328 THE KING'S MIRROR 



Saul was that God knew his disposition thoroughly. 

 For it was in Saul's nature to be proud and stubborn 

 in the face of God; and as soon as he thought himself 

 firmly established in his kingdom, he became greedy 

 and avaricious, as is evident from this account. 



Now there was this difference between the tempers 

 of David and Saul: when Nathan the prophet charged 

 David with sin, he spoke reproachfully of his fault, al- 

 most as if condemning himself, and implored mercy, 

 though willing to suffer punishment, as if prepared to 

 accept with gratitude any terms which God might im- 

 pose for his misdeed; therefore he won favor through 

 the lenient judgment of Mercy. (Yet, his son died be- 

 cause of Uriah's death, though David himself did not 

 die; and for violating Uriah's wife he suffered a great 

 disgrace in that his son dishonored him in the sight of 

 all the people J 



But when Samuel accused Saul of his crime, he re- 

 plied as if defending his cause and praised himself for 

 having done so well and spoke in this wise: " Praise be 

 to God, for I have done what He commanded; " though 

 he knew in his own mind that anything else was nearer 

 the truth. Therefore he was stricken by the sentence of 

 Justice, God seeing his arrogant boasting and lying ex- 

 cuses. But his arrogance and envy became even more 

 evident after he discovered that God was angry with 

 him; for Saul fell ill; and now and then madness came 

 upon him, so that he had to be watched when the 

 malady troubled him. Then it was learned that if a 

 man could be found who could play the harp well be- 

 fore him, he would find relief and the illness would 



