God-Spell

[Resource Manager]

Victory

 

The news of the fall of Jericho and Ai caused consternation in the country. The next cities on the direct route from Ai were Gibeon and certain cities that were confederate with it. They dared not challenge the might of Joshua, so they sought to beguile him. The elders of the cities came to Gilgal, whither he had returned, wearing old garments, and carrying old wineskins, and bread that was dry and mouldy. They said they had come from a far country and desired to enter into a covenant with Israel. Totally deceived, Joshua and the elders of Israel made a covenant with them. Three days afterwards they found that they were near neighbours; their cities were north-west of Jerusalem. Joshua remon­strated with them, but the oath that had been taken had to be respected, and the Gibeonites and their allies were made to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the people and for the service of the tabernacle.

 

Gibeon was a great city, and the covenant that had been made between it and Israel made a deep impression on the kings of Southern Canaan. The kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, combined to make war against Gibeon and its sister cities, whose leaders sent an urgent appeal to Joshua for assistance. Joshua responded, adopting methods that were characteristic of him. He left Gilgal by night and marched eighteen miles from the depths of the valley to the mountains of Judea, and falling unexpectedly on the assembled armies, gained a decisive victory. As the armies of the kings fled down the roads that led westward a violent thunder­storm broke out, and “the Lord cast down great stones from heaven . . . they were more which died with the hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew.” Anxious to lose none of the advantage of the victory Joshua said,

 

Sun, stand thou still (or, be silent) upon Gibeon,

And thou moon in the Valley of Aijalon.

 

“And the sun stayed in the midst of heaven” until Israel had finished the slaughter of their enemies. The victory gave Israel the undisputed supremacy of the southern portion of the land. They held positions of strategical importance from which they could not be dislodged. Several other towns were taken and destroyed, and Joshua returned to the camp at Gilgal.

 

In the north a still greater coalition was arranged against Israel. There were the kings of Hazor, Madan, Shimron, Achsaph, “all the kings in the mountains and the plains,” as far as Mount Hermon. When their hosts were gathered together they were “as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude,” and they had great numbers of chariots and horses. Tidings of the new threat reaching Gilgal, Joshua went by forced marches and suddenly fell upon the assembled hosts. He gained another overwhelming victory, and the various sections of the enemy army fled in all directions. City after city was destroyed; the only ones that escaped were those that “stood on their mounds,” that is, the fortified cities on the heights above the plain of Esdraelon.

 

Thus by the capture of two cities, and the defeat of two confederations, Israel obtained practical possession of the Promised Land. There was much more to be done to secure the peaceable occupation of the country, but the land was, to all intents and purposes, won. The great fact which stands out is that the Lord fought for Israel, and that as a result they were invincible.

[Resource Manager]

Dividing the land

 

Joshua’s work as a soldier was over, though there remained much land to be possessed. But there was another necessary task to be done, one for a statesman and an organiser. The conquest of the land brought many problems. The division of the land between the tribes was a difficult matter, which might have given rise to feelings of jealousy. The tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh had received the land they desired on the east side of the Jordan. Levi was to have no in­heritance, they were to be sustained by the people in return for the religious services they performed. There were nine and a half tribes to be considered. In the conflicts of the past the territory of Judah and that of the sons of Joseph had been fixed—Judah in the south, Ephraim and the other half tribe of Manasseh in the central portion of the land. The possession of Judah was influenced by a promise that had been made to Caleb under which he was given possession of Hebron, and, as he was of the tribe of Judah, it followed that their inheritance must be in the south. The Joseph tribes were very numerous, and complained that their inheritance was not sufficient for them. Joshua told them they must take the additional land they required, driving out the Canaanites who dwelt in it.

 

The leading tribes having been provided for, the question of the rest had to be determined. A great assembly was held at Shiloh, to which place the tabernacle had been removed from Gilgal. There Joshua addressed them. “How long are ye slack to go in to possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers, hath given you?” He then directed them to choose out three men from each tribe who should go through the land not already appropriated, describing it by its cities in a book, and dividing it into seven parts. The results of their survey were to be brought to him at Shiloh, where he would cast lots before the Lord for their possessions. Such a course would prevent feelings of jealousy, or charges of favouritism. The work was carried through, and the tribes of Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulon, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan, were given their terri­tories. Joshua received an inheritance for himself in Mount Ephraim, where he built a city.

 

There remained the question of the possessions of the Levites. As the teachers, and the religious workers, of the nation it was not desirable to give them a portion of the land like that of the other tribes. They were needed everywhere to teach the people in the ways of God. The necessity was met by assigning them forty-eight cities in the territories of the various tribes.

 

One thing more remained to be done. Moses had given instructions that cities of refuge were to be provided, so that any one who killed another un­wittingly might flee thither and find “refuge” from the avenger of blood. It was a necessary provision in those days. One city was to be situate in each of the six geographical divisions of the land, three on each side of the Jordan. They appointed Kedesh in Galilee, Shechem in the centre of the land, and Hebron in the south, and on the east of the river, Bezer in the wilderness, Ramoth in Gilead, and Golon in Bashan. These were Levitical cities, for it was necessary for them to be in the hands of men who knew the Law, and were uninfluenced by tribal feeling.

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Joshua’s final address

 

Joshua’s work was nearly done. He summoned the men of the two and a half tribes whose possessions lay on the east of the Jordan. They had carried out the bargain they had made to help their brethren in the conquest of the land. Now they could return to their families and possessions. In a farewell address Joshua charged them to take heed to keep the law which Moses had commanded them, to love the Lord their God, to walk in all His ways, and to serve Him with all their heart and with all their soul.

 

The two and a half tribes crossed the Jordan to reach their homes. Before they crossed, they erected a great altar by the river. News of this reached the rest of the people, who regarded it as a departure from the Lord, whose altar was in the tabernacle enclosure. They pursued the two and a half tribes purposing to fight against them, for their action seemed a rejection of the one thing that bound the twelve tribes together—the worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel. When they came to Jordan the eastern tribes gave an explanation of their action. The altar was not for sacrifice; it was a memorial. Instead of being an indication of the rejection of the worship of Yahweh it was a witness that the people were one in family and in worship. “Yahweh, El Elohim, Yahweh, El Elohim,” the eastern tribes said, “He knoweth, and Israel, he shall know, if it be in rebel­lion, or if in trespass against the Lord, that we have built up an altar.” The solemn repetition of three names of the Deity, and the assurance of the object for which the altar had been made, were grateful tidings to the rest of the tribes, who returned to their homes well content with the unity of the nation in the worship of the One True God.

 

Joshua was now an old man. Once more he called the people to him; this time at Shechem. He exhorted them to do all that was written in the Book of the law of Moses. He reminded them that in the past their ancestors had worshipped other gods, and that the One God had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He recounted the history of the deliver­ance from Egypt and the conquest of the land, and finished with these words, which are characteristic of the man. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River (i.e. the Euphrates), or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

 

When the people replied that they would serve the Lord he pointed out the seriousness of their under­taking. Yahweh was a jealous God; if they forsook Him after electing to serve Him, He would do them hurt. Again they replied, “Nay, but we will serve the Lord.” Then Joshua made a covenant with them, and established a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. Finally he wrote a record of the event in the book of the law of God.

 

Joshua died at the age of a hundred and ten years, leaving a great example to guide the people in the future.

[Resource Manager]

CHAPTER XI

 

THE TIMES OF THE JUDGES

 

ALTHOUGH the objects of the invasion had generally been attained, due partly to the strategy of Joshua, but more to the help of God, the conquest was by no means complete. The next chapter in the Bible Story emphasises this fact and shows the results that followed. The results were not apparent during the times of Joshua and the elders who had been associated with him; they exercised a good influence to which the nation gener­ally responded.

 

When Joshua died the need for further progress was realised, and efforts were made to consolidate the gains that had been achieved. Those efforts were far from complete. Thus Judah, while successful in various quarters “could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of iron.” Of Benjamin it is said, they “did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem.” Further north the same tendency was seen. Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Tanaach, Dor, Ibleam and Megiddo, neither did Ephraim drive out the inhabitants of Gezer. In the far north the story was just the same, for Zebulon, Asher, and Naphtali all failed to accomplish the clearance of the territories assigned to them. It was a calamity, for the failure had disastrous effects, yet it was understandable. The places which these tribes failed to take were the strongly fortified cities that commanded the great roads and important districts of Canaan, whose inhabitants were well armed. Israel settled down to enjoy the land they had conquered.

 

Slipping back

 

A rebuke from an angel made little impression. They came to more or less definite understandings with the earlier inhabitants and gradually fell into the ways of the peoples around, joined with them in marriage, and forsook the worship of Yahweh. The result was some centuries of confusion, during which the general condition of the people was that every man did that which was right in his own eyes. The book of Judges is a record of failures and reformations as they successively took place. It is a series of episodes rather than a history.

 

The first of their oppressors was Cushan-rishathaim of Mesopotamia, under whom they were oppressed eight years. From this oppression they were delivered by Othniel, the son of a brother of Caleb, who intro­duced a peaceful period of forty years.

 

At the end of that time the conditions changed, and the king of Moab held them in subjection for eighteen years. They achieved deliverance from this oppression through Ehud, a Benjamite. He took a present, probably the stipulated tribute, to the king of Moab, and, under the pretext that he had a secret message, secured a private interview with the king and assassinated him. The death of the king ended the supremacy of Moab, and a rest of eighty years followed.

 

On the next occasion trouble arose in the north where Jabin ruled in Hazor. His title, “king of Canaan,” shows how precarious was the hold on the country exercised by the Israelites. Jabin was a powerful ruler with great military resources, includ­ing nine hundred chariots of iron; the most effective form of offence in those days. For twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. On this occasion a woman came to the help of the people— Deborah, a prophetess. She could not act as a military commander, and she chose Barak, a man of Naphtali, to act on her behalf. At her instigation he went to Mount Tabor with ten thousand men. Deborah accompanied them, for Barak refused to go unless she did so.

[Resource Manager]

Deborah and Barak

 

When Jabin heard that the Israelites had gathered an army (actually there were only men from two tribes, Naphtali and Zebulon) he sent Sisera with nine hundred chariots and all his army to put down the insurrection, as he esteemed it. The position of Barak was well chosen; for chariots could not act on a mountain. Then it seemed as if Deborah and Barak made a mistake, they moved down from the mount into the plain. It was not a mistake, but a divinely directed movement. In a great song of victory that was sung afterwards Deborah said,

 

“They fought from heaven;

The stars in their courses fought against Sisera,

The River Kishon swept them away,

That ancient river, the River Kishon.”

 

A terrific thunderstorm broke out, with a deluge of hail and rain. It turned the Kishon into a seeth­ing torrent, and the plain of Esdraelon into a quag­mire. No chariots could manoeuvre on such ground, and Sisera left his and fled. It was not a defeat but a rout. Famished and weary, Sisera sought refuge in the tent of a woman of the Kenites. She gave him food and drink, and, as he lay asleep, drove a tent-peg through his temples, fastening him to the ground. Israel was delivered and the land had rest for forty years.

 

The old tendency set in again. Baal worship gained a place among the people, and their own God was forgotten. This time they were given into the hands of the Midianites. It was not so much a subjection to a foreign power; but the occurrence of a series of raids in which the produce of the fields was taken away by roving bands of Midianites. So regular did the practice become that the people had to find hiding places for their harvests in the dens and caves of the country.

[Resource Manager]

Gideon

 

Then the Lord sent a prophet with a call to repent­ance. It found at least one who was ready to listen —Gideon, the son of Joash, of the tribe of Manasseh. As he was threshing wheat in a winepress an angel appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” It was a strange greeting in the circumstances, and Gideon replied, “Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all His wondrous works which our fathers told us of?” His words showed that the great events of the past had not been forgotten, and that there was a longing for further manifestations of God’s care for His people.

 

The angel encouraged Gideon to undertake the deliverance of Israel. Speaking in the name of the Lord, he said, “Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites.” The position of Israel was so desperate that Gideon asked to be given a sign. He prepared a kid and unleavened cakes and placed them on a rock. The angel touched them with his staff and vanished, as a flame burst forth and consumed them. Gideon erected an altar to the Lord, and during the night he and his ser­vants broke down the altar of Baal, and cut down the Asherah (a tree or a conventional representation of a tree) which he burnt on the altar he had made. Next morning, when the people saw what had been done consternation seized them; they regarded it as sacrilege, and called on Joash to bring out his son that he might be killed. There was fine irony in his reply, “Will ye plead for Baal? Will ye save him?” If Baal were a god he could look after him­self. The logic of the reasoning was unanswerable, and when Gideon issued a call, all the men of the place responded. From farther away also they came, from Manasseh, Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali. The Midianites gathered their forces and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

 

They were a great company, and Gideon felt the need for a further sign. He put a fleece of wool on the floor and prayed that it might be wet with dew and the earth around be dry—and so it was. Then he reversed the request, and the fleece was dry while all the ground was wet.

 

Thirty-two thousand men had responded to Gideon’s call, but God told him they were too many. He issued a proclamation that all who were faint-hearted might return to their homes, and his force was reduced to ten thousand. Still they were too many, and Gideon was told to take them to the water and to notice the way they drank. Three hundred lapped, the rest went down on their knees to drink. Then he was told, “By the three hundred that lapped will I deliver the Midianites unto thine hand.”

 

That night Gideon and his servant went into the camp of the Midianites. As they crept through they heard a man of Midian telling of a dream. He saw a cake of barley bread roll against a Mid-ianite tent and level it to the ground. His fellow said, “This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon; God hath delivered Midian and all the host into his hands.” Greatly encouraged Gideon returned to his three hundred and prepared for the battle.

 

He divided the three hundred into three com­panies. To each man he gave a trumpet, a pitcher, and a torch, which was placed inside the pitcher. The three companies approached the Midianites from three sides. The watch had been newly set in the camp, and they must have been greatly puzzled when they saw in the darkness a hundred columns of light approaching from three separate directions. Suddenly three hundred pitchers crashed to the ground, three hundred trumpets were blown, and three hundred voices shouted “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” Roused up from sleep in the darkness, and seeing the flashing lights of torches in the hands of the three hundred, a panic seized the Midianites and they fled pell mell, killing each other in the confusion. The defeat was complete and again Israel was delivered. Gideon was not wholeheartedly received by some of the people, but a combination of severity and good humoured flattery gained their goodwill to such an extent that the people suggested that he should be made king and inaugurate an hereditary monarchy.

 

This incident was the first indication of a feeling that was growing up in Israel. Moses had exercised the powers of a king, but had never even suggested that he should occupy such a position. He had ruled for God, for Israel was the Kingdom of God. The Judges had been subordinate rulers, not kings. Gideon refused the proffered honour. As a true patriot, who recognised that God was the king of Israel, he answered, “The Lord shall rule over you.” He made one mistake, he asked for the golden ear­rings they had taken from the Midianites, and of them he made an ephod. It became a sacred object, and proved a snare to him and to his house. So long as he lived, however, Israel prospered, then once more they turned after Baalim. (Baalim is the plural of Baal.)

[Resource Manager]

More trouble

 

The death of Gideon caused a complete change in the country. One of his sons, named Abimelech, the son of a concubine, a woman of Shechem, per­suaded the men of that city to support his claim to rule over the country. With the money they provided he hired a number of followers and slew the other sons of his father, of whom only one escaped. Abimelech reigned for three years, the first king in the history of Israel. Then trouble broke out between him and the men of Shechem. They found a champion in one named Gael The insurrection was put down, but in the course of the fighting Abimelech was killed. So ended the first attempt to turn Israel into a kingdom.

 

After the death of Abimelech a number of com­paratively unknown individuals became judges, Israel all the while serving Baal and other heathen deities. Retribution overtook them at the hands of the Ammonites and the Bedouin people who lived in the east. They invaded the country as far as the territory of Benjamin, and Israel was in sore distress.

 

East of the Jordan was the land of Gilead, and among the people who lived there was Jephthah, who had been driven out by his brothers because he was illegitimate. He was “a mighty man of valour” and had become the head of a band of marauders. As the people looked for one to lead them against the Ammonites they thought of Jephthah and asked him to take up their cause. After some bargaining he agreed to do so, it being understood that if he defeated the Ammonites he should be made the judge. He did so, but two things marred his triumph, one in his family, and the other among the people. In his zeal Jephthah made a vow that if the Lord gave him the victory he would offer in sacrifice the first that came out of his house to meet him. As he returned, his daughter, an only child, came out. It put an end to his triumph; his joy was turned to sorrow “Alas, my daughter,” he said, “thou hast brought me very low. I have opened my mouth to the Lord and I cannot go back.” His daughter made no attempt to persuade him to break his vow. All she did was to beg two months’ grace to bewail her virginity, for to die without children was a thing greatly dreaded in those days. At the end of the two months he did with her according to his vow.

 

It is a dark story, and reflects the character of the times. Yet it has a lesson. Jephthah’s words are an illustration of a great principle. “I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot go back.” His daughter’s words, too, were noble. “My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do unto me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth.” Many years after­wards David asked, “Lord, who shall sojourn in Thy tabernacle?” and among those whom he said should do so was “he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not."³¹

 

The second thing that marred the triumph was the action of the tribe of Ephraim. They despised the Gileadites and were jealous of the fame Jephthah had acquired, so they threatened to burn his house over his head. Jephthah noted the threat and gathered the people of Gilead together to fight against Ephraim. In this fratricidal war the Ephraimites were defeated. The Gileadites seized the fords of Jordan, and any Ephraimite who attempted to cross to his own side was told to say “Shibboleth.” The dialect of theEphraimites caused them to say “Sibboleth,” and every one who did so was killed.

 

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³¹ Psalm 15:1-4.

[Resource Manager]

Samson

 

A number of smaller men succeeded Jephthah, and the people once more fell into evil ways. A great oppression by the Philistines ensued, during which Samson was born. His birth was foretold by an angel who appeared to his mother and instructed her to bring him up as a Nazarite,³² and told her that no razor should come on his head. When Samson grew to man’s estate he desired to take a woman of the Philistines as a wife. His parents tried to dissuade him, but he insisted. On the way to the Philistine town where she lived he met a lion. Catching it by its two jaws he rent it asunder as if it were a kid. Returning soon afterwards he found the carcase of the lion occupied by a swarm of bees.

 

When the time came for the marriage to take place he issued a challenge to the Philistines who had come to be his companions. If they could answer his riddle he would provide each of them with a shirt and a change of raiment. They accepted the challenge, and he gave them the riddle.

 

Out of the eater came forth meat;

And out of the strong came forth sweetness.

 

As the days passed and they could not answer the riddle they threatened to destroy his wife if she did not tell them the answer. By tears she obtained the answer from Samson and passed it on to them. They had won, though by unfair means. In great anger Samson went out and slew thirty Philistines and gave their garments to the young men in dis­charge of his wager. Then he returned to his father’s house.

 

When he next went down to his wife he found she had been given to another. He showed his feelings by catching a number of foxes, tying them in pairs, tail to tail, with a lighted brand between them, and then driving them into the standing corn of the Philistines.

 

After a number of adventures he was betrayed to the Philistines by a woman with whom he had fallen in love. He lost his strength through her wiles, and the Philistines put out his eyes. On one of their religious festivals they brought him out to make sport of him. In the intensity of his feelings he determined to bring one final act of judgment on his enemies. He asked a lad to lead him to the pillars on which the house rested. Then he prayed, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.” Bearing with all his might upon the pillars, he uttered a final prayer, “Let me die with the Philistines,” and the whole building collapsed, “so the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.”

 

Samson was not like the other judges. He was no warrior who risked his life to deliver his people. Yet he was the hero of his times, and his exploits greatly heartened the people of Israel at a time when they most needed it.

 

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³² See Num. 6:13-21.

[Resource Manager]

Wicked times

 

Two other incidents of the times of the Judges need to be mentioned. In the division of the land the Danites found the territory assigned to them too little for their requirements, so they set out to seek farther land in the north. On the way they found a Levite who had taken service with a man who had made a graven image with some money his mother had dedicated to the Lord. They had known him before, and induced him to become their priest in their new home. There they set up the graven image, and the Levite, “Jonathan, the grand­son of Moses” (not Manasseh as in the Authorised Version) “became its priest.” Nothing could show more clearly the degeneracy of the times than the fact that a grandson of the great law-giver should become a priest to a graven image.

 

The other is an unsavoury incident in relation to the tribe of Benjamin. A Levite and his concubine, travelling from Bethlehem, would not seek hos­pitality in the city of Jebus (Jerusalem) because it was not an Israelitish city. They went on to Gibeah of Benjamin, where the concubine was so foully treated that she died. The Levite adopted a terrible means to call the attention of the tribes to what had happened. He cut her body up into twelve pieces and sent them through the land. A wave of indignation swept through the country, and the people called on Benjamin to punish the people of Gibeah. Benjamin refused, and gathered together in defence of the inhabitants of Gibeah. A terrible war ensued; twice the Benjaminites were victorious, but in the third battle the tribe was almost exter­minated, only about six hundred escaping.

 

The people had taken an oath that they would not give any of their daughters to Benjamin. Yet a tribe could not be allowed to perish. Enquiries showed that the city of Jabesh-gilead had taken no part in the war, so Israel made war on it and, killing all the adult males, handed the women over to the tribe of Benjamin. Still there were not sufficient for all. There was every year a feast to the Lord at Shiloh at which the maidens of the place took part in a dance. The survivors of Benjamin were told to go and wait in the vineyards near by and then to seize the maidens and make them their wives. They were rough times with rough methods, and they are well expressed in the words that are found at the end of this chapter of the story, “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

[Resource Manager]

Ruth, the Moabites!

 

A delightful contrast to the evils described in the book of Judges is furnished in that of Ruth. Owing to a famine in Canaan a man of Bethlehem emigrated to Moab with his wife and two sons. There the young men married women of Moab, Orpah and Ruth. In the course of time the man and his two sons died, leaving his wife, Naomi, and his two daughters-in-law. Some time afterwards Naomi determined to return to her own country. Her daughters-in-law accompanied her part of the way, then she told them to go back to their own people. Orpah went, but Ruth, with noble simplicity, replied “Intreat me not to leave thee; and to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Hers was a definite choice of Israel’s God, Israel’s people, and Israel’s land, the Land of Promise.

 

When they arrived in Bethlehem it was the time of the barley harvest, and Ruth found her way into the fields of Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi. Boaz saw the stranger from Moab and enquired who she was. When he knew he told her not to go into another field, saying, “The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord, the God of Israel, under Whose wings thou art come to take refuge.” In the evening Ruth reported to Naomi all that had occurred.

 

Later on, acting on Naomi’s instructions, Ruth went to the threshing floor where Boaz was winnow­ing his corn. After he had lain down to sleep she lay down at his feet, as Naomi had told her. At midnight Boaz realised that a woman was at his feet, and anxiously asked who she was. “I am Ruth, thy handmaid,” was the reply, “spread there­fore thy skirt over thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman.”

 

With kindly tact Boaz told her that there was a nearer kinsman than he, but intimated that if he would not act a “kinsman’s part,” he (Boaz) would do so. Next day he saw the kinsman, who declined to act lest he should spoil his own inherit­ance. The only obstacle being thus removed Boaz took the elders of the city to witness that he pur­chased all that had pertained to the husband of Naomi and to her sons, and that at the same time he took Ruth to be his wife.

 

The marriage of Boaz and Ruth was a link in the chain that led from Adam, through Shem and Abraham to Jesus the Christ. Their child was named Obed who was the grandfather of David. Thus the blood of a Moabitess had a place in the line that finished in Jesus of Nazareth.

[Resource Manager]

CHAPTER XII

 

SAMUEL THE PROPHET

 

THE list of judges drew to an end. The people were growing tired of a system under which men of various tribes came to power; there was no continuity in it, and it had led to one of the greatest oppressions in the history of Israel. The last but one of the Judges was Eli.

 

Though himself a good man, he had failed to control his sons, and their unseemly conduct caused men to “abhor the offering of the Lord.”

 

The birth of Samuel

 

During his judgeship Samuel was born. His mother, Hannah, had longed for a child for many years. Her husband, who was a Levite, went every year to Shiloh to sacrifice to the Lord. On one occasion when Hannah accompanied him, she went into the tabernacle enclosure and prayed earnestly for a son. Her lips moved, but no sounds came from them, and Eli accused her of being drunk. Hannah answered, “I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. . . . count not thy handmaiden for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken.” Eli realised her sincerity, “Go in peace,” he said, “and the God of Israel grant thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.”

 

In due time a child was born, and a few years afterwards Hannah went to Shiloh, taking the child Samuel with her. When she saw Eli she said, “Oh my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed. Therefore I also have granted him to the Lord.” Thus Samuel entered on a service which lasted until his death.

Hannah’s song of praise is a beautiful example of thanksgiving, and expresses deeply felt religious ideas.

 

My heart exulteth in the Lord;

Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. . .

There is none holy as the Lord;

For there is none beside Thee,

Neither is there any rock like our God. . .

The Lord killeth and maketh alive,

He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. . .

The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth;

And He shall give strength unto His king,

And exalt the horn of His Anointed.

 

This is the first occasion in the Story that any allusion has been made to the Lord’s Anointed. Other allusions will occur later until they finally focus attention on Jesus Christ, for Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Messiah, the Anointed.

 

Some years passed by and then in the quietness of the night, while the tabernacle lamps were still burning, the call came that was to mean so much to Samuel and to Israel. As he lay down to sleep, Samuel heard a Voice calling him. He ran to Eli, thinking that he had called, but Eli told him he had not done so. This happened three times; then Eli realised that the Lord had called Samuel. He told him to lie down again, and if he heard the voice he was to say, “Speak Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” When next the Voice called, he answered as Eli had told him. It was a hard message that came, it announced the doom of Eli’s sons, with the terrible addition that the iniquity of Eli’s house should never be purged. Next morning Eli asked what message had been given; when Samuel repeated it he only said, “ It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good.”

 

The news of the call of Samuel became known far beyond Shiloh, and all Israel knew that he was established to be a prophet of the Lord. The allusion here to “all Israel” is an indication of the fact that the consolidation of the people into one nation was going on; they were no longer a collection of tribes, but a nation.

[Resource Manager]

Battles with the Philistines

 

The prophecy that had been given was fulfilled by means of the Philistines. Israel endeavoured to regain their freedom, and in a battle they were defeated. In despair the leaders of the army sent for the ark of the covenant, so that, as they said, it might save them from their enemies. Eli let it go in the custody of his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. For a moment the Philistines wavered, then with a shout of encouragement they renewed their attack, and Israel fled. The defeat became a rout; the ark was captured and Eli’s two sons were slain.

 

News of the disaster reached Shiloh where Eli was waiting to know what happened. When he heard of the death of his sons and the capture of the ark, he fell from his seat and was taken up dead. Soon the Philistines reached Shiloh, where they massacred the priests and destroyed the city, reducing it to a waste from which it did not recover for centuries. But before they reached Shiloh the tabernacle was hurriedly removed to Gilgal, prob­ably under the direction of Samuel.

 

The Philistines carried the ark in triumph to Ashdod, where it was placed in the temple of their god Dagon. Next morning the image of Dagon was found on the ground. It was replaced, and on the following morning it was again on the ground broken. The people of Ashdod could not bear to see their god treated in that way and sent the ark to Gath. There a plague broke out, and the ark was sent to Ekron, where the same thing happened. The Philis­tines then took counsel what they should do. They determined to impose a severe test to see whether their troubles were from the God of Israel, or were merely chance occurrences. They placed the ark on a new cart to which they attached two milch kine. They shut up their calves and waited to see what the cows would do. Unhesitatingly they took the way towards the land of the Israelites, leaving their calves behind them. It was a sure sign to the Philis­tines, and they were glad to be rid of the ark that had caused them so much distress.

 

The ark was taken to Beth-shemesh, where the people were gathering in their harvest. When the cows came to a standstill, the Levites who were in the place sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering, using the wood of the cart to make the fire. The God of Israel had vindicated Himself. But a great calamity fell upon the people of Beth-shemesh. Curiosity caused some of them to look inside the ark and a plague broke out among them. Then they too sent the ark away, and it was taken to Kirjath-jearim.

 

All this time the condition of the people of Israel bad; they needed a deliverer. Samuel stood forth as the saviour of the country. He summoned the people to Mizpeh, where he told them to put away their idols and serve the Lord; saying that if they did so they would find deliverance.

 

News of this gathering reached the Philistines, who marched to Mizpeh. A panic seized the Israelites, but Samuel quieted them and offered sacrifice and prayer for the nation. Just as the Philistines were about to attack a violent thunderstorm broke out and in the confusion that ensued they fled. It was a turning point; Samuel was regarded as the leader of the people, and hope began to revive.

[Resource Manager]

A king for Israel

 

Yet the old trouble remained. Samuel’s sons were not like him, and looking to the future the people could see no settled peace under the exist­ing regime. All around them nations were ruled by kings; they were governed by a judge. A king’s sons would be educated in the arts of war and government; the sons of a Levite, such as those of Samuel, were trained as Levites, not as soldiers. At last the murmurs of the people came to a head, and the elders came to Samuel and put forward their case. They said, “Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways; now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” It was a great blow to Samuel. It affected him as a father, and as a prophet of the Lord, It must be remembered that Israel was the kingdom of God, a holy, or a separate, people. Now they wanted to be like the other nations. The request of the people struck at Samuel’s deepest loyalty, his loyalty to God as Israel’s king.

 

Samuel took his trouble to the Lord, and received the reply, “Hearken unto the voice of the people ... for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me that I should not be king over them.” That was the grievous fact. God had been their king, and they wanted a king they could see. They preferred sight to faith, temporal things to those that were eternal. They were not alone in this, it has been the mistake of almost all men. In spite of Samuel’s advice the people persisted in their request, “Nay, we will have a king over us,” they said.

 

An anxious time followed. A king requires certain qualifications, and there was no one who had been trained for such a position. It was necessary for God to indicate the one who was to be the king, and His choice was indicated by a series of strange incidents.

 

Saul, the son of Kish, a man of Benjamin, accom­panied by a servant, went to seek some asses that had strayed. He failed to find them, and as they were then near the home of Samuel, the servant suggested that they should enquire of him. They made their way cowards his house and met Samuel. Meanwhile it had been revealed to Samuel that the one who was to be king would visit him about that time. When the two met, Saul asked Samuel to direct him to the seer’s house. Samuel replied, “I am the seer.” He told him that his father’s asses had been found, and then said, “And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father’s house?” Saul accompanied him to his home where he was treated with marked deference. Early the following morning Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, and there anointed him to be prince over the Lord’s inheritance. A number of signs that Samuel foretold gave Saul confidence in the career to which he had been called, and “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them.”

 

Another gathering of the people was called at Mizpeh so that the king might be seen by all the people. God’s choice was indicated by lot, which fell successively on the tribe of Benjamin, on the family, and on the person, of Saul. When the people sought for him he could not be found, he had hidden himself. When he was found he was seen to be a goodly young man, a head taller than the people generally. A great shout went up from the assembly, “Let the King live.” A number of men attached themselves to him—the monarchy had commenced. Yet there were some who grumbled. “How shall this man save us?” they said, and despised him. Saul was very tolerant, he held his peace, or, in more expressive words, “he was as though he had been deaf.”

[Resource Manager]

CHAPTER XIII

 

THE REIGN OF SAUL

 

AND Saul went up to his house.” No kingly state marked the beginning of his reign. It needed a crisis to establish his royal position. Such an occasion came when the town of Jabesh-gilead was attacked by the Ammonites. The inhabi­tants offered to surrender on terms, but the terms laid down were such as no one could accept, so the people continued their resistance and sent to Saul. Saul called all Israel to meet him, and a great com­pany assembled. He then attacked the Ammonites and inflicted a crushing defeat on them. Jabesh was relieved, and the victory united the people in loyalty to the new king. Samuel took advantage of this to call the tribes to Gilgal, and there an official ceremony took place; it may be regarded as the equivalent of a modern coronation.

 

Samuel addressed the assembly, reminding them that they had asked for a king when the Lord was their king. It was the time of the wheat harvest, and a thunderstorm passed over the land, an unusual thing at that time of the year. It moved the people considerably, and they requested the intercession of Samuel. He then exhorted them, “Serve the Lord with all your heart . . . the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake.”

 

The new reign opened auspiciously, and Saul’s son Jonathan gained a victory over a Philistine garrison in Geba. Then Saul commanded the people to come to him, an act which the Philistines regarded as a challenge, and they invaded the land. The Israelites had been so cowed by the Philistines that many of those who were with Saul fled across the Jordan. The remainder waited for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice, but after waiting seven days Saul offered one himself. It was a fatal mistake; it ranged the Levites, who were the only official class, against him. When Samuel came, he was indignant at Saul’s usurpation of priestly functions, and asked why he had done such a thing. Saul attempted to justify himself by saying he feared the danger that threatened the tabernacle at Gilgal. But Samuel was not persuaded, and told Saul that the kingdom should be taken from him and given to another, leaving Saul a prey to forebodings.

 

Jonathan’s courage

 

The defection from the army had been so serious, that after Samuel’s departure there were only six hundred men left with Saul. Parties of the enemy ranged through the land, and so great had been their tyranny that none of the Hebrews had been permitted to own any weapons, or to carry on the work of a smith. It was Jonathan, the son of Saul, who gave heart to the Israelites. Accompanied by his armour-bearer he attacked a Philistine garrison who were on a height at Michmash. The place was practically unapproachable, but by climbing, and taking advantage of the protection afforded by the herbage, they got near the place, and then disclosed themselves to the garrison. Just as they reached the top, and had commenced to kill the first of the garrison, there was an earthquake, “a very great quaking.” Panic seized the Philistines, and they fled, beating down one another as they ran. The little army that was with Saul joined in the pursuit and those who had left the army returned.

 

In his eagerness to make the most of the oppor­tunity Saul charged the people that none should eat anything until the evening. Knowing nothing of this; Jonathan ate some of the honey that was in the wood. When the day was over the people, famished for food, flew upon the spoil, and, regardless of the provisions of the Law, ate the flesh with the blood. Then Saul proposed to make a night attack on the Philistines. He enquired of the Lord, but God gave him no answer. Saul concluded that there must be some reason for God’s silence, and proceeded to ascertain who was the cause by casting lots. The lot fell on Jonathan and Saul prepared to put him to death. The people took a saner view; Jonathan had gained a remarkable victory that day, and they intervened to save him.

 

The position of Israel was greatly improved, and the policy of having a king seemed to be justified. For a time victory followed Saul wherever he went. Commanded to go and fight the Amalekites, and to spare neither men, women, children, or animals, Saul spared the king and the best of the flocks and herds.

[Resource Manager]

Saul’s rejection

 

Next morning Samuel sought Saul, who greeted him with the words, “Blessed be thou of the Lord; I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” Sternly Samuel asked, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep?” Then Saul showed something of the weakness of his character. “The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God.” It was an unworthy excuse. He had had his opportunity and, having failed, tried to put the blame on the people. Samuel’s answer is a keynote in the Bible story. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” Then he repeated the inti­mation that the Lord would take the kingdom from Saul. Finally he did part of the work that Saul had left undone; he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and slew him.

 

The rejection of Saul made it necessary to choose another king. Samuel was sent to Bethlehem, to anoint one of the sons of Jesse. One after another, seven of his sons stood before him, only to be rejected by the Lord, who told Samuel that He looked to the heart, not to the outward appearance of the men. “Are here all thy children?” asked Samuel of Jesse, at last. “There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep,” said Jesse. He was sent for and when he came Samuel saw a ruddy youth, of fair countenance. He was the Lord’s choice, and Samuel anointed him, “and the Spirit” of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”

 

David the shepherd

 

David’s life as a shepherd had done something to prepare him for the work he was to do. Out on the hills and in the fields around Bethlehem he had many experiences; but more important was the effect of those experiences on his feelings. There he learned to know God, and to trust in Him. Probably it was the remembrance of some night spent in the fields, under the open sky, that caused him after the Spirit of the Lord had come upon him, to write one of his psalms.

 

O Yahweh, our Adonai,

How excellent is Thy name in all the earth!

Who hath set Thy glory upon the heavens . . .

When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers,

The moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained,

What is man that Thou art mindful of him?

And the son of man that Thou visitest him?

 

Such lessons were not learned in royal courts, or in the camp. The Twenty-third, the Shepherd Psalm, is another illustration of the abiding influence of David’s early experiences.

 

By this time Saul’s character and personality were deteriorating. An evil spirit from the Lord troubled him, and his servants urged him to seek for a skilful musician, that the sweetness of music might pacify his troubled spirit. David was such a musician, and the young shepherd was taken into the royal service.

[Resource Manager]

David and Goliath

 

The Philistines invaded the country again. They had with them a mighty man, named Goliath, a giant who paraded between the two camps, chal­lenging any Israelite to come forward and engage in single combat. Daily the challenge rang out, but none dared to meet the giant. Some of David’s brothers were with the army, and Jesse sent his youngest son with food for them. There he heard the insolent challenge of Goliath as he defied the armies of the God of Israel. To David, the challenge sounded like blasphemy. At last, unmoved by the jibes of his elder brother, he openly spoke what was in his mind. His words were carried to Saul, who sent for him. Comparing his youthful appear­ance with the bulk of the Philistine, Saul expressed his doubts as to the issue of such a combat. David told him how he had slain a lion and a bear whilst in charge of his father’s flocks, adding, “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”

 

Saul fitted him out with a suit of armour, but David found that it hampered him. He put it off, and went to meet the Philistine clad in his usual clothes, armed with a shepherd’s staff, a sling, and five small pebbles from the valley. When the giant saw such a stripling coming towards him he said, “Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves?” David’s response was both brave and reverential, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom thou hast defied.” Then, without giving time for the Philistine to get near him, David ran toward him, put a stone in his sling, and slung it with all his might. It hit Goliath on his forehead and he crashed to the earth. The combat was over; David ran forward, drew Goliath’s sword from its sheath, and used it to sever the giant’s head from the body.

 

The fall of their champion caused the Philistines to flee, chased by the Israelites. It was a great deliverance, and the incident had a profound influ­ence on the fortunes of David, Saul, and Jonathan. Jonathan was so affected by the bravery of David that “his soul was knit with the soul of David, and he loved him as his own soul.” He saw in him a kindred spirit; the killing of Goliath was a feat fit to be placed beside his own when he attacked the Philistine garrison at Michmash. From that instant David and Jonathan were the closest of friends.

 

A little later all the promise of the incident was spoiled. The army returned in triumph, and were welcomed by the people with songs.

 

“Saul hath slain his thousands,

And David his ten thousands,”

 

were the words they sang. To a man of Saul’s temperament such an idea was fatal. He was already possessed of an “evil spirit,” now a spirit of jealousy came upon him, and “Saul eyed David from that day and forward.” He made several attempts on his life. In the royal court he twice hurled a spear at him, but without result. He caused it to be said that he would give his elder daughter in marriage to David if he would prove his worthiness in battle against the Philistines, but when the time for the marriage arrived, he gave her to another. Saul’s younger daughter, Michal, fell in love with the young hero. When Saul heard of it he caused David to be told that the only dowry he required for her was a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. He thought David would be slain in attempting to get them, but the price was paid, twice told, and David became son-in-law to Saul.

[Resource Manager]

Saul’s Jealousy

 

The gloomy king grew worse and worse. He tried to get Jonathan, or some of his servants, to kill David. For a time Jonathan succeeded in quieting the spirit of his father, but when David won another victory over the Philistines, the jealousy of the king grew worse. He sent to David’s house to take him, but Michal let David down from a window, and he escaped. Saul pursued him as far as Ramah, but there the spirit of prophecy seized the king; he stripped off his clothes and lay down naked all that day and night. Madness was gradually mastering him.

 

Jonathan was loyal to David and they consulted together for David’s safety. It was arranged that at the time of an approaching feast David should be absent from his place in the court. On the first day Saul took no notice, but on the second he said, “Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat?” Jonathan told him that David had asked for leave to attend a family sacrifice in Bethlehem. Instantly Saul’s fury blazed forth. He denounced Jonathan in bitter language, and sent men to arrest David. When Jonathan expostulated with the king he cast a spear at his own son. Jonathan saw there was no hope of a reconciliation, and went out to David to tell him what had occurred. They mingled their tears together, and then parted; Jonathan returned to the court, and David fled.

 

He first visited Nob, where Ahimelech the priest was in residence, and obtained food and a sword. The food was the shew-bread, and the sword that of Goliath. Unfortunately a servant of Saul was there, and he reported the incident to his master. Saul sent to Nob and slew Ahimelech and all the priests that were in the city. Then David went to Achish, king of Gath, but as the servants of the king were suspicious of him he pretended to be mad, and fled to Adullam.

[Resource Manager]

David the fugitive

 

At Adullam David was an outlaw. He was joined by all his family, including his father and mother, for they were all proscribed by Saul. Adullam be­came the refuge of all those who were in distress, in debt, or discontented. It was not a very promising company, but under David’s leadership they were trained for their future indicated by his anointing. David recognised that a cave in the mountains was no place for aged people like his parents, so he sent them to the king of Moab, asking him to keep them so long as he remained an outlaw. It will be remem­bered that Ruth the Moabitess was an ancestress of David; Jesse was her grandson.

 

Saul’s chief concern was to secure the death of David, and for some time David’s life was one long effort to avoid capture. At the same time he carried out raids on the Philistines, and so increased his popularity with Israel. Some, however, were ready to betray him and gain the king’s favour, and David had to take refuge in the Wilderness of Ziph. There he received a visit from Jonathan, who told him “thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee, and that also Saul my father knoweth.”

 

The friendship of Jonathan could not protect David from Saul, or from the treachery of those who sought Saul’s favour. He had to flee again, and it was only an invasion of the Philistines that caused Saul to give up the pursuit. In the course of David’s flight an unexpected incident placed Saul at his mercy. Saul went into a cave, in the innermost recesses of which David and some of his men had taken refuge. David was urged to kill Saul, but he refused; he would wait for God’s time to take the kingdom, but he cut off a portion of the king’s robe, to show the king how he had spared his life. Saul was deeply touched, and said, “I know that thou shalt surely be king,” and asked that David would not cut off his posterity in those days.

 

About this time David sent a message to a rich man named Nabal, who had many flocks of sheep and goats, which David’s men had protected from any interference. Now the time of sheep-shearing had come, and David requested that in such a time of rejoicing, Nabal would spare something for his men. Nabal refused with disdain. The servants of Nabal told his wife, Abigail, what had happened. She recognised the dangers to which her husband’s refusal exposed her and the household, and made her way to David with a present. She urged him not to spoil his future by taking revenge now. In the course of her interview with him she said, “The soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh thy God.” It is an interesting illustration of the recognition of a doctrine of a future life, a life that was bound up with God.

 

Nabal knew nothing of what Abigail had done for he was drunk. When she told him the next morning he had a seizure; ten days afterwards he died. When news of his death reached David he saw the hand of God in the event, a feature of life and history that was always present to his mind. He sent for Abigail and took her to be his wife for Saul had given Michal to another man.

 

After this Saul again took the field against David and again fell into his hand. During the night David and Abishai, one of his followers, came to the camp where Saul lay sleeping. Abishai urged him to kill the king, but David would not. Saul was the Lord’s Anointed; however unworthy he might be, he would not act against him to his hurt. He took the king’s spear and a cruse of water, and stealthily moved from the camp. Once outside he called to Abner, the captain of Saul’s host, and taunted him with his failure to guard the king. Saul recognised David’s voice, and realised that he had been in David’s, power. “Blessed be thou, my son David,” he said, “thou shalt both do mightily, and shalt surely prevail.” It was the last time David saw Saul.

 

David placed no reliance on the apparent change in the king’s feelings, and determined to place him­self beyond his reach. He went to Gath and offered his services as a free lance to its king. He was given the city of Ziklag to dwell in; it was a border city between Philistia and Canaan. Thence he conducted raids against non-Israelitish cities and villages taking large quantities of spoil which he laid up for the opportunity which he saw was near at hand.

[Resource Manager]

Saul’s death

 

Once again the Philistines invaded the land. In great fear Saul enquired of the Lord for guidance, but received no answer. In his extremity he sought for a witch; perhaps she could do what God refused to do. There was such a woman at Endor, and he decided to go to her. He went by night and in disguise. It was an adventurous journey, for he had to pass the camp of the Philistines. When he arrived at Endor he asked the woman to bring Samuel before him. Samuel was dead, and “the dead know not anything,”³³ but the woman professed to bring him up. In doing this she was in rapport with the king, and realised who he was. It was a case of clairvoyance, and the woman saw the picture that was in the mind of the king. Saul’s attempt to get information was successful, but the informa­tion was of no use to him. The supposed Samuel told him of the certainty of defeat, and added, “to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.”

 

David and his men had been assigned a place in the Philistine army, but the lords of the Philis­tines feared he might betray them to Saul, so Achish regretfully sent him away. David went to the south, Achish and his army marched north­wards to Jezreel.

 

David’s adventures can be briefly told. When his men arrived at Ziklag they found it had been raided by the Amalekites, probably as a reprisal for one of David’s raids on their territory. The wives and children of David and his men had been driven away, and his men lost heart; they even spoke of stoning him. David faced the situation boldly; he led his men in pursuit of the Amalekites, and captured all the spoil they had gathered in their raid, not only from Ziklag but from many other places; David sent portions of his share of it to his friends, and to the rulers of the principal cities in Judah, thus preparing for the future.

 

In the north Saul fought his last battle. Harassed, unbalanced, and discouraged, the result was a foregone conclusion. In the battle of Mount Gilboa Saul was wounded, his sons were slain, and Israel fled. Fearing to fall into the hands of the Philistines, Saul told his armour-bearer to kill him, but the young man was afraid, and Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. So died the first appointed king of Israel—a suicide.

 

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³³ Ecc. 9:5.

[Resource Manager]

CHAPTER XIV

 

DAVID THE KING

 

AFTER the Battle of Gilboa a young man, an Amalekite, came to David, and, thinking to please him, told him that he had found Saul wounded, and, at the king’s request, had slain him. The lie brought its retribution, David ordered one of his men to kill him. His own feelings found expression in an anguished lament over Saul and Jonathan.

 

Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places!

How are the mighty fallen!

Tell it not in Gath,

Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon . .

Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew,

Nor rain upon you, neither fields of offerings,

For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away,

The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil . . .

I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan,

Very pleasant hast thou been unto me.

Thy love to me was wonderful,

Passing the love of women,

How are the mighty fallen,

And the weapons of war perished!

 

David made his way to Hebron, where the men of Judah anointed him king, and many from Israel joined him.

 

Civil war

 

Abner, Saul’s captain, set up Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, as king. A civil war ensued, in the course of which an event happened which had a sinister sequel. As Asahel was pursuing Abner, the latter turned and killed him. Asahel was a brother of Joab, of whom more will be heard, and the event started a blood feud between the two families which ended tragically.

 

The civil war dragged on for some years, always to the advantage of David. Some time afterward Ish-bosheth reproached Abner for having taken Saul’s concubine. Abner was wroth, and in his indignation determined to transfer his allegiance to David. He made approaches to the king who agreed to receive him provided that his wife Michal was restored to him. This was arranged, and Abner was received into the royal favour. With him came the whole of the tribe of Benjamin.

 

Joab was absent when these matters were arranged. When he returned he expostulated with David, insinuating that Abner had only come to spy the resources of the south. Failing to obtain any satis­faction in this way he proceeded to deceit. He sent messengers after Abner, and when he returned, took him on one side and killed him in revenge for Asahel’s death. It was a particularly hateful deed, and David never forgot it.

 

The defection of Abner seriously weakened the house of Saul. Ish-bosheth continued to exercise a poor kind of sovereignty until two of his servants slew him. They carried his head to David, expecting to receive a great reward. David treated them as they deserved: he had them killed. Ish-bosheth’s death ended the division of the kingdom. There was no one to dispute the claims of David, and all the elders of Israel came to anoint him king over the whole land.

[Resource Manager]

David’s capital

 

It was now David’s policy to organise the king­dom. Hebron was not a satisfactory place for a capital, it was too far to the south. David recog­nised that the city of Jerusalem was a suitable site; its situation in the hills of Judea made it almost impregnable. It was off the main roads through the country, but that was an advantage, as it was not easily reached by an enemy. It was inhabited by the Jebusites, a branch of the Canaanites that Israel had failed to destroy.

 

David set out to capture the city. It was impos­sible to take it by assault; secure on its rocky height it could defy an army. So confident were its in­habitants that they taunted David, saying that the blind and lame of the city were sufficient to defend it. At some time David had learned of its one weakness. The only water supply of the city was in the valley, outside the walls. Such a source was useless in a time of war, and the Jebusites had cut a tunnel through the rock and brought the water to a cistern inside the limits of the city. The cistern and the city were connected by a shaft down which the women let their receptacles for the water. David saw in this a way into the city. If the water shaft could be climbed it was possible to get within the city walls. The danger and the difficulty of the attempt called for a corresponding reward, and David caused it to be proclaimed that whoever climbed the water shaft should be made commander in chief of the army. Joab undertook the task. With a few helpers he entered the tunnel by night climbed the shaft, and stood within the city. Taken completely by surprise the inhabitants were easily mastered; the army outside came to the assistance of Joab, and Jerusalem, otherwise known as Zion became the city of David.

 

Established in Jerusalem David proceeded to consolidate the kingdom, and though the Philistines twice tried to restrain his progress, he completely defeated them, driving them back to their own towns.

 

One of the first things David essayed to do was to bring the ark into the city of Jerusalem in order to make the city the centre of the religious life of the nation. The first time he tried he failed. The oxen drawing the cart bearing the ark stumbled and Uzzah, one of those who were accompanying it, put out his hand to steady it; instantly he fell dead. David was seriously troubled. The hopes he had entertained as to the effect of the presence of the ark in his city were dashed to the ground, and he gave instructions for it to be placed in the house of Obed-edom. Nothing harmful occurred there, instead the Lord blessed the house. Then David recognised that he had been wrong in his methods. God had given instructions that none but the Levites were to carry the ark. This time he gathered the priests and the Levites, and with great religious ceremony brought the ark into the city, where he had prepared a tabernacle for it. In the rejoicings of the day David himself danced before the Lord with all One thing marred this day of rejoicing. Michal, David’s wife, who had been restored to him, des­pised him in her heart. Like her father, she was not moved by religious fervour; she could not under­stand it, and regarded it as unseemly and undigni­fied When David returned to his house she spoke sarcastically to him, showing how different was her character from his. It caused a final break between them for any true marriage requires a community of interest to sustain it.

[Resource Manager]

The Kingdom of God

 

The kingdom was now well established, but though David was living in a palace the ark, the symbol of God’s presence, was in a tent. David felt that this was not fitting, and spoke to the prophet Nathan about it. Nathan encouraged the king in his thoughts, saying, “Do all that is in thy heart.”

 

That night Nathan received a message from God. He was to commend the king for his intentions, but to tell him that not he, but his son, should build a house for the ark of the Lord. Next morn­ing Nathan delivered the message, to which, how­ever, something of tremendous importance was added. “The Lord telleth thee that He will make thee a house. When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be My son ... and I will settle him in Mine house and in My kingdom for ever; and his throne shall be established for ever-thine house and thy kingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee.”³⁴

 

Great and precious promises

 

It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of these words. They state that, (a.) the thing was to happen after David was dead, (b.) his seed, or son, was to sit on his throne for ever, (c.) his seed was to be the Son of God; and (d.) reign in the house and over the Kingdom of God. (e.) When this takes place David will be there, for it was to be established for ever before him. It was the most wonderful and most far-reaching promise that had been made since the days of the patriarchs.

 

David recognised the supreme importance of the promise. He said, “Thou hast spoken of Thy ser­vant’s house for a great while to come. . . . Thou didst establish to Thyself Thy people Israel to be a people unto Thee for ever. . . . Let Thy name be magnified saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of Thy servant David shall be established before Thee.” Many years after­wards, in his last words, he again alluded to the promise. He foresaw a time when One who would be just, should rule over men in the fear of God. It would be, he said, “as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, a morning without clouds.” Then he added, “Verily my house is not so with God, yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; for it is all my salvation and all my desire.” Thus a third everlasting covenant was made. The first, that with

 

Noah guaranteed the eternal existence of the earth; the second, with Abraham, gave the everlasting possession of the land of Canaan, and by inference, of the earth, to One who was to be the seed of Abraham. Now a third gave to One who was to be the seed of David, the everlasting possession of David’s throne. More than that, the personal character of the second and third ensured the gift of eternal life after death, involving a resurrection, when mortality shall give place to immortality.

 

After reaching the height of these great promises the rest of the events of David’s reign seem to be of small consequence. He carried on wars against enemies in various directions, and greatly extended his dominions. He sought out a son of the house of Saul that he might show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake. He found a son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, who was a cripple, restored to him all the personal possessions of Saul, and caused him to dwell in the palace and partake of the king’s meat.

 

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³⁴ This is a combination of the wording of the promise as given in 2 Sam. 7, and 1 Chron. 17.

[Resource Manager]

David’s sin

 

In the course of his wars David’s great fall took place. While the army was prosecuting the war against Ammon, he saw from the roof of his palace a woman washing herself. She was of great beauty, and the king desired her; being a king he sent for her and gave way to his desires. The woman was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of the principal men of the army. In due time the woman sent a message to David, saying, “I am with child.” It was an awkward predicament for David, and he did what he could to hide his, and the woman’s, shame. He sent for Uriah, ostensibly to enquire as to the progress of the fighting, really that he might go to his house and so cover the evidence of David’s guilt. Uriah came, but did not go to his house. In vain did David ply him with drink; he would not go down to the ease and enjoyment of his house and his wife while the army abode in the field. David then resorted to other means. He made Uriah the bearer of his own death-warrant, a letter to Joab telling him to set Uriah in the hottest part of the battle there to perish. Every­thing went as David had planned. Uriah was killed and David took Bathsheba into the royal household, adding her to the number of his wives.

 

Not only was the action of the king wrong morally, it was also fatal to his peace. All the troubles of the later part of his reign are traceable, directly or indirectly, to this incident. The prophet Nathan brought the sin home to the king’s conscience. By a parable about a man who, being visited by a friend, and requiring a lamb for his refreshment, took one belonging to a poor man, he aroused the king’s indignation. “The man who hath done such a thing shall surely die,” said David. “Thou art the man!” sternly replied the prophet. There are not, and have not been, many prophets or preachers who would venture into a king’s court and repri­mand him to his face, and Nathan must have been a brave, as well as a good, man. The king’s con­science was aroused. “I have sinned against the Lord,” he said. It was no outward profession; it was a real and genuine repentance, which wrung from the heart the pathetic words of a Psalm.

 

Have mercy upon me O God, according to Thy loving kindness;

According to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin,

For I acknowledge my transgressions,

And my sin is ever before me.

Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned

And done that which is evil in Thy sight.

 

The whole of Psalm 51 is the expression of the deep contrition of a soul convinced of guilt. It explains why David was a man after God’s own heart.

 

Repentance did not prevent retribution, the first act of which was the death of the child that was born of the king’s lust. Sin often brings its punish­ment though the guilt may be forgiven. Later on Bathsheba bore the king another son, Solomon, of whom more will be heard in the Bible Story.

[Resource Manager]

Family trouble

 

From this time the history of David was one of trouble. His eldest son, Amnon, violated David’s daughter Tamar, the sister of his favourite son Absalom. For two years Absalom meditated revenge. At a sheep-shearing festival a number of men were engaged by him to kill Amnon. Absalom fled and remained away for three years; then Joab brought about his recall, though David refused to receive him at court. Absalom took every means to in­gratiate himself with the people; he also took steps that compelled Joab to bring about a complete reconciliation with the king.

 

Absalom was then free to mature his plans. He gathered a band of followers, and, by his free and easy manners, “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” When all was ready he went to Hebron, and sent men to proclaim, “Absalom reigns in Hebron.” When David heard of it his old courage left him; and he fled. Yet there were many who remained loyal, the special guards, the Cherethites and the Pelethites (a force recruited from Philistine sources), Zadok and the Levites, Joab and many others. Amongst those who sided with Absalom was Ahitho-phel, the grandfather of Bathsheba, who was noted for his wisdom. Another wise man, Hushai, followed David, but David sent him back to thwart the counsel of Ahithophel. Ziba, the servant of Mephi-bosheth, the son of Jonathan, overtook David, saying that Mephibosheth was hoping that the rebellion might enable him to secure the kingdom to the house of Saul, so David presented Ziba with all the possessions of Mephibosheth.

 

In Jerusalem Absalom took counsel as to the course he should pursue. Ahithophel recommended the immediate pursuit of the royal fugitive, and offered to lead an expedition with that object in view. Hushai counselled delay, and recommended that all Israel should be gathered so that they might overwhelm the forces that were with David by the sheer weight of numbers. Absalom was not a brave man, and Hushai’s advice appealed to him. The delay was fatal to his cause; it gave David time to cross the Jordan and organise his forces. Ahitho­phel, seeing the fatal consequences of the delay went and hanged himself.

 

Absalom killed

 

In due course the army of Absalom crossed the Jordan. It was an assembly of untrained men, and when the battle was joined the difference between the two armies was seen. Absalom’s army broke and fled with a loss of twenty thousand. Absalom himself fled on a mule, and as it passed under an oak his neck caught in the fork of the branches, and he hung suspended in the air. When one of David’s men saw him he went and told Joab. David had charged the people saying, “Deal gently with the young man Absalom,” but Joab had no scruples on that account. He took a number of men with him and thrust three darts through Absalom’s heart.

 

Messengers hurriedly carried the news of the victory to David. But the king’s thoughts were with Absalom. “Is the young man Absalom safe?” he asked, and when he heard that he was dead he retired to a chamber by himself, crying, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son.” All else was forgotten, and it needed the rough remonstrances of Joab to make the king go out to the people and sit in the gate.

 

David weakened very much during the closing years of his reign and he never forgave Joab for the death of his son. He made Amasa, the leader of Absalom’s rebel army, chief captain, an affront which Joab revenged by murdering him. Mephi­bosheth met David and complained that he had been slandered by Ziba, but the king’s only comment was, “Why speakest thou any more of thy matter? I say, Thou and Ziba divide the land.”

[Resource Manager]

Preparations for a temple

 

The rest of the reign is soon told. Various wars took place, civil and foreign, always to David’s advantage. One of the last incidents was the taking of a census of the fighting men. It was probably caused by growing pride in the success of the nation. Joab expostulated against it, but the king’s com­mand prevailed, though the numbering was never completed. The prophet Gad was sent with a message, “Shall three years of famine come unto thee in thy land, or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes ... or shall there be three days pestilence in thy land?” It was a hard choice, but David said, “I am in a great strait; let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hands of man.”

 

For three days pestilence ravaged the land. On the third day David saw an angel with a drawn sword over the city of Jerusalem and confessing his guilt, prayed for deliverance. The prophet Gad came again with a message, “Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” David sent to Araunah, who offered the threshing floor and the requirements for the sacrifice freely. David’s reply revealed the kind of man he was at heart. “Nay,” he said, “but I will verily buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” So he bought the threshing floor, and the oxen, and offered up his sacrifice.

 

Long before, Moses had foretold that God would choose a place in the land where His name should dwell, and where sacrifices should be offered.³⁵ David saw in this incident an indication of that choice, and said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel,” and commenced preparations for the construction of a vast temple. Immense stores of stones, timber and brass were gathered together, and great quan­tities of silver and gold. Plans were prepared, “the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit,” together with particulars of the furniture that was required, “which the Lord made him to understand in writing by His hand upon him.”

 

The time had come for the reign to end. David commenced his reign at a time of disaster; he died with the people in undisputed possession of the land that had been promised to the fathers, with an Empire stretching far to the north. But the great exertions of his reign, following the privations of his life as a fugitive and an outlaw, had caused a heavy drain on the king’s vitality. His vigour had gone, and though they brought a fair young virgin to nourish him with her warmth, it was in vain. The king was failing.

 

David’s eldest surviving son, Adonijah, could not wait for the old king’s death, and attempted to seize the kingdom for himself. In this he was abetted by Joab, whose life of faithfulness to David was clouded by this action of his old age. The prophets were on the watch, and Nathan took the matter in hand, working through Bathsheba. As a result David called for Solomon and caused him to be anointed king. This indication of the royal decision killed the revolt of Adonijah and Joab, and Solomon ascended the throne as the successor of David.

 

Before he died the king charged his son to build the temple that he had projected. It was to be “exceeding magnifical,” a fit abode for the symbolic presence of the God of Israel. Having done what he could for the future of his house, David died, having reigned forty years.

 

There is an important point in the Story relating to the last days of David that cannot be too strongly emphasised. In the presence of the assembled princes, the heads of the tribes, the officers, the captains, and the stewards of the army and of the kingdom, David said, “Of all my sons (for the Lord hath given me many sons), he hath chosen Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.” The Kingdom of the Lord! Although Israel had rejected God as their king, and though he had permitted human kings to reign, the nation was still the kingdom of the Lord, and David had sat on its throne as His vicegerent. Any reading of the Story that does not take note of this is sure to give a false idea of the facts of the case.

 

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³⁵ See Deut. 12: 5, 11, etc.