To tihese wars in general may be ascribed psalms ix and X. To the Edomitish war, both by its title and contents, must be ascribed psalm Ix, 6-12 (cviii, 7-13), describing the assault on Petra. Psalm xviii (repeat- ed in 2 Sam. xxii) is ascribed by its title, and appears from some expressions to belong to the day **when the Lord had delivered liim out of the hand of all hb enemies," as well as **out of the hand of Saul" (2 Sam. xxii, 1 ; Psa. xviil, 1). That " day" may be either at this time or at the end of his life. Psalms XX and xxi relate to the general union of religious and of military excellencies displayed at this time of his career. (Psalm xxi, 8, ** Thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his head," not improbably rofere to the golden crown of Ammon, 2 Sam. xii, 30.)
8. David* t subsequerU History, — ^Three great calami- ties may be selected as marking the beginning, mid- dle, and close of David's otherwise prosperous reign, which appear to be intimated in the question of Gad (2 Sam. xxiv, 18), **a three years' famine, a three months' flight, or a three days' pestilence."
a. Of these, the first (the three years' fiimine) intro- duces us to the last notices of David's relations with the house of Saul. There has often arisen a painful suspicion in later times, as there seems to have been at the time (xvi, 7), that the oracle which gave as the cause of the famine Saul's massacre of the Gibeonites may have been connected with the desire to extin- guish the last remains of the fallen dynasty. But such an explanation is not needed. The massacre was probably the most recent national crime that had left any deep impression ; and the whole tenor of Da- vid's conduct towards Saul's family is of an opposite kind. It was then that he took the opportunity of re- moving the bodies of Saul and Jonathan to their own ancestral sepulchre at Zelah (2 Sam. xxi, 14); and it was then, or shortly before, that he gave a permanent home and restored all the property of the &mily to Mephibosheth, the only surviving son of Jonathan (2 Sam. ix, 1-18; xxi, 7). The seven who perished were two sons of Saul by Rizpah, and five grandsons
DAVID
of lIGchal and Adriel (3 Sam. 3cxi, ^mm in the common Hebrew and Greek text, aKlbocri ceived version ; and Josephus imagiaee that ther bom of her after a second divorce from DatiL k it is certain, from 1 Sam. xviii, 19, thai JficUtb a mistake for Merahj which name De Wstte htw troduced into his version. The deacriptiaBoftleali bereaved mother, Bizpah, the daughter <d iJiLn took her station upon the rock, and watdiedtkbdi of her sons day and night, lest they should be devaei by beasts of prey or torn by the birds of tk ci deeply affscting. It touched the heart i^ Dani th he heard of it He would not allow poblie item to be any frirther offianded to satisfy the mna of the Gibeonites, but directed the bodies to beua down and honorably deposited in the fiuailj K^i^ia
b. The second group of incidents contaioitkt;^ dy of David's life, which grew in aU its psxti etf ] the polygamy, with its e^ consequences, h^ vtE he had plunged on becoming king. (L) Undaad the splendor of his last glorious campaign sgaiaaa Ammonites was a dark story, known prohaUrsti^ time only to a very few, and even in later timet ii as much as possible out of the view of the pMfi&J now recognised as one of the most instroctive potq of his career— the double crime of adoheiy wiii B4 sheba, and of the virtual murder of Uriah. JLLV^ The crimes are undoubtedly tiiose of a cooumc Ord tal despot. But the rebuke of Nathan, tk ib^ revival of the king^s conscience, his grief ftir tk «^ ness of the chUd, the gathering of his nncks ssi udj brothers around him, hi^ return of hope and pee&fl characteristic of David, and of David oalr. IN add to these the two psalms, the 32d and tk il^ of which the first by its acknowledged iDtentai r^ deuce, the second by its title, also daun to b^s this crisis of David's life, we shall feel that the »ci< tion drawn from the sin has more than eetofes^ to us at least for the scandal occaaoned bj it; [^ Bebel, David peccatu etpamiUnSj Argent 17(8.) U though the " free spirit'* and *'clean hesrf* sfDnfii returned, and although the birth of Soloswe ns auspicious as if nothing had occurred to tiw^ tk victorious festival which succeeded it, the cfesifi* this time gathered over David's fortunes, SDdb3> forward "the sword never departed from las tew (2 Sam. xii, 10). The outrage on his daughter Tm^ the murder of his eldest son Amnon, and theathe^ volt of his best beloved Absalom, brought os ^ c^^ which once more sent him forth a waiMierer,sf a^ days when he fled from Saul; and this, tlw toTk< trial of his life, was aggravated by the impetnoRiy'^^ Joab, now, periiaps frt>m his complidtj ffl J^^'*'' crime, more unmanageable than ever.
(2.) Of aU hU sons, Absalom had nstarallT » greatest pretensions, being, by his motbef'' ^' grandson of Talmai, king of Geshur; while, thn^^ his personal beauty and winning manners, he «» ^^^ in popular favor. It is evident, moreover, thit^^** the darling son of his &ther. When his own if^ Tamar had been dishonored by her half-bni*bff -^^^ non, the eldest son of David, Absalom slew Ma^ vengeance, but. in fear of his father, then fled tot^ grandfather at Geshur. B.C. 1083. Joah,dis«n^' David's longings for his son, efibcted his retamaiaf three years; but the conflict in tiie king's m^^' strikingly shown by his allowing Abetlom to <1^ two full years in Jerusalem before he woddset^ fece. See Absalom.