The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 26

vii. 8-li). The ~a.me pee.Im opens with a declaration of trust in God: ",Jehovah, my God, in Thee have I found my refuge." The hunted outcast, seeking shelter among the cre.gs and rocks, and sometimes only escaping through his nimbleness and fleetness of foot, singA how Jehovah had "made his feet like binds' feet, and set him on His high places" (Pas. xviii. 83). Jehovah is his "rock," his mountain fast- ness, where he is safe (Paa. xv iii. 1, 2, 80, 31, 46; !xii. 2, 6, 7); "His right hand holds him up;" " He makes room for his steps under him, that his ankles do not slip." Such passages might be multiplied largely. And here we may remark two things with regard to the Psalms, which tell of his sufferings and persecutions, whether at this period or later on in his life. (1) They contain imprecations on his enemies painful to read, so wanting is the spirit of forgiveness, the spirit that prays for enemies. This is the particule.r in which the Psalms fall so immeasurably short of the Gospel. Otherwise in ree.iling them, one sometimes feels :inclined to ask, What has Christianity to give the.t is higher and nobler than this? (2) On the other he.nd, his enemies are never named: the denunciations are general, not special. There is no mention of Saul, or Doeg, or Ahitophel, or Shimei. And in this also, no doubt, he was mled by the Spirit. Songs that were to be the heritage of religious souls throughout all ages could not be marred by personal animosities. And words which were le.unched e.gainst the head of David's persecutors, Christians may utter as against the opponents of Christ. The moment when the crown passes into the hands of the man who had gone through this long and diversified training for it, is one of the strangest complication. David, with a formidable force of 600 men, has crossed the border, and taken service under the Philistine king, Achish. Ziklag is granted him for an abode, and he remains there sixteen months. And it is significant of the national feeling respecting him, that a contingent from Saul's own tribe comes over to him here (1 Chron. xii. 1-7). But the lords of the Philistines did not share Achish's trust in David, and would not Jet him march with them age.inst Israel. Thus David was spared the misery of having to choose between faithlessness to Achish or treason ogainst Saul. He returned to find that Zikle.g had been plundered by the Amalekites, and while he was taking vengeance on them, and recovering captives and spoil, the fatal battle of Gilboa we.a fought, e.nd the first news that greeted him e.fter his return to Zikle.g was that Israel had been defeated by the Philistines, and that Saul and Jonathan were slain. The noble ode which celebrates their memory, royal in it~ generosity, in its, tenderness, and in the beauty of its language, is in every way worthy of its subject and its composer. Perhaps there is no finer elegy in any language. Its echoes had scarcely died away, when its author was called upon to fill the vacant throne. It augurs well for the new Jung's rule that he is no way eager to seize the crown. The kingdom sought him, not he the kingdom. " For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God" (1 Chron. xii. 22). But not until "the Lord said unto him, Go up" (2 Sam. ii. 1), ilid David cross over into Judah, and by His special direction fix his seat at Hebron, the ancient sacred city of the tribe, the tomb of the patriarchs, and the lot of Caleb. Here he was anointed king, and reigned over Judah for seven and a half years. It shows how entirely he submitted himself to the Divine guidance, that he made no attempt to grasp the rest of the kingdom, and did not oppose the setting up of Ishbosheth as Saul's successor, but waited for God to give him the kingdom in Hie own way. In this respect David is a striking contrast to Jeroboalll e.ud Jehu.  XXX INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORICAL BOORS: