IV. WITU EXTRAORDINARY BUC0EBB; in which the band of God was manifested, ospocially in the preservation of David" wbitbersoever be went" (vers. 6, 14), and was recognized in the dedication to Jehovah of the spoils of war (vers. 7, 10-12) amidst general thanksgiving and praise. One victory rapidly succeeded another until the whole region from the Nile to the Euphrates (Gen. xv. 18) was subdued, peace wa>1 e"tablished, and Israel occupied II position of unrivalled power and glory. "David erected, on Joab'e return (ver. 13), a monument of thanksgiving for his victory; and we may imagine •how brilliant was the triumphant procession in Jerusalem when we recollect the hundred war-chariots with their horses which were spared when Hadarezer was conquered" (Ewald). Ps. xxi., 'Returning in triumph'- uo Jehovah, in thy strength shall the Jring be glad, And in thy saving help bow greatly shall he exult! Be thou exalted, 0 Jehovah, in thy strength; So will we celebrate with voice and harp thy might." (Ps. xxi. I, 13.) V. NoT WITHOUT DEPLORABLE CONSEQUENCES. Even when waged on justifiable grounds and from religious motives, war is associated with manifold evils. It was not the loss of life that occurred, nor the cruel severities that were practised ( ver. 2 ; eh. xii. 31), characteristic of the age, in the wars of David, which wrought the mischief, so much as the fierce passions, the pride, ambition, luxury, and vice they engendered, the heavy burdens they imposed, and the neglect of the humbler pursuits and more orderly virtues they involved. "The one blot upon the time is David's lust of war, bringing men like Joab to the front, and debasing David's own character. . . . If ever God wrote his verdict plainly upon ambition and aggressive war, be wrote it upon the wars of David. They brought the stain of two foul crimes on David himself; ruined his own domestic peace and happiness; ruined, by the possession of too-great power, the one of his sons who started so wisely and well ; and ruined the kingdom, which broke asunder of its own weight" (' Prophecy a Preparation for Christ,' p. 216). Yet these effects have not always been considered in later times; while the record of his successes bas sometimes been regarded as affording a sanction and an incentive to the martial spirit under different c_kcumstances and a better dispensatioa. "It was among the Teutonic race that the Church first manifested warlike propensities. They were emphatically men of blood. The chief difficulty of the Church was to teach them to love peace. According to a well-known story, the Gothic bishop, Ulphilas, showed bis special sense of the special weakness of his Teuton converts by refraining from translating the Books of Samuel and Kings into their language, as he did the rest of the Scripture. His reason, we are told, was that they contained 'the history of wars;' and the nation was already very fond of war, and needed the bit rather than the spur so far as fighting was concerned" (British Quarterly Review, January, 1881). Nevertheless, the wars and victories of David (allowed for "the hardness of men's hearts" until "the times of reformation")- VI. FORESHADOWED NOBLER CONFLICTS AND TRIUMPHS by One greater than David- the Prince of Peace, and his faithful followers (1 Sam. xiii. 1-7; nii. 47); in which the elements of good that existed therein are retained and perfected, and those of evil set aside; "the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but" spiritual (truth, righteousness, love) and "mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds n of error and unrighteousness (2 Cor. x. 4; Luke ix. 56; John xviii. 36); and the effects, enduring peace, security, and happiness (Isa. ix. 5, 6). "Since the time that Jesus Christ said, 'Put up thy sword into its scabbard,' Christians ought not to go to war, unless it be in that most honourable warfare with the vilest enemies of the Church-the inordinate love of money, anger, and ambition. These are our Philistines, these our Nebucbadnezzars, these our Moabites and Ammonites, with whom we ought never to make a tru~e ; with these we must engage without intermission till, the enemy bei_ng utterly extirpated, peace may be firmly established. Unless we subdue such enemies as these, we can neither have poace with ourselves nor peace with any one else. This is the only war which tends to produce a real and lasting peace" (Erasmus).-D.
Ver. 11.-(JEROBALEM.) Dedication cf property to God. According to the custom 234. THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. [on. vm. 1-lB.