THE RULE OF DAVID.
At the cost of his nation, in collusion with the enemies of his land,
and under the protection of the Philistines, David had paved the way to
dominion over Israel. He had much to make good. He had to cause the way
which led him to the throne to be forgotten, to heal the wounds which
the long contention must have inflicted on his land, to surpass the
great services which Saul had rendered to the Israelites by yet greater
services, by more brilliant exploits, by more firmly-rooted
institutions.
A brave warrior even in early years, David had been afterwards tested
and strengthened by adventures and dangers of every kind; he had
understood how to meet or escape even the most difficult situations. He
had the inclination and power for great things, and was little
scrupulous in the choice of the means which brought him most swiftly and
completely to his object. His vision was clear and wide; clever, crafty,
and quickly decided, he nevertheless knew how to wait when the object
could not be obtained at the moment. It was his in an extraordinary
measure to retain old comrades, to win new ones and attach them to
himself. It was not his intention to be at the beck of the Philistines
longer than he had need of them; with his elevation at Hebron came the
moment for breaking with them. He saw that they would not lose without
a heavy price the preponderance in which his rebellion against Saul, his
leadership in Judah, his struggle against Ishbosheth had again placed
them; that their exasperation would be the deeper and more lasting
because he had deceived the hopes which they had placed in him.
He began his reign with an undertaking which shows the certainty and
width of his views. His dominion over the tribes of Simeon and Judah had
been established for almost eight years, but over the northern tribes it
was recent, and had to be confirmed. The remembrance of Saul was
cherished most warmly in the tribe of Benjamin, which lay next to Judah
on the north. In this land, not far from the northern border of Judah,
was a city of the name of Jebus, inhabited by the Jebusites, a relic of
the old population which at the time of the settlement the Benjaminites
had not been able to overcome.[283] The city stood on steep heights,
surrounded by deep gorges, which formed natural trenches; the walls of
the eastern height on which the citadel stood, Mount Zion, were so
strong that the Jebusites are said to have boasted that the blind and
lame were sufficient to defend them. This city appeared to David
excellently situated for protection against the Philistines and for his
own royal abode; it had the faithful tribes of Judah and Simeon to the
south, and was pushed forward like a fortification into the territory of
Benjamin and the northern tribes. Nor was it useful only in establishing
his dominion over Israel. Even in Saul's reign it had been difficult
when an enemy invaded the open cantons of Israel to find time for
assembling the fighting powers, the levy of the people; there had been
no fortified point on which the first shock of the enemy's onset broke,
no city strongly fortified and of considerable size in which large
numbers could find protection.
Soon after the assembly at Hebron, which had transferred to him the
royal authority over all the tribes of Israel, David set himself to win
this place. First he cut off the water from the city of the Jebusites,
and then Joab with the veteran band of David succeeded in climbing the
wall in a sudden attack. The inhabitants were spared; at any rate a part
of them must have remained, for we afterwards find Jebusites in and
about Jerusalem.[284]
The princes of the Philistines had begun to arm immediately upon the
announcement of David's election to be king of all Israel.[285] David
awaited their approach in the citadel of Zion which he had just
conquered. The Philistines encamped before the city. When they were
scattered in search of plunder in the valley of Rephaim David inquired
of Jehovah whether he should go down against them. The answer was
favourable. The Philistines were surprised and defeated. But they soon
appeared a second time under the walls of Zion, and the oracle of
Jehovah bade David not to go directly against them, but to turn aside
under the balsam trees. If he heard the tops of the trees rustle he was
to hasten on; that was the sign from God that he would go before him to
smite the camp of the Philistines. So it befel. David gained a great
victory and was enabled to pursue the Philistines as far as Gezer.[286]
Yet the war was not decided, but still continued for a long time. Four
battles took place on the borders near Gob and Gath, and many severe
combats had to be fought with the Philistines. From all the traces of
tradition it is clear that this war was the most stubborn and dangerous
of all that David had to wage. In Israel there were stories of the brave
deeds of individual heroes which were accomplished in these battles: of
Abishai, the brother of Joab, who saved the king in battle, when the
mighty Philistine Ishbi thought to overcome him; of Elhanan, who slew
Goliath of Gath; and of the deeds of Jonathan, the nephew of David, and
Sibbechai against the Philistines.[287] At length David succeeded in
"wresting the bridle out of the hand of the Philistines," and "breaking
their horn in pieces;"[288] he drove them back to their old borders.
They had suffered such serious blows that for a long time they abstained
from all further attacks, after they had carried on warfare against the
Hebrews for about 70 years. Yet even David, in spite of this success,
made no serious attempt to advance the borders of Israel towards the
sea, or to subjugate the cities of the Philistines.
When the most pressing danger from the Philistines was over, David
turned his arms to the south and east, against the Amalekites, the
Moabites, and Ammonites, who had once caused so much misery and disaster
to Israel. Against the Amalekites Saul had already accomplished the main
task (p. 127). David smote them with such effect that the name of the
Amalekites is hardly once mentioned afterwards; the remainder of the
race seem to have been amalgamated with the Edomites.[289] David had at
a former time entered into connection with the king of Moab; when he
fled from Saul he placed his parents under his protection. The cause of
the rupture is unknown; we only know that David utterly overthrew the
Moabites and caused two-thirds of the prisoners to be put to death. It
is said that they were compelled to lie down; they were then divided by
a measuring cord into three parts, of which two were slain by iron
threshing-carts being drawn over them, and only a third part were
spared.[290] Nahash, the king of Ammon, with whom David had also
previously been in relations (p. 136), was succeeded by his son Hanon.
This prince insulted David's envoys, he caused their beards to be shaved
off, and their garments to be cut away as high as the middle.
David sent Joab with the levy of the people against the Ammonites to
avenge the insult. Hanon called on the king of Zobah--Saul had already
had to fight against Zobah--and the rulers of Beth-Rehob, Maacah, and
Tob in Syria for assistance. Hadad-Ezer of Zobah sent 20,000 men; from
Tob came 12,000; from Maacah 1000. Joab divided his army, left his
brother Abishai to oppose the Ammonites, and turned himself with picked
men against the Syrians and defeated them before they could join the
Ammonites.[291] After this defeat the Ammonites also retired before
Abishai into their fortified city of Rabbath-Ammon on the Nahr-Ammon.
But in the next spring Hadad-Ezer collected his whole force. David
marched across the Jordan to meet the Syrians, and defeated Hadad-Ezer
in a decisive battle at Helam; the Israelites carried off the chariots
of the enemy for spoil; 1700 horsemen and 20,000 foot-soldiers were
captured.[292] David followed up this victory and overran the cities of
the king of Zobah, when the king of Damascus took the field in aid of
Hadad-Ezer, and the Edomites invaded Judah from the south. David
remained in the field against the Syrians, and sent Joab with only a
part of the army against the Edomites. In the salt valley, at the
southern end of the Dead Sea, Joab and Abishai defeated the Edomites;
12,000 out of 18,000 are said to have fallen on this day.[293] In spite
of this severe defeat the Edomites made a stubborn resistance. Joab, in
continuous struggles which went on for six months, destroyed a great
part of the male population (the son of the king of Edom was carried by
the servants of his father to Egypt), and subjugated the rest of the
inhabitants to the dominion of David. While Joab was fighting in Edom,
David had defeated the men of Damascus and brought the war in the north
to an end. Thoi, the king of Hamath, whom Hadad-Ezer had previously
oppressed, entered into a league with David. Only the Ammonites still
continued to resist. Joab was sent against them in the next year; he
laid their land waste, and took one city after another. The captives
were placed under saws and axes, and burnt in kilns, or slain like the
Moabites under iron threshing-wagons. At length Joab could announce to
David that Rabbath-Ammon, the chief city of the Ammonites, was reduced
to extremities; the king must come to enter into the city. Rabbath was
destroyed (about 1015 B.C.[294]); the inhabitants shared the fate of the
other Ammonite cities. From the Syrian campaign David had brought back a
trophy of 100 war-horses, copper vessels from the cities of Hadad-Ezer
of Zobah which were captured, and finally the golden shields which the
commanders of this king had carried. From Rabbath he brought home the
golden crown of the king of the Ammonites,--it is said to have been a
Kikkar (I. 285) in weight and set with precious stones,--together with
other utensils of silver and gold. The Moabites, the Ammonites, and
Edomites were compelled to pay tribute. Garrisons were put in the strong
places; even Damascus is said to have received a garrison of
Israelites.[295]
After Saul had first saved Israel out of the hand of their oppressors,
after these advantages were lost by the domestic strife, David had now
formed the Israelites into a ruling nation from isolated tribes who had
been so often and so long plundered by their enemies. He had come
victorious out of the most severe struggles. With reason could Israel
now sing: "Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands."
It was a rapid and brilliant transformation. David was master from the
borders of Egypt, the north-east point of the Red Sea, to Damascus. He
was not content with successfully establishing his rule for the moment
by these great and brilliant deeds of arms; he intended to give it a
solid support for the future. He employed the spoils of his victories in
order to fortify more strongly and extend the city which he had chosen
for his metropolis; it was now called the city of David, and afterwards
Jerusalem.[296] On Zion, the citadel of Jerusalem, David caused a royal
palace to be built. In the city the remnant of the Jebusites had been
joined by inhabitants from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. If David
hoped to lessen the disaffection of the tribe of Benjamin by
establishing a royal citadel in their land he had not calculated
wrongly. The sequel shows that Benjamin, which previously held to
Ephraim, now stood fast by Judah.
In possession of a considerable and well-fortified metropolis, and a
strong royal citadel, David was able to rule over Israel with greater
safety and severity than Saul from his rural court at Gibeah. Moreover,
David intended to create independent means and property for the crown,
and kept together what he had won. From the tribute of the subjugated
nations he formed a treasury, which was placed under the care of
Asmaveth. In addition we hear of overseers of the royal gardens,
oliveyards, vineyards, and sycamore plantations, and we learn that David
kept flocks of small cattle, herds of oxen, and camels.[297]
The strongest support of the throne were his selected and thoroughly
devoted troops of warriors. David was accompanied by a body-guard which
was always with him (Saul had had round him some "runners"). It appears
from the name, Pelethites and Cherethites, to have been entirely
composed of foreigners; their leader was Benaiah.[298] The core of the
army was formed not by this body-guard, but by the freebooters who once
gathered round him in the cave of Adullam and at Ziklag, warriors tried
often and in numerous battles. They remained in one body in Jerusalem,
and were maintained by the king. This band--it was apparently about 600
men in number,[299] and in the ranks were also foreigners, Hittites,
Ammonites, Moabites, and others, who formerly associated with David, or
were attracted by the fame of his deeds--was called the troop of the
mighty, "Gibborim;" accompanied by armour-bearers and servants, they
took the field. They were divided into three portions, under three
leaders; at their head fought 30 selected heroes: Abishai, Joab's
brother, was the captain.[300] As simple peasants, the Israelites had
always fought on foot, without horses and horsemen; David, after the
pattern of the Syrians, introduced chariots. Josheb Bassebet was the
captain of the war-chariots.[301] Along with the Gibborim, the chariots
were intended to give, as trained divisions, firmness and support to the
levy of the whole people.
In order to regulate the levy, Joab, the chief captain, with some of his
subordinates, was commanded to enumerate and write down all the fighting
men from the Jabbok to Mount Hermon, and from Dan to Beersheba. Nine
months and twenty days were required by the captains for this task. When
the muster was completed, captains were appointed for hundreds and
thousands; but in order that the whole mass of the people need not be
called out on every campaign and every attack of the enemy,--in which
hitherto, for the most part, only those who were eager for battle had
engaged, while those who preferred peace and rest remained at home,--the
whole number of the fighting men was divided into twelve portions, of
which each, in number 24,000 men, was pledged to service for one month
in the year. Each of these divisions had a separate captain. As occasion
required, several of the divisions, or all, might be called out. If we
may trust these accounts, Israel had at that time 300,000 fighting men,
and consequently a population of about two millions.[302]
Hitherto the descendants of the oldest families, the heads of the
tribes, the successors of those who in the conquest of the land had won
for themselves separate localities and valleys, had enjoyed a
pre-eminent position within the circle of the various tribes (p. 91). To
them, or to brave warriors, the Israelites had gone,--to men who had
become of importance owing to their possessions, and who had the
reputation of passing sound judgments,--or to priests and soothsayers,
when they sought for advice, protection, and justice. Since the
establishment of the monarchy the king was the supreme judge. David
exercised this office as Saul had done.[303] But though he retained the
right of deciding in the last instance, David seems to have appointed
the princes and judges of the tribes; he charged certain of his
adherents with the duty of giving justice to the tribes and communities,
although, of course, every man had the right of appeal from his decision
to the decision of the king. Jurisdiction and administration not yet
being separated, we may suppose that a regular government, which secured
to the throne the execution of its will and of the orders given, was
established by this means already in David's reign. We find that, beside
the captains of the army, the officers of the house and treasury, the
king had a chancellor, a scribe, and overseer of the taxes. Ahithophel
was the man on whose advice David mainly depended; his most trusted
friend was Hushai; and in the last twenty years of his life the prophet
Nathan enjoyed a high place in his favour.[304]
It was a marvellous career that lay behind David. He had grown up in a
hardy youth; early approved as a brave warrior and skilful leader, he
was then raised to the side of Saul and Jonathan; after this he
experienced the most sudden reverse of fortune, and at length by very
perplexed paths he reached the highest stage. On this he had been able
to retrieve many mistakes; he came victorious out of every conflict.
Saul's deeds were surpassed, and Israel was proud of the successes of
David and the respect which he won for her. He had securely established
his authority; it was founded so firmly that the crown must pass to his
descendants. The religious feeling which impelled him to inquire of
Jehovah before every undertaking, which brought him at an early period
into connection with the seers and priests, could not but increase as he
looked back upon the course of his life. Who had greater reason than he
to be thankful to the God who protected him and guided him so
marvellously, who saved him out of every danger and had raised him to
such power and splendour? In early days singing and harp-playing had
occupied the leisure of his shepherd life; gifted with poetic powers, he
understood how to give a powerful expression to his gratitude towards
Jehovah. After these great wars he is said to have sung: "Jehovah, my
rock, my fortress, my shield; the horn of my salvation, my defence. I
called on him who is worthy of praise, and was delivered from my
enemies. Out of his palace he heard my voice, and my cry came into his
ears. Then the earth moved and quaked, and the foundations of the earth
trembled, for he was wroth. Smoke rose out of his nostrils, and a
consuming fire went from his mouth; coals burned forth from him. He
bowed the heavens, and came down on the cherubim, and hovered on the
wings of the wind. He made darkness his veil, the tempest and dark cloud
his tabernacle. Jehovah thundered, and the Highest gave forth his voice,
hail-stones and coals of fire. He shot forth his arrows and destroyed
the enemy, the lightning fell and dispersed them. With thee, Jehovah, I
went against hosts, and with my God I climbed over walls. Jehovah girded
me with power; he gave me feet like harts' feet; he taught my hand the
battle, so that my arm strung the iron bow. I pursued my enemies and
overtook them, and turned not back till I had destroyed them; I
shattered them in pieces that they could not rise up; I scattered them
like dust before the wind; I cast them forth like dung. Thou, Jehovah,
didst save me from the battles of the nations, and didst place me at
their head; nations which I knew not serve me. At a rumour they obey me,
and the sons of strangers flatter me; they sink away and tremble out of
their castles. Praised be my protector, exalted be the God of my
salvation."[305]
It was not in praise and thanksgiving only that David gave expression to
the grateful feeling which filled him towards God; he had it much at
heart to create a lasting abode and visible centre for the worship of
Jehovah. For 20 years the sacred ark of Israel had remained at
Kirjath-jearim, in the house of Abinadab, who had made one of his sons
the custodian of it. David determined to convey it into his metropolis,
that it might there be in secure keeping, and receive proper reverence.
It was placed on a new wagon; Abinadab's sons, Ahio and Uzzah, led it
forth. On the way an evil omen occurred: the oxen which drew the wagon
broke loose, the ark tottered, and Uzzah put out his hand to stay it.
"Then the anger of Jehovah broke forth against Uzzah, and he smote him,
and he died there before God." After this incident David feared to carry
the ark further; it remained on the road, at the house of Obed-edom; and
not until it was seen that it brought prosperity to the house of
Obed-edom did David, three months after, again take it up and carry it
to Jerusalem. In festal train the people accompanied it with "shouting
and trumpets;" and David, clad in the linen tunic of the priests,
"danced before Jehovah." "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, that the King
of glory may come in," he is said to have sung. The tabernacle was
already erected on Zion, and in it the ark of Jehovah was then placed;
and "David sacrificed burnt offerings and thank offerings, and gave to
all the people, to each man a measure of wine, a loaf of bread and a
cake of raisins" (about 1020 B.C.[306]). Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech,
of the house of Eli, of the race of Ithamar, of the tribe of Aaron, who
had formerly fled to him with the image of Jehovah from Nob and
remained by his side, and beside him Zadok, of the house of Eleazar, of
the tribe of Aaron, who had hitherto been high priest at the place of
sacrifice at Gibeon,[307] were made by David the custodians of the new
tabernacle, which he then adorned with the costly spoil of his
victories. By bringing the ark of the covenant into his city he gave it
a sacred pledge, the assurance of the protection and the grace of
Jehovah. His city was the dwelling of Jehovah, the citadel of Zion the
mount of God. David's new metropolis was thus at the same time raised to
be the central point of the national worship, and in the fullest sense
the metropolis of the land. Service before the ark of the covenant on
Zion could not but throw into the shade the old places of sacrifice at
Shiloh, Bethel, Gibeon, Gilgal, and Nob.
The erection of the sacred ark on Zion, the foundation of a central
point for the worship, certainly met the wishes of the priests. Only by
a strictly-regulated and dominant mode of worship, by centralising the
service, could the priests hope to bring into vogue the arrangement of
ritual which they regarded as the true method appointed by God. Relying
on the importance of such a central point, on the authority of the
crown, they could expect obedience to their regulations. David on his
part would hardly fail to see what weight the influence of an allied
priesthood could add to the strength of the throne.
What David did for Israel by the cultivation of religious song, by
setting up the old national shrine in the new metropolis, by the
dedication of it to be the abode of Jehovah has been of deep-reaching
and even decisive influence for the fortunes of Israel and the course of
her religious development. It is, of course, beyond doubt that only a
few of the Psalms which David is said to have sung can with certainty be
traced back to him; but from the fact that the greater part of these
poems could be ascribed to him, it follows with the greater certainty
that he must have given a powerful impulse to the religious poetry of
Israel, that the words of thankfulness and trust in God from the lips of
the victorious royal minstrel had the greatest influence on the
Israelites. This influence connected with the exaltation and worship of
the national sacred relic at Zion gave a new life and firmer root to the
belief of the Israelites, both in the direction of religious feeling and
religious prescriptions. When the chief place of sacrifice was marked
out indubitably by the sacred ark on Zion, and members of the oldest
priestly family officiated there, it was natural that by degrees a
considerable number of priests should collect there, in order to share
and co-operate in the worship in the sacred tent, in the tabernacle.
These priests were arranged according to their families or "houses;" the
greater number claimed Eleazar, the third son of Aaron, as their
progenitor, while the less claimed to be descended from Ithamar, the
fourth son of Aaron.[308] The eyes of the priesthood were already turned
from Hebron to the early history of the nation, to the correct mode of
worship, as Aaron and Moses had formerly proclaimed and practised it,
which since the settlement in Canaan had become almost forgotten and
obsolete with priests and laymen, since different customs had come into
use at different places of sacrifice. The service at the new and yet
ancient shrine at Jerusalem must support the impulse to practise, here
at any rate, the old correct customs in perfect purity as a pattern and
example, to insist on the custom of Zion as pleasing to God, and
established by Moses, and to bring once more into authority and practice
the true regulations of the sacrificial rites for the whole land.
Agreement and union in the mode of worship would be most quickly and
most thoroughly obtained if the place of the tabernacle could be shown
to be the only correct place of sacrifice.
Though the Philistines had opposed the growth of the strength of Israel,
the combination and arrangement of her powers, with perseverance and
stubbornness, the cities of the Phenicians seem rather to have welcomed
the establishment of a strict ruling authority in Israel, which
preserved peace in the land and so made trade easier. Perhaps too they
looked with pleasure on the formation of a power which could balance
that of the Philistines, and prevent them from advancing as far as the
gates of Tyre. At any rate Hiram, king of Tyre, who began to rule in
that city in the year 1001 B.C.,[309] entered into friendly relations
with David. He sent him Tyrian artisans, who adorned David's palace on
Zion. The Israelites were not skilled in fine building. After this
palace was completed we must look on David's house and court as splendid
and numerous. There was the chancellor, the keeper of the treasury, the
chief tax-gatherer, the scribe with his subordinates; there were
singers, male and female, the body-guard, and the servants.[310] David
had brought seven wives from Hebron to his new metropolis. Michal, the
daughter of Saul, had borne no children to David; his eldest son, Amnon,
was by Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second, Chileab, by Abigail, the widow of
Nabal. When he ruled the tribe of Judah from Hebron he married a fourth
wife, Maacah, the daughter of Thalmai, prince of Geshur, in order, no
doubt, to strengthen by this connection his power, then so weak. Maacah
bore him a third son, Absalom, and a daughter, Tamar; his fifth wife,
Haggith, bore a fourth son, Adonijah. In Jerusalem he took yet more
wives and concubines into his house, who, besides these sons, bore
seventeen sons and several daughters, beside Tamar. When his sons became
men, the unavoidable consequences of the harem came to light: the mutual
jealousy of the sons of the various wives, and the ambition of some of
the wives to obtain the succession for their sons.
The establishment of the monarchy had brought a rich return to the
Israelites. Under its guidance, not only had the enemies of the land
been beaten back, but Israel had gained a leading place in Syria.
Moreover, David had transformed the somewhat insecure leadership
conferred on Saul by his election into a firm and deep-reaching
supremacy; a mere name, a wavering authority, he had raised after the
pattern of his neighbours into a strict rule, which could lead the
people at will, and dispose of them at pleasure. This transformation had
taken place so quickly, the enrolment of Israel in the forms of Syrian
monarchy was carried out so thoroughly, that there could not fail to be
a strong reaction. The new officers were oppressive; task-work for the
king, levies of the army for muster and for service beyond the land,
were to the Israelites new and very unwonted burdens. When external
dangers had passed away with the humiliation of the neighbours, and the
days of the old incursions, distresses, and oppressions were forgotten,
it might very well happen that the Israelites felt the new arrangement
of the community, the mode in which they were governed, to be a burden
rather than a benefit. In the later years of the reign of David a
lively aversion to his rule was spread through all the tribes; and it is
remarkable that it was most deeply felt in his own tribe of Judah, which
had formerly exalted him in Hebron. On this feeling of the people,
David's third son, Absalom, founded the plan of depriving his father of
the sovereignty, in order to ascend the throne before it came to him by
inheritance.[311]
Absalom, David's son by Maacah of Geshur, was a handsome man, without
blemish from head to foot, adorned with a heavy growth of hair, and a
favourite of the people, though the guilt of a foul deed lay upon him.
The beauty of Tamar, the full sister of Absalom, had roused the passions
of Amnon, the eldest son of David. He enticed her into his house by
deceit, dishonoured her and thrust her in scorn into the street. As the
king did not punish the crime, Absalom invited Amnon to his plot of Baal
Hazor, to the sheep-shearing, and there caused him to be stabbed by his
servants in order to avenge his sister's shame. After this he fled to
his grandfather, the prince of Geshur. After three years' banishment he
was allowed to return, but might not see his father's face; this was not
permitted till two years after his return. Amnon was dead; Chileab,
David's second son, died, as it seems, in this period. Absalom was now
again received into favour, and became the legitimate heir to the
throne.
As a token of his claims, Absalom procured horses, and chariots and a
retinue of 50 men. Early in the morning he was at the gates of
Jerusalem; he inquired of every one whence he came, allowed no one to
prostrate himself before him, but shook all by the hand and kissed them.
If he heard that any one came for justice, he caused the matter to be
told to him, and then said: Your cause is good, but you will not be
heard; if I were judge in Israel you would certainly gain your rights.
Four years after his return from Geshur, when Ahithophel, the most
distinguished of David's counsellors, and Amasa, the son of a sister of
David, had gone over to his side,[312] Absalom considered his prospects
favourable. He sent trusty men to all the tribes with instructions to
proclaim him king as soon as they understood that he was in Hebron.
Under pretence of offering sacrifice at Hebron, which city perhaps
looked with jealousy on the new metropolis, Absalom went from Jerusalem
to Hebron. The tribes obeyed this signal for revolt; everywhere the
people on this side Jordan declared for Absalom, and great numbers
gathered round him. At their head he set out against Jerusalem, against
his father.
David was completely taken by surprise. His own son now brought on him
retribution for all that he had previously done to Saul. Clever and
circumspect as the old king was, he seems to have found his master in
his son. Not secure of the people even at Jerusalem, he could not
venture to defend himself in his fortified metropolis; nothing remained
but to retire in all haste. Yet even in this desperate position the
cunning which had so often come to his aid in his varied life did not
desert him. Absalom he feared little; his greatest terror was the
counsels of Ahithophel. Hence he commanded Hushai (p. 160) to remain
behind, and in appearance to take Absalom's part, in order to counteract
Ahithophel. If Absalom could be induced not to pursue his advantage
immediately, and David could gain time to collect his adherents, much
would be won. Abiathar and Zadok also, the high priests of the sacred
tabernacle, who wished to share his flight, were bidden to remain in
Jerusalem. Their position as priests was a sufficient protection for
them; by means of their sons they were to furnish information of what
took place in the city.[313] Accompanied by some of his wives and their
children, by his most faithful adherents, the Gibborim, and the
body-guard, David left the city in the early morning. Over the Kidron,
along the Mount of Olives, he hastened eastwards to find protection
beyond the Jordan. At Bahurim Shimei, a man of Benjamin, of the race of
Matri, to which Saul belonged, saw from an eminence the flight of the
king. He threw stones down upon him and said: May Jehovah bring upon
thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place thou hast become
king; see, thou art now in calamity; away, thou man of blood. The
body-guard wished to take the man and slay him, but David restrained
them, and said: My son, who has come forth from my loins, is seeking my
life; how much more a man of Benjamin; let him curse. Perhaps at this
moment David's spirit was really broken; perhaps he did not wish that
the people should be further roused by new acts of violence; in the
sequel he showed that he had neither forgotten nor forgiven the words of
Shimei.
On the same day Absalom marched into Jerusalem, and among those who
greeted him he saw with astonishment Hushai, the ancient friend of his
father. He believed Hushai's assurance that he wished to "serve him
whom Jehovah and all the men of Israel had chosen." Ahithophel
considered the success which had been obtained, the rebellion which
spread through the whole country on this side of the Jordan, and the
possession of the strong metropolis and the palace without a blow,
insufficient and indecisive. He saw the situation clearly, and was
convinced that all would be lost if the king had time to collect round
him his old adherents, his companions in victory. Filled with the
conviction that the only way to obtain the end in view was to make an
immediate use of the great advantages won by the surprise, he insisted
that Absalom should at once set out in pursuit of David. The people
which Absalom had led from Hebron were numerous, of these he wished to
leave behind the burdensome multitude and select 12,000 for this
expedition. Hushai opposed this proposal with great skill. Thou knowest
thy father, he said to Absalom, he is a mighty warrior, like a bear
deprived of her whelps in the forest, and his men are mighty and of
fierce courage. He will not be encamped on the field, but will have
concealed himself in one of the hiding-places. If any of our men fall it
will be said, Absalom's men have been defeated, and all thy adherents
will lose courage. Rather rouse all Israel, and march out at their head,
that we may encamp against David like the sand of the sea, and none of
his men may escape. Absalom followed this advice to his ruin. Yet Hushai
was not certain that Ahithophel would not win over Absalom to his
opinion, or go of his own will against David; so he sent his maid before
the gate to the fuller's well (to the south of the city, where the
valleys of Hinnom and Kidron join), where Jonathan, the son of Abiathar,
and Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, lay concealed (Absalom's men had not
allowed them to leave the gate), with instructions to them to hasten to
the king and warn him not to encamp on this side of Jordan. Though
watched by Absalom's guards and pursued, the two men came without
disaster to David, who again set out in the night. When Ahithophel heard
that the king was beyond Jordan he despaired of the undertaking; he
saddled his ass, went to his own city, set his house in order and hung
himself.
Absalom took formal possession of the sovereignty, and as a sign that he
had broken for ever with his father and assumed the government, he took
the royal harem into his possession. A tent was set up on the roof of
the palace of Zion, under which Absalom lived with the ten concubines
whom David had left behind in Jerusalem before the eyes of Israel. When
this was done he raised the whole people to march against his father,
and went with numerous troops to the Jordan. David was at Mahanaim, like
Ishbosheth before him, eagerly busied with his army. It was due to the
cunning arrangements made in the flight from Jerusalem that he had
escaped without danger beyond Jordan, and was enabled to assemble his
own adherents there while Absalom was calling out and collecting the
whole army. From the Ammonites, whom he had treated so harshly, he seems
nevertheless to have received support.[314]
While Absalom crossed the Jordan, David divided the forces he had at his
disposal into three corps, the command of which he entrusted to Joab,
his brother Abishai, and Ithai, a Philistine of Gath. He remained behind
in Mahanaim, and bade the captains deal gently with Absalom in the event
of victory. The armies met in the forest of Ephraim, not far from the
Jordan. In spite of the superiority of the numbers opposed to them, the
tried and veteran soldiers of David had the advantage over the
ill-armed and ill-organised masses of peasants. Absalom started back on
his mule, fell into a thicket, and became entangled by his long hair in
the branches of a large terebinth. He remained hanging while his mule
ran away from under him. Joab found him in this position, and thrust his
spear thrice through his heart. Either the fall of the hostile leader,
the author of the rebellion, appeared a sufficient success to David's
men, or the advantage gained over Absalom's army was not very great, or
they found themselves too weak to follow it up. Joab led the army back
to Mahanaim.
Though the rebellion had lost its leader by the fall of Absalom, it was
far from being crushed. Absalom's captain, Amasa, the nephew of David,
collected the masses of the rebellious army; the elders of the tribes,
as well as the people, were ready to continue the struggle against
David, though some were again inclined to accept their old king. If the
tribes could be divided, and Amasa separated from the elders of Judah,
the victory was almost certain. On this David built his plan. By means
of the priests Abiathar and Zadok he caused it to be made known to the
elders of Judah that the rest of the tribes had made overtures to him,
to recognise him again as king, which was not the case;--would they be
the last to lead back their own flesh and blood, their tribesman David?
At the same time the priests were bidden to offer to Amasa the post of
captain-general as the reward of his return, and this offer David
confirmed with an oath: So might God do to him if Amasa were not captain
all his days in the place of Joab.[315] The elders of Judah allowed
themselves to be entrapped no less than Amasa, who little knew with whom
he had to do. They sent a message to the king that he might return over
the Jordan, and went to meet him at Gilgal. David showed himself
placable, and prepared to pardon the adherents of Absalom. Shimei, who
had cursed him on his retirement from Jerusalem, went to meet him at the
Jordan; and when the boat which carried David over reached the hither
bank he fell at his feet. David promised not to slay him with the
sword.[316] From Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, who had declared for
Absalom, he only took the half of Saul's inheritance.[317]
The remaining tribes were enraged at the tribe of Judah, partly because
they had abandoned the common cause, partly because Judah had entirely
appropriated the merit of bringing back the king. Their feelings were
wavering: half were for submission, the others for continuing the
resistance.[318] Then rose up a man of Benjamin, Sheba, the son of
Bichri. "What part have we in David, what portion in the son of Jesse?"
he cried to the waverers, caused the trumpets to be blown, and gave a
new centre to rebellion and resistance. David commissioned Amasa to call
out the warriors of Judah within three days and lead them to Jerusalem.
While Amasa was occupied with carrying out this command, David sent Joab
with the Gibborim and the body-guard against Sheba. At Gibeon Joab met
Amasa. Is all well with thee, my brother? he said, and took him by the
beard with his right hand to greet him, while with the left he thrust
his sword through his body.[319] Thus, after he had been gained by
deceptive promises, the dangerous man was removed as Abner had been
before him. Sheba could not withstand the impetuous advance of Joab; the
tribes submitted. Sheba's first resistance was made far in the north at
Dan, in the city of Abel-beth-maachah, and there he defended himself so
stubbornly that a rampart was thrown up against the city and besieging
engines brought up against the walls. When the walls were near upon
falling, and the citizens saw destruction before them, they saved
themselves by cutting off Sheba's head and sending it to Joab.[320] The
reaction of the people against the new government, at the head of which
Absalom, Amasa, and Sheba had successively placed themselves, was
overcome.
Many years before, at the time when Joab was besieging Rabbath, the
metropolis of the Ammonites, David had gone out on the roof of his house
in Zion in the cool of the evening. This position overlooked the houses
in the ravine which separated the citadel from the city. In one of these
David saw a beautiful woman in her bath. This was Bathsheba, the wife of
Uriah, a Hittite, who served in the troop of the "mighty." The king sent
for her to his palace, and she soon announced to David that she was with
child. David gave orders to Joab to send Uriah from the camp to
Jerusalem. He asked him of the state of the war and the army, and then
bade him go home to his wife, but Uriah lay before the gate of the
palace. When David asked him on the next morning why he had not gone
home to his house, he answered: Israel is in the field, and my fellows
lie in the camp before Rabbath, and shall I go to my house to eat and
drink and lie with my wife? Remain here, replied David; to-morrow
morning I will let thee go. David invited him into the palace and made
him drunken, but, as before, Uriah passed the night before the gate of
the palace. Then, on the following day, David sent Uriah to the camp
with a letter to Joab: Place Uriah in the thickest of the battle, and
turn away from him, that he may be smitten, and die. Soon after a
messenger came from the camp and announced to the king: The men of
Rabbath made a sally; we repulsed them, and drove them to the gate; then
the bowmen shot at thy servants from the walls, and some of our men were
slain, among them Uriah. David caused Bathsheba, when the time for
mourning was over, to come into his harem, and after the death of her
first child, she bore a second child, whom David called Solomon, _i.e._
the peaceful,[321] as the times of war were over with the capture of
Rabbath and the subjugation of the Ammonites.
After Absalom's death the heir to the crown was Adonijah, the fourth son
of David, whom Haggith had borne to him while at Hebron. Solomon was the
seventh in the series of the surviving sons of David, and as yet quite
young; yet Bathsheba attempted to place her son on the throne. One of
the two high priests, Zadok, supported Bathsheba's views, as also Nathan
the prophet, who acquired great influence with David in the last years
of his reign. Both might expect a greater deference to priestly
influence from the youthful Solomon than from the older and more
independent Adonijah, and the more so if they assisted the young man to
gain the throne against the legitimate successor. So Bathsheba prevailed
upon David to swear an oath by Jehovah that Solomon should be his
successor in the place of Adonijah.[322] But Adonijah did not doubt that
the throne belonged to him, that all Israel was of the same conviction,
and their eyes turned upon him.[323] If Zadok was in favour of Solomon's
succession, Abiathar, the old and influential adherent of David, was for
Adonijah, and what was more important, the captain of the army, Joab,
who had won David's best victories, also declared for him. On the other
hand, Bathsheba's party won Benaiah, the captain of the body-guard, so
that the power and prospects of both party were about equal.
When David, 70 years old, lay on his death-bed, Adonijah felt that he
must anticipate his opponents. He summoned his adherents to meet outside
the walls at the fuller's well (p. 170). Joab appeared with the leaders
of the army, Abiathar came to offer sacrifice, and all the sons of David
except Solomon. The sacrifice was already being offered, the sheep, oxen
and calves were killed, the proclamation of Adonijah was to follow
immediately after the sacrifice, when the intelligence was carried to
the opposite party. Bathsheba and Nathan hastened to the dying king to
remind him of his oath in favour of Solomon. He gave orders that Solomon
should be placed on the mule which he always rode himself and that Zadok
should anoint the youth under the wall of Zion eastwards of the city at
the fount of Gihon. Then Benaiah with the body-guard was to bring him
back into the city at once with the sound of trumpets, and lead him into
the palace, in order to set him upon the throne there. This was done.
Zadok took the horn of oil from the sacred tabernacle, and when the new
ruler returned in solemn procession to the palace all the people cried
with joy: Long live king Solomon. When Adonijah and his adherents heard
the shouting from the city, and understood what had taken place, they
gave up their cause for lost, and dispersed in dread in every direction.
David rejoiced over this last success;[324] he called Solomon to his
bedside, and said to him: "Do good to the sons of Barzillai the
Gileadite; he received me well when I fled over Jordan before thy
brother Absalom. Shimei, who cursed me when I fled to Mahanaim, I have
sworn not to slay; let him not go unpunished, and bring his grey hairs
to the grave with blood. What Joab did to Abner and Amasa thou knowest;
let not his grey hairs go down to the grave in peace."[325] David was
buried in the grave which he had caused to be made on Zion, where the
heights of the citadel meet the western height, on which the city lay.
Thus David had succeeded in healing the wounds which his ambition had
inflicted in past days on Israel; he understood how to establish firmly
the monarchy, and along with it the power and security of the state. He
had given such an important impulse to the worship, to the religious
poetry, and consequently to the religious life, of the Hebrews, that his
reign has remained of decisive importance for the entire development of
Israel. But beside these great successes and high merits lie very dark
shadows. If we cannot but admire the activity and bravery, the wisdom
and circumspection, which distinguish his reign, there stands beside
these qualities not only the weakness of his later years, which caused
him to make a capricious alteration in the succession, thereby
endangering the work of his life; other actions, both of his earlier and
later years, show plainly that in spite of religious feeling and
sentiment he did not hesitate to set aside very fundamental rules of
morality when it came to winning the object he had in view.
If even in his last moments he causes Joab to be put to death by the
hand of his son, it may be that this old servant, when he had taken the
side of the other son in the succession, appeared very dangerous for the
rule of the younger son. But Joab had rendered the greatest services to
David, he had won for him the most brilliant victories; and if our
account makes David give the murder of Abner and Amasa as the reason for
that command, David had made no attempt to punish one deed or the other;
on the contrary, he had gladly availed himself of at least the results
and fruits of them. We must not indeed measure those days of
unrestrained force and violent passion in hatred and love, in devotion
and ambition, by the standard of our own tamer impulses; the manner of
the ancient East, above all of the Semites, was too much inclined to the
most bloody revenge. Yet David's instructions to destroy a man of no
importance, whom he had once in a difficult position sworn to spare, out
of the grave, by the hand of his son, goes beyond the limit of all that
we can elsewhere find in those times and feelings.
FOOTNOTES:
[283] Joshua xv. 63; Judges i. 21.
[284] 2 Sam. v. 5-8; xxiv. 18; 1 Kings ix. 20.
[285] 2 Sam. v. 17.
[286] 2 Sam. v. 22-25.
[287] Above, p. 131, note 4; 2 Sam. xxi. 15-22; 1 Chron. xxi. 4-8; xix.
1.
[288] 2 Sam. viii. 1. Jesus, son of Sirach, xlvii. 8.
[289] Noeldeke, "Amalekiter," s. 17-25.
[290] 2 Sam. viii. 2.
[291] 2 Sam. x. 6-14.
[292] 2 Sam. viii. 3, 4; x. 15-19.
[293] Psalms lx. 2; 2 Sam. viii. 13.
[294] The date rests on the fact that Solomon was born soon after, and
was more than 20 years old when he came to the throne; see below. The
war against Hadad-Ezer cannot be placed before 1020, since Rezon, who
escaped, remained Solomon's opponent as long as Solomon lived. 1 Kings
xi. 25.
[295] 2 Sam. viii. 6, 7, 14; x. 19.
[296] 1 Kings xi. 27.
[297] 1 Chron. xxvii. 25-31.
[298] 2 Sam. xx. 23; 1 Chron. xviii. 17.
[299] 2 Sam. xv. 18.
[300] 2 Sam. xxiii. 18; 1 Chron. xi. 15, 26-45.
[301] 2 Sam. xxiii. 8.
[302] 2 Sam. xxiv. 9. The number of the levy here, as in almost all
accounts of the assembling of the people, must be grossly exaggerated:
800,000 are given in Israel, 500,000 in Judah only. Chronicles raises
the first number to 1,100,000, and reduces the second to 30,000, 1 xxii.
5. The statement given in Chronicles about the division of the levy into
12 troops, and the strength of these troops (1 xxviii. 1-15),
contradicts these numbers. As this arrangement of the army is mentioned
in Chronicles only, which books show a great tendency to systematise,
the division into 12 remains uncertain. That there was a numbering of
the people is not to be doubted. It is counted as one of David's errors,
and Jehovah strikes the people with pestilence. This narrative is
connected with the command to redeem the firstborn, the boys (vol. i.
499), the ordinance given in Exod. xxx. 12, which is connected with the
same conception: "When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel
after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul
to Jehovah that there be no plague among them."
[303] 2 Sam. viii. 15.
[304] 2 Sam. xx. 23-26; 1 Chron. xxvii. 16-22.
[305] Psalm xviii.; cf. De Wette-Schrader, "Einleitung," S. 345.
[306] 2 Sam. vi. 1-8, 12-15; Psalm xxiv. On the date see above, p, 125,
n. 2. M. Niebuhr ("Assur und Babel," s. 350) explains the number of
466-1/2 years given by Josephus ("Ant." 20, 10) by assuming that it
contains the interval of 430-1/2 years which the Hebrews give for the
interval between the building of the temple and its destruction. To this
amount is added eight years for the captive high priest Jozadak, down to
the time when his son Joshua became high priest, and 28 years for
Zadok's priesthood before the commencement of the building of the
temple. If we reckon the 28 years of Zadok backwards for the time that
we have assumed for the beginning of the temple, 990 B.C., we arrive at
the year 1018 B.C. for the erection of the new tabernacle.
[307] 1 Chron. xvi. 39.
[308] 2 Sam. xv. 24, 27; 1 Chron. vii. 4-15, 50-53; xxiii.-xxvi.
[309] If Josephus is right, that the fourth year of Solomon was the
twelfth year of Hiram of Tyre.
[310] 2 Sam. xix. 35.
[311] Absalom's rebellion cannot have taken place till the latter years
of David. Absalom was born in Hebron, and therefore, at the least, after
David's thirtieth year, 2 Sam. v. 4. He must at the least have been
towards 20 years old when he caused Amnon to be murdered. Five years
passed before David would allow him to enter his presence, 2 Sam. xiii.
38, and xiv. 28. Lastly, his efforts to gain popularity, and the
preparations for rebellion, must have occupied two years. If it is
stated in 2 Sam. xv. 7 that after Absalom's return from Geshur 40 years
elapsed till his rebellion, Absalom must have been 63 years old at the
time of his rebellion, and David at the least 93 years old. Hence in the
passage quoted four years must be read instead of 40.
[312] 2 Sam. xv. 1-6; xvii. 25; 1 Chron. ii. 17.
[313] 2 Sam. xv. 5-14.
[314] 2 Sam. xvii. 27.
[315] 2 Sam. xix. 11-13.
[316] 2 Sam. xix. 18-33; 1 Kings ii. 8.
[317] 2 Sam. xvi. 3-5; xix. 24-30.
[318] 2 Sam. xix. 40.
[319] 2 Sam. xx. 8-13; 1 Kings ii. 5.
[320] 2 Sam. xx. 15-22.
[321] 2 Sam. xii. 15-24; 1 Chron. xxii. 9.
[322] 1 Kings i. 17, 20.
[323] 1 Kings ii. 15, 22.
[324] 1 Kings ii. 5-9.
[325] 1 Kings ii. 5-9. The verses 2 Sam. xxiii. 1-7 may have been a
speech of David's at some former time, if they are not an addition of
the prophet's. Contrasted with the very definite and realistic colouring
of the passage quoted from the Book of Kings, they can hardly be
considered the last words.