We need not occupy our pages with references to similar conduct in A.M. 2942. the heroes of ancient times, upon less perplexing occasions; but B.C. 1062. neither Ulysses nor Solon had the same excuse for this unmanly degradation; while Brutus, perhaps, in the opinion of many of our readers might plead a better. On the occasion of his first dangers (which probably led to his personal confinement) at the court of Gath, he penned the fifty-sixth Psalm, and on his escape, the thirtyfourth. 66 Adullam. followers. 8. His next retreat was the cave of Adullam, near a city of the Retreats to same name, in his own tribe. Here his family and friends quickly joined him, with many others that were discontented or in difficulties; His amongst whom were Joab, Abishai, and Benaiah; and those eleven distinguished Gadites who are described in the final register of his captains as men of might and war, fit for the battle; that could! Chron. xii. handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were swift as the roes upon the mountains." After these came an unexpected reinforcement from the mixed tribes of Benjamin and Judah, under the direction of Amasa. David, justly cautious of such a considerable number of Saul's tribe, but no longer fearful of committing his cause into the hand of God, met them with a pious frankness. "If," said he, "ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, my heart shall be knit unto you; but if ye be come unto me to betray me unto mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hand, the GOD of our fathers look down thereon and rebuke it. To this address their leader replied with similar candour and devotion, "Thine we are, O David, and on thy side, O son of Jesse. Peace be to thee, and peace to thy helpers. For thy God helpeth thee!" David's forces now amounted to upwards of four hundred men. His first precaution, on finding himself in strength, was to place his father and mother in security-the questionable security of the court of the king of Moab. Perhaps, however, David conceived his own continuance in the neighbourhood as a sufficient guarantee of their safety; while the precarious and comfortless abodes he inhabited, would ill suit the extreme age of his parents. From Adullam he departed, at the command of the prophet Gad, into the forest of Hareth, in the interior of the tribe of Judah; and not far remote from the scenes of his former advancement and retreat, at Gibeah and Ramah, where Saul quickly heard of him. On his expostulating with the neighbouring tribes for their partiality to David, the officious zeal of Doeg now revealed to Saul the succour formerly afforded to David by Abimelech; and that wretched king, after a mockery of expostulation with him, sacrificed nearly the whole of the sacerdotal family to his rage, and destroyed the town of Nob; while David was pressing towards the relief of his country from an invasion of the Philistines. Abiathar, the only surviving male branch of the high-priest's family, escaped to David. A.M. 2942. Relieves The town of Keilah was situated to the south-west of the tribe of B.C. 1062. Judah, bordering on the territory of the Philistines, and these marauders came up, in repeated incursions, after the time of harvest, to rob the threshing floors of the Israelites. David, through the prophet or the priest who now adorned his camp, inquired the will of God respecting the propriety of attacking them; and presents the singular instance of a public man, who could only maintain himself with difficulty against the tyrannical government of his own country, advancing to the attack of her enemies. His men appeared sensible of the danger of being thus placed between two inveterate foes, but David having ascertained God's will, proceeded without hesitation to the battle, and to victory. Danger now arose from a third quarter, and the last that could have been expected. Saul hearing of David's stay in the town, sent a message to the inhabitants of Keilah to deliver him up, and, ungrateful as their master, they were ready to obey. Assured of this by the divine oracle, David fled to Ziph, (his men now amounting to 600,) and successively to the wilderness of Maon and Engedi; Saul pursuing him (with a slight interruption from the Philistines)" all the way, and latterly with a force of 3000 men. At Ziph, in another of the friendly wilds David's last of nature, Jonathan and David met for the last time. The interview meeting with Jonathan. Spares Saul was short, but full of the greatest consolation to David that any creature could have afforded him. The sacred historian says that Jonathan "strengthened his hand in God." His friend could now speak expressly (if he did not speak prophetically,) not only of David's final deliverance from Saul, but of his future possession of the throne: "and I," said he, fondly, and with the due mixture of what was human in his views, "shall be next unto thee, and that also Saul my father knoweth." They here again renewed their solemn engagements to each other in the name of Jehovah, and parted to meet no more. At Engedi was a cave of some considerable extent, in which David at Engedi. and some few attendants had secreted themselves, when Saul came into it to rest, or for some other temporary purpose." 12 His men now urged David by every consideration of justice and propriety, to avail himself of this complete committal of their common enemy into his hand. David advanced toward the mouth of the cave, and cut away a part of Saul's outer robe, but strictly forbade his men to touch the person of the king. When Saul had withdrawn, he presented himself with this irresistible proof of his forbearance before the rival troops. Addressing Saul with the utmost respect, and appealing to God for the pureness of his motives, he again subdued the guilty conscience of the king, before the voice of truth and reason; until Saul acknowledged, with an ill-founded humiliation, the superiority 11 To the period of this providential diversion of Saul's forces, Patrick, and others, ascribe the composition of the 54th Psalm. 12 ETEIYOμEVOS UTO TWV Zατα QUƠI.-Josephus. Ut purgaret ventrem.-Vulgate. of David's character, and his conviction that he would ultimately a.m. 2942. possess the throne.1 13 66 B.C. 1062. Abigail. We next find David in the wilderness of Paran, which exhibits one a.m. 2944. of the most characteristic scenes of his life. Nabal, a rich, but churlish B.C. 106O. landholder, who had previously been indebted to David's protection for the security of his flocks, was shearing sheep in Carmel; and David sent a respectful request to him to be allowed to participate in his abundance. To this he replied by an insulting taunt, and David advanced at the head of 400 of his men to resent it. But Nabal had a wife of a very opposite character, a woman of good Nabal and understanding, and of a beautiful countenance, who hearing the account of this refusal, prepared in person to avert the consequences. While her husband was revelling in wine, she met David with a valuable present of provisions, and delicately requesting him to impute the conduct to herself, which she now entreated he would pardon, reminded him that when Jehovah should have destroyed all his enemies, it would be "no grief nor offence of heart" unto him if he should have forborne to shed blood causelessly in such an instance as this. This appeal to all David's best principles was irresistible; he assured her of peace, and even of his gratitude for her interference; and on the death of Nabal, shortly afterwards, made this interesting woman his wife. Some writers affect to consider the conduct and character of David at this juncture, as that of a mere captain of banditti. Many forcible appeals are made to our justice on behalf of the suffering creditors of his bands in particular; but not one decided feature of such a character is made to appear. What districts did he ravage but those of the enemies of his country? Whose property did he invade, or whose domestic tranquillity did he disturb? Moreover, did he not place all these debtors in far more promising circumstances than those in which he found them? It is no small credit to his associates to have known and followed such a master. For their use and at an early period of their acquaintance, Delaney thinks he composed the 34th Psalm, and planted the vineyards of Engedi. Once more Saul is brought in contact with David. The Ziphites giving intelligence of David's retreat in their neighbourhood, Saul pitched in the hills of Hachilah with a considerable force, and lodged personally amongst the baggage. David having intelligence of his exact situation, and attended only by Abishai, ventured promptly, in the dead of night, into the royal tent, and again saw his bitterest foe at his feet, with a spear stuck in the ground at his head. But Saul's life he again resisted the thought of violating his security, and only took red spared. 13 We have a Psalm expressly penned by David on this occasion, Psalm exlii. But good thoughts," says Dr. Trapp, speaking of Saul's confession, "make but a thoroughfare of wicked hearts; they stay not there, as those that like not S. H. Р their lodging; their purposes, for want again away the spear and a cruse of water. The next morning he ascends B.C. 1060. the opposite hill, and calling for Abner, Saul's general, in a fine A.M. 2944. vein of satirical reproach relates the fact, and exhibits the proofs. This produced a final acknowledgment from Saul that he had sinned, "and played the fool exceedingly," and a vow that he would seek to injure David no more. How far this promise was observed there are no means of directly ascertaining, but David seems to have A.M. 2946. apprehended fresh outrages; for we find him a second time in B.C. 1058. extreme despondency, and fleeing, as before, to Gath. Here he continued for about a year and a-half, during which period he invaded several of the minor states, (the old enemies of his country,) in the south of Judea, but seems to have taken no part in the public affairs of Achish until the memorable and decisive period of a war breaking out between the Philistines and Saul.14 David at The town of Ziklag, near the southern borders of the tribe of Judah, was assigned to David at this time by the king of Gath, for A.M. 2948. his residence, and remained ever after (with the exception we are B.C. 1056. about to relate) in the possession of the kings of Judah. David had requested this place of Achish as likely to be less obnoxious to the court, and on being dismissed from the muster of the Philistine army, through the jealousy of the princes, he was about to retire again to the town, when he found that it had been sacked by the Amalekites. David's men now manifested for the first time symptoms of revoltthe town had been burnt, their wives and children taken captives, and the chieftain and his followers were equally perplexed and desponding, "but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." He called for the ephod, and was oracularly assured, through Abiathar the priest, that if he instantly pursued the enemy he might yet recover all. David needed no other encouragement; he selected 600 of his best troops for the expedition, and meeting opportunely with an Egyptian slave whom the Amalekites had left behind, he was enabled to track their route, and came up with them while they were in the act of rejoicing over their great spoil. After a well But 14 We have no direct concern in this him no more. 2. The predictions were robbers. fought day he routed the whole force of the enemy, which seems to A.M. 2948. have been considerable, (as 400 of them still fled homeward,) and B.C. 1056. according to the prediction, brought back in safety all the families Conquest of and flocks of his followers. Two hundred of them, however, who Amalekite were detained by fatigue from following the pursuit, were now unwillingly allowed their share in the booty by the rest, but David took occasion at this time to establish a law, long afterwards observed in the Jewish wars, that all soldiers fairly embarked in a contest should equally divide the spoils. He also distributed large presents on this occasion to various towns which had been friendly to himself and his men. The Philistine army in the interim had marched to Jezreel. The sword which David would not raise against his "master," as he still considered Saul, was committed to less scrupulous hands, and in a general engagement in the plains of Gilboa, to which Saul appears to have brought the whole of his forces, and all the effective male branches of his family, the Israelites were totally defeated; the sons of Saul, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Melchishua, were slain, and he Saul and his himself in a close pursuit was mortally wounded. He now called sons slain. upon his armour-bearer to despatch him, retaining an unavailing aversion to die by the hands of "the uncircumcised," and on his refusal fell, in fact, by his own hand, in falling upon his sword. The Israelites fled in all directions, and ultimately abandoned a large tract of their territory; the Philistines stripped the body of Saul, which they nailed to the wall of Beth-shan, with the remains of his sons, while they deposited his armour in the temple of Ashtaroth; but the brave inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead soon recovered the royal corse's, and buried them with due solemnity in their own neighbourhood. beautiful ode on the Upon the generous David, the tidings of this final discomfiture of his greatest personal enemy, operated in a very different manner to what a less noble heart would imagine. He ordered a lying messenger of the news, who assumed to himself the supposed credit of despatching Saul, to be instantly slain; he sent a message of personal thanks to the men of Jabesh-Gilead for their respectful conduct to the late king, and composed a memorable funeral ode on the death David's of the fallen family, in which it is only difficult to decide, whether the just and generous enemy, or the affectionate friend, shine more occasion. conspicuous. It was an occasion to call forth all his soul, and all his soul is in it. The joy and pride of his life were involved in the friendship of the fallen Jonathan; all the trouble and degradation of his past days were terminated in the death of Saul. But both shine "as the beauty of Israel" in his song; both are celebrated as "the mighty fallen!" Our limits will not allow us to transcribe this honourable effusion of pious and dignified grief, upon which all comments are superfluous; but we fear not to refer the reader to the entire composition, as exceeding, under the circumstances, any rival production of antiquity. |