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of Judah and the rest of Israel, as to the mode in which David was conducted home. The Israelites found fault with Judah that they had "stolen the king from their brethren." The men of Judah plead their near relation to David. The quarrel became serious, "and the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel." Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite, took advantage of the strife, and blew his trumpet and said, "We have no part in Judah nor inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel." Inflamed with their strife, the fickle multitude followed after Sheba.

In the mean time the king reached Jerusalem, rearranged his family, and prepared to suppress the insurrection. Orders were given to Amasa "to assemble the men of Judah," who were faithful, and hold himself in readiness for further orders. Amasa went to obey the command, but from some cause tarried longer than the time appointed him. During this delay, the insurrection of Sheba was growing into a rebellion; and threatening to become more serious even than the revolt of Absalom. David therefore commissioned Abishai to take forces and quell the conspiracy. Under this commission Abishai and Joab (though Joab had received no orders) "took the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and the mighty men, and pursued after Sheba." When they reached Gibeon, they fell in with Amasa their cousin, and Joab, without any hesitation, and under the pretence of friendship, murdered him as he had murdered Abner long before. Leaving one of their men to stand by the body, they hastened on in the pursuit. But when the men saw Amasa lying in his blood, they stood shocked at the spectacle, and with reluctance followed Joab in his expedition.

Sheba had gone through the tribes gathering the disaffected, and with a considerable force had taken refuge in Abel-Bethmaachah. Joab and his men pressed the siege with great vigour. As they were about to take the city, a wise woman cried to Joab, and said, "I am one of them that are peaceful and faithful in Israel; thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel; why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?" Joab answered that this was not his purpose," Far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy. I seek only Sheba, who hath lifted up his hand against the king; deliver him only, and I will depart from the city." To avoid the siege, the people of the city listened to the advice of the woman, cut off Sheba's head, and cast it over the wall to Joab. This was the end of this wicked insurrection. With the death of Sheba all disaffection ceased. Joab withdrew with his army, and returned to Jerusalem. He was yet sufficiently powerful to escape the punishment he deserved. In fact David was now in the hands of his general, and felt himself unable to execute the

sentence which his own sense of justice would have led him to pass. The brave, haughty, imperious man, was still over all the host of Israel, and justice slumbered for a time.

SECTION IX.

FAMINE OF THREE YEARS-WAR WITH THE PHILISTINES-THE PESTILENCE-THE PREPARATION FOR THE TEMPLE-SOLOMON MADE KING-DAVID'S CHARGE TO THE PEOPLE AND SOLOMON-DAVID'S DEATH.

BETWEEN the threatening of David by the prophet Nathan, and the death of Sheba, nearly thirteen years had passed away. This whole interval was one of heavy cares and civil strife. Between the grief over his own sin-the mortification at the unnatural and sinful conduct of his sons-and the facility with which his subjects were drawn away from their allegiance to the throne-there was little peace to the unhappy king. Nor were his trials all past.

When Saul, in his anger, murdered the priests at Nob, he slew also, as it seems probable, the Gibeonites,* who were servants of the priests, and thus (as well as by special covenant) under the peculiar care of God. This violation of public faith did not pass unnoticed. God was pleased "to make inquisition for the blood which had thus been unrighteously shed;" and sent a famine upon the land for three successive years. David inquired of the Lord what was the cause of the judgment. And the Lord answered, "It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites." Thus warned, David sent for the remnant of this people, and asked what must be done, that an atonement might be made, and that "ye may bless the inheritance of Israel." They answered that they would have neither silver nor gold, "but that seven men of the sons of Saul who had consumed them, should be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul." The king said, "I will give them;" but sparing the family of Jonathan (and all the male line of Saul, who alone could ever have made any claim to the crown) he chose two sons of Rizpah, Saul's concubine, "and the five sons of Merab, the daughter of Saul." These seven were delivered to the Gibeonites, and hanged. The broken-hearted Rizpah "took sackcloth and spread it upon the rock, and watched there for five long months, until the rain dropped upon it out of heaven." "The bones of these seven, with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, David took

* Whether Saul slew these Gibeonites, on the occasion here mentioned, or not, does not appear clear from the narrative. It may be that, in his blind zeal, in the early part of his reign, he thought to secure the favour of the people and of God, by putting these Gibeonites to death. In either case the offence is the same, and the act in express violation of the treaty of Joshua and the Israelites.

and buried in the sepulchre of Kish. And after that, God was entreated for the land."

Thus God, by his sovereign appointment, expressed his abhorrence of the crime of Saul. It is not necessary to suppose that those who perished were implicated in crime; they suffered, indeed, but they suffered in virtue of his appointment, who had the lives of all in his hands, and can rightfully recall them to himself when and how he pleases. In this melancholy transaction, David stands clear from all blame or jealousy of the house of Saul, by the very terms of the narrative, and from the fact that he spared all the male descendants of that house, who were at this time numerous in Israel.

At this point of the narrative, the restless Philistines appear again. Four severe battles were fought between David and the Philistines. In the first of these, David fought in person, and waxing faint was nearly slain by a Philistine giant; but Abishai came to his relief "and smote the Philistine and killed him." Alarmed at this sign of his increasing age, the men of David sware unto him, saying, "Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel." In each of the succeeding battles, a Philistine of gigantic stature fell by the hand of David and his servants. These irreconcilable enemies were thus effectually humbled, and the rest of David's reign was free from foreign war. "And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song-in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul." "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in him will I trust." He relates his trust in God, in the time of his distresses-the wonderful manner in which God had delivered him-his own integrity in his adherence to God; and then closes with an ascription of all his military success and prosperity to God alone, and a solemn thanksgiving for all the mercies he had received. "He, Jehovah, is the tower of salvation for his king; and showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David and to his seed for evermore. Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, I will sing praises unto thy name."

After these closing wars with the Philistines, the Hebrew kingdom enjoyed an interval of peace and prosperity. They were free from foreign wars, and the people remained happy and contented under their government. But at length an incident took place which marred this scene of peace in which David's long reign seemed about to close. "The anger of the Lord was moved against Israel, and Satan, as the adversary, was permitted to tempt David to number the people." David yielded to the temptation. Pride in his flourishing kingdom, or perhaps a desire after foreign conquest, moved him to this step,

so offensive to God, and in direct contempt of that promise, that the seed of Israel should be innumerable. Joab was commissioned to take the census. At first he remonstrated against the measure. "The Lord make his people an hundred times as many as they be; but why doth my Lord the king delight in this thing, and make himself a cause of trespass to Israel." The king's word, however, prevailed against Joab; and they went forth to number the people. After a census of nine months, they gave their return to the king. The two statements vary as to the number, so far as it was taken; but they may be nearly reconciled by supposing that the military were not enrolled in one case, whereas they were included in the larger number. The census was never fully completed. The duty was odious to Joab, and offensive to God; "and Levi and Benjamin were not counted."

Wrath fell from the Lord while the census was going forward, "and he smote Israel." David's conscience condemned him, and he said unto God, "I have sinned greatly in that I have done; but now, I beseech thee, O Lord, do away with the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. And the Lord spake unto Gad, the prophet, Go and tell David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things, choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee; either three years of famine, or three months flight before thine enemies, or three days pestilence from the destroying angel throughout the coasts of Israel. David replied, I am in a great strait; let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies; but let me not fall into the hand of man." The pestilence came, "and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men." When the angel reached Jerusalem, the command came, "It is enough, stay now thine hand." "And the angel stood by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite." David then assumed to himself the sin and the guilt. "Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father's house, but not on my people that they should be plagued." Upon this humiliation of David, and intercession for his people, the message came by the prophet, "Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah." David went as the Lord commanded; purchased the ground at its full price, "and built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the plague was stayed from Israel." Araunah at first wished to give the ground, the victims, and the fuel, to the king; but David refused. He was unwilling "to offer unto the Lord that which cost him nothing." And besides, it is probable that he had received some communication that the spot thus chosen by God as a place of offering, was to

be the place for the temple, and to become the seat of the public worship of all the tribes of Israel. "Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel," thereby consecrating it for that temple which was "to be builded for the Lord, exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries."

With all the strength which yet remained to him, this pious king now set himself to prepare for the temple. Although forbidden to build it himself, he felt called upon to do what was in his power to hasten it forward. The rest of his days were devoted to this work. "An hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, brass and iron without weight, wrought stones, and cedar wood in abundance, were prepared to build the house of God." Solomon and the princes of Israel received the charge to arise and build. While engaged in this peaceful work, so suited to the closing days of a long and troublous reign, his attention was called to the question concerning the succession to the throne. It was no doubt well known to all at the court, that David had selected Solomon for heir. He himself appears to have considered it as decided, and did not anticipate any opposition to the choice. But Adonijah the son of Haggith, the king's eldest son then living, (Amnon and Absalom, the first and third sons, had been slain, and Chileab the second had probably died,) laid claim to the throne as his inheritance. Like Absalom, he was of goodly person and a favourite with his father. For some time he had maintained a princely state and retinue, and David had not forbidden him. Encouraged by this permission of the king, he conferred with Joab and Abiathar, and with their advice formed the purpose of usurping the kingdom. With Joab as the head of the army, and Abiathar as the head of the priests, he felt certain of success, "and invited the king's sons and the men of Judah" to a banquet, when he was to be crowned king. Those who were known as friends to Solomon were not invited. "Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not." David seems to have been in utter ignorance of Adonijah's design. Nathan first acquaints Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, with this conspiracy; and urges her by her own life and the life of her son, to go to David and claim the fulfilment of his promise, "that Solomon should reign after him and sit upon his throne." Bathsheba went to the king, who was now enfeebled with age, and ministered to by Abishag the Shunamite, and said, "My lord, thou swearest by the Lord thy God unto thine handmaid, assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me; and now Adonijah reigneth, and

* For the consecration of this place David wrote the 30th Psalm.

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