DAVID'S STRUGGLE AGAINST SAUL AND ISHBOSHETH.
The position which Samuel gained as a priest, seer, and judge after the
death of Eli and his sons, and continued to hold under the sway of the
Philistines must have undergone a marked change, owing to the
establishment of the monarchy in Israel, though in the later text of the
Books of Samuel it is maintained that "Samuel judged Israel till his
death."[235] We know that Samuel had set up an altar to Jehovah at
Ramathaim, his home and dwelling-place (p. 115), but it is not handed
down that he had again set up there the sacred tabernacle and the
worship at the sacred ark, though this may very well have been the case
after the Philistines sent back the ark. Both the older and the later
text of the two Books of Samuel represent him as in opposition to the
monarchy. According to the later text, written from a prophetic point of
view, Samuel had from the first opposed the establishment of the
monarchy; and both the older and the more recent account know of a
contention between Saul and Samuel. The former tells us: When Saul
immediately after his election took up arms against the Philistines, and
these marched out with their whole fighting power, and Saul gathered the
Israelites at Gilgal, Samuel bade the king wait seven days till he came
down to offer burnt-offering and thank-offering. "And Saul waited seven
days, but Samuel came not; the people were scattered. Then Saul said:
Bring me the burnt-offering and the thank-offering. He offered the
burnt-sacrifice, and when he had made an end Samuel came, and Saul went
to greet him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? Saul answered, When
I saw that the people were scattered from me, and thou didst not come at
the time appointed, and the Philistines were encamped at Michmash, I
said, The Philistines will come down upon me to Gilgal, and I have not
made supplication to Jehovah, so I forced myself and offered the
burnt-sacrifice. Then Samuel said, Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast
not observed the command of thy God which he commanded thee. Jehovah
would have established thy kingdom over Israel for ever, but now thy
kingdom shall not endure."[236] The more recent account puts the
contention at a far later date. When Saul marched against the Amalekites
Samuel bade him "curse" everything that belonged to Amalek, man and
woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. After the return
of the victorious army Samuel came to Gilgal, and said, What meaneth
this bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen in my ears? Saul answered, I
have obeyed the voice of Jehovah and have gone the way which Jehovah
sent me, and I have brought with me Agag the king of Amalek, and have
"cursed" Amalek. But from the spoil the people have taken the best of
what was "cursed," in order to sacrifice to Jehovah, thy God, at Gilgal.
Samuel answered in the tone of Isaiah, Hath Jehovah delight in
burnt-offerings and sacrifice? To obey is better than sacrifice. Saul
confesses that he has sinned and transgressed the command of Jehovah and
the word of Samuel, "for I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
And now forgive me my sin, and turn with me, that I may entreat Jehovah.
But Samuel said, I will not turn back with thee; because thou hast
rejected the word of Jehovah he will reject thee from being king over
Israel. Samuel turned to go, but Saul caught the hem of his garment and
said, I have sinned, yet honour me before the elders of my people, and
before Israel, and return with me, that I may offer prayer before
Jehovah. Then Samuel turned behind Saul, and Saul offered prayer before
Jehovah. And Samuel bade them bring Agag the king of Amalek before him,
and said, As thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be
childless among women; and he hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah at
Gilgal. And Samuel went up to Ramathaim and saw Saul no more."[237] In
the narrative of the first text Saul appears to be thoroughly justified
by the most urgent necessity; in the narrative of the second text he
acknowledges openly and completely that he has sinned. It may have been
the case that Saul did not appear to Samuel sufficiently submissive to
his utterances, which for him were the utterances of God; that he wished
to see the rights and power of a king exercised in a different manner
and in a different feeling from that in which Saul discharged his
office.
More dangerous for Saul than any reproach or coldness on the part of
Samuel was the contention which he had in the latter years of his reign
with another man, whom he had himself raised to eminence--a strife which
cost Saul the reward of his laborious and brave reign, and his house the
throne; while Israel lost the fruits of great efforts, and the fortunes
of the people were again put to the hazard.
Of the family of Perez[238] of the tribe of Judah, David was the
youngest (eighth) son of a man of some possessions, Jesse of Bethlehem.
He was entrusted with the care and keeping of the sheep and goats of his
father in the desert pastures on the Dead Sea, and his shepherd life had
caused him to grow up in a rough school. It had made him hardy, it had
given strength and suppleness to his body; he had gained a delight in
adventure and unshaken courage in danger. In defence of the flocks he
had withstood bears and ventured into conflict even with a lion. In the
loneliness and silence which surrounded him he practised singing and
playing; the severe and solemn nature of that region was adapted to
impress great thoughts on his mind, to give force and elevation to his
spirit. From such a school he came into the ranks of the warriors of
Saul; the bold deeds which even in his youth he had performed against
the Philistines induced Saul to make David one of "the brave," whom he
took into his house (about 1040 B.C.).[239] He also made him one of his
captains,[240] and frequently sent him out against the Philistines; in
these inroads he fought with more success than other chieftains.[241]
Thus David was a favourite in the eyes of the people and the servants
of the king, and Jonathan, Saul's eldest son, made a covenant with
David, because "he loved him as his own soul."[242] In the house of Saul
David was trusted and honoured before the other warriors; he was his
armour-bearer and the chief of a troop of 1000 men. After Jonathan and
Abner, David was nearest the king; he had the complete confidence of
Saul, and at length became his son-in-law.[243]
Some years afterwards (about 1036 B.C.[244]), Saul conceived a suspicion
of the man whom he had elevated to such a height. He imagined that his
son-in-law intended to seize the throne from himself, or contest the
succession with his son Jonathan. According to the older account it was
jealousy of the military renown of David, which threatened to obscure
his own, that roused Saul against David;[245] according to the later,
Saul feared the partiality which the people displayed towards David. He
says to Jonathan, "So long as the son of Jesse lives, thou and thy
kingdom will not continue."[246] According to the same account an evil
spirit came over Saul, he was beside himself in the house and threw a
spear at David, who played the harp.[247] David avoided the cast: he
fled to Samuel at Ramathaim into the dwellings of the seers,[248] and
from thence escaped to Achish, the prince of the Philistines of
Gath.[249] In the older account also it is an evil spirit of Jehovah
which comes over Saul, and causes him to thrust with his spear at David
while he is playing the harp. David escapes into his house. At Saul's
command the house is surrounded; and David is to be slain the next
morning. But Michal, the daughter of Saul, David's wife, let him down
from a window, and in his place she put the teraphim, _i.e._ the image
of the deity, into the bed, covered it with a coverlet, laid the net of
goat's hair on the face, and gave out that David was sick. David
meanwhile flies to Nob (in the land of Benjamin), where was set up a
gilded image of Jehovah, before which a company of priests served, and
at their head Ahimelech, a great-grandson of Eli,[250] who had
previously inquired of Jehovah for David.[251] Ahimelech gave David the
sacred loaves, and a sword which was consecrated there, and from hence,
according to this account, David escaped to Achish. Saul reproached his
daughter for aiding David, and said, "Why hast thou allowed my enemy to
escape?" Then he gave her to wife to Phalti of Gallim.
We are not in a position to decide whether David really pursued
ambitious designs; whether, as a matter of fact, he conspired with the
priests against Saul and his house, as Saul assumed; whether Saul saw
through his designs and plots, or suspected him without reason.[252]
David was not content with escaping the anger and pursuit of Saul, with
placing himself and his family in security. He repaired to the enemies
of his land, the Philistines, who would not have accepted at once an
opponent who had done them grievous injury, if he had not openly broken
with Saul and given them to suppose that henceforth he would support
their struggle against Saul and Israel. Yet David did not bring his
father and mother, on whom Saul could have taken vengeance, out of the
land to Gath, where they might have been a pledge of his fidelity to the
Philistines; he put them in the hands of the king of Moab, and also
entered into relations with the king of the Ammonites.[253] It was
probably with the consent of the Philistines that David returned from
Gath into the land of Judah, and there threw himself into the wild
regions by the Dead Sea, where he had previously pastured his father's
sheep and goats, in order to bring his own tribe of Judah into arms
against the king sprung from the small tribe of Benjamin.[254] The cave
of Adullam was the place of gathering. His brothers, the whole house of
his father, came, and a prophet of the name of Gad, "and all oppressed
persons, and any one who had a creditor and was of a discontented
spirit," and "David was their chief, and had under him 400 men."[255]
"Saul heard that all men knew about David and the men who were with him,
and sent out to bring before him Ahimelech and the house of his father
and all the priests of Nob." The king sat on the height near Gibeah
under the tamarisk, with his spear in his hand and his servants round
him. "Why hast thou conspired against me," he said to Ahimelech, "thou
and the son of Jesse, that he has rebelled against me. Thou shalt die,
and the house of thy father." And he commanded his body-guard who stood
near him: "Come up and slay the priests of Jehovah, their hand is with
David." Then 85 men were slain who wore the linen tunic; and Nob, the
city of the priests, Saul smote with the edge of the sword; one only,
Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech, escaped with the image of Jehovah to
David.[256]
David had no doubt calculated on greater success in the tribe of Judah.
So long as his following was confined to four or six hundred men, he
could only live a robber life with this troop. But by this course he
would have roused against himself those whom he robbed, and strengthened
the attachment to Saul. So he attempted to keep a middle path. He sent
to Nabal, a rich man at Carmel near Hebron (p. 127), who possessed 3000
sheep and 1000 goats, a descendant of that Caleb who had once founded
himself a kingdom here with his sword (I. 505), and bade his messengers
say: David has taken nothing of thy flocks, send him therefore food for
him and his people. But Nabal answered: "Who is David, and who is the
son of Jesse? There are now many servants who run away from their
masters." Then David set out in the night to fall upon Nabal's house and
flocks. On the way Abigail, Nabal's wife, met him. In fear of the
freebooters she had caused some slaughtered sheep, loaves, and pitchers
of wine, some figs and cakes of raisins, to be laid on asses in order
to bring them secretly into David's camp. Praised be thy wisdom, woman,
said David: by the life of Jehovah, if thou hadst not met me there would
not have been alive at break of day a single male of Nabal and his
house. Nabal died ten days after this incident. David saw that such a
wealthy possession in this region could not but be advantageous. Saul's
daughter was lost to him; he sent, therefore, some servants to Abigail
to Carmel. They said, David has sent us to thee to take thee to him to
wife. Abigail stood up, bowed herself with her face to earth, and said:
Behold, thy handmaid is ready to wash the feet of the servants of thy
master. Then she set out with five of her maids, and followed the
servants of David and became his wife.[257] As a fact this marriage
appears to have furthered the undertaking of David; the places in the
south of Judah, Aroer, Hormah, Ramoth, Jattir, Eshtemod, and even
Hebron, declared for him.[258] From this point David sought to force his
way farther to the north, and possessed himself of the fortified town of
Kegilah (Keilah).[259]
When Saul was told that David was in Kegilah, he said: God has delivered
him into my hand in that he has shut himself up in a city with gates and
bars. He set out against Kegilah. David commanded Abiathar the priest,
who had fled to him from Nob with the image of Jehovah, to bring the
image, and David inquired of the image: Will the men of Kegilah deliver
me and my followers into the hand of Saul? Jehovah, God of Israel,
announce this to me. And Jehovah said, They will deliver thee.[260] Then
David despaired of remaining in the city and fled; he retired again into
the desert by the Dead Sea near Ziph and Maon. But Saul pursued and
overtook him; nothing but a mountain separated David's troop from the
king; David was already surrounded and lost, when the news was brought
to Saul, "Hasten and come, for the Philistines are in the land." This
was no doubt an incursion made by the Philistines in aid of the
hardly-pressed rebels. Saul abandoned the pursuit and went against the
Philistines: David called the mountain the rock of escape.[261] When the
king had driven back the Philistines he took 3000 men out of the army to
crush the rebellion utterly. David had retired farther to the east, on
the shore of the Dead Sea, in the neighbourhood of Engedi, to the "rock
of the goat," and there he was so closely shut in by Saul that he had to
despair of remaining in Judah. He escaped with his troop to the
Philistines: the rebellion was at an end.[262]
David's attempt to induce the tribe of Judah to fall away from Saul was
entirely wrecked. Driven from the ground on which he had raised the
standard of revolt, he no longer scrupled to enter formally into the
service of the Philistines, and these must have welcomed the aid of a
brave and skilful leader, who, though once their enemy, had already in
Judah engaged the arms of Saul, the weight of which they had so often
felt, and which had taken from them their dominion over Israel. Achish,
king of Gath, to whom David again fled, was of opinion "that David had
made himself to stink among his people, Israel, and would be his servant
for ever;" and gave the border city Ziklag to be a dwelling for him and
his band of freebooters.[263] David now settled as a vassal of Achish at
Ziklag. At his command he was compelled to take the field, and also to
deliver up a part of the spoil which he obtained.[264] Thus from the
land of the Philistines, with his band, which here became strengthened
by the discontented in Israel[265] who fled to him over the border,
David carried on a petty war against Saul and his country. In these
campaigns David was wise enough to spare his former adherents in Judah,
the cities which had once declared for him, and his attacks were only
directed against the adherents of Saul; in secret he even maintained his
connection with his party in Judah, and to the elders of the cities
which clung to him he sent presents out of the booty won in his raids
and plundering excursions.[266]
David had already lived more than a year in Ziklag,[267] when the
Philistines assembled all their forces against Saul. When the princes of
the Philistines marshalled their army, and caused it to march past in
troops, David and his men also came among the soldiers of Achish. Then
the other princes said to Achish: What need of these Hebrews? Let not
David go to the battle; he may become a traitor, and go over to his
master, in order to win favour with Saul at the price of our heads.
Achish trusted David, and said: He has already dwelt with me for a time,
for years; to this day I have found nothing in him. But the other
princes insisted on their demand; perhaps they remembered the day of
Michmash, when Saul had obtained his first victory over the Philistines
with the aid of the Hebrews in their camp. When Achish announced to
David that he could not accompany the army, he answered: What have I
done, and what hast thou found in thy servant since I came to thee to
this day, that I should not fight against the enemies of my king? In
spite of his earnest desire, David was sent back.[268]
The army of the Philistines passed to the north, through the land of
Ephraim, into the land of Issachar, and encamped at Shunem in the plain
of Jezreel. On Mount Gilboa, over against them, Saul was encamped with
the army of the Israelites.[269] The battle broke out, and the contest
was severe. Saul saw his sons Abinadab and Melchishua, and finally
Jonathan himself, fall; the Israelites retired, and the archers of the
enemy pressed on the king. Saul refused to fly, and survive the death of
his sons and his first defeat. He called to his armour-bearer: Draw thy
sword and slay me, that these uncircumcised may not come upon me and
maltreat me. But the faithful comrade would not lift his hand against
his master. Then Saul threw himself upon his sword, and the
armour-bearer followed the example of the king. The army of the
Israelites was scattered in every direction. The Philistines rejoiced
when they found the corpse of Saul on Mount Gilboa. They took the armour
from the dead king, and sent it round their whole land, that every one
might be convinced that the dreaded leader of Israel was no longer
living. Then the armour was laid up in the temple of Astarte. The
Philistines cut off the head of the corpse and hung it up as a trophy in
the temple of Dagon; the trunk and the corpses of the three sons of Saul
were set up in the market-place of Beth-shan, not far from the field of
battle, in order to show the Israelites that they had nothing more to
hope from Saul and his race (1033 B.C.).[270]
Israel was benumbed with terror. The nurse let the young son of
Jonathan, Mephibosheth, fall to the ground when she heard the news of
Gilboa. Many retired beyond the Jordan before the Philistines; others
hastened to Ziklag, to place themselves under David's protection. But
from Jabesh in Gilead, which Saul had once rescued from the most
grievous distress, valiant men set out over the Jordan to Beth-shan.
Here, at night, they took the corpses of Saul and his three sons from
the market-place, brought them to Jabesh, and buried them under the
tamarisk, and the inhabitants of Jabesh fasted and lamented seven days
for Saul's death.[271] The Israelites had reason enough to sorrow and
lament for Saul. From one of the songs of lamentation sung in these days
it is convincingly clear what this man had done for them. "The gazelle,
O Israel," so it was sung at that time, "is stricken on thy heights!
Fallen are thy heroes! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the
streets of Ascalon, lest the daughter of the Philistine rejoice, lest
the daughter of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let
there be no dew nor rain upon you, nor offerings of first-fruits! For
there the shield of the mighty was 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, stronger than
lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you delicately
in purple, and put ornaments of gold on your garments. How are the
mighty fallen in battle."[272]
A single stroke had annihilated all that had been obtained in long and
toilsome struggles. The Philistines were again masters on this side of
Jordan as in the unhappy times before Saul. But in spite of the fall of
the hero who had been the defence of Israel and the terror of the
enemies, the monarchy remained, so firmly had Saul established it.
Ishbosheth, the youngest son of Saul, had escaped the battle; with
Abner, the general, he had found safety beyond the Jordan. Here he took
up his abode at Machanaim, and the tribes on the other side of the
Jordan recognised him as their king. Abner's sword was a strong support
for Ishbosheth, and the adherence of the Israelites to Saul's family
soon permitted him to force his way from Machanaim over the Jordan.
Here, also, amid the arms of the Philistines, Ishbosheth was recognised
as king. Thus Abner's courage and bravery succeeded in wresting the
fruits of the victory at Gilboa from the Philistines, and liberating
from their yoke first Ephraim and Benjamin, and then the whole region of
the northern tribes.[273]
While Abner was engaged in preserving the remnants of Saul's dominion
for his son, and in driving the Philistines out of the land, David
looked after his own interests. The fresh terror of the overthrow at
Gilboa had driven many Israelites to Ziklag. David's name stood high
among the warriors of Israel, and protection against the Philistines was
certain to be found with their vassal. The places in the tribe of Judah
which had formerly joined David now again resorted to him, and the
tribe of Judah had previously been subject to the Philistines longer
than any other, and was more accustomed to their dominion. As the
tradition tells us, David inquired of Jehovah whether he should go from
Ziklag into one of the cities of Judah, and Jehovah answered: Go to
Hebron. This was done. "And the men of Judah there anointed David king
of the house of Judah, for only the house of Judah adhered to
David."[274] Thus David, after Saul's death, succeeded in the attempt
which had failed in Saul's lifetime; he established an independent
monarchy in the tribe of Judah. Here he ruled at Hebron at first
quietly, under the protection of the Philistines.[275] But when Abner
had again wrested the north and centre of the land from the hands of the
Philistines, when Ishbosheth's rule again united the whole land as far
as the tribe of Judah, he turned his arms not more against the
Philistines than against their vassal at Hebron in order to complete the
liberation of Israel.
"The strife was long between the house of Saul and the house of
David,"--so runs the older account.[276] Of the events of this war
between Judah and the rest of the tribes, we only know that on a
certain day Joab at the head of David's men, and Abner at the head of
the men of Ishbosheth, strove fiercely at the pool of Gibeon, and Joab's
brother Asahel was slain by Abner. For several years the war continued
without any decisive result, till a division arose between Ishbosheth
and Abner which gave David the advantage, and finally placed him on the
throne of Saul. Ishbosheth appears to have become distrustful of Abner,
to whom he owed everything. When Abner took Rizpah, the concubine of
Saul, to himself, Ishbosheth thought that he intended in this way to
establish a right to the throne, in order to wrest the dominion from
himself, and did not conceal his anger.[277] Then Abner turned from the
man he had exalted and entered into a secret negotiation with David.
This was received with joy by David. Crafty as he was, he first demanded
that his wife Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom Saul after David's
rebellion had married to Phalti, should be sent back to him. David had
found out the attachment of the Israelites to the house of Saul, and was
no doubt of opinion that nothing would sooner help him to the throne
than the renewed connection with Saul's family; if none of the
descendants of Saul survived but this daughter he would be his
legitimate heir. Abner sent Michal, and went himself to Hebron in order
to arrange about the transfer of the kingdom. They were agreed; Abner
had done his service. He was already on his way home to Machanaim, when
Joab, the captain of David, called him back. He came, and Joab took him
aside under the gate of Hebron, as though he had something to tell him
in secret; instead, he thrust his sword through his body. David asserted
his innocence and lamented Abner's death. Abner's body was buried
solemnly at Hebron. David followed the bier in sackcloth, but Joab
remained unpunished.[278] He slew Abner because the latter had
previously slain his brother Asahel at Gibeon; but this was done in
honourable fight, not by assassination.
When the announcement of Abner's death came to Machanaim "Ishbosheth's
hands were numbed, and all Israel was troubled." The Israelites lamented
Abner's death. "Must Abner die as a godless man dieth?" they sang. "Thy
hands were never bound, thy feet never fettered; thou hast fallen as a
man falls before the children of iniquity."[279] The pillar of the
kingdom was broken. Then two captains of the army of Ishbosheth,
brothers of the tribe of Benjamin, hoped to gain favour with David.
While Ishbosheth was resting at midday in his chamber on his bed, they
entered unobserved into his house, cut off his head, and brought it
hastily to Hebron to David. This murder carried David quickly to his
goal, but he would not praise those who committed it; he caused them
both to be executed.
The throne of Saul was empty. David, the husband of his daughter, was at
the head of a not inconsiderable power; whom could the tribes who had
obeyed Ishbosheth raise to the throne except him, if an end was to be
put to the pernicious division, and the people were again to be united
under one government? The elders of the tribes were intelligent enough
to value rightly this position of affairs. Hence the people met together
at Hebron; in full assembly David was raised to be king of Israel, and
anointed by the elders.[280] Eight years had passed since Saul and his
three elder sons fell on Gilboa. All was full of joy, union, and hope
that better times would come again after the end of the long strife
(1025 B.C.).[281]
At length David stood at the goal which he had pursued steadfastly under
many changes of fortune. But there were still some male descendants of
Saul in existence. The Hivites of Gibeon cherished a deadly hatred to
the race of Saul, because Saul's hand had been heavy upon them "in his
zeal for the sons of Israel." David offered to "avenge the wrong which
Saul had done to them."[282] They demanded, that as their land had borne
no fruit for three years, seven men of the race of Saul should be given
to them, that they might "hang them up before Jehovah at Gibeah," the
dwelling-place of Saul. There were just seven male descendants of Saul
remaining: two sons by Rizpah, his concubine, and five grandchildren,
whom Merab, the eldest daughter of Saul, had borne to Adriel. These
David took and "gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they
hanged them up on the hill before Jehovah." There was still another
descendant of Saul's remaining, Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan; but
he was only 10 or 12 years of age, and was, moreover, lame of both feet,
from the fall which he had suffered in the hands of his nurse. David
also thought of the close friendship which he had contracted in earlier
days with Jonathan; he gave to Mephibosheth Saul's land at Gibeah, and
arranged that Saul and Jonathan's bones should be brought from Jabesh to
Zelah, near Gibeah, and buried where Kish, Saul's father, lay. In the
tribe of Benjamin, to which Saul belonged, and among those connected
with his house, the acts of David to the house of Saul were not
forgotten; they hated David, the "man of blood."
FOOTNOTES:
[235] 1 Sam. vii. 15.
[236] 1 Sam. x. 8; xiii. 8-15.
[237] 1 Sam. xv.
[238] Ruth iv. 18-22.
[239] In 2 Sam. v. 4, 5 it is stated that David when he was raised at
Hebron to be king of Judah was 30 years old. This took place 1033 B.C.
(p. 113, note); David must therefore have been born 1063 B.C., and could
not have marched out to battle before 1043 B.C.
[240] 1 Sam. xviii. 5.
[241] The tale of the battle of David with the giant Goliath appears to
have arisen out of a later conflict of David when king with a mighty
Philistine. In 2 Sam. xxi. 18-22 we are told, "And there was again a
battle of Philistines at Gob. Then Elhanan, the son of Jair Orgim, a
Bethlehemite, slew Goliath of Gath; the shaft of whose spear was as a
weaver's beam." Shortly before it is stated: "David and his servants
strove with the Philistines, and David was weary, and Ishbi thought to
slay David--the weight of his spear was 300 shekels; then Abishai (the
brother of Joab) aided the king, and slew the Philistine," 2 Sam. xxi.
15-17. From the conflict with a giant which David had to undergo when
king, and the slaughter of Goliath of Gath by Elhanan, a fellow-townsman
of David's from Bethlehem, the legend may have arisen that David himself
slew a great giant. This legend was then transferred by the theocratic
narrative into David's boyhood; in this way he was marked from the
beginning as the chosen instrument of Jehovah. The statement in 1 Chron.
xxi. 5 cannot be made to tell against this view, which in order to
explain the contradiction between the First and Second Books of Samuel
explains the giant whom Elhanan slew, the shaft of whose spear was like
a weaver's beam, to be a brother of Goliath; the less so inasmuch as the
passage from the Book of Samuel is repeated word for word with this
addition, while the battle of David with Ishbi is omitted. If David
really slew a distinguished warrior of Gath in Saul's time, it is the
more difficult to explain how he could afterwards fly to the prince of
Gath of all others, and enter into such close relations with him. The
often-mentioned national song, "Saul has slain his thousands and David
his tens of thousands," is scarcely applicable to the slaying of a
giant, however great he might be, and probably comes from the time of
David's reign when he had really gained more brilliant victories than
Saul.
[242] 1 Sam. xviii. 3.
[243] 1 Sam. xvi. 22; xviii. 5; xxii. 14.
[244] This date may be assumed, if we put the death of Saul in the year
1033 B.C. (p. 113), since David's rebellion in Judah lasted a
considerable time, and he afterwards remained at Ziklag at least 16
months, 1 Sam. xxvii. 7; xxix. 3.
[245] 1 Sam. xviii. 9.
[246] 1 Sam. xviii. 16; xx. 31.
[247] 1 Sam. xviii. 11.
[248] As Najoth, or rather Newajoth, means dwellings, the habitations of
the prophet's disciples must be meant.
[249] 1 Sam. xix. 18-24; xxi. 11-15.
[250] 1 Sam. xxii. 9.
[251] 1 Sam. xiv. 3.
[252] The older text, 1, xxvi. 19, represents David as saying to Saul:
"If Jehovah hath stirred thee against me, let him accept an offering,
but if men, cursed be they before Jehovah." In the Books of Samuel the
relations of Saul and David are strangely confused, for reasons which
are not far to seek. The older account of the priests and the later one
of the prophets, which are mixed together in these books, had equally
reason to place in as favourable a light as possible the founder of the
power of Israel, of the united worship, the minstrel of the psalms, the
progenitor of the kings of Judah, and to put him in the right as against
Saul and the house of Saul. To the older narrative belongs the
description of David's shepherd life, his battle with the giant, his
rise as a warrior,--the intention is to show that Jehovah is strong in
the weak. The shepherd-boy comes into the camp in order to bring bread
to his brethren and cheese to the captain. His brethren are angry that
he has left the sheep, and wish to send him back, but he will fight with
the giant who has defied the army of the living God. Saul dissuades him
from the contest, but David persists, refuses armour, and goes forth in
trust on Jehovah, who gives not the victory by spear and shield. By this
victory he is marked as the chosen instrument of Jehovah. In both
accounts Saul loses the favour of Jehovah by disobedience to Samuel.
According to the later text, Samuel, when he had broken with Saul owing
to the incomplete "cursing" of Amalek, took the horn of oil and anointed
the youngest son of Jesse, who was fetched from the sheep, king over
Israel amid his brethren. When this had been done Saul's servants bring
David as a brave hero and warrior, "prudent in speech, a comely person,
cunning in playing," 1 Sam. xvi. Yet Samuel had no right to place kings
over the Israelites, and if he went so far in his opposition to Saul, he
made himself responsible for the rebellion; if he really intended this,
he would have set up some other than a shepherd-boy against Saul. If, on
the other hand, David was really anointed, Saul was quite justified in
pursuing him. Yet it was with this anointment, as with that of Saul; no
one knew anything of it, and David himself makes no use of this divine
election, not even when he organises the rebellion in Judah, nor after
Saul's death at Hebron, nor in the struggle against Ishbosheth, who was
not in any case anointed, nor even after the death of Ishbosheth: he is
after this chosen by the people in Hebron and anointed king over Israel.
It is only the Philistines in Gath who know anything of David's royal
dignity, when he comes to them for the first time, 1 Sam. xxi. 11. We
see plainly that this anointment is a careless interpolation of the
prophetic revision, to which the verses 11-15 of the chapter quoted
undoubtedly belong, just as chap. xvi. is intended to legitimise David.
The same account represents Saul as thrusting twice with his javelin at
David, xviii. 10, 11, on the very day after he has slain the giant. As
though nothing had happened, David continues in the house of Saul, and
Saul confers on him still greater honours and dignities. In the older as
well as in the later account this is turned round so as to seem that
Saul gave these to David as a "snare," that David might fall by the
hands of the Philistines, xviii. 17, 25; and with this view Saul
requires 100 foreskins of the Philistines as the price of Michal. It is
obvious that Saul had other means, more certain to accomplish his
object, at his command to destroy David, if he really intended it;
according to the older account Saul requests Jonathan and his men,
though in vain, to slay David, xix. 1. When the attempt at assassination
and the open breach has taken place in both narratives, Saul, according
to the prophetic account, marvels nevertheless that David does not come
to table, xx. 26, 27. To this text also belongs the further statement
that when Jonathan excused David, Saul thrust at him also with his
spear, xx. 33. In the older account Ahimelech, who had aided David in
his flight, makes the excuse that he knew not that David fled before the
king. "David was the most honoured among the friends of Saul:" no one
therefore knew anything of these plots and attempts of Saul upon David.
Every one sees that this is impossible. Jonathan knows David better than
Saul, and always defends him against his father; then David himself
calls on Jonathan to kill him if there is any wickedness in him, 1, xx.
8. The story of the arrows is very poetical, but the sign is quite
unnecessary, since they afterwards converse with each other, 1, xx.
18-43. In the older account also of the occurrence in the desert by the
Dead Sea, the prophetic account has inserted a visit of Jonathan to
David. Jonathan strengthens David's courage although he is in rebellion
against his father. "Fear not," Jonathan says to him, "the hand of my
father will not reach thee, thou shalt be king over Israel," xxiii.
15-18. Saul was something different from the madman who betwixt sane
intervals and reconciliations is constantly making fresh attacks on
David's life, whether innocent or guilty. Even the most complete
recognition of all that David established at a later time for Israel,
and with an influence extending far beyond Israel, does not make it a
duty to overlook the way in which he rose to his eminence.
[253] 1 Sam. xxii. 3; 2, x. 1.
[254] In 1 Sam. xxix. 3, Achish says of David, "He has now been with me
for years."
[255] So the older account, 1 Sam. xxii. 1-5.
[256] So the older story, 1 Sam. xxii. The priestly point of view from
which it is written causes it, in order to prove the innocence of the
priests, to represent David as saying on his flight to Ahimelech that he
had a hasty mission from the king, so that Ahimelech can explain to Saul
that he knew nothing about the flight. From the same point of view we
must derive the statement that the body-guard hesitated to lay hands on
the holy men, and that an Edomite slew them. That the punishment of Nob
took place long after David's flight and rebellion, is clear from the
fact that the fugitive Abiathar finds David already in possession of
Kegilah, 1 Sam. xxii. 20; xxiii. 6, 7.
[257] 1 Sam. xxv. 2-12, 18-42.
[258] 1 Sam. xxx. 26-31.
[259] That David saved and won Kegilah from the Philistines, and
obtained a great victory over them, as we find it in the older account
(1 Sam. xxiii. 1-5), is more than improbable. David certainly could not
undertake to fight with Saul and the Philistines at one time with 600
men. How could he meet an army of the Philistines in the field, when he
does not trust himself to maintain the walls of Kegilah against Saul
with his troop. The citizens of Kegilah would hardly have been prepared
to give him up, if just before he had done them such a kindness.
Finally, this battle contradicts the position in which we find David
before and afterwards with regard to the Philistines. Achish at any rate
has unbounded confidence in David since his desertion, and will even
make him "keeper of his head," 1 Sam. xxviii. 2.
[260] 1 Sam. xxiii. 9-13.
[261] 1 Sam. xxiii. 25-28.
[262] So the older account, 1 Sam. xxvi. 1, 2; xxvii. 1-3. While Saul
has cast his spear at David, and pursues him everywhere with unwearying
energy in order to slay him, David gives him his life. According to the
older account, Saul sleeps in his encampment in the wilderness of Ziph.
David with Abishai secretly enters this, and he distinctly refuses, when
urged by Abishai to slay Saul, to listen to him, because Saul is an
"anointed of Jehovah," takes the spear and the water-bowl of the king,
plants himself on a mountain in the distance, and from this reproaches
Abner that he has been so careless in providing for the safety of the
king. Saul is again touched, acknowledges his sins and follies, begs
David to return, and finally gives him his blessing on his undertaking.
David upon this declares that his life will be regarded before Jehovah
as he has regarded Saul's life, and escapes to the Philistines.
According to the prophetic account, Saul "covers his feet" in a cave in
the desert of Engedi, in which are concealed David and his men. These
urge David to slay Saul, but he replies, "Far be it from me to lay my
hand on the Lord's anointed," and merely cuts off the corner of Saul's
upper garment. When Saul awakes and goes out of the cave, David hurries
after him, prostrates himself, and proves by the piece in his hand that
those did him wrong who said that he sought to do Saul mischief, "but
thou art seeking to take my life." Saul weeps, acknowledges that David
is more just than he is; may Jehovah reward him (David) for this day. "I
know," Saul continues, "that thou wilt be king, and the kingdom of
Israel will continue in thy hand." Let David only swear to him not to
destroy his seed. This David does, 1 Sam. xxiv. 4-23. If this event, in
itself all but impossible, ever took place, it must have had some
consequences; yet there is no change in the relations of Saul and David,
Saul continues to pursue David. If David took the oath not to destroy
the descendants of Saul, he broke it.
[263] So the older account, 1 Sam. xxvii. 12.
[264] 1 Sam. xxvii. 6, 12.
[265] Chron. xiii. 1-7, 20.
[266] 1 Sam. xxx. 26-30; _supra_, p. 137. In order to wash David clean
from the reproach of fighting with the Philistines against his people,
it is observed (xxvii. 8-11) that David always marched against the
tribes of the desert, that he cut down the prisoners, and then reported
to Achish that he "had invaded the south of Judah." The position of
Ziklag was ill-suited for attacks on the desert, and Achish had not
given him any commands to fight against the children of the desert. At a
later time Achish says of David: "Since his desertion I have found
nothing in him," xxix. 3, 6; he will make him even the protector of his
own life (1, xxviii. 2), and such deceit as is here attributed to David
presupposes that Achish and all the rest of the Philistines were blind.
[267] 1 Sam. xxvii. 7, "one year and four months:" xxix. 3, Achish says,
"He has been with me--for years."
[268] According to the older account, 1 Sam. xxviii. 2, when Achish
requires him to march with him against Saul, David replies, "So shalt
thou behold what thy servant will do." The narrative of the sending back
of David at the wish of the remaining princes, and David's protest
against it, belong also to the older narrative. This is repeated in
Chronicles (1, xiii. 19) very emphatically, and without any motive in
the context, so that it might be possible to accept the same view which
represents David as constantly marching against the desert from Ziklag.
For the moral estimate of David it is sufficient that it did not rest
with him to join in the battle.
[269] The story of the witch of Endor (xxviii. 3 ff.) belongs to the
later account. To begin with, this account contradicts itself; we are
told in the introduction (verse 3) that Saul had removed the
necromancers and "wise men" out of Israel, a statement which is repeated
in the course of the story (verse 9). Nevertheless Saul causes a witch
to be sought out, because when already encamped before the Philistines
"he is in great fear of the enemy." Saul was a brave warrior, who even
in a worse position had never trembled. He sends for this woman in order
to speak with Samuel's ghost. If Saul had any desire to see ghosts, he
would desire to see the ghost of Samuel least of all, for he, according
to the same prophetic account, had anointed David to be king against
Saul (verse 11). Samuel as a ghost has thus a third opportunity for
reproaching Saul, and telling him "that Jehovah had given the kingdom to
David, because he had not satisfied his wrath on Amalek" (p. 129).
[270] 1 Sam. xxxi. 1-11; 1 Chron. x. 10. According to a second account
of the death of Saul in 2 Sam. i. ff., an Amalekite came unexpectedly to
Mount Gilboa. He finds Saul in flight leaning on his spear, and Saul
says to him, "Slay me." The Amalekite does so; takes the crown from the
head of the king, and his bracelets, and then flies to Ziklag in the
territory of the Philistines in order to bring the crown to David. David
causes him to be slain, because "he had lifted up his hand against the
anointed of the Lord." The object of this story is too plain--to bring
the crown of Saul into the hands of David in order to make him the
legitimate king, and at the same time to exhibit David as loyal to Saul
even after his death, and avenging his murder--and the impossibilities
in it are too great. David afterwards permitted the execution of the
remaining descendants of Saul.
[271] 1 Sam. xxxi. 12, 13; 2, xxi. 12.
[272] This lament, which was in the book of Jasher (2 Sam. i. 18), is
ascribed to David. His moral participation in the issue of the battle
must have been most clear to himself; his rebellion and desertion to the
Philistines had weakened Saul's powers of fighting and deprived him of
brave warriors; he had been ready to fight in the army of the
Philistines against Saul and Jonathan. Least of all could David sing,
"Tell it not in Gath," since he himself was in the land of Gath. The
last verse, "I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan," etc., may
certainly have come from David, and may have been added to the lament at
a later time. Thus the whole might appear to be the work of David.
[273] 2 Sam. ii. 8-10.
[274] 2 Sam. ii. 1, 3, 4-10.
[275] This conclusion must be drawn both from the earlier relation to
the Philistines, and from the fact that David during this whole time has
not to fight with the Philistines, whereas afterwards, as soon as he has
united the tribes under his rule, he has to wage the fiercest war with
them; apparently he was supported against Ishbosheth and Abner by the
Philistines in order to put a stop to Abner's advances. Cf. Ewald,
"Geschichte des Volks Israel," 2, 572.
[276] David reigned seven years and six months at Hebron, 2 Sam. iii. 1,
10, 11; 2, v. 4, 5; 1 Kings ii. 11. Ishbosheth's reign is given at two
years only. These two statements can only be brought into harmony by
supposing that Ishbosheth was not acknowledged king of the northern
tribes till five and a half years after Saul's death, _i.e._ Abner
required this time to drive the Philistines out of these regions, or
that David was not acknowledged king of Israel till five and a half
years after the death of Ishbosheth.
[277] 2 Sam. iii. 7.
[278] 2 Sam. iii. 31-39.
[279] This beautiful lament is also ascribed to David: David was the
singer, and, like the Psalms, other songs also come from him. But David
could not speak of Joab and indirectly of himself as a "child of
iniquity."
[280] 2 Sam. v. 1-3.
[281] 1 Chron. xii. 23 ff.
[282] 2 Sam. xxi. 3.