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as when Virgil bids the husbandmen plough naked and sow naked. And we are thus to understand when Josephus says that God had given the Jews the security of armour when they were naked; and when he says, that Ahab fell upon the Syrians when they were naked and drunk; when he says that Nehemiah commanded those Jews who were building the walls of Jerusalem, to take care and have their armour on upon occasion, that the enemy might not fall upon them naked. I may add, that the case seems to be the same in Scripture, when it says that Saul lay down naked among the prophets (1 Sam. xix. 24); when it says, that Isaiah walked naked and barefoot (Isa. xx. 2, 3); and when it says, that Peter before he girt on his fisher's coat was naked (John xxi. 7). Nor were the yours, or naked soldiers, others than those levis armaturæ, who were free from the heavy armour of the rest. And the like may be supposed in several other places. What is said also of David gives light to this; who was reproached by Michal for having shamefully uncovered himself while dancing before the ark; whereas it appears by the context, that he had at that time been covered with a linen ephod, probably such as the Levites wore." We are therefore to understand, that in the present instance, and also in that of David, the king put aside the outer robes and arms, by which his dignity was, perhaps, more particularly distinguished, and appeared in the light under dress which, as now worn in the East, is complete in itself, although, from fitting closer to the body than the loose outer robes, it certainly does suggest the idea of comparative nakedness.

CHAPTER XX.

35 Jo

1 David consulteth with Jonathan for his safety. 11 Jonathan and David renew their covenant by vath. 18 Jonathan's token to David. 24 Saul, missing David, seeketh to kill Jonathan. nathan lovingly taketh his leave of David. AND David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?

2 And he said unto him, God forbid; thou shalt not die behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will 'shew it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.

3 And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.

4 Then said Jonathan unto David, "Whatsoever thy soul 'desireth, I will even do it

for thee.

5 And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even.

6 If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Beth-lehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.

7 If he say thus, It is well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by

him.

8 Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy ser

Heb. uncover mine ear. Chap. 18. 3, and 23. 18.

vant into a covenant of the LORD with thee:

notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?

9 And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?

10 Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee roughly?

11 And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.

12 And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have 'sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and 'shew it thee;

13 The LORD do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace : and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been with my father.

14 And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not:

15 But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.

16 So Jonathan "made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David's enemies.

17 And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

18 Then Jonathan said to David, To Heb. speaketh, or thinketh. 4 Or, feast. Heb. out. 9 Or, by his love towards him.

Or, Say what is thy mind, and I will do, &c.
He's, sea shed,
7 Heb, uncover thine ear.

morrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be "empty.

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19 And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone "Ezel.

20 And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark. 21 And, behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and "no hurt; as the LORD liveth.

22 But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the LORD hath sent thee away.

23 And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD be between thee and me for ever.

24¶So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat.

25 And the king sat upon his scat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty.

26 Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is

not clean.

27 And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said. unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day?

28 And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to BethJehem:

29 And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table.

30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son

Heb missed.

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32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done?

33 And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David.

34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month: for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.

35 And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him.

36 And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow "beyond him.

37 And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?

38 And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.

39 But the lad knew not any thing: only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

40 And Jonathan gave his "artillery unto "his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city.

41 And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.

42 And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, "forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

11 Or, diligently. 12 Heb greatly. 13 Heb. in the day of the business. Heb, not any thing. 18 Or, Thou perverse rebel. 17 Heb. Son of perverse rebellion. Heb. to pass over him. 20 Heb. instruments. 21 Heb. that was his. 22 Or, the LORD be

14 Or, that sheweth the way. 10 Heb. is the son of death. witness of that which, &c.

Verse 5. "To-morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat.”—See the note on Num. 11. The commencement of the new month or moon was celebrated by extraordinary sacrifices and feasting, at which, it seems, the head of a family expected all its members to be present. It seems that David did not ordinarily VOL. II. 57

I

take meat with the king; but on such occasions he was expected to be present-probably as being the king's son-inlaw. Some of the Rabbins say that the principal persons of the court dined with the king on this occasion. In either David might be expected to attend; but the text does not indicate the presence of any persons not of the king's family.

case,

14. "Shew me the kindness of the Lord."-It is evident from this and other passages, that Jonathan was well aware of the Lord's appointment that David, and not himself, was to sit upon the throne of Israel. His cheerful acquiescence in this determination, and his steady affection, under such circumstances, for the man by whom he was to be superseded, manifests a generosity of character which has not often been paralleled, and of which David was most fully sensible.

18. "Thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty."-"Thy place has long been empty among thy friends," or simply, "thy place been empty," or "has long been empty:"- -are common expressions of compliment among the Persians, addressed to one who is again seen after either a long absence, or after such short absences as occur in the common course of life. The late king of Persia, for instance, used the expression as a gracious compliment to Sir John Malcolm, at his first audience on his second embassy. One who returns from a journey, or who joins a circle of acquaintance whom he has not seen within the usual number of weeks or days, is greeted with the same phrase of compliment. 25. "The king sat upon his seat."-From the account in which the principal persons were placed at Saul's table, and that they all had an assigned place, David's seat being empty in his absence, it is evident that Saul had by this time introduced considerable state and ceremony into his court. The expression-"Jonathan arose," has been thought by some to imply that Jonathan stood during the meal; but others suppose he arose on the entrance of his father, from respect, and then sat down again. Josephus says that Jonathan sat on one side of Saul, and Abner on the other, and the same view is taken by the Syriac.

26. "He is not clean.”—Saul conjectured that David's attendance was precluded by some ceremonial defilement, from which he had not purified himself.

30. "Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman.”—In abusing another it is still customary in the East to apply disgraceful epithets to the mother of the abused person. There is no intention to stigmatize the mother personally. She may be wholly unknown to the person who employs such expressions, and no one thinks her injured by them; but they are in the highest degree offensive to her son. When one person is offended with another, or when two persons quarrel, it is, indeed, the last and most venomous mode of attack for the parties to apply every intemperate epithet to their respective mothers, wives, and daughters-to charge them with crime, and to threaten what they will do or would do to them. But the mother is in all these cases the most general and favourite object of this revolting form of abuse; and so prevalent is this habit, that not only will a father, like Saul, use such expressions in abusing his son, but even brothers in their quarrels with each other will in the same way, and for the purposes of mutual offence, apply the same expressions to the mother whom both of them respect and love. Similar forms of reflected abuse-harmless to the object from which they are reflected-are not unknown in this country, and, so far as they go, are quite analogous to those employed in the East. The father, also, is sometimes, though not so often, the object to whom contumelious epithets are applied for the sake of annoying the son. Even Antar, who deeply respected his father and loved his mother, does not scruple on occasion to call his own brother "base born," and "the son of a dog."

CHAPTER XXI.

1 David at Nob obtaineth of Ahimelech hallowed bread. 7 Doeg was present. 8 David taketh Goliath's sword. 10 David at Gath feigneth himself mad.

THEN came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?

2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.

3 Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present.

4 And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is 'hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.

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5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.

6 So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.

8 And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.

9 And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in

Or, especially when this day there is other sanctified in the vessel

the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.

10 And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in. dances, saying, 'Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

12 And David laid up these words in his

heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and 'scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.

14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man 'is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me?

15 Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

♦ Chap. 17. 2. Chap. 18. 7, and 29. 5. Ecclus. 47. 6. Or, made marks, 7 Or, playeth the mad man.

Verse 1. "Nob."-This is described in ch. xxii. 19 as a "city of the priests," and in Nehem. xi. 32, its naine is mentioned after Anathoth, among the cities occupied by the Benjámites on their return from the captivity. Jerome says that, in his time, the ruins of Nob still existed near Diospolis or Lydda. But this was in the south of Ephraim; and if he rightly determines its site, we may conclude that, as the ten tribes did not return with Judah and Benjamin, the latter tribe took the liberty of appropriating some part of the vacant territory of Ephraim which adjoined its own. The Rabbins generally, however, think that Nob was near Jerusalem-and so near, according to some, as to be visible from thence. It seems difficult to understand this chapter without supposing that the tabernacle must at this time have been at Nob, although we do not elsewhere find the least intimation of such a circumstance; and the connected account which we have of the successive removals of the ark, after having been restored by the Philistines, from Beth-shemesh to Kirjath-jearim, and from thence to the house of Obed-edom, and afterwards to Jerusalem by David, without any mention of Nob, might incline us to suppose that, if the tabernacle was at Nob, the ark was not in it. There is no question that the customary services and sacrifices still took place at the tabernacle, even when the ark was absent. 4. "There is hallowed bread."-This was the old shew-bread, which, after lying a week on the able in the holy place. Was taken away and might only be eaten by the priests.

7. "Doeg, an Edomite."-He was of course a proselyte to the Hebrew religion. Some of the Rabbins think that he was of the seed of Israel, but is called an Edomite from having lived in Edom: but this has a very suspicious look, and may be traced to their desire to intimate that no alien by birth was admitted to offices of trust and importance, whence also they affirm that Uriah was a true Israelite, but is called "the Hittite," because he had dwelt among the Hittites. "The chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul."-Saul had by this time probably made large additions to his paternal property in flocks and herds, which constituted a very considerable part of the wealth of the ancient monarchs. As large possessions of this kind required to be divided into several parts and fed in different places, the person who had the general superintendence of the whole, held an office of very considerable importance. The office of governor of the reyal flocks is often mentioned by the ancient writers, as existing in most countries with which they were acquainted. David, however, who was practically well acquainted with the management of cattle, seems to have aboished the office of general overseer of the pastoral concerns of the king, and appointed a particular overseer for the several species of cattle, which were divided into separate flocks. Thus there was an Arab (Ishmaelite) over the camels, and another Arab (Hagarene) over the flocks; there was also an overseer of the asses; and the herds had two overseers, ne, a native of the district, for those that fed in Sharon, and another for those that fed in the valleys (1 Chron. xxvii. 9. This excellent distribution was not, however, peculiar to him, as we find something of the same in Ulysses's little kingdom of Ithaca, where Eumæus is the chief swineherd, and seems to have nothing to do with any other cattle; while Melantheus is the chief goatherd. These two act quite independently of each other, and have many servants under them. They sit at meat with princes and nobles in their master's house. Eumæus, the son of a king, but sold for a slave, when young, to the father of Ulysses, is treated as the friend of the family, and Homer denotes his superior dignity to the subordinate swineherds by calling him," the swineherd, prince of men." Yet with all his superiority, Le was not above the practical duties of his office; while at the same time he was skilled in the use of arms, and rendered his master powerful aid in his great combat with the suitors. The character and situation of this remarkable person serves exceedingly well to illustrate the condition which a chief herdsman, even of only a particular species of cattle, occupied in those early times.

9. “The sword of Goliath...is here wrapped in a cloth.”—Josephus says that David had dedicated the sword to the Lord. It was a custom among the ancients to dedicate to the gods some conspicuous part of the enemy's spoils; a re of which is preserved in the European custom of depositing in churches standards captured in war. As the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, deposited in the tabernacle, had established the idea of laying up things as memorials of the Lord's deliverances, it is very likely that Goliath's sword was deposited there with the same intention. As to the cloth in which it was wrapped up, we are not thence to infer that it was thrust away in a corner. The cloth was probably a rich piece, embroidered or otherwise ornamented, in which the sword was wrapped up. Speaking of India, Mr. Roberts says, "All things which are valuable or sacred, or which have been acquired at great expense or trouble, are always folded in a cloth." (Oriental Illustrations,' p. 173.)

10. Gath."―This was one of the five principalities of the Philistines. No trace of it now remains, and even its site has been matter of controversy. Calmet, and others after him, conjecture that Ekron and Gath were at the opposite extremities of the land of the Philistines—the former to the north, and the latter to the south. This conclusion is chiefly founded on a construction of the texts, 1 Sam. v. 8, 10, and xvii. 52, to which we see no occasion to subscribe and it is thought to be supported by the mention which Jerome makes of a Gath between Eleutheropolis and Gaza. But even this would not make Gath the southernmost city of the Philistines, Besides, Jerome says that there were

different Gaths in this neighbourhood; for, speaking of Jonah's birth-place, he says it was called Gath-Opher, to distinguish it from other places of the same name near Eleutheropolis and Diospolis; and which of these he understood as the Philistine city is clear from his conjecture, in his comment on Jer. xxv. 20, that as Gath is not mentioned with the other Philistine states, it was probably at that time incorporated with Ashdod. He therefore understood Gath to be nearer to Ashdod than to any other of the Philistine cities; and therefore he points to the same place as Eusebius, who says that Gaza was four miles from Eleutheropolis, on the road to Lydda. This was in the tribe of Dan, and therefore has the support of Josephus, who distinctly says that Gath was in the tribe of Dan. This is the position usually given in maps, and we apprehend that none could be found more in unison with the general bearing of the Scriptures. Let us take the instance of the migrations of the ark while in the hands of the Philistines. It was first taken to Ashdod, and was from thence carried to Gath, which this account makes the nearest to Ashdod of all the Philistine towns; and its removal to the nearest town is certainly more probable than that it was taken to the most distant town of all, which Calmet's account supposes Gath to have been, without touching at the intermediate towns of Askelon and Gaza on its way. Then, again, the ark was removed from Gath to Ekron, which the common account makes to have been the nearest town, except Ashdod, to Gath; whereas the other account absolutely makes the aik in this removal traverse the whole length of the Philistines' country, from Gath, the most southern town, to Ekron, the most northern, with the same silence as before concerning the intermediate towns. For these and other reasons, we subscribe to the opinion which places Gath at no great distance from Ashdod. Four miles from Eleutheropolis, on the road to Diospolis, of course makes Gath more inland-more towards the frontier of Israel than any other Philistine town, and was perhaps about twenty-five miles nearly west from Jerusalem.

13. "Let his spittle fall down upon his beard.”—So intensely is the beard respected in the East, that this defilement of his own beard by David was well calculated to convince Achish that he was really mad. He could scarcely suppose that a man in his senses would do this indignity to his own beard. For one person to spit on the beard of another, or to say that he will do so, is the greatest possible act or expression of contempt; and the fall of a man's own saliva upon it is considered a sort of self-insult, of which no sane man could, unless from natural infirmity, be guilty. When the late Sir John Macdonald, the East India Company's envoy in Persia, had his first audience of the Shah, in 1826, the Shah said that he had anxiously been expecting the envoy for some time, and that his place had long been empty (see the note on chap. xx. 18): the latter replied, that after leaving Shiraz, the sickness which prevailed in camp prevented his making such rapid progress as he wished, but that after quitting Ispahan he had hastened to the royal stirrup. His majesty said it was fortunate he had not arrived sooner, or he would have been involved in disputes with the Russians; adding, “ Poof reksha pur,”—“I spit on their beards.” (Captain Alexander's 'Travels,' p. 208.)

15. "Have I need of mad men?"-The Rabbins say that the king's wife and daughter were mad, and hence find a stronger emphasis in the question, "Have I need of mad men?"

CHAPTER XXII.

1 Companies resort unto David at Adullum. 3 At Mizpeh he commendeth his parents unto the king of Moab. 5 Admonished by Gad, he cometh to Hareth. 6 Saul going to pursue him, complaineth of his servants' unfaithfulness. 9 Doeg accuseth Ahimelech. 11 Saul commandeth to kill the priests. 17 The footmen refusing, Doeg executeth it. 20 Abiathar escaping, bringeth David the news.

DAVID therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.

2 And every one that was in distress, and every one that 'was in debt, and every one that was 'discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

3 And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.

4 And he brought them before the king of Moab and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold.

5¶ And the prophet Gad said unto Da

vid, Abide not in the hold; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth. 6 When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him ;)

7 Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds:

8 That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that 'sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, tc lie in wait, as at this day?

9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.

10 And he enquired of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech

Heb. had a creditor. 2 Heb, bitter of soul. 3 Or, grove in a high place.

Heb. uncovereth mine eas,

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