city (Gibeah), knit together as one man.

The tribes

of Israel sent men to demand the surrender of the men who had acted so wickedly that they might put them to death. The men of Benjamin refused. They prepared for war. They numbered six thousand men of war, and the men of Gibeah numbered seven hundred men. The opposing army numbered four hundred thousand men. The men of Israel asked counsel of the Lord. Judah was ordered to go up first against Gibeah. The Benjamites were victorious, they slew twenty-two thousand of the besieging army. The men of Israel again asked counsel of the Lord, and were again ordered to go up against Gibeah. Benjamin was a second time victorious. The opposing army lost eighteen thousand men of war. The children of Israel humbled themselves at the house (the tabernacle at Shiloh) of the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peaceofferings before the Lord, fasting from the morning until the evening. Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before the ark of the covenant in those days. The children of Israel again inquired of the Lord. The third answer was similar to the first two answers-" Go up." A promise was given in this third answer: "To-morrow I will deliver them into thy hand."

The

Liers-in-wait were set round about Gibeah. The children of Israel were set in array against Gibeah on the third day as on the former two days. The Benjamites came out to battle. They fought and slew as before. The enemy retreated. The Benjamites pursued and were drawn from their city into the highways. At Baal-tamar the men of Israel put themselves in array. The liers-in-wait came forth from the meadows of Gibeah. Ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came against Gibeah. result of the third day's fight was disastrous to the Benjamites. Twenty-five thousand one hundred of their men of war were slain. The liers-in-wait, according to agreement, made a great flame with smoke to arise out of Gibeah. This encouraged their own friends, and caused a panic in the army of the Benjamites. The army of Benjamin fled. The children of Israel pursued. On the field eighteen thousand Benjamites were slain. In their flight they lost five thousand and two thousand men. The number of their slain was thus twenty-five thousand. One hundred more perished. Six hundred men of Benjamin fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. They lived there four months. The men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin. They smote with the edge of the sword as well the men of every city as the beast and all which came to hand (which was found); also they set on fire all the cities which they came to (which they found).-xx.

4. Jabesh-Gilead destroyed.-(a.) The feeling for the country which we make our own is superior in its influence to the very powerful feeling of revenge for injury or insult. This may be explained by the history of the slaughter of the Benjamites. They were slain. The genius of vengeance was appeased. The genius of pity held sway. The men of Israel

had sworn not to give their daughters to Benjamin. They had, in a righteous vengeance, almost annihilated the tribe of Benjamin. They could not bear the thought that one tribe must be lost from the twelve tribes of Israel. They all came to the house of God. They remained there till evening. They cried aloud. They wept. They said, "O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?" The people rose early on the following day, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

(b.) They now inquired who had not come to the Lord to Mizpeh. They decreed that he who had not come up should surely be put to death. The children of Israel repented them for Benjamin, their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. They inquired-What shall we do? We have sworn not to give to them our daughters for wives. They inquired, What one is there of the tribes of Israel which came not up to Mizpeh to the Lord? The answer was, None came from Jabeshgilead. Twelve thousand chosen men were sent to Jabesh-gilead, with orders to smite with the edge of the sword the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, men, women, and children. They instructed the soldiers to slay every male and every woman who hath lain with or by man (who knoweth the lying with man). They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never lain with man. They brought these virgins to the camp of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. The children of Israel sent messengers to the rock of Rimmon, to call peaceably to the Benjamites, and to proclaim peace to them. Peace was made. Four hundred virgins were given as wives to the remnant of Benjamin. They sufficed not. The people repented for Benjamin. The Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

5. The rape of the daughters of Shiloh.-The women were destroyed out of Benjamin. The elders of Israel consulted what they should do. They resolved that a tribe must not be destroyed from Israel. They contrived to release themselves from the difficulty of this oath. They had to give their daughters to Benjamin. They had cursed every one who gave a wife to Benjamin. They remembered there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly (from year to year), in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east (toward the sun rising) side of the high way which goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebōnah. They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; the daughters of Shiloh may come out to the dances; if they do come, then come ye out of the vineyards and catch every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin." They made a promise to the Benjamites that if the fathers and brothers of the ravished women came to them to complain, they would say unto them, "Be favourable unto them (or gratify us in them) for our sakes, because in the war we reserved not for each man his wife. Ye are guilty because ye did not give

unto them at this time. The children of Benjamin did so. They took wives, according to their number, of them who danced, whom they caught. They returned to their inheritances, and repaired the cities and dwelt in them. All the children of Israel returned, every man to his own home." "In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Two hundred women taken at Shiloh. Four hundred at Jabesh-gilead.

6. The history of Ruth is the sixth detached narrative belonging to the book of Judges, B.C. 1322. The date of Deborah and Barak is B.C. 1316. The land had rest for eighty years before that date. Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar had been Judges; and they had been at rest nearly eighty years or more before the history of Ruth came upon this world's passing scenes. The history commences with a gene

ral statement that the matter related had its date in the time of the Judges. The probable conclusion is that Ruth may have lived in the time of Deborah. It is not probable that she lived in the time of any one who judged Israel after Deborah's time. There was a famine in the land of Israel. A man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimělech. The name of his wife was Naomi. The names of his two sons-1, Mahlon; and 2, Chilion-Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah. They came into the country of Moab, and continued there. Elimělech, Naomi's husband, died. Naomi and her two sons remained. They took wives of the women of Moab. The name of one was Orpah. The name of the other was Ruth. Mahlon and Chilion died. Naomi and Orpah and Ruth were left widows.

B.C. 1312. Ten years had passed away. The Lord sent prosperity to his people. Naomi learned how good the Lord had been to his people. She determined to return to her country. She went on her way. Her two daughters-in-law were her companions in travel. Naomi exhorted them most affectionately to return to their homes. Orpah yielded to Naomi's entreaties, kissed her, and returned to her home. Naomi entreated Ruth to return, as Orpah had returned, to her people and to her gods. Ruth replied, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or 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; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me." Naomi and Ruth proceeded on their journey. Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to be with her. She therefore ceased to persuade her to return to her country. They arrived in Bethlehem. All the citizens were moved. They said, Is this Naomi? She replied, "Call me not Naomi (pleasant); Call me Mara (bitter), for the Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me." "I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty." Naomi and Ruth came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

(a). Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, of the

family of Elimelech, a man of great wealth; his name was Boaz. Ruth asked Naomi to allow her to go and glean in the field of "some one in whose sight I shall find grace." Naomi said, "Go, my daughter." She was gathering in that part of the field which belonged to Boaz. When Boaz came from Bethlehem he said to his reapers, "The Lord be with you." They answered him, "The Lord bless thee." Boaz asked his steward, "Whose damsel is this?" He replied, "It is the Moabitish damsel who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. She asked leave to glean. She has continued to glean from morning to the present time, except when she tarried in the house." Boaz spake to Ruth, and told to her to follow his maidens as they reaped; not to go to another field; to drink what his young men had drawn. Ruth fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground before Boaz, saying to him, "Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?" Boaz replied that he had fully learned how kind she had been to her mother-in-law since the death of "thy husband, and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and hast come to a people whom thou knewest not heretofore." "The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given to thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou hast come to trust." She thanked Boaz for the encouragement which his words gave to her. She confessed that she was not like to even one of his handmaidens.

Boaz invited her to come at meal time and to partake of the refreshment prepared for the people employed by him in his field. Boaz directed his young men to allow her to glean among the sheaves, and not to reproach her. They must also let fall some corn that she may glean it. She gleaned on that day an ephah (seven gallons and a half) of barley. She returned to her mother-in-law and divided with her the stock of provision which she had gleaned. She informed her mother-in-law that the owner of the field in which she had been gleaning was named Boaz. Naomi exclaimed, "Blessed be the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead." followed her mother-in-law's instruction, and continued to glean in the field of Boaz during barley harvest (Passover) and during wheat harvest (Pentecost).

Ruth

(b). Naomi, from love to Ruth, instructed her how to act in a night encounter with Boaz, when in the time of winnowing the corn she might see Boaz, after he had eaten and drunken, lying down to rest. Ruth must mark well the place where Boaz lay. She must come quietly in the night and uncover his feet, and then she must lie down at his feet. Ruth obeyed. Boaz awoke at midnight. He was afraid. A woman lay at his feet. "Who art thou ?" am Ruth, thy handmaid, spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman." "Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter. Thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than in

"I

the beginning." Ruth had showed great love to Naomi. She had now given the very strongest proof of her respect for the laws of her adopted country by attaching herself to Boaz, the kinsman of her late husband.

(c). Boaz arranged with Ruth, that if the man who was nearer of kin to her husband than himself would refuse to do the duty of a kinsman, Boaz himself would then be at liberty to act the part of the nearest kinsman. Ruth returned to her motherin-law in the morning, told what Boaz had said, and presented the six measures of barley which Boaz had given to her. "Sit still, my daughter, till you know how the matter will fall, for the man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this day." Naomi thus wisely instructed her faithful daughter-in-law.

(d). On the next day Boaz sat at the gate of the city. He called the man who was nearest of kin to Elimelech's deceased son. He called ten men, who

sat down with Boaz and his friend. Boaz stated the case. Naomi selleth a field, the property of Elimelech, will you redeem it? The man consented. Boaz

The

informed him that Ruth became the wife of the man who bought the field which belonged to Elimělech. The man declined the matter. (Deut. xxv. 5-9.) The woman Ruth had a right to pull off this man's shoe and to spit in his face, so that he should ever afterwards be considered a disgraced man. However, in this case, the law was not fulfilled in the letter. The kinsman plucked off his own shoe. At the same time he told Boaz to buy the field for himself. people were witnesses. Boaz bought on that day all which was Elimělech's, and all which was Chilion's and Mahlon's, at the hand of Naomi. Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, Boaz purchased to be his wife. He called on the people to witness this marriage. The people and the elders replied, "We are witnesses. The Lord make this woman like to Rachel, and like to Leah, who (two) did build the house of Israel; and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem; and let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give to thee of this young woman.

(e). Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and she bare a son. The people the women-said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel, and he shall be unto thee a restorer of life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law who loveth thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nuise to it. The women in the neighbourhood gave to the child a name, Obed (serving), because he was to be the support of Naomi in her old age. Obed was the father of Jesse: 1, Boaz; 2, Obed; 3, Jesse; 4, David. Thus Jesse was the father, Obed was the grandfather, Boaz was the great-grandfather of David, from whom the Messiah was descended. (7). Narratives in heathen history similar to the narratives in the book of the Judges :

(a). The rape of the Sabine women is similar to the rape of the women at Shiloh. The Benjamites, acting by advice, lay in wait in the vineyards in Shiloh, and carried away wives from the company assembled at the yearly festival at Shiloh, B.c. 1406. The advisers of the measure reconciled the friends of the young women to the Benjamites.

B.C. 748. Romulus found that his people would not be able to procure wives from their neighbours. "Ludos ex industria parat, Neptuno equestri sollennes consualia vocat. Indici deinde finitimis spectaculum jubet, quantoque apparatu tum sciebaut, aut poterant concelebrant ut rem claram expectatamque facerent. Multi mortrales convenere, studio etiam videndæ novæ urbis maximè proximi quique, Caninenses, Crustumini, Antemnates." Romulus industriously prepares yearly (sollennes) games for equestrian Neptune; he calls [the games] Consualia [from Consus, the god of counsel, the same as Neptune.] Then he orders the spectacle to be made known (indici) to the neighbouring people (finitimis); and they unite in making (the games) public (concelebrant) by as great an arrangement (apparatu) as they then knew, or were able [to effect, instruere] that they might make the matter well published (claram) and desired. Many mortals (persons of both sexes and of all ages) came together also from an anxious wish (studio) of seeing the new city, especially they who were nearest the Caninensians, the Crustuminians, and the Antemnates. [Canina, a town of Latium, near Rome. Crustuminum, a town of Etruria, near Veii. Crustumerium and Crustumeria, a town of the Sabines. Antemna, a city of the Sabines, between Rome and the Anio.] "Jam sabinorum omnis multitudo cum liberis ac conjugibus venit." "Now came all the multitude of the Sabines with their wives and with their children." The Roman men supplied themselves with wives from the female spectators. The relatives returned to their own homes full of indignation at the conduct of the Romans.-Livy, bk. i. cap. 10. The war arose in consequence of this outrage; however, the interference of the Sabine women who had been taken by the Romans obtained a cessation of hostilities. -Livy, bk. i. cap. 13; B.C. 745.

(b.) The rape of Lucretia is suggested by the abuse of the Levite's concubine. The result was the overthrow of the kingly government at Rome. Sextus Tarquinius, the son of Tarquin the Proud, was the violator of the person of Lucretia. She sent for her father and for her husband. They came from the camp. The Romans were at war with the Rutuli, a people of Latium. Lucretia informed her father and her husband of the conduct of Sextus Tarquinius, and said, Ye will see what may be due to him; no woman shall henceforth live unchaste by the example of Lucretia. Cultrum, quem sub veste abditum habētat, cum in corde defigit; prolapsa que in Vulnus moribunda cecidit, conclamat vir paterque."-Livy, bk. i. chap. 58. A knife, which she had concealed under her robe, this she fixed in her heart, and falling forward upon the wound, she

passed over unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath." The men had dwelling-places for their families. David had a dwelling-place for himself and his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife (widow.) Saul was informed of David's flight, and he sought no more again for him. David requested Achish to give to him a city in which he and his men might dwell. "Why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?" Achish gave Ziklag to David, and it remained in the possession of Judah. David dwelt one year and four months in the country of the Philistines.-B.C. 1058.

(b.) David and his men went toward Egypt, toward Shur, a city in Arabia Petræa, which gave its name to the desert. David invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites. He exterminated the inhabitants, and carried away their property, sheep, oxen, camels, and apparel, and came to Achish. David answered Achish's inquiry by saying that he had gone against the south of Judah, of the Jerameelites, and of the Kenites. David left no one alive who could bring tidings to Gath. Achish believed David, and felt confident that David had made the Israelites to abhor him, therefore he shall be my servant for ever. B.C. 1058.

(c.) The Philistines assembled their army. They determined to invade Israel. Achish told to David that he should accompany him in this expedition. David told to Achish that he should know what his servant could do. This was a crafty answer. Achish promised to make David "keeper of his head," that is, "his chief captain." Samuel was dead. Saul had put away out of the land the wizards, the witches, and all who had familiar spirits. The Philistines encamped in Shunem, belonging to the tribe of Issachar. Saul encamped in Gilboa, a ridge of mountains running north of Bethshan, or Scythopolis, the city of the Scythians, who invaded the country in the reign of Josiah, son of Amos, king of Judah. It was six hundred furlongs, or seventy-five miles distant from Jerusalem. When Saul saw the host of the Philistines his courage failed. He felt that he had no army sufficiently numerous and furnished with arms to meet the army of Achish. Saul inquired of the Lord. The Lord answered him not by dream, by Urim, or by prophets. Abiathar was with David. Saul felt the want of the services of the high priest.

(d.) Saul and the witch of Endor.—(1.) Endor was a city in the valley of Jezreel, at the foot of Mount Gilbōa, where Saul's army was encamped. The words of the narrative of Saul's visit to the witch at Endor. Some have believed that the narrative is to be received as a description of what the writer thought. To me the narrative describes what the witch pretended to do, and what Saul in reality felt. The witch pretended to have a familiar spirit, a spirit in the other world, who would answer to her voice when she called him to her aid, after she had invoked that aid by certain rites and ceremonies. The information pretended to be thus given has been doubtful, upon which, misunderstood, or favourably to themselves

interpreted, persons have acted to their ruin. The witch at Endor lived in the neighbourhood of Saul's encampment, must have been visited by some of Saul's soldiers, was known to them, and must have understood well the history of Samuel and of Saul, of the present invasion by the Philistines, of Saul's fears, and of David's wandering life, and of the causes which led to it. The person of Saul was remarkable. He was taller than other men. She must have known him when he entered her dwelling. She dare not pretend to understand that Saul was in her presence. She might expect destruction from him. Dissimulation was necessary. She was a ventriloquist. Saul saw nothing. He heard the voice of the witch, who told him that she saw Samuel. The witch was apparently terrified at the supposed apparition. Saul was on the ground. God had forsaken him. His motto was

"Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo."

End. bk. vii. 312.

If I cannot prevail upon the gods above, I will move Acheron.

Saul received an answer, such as he might have given to himself in his own tent.

(2.) The narrative (1st Sam. xxviii. 7-25) contains these particulars. Saul told his servants to seek a woman who had a familiar spirit. They replied, There is one at Endor. The army must have known that God would not answer Saul" by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." They must have consulted the witch at Endor as to the result of the approaching battle, and must have received their answer. They dare not let Saul know what they did, lest they should be destroyed by him for consulting a witch. Saul disguised himself and went. Two men accompanied him. They came to the woman by night. Saul told her to divine by her familiar spirit, and to bring up him whom he should name to her. The woman pretended ignorance of Saul's person, but acknowledged that she was restrained from such practices by Saul's severe execution of the law against witchcraft. Saul sware to her, by the Lord, that she should not be punished "for this thing." From this I think that it is evident she knew Saul, and that Saul felt that she knew him. She asked, Whom shall I bring up? Saul replied, "Bring up Samuel." When the woman perceived that Saul named Samuel, she disclosed her fears and her suspicions, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. Saul said unto her, Be not afraid. What sawest thou? She replied, "I saw gods ascending out of the earth." She did not say I saw Samuel. Saul inquired the form of the person. The witch replied, "An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle." Saul thought it was Samuel. He stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. The supposed Samuel inquired, posed Samuel inquired, "Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up ?" Saul replied, "God has forsaken me. The Philistines are against me." "I have called thee to tell me what I shall do." The supposed Samuel reminded Saul of David's appoint

ment to the kingdom, of Saul's disobedience in the war against Amalek, of the present distress as a punishment, and of the fatal battle on the morrow. To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me; and the Lord shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines."

(3.) Saul had eaten no bread during the day, and during that night. His strength had departed. The words of the supposed Samuel made him sore afraid. The witch felt for Saul. She entreated him to listen to her, as she had listened to him. She entreated him to arise and to eat bread. Saul refused. His servants seconded the woman in her efforts to persuade Saul to take food. Saul yielded to their entreaties, arose from the earth, and sat upon the bed. The woman had a calf in the house. She killed it. She baked unleavened bread. She dressed the calf. She set the food before Saul and his servants, and they did eat. Then they arose up and went away that night.

The spirits of just men made perfect are in heaven. Moses and Elijah were on the mount with our Lord, conversing, when Peter and James and John witnessed our Lord's transfiguration. We are to come to the general assembly and church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven. "We walk in the light as God is in the light," and "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness."

(c.) Achish and David and the lords of the Philistines.-1. The Philistines gathered their armies to Aphek, a place in the valley of Jezreel, between Mount Tabor and Gilboa. Aphek has the name city applied to it. The Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel, a city of Judah. The Philistines suspected the Hebrews. The princes of the Philistines asked, "What do these Hebrews here?" Achish reasoned with the princes, that David had been faithful to him during "the days" and "years" he had been with him. So long as David had been with Achish he had conducted himself to the admiration of Achish. The Philistine princes insisted upon David's return to Ziklag, lest he should betray them in the battle: "for wherewith should he reconcile himself to his master? Should it not be with the heads of these men?" They reminded Achish of David's popularity in Israel after he had slain Goliath of Gath.

2. The wisdom of Achish decided that he must yield to the opinion of his countrymen. He called David. "He assured him that he found no fault in him from the day in which he came to him unto this day. Nevertheless, the lords of the Philistines favour thee not." Achish, therefore, advised David to return to Ziklag, lest his remaining in the camp, or on the battle-field, should be displeasing to the lords of the Philistines. David inquired what he had done to excite suspicion. Achish expressed his confidence in David: yet he said, the princes of the Philistines have said, "he shall not go up with us to the battle." Achish advised David to arise early, and to retire with his men on the morrow. David

followed the advice of Achish, and on the morrow returned to Ziklag. The Philistines went up to Jezreel.

David and the Amalekites.-(1.) The scene at Ziklag was miserable. A city in ruins. Property had disappeared. The Amalekites had invaded the south, had burned Ziklag by fire, had deprived no person of life, and had carried all away both great and small. David and his men had been more than two days on their journey back to Ziklag. This scene of misery, their city destroyed, their property plundered, their wives and children taken captive, was the cause of distress to David and his men. They wept till they had no power to weep. David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

(2.) In this distress the people spake of stoning David. He encouraged himself in the Lord. David's men were outlaws, whom he had endeavoured to civilize. They shewed great natural affection when they wept for the loss of their wives and of their children. Still, their speaking of stoning David is an evidence of their savage nature being yet unsubdued by civilization. David called on Abiathar, Abimelech's son, to bring to him the Ephod. David enquired of the Lord, Shall I pursue, and shall I overtake this troop? The answer was favourable"Pursue. You shall overtake them, and without fail recover all." David and his six hundred men marched as far as the brook Besor. Two hundred men remained at the brook Besor, they were too faint to proceed further. David and four hundred men continued their march. The men found an Egyptian in the field. They brought him to David. They gave to the Egyptian bread, water, a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins. He ate and drank, and was refreshed. He had been three days and three nights without food. When his spirit came again, he shewed his gratitude to his new friends by informing them that he was an Egyptian, servant to an Amalekite, that he fell sick three days since, that his master had left him in the field where David's men had found him, and that his master had gone with the army. He said, We invaded the south of the Cherethites, the coast of Judah, the south of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. David asked him, "Wilt thou bring me down to this company?" The man consented to do so, if David would swear not to kill him, or to deliver him up to the Amalekites. David consented. The young man brought down David and his men, who beheld the Amalekites spread abroad upon the earth, eating and drinking and dancing. David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day. There escaped not one of them, save four hundred young men who rode upon camels and fled. David recovered all the property and people taken from Ziklag. David rescued his two wives. "David recovered all." Bezor-or Bosor-a brook which falls into the Mediterranean between Gaza and Rhinocorura, or between Rhinocorura and Egypt.