Among the sorrows of David are the visitations that came upon Palestine
during his reign, and he felt them all the more as he had incurred them
through his own fault. There was first the famine, which was so
desolating that it is counted among the ten severest that are to happen
from the time of Adam to the time of the Messiah. (111) During the
first year that it prevailed, David had an investigation set on foot to
discover whether idolatry was practiced in the land, and was keeping
back the rain. His suspicion proved groundless. The second year he
looked into the moral conditions of his realm, for lewdness can bring
about the same punishment as idolatry. Again he was proved wrong. The
third year, he turned his attention to the administration of charity.
Perhaps the people had incurred guilt in this respect, for abuses in
this department also were visited with the punishment of famine. (112)
Again his search was fruitless, and he turned to God to inquire of Him
the cause of the public distress. God's reply was: "Was not Saul a king
anointed with holy oil, did he not abolish idolatry, is he not the
companion of Samuel in Paradise? Yet, while you all dwell in the land
of Israel, he is 'outside of the land.'" David, accompanied by the
scholars and the nobles of his kingdom, at once repaired to
Jabesh-gilead, disinterred the remains of Saul and Jonathan, and in
solemn procession bore them through the whole land of Israel to the
inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin. There they were buried. The
tributes of affection paid by the people of Israel to its dead king
aroused the compassion of God, and the famine came to an end. (113)
The sin against Saul was now absolved, but there still remained Saul's
own guilt in his dealings with the Gibeonites, who charged him with
having killed seven of their number. David asked God why He had
punished His people on account of proselytes. God's answer to him was:
"If thou dost not bring near them that are far off, thou wilt remove
them that are near by." To satisfy their vengeful feelings, the
Gibeonites demanded the life of seven members of Saul's family. David
sought to mollify them, representing to them that they would derive no
benefit from the death of their victims, and offering them silver and
gold instead. But though David treated with each one of them
individually, the Gibeonites were relentless. When he realized their
hardness of heart, he cried out: "Three qualities God gave unto Israel;
they are compassionate, chaste, and gracious in the service of their
fellow-men. The first of these qualities the Gibeonites do not possess,
and therefore they must be excluded from communion with Israel." (114)
The seven descendants of Saul to be surrendered to the Gibeonites were
determined by letting all his posterity pass by the Ark of the law.
Those who were arrested before it were the designated victims.
Mephibosheth would have been one of the unfortunates, had he not been
permitted to pass by unchecked in answer to the prayer of David, (115)
to whom he was dear, not only as the son of his friend Jonathan, but
also as the teacher who instructed him in the Torah. (116)
The cruel fate that befell the descendants of Saul had a wholesome
effect. All the heathen who saw and heard exclaimed: "There is no God
like unto the God of Israel, there is no nation like unto the nation of
Israel; the wrong inflicted upon wretched proselytes has been expiated
by the sons of kings." So great was the enthusiasm among the heathen
over this manifestation of the Jewish sense of justice that one hundred
and fifty thousand of them were converted to Judaism. (117)
As for David, his wrong in connection with the famine lay in his not
having applied his private wealth to the amelioration of the people's
suffering. When David returned victorious from the combat with Goliath,
the women of Israel gave him their gold and silver ornaments. He put
them aside for use in building the Temple, and even during the three
years' famine this fund was not touched. God said: "Thou didst refrain
from rescuing human beings from death, in order to save thy money for
the Temple. Verily, the Temple shall not be built by thee, but by
Solomon." (118)
David is still more blameworthy on account of the census which he took
of the Israelites in defiance of the law in the Pentateuch. When he was
charged by the king with the task of numbering the people, Joab used
every effort to turn him away from his intention. But in vain.
Incensed, David said: "Either thou art king and I am the general, or I
am king and thou art the general." Joab had no choice but to obey. He
selected the tribe of Gad as the first to be counted, because he
thought that the Gadites, independent and self-willed, would hinder the
execution of the royal order, and David would be forced to give up his
plan of taking a census. The Gadites disappointed the expectations of
Joab, and he betook himself to the tribe of Dan, hoping that if God's
punishment descended, it would strike the idolatrous Danites. Disliking
his mission as he did, Joab spent nine months in executing it, though
he might have dispatched it in a much shorter time. Nor did he carry
out the king's orders to the letter. He himself warned the people of
the census. If he saw the father of a family of five sons, he would bid
him conceal a few of them. Following the example set by Moses, he
omitted the Levites from the enumeration, likewise the tribe of
Benjamin, because he entertained particularly grave apprehensions in
behalf of this greatly decimated tribe. (119) In the end, David was not
informed of the actual number obtained. Joab made two lists, intending
to give the king a partial list if he found that he had no suspicion of
the ruse. (120)
The prophet Gad came to David and gave him the choice of famine,
oppression by enemies, or the plague, as the penalty for the heavy
crime of popular census-taking. David was in the position of a sick man
who is asked whether he prefers to be buried next to his father or next
to his mother. The king considered: "If I choose the calamities of war,
the people will say, 'He cares little, he has his warriors to look to.'
If I choose famine, they will say, 'He cares little, he has his riches
to look to.' I shall choose the plague, whose scourge strikes all
alike." (121) Although the plague raged but a very short time, (122) it
claimed a large number of victims. The most serious loss was the death
of Abishai, whose piety and learning made him the counterpoise of a
host of seventy-five thousand. (123)
David raised his eyes on high, and he saw the sins of Israel heaped up
from earth to heaven. In the same moment an angel descended, and slew
his four sons, the prophet Gad, and the elders who accompanied him.
David's terror at this sight, which was but increased when the angel
wiped his dripping sword on the king's garments, settled in his limbs,
and from that day on they never ceased to tremble. (124)