The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 30

bold schemes of self-advancement, and after four years of skilfnl prepa,ration, flung himself into civil war with a light heart. His complete success, especially in J udo.h, pointR to some falling off in David's popularity, the result, perlmps, of his conduct in the Ammonite war, especially in the matter of Uriah_ But both Absalom's success and Abs11lom's oYerthrow were alike full of misery for DM•id ; prob11bly the heaviest blows that had e,·er fallen on him in a long life of adYenture aml trial. Psalm iv. seems t.o have been written for the evening, and Psn,lm iii. for the morning after DnYid's flight from Absalom; Psalm ilii. may possibly refer to the exile beyond Jordan: Psalms h-. and cix. are believed to point to the trea,chory of Ahitophel. Da,id's return was marred by an ominous quarrel between Judah and the rest of the tribes. The rebellion lingered on in the north, but was quelled by the vigour of ,Joab. Once more the kingdom and its troubled king had peacA. We pass to the last period of David's life. It has only one strongly marked in- cident, and thatasad one, the numbering of the people-at the &uggestion of Satan, as we a.re expressly told (1 Ch.ron. xxi. 1). The idea would seem to have 11,risen from a proud desire to revel in the knowledge of the forces wliich were at his com- mand, the result of his own new military system. If so, it would be similar to that which brought a judgment on Nebuchadnezzar. "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honom of my majesty? " (Dan. iv. 30.) The th.ing was so hateful even to the not .too scrupulous Joab, that he left out the tribes of Benjamin and Levi, and would .not complete the census. This time David was permitted to choose his own punish- ment; three years of famine, three months of flight before his enemies, or three days of pestilence. He had already experienced three years' famine in punish, ment for the "bloody house" of Saul ; and three months' flight before Absalom, in punishment for his own sin with Be.thsheba. He chose 1hr.Je days of pestilence. And thus, s.s if to tee.eh us the vanity of all that is mortal because of the taint of sin this threefold 7pLCVµia <:a1:wv, these three triplets of woe form the landmarks in the' reign of the greatest king tha.t ever ruled over Israel. The three years' famine had t&.ught that God is "a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children." The three years' flight had shown that God visits the sins of the fathers _on the fathers through the ch.ildren. The three days' pestilence would prove that the sins of a prince may be the scourge of e. whole peoplf', that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, and that He who could make Israel as the stars of heaven or the sand of the sea for multitude could also unmake the nation with a word. The rebellion of Adonijah, the eldest surviving son of David, who, with the aid of Joab e.nd Abiathar, tried to secure the throne for himself, troubled the last days of the reign. But the aged king showed that his infirmities ha<l not robbed him of the power to rule. Solomon was solemnly proclaimed king, and the chief con- spirators took sanctuary. Tim end of this life of almost ceaseless change o.nd eventfulness was one of peace. Da,id garn his last charge to his successor, and then "died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour." It is characteristic of the age rather than of the man that his last recorded words are words of vengeance. We see in this, as already noticed respecting the Psalms, how very far short of the Gospel was the very best that the Law could produce. In sparing Shimei's life dming his own lifetime, David was above the moral level of his age; but with regard to Shimei, as with regard to Joab, he leaves to his son Solomon a legacy of vengeance, 0,s though he repented of hu; own lofty clemency. It almost shocks us to find the sweet Psalmist of Israel  JOSHUA TO NEHEMIAH.