1 J. H. Ecob.
' Marcus Dods, in Early Letters of Marcus JJods, 111.
2 SAMUEL XVIII. 33 359
By Thy long-drawn anguish to atone, Jesus Christ, show mercy on Thine own: Jesus Christ, show mercy and atone Not for other sake except Thine own.
Thou who thirsting on the Cross didst see All mankind and all I love and me, Still from Heaven look down in love and see All mankind and all I love and me.^
» 0. G. Eossetti.
The Well by the Gate.
sU
Literature.
Ainsworth (P. C), The Pilgrim Church, 147,
Aked (C, F.), Old Events and Modern Meanings, 45.
Banks (L. A.), David and His Friends, 236.
Brooks (P.), Christ the Life and Light, 227.
Burrows (H. W.), Lenten and other Sermons, 139.
Campbell (R. J.), Sermons addressed to Individuals, 191.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, iii. 50?.
Greenhough (J. G.), Half -Hours in God's Older Picture Gallery, 132.
Harrison (W.), Clovelly Sermons, 88.
MacArthur (R. S.), Quick Truths in Quaint Texts, ii. 87.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: 2 Samuel, etc., 141.
Macleay (K. A.), The Never-Changing Creed, 209.
Macmillan (H.), The Clock of Nature, 328.
Maver (J. S.), The Children's Pace, 89.
Miller (J. R.), Our New Edens, 123.
Newbolt (W. C. E.), Words of Exhortation, 332.
Nicholson (M.), Redeeming the Time, 180.
Speirs (E. B.), A Present Advent, 292.
Stryker (M. W.), The Well by the Gate, 3.
Talmage (T. de W.), Sermons, vii. 170.
Christian World Pulpit, liv. 287 (Iilaver) ; Ixv. 317 (Robberds)t
/
The Well by the Gate.
And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give rae water to drink of the well of Beth-leheni, which is by the gate ! — 2 Sam. xxiii. 15.
Theke are stories in the Bible which we are almost afraid to touch for fear of spoiling them. Although we cannot exactly say that they teach us any lesson, the mere reading of them makes us feel better. They lift us into a region high above our ordinary life, and make us breathe a purer atmosphere than that which is generally around us. Like a fine piece of music or a fine autumn evening, they take us out of ourselves and awaken in us vague, big thoughts and lofty feelings, and touch us with a sense of the grandeur and sacredness of our destiny. Such a story is this of David and the Well of Bethlehem. It makes an irresistible appeal to our better feelings, makes us think more worthily of man, and brings us nearer to God.
Dayid-wasa fugitive, hiding in caves and lurking in woods, with a rather disorderly and disreputable troop of followers, in constant peril of his life, and in constant risk of being caught by his deadly enemy, king Saul. He was still a comparatively young man ; yet he was outlawed. From the jealousy of Saul he had sought shelter at the court of Achish at Gath ; but there, too, he had found himself surrounded by danger, and, having feigned madness, he had fled to the cave of AduUam, and after that to the hold on the hill above the cave.
As he now looked forth, the whole country round was full of
rich memories. Just at the foot of the hill he had fought the
famous battle with Goliath which had marked him out as the
future monarch of Israel. At_m)^reat distance waLS_£ej^
the village in which he had been born and bred^ and almost
within sight were the slopes where David as a shepherd lad had
watched his father's sheep ; while down between the summits of
163
364 THE WELL BY THE GATE
those distant hills was the gate of Bethlehem, near which was the well where David had quenched his thirst a thousand times in those early and happy days. Now he was a hated outlaw. Saul and Achish alike sought his life. Moreover, between him and the well was the camp of the Philistines, who had just invaded that rich, fertile plain, as was their wont at harvest-time, to plunder it of the grain which was now ripe for the sickle.
I.
David Longed.
There came upon David a consuming desire for a taste of that water which was at the gate-side of the little town, so few miles away, where once had been his home. He was looking diown upon scenes familiar since his boyhood ; he suffered from the burning thirst of an Oriental summer day. Overpoweringly he remem- bered the days when his now bronzed face was ruddy, the evenings when he piped the sheep to their fold — all that dear domestic life, with its rural duties and its untroubled faith. The burning sun, the excitement of the hour, and the contiguity of the well increased his thirst ; all the memories of his boyhood connected with that well now crowded upon him. And, thinking of it all, "David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate ! " It was the cry of a homesick heart, and the incident is the sweetest thing in David's life. Never was David more manly or more truly human than when he longed for a drink from the old well of his boyhood.
1. This is the longing of an essentially good man for the things of his childhood. David was no disappointed worldling. But the troubles and trials, sorrows and disappointments of life had begun to close around him. The days of youth were over for him. He was a grown man, a marked man, a famous captain, the pride of Israel, one on whom the eyes of the nation were fixed. But he was a wanderer, driven from place to place by the moody temper and the jealousy of king Saul, insecure of his life from day to day, hunted, as he himself said, " like a partridge on the mountains." The beautiful boy, the youth of a ruddy countenance, was now a bearded, careworn man, tried by watchings, fastings, and perils