1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



651 



held on to God's stroug arm through it all. He 

 was not only brave and courageous, but he was 

 bright and hopeful. He enriched the world 

 with his beautiful precepts, and the way in 

 which he repeated God's precious promises. 

 The Bible tells us that, if we are not weary in 

 well doing, and faint not. we shall finally reap 

 the reward of our faithfulness. David passed 

 through all his trials, and it seems as if God 

 had decided finally to reward him. He could 

 bear adversity, he could bear persecution, he 

 could bear lo be driven from home and friends; 

 and he had such magnanimity of heart that he 

 would not strike back even when the enemy 

 that was trying to take his life was so fully in 

 his power. He endured adversity; but when 

 great prosperity came it was too much for him. 

 He was the king; and finally not only all men 

 but all women bowed before him. He was wise, 

 smart, and bright— probably good-looking, es- 

 pecially when arrayed in his royal apparel. 

 Perhaps flattery made him vain and selfish. 

 He commenced something, doubtless, as Johnny 

 did. He began to do things because he was 

 king that he might not have thought of doing 

 otherwise. Then he began to covet something 

 that belonged to his neighbor. It was not mar- 

 bles nor houses and lands, nor fine dwellings. 

 Why! he might have robbed his neighbor of 

 millions of money or property, and it would 

 have been trifling. What he did covet was his 

 neighbor's wife, notwithstanding he had at the 

 same time more wives than any man ought to 

 have, even if he was king. This neighbor was 

 a faithful soldier in David's army. He was 

 absent from his home and fireside at this very 

 time, because be was loyal to the king. Could 

 a king stoop to any thing so wicked ? May be 

 the woman was partly to blame. We do not 

 know. Perhaps she forgot her loyal, faithful, 

 honest, and devoted husband who was doing 

 his duty like a man and like a soldier. Trouble 

 came, as trouble always comes when we make 

 the prince of darkness our partner. Even the 

 king himself was in a corner. Something must 

 be done. He called Uriah home; but Uriah, in 

 his simple honesty and independence, refused 

 to be a tool, even for the king. We do not know 

 whether he suspected guilt or not. He would 

 not go home while the king s army was all out 

 in the field. David then plied him with pres- 

 ents, and even made him drunk; but the poor 

 honest soldier was loyal and true to his country 

 and his king, even when more or less intoxicatec?. 

 David was fast getting on from bad to worse. 

 We do not know what counsel this wicked 

 woman gave him. Perhaps I should not have 

 said " wicked," after all, for it is a pretty seri- 

 ous matter for even a woman to refuse to do 

 the bidding of a king, or it was in those days. 

 David called in his commander-in-chief, Joab. 

 and unblushingly let .Joab into enough of his 

 gtiilty secret to tell him what he wanted. .loab 

 was a fierce warrior — a man accustomed, doubt- 

 less, to committing terrible crimes when the 

 king commanded. The letter containing the 

 directions to have Uriah pushed forward into 

 danger, where he was sure to be killed, was 

 carried to the wicked Joab by no other than 

 the honest, upright, and manly Uriah himself. 

 One almost begins to think, when reading It, 

 that ?7ria/( should have been king, or at least 

 commander-in-chief, and that David should 

 have been the private soldier, where he would 

 have been under strict regulations, so that he 

 could not harm others. Of course, Uriah was 

 killed right speedily; and after a brief cere- 

 monial mourning Bath-sheba became David's 

 favorite wife. 



Unbelievers have spoken of David's cruelty to 

 his enemies. They tell us that, after he had 



taken them captive, and when they were de- 

 fenseless, he tortured them with saws, and har- 

 rowed them with iron tools, and even made them 

 pass through tire. But we should remember 

 this was while David was carrying about with 

 him that terribly guilty conscience. When you 

 see a man — especially a man in authority— who 

 is surly, harsh, and who does not hesitate to let 

 everybody know, right and left, that he is un- 

 happy, and unhappy from morning till night, is 

 it not a pretty sure sign that that man is carry- 

 ing a guilty conscience? Such men are cruel to 

 women and children ; they are heartless and 

 brutal to the dumb beasts. It is the guilty con- 

 science that does this. David was no excep- 

 tion. He was a terrible man, probably, until 

 Nathan, by God's command, went and told him 

 that little story about the one ewe lamb. This 

 lamb belonged to a poor man. It was a pet in 

 the family. It was the only one they had. 

 They regarded it as almost one of the children. 

 A rich neighbor lived near him who had great 

 flocks of sheep, and every thing else in propor- 

 tion. A distinguished guest came to see him; 

 but instead of taking from his own flocks he 

 went and killed this one ewe lamb belonging to 

 his poor neighbor, and had it dressed for the 

 feast. When Nathan told David the story, Da- 

 vid was surly and harsh still. The idea that 

 anybody should do such a thing aroused the 

 king's anger. He declared that the rich man 

 should pay fourfold, and then finished up by 

 saying that the rich man should be put to 

 death. Such a guilty, selfish, unscrupulous 

 man is not fit to live, even if he is rich. And 

 now the grand character of Nathan the proph- 

 et shines out. He extends his finger and says, 

 with terrible emphasis, "Thou art the man. 

 Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed 

 thee king over Israel, and delivered thee out of 

 the hand of Saul; . . . wherefore hast thou 

 despised the commandment of the Lord, to do 

 evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the 

 Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife 

 to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the 

 sword of the children of Ammon." Poor Da- 

 vid! God's just retribution had come at last. 

 Had David been like some of the old heathen 

 kings the old prophet would have been put to 

 death at once for daring to rebuke the mon- 

 arch. David had been bad — terribly b&d ; but 

 he was not a lost man, after all. God's grace 

 had not entirely departed from him. David 

 bowed his head, and confessed that the Lord's 

 judgment was just and right. But the retribu- 

 tion followed. Away down through the ages 

 the consequences of this sin and folly came 

 cropping out. Murder and bloodshed, crime 

 after crime, followed in quick succession. Ab- 

 salom, his own child, drove him from his home 

 and throne in order that he might be king in- 

 stead of his father. 



In reading this sad bit of history one wonders 

 if it were really possible that David uttered tbe 

 words of our text. What inconsistency few a 

 man who had committed such an act as that to 

 say, "Oh how I love thy law!" The Bible 

 teaches, however, that the grace of God can 

 change a man's heart ; and God has promised 

 to forgive our iniquities so that they may be as 

 if the charge against us were blotted out. Un- 

 belief and skepticism reject this; but what a 

 hopeless world this wo\ild be if there were no 

 such thing as real penitence and a new heart!* 



Again, it has been urged that God seemed to 

 indorse this wickedness by making Solomon, 

 the fruit of this unholy union, such a great and 



* If any one has any doubt in regard to David'.s 

 penitence toeing- sound and g'enuine, let him read 

 the wonderful words expressing- his sorrow and 

 grief over his sin, in the 51st and 33d Psalms. 



