division. The king said to the people, "I will surely go forth with you myself also." The people The people declared that David was worth ten thousand of them. That he must not go forth with them; and that he must succour them out of the city. The king replied, "What seemeth to you best I will do." The king stood by the gate-side whilst the army passed out by hundreds and by thousands. The king commanded Joab, and Abishai, and Ittai, "Deal gently with the young man for my sake, even with Absalom." All the people heard David speak, when he gave this charge to his three chief commanders. The battle was in the wood of Ephraim. Twenty thousand men of Israel were slain by the servants of David. The battle was scattered over the whole face of the country. The wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode upon a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak. Absalom's hair folded itself round a branch of the oak. His mule fled, and Absalom hung from the oak in the air. His feet did not rest upon the ground, nor upon the tree. A man saw Absalom hanging in the oak. He told Joab, who asked him why he had not slain Absalom, and "I would have given to thee ten shekels of silver and a girdle." The man declared that one thousand shekels of silver could not tempt him to slay the king's son, for "in our hearing the king charged thee, and Abishai, and Ittai, saying, 'Beware that none touch the young man, Absalom.' Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life. Nothing is hid from the king. Thou wouldst have set thyself against me." This is a very honest speech. However, Joab saw that honesty was not, in his estimation, the best policy in this matter. He dreaded the daring villany of the crafty and popular Absalom. Joab had no time to lose. He replied, "I may not tarry with thee." He took three darts in his hand. He thrust them through the heart of Absalom, whilst he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. Joab's armour was borne by ten young men. They compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him. This was cruel vengeance. One dart from Joab must have deprived the wretched Absalom of life. They cast Absalom into a great pit in the wood, and covered him with a great heap of stones. All Israel fled, every man to his tent.

(m.) Absalom's pillar.-In his lifetime Absalom had reared a pillar in the king's dale. For he said, "I have no son to keep my name in remembrance;" and he called the pillar after his own name, and it is called unto this day, "Absalom's Place."

(n.) The tidings and the bearers of tidings.-Some men were bearers of evil tidings. Other men were bearers of good tidings. This arrangement does appear in the persons employed to bear to David the result of the battle. Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, proposed to Joab that he should bear to David the tidings of the battle. Joab would not allow him to bear tidings that day, "because the king's son was dead." Cushi was ordered by Joab to go and tell the king what he had seen. Cushi bowed himself

and ran. He was a messenger of evil tidings. He understood how to make known, gradually and gently, the facts which must cause grief. Ahimaaz entreated Joab to allow him to run. Joab at length consented, and said, "Run."

David sat between the two gates. A watchman ascended the tower. The watchman cried, I see a man running alone. The king said, He bringeth tidings. The watchman cried again, I see another man running alone. The king said, He also beareth tidings. The watchman cried, The running of the foremost is like to the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. The king said, He is a good man, and beareth good tidings. Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, "All is well." Ahimaaz fell upon his face and blessed the Lord for the victory granted to David. The king inquired, Is the young man, Absalom, safe? Ahimaaz declared his ignorance of the matter. David ordered him to stand aside. Cushi came. Cushi cried, "Tidings, my lord, the king." David inquired, Is the young man, Absalom, safe? Cushi answered, "The enemies of my lord, the king, and all who rise up against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is." The king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept, and as he went, thus he said:

O! my son, Absalom!

My son! my son, Absalom! Would God I had died for thee! O! Absalom, my son! my son !

(0.) David and Joab after the battle.-Joab, in his meditations upon the result of his too politic action, was informed, "The king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom." The king was a king. Joab was a subject. The king was his uncle, the brother of Joab's mother. The king and Joab had been united in all the changing scenes of David's ever varying life. Did medical advice urge Joab to his mode of address to David? I almost imagine that this question suggests the only apology which can be offered for Joab's address to David. In cases of apoplexy I have known an eminent surgeon to slap, with his open hand, his patient on the cheek. The patient, aroused by the shock, raised himself in his bed, and appeared resolved to defend himself. He was restored, for that time at least. Joab's address to David was as the slap of the surgeon on the cheek of his patient. David was roused from the amiable, though lethargic, and, in all senses, dangerous state of his morbid sensitiveness.

Joab came into the house of the king, and said, "Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants who this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives and of thy concubines, in that thou lovest thine enemies and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither princes nor servants. For this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. Now, therefore, arise, go forth and speak comfortably to thy servants, for I swear by the Lord, if thou go not forth, there will

not tarry one with thee this night; and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil which befell thee from thy youth until now."-2nd Sam. xix. 5-7. The king arose and sat in the gate. The news reached the people. Israel had fled, every man to his tent. A strife arose in Israel. The people came before the king. What did king David for us? (1.) He saved us out of the hand of our enemies. (2.) He delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land for Absalom. And Absalom, whom we have anointed over us as king, is dead in battle. 66 Now, therefore, why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back?" Such was the policy of Israel. David wished that his own people, the tribe of Judah, would bring him back. Therefore he sent to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, "Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, 'Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house."" "Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh. Wherefore, then, are ye the last to bring back the king? And say ye to Amăsa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab. And he bowed the hearts of all the men of Judah as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word to the king, "Return thou and all thy servants."

When

(p.) David returns to Jerusalem.—(1.) The king returned and came to Jordan. All Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan. Shimei, the Benjamite, of Bahūrim, hasted and came down to meet the king. Shimei had one thousand men with him. Ziba, the servant of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him. They went over Jordan before the king. A ferry boat went over to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. the king came, Shimei, the son of Gera, fell down before the king. He confessed his sin. He prayed that David would forgive him. "Behold, I am come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph (Ephraim), to go down to meet my lord the king.' Abishai asked, "Shall not Shimei be put to death because he cursed the Lord's anointed?" David said, "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye shall this day be adversaries unto me? Shall any man be put to death this day in Israel? Do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?" Therefore, the king said unto Shimei, "Thou shalt not die." "And the king sware unto him."

(2.) Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan-(Mephibosbeth's proper name was Meribbaal. The Hebrews scrupled to pronounce the name of Baal. Therefore, instead of Mephi-Baal, or Meri-Baal, they said, Mephibosheth, or Meribosheth; Bosheth-in Hebrew signifying shame, confusion)-next came to David. Mephibosheth had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day in which the king departed until the day in which he came again in peace. When he appeared before the king in Jerusalem, David asked, "Where

fore wentest thou not with me, Mephibosheth?" The answer was honest. Ziba had deceived Mephibosheth. Ziba had received orders from Mephibosheth to saddle an ass for him that he might ride on it, "for thy servant is lame." Mephibosheth complained of Ziba's ill-treatment of him: "He hath slandered thy servant." Mephibosheth acknowledged the generosity of David to his father's house: "Thou didst set thy servant among them who eat at thine own table. What right have I yet to cry any more unto the king?" The king said unto him, "Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land." This decision of David revokes the rash grant made by David to Ziba when Ziba had slandered Mephibosheth, and makes the original grant to Mephibosheth perfectly established, that Ziba and his family should have one half of the produce of the land for their labour in cultivating the soil, and that the other half of the produce should be the property of Mephibosheth as the lord of the soil. Ziba was one of Saul's household servants. David spared him, that by this act of grace he might shew kindness to the house of Saul. Ziba had ministered to David's necessities in the time of his deepest distress. David would shew gratitude to Ziba. Some think that Ziba's villany had rendered him unworthy of any kind consideration. Perhaps they are right.

(3.) Barzillai, the Gileadite, came down from Rogelim, and went over Jordan with the king, to conduct him over Jordan. Barzillai was eighty years of age. He had provided the king with sustenance whilst the king lay at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man. David said to Barzillai, "Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem." The answer of Barzillai is full of wisdom: "How long have I to live that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? I am this day fourscore years old. Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? Wherefore, then, should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king? Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king; and why should the king recompense it to me with such reward? Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother. But, behold thy servant Chimham. Let him go over with my lord the king, and do to him what shall seem good to thee." The king replied, "Chimham shall go over with me. Whatsoever thou shalt require of me that will I do for thee." All the people and the king passed over the Jordan. The king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him. Barzillai returned to his own place.

(4.) David arrives at Gilgal.-The king went on to Gilgal. Chimham went with him. All the people of Judah and half of the people of Israel conducted the king. "Thy servant Chimham."-It is generally understood that this was Barzillai's son. This is probable from 1st Kings ii. 7. When David was dying he said, "Shew kindness to the sons of Barzillai." It is probable that Chimham was one of them. In Jer. xii.

monites until the heat of the day. The remnant of the Ammonites became disordered and scattered. Not two of them were left together. Saul's popularity was at its height. The cry was raised for the punishment of those who had said, "Shall Saul reign over us?" Saul said, "There shall not a man be put to death this day; for the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel." Samuel summoned all the people to Gilgal: "Come and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there." They went. They made Saul king over Israel at Gilgal. They renewed the kingdom there. The gainsayers were silenced. Saul was now publicly acknowledged as king. He may have been a second time anointed. So far things were done well. Saul had acted prudently. The kingdom was confirmed to him. Soon his prudence failed. He lost his kingdom. A good beginning had a bad ending.-1 Sam. xi., B.C. 1095.

2. Samuel's address to all Israel.-The people testified, or bare their testimony, to Samuel's integrity. It was wheat harvest, or the beginning of July, or the end of June, when no rain came. Samuel called unto the Lord: the Lord sent thunder and rain. The

people feared the Lord and Samuel. The people confessed that they had added to all their sins this sin of asking to have a king. Samuel promised to pray for them. If they were obedient to God, they and their king may be assured of prosperity. If they were disobedient, they shall be consumed, both they and their king.

3. Saul's first act of imprudence. -Saul made a chosen band, three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash. One thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. Saul sent the rest of the people, every man to his tent. Jonathan smote a garrison of the Philistines which was in Geba. Jonathan now appears on the scenes of his father's history. He must have taken this garrison by surprise. He had not arms for his men. The Bible has no more amiable character than that of Jonathan. Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear." The people were summoned to attend Saul at Gilgal. The Philistines gathered their men of war, a well furnished army, thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand on the sea shore in multitude. They encamped in Michmash, eastward from Beth-aven. The army of Saul, terrified by the appearance of the armed enemy, when they were themselves unfurnished by weapons, offensive or defensive, began to retire and to disperse. Some hid themselves in caves and in thickets, and in rocks and in high places, and in pits. Some went over the Jordan, and took refuge in the land of Gad and of Gilead. Saul tarried seven days, according to the time which Samuel had appointed. Samuel came not to Gilgal. The people were scattered from Saul. Saul said, "Bring hither to me a burnt offering and peace offering. He offered the burnt offering.

Samuel came. Saul went to salute him. Samuel said, What hast thou done? Saul excused his con

duct on the plea of necessity. Samuel shewed to Saul the folly of his conduct. If he had been patient and wise, he should have had security in the possession of his kingdom. His kingdom must not continue. God hath chosen a man after his own heart to be captain over his people. Samuel left Gilgal and proceeded to Gibeah of Benjamin.

Saul had six hundred men with him. Saul and his son Jonathan and their men were in Gibeah of Benjamin. The Philistines were encamped in Michmash.

The Philistines sent out three companies of spoilers. One company went in the way which leadeth to Ophrah unto the land of Shual; another company turned the way to Beth-Horon; and another company turned the way of the border which looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

The Philistines had not allowed the Israelites to have smiths, lest the Hebrews should have swords and spears. The Israelites were dependent upon the Philistines for the sharpening of the share, the coulter, the axe, and the mattock. They had a file for sharpening the mattocks, the coulters, the forks, the axes, and the goads. Not one of the six hundred men who were with Saul and Jonathan had sword or spear.

Saul and Jonathan had armour-the sword and the spear. The ancient British prospered under the Romans. Yet the Roman policy disarmed the British people, and trained them to habits of peace. When the Romans left Britain, they left the British people defenceless. The defenceless condition of the Israelites was the result of the policy of the Philistines, who wished to keep the Israelites from making further aggressions upon the territory which belonged to the Philistines. "And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash."

(4.) Saul's second act of imprudence.-A passage led to a garrison of the Philistines, having a sharp rock on either side. One rock was called Bozes (slippery), the other rock was called Seneh (treading down). Saul was in the uttermost part of Gibeah, under a pomegranate tree. Six hundred men were with him. There was with him, also, Ahiah, the son of Ahītub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod, performing the duties of high priest.

Saul and his men may have found shelter under a pomegranate tree (under Rimmon), a rock and cave, as well as a pomegranate tree. Six hundred Benjamites took shelter in this cave.-Judges xx. 45. It may have been in this place that Saul and his six hundred men found shelter.

Jonathan and his young man who bare his armour agreed to go through the pass to surprise the garrison of the Philistines. "If the Philistines should say, Tarry till we come to you, then we shall stand still in our place. But if the Philistines should say, Come up to us, then we will go up: for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand. This shall be a sign to us." This was Jonathan's advice. His armourbearer gave his faithful consent to Jonathan's design

three years, year after year. David inquired of the Lord. The Lord answered, "It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites." ("The Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel; they were of the remnant of the Amorites. The children

of Israel had sworn unto them. Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.") David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord ?" The Gibeonites replied, "We will have no silver or gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel." David said, What shall say, ᎩᎾ that will I do for you. They answered the king, The man who consumed us and who devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath which was between them-between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. David took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth: the five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Barzillai the Meholathite, and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites. They hanged them in the hill before the Lord. The seven died together at the one time. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the days of barley harvest, in the passover, our Easter. Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, "took sackcloth, and spread it upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night."

David learned what Rizpah had been doing. David went and gathered, first, the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabesh-Gilead who had stolen them from the street of Beth-Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them when they had slain Saul in Gilboa. They brought up thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered the bones of them who were hanged. The men of Jabesh-Gilead burned the bodies of Saul and of his sons, Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishuah. "And they took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days."-1st Sam. xxxi. 12-13. They buried the bones of Saul, and of Jonathan his son, and of Saul's sons, Abinadab and Melchishuah, in the country of Benjamin, in Zelzah, in the sepulchre of Kish, his father. They performed all which the king commanded. After that, God was entreated for the land.

Objections are made to this narrative, and to the remaining history in this chapter. 1. Rizpah. 2. The battle with the Philistines at Gob. The narrative in this chapter (2nd Sam. xxi.) is so distorted, that some Gibeonite may be supposed to have been the

compiler of the texts. The objections are: 1. The famine of three years continuance is not elsewhere recorded. 2. The circumstance of Saul's attempt to exterminate the Gibeonites is no where else mentioned. 3. The wish of David, that the Gibeonites, a heathenish people, should bless the inheritance of the Lord, is unconstitutional and unlikely. 4. That God should leave the choice of the atonement to such a people, or, indeed, to any people, seems contrary to his established laws and particular providence. 5. That God should require seven innocent men to be hung up in place of their offending father, in whose iniquity they most likely never had a share, seems inconsistent with justice and mercy. 6. (a.) Michal never was the wife of Adriel, but of David and Phaltiel. (b.) She never appears to have had any children.-2nd Sam. vi. 23. This I have been obliged to correct in the preceding notes by putting Merab in the place of Michal. 7. The seven sons of Saul, mentioned here, are represented as a sacrifice required by God. Does God, in any case, require human blood for sacrifice? Is it not such a sacrifice which is required here? Dr. Delaney and others imagine that these sons of Saul were principal agents in the execution of Saul's guilty command. There is no proof that such was the case. Mephibosheth must have been hanged if David had not remembered his promise to Jonathan, the father of Mephibosheth. This son of Jonathan was always lame, and could not be employed in such a service. 8. Rizpah's watching, both day and night, from March to October, is extraordinary and improbable. 9. The hanging of the bodies so long was against an express law of God, which ordained, that those who were hanged on a tree should be taken down and buried the same day, that the land be not defiled.—Deut. xxi. 22, 23. Therefore, 1. God did not command a breach of his own law. 2. David was too exact an observer of that law to require it. 3. The people could not have endured it. In that sultry season pestilence might have added to famine. 10. The gathering of the bones of Saul and of his sons may be possible, but not probable. 11. Josephus takes as much of this story as he thinks proper, but says not one word about Rizpah and her long watching over her slaughtered sons. 12. The facts in this chapter which are mentioned in other places (see 1st Chron. xx. 4, &c.) are greatly distorted and corrupted. In this chapter (2nd Sam. xxi.) Elhanon is made to kill Goliath, whom David slew. The words in our version, "the brother of," are not in the original text. [Elhanon, the son of Jair, slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath, the Gittite (of Gath.) 1st Chron. xx. 8.] "Attempts have been made to remove these objections, but without success. This part of the Jewish records has suffered much from Rabbinical glosses, alterations, and additions. The Law, the Prophets and the Hagiagrapha, including Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, &c., have been ever considered as possessing the highest title to divine. inspiration. The historical books, especially Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, have not ranked so high, have been less carefully preserved, and have been the subjects of frequent alteration and corruption. Yet

Amalekites. Saul went. Warned the Kenites to retire, and then destroyed the Amalekites. This was a punishment for Amalek, on account of his attack upon the children of Israel when they had come out of Egypt.-Exod. xvii. 4; B.c. 1491.

Saul returned. Samuel came to see Saul. Saul informed Samuel that he had obeyed the commandment of the Lord. Samuel asked an explanation of the noise of oxen and of sheep. They were reserved as the spoils from Amalek, to be offered in sacrifice to God.

Then Samuel answered, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken [is better than] the fat of rams." "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king." Saul said, "I have sinned." "I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice." Saul entreated Samuel to pardon his sin: and said, "Turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord." Samuel refused. "The Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel." Samuel turned about to go away. Saul laid hold upon the skirt of Samuel's mantle, and it rent. Samuel said unto Saul, "The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine who is better than thou. And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent." The rending of Samuel's mantle was the sign that Saul had lost his kingdom. Ahijah rent his own mantle into twelve parts. He gave ten parts to Jeroboam as a sign that God would give to him (Jeroboam) the ten tribes of Israel as his kingdom.-1 Kings xi. 29. Saul continued to entreat Samuel to honour him in the presence of his people. "So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the Lord. Then Samuel ordered Agag the king of the Amalekites to be brought forth. Agag hoped that his life would be spared. Samuel was a magistrate under the authority of God. He therefore declared the mind of the Lord, when he said, "As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women." Samuel ordered the execution of Agag. Qui facit per alium, facit per se:" Who does it by another, does it by himself. So "Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal." Then Samuel went to Ramah. Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. "Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: he saw Saul no more. Samuel mourned for Saul. The Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel." (P.) The anointing of David.-The Lord reproved Samuel for continuing to mourn for Saul. God commanded Samuel to fill his horn with oil, and go. "I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." Samuel feared. "How can I go? If Saul hear it he will kill me." The Lord commanded Samuel to take a heifer with him, and to say, I am come to

sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice. I will direct thee. Thou shall anoint him whom I name to you." Samuel came to Bethlehem. The elders of the town trembled at his coming. Samuel assured them that he came peaceably, and to offer a sacrifice. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. He sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice. When they came, Samuel looked on Eliab, and said [to himself] "Surely the Lord's anointed is before me." "The Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him, for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab. Samuel said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by Samuel. Samuel said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made his other sons, four in number, to pass before Samuel. Samuel said, The Lord hath not chosen these. Thus seven sons passed before Samuel. But the Lord did not choose one of them to be the shepherd of his people Israel. This must have been a private transaction in Jesse's house. It must have been previous to the public sacrifice. Samuel learned that Jesse had another son, the youngest, "He keepeth the sheep." Samuel said, "Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither." Jesse sent for him. He came. "He was ruddy, of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to." And the Lord said, "Arise, anoint him, for this is he." "Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him." Saul's servants entreated him to allow them to obtain for him a man who could play skilfully upon the harp, that, when the evil spirit from the Lord troubled him (Saul), the skilful player on the harp might, by his music, cure Saul's distemper. Saul allowed them to seek and to obtain such a person as they described. They saw and recommended to Saul, David, the son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Send to me David, thy son, who is with the sheep." Jesse took an ass to carry bread, a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them to Saul by David, his youngest son. David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul loved him greatly, and David became Saul's armour bearer. Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found favour in my sight." When the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, David played the harp. Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.-B.c. 1063.

(Q.) David and Goliath.-Calmet thinks that this war with the Philistines happened eight years after the anointing of David, and ten or twelve after the war with the Amalekites. There was war between Saul and the Philistines all his days.-1st Sam. xiv. 52. The Philistines encamped at Shochoh, and Azēkab