Chapter III: The Hebrews and the Philistines--Damascus (3)

Saul had the supreme command of the whole; the members of his own family served as lieutenants under him, including his son Jonathan, to whom he owed some of his most brilliant victories, together with his cousin Abner, the _sar-zaba_, who led the royal guard.* Among the men of distinguished valour who had taken service under Saul, he soon singled out David, son of Jesse, a native of Bethlehem of Judah.** David was the first Judæan hero, the typical king who served as a model to all subsequent monarchs. His elevation, like that of Saul, is traced to Samuel. The old prophet had repaired to Bethlehem ostensibly to offer a sacrifice, and after examining all the children of Jesse, he chose the youngest, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David. ***

* 1 Sam. xiv. 50, 51. There is no record of the part played
by Abner during Sauls lifetime: he begins to figure in the
narrative after the battle at Gilboa under the double reign
of Ish-bosheth and David.

** The name of David is a shortened form of Davdo, Dodo,
the favourite of Him, i.e. God.

*** The intervention of the prophet occupies 1 Sam. xvi. 1-
13. Some critics have imagined that this passage was
interpolated at a later date, and reflects the events which
are narrated in chap. x. They say it was to show that Saul
was not alone in enjoying consecration by the prophet, and
hence all doubt would be set at rest as to whether David was
actually that neighbour of thine, that is better than
thou, mentioned in 1 Sam. xv. 28.

His introduction at the court of Saul is variously accounted for. According to one narrative, Saul, being possessed by an evil spirit, fell at times into a profound melancholy, from which he could be aroused only by the playing of a harp. On learning that David was skilled in this instrument, he begged Jesse to send him his son, and the lad soon won the kings affection. As often as the illness came upon him, David took his harp, and Saul was refreshed, and the evil spirit departed from him. * Another account relates that he entered on his soldierly career by killing with his sling Goliath of Gath,** who had challenged the bravest Israelites to combat; though elsewhere the death of Goliath is attributed to Elhanan of Bethlehem,*** one of the mighty men of valour, who specially distinguished himself in the wars against the Philistines. David had, however, no need to take to himself the brave deeds of others; at Ephes-dammîm, in company with Eleazar, the son of Dodai, and Shammah, the son of Agu, he had posted himself in a field of lentils, and the three warriors had kept the Philistines at bay till their discomfited Israelite comrades had had time to rally.****

* 1 Sam. xvi. 14-23. This narrative is directly connected
with 1 Sam. xiv. 52, where we are told that when Saul saw
any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him.

** 1 Sam. xvii., xviii. 1-5. According to some writers, this
second version, the best known of the two, is a development
at a later period of the tradition preserved in 2 Sam. xxi.
19, where the victory of Elhanan over Goliath is recorded.

*** 2 Sam. xxi. 19, where the duel of Goliath and Elhanan is
placed in the reign of David, during the combat at Gob. Some
critics think that the writer of Chronicles, recognising the
difficulty presented by this passage, changed the epithet
Bethlehemite, which qualified the name of Elhanan, into
Lahmi, the name of Goliaths brother (1 Citron, xx. 5). Say
ce thought to get over the difficulty by supposing that
Elhanan was Davids first name; but Elhanan is the son of
Jair, and not the son of Jesse.

**** The combat of Paz-Dammîm or Ephes-Dammîm is mentioned
in 1 Sam. xvii. 1; the exploit of David and his two
comrades, 2 Sam: xxiii. 9-12 (cf. 1 Chron. xi, 12-14, which
slightly varies from 2 Sam. xxiii. 9-12).

Saul entrusted him with several difficult undertakings, in all of which he acquitted himself with honour. On his return from one of them, the women of the villages came out to meet him, singing and dancing to the sound of timbrels, the refrain of their song being: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. The king concealed the jealousy which this simple expression of joy excited within him, but it found vent at the next outbreak of his illness, and he attempted to kill David with a spear, though soon after he endeavoured to make amends for his action by giving him his second daughter Michal in marriage.* This did not prevent the king from again attempting Davids life, either in a real or simulated fit of madness; but not being successful, he despatched a body of men to waylay him. According to one account it was Michal who helped her husband to escape,** while another attributes the saving of his life to Jonathan. This prince had already brought about one reconciliation between his father and David, and had spared no pains to reinstall him in the royal favour, but his efforts merely aroused the kings suspicion against himself. Saul imagined that a conspiracy existed for the purpose of dethroning him, and of replacing him by his son; Jonathan, knowing that his life also was threatened, at length renounced the attempt, and David and his followers withdrew from court.

* The account of the first disagreement between Saul and
David, and with regard to the marriage of David with Michal,
is given in 1 Sam. xviii. 6-16, 20-29, and presents every
appearance of authenticity. Verses 17-19, mentioning a
project of union between David and Sauls eldest daughter,
Merab, has at some time been interpolated; it is not given
in the LXX., either because it was not in the Hebrew version
they had before them, or because they suppressed it owing to
the motive appearing to them insufficient.

** 1 Sam. xix. 11-17. Many critics regard this passage as an
interpolation.

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 430 of the _Palestine
Exploration Fund._

He was hospitably received by a descendant of Eli,* Ahimelech the priest, at Nob, and wandered about in the neighbourhood of Adullam, hiding himself in the wooded valleys of Khereth, in the heart of Judah. He retained the sympathies of many of the Benjamites, more than one of whom doubted whether it would not be to their advantage to transfer their allegiance from their aged king to this more youthful hero.

* 1 Sam. xxi. 8, 9 adds that he took as a weapon the sword
of Goliath which was laid up in the sanctuary at Nob.

Saul got news of their defection, and one day when he was sitting, spear in hand, under the tamarisk at Gibeah, he indignantly upbraided his servants, and pointed out to them the folly of their plans. Hear, now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards? will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? Ahimelech was selected as the victim of the kings anger: denounced by Doeg, Sauls steward, he was put to death, and all his family, with the exception of Abiathar, one of his sons, perished with him.* As soon as it became known that David held the hill-country, a crowd of adventurous spirits flocked to place themselves under his leadership, anticipating, no doubt, that spoil would not be lacking with so brave a chief, and he soon found himself at the head of a small army, with Abiathar as priest, and the ephod, rescued from Nob, in his possession.**

* 1 Sam. xix.-xxii., where, according to some critics, two
contradictory versions have been blended together at a late
period. The most probable version is given in 1 Sam, xix. 8-
10 [11-18a], xxi. 1-7 [8-10], xxii., and is that which I
have followed by preference; the other version, according to
these writers, attributes too important a rôle to Jonathan,
and relates at length the efforts he made to reconcile his
father and his friend (1 Sam. xviii. 30, xix. 1-7, xx.). It
is thought, from the confusion apparent in this part of the
narrative, that a record of the real motives which provoked
a rupture between the king and his son-in-law has not been
preserved.

** 1 Sam. xxii. 20-23, xxiii. 6. For the use of the ephod by
Abiathar for oracular purposes, cf. 1 Sam. xxiii. 9-12, xxx.
7, 8; the inquiry in 1 Sam. xxiii. 2-4 probably belongs to
the same series, although neither Abiathar nor the ephod is
mentioned.

The country was favourable for their operations; it was a perfect labyrinth of deep ravines, communicating with each other by narrow passes or by paths winding along the edges of precipices. Isolated rocks, accessible only by rugged ascents, defied assault, while extensive caves offered a safe hiding-place to those who were familiar with their windings. One day the little band descended to the rescue of Keilah, which they succeeded in wresting from the Philistines, but no sooner did they learn that Saul was on his way to meet them than they took refuge in the south of Judah, in the neighbourhood of Ziph and Maôn, between the mountains and the Dead Sea.*

* 1 Sam. xxiii. 1-13; an episode acknowledged to be
historical by nearly-all modern critics.

Drawn by Boudior, from photograph No. 197 of the _Palestine
Exploration Fund._ The heights visible in the distance are
the mountains of Moab, beyond the Dead Sea.

Saul already irritated by his rivals successes, was still more galled by being always on the point of capturing him, and yet always seeing him slip from his grasp. On one afternoon, when the king had retired into a cave for his siesta, he found himself at the mercy of his adversary; the latter, however, respected the sleep of his royal master, and contented himself with cutting a piece off his mantle.* On another occasion David, in company with Abishai and Ahimelech the Hittite, took a lance and a pitcher of water from the kings bedside.** The inhabitants of the country were not all equally loyal to Davids cause; those of Ziph, whose meagre resources were taxed to support his followers, plotted to deliver him up to the king,*** while Nabal of Maôn roughly refused him food. Abigail atoned for her husbands churlishness by a speedy submission; she collected a supply of provisions, and brought it herself to the wanderers. David was as much disarmed by her tact as by her beauty, and when she was left a widow he married her. This union insured the support of the Calebite clan, the most powerful in that part of the country, and policy as well as gratitude no doubt suggested the alliance.

* 1 Sam, xxiv. Thought by some writers to be of much later
date.

** 1 Sam. xxvi. 4-25.

Skirmishes were not as frequent between the kings troops and the outlaws as we might at first be inclined to believe, but if at times there was a truce to hostilities, they never actually ceased, and the position became intolerable. Encamped between his kinsman and the Philistines, David found himself unable to resist either party except by making friends with the other. An incursion of the Philistines near Maôn saved David from the king, but when Saul had repulsed it, David had no choice but to throw himself into the arms of Achish, King of Gath, of whom he craved permission to settle as his vassal at Ziklag, on condition of Davids defending the frontier against the Bedawin.*

* 1 Sam. xxvii. The earlier part of this chapter (vers. 1-6) is strictly historical. Some critics take vers. 8-12 to be of later date, and pretend that they were inserted to show the cleverness of David, and to deride the credulity of the King of Gath.

Saul did not deem it advisable to try and dislodge him from this retreat. Peace having been re-established in Judah, the king turned northward and occupied the heights which bound the plain of Jezreel to the east; it is possible that he contemplated pushing further afield, and rallying round him those northern tribes who had hitherto never acknowledged his authority. He may, on the other hand, have desired merely to lay hands on the Syrian highways, and divert to his own profit the resources brought by the caravans which plied along them. The Philistines, who had been nearly ruined by the loss of the right to demand toll of these merchants, assembled the contingents of their five principalities, among them being the Hebrews of David, who formed the personal guard of Achish. The four other princes objected to the presence of these strangers in their midst, and forced Achish to dismiss them. David returned to Ziklag, to find ruin and desolation everywhere. The Amalekites had taken advantage of the departure of the Hebrews to revenge themselves once for all for Davids former raids on them, and they had burnt the town, carrying off the women and flocks. David at once set out on their track, overtook them just beyond the torrent of Besor, and rescued from them, not only his own belongings, but all the booty they had collected by the way in the southern provinces of Caleb, in Judah, and in the Cherethite plain.

He distributed part of this spoil among those cities of Judah which had shown hospitality to himself and his men, for instance, to Jattir, Aroer, Eshtemoa, Hormah, and Hebron.* While he thus kept up friendly relations with those who might otherwise have been tempted to forget him, Saul was making his last supreme effort against the Philistines, but only ito meet with failure. He had been successful in repulsing them as long as he kept to the mountain districts, where the courage of his troops made up for their lack of numbers and the inferiority of their arms; but he was imprudent enough to take up a position on the hillsides of Gilboa, whose gentle slopes offered no hindrances to the operations of the heavy Philistine battalions. They attacked the Israelites from the Shunem side, and swept all before them. Jonathan perished in the conflict, together with his two brothers, Malchi-shua and Abinadab; Saul, who was wounded by an arrow, begged his armour-bearer to take his life, but, on his persistently refusing, the king killed himself with his own sword. The victorious Philistines cut off his head and those of his sons, and placed their armour in the temple of Ashtoreth,** while their bodies, thus despoiled, were hung up outside the walls of Bethshan, whose Canaanite inhabitants had made common cause with the Philistines against Israel.

* 1 Sam. xxviii. 1, 2, xxix., xxx. The torrent of Besor is
the present Wady Esh-Sheriah, which runs to the south of
Gaza.

** The text of 1 Sam. xxxi. 10 says, in a vague manner, in
the house of the Ashtaroth (in the plural), which is
corrected, somewhat arbitrarily, in 1 Chron. x. 10 iato in
the house of Dagon (B.V.); it is possible that it was the
temple at Gaza, Gaza being the chief of the Philistine
towns.

The people of Jabesh-Gilead, who had never forgotten how Saul had saved them from the Ammonites, hearing the news, marched all night, rescued the mutilated remains, and brought them back to their own town, where they burned them, and buried the charred bones under a tamarisk, fasting meanwhile seven days as a sign of mourning.*

* 1 Sam. xxxi. It would seem that there were two narratives
describing this war: in one, the Philistines encamped at
Shunem, and Saul occupied Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. xxviii. 4);
in the other, the Philistines encamped at Aphek, and the
Israelites by the fountain which is in Jezreel (1 Sam.
xxix. 1). The first of these accounts is connected with the
episode of the witch of Endor, the second with the sending
away of David by Achish. The final catastrophe is in both
narratives placed on Mount Gilboa and Stade has endeavoured
to reconcile the two accounts by admitting that the battle
was fought between Aphek and the fountain, but that the
final scene took place on the slopes of Gilboa. There are
even two versions of the battle, one in 1 Sam. xxxi. and the
other in 2 Sam. i. 6-10, where Saul does not kill himself,
but begs an Amalekite to slay him; many critics reject the
second version.

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 79 of the _Palestine
Exploration Fund._

David afterwards disinterred these relics, and laid them in the burying-place of the family of Kish at Zela, in Benjamin. The tragic end of their king made a profound impression on the people. We read that, before entering on his last battle, Saul was given over to gloomy forebodings: he had sought counsel of Jahveh, but God answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. The aged Samuel had passed away at Ramah, and had apparently never seen the king after the flight of David;* Saul now bethought himself of the prophet in his despair, and sought to recall him from the tomb to obtain his counsel.

* 1 Sam. xxv. 1, repeated 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, with a mention
of the measures taken by Saul against the wizards and
fortune-tellers.

The king had banished from the land all wizards and fortune-tellers, but his servants brought him word that at Endor there still remained a woman who could call up the dead. Saul disguised himself, and, accompanied by two of his retainers, went to find her; he succeeded in overcoming her fear of punishment, and persuaded her to make the evocation. Whom shall I bring up unto thee?--Bring up Samuel.--And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice, saying, Why hast thou deceived me, for thou art Saul? And the king said unto her, Be not afraid, for what sawest thou?--I saw gods ascending out of the earth.--What form is he of?--An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle. Saul immediately recognised Samuel, and prostrated himself with his face to the ground before him. The prophet, as inflexible after death as in his lifetime, had no words of comfort for the God-forsaken man who had troubled his repose. The Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David, because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord,... and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. The Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. *

* 1 Sam. xxviii. 5-25. There is no reason why this scene
should not be historical; it was natural that Saul, like
many an ancient general in similar circumstances, should
seek to know the future by means of the occult sciences then
in vogue. Some critics think that certain details of the
evocation--as, for instance, the words attributed to Samuel
--are of a later date.

We learn, also, how David, at Ziklag, on hearing the news of the disaster, had broken into weeping, and had composed a lament, full of beauty, known as the Song of the Bow, which the people of Judah committed to memory in their childhood. 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; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph! 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! From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death they were not divided. *

* 2 Sam. i. 17-27 (R.V.). This elegy is described as a
quotation from Jasher, the Book of the Upright. Many modern
writers attribute its authorship to David himself; others
reject this view; all agree in regarding it as extremely
ancient. The title, Song of the Bow, is based on the
possibly corrupt text of ver. 18.

The Philistines occupied in force the plain of Jezreel and the pass which leads from it into the lowlands of Bethshan: the Israelites abandoned the villages which they had occupied in these districts, and the gap between the Hebrews of the north and those of the centre grew wider. The remnants of Sauls army sought shelter on the eastern bank of the Jordan, but found no leader to reorganise them. The reverse sustained by the Israelitish champion seemed, moreover, to prove the futility of trying to make a stand against the invader, and even the useless-ness of the monarchy itself: why, they might have asked, burthen ourselves with a master, and patiently bear with his exactions, if, when put to the test, he fails to discharge the duties for the performance of which he was chosen? And yet the advantages of a stable form of government had been so manifest during the reign of Saul, that it never for a moment occurred to his former subjects to revert to patriarchal institutions: the question which troubled them was not whether they were to have a king, but rather who was to fill the post. Saul had left a considerable number of descendants behind him.* From these, Abner, the ablest of his captains, chose Ishbaal, and set him on the throne to reign under his guidance.**

* We know that he had three sons by his wife Ahinoam--
Jonathan, Ishbaal, and Malchi-shua; and two daughters, Merab
and Michal (1 Sam. xiv. 49, 50, where Ishvi should be read
Ishbaal). Jonathan left at least one son, Meribbaal (1
Chron. viii. 34, ix. 40, called Mephibosheth in 2 Sam. xxi.
7), and Merab had five sons by Adriel (2 Sam. xxi. 8). One
of Sauls concubines, Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had borne
him two sons, Armoni and Meribbaal (2 Sam. xxi. 8, where the
name Meribbaal is changed into Mephibosheth); Abinadab, who
fell with him in the fight at Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. xxxi. 2),
whose mothers name is not mentioned, was another son.

** Ishbaal was still a child when his father died: had he
been old enough to bear arms, he would have taken a part in
the battle of Gilboa with his brothers.. The expressions
used in the account of his elevation to the throne prove
that he was a minor (2 Sam. ii. 8, 9); the statement that he
was forty years old when he began to reign would seem,
therefore, to be an error (ii. 10).

Gibeah was too close to the frontier to be a safe residence for a sovereign whose position was still insecure; Abner therefore installed Ishbaal at Mahanaim, in the heart of the country of Gilead. The house of Jacob, including the tribe of Benjamin, acknowledged him as king, but Judah held aloof. It had adopted the same policy at the beginning of the previous reign, yet its earlier isolation had not prevented it from afterwards throwing in its lot with the rest of the nation. But at that time no leader had come forward from its own ranks who was worthy to be reckoned among the mighty men of Israel; now, on the contrary, it had on its frontier a bold and resolute leader of its own race. David lost no time in stepping into the place of those whose loss he had bewailed. Their sudden removal, while it left him without a peer among his own people, exposed him to the suspicion and underground machinations of his foreign protectors; he therefore quitted them and withdrew to Hebron, where his fellow-countrymen hastened to proclaim him king.* From that time onwards the tendency of the Hebrew race was to drift apart into two distinct bodies; one of them, the house of Joseph, which called itself by the name of Israel, took up its position in the north, on the banks of the Jordan; the other, which is described as the house of Judah, in the south, between the Dead Sea and the Shephelah. Abner endeavoured to suppress the rival kingdom in its infancy: he brought Ishbaal to Gibeah and proposed to Joab, who was in command of Davids army, that the conflict should be decided by the somewhat novel expedient of pitting twelve of the house of Judah against an equal number of the house of Benjamin. The champions of Judah are said to have won the day, but the opposing forces did not abide by the result, and the struggle still continued.**

* 2 Sam. ii. 1--11. Very probably Abner recognised the
Philistine suzerainty as David had done, for the sake of
peace; at any rate, we find no mention in Holy Writ of a war
between Ishbaal and the Philistines.

** 2 Sam. ii. 12-32, iii. 1.

An intrigue in the harem furnished a solution of the difficulty. Saul had raised one of his wives of the second rank, named Eizpah, to the post of favourite. Abner became enamoured of her and took her. This was an insult to the royal house, and amounted to an act of open usurpation: the wives of a sovereign could not legally belong to any but his successor, and for any one to treat them as Abner had treated Rizpah, was equivalent to his declaring himself the equal, and in a sense the rival, of his master. Ishbaal keenly resented his ministers conduct, and openly insulted him. Abner made terms with David, won the northern tribes, including that of Benjamin, over to his side, and when what seemed a propitious moment had arrived, made his way to Hebron with an escort of twenty men. He was favourably received, and all kinds of promises were made him; but when he was about to depart again in order to complete the negotiations with the disaffected elders, Joab, returning from an expedition, led him aside into a gateway and slew him. David gave him solemn burial, and composed a lament on the occasion, of which four verses have come down to us: having thus paid tribute to the virtues of the deceased general, he lost no time in taking further precautions to secure his power. The unfortunate king Ishbaal, deserted by every one, was assassinated by two of his officers as he slept in the heat of the day, and his head was carried to Hebron: David again poured forth lamentations, and ordered the traitors to be killed. There was now no obstacle between him and the throne: the elders of the people met him at Hebron, poured oil upon his head, and anointed him king over all the provinces which had obeyed the rule of Saul in Gilead--Ephraim and Benjamin as well as Judah.*

* 2 Sam. v. 1-3; in 1 Ghron. xi. 1-3, xii. 23-40, we find
further details beyond those given in the Book of Samuel; it
seems probable, however, that the northern tribes may not
have recognised Davids sovereignty at this time.

As long as Ishbaal lived, and his dissensions with Judah assured their supremacy, the Philistines were content to suspend hostilities: the news of his death, and of the union effected between Israel and Judah, soon roused them from this state of quiescence. As prince of the house of Caleb and vassal of the lord of Grath, David had not been an object of any serious apprehension to them; but in his new character, as master of the dominions of Saul, David became at once a dangerous rival, whom they must overthrow without delay, unless they were willing to risk being ere long overthrown by him. They therefore made an attack on Bethlehem with the choicest of their forces, and entrenched themselves there, with the Canaanite city of Jebus as their base, so as to separate Judah entirely from Benjamin, and cut off the little army quartered round Hebron from the reinforcements which the central tribes would otherwise have sent to its aid.* This move was carried out so quickly that David found himself practically isolated from the rest of his kingdom, and had no course left open but to shut himself up in Adullam, with his ordinary guard and the Judsean levies.**

* The history of this war is given in 2 Sam. v. 17-25, where
the text shows signs of having been much condensed. It is
preceded by the account of the capture of Jerusalem, which
some critics would like to transfer to chap, vi., following
ver. 1 which leads up to it. The events which followed are
self-explanatory, if we assume, as I have done in the text,
that the Philistines wished to detach Judah from Israel: at
first (2 Sam. v. 17-21) David endeavours to release himself
and effect a juncture with Israel, as is proved by the
relative positions assigned to the two opposing armies, the
Philistines at Bethlehem, David in the cave of Adullam;
afterwards (2 Sam. v. 22-25) David has shaken himself free,
has rejoined Israel, and is carrying on the struggle between
Gibeah and Gezer. The incidents recounted in 2 Sam. xxi. 15-
22, xxiii. 13-19, seem to refer almost exclusively to the
earlier part of the war, at the time when the Hebrews were
hemmed in in the neighbourhood of Adullam.

** The passage in 2 Sam. v. 17 simply states that David
went down to the hold, and gives no further details. This
expression, following as it does the account of the taking
of Jerusalem, would seem to refer to this town itself, and
Renan has thus interpreted it. It really refers to Adullam,
as is shown by the passage in 2 Sam. xxiii. 13-17. 1 2 Sam.
xxi. 15-17.

The whole district round about is intersected by a network of winding streams, and abounds in rocky gorges, where a few determined men could successfully hold their ground against the onset of a much more numerous body of troops. The caves afford, as we know, almost impregnable refuges: David had often hidden himself in them in the days when he fled before Saul, and now his soldiers profited by the knowledge he possessed of them to elude the attacks of the Philistines. He began a sort of guerilla warfare, in the conduct of which he seems to have been without a rival, and harassed in endless skirmishes his more heavily equipped adversaries. He did not spare himself, and freely risked his own life; but he was of small stature and not very powerful, so that his spirit often outran his strength. On one occasion, when he had advanced too far into the fray and was weary with striking, he ran great peril of being killed by a gigantic Philistine: with difficulty Abishai succeeded in rescuing him unharmed from the dangerous position into which he had ventured, and for the future he was not allowed to run such risks on the field of battle. On another occasion, when lying in the cave of Adullam, he began to feel a longing for the cool waters of Bethlehem, and asked who would go down and fetch him a draught from the well by the gates of the town. Three of his mighty men, Joshebbasshebeth, Eleazar, and Shammah, broke through the host of the Philistines and succeeded in bringing it; but he refused to drink the few drops they had brought, and poured them out as a libation to Jehovah, saying, Shall I drink the blood of men that went in jeopardy of their lives? * Duels between the bravest and stoutest champions of the two hosts were of frequent occurrence. It was in an encounter of this kind that Elhanan the Bethlehemite [or David] slew the giant Goliath at Gob. At length David succeeded in breaking his way through the enemies lines in the valley of Kephaîm, thus forcing open the road to the north. Here he probably fell in with the Israelitish contingent, and, thus reinforced, was at last in a position to give battle in the open: he was again successful, and, routing his foes, pursued them from Gibeon to Gezer.** None of his victories, however, was of a sufficiently decisive character to bring the struggle to an end: it dragged on year after year, and when at last it did terminate, there was no question on either side of submission or of tribute:*** the Hebrews completely regained their independence, but the Philistines do not seem to have lost any portion of their domain, and apparently retained possession of all that they had previously held.

* 2 Sam. xxiii. 13-17; cf. 1 Ghron. xi. 15-19. Popular
tradition furnishes many incidents of a similar type; cf.
Alexander in the desert of Gedrosia, Godfrey de Bouillon in
Asia Minor, etc.

** The Hebrew text gives from Geba [or Gibeah] to Gezer
(2 Sam. v. 25); the Septuagint, from Gibeon to Gezer. This
latter reading [which is that of 1 Chron. xiv. 16.--Tr.] is
more in accordance with the geographical facts, and I have
therefore adopted it. Jahveh had shown by a continual
rustling in the leaves of the mulberry trees that He was on
Davids side.

*** In 2 Sam. viii. 1 we are told that David humiliated the
Philistines, and took the bridle of the mother city out of
their hands, or, in other words, destroyed the supremacy
which they had exercised over Israel; he probably did no
more than this, and failed to secure any part of their
territory. The passage in 1 Chron. xviii. 1, which
attributes to him the conquest of Gath and its dependencies,
is probably an amplification of the somewhat obscure wording
employed in 2 Sam. viii. 1.

But though they suffered no loss of territory, their position was in reality much inferior to what it was before. Their control of the plain of Jezreel was lost to them for ever, and with it the revenue which they had levied from passing caravans: the Hebrews transferred to themselves this right of their former masters, and were so much the richer at their expense. To the five cities this was a more damaging blow than twenty reverses would have been to Benjamin or Judah. The military spirit had not died out among the Philistines, and they were still capable of any action which did not require sustained effort; but lack of resources prevented them from entering on a campaign of any length, and any chance they may at one time have had of exercising a dominant influence in the affairs of Southern Syria had passed away. Under the restraining hand of Egypt they returned to the rank of a second-rate power, just strong enough to inspire its neighbours with respect, but too weak to extend its territory by annexing that of others. Though they might still, at times, give David trouble by contesting at intervals the possession of some outlying citadel, or by making an occasional raid on one of the districts which lay close to the frontier, they were no longer a permanent menace to the continued existence of his kingdom.

But was Judah strong enough to take their place, and set up in Southern Syria a sovereign state, around which the whole fighting material of the country might range itself with confidence? The incidents of the last war had clearly shown the disadvantages of its isolated position in regard to the bulk of the nation. The gap between Ekron and the Jordan, which separated it from Ephraim and Manasseh, had, at all costs, to be filled up, if a repetition of the manouvre which so nearly cost David his throne at Adullam were to be avoided. It is true that the Gibeonites and their allies acknowledged the sovereignty of Ephraim, and formed a sort of connecting link between the tribes, but it was impossible to rely on their fidelity so long as they were exposed to the attacks of the Jebusites in their rear: as soon therefore as David found he had nothing more to fear from the Philistines, he turned his attention to Jerusalem.* This city stood on a dry and sterile limestone spur, separated on three sides from the surrounding hills by two valleys of unequal length. That of the Kedron, on the east, begins as a simple depression, but gradually becomes deeper and narrower as it extends towards the south. About a mile and a half from its commencement it is nothing more than a deep gorge, shut in by precipitous rocks, which for some days after the winter rains is turned into the bed of a torrent.**

* The name Jerusalem occurs under the form Ursalîmmu, or
Urusalîm, in the Tel el-Amarna tablets. Sion was the name of
the citadel preserved by the Israelites after the capture of
the place, and applied by them to the part of the city which
contained the royal palace, and subsequently to the town
itself.

** The Kedron is called a nalial (2 Sam. xv. 23; 1 Kings ii.
37; Jer. xxxi. 40), i.e. a torrent which runs dry during the
summer; in winter it was termed a brook. Excavations show
that the fall diminishes at the foot of the ancient walls,
and that the bottom of the valley has risen nearly twelve
yards.

During the remainder of the year a number of springs, which well up at the bottom of the valley, furnish an unfailing supply of water to the inhabitants of Gibon,* Siloam,** and Eôgel.*** The valley widens out again near En-Kôgel, and affords a channel to the Wady of the Children of Hinnôm, which bounds the plateau on the west. The intermediate space has for a long time been nothing more than an undulating plain, at present covered by the houses of modern Jerusalem. In ancient times it was traversed by a depression in the ground, since filled up, which ran almost parallel with the Kedron, and joined it near the Pool of Siloam.**** The ancient city of the Jebusites stood on the summit of the headland which rises between these two valleys, the town of Jebus itself being at the extremity, while the Millo lay farther to the north on the hill of Sion, behind a ravine which ran down at right angles into the valley of the Hedron.

* Now, possibly, the Fountain of the Virgin, but its
identity is not certain.

** These are the springs which feed the group of reservoirs
now known as the Pool of Siloam. The name Siloam occurs
only in Neh. iii. 15, but is undoubtedly more ancient.

*** En-Rôgel, the Travellers Well, is now called the
Well of Job.

**** This valley, which is not mentioned by name in the Old
Testament, was called, in the time of Josephus, the
Tyropoon, or CheesemakersQuarter. Its true position, which
had been only suspected up to the middle of the present
century, was determined with certainty by means of the
excavations carried out by the English and Germans. The
bottom of the valley was found at a depth of from forty to
sixty feet below the present surface.

An unfortified suburb had gradually grown up on the lower ground to the west, and was connected by a stairway cut in the rock* with the upper city. This latter was surrounded by ramparts with turrets, like those of the Canaanitish citadels which we constantly find depicted on the Egyptian monuments. Its natural advantages and efficient garrison had so far enabled it to repel all the attacks of its enemies.

* This is the Ophel of the Hebrew text.

When David appeared with his troops, the inhabitants ridiculed his presumption, and were good enough to warn him of the hopelessness of his enterprise: a garrison composed of the halt and the blind, without an able-bodied man amongst them, would, they declared, be able successfully to resist him. The king, stung by their mockery, made a promise to his mighty men that the first of them to scale the walls should be made chief and captain of his host. We often find that impregnable cities owe their downfall to negligence on the part of their defenders: these concentrate their whole attention on the few vulnerable points, and give but scanty care to those which are regarded as inaccessible.* Jerusalem proved to be no exception to this rule; Joab carried it by a sudden assault, and received as his reward the best part of the territory which he had won by his valour.**

* Cf. the capture of Sardis by Cyrus (Herodotus) and by
Antiochus III. (Polybius), as also the taking of the Capitol
by the Gauls.

** The account of the capture of Jerusalem is given in 2
Sam. v. 6-9, where the text is possibly corrupt, with
interpolated glosses, especially in ver. 8; Davids reply to
the mockery of the Jebusites is difficult to understand. 1
Citron, xi. 4-8 gives a more correct text, but one less
complete in so far as the portions parallel with 2 Sam. v.
6-9 are concerned; the details in regard to Joab are
undoubtedly historical, but we do not find them in the Book
of Samuel.

In attacking Jerusalem, Davids first idea was probably to rid himself of one of the more troublesome obstacles which served to separate one-half of his people from the other; but once he had set foot in the place, he was not slow to perceive its advantages, and determined to make it his residence. Hebron had sufficed so long as his power extended over Caleb and Judah only. Situated as it was in the heart of the mountains, and in the wealthiest part of the province in which it stood, it seemed the natural centre to which the Kenites and men of Judah must gravitate, and the point at which they might most readily be moulded into a nation; it was, however, too far to the south to offer a convenient rallying-point for a ruler who wished to bring the Hebrew communities scattered about on both banks of the Jordan under the sway of a common sceptre. Jerusalem, on the other hand, was close to the crossing point of the roads which lead from the Sinaitic desert into Syria, and from the Shephelah to the land of Gilead; it commanded nearly the whole domain of Israel and the ring of hostile races by which it was encircled. From this lofty eyrie, David, with Judah behind him, could either swoop down upon Moab, whose mountains shut him out from a view of the Dead Sea, or make a sudden descent on the seaboard, by way of Bethhoron, at the least sign of disturbance among the Philistines, or could push straight on across Mount Ephraim into Galilee. Issachar, Naphtali, Asher, Dan, and Zebulun were, perhaps, a little too far from the seat of government; but they were secondary tribes, incapable of any independent action, who obeyed without repugnance, but also without enthusiasm, the soldier-king able to protect them from external foes. The future master of Israel would be he who maintained his hold on the posterity of Judah and of Joseph, and David could not hope to find a more suitable place than Jerusalem from which to watch over the two ruling houses at one and the same time.

The lower part of the town he gave up to the original inhabitants,* the upper he filled with Benjamites and men of Judah;** he built or restored a royal palace on Mount Sion, in which he lived surrounded by his warriors and his family.*** One thing only was lacking--a temple for his God. Jerubbaal had had a sanctuary at Ophrah, and Saul had secured the services of Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh: David was no longer satisfied with the ephod which had been the channel of many wise counsels during his years of adversity and his struggles against the Philistines. He longed for some still more sacred object with which to identify the fortunes of his people, and by which he might raise the newly gained prestige of his capital. It so happened that the ark of the Lord, the ancient safeguard of Ephraim, had been lying since the battle of Eben-ezer not far away, without a fixed abode or regular worshippers.****

* Judges i. 21; cf. Zech. xi. 7, where Ekron in its
decadence is likened to the Jebusite vassal of Judah.

** Jerusalem is sometimes assigned to Benjamin (Judges i.
21), sometimes to Judah (Josh. xv. 63). Judah alone is
right.

*** 2 Sam. v. 9, and the parallel passage in 1 Chron. xi. 7,
8.

**** The account of the events which followed the battle of
Eben-ezer up to its arrival in the house of Abinadab, is
taken from the history of the ark, referred to on pp. 306,
307, supra. It is given in 1 Sam. v., vi., vii. 1, where it
forms an exceedingly characteristic whole, composed, it may
be, of two separate versions thrown into one; the passage in
1 Sam. vi. 15, where the Lévites receive the ark, is
supposed by some to be interpolated.

The reason why it had not brought victory on that occasion, was that Gods anger had been stirred at the misdeeds committed in His name by the sons of Eli, and desired to punish His people; true, it had been preserved from profanation, and the miracles which took place in its neighbourhood proved that it was still the seat of a supernatural power.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch published by Schick
and Oldfield Thomas.

At first the Philistines had, according to their custom, shut it up in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod. On the morrow when the priests entered the sanctuary, they found the statue of their god prostrate in front of it, his fish-like body overthrown, and his head and hands scattered on the floor;* at the same time a plague of malignant tumours broke out among the people, and thousands of mice overran their houses. The inhabitants of Ashdod made haste to transfer it on to Ekron: it thus went the round of the five cities, its arrival being in each case accompanied by the same disasters. The soothsayers, being consulted at the end of seven months, ordered that solemn sacrifices should be offered up, and the ark restored to its rightful worshippers, accompanied by expiatory offerings of five golden mice and five golden tumours, one for each of the five repentant cities.**

* The statue here referred to is evidently similar to those
of the Chaldæan gods and genii, in which Dagon is
represented as a man with his back and head enveloped in a
fish as in a cloak.

** In the Oustinoff collection at Jaffa, there is a roughly
shaped image of a mouse, cut out of a piece of white metal,
and perhaps obtained from the ruins of Gaza; it would seem
to be an ex-voto of the same kind as that referred to in the
Hebrew text, but it is of doubtful authenticity.

The ark was placed on a new cart, and two milch cows with their calves drew it, lowing all the way, without guidance from any man, to the field of a certain Joshua at Bethshemesh. The inhabitants welcomed it with great joy, but their curiosity overcame their reverence, and they looked within the shrine. Jehovah, being angered thereat, smote seventy men of them, and the warriors made haste to bring the ark to Kirjath-jearim, where it remained for a long time, in the house of Abinadab on the hill, under charge of his son Eleazar.* Kirjath-jearim is only about two leagues from Jerusalem. David himself went thither, and setting the ark of God upon a new cart, brought it away.* Two attendants, called Uzzah and Ahio, drove the new cart, and David and all Israel played before God with all their might: even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. An accident leading to serious consequences brought the procession to a standstill; the oxen stumbled, and their sacred burden threatened to fall: Uzzah, putting forth his hand to hold the ark, was smitten by the Lord, and there he died before the Lord. David was disturbed at this, feeling some insecurity in dealing with a Deity who had thus seemed to punish one of His worshippers for a well-meant and respectful act.**

* The text of 1 Sam. vi. 21, vii. 1, gives the reading
Kirjath-jearim, whereas the text of 2 Sam. vi. 2 has Baale-
Judah, which should be corrected to Baal-Judah. Baal-Judah,
or, in its abbreviated form, Baala, is another name for
Kirjath-jearim (Josh. xv. 9-11; cf. 1 Ghron. xiii. 6).
Similarly, we find the name Kirjath-Baal (Josh. xv. 60).
Kirjath-jearim is now Kharbet-el-Enab.

** The transport of the ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem
is related in 2 Sam. vi. and in 1 Ghron. xiii., xv., xvi.

He was afraid of the Lord that day, and would not remove the ark to Jerusalem, but left it for three months in the house of a Philistine, Obed-Edom of Gath; but finding that its host, instead of experiencing any evil, was blessed by the Lord, he carried out his original intention, and brought the ark to Jerusalem. David, girded with a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the Lord, and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. When the ark had been placed in the tent that David had prepared for it, he offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and at the end of the festival there were dealt out to the people gifts of bread, cakes, and wine (or flesh). There is inserted in the narrative* an account of the conduct of Michal his wife, who looking out of the window and seeing the king dancing and playing, despised him in her heart, and when David returned to his house, congratulated him ironically--How glorious was the King of Israel to-day, who uncovered himself in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants!

* Renan would consider this to have been inserted in the
time of Hezekiah. It appeared to him to answer to the
antipathy of Hamutal and the ladies of the court to the
worship of Jahveh, and to that form of human respect which
restrained the people of the world from giving themselves up
to it.

David said in reply that he would rather be held in honour by the handmaids of whom she had spoken than avoid the acts which covered him with ridicule in her eyes; and the chronicler adds that Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death. *

* [Davids reply shows (2 Sam. vi. 21, 22) that it was in
gratitude to Jehovah who had exalted him that he thus
humbled himself.--Tr.]

The tent and the ark were assigned at this time to the care of two priests--Zadok, son of Ahitub, and Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, who was a descendant of Eli, and had never quitted David throughout his adventurous career.* It is probable, too, that the ephod had not disappeared, and that it had its place in the sanctuary; but it may have gradually fallen into neglect, and may have ceased to be the vehicle of oracular responses as in earlier years. The king was accustomed on important occasions to take part in the sacred ceremonies, after the example of contemporary monarchs, and he had beside him at this time a priest of standing to guide him in the religious rites, and to fulfil for him duties similar to those which the chief reader rendered to Pharaoh. The only one of these priests of David whose name has come down to us was Ira the Jethrite, who accompanied his master in his campaigns, and would seem to have been a soldier also, and one of the thirty. These priestly officials seem, however, to have played but a subordinate part, as history is almost silent about their acts.** While David owed everything to the sword and trusted in it, he recognised at the same time that he had obtained his crown from Jahveh; just as the sovereigns of Thebes and Nineveh saw in Amon and Assur the source of their own royal authority.

* 2 Sam. viii. 17, xx. 25; cf. 1 Sam. xxi. 1, xxii. 20; 1
Chron. xv. 11.

** 2 Sam. xx. 26, where he is called the Jairite, and not
the Ithrite, owing to an easily understood confusion of the
Hebrew letters. He figures in the list of the _Gibborim_,
mighty men, 2 Sam. xxiii. 38.