate or to excuse it; and the only statement in the whole record designed to characterize it is the quiet but terrible words with which the chapter ends—“But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” And now we begin to understand why this supremely horrible transaction should be given in the Bible, and given at such length. It bears the character of a beacon, warning the mariner against some of the most deceitful and perilous rocks that are to be found in all the sea of life. First of all, it shows the danger of interrupting, however briefly, the duty of watching and praying, lest you enter into temptation. It is at your peril to discontinue earnest daily communion with God, especially when the evils are removed that first drove you to seek His aid. Further, it affords a sad proof of the danger of dallying with sin even in thought. Admit sin within the precincts of the imagination, and there is the utmost danger of its ultimately mastering the soul. The outposts of the spiritual garrison should be so placed as to protect even the thoughts, and the moment the enemy is discovered there the alarm should be given and the fight begun. It is a serious moment when the young man admits a polluted thought to his heart, and pursues it even in reverie. The door is opened to a dangerous brood. And everything that excites sensual feeling, be it songs, jests, pictures, books of a lascivious character, all tends to enslave and pollute the soul, till at length it is saturated with impurity, and cannot escape the wretched thraldom. And, further, this narrative shows us what moral havoc and ruin may be wrought by the toleration and gratification of a single sinful desire. W. G. B. Had David been enduring hardship with the armies of Israel, these temptations to luxury and uncleanness would probably never have come near him; certainly he would not have succumbed beneath them. The first lesson from the story is that prosperous times are perilous times. Then, notice the way in which sins are linked to one another, in which, as by a terrible necessity, one leads on to a second, and a second to a third, and so on. The great enemy of souls is in nothing more skilful than in breaking down the bridges of retreat behind the sinner. Wrong may become worse wrong, but it never becomes right. Close walking with God is the only safe walking. Further, do not miss this lesson—the ignoble servitude to men in which the sinner is very often through his sin entangled. Mark how David becomes the servant of Joab from the moment that he has made Joab the partaker of his evil counsels, the accomplice of his crime. Let no man in this sense be thy master. Let no man know that of thee which, if he chose to reveal it, would cast thee down from the fair esteem and reputation which thou enjoyest before men. Trench. The carnal appetite, with its lusts, is very deceitful; a party within holding correspondence with our spiritual enemies, the evil angels so active and assiduous in conspiring and accomplishing the damnation of men. The devil, in Scripture, is called the tempter by way of eminence, who manages and improves temptations; and his pernicious design is by the objects of sense, ordered and made more alluring and killing by his various arts, to engage the affections into a compliance and so to gain the will. Now our great danger is not so much from Satan, the enemy without, as from the carnal appetite, the traitor within, that gives him the first and easy entrance into the soul. He can only entice by representing what is amiable to sense; but the corrupt appetite inclines to the closing with it. We might preserve our innocence inviolable notwithstanding all his attempts, did not some cherished corrupt affection lay us open to his poisoned darts. The Apostle Peter, who discerned wherein the strength of our great enemy lies, admonishes Christians: "I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul." And we are told by him that "the corruption that is in the world is through lust." The outward objects are useful and beneficial in their kind; the abuse of them is from lust. It is therefore infinitely dangerous to consult or trust our carnal faculties in this matter, for they are bribed and corrupted and will commend temporal things to our choice. The sensual affections are so numerous and clamorous, so vehement and hasty, that if they are admitted to counsel and give the decisive vote, the voice of conscience will not be heard or regarded. Bates.—There can be no safety to that soul where the senses are let loose. He can never keep his covenant with God that makes not a covenant with his eyes. It is an idle presumption to think the outward man may be free while the inward is safe. He is more than a man, whose heart is not led by his eyes; he is no regenerate man, whose eyes are not restrained by his heart. Bp. II. We only add, what vigilance and prayer are necessary against the sudden violent surprises of temptation! These may come with as little warning almost as the dreadful accidents that befall men's persons. A sudden flash of infernal fire kindles the passions and prostrates the judgment and conscience. Divine aid can come as suddenly as these assaults. Think solemnly of the frightful extent of the possibilities of falling into sin, and that it is an insult to God to calculate on escaping without the means he has enjoined. "Watch and pray." These must be combined; for watching without prayer were but an impious homage to ourselves. Prayer without watching were but an impious and also absurd homage to God. And what emphatic importance there is in the point of being saved from entering into temptation; since, when a man is fully in it and under the strength of its influence, there is an end of watching and an utter indisposition to pray! Foster. It has appeared a difficulty to some, that persons raised up, aided, inspired, directed, or assisted by God, should have been guilty of such crimes as David, such idolatries as Solomon, such weaknesses as Samson, such apostasies as the Jewish nation in general. To this it may be answered, that it is perfectly credible that they should be raised up for particular purposes; aided in effecting a particular object; inspired with a certain degree of knowledge; assisted at particular periods, and in a special manner; and yet that, beyond this, their natural character, their external temptations, their acquired habits, may have produced all the irregularities and crimes which gave so much offence. To ask why God did not prevent this, is to ask why he did not exercise a greater degree of supernatural control than the peculiar purposes of Providence required—a question as absurd as it is presumptuous. Dr. Graves. NATHAN'S PARABLE AND MESSAGE FROM GOD TO DAVID. DAVID'S REPENTANCE. SICKNESS AND DEATH OF BATHSHEBA'S CHILD. 2. S. 24 : 1** And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah. And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people. And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundred fold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it : but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the peo- 1. Chron. 21 : 1** And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan ; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them. And Joab said, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be : but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt unto Israel? Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand 5 ple of Israel. And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of 6 Gad, and unto Jazer: then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about 7 to Zidon, and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the 8 south of Judah, at Beer-sheba. So when they had gone to and fro through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of 9 nine months and twenty days. And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. 10 And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: but now, O LORD, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; 11 for I have done very foolishly. And when David rose up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, 12 David's seer, saying, Go and speak unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may 13 do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall 14 return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the 15 hand of man. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy 16 thousand men. And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough; now stay thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing- 17 floor of Araunah the Jebusite. And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house. men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men 6 that drew sword. But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's 7 word was abominable to Joab. And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he 8 smote Israel. And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing: but now, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done 9 very foolishly. And the LORD spake unto 10 Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and speak unto David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of 11 them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus 12 saith the LORD, Take which thou wilt; either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer 13 I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: and let me not 14 fall into the hand of man. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of 15 Israel seventy thousand men. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, 17 fell upon their faces. And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against thy people, that they should be plagued. 18 Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake 19 in the name of the LORD. And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons 18. And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebu- 19 site. And David went up according to the 20 saying of Gad, as the LORD commanded. And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king; with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may 22 be stayed from the people. And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments and the furniture 23 of the oxen for the wood: all this, O king, doth Araunah give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy 24 God accept thee. And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will verily buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the LORD my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel. that were with him hid themselves. Now 21 Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the 22 ground. Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build thereon an altar unto the LORD: for the full price shalt thou give it me: that the plague may be stayed from the people. 23 And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen for burnt-offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal- 24 offering; I give it all. And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it, for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer a burnt-offer- 25 ing without cost. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by 26 weight. And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire 27 upon the altar of burnt-offering. And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. 28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed 29 there. For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt-offering, were at that time in the 30 high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the LORD. 1. Chron. 22:** 1 Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel. There is no definite note of time to show when the events here recorded took place, but several indications point to the later years of David's reign. The language of verse 1, "again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel," evidently refers to the famine recorded in ch. 21 and points to a date after that occurrence. It would have been impossible for the commander-in-chief to spend nearly ten months in taking the census, except at a time of permanent peace. David's preparations for building the Temple, which occupied the last years of his reign, are narrated in Chronicles as the immediate sequel of his purchase of Araunah's threshing-floor. The narrative in Chronicles agrees much less closely than usual with Samuel. A. F. K. Comparing the two accounts of this sin and of the judgment sent because of it, we find the diversities somewhat numerous; the real discrepancies few; from which the inference seems warranted that these authors drew from different original sources and not from one and the same. There is not the least difficulty in assuming that the contemporary annals of Israel were written by more hands than one; e.g., "the acts of David the king, first and last, in the Book of Samuel the seer, and in the Book of Nathan the prophet, and in the Book of Gad the seer," as we read 1 Chron. 29: 29. In the ultimate compilation of the books we have (e.g., 2 S. and 1 Chron.), the compiler of the former may have had one or two of these original documents; the compiler of the latter, the remaining one; or, if each had them all, he may have found slight differences; possibly some discrepancies—and would dispose of these according to his own judgment or upon traditionary data. The sin of David in numbering the people in its result fixed the site of Solomon's temple (2 Chron. 3 : 1). A narrative of these scenes appears in both 2 S. 24 and 1 Chron. 21. The same Hebrew word rendered "moved" in Samuel is rendered "provoked" in Chronicles. The agent is said in Samuel to be the Lord, but in Chronicles, Satan, the prince of evil spirits. As to the agent in this temptation, it was God only in the permissive sense; Satan in the personal and positive sense, permitted of God, and by his very nature, wanting nothing more than the barest permission to give scope to the Satanic malice of his heart, and involve both David and the Lord's people in terrible calamities. It may, perhaps, be put to the account of "progress of doctrine" that in the later book (Chronicles) this agency is ascribed to Satan, while in the Book of Samuel, neither his name nor his agency appears. H. C.—The nation had sinned and incurred His anger, and God instigated David to an act which brought down a sharp punishment on the nation. The statement that God incited David to do what was afterward condemned and punished as a heinous sin cannot of course mean that He compelled David to sin, but that in order to test and prove his character He allowed the temptation to assault him. Thus, while we read that "God himself tempteth no man," we are taught to pray "Bring us not into temptation." The older record (Samuel) speaks only of God's permissive action: the latter (Chronicles) tells us of the malicious instrumentality of Satan. The case is like that of Job. A. F. K. The numbering of the people was one of the last and most reprehensible acts of David. From the expressions here used, we learn that God permitted Satan to tempt David to the commission of a crime, which would draw down punishment on himself and his people, as he afterward permitted the same evil and lying spirit to seduce the prophets of Ahab (1 K. 22 : 22), and the disciple of Christ (Luke 22 : 3). The ruling passion by which the tempter assailed David was the pride of life, which, though checked and mortified by the wholesome restraints of adversity, broke out again in the sunshine of prosperity. David's offence seems chiefly to have consisted in his persisting to require a muster of all his subjects able to bear arms without the Divine command, without necessity, in a time of profound peace, to indulge an idle vanity and presumption, as if he put his trust more in the number of his subjects than in the Divine protection; and the offence of his people may have been similar, always elated as they were in prosperity, and provoking the anger of the Lord by their forgetfulness of him. Hales.—Moses numbered the people by God's authority, to show that they were all his subjects: David seems to have numbered them to show that they were his own people, and to display his own sovereignty, which provoked God. Bp. Wilson. Yet another and real cause is to be found in the verse which introduces the narrative, and which is almost invariably lost sight of in the common accounts of this transaction. It is that "the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel." Now the anger of the Lord could only be awakened by unfaithfulness and evil-doing; and that, whatever its precise nature, was the real cause of the calamity that followed, and relieves the case of the apparent harshness, of which so much has been said, of making the people suffer for the offence of their king. On this account "the Lord moved David to number Israel." Kit. It was not the census itself which was displeasing to God, but the motive which inspired David to take it. Various conjectures have been suggested to account for David's wish to number the people. Some suppose that he intended to develop the military power of the nation with a view to foreign conquest; others that he meditated the organization of an imperial despotism and the imposition of fresh taxes. But whether any definite design of increased armaments or heavier taxation lay behind it or not, it seems clear that what constituted the sin of the act was the vainglorious spirit which prompted it. In a moment of pride and ambition—pride at the prosperity of the kingdom, ambition to be like the kings of the nations round about—he desired to know to the full over how vast and populous a kingdom he ruled, forgetting that the strength of Israel consisted not in the number of its people, but in the protecting care of God. This view is strongly corroborated by Joab's expostulation, "The Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?" It was a momentary apostasy from Jehovah; an oblivion of that spirit of dependence which was the duty and the glory of the kings of Israel. The sin was not confined to David; it had infected the nation. It is expressly said that "the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel." It may be that now, on the very threshold of their national existence, they were tempted by visions of worldly glory to forget that Israel was not to realize its vocation to the world in the guise of a conquering secular state, but as Jehovah's witness among the nations. If so, if pride was alienating the heart of king and people from their allegiance to Jehovah, a prompt chastisement was the truest mercy. A. F. K. 3. Who can but wonder to see Joab the saint, and David the trespasser? No prophet could speak better than that man of blood; "The Lord thy God increase the people a hundredfold more than they be, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king desire this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?" Bp. H.—Joab seems to have had a certain amount of regard to the will of God and the theocratic constitution of the kingdom, for he was loyal to David from the very beginning, up to the contest between Solomon and Adonijah. It is evident that Joab felt strongly that in the step which he proposed to take David would be acting a part unworthy of himself and of the constitution of the kingdom, and by displeasing God would expose himself to evils far beyond any advantage he might hope to gain by ascertaining the number of the people. 4. For once—and this time, unhappily—David was too strong for the son of Zeruiah. The enumerators of the people were despatched to take the census. W. G. B. The sums-total were probably never made up for preservation, except in a rough way; they were never put into the official chronicles. In the rough, round numbers of the two Books of Samuel and of Chronicles, there is a difference of many thousands in the enumeration. A rough enumeration—not counting Benjamin—made the warriors of Israel eight hundred thousand, and of Judah five hundred thousand, or one million three hundred thousand in all. Or, taking the other estimate, there were one million one hundred thousand warriors of Israel, and four hundred and seventy thousand warriors of Judah, or one million five hundred and seventy thousand in all. Knox.—This discrepancy may be due to textual corruption, but more probably arises from a difference in the original estimates, or in the oral tradition with respect to them. A. F. K.—This showed a population of from five to seven millions for the whole land. Considering all the wars, servitudes, and internal conflicts during the generations, tions, this was a great increase from the six hundred and one thousand warriors and three millions of people under Moses on the plains of Moab. Knox. The numbers have been attacked as exaggerated, and far exceeding the possible capacity of the country. The numbers given imply a total population of five or six millions at least, and the area of the country is estimated at about eleven thousand square miles. This gives (making allowance for the excepted tribes) between five and six hundred to the square mile, a high but not impossible rate of population when the extreme fertility of the country in ancient times is taken into consideration. The ruins with which Palestine is covered in every direction prove that the population was exceptionally dense. The Choice of Punishments. 10. David's heart smote him.** Conscience accused him, and he became aware of his guilt. He recognized the sinfulness of the proud and vainglorious spirit of self-confidence and desire for worldly aggrandizement which had induced him to take the census. A. F. K.—"David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done; and now, I beseech Thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have done very foolishly." Once alive to his sin, his humiliation is very profound. His confession is frank, hearty, complete. He shows no proud desire to remain on good terms with himself, seeks nothing to break his fall or to make his humiliation less before Joab and before the people. He is never greater than when acknowledging his sin. W. G. B. 11. And David arose in the morning, and, etc.,** after the recognition and confession of his sin. The E. V. gives the impression that the conviction of his sin was the result of Gad's visit, which is not the meaning of the passage. Gad was not sent until after his confession and prayer for pardon. A. F. K. Chron., verse 12. It was a hard and woful choice of three years' famine added to three forepast; or of three months' flight from the sword of an enemy; or three days' pestilence. The Almighty that hath fore-determined his judgment, refers it to David's will as if it were utterly undetermined. God had resolved; yet David may choose. That infinite wisdom hath foreseen the very will of his creature, which, while it freely inclines itself to what it would rather, unwittingly wills that which was fore-appointed in heaven. 28., verse 14. Yet, behold, neither sins, nor threats, nor fears can bereave a true penitent of his faith; "Let us now fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are great." There can be no evil of punishment wherein God hath not a hand; there could be no famine, no sword, without him; but some evils are more immediate from a Divine stroke; such was that plague into which David is unwillingly willing to fall. Bp. H.—There are some judgments which come more immediately from his hand than others, as famine and pestilence; and which of these shall be the scourge, he refers it to God, who chooses the shortest, that he might the sooner testify his being reconciled. H. 15. Left to choose between famine, defeat, and pestilence, David wisely and well cast himself upon the Lord, finding comfort only in the thought, which has so often brought relief to those who realize it, that, even when suffering for sin, it is well to fall into the hands of Jehovah. Nor was his unuttered hope disappointed. The pestilence, terrible as it was in its desolations, was shortened from three days to less than one day: "from the morning to the time of the assembly"—viz., for the evening sacrifice. A. E. —To the time appointed. Not to the end of the three days; for (verse 16) "the Lord repented him of the evil;" it means, probably, the appointed time of evening prayer—that is, about the ninth hour of the day; according to which sense the plague lasted nine hours. Bp. Patrick.—Joab is nine months in passing with his pen, the angel but nine hours in passing with his sword, through all the coasts and corners of the land of Israel. See how easily God can bring down the proudest sinners, and how much we owe daily to the Divine patience. H. Humble confessions and devout penance cannot always avert temporal judgments. God's angel is abroad; and within that short compass of time sweeps away seventy thousand Israelites. David was proud of the number of his subjects; now they are abated that he may see cause of humiliation in the matter of his glory; in what we have offended, we commonly smart. These thousands of Israel were not so innocent, that they should only perish for David's sin; their sins were the motives, both of this sin and punishment; besides the respect of David's offence, they die for themselves. Bp. H. 16. The Lord repented him of the evil.** On the one hand Scripture teaches us that, "God is not a man that he should repent" (Nu. 23 : 19 ; 1 S. 15 : 29) ; on the other hand it does not shrink from saying that God repents when, as here, upon man's penitence He withdraws or mitigates a punishment; when, upon man's faithlessness or disobedience, He cancels a promise or revokes a blessing which He had given. God's repentance does not mean that He who foreknows all things regre's His action, nor is it a sign of mutability. Scripture boldly states the two apparently contradictory truths, and leaves conscience to harmonize them. A. F. K. God reveals himself as repenting. He speaks as if in sore disappointment at the evil course of men: "And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." It was the grief of a loving father over the evil ways of his children, a pain that is sharp and a heart that is sore. Moses recognized this trait of the Divine character, and earnestly prayed that he would "repent of this evil against thy people." "And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people" (Ex. 32 : 14). "It repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them" (Ju. 2 : 18). "And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil" (2 S. 24 : 16). In the book of the prophet Jonah this trait is brought out very strongly. "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil which he said he would do unto them" (3 : 10). The prophet explained the reason for this revocation of a positive and unqualified decree. "I know that thou art a gracious God, and full of compassion and slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, and repentest thee of the evil" (4 : 2). The Divine repentance is a constant leaning to the side of mercy. He is intent upon setting aside the penalty of sin. He listens for the first sigh of penitence. While he is grieved and disappointed and sad at the waywardness and rebellion of his creatures, he rejoices at their return. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but implores them to return and live. He reasons with them, and shows them the madness and folly of their course. He makes it plain that if any one persists in wickedness it is not God's fault that he does so, nor is the punishment which the sinner brings upon himself of God's willing infliction. All this is intensely human—so much so that we cannot distinguish it from the character of a very tender-hearted and benevolent father. Any one who desires the Divine companionship and protection and help can have it with the amplest and most cordial welcome, simply for the asking. God is swift in mercy and love, and very patient in long-suffering. This is God's merciful attitude to us, and we can verify it in our experience by accepting it and going to him. We shall find him just what he thus reveals himself to be. God is the most tender, loving, and lovely Being in the universe. He is the best friend. He is all that the longing heart can desire. We must not abuse and pervert this tender and forbearing attribute of the Divine character by making it a basis for hope that he will not thoroughly vindicate his law. On the contrary, we must remember that in doing despite to this spirit of grace, we are treasuring up against ourselves a retribution all the more terrible because we have insulted and trodden under foot the loving sensibilities of God. Interior. Stay thy hand. God only revoked that which he had decreed on a certain condition; which was, that three days' pestilence should come upon the country, unless David and his people repented. Bp. Patrick.—The angel was by the threshing-floor. This was on Mount Moriah. Dr. Lightfoot observes, that in the very place where Abraham, by a countermand from heaven, was stayed from slaying his son, this angel, by a like countermand, was stayed from destroying Jerusalem. It is for the sake of the great Sacrifice, that our forfeited lives are preserved from the destroying angel. H.—It was a fitting spot for mercy upon Israel, this place where of old faithful Abraham had been ready to offer his only son unto God; fitting also as still outside the city; but chiefly in order that the pardoning and sparing mercy now shown might indicate the site where, on the great altar of burnt-offering, abundant mercy in pardon and acceptance would in the future be dispensed to Israel. A. E. 17. These sheep, what have they done?** David takes all the blame upon himself, for his offence had been the immediate cause of the plague, and it is characteristic of true penitence to dwell exclusively on its own sin, without respect to the complicity of others. But it is clear from verse 1 that the sin was the sin of the people as well as of David. A. F. K.—No one but must admire the spirit of David when the angel appeared on Mount Moriah. Owning frankly his own great sin, and especially his sin as a shepherd, he bared his own bosom to the sword, and entreated God to let the punishment fall on him and on his father's house. Why should the sheep suffer for the sin of the shepherd? W. G. B. He intercedes for the people whose bitter lamentations made his heart to ache. These sheep, what have they done? Done! Why it was their sin that provoked God to leave David to himself to do as he did; yet, as became a penitent, he is severe upon his own faults, while he extenuates theirs. Most people, when God's judgments are abroad, charge others with being the cause of them, and care not who falls by them so they can escape; but David's penitent and public spirit was otherwise affected. Let this remind us of the grace of our Lord Jesus, who gave himself for our sins, and was willing that God's hand should be against him, that we might escape. The shepherd was smitten that the sheep might be spared. H. Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house. Oh, the admirable charity of David, that would confine the plague to himself and his house, and sues to interpose himself between his people and the Lord's just vengeance! Bp. H.—What a noble and generous concern for the safety of his people does this pathetic expostulation manifest! Here is the real language and spirit of a genuine shepherd of his people, willing to devote himself and his family to God, for the preservation of his subjects. Chandler. David Erects an Altar on Araunah's Threshing-floor, by God's Direction. Verses 18-25. 18. O Father of all mercies, how little pleasure dost thou take in the death of sinners! It was thine own pity that stayed the destroyer. Ere David could see the angel thou hadst restrained him: "It is enough, now stay thy hand." Now God calls for that sacrifice wherewith he will be appeased. An altar must be built in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Lo, in that very hill, where the angel held the sword of Abraham from killing his son, doth God now hold the sword of the angel from killing his people! Upon this very ground shall the temple after stand. Here shall be the holy altar, which shall send up the acceptable oblations of God's people in succeeding generations. 22,23. Rich and bountiful Araunah is ready to meet David in so holy a motion; and munificently offers his Sion for the place, his oxen for the sacrifice, his carts and ploughs and other utensils of his husbandry for the wood. Bp. H.—When David and his followers came, they were prepared freely to give, not only the threshing-floor, but also all within it, if only Jehovah were pleased to accept the prayer of the king. Thus most significantly, in its typical aspect, were Jew and Gentile here brought together to co-operate in the dedication of the Temple-site. A. E. 24. Two frank hearts are well met: David would buy; Araunah would give. The Jebusite would not sell; David will not take. Since it was for God and to David, Araunah is loath to bargain: since it was for God, David wisheth to pay dear; "I will not offer burnt-offerings to the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing." Heroical spirits do well become eminent persons. He that knew it was better to give than to receive, would not receive but give. There can be no devotion in a niggardly heart; as unto dainty palates so to the godly soul, that tastes sweetest that costs most; nothing is dear enough for the Creator of all things. It is a heartless piety of those base-minded Christians that care only to serve God good cheap. Bp. H. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. In Chronicles we read, "David gave for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight." This seeming discrepancy as to the price has been accounted for in different ways. The simplest and most probable explanation is that these two passages refer to different transactions. The statement in Samuel gives the price paid for the threshing-floor and the oxen simply. That in Chronicles is "for the place," not the threshing-floor alone, but the entire surface of the hill, or all the ground owned by Araunah. Samuel is concerned merely with the spot on which the altar stood and sacrifices were offered. The writer of Chronicles is thinking of the entire tract procured for the site of the temple. For this fifty silver shekels would evidently be inadequate. W. H. G. Chron., verse 26. And as if publicly and from heaven to ratify what had been done, fire unkindled by man fell upon the altar and consumed the sacrifices. But from that moment the destroying sword of the angel was sheathed at the command of God. A. E.—God answered David from heaven by fire. To signify that God's anger was turned away from him, the fire that might justly have fastened upon the sinner, fastened upon the sacrifice, and consumed that; and, upon this, the destroying sword was returned into its sheath. Thus Christ was made sin, and a curse, for us, and it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that through him God might be to us, not a consuming Fire, but a reconciled Father. 29,30. He continued to offer his sacrifices upon this altar. The brazen altar which Moses made was at Gibeon, and there all the sacrifices of Israel were offered; but David was so terrified at the sight of the sword of the angel that he could not go thither. The business required haste when the plague was begun. Aaron must go quickly, nay, he must run, to make atonement (Nu. 16 : 46, 47). And the case here was no less urgent; so that David had not time to go to Gibeon; nor durst he leave the angel with his sword drawn over Jerusalem, lest the fatal stroke should be given before he came back. And therefore God, in tenderness to him, bade him build an altar in that place, dispensing with his own law concerning one altar because of the present distress, and accepting the sacrifices offered on this new altar, which was not set up in opposition to that but in concurrence with it. The symbols of unity were not so much insisted on as unity itself. Nay, when the present distress was over, David as long as he lived sacrificed there, though the altar at Gibeon was still kept up; for God had owned the sacrifices that were here offered, and had testified his acceptance of them (verse 28). On those administrations in which we have experienced the tokens of God's presence, and have found that he is with us of a truth, it is good to continue our attendance. "Here God has graciously met me, and therefore I will still expect to meet with him." I Chron. 22 : 1. The place for the building of the temple, Then David said, by inspiration of God, and as a declaration of his mind, This is the house of the Lord God. If a temple must be built for God, it is fit that it be left to him to choose the ground, for all the earth is his; and this is the ground he makes choice of: it had pertained to a Jebusite, and perhaps there was not a spot of ground besides, in or about Jerusalem, that did so; a happy presage of the setting up of the Gospel temple among the Gentiles. The ground was a threshing-floor; for the Church of the living God is his floor, his threshing, and the corn of his floor (Is. 21 : 10). Christ's fan is in his hand, thoroughly to purge his floor. This is to be the house, because this is the altar; the temple was built for the sake of the altar; there were altars long before there were temples. H. This altar first distinctly marked the hill as the sacred spot which Jehovah had long promised to choose for his abode. The ark had indeed been placed for some time in the city of David, but the stated sacrifices had still been offered on the original brazen altar before the tabernacle of Gibeon; and even after the removal of the ark, God had spoken to David of His choice of a place to build His house as yet to be made. That choice was now revealed by the descent of fire from heaven on David's sacrifice, as upon the altar of burnt-offering in the wilderness; and David recognized the sign, and said, "This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel." The place received the name of Moriah (vision) from the appearance of God to David, as the destroying angel, and then by the sign of fire. P. S.—Thus the threshing-floor was appointed to be the site of the temple which Solomon was to build; and the spot where David had hastily reared his altar was to be the place where, for hundreds of years, day after day, morning and evening, the blood of the burnt-offering was to flow, and the fumes of incense to ascend before God. W. G. B. # Instructive and Helpful Suggestions. As long as the devil is alive there is danger; and though a strong Christian may be too hard for, and may overcome him in one thing, he may be too hard for, yea, and may overcome the Christian two for one afterward. Thus he served David, and thus he served Peter, and thus he in our day has served many more. The strongest are weak, the wisest are fools, when suffered to be sifted as wheat in Satan's sieve; yea, and have often been so proved, to the wounding of their great hearts and the dishonor of religion. Bunyan. There is a sense, and a very true sense, in which David's sin applies to us. People are very fond of numbering the good things they have or suppose themselves to have. This is the peril to which our Lord refers when He says, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also;" that is, you will be always brooding in your heart upon them, and they will fill your mind to the exclusion of all spiritual thoughts. The Bible takes us out of ourselves, and directs us to God as the great object of our love, and in Him to our neighbor. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Mosley. What a wonderful thing is sanctified affliction! While its root lies in the very corruption of our nature, its fruit consists of the best blessings of Heaven. The root of David's affliction was carnal pride; but under God's sanctifying grace, it was followed by the erection of a temple associated with heavenly blessing, not to one nation only, but to all. When affliction, duly sanctified, is thus capable of bringing such blessings, it makes the fact all the more lamentable that affliction is so often unsanctified. It is vain to imagine that everything of the nature of affliction is sure to turn to good. It can turn to good on one condition only—when your heart is humbled under the rod, and in the same humble, chastened spirit as David you say, and feel as well as say, "I have sinned." W. G. B. God has so arranged and ordered all things, that His apparent change of purpose shall follow every true prayer, and His nature of love and tenderness be revealed to every humble and waiting soul. When our afflictions have wrought out in us the ends which His wisdom and mercy have sought, and have brought us in a right frame before His truth and majesty, we shall be able to discern modifications in His treatment, which are as if our God had changed His mind toward us, but which are really but changes in methods proceeding from the same mind and purpose of mercy and truth. We need all along our road in life the visitations of God's rod. God could not be a faithful and loving Father and withhold the rod. It comes in sickness, pecuniary losses, family bereavement, false accusations, and in many other ways. None of these come by chance. God is behind each, and that, too, in love. Blessed is the man who discerns this. Crosby. David would not serve the Lord with that which cost him nothing. The thought needs only to be put in words to commend itself to every conscience. God's service is neither a form nor a sham; it is a great reality. If we desire to show our honor for Him, it must be in a way suited to the occasion. Yet how often is God served with that which costs men nothing! Men that will lavish hundreds and thousands to gratify their own fancy—what miserable driblets they often give to the cause of God! The smallest of coins is good enough for His treasury. And as for other forms of serving God, what a tendency there is in our time to make everything easy and pleasant,—to forget the very meaning of self-denial! It is high time that that word of David were brought forth and put before every conscience, and made to rebuke ever so many professed worshippers of God, whose rule of worship is to serve God with what does cost them nothing. The very heathen reprove them. Little though there has been to stimulate their love, their sacrifices are often most costly—far from sacrifices that have cost them nothing. Oh, let us who call ourselves Christians beware lest we be found the meanest, paltryest of worshippers! Let souls that have been blessed as Christians devise liberal things. W. G. B. The true motive to beneficence is “offering unto the Lord.” Our offerings must be gifts to the Lord. Everything in life depends on the motive from which it springs. Man is what his motives are; he is no better and no worse. The highest and purest motive is that of doing all unto the Lord. The true measure of beneficence is giving that which we feel to cost us something. Giving must always be tending toward sacrifice and self-denial. Having love as the impulse to our benevolence, its measure will be determined by the nature of the case which appeals for our help and also by the means which God has placed at our disposal. E. Mellor. 1. Chron. 28 : 1 And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that served the king by course, and the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, and the rulers over all the substance and possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officers, and the mighty men, even all the mighty men of valor, unto Jerusalem. Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people : as for me, it was in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the foot-stool of our God ; and I had made ready for the building. But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou art a man of war, and hast shed blood. Howbeit the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me out of all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever : for he hath chosen Judah to be prince ; and in the house of Judah, the house of my father ; and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel : and of all my sons (for the LORD hath given me many sons), he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts : for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish his kingdom forever, if he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments, as at this day. Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the congregation of the LORD, and in the audience of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of the LORD your God : that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever. And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind : for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts : if thou seek him, he will be found of thee ; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. Take heed now ; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary : be strong, and do it.22 17 David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, Is not the LORD your God with you ? and hath he not given you rest on every side ? for he hath delivered the inhabitants of the land into mine hand ; and the land is subdued before the LORD, and before his people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek after the LORD your God ; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.29** 1 And David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great : for the palace is not for man, but for the LORD God. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood ; onyx stones, and stones to be set, stones for inlaid work, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover also, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of mine own of gold and silver, I give it unto the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house ; even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay 5 the walls of the houses withal : of gold for the things of gold, and of silver for the things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. Who then offereth 6 willingly to consecrate himself this day unto the LORD? Then the princes of the fathers' houses, and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, 7 with the rulers over the king's work, offered willingly ; and they gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand darics, and of silver ten thousand 8 talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and of iron a hundred thousand talents. And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the 9 LORD, under the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with a perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD : and David 10 the king also rejoiced with great joy. Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congre- gation : and David said, Blessed be thou, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and 11 ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty : for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine ; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, 12 and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou raltest over all ; and in thine hand is power and might ; and in thine hand it is to make great, and 13 to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious 14 name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly 15 after this sort ? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were : our days on the earth are as a 16 shadow, and there is no abiding. O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to 17 build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things : and now have I seen with 18 joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee. O LORD, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the 19 thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee : and give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to 20 do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision. And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the LORD your God. And all the congregation blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, 21 an I the king. And they sacrificed sacrifices unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings unto the LORD, on the morrow after that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, and a 22 thousand lambs, with their drink-offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel ; and did eat and drink before the LORD on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him unto the LORD to be prince, and Zadok to be priest. The sudden inauguration of Solomon little comported with the aged king's conception of the dignity due such an occasion. Solomon had only been made king in Jerusalem, and it was not only fitting, but essential, that the nation should participate and consent in the compact. There were grave matters, also, intrusted to the future reign which should be well advanced by public solemnities before the assembled nation. Solomon was a young man to be a king over such a people—ten years younger than David when he began at Hebron. The kingdom need- ed to be compacted about him before the aged monarch should sleep. The king therefore de- termined on a grand national occasion in which God and his house should be honored and in which Solomon should be formally anointed and acknowledged as king. Knox. This was David's last public appearance and his last kingly act. The chief theme of this farewell address was that which had been so long upon his heart, the building of the sanctuary of Jehovah. B. David did more for the temple than merely to heap up gold, brass, and cedars. He charged his noblest son with the responsibility of push- ing the enterprise to its completion. More than this, he breathed the lofty enthusiasm of his own great soul into his officers and princes. To Solomon he said (in substance) : My son, it was an object dear to my heart to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God. But the Lord said to me : "Thou hast been a man of war and blood, and mayest not build it ; I will give thee a son, a man of peace and rest ; he shall build the house." Now, my son, the Lord has given thee this high honor; be strong and of good courage; arise, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee. His words to his princes, exhorting them to aid Solomon, are full of vigorous inspiration: "Is not the Lord your God with you? Hath he not given you rest on every side? Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Arise, therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord" (1 Chron. 22: 17-19). And, as we here read, 1 Chron. 28 and 29 are full of this inspiring theme. David convenes his princes and officers, military and civil; declares to them his own strong desire to build a temple for God; rehearses the words of the Lord to him denying him this privilege, but not debarring him from the honor and joy of making immense provisions for it. He commits the work to his son Solomon. Then turning to Solomon, he exhorts him in their presence to seek the will of God with all diligence; to know the God of his fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind. In commending his son to the sympathy and aid of his numerous officers, he takes occasion to refer to the immense stores which he had accumulated and consecrated to this great work of which much had been drawn from his own private fortune (29: 2-5); and then makes his warm appeal to them for their benefactions: "Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?" The chief officers, the princes, captains, and men in authority, responded promptly and nobly. As the record has it, "they offered willingly;" and more than this, they gave till the joy of giving became a thrilling luxury: "Then the people rejoiced for that they offered willingly to the Lord; and David the king also rejoiced with great joy" (verse 9). Such an inspiration of giving brought God very near both to David and to his people, so that David's soul poured itself forth spontaneously in one of the most remarkable thanksgiving prayers on record. Then a response from the people was in place. David said to all the congregation: "Now bless the Lord your God;" and all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers and bowed down their heads and worshipped the Lord. Giving careful attention to this thanksgiving prayer, we shall readily note the deep sense it expresses of God's greatness and excellent glory; the transition from this to the littleness of men and of themselves; their appreciation of the high honor granted them to have and to know such a God and to feel that all their good comes from him; the joy of their hearts in giving back so much of their treasure to build an house for his name—all they have being truly his own; and coupled with this a rich, refreshing sense of having consecrated this wealth to God with an honest and willing mind. Noticeably it did not abate from the joy of this consecration and thanksgiving prayer to think that this God to whom they offer both their gold and their prayer knows all hearts and will witness to their sincerity. The climax of their joy seems to lie in this deep consciousness of being whole-hearted and thoroughly sincere in this entire service. Fifty this prayer closed with the petition—May God's grace perpetuate this spirit of consecration forever! "O Lord, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and hold their hearts steadfast to thyself, and give to Solomon my son a perfect heart to keep thy commandments and to build the palace for which I have made provision" (verses 18, 19). This was one of the last great efforts of the aged king, before he should lay down his earthly work to die, and one of the noblest. A grander example of munificent benefaction—of giving with the whole heart, when has the world ever seen? H. C. 1. Chron. 28: 1.** The grand assembling of Israel for the public investiture of Solomon with the throne of the Kingdom. Previously, at Gihon, by David's command, he had been anointed and proclaimed ruler over Israel and Judah. But that was only David's act, although guided by the specific directions of Jehovah. In accordance with God's own plan of governing the nation, the choice and act of the people by their representatives were essential to confirm and establish a ruler in the kingdom. So had it been with Saul, and with David at Hebron and at Jerusalem. David therefore summons a supreme assembly of authorized representatives from the whole kingdom: priests, prophets, princes, and military leaders; men of all high offices, and of renown for valor. He gathers them in grand and solemn convocation not only that they may ratify and personally accept the Divine appointment of Solomon as King, but that they may receive his farewell words of counsel. The event was one of intense and mingled feeling, as the old monarch, "full of days, riches, and honor," rose from his resting-couch to utter his parting exhortation! B. 2. It may appear singular that David at the first anointing of Solomon should be in his chamber, and on his bed, and exceedingly decrepit; and yet, at this second anointing, should be in the midst of his princes and counsellors, and standing on his feet. But David's present infirmity was not sickness, but the coldness and numbness of old age. He was heart-whole and head-whole. Therefore upon such an occasion as the crowning of Solomon again before all Israel, he was able to come forth and stand upon his feet, and give his advice respecting future proceedings. Dr. Lightfoot. 2, 3. David speaks first of the House of God. This was uppermost in his mind, as the thought of it had occupied his heart and hand for a long period of years. He says nothing of what he had done in constructing a compact, powerful nation out of feeble, separated tribes, and organizing all departments of a healthy, vigorous national life. He has no thought for all the splendid victories he had achieved in leading Israel; for the magnificence of the capital he had created; for any personal successes or trials. Nor speaks he of those matchless songs of praise and penitence, of trust and hope and prayer, which God had inspired his heart to conceive and his pen to express. Himself, his work of every sort, utterly forgotten, even as he faces that work in the retrospect of that solemn hour before the gathered nation; his only thoughts are of God and His House, of God's choices and plans, of the people's future and of Solomon's, as related to obedience and trust toward God. God and His House he speaks of first. Addressing them in touching terms of affection, as my brethren, my people, he declares his own longing, for years upon years, to build a place of rest, whereupon, as upon a footstool, the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God's presence, might rest. But God had declined his service, because it was not fitting that a man of war should build the Temple of the Prince of Peace. There is no question or complaint concerning this in David's heart. On the contrary, he instantly goes on to declare how the sovereign grace of God had wrought everything concerning himself. 4-7. David honors God's sovereignty in his own kingship and in Solomon's succession and buildership of the Temple. In the beautiful humility which characterized him as a youth, and which never left him, he utterly forgets every consideration of personal merit, while averring that God had chosen his tribe, his family, himself, and Solomon for the throne. And with an equally beautiful simplicity he refers to God's choice of Solomon as the builder, and gladly surrenders to him all the plans and material upon which he has spent the labor of years. He further testifies to the promise of God to give perpermanence to Solomon's kingdom, if King and people are constant in their fidelity to the Divine commandments and judgments. Then very naturally follows a solemn charge to people and King. 8. David charges the people to keep and seek God's commands. Formally appealing to the present listening God, and to the great assembly representing all Israel, as witnesses against the whole people if they despise his counsel, he exhorts them to obey the voice of Jehovah. His counsel is broad and full. Not only keep all known commands, but seek by earnest inquiry to know, that you may do, all His yet unrevealed will. And upon this cordial, steadfast obedience to God, he declares, will depend their continuance, and their children's inheritance, in the goodly land of their fathers. This is the single condition, be it noted, that runs through the entire series of Jehovah's promises from the call of Abraham onward. And this condition is as personal as it is national. To Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and to Moses, to Saul, and David, it had been spoken and fulfilled. B.—Keep and seek for, all the commandments of the Lord your God. The Lord was their God, his commandments must be their rule, they must have respect to them all, must make conscience of keeping them, and, in order thereunto, must seek for them—that is, must be inquisitive concerning their duty; search the Scriptures, take advice, seek the law at their mouth whose lips were to keep this knowledge, and pray to God to teach and direct them. He charges them in the sight of all Israel, who would all have notice of this public charge, and in the audience of their God. God is witness, and this congregation is witness, that they have good counsel given them, and fair warning; if they do not take it, it is their fault, and God and man will be witnesses against them. H. 9, 10. Charge to Solomon. Next, in Jehovah's name, the royal father solemnly utters a charge to his youthful son. In the presence of this august assembly of the nation he declares that the obligation of loyalty to God rests mutually upon king and people, and that the disobedience of either will bring the forfeiture of promised blessing. Other words of parting counsel, of similar import, the aged father had spoken in private. These included all that was vital to success and continuance. Although strictly personal, David uttered them in the audience of the people, that the impression upon Solomon might thus be deepened. As Solomon was witness to the charge they had received, so they were witnesses to these solemn words addressed to him. The charge, or counsel, is twofold, as are the reasons by which it is enforced. Know thou God? The meaning is, acquaint thyself with Him through all the methods by which He has declared himself and invited communion with Him. Recognize Him in all that He is, acknowledge Him in all that He does, gratefully accept all that He bestows, and with reverent filial spirit respond to His proffered fellowship. And to this knowledge of God, by personal recognition and intercourse, add a complete and gladly obedient service! Wholeness, singleness, sincerity, and heartiness are here indicated as the qualities of loyal and acceptable service to God. Half-effort, divided purpose, a half-truth, and a half-heart will not suffice for that loyalty and obedience which God justly demands. Note now the order as well as the substance of the reasons or arguments by which the charge is enforced. First, God is always searching the heart, discerning the secret motive and character of every purpose, word, and deed, measuring and testing each with the standard qualities upon which His approval and acceptance is based. This ceaseless minute inspection of God is the foremost consideration by which David impresses the obligation to that singleness and entireness of heart obedience which produces loyal service. Next, he enforces his counsel by the consequences of thus seeking or of forsaking God. Seeking God, He will be found, and His blessing will insure all needed guidance and favor and success. Forsaking God, He will cast off forever. All His promises will be forfeited and annulled, His aid and blessing will be withdrawn. In this whole charge of David to Solomon, including the counsel to know and serve God, with the reasons assigned, how evidently does he speak out of his own long and deep experience! His charge is more than mere wise counsel to the son who succeeds to the cares and responsibilities of the government. It is a testimony also, enforcing the counsel by the intense concentration of memory and feeling upon all the happy and sad results of his own checkered life. With all the force of his own experience he urges upon this beloved son to take heed to these sure tried truths, and to be strong in doing the work assigned him by the choice and direction of Israel's covenant God. Never was this injunction fully and heartily obeyed. After a brief period, it was deliberately disobeyed. Hence the consequences, of which he was so frequently and solemnly forewarned, came upon him. Forgetting, deserting, contemning God, he was abandoned of God. If saved in the end, it was from God's regard for His covenant with David. A great practical truth lies in this counsel and charge to Solomon. No force of emphasis too strong or earnest can be used in its application. It expresses the single comprehensive duty of man, and the supreme motives to human conduct which God himself assigns throughout His word. It speaks alike to young and old. Of each God demands acknowledgment, acquaintance, the search for a deeper knowledge of Him, and the practice of a closer communion with Him. Of each He asks a service that is wholehearted and thoroughly unselfish, a life that is pure and true coming out of a spirit that is supremely loyal and beneficent as His own. To one thus seeking to know Him, to be like Him, and to conform the whole life to His will, His promises are inexpressibly full and precious. But, let it be ever remembered, God's promises are invariably conditioned upon our loyalty in heart and life. To the end it is so. The filial spirit must continue filial. Trust in Christ must remain unbroken. The worship of prayer, and praise, and devout meditation, and the consecration of all we have and are, must be continuous throughout the life. Then the promises are verified in augmenting blessings. Otherwise they are forfeited and annulled. 1. Chron. 22: 17-19. Charge to the people to help Solomon in building the sanctuary of the Lord God. Since the Lord your God has given you rest in the undisturbed possession of the land, "Now set your heart to seek after Him, arise and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord your God." Here, as everywhere, the command is based upon the single supreme consideration and motive, the abounding undeserved goodness of God in the complete fulfilment of oft-repeated promises to their fathers. 1. Chron. 29: 1-5. David refers to his own preparation and offering for the Temple Building, and solicits their generous contributions. Note especially the touching expression in which he refers to his own personal and most kingly gift (verse 3). Because I have set my affection unto the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of mine own of gold and silver, I give it unto the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house. The vast store of material, useful and costly metals and precious stones, referred to in verse 2, comprised spoils of warfare as well as profits from public revenues, which he had accumulated for long years; for ultimate use in the Temple structure. In announcing to them his own personal offering of his private estate, his manifest purpose is, not to boast (for he gives from "affection," not ostentation), but to incite the princes and leaders of the people, men of influence and wealth, to give liberally in their offerings. For immediately he puts the emphatic, stirring appeal, Who then offereth willingly to consecrate himself this day unto the Lord? Literally, "to fill his hands," to come with full hands unto Jehovah. He asks not only a free-will but an abundant and generous offering. B. We must, each of us, in our several places, serve the Lord, and consecrate our service to him, separate it from other things that are foreign, and interfere with it, and direct and design it for the honor and glory of God. We must make the service of God our business; must fill our hands to the Lord, so the Hebrew phrase is. They who engage themselves in the service of God will have their hands full; there is work enough for the whole man in that service. The filling of our hands with the service of God intimates that we must serve him only, serve him liberally, and serve him in the strength of grace derived from him. We must be free herein, do it willingly and speedily, do it this day, when we are in a good mind. Who is willing? Let him show it, now and always. 6-9. How handsomely they all contributed toward the building of the temple, when they were thus stirred up to it. Though they were persuaded to it; yet it is said, They offered willingly (verse 6). So He said, who knew their hearts. Nay, they offered with a perfect heart, from a good principle, and with a sincere respect to the glory of God (verse 9). How generous they were, appears by the sum total of the contributions (verses 7, 8). They gave like princes, the princes of Israel. H. 10-19. David's sublime ascription of thankful praise to Jehovah. The joy of the people, because of their felt and conscious liberality, and the reflex joy of the king in the observation of it, are both most natural; and the outpouring of the monarch's soul is in perfect keeping with the sentiments by which he was actuated, and which are here ascribed to him. It is a very clear and substantial prayer; and such as would be uttered in the same circumstances by the most advanced and enlightened Christians of the present day. There is in it a noble strain of adoration—the ascription of all might and supremacy to God—the expression both of entire gratitude and of entire dependence—not the elation, but the humility awakened by what they had done and rendered in the cause of the Divine Being, because endowed from on high with the ability and the willingness thus to acquit themselves— the recognition of God as the spring and fountain-head of all their wealth, whereof they were only the temporary holders, so that they had but given to God that which was His own—the joyful sympathy which he felt in the kindred dispositions and offerings of the people—and, finally, his prayer both for them and for Solomon his son. Altogether, it is a most precious and heart-stirring composition. T. C. He adores God, and ascribes glory to him, as the God of Israel, blessed forever and ever. This is properly praising God, with holy awe and reverence, and agreeable affection, acknowledging not only that he is great, powerful, glorious, but that his is the greatness, power, and glory—that is, he has them in and of himself; he is the Fountain and Centre of everything that is bright and blessed. All that we can, in our most exalted praises, attribute to him, he has an unquestionable title to. He acknowledges with thankfulness the grace of God enabling them to contribute so cheerfully toward the building of the temple (verse 13): Now therefore, our God, we thank thee. The more we do for God, the more we are indebted to him for the honor of being employed in his service, and for grace enabling us, in any measure, to serve him. He thanks God that they were able to offer so willingly. It is a great instance of the power of God's grace in us to be able to do the work of God willingly. We must give God all the glory of all the good that is at any time done by ourselves or others. Our own good works must not be the matter of our pride, nor the good works of others the matter of our flattery, but both the matter of our praise. He speaks very humbly of himself, and his people, and the offerings they had now presented to God. For himself, and those that joined with him, though they were princes, he wondered that God should take such notice of them, and do so much for them (verse 14): Who am I, and what is my people? David was the most honorable person, and Israel the most honorable people then in the world; yet thus does he speak of himself and them, as unworthy the Divine cognizance and favor. H. "We have given thee of thine own," says David. So, Christian, do thou say, "Lord, the love with which I love thee is thine own; and the faith by which I hang upon thee is thine own; and the fear by which I fear before thee is thine own; and the joy with which I rejoice before thee is thine own; and the patience with which I wait upon thee is thine own." T. Brooks. 15. We are strangers before thee, and sojourners: our days are as a** shadow, and there is no abiding. David intimates that our life is a vain life, a dark life, a transient life, and a life that will have its period either in perfect light or perfect darkness. The next words explain it, There is no abiding, Heb. no expectation. We cannot expect any great matters from it, nor can we expect any long continuance of it. This is mentioned here, as that which forbids us to boast of the service we do to God: alas! it is confined to a scantling of time, it is the service of a frail and short life, and therefore what can we pretend to merit by it? H.—Never did the Jewish nation appear to be more at home than at that time. As for David, his happiness was so complete, that, instead of asking any additional favors, he could hardly find words to express his gratitude for those he had already received. Yet, amid all his affluence, when he possessed every outward comfort his heart could wish, still he called himself a stranger and a sogourner before God. In his most prosperous condition, he did not look upon this earth as his home, but extended his views to the heavenly world, that glorious and permanent inheritance of the saints, which is “incorruptible and undefiled, and which fadeth not away.” R. Walker. 16. It cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.** “We have it from thee as a free gift, and therefore are bound to use it for thee; and what we present to thee is but rent or interest from thine own.” “In like manner” (says Bishop Patrick), “we ought to acknowledge God in all spiritual things, referring every good thought, good purpose, good work, to his grace, from whom we receive it.” 17. He appeals to God concerning his own sincerity in what he did. It is a great satisfaction to a good man to think that God tries the heart, and has pleasure in uprightness; that whoever misinterpret or condemn it, he is acquainted with, and approves of, the way of the righteous. It was David’s comfort that God knew with what pleasure he both offered his own, and saw the people’s offering. He was neither proud of his own good work nor envious of the good works of others. 18. He prays to God both for the people and for Solomon, that both might hold on as they began. In this prayer he addresses himself to God, as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a God in covenant with them, and with us for their sakes. Lord, give us grace to make good our part of the covenant, that we may not forfeit the benefit of it. They were kept in their integrity by the grace of God establishing their way; let the same grace that was sufficient for them be so for us. For the people he prays that what good God had put into their minds he would always keep there, that they might be faithful to him and continue to enjoy his favor. H. 20. Then, at David’s bidding, the vast congregation “blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads and worshipped the LORD.” B. 21. The next day they offered abundance of sacrifices to God, both burnt-offerings which were wholly consumed, and peace-offerings which the offerer had the greatest part of to himself. Hereby they testified a generous gratitude to God for the good posture their public affairs were in, though David was going the way of all the earth. 22. They feasted, and rejoiced, before God. In token of their joy in God and communion with him, they feasted upon their peace offerings before the Lord. What had been offered to God they feasted upon; by which was intimated to them that they should be never the poorer for their late liberal contributions to the service of the temple; they themselves should feast upon the comfort of it. H.—After the sacrifice the portions of the offerings reserved for feasting were distributed for the open air feast and eaten in the presence of the Lord, and the sacred festivities passed into social and domestic enjoyment. For the two full days sacrifices were kept up in sanctuary and outer altar, in uncounted numbers, the people bearing their meats from the sacrifices to their houses, tents and booths, the rulers and princes completing the arrangements for their gifts to the temple. Knox. 22. They made Solomon king, the second time. He having been before anointed in haste, upon occasion of Adonijah’s rebellion, it was thought fit to repeat it, for the greater satisfaction of the people. They anointed him to the Lord. Magistrates must look upon themselves as set apart for God, to be his ministers, and must rule accordingly in the fear of God. Zadok also was anointed to be priest, in the room of Abiathar, who had lately forfeited this honor. H. A constant memorial of this solemnity is preserved in that most magnificent of the Psalms of David, the seventy-second, in which the blessings predicted for the reign of Solomon form a transparent veil for the transcendent glories prophesied for Christ’s kingdom, and which is marked as the crowning contribution of its author to the service of the sanctuary by its concluding words, “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended!” P. S. 1. Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was very fair; and she cherished the king, and ministered to him; but the king knew her not. Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he was also a very goodly man; and he was born after Absalom. And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped him. But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel; and he called all his brethren the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants: but Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not. Then Nathan spake unto Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not? Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon. Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? why then doth Adonijah reign? Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words. And Bath-sheba went in unto the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite ministered unto the king. And Bath-sheba bowed, and did obeisance unto the king. And the king said, What wouldest thou? And she said unto him, My lord, thou swarest by the Lord thy God unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne. And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth; and thou, my lord the king, knowest it not: and he hath slain oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host: but Solomon thy servant hath he not called. And thou, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders. And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. And they told the king, saying, Behold, Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? For he is gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king's sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and, behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah. But me, even me thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not called. Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou hast not shewed unto thy servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? Then king David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came into the king's presence, and stood before the king. And the king swore, and said, As the LORD liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, verily as I swore unto thee by the LORD, the God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; verily so will I do this day. Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did obeisance to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live forever. And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. And the king said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon: and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon. Then ye shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the LORD, the God of my lord the king, say so too. As the LORD hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David. So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon. And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them. And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar? While he yet spake, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said, Come in; for thou art a worthy man, and bringest good tidings. And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Verily our lord king David hath made Solomon king: and the king hath sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride upon the king's mule: and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard. And also Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom. And moreover the king's servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, Thy God make the name of Solomon better than thy name, and make his throne greater than thy throne: and the king bowed himself upon the bed. And also thus said the king, Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, which hath given one to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing it. And all the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way. And Adonijah feared because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me this day that he will not slay his servant with the sword. And Solomon said, If he shall shew himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die. So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and did obeisance to king Solomon: and Solomon said unto him, Go to thine house. 1-4. David was older at seventy than Moses at a hundred and twenty; older than many persons are now at eighty. As the vital heat departed from his blood, it became manifest that his eventful life was drawing to its close. Kit.—The expedient recommended by David's physicians is the regimen prescribed in similar cases still in the East, particularly among the Arab population, not simply to give heat, but "to cherish," as they are aware that the inhalation of young breath will give new life and vigor to the worn-out frame. The fact of the health of the young and healthier person being, as it were, stolen to support that of the more aged and sickly, is well established among the medical faculty. And hence the prescription for the aged king was made in a hygienic point of view for the prolongation of his valuable life, and not merely for the comfort to be derived from the natural warmth imparted to his withered frame. Jamieson. 5,6. Adonijah was at least thirty-three years old, for he was one of the six sons born in Hebron; more likely he was thirty-five or thirty-six years old, while Solomon could hardly have been more than twenty years of age. Adonijah was born shortly after Absalom, was beautiful, like his beautiful brother; like him had been indulged by a busy and lenient father, and by his wilfulness and self-ambition was as little fit to reign. Knox.—Like his elder brother Amnon, Adonijah had been born in Hebron; like Absalom, he was distinguished by personal attractions. But he, also, as Amnon and Absalom, had all his life been fatally indulged by David. In the expressive language of Holy Scripture: "his father had not displeased him all his days." A. E. As Adonijah was next to Absalom both in the beauty of his body and the time of his birth, so was he, too, like him in practice. He, also, taking advantage of his father's infirmity, will be possessing himself of the kingdom of Israel. These two, Absalom and Adonijah, were the darlings of their father. Their father had not displeased them from their childhood; therefore they both displeased him in his age. Those children had need to be very gracious that are not marred with pampering. It is more than God owes us, if we receive comfort in those children whom we have over-loved. The indulgence of parents at last pays them home in crosses. Bp. H.—David had nobody to blame but himself for this misconduct of his son. It was his own excessive indulgence which led to this extravagance. Strange weakness in parents and cruelty to their children, to suffer them to become incorrigible in error or inveterate in vice, rather than restrain them while correction is kindness! Delaney. 7. The rebellion of Absalom had failed because David was in full vigor at the time and so ably supported by Abiathar the priest and Joab the captain of the host. But Adonijah had attached these two to his interests. It is not difficult to understand the motives of Joab in trying to secure the succession for one who would owe to him his elevation, not to speak of the fact that the rival candidate for the throne was Solomon, the "man of peace," the pupil of Nathan, and the representative of the "religious party" in the land. It is not so easy to account for the conduct of Abiathar, unless it was prompted by jealousy of Zadok, who officiated at Gibeon. A. E. The facts that David was seemingly at the point of death, and that Solomon was scarcely out of his nonage, seem to have encouraged his hope that by prompt and decisive measures he might secure the crown for himself. He felt strong in his riper years, in his right of primogeniture, in the absence of any evil design against his father, in the supposed good feeling of the people toward his claim, and in the support it had from many old servants of the State, who had been faithful to David in all his troubles. Among these were persons of no less weight than Joab, the commander of the army, and Abiathar, one of the high-priests, who, indeed, are named as his chief abettors. His policy was to anticipate Solomon, by causing himself to be proclaimed king before his father's death. It was probably calculated that David was too far gone to interfere to any purpose, and that, when the thing was done, and in favor of a son he loved so well, he would acquiesce in it as a fact accomplished. So Adonijah made a great sacrificial feast in the gardens outside Mount Zion, in which lay the fountain of En-regel, and invited to it all the king's sons except Solomon, and all the king's servants and officers except those known to be in the interests of his young rival. Among the latter are particularly named Zadok the high-priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the captain of the guard, and the "mighty men," or select band of "worthies," of whom we have had repeated mention. The necessity for such exceptions, of which he was himself aware, was ominous for the cause of Adonijah. Not to speak of the "worthies," the influence of Zadok in the Church was at least equal to that of Abiathar: and although the name of Joab seems more than a counterbalance for that of Benaiah, yet its immediate value was probably less, as the body-guard which the latter commanded constituted the main part of the army constantly under arms and doubtless the only part then present at the capital. Kit. Had not Adonijah known that Solomon was designed to the kingdom both by God and David, he would not have invited all the rest of the king's sons and left out Solomon, who was otherwise the most unlikely to have been his competitor for the throne, since all the rest were older and might have had more pretence for their competition. Bp. II. 11,12. Nathan was the man by whom God had sent that errand of grace to David concerning Solomon, assuring him both to reign and prosper; and now, when Adonijah's plot was thus on foot, he doth not sit still and depend upon the issue of God's decree, but consults with Bathsheba how at once to save their lives, and to advance Solomon and defeat Adonijah. God's pre determination includes the means as well as the end. The same providence that had ordained a crown to Solomon, a repulse to Adonijah, preservation to Bathsheba and Nathan, had fore-appointed the wise and industrious endeavors of the prophet to bring about His just and holy purposes; if we would not have God wanting to us we must not be wanting to ourselves; even when we know what God hath meant to us we may not be negligent. No more than other men did the prophets of God look for revelation in all their affairs; in some things they were left to the counsel of their own hearts. The policy of Nathan was of use as well as his prophecy. Bp. II. 13-43. Nathan induced Bathsheba to go and break to David a matter that so nearly concerned the interests and even safety of her son. She accordingly went to the chamber of David, and "bowed, and did obeisance unto the king." Knowing that she had not come unbidden without some important cause, he inquired her errand. The manner of the thing was much the same as when Esther appeared before the king of "a hundred and seven and twenty provinces." Thus permitted to speak, Bathsheba performed a mother's part well. She repeated what she had learned, and reminded the king of his promise that Solomon should be king after himself. When she had finished, and before David could answer, the prophet Nathan was announced, as had been arranged between him and Bathsheba, and the latter then withdrew, but remained within call. Nathan confirmed Bathsheba's statement by a more particular recital of what was going on outside the city, and asked if this was done by his authority and with his concurrence. The greatness of the exigency roused the king to clear-minded and decisive action. His body was bowed down by age and feebleness; but his mind could go forth freely and vigorously into all the circumstances, and apprehend all that so great an occasion rerequired. He desired Bathsheba to be called in; and at once, without any question or circumlocution, pledged himself by oath to see his original intentions carried out. His words were solemn and impressive,—"As Jehovah liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even as I sware unto thee, by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead, even so will I certainly do this day." Accordingly, she had no sooner departed, gladdened by the assurance, than he sent for Zadok, Nathan, and Benaiah, and directed them at once to mount Solomon upon his own mule of state, and to escort him, with all the royal servants and the guards, down to Gihon, which lay in the valley on the west side of the city, Adonijah's party being in the valley on the northeast. There Zadok was to anoint him king, with the sacred oil from the tabernacle, and with a royal flourish of trumpets they were to proclaim, "Long live King Solomon." This was a sagacious and most effective movement, exactly suited to the circumstances, and shows, that while the king's natural strength was prostrated, his intellect remained quick and unclouded to the last. All was done as the king had directed. The open march of so stately a procession, with the official sanction which the presence of the royal guards, and the king's own mule, conferred, together with the engaging youth of the prince, drew a large and popular concourse with the train to Gihon, where the inauguration took place, as David had directed. The operation was so sudden, that the city had scarcely been aware of it till the procession returned, with Solomon as king. He was then hailed by the citizens with intense acclamation. "The people piped with pipes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rung with the sound of them." The joyful uproar in the city even reached the ears of the banqueters at En-regel. They were not left long in doubt as to the purport of this joyous clamor; for Abiathar's son, Jonathan, came with a full account of the proceedings in the city and at Gihon. His first words must have filled them with dismay,—"Our lord king David hath made Solomon king." Kit. 29. As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even so will I certainly do this day, without dispute, without delay. His form of swearing carries in it a grateful acknowledgment of the goodness of God to him in bringing him safe through the many difficulties and hardships which had lain in his way, and which he now makes mention of to the glory of God; thus setting to his seal, from his own experience, that that was true which the Lord spake by him (Ps. 34: 22), The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants. H. —Well might David, on the retrospect of a history so full as his was of trials and reverses, speak of God as He who had redeemed his soul out of all distress. It is well to mark the evangelical term here employed by him, as if affixing thereby the proper designation to that which had been done for a soul so guilty as in his Psalms he confesses himself to be. 39. We learn directly and distinctly from his own mouth in what he said to Bathsheba, that the promise had been made to her under the sanction of an oath, in behalf of Solomon's succession to the throne—an appointment this which lay at the disposal of the reigning monarch. T. C. 32-35. David gives wise and full directions for the inauguration of Solomon; Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the captain, receive his grave and princely charge, for the carriage of that so weighty a business. They are commanded to take with them the royal guard, to set Solomon upon his father's mule, to carry him down in state to Gihon, to anoint him with the holy oil of the tabernacle, to sound the trumpets and proclaim him in the streets, to bring him back with triumph and magnificence to the court, and to set him in the royal throne with all the due ceremonies of coronation. Bp. H. —Gihon was probably on the west side of the city near the head of the valley of Hinnom. Adonijah was at the foot of this valley, from a mile to a mile and a half away. The two places were thoroughly concealed from each other by the bend of the valley and its high, rocky sides. Gihon was quite near the Bethlehem gate. Knox. With whatever weakness David may have been chargeable, he always rose to the requirements of the situation in hours of decisive importance, when either the known will of God or else the interests of his kingdom were in question. In this instance his measures were immediate and decisive. He sent for Zadok, Nathan, and Benaiah, and gave them his royal command for the immediate anointing of Solomon as king over Judah and Israel. 38-53. The scene is vividly portrayed in Scripture. The king's body-guard—the Cherethi and Pelethi—under the command of Benaiah, was drawn up in front of the royal palace. Soon a vast concourse of people gathered. And now the king's state-mule, richly caparisoned, was brought out. It was an unwonted sight, which betokened some great state event. Presently, the great news became known, and rapidly spread through the streets and up the bazaars—Solomon was about to be anointed king! The people crowded together, in hundreds and thousands, from all parts of the city. And now Solomon appeared, attended by Zadok the high-priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the chief of the royal guard. The procession formed and moved forward. To avoid collision with the party of Adonijah, it took an opposite or western direction to the valley of Gihon. Here, by authority and express command of David, Solomon was anointed king with the sacred oil by the joint ministry of the high-priest and the prophet. The ceremony ended, the blast of the trumpets proclaimed the accession of the new monarch, and the people burst into a ringing shout: "God save King Solomon!" As the procession returned, the city rang with the jubilee, till it reached the royal palace, where King Solomon seated himself in solemn state on his father's throne, and received the homage of the court, while David gave public thanks that he had lived to see that day. Meanwhile, out in the king's gardens, the strange shouts from the city had reached Adonijah and his guests. Joab had grown uneasy as he heard the well-known sound of the trumpet. The tidings travelled quickly, and already one was in waiting to explain its meaning. But it was not as Adonijah had hoped against hope. The son of Abiathar had come to inform the conspirators of what had just taken place in Gihon and in the royal palace. And now sudden terror seized those who had but lately been so confident in their feasting. Every one of the conspirators fled, foremost among them Adonijah; nor did he deem himself safe till he had reached the sacred precincts and laid hold on the horns of the altar. This asylum he refused to quit until Solomon had assured him by oath that his life would be spared—though on condition that his future conduct should give the king no cause for complaint. The events just recorded, which are only briefly indicated in 1 Chron. 23: 1, were followed by a great assembly of the chief dignitaries in Church and State (1 Chron., chs. 28, 29), when the accession of Solomon to the throne was formally confirmed, and he was anointed a second time. A. E. The dethronement of the false by the enthronement of the true. When Bathsheba and Nathan brought David news of Adonijah's revolt, and told him that Joab and Abiathar were at the coronation feast at En-rogel, it is noteworthy that the king made no direct attack on the conspirators. He merely commanded that Solomon should be seated on the royal mule, that he should ride in state to Gihon, and that there Zadok should anoint him king, and proclaim by the sound of trumpet that he was appointed ruler. It was this which paralyzed the traitorous assembly. The sound of the trumpet was to their scheme what the blast of the rams' horns was to the walls of Jericho when they fell in irreparable ruin. David's method was the wisest, the surest; for it not only removed a present evil, but provided a future good. The lesson is obvious, and is susceptible of wide application; that the false is most surely dethroned by the enthronement of the true. Rowland. DAVID'S PREPARATIONS FOR THE FUTURE TEMPLE. HIS CHARGES TO SOLOMON: TO BUILD THE LORD'S HOUSE; TO KNOW AND SERVE JEHOVAH; TO DEAL WITH JOAB AND SHIMEI. David's Farewell Address to the Assembled Representatives of the Nation. He Urges Obedience to God's Commandments, and a Hearty Co-operation with Solomon in the Building of the Lord's House. Solomon is Formally Acknowledged and again Anointed King. 1 Chron. 22:17-19; 28:1-10; 29:1-22. 1. Chron. 23 :** 1 Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel. 1. Chron. 22 :** 2 And David (had) commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. 3 And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the 4 couplings; and brass in abundance without weight; and cedar trees without number: for 5 the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David. And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the LORD must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death. 6 Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for the LORD, the 7 God of Israel. And David said to Solomon his son, As for me, it was in my heart to build an 8 house unto the name of the LORD my God. But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house 9 unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight: behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto 10 Israel in his days: he shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will 11 be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. Now, my son, the LORD be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the LORD thy God, as 12 he hath spoken concerning thee. Only the LORD give thee discretion and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel; that so thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God. 13 Then shalt thou prosper, if thou observe to do the statutes and the judgments which the LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; fear not, neither be 14 dismayed. Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of the LORD an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou 15 mayest add thereto. Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and work- 16 ers of stone and timber, and all men that are cunning in any manner of work; of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number; arise and be doing, and the LORD be with thee. 1. Chron. 28 :** 11 Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch of the temple, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper rooms thereof, 12 and of the inner chambers thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat: and the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, for the courts of the house of the LORD, and for all the chambers round about, for the treasuries of the house of God, and for the treasuries of the dedicated 13 things : also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service 14 of the house of the LORD, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the LORD : of gold by weight for the vessels of gold, for all vessels of every kind of service ; of silver for all the 15 vessels of silver by weight, for all vessels of every kind of service : by weight also for the candlesticks of gold, and for the lamps thereof, of gold, by weight for every candlestick and for the lamps thereof : and for the candlesticks of silver, silver by weight for every candlestick 16 and for the lamps thereof, according to the use of every candlestick : and the gold by weight 17 for the tables of shewbread, for every table ; and silver for the tables of silver ; and the flesh- hooks, and the basons, and the cups, of pure gold : and for the golden bowls by weight for 18 every bowl ; and for the silver bowls by weight for every bowl : and for the altar of incense refined gold by weight : and gold for the pattern of the chariot, even the cherubim, that spread 19 out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD. All this, said David, have I been made to understand in writing from the hand of the LORD, even all the works of this 20 pattern. And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it : fear not, nor be dismayed : for the LORD God, even my God, is with thee ; he will not fail thee, 21 nor forsake thee, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD be finished. And, behold, there are the courses of the priests and the Levites, for all the service of the house of God : and there shall be with thee in all manner of work every willing man that hath skill, for any manner of service : also the captains and all the people will be wholly at thy commandment. I K. 2 : 1 Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die ; and he charged Solomon 2 his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth : be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a 3 man ; and keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou 4 turnest thyself : that the LORD may establish his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with 5 all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel. Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did unto me, even what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was 6 about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. Do therefore according to thy wisdom, 7 and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace. But shew kindness unto the sons of Barzilai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table : for so they came to me 8 when I fled from Absalom thy brother. And, behold, there is with thee Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim : but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, 9 saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. Now therefore hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man ; and thou wilt know what thou oughtest to do unto him, and thou shalt bring his hoar head down to the grave with blood. For long years David had been accumulating materials for the temple. From that day—about the fourteenth year of his reign—when he knew that his son would build a temple, he had kept the future building in mind. From Zobah and Syria and Ammon and Moab, from Philistines and Amalekites, had he selected precious stones out of gathered spoils. What Saul himself had dedicated to the throne and kingdom, David had rededicated to the future house. And now, in a vigorous old age, he takes up these accumula- tions, and the whole order of the service also, to put them into a worthy form for the temple and for future ages. Knox. Since in His Providence, Jehovah pointed out the place where the Sanctuary was to be reared, David, with characteristic energy, began immediate preparations for a work, the greatness of which the king measured by his estimate of Him for whose service it was designed. It al- most seems as if in these arrangements all David's former vigor had come back, showing where, despite his weaknesses and failings, the king's heart really was. Besides, the youth of his son and successor Solomon, and the consid- eration that probably no other monarch would wield such influence in the land as he had pos- sessed, determined David not to neglect nor de- fer anything that he might be able to do. A. E. I Chron. 22 : 1-5. The few years that re- mained of David's life were spent mainly in pre- paring for building this palace of Jehovah. A work of such magnitude and magnificence was slow of growth. Quarries had to be opened close to the site of the building; for there were neither roads nor rivers to transport blocks of stone in the rugged country round Jerusalem. Builders and stone-hewers, goldsmiths, joiners, and tool-makers could not easily be got, either in sufficient number or with the needful skill, in a kingdom then only rising from poverty and weakness into wealth and strength. Of timber there was plenty in the land, though the neighborhood of Jerusalem has always been bare of trees. But as the cedars and cypresses of Lebanon were alone deemed fit for the palace of Jehovah, great bodies of workmen were required to cut down the trees and convey them to Moriah. Sime. 5. The house must be exceeding magnificent, very stately and sumptuous, strong and beautiful, everything about it the best in its kind; for a good reason, it was intended for the honor of the great God, the Lord of the whole earth, and was to be a type of Christ, in whom all fulness dwells and in whom are hid all treasures. Men were then to be taught by sensible methods; the grandeur of the house would help to affect the worshippers with a holy awe and reverence of God, and would invite strangers to come to see it, as the wonder of the world, who thereby would be brought acquainted with the true God; therefore it is here designed to be of fame and glory throughout all countries. David foretold this good effect of its being magnificent (Ps. 65: 29). Because of thy temple at Jerusalem, shall kings bring presents unto thee. H. 13. That David and Solomon had well-known sacred writings of Moses is affirmed in 1 K. 2: 3; 1 Chron. 22: 13; 16: 40. If these statements are historical, it follows that these writings existed in the times before David. W. J. B. — 14. Although, as has been often explained, clerical errors occur in the numerals in the historical books, it may be well to give the real equivalent of the silver and gold mentioned here. Bearing in mind the distinction between the sacred and the common shekel, it would amount to under four million pounds. Immense as this sum is, Keil has shown that it is by no means out of proportion with the treasures taken as booty in antiquity. A. E. 1. Chron. 28: 11-21. As Jehovah had given to Moses by the Spirit the pattern of the Tabernacle and its furniture, so had He intimated to David “the pattern of the Temple,” in all its details of structure, contents, and service. These details he now furnishes to Solomon, with the statement (verse 19), “All this have I been made to understand in writing from the hand of the Lord, even all the works of this pattern.” And he adds (verse 20) words of strong encouragement, based upon the sure promise of God’s presence and help until the work of building should be completed. B. 1. K. 2: 1-4. A royal father’s last words. David’s eventful life is drawing to a close. He has proved himself to be “a man after God’s own heart.” Not a perfect man, for he had grievous defects. But, in the main, he recognized the grandeur of his position as “the Lord’s anointed.” He lived by the inspiration of a Divine purpose. He “served his own generation by the will of God” (Acts 13: 36). His very faults bore witness to the native force of his character. The height of the precipice measures the depth that frowns beneath it. Great natures are most capable of great temptations, great sorrows, and great sins. Waite. He is not afraid to hear or speak of dying: I go the way of all the earth, (Heb.) I am walking in it. Death is a way; not only a period of this life, but a passage to a better. It is the way of all the earth, of all mankind who dwell on earth, are themselves earth and therefore must return to their earth. Even the sons and heirs of heaven must go the way of all the earth; they must needs die; but they walk with pleasure in this way, through the valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23: 4). Prophets, and even kings, must go this way to brighter light and honor than prophecy or sovereignty. David is going this way, and therefore gives Solomon directions what to do. He charges him, in general, to keep God’s commandments, and to make conscience of his duty. He prescribes to him a good rule to act by—the Divine will. “Govern thyself by that.” David’s charge to him is, to keep the charge of the Lord his God. The authority of a dying father is much, but nothing to that of a living God. There are great trusts which we are charged with by the Lord our God, let us keep them carefully as those that must give account; and excellent statutes which we must be ruled by, let us also keep them. The written Word is our rule; Solomon must himself do as was written in the law of Moses. Be strong, and show thyself a man, though in years but a child. Those that would keep the charge of the Lord their God, must put on resolution. The keeping of this charge would effectually conduce, First, To the prosperity of his kingdom; it is the way to prosper in all thou doest, and to succeed with honor and satisfaction in every undertaking. Secondly, To the perpetuity of it; that the Lord may continue, and so confirm his word, which he spake concerning me. Those that rightly value the treasure of the promise, cannot but be solicitous to preserve the entail of it, and very desirous that those who come after them may do nothing to cut it off. Let each, in his own age, keep God's charge, and then God will be sure to continue his word. We never let fall the promise till we let fall the precept. The promise, that there should not fail him a man on the throne of Israel, was conditional; if his seed behave themselves as they should. If Solomon in his day fulfil the condition, he does his part toward the perpetuating of the promise. The condition is that he walk before God in all his institutions, in sincerity, with zeal and resolution; and in order hereunto, that he take heed to his way. H. 2. The necessity of personal resolution. "Be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man." This sounds like an echo of God's own words to Joshua (1 : 7). The occasions were similar. Joshua was entering on his leadership, and Solomon was on the steps of his throne. David would evoke the manly resolution of his son. In David's sense, to show yourself a man is to prove yourself wise, valorous, virtuous, and, above all, loyal of heart to God. This exhortation, then, implies the manifestation of moral courage and strength. These are required in order to obedience, for obedience implies struggle. There is conflict with self. We have to check the uprising of passion, to fight against the pride which would make us refuse to submit to the revelation and to the righteousness of God. There is resistance to the evil influences of others. When Solomon was misled by his wives, and began to worship their gods, he was forgetting the command, "Be strong, and show thyself a man." There is antagonism to popular customs. In school, in business, in national policy, in Church routine, it is easier to float with the stream than to contend against it. He must needs "be strong, and show himself a man," who would say, "We must obey God rather than man!" Rowland. 3. Take heed to the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes. The best legacy that David bequeaths to his heir is the care of piety. Himself had found the sweetness of a good conscience, and now he commends it to his successor. If there be anything, that in our desires of the prosperous condition of our children, takes place of goodness, our hearts are not upright. Here was the father of a king, charging the king his son to keep the statutes of the King of kings; as one that knew greatness could neither exempt from obedience nor privilege sin; as one that knew the least deviation in the greatest and highest orb is both most sensible and most dangerous. Neither would he have his son to look for any prosperity save only from well-doing; that happiness is built upon sand or ice which is raised upon any foundation besides virtue. If Solomon were wise, David was good; and if old Solomon had well remembered the counsel of old David, he had not so foully miscarried. Bp. H. The assurance of resulting blessedness. "That thou mayest prosper." As an historical fact, this promise was fulfilled. The kingdom of Solomon prospered as long as he was faithful to the God of his father. His apostasy sowed the seeds of its decay. God's promises are contingent, not absolute. They have attached to them implied conditions. This, which was shown in material blessings under the covenant of the old economy, is abidingly true. It is not that man merits the blessings of God by his obedience, but that he unfit himself to receive them by disobedience. This is yet more clearly seen under the light of the new dispensation. God gives a man that which he is fit for on earth and in heaven. In and through Jesus Christ He has broadened our views of recompense. Beyond death the fulfilment of this promise extends, and he who is faithful with the few things shall be at last a ruler over many. In a spirit of humble obedience and prayerful dependence, let us seek to keep the charge and win the blessedness revealed in these dying words of the sweet singer of Israel. Rowland. 5. The bloodiness of Joab had lain long upon David's heart. The hideous noise of those treacherous murders, as it had pierced heaven, so it still filled the ears of David. He could abhor the villainy, though he could not revenge it. What he cannot pay, he will owe; and approve himself at last a faithful debtor: now he will defray it by the hand of Solomon. The slaughter was of Abner and Amasa. David appropriates it; "Thou knowest what Joab did to me." Bp. H. Put the blood of war upon his girdle. The plain meaning is, that he stained his clothes and armor with the blood of Abner and Amasa, his own countrymen and fellow-soldiers. Pyle.—It aggravated Joab's crime, that he was neither ashamed of the sin, nor afraid of the punishment, but daringly wore the girdle and shoes, that were stained with innocent blood, in defiance of the justice both of God and the king H. Joab had most deeply offended David by the twofold act of assassination perpetrated on Abner and Amasa, when he put to death the rebellious Absalom in defiance of the express command of David before the whole host, and, finally, by the conspiracy with Adonijah, so that duty enjoined the king to warn his son and successor against a man who was dangerous on account of the great consideration he enjoyed with the army. Even after the murder of Abner, David prayed for the Divine vengeance on Joab, but was himself unable to punish the crime, because the sons of Zeruiah (Joab and Abishai) were too mighty for him. But that he had only deferred the punishment and intended to remove Joab on the first opportunity from the office of commander-in-chief, is evident from the promise he gave to Amasa, the fulfilment of which Joab had frustrated by his murder. Now, as the king felt himself unable to punish this crime, he commits its punishment to his successor. This commission, therefore, for which scoffers, such as Bayle and Tindal, not merely abused David, but attacked the Bible itself, is completely justified at the bar of the strictest morals. Keil. David has been censured for betraying a vindictive spirit in his dying advice to Solomon respecting Joab and Shimei, but his conduct appears to be perfectly justifiable. In regard to Joab, he does not advise Solomon absolutely and unconditionally to put him to death, but tells him to "do according to his wisdom;" he says to him, "Though you have now pardoned Joab through policy, as I was compelled to do myself by the exigency of the times, and the predominant influence of the sons of Zeruiah; yet, should he offend again, act according to your discretion, and then punish him, as a hoary-headed murderer and a confirmed traitor, with death." Hales. The advice now given by David cannot be deemed inconsistent with true piety, or unworthy of a just and religious prince on his death-bed. It is true that forgiveness of enemies is a duty; but no man is obliged, by any law that we know of, so to forgive an enemy, continuing such, as not to take the proper methods to guard against the effects of his enmity, and to bring him to justice, if no other method will prove effectual. Much less is a prince obliged so to forgive an implacable enemy to his crown and government, and one who is likely to disturb the settlement of the crown in his successor, as not to advise his successor to be on his guard against him, and to punish him, when guilty, according to his demerits. Such precaution as this he owes to his people; and he may die, as a private person, in charity with all mankind, and forgive every private injury against himself; and yet, as a prince he may advise what is necessary for the public good, and even the execution of particular persons, in case they should, by abusing the lenity of government, and the respite they once obtained, become guilty of new and capital offences. Chandler. The sentiment continually set forth in the Old Testament is, that innocent blood cries to God from the ground for vengeance; and that, if suffered to go unpunished, it brings down a curse and judgment upon the land. Let us look at some texts enforcing the view which both David and Solomon were bound to take of this matter. "If a man come presumptuously on his neighbor, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die" (Ex. 21:14). This exactly met the case of both murders by Joab; and the neglect of a rule so plain, and so stringently stated, might well appear as a perilous neglect of public duty. Again: "Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death: but he shall surely be put to death" (Nu. 35:31). After a similar injunction in De. 19:13, it is added, "Thine eye shall not pity him: but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee." Look, also, to the case of Manasseh, whose punishment and captivity is mainly ascribed to "the innocent blood which he shed (for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood), which the Lord would not pardon" (2 K. 24:4). That this point of view was present to the mind of David, and influenced his conduct, is very clear; for, at the very time of Abner's murder, he publicly implored that the judgment of this innocent blood might be averted from his house and kingdom, and that it might rest upon Joab and upon his house. This, in fact, was formally reserving Joab for the future judgment which he then felt powerless to execute. Besides this, it must not be overlooked that the recent terrible judgment upon the land, on account of the long-past destruction of the Gibeonites by Saul, was well calculated to enforce these views, and give great intensity to David's apprehensions of the consequences to the realm of these crimson sins of Joab being much longer suffered to pass unpunished. If this state of the case be correct, and we are persuaded that it is, no excuse for David's conduct in this matter is required; but he was rather—under the views he was bound to entertain—not only blameless, but laudable, and entirely in accordance with his duty as a king and a father. Kit. How would David have been acquitted of the charge of injustice if he had suffered such public and crying offences to pass wholly unpunished? He discharges his conscience by the advice which he gives to Solomon. Not having been able in his lifetime to complete all that justice required of him, he charged his son to execute what remained. He spoke as a king and as a judge, whose duty it was to punish crime, not as a private individual following the dictates of revenge. Joab had been so powerful a man with the army, that David, during his lifetime, durst not call him to account; but, when Solomon began to reign, the continuance of profound peace had impaired Joab's power, by rendering his services useless. Solomon, therefore, had no reason to dread his influence, and was enabled to bring him to that punishment which justice demanded. Calmet. In regard to matters Divine and spiritual, only one plain advice need he give to Solomon. Spiritual decidedness, faithfulness, and obedience to God: such simply were the means by which the promises given to David and his house would be inherited. But all the greater were the political dangers which beset the path of the youthful kin: an unscrupulous military party, headed by Joab; a dissatisfied priestly faction, ready to plot and join any rebellious movement; and ill-suppressed tribal jealousies, of whose existence Shimei had, at a critical period, given such painful evidence. The leaders of two of these parties had long forfeited their lives; indeed, only the necessities of the time could have excused either the impunity with which Joab's treachery and his murder of Abner and Amasa had been passed over, or the indulgence extended to such conduct as that of Shimei. It was not, as some would have us believe, that on his death-bed David gave utterance to those feelings of revenge which he was unable to gratify in his lifetime, but that, in his most intimate converse with his son and successor, he looked at the dangers to a young and inexperienced monarch from such powerful and unscrupulous partisans. In these circumstances it was only natural that, before dying, he should have given to his son and successor such advice for his future guidance as his long experience would suggest; and similarly that, in so doing, he should have reviewed the chief dangers and difficulties which had beset his own path, and have referred to the great public crimes which, during his reign, had necessarily been left unpunished. The fact that, even before his death, an attempt had been made to elevate Adonijah to the throne, contrary alike to the known will of God and the appointment of David, and that the chief actors in this had been Joab and Abiathar, must have recalled the past to his mind, and shown him that the fire had been smouldering these many years, and might at any time burst into flame. A. E. Adonijah alone was harmless, and might be left to Solomon in his youth. Only when supported by designing and wily men would he be strong. Abiathar was already removed from his position of power. Joab only was a strong, bold man, confirmed through a long life in a vindictive habit of mind, whose very defeat now would provoke resentment against the new king. He that slew Abner in treachery, he that slew Absalom in defiance of the king's command, he that slew Amasa in malicious jealousy, deserved before to die for his crimes, but he had now added to all these the direct treason of stimulating and supporting Adonijah. If he had done this in revenge upon David for displacing him from the army, he certainly would attempt some traitorous counter-check to Solomon's succession. Had not his impious will driven often headlong over his kind-hearted king, at times when Joab could plausibly justify his deeds by political necessity, long since would he have been brought to justice. It was right that he should die. It was not only right, it was necessary. Holiness and truth demanded it. Such riot over right government, such examples of rash and murderous impatience, by a bold will, set the example of lawlessness everywhere, to bold, unscrupulous men, on the accession of a new king. Knox. David knew Joab's ability and determination to accomplish any purpose on which his heart was set; and that foul means came to his hand as readily as fair. Benaiah might any day share Amasa's fate, and Solomon meet Absalom's. To us, who know that these things did not happen, Joab may seem to have got scant justice from David. But to David such an upturning of his own arrangements, especially when he was dead, seemed both possible and likely. In the meridian of David's life Joab paid no attention to the sovereign's wishes when they crossed his own; the death of David would render him more unscrupulous than ever. Benaiah, long his own inferior, had been raised over his head. Solomon, a boy-king at the best, had dared to cast on him a disgrace which the wise and cautious David had been twice baffled in attempting. An affront so galling Joab would resent, to the ruin of his adversaries, as soon as he got the chance. And as he had the will, it was hard to tell whether he had not also the power. Abiathar, the high-priest, was a good right-hand man to parade before the army and the nation. Adonijah was not stained with blood as Absalom had been; and, among a people who were taught by long-established law and custom to respect the birthright of the eldest son, could plead a better title to the crown than Solomon. Shimei, the known enemy of David, was a man of great influence in Benjamin. Were these enemies of Solomon to join in united action, or were any slip in policy to put the young king in the wrong before the nation, he might have to maintain his position by arms; perhaps he might suddenly meet the fate of Amnon or Absalom. It is no injustice to Joab, and it is but fair to David, to consider that Adonijah's party had not lost hope of redressing their wrongs. These fears, imparted to David and justified by events after his death, explain his dying charge, and fully account for the cruelty that it seems to breathe. An appearance of cruelty toward Joab and Shimei may rather have been truest kindness toward Nathan, Benaiah, Zadok, and Solomon. To order a man's death is in itself a cruel thing; but it is infinitely less cruel, and it is vastly more wise, to order an intriguer's death than to leave it in his power, by murder or assassination, to throw a kingdom into disorder, to pervert the course of justice, and perhaps to plunge the people in civil war. Sime. 7. Charge respecting the sons of Barzillai. Generous natures cannot be unthankful: Barzillai had showed David great kindness in his extremity; and now the good man will have posterity to inherit the thanks. How much more bountiful is the Father of Mercies, in the remuneration of our poor unworthy services! Even successions of generations shall fare the better for one good parent. Bp. II. —Remembering the injuries that had been done, he could not forget the kindnesses that had been shown, but leaves it as a charge upon his son to return them. The kindnesses we have received from our friends must not be buried either in their graves or ours, but our children must return them to theirs. Hence, perhaps, Solomon fetched that rule (Prov. 27: 10), Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not. H. Charge Respecting Shimei. Verses 8, 9. The mention of Absalom, and those terrible days of revolt and anarchy when he was constrained to flee for his life, seems to have reminded the dying king of one of the bitterest ingredients of that bitter cup of shame and suffering—the cruel curses of Shimei. He remembers that the sin of Shimei, which was nothing else than treason and blasphemy, has so far escaped punishment. In a moment of generous enthusiasm he had included Shimei in the general amnesty which he proclaimed on his return. He had thought, no doubt, at the time, only of the offence against himself; he had forgotten his sacred and representative character as "the Lord's anointed;" or, if he had remembered it, the emotions of that memorable day had obscured or perverted his sense of justice and duty. But he has since realized—and the thought weighs upon his conscience in the chamber of death—that he then pardoned what he had no power to pardon—viz., a sin to which the Mosaic law attached the penalty of death. For blasphemy, as for murder, there was no expiation short of the death of the blasphemer (Lev. 24: 14–16; cf. 1 K. 21: 10, 13); and blasphemy, like murder, though not perhaps to the same extent, involved those who heard it in its guilt, until they had discharged themselves of their sin upon the head of the guilty (Lev. 14: 14; cf. Lev. 5: 1). But Shimei, so far from having suffered the penalty of the law, had been twice protected against it; twice preserved alive, in defiance of law, by the supreme magistrate, the executor of law. And David, who has been charging his son to keep the law, now realizes that he himself has been a law-breaker. He has kept his oath, sworn to his own or his people's hurt, and he will keep it to the end. But Solomon is under no such obligation. He can demand the long arrears of justice, none the less due because of the time that has elapsed, and this David charges him to do. Hammond. As it stands, the sense appears to be this: David intends to warn Solomon against Shimei, as a dangerous subject prone to break out into disaffection, and whose power of doing harm required that he should be carefully watched. He himself had, for reasons of policy, and in consideration of his meeting him, with a large body of Benjamites, at the Jordan, pardoned him for his gross and treasonable insults at Bahurim. Solomon, however, was not bound to regard him as altogether expurgated from that crime; and, should he be detected in any new offence against himself, he was advised not to excuse and pardon him, as his father had done. And we think that a prudential regard for the safety of that son's reign, in warning him against dangerous persons, was the predominant motive of his counsel, and the only motive of which he was himself conscious. Kit. When David here says (verse 8), "I swore to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword," he means by the sword of Abishai, who wanted immediately to kill him. The oath, in strictness, was nothing more than a respite from death that day, and did not preclude his future punishment if he should deserve it by a fresh offence, as he probably did in Adonijah's rebellion; for it was not till after the execution of Adonijah and Joab, that Solomon sent for Shimei, and ordered him to reside in Jerusalem, and not to quit the city under pain of death on the day that he should pass over the brook Kidron. A condition which Shimei thankfully accepted: "The saying is good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do." And this measure was evidently dictated by David's advice; on the meaning of which, therefore, it forms the best comment: "Anā, behold, thou hast with thee Shimei, now therefore hold him not guiltless;" but guard him as a disaffected and dangerous Benjamite, and confine him to Jerusalem, lest he kindle rebellion among the tribes, by stirring up their minds, like Sheba: "for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him," in order to prevent his cabals; and if he offend again, "bring down his hoar head to the grave with blood," for your own security, and the peace of your kingdom; for his crimes deserve death. Hales.—His case is left with Solomon, as one that knew what was fit to be done, and would do as he found occasion. David intimates to him, that his pardon was not designed to be perpetual, but only a reprieve for David's life; "Hold him not guiltless: do not think him any true friend to thee or thy government, or fit to be trusted; he has no less malice than he had then, though he has more wit to conceal it. He is still a debtor to the public justice for what he did then; and though I promised him that I would not put him to death, I never promised that my successor should not. His turbulent spirit will soon give thee an occasion, which thou shouldst not fail to take, for bringing of his hoary head to the grave with blood." This proceeded not from personal revenge, but a prudent zeal for the honor of the government, and the covenant God had made with his family, the contempt of which ought not to go unpunished. Even a hoary head, if a guilty and forfeited head, ought not to be any man's protection from justice. The sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed (Is. 65 : 20). H. Although David had forgiven Shimei the personal wrong, yet as king and representative of the Divine right in the theocracy, he had not forgiven the crime of high treason of which Shimei had become guilty by reviling the Lord's anointed, and according to theocratic right could not forgive it, because the Lord himself was insulted in his anointed. But the following words, "for thou art a wise man," as well as Solomon's treatment of Shimei, indicate very emphatically that David and Solomon had no confidence in the disposition of Shimei. Accordingly, in this charge David is to be acquitted, not only of personal vindictiveness, but of every injustice. The punishment of Shimei was the duty of the theocratic ruler, for "Shimei was a blasphemer against the chosen of God, and his repentance was not genuine." Keil.—Shimei is and remains a proof rather of David's magnanimity than of his vindictiveness. To endure the miscreant all his life in his neighborhood (there was nothing even said of banishment) was no small thing. To suffer him to close his days unmolested under another reign also (which was never promised him) would have been a boon which would have given a very injurious example of unpunished transgression. Hess. That the man who, in his opening words (verse 3), enjoined upon his son, in the most emphatic manner, a strict and literal obedience to the law of Heaven, should in these subsequent words, delivered almost in the same breath, require him to satiate a long-cherished and cruel revenge upon Joab and Shimei (the latter of whom he had twice delivered from death), is an instance of self-contradiction which is almost, if not quite, without parallel. But it is a superficial and entirely erroneous view of David's last words, which supposes them to have been inspired by malice or cruelty. His absorbing idea was clearly this, that he had not "kept the charge of the Lord;" that he, the chief magistrate, the "revenge to execute wrath," by sparing Joab and Shimei, the murderer and the blasphemer, both of whose lives were forfeited to justice, had failed in his duty, had weakened the sanctions of law, and compromised the honor of the Most High. He is too old and too weak to execute the sentence of the law now, but for the safety of his people, for the security of his throne, it must be done, and therefore Solomon, who was under no obligation to spare the criminals his father had spared, must be required to do it. Of the Jewish king it might be said with a special propriety, "Rex est lex loquens," and seldom has the voice of law spoken with greater dignity and fidelity than by David in this dying charge. Hammond. DAVID'S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE ASSEMBLED REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NATION. HE URGES OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S COMMANDMENTS, AND A HEARTY COOPERATION WITH SOLOMON IN THE BUILDING OF THE LORD'S HOUSE. AFTER WORSHIP AND SACRIFICE SOLOMON IS FORMALLY ACKNOWLEDGED, AND AGAIN ANOINTED KING. 1. K. 2 : 10** AND David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. 1. Chron. 29 : 26, 27** Now David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. And the time that he reigned over Israel was forty years : seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor : and Solomon his son reigned in his stead. Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the history of Samuel the seer, and in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the history of Gad the seer ; with all his reign and his might, and the times that went over him, and over Israel, and over all the kingdoms of the countries. David now passed away. After seventy years of intensely active life, "he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor." Born in a rude age, when the tribes of Israel had in a measure degenerated toward the old Egyptian barbarism, God had gifted him with a fine spiritual fibre, and by the severe processes of Providence, even to the passing through the fires of a long-anguished conscience, had strengthened and refined his soul. By this training it was that the Spirit of God enabled him to achieve a work so vast, so permanent and grand in its effects, such as none has ever done, before or since. Not in his conquests only, though these well-nigh covered the breadth of the promise to Abraham, "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates ;" nor in his systematic organization and ordering of the nation's internal affairs, though this helped to give it strength, stability, and pre-eminence among the nations of the world. But the grand achievement of David was wrought upon the souls of the people through the moral and spiritual forces bestowed upon him, and Divinely nurtured and guided. By this Divine indwelling and inworking, partly as the result of the double discipline of adversity and sore transgression, David impressively commended the law and illustrated the truth and grace of Jehovah. In his life he effectually preached righteousness and exemplified faith and obedience toward God. In his broken strains and triumphant songs he magnified the Fatherhood and the compassionate, forgiving love of Jehovah ; and, like Abraham, rejoicingly looked forward to Messiah's day, nay more, beheld the coming Christ in the line of royal succession, and "in spirit called him Lord." Thus, through the distinguishing grace of God vouchsafed to him in these respects above all other men, David left upon the mind and heart of the Jewish people an indelible impress, which was deepened by the transfer to the Messiah, as His peculiar title, of the name, THE SON OF DAVID. Let us bear these facts in mind, as we advance to study the outwardly brilliant and seemingly successful career of Solomon—a career whose bright promise was shaded at the last to sadness and gloom, and whose early successes and later indulgences terminated at length almost in wreck of life and hope. No Bible history carries with it so much and such needed practical teaching for youth, and middle life, and old age. None exhibits so plainly and forcibly the great moral of right living. None treats so fully the uses and the misuses or wastes of life. And none meets and answers so accurately every problem, question, and longing pertaining to the every-day experience of all. B. In the varied elements of his life and character there is no one in the whole of the Bible like David. A life teeming with vicissitudes, with romance, with pathos, and those startling changes of fortune which make history so much stranger than fiction. What drama is equal to it for tragic and romantic interest alone, to say nothing of instruction? His character is as varied as his life. It reminds to no small extent of him whose writings in the New Testament hold somewhat the same place as the Psalms in the Old, the Apostle John. In both there is all the strength of man with all the tenderness of woman. In both there is the same intensity—intensity of action, intensity of thought and word, intensity of love and hate. With the exception of his dastardly conduct to Uriah there is no meanness about him. There is nobility even in his faults ; and certainly his repentance is noble. Is there any one in the whole of the Old Testament of whom we know so much, and yet find so much to admire, and praise, and love? With his chivalry and generosity, with his passionate love for his friend and for his son, with his sweetness and delicacy, his energy and courage, do we not feel him to be a man after man's own heart as well as after God's? Whether we take the world's rough measure and judge him by what he did, or look deeper and judge him by what he was, we must admit that in him we have a king who was at once a true hero and a true saint. Whether we regard the influence of David himself upon the people he ruled, or the growth and development of the people under his guidance, or the instruction which his life supplies for each individual soul, or the deep analogies which lie between the history of Israel at this its most glorious period and the history of the Christian Church, the age and reign of David stand alone in Israel's history. Plummer. 1. K. 2 : 10.** Now, when he has finished his great work in the organization and establishment of the kingdom, and when he has closed all with a zealous blessing of his Solomon and his people, David sleeps with his fathers. O blessed soul, how quiet a possession hast thou now taken, after so many tumults, of a better crown! Thou, that hast prepared all things for the house of thy God, how happily art thou now welcomed to that house of his, "not made with hands, eternal in the heavens!" Bp. H. He was buried in the city of David; not in the burying-place of his father, as Saul was, but in his own city, which he was the founder of. There were set the thrones and there the tombs, of the house of David. His epitaph may be taken from 2 S. 23 : 1. Here lies David the son of Jesse, the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel; adding his own words (Ps. 16 : 9). My flesh also shall rest in hope. H. — After the return from the Captivity, "the sepulchres of David" were still pointed out between Siloah and "the house of the mighty men," or "the guard-house" (Neh. 3 : 16). "His sepulchre is with us unto this day," said Peter at Pentecost. P. S. 1. Chron. 29 : 29, 30.** For a fuller account of David's life and reign, the reader is referred to the histories or records of those times, which were written by Samuel while he lived, and continued, after his death, by Nathan and Gad (verse 29). There was related what was observable in his government at home, and his wars abroad, the times—that is, the events of the times, that went over him (verses 29, 30). These registers were then in being, but are now lost. Good use may be made of those histories of the church, which are authentic, though not sacred, or of Divine inspiration. H. — The canon of Scripture seems at or after the close of David's reign to be added to by the prophets Nathan and Gad. It appears probable by the Scriptures that they carried on the history of the two Books of Samuel from the place where Samuel left it, and finished it. These two Books of Samuel seem to be the book that is here called the Book of Samuel the seer, and Nathan the prophet, and Gad the seer. Edwards.* Having provided for the security of the succession, the maintenance of the law, and the lasting dignity of the national religion, David breathed his last, having reigned forty years over the flourishing and powerful monarchy of which he may be considered the founder. He had succeeded to a kingdom distracted with civil dissension, environed on every side by powerful and victorious enemies, without a capital, almost without an army, without any bond of union between the tribes. He left a compact and united State, stretching from the frontier of Egypt to the foot of Lebanon, from the Euphrates to the sea. He had crushed the power of the Philistines, subdued or curbed all the adjacent kingdoms: he had formed a lasting and important alliance with the great city of Tyre. He had organized an immense disposable force: every month twenty-four thousand men, furnished in rotation by the tribes, appeared in arms, and were trained as the standing militia of the country. At the head of his army were officers of consummate experience, and, what was more highly esteemed in the warfare of the time, extraordinary personal activity, strength, and valor. His heroes remind us of those of Arthur or Charlemagne, excepting that the armor of the feudal chieftains constituted the superiority; here main strength of body and dauntless fortitude of mind. The Hebrew nation owed the long peace of the son's reign to the bravery and wisdom of the father. If the rapidity with which a kingdom rises to unexampled prosperity, and the permanence, as far as human wisdom can provide, of that prosperity, be a fair criterion of the abilities and character of a sovereign, few kings in history can compete with David. His one great crime violated the immutable and universal laws of morality, and therefore admits of no excuse. On the other hand, his consummate personal bravery and military talent—his generosity to his enemies— his fidelity to his friends—his knowledge of, and steadfast attention to, the true interests of his country—his exalted piety and gratitude toward his God, justify the zealous and fervent attachment of the Jewish people to the memory of their great monarch. Milman. At David's death, the people were victorious, their kingdom enlarged, dreaded by all their neighbors, the ablest men conduct the wisely-organized administration, and a genuine son of the illustrious father is upon the firmly-established throne. The ark and places of sacrifice now await their immediate union in a gorgeous temple already decided upon, the Divine service is organized, and heart and spirit stirring prophets and priests reveal God's will, and watch over the doctrine and the instruction of the people; and Israel possesses the legacy of the very noble songs of a talented king, which not only celebrate the joys of the altar and house of the Lord, the favor of Jehovah to his people, but for men of spiritual discernment the hope of Him who should come, whose throne endures forever and ever, whom God, his own God, has anointed with the oil of gladness. Yea, the genuine Israelite might, with adoration, and the most joyful hope, say, at the grave of this king, "Happy is the people that is in such a case; yea, happy the people whose God is the Lord" (Ps. 144 : 15). C. G. B. # Mutual Relations of the Hebrews to other known Historic Nations. Before we take our leave of David, let our attention be turned a moment to the connection of the Hebrew people with other nations known to history. With their Exodus from Egypt, the Hebrews severed themselves for a long time from all historic connection with Egypt. Amalek, Midian, Edom, Moab, Ammon, and the Amorites of great Arabia; the Canaanites, Hittites, and Philistines of Palestine; have none of them sent down to our time any historic records of date anterior to Solomon? Whatever records (if any) they may have had have long since perished. Egypt, during most or all of this period—from the Exodus to Solomon—was comparatively inactive; Assyria was yet undeveloped. That the Hebrew people came into no collision of arms with either Egypt or Egypt's old enemies of Western Asia, peopling the valleys of the Orontes and the Euphrates, may perhaps be due to the fact that they did not hold the coast line of the Mediterranean—the well-known thoroughfare of armies, Egyptian or Asiatic—in their hostile demonstrations. May it not have been of God's wise providence to leave this coast line through so many centuries in the hands of the Philistines, and thus exempt the Hebrews from all contact with the movements of hostile armies threading that great route of travel from Egypt to Western Asia? Remembering how it befell King Josiah (2 Chron. 35 : 20-24) when he came into collision with Pharaoh Necho, hurling his chariots and horsemen upon the rising empire of Chaldea, we may readily apprehend the possibilities of this danger. Until the reign of David they did not practically occupy that coast line—the western margin belt of Palestine. Thus it came to pass that during the entire period from Moses to David, including the administrations of Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, and Saul, all the foreign powers with whom the Hebrews came into contact have passed into oblivion, leaving no historic records behind them. With David a new era in this respect opened. When he pushed his victorious armies into the valley of the Euphrates and smote the king of Zobah (2 S. 8 : 3-8) and also the Syrians of Damascus who were called in to their help, he came politically into contact with nations of whose history some fragments have survived to our times. Are those fragments in harmony with the history which appears in our sacred books? This war is mentioned by Eupolemus in a fragment preserved to us by Eusebius, thus: "David discomfited the Syrians who dwelt by the river Euphrates, and subdued Commagene, and the Assyrians and Phœnicians of Gadalene. He also made expeditions against the Idumeans, and Ammonites, and Moabites, and Itureans, and Nabateans, and Nabdeans." Nicolas of Damascus (of the age of Augustus Cæsar) is believed to have drawn his information from the records or traditions of his own country. He wrote: "After this there was a certain Hadad, a native Syrian, who had great power. He ruled over Damascus and all Syria except Phœnicia. He likewise undertook a war with David, the king of Judea, and contended with him in many battles. In the last of them all, which was by the river Euphrates, and in which he suffered defeat, he yet showed himself a prince of the greatest courage and prowess." That Nicolas speaks of David as "king of Judea" is due to the date of his writing (within the century before the Christian era) when that country was known under no other name. That he eulogizes Hadad, though recording his signal defeat before David, may be ascribed to merit or to national feeling. The salient points in this fragment indicate its authenticity. According to the sacred narrative, David came into special relations with Tyre and her King Hiram. (See 2 S. 5 : 11, and 1 K. 5 : 1, and 1 Chron. 14 : 1.) These points are made historically probable by the following considerations : That Tyre, Sidon, and Phœnicia, in general, led the civilized world in the line of commerce and architecture ; that after David obtained control of the great commercial thoroughfare from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, it became vital to their commerce to be on friendly terms with him ; that the natural trade with David's country was of priceless value to those cities—they giving cedars and skilled mechanical labor, and getting bread-stuffs in exchange. Hence, most naturally, "Hiram became ever a lover of David" (1 K. 5 : 1). Direct confirmation of the sacred history appears in the fact that the name of Hiram as the king of Tyre at this period comes to us certified upon an Assyrian inscription ; also in the testimony of Menander preserved by Josephus, of Herodotus, and also of Dius. Dius and Menander were Phœnician historians. Special confirmation appears also in the nicely accurate references in Scripture to Sidon and to Tyre—the former in most ancient times the leading city ; but the latter taking the lead in the time of David and ever after. Testimonies from the oldest profane records are remarkably in accord with this change in the relative importance of these cities. While Sidon occurs in Scripture even before Abraham (Gen. 10 : 15, 19) ; in the benedictions of Jacob (Gen. 49 : 13) ; and as "great Zidon" (Josh. 11 : 8 and 19 : 28), Tyre comes first to view (Josh. 19 : 29). So, in profane authorities, Homer speaks of Sidon often ; but of Tyre never. Thus our scriptural history of David receives all the confirmation from profane sources which the present state of those records allows us to expect. As we come down to later periods and as profane records multiply, the points of confirmation will be correspondingly more numerous. H. C. Every man's life, it has been remarked, is a plan of God ; in the obscurest history there is some Divine purpose ; what God said of Cyrus, He may say of the most commonplace man that ever passed unnoticed through life—"I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me." But in the case of such a life as that of David, God's plan, from its conspicuous and commanding grandeur, is fitted to arrest the attention of all. Exalted though he was in station, the lessons of his life are in the main applicable to all. W. G. B.—Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, and Paul stand out in lonely and individual grandeur amid the story of their time. The histories of those men are pictures, on a grand scale, of the common sorrows and battles of the human soul. The whole tendency of God's record is to bring them near to us. It never omits their weaknesses and failures ; it never depicts them as powerful saints, but as men subject to the temptations and liable to the passions that beset ourselves ; and could we realize this brotherhood, we should gain from them new light on life's story ; new power for its battles ; new life amid the defects and failures of this perplexed and careless world. E. L. Hal. The history of his time is crowded with characters. But the great lessons come to us from David himself, around whom, as a centre, all these characters revolved,—David, one of the rarest men in history, prophet, poet, warrior, ruler, saint and sinner, a man of sorrows, and yet a man of the brightest qualities, and of the most devout joy in God. D. F.—His life begins amid the peaceful scenes of a shepherd's life. The calmness of its morning time is suddenly broken by the din of arms, though there is heard amid the pauses of battle the sweet strains of a poet's harp. Men and women are seen uniting in their homage to the harper-hero, the young lion-heart of the nation. From the obscurity of a wilderness, the shepherd stepped at once into the full blaze of public life, as the champion of his people. But his heart was not uplifted, nor his sound sense impaired, by a change as sudden as it was great. When the throne was at length reached, and the kingdom consolidated, luxury and ease began to undermine a heart that had withstood danger in the field, danger in the house, and danger in the wilderness. But underneath the baser part of his nature lay a greatness of soul that earned for him the honor of being called "the servant of God." When the evil that was in him mastered the good, its outbreaks seemed shocking at the time, and are counted equally shocking in our day. But these surprises were not habitual. They did not occur so often from month to month, and from year to year, that all around the king looked for them as ordinary unfoldings of his life. They were falls from a loftier to a lower state, bitterly regretted and speedily turned from with loathing. Such is the view of David's character given by the sacred writer. While knowing much better than we do what was truly good in the king, he does not hide from us what was really bad. In our eyes, the evil that was wrought by David bulks more largely than the good ; because, living in an age of high professions, we see it in its naked vileness: in the inspired writer's view, the good that David did held its rightful place, because he knew fully, what we only know in part, the worth which adorned that prince's life. The evil that David did lives after him, never losing aught of blackness as time rolls on, and the obligations of conscience are more recognized. But the good he did, and the worthy name he enjoyed, may shine with a feebler light, as we travel farther from his days of comparative darkness into those of clearer light and loftier morals. Knowing this, we are bound to take the character of the Hebrew king, drawn by the sacred writer, as a true picture of what the man really was. That David was a brave soldier, and as good as he was brave, is proved both by the testimony of those who knew him, and by his actions. To bravery and goodness of heart combined was due the restraint he put on himself and his men, when Saul, an unwearied seeker after his life, fell into his power, not once but twice. No generous mind can read the story of David's twofold forbearance without feeling how brave and great-hearted he must have been who could thrust aside the wish for vengeance, or chide others for giving it room in their thoughts. Or can any one read the lament over Saul and Jonathan, and not recognize in the words the overflowing of a true mourner's heart? Or could greater bravery have been shown than David showed in forbidding Abishai to take the life of the wretched Shimei, who was insulting a king and his captains when they were driven to bay? If we judge the king by the modern standard of Western civilization, we shall find much to admire in the scanty records of his life. But if we take for a standard the morality found in the courts of Eastern despots, whether in ancient or in modern times, we shall see in David a brightness of moral worth which marks him out as one of the noblest of our race. Perhaps the best proof of David's worth, apart from the direct statements of history, is the regard in which he was held by those who came much in contact with him. To have knit together the band of six hundred men amid danger and trouble, implies a power to command respect and even affection by no means common among men. To have retained their unswerving allegiance for years, notwithstanding many inducements to betray him to his enemies, is a more singular testimony to this controlling power over their rude natures. Treason did not exist in their ranks. Men, whose flocks and property he protected, were not only ungrateful for his kindness, but repaid his care with insult and treachery. None of the six hundred were traitors. They were devoted friends, held by an attachment that may well be called romantic. Sime. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ 1. Chron. 29 :** 23 THEN Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him. And all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of king David, submitted themselves unto Solomon the king. And the LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel. 2. Chron. 1 :** 1 And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly. And Solomon spake unto all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ houses. 2. Chron. 1 : 3** So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon ; for there was the tent of meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. But the ark of God had David brought up from Kiriath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it : for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. Moreover the brazen altar, that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of the LORD : and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it. And Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar before the LORD, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt-offerings upon it. In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast shewed great kindness unto David my father, and hast made me king in his stead. Now, O LORD God, let thy promise unto David my father be established : for thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people : for who can judge this thy people, that is so great ? And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of them that hate thee, neither yet hast asked long life ; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king : wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee ; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like. So Solomon came from his journey to the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, unto Jerusalem ; and he reigned over Israel. 1. K. 3 : 4** And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there ; for that was the great high place : a thousand burnt-offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night : and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great kindness, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee ; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father : and I am but a little child ; I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and evil ; for who is able to judge this thy great people ? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life ; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies ; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment ; behold, I have done according to thy word : lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart ; so that there hath been none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee, all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. And Solomon awoke, and, behold, it was a dream : and he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants. 1. K. 3 : 16** Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. And the one woman said, Oh my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house ; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also ; and we were together ; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night ; because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead : but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. 23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and 24 the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, 25 Fetch me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the 26 living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, Oh my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, It shall be 27 neither mine nor thine; divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living 28 child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment. The comparative scantiness of historical data for a life of Solomon is itself significant. While that of David occupies more than sixty chapters, that of Solomon fills only the first eleven chapters of 1 K. and the first nine of 2 Chron. The writers give extracts only from larger works which were before them, "The Book of the Acts of Solomon;" "the Book of Nathan the prophet, the Book of Ahijah the Shilonite, the visions of Iddo the seer." Some materials for the life of Solomon exist in the books that bear his name (Canticles; Ecclesiastes; Proverbs), and in the Psalms which are referred, on good grounds, to his time (Ps. 2, 45, 72, 127). Other materials are very scanty. The history of Josephus is, for the most part, only a loose and inaccurate paraphrase of the Old Testament narrative. Dic. B.—Perhaps the following is as probable as any cast of the events of Solomon's reign: first, three years during which affairs were becoming settled; then seven years of building the temple, and thirteen years while the king's house was being built, twenty years in all; then the remaining seventeen years. W. J. B. Solomon, the third king of Israel, is as unlike either of his predecessors as each of them is unlike the other. No person occupies so large a space in Sacred History of whom so few personal incidents are related. That stately and melancholy figure—in some respects the grandest and the saddest in the sacred volume—is, in detail, little more than a mighty shadow. But on the other hand, of his age, of his court, of his works, we know more than of any other. Now, for the first time since the Exodus, we find distinct traces of dates—years, months, days. Now at last we seem to come across monuments, which possibly remain to this day. Of the earlier ages of Jewish history, nothing has lasted to our time except it be the sepulchres and wells,—works of Nature rather than of men. But it is not beyond belief that the massive walls at the reservoirs near Bethlehem, the substructures of the temple at Jerusalem, and at Baalbec, are from the age of Solomon. Now also we come within distinctly noted signs of contemporary history in the outer world. In the reign of Solomon we meet with an Egyptian sovereign, designated by his proper name—Shishak—and in his still-existing portraiture on the walls of Karnac, we have thus the first distinct image of one who beyond question had communicated with the chosen people. Now also the date to which we have attained, the thousandth year before the Christian era, brings us to a level with the beginning of the well-known Classical History of Greece and Italy. But the epoch is remarkable not only for its distinctness, but for its splendor. It is characteristic indeed of the Jewish records that, clearly as Solomon's greatness is portrayed at the time, it is rarely noticed in them again. Of all the characters of the Sacred History, he is the most purely secular; and merely secular magnificence was an excrescence, not a native growth, of the chosen people. While Moses and David are often mentioned again in the sacred books, Solomon's name hardly occurs after the close of his reign. To have had many such characters in the Biblical History would have brought it down too nearly to the ordinary level. But to have one such is necessary to show that the interest which we inevitably feel in such events and such men has a place in the designs of Providence, and in the lessons of Revelation. Stanley. Solomon found himself by his father's death the sole occupant of the throne. The position to which he succeeded was unique. Never before, and never after, did the kingdom of Israel take its place among the great monarchies of the East. Large treasures accumulated through many years were at his disposal. The people, with the exception of the tolerated worship in high places, were true servants of Jehovah. Knowledge, art, music, poetry had received a new impulse, and were moving on, with rapid steps, to such perfection as the age and the race were capable of attaining. Dic. B. The epoch of Solomon's reign marks the climax of the Hebrew monarchy, and, according to the usual law of human greatness, the beginning of its decline. Starting from the vantage-ground on which the kingdom had been placed by the conquests of David, through the favor of Jehovah, he preserved its ascendency by a wisdom which has become proverbial, and prepared its downfall by his luxury and arrogance. Having achieved the greatest work done by any ruler of Israel since Moses, the building of the house of God upon Mount Moriah, and the settlement of His worship, he left to after times the name of "That uxorious king, whose heart, though large, Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell To idols foul." The author and compiler of the richest maxims of wisdom in the literature of the world, he so used up the resources of intellectual as well as sensual pleasure, as to end with the confession "Vanity of vanities! All is emptiness and vexation of spirit!" The life of Solomon presents a striking contrast to his father's in its uneventful character. His great work was the building of the House of God, commonly called the Temple, at Jerusalem. The rest of the history of his reign is chiefly occupied with the description of his magnificence and wealth, as the sovereign of what was then the greatest monarchy of Western Asia. P. S. The sacred historians were guided to the preservation of what was of permanent value for the history of the kingdom of God. Mere worldly opulence and splendor has little instructiveness about it. A prolonged narrative of Solomon's magnificence and power would have had no moral value. Enough is told us to enable us to appreciate God's bounty to the young man who deliberately preferred wisdom to wealth and power, and to see the powerlessness of mere wisdom and culture, even of the highest kind, when dissevered from the fear and love of God, against human passion and human pride. Under Solomon the star of Israel continues still to rise for a time, and under him the zenith of the nation is reached. Yet his reign is not on that account greater than his father's, which was a continual growth from first to last. On the contrary, it is the lamentable distinction of Solomon's reign that with him, and largely in consequence of his faults, begins a decline which was never really arrested and which in the end proved fatal. The lesson of his life is to a large extent that of Samson's and of Saul's combined: miraculous powers neutralized by self-indulgence; great natural gifts rendered baneful by desertion of God. Therefore a few scenes of splendor, the canker, and its consequences, are all that are needed to be told. The remainder, however flattering to himself and his age, has little instruction for us. Unlike his father, Solomon had never known the bracing influences of difficulty or adversity. Brought up in the expectation of a glorious crown, we can hardly wonder that his character does not bear the strain of the possession of enormous wealth and power. Plummer. 1. Chron. 29: 23-25. Solomon established and prospered in the kingdom by the favor of Jehovah. A brief summary of much of his reign of forty years. The wide domain conquered and possessed by the father was for a long period wisely governed by the son. The immense riches—in stores of material of every sort, as well as precious metals and stones—gathered by David, were applied in part to the building of God's house. Another part he put into various channels of commerce. By means of wise compacts with other nations, by the construction of fleets and of broad roadways centring at his capital and traversing all his great cities, he caused this wealth to flow back again with marvellous increase. Beside the Temple, Solomon enlarged and beautified Jerusalem, built many cities, and constructed pools and other useful public works, some of which remain to the present day. In all this outward magnificence, and in the sagacity and justness with which he administered the affairs of his kingdom, we trace the evidence that God "magnified him exceedingly." 2. Chron. 1: 2, 3; 1 K. 3: 2-6. With a retinue of the nation's representatives, Solomon offers a national sacrifice upon the altar of Moses, before the Tabernacle at Gibeon. Gibeon was a city of the Levites, situated six miles north of Jerusalem upon the summit of the central ridge running northward. It is called (1 K. 3: 4) the great high-place, since there the Tabernacle and sacrificial altar of Moses were finally placed. Why the Ark of the covenant, which belonged in the interior Holy Place of the Tabernacle, had been separated from the other sacred vessels, does not clearly appear. But, as we read here, David had deposited this in a temporary structure at Jerusalem. The old and now historic brazen altar, however, still remained in its place before the ancient Tabernacle of the wilderness. And to this, in a vast and solemn concourse of all the leaders, and princes, and prominent men of the tribes, Solomon goes to offer formal sacrifice for himself and the people, early (the second year) in his reign. Here, under the king's direction, with the participation of the nation's representatives, a thousand burnt-offerings were offered; in recognition of God's establishment of a new reign, in acknowledgment of need through infirmity and transgression, and in supplication for Divine favor and prosperity upon King and people. By this significant act of national worship the reign began. B. The situation of Gibeon is noble. Its hill is rounded and distinct, looking down on all sides on fruitful fields and orchards. The limestone rocks lie in horizontal strata, as if terraced by the hand of man, each step being clean cut and from six to ten feet high. Adjoining the village on the south is a broad surface, apparently artificially levelled, now planted with olive trees. We fancied that it was here that the tabernacle stood and the altar, when Solomon offered at a high festival a thousand burnt-offerings. Dulles. (For cut, see p. 92.) 1. K. 3:5.** The sacrificial festival, prolonged according to custom for seven days, was drawing toward the close, when—as we are here definitely told—“in Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream.” But the dream had all the elements of reality, for God spoke to the mind, and quickened the mind to true action. This we are assured, and this Solomon himself perfectly knew. Ask what I shall give thee! is the gracious word by which God presses his munificence upon the youthful monarch. B.—The Lord came to press His gifts upon the acceptance of David's son; asking him to make his choice of all the gifts his almightiness enabled him to offer—or rather, of all that the man was capable of receiving. Whatever we may think of it—and practically we every day deny most of the things we profess to believe—God daily makes as large and liberal offers to us—ay, offers more liberal by far; and quite as surely will He bestow upon us what we ask, and much more, if that which we seek be well pleasing in his sight. Kit. The call of God to his children is continually, “Ask what I shall give thee;” “Ask, and it shall be given you;” “All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” And in response to this call of God, the true child of God is continually choosing, yet not choosing—choosing while he will not choose—in the matter of his heart longings, as he looks God-ward in prayer. He knows what he longs for, but he is not sure that he knows what is best for him; so, while his choice is naturally in the direction of his longings, he wants God to choose that which he himself would choose if he saw the case as God sees it. He chooses to take what he craves,—if God sees that it is best for him to have that object of his craving; but he is unwilling to make an absolute choice—however strong are his yearnings in a given direction—while God alone is competent to decide as to the real desirableness of the thing desired. And so the choices of the true-hearted Christian believer are ever by choosing, yet not choosing, as he makes known his requests unto God. S. S. Times. 7-9. Within the sacred city of Gibeon occurred one of those prophetic dreams which had already been the means of Divine communication in the time of Samuel. Thrice in Solomon's life—at the three epochs of his rise, of his climax, of his fall—is such a warning recorded. This was the first. It was the choice offered to the youthful King on the threshold of life,—the choice, so often imagined in fiction, and actually presented in real life,—“Ask what I shall give thee.” The answer is the ideal answer of such a Prince, burdened with the responsibility of his position. He remembered the high antecedents of his predecessor—“Thou hast showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he walked before Thee in truth, and in uprightness, and in righteousness of heart with thee.” He remembered his own youth and weakness; “I am but a little child—I know not how to go out or to come in.” He remembered the vastness of his charge; “In the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen: a great people which cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude: and who is able to judge this thy people that is so great.” He made the demand for the gift which he of all the heroes of the ancient Church was the first to claim: “Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.” Stanley. Solomon calls himself a child only in respect to his skill in the management of public affairs, as is signified in the last words, “I know not how to go out,” etc.—that is, how to govern so great a people, for want of experience. Thus Benjamin is called a child (Gen. 44:20), although he was then above thirty years old. Patrick.—Absalom, who was a fool, wished himself a judge; Solomon, who was a wise man, trembles at the undertaking, and suspects his own fitness for it. The more knowing and considerate men are, the better they are acquainted with their own weakness, and the more jealous of themselves. H. The special type of wisdom which Solomon asked—"an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad" (verse 9); "wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people" (2 Chron. 1 : 10)—was that sagacity, that intuitive apprehension of character and conduct, coupled with an unfailing sense of equity as between man which he needed as the supreme judge of Israel? H. C.—He does not ask that profound spiritual wisdom which would teach him to know God and his own heart : in this he was always far inferior to David. His prayer is for practical sagacity, clear intelligence, quick discernment, to see the right from the wrong amid the mazes of duplicity and doubt which beset the judge, especially among an Oriental people. And this gift he received. His aspirations, if not for the highest spiritual excellence, were for usefulness to his subjects and fellowmen, not for long life, riches, and victory for himself ; and because he had not selfishly asked these things, they were freely granted to him in addition to the gift he had chosen. P. S. Solomon asked for wisdom to discharge the responsibilities of his kingly office. For this specific and subordinate use he sought it. He did not ask for God's own indwelling, inworking, and personal fellowship. He did not ask for strength in the will to resist evil, or grace in the heart to walk with God. He did not even seek wisdom to know God and to serve Him, and so obey the charge of David and command of God. Only for his own and his people's advantage, he asked for the intellectual gift of clear comprehensive perception and of just discriminating judgment. And because his request was comparatively good, far better than the reigning desires in most men's hearts, God gave him marvellous discernment and judgment, and added also great wealth and power. But it deserves note that no recorded word or prayer of Solomon shows any yearning after inward godliness, any personal consecration to, or habitual communion with, God. In the significant absence of the spirit of piety, we find a distinctive difference in the character of Solomon as compared with that of David. And to this difference we trace the subsequent effects of Solomon's deeper, more protracted fall. B.—His prayer at Gibeon, high and noble as it was, and "pleasing to the Lord," was not the highest. It is the prayer of one who seeks to be self-sufficing rather than of one who feels that dependence on God is his only hope and stay. David would have asked, had he had the choice, to be delivered from his transgressions, to have a clean heart and a right spirit, to hold fast by God. The widest range of wisdom without that spirit was worthless, not only in God's eyes but for bringing peace to the heart. This truth Solomon, with all his varied knowledge, did not know ; and had to learn it through a dreary round of the bitterest disappointments. Plummer. To pray for a thinking and understanding mind is a most necessary and a most Christian prayer. The gift of wisdom is the subject of almost one whole book of the Bible, the Proverbs. Paul prays, and bids others pray, for an enlightened understanding, for the fulness of wisdom. James says, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given him." Without thoughtfulness there can be no goodness, nor any holiness. . . . By asking God to give us a wise and understanding heart, we confess to ourselves that our opinions and judgments are serious things, for we do not bring mere trifles before God's notice in our prayers ; and that, being serious things, they demand our own serious care ; that duty and sin belong to them ; that as our salvation depends on our lives, so our lives depend upon our thoughts and judgments : for if we act ill because we have judged ill, and have judged ill because we took no pains to judge well, then the sin is not taken away from our act but remains in it : and the act was an act of what Scripture calls folly, the folly which sees not and regards not God. Whatever be our business in life, if we make it a part of our daily prayers to God that He will give us understanding in it ; that He will assist our judgment, so that, seeing what is right and true, we may maintain and follow it both in word and deed ; I do not doubt that such prayers will be answered, and that where we now act blindly and carelessly, according to any prevailing feeling or fancy, there we shall act upon the full persuasion of our minds, and that persuasion will be in general according to the will of God. T. Arnold. 2. Chron. 1 : 11, 12.** Because Solomon hath asked what he should, he shall now receive both what he asked and what he asked not : riches and honor shall be given him into the match. So doth God love a good choice, that he recompenses it with overgiving. Could we but first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these earthly things should be superadded to us. Had Solomon made wealth his boon, he had failed both of riches and wisdom ; now he asks the best, and speeds of all. They are in a fair way of happiness, that can pray well. Bp. H.—He who applies his heart to wisdom, does, at the same time, take the most proper method of gaining long life, riches, and reputation, which are very often not only the rewards, but the effects of wisdom. Addison. God gave Solomon wisdom. He fitted him for all that great work to which he had called him; gave him such a right understanding of the law which he was to judge by, and the cases he was to judge of, that he was unequalled, for a clear head, a solid judgment, and a piercing eye. Such an insight, and such a foresight, never was prince so blessed with. He gave him riches and honor over and above into the bargain, and it was promised that he should as much exceed his predecessors, his successors, and all his neighbors, in these, as in wisdom. These also are God's gift, and are promised to all that seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof, as far as is good for them (Matt. 6: 23). H.—The wealth and magnificence of Solomon were almost as proverbial as his wisdom (1 K. 10: 23; Matt. 6: 29). God gave Solomon his riches and renown. And all who possess any form of earthly good have likewise received it from Him. These earthly gifts should be received with thankfulness, and used for the glory of their Giver. But when they are withheld from any one, this is no proof of the Divine displeasure; nor is their bestowment a proof that he who receives them is specially approved of God. W. H. G. 1. K. 3: 14. We may notice that while the promises of great wisdom and great wealth were absolute (without conditions), the promise of long life was made upon conditions—viz., of his steadfastness in the ways of his father David. In this point Solomon sadly failed, and consequently failed to realize the long life conditionally promised. He is supposed to have ascended the throne at an age not exceeding twenty. Having reigned forty, he died at the age of sixty—not by any means an old man. H. C. 15. Behold, it was a dream. The vivid impression, the indelible recollection he had of this dream, together with the new and increased energy communicated to his mind, and the flow of worldly prosperity that rushed upon him, gave him assurance that it came by Divine inspiration, and originated in the grace of God. The wisdom, however, that was asked and obtained was not so much of the heart as the head—it was wisdom not for himself personally, but for his office, such as would qualify him for the administration of justice, the government of a kingdom, and for the attainment of general scientific knowledge. Jamieson. Came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark, and offered. No marvel if Solomon, now returning from the tabernacle to the ark, testified his joy and thankfulness by burnt-offerings, and peace-offerings, and public feastings. The heart that hath found in itself the lively testimonies of God's presence and favor cannot contain itself from outward expressions. Bp. H. Two Mothers, with a Dead and a Living Child. An occasion soon arose to prove his Divine gift of sagacity. Two women appeared before his judgment-seat with a dead and a living infant. The one who appealed to the king for justice alleged that they had both been delivered in the same house, the other woman three days after herself; that the other had overlaid her child in the night, and had exchanged its corpse for the living child of the first while she slept. P. S.—A monarch's sagacity in the administration of justice was calculated to make the most marked impression upon the popular mind, and likely to be most generally talked about through the land. This quality also came more home to the personal concerns of his subjects than any other, and was for that reason alone the more carefully regarded. The administration of justice was in all ancient monarchies, as it is now in the East, a most important part of the royal duties and functions; and there is no quality more highly prized than that keen discernment in the royal judge which detects the clew of real evidence amid conflicting testimony, or that ready tact which devises a test of truth where the evidence affords not even the clew to any grounds of decision. It was an instance of this kind which supplied to the watchful people the first evidence of the marvellous judicial sagacity with which their king was endowed. Two mothers, one of whom had lost her son, contend for the possession of the living child; and the king, having to decide which of the two has the best claim to it, detects the real mother by the emotion she evinces when he orders the living child to be divided, and half given to each; and by her readiness to abandon her claim rather than see the child perish before her eyes. Kt. 20,22. The impossibility of proof makes the guilty more confident, more impudent. The true mother pleads that her child was taken away at midnight, by the other, but in her sleep; she saw it not; she felt it not; and if all her senses could have witnessed it, yet here was but the affirmation of the one against the denial of the other, which in persons alike credible do but counterpoise. 24, 25. Solomon well saw that when all outward proofs failed there was an inward affection, which, if it could be fetched out, would certainly beway the true mother. He knew that sorrow might more easily be dissembled than natural love: both sorrowed for their own; both could not love one, as theirs: to draw forth then this true proof of motherhood, Solomon calls for a sword, and commands, "Divide the living child in two." 26,27. This sword has already pierced the breast of the true mother, and divided her heart with fear and grief at so killing a sentence. There needs no other rack to discover nature; and now, while she thinks on the cruelty of such a sentence, she sues to that suspected mercy of her just judge, "O my lord, give her the living child, and in nowise slay it;" as thinking, "If he live, he will but change his mother; if he die, his mother loses a son: it is better he should live to a wrong mother than to neither." On the contrary, her envious competitor, as holding herself well satisfied that her neighbor should be as childless as herself, can say, "Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it." Well might Solomon and every hearer conclude that either she was no mother, or a monster that could be content with the murder of her child; and that if she could have been the true mother, and yet have desired the blood of her infant, she would have deserved as much to have been stripped of her child for her unnatural disposition, as the other would have deserved to possess him for her honest compassion. Not more justly, therefore, than wisely doth Solomon trace the true mother by the footsteps of love and pity, and adjudge the child to those bowels that had yearned at his danger. Bp. II. 27. The king was pondering the words of the two women. At last he broke forth in the language of the mother who had said, "Give her the living child, and in nowise slay it." And to that sentence, taken as representative of the person who had spoken it, he adds his own decision, "She is the mother thereof." Bernard. 28. Solomon's decision in its results was most important to him; for it evinced, in the judgment of the people, his fitness to fill worthily the high place to which he had been raised. Of this some doubt and misgiving appear to have been previously entertained, on account of his age—too young for experience, yet too old for a regency. But now all this was at an end. He had delivered a judgment which the most riripened experience could not surpass. "They saw that the wisdom of God was with him to do judgment;" and thenceforth they regarded him with the respect and veneration due to riper years. Kit. The response of Solomon, more fully given in First Kings, is to be studied in connection with the reply of God. The request was for wisdom and knowledge, and this in order to discharge the responsibilities of his kingly office. It was a wise request, and was approved of God. But the terms of His approval show exactly the character of the request and how far that approval went. Because Solomon had not asked riches, wealth, honor, long life, nor revenge upon his enemies, none of those desires which are foremost with men and universally cherished, God gave the desired wisdom, and added great wealth and honor. Yet, it should be carefully noted, that while asking for that which was comparatively excellent, far better than the things men commonly ask in their hearts, Solomon did not ask for the ever-present guidance and grace of the Spirit of God. He showed wisdom, good judgment, in asking for wisdom. But he did not evince the spirit of an inward godliness, or controlling piety, like that which life-long actuated the heart of David. This marked essential difference characterizes the two lives, and distinguishes the inspired writings of father and son. In these writings we trace this difference in the effect upon each of the transgressions of middle and later life. Throughout the Psalms there is an outpouring of the heart in trust and penitence, in love and aspiration. But the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes mainly reveal a sharpened conscience, and a clear, cold, sometimes almost feelingless intellect tracing the courses and effects of good and evil doing in actual life-experience. Were it not for a few Proverbs and for the richly wrought Allegory entitled the Song of Solomon, there would be little relief for our sadness in the retrospect of a life so endowed with all gifts outwardly attractive and intellectually beautiful. Let it be remembered, then, that the choice of Solomon, though comparatively far superior to ordinary human choices, was not the highest and best. Wisdom for his own use, to guide and control his action as ruler, to employ the best means in securing the most desirable ends in his government and care of the people, this was the wish of his heart that God approved and granted. But to the grant, God subjoins the conditional and warning words, "if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk; an intimation that strength in the will and grace in the heart must be Divinely added to wisdom of the understanding. That Solomon's wisdom did not suffice for this needed Divine grace, that his excelling wisdom did not help him to keep God's statutes and commandments, we read full plainly in his whole after history. B. When still in his youth, Solomon received from God the gift of wisdom, that he might judge Israel righteously. Is this sufficient reason for laying to God's account Solomon's entire life, his luxury, his excesses, even his idolatry? Are we not expressly told, "The Lord was angry with Solomon?" and do not facts confirm this declaration? Further, while the name of David often occurs in the writings of prophets and apostles, not once does the name of Solomon cross their lips. Are not these sufficiently striking signs of the Divine disapprobation of this reign, which was as morally disastrous as it was outwardly brilliant? Godet. Practically, in view of the youthful vigor normally accorded to virtuous young men, and the possibilities that lie within the grasp of earnest, persevering endeavor, God says to every young man as he said to Solomon—"Ask what I shall give thee!" Make choice of the ends you would accomplish in life. If they are worthy ends my blessing shall be upon you. According to your faith it shall be done. Any young man can choose as Solomon did to "serve his generation according to the will of God"—to do the very duties which God in providence lays before his hand, and to do those duties in the best manner possible to him with his powers and opportunities. This virtuous noble purpose is one of the first and best possibilities of every young man. He can be, in this highest sense, good. He can consecrate to the service of God in the line of labor for human well-being whatever powers God gives him. So doing he may be confident of two things: that his choice will please God, and that God will give him success—most surely of all, success in his endeavors to please God truly and serve him faithfully, than which no other success can be greater or better. Again, the case as presented here is good both for proof and for illustration of the principle that when men "covet earnestly" and supremely the best gifts, God loves not only to give these best things thus preferably and supremely sought, but to throw in the lesser things as unasked gratuities—in business phrase, "into the bargain." God gave Solomon not only the wise and understanding heart to rule well—that which he specially sought; but also great wisdom in other directions; immense riches, moreover, and unsurpassed honors. It seems to have been very easy for the Lord to throw in all these lesser things, and make no particular account of them. They were so much extra—a kind of bonus, which signifies the rich munificence of the Giver, and the gushing fulness of his heart toward that unselfish virtue which is so like God, and which he so naturally enjoys when he sees it in his creatures. Moreover, this case suggests the general law as propounded by Jesus in his great sermon: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things," food, raiment, these lower blessings, "shall be added unto you." They shall be thrown in, almost without your asking. Give your full heart and chief endeavor to seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and God will see to the filling of your cup with earthly good as may be best for you in his sight. Hence we may conclude that the principle on which God blessed Solomon was not exceptional but general. Anybody can have blessings from God on the same principle, good blessings, the Lord himself being judge as to what is really good for any one of us personally to have. "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is," and in no trivial sense. H. C.