The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 402

in the king's palace at Gath I Fingers which have struck the celestial lyre now 8cribble on the doors of the gate. From lips which have poured forth divinest song now drops the slrwer of madlless. The soul which has delighted in communion with God now emulates the riot of a fiend. And all this not brought on by the stroke of Heaven, which awes us while it saddens, but devised by a faithless craft" (J. Wright). . III. 1TB EFFECTUAL REMOVAL by-1. The overruling goodness of God, which often delivers his servants from the snares they have made for themselves, and sometimes mercifully controls their devices to that end; and (as we learn from the psalms which refer to the event) in connection with-2. Earnefft prayer f()T' his help, and- 3. Restored confidence in liis presence and favour. Faith is the antidote of £ear. "The following is an approximation to the chronological order of the eight psalms which are assigned by their inscriptions to the time of David's persecution by Saul: vii. (Cush), lix., lvi., x.xxiv., lii., !vii., cxlii., !iv." (Delitzsch). See also the inscriptions of Ps. !xiii. and xviii. Ps. LVI., 'The prayer of a fugitive' (see inscription):- " Be gracious unto me, 0 God. . . . In the day that I fear, in thee do I pat my trust, In Go'ii do I praise his word. In God have I put my trust; I do not fear. What can flesh do unto me ! " (vers. 1, 4, 9, 12). Ps. xxx1v., 'Thanksgiving for deliverance' (see inscription):- 11 I will bless Jehovah at all times. . . . I sought Jehovah, and he answered me, And out of all my fears did he deliver me. This afflicted one cried, and Jehovah heard, And saved him out of all his troubles" (vers. 1, 3, 7, 12-16). "When David sang these two songs God's grace had already dried his tean1. Their fundamental tone is thanksgiving for favour and deliverance. But be who has an eye,· therefore, will observe that they are still wet with tears, and cannot fai I to see in the singer's outpourings of heart the sorrowfulest recollections of forme.- sins and errors" (Krummacher).-D. Ver. 6.--The letter of the law violated. How did David, being neither priest nor Levite, venture to eat the presence-bread from the sanctuary? How did Ahimelech venture to giYe it to him? l. THERE WAS THE PLEA OF NECESSITY. An ox or an ass which had fallen into a pit might be lifted out on the sabbath, notwithstanding the commandment to do no manner of work on the seventh day. The need of the poor animal, and the mercy due to it in its mishap, were justification enough for a breach of the letter of the law. When the disciples of Christ, walking with him along the edge of a cornfield, pulled some ears to relieve their hunger, they were blameless, for what they did was expressly permitted by the Mosaic law (Deut. x.xiii. 25). But they did it on the ·sabbnth, and this the Pharisees challenged as unlawful. The Lord Jesus, however, held it quite lawful. It was necessary that his followers should relieve their hunger and recruit their strength, and the greater object must be put above the less. "The ,rnbbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." Our Lord brought out this truth into stronger relief than any other Jewish teacher had done; but it was not new doctrine. We see that while the Mosaic ritual was irt the full force of its obliga- tion the priest at Noh felt warranted to suspend one of its most minute regulations in order to relieve pressing human want. Perhaps the tendency in modern Churches is to take too much liberty with rules and ordinances of religion under pleas of necessity which are little more than pleas of convenience or self-will. But there is a golden menn between rigidity and laxity; and it must be left to the judgment a11d conscience of those who fear the Lord to determine for their own guidance what does or does not constitute a sufficient ground for setting aside regulations or restrictions which are ordinarily entitled to respect. Yet it is only the letter of the law, or the minutm of religious observance, that may be thus dealt with. There are supreme obligations which not even a question of life and death may overrule. Nehemiah  408 THE l<'lnST BOOK OF SAMUEL. [cu. XXI. 1-i,i