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548. Describe the next movements of David. Who was Achish? Where was the cave of Adullam? Where was the forest of Hareth? 549. By what prophet was David required to remove from the cave of Adullam into the lowlands of Judah?

550. Where was the desert of Ziph? David's first retirement to that place.

551. Where was the desert of En-gedi?

Relate the circumstances of

What led to David's removal

to that locality? What circumstance occurred there? 552. Describe the situation of the wilderness of Maon.

553. Where did Nabal reside? Relate the circumstances which led to David's marriage with Abigail. Whom did he afterwards marry? What had become of Michal?

554. Relate the circumstances attending David's second abode in the desert of Ziph.

555. What led David to repair a second time to the Philistines, and seek protection from Achish? How was he preserved from fighting against his country? Relate the affair which took place at Ziklag.

556. Describe particularly the scene and circumstances of the death of Saul and Jonathan.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.

557. Describe the situation of Michmash. What is its modern name? 558. To what place did Samuel retire after he had quitted Saul? 559. Where was the Tabernacle at this time?

560. Describe the situation of Nob.

561. What allusion did our Saviour make to the visit of David to Ahimelech, and for what purpose?

562. How do you estimate the character of Saul?

563. Give the dates of-the accession of Saul,-the anointing of David, -the death of Samuel,-the death of Saul.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE EARLY PART OF THE REIGN OF DAVID.
B. C. 1055-1033.

(2 Sam. ii.-xii. 1 Chron. xii.-xx. 3.)

THE death of Saul (B. C. 1055) having cleared the way to the throne, David sought Divine direction concerning his own line of conduct; and, in answer to this inquiry, he was ordered to repair to Hebron, where the men of Judah immediately elected and anointed him as their king.* At the same time, however, Abner, the general of Saul's army, induced all the

* Some think that David, while reigning at Hebron, was tributary to the Philistines.

other tribes to give their allegiance to Ishbosheth *, the only surviving son of the late king, whose residence was fixed at Mahanaim, on the east of the Jordan.† The authority of this new sovereign was, however, unconstitutional; inasmuch as, although he had been chosen by the majority of the tribes, his appointment had not received the Divine sanction: and Ishbosheth himself was a feeble prince,-in fact a mere roi fainéant in the hands of Abner, by whom his throne was upheld as long as it appeared to suit his own interest to give it his support. Some years passed without any acts of hostility between the two portions of the divided kingdom; but, at length, war was commenced by Abner, at the outset of which he sustained a signal defeat by the forces of David under the command of Joab, after an ineffectual attempt to decide the issue by a combat of twelve picked men on each side, the whole of whom were destroyed by each other.§ Joab, who was a nephew of David, being a son of his sister Zeruiah, was accompanied in this battle by his brothers Abishai and Asahel; the latter of whom (celebrated as being "light of foot as a gazelle upon the mountains ") was slain by Abner, with a back thrust of his spear, after having been in vain requested by the defeated general to desist from his close pursuit. Joab lost only nineteen men, besides Asahel; while the number of the slain on the side of Abner amounted to three hundred and sixty. There was no desire on the part of Judah to follow up the victory with a greater effusion of blood; and, after a parley,

* Originally called, by his father, Esh-baal (man of Baal), perhaps out of compliment to the Phoenicians; but afterwards, by the Israelites, to express their contempt for the Phoenician idol, Ish-bosheth (man of shame).

† Considered apart from the direct interposition of Divine authority, David's accession to the throne has been not unaptly compared to that of our own William III. His rival on the other side of the Jordan (over the water) maintained, indeed, his residence in a portion of his dominions; but he had no more footing in central and northern Palestine (then in the hands of the Philistines) than James had in Ireland and Scotland.

David reigned seven years and a half at Hebron over Judah alone, and Ishbosheth reigned at Mahanaim only two years. So that, either (as some suppose) Ishbosheth did not recover his territories west of the Jordan from the Philistines until after a struggle of five years, conducted, on his part, most probably by Abner; or else (which is less probable) the two years of Ishbosheth's reign were contemporary with the first two years of David's at Hebron, and the five years' conflict was maintained by David.

This combat bears an obvious resemblance to that of the Horatii and Curiatii. Dr. Kitto compares it to the Scotch clan fight related in "The Fair Maid of Perth."

Joab withdrew his forces, and returned to Hebron. The war, however, was prolonged for some time, during which "David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul weaker and weaker." At length, on occasion of a quarrel with the weak and incapable Ishbosheth,-a quarrel probably designed from the first to serve only as a pretext for his defection,Abner sent a message to David, tendering his support in reducing all the tribes of Israel to their proper allegiance.

Having manifested his sincerity by complying with David's demand for the restoration of his wife Michal, and having had a conference with the king at Hebron, Abner left that place in order to treat with the elders of Israel in favour of David as their lawful sovereign, according to the declared will of the Most High. But he was not permitted to execute his design. Joab, jealous of the influence which Abner was likely to possess at the court of David, remonstrated with the king concerning the confidence which he had placed in one whom he represented as still being covertly his enemy; and, at the same time, he secretly caused Abner to be recalled, as by the king's authority, to Hebron, where, having obtained a private interview with him, he assassinated him with his own hand,an act which he represented as only a due and customary avenging of the death of his brother Asahel. David was indignant at the treachery and murder which had been committed; but he could do no more than testify his regret for the death of Abner by a public funeral and mourning, in which he himself took a prominent part, while he bitterly complained of the preponderating power of Joab and his family. In the public mind the king was entirely exempt from the charge of any share in the murder of Abner; and he said to his servants, "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me; the Lord shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness." It is probable that, had Abner lived, he would not only have been too powerful as a rival to Joab, but might have become troublesome even to the king himself; and it is pleasing to find that David was entirely free from suspicion or jealousy with regard to him.

Ishbosheth had now only the name of king, and he was speedily murdered in his bed by two of his own officers, Rechab and Baanah, who cut off his head and carried it to David at Hebron, expecting to receive a high reward for this proof of their devotion to his cause; instead of which they met with a

well merited rebuke, and the death of traitors. (2 Sam. iv. 9-12.)*

Soon after this, the elders of the tribes of Israel waited on David at Hebron, tendering their submission; and here, at the end of seven years and a half, during which he had reigned over Judah alone, David was solemnly declared king over the whole people †, having been first anointed by Samuel as future sovereign by Divine appointment, and again afterwards as reigning prince of Judah at Hebron. ‡

*The conduct of David towards one who was, at least officially, his chief public enemy, may well be compared to that of Alexander to the slayer of Darius, and contrasted with that of Antony to the assassins of Cicero.".... "On the same principle it was that Cæsar put to death the murderers of Pompey; and that the Romans sent back the Faliscan schoolmaster under the lashes of his own scholars."-KITTO, Daily Bible Illustrations, iii. 336, 337.

+ This assembly of the tribes at Hebron for the election of David has been compared to the ancient gatherings of the Germans on the banks of the Rhine, under their leaders and nobles, for the election of an emperor. Compare especially the election of the Emperor Conrad II., in the year

1025.

The great antitype of David, Messiah, has been in like manner made king, while yet a large number of his subjects refuse to acknowledge his authority. And here it may be well to take notice of the following observations concerning the typical character of Old Testament history. "What is written in the history of the Old Testament church, concerning God's dealings toward her, and the institutions and providences which she received at his hands, was all written for the learning of the New Testament church; and the things which happened to the one were appointed for types to the other; nay, were contrived with such minute and wonderful adaptation to the mysteries of redemption, that to be able to read with a clear and discerning eye the truths and lessons they were designed to teach, concerning the work and dispensation of Christ, is to reach the stature of a full-grown, ripened understanding in the things of God. . . . . Let the notices of Old Testament history be viewed in their real connection with the scheme of grace revealed in the Gospel; let the field which it traverses, however limited in extent, and the scenes which it delineates, however unimportant to the natural eye, be regarded as that field and those scenes through which, as on a lower and common ground, God sought to make his people familiar with the truths and principles hereafter to be developed in the events of his everlasting kingdom; let this view be taken of the notices of Old Testament history, which is the one Scripture itself requires us to take, and then how high a character do not one and all of them come to possess! What a dignity and importance attaches even to the least of them! The smallest motions on the earth's surface acquire a sort of greatness, when regarded as examples of the law of gravitation; since, then, even the fall of an apple from the tree appears connected with the revolution of the planets in their courses. And, in like manner, the relation which the historical facts of ancient Scripture bear to the glorious work and kingdom of Christ, gives to the

His first act was to advance against mount Zion, the fortress of Jerusalem (inheritance or habitation of Salem, or, habitation of peace, peaceful city) which had hitherto continued in possession of the Jebusites, and was regarded as impregnable. This place he reduced and converted into his own residence, as the city of David, at the same time enlarging Jerusalem and establishing it as the metropolis of the whole kingdom; a stroke of good policy, both on account of the strength of this place as a fortress, and also because, by its central position, it was well adapted to contribute towards the maintenance of the newly restored harmony among the tribes. Herein we may at the same time recognise a further step in the establishment of the kingdom of God upon earth, and also a lively prefiguration (and therefore, considered altogether, a true historical type) of the conquests of Messiah, who seizes the strongholds of Satan, and converts one portion of the world after another into the spiritual Zion.- "And David went on and grew great, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him." Hiram, king of Tyre, sent to congratulate him on his accession to the throne, and at the same time presented him with valuable building materials which served for the construction of a palace. The faithfulness and piety of the new monarch were displayed on occasion of a powerful invasion of the Philistines, who soon came up and pitched in the valley of Rephaim, south-west of Jerusalem on the borders of Judah and Benjamin. The enemy was repulsed with great loss, in two battles,-first at a place called, from this victory, Baal-perazim (i. e. the place of breaches, scattering, or discomfiture), and afterwards, at the Baca, or Bak, trees.* In each case the loyal king of Israel sought and obtained the Divine direction as to the conduct of the battle.

.....

least of them such a character of sacred dignity and importance as brings them within the range of God's highest purposes, and renders them in reality the connecting links of that golden chain which unites heaven and earth.. Thus may the typical transactions of Old Testament history, and symbolical institutions, be made to contribute most materially to the proper knowledge and perception of New Testament truths,—even of such as are most plainly revealed there, and enter into the present experience of believers. For not only do they throw much light on the terms in which the doctrines of the Gospel are unfolded, but they also embody the ideas themselves, in such a distinct and tangible form, that the mind can frame to itself more vivid perceptions of them than it could otherwise do, and with increased confidence can make them the objects of its faith."-FAIRBAIRN, Typology of Scripture, part iii. ch. 6.

In our version, herein following the Rabbins, "mulberry-trees." The tree is now supposed to be either a kind of balsam plant, or a kind of poplar.

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