CHAPTER XIV

DAVID THE KING

AFTER the Battle of Gilboa a young man, an Amalekite, came to David, and, thinking to please him, told him that he had found Saul wounded, and, at the king’s request, had slain him. The lie brought its retribution, David ordered one of his men to kill him. His own feelings found expression in an anguished lament over Saul and Jonathan.

Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places!
How are the mighty fallen!
Tell it not in Gath,
Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon . .
Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew,
Nor rain upon you, neither fields of offerings,
For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away,
The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil . . .
I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan,
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me.
Thy love to me was wonderful,
Passing the love of women,
How are the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished!

David made his way to Hebron, where the men of Judah anointed him king, and many from Israel joined him.

Civil war

Abner, Saul’s captain, set up Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, as king. A civil war ensued, in the course of which an event happened which had a sinister sequel. As Asahel was pursuing Abner, the latter turned and killed him. Asahel was a brother of Joab, of whom more will be heard, and the event started a blood feud between the two families which ended tragically.

The civil war dragged on for some years, always to the advantage of David. Some time afterward Ish-bosheth reproached Abner for having taken Saul’s concubine. Abner was wroth, and in his indignation determined to transfer his allegiance to David. He made approaches to the king who agreed to receive him provided that his wife Michal was restored to him. This was arranged, and Abner was received into the royal favour. With him came the whole of the tribe of Benjamin.

Joab was absent when these matters were arranged. When he returned he expostulated with David, insinuating that Abner had only come to spy the resources of the south. Failing to obtain any satis­faction in this way he proceeded to deceit. He sent messengers after Abner, and when he returned, took him on one side and killed him in revenge for Asahel’s death. It was a particularly hateful deed, and David never forgot it.

The defection of Abner seriously weakened the house of Saul. Ish-bosheth continued to exercise a poor kind of sovereignty until two of his servants slew him. They carried his head to David, expecting to receive a great reward. David treated them as they deserved: he had them killed. Ish-bosheth’s death ended the division of the kingdom. There was no one to dispute the claims of David, and all the elders of Israel came to anoint him king over the whole land.

David’s capital

It was now David’s policy to organise the king­dom. Hebron was not a satisfactory place for a capital, it was too far to the south. David recog­nised that the city of Jerusalem was a suitable site; its situation in the hills of Judea made it almost impregnable. It was off the main roads through the country, but that was an advantage, as it was not easily reached by an enemy. It was inhabited by the Jebusites, a branch of the Canaanites that Israel had failed to destroy.

David set out to capture the city. It was impos­sible to take it by assault; secure on its rocky height it could defy an army. So confident were its in­habitants that they taunted David, saying that the blind and lame of the city were sufficient to defend it. At some time David had learned of its one weakness. The only water supply of the city was in the valley, outside the walls. Such a source was useless in a time of war, and the Jebusites had cut a tunnel through the rock and brought the water to a cistern inside the limits of the city. The cistern and the city were connected by a shaft down which the women let their receptacles for the water. David saw in this a way into the city. If the water shaft could be climbed it was possible to get within the city walls. The danger and the difficulty of the attempt called for a corresponding reward, and David caused it to be proclaimed that whoever climbed the water shaft should be made commander in chief of the army. Joab undertook the task. With a few helpers he entered the tunnel by night climbed the shaft, and stood within the city. Taken completely by surprise the inhabitants were easily mastered; the army outside came to the assistance of Joab, and Jerusalem, otherwise known as Zion became the city of David.

Established in Jerusalem David proceeded to consolidate the kingdom, and though the Philistines twice tried to restrain his progress, he completely defeated them, driving them back to their own towns.

One of the first things David essayed to do was to bring the ark into the city of Jerusalem in order to make the city the centre of the religious life of the nation. The first time he tried he failed. The oxen drawing the cart bearing the ark stumbled and Uzzah, one of those who were accompanying it, put out his hand to steady it; instantly he fell dead. David was seriously troubled. The hopes he had entertained as to the effect of the presence of the ark in his city were dashed to the ground, and he gave instructions for it to be placed in the house of Obed-edom. Nothing harmful occurred there, instead the Lord blessed the house. Then David recognised that he had been wrong in his methods. God had given instructions that none but the Levites were to carry the ark. This time he gathered the priests and the Levites, and with great religious ceremony brought the ark into the city, where he had prepared a tabernacle for it. In the rejoicings of the day David himself danced before the Lord with all One thing marred this day of rejoicing. Michal, David’s wife, who had been restored to him, des­pised him in her heart. Like her father, she was not moved by religious fervour; she could not under­stand it, and regarded it as unseemly and undigni­fied When David returned to his house she spoke sarcastically to him, showing how different was her character from his. It caused a final break between them for any true marriage requires a community of interest to sustain it.

The Kingdom of God

The kingdom was now well established, but though David was living in a palace the ark, the symbol of God’s presence, was in a tent. David felt that this was not fitting, and spoke to the prophet Nathan about it. Nathan encouraged the king in his thoughts, saying, “Do all that is in thy heart.”

That night Nathan received a message from God. He was to commend the king for his intentions, but to tell him that not he, but his son, should build a house for the ark of the Lord. Next morn­ing Nathan delivered the message, to which, how­ever, something of tremendous importance was added. “The Lord telleth thee that He will make thee a house. When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be My son ... and I will settle him in Mine house and in My kingdom for ever; and his throne shall be established for ever-thine house and thy kingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee.”

Great and precious promises

It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of these words. They state that, (a) the thing was to happen after David was dead, (b) his seed, or son, was to sit on his throne for ever, (c) his seed was to be the Son of God; and (d) reign in the house and over the Kingdom of God. (e) When this takes place David will be there, for it was to be established for ever before him. It was the most wonderful and most far-reaching promise that had been made since the days of the patriarchs.

David recognised the supreme importance of the promise. He said, “Thou hast spoken of Thy ser­vant’s house for a great while to come. . . . Thou didst establish to Thyself Thy people Israel to be a people unto Thee for ever. . . . Let Thy name be magnified saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of Thy servant David shall be established before Thee.” Many years after­wards, in his last words, he again alluded to the promise. He foresaw a time when One who would be just, should rule over men in the fear of God. It would be, he said, “as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, a morning without clouds.” Then he added, “Verily my house is not so with God, yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; for it is all my salvation and all my desire.” Thus a third everlasting covenant was made. The first, that with

Noah guaranteed the eternal existence of the earth; the second, with Abraham, gave the everlasting possession of the land of Canaan, and by inference, of the earth, to One who was to be the seed of Abraham. Now a third gave to One who was to be the seed of David, the everlasting possession of David’s throne. More than that, the personal character of the second and third ensured the gift of eternal life after death, involving a resurrection, when mortality shall give place to immortality.

After reaching the height of these great promises the rest of the events of David’s reign seem to be of small consequence. He carried on wars against enemies in various directions, and greatly extended his dominions. He sought out a son of the house of Saul that he might show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake. He found a son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, who was a cripple, restored to him all the personal possessions of Saul, and caused him to dwell in the palace and partake of the king’s meat.

David’s sin

In the course of his wars David’s great fall took place. While the army was prosecuting the war against Ammon, he saw from the roof of his palace a woman washing herself. She was of great beauty, and the king desired her; being a king he sent for her and gave way to his desires. The woman was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of the principal men of the army. In due time the woman sent a message to David, saying, “I am with child.” It was an awkward predicament for David, and he did what he could to hide his, and the woman’s, shame. He sent for Uriah, ostensibly to enquire as to the progress of the fighting, really that he might go to his house and so cover the evidence of David’s guilt. Uriah came, but did not go to his house. In vain did David ply him with drink; he would not go down to the ease and enjoyment of his house and his wife while the army abode in the field. David then resorted to other means. He made Uriah the bearer of his own death-warrant, a letter to Joab telling him to set Uriah in the hottest part of the battle there to perish. Every­thing went as David had planned. Uriah was killed and David took Bathsheba into the royal household, adding her to the number of his wives.

Not only was the action of the king wrong morally, it was also fatal to his peace. All the troubles of the later part of his reign are traceable, directly or indirectly, to this incident. The prophet Nathan brought the sin home to the king’s conscience. By a parable about a man who, being visited by a friend, and requiring a lamb for his refreshment, took one belonging to a poor man, he aroused the king’s indignation. “The man who hath done such a thing shall surely die,” said David. “Thou art the man!” sternly replied the prophet. There are not, and have not been, many prophets or preachers who would venture into a king’s court and repri­mand him to his face, and Nathan must have been a brave, as well as a good, man. The king’s con­science was aroused. “I have sinned against the Lord,” he said. It was no outward profession; it was a real and genuine repentance, which wrung from the heart the pathetic words of a Psalm.

Have mercy upon me O God, according to Thy loving kindness;
According to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin,
For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned
And done that which is evil in Thy sight.

The whole Psalm (the 51st) is the expression of the deep contrition of a soul convinced of guilt. It explains why David was a man after God’s own heart.

Repentance did not prevent retribution, the first act of which was the death of the child that was born of the king’s lust. Sin often brings its punish­ment though the guilt may be forgiven. Later on Bathsheba bore the king another son, Solomon, of whom more will be heard in the Bible Story.

Family trouble

From this time the history of David was one of trouble. His eldest son, Amnon, violated David’s daughter Tamar, the sister of his favourite son Absalom. For two years Absalom meditated revenge. At a sheep-shearing festival a number of men were engaged by him to kill Amnon. Absalom fled and remained away for three years; then Joab brought about his recall, though David refused to receive him at court. Absalom took every means to in­gratiate himself with the people; he also took steps that compelled Joab to bring about a complete reconciliation with the king.

Absalom was then free to mature his plans. He gathered a band of followers, and, by his free and easy manners, “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” When all was ready he went to Hebron, and sent men to proclaim, “Absalom reigns in Hebron.” When David heard of it his old courage left him; and he fled. Yet there were many who remained loyal, the special guards, the Cherethites and the Pelethites (a force recruited from Philistine sources), Zadok and the Levites, Joab and many others. Amongst those who sided with Absalom was Ahitho-phel, the grandfather of Bathsheba, who was noted for his wisdom. Another wise man, Hushai, followed David, but David sent him back to thwart the counsel of Ahithophel. Ziba, the servant of Mephi-bosheth, the son of Jonathan, overtook David, saying that Mephibosheth was hoping that the rebellion might enable him to secure the kingdom to the house of Saul, so David presented Ziba with all the possessions of Mephibosheth.

In Jerusalem Absalom took counsel as to the course he should pursue. Ahithophel recommended the immediate pursuit of the royal fugitive, and offered to lead an expedition with that object in view. Hushai counselled delay, and recommended that all Israel should be gathered so that they might overwhelm the forces that were with David by the sheer weight of numbers. Absalom was not a brave man, and Hushai’s advice appealed to him. The delay was fatal to his cause; it gave David time to cross the Jordan and organise his forces. Ahitho­phel, seeing the fatal consequences of the delay went and hanged himself.

Absalom killed

In due course the army of Absalom crossed the Jordan. It was an assembly of untrained men, and when the battle was joined the difference between the two armies was seen. Absalom’s army broke and fled with a loss of twenty thousand. Absalom himself fled on a mule, and as it passed under an oak his neck caught in the fork of the branches, and he hung suspended in the air. When one of David’s men saw him he went and told Joab. David had charged the people saying, “Deal gently with the young man Absalom,” but Joab had no scruples on that account. He took a number of men with him and thrust three darts through Absalom’s heart.

Messengers hurriedly carried the news of the victory to David. But the king’s thoughts were with Absalom. “Is the young man Absalom safe?” he asked, and when he heard that he was dead he retired to a chamber by himself, crying, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son.” All else was forgotten, and it needed the rough remonstrances of Joab to make the king go out to the people and sit in the gate.

David weakened very much during the closing years of his reign and he never forgave Joab for the death of his son. He made Amasa, the leader of Absalom’s rebel army, chief captain, an affront which Joab revenged by murdering him. Mephi­bosheth met David and complained that he had been slandered by Ziba, but the king’s only comment was, “Why speakest thou any more of thy matter? I say, Thou and Ziba divide the land.”

Preparations for a temple

The rest of the reign is soon told. Various wars took place, civil and foreign, always to David’s advantage. One of the last incidents was the taking of a census of the fighting men. It was probably caused by growing pride in the success of the nation. Joab expostulated against it, but the king’s com­mand prevailed, though the numbering was never completed. The prophet Gad was sent with a message, “Shall three years of famine come unto thee in thy land, or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes ... or shall there be three days pestilence in thy land?” It was a hard choice, but David said, “I am in a great strait; let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hands of man.”

For three days pestilence ravaged the land. On the third day David saw an angel with a drawn sword over the city of Jerusalem and confessing his guilt, prayed for deliverance. The prophet Gad came again with a message, “Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” David sent to Araunah, who offered the threshing floor and the requirements for the sacrifice freely. David’s reply revealed the kind of man he was at heart. “Nay,” he said, “but I will verily buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” So he bought the threshing floor, and the oxen, and offered up his sacrifice.
Long before, Moses had foretold that God would choose a place in the land where His name should dwell, and where sacrifices should be offered. David saw in this incident an indication of that choice, and said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel,” and commenced preparations for the construction of a vast temple. Immense stores of stones, timber and brass were gathered together, and great quan­tities of silver and gold. Plans were prepared, “the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit,” together with particulars of the furniture that was required, “which the Lord made him to understand in writing by His hand upon him.”

The time had come for the reign to end. David commenced his reign at a time of disaster; he died with the people in undisputed possession of the land that had been promised to the fathers, with an Empire stretching far to the north. But the great exertions of his reign, following the privations of his life as a fugitive and an outlaw, had caused a heavy drain on the king’s vitality. His vigour had gone, and though they brought a fair young virgin to nourish him with her warmth, it was in vain. The king was failing.

David’s eldest surviving son, Adonijah, could not wait for the old king’s death, and attempted to seize the kingdom for himself. In this he was abetted by Joab, whose life of faithfulness to David was clouded by this action of his old age. The prophets were on the watch, and Nathan took the matter in hand, working through Bathsheba. As a result David called for Solomon and caused him to be anointed king. This indication of the royal decision killed the revolt of Adonijah and Joab, and Solomon ascended the throne as the successor of David.

Before he died the king charged his son to build the temple that he had projected. It was to be “exceeding magnifical,” a fit abode for the symbolic presence of the God of Israel. Having done what he could for the future of his house, David died, having reigned forty years.

There is an important point in the Story relating to the last days of David that cannot be too strongly emphasised. In the presence of the assembled princes, the heads of the tribes, the officers, the captains, and the stewards of the army and of the kingdom, David said, “Of all my sons (for the Lord hath given me many sons), he hath chosen Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.” The Kingdom of the Lord! Although Israel had rejected God as their king, and though he had permitted human kings to reign, the nation was still the kingdom of the Lord, and David had sat on its throne as His vicegerent. Any reading of the Story that does not take note of this is sure to give a false idea of the facts of the case.