fault in him since he fell unto me unto this 7 Wherefore now return, and go in peace, day? that thou 'displease not the lords of the Philistines.

4 And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, 'Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?

5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, 'Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 6 ¶ Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day nevertheless the lords favour thee not.

:

11 Chron. 12. 19. Chap. 18.7, and 21. 11.

8 ¶ And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

9 And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

10 Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master's servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart.

11 So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Heb. thou art not good in the eyes of the lords. ♦ Heb. do not evil in the eyes of the lords. 5 Heb. before thee.

Verse 1. "Aphek."-See note to Josh. xii. 18. This must have been in the tribe of Issachar, in or on the borders of the great plain of Esdraelon; and must not be confounded with the place of the same name in the tribe of Judah, where the Philistines had their camp in the time of Eli (chap. iv. 1).

By a fountain which is in Jezreel.”—Of this Jezreel see the note on Josh. xix. 17. The fountain was probably in the neighbourhood of the town, which seems to have been near the southern termination of the Gilboa mountains. Here then we have another great battle in the plain of Esdraelon, which may be taken as the great battle-field of Palestine (see Hos. i. 5). The names given here and in the preceding chapter, very clearly point out the eastern part of the plain and the hills behind it on the east, as the scene of this battle. Saul it seems had disposed his army on or near Mount Gilboa, his own station being near the fountain in Jezreel.

3. "The princes of the Philistines."-The heads of the other Philistine states, not the lords in the court of Achish, who probably concurred in or submitted to the views which the king entertained concerning David.

CHAPTER XXX.

1 The Amalekites spoil Ziklag.
4 David asking
counsel is encouraged by God to pursue them.
11 By the means of a revived Egyptian he is
brought to the enemies, and recovereth all the
spoil. 22 David's law to divide the spoil equally
between them that fight, and them that keep the
stuff. 26 He sendeth presents to his friends.
AND it came to pass, when David and his
men were come to Ziklag on the third day,
that the Amalekites had invaded the south,
and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned
it with fire;

2 And had taken the women captives, that were therein they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on

their way.

3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.

4 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

5 And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

6 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.

7 And David said to Abiathar, the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.

8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.

1 Heb. bitter.

Heb. their morrow. 3 Or, asked them how they did. Verse 1. “The Amalekites had invaded the south.”—The strength of the country, both of the Hebrews and of the PhiIstines, having been drawn northward to the battle in Esdraelon, the Amalekites, as might be expected, eagerly availed themselves of the opportunity of invading the defenceless south. In this expedition, which has entirely the character of a nomade incursion into a settled country, they were not likely to overlook David's town, or to fail of avenging his recent expedition against themselves.

2. Slew not any.'-The men capable of bearing arms having gone to the war, there were probably none of those remaining in the town whom it was usual to put to death. In most cases the women and boys were spared, to be used

as slaves, and the old people from the prevailing sentiment of respect to age. David, in his recert expedition agains the southern tribes, did not spare any; while the Amalekites spared all. The reason of this difference, apparently t the disadvantage of David's humanity, is obviously that David had to do with armed men, whom it was not usual t spare, whereas the Amalekites found none but those whom it was unusual to destroy. This, and other war practice which occur in this chapter, such as the division of spoil, &c., have already been fully considered in the notes to Num xxv. and Deut. xx. To this we cannot here abstain from adding the excellent illustration to be derived from the in structions which the Caliph Abubekr addressed to Yezid, when about to send him, at the head of an army, into Syria After advising him to behave kindly to his own troops, he says: "When you meet your enemies, quit yourselves like men, and don't turn your backs; and if you get the victory, kill no little children, nor old people, nor women. Destroy no palm-trees (see note on Deut. xx. 19), nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief t cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make any covenant, stand to it, and be as good as your word," &c (Ockley's Conquest of Syria,' p. 24.)

9. "The brook Besor."-The winter torrent, now called Oa-di-Gaza, a little to the south of Gaza, agrees exceedingly well with the situation which the history would seem to assign to the brook Besor. It is mentioned in the note t Gen. xvi. 18, where we imagined it was the same with "the river of Egypt," but found occasion to retract that opinion in the note to Num. xxxv. 5. That so many of the men were tired by the time they got to the brook Besor, prove that Ziklag, and consequently Gath, was a good distance to the north, and furnishes another argument for not placing it so far to the south as Calmet, T. H. Horne, and others, have done. The vicinity of a river was naturally selected a the resting-place of those who were unable to proceed farther.

13. "My master left me, because three days agone I fell sick.”—This Egyptian had probably been taken prisoner by the Amalekites in one of their predatory incursions into the Egyptian territory, and retained as a slave. We hav often had occasion to observe, that slaves are usually treated with great kindness in the East; but it does still no unfrequently happen, that in rapid journeys over the deserts, slaves are abandoned, and often perish, because the inhu man master, or his party, will not consent to encumber themselves with the necessary conveyance of, or attendance on a sick man. If he can, by his own exertions, keep up with his party, it is well; but, if not, there is little hope for him Old slaves-that is, those who have long been the property of a particular master, or have been reared in his familyare, we believe, scarcely ever thus treated; but slaves newly purchased or acquired, do not often meet with equal indul gence. This "young man of Egypt" would seem not long to have been a slave to his Amalekite master.

14. "Cherethites.”—Compare with verse 16, and Zeph. ii. 5; from which it appears highly probable that this wa either a general name for the Philistines, or for a section or tribe of that nation inhabiting the southern part o Philistia. There are other opinions; but we apprehend that this is founded on the most satisfactory evidence.

27. "To them which were in Beth-el," &c.-Bethel and the other principal towns in this list have already been noticed South Ramoth is mentioned in Josh. xix. 8. among the cities of Simeon. Jattir is included in Josh. xv. 48, among the towns of Judah in the mountains. Jerome reads it "Jether," as he well might, and identifies it with a large vil lage which existed in his time under the name of Jethira. It was in the interior of Daroma, near Malatha, abou twenty miles (south-east, of course) from Eleutheropolis, which places it among the mountains, as the text referred t requires, to the south of Hebron, among the well-known haunts of David. Aroer was hardly the Aroer on the othe side Jordan, as all the places mentioned seem to have been in the tribe of Judah or on its borders: the Septuagin reads "Arouel" instead of " Adamah" in the list of Judah's towns given in Josh. xv. (verse 22); and this may be the place intended. Eshtemoa is mentioned next to Jattir in the list (Josh. xxi. 16) of the towns which Judah gave to th Levites, and, like it, is among the towns enumerated in the mountains of Judah. Jerome says, that it was in his tim a Jewish village of Daroma, to the north of another village called Anem (probably the Anim mentioned after Ashte mosh in Josh. xv. 50), which he seems to place to the east of Hebron, but modifies his statement by saying, that it wa near another village of the same name, south of Hebron, which may make the result south-east or even south-south-east Rachal is nowhere else mentioned in the Bible, neither is Atach. Chor-ashan is doubtless the Ashan given to the trib of Simeon in Josh. xix. 7, and perhaps the same as the village of Beth-Asan of Jerome's time, fifteen miles from Jeru salem. These presents, sent to the elders of so many important places, show that David had a party of powerfu friends in his own tribe.

CHAPTER XXXI.

1 Saul having lost his army, and his sons slain, he and his armourbearer kill themselves. 7 The Phi

listines possess the forsaken towns of the Israelites.
8 They triumph over the dead carcases. 11 They
of Jabesh-gilead, recovering the bodies by night,
burn them at Jabesh, and mournfully bury their
bones.

Now 'the Philistines fought against Israel:
and the men of Israel fled from before the
Philistines, and fell down 'slain in mount
Gilboa.

2 And the Philistines followed hard upon
Saul and upon
his sons;
and the Philistines
slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchi-
shua, Saul's sons.

3 And the battle went sore against Saul,

and the archers 'hit him; and he was sor wounded of the archers.

4 Then said Saul unto his armourbearer Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised com and thrust me through, and 'abuse me. Bu his armourbearer would not; for he was sor afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.

5 And when his armourbearer saw tha Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon hi sword, and died with him.

6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that sam day together.

7 And when the men of Israel tha were on the other side of the valley, and

they that were on the other side 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 found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa.

9 And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.

10 And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

11 And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul;

12 All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and 'burnt them there.

13 And they took their bones, and 'buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Verse 4. "Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it."-The account here given is very materially different from that which the Amalekite gives in the first chapter of the following book. The moral difference between the two accounts is however only the difference between two forms of suicide. The account of Josephus reconciles the two statements by supposing that Saul claimed the assistance of the Amalekite, after having made an ineffectual attempt at self-destruction. But there remain other discrepancies which are not obviated by this explanation; and, upon the whole, the general impression is more probably correct in receiving the statement in the present chapter as the accurate account; and that the story told by the Amalekite was trumped up with the view of recommending himself to the favour of David. The plain account therefore is, that Saul, being wounded, and fearing the most grievous insults if he fell alive into the hands of the Philistines, chose rather to die by his own hand. This is one of the very few instances of suicide which occur in the Scriptures. It is still a practice exceedingly rare among the Orientals, even in the most adverse circumstances of life, and with only prospects of death and misery before them. This appears to have been always the case in the East; the ancient history of which affords very few instances of self-murder, compared with that of the western nations-the study of which has, unhappily, rendered the modern mind but too familiar with the historical celebrity of, and false principles connected with, a crime by which men affected to dare and to be superior to the calamities from which they shrunk. Dr. Delaney, in his History of David,' very properly contrasts the conduct of Saul, in this his last extremity, with that of Darius, who, when he sat in his tent

"Deserted, in his utmost need,
By those his former bounty fed,"

and every moment expecting his death, said to the few eunuchs who remained with him, after counselling them to provide for their own safety, "Wonder not that I do not with my own hand end my days; for I would much rather erish through another's crime than by my own." (Q. Curtius, l. v., c. xii.)

5. "His armourbearer...fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him."--The Jews think that this armourbearer was Doeg the Edomite, who was promoted to that office for his alacrity in obeying the king when commanded to slay the priests. They also think that the sword which Saul took was that of the armourbearer, and that the latter employed the same weapon, so that both Saul and Doeg died by the very weapon by which the priests of the Lord had been stain, by the order of the one and by the hand of the other. That the weapon with which Saul slew himself was that of the armourbearer, seems highly probable from the context; but we have no authority but this ancient tradition for supposing that the armourbearer was Doeg.

10. "They put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth.”—See the notes on ch. vi. 5; and xxi. 9.

“They fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan" and the bodies of his sons also, as appears by verse 12. Josephus understands that the bodies were gibbeted on crosses outside the walls; but others conceive, as the text seems to require that the bodies were fastened to, or suspended against the wall by nails or hooks. It was a custom among some ancient nations to punish criminals convicted of capital crimes, by throwing them from the wall, so that they should be caught Ly hooks which were inserted in the wall below, and by which they often hung for a long time in exquisite tortures. Very possibly the remains of these unhappy princes were fastened by such hooks to the wall of Beth-shan.

Beth-shan."-This place was known to the Greeks by the name of Nysa, and afterwards by that of Scythopolis from the Scythians, who, when they overran Western Asia, took this city and retained it in their possession as long as they continued in that region. It is known at present by the name of Bisan, which is merely a softened form of its ancient Hebrew name. It is situated about twelve miles to the south of the sea of Tiberias, and nearly two miles west of the Jordan. It was a place of such high repute among the Jews, that the Talmud says, that if the garden of Eden was in the land of Israel, Bethshan was its gate; and it is added, that its fruits were the sweetest in Israel. It remained a place of considerable importance in the fourth century, according to Jerome; but at present its site is only marked by a miserable village in the midst of extensive ruins. Burckhardt describes Bisan as situated upon rising ground, on the west side of the valley of the Jordan, where the chain of mountains (Gilboa) declines considerably in height and presents merely elevated ground, quite open towards the west, and the mountains do not begin again till one hour's journey to the south. The ancient town was watered by a river now called Moiet Bisan, or, the water of Kisan, which flows in different branches towards the plain. The ruins of Scythopolis are of considerable extent, and the town built along the banks of the rivulet and in the valleys formed by its several branches, must have been nearly three miles in circuit. The only remains are large heaps of black hewn stones, many foundations of houses and fragments of a few columns. In one of the valleys there is a large mound of earth, which appeared to Burckhardt to be artificial, and which was probably the site of a castle for the defence of the town. On the left bank of the stream there is a large khan, where the caravans repose that take the shortest route from Jerusalem to Damascus. The village of Bisan contains seventy or eighty houses. Its inhabitants are in a miserable condition, from being exposed to the

al

depredations of the Bedouins, to whom they also pay a heavy tribute. Dr. Richardson also, who calls the place abominable sink of dirt and iniquity," describes the village as "a collection of the most miserable hovels, containin about 200 inhabitants, and, in looking at their wretched accommodation, and a Bedoween encampment that was sprea out in the valley, we were not surprised to hear that in these countries the dwellers in tents look on the dwellers i towns as an inferior class of beings." He also says that his party found the weather hotter at Bisan than in any othe part of Judæa. Masses of ejected lava lie scattered around the village, and the mountains have much the appearanc of extinguished volcanoes. Captains Irby and Mangles found traces of the walls of the ancient fortress, on the hil mentioned by Burckhardt. They also discovered other remains, which appear to have escaped his researches, an which sufficiently attest the ancient importance of the place, when it was the largest city of the Decapolis, being als the only one west of the Jordan.

12, 13. "Burnt them.....and tɔok their bones, and buried them.”—This agrees with what was a common and honour able rite of sepulture among the nations of classical antiquity. This is the first time it is, as such, mentioned in Scripture and from the Law we should certainly infer that it was considered ignominious by the Hebrews. Perhaps it was resorte to in the present instance to preserve the remains of Saul and his sons from any further insult. This rite, however, ulti mately became honourable among the Jews; and perhaps the present instance gave the first impulse to the change o opinion. (See the note on Jer. xxxiv. 5.) But after the Captivity the practice was discontinued, and the ancient ave sion of the Hebrews to this rite revived with such vigour, that their learned men spent much ingenuity in proving tha it never had existed among them.-The reader will not fail to mark the very proper feelings of the men of Jabesh gilead towards their deliverer after the lapse of so many years. With Jabesh the public history of Saul may be sai to commence, and in Jabesh it terminates.