David's first thought after ascending the throne was to wrest
Jerusalem, sacred since the days of Adam, Noah, and Abraham, from the
grasp of the heathen. The plan was not easy of execution for various
reasons. The Jebusites, the possessors of Jerusalem, were the posterity
of those sons of Heth who had ceded the Cave of Machpelah to Abraham
only on condition that their descendants should never be forcibly
dispossessed of their capital city Jerusalem. In perpetuation of this
agreement between Abraham and the sons of Heth, monuments of brass were
erected, and when David approached Jerusalem with hostile intent, the
Jebusites pointed to Abraham's promise engraven upon them and still
plainly to be read. (51) They maintained that before David could take
the city, which they had surrounded with a high wall, he would have to
destroy the monuments. Joab devised a plan of getting into Jerusalem.
He set up a tall cypress tree near the wall, bent it downward, and
standing on David's head, he grasped the very tip of the tree. When the
tree rebounded, Joab sat high above the wall, and could jump down upon
it. Once in the city, he destroyed the monuments, and possessed himself
of Jerusalem. (52) For David a miracle had happened; the wall had
lowered itself before him so that he could walk into the city without
difficulty. David, however, was not desirous of using forcible means.
He therefore offered the Jebusites six hundred shekels, fifty shekels
for each Israelitish tribe. The Jebusites accepted the money, and gave
David a bill of sale. (53)
Jerusalem having been acquired, David had to prepare for war with the
Philistines, in which the king gave proof at once of his heroic courage
and his unshakable trust in God. The latter quality he displayed
signally in the battle that took place in the Valley of the Giants. God
had commanded David not to attack the host of the Philistines until he
heard "the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees." God
desired to pass judgment upon the tutelary angels of the heathen,
before surrendering the heathen themselves to the pious, (54) and the
motion of the tops of the trees was to indicate that the battle could
proceed. The enemy advanced until there were but four ells between them
and the Israelites. The latter were about to throw themselves against
the Philistines, but David restrained them, saying: "God forbade me to
attack the Philistines before the tops of the trees begin to move. If
we transgress God's command, we shall certainly die. If we delay, it is
probable that we shall be killed by the Philistines, but, at least, we
shall die as pious men that keep God's command. Above all, let us have
confidence in God." Scarcely had he ended his speech when the tops of
the trees rustled, and David made a successful assault upon the
Philistines. Whereupon God said to the angels, who were constantly
questioning him as to why he had taken the royal dignity from Saul and
given it to David: "See the difference between Saul and David." (55)
Of David's other campaigns, the most notable is his war with Shobach
the Aramean, whom he conquered in spite of his gigantic size and
strength. Shobach was very tall, as tall as a dove-cote, and one look
at him sufficed to strike terror to the heart of the beholder. (56) The
Aramean general indulged in the belief that David would treat the
Syrians gently on account of the monument, still in existence at that
time, which Jacob and Laban had erected on the frontier between
Palestine and Aram as a sign of their covenant that neither they nor
their descendants should wage war with each other. But David destroyed
the monument. (57) Similarly, the Philistines had placed trust in a
relic from Isaac, the bridle of a mule which the Patriarch had given to
Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, as a pledge of the covenant
between Israel and his people. David took it from them by force. (58)
However, David was as just as he was bold. Disregard of the covenants
made by the Patriarchs was far removed from his thoughts. Indeed,
before departing for the wars with the Arameans and the Philistines, he
had charged the Sanhedrin to investigate carefully the claims of the
two nations. The claims of the Philistines were shown to be utterly
unfounded. In no sense were they the descendants of those Philistines
who had concluded a treaty with Isaac; they had immigrated from Cyprus
at a much later date. The Arameans, on the other hand, had forfeited
their claims upon considerate treatment, because under the "Aramean"
Balaam, and later again, in the time of Othniel, under their king
Cushan-rishathaim, they had attacked and made war upon the Israelites.
(59)