west or the river looked contemptuonsly, and the gree.t gathering of Judah e.nd Benjamin of Bhimei and his Benje.mites, and " few at Jerusalem after AsB had defeated Zerah more in the immedio.te neighbourhood. 'l'he the Ethiopian; e.nd Josiah outried out his tre.ns-Jorrlanio tribes are probably those reformation in Simeon as well as in Manas- described in vor. 39 as "the people who seh, Ephraim, and Ne.phte.li (2 Chron. x:nlv. went with David over Jordan;" for certainly 6). But it novel' seems to have emerged e. powerful body of tbe men who bad de- from a state of 110mi-barbarism, 1md no town feated Absolom would escort David back to ce.n be fonnd within its territories. We Jerusalem, to overawe the malcontents and must, therefore, omit Simeon, and of course prevent any opposition to bis return. the Levites, who took no part in politice, Ver. 42.-The king is near of kin to us. and thus we have Judah ~tanding alone, and The pronouns are singular throughout : all the rest determined to resist any attempt "He 1s near of kin to me. Why art thou on its part to establish a. hegemony, and angry? Have I eaten . . . I he.ve ten parts restless even at having to enrlure the more . . . Why didst thou despise me? " e.nd so ancient cle.ims of Ephraim to be the lea,ling everywhere. This is much more piquant ; tribe. By the ten parts which they clBim in but such personification is contrary to the the king, they meant that, as king, he be- genius of our language. Have I eaten, etc.? longed equally to e.11, and not to bis own t:laul bad bousted of enriching the Ben- tribe only. In this they were expressing " jamites (1 Sam. xxii. 7), but probably the sound view of the royal position. The next speaker inteuded only to protest the purity words, literally, a.re, "And also in David I of his motives. am more than thou;" to which the Septua- Ver. 43.-I have ten pa.rte in the king. gint e.dds, "And I am the firstborn rather One tribe disappears, which certainly was than thou." This is in accordance with not Benjamin ; nor we.a this warlike state 1 Cbron. v. 1, and states an important claim thus early awed into obedience to Jude.h. always made by Ephraim; whereas the In 1 Kings xi. 31, 35, again, we have ten Hebrew," I in Davirl. am more than thou," tribes givon to Jeroboam, and here, also, not is unintelligible. Except upon the score only must Benjamin be counted, but be of numbe1'5 already stated. the right of eaeh included in the tribes rent from the house tribe in David was equal Why then, etc.? of David. The tribe that had disappeared rather, Why hast thou despised met Was was that of Simeon, partly lost e.mong the not my llllrl'd the first for bringing back the desert races south of the Negeb, and partly kingf (see ver. 9, and note on ver. 40). absorbed by Judah. Its position always Were fiercer. While the Israelites debated made it unimportant, and no trace can be the matter calmly, the men of Judah met found of its taking any part in the political their complaint with harsh and bitter re- life of Israel. Some strangers from Simeon joinders. This explains the feud which &re mentioned in 2_Cbron. xv. 9 as ooming to followed.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-15.-The fo.cts are: 1. In consequence of David's sorrowful isolation, the people mourn and betake themselves to the city ashamed and discouraged. 2. Joab, being informed of the fact, enters the king's house, and sharply rebukes him for his con• duct, charging him with disregarding the sacrifices his people had made, and caring more for his rebellious son than for his attached friends. 3. Joab then advises him at once to arise and go forth to encourage the people, pointing out that otherwise the greatest trial of his life will be sure to come in the alient\tion of his subjects. 4. The king thereupon sits in the gate of the city, o.nd all the people come to him. 5. Meanwhile, during David's sojourn at Mahanaim, the people of Israel are at variance as to the course to be pursued with reference to bringing him back to rule over them, and it is urged that, under all the circumstances of the case, something should be done in that direction. 6. David, hearing of the intentions of Israel, sends to Zadok and Abiathar to sui:gest to the elders of Judah the impropriety _of their being fore~talled in the mov~- ment by their brethren of Israel. 7. He also mstructs them to rnform Ama.sa. of his purpose to displace Joab in ~s favour. 8. 'l'he heart of the people of Ju~ah bc!ng entirely won, they send unto him a message that he _should return, and the krng actrng upon it, they meet him at Gilgal to conduct him over Jordan.
Solieal'iness in religious experience. The isolation of David from his people during this absorption in what appeared to be a domestic sorrow cf\used pain to his stounch('st (70 THE SECOND DOOK OF SA'Mttll'!t. ten. XIX, 1--4a,