The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 27

Thr victory of tl1e Philistines had given them the central part of western Palrstinc, and they very possibly conquered the north 111~0: but in any c11se the north was cut off from David's kingdom in the south. In eastern Palestine, Abner, Saul's cousin and commander-in-chief, seems to have est11blisbed himself with fahbosheth, the only smTiving son of Saul. Gradually they won b11ck territory from the Philistines; then Isbbosheth w11s proclaimed king, and by the end of five years was reeognised as king by all but Judah. Ho, like David, chose 11n ancient &nd isacred city as his seat of government-Mahanaim, on the borders of Gad and llfann.sseh. The war between the ri·rnl kings was none of David's seeldng. Abner prm·oked it by trying to gain possession of "Gibeah of Saul" in Benjamin, as a ca,pital for his puppet, Ishbosheth, no doubt with a view to ousting David, and ruling o,·er all Israel in Ishbosheth's name. This bold stroke proved the ruin of himself and the house of Saul: and after his and Isbbosheth's death (murders of which David was wholly guiltless, and which he publicly condemned) there was no other claimant to the throne. David was rewarded for his trust in God's promises, and for bis chivalrous conduct towards the house of Saul, and became undisputed king of all Israel. During this brief period of limited rule over Judah, amid much that is promising, we notice the beginning of two evils which are among the curses of Oriental monarchies. (1) In order to strengthen himself, he seeks or accepts connexions by marriage with various powe1ful families. To Abinoam and Abigail he adds four new wives, and as a bold upon Abner, when ho was willing to desert Ishbospeth, he demanded back Michal, whom Saul had taken from him. Thus a harem, with all its baneful influences, was began. (2) Being not yet firmly established, he was obliged to humour bis powerfnl relatives. Men whom he could not do without, a.nd whom be could oi;ily imperfectly control, acted without consulting him, or in defio.nce of his wishes. His passionate lament over the murder of Abner, which he could neither prevent nor punish, is the beginning of an enforced nepotism, which throws a shade over the whole of David's reign. All Israel now recognised the claims of the man, who, even in Saul's lifetime, had_ ever led them to victory, and to whom Jehovah had said, " Thou shalt feed My people Israel : " ancl he was anointed king in Hebron. He belonged to them all, Dot to Judah alone. "All the tribes of Israel came to David and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh" (2 S0,m. v. 1). There had been no such unanimity since the burial of Samuel, and it anticipates the feeling when in after years David was recalled to the throne: "We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye" (eh. xix. 43). Seldom, perhaps, has e. king been welcomed with greater enthusiasm than David. For long it had been true of him, that "whatever the King did, pleased all the people" (eh. iii. 36), and it remained true of him through nearly the whole of his reign. He was "as an angel of God" (eh. xiv. 17, 20; xiL 27) in their eyes; he bowed their hearts" as the heart of one man'' (cb. xix. 14); he was "the light of Israel" (cb. xxi. 17). And the enthusiasm was well founded. Like the greatest of our own kings, Edward I., David came to the throne thoroughly understanding and thoroughly disciplined for the task that lay before him. In both cases there was a kingdom needing an adequate organization for preserving internal unity and effective means of national defence. Both rulers bad learned much from the en·ors of the previous reign; and both knew that only with the sympathy and help of the people whom they ruled could lhe great needs of the kingdom be supplied, Both had enlarged their  JOSHUA TO NEHEMIAH. xxxi