DAVID, KIXG OF ISRAEL. 



10 



level of ordinary Oriental monarchy, and express- 

 in"- the ideal of a rule alter Jehovah's own heart 

 (1 Samuel xiii. 14), and in the spirit of the high- 

 est teaching of the prophets. This ideal, shat- 

 tered by a single grievous fall, could be restored 

 by no repentance. Within the royal family the 

 continued influence of Bath-sheba added a new 

 element to the jealousies of the harem. David's 

 sons were estranged from one another, and ac- 

 quired all the vices of Oriental princes. The 

 severe impartiality of the sacred historian has 

 concealed no feature in this dark picture : the 

 brutal passion of Amuon, the shameless counsel 

 of the wily Jonadab, the black scowl that rested 

 on the face of Absalom through two long years 

 of meditated revenge, the panic of the court when 

 the blow was struck and Amuon was assassinated 

 in the midst of his brethren. Three years of ex- 

 ile, and two of further disgrace, estranged the 

 heart of Absalom from his father. His personal 

 advantages, and the princely lineage of his moth- 

 er, gave him a preeminence among the king's 

 sons, to which he added emphasis by the splendor 

 of his retinue, while he studiously cultivated per- 

 sonal popularity by a pretended interest in the 

 administration of kingly justice. Thus ingratiated 

 with the mass, he raised the standard of revolt 

 in Hebron, with the malcontent Judeans as his 

 first supporters, and the crafty Ahithophel, a man 

 of Southern Judah, as his chief adviser. Arrange- 

 ments had been made for the simultaneous proc- 

 lamation of Absalom in all parts of the land. 

 The surprise was complete, and David was com- 

 pelled to evacuate Jerusalem, where he might 

 have been crushed before he had time to rally his 

 faithful subjects. Ahithophel knew better than 

 any one how artificial and unsubstantial was the 

 enthusiasm for Absalom. He hoped to strike 

 David before there was time for second thoughts ; 

 and when Absalom rejected this plan, and acted 

 on the assumption that he could count on the whole 

 nation, he despaired of success and put an end to 

 his own life. David, in fact, was warmly re- 

 ceived by the Gileadites, and the first battle de- 

 stroyed the party of Absalom, who was himself 

 captured and slain by Joab. Then all the people, 

 except the Judeans, saw that they had been be- 

 fooled; but the latter were not conciliated with- 

 out a virtual admission of that prerogative of kin- 

 ship to the king which David's previous policy 

 had steadily ignored. This concession involved 

 important consequences. The precedence claimed 

 by Judah was challenged by the northern tribes 

 even on the day of David's solemn return to his 

 capital, and a rupture ensued, which, but for the 



energy of Joab, might have led to a second and 

 more dangerous rebellion. The remaining years 

 of David's life appear to have been untroubled, 

 and according to the narrative of Chronicles 

 the king was much occupied with schemes con- 

 cerning the future temple. He was already de- 

 crepit and bedridden under the fatigues of seventy 

 years, when the last spark of his old energy was 

 called forth to secure the succession of Solomon 

 against the ambition of Adonijah. It is notewor- 

 thy that, as in the case of Absalom, the preten- 

 sions of the latter, though supported by Joab and 

 Abiathar, found their chief stay among the men 

 of Judah (1 Kings i. 9). 



The principles that guided David's reign are 

 worthily summed up in his last words, 2 Samuel 

 xxiii. 1, seq., with which must be compared his 

 great song of triumph, 2 Samuel xxii. The foun- 

 dation of national prosperity is a just rule based 

 on the fear of Jehovah, strong in his help, and 

 swift to chastise wrong-doers with inflexible se- 

 verity. That the fear of Jehovah is viewed as 

 receiving its chief practical expression in the 

 maintenance of social righteousness is a necessary 

 feature of the Old Testament faith, which regards 

 the nation ra'her than the individual as the sub- 

 ject of the religious life. Hence the influence 

 upon his life of David's religious convictions is 

 not to be measured by the fact that they did not 

 wholly subdue the sensuality which is the chief 

 stain on his character, but rather by his habitual 

 recognition of a generous standard of conduct, by 

 the undoubted purity and lofty justice of an ad- 

 ministration which was never stained by selfish 

 considerations or motives of personal rancor, 

 and was never accused of favoring evil-doers, and 

 finally by the calm courage, rooted in faith in 

 Jehovah's righteousness, which enabled him to 

 hold an even and noble course in the face of dan- 

 gers and treachery. That he was not able to re- 

 form at a stroke all ancient abuses appears par- 

 ticularly in relation to the practice of blood-re- 

 venge ; but even in this matter it is clear from 2 

 Samuel iii. 28, seq., xiv. 1-10, that his sympathies 

 were against the barbarous usage. Nor is it just 

 to accuse him of cruelty in his treatment of ene- 

 mies. Every nation has a right to secure its 

 frontiers from hostile raids; and as it was im- 

 possible to establish a military cordon along the 

 borders of Canaan, it was necessary absolutely to 

 cripple the adjoining tribes. From the lust of 

 conquest for its own sake David appears to have 

 been wholly free. 



The generous elevation of David's character 

 is seen most clearly in those parts of his life 



