from tho popular language, e.nd no attempt logical order, but in accorrlance, with their should bo mnde to get rid of unusual expres- relativo importance in Davi,l's minrl, anrl no sions, e.s if they were fe.lse readings. By ground exists for altering the text. But entering into a town that hath gates and when the ephod was brought forward the bars. Either the people of a walled town questions were of course put in their logical would give up David rather than expose sequence. To the first question, "Will themselves to the horrors of a siege (2 Sam. Saul come down to besiege Keilah 1" the xx. 21, 22), or, if they stood by him, its answer was, " He will." To the second, capture would be a mere matter of time. " Will the citizens of Keilah deliver me and David, it seems, would have run the risk, my men into the hand of Saul 1'' the answer but happily was prevented. also was, "They will." Whereupon he and Vers. 9 - 13. - Saul secretly practised his followers, now increased to 600 men, mischief. This phrase is correctly trans· withdrew, and went whithersoever they lated "devised evil" in Prov. iii. 29; xiv. could go. Literally. "they went about 22. There is no idea of secrecy in the whither they went about," i. e. without any Hebrew verb, which literally means "to fixed plan, as chance or their necessitie, work in metals," "to forge." Saul's pur- dictated. As David was once again at larg ·, pose was open enough, and when David Saul had no longer any reason for besiegin<:?; heard of it he tells Abiathar to bring the Keilah, especially as its citizens had pre- ephod, and then offers earnest prayer to ferred his side, as that of the more powerf 11, God for counsel and advice. In his prayer to gratitude for the safety of their lives a;i,I his two questions are put inversely to the property.
IIOJ-IILETICS. Vers. 1-5.-Deference to the Diuine will. The facts are-1. David, being in- formed of the inroads of the Philistines against Keilah, seeks counsel of God. 2. Being directed to go against them, he finds his men in doubt of the safety of tbe enterprise. 3. Hence, to satisfy them he makes further inquiry of the Lord, and is again directed to go, with promise of victory. Acting on these instructions, he saves Keilah. The moral degeneracy of Saul seems to have been accompanied with some d_egree of inefficiency of government, by reason of which portions of the country were still exposed to incursions of the Philistines. The subsequent conduct of Keilah, bad enough as it was in itself (ver. U), would lead us to infer that the people who sought David's interposition were patriotic men not resident in the city. Possibly David's reputation for energy and courage had been sustained of late by the manner in which he had developed his few resources in defence against the wiles and force of his personal foe, and hence it would ba natural for oppressed neigh- bours to seek his aid on an emergency. The narrative relates how he met the demand on his intervention, and with what result. It brings out a fine truth bearing on both public and private life. !. THE HABIT OF DEFERENCE TO THE DIVINE WILL IS A NECESSARY AND VALUABLE ELEMENT IN LIFE. It is remarkable how, without choice of his own, David had been forced into a position of isolation and danger. There perhaps never was a life, excllpt that of our Saviour, in which habitual submission to a supreme will was more conspicuous. The critical position in which he found himself when urged to make war on Philistine plunderers brought out into more public view a condition of mind habitual in private life. His unwillingness to take the step without being sure of the will of God was a revelation to those who sought his services of what was con- stant in his experience. The question was not, Can I gain wider reputation, or win Israel to my standard? Is it the will of God, was the first and last thought. David', conception of life was that which becomes every Christian. Whether our lot be kingly or lowly, our calli'ng public or private, it should be a primary thought with us that God has a will of his own as to what manner of persons we ought to be, and what line of conduct we should adopt in the most common affairs of our life; for every action, and word, and spirit possesses in God's sight a mor11l character derived from the motive in which it originates and the final result to which it is mada subservient. Our great business is to form an estimate, by a study of God's character and pro-r.- dence and of our own position and capabilities, of what he would regard as a pure and righteous course, and then strive, ns demands are made on us, to trans1ate \.~u 1 SAU, i' I!' 434 THE FIHST BOOK OF SA:IIUEL. [CH. XXIll, 1-13,