before us the site of Jezreel, on a knoll 500< CH.APTER XXIX. feet high. The position is very peculiar, for MA.Ren OF THE PHILISTINE All.MY (ver8. 1 whilst on the north and north-east the -5). Ver. 1.-The Philistines gathered, &c. slopes are steep and rugged, on the south The narrative, broken off for the description the ascent is very gradual, and the traveller of Saul's abasement, is again resumed from comina northward is astonished to look down eh- xxviii. 1. Aphek As we saw on eh. iv. suddeily on the valley with its two springs : l, this word, signifying a fortress, is a very one '.A.in Ja.10.d, welling out from a con- common name for places. If it was the Aphek gloi'nerate cliff, and forming a pool 100 yards in Judah there mentioned, David's dismissal long with muddy borders; the other, th~ would have taken place near Gath, and so Crusaders' fountain of Tubania." (' Tent- soon after Achish joined the Philistine army. Work,' i. 124). Tho foi:mer .is the fountain Mr. Conder thinks it was the. place repre- mentioned here ; and 1t 1s evident that even sented by the modern village Fuku'a, near now Saul had chosen a strong position for Mount Gilboa, in the tribe of lssachar; but his army. The reading of the Septuagint, as this was distant from Ziklag eighty or En-dor instead of" the fountain" (Hebrew, ninety miles, it would not have been possible 'En, or 'A in), is indefensible, as tho Israel- for David to have reached home thence on ites were many miles to the southward. the third day (eh. xxx. 1), nor was it pro- Vers. 2, 3.-The lords of the Philistines bable that his presence with his little army paBBed on. Evidently they wore on their would remain long unnoticed. A fountain march northward, with their troops arrangPd which is in Jezreel. Hebrew," the fountain." in divisions, when David's presence in the Conder says, '' Crossing the valley we see rearward with the contingent of Achish wa1 CH. XXIX. 1-11.] THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 641
noticed. The princes-not the strict word to David he would thus swear by David's ,for the Philistine lords (see on eh. v. 8), but God. Probably they are tho equivalent of e. loose, general term used again in ver. 4- the oath which Achish really used. He sends, on having it reported to them in the course however, David a.way with the utmost court- of a day or two that there was a body of esy, assuring him that his own wish had fltrange troops in the army of Gath, asked, been that he should remain with him, because What do these Hebrews here 1 Hebrew, all his conduct had been upright since he had " WhPt these Hebrews 1 " i. e. What mean come to him at Gath. these Hebrews 1 using of them the ordinary Ver. 8.-David's answer is subtle and pre- Philistine term of contempt. Achish answers varicating ; he pretends that his honour has that these men were the followers of David, been attacked, when really he had tricked who, having deserted from Saul, had been the unsuspecting Achish. But truth is a with him these days or these years, i. e. an modern virtue, and though David extols it indefinitely long time, during which he had in the Psalms (Ps. xv. 2 ; Ii. 6), we too often conducted himself with the utmost fidelity find him practising falsehood. to his new master. Ver. 9.-1 know that, &c. Rather, "I Vers. 4 -6. -:--Angl'ily rejecting the testi- know it, for thou a.rt good in my sight," i. e. mony of Achish in David's favour, they say, I know all that thou wouldst se.y as to thy Make this fellow (Hebrew, "the man") re- trustworthiness, and assent to it. As an turn, that he may go age.in to his place, i. e. angel of God. I. e. as a messenger of God, as to Ziklag. He shall not go down with us to one set to me by God. battle. Though the Philistines marched up Vers. 10, 11.-With thy master's servants. into the Israelite territory, yet they speak It has been well remarked that while this naturally of going down into battle, because would be a strange description of David's while armies usually encamped on opposite own men, it would exactly describe that band ranges of hills, they descended into the plain of deserters belonging to the tribe of Ma- between for the encounter. An adversary. nasseh who, instead of obeying Saul's sum- Hebrew, "a satan," without the article, and mons to the war with the.Philistines, joined so in 1 Chron. n:i. 1. As a proper name it has David about this time (see 1 Chron. xii. 19 the article, as in the books of Job and Zech'- -21). As soon as ye be up early in the ariah. Should he reconcile himself. The morning, &c. If it was on the second day's verb means, "to make himself pleasing," march that the Philistine lords objected to " to commend himself." The heads of these David's continuance with them, he wouJ.l be men, pointing to the Philistine ranks. David back at Gath in two days, and on the thin! of whom they sang, &c. The song of the day reach Ziklag, as is said in eh. xxx. 1. Jewish maidens seems to have been as well However difficult D11vid's position may have known in Philistia as in the land of Israel. been, still every one must conJcu, n his On the former occasion it had made the Philis- conduct towards .A.chish as clishononra hie ; tines drive him a.way from the court of Achish but God, who often deals with rueu more (eh. xxi. 11-16) ; here, too, it made them mercifully than they deserve, nc.crtheless drive him from their army, but he was rescued him from his state of perplexity, and thereby saved from the painful necessity of savecl him from the necessity of either fight- ma.king war on his own country, and returned ing against bis own countrymen or of still just in time to rescue his wives and property. more dishonourably breaking his word to A0HISH SENDS DAVID AWAY (vers. 6-11). .A.chish by deserting in the battle. He also Vers. 6, 7. -As Jehovah liveth. These sent him home just in time to rescue from words are strange in the mouth of a Philis- a miserable fate those whom he loved. tine, nor can we suppose that out of respect
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1- -6.-The counteractions of Providence. The facts are-1. The Philistines make prei,arations for battle, and David and his men form the rear. 2. On the princes complaining of the presence of the Hebrews, Achish pleads the faithfulness of David. 3. The princes insist on the dismissal of David and his men to a safr quarter, being suspicious that he might in battle turn against them. The conduct of David, as recorded in chapter xxvii., now began to be embarrassing both to himself ,:md his Philistine protectors; and had events gone on as once appeared probabk, ,David would have been put in inextricable difficulties. It was only the quatTL'l between Achish and the leaders of his forces that solved the ambiguity oE Iii, position. . . . I. THE COURSE 011' HUMAN EVENTS, regarded Ill isolated sections, OFTEN ~EE',!S TO 542 THE FIHST BOOK OF SAi\lUEL. [cH. XXIX. 1-11.