SECTION IV.

DAVID'S WARS AT ZIKLAG-SAUL'S INTERVIEW WITH THE SORCERESS AT ENDORHIS DEATH AT GILBOA, AND THE LAMENTATION OF DAVID.

WHILE David was at Ziklag, he engaged in an exterminating warfare with the wandering bands lying south of Judah. "And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive," lest they should bring tidings to Gath; took the spoil, and returned to the Philistine king. When asked in what direction his incursions were made, David so answers (without telling an absolute falsehood) as to deceive Achish, and led him to believe that he had plundered his own country. The credulous king believed David, saying, "He hath made his people utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever."*

The Scriptures tell us things as they are, they never cover up the defects or sins of kings, or prophets, or apostles. This whole flight of David has its ground (naturally enough to human nature) in a weak faith, and this particular transaction must be viewed as a blot upon his religious character. The wonder would be, however, (did we not know the power of God's grace,) that he had not fallen more sadly. On every natural principle we should find him acting far otherwise than he did. It was the grace of God only which kept him from utter despair, and from joining the enemies of his people, in truth as well as in form.

New accessions were constantly made to his power, from almost all the tribes of Israel; so that David now occupied the position of an independent prince.

Achish soon required the aid of his new ally. "And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men." David, without giving a formal consent, replied, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. On the marshalling of the Philistine forces, David joins in with the men of Achish. We know not what David designed to do:

Though the standard of moral rectitude is immutable, so that the same actions, attended with the same circumstances, are always good or evil; but the standard of morality as it exists in the minds of men varies from time to time. In some ages, the evil of certain immoral acts is not perceived, and the general sentiment and practice are erroneous. In such cases good men fall into the common current, and without scruple perform acts which in a more enlightened age are seen to be wrong. This seems to have been the case in regard to the sin of falsehood. In the early ages of the world, it seems not to have been thought wrong to utter a falsehood to deliver an enemy, or to save life, or to accomplish some great good. It is a good rule, therefore, that the actions of men in one age, as to their criminality, ought not to be judged of as if committed in another age, when the knowledge of the true standard of morals was more perfect.

we may judge, however, from his previous conduct, that he would never be found in arms against his own brethren. More probably he waited until God, in the course of his providence, should make known what course he should pursue. He was spared from the trial of taking the decision into his own hands, by the jealousy of the other Philistine princes. They feared lest, in the battle, he should forsake his new friends and join the ranks of his countrymen. They were wroth with Achish, and persuaded him to send David and his men back to the place he had appointed them. No words of the king of Gath could change the purpose of the other lords. Achish, therefore, called David, and sent him back to Ziklag. On his return, David received still further additions to his forces, and he was soon to need their aid.

The absence of David had not been unnoticed by his foes. The Amalekites had seized the opportunity "and invaded the south and Ziklag, and smitten it and burned it with fire; and had taken the women captives that were therein, and went their way."

When David and his men reached the city, they found it burned, "and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives; and they lifted up their voice and wept.' And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, "because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons, and for his daughters; but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." "And David called Abiathar the priest, and inquired at the Lord. Shall I pursue this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue; for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all." Obtaining this assurance, he pursued them with the utmost rapidity. Some were too faint to proceed in the chase, and were left behind; while the stronger, amounting to four hundred, still pressed on. At length they fell upon an Egyptian, a servant of the Amalekites, who had been left by his master to die in the wilderness. He engages to bring David to his foes. And when he had brought him down, behold they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating, and drinking, and dancing, because of the spoil they had taken. In the midst of their revelry, David fell upon them and smote them, so that there escaped not a man of them, save those who rode upon the camels and fled. David not only recovered all that had been carried away, but a large spoil which this marauding band had collected from others, fell to his hands. The promise which he had received was more than verified.

On the return of the victors with their spoil, they were met and welcomed by the two hundred who were unable to follow David in the pursuit. It was proposed by some of these reck

less and unprincipled men, who followed David for the plunder they might get, that those only who had engaged in the battle. should share in the spoil. David was just, and said, "Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us; but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. And he made this an ordinance in Israel from that day and forward."

By the customs of that kind of warfare, a large part of the spoil fell to David; which he sent as a present unto "the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord." He remembered especially all the places where he had been wont to haunt, and whose kindness he had experienced in former days. There can be no doubt, but that this policy strengthened his hold upon the affections of his brethren of Judah, and opened the way for his return soon after.

While these events were taking place with David, the Philistines were pitched in Shunem, in the plain of Jezreel. "Saul had gathered all Israel together, and pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. He inquired of the Lord, but received no answer, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." He proceeded therefore to seek a woman with a familiar spirit, and inquire of her. Such a one was found at Endor. In the early part of his reign, Saul had put the Divine law against these necromancers into rigid execution. He therefore now went under a disguise to the woman by night, and asked her to bring him up whom he should name. Saul's religion was mere superstition. He had killed the priests of Jehovah, and sundered himself from his prophets, and was now left to this desperate resort; an aggravation of all his previous sins. The woman objected that her life would be in danger; and Saul sware that no punishment should happen to her. "Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel." "And the woman saw Samuel, and cried with a loud voice: and spake to Saul, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid, what sawest thou? And she said, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself."* He

It does not appear from this account, that the woman used any witchcraft. She was taken completely by surprise. The moment that Saul named the prophet, he appears to her. In the clause, and when the woman saw Samuel," which implies that some time elapsed between the request of the king and the appear

tells the prophet of his sore distress, and of his desertion by God; and that he had come to him in this emergency, for comfort and instruction. "Then said Samuel, Wherefore dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?" He reminds him that this distress was come upon him solely in consequence of his own sin; and then proceeds with the awful prophecy of what should still befal him. "Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines; and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord shall also deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines." When the troubled king heard these words, his strength failed him, and he fell straightway all along upon the earth. With this sad message as his only hope, he returns to his army, and not long after, the decisive. battle took place. "The men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and his sons, and slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchi-shua, Saul's sons." Saul, wounded and pressed by his foes, calls upon his armour-bearer "to kill him with the sword, lest the uncircumcised should come and thrust him through and abuse him." When hist armour-bearer refused, Saul fell upon his own sword, and died with his sons. The Philistines stripped the fallen king of his armour, "and cut off his head," and sent it to publish their triumph in the house of their idols, and among the people. "And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth, and fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan." The men of

Jabesh-gilead, however, grateful for the deliverance which Saul had wrought for them, "went and took the bodies of Saul and his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried them there; and they fasted seven days." "So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not; and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit. And the Lord turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse."

On the third day after his return from the pursuit of the Amalekites, David receives intelligence of the sad defeat. A young Amalekite came from the camp of Saul, and told David "that the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan are dead also." And David said, "How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan be dead?" Looking upon David as the probable heir to the crown, and hoping for a reward, the man professed that he had, at Saul's request, slain him with his own hand, and

ance of the vision-the word "when" is inserted by the translators. In the original, the appearance follows immediately upon the request; and no time is left for the practice of her rites.

produced the crown and bracelet as sufficient evidence of the king's death. "Then David and his men mourned and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel." And David said unto the young man that told him, "How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thy hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?" And he "called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died." And David said, "Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed. And David lamented over Saul and Jonathan his son." The generous impulses of his nature found expression in a beautiful. and touching lamentation, which has come down to us, as a testimony to his loyalty, to the depth and purity of his friendship for Jonathan, and to his thoroughly Hebrew heart, while living in the midst of their bitterest foes.

SECTION V.

DAVID MADE KING AT HEBRON-THE CIVIL WAR BETWEEN DAVID AND ABNER, OR ISH-BOSHETH THE SON OF SAUL-ABNER'S REVOLT AND DEATH-THE MURDER OF ISH-BOSHETH.

AFTER this mourning for Saul, David's first care was to inquire of the Lord, "Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah. And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And he said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron." So David and his men, with their households, went up and dwelt in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king ever the house of Judah. On learning that the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul, he sent messengers unto them, blessing them for their kindness to the house. of Saul, promising to requite this kindness unto them, and calling upon them to strengthen their hands, and be valiant. For though Saul was dead, yet they need not despair, for there was still a king in Judah, who stood ready to protect them.

David, however, did not come to the throne without opposition. A large part of the people, either from policy or from attachment to the house of Saul, arrayed themselves against him. "Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host," was the mainstay of this opposition. He proclaimed "Ish-bosheth the son of Saul king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and Ephraim and Benjamin, and over all Israel. But the house of Judah followed David." A civil war soon began to rage. Abner gathered the servants of his newly-made king, and came from Mahanaim to Gibeon; threatening the territory of Judah. An army from David, with Joab for its general, came out to meet