We come now to the period when, for the first time, Israel as a nation
attains sufficient unity to come under the control of a single monarch.
Samuel, the last of the judges, causes Saul to be elected king of the
united tribes. Saul is succeeded by David, and he in turn by his son
Solomon. The three reigns cover a period of about ninety years, from
1020 to 930 B.C. For this brief period alone all Israel is united into
a somewhat homogeneous monarchy. But even at best, it is the powerful
hand of David more than any national unity of spirit that holds the
various tribes together; and under Solomon, dissensions are gathering
force, which are to cause the disruption of the kingdom immediately
after that monarch’s death.
As the latter day Jew looked back upon this period, across an interval
of centuries, it seemed to him that the kingdom of Israel, in this its
time of relative might, had shone as a star of the first magnitude in
the oriental firmament. But in truth it was only the eye of national
prejudice that could thus magnify the mild effulgence of Hebrew glory.
In reality, the kingdom of Israel, even under David, was but a petty
state; and such power as it seemed to wield was due largely to the
momentary weakness of surrounding nations. It chanced that the epoch
of Hebrew monarchy was contemporary with the XXIst Dynasty of Egypt,
during which time that land was governed simultaneously by the Tanites
and high priests, whose dissensions so weakened the government that the
chief authority gradually passed into the hands of the commanders of
Libyan mercenaries. Torn thus by internal dissensions, Egypt had little
time to think of external conquests. Meantime a condition of things not
altogether dissimilar existed in Mesopotamia. Babylonia and Assyria
were struggling one against the other, and mutual antagonism weakened
each principality.
It was this temporary lull in the warlike activities of the really
great oriental nations that enabled the Israelites to achieve a
momentary position of relative consequence, which traditionalists of
a later day were able, with some slight show of verisimilitude, to
magnify into a period of actual glory. “Man to console himself for a
destiny most frequently leaden,” says Ernest Renan,[1] speaking of
the last great Hebrew monarchs, “is constrained to imagine brilliant
ages in the past, a kind of fireworks which did not last, but produced
a charming effect. In spite of the anathemas of prophets and the
disparagements of the northern tribes, Solomon left, amongst a section
of the people, an admiration that expressed itself, after a lapse of
two or three hundred years, in the half-legendary history which figures
in the Books of the Kings. The misfortunes of the nation only served to
excite these visions of a lost ideal. Solomon became the pivot of the
Jewish _agada_, [the legendary element of the Talmud]. To the author
of Ecclesiastes he is already the richest and most powerful of men. In
the Gospels he is the embodiment of all human splendour. A luxuriant
garden of myths grew up around him. Mohammed fed on it; then on the
wings of Islamism this shower of fables, variegated with a thousand
hues, spread through the whole world the magic name of Soleyman. The
historic fact concealed behind these marvellous stories was roughly
this: A thousand years before Christ there reigned in a petty acropolis
in Syria, a petty sovereign, intelligent, and unencumbered by national
prejudices, understanding nothing of the true vocation of his race,
and wise according to the ideas of that time, though it cannot be said
that he was superior in morality to the average Eastern monarchs of
all ages. The intelligence which evidently characterised him, early
won him a reputation for philosophy and learning. Each age understood
this learning and philosophy according to the style which predominated.
Thus Solomon was in turn parabolist, naturalist, sceptic, magician,
astrologer, alchemist, cabalist.”
With these corrective views in mind, we may turn to the history of
Israel in its golden epoch, with less fear of gaining an incorrect
historical image. We shall be still further guarded if we recall that
it is very doubtful whether any of the Hebrew writings now extant were
in existence in the time of David and Solomon. By this it is not meant
to deny that the Israelites of that day knew how to write. Doubtless
the works of that period were drawn upon by later compilers. But by
far the larger number of records ostensibly dating from this time
must be ascribed to a much later period. It is held by Renan that
“the only part of the Hebrew literature now preserved, which might be
attributed to Solomon, is that portion of the Book of Proverbs which
extends from verse one of the tenth chapter to the sixteenth verse of
the twenty-second chapter.” And even this, it is alleged, cannot in all
probability be the work of Solomon himself. “Not only have we no work
of Solomon’s,” says Renan, “but it is probable that he did not write at
all.” Even if such iconoclastic views as this are accepted, it does not
follow that we have no knowledge of the true history of Israel in this
period. The fact is quite the contrary; however much tradition may have
befogged the view, the time of Hebrew monarchy is a truly historical
epoch, the main outlines of which are clearly preserved. We turn now to
the detailed examination of this interesting period.[a]
SAMUEL AND SAUL
[Sidenote: [_ca._ 1020 B.C.]]
It was not only the Philistines with whom Saul had to contend. The
Amalekites invaded the country from the south, devastating it as they
went. Saul defeated them, marched through their territory, and made
their king, Agag, prisoner. All the Amalekites taken were destroyed
with the edge of the sword, and the same was done to all such cattle as
were useless; the captive Agag and the best of the animals were brought
back in triumph to Gilgal, through the territory of the tribe of Judah.
Samuel came from Ramah, where he had lived since the loss of the holy
Ark, to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and said to Saul: “What
meaneth this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the
oxen which I hear? Thou hast done evil in the sight of Jehovah.” He
was displeased because all that lived had not been utterly destroyed,
and would not offer the sacrifice. The victorious king was submissive
enough to confess his fault. “I have sinned,” he said, “yet honour me
now I pray thee before the elders of my people, and turn again with me
that I may worship the Lord thy God.” Then Samuel demanded that the
captive king of Amalek should be brought before him. This was done, and
Samuel said to him, “As thy sword has made women childless, so shall
thy mother be made childless among women.” And “Samuel hewed Agag in
pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.”
King Saul, so the story continues in summary fashion, performed mighty
deeds of valour, and when he saw any strong man or any valiant man, he
took him unto him and fought against all the enemies of Israel on every
side, against Moab and against Edom and against the kings of Zobah (in
the north); and the war was sore against the Philistines so long as
Saul lived, and wherever he turned he conquered. His sword never came
back empty, and the daughters of Israel could clothe themselves in
purple from the spoil of his victories and adorn their garments with
gold. By these long and hard struggles, Saul succeeded in destroying
the lordship of the Philistines over Israel and breaking the power of
their arms, and “delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled
them.” In Saul’s hands the royal power accomplished what the Israelites
had expected when they placed it there. Supported by his son Jonathan
and his cousin Abner, whom as a distinguished warrior the king had made
the captain of his host, Saul had become the saviour of Israel; but for
him the tribes on the hither side of Jordan would have been subdued by
the Philistines, those beyond Jordan by the Ammonites and Moabites, and
they would probably have completely succumbed to their power. He sought
also to improve the state of affairs within the country; it is reported
that “in his zeal for Israel,” he brought the Hivites of Gibeon to
submission and obedience; the wizards and the conjurors of the dead he
had put away out of the country.
THE RISE OF DAVID
[Sidenote: [_ca._ 1020-1010 B.C.]]
As king, Saul remained faithful to the simple manners of his early
life. When not in the field, which was, however, generally the case,
he lived on his own portion at Gibeah. There was no question of state,
dignitaries, ceremonial, or a harem. His wife, Ahinoam, had borne Saul
three sons besides Jonathan: Abinadab, Malchishua, and Ishbosheth
[Eshbaal], and two daughters, Merab and Michal; the elder, Merab, was
married to Adriel, the son of Barzillai.
It was the ambition, the intrigues, and the rebellion of a man whom
Saul had himself raised from obscurity, which not only robbed the
latter of the reward of his deeds and his house of the throne, but also
deprived Israel of all the fruits of so many and such great efforts,
and once more set the fate of the nation at stake.
David, the son of Jesse of Bethlehem, in the tribe of Judah,
belonged “to the valiant men whom Saul had taken to himself”; he had
distinguished himself in the struggle against the Philistines, and
the king had made him his armour bearer and sent him out frequently
against them; with fortune on his side David’s expeditions succeeded
better than those of other captains. Thus he was beloved in the eyes
of the people and of the king’s servants, and Jonathan, the brave
son of Saul, “made a covenant with David, for he loved him as his
own soul.” In Saul’s house David was trusted and honoured before the
other warriors. Saul made him a captain of a thousand and gave him the
command of the bodyguard. After Abner, David was the first of Saul’s
followers and ate at his table. Saul even went farther; he gave David
his second daughter Michal to wife, because she loved him, though David
had himself refused to take her. “What am I,” said David, “and what is
my life or my father’s family that I should be the king’s son-in-law?
But I am a poor man and lightly esteemed.”
After this, Saul was seized with a suspicion of David, fearing lest
this man whom he had raised so high and had made his son-in-law, and
who was the bosom friend of his son, should conspire against him
and his house in alliance with Samuel and other priests who had not
abandoned their unfriendly attitude towards the newly established
throne and the man who filled it.
It is related that Saul thrust at David with a spear, but that the
latter avoided the blow and fled to his house. Then Saul commanded that
the house should be surrounded, that David might be killed the next
day. But Michal let David down in the night from a window, and laid the
household god in the bed in his place, covered it up with a cloth, and
placed the fly-net of goat’s hair over the face of the image. Meantime
David fled to Samuel at Ramah and hid with him at Naioth until Saul
learned his whereabouts. Then David escaped to Nob, where the priest
Ahimelech inquired of Jehovah for him and gave him provisions and a
sword, and thence he fled farther to the Philistine prince, Achish,
king of Gath.
Saul blamed his daughter for having helped David out of his
difficulties, and said to Jonathan: “As long as the son of Jesse
liveth, thou shalt not be established nor thy kingdom.” Then he held
a strict trial of the priests, under the tamarisk at Gibeah. When the
priests of Nob were brought before him, Saul asked Ahimelech: “Why have
ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, that he should
rise against me? Thou shalt surely die. Slay the priests,” he cried to
his bodyguard; “their hand is with David and because they knew when he
fled and did not shew it to me.” But the servants of the king would
not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. And the
king said to Doeg, “Turn thou and fall upon the priests.” And Doeg
the Edomite turned and fell upon the priests, and slew on that day
fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.
“And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword,
both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and
sheep, with the edge of the sword.
“And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar,
escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had
slain the Lord’s priests.”
DAVID IN REVOLT AGAINST SAUL
We do not know exactly how far Saul’s suspicion of David was justified:
from the story which has been revised and worked up with a view to
prejudicing us in David’s favour, we can only perceive that the son of
Jesse actually was in close alliance with the priests, and David’s own
actions after he had broken with Saul are evidence of far-reaching
and carefully laid schemes, the means of whose execution were not too
scrupulous. But whether Saul had perceived David’s ambitious intentions
in good time, or had gone too far in his proceedings against him, in
either case he had committed an error: David was by no means content
with escaping from the king’s anger; if wrong had been done him he far
outdid it by his own acts. The Philistines would neither have received
in Gath a dangerous enemy like David, who had done them so much injury,
nor have spared his life, if he had not agreed to support them for
the future in their struggle against Saul. David also entered into
relations with other enemies of his country.
His father and mother he took to the king of Moab, to secure them
against Saul’s vengeance. He then threw himself into the desolate
tracts of eastern Judea about the Dead Sea, and here he attempted to
organise a rising; he probably counted on the adhesion of the tribe
of Judah, to which he belonged, as he might reckon on their jealousy
of the king from the little tribe of Benjamin, although the tribe of
Judah should have been especially grateful to Saul, since it had been
the one to suffer longest under the Philistine dominion. His father’s
house really gathered round him, “and all the oppressed, and whosoever
had a creditor and whosoever had a grievance.” They were for the most
part people of the tribe of Judah, with some from Benjamin and others
from Gad, beyond Jordan--four to six hundred men, who assembled round
David in the cave of Adullam. This was no great result, and David found
himself compelled to lead a robber existence with this band, and by so
doing he ran the danger of rousing the inhabitants of the neighbourhood
against him.
He therefore tried a middle course and sent to a rich man, Nabal of
Carmel, who possessed three thousand sheep and one thousand goats, and
who was a descendant of that Caleb who had here once founded a lordship
for himself with the sword. David sent to say that he had taken nothing
from Nabal’s flocks, and to ask if the latter would not, therefore,
send him and his the means of subsistence. But Nabal answered David’s
messenger: “Who is David and who is the son of Jesse; there be many
servants nowadays that break away every man from his master.” Then
David set out, by night, to fall on Nabal’s house and flocks. On the
way he was met by Nabal’s wife Abigail, who, in her dread of the
freebooters, had had some asses laden with slaughtered sheep, bread,
jars of wine, figs, and raisin cakes, to take secretly to David’s camp.
“Blessed be thy advice, woman,” said David, “for as the Lord God of
Israel liveth, hadst thou not met me, surely by the morning light there
had been none left of Nabal and his house.” Nabal miraculously died ten
days after this incident. David reflected that so rich a possession in
this region could not but be useful. Saul’s daughter was lost to him,
so he sent some servants to Abigail at Carmel. They said: “David sent
us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.” And Abigail arose and bowed
herself on her face to the earth and said, ‘Behold, let thine handmaid
be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.’ Then she
arose with five of her maidens, and went after the messengers of David
and became his wife. In fact, this marriage seems to have been of great
assistance to David’s enterprise. The southern towns of Judah--Aroer,
Hormah, Ramoth, Jattir, Eshtemoa, even Hebron itself, declared for him.
From here David endeavoured to press forward to the north and made
himself master of the fortified city of Keilah.
When Saul was informed of this, he said: “God hath delivered him
into mine hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that hath
gates and bars.” As Saul approached, David bade Abiathar the priest,
who had fled to him from Nob with the image of Jehovah, to bring the
image. David inquired of it: “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and
my men into the hands of Saul; O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee
tell thy servant.” And Jehovah said, “They will deliver thee up.”
Then David despaired of holding the town and fled to Ziph and Maon in
the wilderness by the Dead Sea. But Saul followed and overtook him:
nothing but a mountain now divided David’s band from the king. David
was already surrounded and lost--when a message reached Saul: “The
Philistines have invaded the land.”
It was probably an expedition that the Philistines had undertaken
in aid of the hard-pressed rebels. Saul immediately abandoned the
pursuit and marched against the foreigner. But David named the rock
the Rock of Escapes. After the king had beaten the Philistines he
took three thousand men from the army that he might completely quell
the rebellion. David had retreated farther east, on the border of the
Dead Sea in the neighbourhood of Engedi, “upon the rocks of the wild
goats,” and here Saul reduced him to such straits that he despaired of
maintaining himself in Judah and got away to the Philistines with his
following. The rising was at an end.
David’s attempt to induce the tribe of Judah to secede from Saul,
had completely failed. Driven from the soil on which he had raised
the standard of revolt, he no longer hesitated to formally enter the
service of the Philistines, and the latter welcomed the support of a
brave and clever rebel, knowing that though once their enemy, he had
already given much trouble in Judah to the arms of Saul, whose force
they had so often felt and who had snatched from them their dominion
over Israel, and aware that his resentment against his benefactor and
master might prove of the greatest service to them, King Achish of
Gath, to whom David had a second time fled, declared: “He hath made his
people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant
forever.” And he gave him and his band of freebooters the town of
Ziklag as a dwelling-place. David was now established at Ziklag as a
vassal of Achish. At the latter’s command he had to march to battle and
also to deliver up a share of the booty taken, and from Ziklag in the
territory of the Philistines he and his small army, still recruited
from the discontented of Israel who fled to David across the frontier,
conducted a guerilla warfare against Saul and his native country. In
these expeditions David was shrewd enough to spare his former adherents
in Judah, the towns which had once declared for him, and to direct
his attacks solely against the followers of Saul; he even secretly
maintained relations with his party in Judah, and out of the booty
derived from his warlike and plundering raids he sent presents to the
elders of those towns which were well-disposed towards him.
David had dwelt some time in Ziklag when the Philistines assembled
their whole force against Saul. When the princes of the Philistines
reviewed the army and made the various sections pass before them, David
and his men also came amongst the soldiers of Achish. Then said the
other princes to Achish: “What do these Hebrews here? Let David not
go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to
us and go over to his master that he might once more gain favour with
Saul with our heads.” Achish trusted David and said: “He has already
been with me for some time, for years. I have found nothing against
him up till now.” But the other princes insisted. When Achish informed
David that he could not accompany the army, the latter answered: “But
what have I done and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I
have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the
enemies of my king?” But in spite of his urgent wish David was sent
back.
[Sidenote: [_ca._ 1010-1002 B.C.]]
The army of the Philistines penetrated far into Israel; but north of
the territory of the tribe of Ephraim, on the mountain of Gilboa, Saul
encamped opposite them with the army of the Israelites. The battle was
a fierce one. Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul, fell, and
Jonathan himself was slain. The ranks of the Israelites gave way and
the enemies’ archers attained the king.
THE DEATH OF SAUL AND THE STRUGGLE FOR THE SUCCESSION
Saul was determined not to survive the fall of his sons and his first
defeat. He called to his armour bearer: “Draw thy sword and kill me,
lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me.” But
the faithful servant refused to lay hands on his lord; then Saul fell
on his own sword, and the armour bearer followed the king’s example.
The army of the Israelites fled in every direction and the inhabitants
of many towns escaped from the Philistines by retreating across the
Jordan.
The dread which Saul had inspired in the enemies of Israel and how
great a shield he had been to his own people, was shown after his
death. The Israelites sang laments for him.
“The gazelle, oh Israel, is slain upon thy high places: how are the
mighty fallen. Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets
of Askalon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the
daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let
there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of
offerings. For there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the
shield of Saul. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty
the bow of Jonathan turned not back and the sword of Saul returned not
empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and
in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles,
they were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet with other delights; who put ornaments of
gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the
battle!” The Philistines rejoiced when they found the body of Saul on
Mount Gilboa. They took away the arms of the dead king and sent them
round through their whole country, to convince all men that the dreaded
leader of Israel was really dead. Then the arms were hung up in the
temple of Astarte. The head of the corpse the Philistines hewed from
the body, and hung it up in the temple of Dagon; the trunk, and the
bodies of Saul’s three sons, they placed in the market at Beth-shan, in
the territory of the tribe of Manasseh.
The men of Jabesh in Gilead, which Saul had once saved in its sorest
need, arose and secretly stole away the corpse of Saul and the corpses
of his three sons from the market-place of Beth-shan, burnt them at
Jabesh and there buried them under the tamarisk; and they fasted and
mourned over Saul seven days.
But the other tribes also preserved a faithful memory of the fallen
king. Saul’s youngest son alone survived; he had escaped across the
Jordan with Abner, Saul’s captain of the host. Although a single battle
had destroyed all that Saul had won in long and painful struggles
and although the Philistines were again masters of the hither side
of Jordan, as in the dreary days before the reign of Saul, yet the
tribes beyond Jordan recognised Ishbosheth [Eshbaal] as their lawful
king. He was, however, obliged to fix his seat at Mahanaim, east of
Jordan. Abner’s courage and energy succeeded in gradually bringing back
the fruits of the Philistine victory at Gilboa, and in freeing the
territory of the northern tribes, including Ephraim and Benjamin, from
the yoke of the Philistines.
Whilst Abner was doing his utmost to save the wrecks of Saul’s
dominion for the king’s son, and to drive the Philistines out of the
country, David had been looking after his own interests. After the
defeat of Gilboa, many had hastened to him at Ziklag. David had been
a notable warrior, and there was a certainty of finding protection
from the Philistines’ vassal. Those towns of the tribe of Judah which
had formally adhered to David, also now for the most part went over
to him, and indeed the tribe of Judah was more accustomed than the
others to the Philistines’ rule. David inquired of Jehovah whether he
should go up from Ziklag to any of the cities of Judah, and Jehovah
answered: “To Hebron.” He did so, “and the men of Judah came and
there they anointed David, king over the house of Judah, for only the
house of Judah followed David.” Thus David had succeeded in achieving
what he had failed to accomplish in Saul’s life-time, and had founded
an independent sovereignty in the territory of the tribe of Judah.
At first he ruled there from Hebron in peace, as the vassal of the
Philistines so long as Abner had to fight with the latter. But when
Ishbosheth’s government was once more established in the north and
centre of the country, Abner, to complete the liberation of Israel, was
obliged to attack David as he had done the Philistines.
“There was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David,”
says the tradition. It continued during several years, without
any decisive issue, when a breach between Abner and Ishbosheth
gave David his advantage, and finally won him the throne of Saul.
Ishbosheth appears to have become distrustful of Abner, to whom he
owed everything. When Abner took to himself Saul’s concubine Rizpah,
Ishbosheth imagined that he intended by this means to acquire a claim
to the throne, in order to be able to seize the government himself; and
he did not conceal his resentment. Then Abner turned from the man whom
he had raised to greatness, and opened secret negotiations with David.
David responded gladly.
With characteristic cunning he first demanded the restoration of his
wife, Michal, Saul’s daughter, whom, after David’s rebellion, Saul
had given in marriage to another man. David had learnt to know the
Israelites’ attachment to Saul, and saw that nothing would bring him
nearer to the throne than a renewal of the union with Saul’s family;
then, if none of Saul’s descendants remained except his daughter, he
himself would be actually the rightful heir. Abner sent Michal to him,
and went himself to Hebron, to arrange for handing over the kingdom.
An agreement had been arrived at. Abner had accomplished his task, and
was already on his way home to Mahanaim, when Joab, David’s captain,
sent to call him back. He came, and Joab led him aside under the gate
as though he had some private words to say to him, instead of which
he thrust him through the body with his sword. David protested his
innocence (Abner must have had many friends and followers among the
Israelites) and mourned over Abner’s death. The corpse was solemnly
interred at Hebron and David went in sackcloth behind the bier, but
Joab was left unpunished. More just was the Israelites’ lament for
Abner’s death. “Must Abner die as the godless dieth?” they sang. “Thy
hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters; as a man falleth
before the sons of iniquity fellest thou.”
[Sidenote: [_ca._ 1002 B.C.]]
When the news of Abner’s death came to Mahanaim, Ishbosheth’s “hands
were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.” The pillar of the
kingdom had fallen. The two captains thought to earn David’s gratitude.
While Ishbosheth was taking his midday rest on his bed in the sleeping
chamber, they crept unnoticed into the house, hewed off the head of
their king, and brought it with all speed to David at Hebron. This
murder also must have been welcome to David; it brought him quickly to
his goal; but he would not reward the agents--he had them both hanged.
DAVID SECURES THE CROWN
The throne of Saul was vacant, and David, the husband of his daughter,
was at the head of no inconsiderable power; whom else could the tribes
of Israel, which had obeyed Ishbosheth, now raise to the throne, if
the melancholy division was to be brought to an end and the people
again united under one rule? The elders of the tribes were wise enough
to judge the situation aright. So the whole people came together at
Hebron; in full assembly David was raised to the throne of all Israel,
and anointed by the elders. All was joy, harmony, and hope, that, after
the close of the long, fraternal quarrel, better times might now be in
store.
Eight years had gone by since Saul had fallen at Gilboa, and David had
at last attained the object which he had persistently aimed at through
so many changes of fortune. But he did not feel secure so long as
male descendants of Saul were still surviving. Still he would not lay
hands on them himself. Now the Hivites of Gibeon nourished a deadly
hatred against Saul’s family, because, “in his zeal for the children
of Israel,” Saul’s hand had lain heavy upon them. David offered “to
make atonement for the wrong which Saul had done them,” and thereupon
they demanded: because their land had borne no fruit for three years,
that seven men of Saul’s family should be delivered to them “to be
hanged before Jehovah at Gibeah,” the home of Saul. Just seven male
descendants of Saul survived, two sons of his concubine, Rizpah, and
five grandsons, whom Saul’s eldest daughter had borne to Adriel. These
David took and “delivered into the hands of the Gibeonites and they
hanged them in the hill before Jehovah.”
Only Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, David spared, remembering his oath
of friendship to Jonathan. Moreover, Mephibosheth was young and lame in
both feet; in the night of terror after the battle of Gilboa, his nurse
had let him fall. David left him his inheritance intact, in so far that
he was allowed to take possession of Saul’s portion in Gibeah, and the
king ordered that the bones of Saul and Jonathan should be brought from
Jabesh to Zelah near Gibeah, where Saul’s father rested. In the tribe
of Benjamin, which had been Saul’s and, among the friends of his house,
David’s deeds were not forgotten; these men hated “David, the man of
blood.”[c]
FOOTNOTES
[1] _Histoire du Peuple d’Israel_, Paris, 1889, p. 175.
[Illustration: ANCIENT JEWISH FOUNTAIN]