sheath and slew him and cut off his head therewith Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone God using such contemptible means the more to manifest his own power and glory The Philistines seeing their Champion thus conquered and being stricken with a secret terrour from the Lord they immediately fled and the army of the Israelites with a great shout pursued after them and did great execution upon them insomuch that the wounded of the Philistines fell and were scattered all along in the way of Shaaraim a City in the Tribe of Judah even unto Gath and Ekron V. 54. David some years after when he was constituted King and had taken Zion from the Jebusites 2 Sam. 5.7 brought the head of this Giant to Jerusalem and put his armour in the Tent which he there provided for the Ark of God 1 Chron. 15.1 But Goliath's Sword was laid up in the Tabernacle of the Lord at Nob 1 Sam. 21.9 The Philistines being thus discomfited the Israelites returned and spoiled their Tents Abner now brought David before Saul with the Head of the Giant in his hands Saul asked him whose Son he was he told him he was the Son of Jesse the Bethlemite Saul had now much discourse with him and so many excellent endowments of wisdom courage zeal for the glory of God and faith and confidence in his protection and assistance appearing in him all which shewed him a person precious in the eyes of God Jonathan's heart and affections were in an extraordinary manner drawn forth towards him so that his soul was knit with the soul of David and hereby God provided David a friend in Saul's Court to plead for him and to reveal Saul's plots and evil intendments against him and to be by his true and real love a comfort and support to him in all his approaching troubles and distresses And Jonathan and he made a Covenant of entire friendship and brotherly love Saul also now resolv'd to keep him in his Court and that he should go no more home to his Father and made him a Captain over some of his Troops and David behaved himself so wisely that he was highly valued by all the people and even by Saul's servants themselves Jonathan also to testifie his true and great love to David stript himself of his own robe and gave it to him and gave him also his Sword and his Bow and his Military Girdle so that he put him both into a Courtiers and Souldiers Garb. These things being done they now march from the Camp to Gibeah where Saul dwelt As they passed along the women came forth out of all the Towns by the way as the custom * It seems it was the custom in those times that when God had given them any great victory over their enemies the women were wont with dances and songs of triumph to celebrate the praises of God See Exod. 15.20 Judg. 11.32 As women have usually the heaviest share in the calamities of a Land that is over-run by an enemy and that because they are least able to resist and are frequently taken for slaves or ravisht and abus'd in a savage manner so likewise they have the greatest cause to rejoice when the enemy is vanquished and hence it may be arose this custom of the womens triumphing at every great victory was with Instruments of Musick singing in Triumphing Songs Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands they ascribe so much to David because by his killing Goliath he was under God the cause of routing the whole army of the Philistines And so solemn and glorious was this Triumph of the Israelites that this passage in the womens song came to be repoted and known among the Philistines as we may see Ch. 21.11 and Ch. 29.5 But this thing greatly offended Saul and he said they have ascribed to David ten thousands and to me but thousands what can he have more but the Kingdom From thenceforth therefore he began to have an evil eye against David and to suspect that he was the man of whom Samuel had told him that he should be King in his room Ch. 13. v. 14. 1 Sam. Ch. 17. wh Ch. and Ch. 18. from 1 to 10. SECT CLXX SAVL's jealousie of David and his hatred against him doth now every day more and more appear and it manifested it self in these Particulars following 1. The evil spirit coming upon him he prophesied (a) Extra se rapitbatur spiritu malo incitus ita sermones actusque suos componebat ut boni Prophetae solent acti a spiritu bono in the midst of the house not as he had done before Chap. 10.10 when Samuel had newly anointed him for then being inspired with Gods Spirit and endued with common graces he prophesied and praised God together with the rest of the Prophets but now that Spirit being departed from him and an evil spirit being permitted by God to possess him he fell into strange extasies and raptures and had such kind of motions and actions as the Prophets when ravished out of themselves used to have see 2 King 9.11 and while David played on his harp to compose his spirit and allay his raging passions as he had formerly done Saul having a Javelin in his hand cast it at him intending to kill him and this he attempted two several times but David nimbly avoided the stroke Ch. 18.10 11. 2ly Saul seeing how the Lord was with David and preserved him from great dangers he feared he was the man whom God had chosen to be King in his room and therefore having failed in these violent attempts against him he resolves to try other ways to destroy him therefore he made him one of his Colonels hoping he would at one time or other meet with his death in the Battel And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him and he led forth his Souldiers bravely to Battel and as bravely brought them off again and acted all his Military affairs with such prudence and wise conduct and was so prosperous in them that the people generally loved him ver 12 13 14 15 16. 3ly Saul under pretence of performing that promise made to him of giving him his daughter if he killed Goliath he now offers him his eldest daughter Merab in marriage but with design to expose him thereby to the Sword of the Philistines (b) Incidit Saul in soveam quam Davidi fecerat nam ipse a Philistae is postea occisus est He tells him he shall have her but then he expects he shall be valiant for him and not stick to expose himself to any dangers and ready upon all occasions to fight the Lords battels Thus he hypocritically pretended zeal for Gods glory when he maliciously intended David's ruin David humbly answers What is my parentage education or condition of life * Ver. 18. est Enallage numeri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I should think
him not a man among them would open his mouth for him or do any thing to prevent the danger he was in however Jonathan that truly loved him resolv'd to speak for him and therefore he said to his Father Let not the King sin against his servant against David for he hath not sinned against thee but his works and deeds have been very good towards thee for he put his life in his hand and slew the Philistine and the Lord wrought a great Salvation for all Israel thereby thou sawest it and didst rejoice therein Wherefore then wilt thou sin against God and shed innocent blood and slay David without a cause How high a degree of ingratitude and injustice will it be so ill to requite so noble an exploit which did at that time so exceedingly affect thee Saul was so melted with these words of Jonathan that he solemnly sware to him at that time that David should not die but great and frequent swearers do often forget what they have sworn and do not stick to forswear themselves and break their Oaths as we shall see Saul soon did However Jonathan not knowing what was in his heart calls David and acquaints him with what his Father had said and promised and so he brought him again to the Court and he was in the presence of Saul as in time past During his continuing there the Philistines again made an inroad into the Land and David went out and fought against them with great courage and slew them with a great slaughter and the rest of them fled to their own Country Ch. 19. from 1 to 9. 6ly The evil spirit being again upon Saul and he having a Javelin in his hand as David played upon his harp before him in a frantick fit he ran his Javelin so violently at him as if he intended to have pinned him to the wall but David nimbly avoiding the stroke the Javelin ran into the wall And this was the third time that Saul had sought to kill him with his own hand David therefore thought it now high time to shift for himself and so he left the Court and went to his own house From v. 9 to 11. 7ly Saul then sent messengers to David's house to lye in wait about the house in the night and to slay him in the morning when he came out Michal either casually discovering Saul's servants watching about the house and guessing at their errand or else having some secret intelligence from Court of Saul's design against her husband she acquaints David with it that he might look to himself and then to prevent his present danger she let him down thorough a window * See Act. 9.25 and so he fled and escaped And further to delude the watchmen if by violence they should break into the house and to gain longer time for David to escape she laid an Image (b) Humanam quidem non Idololatricam qualis illa Gen. 31.19 in a bed and put a pillow of Goats-hair under the head of it and covered it with a cloth thereby intending to make them believe that David was sick in bed and therefore in all humanity at present not to be disturb'd When the messengers whom Saul had sent to watch about the house had waited till morning and saw he came not forth as they expected they went and told Saul of it who sent them back again with a new commission to enter his house and take him Michal thinking sickness a fair pretence to keep them from too eager pressing upon him that she might gain the more time for his escape told them he was sick in bed they thinking it had been so returned and acquainted Saul therewith Saul suspecting it was but a pretence of Michal's to preserve her husband sends them back again to see whither it was so or no however if he were sick he charges them to bring him with them though they brought him in his bed They coming again to the house and going up to lay hold on him behold there was no David but only an Image in the bed They then carry Michal before Saul who angerly asks her why she had deceived him and sent away his enemy she answers He threatned to kill her if she would not let him go Here by the way we may observe that though her intire love to her husband be highly to be commended yet her telling lyes to preserve him cannot be excused and further we may take notice that if people once allow themselves in lying it will encrease upon them and one lye will draw on another and a lesser will draw on a greater and. louder as we see here in this example of Michal who first told an officious lye as they call it to save her husband and now tells a pernicious lye to save her self she should rather have imitated her brave brother Jonathans example who spake boldly to his father in defence of her husbands innocence From 11 to 18. David was so affected with this deliverance that he composed the 59 Psalm upon this occasion of Saul's sending to his house to kill him as may appear by the Title 8ly David thus escaping fled to Ramah to acquaint Samuel with all that had passed and with what Saul had done unto him and to crave his advice and counsel in these dangers and difficulties Hereupon he and Samuel went down to Naioth near Ramah where was a Colledg of Prophets but some body or other quickly informed Saul that David was come thither and he presently sent messengers to take him there when the messengers came thither and found the Prophets prophecying that is praising God with Psalms and Hymns and speaking of Divine matters and Samuel among them sitting as President over them and governing this holy assembly the Spirit of the Lord fell upon them and they instead of apprehending David which was the business they were sent about prophesied also Saul hearing of this sent other messengers upon the same errand a second and a third time and they prophesied * The like example we have in the High-Priests Officers who were sent to apprehend Christ Joh. 7.45 46. also that is praised God with Psalms and Hymns and magnified his name as the other before had done Saul might by this miracle have been convinc'd of his sin and folly in pursuing after David when he saw him thus miraculously preserved and protected by God but being thus disappointed by his messengers and his heart being hardened he resolves to go thither himself and to fetch David thence even out of his Sanctuary but it fell out quite contrary to his expectation for whereas his messengers did not prophesie till they came into the company of the Prophets at Naioth the Spirit of the Lord now falling upon him he prophesied †Donum Prophetandi aliquando Impiis concedit Deus ut Balaamo vide Mat. 7.22 before he came thither even in the way and was chang'd from a Persecutor into a Prophet which plainly
servants along with him * See v. 2. and Mat. 12.3 4. and some few others that voluntarily joined themselves to him 1. He first flies to Nob a City in the Tribe of Benjamin near to Anathoth about twelve miles from Gibeah whither it seems the Tabernacle was now removed from Shiloh though the Ark still remained at Kirjath-jearim see Chap. 7.1 and possibly Saul caused it to be removed hither for his own conveniency that he might with more speed and ease upon all occasions resort to it And hence it was that there were so many Priests now dwelling here namely that they might attend upon the service of the Tabernacle David being resolved to fly for his safety out of the land came hither first not only to get some supply of his present want but also to visit the Tabernacle that he might there worship the Lord before his departure and seek unto him for help and comfort in this his day of adversity Leaving therefore his small company in some place nigh he went himself to Ahimelech the High-Priest at Nob It seems Ahiah his brother being dead he was High-Priest in his room who it seems was also call'd Abiather see Mark 2.26 and had a Son also of that name as we may see Ch. 22.20 Ahimelech was much troubled when he saw David come to him alone fearing that he was fled from Saul upon some displeasure and if so it would be dangerous for him to entertain him He asks him therefore how it came to pass that he was alone David replies that the King had sent him about a secret business and enjoined him to let no body know of it and so he had appointed his servants to stay for him in a place nigh at hand This was indeed a direct lye and proved afterwards the occasion of that horrible Massacre which Saul made of Ahimelech and the rest of the Priests of that City even eighty five persons that wore a linnen Ephod yea of the utter destruction of the City and the inhabitants thereof both men and women and children yea even of the very beasts as we read Ch. 22.18 19. Just cause had David to bewail this pernicious lye of his as long as he lived and so no doubt he did for he charges it upon himself when Abiathar the Son of Ahimelech brought him the sad tidings thereof Ch. 22.22 I have occasioned says he the death of all the persons of thy Fathers house And 't is supposed that the remorse for this very sin was fresh in his heart when he wrote that passage in the 119. Psal v. 28 29. My soul melteth away for heaviness strengthen thou me according to thy word Remove from me the way of lying c. David now desires Ahimelech to furnish him with some bread and provisions for himself and his servants that were at hand they being in great want of food Ahimelech tells him he had no bread there at the Tabernacle but the shew-bread * Davids hast was such thorough the apprehension of danger that he must presently be gone therefore he could not stay for other bread which was not to be eaten by any but the Priests see Levit. 24.9 much less by any that were unclean Yet considering that charity is to be preferred before all ceremonies and that in case of necessity the Ceremonial Law was to give way to the Moral he condescends in this exigence to relieve them with the shew-bread and what he did therein is approved by our Saviour Mat. 12.3 4. provided the young men had kept themselves from their wives (a) Hic sacerdos ni nis videtur scrupulosus Quid enim si David fuisset immundus Ideone voluit illum fame mori which it seems the Priests that were to eat the shew-bread thought themselves bound to do by a laudable custom grounded on Exod. 19.15 though not expresly by the Law commanded And it seems the High-Priest thought that if the young men had not thus abstained they would be under a double impediment David tells him 't was three days since they came out and all that time they had been absent from their wives therefore the bodies of the young men were clean and on this account not unfit to eat of this bread Besides says he the shew-bread is in this case of necessity to us but as common bread so as we may lawfully eat of it especially seeing it is this day (b) Hereby it appeareth that it was the Sabbath-day on which David came to Nob whereon new shew-bread was put in the place of the old removed from standing upon the Table before the Lord and there is other bread consecrated according to the Law and set hot in the room of it upon these considerations the High-Priest gave him the shew-bread But it so happened that there was one of the servants of Saul there that day by name Doeg the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen by Nation an Edomite but by profession a Proselyte to the Religion of the Israelites yet a notorious wicked man and a great enemy to David it seems he was detained there before the Lord that is in the Court of the Tabernacle to pay some Vow he had made or to offer some Sacrifice he was engag'd to offer This man diligently observed David and his actions that he might relate them to Saul David askt Ahimelech whether he had not there a Sword or Spear that he could lend him for he told him he had not brought his Sword or his weapons with him because the Kings business required hast Thus one lye making a breach in the Conscience another quickly follows it and finds an easie passage thorough it The High-Priest told him there was no Sword there but Goliaths (c) The rest of Goliath's armour David had dispos'd of elsewhere see Ch. 17.54 but his sword was brought to the Tabernacle there to be reserved as a memorial of that victory to the praise of God which was wrapt in a cloth and kept behind that holy place where the Sacred Vestments and Ornaments were laid up of which the Ephod was the chiefest see Exod. 28.4 6. if he pleased he might have that David answered There is none like to that give it me for as oft as I look upon it it will put me in mind of Gods wonderful assistance vouchsafed to me in conquering Goliath and will strengthen my faith and affiance in him that he will help me in the like difficulties and dangers Ch. 21. from 1 to 10. 2ly Having gotten Goliath's sword he now flies into the Country of Achish King of Gath call'd also Abimeleck which was the common name of the Kings of the Philistines here he hoped to have sojourned at least for a time secretly and undiscovered It seems he had more hope of safety there than in his own Country at present The servants of Achish after some time discover who he was and apprehend him Possibly Goliath's sword might be some means of discovering of him and so
God justly made use of this sword which he got of the High-Priest by lying as a means to bring him into danger The servants of Achish bringing him before their King said unto him Is not this David the King of the land that is a famous warriour and chief Commander among the Israelites and as it were another King in the esteem of the people or is not this David who is designed as we hear to be King in the land For possibly the report that David should be King and that Saul persecuted him on that account was so rife and common in Israel that it spread it self even to the land of the Philistines Further they say Is not this he of whom the women sang in their triumphant dances Ch. 18.7 Saul hath slain his thousands but David his ten thousands David was much surpriz'd to hear these words spoken of himself by the servants of Achish before their King and seeing himself in their hands and not knowing which way to help himself he resolved to behave himself before them as if he had been distracted And indeed they might well think that he that had done so much against them would not now alone have come among them if he had been in his right wits And accordingly in his gesture words and actions he carried himself as if he had been mad scrabling on the doors and letting his spittle fall on his beard (d) Non illicita prorsus haec simulatio quippe expers mendaciâ— Anonym Stultitiam simulare in loco inquit ille prudentia summa est Potest Deus suos servare per sapientiam immo per insaniam per infirmitatem Simulatio haec mendacium non erat sed silentium duntaxat vel dissimulatio veritatis justa de causa Nec illicita erat hujusmodi fictio cum fiat ad utilitatem suam sine alterius praejudicio he thought possibly that mad men were usually objects of pity and compassion not of malice or revenge and supposed that hereupon they would be the more inclin'd to spare him seeing he was not likely being in this sad case to do them any further mischief But though at present he made use of this stratagem yet he relyed not upon it but put his trust in God and relyed (e) David salutem suam non simulationi suae acceptam tulit sed misericordiae Dei on him alone for help and deliverance as appears by the two Psalms he composed on this occasion viz. the 34. and 56. And God by his alwise Providence so ordered this thing that Achish thinking him absolutely mad slighted and askt them in some kind of anger Why they had brought a mad man before him He told them he had no need of mad men neither desired they should bring such persons into his house In all probability God at present so infatuating him he thought this man was not David but some odd fellow they had pickt up in the way and with that apprehension he dismissed him 1 Sam. Ch. 21. whole Chapter 3ly David having thus got away from Achish he fled to the Cave of Adullam a City in the Tribe of Judah not far from Bethlem which being an hold of some strength see 2 Sam. 23.13 and lying in his own Tribe among his kindred and friends he expected from them favour and protection and accordingly hither his Brethren and those of his Fathers house resorted to him possibly fearing if they stayed at home they should be persecuted and oppressed by Saul for his sake And such as were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered themselves unto him and he became a Captain over them so that number of his followers now came to be about four hundred in all But some will say did David do well to entertain such as these I answer first 't is like he did not know who of them were in debt 2ly He had no purpose to shelter them against any that should demand justice against them 3ly He intended not to make use of them against Saul but only for his own defence 4ly His followers lived not upon Plunder and the spoil of the Country but were rather a Guard to the people and preserved them from the incursions of their enemies as Nabal's servants witnessed for them Ch. 25.15 16. 'T is true they were many of them men that were in a poor and afflicted condition and thinking themselves in no safety at home fled to David for protection 5ly 'T is probable that by this time it came to be generally known that Saul persecuted David because he was anointed of God by Samuel to succeed him in the Throne And if this were the ground of their coming to him how could he reject them 'T is likely indeed that the mouths of his adversaries were opened against him upon this occasion But so long as his cause was just and he did not undertake to defend his followers in any evil nor made use of them to oppress others their reproaches were unjust and not to be regarded Here probably he composed the 142 Psalm David here composes the 142 Psalm the title being Maschil of David a prayer when he was in the Cave 4ly David finding that his Parents by reason of their age were not able to endure the hardship of being with him in the Cave therefore he went to Mizpeh of Moab to provide a place for them to abide in for a while till he knew what God would do with him And here he judged that the King of Moab would favour him in his request out of hatred to Saul (f) Et forsan propâ—er cognationem Davidis cum illa gente per Ruth vid. Ruth 4.10 who had made war upon him see 1 Sam. 14.47 and so accordingly it fell out for he obtained the King of Moab's grant that they should dwell in his Country and they liv'd together in the hold or Castle of Mizpeh till the Prophet * Magnam pro Davide curam ostendit Deus eum nunc per Prophetas nunc per Urim Thummim instruens Gr. Gad (g) Davids Seer 1 Chr. 21.9 with whom he used to consult He was sent unto him by God after he had numbered the people 2 Sam. 24.11 warned David from the Lord to go back again into the land of Judah either because the King of Moab and his people were treacherous or because he intended to bring David's faith to a further trial by Saul's persecutions ver 3 4. 5ly From hence he removeth into the Forrest of Hareth in the Tribe of Judah the news of his being here is presently brought to Saul he sitting under a Tree in an high place in Gibeah having his Spear in his hand and his servants standing round about him whereupon he said Hear now ye Benjamites will the Son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all Captains of thousands and Captains of hundreds that all of you have conspired against me and none of you
Israelites home with them While David and his forces were here about Keilah Abiathar the Son of Ahimelech who only escaped of the Priests at Nob being now High-Priest in his Fathers room came to David and brought the Ephod with him which was a visible pledge that God had forsaken Saul and would be with David to direct him in all his ways So that David hath now the High-Priest and a Prophet in his army Abiathar relates to him the sad story of Saul's destroying Nob and the Priests that were there David replies I fear'd when I was at Nob that Doeg would acquaint Saul therewith Alas I must needs say to my great grief and sorrow that I have been the occasion though not intentionally of the death of thy Fathers family seeing they suffered these calamities not only for my sake but partly through my fault However abide thou under my protection and I shall take care of thee that I may as much as lyes in me make thee some amends Thou maist assure thy self that I will be as careful of thy safety as of my own for I know that he that seeks my life seeks thine also 1 Sam. Ch. 23. from 1 to 7. Ch. 22. from v. 20 to the end 7ly Saul now understanding that David with his forces had got into the City of Keilah which he had lately rescued from the Philistines he said God * Hypocritae semper praedicare solent Deum a se stare sibi esse propitium hath delivered him into my hands for he is shut in being entred into a Town that hath gates and bars He thought it seems he had him in such a trap that he could not escape Saul immediately therefore gathers a great army together to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men David by secret intelligence understood that Saul was contriving mischief against him therefore he call'd to Abiathar the High-Priest to bring the Ephod and to put it on and to inquire of the Lord for him by Vrim and Thummim and David joyning his request to the Lord said O Lord God of Israel thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul intendeth to come to Keilah to destroy the City for my sake I pray thee inform me by thine holy Oracle whither he will come or no and in case he do come whither the men of Keilah will be treacherous to me and endeavour to deliver me into his hands The Lord who by his Prescience * Deus â—erto praescit non solum quae re ipsa absoluâ—e futura sunt sâ—d etiam quae quavis conditione posita futura essent A Lap. knoweth future contingents which will come to pass in a course of natural causes if not prevented or crossed by other contingents he telleth him that Saul would come thither that is if he viz. David staid there and the men of Keilah would deliver him into Saul's hands that is if their intention and purpose were not prevented and crossed by his speedy departure from them David having received this answer he with his men which were now about six hundred †Semper in cruce crescit numerus pionum quod ex omnibus sacris Historiis facile possumus intelligere P. Martyr arose and departed out of Keilah and went whither soever they could go and sought up and down for some place to shelter themselves in and Saul hearing they were gone from Keilah forbear to go with his army thither 1 Sam. Ch. 23. from v. 7 to 14. 8ly David intending only to stand on his own defence and not to raise an offensive war betakes himself with his forces to the strong holds in the Wilderness of Ziph in the Tribe of Judah and particularly to Hachilah-Hill South of Jessimon And Saul continually sought his life but the Lord delivered him not into his hands Jonathan having as it 's probable secret intelligence from David where he was he went privately to him and strengthened his hands in God by putting him in mind of the promises of God and assuring him of his protection and favour and thereby strengthening his faith he filled his heart with comfort and courage He bad him be of good courage for the hand of Saul his Father should not find him to do him any hurt Thou shalt says he be King over Israel and that my Father knows very well from the words of Samuel Ch. 15.28 see also Ch. 20.30 31. and I shall be next unto thee Of this it seems he conceived some hope grounded on David's great love to him and possibly on some particular promise he had made to him and the firm Covenant that was between them though he had no assurance of it God having made no such promise to him but intending otherwise to dispose of him and to take him to a better Kingdom so that he lived not to see David sit on Israel's Throne Jonathan having spoken after this manner to David they renewed and confirmed their Covenant in the presence of the Lord which they had formerly made and Jonathan went to his own house David abiding still in the Wood. The Ziphites being terrified possibly with that severity Saul had used against Nob and the Priests of the Lord there Ch. 22.18 19. they come now and acquaint him that David did hide himself in the Wood near them and if he would please to come down with his forces thither they would do their utmost to deliver him into his hands Saul took their message very kindly Blessed be ye says he of the Lord for ye have compassion on me Go therefore and prepare or order the matter with care and diligence before hand and observe all his haunts and lurking places that we may not misse of him For I understand he is very cùnning and subtile in his proceedings when you have found out these things come to me again with certain intelligence of them and I will go along with you and will find him out if he be above ground though he lurks in the most secret corner of the land So these Ziphites went before to do as Saul had injoin'd them But David understanding that they had discovered him to Saul * Upon this occasion he composed the 54 Psalm as the Title doth shew and that Saul was coming with an army to take him he removed with his forces from that place which was near Hachilah-Hill to a Plain in the Wilderness of Maon which lay Southward from Jeshimon Saul pursues after him thither and at last there was only a hill between them and that not likely to keep them long asunder seeing Saul's men being many in number began to compass David and his men round about David was here in great fear of being surprized and therefore made all the hast he could to get further out of Saul's reach Just in this nick of time God so ordering it by his Providence news came to Saul that the Philistines had invaded the land which caused him speedily to draw off his
forces to resist the common enemy Hereupon David called the place Sela-Hammahlekoth that is the Rock of Divisions 1 Sam. Ch. 23. from 14 to 29. 9ly Hence David flies to the strong holds in the Wilderness * Here 't is thought he penned the 57 Psalm adjoyning to Engedi (b) A place exceeding fruitful with Vines and other fruit-trees Cant. 1.14 a City of Judah Saul returning with his forces from pursuing the Philistines it was told him whither David was fled and he took 3000 chosen men out of Israel and went to pursue David and his men upon those high steep and cragy rocks upon which wild beasts used to live and he came to the sheep-coats where was a Cave and Saul (c) Nisi somnum Saul captasset motus in spelunca sensisset militares Some Caves in that and other Countries are of that vast wideness that they are sufficient to contain great numbers of men being weary went into the entrance of it which was narrow to cover his feet that is to sleep See note in Judg. 3.24 But though the entrance of the Cave was narrow yet it seems it was roomâ—by within for David and several of his men had hid themselves in the sides and innermost parts of it David's men perceiving that Saul was come into the entrance or mouth of the Cave and that there he had laid himself down to sleep they tell him that God had now put such an opportunity into his hands of cutting off his enemy that thirsted after his blood as if he had from heaven called unto him and commanded (d) V. 4. dicit h.e. dicere videtur quia praebet ansam him to do it But David arising went softly to Saul and only cut off the skirt of his Robe that he might thereby make it evident to him that he could as well have killed him if he had had a mind to it and yet David's heart smote him for this little that he had done because it had an appearance of an injury offered to the King But it seems his men were almost ready to mutiny that he would not kill Saul at this time and so put an end to his and their tedious troubles Whereupon David mildly spake unto them saying God forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against my Master the Lords Anointed I cannot I dare not do it And with these words he stayed his Souldiers from offering violence unto Saul Saul awaking rose up and went on his way David immediately gets out of the Cave and following him cried after him My Lord the King When Saul looked back David bowed himself to the earth before him and then humbly addressing himself to him said Wherefore hearknest thou to mens words that tell thee that David seeketh thy hurt Thou seest that this day the Lord delivered thee into my hands when thou wast in the Cave some bad me kill thee but mine eye spared thee and I told them I would not put forth my hand against my Lord seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. Moreover my father see yea see the the skirt of thy robe in my hand for in that I cut off only the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not when I might so easily have done it thou maist assure thy self that there is no evil intention in my heart against thee neither have I transgressed against thee as those base Sycophants that are about thee do suggest And yet thou huntest my life to take it The Lord judge between me and thee and in this my innocent cause wherein I so unjustly suffer do me right against thee But however though it should not please him to do it yet I am resolved not to avenge my self on thee neither shall my hand be upon thee The Proverb of the Ancients tells us That wickedness proceedeth from the wicked that is wicked men will not stick to do any wicked thing But thou needest not fear any such thing from me seeing thou hast found the contrary by thine own experience I am resolved to refer my cause to God and not to avenge my self in my own quarrel Besides consider I pray thee who it is that thou pursuest with so much eagerness and violence even a weak and contemptible man and in comparison of thee no more to be esteemed than a flea (e) Valde Pathetica oratio Index summa Davidis modestiae vid. Psal 131. or a dead dog (f) Canâ—m mortuum pulicem persequi dicitur de iis qui tenuissimos homines magno conatu insectantur Having therefore neither power nor will to do thee hurt the Lord judge between me and thee and plead my cause and deliver me out of thy hands David having ended Saul was so affected with what he had said that he lift up his voice and wept and said Is this thy voice my Son David Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast done me good and I have rewarded thee with evil I am convinced that thou hast dealt exceeding kindly with me For when the Lord had delivered me into thy hands thou didst not take away my life If a man find his enemy and have him at an advantage will he let him go away without doing him any hurt This is not the common course of the world The Lord therefore reward thee for the great kindness thou hast shewed me this day And now I know assuredly that thou shalt be King see Ch. 15.28 23.17 seeing God hath endued thee with such heroick and Kingly virtues and does so eminently prosper thee in all thy undertakings I know that the Kingdom of Israel shall remain firm and established to thee and thy posterity after thee Swear now therefore to me that thou wilt not cut off my seed after I am gone as other jealous Princes use to do nor blot out my name by destroying my posterity And David sware unto him accordingly having in effect bound himself by Covenant and Oath before unto Jonathan to do the same that Saul here required But how can David be said to have observed this Oath when as afterwards he delivered the five Sons of Merab Saul's daughter and the two Sons of Rizpah his Concubine to the Gibeonites to be hanged see 2 Sam. 21. I answer David had a full intention to observe this Oath as far as lay in him as appears by his putting to death those that murdered Ishbosheth though he had risen against him 2 Sam. 4. and by his preserving and cherishing Mephibosheth 2 Sam. 9. But in the case before mentioned he was not left to his own choice but necessitated by a special command from God to deliver them into the hands of the Gibeonites for their satisfaction that Gods wrath being appeased the heavy judgment of famine under which they lay might be removed from the land see 2 Sam. 21.6 9. and therefore in this he brake not his Oath * Omnia pacta promissa vota jurejuranda ad hoc caput referenda
some plague or sickness whereof he died When David heard of the death of Nabal though he rejoiced not in the evil that was befallen him yet he could not but rejoice in the manifestation of Gods justice upon him and that the Lord himself had pleaded his cause against him and had returned his wickedness upon his own head and had withheld him from revenging himself Sometime after David understood that Saul out of malice to him had given his wife Michal to one Phaltiel * Ishbosheth upon Davids desire restored her to him again 2 Sam. 3.14 15. the Son of Laish who was of Gallim a place in the Tribe of Benjamin wherefore reflecting upon the piety the prudence the modesty and comeliness of Abigail and possibly something upon her portion also as being in likelihood of very great wealth which his present condition might cause him to consider he sent some of his Attendants to her to treat with her about marriage And he chose rather to send others than to go himself that Abigail might be the more free in her choice not being over-awed with his presence and also that he might come off with less disgrace if his motion were not accepted The messengers coming to Abigail acquaint her with their business she as one wonderfully surprized at the strangeness of the motion bowed her self to the earth before them and addressing her self to the principal person among them said Alas I am utterly unfit for so high a dignity and advancement Let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. I hardly think my self worthy to be a servant to his servants Herein Abigail shewed not only her great humility but her faith also who could think so honourably of David when he was in such a persecuted state and such a despised condition But the messengers pressing her further she at last consented and as 't is like sometime after when the messengers came again to fetch her she rode upon an ass after them having five young maidens to attend her And so she became Davids wife David also took to wife Ahinoam of Jezreel a City in Judah by whom he had Amnon his first-born 1 Sam. Ch. 25. from v. 2. to the end 11ly From hence he fled back again to Hachilah-Hill which is before Jeshimon for though the Ziphites had once sought to betray him there yet he hoped he should find more favour from them now seeing they knew how wonderfully God had delivered him And besides possibly he apprehended this place more convenient for him upon his marriage with Abigail because her possessions lay near it However the Ziphites fearing possibly that if David came to the Crown he would remember them for their former treachery against him bring Saul tidings a second time that he was there that so he might be cut off and they secur'd from any danger from him Saul accordingly without delay came with three thousand chosen men of Israel to find him out David having some intelligence of his coming he sent out Scouts to see if it were so and was by them informed that it was so indeed Saul being come near to him with his forces David arose and went secretly himself and possibly disguiz'd to the place where Saul had pitched and he beheld where he lay and Abner the Captain of his host and he saw that Saul lay inclosed with the Carriages and his Souldiers about him but they were all fast asleep David being moved doubtless by a special instinct of Gods Spirit to undertake this dangerous Enterprize and being desirous once more to manifest his innocence to Saul he spake to Abimelech the Hittite one of his Commanders being so by birth though an Israelite by Religion and to Abishai the Son of Zerviah (a) She had three Sons Joab Abishai and Asahel all valiant men she being Davids Sister is always mentioned and not her husband who possibly was of no great family and his name no where mentioned in Scripture his Sister 1 Chron. 2.15 16. demanding of them which of them would adventure to go with him into the Camp to Saul Abishai readily answered he would go with him David and Abishai accordingly entred into Saul's Camp through the midst of his Army and found Saul and his men fast asleep his Spear sticking at his head and a Cruse of water standing by him Then Abishai said to David God hath at this time delivered thine enemy into thy hands it would be a strange and unaccountable neglect if thou shouldst let slip this opportunity which Providence plainly offers thee let me I pray thee smite him with the Spear that stands at his head and let me alone I will smite him so surely at the first blow that I shall not need to give him a second David charges him not to touch him (b) Nusquam magis eluceo Clementia Davidis quam hoc loco ca. 24. Privato qualis adhuc erat David non actu Rex vide ca. 16. 13. non licet regem suum occidere quamvis Tyrannum P. Mart. for says he who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless Possibly the Lord himself will smite him with some mortal disease as he did Nabal or he will die a natural death as other men do by sickness or old age or he will come to his end by some casualty falling in battel But as for me God forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against him or smite him my self or suffer him to be smitten But I pray thee take the Spear that stands at his boulster and the cruse of water that stands by him and let us be gone So they took away the Spear and the cruse of water neither Saul nor any of his men about him awaking for a dead sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them See Gen. 2.21 Then David went over to the other side and stood on the top of an hill at some distance from Saul's Camp but so as his voice might be heard and he called aloud to the people and to Abner and it seems he called often before he could awaken him at last Abner awaking said Who art thou that criest unto the King so as to disturb him in his rest David answers what art thou Abner a man so esteemed for valour that there is scarce any in Israel like unto thee wherefore then hast thou not kept thy Lord the King better For I do assure thee there came one of my followers into your Camp that would have destroyed the King had not I prevented it as the Lord liveth thou and the people about the King are worthy to die because ye have not watched better about your master the Lords anointed And now behold here in my hand the Kings Spear and the Cruse that stood at his head How came I by these Saul being now awake and hearing David speak to Abner after this manner he cries out What is this thy voice my
Son David David answers It is my voice my Lord O King And I pray thee wherefore doth my Lord thus pursue after his servant What have I done or what evil is in my hand Now therefore let my Lord the King vouchsafe to hear the words of his servant If the Lord hath stirred thee up against me let him receive an offering * Placato iram ejus Sacrificio munere Chald. Paraph. suspiciat oblationem meam cum voluntate that is let him be appeased with a sacrifice and oblation which I will offer for the sin whereby I have provoked him But if they be Court-Sycophants and malicious persons that by their lyes and slanders have incensed thee against me I leave them as cursed creatures to Gods just vengeance who will plead my cause against them For they have endeavoured to drive me out from abiding in the Inheritance of the Lord and from enjoying his Ordinances and by forcing me as an exile to flee into Idolatrous Countries They have in effect said to me Go and serve other Gods And now seeing thou knowest my innocency let not my blood I pray thee be shed without cause for the Lord will see it and will not let it go unpunished Besides it is not honourable for the King of Israel to pursue me with so many men who have so little power to hurt him For I am but as a flea forced to skip hither and thither to save my self or a partridge on the mountains forced to flee from place to place to escape thy hands Then said Saul I have sinned Return my Son David to thy former condition for I will no more do thee harm seeing my life was precious in thine eyes this day and thou hast spared me when it was in thy power to kill me Behold I have played the fool and erred exceedingly I do acknowledg my fault and folly and openly take shame to my self for it in the hearing of all that are about me David desires him to send one of his young men to fetch his Spear having taken it from him only to evidence his innocence and that he had no evil intention in his heart against him And therefore says he let the Lord recompence every man according to his righteousness and faithfulness Thy life was indeed in my power this day but I would not stretch forth my hand against the Lords anointed And as thy life was precious in mine eyes so let my life be precious in the eyes of the Lord my God and let it please him to preserve it though thou shouldst fail of thy promises made to me and shouldst seek again to take it away Then Saul said unto David Blessed be thou my Son David thou shalt do great things and shalt at last prevail maugre all the malice of thine enemies Then David retired and betook himself to some place of safety not trusting Saul for all his goodly words and promises having formerly found him so false and malicious And Saul returned to Gibeah where he kept his Court. 1 Sam. Ch. 26. whole Chapter 12ly David now seriously considering the condition of his affairs began through the weakness of his faith to think that he should at one time or other notwithstanding all his former deliverances perish by the hand of Saul if he did not speedily get himself out of his reach therefore he thought there was nothing more adviseable in his present circumstances than that he should send to the King of the Philistines and try if he could be received with his forces into his protection This indeed was no warrantable course that he now pitched upon for his preservation For first God had once before commanded him by the Prophet Gad to abide in the land of Judah see Chap. 22.5 2ly He having before been such a formidable enemy to the Philistines and having so hardly escaped with his life once before when he sought privately to shelter himself among them there was no likelihood he should be entertained by them on any other terms than that he and his Souldiers should turn to the Philistines and declare themselves enemies to Saul and the people of Israel 3ly This must needs tend to the great grief of those that were righteous in the land and would give his enemies occasion exceedingly to triumph and to say that now he discovered what he was seeing he had deserted his own people and religion and had joined himself to their uncircumcised enemies But thus it is when mens hearts sink through distrust of God as it seems Davids now did they seek to help themselves by any means they can David therefore having as 't is probable sent his Agents before hand to the King of the Philistines and having obtained assurance from him under the publick faith that he and his Souldiers should live safely in his land which 't is like out of meer policy he consented unto knowing the hatred that Saul bear him and believing that David and his forces would be ready to join with him and his subjects against Saul he passed over with six hundred men that followed him to Achish King of Gath. He carried also his two wives along with him Ahinoam and Abigail and his followers likewise carried their wives and families not thinking it safe to leave them behind them in the land of Israel and for some time by Achish's permission they dwelt in Gath or about it When it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath he gave over any further thoughts of seeking after him he being in the land of his enemies and so out of his reach David being desirous to dwell apart by himself with those that followed him that he might have the more freedom for the exercise of his Religion and might keep his Souldiers from being corrupted with the Vices and Idolatries of the Philistines and that he might from thence go out and prey the more secretly upon the enemies of Gods people without having any notice taken of it he humbly desired Achish that his Officers might assign him and his followers some place in the Country to live in it not being fit for him a stranger to live with the King in the Royal City especially having so many people with him who must needs be burdensome and might sometimes prove offensive to him and the inhabitants of his City Achish consents thereunto and accordingly gave him Ziklag which being allotted to the Tribe of Judah Josh 15.31 was afterwards given to Simeon Josh 19.5 but the Philistines having gotten possession of it had kept it to this day and now Achish giveth it unto David and so it was not only joined to Judah's portion * Hac donatione justos ad Heredes rediit Achish dedit Davidi non solum ad inhabitandum sed ut in illius dominium cederet but was also upon this occasion designed to be ever after a part of the Crown-land of the Kings of Judah Here David dwelt a full year and four months
coming to Bethshan took and carried away their dead bodies and brought them to Jabesh and burnt them there that is burnt the flesh of them which having hung some days in the Sun was putrified and stinking and so could not be embalmed and the flesh being burnt from the bones they gathered up their bones and solemnly buried them under a Tree in Jabesh and there they continued till towards the end of Davids reign when he took them up and buried them in the Sepulchre of Kish the father of Saul 2 Sam. 21.12 14. Then the men of Jabesh-Gilead to express their sorrow for the death of Saul and his Sons and that they might implore mercy from God in behalf of the whole land which was now in a very sad condition they afflicted themselves with fasting for seven days together only taking still at night some small refreshment 1 Sam. Ch. 31. whole Chapter SECT CLXXIII MEphibosheth the Son of Jonathan being five years old at this time upon the dismal tidings of these disasters his Nurse catching him up and flying away with him in that great fright and consternation she let him fall out of her arms and he became lame of his feet ever after 2 Sam. 4.4 SECT CLXXIV WE are now come to the Second Book of Samuel The Second Book of Samuel so called because it containeth the History of David's reign who was chosen of God to succeed Saul in the Kingdom and anointed thereunto by Samuel and because it relates how those things which Samuel promised unto him from God were really made good unto him It contains an History of forty years from the death of Saul to the death of David As for the Author of it some think it was the office of the High-Priest to register the History of the Jewish Church and the remarkable occurrences that hapned in his time Others think it was pen'd by Nathan the Prophet and Gad the Seer as is intimated in the first of Chron. 29.29 Now the Acts of David the King first and last behold they are written in the Book of Samuel the Seer and in the Book of Nathan the Prophet and in the Book of Gad the Seer * See more concerning the Title of this Book Sect. 149. The first thing here related is how the tidings of the death of Saul and his Sons were brought to David whilst he was yet at Ziklag (a) Which was not as it seems so totally burnt down but that some of it was standing in which David thought better to remain with his men than to go to any other Town of the Philistines whether he was newly returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites and had been preparing and sending away presents to his friends in Judah of the spoils he had taken in that Expedition on the third day after a young man came out of the Camp with his clothes rent and earth upon his head to testifie the dismalness of the tidings he brought and when he came to David he fell on the earth and did obeisance David understanding he came out of the Camp of Israel askt him how matters went He told him the Israelites were vanquished many of them killed and Saul and his Son Jonathan slain David astonisht at this askt him how he knew it to be so This young man to ingratiate himself with David who was by general fame known to be the man whom Samuel had anointed to succeed Saul and apprehending that if he should carry the first tidings of Saul's death to him he should not miss of a great reward he tells him that being on mount Gilboa he found Saul leaning on his Spear * The Reader may compare this whole narration with that he will find 1 Sam. 31 4. and then judg what truth there is in the thing as not being able to stand because of the deadly wounds the Archers had given him and the Chariots and Horsemen pursuing him so fast he call'd unto him and desired him to stand over him and slay him for he was in great anguish and trouble that his life was yet whole and intire in him and accordingly he dispatcht him as Saul desired of him for he was sure he could not live after he was fallen And he took off the Coronet he wore on his head and the Bracelets which he wore on his arm and here says he I present them unto my Lord the King David then took hold of his Clothes and rent them and so did all the men that were with him and they mourned and wept and fasted unto the evening for Saul and Jonathan his Son and for the people of the Lord that were fallen in the battel and that by the hands of the Uncircumcised Philistines which was an evidence of Gods wrath against the Land David angrily askt this young man how he durst presume to stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed 'T is like the Amalekite thought David would have been highly pleas'd with him for doing it but David upon Saul's death being come into the actual possession of the Regal rights and this man having confest the crime himself David bad one of the young men about him to fall upon him and kill him which he accordingly did and David said thy blood be upon thy own head * See Josh 2.19 for thy own mouth hath testified against thee that thou hast slain the Lords Anointed 2 Sam. Ch. 1. from v. 1. to 17. SECT CLXXV DAvid now laments the death of Saul and Jonathan and the men of Israel in a Funeral Song having first given order that the children of Judah should be taught the use of the bow and the rather because Saul and Jonathan had been overcome by the Archers among the Philistines therefore he desired they should be expert in that Art that they might match their enemies in that military skill for time to come Which order is further recorded in the Civil Annals or the General Chronicle of the Memorable Acts of the Nation called the Book of Jasher * Which Book with divers others particularly some composed by Solomon were burnt in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans which was continued as is probable from time to time by the Prophets See Note on Josh 10.13 David begins his Funeral Elegy thus O how are Saul Jonathan and many other valiant men of Israel who were the beauty ornament and glory of the land fallen on the mountains of Gilboa O tell it not in Gath publish it not in the streets of Askalon lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph as they us'd to do in their dances and songs see Note on 1 Sam. 18.6 O if it were possible that this thing might be conceal'd from the enemies of God and his people lest they triumph and insult over them see Judg. 16.23 Mich. 1.10 ascribing the glory of this victory to their Idol-gods to the great dishonour of the only true God
in his mind a (d) So we read of Adonijah affecting the Kingdom of David by the like practise 1 King 2.22 Abner was exceedingly provoked and enrag'd at this and angerly reply'd What am I a dogs-head am I so mean and vile a person in thine eyes that I should be school'd and reprehended for such a matter as this I that have shewed such kindness unto the house of thy Father and to his brethren and friends and have so strenuously stood up against the Tribe of Judah who made David King and have made thee King over the rest of Israel and hitherto supported thee in thy Kingdom and have not delivered thee into the hands of David as I might have done What! am I so mean and contemptible a person that thou shouldst think it a disgrace to thy family that I should lye with one of thy Fathers Concubines God do so to me and more also if I do not translate the Kingdom from the house of Saul to the house of David and make him King over all Israel even from Dan to Beersheba as the Lord hath sworn he should be So that it is plain that Abner knew very well that God had chosen and appointed David to be King and yet all this while he had opposed him against his own knowledg and conscience for his own worldly and wicked ends But though he behaved himself thus insolently yet Ishbosheth being a low and poor-spirited man durst not answer him a word he stood in such fear of him Abner pursuant to what he had threatned sent messengers to David by whom he made his acknowledgment that the whole land did indeed belong to him whom God by Samuel had anointed to be King over Israel and therefore he resolved his hand should be with him to bring all Israel to be subject unto him provided he would make a League and Covenant with him to pardon all that was past and to receive him into his favour David returned him an answer that all that he desired was granted only he must not expect to see his face except he brought Michal Saul's daughter along with him That David insisted upon this condition needs not seem strange if we consider first that she had beeen his first wife and had been faithful to him in preserving his life 1 Sam. 19.11 12. and had been forced by her father to marry another man when he was fled 1 Sam. 25.44 And 2ly David could no way better express his love to her than by rescuing her from the sin and misery of living in adultery 3ly He saw in policy it imported him to ingratiate himself with and gain the love of Sauls kindred and allies which he could no way better do than by this means 4ly He thought he should hereby try the fidelity of Abner Abner it seems hereupon advised David to send to Ishbosheth for his wife and then he would second the motion and procure it to be done David accordingly sent Messengers to Ishbosheth desiring to have his wife Michal delivered to him which he had espoused to him for an hundred (e) David was enjoined only to bring an 100 but he brought 200 1 Sam. 18.25 27. foreskins of the Philistines Ishbosheth being perswaded by Abner to gratifie David therein immediately sent and took her away from Phaltiel her husband who went along with her as far as Bahurim a Town in the Tribe of Benjamin weeping and lamenting that a wise so noble and beautiful should be taken away from him But Abner bad him return and comfort himself for 't was in vain to weep for that which could not be helped Then Abner in pursuance of his design to come in to David had communication with the Elders of Israel and said to them Many of you long ago sought to have David to be King over you now then I pray let us all agree to it for the Lord (f) We do not read in the Sacred story where this is expresly spoken but Josephus saith it was spoken by Samuel and commonly known among the people hath spoken of David saying by the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hands of the Philistines and out of the hands of all their enemies He having thus spoken received a satisfactory answer from them viz. that they would receive David for their King Then he addresseth himself to the Tribe of Benjamin speaking to them to the same purpose and he thought it needful to address himself in an especial manner to them because Saul had been of their Tribe and so was chiefly in their favour and therefore if they gave way to Davids Title and submitted to his government little doubt was to be made but that the rest of the Tribes would submit also Having therefore received such an answer from the Elders of Israel and Benjamin as satisfied him he to shew his great diligence and faithfulness in managing Davids business went himself to carry the news of his good success to David at Hebron reporting to him all that Israel and especially Benjamin had said being attended with twenty men and as 't is probable carried Michal along with him David received him very graciously and made a great feast for him and his company when that was over Abner told him he would go and endeavour to get all Israel to accept him for their King and to make a league with him to be subject to him that he might reign over them all even according to his own hearts desire so David dismissed him in peace Joab with a Brigade of his Souldiers now returning home from pursuing a Troop of the Philistines or some other enemies that had invaded the land and bringing a great spoil along with them he was told that Abner had been newly with the King and had been graciously received by him and honourably dismist Joab was enraged at this and therefore in a bold and insolent manner he came to the King and asked him what he had done He wondered at his imprudence in sending away so dangerous an enemy as Abner was when he had him in his hands Thou mightest well have known says he if thou hadst considered it that Abner is a subtile and politick man and came not for any good end but to deceive thee and as a spy to discover thy counsels and the course of thy actions and proceedings Thus he pretends only David's good but 't is like he feared lest Abner by this important service of coming in to him himself and bringing in the other Israelites should insinuate himself into David's favour and so prove a corrival to him in his honours and preferments and besides the death of his brother Asahel killed by Abner stuck in his stomack David it seems was not much moved by what he said wherefore Joab flinging away in a discontent when he was come out from the King he sent Messengers after Abner and possibly in the Kings name who knew nothing of it who brought him
justice to all his people His chief Officers were these Joab was the General of his Army Jehoshaphat Recorder and writer of the Chronicles and things that were to be registred Zadock of the stock of Eleazar 1 Chron. 6.4 8 and Ahimelech of the stock of Ithamar and Son of Abiathar (a) He fled from Saul to David 1 Sam. 22.20 and continued High-Priest till Solomon's time when for his siding with Adonijah he was deposed and Zadock put into his room the High-Priest were the two chief Priests of their several stocks and had the chief command under Abiathar of the other Priests each over the Priests of his own family For David divided the Priests into two parts according to the two families of Eleazar and Ithamar as we may see 1 Chron. 24.3 4. And Benaiah the Son of Jehojada was over two bands of select Souldiers appointed to attend upon the Kings person in their courses as his Guard see 2 Sam. 15.18 and Ch. 20.7 and 1 King 1.38 44. 'T is probable that these Cherethites * These were old expert Soldiers like the Praetorian Soldiers among the Romans were such Garrison-Souldiers of the Israelites as were placed in Chereth of the Philistines see 1 Sam. 30.14 and that the Pelethites were also such Garrison-Souldiers as quartered among the Japhlithites Josh 16.3 And David's Sons were chief about the King and chief Rulers But that policy or Paternal affection of his did not succeed well with him for two of his Sons viz. Absalom and Adonijah having their spirits thereby highly raised at last they presumptuously affected the Soveraignty 2 Sam. Ch. 8. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 18. whole Chapter 1 King Ch. 11. from 14 to 26. Psal 60. Psal 108. SECT CXC DAvid having subdued his bordering enemies and setled the affairs both of Church and State in his Kingdom he begins now to call to mind the Covenant he had made with his dear friend Jonathan wherein he had engag'd himself to shew kindness to him and his posterity It may indeed seem strange he did not long ago think of it and that he should know nothing of Mephibosheth Jonathan's Son who was but five years old when Saul and Jonathan were slain 2 Sam. 4.4 and now was come to those years that he was married and had a young Son but being hitherto busied in setling his Kingdom at home and subduing his enemies abroad and Ishbosheth Sauls Son having raised a rebellion against him pretending a right to the Crown and denying his right which God himself had given him and all that family as 't is like having sided with him in that cause for these or the like reasons David's head might possibly for some time be so fill'd with jealousie of State that he had no great mind to shew kindness to any of Saul's posterity but being now well setled in his Kingdom and freed from such jealousies he calls to mind the great love that had been formerly between him and Jonathan and the Covenant he had made with him in the presence of the Lord and confirmed by solemn Oath that he would shew kindness to him and his posterity after him 1 Sam. 18.3 20.14 15. and thereupon he inquires whither there were any remaining of the house of Saul that were fit persons for him to shew kindness unto for Jonathan's sake Ziba an old servant of Saul's informs him that Jonathan had a Son named Mephibosheth * Call'd Meribbaal 1 Chron. 8.34 that was lame of his feet who abode in the house of Machir in Lodebar a little Town in the land of Gilead beyond Jordan where he lived in a private and obscure manner desiring to be concealed as much as he could and expected nothing higher than to have his life saved David presently sends for him and when he came before the King he fell on his face and did reverence David receives him very kindly and bids him be of good courage for he did not send for him for his hurt but for his good I will surely says he shew kindness to thee for thy Father Jonathan's sake and will restore to thee all the proper (a) Which were it seems now in Davids hands and confiscated by reason of Ishbosheth's rebellion lands of thy Grandfather Saul and will repute thee as one of my own Sons and thou shalt constantly eat bread at my Table Mephibosheth ravished at this great and unexpected munificence and favour of the King he crys out What is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog (b) David had been thus humbled himself once before Saul 1 Sam. 24.14 After whom is the King of Israel come forth after a dead dog after a flea as I am Then David calling for Ziba said to him Behold I have given to Mephibosheth all that land that pertained to Saul Thou and thy Sons and thy servants shall till the land for him and bring in the fruits that he may have food in his house for his family to eat But for himself he shall eat at my Table continually Ziba reply'd that all that the King had commanded should be done So he with his whole house viz. his fifteen Sons and twenty servants became servants to Mephibosheth After this Mephibosheth dwelt at Jerusalem having a young Son whose name was Micha (c) We find 1 Chron. 8.35 that this Micha had four Sons and those many others in whom the noble family of Jonathan was continued 2 Sam. Ch. 9. whole Chapter SECT CXCI. AS David had thus shewed himself kind to Jonathan's Son so he was also ready to shew kindness to any others who had been kind to him a particular instance whereof we have in this Chapter Nahash the King of Ammon had it seems shewed David some kindness possibly when he fled from Achish King of Gath he had entertain'd and protected him though as 't is like not so much out of love to David as hatred to Saul who had given him a great defeat before Jabesh-Gilead 1 Sam. 11. But whatever the particular kindness was Nahash now dying and Hanun his Son succeeding him David sent his Ambassadours to this new King to condole with him for the death of his Father The Princes and Courtiers of Hanun begin to be full of jealousies upon this and strangely misinterpret this kindness of David and judg it to be only counterfeit What say they to Hanun dost thou think that David by this Ambassie intends to honour thy Father Never imagin that he really intends any such thing undoubtedly he hath sent these men as spies to search and observe our Country and to discover some advantages for the conquering of it that he may serve us as he hath done other Nations Besides we have heard that by their Law they are forbidden to seek our prosperity all their days and therefore what reason have we to trust them Thus some Politicians think themselves most wise when they are most suspicious but such wisdom often proveth meer
and the Lord answered It was for the blood of the Gibeonites shed by Saul and his bloody family For Saul pretending a great zeal for the good of Israel attempted to destroy the Amorites and with them all wizards and witches 1 Sam. 28.3 9. and with them he also fell upon the Gibeonites (b) V. 2. Of the remnant of the Amorites All the inhabitants of Canaan are usually in the Scripture called Amorites See Gen. 15.16 and destroyed many of them (c) Occidit eos ut eorum urbes possessiones Israelitis traderet indignam ratus ut praestans illa terrae portio ab alienigenis occuparetur notwithstanding the Oath which Joshua and the Elders of Israel had sworn to them that they should live peaceably among them Josh 9.15 And it seems the Lord did not only tell David wherefore this famine was sent but injoined him to make satisfaction to the Gibeonites for the wrong they had sustained David accordingly sending for the Gibeonites asked them what satisfaction they would require for the wrong that had been done them that so they might not complain any longer to God of the cruelty the Israelites had exercised upon them nor endeavour to draw down judgments upon them but being satisfied might pray for their peace and the prosperity of the land which God had given them for an inheritance The Gibeonites answered We will have no silver or gold of any of Sauls family neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel save only those of his family who were chief actors in the destruction of our Brethren let those of his posterity who sought utterly to destroy us from among the Israelites be delivered unto us and we will hang them up in Saul's own City who being chosen of Gods meer favour and grace to be King over Israel turned Tyrant and shed innocent blood and this we will do not out of revenge but that by their death an atonement may be made to the Lord and that his wrath may be appeased and the famine removed and that others by this example may learn to keep Covenant and not to oppress the stranger that is taken under Gods protection (a) Voluit Deus se ostendere adjutorem oppressorum delectatum esse istorum Ethnicorum conversione qui typum gerebant Gentium vocandarum see Numb 25.4 David having as it seems warrant from God to give them the satisfaction they required he promises to deliver seven of Saul's posterity into their hands but he would not let Mephibosheth be one of them because of that special Covenant that was between him and Jonathan 1 Sam. 18.3 He had likewise sworn to Saul that he would not cut off his seed after him 1 Sam. 24.21 22. But God now by this his special command dispensed with him as to that Oath So the King took the two Sons of Rizpah Saul's Concubine and the five Sons of Merab Saul's Daughter which she had by Adriel 1 Sam. 18.19 but were brought up and educated by Michal her sister she having no children of her own and delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites who immediately hanged them up on an hill near Gibeah that all might look upon them as a fearful example of Gods high displeasure against Saul and his bloody house for killing and massacring those poor men in that manner he had done And so they were all executed and put to death (b) Whereas 't is said Deut. 24.16 The children shall not be put to death for the Fathers every man shall be put to death for his own sin We must know that punishments are either temporary or eternal in the former children and such as are innocent of those sins for which the punishment is sent may be involv'd because they live in the same community and are as it were members of the same body but as for those punishments that are eternal they are never inflicted upon any but for their own sins and of these chiefly the Prophet is to be understood Ezek. 18.4 20. together in the beginning of Barley harvest Rizpah the mother of two of them knew it seems that the bodies of her Sons and of the rest that were hanged were so to remain till God should testifie that he was appeased towards the land by giving them rain David doubtless had special direction from the Lord in this matter for otherwise 't was against the express letter of the Law that the body should hang all night see Deut. 21.23 but God having as it seems otherwise ordered it at this present Rizpah that she might defend their bodies from birds and beasts resolv'd to watch them and to that end she took sackcloth and spread therewith a Tent for her self on the rock next adjoining to defend her from the heat and weather and there sat possibly with some servants attending her in a mournful posture watching of them till water dropt upon them from heaven and God sent rain upon the land as was desired David hearing what affection Rizpah had shewed to her Sons that were hanged and how careful she had been to keep their dead bodies from being torn and mangled that they might be decently interr'd being mov'd by her example he began to think of shewing some respect to the dead bodies of Saul and Jonathan which had been taken by the men of Jabesh-Gilead from the street of Bethshan where the Philistines had hanged them Accordingly David ordered that the bones of Saul and Jonathan together with the bones of these men lately hanged whose bodies as 't is like being putrified they burned off the flesh from their bones should be buried in the Sepulchre of Kish the Father of Saul And after that God was intreated for the land and testified his favour by sending rain and taking away the Famine 2 Sam. Ch. 21. from 1 to 15. SECT CXCIX TRouble 's again arise to David from the Philistines and four battles are fought with them wherein four Valiants of David slay four of their Giants In the first of these David himself was engaged and being old and faint was in great danger of being kill'd by one of the Sons of the Giant but he was rescued by Abishai who kill'd the Giant David's Souldiers hereupon resolv'd that he should go no more in person with them to battel lest he should be slain and so the light of Israel be quencht that is their glory splendor and joy should perish with him See 1 King 15.4 The next battel with them was at Gob near unto Gezer Here Sibbechai another of David's Worthies slew another Giant The third battel was also at Gob and there Elhanan another of David's Valiant Commanders slew another Giant the brother of Goliath the Gittite the staff of whose Spear was like a weavers beam The fourth was at Gath where a man of great stature came out against them and defied Israel he had on each hand six fingers and on each foot six toes and was another son
Stobaeus that is shewed them the duty of a King towards his Subjects and of his Subjects towards him and these fundamental Laws of the Kingdom he wrote in a Book (d) Hic liber periit cum multis aliis and laid it up before the Lord that is before the Ark or in the Tabernacle for the sure preservation of it and to intimate that God would take care of thâ—se Laws to uphold and maintain them and to punish those that should violate or break them These things being done Samuel dismissed this great Assembly and Saul went to Gibeah his own City and there went with him a band of men (e) Quos scil divinus spiritus ad obsequium illud novo Regi exhibendum impulit such whose hearts God had touched and moved to think it fit that they should attend him and as a Royal guard wait upon him and conduct him in his return home But all the people were not so well pleased with this Election though it plainly appeared to be of God there were some rude and wretched fellows Sons of Belial that despised him and look d upon him as a person unfit to be King and unlikely to govern them well and defend them against their enemies as a King should do whereupon they refused to bring him any presents (f) That was the custom of those times as is noted concerning Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 17.5 see Mat. 2.11 sine muneribus Reges orientis adiâ—i non solebant as it seems the rest of the people did to testifie their subjection and that they did acknowledg him to be their King But Saul held his peace not seeming to take notice (g) Novum imperium inchoantibus utilis clementiae fama ait Tacitus of their unworthy carriage towards him but seeking to win them by lenity and love 1 Sam. Ch. 10. from v. 17. to the end SECT CLXII NAhash King of the Ammonites now came up and besieged Jabesh-Gilead a City without Jordan this attempt had been brewing against the Israelites before they desired a King and was in great part the occasion of it as appears Ch. 12.12 And now possibly it was the more hastened by Nahash because of the report that was brought to him that the Israelites had shaken off the Government of Samuel and had chosen a King to reign over them at which some of them were discontent and would not accept him 'T is like the Ammonites made the ground of their present quarrel the old pretence and claim which they laid to the land of Gilead in which Jabesh stood see Judg. 11.13 which now they hop'd to recover and revenge the shameful overthrow which Jephtah then gave them The men of Jabesh-Gilead being now in extream fear and not trusting in the Providence of God as they ought to have done and contrary to Gods command who had forbidden them to make any Covenant with the accursed Nations they desire Nabash to make a Covenant with them and to take them under his protection as his Confederates and they would pay him Tribute and serve him Nahash proudly and tyrannically answers them that on this condition only he would make a Covenant with them namely if he might have liberty to put out their right eyes Hereby he intended it seems to disable them from War for with their Shields they covered their left eyes and therefore if their right eyes were put out what service of war could they be fit for as also to fix a reproach upon all Israel For the accepting such base conditions would be a perpetual disgrace to all the people of whom it would be said that they were so base a people that they would buy their peace and lives upon any terms yea it would be a reproach to the God of Israel as if he could not help his people in their distresses or would not do it The Elders of Jabesh-Gilead desire seven days respite to send unto their brethren for help in which time if they were not relieved they promise to come out unto him and to yield themselves to be disposed of at his pleasure Nahash being puft up with a vain opinion of his own strength and thinking it impossible that their brethren in that time either could or durst come to relieve them yields to their desire and by this means through his own arrogancy and folly he brought ruin and destruction upon himself and his people And God by his alwise Providence made this a means that Jabesh-Gilead should be delivered by the hands of Saul whose valour and magnanimity being in this atchievement so much displayed the hearts of the people were hereby more inclined to receive him for their King The men of Jabesh-Gilead having therefore liberty granted them to send to their Brethren their Messengers came first to Gibeah where Saul and Samuel now were to acquaint them with the extream streights they were in that so they might speedily send into all the Coasts of Israel for help When the people of Gibeah heard these doleful tidings they lift up their voices and wept Saul though elected King yet being returned to his own house betook himself as it seems to his former private Country-life expecting till God should please to give him an opportunity by some eminent action to shew himself worthy to be their King Coming home therefore out of the fields after his Herd he perceived the people all in an uproar crying out and wringing their hands and tearing their hair and expressing the bitterest lamentation Being extreamly surpriz'd at it he asks what was the matter they tell him the sad tidings that were brought to them concerning Jabesh-Gilead At the hearing of this the Spirit of God came upon him that is the spirit of fortitude and courage and magnanimity and zeal for his Countrys defence and though he was before very patient in his own cause when certain Sons of Belial scorned and despised him and easily passed it over as we have seen Ch. 10.27 yet now his anger was highly kindled and he was impatient of the wrong that was done to the Lord and his people by the Ammonites Taking therefore a yoke of Oxen and hewing them in pieces he sent the pieces to the several Tribes of Israel in imitation of the Levite Judg. 19.29 who did thus cut his Concubine in pieces and sent them to the several Tribes to stir up their indignation And because he was not as yet generally received as King he uses not only his own name but Samuel's also and by his messengers gives the people to understand that whosoever did not come forth and join with them in this expedition against the Ammonites their Oxen should be so served And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people and so moved and inclined their hearts that they readily came forth and joined with Saul and Samuel in this undertaking And when they were come together in the Territories of Bezek Saul numbred them and the Children of Israel were three hundred
Saul's hands had not his faith overcome his fear David now came and attended upon Saul who was much pleased with him and loved him greatly and appointed him to be one of those that should carry his Shield before him Saul also liking him very well (h) This great love of Saul to David quickly turned into mortal hatred sent to his Father that he might stay with him and continue in his service And when the evil spirit was at any time upon Saul David played on his Harp before him and so he was for the time freed from his melancholy God working with David's Musick and giving Saul ease thereby that he might make way for David's advancement Yet the Musick wrought no perfect cure on him but only an abatement of his fits He should have used the right means if he intended to be cur'd viz. Repentance Faith Fasting and Prayer 1 Sam. Ch. 16. from 14 to the end SECT CLXIX DAvid continued sometime in Saul's Court but finding an alienation in Saul's affection towards him he withdrew himself and returned to keep his Fathers sheep see Ch. 17.15 The Philistines about this time either out of desire to avenge their former shameful loss when Jonathan and his Armour-bearer put their whole Army to flight Ch. 14. or out of jealousie of the growing power of the Israelites through the many victories lately obtained by Saul against his other neighbours or stirred up by God to accomplish what he intended to do now invade the land of Israel with a great Army and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah in the Tribe of Judah and Saul and the men of Israel gathered together and pitched by the valley of Elah near unto them So the Philistines were on a mountain on one side and the Israelites on a mountain on the other a valley being between them Thus each party kept their ground of advantage for a time not joining battel but only skirmishing now and then And there came forth a Champion out of the Camp of the Philistines whose name was Goliath of Gath * See Josh 11.22 whose height was six cubits and a span that is three yards and three hands breadth so he was higher than any ordinary man by a yard and a foot and he had arms suitable to his vast stature he had an helmet of steel and a coat of mail made after the similitude of Fish-scales one piece lying over another and the weight thereof was five thousand shekels of brass so that counting a shekel at half an ounce which was the weight of the common shekel Goliath's Coat weighed two thousand and five hundred ounces that is one hundred fifty and six pounds and four ounces or thereabout assigning to every pound twelve ounces And he had greaves or boots of brass upon his legs See 1 Chron. 20.5 a target or gorget of brass between his shoulders and the staff of his spear was like a Weavers beam and his spears head weighed twenty five pounds and one went before him bearing his shield and he stood and cried to the armies of Israel Why are ye come out to set your battel in array that is what need we bring a whole Army on each side to fight it out let us cast all upon a single combat am not I a Philistine and chosen by them for there Champion and you servants of Saul therefore do you chose out a man from among you to fight with me and let us two decide the controversie if he be able to kill me then the Philistines shall be your servants but if I prevail against him then shall ye be our servants And then in an insulting manner he further said I defie the armies of the Israelites this day when Saul and all Israel heard these words they were greatly dismayed none of the whole Army daring to answer this proud Philistines challenge no not Jonathan himself whom God had endued with so great a measure of courage and fortitude that he and his Armour-bearer had alone routed the whole Army of the Philistines as we may see Ch. 14. but we must consider that both faith and courage are the gifts of God which when he withholdeth those that were at other times as bold as a Lion may shrink for fear God also now meant to magnifie David and make him famous among the people that so there might be a way made for the fulfilling his purpose and promise of advancing him to the Throne The Philistine for forty days together morning and evening presented himself before the Army challenging any Israelite to come forth and combate him but not a man among them durst undertake him at last it so happened that Jesse the Bethlemite who was at that time an old man and being unfit for war stayed at home having his three eldest Sons in the Camp with Saul he thought good to send his youngest Son David who kept his sheep to see how they did and to carry to them some provisions viz. an Ephah * An Ephah was some thing short of our English Bushel containing ten Omers and every Omer about a pottle of parched corn and ten loaves and to carry also to their Captain ten cheeses possibly that he might use them with the more kindness and respect and to bring him from them some token or pledg that they were alive whereby he should assuredly know that he had done what he commanded him Saul and the Israelites were encamped on a mountain that lay close upon the valley of Elah and in the valley the two armies often skirmished one with another David rising early in the morning and leaving the sheep to the care of a keeper he took the provisions which his Father had sent and hasted away with them and when he came to the Trench where the Carts and Carriages lay which brought provisions to the Army the host was drawing forth to be set in battel-array and shouted to the Battel The Philistines also on the other Hill had put themselves in battel-array and they stood army against army ready to fight if they could get any advantage against each other David seeing this left what he had brought in the hands of the Keeper of the Carriages and ran into the army and saluted his Brethren as he talked with them behold Goliath the Philistines Champion came forth and drawing up towards the army of the Israelites spake in that insulting manner as he had done before and defyed the army of the Israelites The Israelites were so dismayed at his vast stature that not one was found that durst adventure to fight with him David hearing the daring words of the Philistine and seeing the people much perplexed that he should thus defie them and that none among them should be found that had courage enough to undertake him he asks what shall be done to the man that shall kill this Philistine and so take away the reproach from Israel for what is this uncircumcised Philistine says he that he should dare
thus to defie the armies of the Living God And possibly he inquired after the reward promised only to let the standers-by perceive that he himself had some thoughts of undertaking the combate but not so much for the sake of the reward as to vindicate the honour of God and his people The people told him the King would enrich that man with great riches that should undertake it and would give him his daughter to wife and make his Fathers house free in Israel that is free from Taxes and other impositions and so innoble his family Eliab David's eldest brother perceiving by the manner of his talking with the people that he had some inclination to undertake this Giant his anger was kindled against him and very sternly he askt him for what purpose he came thither and with whom had he left sheep he was appointed to keep intimating that he was fitter to keep sheep and play on his harp than to be a Souldier and then upbraiding him with arrogance and ambition I know says he thy pride and the naughtiness of thy heart for thou art come hither that thou maist see the battel and try if thou canst by some desperate action get thy self a name David meekly answers What have I done to deserve so sharp a reproof from thee Is there not sufficient cause that I should come when my Father hath sent me and being come have I not cause to be concern'd with other Israelites and to speak as I have done when I hear God thus dishonoured and his own peculiar people thus scorn'd and reproach'd by a blasphemous wretch an uncircumcised Infidel Then David finding such harsh usage from his brother turned from him to others to whom he spake after the same manner he had done before and intimated his willingness to fight with this Giant if no body else would undertake him and 't is like he spake the more freely that so what he said might come to the Kings ears Saul hearing of it sent for him to whom humbly addressing himself he said My Lord let no mans heart fail him because of this hideous monster for I my self though the weakest of many trusting in Gods power and assistance will encounter him if no body else will do it Saul said alas thou art not able to go against him for thou art but a youth and not bred in war and he a man of full age and vast stature and trained up in war from his youth David humbly replies that he had had experience of Gods extraordinary assistance vouchsafed to him for keeping his Fathers sheep there came a Lion and a Bear one at one time and the other at another and seising each of them a Lamb out of the flock he pursued after them and when the Lion turned upon him he took him by the beard or hair of his nether chap and slew him and took the prey from him and so served the Bear also and he doubted not but this blasphemous miscreant who defyed the armies of the Living God should through the Divine assistance be as easily conquered as one of them for that God says he who delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and the paw of the Bear will I trust deliver me also out of the hands of this uncircumcised Philistine Saul hearing him express so great courage and confidence in God and that grounded upon the former experience he had had of his extraordinary assistance he gave him leave to enter the lists with this Giant and wished him good success and prayed that God would be with him in it But he thought fit first to arm David well with armour taken out of his own armoury and so he put on his head an helmet of brass and armed him with a coat of mail and David girded his sword upon his armour and assayed to go with his armour on but he quickly found himself uneasie and therefore said I cannot go * V. 39. Non sum assuâ—factus talia ferre Vatab. with these having not been used to wear such arms they are a burden to me So he put them off and took his staff in his hand and his sling and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook and put them into his shepherds bag and so went out to meet the Philistine When Saul saw him thus going forth he askt Abner whose Son he was for it seems having been distempered with frantick fits he had forgotten him though he had formerly known him and greatly loved him and Abner being General of the Army and so much absent from Court had not it seems taken any notice of him when he was there and therefore told the King he knew not Saul bad him enquire whose Son that stripling was David now armed only with his staff and sling goes out to meet the Philistine who came up towards him with his armour-bearer carrying his great shield before him V. 43. Baculis Enallage numeri est ut Gen. 21.7 when this monstrous Giant saw David come towards him who was but a youth and his countenance rather amiable than terrible not like the countenance of a Souldier he disdained him and said What am I a dog that thou comest out to me with a staff then cursing him by his gods he said let Dagon and the other gods we worship confound thee Come to me and I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air and beasts of the field David reply'd Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the Armies of Israel whom thou hast defyed This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand I know it by the inspiration of the Spirit of God and I will smite thee and take off thine head and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the field that all the earth may know that there is a God who is Almighty and the only true God who watcheth over Israel and all this present assembly both of Israelites and Philistines shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword or spear but he can save without these and is not tyed to such outward means for the battel is the Lords and he governeth it and giveth victory to whom he pleaseth and I know that he will this day give you Philistines into our hands Goliath now prepared himself for the Combat and came and drew night to meet David and David accordingly hasted to meet him and putting his hand into his Bag he took thence a stone and slung it with extraordinary force and smiting the Philistine in his forehead the stone sunk into his head God so guiding and directing it and he fell upon his face to the earth then David ran to him and trampled upon him and having no sword with him he drew out the Philistines sword out of its
While he was here divers of Saul's own Tribe and kindred resorted unto him who are named before the men of Gad who had fallen to him before because these mens coming to him was more strange and remarkable And all who favoured his cause had here opportunity to resort to him as we may see 1 Chron. 12. from v. 1 to 22. Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag and were among the mighty men helpers in the war They were armed with bows and could use both the right hand and left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow even of Sauls brethren of Benjamin The chief was Ahiezer then Joash c. and Ismaiah the Gibeonite a mighty man among the thirty Captains that came out of Benjamin to David and was Colonel over them There are but twenty three Benjamites named the other seven which should make up the thirty are not set down And some of the Gadites also separated themselves unto David when he was in the hold or fortress of Ziklag in the Wilderness of Judea men of might and trained up to war fit to order a battel and that could handle shield and buckler and whose faces were like the faces of lions that is undaunted fierce and terrible to their enemies and as swift as Roes †Some take the word Roes for Goats which very readily and swiftly climb over high rocks implying that these Gadites could easily scale high walls forts or towers and soon take them upon the mountains Of these Gadites there are eleven named who had command over several Companies of Souldiers they were all made Captains of Bands after David began to reign in Hebron some of them over an hundred and some of them over a thousand These are they that came over Jordan in the first month called Abib when it had overflown all its banks so that thereby they would not be kept from coming to assist David and they put to flight such of Sauls Souldiers as were in those troublesome times appointed to lye in the vallies near the banks of Jordan to guard the fords and passages lest any well-affected to David should from those parts come over to his aid upon these Souldiers of Saul's these Gadites came suddenly and scattered them some flying one way and some another There came also some other Benjamites besides those mentioned v. 2. that were not so nearly linked to Saul but bordering upon Judah joyned with some of that Tribe and jointly came to assist David David hearing of their coming went out to meet them and said unto them If ye be come in a peaceable and friendly manner to help me I shall love you intirely but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies seeing I have done no wrong to Saul or any of you the God of our Fathers look thereon and rebuke you and manifest his displeasure against you for it Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Amasai * He is in other places called Amasa whom Absolom made General of his Army 2 Sam. 17.25 and whom David intended to make General instead of Joab but he was treacherously slain by Joab 2 Sam. 20.3 10. who was chief of all these brave men and he answered with great boldness and assurance Thine are we David and on thy side thou Son of Jesse Peace and all manner of prosperity be unto thee and to thy helpers and assistants and all that heartily join with thee We have observed that God hath hitherto wonderfully prospered thee and we heartily wish it may be so still Then David joyfully received them and so far trusted them that he gave every one of them a place of command in his Army Some of the Manassites also and some others came in day by day to David insomuch that his Army began now to be considerable His forces being thus encreased he would not let them be idle but under pretence of invading Judea he sent them another way and smote the Amalekites and others that are suppos'd to be the remainders of the Canaanites viz. the Geshurites namely such as dwelt formerly at Geshur in Gilead Josh 12.5 and the Gezrites whose ancestors dwelt in Gezer which belonged to Ephraim Josh 16.3 who perhaps at the first coming of the Israelites fled thence to the Amalekites and had ever since dwelt among them these Amalekites Saul was commanded to root out Ch. 15.2 3. but he left some alive and now David smote as many of them as he could light on with other the inhabitants of that place and left neither man nor woman alive viz. of such as he met with scattered in several places of that solitary Wilderness God having devoted these accursed Nations to utter destruction and hereby he took care that none should carry tidings of his proceedings to Achish who would have been highly offended if he had heard that these Nations who were either his confederates or as 't is probable his Tributaries were destroyed by David David also carried away their sheep oxen and asses and camels and apparel and returning to Achish whom possibly he perswaded that he had got that plunder out of the coasts of Judah he offered as 't is probable a part of the spoils unto him And after this when ever Achish asked him Whither have ye made a rode to day He answered that sometimes he made a rode against the South of Judah and sometimes against the South of the Jerahmeelites who were a particular family of that Tribe 1 Chron. 2.25 and sometimes against the South of the Kenites and thus either he told Achish direct lyes to secure himself and his followers from danger or at least he purposely deceived him with ambiguity of words intending that Achish should so understand him as if he had invaded the South parts of Judah whereas he meant he had invaded those bordering Countries * Aequivoce loquitur nam terminos Hi pâ—r vim occuparant qui jure spectabant ad Tribum Judae that lay Southward of Judah and of the Jerahmeelites and of the Kenites and these were indeed the people whom he invaded and not the Israelites and of these he spared none of all that he met with to bring tidings to Gath for he thought with himself that if any of them remained alive they would come and make a heavy complaint to Achish against him and say Thus did David to our Country and this will be his manner and constant course all the while he is permitted to dwell among you But Achish believed that David had invaded the people of the Jews and accordingly said Surely he hath made his own people utterly to abhor him and can never hope that they will be reconciled to him he shall therefore remain with me to do me service as long as he liveth 1 Sam. Ch. 27. wh Ch. 1 Chron. 12. from v. 1. to 23. 13ly About this time not only Achish King of Gath but with him all the other four Princes of the Philistines
17. Faciet enim tibi dominus Strigelius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 malui legere quod est in margine quomodo Hieron Septuaginta verterunt quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tertia persona sumitur pro secunda sic mos Hebraeis permutandi personas Saul then perceived him in that form though it were not the true Samuel but the Devil in his likeness and stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself to him This counterfeit Samuel now asked him Why he had disquieted him to bring him up thither Saul answered I am sore distressed the Philistines make war upon me and God is departed from me and answereth me no more either by Prophets or Dreams therefore have I called for thee that thou maist make known to me what I should do The evil spirit now counterfeiting not only Samuel's person but his words and actions replied Why dost thou ask counsel of me seeing the Lord is departed from thee and become thine enemy Alas I cannot help thee for the Lord will do to thee as he hath spoken by me He will rend the Kingdom out of thine hand and give it to thy neighbour even to David because thou obeyest not his voice nor executest his fierce wrath upon Amalek and therefore it is that this judgment will fall upon thee And moreover the Lord will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines and to morrow (h) To morrow is not to be understood precisely of the next day following but indefinitely of some time near approaching So to morrow is taken Exod. 13.14 Mat. 6.34 and so here to be understood For it was not the next day after that Saul and his Sons were slain in which the Philistines were but preparing for the battel and sent away David from among them see Ch. 29. but as it seemeth by the History some few days after thou and thy sons shall be with me (i) First God may reveal things future and contingent unto Satan who may reveal them to Witches and to Sorcerers before they came to pass to encourage and harden their hearts in their Diabolical practices and the hearts of others also that resort unto them 2ly God sometimes useth Satan as an instrument to execute his judgments as he did in the case of Job and the four hundred false Prophets that were deluded by him 1 King 22.22 and then 't is easie for him to reveal those things he hath in commission to execute Permittit Deus Daemones aliquando responsa dare Idololatris quia ex malitia sua demerentur ut sic in erroribus exerceantur ut Ancilla illa Act. 16. quae nisi vera prae dixisset magnum Dominis suis quaestum non prae buisset Multa de oraculo Delphico referant omnes Historiae Craeso sciscitanti num futurum esset ut filius mutus loqueretur respondit infausto die loquuturum esse quod accidit that is shall be dead as the true Samuel was who was personated by this evil spirit Saul hearing these dismal tidings and being very faint through fasting all the day before even to that time of the night he fell on the ground in a swoon and there was no strength in him The Witch hereupon came to him and told him that she had so far obeyed him as to put her life into his hands therefore she desired him so far to gratifie her as to receive a little refreshment from her that he might have strength to return to the army But he utterly refused it till his servants together with the woman by their earnest importunity prevailed with him so he arose from the earth and sat upon the bed and the woman having a fatted calf in the stall she caused it presently to be kill'd and drest and prepar'd some of it and took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened * Panes azymos quos statim curavit coquendos non enim expectavit donec farinae illa subacta fermentaretur bread thereof and so brought her provisions and set them before Saul and his servants and they did eat of them and then arose and went their way 1 Sam. Ch. 28. from v. 1 to the end 14. The Philistines now gathered all their forces together to Aphek a Town in the Tribe of Asher and the Israelites pitched by a fountain near Jezreel The Four Lords of the Philistines led up their forces and marched with their hundreds and thousands but David and his men marched in the rear with Achish who seems to be chief among them if not their General The Princes of the Philistines observing this askt in some passion what those Hebrews did among them Achish reply'd the chief commander of them was David a servant of Saul's a man of great wisdom and fortitude who had been with him some days or rather some years he having dwelt with him one full year and four months see Ch. 27.7 and in all that time since he fell to him he had found no fault in him But the Princes of the Philistines were not satisfied with that but imagined that Achish was meerly deluded by him and that he would endanger their Army therefore they urge Achish to send him back and to cause him to return to the place he had appointed for him viz. to Ziklag lest in the battel he should fall off from them and help their enemies For how can he better contrive say they to reconcile himself to his master than by betraying the lives of this whole Army into his hands They further add that he was a most dangerous person of whose abilities they ought to be very apprehensive being highly renown'd for his military prudence and valour among his own Nation insomuch that the women sang of him in their dances Saul hath slain his thousands but David his ten thousands See Ch. 18.7 21.11 Hereupon Achish called David and told him that as sure as the Lord lived he had found him faithful to him and he could not but highly approve all his carriage since he came into the Army nay he had found no evil in him since the first day he came up to him Nevertheless he must acquaint him that the Lords of the Philistines favoured him not therefore he advised him to return with his forces to Ziklag that he might not give them any further cause of jealousie David replies what evil hast thou found in thy servant since I have been with thee even unto this day that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King (k) Necessaria querela ne si taceret suspitionibus Philistaeonum suffragari videretur Menoch Achish answers I protest thou seemest unto me to be a person of such excellencies of such probity and goodness as if thou wert an Angel (l) Hunc loquendi modum Philistaei a vicinis hauserunt Hebraeis Conterminae enim regiones ut experientia docet multas voces phrases communes habent sent from heaven unto me I
perceive every thing to prosper that thou takest in hand However the Princes of the Philistines have resolv'd that thou shalt not go with them to battel wherefore arise very early in the morning and with thy forces that are Saul's subjects depart and be gone lest our people fall upon thee Achish intended no more by his advice than this but God had a further design in it for by this means David was not only freed from the danger of being perfidious and ungrateful to Achish who so much trusted in him but also from fighting against his brethren and Country-men and hereby also he came in time to rescue the prey out of the hands of the Amalekites which they had carried away from Ziklag * As he went forth with the Philistines and as he returned from them divers fell to him of the Tribe of Manasseh as we may see 1 Chron. 12.19 20 21 22. 1 Sam. Ch. 29. whole Chapter 15. David according to Achish's advice marches back with his forces and coming on the third day after to Ziklag he found it to his great astonishment burnt by the Amalekites for such of them as had escaped Saul's sword formerly and his sword of late taking advantage of the Philistines and his absence and resolving to revenge themselves on him they suddenly invaded the South part of the Philistines (a) V. 14. Called Cherethites some part of the Philistines Country being call'd Cherith and thence the Philistines called Chereshim or Cherethites See Ezek. 25.15 16. Zeph. 2.5 Country and the South of Judah (b) By the South of Caleb is meant the South of Judah belonging to Calebs posterity Josh 14.13 where Davids possessions lay which he had by Abigail Nabals widdow and surprizing Ziklag burnt it or at least a great part of it and carried away the women and children captive God so over-ruling their hearts that they did not put any of them to death but kept them alive to sell them †Quod mirum cum David occidisset omnes Cap. 27.9 11. sed Deus ipsorum furorem mitigavit as 't is probable for slaves and to make merchandize of them among the rest that were carried away captive were David's two wives Ahinoam and Abigail David and his men coming to Ziklag were extreamly surpriz'd at this dismal calamity and bursting out into tears they wept till they had no more power to weep David now felt the hand of the Lord sore upon him for his distrust of God and seeking to help himself by flying to the Philistines the professed enemies of Gods people and for his lying and dissembling and pretending to Achish as if he had a desire to fight against Saul and against the Israelites never was he in greater straits than at this time for his followers being transported with rage and discontent for the loss of their wives and children began to mutiny (c) Hac omnia Davidi acciderunt cum jam sibi videretur esse in tuto and talk of stoning him as the chief cause of this their great calamity and misery because having provoked the Amalekites by invading their Country and slaughtering their people Ch. 27.8 9. he had imprudently drawn out his forces out of the city and left it naked to the malice of their enemies all this only to imploy them in assisting the Philistines in a pernicious war against their own people However in this desperate danger David encouraged himself in the Lord his God and by an humble and actual trust cast himself upon his power goodness and fatherly care of which he had had so large experience then calling to the High-Priest Abiathar to bring the Ephod and by it to enquire (d) This David had divers times neglected to do upon weighty occasions as particularly before he fled out of Judea into the land of the Philistines and before he followed Achish in the war but having smarted for it he is now unwilling to do any thing without Gods direction of the Lord whither he should pursue those Amalekites and whither he should overtake them he had a gracious answer encouraging him to pursue them and a promise that he should without fail recover all that they had taken away Wherefore immediately with his six hundred men he marches after them as far as the brook Besor in the borders of Simeon where two hundred of them being faint and tired could march no further Here God was pleased to try and exercise his faith again in that after he had encouraged him to pursue his enemies he seem'd now to cross him by disabling one third part of his men from going on against them and this he did that the glory of the victory might be ascribed unto him and not to David therefore with these four hundred men leaving the other two hundred with their baggage going on in the pursuit at last they found a poor Egyptian in the field almost ready to perish thorough sickness and hunger having neither eaten nor drunk any thing for three days and three nights together this poor creature they refreshed with bread and water and a piece of a cake of figs and some raisins and then brought him to David who examining him whence he was and to whom he belonged he told him he was by Nation an Egyptian and serv'd an Amalekite that was in the army gone before who left him there in the field three days ago upon his falling sick He tells him he came out with his master and they had inroaded and plundered the South part of the Philistines and of Judah and had burnt Ziklag David asks him if he could bring him down to the Camp where his master was It seems the Amalekites had told him where they intended to encamp that so if he recovered he might come to them Accordingly he tells David that if he would swear to him by God that he would neither kill him himself nor deliver him into the power of his master he would bring him down to them David promised him faithfully he would not and so he brought them to the place where the Amalekites had pitched David found them in a careless posture spread abroad upon the earth eating and drinking and dancing and rejoicing for the great spoils they had gotten out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah seeing them in this posture he fell upon them immediately at the evening of the day and smote them to the evening of the day following and destroyed in a manner all of them excepting only four hundred young men that rode upon Camels and so escaped He spared none he could lay his hands on they being a Nation destin'd by God to utter destruction David and his men having thus vanquished this great band of the Amalekites they rescued all the women and children which had been carried away by them and there was nothing lacking to them either small or great either sons or daughters they recovered all (e) Miro
fifty thousand the greatest number that came out of any one Tribe men expert in war and arm'd with all Military instruments and who could keep rank and order and were not of a divided or double heart but men of great singleness and sincerity Of Naphtali a thousand Captains and with them thirty seven thousand armed with Shield and Spear Of the Danites twenty eight thousand and six hundred expert Soldiers Of Asher forty thousand Of the Reubenites Gadites and half Tribe of Manasseh an hundred and twenty thousand furnisht with all manner of weapons and military instruments All these which are reckoned to be in all three hundred twenty two thousand two hundred twenty two being men of war who knew how to keep rank and observe Military order and discipline are said to have come with an upright heart to Hebron to make David King over all Israel and those that came not up with them yet joined in heart and affection with them therein And there they stayed with David eating and drinking and feasting three days together their brethren of Hebron making what preparations for them they could and others that were nigh unto them sending in provisions yea as far as from Issachar (a) V. 40. Usque ab Issachar c. sic Jun. Tremel Zebulon and Naphtali they brought bread and other provisions some on Asses and Camels and Mules and some drawn by Oxen and meat and meal cakes of figs and bunches of raisins wine and oyl they brought also oxen and sheep in great abundance to make the Feast for there was then great joy in Israel 2 Sam. Ch. 5. from v. 1. to 6. 1 Chron. Ch. 11. from v. 1 to 4. 1 Chron. Ch. 12. from v. 23 to the end SECT CLXXXIV DAvid having now so many of his subjects together and most of them armed he resolved to make some good use of them to the taking of Jerusalem which stood in the confines of Judah and Benjamin the men of Judah had taken that part of it which belonged unto them see Judg. 1.8 but the Children of Benjamin could not drive out the Jebusites out of their part see Judg. 1.21 no not when they had the help of their brethren the men of Judah see Josh 15.63 and therefore we read that afterwards it was a City of strangers when the Levite with his Concubine went that way Judg. 19. and so it continued to this time It was a place it seems of very great strength because the Jebusites had held it ever since Joshua had entred the land and it was even in the heart of the Country David having therefore so vast a number of his subjects that were men of war about him who on this solemn occasion had come up to him to Hebron he thought fit to take this opportunity to lead them forth against Jerusalem viz. that part of it that was held by the Jebusites resolving that the wresting of that place out of their hands should be his first enterprize after his being anointed King over all Israel and intending when he had taken it to make it the chief seat of his Kingdom Accordingly he led his Army up thither but when he had laid siege thereto the Jebusites that were within presuming upon the strength of the place in a flouting manner told him That except he could take from them their Tutelar gods that is their Idols and Images in which they put their trust though he and his people counted them and in contempt called them blind and lame gods he must not expect to come in thither And so confident they were of the power and protection of their Idols that they thought David and all Israel could never take their Fort or Castle David hereupon to encourage his Captains in the enterprize promised them that whoever with his Soldiers did first scale the walls and get into the Gutter and kill the Jebusites and destroy the lame and blind Idols they so much trusted in which his soul hated he should be chief Captain and General of his forces Joab possibly that he might recover the Kings favour whom he had highly offended by killing Abner did hereupon first scale the walls and so was made Lord General of the Kings forces see 1 Chron. 11.6 And David did the rather promise this reward to him that should take the Fort because the Jebusites had said in scorn the blind and the lame as you call them being here we need not fear that you shall ever come into this house * Some think it was used as a Proverb The blind and the lame being here he shall not come into this house that is Take heed lest your confidence prove like that of the Jebusites seeing oftentimes as it was with them that which begins in confidence ends in shame Others think that the people of Israel did thus insult over the Jebusites after they had taken the Fort Your blind and lame Idols that should have kept us out are never like to enter into this Fort again For no blind or lame or dumb Idols shall ever be tolerated in this place David having thus taken the Fort he built it round about from Millo inward that is he did at his own cost and charges build and reedifie the inside of the City from Millo and left the care of building the out-walls to Joab 1 Chron. 11.8 Millo was a deep and broad ditch that separated Mount Sion from the lower City which Solomon afterwards filled up 1 King 9.15 24. And so David dwelt in this City and it was called the City of David no less than Bethlem where he was born and he grew great and the Lord of Hosts by his especial favour was with him and blessed him And as an effect thereof at this time Hiram (b) See the like concerning Solomon 1 King 5.1 2. King of Tyre a stranger sent Ambassadours to him to congratulate his settlement in the Kingdom and upon David's request he sent him Cedar-trees and Carpenters and Masons to build him a Palace And David perceived by his own experience and the inward perswasion of Gods Spirit that it was the immediate hand of God that had establisht him King over all Israel and that God had exalted him to the Kingdom and made his Kingdom famous for the good of his Church and people And David took to him more Concubines and Wives out of Jerusalem after he was come from Hebron and this it seems he did that thereby he might multiply his friends and allies for the strengthening of him in his Kingdom But herein he shewed much humane frailty * Habuit David 8 uxores decem concubinas sed neque ex tot uxoribus libido adulterandi extincta est and weakness in making use of that as a means to establish him in his Kingdom which God had expresly forbidden to the Kings of Israel viz. the multiplying of wives See Deut. 17.7 2 Sam. Ch. 5. from 6 to 17. 1 Chron. 11. from 4 to 10.
were his own Son that by such an exemplary punishment others might be deterred from offending in the like kind But though he did not punish him yet his Son Absalom did as we come now to shew After two years were past Absalom had a sheep-shearing feast as the manner was in that Country to entertain his friends and encourage his servants To this feast Absalom invites David and all his Sons with their retinue to avoid all suspition of any ill intention against Amnon David tells him if they should all come they should be too chargeable to him and therefore he himself would not come however he blessed him and wished him much joy in his Feast Then Absalom ernestly intreated him that his brother Amnon being his Eldest Son might come and so representing his person might grace and honour his Feast This might considering former carriages have given both David and Amnon some suspition and jealousie that he intended some mischief but God intending to punish them both for their former sins hid this from their eyes Therefore upon his great importunity David consented that Amnon and all his Sons should go with him They being come Absalom gave command to some of his servants as evil masters are usually attended with such servants as will comply with them in any wickedness that when they saw Amnon merry with wine they should fall upon him and kill him he bids them be courageous and to do their work thoroughly seeing he had commanded them and would bear them out in it And though the revenging of his sister Tamars rape might be the chief thing he aimed at yet possibly an ambitious desire of the Crown might further this his resolution of cutting off his Elder Brother The servants did as Absalom commanded them and accordingly dispatched Amnon Upon this murder all the rest of Davids Sons got every one upon his Mule (a) Though the Israelites were forbidden to suffer Cattel of divers kinds to engender together Lev. 19.19 yet they might use the Cattel so engendred and such Mules were see Gen. 36.24 and fled not knowing how far Absalom's bloody treachery might extend This gave such a warm alarm to the Country round about that presently tidings came to David that Absalom had slain all his Sons The King upon this surprizing news tore his garments and fell upon the earth and his servants stood about him with their clothes rent Jonadab standing by desired the King not to believe that all his Sons were slain but only Amnon and he did suppose that he indeed was slain because Absalom had threatned to be reveng'd on him ever since he forced his sister Tamar Presently the Kings Sons that fled came to him and with many tears told him what Absalom had done to their brother Amnon and the King and all his servants wept very sore And David mourned for the death of his Son Amnon so treacherously slain very many days Then Absalom that he might escape the hand of justice fled to Talmai King of Geshur his Grandfather by the mothers side and there he remained three years 2 Sam. Ch. 13. from v. 1. to 39. SECT CXCV. It seems Chileab Davids second Son see Ch. 3.3 was now dead IN length of time Davids grief for Amnon by degrees wore off so that he began now to wish that he had his Son Absalom at home with him again and had it not been for shame he could have found in his heart to have gone himself and fetcht him Joab perceiving that the Kings heart was much towards Absalom and that he earnestly desired to have him brought back again if it could be done handsomely and without scandal he therefore that he might gratifie the King and ingratiate himself with Absalom now heir apparent (b) The City where the Prophet Amos lived Amos 1.1 to the Crown sets himself to contrive a way how it might be done Accordingly he sent to Tekoah c a City in Judah and fetched thence a woman that was famous for her wisdom and acquainting her with his design he put words into her mouth and directed her what she should say to the King in order to the bringing about his end she undertakes the business and being well instructed beforehand in a mourning habit and seeming very disconsolate she comes to David and falling down on her face before him cries out Help O King and succour thine afflicted handmaid The King asks her what ailed her she answers I am a widow and thy handmaid had two Sons who going into the field together and falling out they fought and none being by to part them the one of them happened to kill the other and now all my family and kindred are risen up to prosecute my remaining Son that he may be put to death and so the inheritance may come to them for so they give out that they will destroy the heir also and if they should be suffered to kill this surviving Son who is the only comfort that is left me in this world they will wholly extinguish my husbands name which by this Son as by one poor coal that lyeth hid under an heap of ashes can only be blown up again kept alive and preserved The King tells her that he would give order that her case should be heard and examined She desires him not to put her off or scruple to grant her request for if there were any iniquity or sin in sparing her Son she would take the guilt of it * See Gen. 27.13 Mat. 27.25 wholly upon her self the King and his Throne should be guiltless But therein she engag'd for more than she could make good for if it were unjust God would punish her for desiring and endeavouring it and David also for granting it see Numb 35.17 18 21 31 33. However the King seeing her so importunate he bad her go home and if any persons further troubled her she should bring them to him for as the Lord liveth saith he not one hair of thy Son shall fall to the earth Then the woman said let the King remember the word that he hath promised unto his handmaid in the presence of the Lord that he will not suffer the avengers of blood to destroy my Son And now having obtained my request let thy handmaid speak one word more to my Lord the King How comes it to pass that thou hast passed so favourable a sentence in reference to my Son and yet entertainest thoughts in thy mind against thy own Son which are far different and very prejudicial to the good and welfare of thy people Give me leave to say that the King doth speak this thing as one that is faulty he hath given a just sentence in the case of my Son but fails in giving the same sentence when it comes to the case of his own Son the King would have no rigor us'd against my Son for killing his brother because it would tend to my great grief and damage and yet can be content
tender and jealous in matters that concerned his Crown and especially when there was any Title set up against him by those of the house of Saul he passes a rash sudden and unjust sentence Behold says he to Ziba all that pertained to Mephibosheth thy master is thine I freely give it to thee Thus David in hast deprives an innocent man of his whole estate and gives it to a wicked and treacherous Calumniator It may indeed seem strange and wonderful that so wise and good a King as David should pass such a rash and unjust sentence against the only Son of his dear friend Jonathan a person of great worth and who so intirely loved him and had done him so many favours and to whose posterity he was by solemn Oath and Covenant bound to be kind and that he should do this upon the bare suggestion of one single witness and he a servant against his master and in his masters absence who was not so much as heard what he could say for himself nor any other witness examined in the case But it seems David being highly transported with passion and state-jealousie the Crown being a thing that will admit of no copartners or corrivals he passed this sentence without considering any of these things Thus we see that the best of men are but men and apt to fail and miscarry when left to themselves Ziba like a cunning old fox thankfully accepted the Kings bounty yet pretended that he more desired and esteemed the favour of the King than the gift he had given him 2 Sam. Ch. 16. from v. 1 to 5. 7ly David now marches to Bahurim a Town not far off in the Tribe of Benjamin there one Shimei a man of the family of Saul came forth like a mad man and vented his malice and rage against him in a very high and provoking manner and going along on the hill-side over against him bitterly cursed him and threw stones at him and his followers though he was at this time guarded with valiant Souldiers both on the right hand and on the left And as if this had not been enough with the extream hazard of his own life he cried out Come out come out thou bloody man thou Son of Belial the Lord hath now brought upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul intimating that David had stirred up the Philistines to make that invasion upon the land wherein Saul and his Sons were slain And as thou hast done to others so now by the just judgment of God others do to thee Thou didst rise up against Saul and now by a just retaliation Absalom is risen up against thee thou art now taken in thy own mischief thou didst rebell against thy Father-in-law and usurp his Kingdom and now thy own Son hath rebelled against thee and usurped thine Abishai was so enraged at this that he said to the King why should this dead dog this base contemptible wretch be suffered in this shameful manner to curse and revile my Lord the King Let me go over to him I 'le cut off his head and bring it to thee Joab also it seems offered his service in the like kind David meekly replies I will take none of your counsel nor consent to your ways of revenge ye Sons of Zerviah this is no time for me to think of private revenge who am under the correcting hand of God for my sins The Lord hath for my trial and afflicton permitted this man to revile and curse me and has suffered Satan to excite him thereunto which though it be a sin in him yet it is most wisely and justly ordered * V. 10. To praecepit accipi debet pro permisit hanc maledictionem eamque positive ordinavit ad meampoenam Sic 1 Sam. 13.14 praecepit Davidi i. e. ordinavit ut regeret Israelem 1 Reg. 17.4 Corvis mandavi i. e. ordinavi ut pascerent c. vel Dominus dici potest proprie ei praecepisse tanquam lictori suo ut maledicat Davidi i. e. sua Davidi scelera exprobret publice coarguat licet Simei limites excederet mandati divini veris criminibus inter exprobrandum multa falsa admisceret Non cogitur David de causa proxima nota scil voluntate Simei sed recurrit ad Providentiam Dei ut Josephus Gen. 45. of God for my humiliation and the exercise of my patience and what reason have I to be troubled at what this man says against me you see my own Son that came out of my bowels seeketh my life how much more may I then with patience endure the reproaches of this Benjamite who being of the family of Saul is my declared and professed enemy Let him curse seeing the Lord hath permitted him as his instrument and executioner thus to afflict me And if by this means I be brought to true humiliation and repentance for my sins possibly the Lord may look down upon my affliction and reward my patient bearing of it and instead of those curses now thrown at me may please to reward me with a blessing and some special mercy Thus admirably patient was David when supported by Divine grace who a little before being left to himself was so impatient in the cause of Mephibosheth But David was not so patient but Shimei was as impudent and malicious who went on over against him on the side of the hill cursing him and casting stones at him and throwing up dust into the air in defiance of him yet so obedient were David's Commanders and Souldiers that none of them offered to stir to revenge this great injury seeing he forbad them So the King and all the people that were with him passed on to Bahurim and being weary there refreshed themselves 2 Sam. Ch. 16. from v. 5 to 15. 8ly David being now come near to the banks of Jordan where he pitched he there it seems composed the 42 and 43 Psalms 9ly Absalom being now come to Jerusalem and Achitophel with him Hushai presents himself to him and congratulates his coming to the Crown saying to him God save the King God save the King Absalom as it seems wondering he should come to him says What is this thy kindness to thy friend thou didst pretend to be a great friend to my Father and is this the part of a friend to leave his friend in his extremity Why dost thou not go along with him Hushai replies Nay but whom the Lord and the people of Israel chuse for their King his subject will I be with him will I abide and whom should I serve but thee As I have served thy Father while he was King so now I will serve his Son being advanced to the Throne Thus Hushai insinuated himself into Absalom that being near him he might come to know his counsels and so defeat them 2 Sam. Ch. 16. from v. 15 to the 20. 10ly Absalom now calls his Council together to advise him what was fittest to be done that they might carry on their
is like they had brought the Tabernacle with all the things appertaining to it from Gibeon The Priests * 2 Chron. 5.4 'T is said the Levites took up the Ark because the Priests were also Levites that is of the Tribe of Levi. took up the Ark on their shoulders the Levites according to their several appointed ranks carried the Tabernacle with the boards and curtains and the holy vessels belonging thereunto The King and the Elders walked after in a solemn procession to Mount Moriah (a) The Temple to speak properly was not built on Mount Sion but on Mount Moriah but because the whole City of Jerusalem is usually called Sion and Mount Sion from that Mount that was a chief part of it thence it is that the Temple Gods dwelling place is usually said to have been in Sion where the Temple was built whither being come the Priests carried the Ark into the Oracle or most holy place and set it under the wings of the Golden Cherubims But they drew out the staves of the Ark something from under the wings of the Cherubims that they might be seen in the holy place which was before the Oracle but they were not seen as taken out of the Ark 2 Chron. 5.9 And possibly these staves were the rather thus disposed to remember the people that if they brake Gods Covenant the staves yet remained within the rings of the Ark ready to bear away the Symbol of Gods gracious presence from them The Levites also disposed those things which they carried belonging to the (b) The Tabernacle was carried about in the Wilderness forty years it remained in Gilgal about fourteen years it remain'd in Shiloh till Samuels time 1 Sam. 4.4 it then remain'd in Nob till Saul destroyed that place 1 Sam. 22.19 it was in Gibeon all Davids time from thence it was brought into Zion and from thence into the Treasuries of the Temple Tabernacle into the Treasuries of the Temple there to remain as Sacred things not again to be removed When the Priests had set the Ark in its place and were come out immediately an hundred and twenty of them with silver Trumpers and the Levite-singers viz. Asaph Heman and Jeduthun with their Sons and Brethren being arrayed in white linnen and having Cymbals Psalteries and Harps in their hands stood at the East-end of the Altar and the Trumpets sounding and they playing on their Instruments and lifting up their voices with one consent and making one melodious harmony sang as it seems the 136 Psalm the burden of which is For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Whilst they were thus employed suddenly the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud which was an extraordinary manifestation of the presence of God 2 Chron. 5.14 't is said the glory of God filled the house which intimated that the brightness of his glory was such that if it were not clouded over no mortal eyes could behold it It seems the cloud was such and so amazing that the Priests could not continue to minister in the Sanctuary where the cloud was and by this visible sign of his presence the Lord did sanctifie to himself this place see Exod. 40.34 and shewed his approbation of all that was done Solomon standing upon a Brazen Scaffold made for him in the outward Court right before the door of the Priests Court through which he might look and apprehending this cloud to be a manifestation of Gods gracious presence and acceptance of the house he had built for his service in a rapture of joy he brake out into these words The Lord said he is pleased to dwell in thick darkness Levit. 16.2 and by a cloud he hath usually testified his presence among his people as when he led the Israelites by a cloud Exod. 13.21 In a cloud he appeared at the giving of the Law Exod. 19.16 In a cloud he appeared that covered and filled the Tabernacle as soon as it was reared up by Moses Exod. 40.34 and therefore doubtless in this cloud the Lord doth now appear unto us and testifies his favourable acceptance of our service in building this house for his name Then directing his speech to God he said O Lord I have built a Temple for thee to manifest thy gracious presence in an house not to be removed as the Tabernacle was but a setled place for thee to abide in (c) Officium Templi non est prastare Deo habitationem sed hominibus directionem ad soliâ—m divinum sempiteruâ—â— quod in câ—lo est Cajet to be there ready on all occasions to resolve us in such cases as we shall humbly propound unto thee and to hear such prayers as we shall make unto thee and to grant such blessings as we shall humbly crave of thee and to accept such sacrifices and services as we shall there offer up and present unto thee And O Lord I pray thee accept this house for thine and ever manifest thy gracious presence therein as long as this dispensation we are now under shall last and till the truth of this type shall be exhibited Then the King turned his face to the people standing about him and blessed them and said Blessed and praised be the Lord God of Israel who spake to David my Father that I should build a Temple for his great name and hath by his good hand upon me enabled me to do it The Lord also said since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt I chose no City out of all their Tribes in which I appointed an house to be built that my name might be there in a peculiar manner worshipped But having chosen David to be King over my people it was in his heart to build an house for my name And thereupon I said to him whereas it was in thine heart to build an house to my name I like it well that it was in thine heart to do it Nevertheless thou shalt not build this house for me but thy Son that shall come out of thy loins he shall build it And the Lord hath now graciously performed the word that he spake and I am risen up in my fathers room to sit on the Throne of Israel and have built an house for the Lord as he promised I should do and an abiding place for the Ark wherein are the two Tables of the Law which the Lord gave as a Covenant to his people requiring obedience on their part and promising many blessings on his part to the obedient Then Solomon turned his face towards the Altar of Burnt-offering and towards the most holy place and having stood a while he then kneeled down and spreading forth his hands towards heaven poured forth this Divine Prayer saying O Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee in heaven above or in earth beneath who keepest Covenant and shewest mercy to thy servants that walk before thee in the integrity of their hearts Thou hast kept thy
much of the Book of Ecclesiastes SECT XVII GOD threatned Solomon 2 Sam. 7.13 14 15. That if he committed iniquity he would chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but his mercy should not depart from him And accordingly he now stirred up three Adversaries (a) Though Solomon's enemies had herein their own ends yet the Lord us'd them as instruments of his Justice to punish his revolt against him 1. Hadad the Edomite When David subdued the Edomites 't is said 2 Sam. 8.14 He put Garrisons through all Edom and they became his servants And at this time as it seems whilst Joab pursued his victory slaying all the males where he came Hadad then being very young was hid and afterwards secretly carried away by some of his Fathers servants who also took some out of Paran that lay in the way to attend him into Egypt where he was kindly entertained by Pharaoh who gave him an house and lands and appointed him victuals and a constant Table and in time he came to be in so great favour with him that he gave him to wife his own Queens sister who bare him a Son that was educated in Pharaoh's house When this Hadad heard in Egypt that David and Joab were dead he desired leave of Pharaoh to return into his own Country Pharaoh askt him what he lacked there He said nothing However I desire to return to my own Country that I may recover my Kingdom again Pharaoh hearing this kindly dismissed him and he came to his own Country where he was received for their King Yet 't is manifest he attempted nothing against Solomon for a long time after this For till Solomon's fall in his old age his enemies stirred not see 1 King 5.4 so that 't is like Hadad at first made some Covenant with Solomon and was his Tributary for his Kingdom but at last he stirred against him and created him much trouble yet he was not able quite to shake off his yoke for the Edomites continued Tributaries to the Kings of Judah till Jehoram's reign 2 Chron. 21.10 2ly God stirred up another enemy against Solomon viz. Rezon who when David had gotten the better of his Master in battel and had vanquished the Syrians see 2 Sam. 10.18 he gathered together such of them as were put to flight ande made himself Captain over them and for some time t is like lived by robbing and pillaging till Solomon's declining days And though 't is not like that Solomon lost any thing of that which his Father had gotten till himself fell from God yet then it seems Rezon took courage to set upon Damascus into which David had put a Garrison 2 Sam. 8.6 and took it from Solomon and there reigned as King So that Solomon had now one enemy in the North and another in the South 3ly A third enemy whom God stirred up against him was Jeroboam his own servant of the Tribe of Ephraim who had been raised and preferred by him And the occasion of his rise was this Solomon when he built Millo of which see Ch. 9.15 and repaired the breaches in Zion the City of David going out often to see * The Masters eye they say makes the horse fat and the servant to sweat his workmen and to encourage them to diligence he observed Jeroboam who was then but a young man to be very active and industrious in those labours and services he was set about whereupon Solomon taking a liking to him preferred him and in time made him Receiver or Treasurer for all the Kings revenue in the two Tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh Upon a time when he went out of Jerusalem to execute his Office it happened that the Prophet Ahijah †He who with some others penned the Acts of Solomon 2 Chron. 9.29 the Shilonite who had clad himself with a new garment met him and desired some private conference with him and when they were alone he took off his new garment and rent it into twelve pieces according to the number of the Tribes of Israel and gave ten of them to Jeroboam saying Thus saith the Lord I will rend the Kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten Tribes to thee because they (b) Solomon giving way to his wives Idolatry proved a snare to the people and occasioned their revolt from God and in this rent the people suffered as well as Rehoboam the rent in the Kingdom proving an occasion of continual Wars between Judah and Israel which brought in many miseries from foreign Nations upon both Kingdoms have forsaken me and worshipped Ashtaroth and Chemosh and Moloch and have not walked in my ways to do that which was right in mine eyes and to keep my statutes and judgments as did David my servant Howbeit I will not take the Kingdom from Solomon while he lives but he shall be King thereof all his days for David my servants sake whom I chose because he kept my commandments and my statutes But I will take the Kingdom out of his Sons hands viz. ten Tribes of it and will give them unto thee And unto his Son will I give one intire Tribe viz. Judah with Simeon (a) Ac proinde Synecdochice includitur Nam e Benjamine tantum pars penes eum fuit Jeroboamo cesserunt Bethel Ephraim quae erant oppida Benjaminis that is mixt with it together with the greatest part of the Tribe of Benjamin that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem that is a Royal glory shining in one of his posterity who as a light may shine before the people and direct them as long as that Kingdom shall last See 2 Sam. 21.17 1 King 15.4 and that in Jerusalem where my Temple is built and where my name is solemnly call'd upon and which is called after my name the City of God And I will take thee and make thee King over the Ten Tribes and thou shalt be a Soveraign King and not under any Superiour on earth so that thou maist reign according as thy soul desireth And if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee and wilt walk in my ways and do that which is right in my sight to keep my statutes and commandments as David my servant did I will be with thee and build thee a sure house that is so establish thy Kingdom that it shall continue in thy posterity as I promised to David And though I will by this division of the Kingdom sorely afflict the house of David yet I will not do it for ever For though they shall be carried into captivity yet they shall be brought back again and the Messiah shall at last be born of the seed of David who shall continue to reign most gloriously for ever Ahijah having delivered what God commanded him to Jeroboam took his leave of him How Jeroboam was affected with this surprizing message we may easily imagine It seems he
the house of Ahab and compelled the people of Judah thereunto by force persecuting such as refused A Letter whilst he was going on in these abominable ways comes to him from Elijah who before his translation saw by the spirit of Prophesie what great wickedness this Jehoram would commit and what punishments the Lord would inflict upon him for it This Letter was written by Elijah * Probabile est Eliam hoc Scriptum commisisse Elisaeo quia certo aliud ei commisit post mortem peragendum nempe ut Hazaeli indicaret ipsum futurum Regem Syriae whilst he lived upon the earth neither need that seem strange seeing Isaiah wrote before hand concerning Cyrus Isa 45.1 and the Prophet that was sent to Jeroboam prophesied of Josiah many years before he was born 1 King 13.2 Elijah having written it committed it either to Elisha or some other of the Prophets and by them it was now sent to Jehoram whose insolent cruelty was such that he would hardly endure the reproof of a living Prophet In that Letter Elijah speaks thus to him Thus saith the Lord God of David thy Father because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat †To degenerate from the example of pious Ancestors is a great provocation thy Father nor the ways of Asa thy Grandfather but hast walked in the ways of the Kings of Israel and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring and commit spiritual fornication like the house of Ahab and hast also slain thy brethren of thy Fathers house which were better than thy self behold with a great plague will the Lord smite thee and will punish thee in thy people and thy children and thy wives and all thy goods and thou shalt have great sickness by a disease of thy bowels who hast had no bowels towards thy own brethren and thou shalt day by day without intermission be tormented with it till thy bowels fall out This was the threatning of Elijah the Prophet against him and we shall now see how it was fulfilled 1. The Edomites who from Davids time had ever been in subjection to the Kingdom of Judah see 2 Sam. 8.14 and had been Tributaries thereunto and had been governed by a Viceroy set over them by them 1 King 22.47 now fell off and revolted from him and made a King over themselves Jehoram to reduce them went over to Zair a City in Idumea and took with him all the Chariots and Horsemen and Souldiers he could provide and he arose by night that he might come upon them suddenly and unexpectedly but the Edomites were so numerous and so well prepared that they compassed his army round about However his Souldiers so manfully stood to it that they put the Edomites to flight and slew many of them and thereupon the Captains of the Edomites Chariots and many of their Souldiers fled to their own houses But though Joram overthrew them at this time yet they retiring into places of advantage persisted resolutely in their revolt and so he was forced to return again into his own land without conquering of them And thus according to the Prophesie of Isaac Gen. 27.40 By thy sword thou shalt live and serve thy Brother and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck They for ever after shook off his yoke 2. Whilst he was endeavouring to reduce the Edomites Libnah a great City within Judah one of the Royal Cities of Canaan Josh 10.29 30. and given to the Priests Josh 21.13 now rebelled against him possibly because he had made such innovations in Religion and forced the people to Idolatry and had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers The revolt of this City was a matter of great moment it being a Frontier City and one of those which the King of Assyria set upon when he came with his huge host to have taken Jerusalem 2 Chron. 32.9 It is much indeed that one City alone should venture upon such an attempt but perhaps the Kings absence whilst he was in Edom and the discontent of the people yea perhaps some correspondence they might have with the Philistines who soon after invaded the land gave them hope of some abettors and how they sped in the conclusion the Scripture no where expresses 3ly God stirred up against him the spirit of the Philistines and Arabians who bordered upon the Ethiopians and had been Tributaries to the Kings of Judah and they ran through the land so far as to come up to Jerusalem and plundered and carried away all the substance they found in the Kings house and carried away all his sons * Here we ought to take notice of the righteous judgment of God against him He slew all his Brethren and all his Sons were slain by the Philistines and Arabians excepting his youngest Ahaziah and he was slain afterwards by Jehu 2 Chron. 22.9 And all the Sons of Ahaziah were slain by their Grandmother Athaliah excepting Joash who was hid from her and afterwards Crowned King And Joash himself was at last slain by his own servants but the youngest call'd Ahaziah †And herein appeared the Divine Providence for the accomplishment of the promise to David whom it seems they could not find and all his wives they could lay their hands on but it seems they unhappily mist Athaliah who remained to usurp the Crown and to be a scourge to the Nation afterwards 4ly After all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease his malady was very tormenting and after two years continuance a long time for a man to lye under such a sharp disease his torment was so great that at last it forced out his very guts and bowels from him and so he died under the heavy hand of God The great sins he had committed against God the great wrongs he had done to his subjects and the great judgments he had brought upon the land turned the hearts of his people from him so that they shewed him little respect when he was dead making no burning for him like the burning made for his Father See 2 Chron. 16.14 And so he departed without being desired or lamented Howbeit they buried him in the City of David but obscurely not in the Sepulchers of his Ancestors the Kings of Judah and without the lamentations and solemnities that had been used at the Funerals of other Kings He reigned eight years four in his Fathers life time and four after which though a short reign in its self yet seem'd undoubtedly long to the poor people that were so ill treated by him All the time of this Kings reign another King of the same name reigned in Israel to wit Joram the Son of Ahab his wives brother 2 King 8. v. from 16 to 25. 2 Chron. 21. wh Ch. The sixth that reign'd in Judah was AHAZIAH AHAZIAH call'd Jehoahaz 2 Chron. 21.17 and Azariah 2 Chron.
taking this advantage forthwith she laid hold on the Princes of the blood and those of the Royal family that remained in Judah and slew them although some of them as 't is like her own Grandchildren so cruel and bloody are the minds of Idolaters But by the wonderful Providence of God it happened that Joash an infant-son of Ahaziah escaped her hands for Jehoshaba the wife of Jehoiada the High Priest got him away and hid him with his nurse in a private Chamber belonging to the Temple Athaliah did these strange and unnatural things that she might quietly possess the Royal Throne and set up the worship of Baal again in the Kingdom And some conjecture that she had Sons by some other man besides Jehoram whom she desired to promote to the Crown perhaps some of those who brake up the house of God and bestowed the dedicated things thereof upon Baal as we read 2 Chron. 24.7 For the Sons of Athaliah that wicked woman had broken up the house of God and all the dedicated things thereof did they bestow upon Baalim Athaliah having thus usurped the Crown she reigned about six years 2 Chron. 22.10 11 12. 1 King 11. from 1 to 4. The 8th that reigned in Judah was JOASH AThaliah having usurped the Crown and reigned about six years during which time she had much promoted the worship of Baal in Judah at length Jehoiada the High Priest began to think of setling this young Joash in the Throne to whom it did belong not only by natural right being the former Kings Son but by vertue of the promise made by God to David and his posterity 2 Sam. 7.13 16. Having therefore imparted this secret to five Captains of the land in whose fidelity he had most confidence and he and they having made a Covenant to do their utmost to depose Athaliah the Vsurper and to set up Joash and to pull down Idolatry and establish the true Religion afterwards by their means he drew in others of the principal men of the Kingdom both Levites and others procuring them to meet at Jerusalem in order to the carrying on of the design And accordingly they being met together in some Chamber of the Temple and having taken an Oath of secresie and fidelity he shewed them the Kings Son Then they resolved how the business should be manag'd the next Sabbath-day in every particular The Levites were by an order long since established among them by David divided in twenty four Companies which did in their courses each company a week perform the service of the Temple the rest abiding in their private dwellings in the several Cities of Judah and so every Sabbath-day they that served the week before went out and another company came in to serve in their rooms In each company there were a great many of these Levites besides Porters and Singers Now because Jehoiada and his Associates were not able to bring together secretly so many trusty and serviceable hands of the Country as would be sufficient to manage this great business therefore he resolv'd to arm the Levites for the work having secretly laid in the Chambers of the Temple some arms and weapons for the purpose And that the Levites whom he intended to employ in this business might be the stronger he took in the new company that were to come in on the Sabbath-day and did not dismiss the old that should have gone out but retained them still and so by that means without any noise he made up such a number as he thought would be able to deal with the Queens ordinary Guards if need should be All these Levites therefore he disposes under the command of several Captains either such as were principal men among the Levites or others whom he had sworn his associates in this design in this manner Those that were to enter into the service of the Temple that Sabbath-day he divided into three Companies One Company whereof he assigned to watch at the Gate of the outer Court viz. the North-gate that led to the Kings Palace where Athaliah now was Another company he assign'd to the East * Call'd the Gate of Shur or the Gate of the foundation 2 King 11.6 Gate that led into the City A third company to the South-gate Those Levites that should have gone out from the service of the Temple he divided into two companies and appointed them to be a Guard in the Temple unto the Kings person the one on his right hand and the other on his left Then he gave to the Captains for themselves and their men King David's Spears and Shields See 1 Sam. 21.9 2 Sam. 8.7 viz. such weapons as were there reserved as Trophies and monuments of David's victories which weapons of war were some of those things dedicated by David and brought into the Temple by Solomon 1 King 7.51 Thus this Guard of Levites stood every man with his weapon in his hand and Jehoiada charged them to look to it that their watches were not disordered by the breaking in of any body and that if any offered to break through their ranks by force they should slay them Things being thus ordered he brought forth the Kings Son to them and set him on the Brazen Scaffold and Jehoiadah and his Sons anointed him and put the Crown upon his head and gave into his hands the Testimony that is the Book wherein the Law of God was written and wherein was testified what God required of his people and what they might expect from him in case of obedience These things being done all there present made a great acclamation and cried out God save the King Then Jehoiada made a Covenant between the Lord and the King and the people viz. that the King should serve the Lord and maintain his pure worship and root out Idolatry and that the people should join with him therein and should fear and serve the Lord and him only and every way carry themselves as became his peo-people Then he made a Covenant between the King and the people viz. that the King should govern them righteously and that they should yield due obedience unto him Athaliah being at the Palace which was near the Temple and hearing these great loud acclamations of the peo-people and of such as in the great Court stood about the King she with a few of her servants that were about her rusht into the Temple through the Guards and when she came to the great Court she saw the King standing by the Pillar on the Brazen Scaffold with the Crown on his head and the Trumpeters about him blowing and all the people there present wonderfully rejoicing upon this she rent her clothes and cried out Treason Treason Jehoiada immediately commanded the Officers and Commanders to lay hold on her and to have her out of the ranges and and to kill any man that offered to rescue her and to carry her out of the Temple and to slay her which accordingly they did in the
and Wine have I plentifully furnished him that he shall have enough And now the chief and principal blessing viz. the Divine Covenant and the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan being setled on thy Brother Jacob what shall I do for thee my Son Alas all other blessings are comparatively nothing to this Esau answered What my Father hast thou but one blessing to bestow Then weeping bitterly he cried out O I beseech thee bless me even me also But all his crying and weeping could not move Isaac to repent of what he had done or to recall the blessing which unwittingly he had conferred on Jacob see Heb. 12.17 However Isaac tells Esau that plenty of earthly blessings should be his portion Canaan also was a Type of the heavenly Canaan Thy dwelling says he shall be the fatness of the Earth Mount Seir was such a place though much inferior to Canaan and thou shalt be blessed with the dew of Heaven from above and by thy Sword shalt thou live that is by thy valour shalt defend thy Estate and Country and shalt serve thy Brother viz. in thy Posterity For when the Children of Jacob shall inherit the Land of Canaan they shall make the Edomites Tributaries to them see 2 Sam. 8.14 and Obad. v. 18 19. but it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the Dominion thou shalt break his Yoke from off thy Neck that is after the Edomites thy Posterity shall have been a long time in subjection to the Israelites they shall at length become more mighty than they had been and shall then Cast off the Yoke of the Israelites which was accomplish'd in the days of Jehoram King of Judah 2 Kings 8.20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah See 2 Chron. 21.8 Things thus happening between these two Brothers Esau hereupon hated Jacob (c) This hatred continued in his Posterity See Obad. v. 10.11 12 c. Herod was an Idumaean and exercised his Tyranny in Judaea for 38 years because of the blessing wherewith his Father had blessed him And at first he secretly determined in his own mind but afterwards not being able to contain himself he uttered it in so many words that the days of mourning for his Father were at hand that is his Father could not in likelihood live much longer and as soon as he was dead he was resolved to kill (d) See how wicked men do harden themselves against the known will of God as we see an instance in Saul 1 Sam. 18.28 29. Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and yet he became Davids enemy continually his Brother Jacob. These threatning words coming to Rebeccas ears she immediately sent for her Son Jacob and told him what Esau intended against him and how he comforted himself with the thoughts of killing him not only because revenge yea the very purpose of it is sweet to inraged wicked men but because he flattered himself with hopes by this means to recover his Birth-right again Therefore she advises him to flee presently to her Brother Laban who dwelt at Haran in Mesopotamia and to tarry there a few days (e) But it proved to be above 20 years as we see Ch. 31.38 till the wrath and fury of his Brother was appeased and then she would send and fetch him home again And she further intimates to Him that she plainly foresaw that if they continued together they would in all likelihood quarrel and fight and possibly one of them might kill the other And if Esau killed him they could then account no better of Esau then as of a dead man seeing Divine Vengeance in all probability would follow him because of that Fact or the Sword of Justice would cut him off or he would withdraw himself from her presence as not daring to look her any more in the face and so she should be deprived of them both in one day And Rebecca that she might dispose Isaac to be willing that Jacob might go to Padan-Aram tells him not of what she heard of Esau's bloody intention to kill his Brother lest she should grieve him thereby in his old Age or inrage him against Esau but she tells him that she was weary of her life by reason of Esau's Wives and therefore lest Jacob should marry among the Canaanites as Esau had done to their continual grief and vexation she desires that Jacob might go and seek a Wife among her Kindred at Haran Isaac hereupon calls Jacob to him and charging him to go to Mesopotamia and to take a Wife of the Daughters of Laban he now wittingly and willingly confirms the blessing which he had before given him unknowingly He desires the Lord to bless him to make him fruitful and to multiply him see Ch. 35.11 12. Ch. 48.4 and to confer on him all those blessings both Spiritual and Temporal which were promised to Abraham and his Seed and especially the blessing of the promised Messias And that he might inherit the Land given to Abraham by promise For though he Himself should be only as a Stranger in this Land wandring here and there yet to him it should be given and to his Seed after him Jacob having thus received his Fathers blessing stole away privately lest Esau should lie in wait for him by the way and began his Journey from Beersheba towards his Uncle Laban with his Staff in his hand (f) Vacuus dimissus est ut tutius latitaret emineret divina benedictio Ch. 32.10 As he travelled on he came to a Place near Luz about 50 miles from Beersheba and about eight miles North of Jerusalem but being overtaken with the night He was fain to lie all night in the Field and he took one of the stones of the place and put it for his pillow and so lay down to sleep And he dreamed and had a vision of a Ladder the foot of which stood upon the Earth and the top of it reached to Heaven and the Angels of God ascended and descended on it By which Vision probably was represented to Him how the Providence of God reached from Heaven to Earth and governed the World by the Ministry of the holy Angels and particularly Gods provident Care over Him and that thorow the mediation of the promised Seed Christ hereby typified (g) The top of the Ladder reaching to Heaven represented Christs Deity the foot of it touching the Earth his Humanity Joh. 1.51 Christ reaches to Heaven in his Divine Naturâ— and to Earth in his humane In his two Natures personally united Heaven and Earth are as it were joyned together By him alone God is reconcil d to Man To him the Angels minister By his Merits and Intercession the Saints obtain the Gifts of the Holy Ghost the Guardianship of the holy Angels and all spiritual blessings Psal 91.11 12. Heb. 1.13 14. he should injoy the Guardianship of the holy Angels and be by them defended both in his going out
former favour to them and might also consider and consult together of the best means that were to be used to deliver themselves from the Philistines Tyranny And accordingly being met together at Mizpeh they there kept a solemn fast and humbled themselves exceedingly before the Lord insomuch that they are said to have drawn water that is plenty of tears from their contrite hearts and to have poured them out before the Lord †See Jer. 9.1 Job 16.20 Psal 6.6 using withal perhaps some external effusion or pouring forth of water to represent and signifie their inward repentance and mourning for their sins And after they had reconciled themselves to God Samuel as a Judge composed and arbitrated the controversies and private differences that were among the people The Philistines hearing that the Israelites were met together at Mizpeh they presently suspected that they were plotting some rising and contriving some means to deliver themselves from under their yoke and to prevent this they presently raised their forces and marched to suppress them (c) Habrei cum paenitentiam egerunt gravius a Philistinis oppugnantur Sic qui ad meliorem frugem redire volunt acrius a Diabolo tentantur majores ab hominibus persecutiones patiuntur Samuel dum studet populum liberare videtur accersisse ei gravissimum periculum Illum igitur imprudendentiae temeritatis accusare possent Quare cum inimus consilia quae Deus approbat si quid sinistri contigerit ne paeniteat nos facti neque a recta via deflectamus sed voluntati Dei acquiescamus Calv. The children of Israel hearing of their coming were very much afraid knowing the strength of their enemies and their own present weakness and unpreparedness being met together to pray and not to fight In this extremity they desire Samuel to be instant in prayer to the Lord for them for they had no hope but in his help and assistance who is the Lord of Hosts and giver of victory Samuel hereupon took a sucking Lamb and either caused it to be offered by a Priest not being of that order himself or did it as a Prophet immediately inspired by God and warranted to do it by some special dispensation as Elijah also did 1 King 18.31 32 c. see also Judg. 6.26 Upon the same warrant likewise he offered his Burnt-offering here at Mizpeh on an Altar of his own erecting and not on the Altar in the Tabernacle And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel and the Lord heard him as appears by what followed for the Army of the Philistines drawing near the Israelites as it seems put themselves into the best posture they could to resist them and the Lord thundred with a terrible thunder upon the Philistines see Ch. 2.10 striking them as 't is like with dreadful Hailstones * See Josh 10 11. and Thunderbolts so that they were discomfited that day before Israel and the rest of the Israelites that stayed at Mizpeh upon the news of their defeat came out and joined in the pursuit and slaughter of them and they pursued them till they came under Bethear which it seems was a Rock where the Philistines having a garrison the Israelites were hindred from prosecuting their victory any further The Army of the Philistines being thus discomfited Samuel as a Monument of their victory and in thankefulness to God for his gracious assistance by which alone they had obtained it took a great stone * Idem fecerunt Jacob. Gen. 28.18 35.14 Josh 4.8 9. and set it up between Mizpeh and Shen which was a Rock over against it calling it Eben-ezer that is the stone of help saying hitherto God has helped us And 't is remarkable that in the very same place where before the Israelites were vanquished and the Ark taken captive Ch. 4.1 they should now erect a Trophy of victory by them obtained The Philistines were so subdued at this time that they came no more into the land while Samuel governed alone †After Saul was chosen to be their King 't is plain they did often with their Armies enter the Land for they saw the hand of the Lord was against them and they restored to Israel the Cities they had formerly taken from them reserving only some places of strength see 1 Sam. 10.5 wherein they kept Garrisons for the better awing of the Israelites And after this there was a cessation from open War between the Israelites and the Philistines and possibly the rest of the Canaanites who being terrified with this victory which God had from Heaven given the Israelites ceased for the present from troubling of them 1 Sam. Ch. 7. from v. 3 to 15. SECT CLVIII SAmuel from the time he was made Judge judged Israel to the day of his death For though Saul after he was made King had the Supreme Power in his hands yet Samuel as long as he lived exercised the jurisdiction of a Judge which God had called him unto as appears by his killing of Agag whom Saul had spared Ch. 15.32 33. And also as a Prophet he directed him in his Government admonished him of his duty reproved him when he did amiss Ch. 15.23 13.13 yea threatned him when he rebelled against Gods command with the loss of his Kingdom Ch. 15.28 and anointed David King in his stead Ch. 16.13 Sometimes indeed they joined together in the Government as in making War against Nabash the Ammonite and relieving Jabesh-Gilead when it was besieged Ch. 11.7 and in this regard the years of both their Governments are joined in the same account of forty years as we may see Act. 13.20 21. Samuel therefore went as a Judge from year to year in circuit to Bethel Gilgal and Mizpeh to hear and determine the causes of the people and as a Prophet to teach and direct them Neither was Samuel bound by his Mothers Vow Ch. 1.11 22. whereby he was devoted to the service of the Sanctury to continue his residence there and that not only because for the sins of the Priests and people the Lord had withdrawn the Ark the visible sign of his Presence from the Tabernacle at Shiloh but also because the Lord himself had taken him off from that Levitical service and called him to another imployment namely to be an holy Prophet and a Judge over his people When he had gone his Circuit he returned to Ramah where his usual dwelling was and his most ordinary place of Judicature and there he built an Altar * Thus we read of divers Altars erected as by Joshua upon mount Ebal Josh 8.30 by Gideon Judg. 6.24.26 by Samuel here and Ch. 11.15 Ch. 16.2 5. by David 2 Sam. 24.25 by Solomon 1 King 8.64 by Elijah 1 King 18.32 to offer Sacrifices Indeed God appointed but one Altar to be ordinarily used for Sacrifices as there was but one Tabernacle but upon extraordinary occasions he allowed holy men by a particular dispensation to build other Altars when it
for Prophets immediately inspired to offer Sacrifices especially Peace-offerings upon Altars erected in other places besides the Tabernacle especially at this time when the Ark was separated from it to be that day in the high place (f) Fuit haec domus quaedam in qua haec Sacrificia fieri solebant boni viri illuc confluxerunt pransuri cum Samuele that is a Peace-offering or Sacrifice of Thanksgiving after which was to follow a Feast to be made of the remainders of the Sacrifice at which the Seer would be present It seems Samuel had purposely appointed this Feast and invited guests unto it God having revealed to him by the secret inspiration of his Spirit see v. 15. that he would send that day to him the man who he intended should be their King and that he should anoint him to be Captain over his people and to save them out of the hands of the Philistines (g) The Israelites had not in all Sauls time a full deliverance from the Philistines but he gave them many defeats and so blunted their strength that they could not keep the Israelites under as they formerly did therefore he may be said in some degree to have saved them though their deliverance was not compleat but reserved till Davids reign and therefore Samuel was willing to express his respects to him by providing for him some honourable entertainment though the rest of the guests knew not so much The maidens further tell them that if they made hast they might possibly meet with him before he went up to the high place for besure the people would not eat before he came for he used to bless (a) Solebant Hebraei epulas a precibus inchoare precibus claudere juxta Deut. 8.10 vide Mat. 14.19 26.30 Luc. 9.16 24.30 Act. 27.35 He that blessed the Table did also divide and distribute the meat by prayer and thanksgiving the flesh that was offered whereof the Feast was to be made and afterwards they did eat that were bidden Saul and his servant going accordingly to the City Samuel met them just as he was going up to the high-place As soon as he set his eyes on Saul the Lord by secret inspiration told him that was the man of whom he had before given him intimation that he should reign over his people Then Saul drew near to Samuel being within the Gate and in the midst of the City v. 14. and as it seems not knowing him asked him where the Seers house was Samuel answered that he himself was the Seer and was now going up to a Feast that was to be kept at the high-place therefore he desired him to favour him so far as to go up thither with him and to eat with them and if he pleased to stay with him that night and on the morrow he would be ready to tell him any thing that was in his mind to ask of him And says he lest thou shouldest be unwilling to stay by reason of the occasion thou camest out upon I tell thee that as for thy Fathers Asses that were lost three days ago they are found again therefore trouble not thy self any more about them thou hast greater matters and of greater concernment to mind as I shall shew thee before we part thou art not ignorant that it is the general desire of Israel to have a King to reign over them and this royal dignity is like to be placed by Gods special Providence on thee and thy fathers house Saul was exceedingly surprized at these words and as one astonished at the strangeness of them replied Alas what am I Am not I a Benjamite (b) When this Tribe kept faithful to the house of David in the days of Jeroboam as well as the house of Judah the Scripture speaks but of one Tribe that did cleave to the house of David 1 King 11.32 Benjamin not being mentioned because of their paucity but comprehended under the men of Judah and of that small Tribe which not many years ago was almost utterly destroyed Judg. 20. and are not my family the fewest in number of all the ten families in my Tribe wherefore then dost thou mention such a thing to me However when they were come to the high-place where the Feast was to be kept Samuel took Saul and his servant and bringing them into the Parlour made them sit down in the chiefest place among those that were bidden who probably were the Elders and chief of the City and in number about thirty and Samuel having given order to the Cook to provide one special extraordinary Mess that should be set by and reserv'd as for some extraordinary guest and not sent up till he sent for it he now accordingly calls for it that it might be set before Saul and the Cook took up the Shoulder which was accounted a chief Joint with some other meat that was laid upon it or some sawce to make it more acceptable and grateful and set it before Saul and Samuel said Take this dish that is provided for thee set it before thee and eat of it for I gave charge that this portion of meat should be reserved for thee when I said unto the Cook I have invited some to eat with me make ready for them So that Saul might see hereby that God had revealed his coming to Samuel before hand Saul accordingly did eat with Samuel that day And when they were come down from the high-place into the City the next morning Samuel communed with Saul about this great matter upon the roof of his house which being flat as the manner of their houses was it was a fit place for them to be private in After which Saul and his servant departing Samuel accompanied them some part of the way and as they were going out of the City Samuel desired Saul to send his servant before that he might not hear what they said nor see what they did but that he himself would stay with him and he would then declare to him what he had in commission from God further to say and do unto him Samuel thought good to use such secresie in this matter that it might not be thought when Saul was chosen King that there had been any plotting or contrivance between Samuel and him about it and that it might not be suspected to be Samuel's choice but plainly the Lords Samuel and Saul being now alone Samuel as God had commanded him * See Ch. 15.1 took a viol of oyl and poured it upon his head (c) It had bin a constant custom among other Nations to anoint their Kings whence it is that Cyrus King of Persia was call'd the Lords Anointed Isa 45.1 It is thought that Saul was anointed with ordinary oyl as was also Jehu 2 King 9 1 6. which Samuel brought with him in a Viol from his own house though David and Solomon and other Kings that succeeded them were anointed with the holy oyl of the Sanctuary
whereby he signified that God had chosen him to that high Office and would pour upon him an extraordinary measure of his Spirit figured by oyl thereby to inable him for that great service whereunto he had called him which accordingly Saul had soon experience of as we may see v. 9. Then Samuel kissed (d) In times of Idolatry they kissed their Idols by way of adoration and religious worship 1 King 19.18 Hos 13.2 him not only to testifie his great love and kindness to him and to congratulate his advancement to this high dignity but to signifie also his willing homage and subjection to him see Psal 2.12 And Samuel tells him he us'd these Ceremonies towards him because it was not he but the Lord that had chosen him to be King and it was Gods inheritance over whom he was to reign see Deut. 32.9 These things being done Samuel now by a Prophetical spirit giveth unto Saul certain signs (a) Omnia sunt de rebus libere futuris ac proinde quae a solo Deo praesciuntur a solo vero Prophaeta infallibiliter evulgantur which should occur to him in his return homeward that when he saw them accordingly happen as he foretold him his faith might be strengthned that other things likewise foretold him concerning his Kingdom would certainly come to pass and so he might be encouraged with confidence to undertake the Charge which God had called him unto trusting in his power and help notwithstanding the difficulties he was like to meet with in his way First he tells him that when he came to Rachels Sepulchre near Bethlem in the border of Benjamin * Or near it for these two Tribes viz. Benjamin and Judah bordered upon and were intermingled one with another there he should meet two men who would tell him that the Asses which he went to seek were found and that his Father was full of care and sollicitude about him saying what shall I do for my Son Secondly when going on he should come to the Plains of Tabor he should meet three men going up to sacrifice to God at Bethel (b) Either the place properly so called where Jacob saw the Vision Gen. 18.19 or appellatively the house of God and that either Shiloh where the Tabernacle was or Kirjath-jearim where the Ark was one carrying three Kids and another carrying three Loaves of bread and a third carrying a bottle of Wine these men though strangers to him would salute him and present him with two loaves of bread which he advises him to receive at their hands The more wonderful this thing was which Samuel foretold the more it must needs confirm Saul's faith when he saw it come to pass and especially that Strangers should thus carry themselves towards him and their hearts should be thus secretly mov'd to honour him and as it were to do him homage though they knew nothing of the dignity to which God had advanc'd him Thirdly he tells him he should come at last to the hill of God where is the Garrison of the Philistines (c) In conditionibus pacis nuper inter Hebraeos Philistinos initae ita urbes redditae sunt Hebraeis ut praesidium in Gabaa fortasse in aliis locis relinqueretur Meliores erant Philistini quam nunc multi Christanorum Parcebant enim iis locis in quibus degebant viri studiis divinis dediti that is to Gibeah for there was a Garrison of the Philistines kept see Ch. 13.3 't was call'd the Hill of God because there was in that place a Colledg of Prophets consecrated to the service of God as also because of the high-place there wherein the people used to offer Sacrifices He tells him that when he was come thither he should meet a company of the Prophets coming down from the high-place There were as it seems in those times many Colledges erected (d) Licet ante Samuelem erant Prophetae is tamen primus Prophetarum collegia fundavit secundum Gerebradum wherein many holy men lived being consecrated to God whose continual imployment was to study the Law and other holy writings to teach and instruct others therein to sing in a solemn manner Psalms and Hymes of praise to God and to train up other young Students who studied this way of Prophesying under them One of these Colledges was here another at Bethel and a third at Jericho 2 King 2.3 a fourth at Naioth in Ramah over which Samuel himself was President Ch. 19.19 20. and upon many of these Prophets the Lord also bestowed that extraordinary gift of foretelling things to come (e) Prophetae proprie dicuntur qui futura praedicunt Hic autem Prophetae sunt qui erant Sacrarum literarum studiosi vide Numb 11.25 Prophetae hic dicuntur qui laudibus divinis celebrandis vacabant quod quibusdam quasi canticis vaticinati sunt quod a Sibillis etiam factum a Daemone in Oraculis apud Herodotum alios ipsi Poetae Prophetae dicti Hi Prophetae Hymnos Laudes Deo concinebant tum voce tum instrumentis musicis Horum autem Prophetarum fuerunt quaedam collegia instituta ut in illis ad Dei Laudes concinendas exercerentur ut in arte Musica Harmonica occuparentur vid. Cap. 19.20 2 Reg. 2.3 Cap. 6. pracedebanâ— eos varia musica instrumenta quod spiritus Dei non insiliat in eos qui maesto sunt corde sed in hilares ut Kimki docet His utebantur pro incitamentis ut pacet ex 2 Reg. 3.15 quando Deo gratiae de beneficio aliquo agebantur vid. Jud. 11.34 praeterea ea vis est quorundam sonorum ut animum concitatum â—ranquillent 1 Sam. 16.16 as appears 2 King 2.3 5. and such as these were the Prophets that met Saul for they had a Psaltery Tabret Pipe and Harp playing before them and possibly they made use of this Musick to tune and rightly temper and excite their hearts and the hearts of the people before they Prophesied as Elisha did 2 King 3.15 and to make them more chearful in Religious duties Now Samuel tells Saul that when he met these Prophets the Spirit of the Lord should come upon him and he should Prophesie with them that is the Spirit of Prophesie should come upon him inabling him to join with these Prophets in singing Gods praises though he had not been taught and trained up in those Spiritual Exercises and possibly he might also for that time (f) Credo hoc donum fuisse in Saule per modum actus transeuntis non per modum habitus permanentis Ex Rustico scil pecudum custode Psaltes factus have the gift of foretelling things to come See Numb 11.25 Further he tells him he should be turned into another man that is not only be endued with the present gift of Prophesying but with the spirit of wisdom and magnanimity and courage and other qualifications befitting his
shews that the hearts of Kings are in the hand of the Lord Prov. 21.1 He comes at last to Naioth where he Samuel and David being all met together he prophesied for a while before them praising God with Psalms and Hymns and then throwing aside his Princely robe or military habit and falling down on the ground he lay in a trance or extasie all that day and the night following see Numb 24.4 And thus was Saul in the midst of all his fury cast down * See a like case in one of his name and Tribe Act. 9. and as it were bound by the Almighty power of God and expos'd to shame and contempt among all that saw him thus disrobed thus manacled and restrain'd insomuch that some of them said What is Saul that hath shewed himself so great an enemy to David now among the Prophets and come hither to act as one of them This was mercifully ordered for David who hereby had liberty to escape for his life 1 Sam. Ch. 19. whole Chapter SECT CLXXI. DAvid taking the opportunity of Saul's extasie wherein he continued a day and a night he fled from Naioth to Gibeah where Jonathan was and heavily complaining to him that his father should still persecute him he said What have I done what is mine iniquity what is my sin against thy father that he so earnestly seeketh my life Jonathan replies Chap. 19.6 God forbid it should be so my father hath sworn to me that thou shalt not die and moreover he doth not use to do any thing of moment without acquainting me with it and I know nothing of any such purpose he hath and therefore I believe thou art more afraid than thou needest to be It seems Jonathan had not heard of Saul's sending his messengers to take David at his own house nor of his pursuing him to Naioth David seeing him so difficult to believe that he was in such danger he solemnly protested and swore to him as true as the Lord liveth it was so and as sure as he himself was alive there was but a step between him and death And as for his Father 's not acquainting him with it that was no argument against it for 't is like he would not let him know of it that it might not grieve him and that he might not use means to prevent it Jonathan then said seeing the case is so I will do any thing for thee thou canst reasonably desire of me David therefore propounds a way to him how he might discover his fathers affection towards him It seems the Feast of the New-Moon was to be celebrated on the morrow in which they offered Peace-offerings and Gratulatory Sacrifices sounding Trumpets over their Offerings see Numb 10.10 28.11 Psal 81.3 and on the remainder of these Oblations they feasted together And though the Feast lasted only one day viz. the first day of the month yet there being provisions in an ample and plentiful manner provided they were allowed to eat what remained the next day if the Sacrifice which was offered was a vow or voluntary offering see Levit. 7.16 This Feast was to be kept at Saul's Court the next day the chief men of his Court being to sit with him at Table and every one having his known seat which was so peculiar to him that if it were empty no other sat in it Now David being a great Commander in the Army and the Kings Son-in-law had among others his seat and did use at this Festival to sit with the King at Table David therefore tells Jonathan that he intended to absent himself from this feast and not to be at it either the first or second day but on the third day he would come and hide himself in the fields that he might be inform'd how things went He desires Jonathan diligently to observe how the King took his absence If he missed him and took notice of his absence he desires Jonathan to tell him that he asked leave of him that he might go and keep this New-Moon-Feast with his kindred at Bethlem for their family for some signal mercy received from God did annually set apart that day to commemorate it And says he if thy father accept my excuse and be not displeased at my absence then we may conclude all is well but if he be angry at it then it it a manifest sign that he hath determined evil agaiâ—â—t me and is vex'd at my absence because it did cross his purpose of doing me a mischief I pray thee therefore deal kindly with thy servant for thou hast brought me into a Covenant of friendship with thee which we made in the presence of the Lord and with invocation of him to be a witness and judge between us to reward the faithful and to punish the transgressour And as for me if thou hast hitherto found any iniquity in me slay me thy self for why shouldest thou expose me to thy fathers fury Jonathan replied Far be it from thee that thou shouldest die either by my hand or my fathers If I knew of any evil determin'd against thee by my father assure thy self I would not conceal it from thee Then David said seeing thou canst hardly come to me thy self without suspition nor canst safely intrust any servant with such a secret how shall I know whither thy Father were enraged at my absence or no Jonathan desires him to go out with him into the field that they might discourse of these things more privately there he tells him that when he had sounded his Father and discovered his mind and purpose concerning him he would faithfully reveal it to him whether it were good or bad if I do not says he then let the Lord God of Israel inflict deserved punishments on me as a false and faithless friend And as for my part being well assured that the Lord hath made choice of thee to succeed my Father I do heartily pray that the Lord would advance thee to the Kingdom as he did my Father and would make thee victorious over thine enemies as my Father hath been And when God shall have made thee King after my Father thou shalt not cut me off as a jealous King would do being the next heir but shalt manifest that great kindness towards me which by Covenant made in the Lords presence thou hast bound thy self to shew me And because this Covenant made between us extendeth not only to our own persons but to our posterity also thou shalt not take off thy loving-kindness from my house for ever see 2 Sam. 21.7 no not then when the Lord hath cut off all the enemies of David from the face of the earth So Jonathan renewed and ratified the Covenant that was before made between them and he said let the Lord require it at the hands of Davids enemies and consequently of me if I keep not Covenant with David but prove his enemy And as Jonathan renewed and confirmed his Covenant by a solemn oath with David
and his house so he required David to do the like with him and his posterity being very desirous to make a sure and firm league with him whom he so dearly loved and at his motion David willingly did it as appeareth ver 42. Jonathan further said to David to morrow I suppose thou wilt be missed at the New-Moon-Feast because thy seat will be empty when therefore thou hast stayed three days at Bethlem or at some other private place come down quickly to the place where thou didst formerly hide thy self when I first gave thee notice of my Fathers resolution to kill thee Ch. 19.2 and remain by the stone Ezel viz. the stone that directs Travellers in the way they should go and this shall be a token between me and thee whereby I will shew thee what thou shouldst do If I cannot come with conveniency to speak with thee my self I will shoot three Arrows on the side of that stone as though I shot at a mark and I will send a lad to find out the Arrows and if I call to him and say the Arrows are on this side of thee take them up then come thou away for there is peace to thee and no hurt But if I say to the lad Behold the Arrows are beyond thee then go thy way for the Lord by this sign given thee by me commands thee to be gone and to shift for thy self And as touching the Covenant which we have mutually made and confirmed by Oath the Lord be a witness between us and a just avenger of either if either of us transgress that so it may stand firm and inviolable for ever The New-Moon being now come the King sat down to eat in his Chair of State by the wall and Jonathan sat down by him and Abner coming after to sit down Jonathan arose to give him honour and respect being the Kings Cousin and General of the Army and David's place was empty but Saul said nothing of it that day but supposed he absented himself by reason of some legal pollution that had befallen him which rendred him unfit to come and forbad him coming under the penalty of being quite cut off from the people Levit. 7.20 21. On the next day Saul seeing David's place empty again he asked Jonathan why the Son of Jesse by which diminishing title he intimated his displeasure and indignation against him was absent both those days Jonathan answer'd he earnestly desired leave of him to go to Bethlem telling him that their family had a Sacrifice to offer in that city and his brother having commission from his Father so to do had commanded him to be there that he might on that occasion meet his Brethren and on that account he was absent Saul hearing this his anger was kindled against Jonathan and he told him he was right his mothers * Whether Jonathans mother had deserved this censure we need not enquire for this is the property of wrathful persons to speak any evil whether right or wrong of the person against whom their spirit is stirred son for she had been perverse and rebellious against him and so was he He tells him he had chosen the Son of Jesse to be his friend and favourite to his own ruin and confusion and to the confusion of his mothers off-spring that sprang from her womb For says he thou maist assure thy self that as long as the Son of Jesse liveth thou shalt never attain the Crown and Kingdom which by right of inheritance belongs to thee Therefore I charge thee to send for him for he shall surely die Jonathan humbly replied O my Father what hath he done what is his crime that he must die Saul hearing him speak thus in a rage cast a Javelin at him to kill him but he nimbly escaped the stroke and so plainly saw what was his fathers desperate resolution against David And thus Saul by his own rage and fury frustrated his own design had he dissembled his anger he might easily have got David into his hands but by thus openly discovering it he taught him to shift for himself Jonathan seeing how things went rose from the Table in a great discontent and would not eat any thing on the second day of the Feast for he was heartily grieved for David because his fathers anger was so implacable against him and because he had in that furious manner disgraced him in that publick assembly as though he had been a Traytor and Rebel On the third day in the morning which was the day before appointed between David and him Jonathan went out into the field and a little lad with him he bad the lad run before and find out the Arrows he should shoot as the lad ran he shot an Arrow beyond him and when he was come to the place Jonathan cried out to him that the Arrow was beyond him and bad him make hast and bring him that and the other Arrows that he had since shot Jonathan and David agreed upon this secret way of giving intelligence concerning Saul's mind because they thought that some body possibly might be present in the field where David was to hide himself and they could hardly hope for an opportunity to meet and consult together without being observed But Jonathan as it seems now perceiving the coast to be clear he immediately sent away the lad with the quiver bow and arrows and then David rose out of the place where he had hid himself and bowed himself three times with his face to the ground before Jonathan and they kissed each other and wept over one another until David exceeded whose condition at this time in the eye of reason was most deplorable for now he saw he was to be separated not only from his dear friend Jonathan but from his wife and family and from prosecuting the wars against the enemies of God in which he had so often been successful and which was worst of all he saw he was now like to be banished from the House of God and all his publick Ordinances in which his soul so much delighted and this also aggravated his misery he knew not well whither to flee and betake himself Into these great straights God was pleased to bring him for the exercise of his faith and patience and to teach him to flee unto him by fervent prayer as his only rook and refuge Jonathan and he having discours'd some time together at length Jonathan embracing him wished him all happiness and desired him to be mindful of the Covenant they had both of them sworn in the name of the Lord calling upon him to be a witness and a judge between them and their seed after them and to punish those of them that did not inviolably keep that Covenant So they parted 1 Sam. Ch. 20. whole Chapter SECT CLXXII DAvid now perceiving how implacable Saul's anger was against him he concludes he must shift for himself and stand upon his Guard and accordingly taking some few faithful
have shewed me that my Son hath made a league with the Son of Jesse and there is none of you that is sorry for me or discovers to me that my Son hath stirred up my servant against me to lye in wait to destroy me as you see it is at this day Then Doeg the Edomite of whom before telleth unto Saul the story of David's coming to Ahimelech at Nob and what passed between them maliciously wresting all they did to the worst sense David composes the 52 Psalm on this occasion as appears by the Title and concealing all that might any way excuse them and this caused David to charge him with lying and slandering as well as with malice and mischief and to threaten against him utter ruin and destruction Psal 52.3 4 5. which Psalm was composed on this occasion I saw says Doeg the Son of Jesse coming to Ahimelech and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him victuals and the Sword of Goliath the Philistine but he spake not a word of David's pretence wherewith Ahimelech was deceived The King hereat was greatly enraged and sent for Ahimelech and all his Fathers house viz. the Priests that dwelt at Nob being the most of those that remained of Eli's house whom God threatned to cut off Chap. 2.31 He asks him why he had conspired with David against him and had inquir'd of the Lord for him and given him bread and a sword Ahimelech acknowledges the doing of the things Saul charges him with but utterly denieth that they were done with any treacherous mind against him but rather therein to do him service for he thought David had always approved himself faithful to the King in all his undertakings for which the King had highly honoured him and made him his Son-in-law and as far as he knew he had been ever obedient to the Kings commands going out readily on all services which he appointed him though never so full of difficulty and danger and as he understood he was a person greatly honoured in the Kings family And for his inquiring of the Lord for him he says he had often done that in former times when he was to go out on the Kings service and to lead out his forces against his enemies and that which I have done says he without blame at other times I had no reason to think would be blamed now but to aid or assist one that intended and designed to rebel against my Lord and Soveraign was never in my heart far be it from me let not the King therefore impute this as a fault to me or to my fathers house for of any conspiracy against thee thy servants knew nothing at all neither less nor more We may see by this Apology that this good man was loth to declare he had been deceived by David and drawn on to do all that he did by those untruths which he had told him He would not to excuse himself of a seeming fault accuse David of one that was real and thereby incense Saul the more against him But Saul like a bloody Tyrant shut his ears against Ahimelechs just defence and told him that not only himself but all his Fathers house should die though he had not so much as any colour of a crime to lay to their charge And whereas by the Law none were to die under two or three witnesses he condemneth so many upon the bare and single and malicious testimony of one false and flattering Sycophant Neither doth he take time further to examine the cause or the reasons or testimonies which might be produc'd in excuse of Ahimelech and the Priests but in a rage and fury from a rash sentence proceeds to a present execution without any delay And thus this wretched man that could out of a seeming pity and mercy spare Agag who was by God appointed to die now sticketh not to murder and massacre a multitude of innocent persons Accordingly he commanded his guards that were about him to slay forthwith the Lords Priests But the servants of the King that attended upon him would not do it chusing rather to obey God who had forbidden murder than this wicked King Then Saul commanded Doeg that he should fall upon them Doeg accordingly taking unto himself such persons as were alike bloody-minded with himself and so fit for his purpose fell upon them and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that wore a linnen Ephod And thus that which the Lord had threatned against the house of Eli Ch. 2.31 32. was in part fulfilled for of that family these Priests were Then Doeg having as it seems Saul's Commission for it went to Nob and there destroyed men women and children and sucklings yea the very oxen asses and sheep that belonged to that City so great an abhorrence and detestation did he manifest against all that seemed favourers of David Upon the occasion of destroying of this City at this time the Tabernacle was remov'd from hence to Gibeon where it continued to the days of Solomon 2 Chron. 1.3 1 Sam. Ch. 22. from v. 5. to 20. 6ly Keilah a City in the Tribe of Judah being now on a sudden besieged by the Philistines their neighbours and David lying with his forces not far from them in the forrest of Hareth and so in a capacity to afford them some speedier succour than Saul could do who was at a greater distance it seems some of them came to him to acquaint him with their present distress namely that the Philistines now besieged their City and that they had robbed the threshing floors of the Corn that was brought unto them they being without the City and therefore they humbly crave his speedy help David was not willing rashly to engage in such an enterprize especially with so little strength as he had about him without a special commission and promise from God therefore he inquired of the Lord probably by the Prophet Gad who was come to him before as we have seen Ch. 22.5 what he should do and the Lord encouraged him to go against the Philistines and to save and rescue Keilah David's men when they understood what enterprize he was about mightily disswaded him from it speaking to him after this manner We are afraid here in the land of Judah even among our friends and acquaintance lest we should be surprized by Saul and his Troops how much more dangerous must it needs be then for us being but a few to go against such a potent enemy as the Philistines and that in the borders of their own land David to satisfie his followers inquired again of the Lord and God bad him go for he would deliver the Philistines into his hands So David and his men went to Keilah and smote the Philistines with a great slaughter and brought away their cattel either such as they had brought out of their own Country for the provision of their armies or such as they had brought with them to carry the spoils of the
beasts I pray thee therefore consider what is fit to be done in the case for David is a man of courage and prowess and will never suffer such a gross abuse and injury offered to him to go unchastised For my part I am afraid he will revenge himself on our whole family I thought good to speak to thee of it that thou maist consider of some way to prevent it As for our Master he is such a Son of Belial of such an harsh and churlish temper that a man knows not how to speak to him Abigail being greatly awakened by this representation of her servant she speedily without acquainting Nabal therewith provided and took two hundred loaves and two leather-sacks of wine and five sheep ready dressed and five measures of parched corn and a hundred clusters of raisons and two hundred cakes of figs and laid them on asses and bad her servants go before with them and she would follow after and riding upon her ass attended with her servants who had the charge of the presents on a sudden as she came under the hollow of the hill she met David and his men Seeing David coming she lighted off her ass and bowed her self to the ground and fell at his feet and said Vpon me * Crimen initio transfert ab odiosa persona in favorabilem my Lord upon me let the punishment of this great iniquity (b) Iniquitas hic peccati paenam significat and transgression fall which has so much provoked thee yet I pray thee let thy hand-maid speak a few words in thy ears which may possibly dispose thee to forbear taking revenge upon us Let not my Lord regard this man of Belial this Nabal Nabal is his name and indeed he answers his name for folly is with him it will not be for thy honour to regard his words or actions wise men do not use to regard the words of fools He is not worthy that thou shouldst trouble thy self about him much less that thou shouldst destroy me and my whole family for his sake She spake not thus to disgrace her husband for his folly was too notoriously known but because she had no other excuse to make for him to preserve him from ruin As for me she says I saw not the young men whom my Lord did send Had I seen them or known of their coming I should have treated them more civilly And now my Lord as sure as the Lord liveth and as sure as thou thy self art alive thou oughtest to believe that by my coming to meet thee and to pacifie thy anger the Lord doth intend to hinder thee from coming to shed blood and from avenging thy self with thy own hand and seeing I trust the Lord will by his alwise Providence so over-rule thy heart my earnest prayer is that God would make all thine enemies like Nabal that is as weak and unable to hurt thee as Nabal is And as for the present (c) V. 27. Benedictionem id est munus sive donum sive rem a benedictione Dei profectam that thy handmaid hath here brought to my Lord though it is so mean that it is not worthy of thy acceptance yet do not I pray thee disdain it seeing it may be of some use to thy servants that follow thee And I beseech thee vouchsafe to forgive the trespass of thy handmaid seeing I take the blame of all this miscarriage wholly upon my self I do verily believe the Lord will give thee the Kingdom and that thy Kingdom will be lasting and durable †* Stabile manebit regnum in familia tua and nothing better becomes a a King than clemency and mercy And that which enduces me to believe this is because I see thou fightest the Lords battels and hast often engaged thy self having warrant from him in a just defence of his cause and people and no self-revenge or cruelty hath been found in thee all thy days hitherto therefore I pray thee do not stain thine honour now by shedding innocent blood Indeed Saul is risen up unjustly to pursue thee and seek thy life but all his attempts will be in vain for the Lord will carefully preserve and charily keep thy life as men are wont carefully to bind up those things in bundles which they much value and intend to preserve And that mans rage must needs be vain who seeks to destroy him whom the Lord will preserve and protect But as for the lives of thine enemies them will he by a violent death sling out as men use to sling out stones out of their slings which they value not And it shall come to pass when the Lord shall have performed all his promises which he hath made unto thee and hath setled thee in thy Kingdom and made thee Ruler over all Israel then it will be a comfort to thee to remember that thou didst spare us and thou wilt not be tormented with anguish and trouble of conscience that thou didst shed innocent blood as certainly thou wilt be if thou shouldst proceed to execute thy bloody purpose And when thou art come to thy Kingdom let me find favour in thine eyes when my occasions and necessities shall require me to wait upon thee Abigail having thus spoken David said Blâ—ssed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou who hast kept me this day from shedding blood and avenging my self with my own hand for in very deed as sure as the Lord liveth who hath graciously kept me back from hurting thee and thy family except thou hadst thus seasonably met me I had utterly destroyed by the next morning Nabal and all that belonged to him But thou maist now assure thy self that my wrath is appeased and as an evidence thereof I do kindly accept of the present thou hast brought me and will not avenge the wrong offered me by thy husband either upon him or any of his family I have heard thy suit and do grant all that thou desiredst therefore go in peace to thy own house and the Lord be with thee Abigail returning to her husband Nabal behold he kept a Feast that day in his house like the Feast of a King for plenty of provisions and multitude of guests And he had been so merry with his guests that he was very drunk wherefore she said nothing to him more or less of his danger till the morning In the morning when he had slept out his drunkenness and dâ—bauch she acquainted him with the desperate danger he had by his folly run them all into and how near destruction they all were if in the very nick of time it had not been by a wonderful Providence prevented He hearing this was so terrified with the horrour and dread of the danger he had been in that his heart died within him and falling into a swoon he became as a stone and about ten days after the Lord smote him with
Dei dispositus hoc factum qui neque Davidi quicquam perire voluit neque aliis propter Davidem and Davids men took all the flocks and herds which the Amalekites had taken from other places besides Ziklag and drove them before those Cattel which they had taken from Ziklag which belonged to David and his followers extolling David and proclaiming this is Davids spoil that is which belongeth to him by the Souldiers free consent and gift and accordingly afterwards he bestowed it on whom he pleased David with his men now returning with the captives and spoils they had taken he came at last to the place where he left the two hundred weary men who came forth with great joy to meet David and the people that were with him When they came near him he spoke kindly and courteously to them that they might not be discouraged at the thoughts of their absence from the fight seeing it was occasion'd by their weariness They desiring to have a part in the spoils some of the four hundred who had with David vanquished the Amalekites being wicked men and sons of Belial exprest an unwillingness that they should have any share therein but only their wives and children again though it was not cowardize but meer faintness that made them stay behind and their staying behind with the carriages to defend the stuff and being in readiness to aid and assist their fellows if they had been forc'd to retire might be lookt upon as a good service David mildly speaks to these murmurers saying to them Ye shall not do so my Brethren with the spoil the Lord hath given us and which we have gotten not by our own valour and strength but by Gods gracious favour who hath preserved us and given our enemies into our hands the thing you propose is unreasonable and unjust therefore I shall decide the matter thus As his part is that goeth down to the battel so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff that is the men that tarried behind and abode with the baggage shall have their share of the prey as well as those that marched out with me unto the battel And so from that day he revived and ratified a statute formerly made by God Numb 31.27 Josh 22.8 that the spoil should be divided betwixt those that fought with the enemy and those that stayed with the stuff And when David was return'd to Ziklag he sent some of the spoils he had taken to the Elders of Judah his friends partly by way of restitution because the Amalekites had taken much of this prey from the South parts of Judah and partly by way of thankfulness for the many kindnesses he had received from them when Saul hunted him from place to place and partly in a way of prudence to make them hereby the more firm to him and more ready to give him their assistance when he should stand in need of it Thus as it is always darkest just before day dawneth so God useth to visit his servants with greatest afflictions when he intends their speedy advancement 1 Sam. Ch. 20. whole Chapter 16. We return now to the Philistines and Israelites whom we left nigh to each other Ch. 29. who joining battel at the very time as Josephus says when David was victorious over the Amalekites the Israelites were smitten and Saul's three Sons Jonathan (a) By Jonathan's death the Lord cleared the way for Davids advancement to the Kingdom For if Ishbosheth a worthless man found so many of the people ready to side with him against David what would they have done for Jonathan so brave and worthy a Prince if he had out-liv'd his Father And Jonathan was no loser by it for instead of an earthly God gave him an Heavenly Kingdom Aminadab and Melchishua slain And the battel went sore against Saul himself for the Archâ—rs hit him and sore wounded him he saw his Army routed his friends and followers slain his dear Sons killed before his face he found himself sore wounded and inviron'd with enemies and apprehending no possibility of escaping he bad his Armour-hearer take his sword and run him thorough lest the uncircumcised Philistines should take him and put him to some ignominious death but his Armour-bearer utterly refusing to do it he fell upon his own sword And thus Saul with the sword he had drawn against David slew himself and so concluded a wicked life with a desperate death the Lord in a just judgment giving him up to act this horrid murder on himself as a punishment of his former wickedness therefore 't is said 1 Chron. 10.14 that the Lord slew him His Armour-bearer seeing what he had done followed his wicked example and fell likewise upon his own sword and killed himself Thus died Saul and his three Sons and his Armour-bearer and most of his family and kindred most of his Courtiers and Commanders with a great part of his army see 1 Chron. 10.6 And when the Israelites who dwelt on each side of this valley of Jezreel where the battel was fought and they that dwelt in it 1 Ch. 10.7 saw that their army was routed and that Saul and his Sons were slain they forsook their Cities and Towns and fled for their lives and the Philistines entred into them and possessed them On the morrow after the battel was fought the Philistines coming to strip the bodies of the slain they found Saul and his three Sons fallen in mount Gilboa and they cut off Sauls head and stript off his armour His head they carried about as a Trophy and shewed it in all parts of their Country publishing their victory and the death of Saul and his Sons in a way of joy and triumph in the houses of their Idols (b) Heb. Terrors so called because they possess the minds and hearts of their superstitious worshippers with terrors and fears and do neither teach nor comfort them Hinc superstitio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur i. e. Daemonium pavor and afterwards set it up in the house of Dagon their God thereby ascribing to him the glory of their victory as appeareth 1 Chron. 10.10 so David had before served the head of Goliath which he carried to Jerusalem Ch. 17.54 They plac'd his Armour in the house of Ashtaroth see the Note on Judg. 2.13 his body and the bodies of his Sons they fastened to the wall of Bethshan (c) A Town that belonged to the lot of Manasseh but not recovered from the Philistines in the first conquest Judg. 1.27 nor to this day as was said before of Ziklag Ch. 27.6 viz. in a street that was by the City-wall see 2 Sam. 21.12 And when the Inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to the bodies of Saul and his three Sons in gratitude to Saul who had rescued them from Nahash King of the Ammonites when he had straitly besieged their City Ch. 11.11 all the valiant men of that City arose and march'd all night and
fair daughter call'd Tamar 2 Sam. Ch. 3.3 and Ch. 13.1 SECT CLXXIX AFter Ishbosheth's two years quiet reign there grew a long war between those that adhered to him and those that adhered to David Joab the Son of Zerviah (b) She was mother also of two other valiant Sons viz. Abishai and Asahel Davids sister bearing up the one side and Abner the other And accordingly Abner led forth an Army from Mahanaim to Gibeon to fight against David where Joab with an Army met him the one pitching on the one side of the pool of Gibeon and the other on the other side The Armies being thus near together Abner sent a Challenge to Joab to wit that a certain number of their young gallants on each side might come forth and skirmish together and by a trial of their valour and skill in Armes shew both Armies some sport and pastime And this no doubt he did in a bravery as hoping by this vaunting flourish of the courage of his men to daunt those that were with Joab but Joab no way discouraged readily accepted the Challenge and sent forth twelve of his men to enter the lists with twelve of Abners These young men running fiercely upon one another and catching every one his Antagonist by the head they thrust their swords into one anothers sides and so fell down dead all together By which sad event of this combate God declar'd how much he abhor'd such vain glorious Challenges The field where they fell was from henceforth call'd Helkath-hazzarim or the field of strong and valiant men The two Armies being enrag'd at the death of their fellows slain in this Combate they presently with great fury fall upon each other and so there was a sore battel and at last Joab and his men won the field and Abner was beaten and his Army put to flight In the pursuit Asahel Joab's brother who was as light of foot as a wild Roe and also a man of his hands and valiant (c) And therefore reckoned among Davids Worthies 1 Chron. 11.26 hotly pursued Abner ambitiously aspiring as it should seem to take the General of the field prisoner Abner looking behind him and seeing him thus hotly pursue him he call'd to him and bad him turn either to the right hand or the left and lay hold on one of the young men that followed him and take his Armour As if he should have said set upon one that is thine equal and content thy self with taking the spoil of his Armour from him and do not provoke an old experienced Souldier to thy great danger and peril I am loth to kill thee if thou dost not too much provoke me to it for thy brothers sake For if I should kill thee how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother and how could I expect any peace or reconciliation with him But Asahel would not turn aside from pursuing him wherefore Abner turned upon him and with the hinder end of his Spear smote him under the fifth rib and he fell down dead immediately Joab's Souldiers who pursued when they came to the place where Asahel lay dead they stood still and ceased their pursuit gazing upon this sad spectacle and lamenting his death Joab also himself and Abishai his brother pursued after Abner and the Sun went down when they were come to the Hill of Ammah whither Abner had retreated and there the children of Benjamin and his other broken companies rallying themselves together and having the advantage of the upper ground made head again against Joab Then Abner as it seems desired a parley with Joab and spake to him after this manner What shall the sword devour for ever Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end the shedding so much Israelitish blood whatever you now may think of it in the heat of pursuing your victory yet it will prove like such meats as are sweet in the mouth but breeding choler are bitter in the stomack slaughter and revenge may now seem sweet unto you but the effects thereof will be sad and bitter therefore I advise thee rather to desist from the pursuit and to command thy Souldiers to return from following their brethren Joab replied as sure as God liveth if thou hadst not sent us a Challenge and provoked us to the Combat of the young men the people with me were so far from desiring to shed the blood of their brethren that purposely to prevent it we were minded to have retired in the morning before the battel was fought And to shew thee that I am more for peace than war I shall now give over the chase of you So Joab caused his Trumpeter to sound a retreat and they ceased from pursuing and fought no more with Israel at this time though afterwards the War was renewed again And Abner and his men marched back to Mahanaim and Joab mustering his forces upon the place found he had lost but nineteen men besides Asahel but of Abners men they found there were three hundred sixty slain Joab then took up the body of Asahel and buried it in the Sepulcher of his Father at Bethlem and so marched back with his Army to Hebron 2 Sam. from v. 12 to the end SECT CLXXX AFter this there was long War between the house of Saul and the house of David which lasted five years and odd months from this time to the death of Ishbosheth Davids house waxing stronger and stronger and Saul's weaker and weaker David whilst he was exil'd and persecuted by Saul had no children though he had two wives with him God in his wise Providence so ordering it whilst Children might have been an occasion of much care and incumbrance unto him but when he was chosen King over Judah and setled in Hebron he had six Sons born to him in his seven years and six months reign there His first born was Amnon by Ahinoam his second Chileab call'd Daniel 1 Chron. 3.1 by Abigail his third Absalom by Maacha daughter of the King of Geshur his fourth Adonijah by Haggith his fifth Shephatiah by Abital his sixth Ithream by Eglah * Besides these six Sons which he had at Hebron of six wives he had four at Jerusalem by Bathsheba besides the Sons of his Concubines and his daughter Tamar 1 Chron. 3. from v. 1 to 9. 2 Sam. Ch. 3. from 1 to 6. SECT CLXXXI ABner during the War between David and Ishbosheth acted very valiantly and strenuously for the house of Saul and stored himself with Armes and Ammunition for that purpose so that he had cause to think he deserved well of Ishbosheth but at last it seems Ishbosheth began to be jealous of him and to look upon him as one that aspired to the Crown and charged him whither he had ground for it or no is uncertain that he had gone in to his Fathers Concubine which he took to be a dishonour to Saul his Father and a sign that he had some high thoughts
1 Chron. 14.1 2. SECT CLXXXV THE Philistines who during the Civil Wars between David and Ishbosheth were content to look on when they saw that Ishbosheth was dead and the people had generally received David for their King who was a great warrior and that he had driven the Jebusites out of the strong Fort of Sion and that the King of Tyre had made a league with him they thought it was time for them to bestir themselves and to oppose his growing power And herein the Providence of God was remarkable that they began with him and not he with them to whom he had been formerly obliged and so might have seemed ungrateful if it had been otherwise They therefore having raised a great Army invaded the land of Israel and came to seek David to fight with him When David heard of it he went to a Fort or strong-hold near the Cave of Adullam see 2 Sam. 23.13 there to muster and arm his Soldiers and the Philistines spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim which was in the way to Bethlem and they had their Head-quarters in Bethlem it self The Israelites being as it seems at this time something distressed through want of water it being hot weather and harvest-time David wished he had a draught of the well of Bethlem but not with any intent as 't is probable to stir up any of his Souldiers to adventure to fetch it for him however three of his valiant Commanders who are supposed to be Adino Eleazar and Shammah see 1 Chron. 11.19 2 Sam. 23.13 who were the chief over the thirty Colonels or Commanders having heard him express his desire of that water they ventured to break through the host of the Philistines and came to Bethlem and drew of the water which was by the Gate and brought it unto him but David when he understood the extreme danger they had gone thorough to procure it was very sorry he had given occasion to such a rash enterprize and had thereby so dangerously exposed the lives of his great Captains therefore he would not drink of it but took it and poured it on the ground as an offering of Thanksgiving unto God for delivering them from that great danger saying Far be it from me O Lord to drink that water which was procured with the extreme hazard of these mens blood (a) 2 Sam. 23.17 Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives and lives (b) Aquam tam pretiosam dignam judicavit quae Domino libaretur Then David enquired of the Lord by Abiathar the High-Priest whither he should go up against the Philistines or no For though he had a great Army yet he relyed not upon it but seeks to God for direction and without that would not stir He receives answer from God that he should go up and be victorious Then David came to Baalperazim whether the Philistines were now come from the valley of Rephaim 1 Chron 14.11 and David smote them there with a great slaughter whereupon he said the Lord hath broken in upon mine enemies by my hand like the breaking forth of waters signifying thereby the sense he had of Gods hand and power in driving away his enemies as waters when they break through the bank do sweep away all before them Thence this place was called afterwards Baal-perazim * The name is taken from the Idol Baal who with his Idolatrous worshippers was there destroyed see Is 28.21 And there the Philistines left their Images and Idols which they had brought with them and trusted in as their Titular Gods which were neither able to defend their vain worshippers nor themselves and David commanded his men to burn them see Deut. 7.25 1 Chron. 14.12 The Philistines shortly after recruiting their scattered Army came again to provoke the Israelites to fight with them in the very same place where they had received their former defeat though they had no provocation from David to do so he having not hotly pursued his former victory but though David had gotten a great victory over them before yet he was not so puffed up with it as to relye on his own strength therefore he would not engage with them again without first inquiring of the Lord. The Lord bids him not go up openly and directly against them as formerly but to fetch a compass and so to come upon them behind over against the Mulberry Trees where they look'd not for him and when he heard the sound of a going on the tops of the Mulberry Trees viz. of an Army of Horsemen and Chariots marching over the tops of the Trees like that 2 King 7.6 which should be a sign to him that the Lord is gone forth with his holy Angels to destroy the Philistines before him then he should bestir himself and fet upon them for says the Lord I will give thee victory over them And David did accordingly and smote the Philistines from Geba or Gibeah in Benjamin where the fight began unto Gazer situate in the west of Ephraim which was then possessed by the Philistines So that the fame of David went into all lands and God brought the fear of him upon all Nations round about him 2 Sam. Ch. 5. from v. 17. to the end 2 Sam. Ch. 23. from v. 13 to the 18. 1 Chron. Ch. 11. from v. 15 to the 20. 1 Chron. Ch. 14. from v. 8 to the end SECT CLXXXVI DAvid now enjoying peace and quietness began to take into his pious thoughts the bringing up the Ark from Kirjath-jearim and placing it in the Fort of Sion which he had lately taken from the Jebusites The Tabernacle was now at Gibeon 2 Chron. 1.3 whither it had been removed from Nob after that bloody slaughter of the Priests by Saul 1 Sam. 22. And there was the great Altar for Burnt-offerings to which the people frequently went contenting themselves therewith and not regarding the Ark the principal evidence of Gods presence among them and whereat Divine Oracles and directions were given it being now lodged in a private house Upon what occasion the Ark was removed to the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-jearim we may see Sect. 153. and 1 Sam. 7. where it continued about fourtysix years saving only when upon extraordinary occasions it was brought into the Camp see 1 Sam. 14.8 viz. thirtynine in the days of Samuel and Saul and seven in the days of David David therefore judged it more for the honour of God and of the Ark that it should not lye hid in a private family which possibly had occasion'd the people so much to neglect it but be setled in the chief City of the Kingdom in a place purposely appointed for it that the people might more conveniently resort unto it wherefore calling his great Commanders and the Elders and Heads of the people together he imparted his design unto them and desired their advice upon it He told them that if it seem'd good to them and they apprehended
punishments on them putting some of them under Saws some under Harrows of iron some he ordered to be cut in pieces with Axes and some he caused to pass through the fiery brick kiln to express his detestation of their inhumane Idolatry who caused their own children to pass through the fire to their Idol Moloch 1 King 11.7 and thus he did to the Elders of every City who were the chief offenders and that not only because they had so abominably contrary to the Law of Nations abused his Ambassadours but had also hired the Nations round about them to make war upon him intending if they could utterly to destroy the Israelites These things being done David and his people returned to Jerusalem 2 Sam. Ch. 12. from v. 26 to the end 1 Chron. 20. from 1 to 4. SECT CXCIV IN Section 192 we had the sad History of David's fall to be dreaded by all good men now we come to give an account of his repentance and the manner how he was brought to it And first we may take notice that David did not seek to God and turn to him by an act of his free-will before God touched his heart by his grace David had now for the space of near ten months continued in his sin without repentance viz. from the conception to the birth of the child and possibly something longer during all which time he had as 't is probable in a formal manner frequented Gods Ordinances taking care only to hide his sin and not to be cleansed from the guilt of it and to cover his shame which yet he could not do for by reason of his sudden marrying of Bathsheba and her so soon being brought to bed it began now by some to be suspected and talked of that all was not right between them and so by this deed he gave great occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme God therefore now sends the Prophet Nathan to him to rouze him out of the dead sleep he was in and to bring him to a sense of his sin and to repentance for it Nathan having received a command from God to go to David on this errand he began to think with himself that he was to deal with a great King whom he was directly to accuse sharply to reprehend and severely to threaten from the Lord he resolves therefore to make his address to him in such a way which he thought most likely to work upon such a great person Accordingly coming to him he tells him that there was a certain rich man in that Country who had exceeding many flocks and herds and there lived by him a certain poor man who had only one ew-lamb which he had bought and tenderly brought up and nourished and it lay in his bosom and was to him as a young and tender child (a) In these Parables we are to look at the main scope and drift of them and not to every circumstance many of them being added only as Ornaments to set them off and there came a Traveller to the rich mans house and he spared to take of his own flock to dress for this stranger but took the poor mans lamb and dressed it for him David hearing this and apprehending it to be a true relation of a matter of fact done in his Country his anger was greatly kindled and he said as the Lord liveth the man that hath done this shall surely restore the lamb fourfold (b) In Solomons time it seems there was required sevenfold restitution Prov. 16.31 unless it be meant there that the thief shall make such a perfect restitution in which sense the number seven is often taken according to the Law Exod. 22.1 and I declare that he is worthy to die because he had no pity Thus David unwittingly passeth a heavy sentence upon himself Nathan replies thou art the man thou art he who hast committed this heinous wickedness For thou art the rich man whose many flocks and herds are thy many wives and concubines Vriah is the poor man and his ew-lamb was Bathsheba his wife the traveller that came to thee was the sinful lust of thy heart for the satisfying whereof thou wouldst not take one of thy own wives or concubines but tookest the wife of Vriah therefore the Lord hath commanded me to say thus to thee I anointed thee King over Israel and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul I gave thee thy Masters house viz. the Kingdom of Saul who was thy Lord and Master and have exalted thee to such royal dignity and greatness that all generally that belonged to Saul is come into thy power yea his very wives and concubines whom I have so far brought into thy power that none can hinder thee from taking them into thy bosom (a) V. 8. In sinii i. e. potentiae subjeci tuae neque enim soceri conjuges huic ducere licebat did not my Law forbid it Levit. 18.8 And if all this had been too little I was ready to have given thee more wherefore then hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do this heinous evil in his sight Thou hast killed Vriah one of thy worthy and valiant commanders who did thee faithful service and hast made way for thy marrying his wife by murdering of him yea thou hast slain him by the sword of the children of Ammon treacherously betraying him with divers others of thy faithful subjects into their hands and thereby hast encouraged and given occasion to the enemies of my people to insult Now therefore know to thy sorrow that the sword shall never * V. 10. In sempiternum sumitur pro subjecta materia diverse depart from thy house that is as long as thou livest but those of thy family shall with the sword kill one another (b) Three of Davids Sons came to a violent death viz. Amnon Absalom and Adonijah And because thou hast despised me and my Law behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house I will afflict thee with many evils even by thy own children giving them over to commit rapes murders and unnatural rebellions and will take thy concubines before thine eyes that is in thy life-time and thou knowing it and give them unto thy neighbour that is to one near unto thee not only in habitation but in blood and he shall lye with them (c) Absalom did it openly in the sight of all Israel Ch. 16.22 in a Tent which they spread for him in Jerusalem upon the top of the house and probably the same house or Palace from the roof whereof David did first cast a lustful eye on Bathsheba in the sight of the Sun For thou didst it secretly as fearing shame more than sin but I will punish thee openly in the view of all thy people David was so convinced and his heart so deeply wounded with what Nathan had spoken to him that he cried out I have sinned yea heinously sinned against the Lord.
were of her making and given to him by her hand than if made or brought to him by any other David out of his great indulgence to him sends his daughter Tamar to him 'T is much that David being a wise man should suspect nothing but when God intends to punish a man he hides wisdom from him and it could not but afterwards much add to Davids sorrow that he himself was made an instrument to further such an execrable fact and that by his command he had cast his poor daughter into such a snare Tamar accordingly coming to her Brother Amnons house provided him Cakes making them for him with her own hands in his sight as he desired Amnon then commanding all about him to go out and bidding his Sister to bring the Cakes into an inner Chamber he there instead of eating the Cakes took hold of her and told her she must lye with him She poor Lady was strangely surprized at this and used all manner of arguments and intreaties she could devise to disswade him from so unnatural a villany First she tells him he was her brother and therefore should be so far from dishonouring her himself that he should be ready even with the hazard of his life to protect her against any that should offer her so foul an indignity 2ly He being her brother he should consider it would be incest in him to defile her if she should be so wicked as to consent but to force her and to incest to add rape was such a transcendent villany that the very Heathens would abhor 3ly He knew very well that no such thing ought to be done in Israel Gen. 34.7 for they were Gods own peculiar people and professed holiness above all Nations in the earth therefore an example of so abominable a wickedness committed among them and especially by one of such eminency as he was would bring a shameful scandal upon their whole Nation and cause their Religion and even the name of God to be blasphemed 4ly He should consider that by the Law of God which they were under both incest and rape were to be punished with death see Levit. 18 6 9. Deut. 22.25 Levit. 20.17 5ly She desires him to have some pity upon her and some regard to her honour and reputation for how should she ever cause her shame to pass away if she should be so defiled It would be a blot upon her for ever and none fit for her would ever be induc'd to marry her 6ly She desires him to have some sense of his own honour for how would he be esteemed a very fool who when he might have his choice of wives where he pleased with their love and liking yet would not take that course which God himself had appointed but would do such a lothed and abominable act as this He should consider that the greatest sins are the greatest folly and expose a man to the greatest shame And if such a person as he was should be guilty of such a crime he would be lookt upon among all wise and good men as a most notorious infamous wretch and a son of Belial and one utterly unworthy to succeed his Father in the Kingdom 7ly When none of these arguments would prevail she being in a great straight adviseth him to desire her of his Father for his wife not thinking as 't is like that this could ever be done but only to gain time and allay the present rage of his lust and escape his present violence not doubting but for the future she should be kept out of his hands But his lust was so impetuous and his heart by the instigation of the Devil so bent on wickedness that he was deaf to all her perswasions and being stronger than she he brutishly forc'd her Having committed this abominable wickedness his eyes that were before blinded with lust began to be opened and he now saw what an indelible reproach and shame he had brought upon himself and being fill'd with horrour he now hated his fair sister more than before he loved her he could not now endure to see her whose beauty had been the occasion to draw him into so much shame and infamy and there was an especial hand of God in this that his sin and shame might hereby be discovered and a way made for the bringing upon David those judgments which God had threatned against his Family But so it was Amnons rage of lust was now turned into the fury of folly And he was so infatuated that he endeavoured not to keep her in his Chamber till her grief and passion was somewhat abated nor seeks to perswade her for her own and his credit to conceal the matter but as if he had intended to proclaim both his and her shame to all the world he bids her presently be gone She tells him there was no cause to thrust her out of doors so hastily being in such a woful condition this would be a greater injury to her in some respects than the very defiling of her for though that was an irreparable injury to her yet to thrust her out of doors in such a condition as she was now in was the way not only to discover that she had been defiled but probably would raise an opinion in some that she had consented thereunto and so was cast off as a strumpet which would be a greater inhumanity and barbarity than the other was But say what she would he was nothing moved therewith but like a mad man commanded his servants to turn her out of doors and bolt the door after her she being apparrel'd with a garment of divers colours such as Kings daughters that were virgins us'd to wear she tore her garment and put ashes on her head and laying her hands thereon went crying out as women in extremity of sorrow us'd to do see Jer. 1.37 In this sad plight she comes to her Brother Absalom who instantly understanding from her how she had been abus'd did what he could to comfort and quiet her telling her it was a force practised upon her and so her affliction and not her fault and therefore advised her to be patient and to hold her peace seeing Amnon was her brother and his shame would be the shame of their whole family But she notwithstanding continued very disconsolate none being able to comfort her Absalom though he said little at present yet was so highly enrag'd at this abominable injury done to his sister that he resolv'd to revenge it which he afterwards did to purpose but for the present he dissembled his anger and seem'd to take no notice of it to his brother Amnon But David when he heard of it was extreamly angry and offended at it and 't is like did express his great displeasure against Amnon for it yet for all his anger it seems he let him go unpunished and was too indulgent to him like old Eli whereas he ought to have executed the Law upon him being so notorious an offender though he
give David speedy notice thereof and advise him not to lodge that night in the plain of the Wilderness but speedily to pass over Jordan lest he should be surprized For though he had at present as he thought diverted them from following Achitophels dangerous counsel yet he knew not how soon their minds might change Jonathan and Ahimaaz of whom before stayed at Enrogel not far from Jerusalem expecting to hear from their Fathers for they durst not come into the City being suspected to be of Davids party Therefore Zadock and Abiathar sent their message to them by a young maid who was not like to be suspected that they might conveigh it speedily to David But it seems a lad accidently saw them at Enrogel and went and gave intelligence of them to Absalom who speedily sent some to surprize them But they understanding some way or other that they were discovered hasted away presently to Bahurim and betaking themselves to a friends house they hid themselves in the well which was in the Court of the house and to conceal them the more the mans wife spread a covering over the wells mouth and spread ground-corn thereon Absalom's servants pursue them thither and inquire diligently after them the woman of the house tells them they were gone over the water telling therein as they call it an officious lye to preserve them and so when they had sought them in vain and could not find them they returned to Jerusalem They being gone Ahimaaz and Jonathan came out of the well and went speedily to David to acquaint him with what Achitophel had counselled against him and shew him that he must speedily arise and pass over Jordan if he intended to preserve himself This therefore David and his followers immediately did that night and by the morning the whole army was past over And the special Providence of God appeared herein that they were all preserved in such a dangerous passage and that in the night When Achitophel saw that his counsel was not followed but Hushai's prefer'd before his and foreseeing that this counsel of Hushai would certainly be their ruin and that David by gaining this time would so strengthen himself that he would be too hard for Absalom when they came to fight it out in the field and concluding that if David prevail'd as 't was most likely he would there was no mercy for him to be expected at his hands who had been so false and treacherous to him he being greatly discontented went to his own City Giloh and there putting his house in order making his will and disposing of his estate and taking care of all things but his soul he hanged himself * Herein he was a Type of Judas and was buried in the Sepulchre of his Father 2 Sam. 17. from v. 1 to 24. David upon occasion of Achitophel's counsel against him compos'd the 55 Psalm 12ly David by this time having gathered a good Army together marched with it to Mahanaim a City in the Tribe of Gad beyond Jordan and was there furnished with provisions by three eminent persons the first was Shobi the Son of Nahash of Rabbah brother of Hanun King of Ammon whom David had deposed for abusing his Messengers and set this Shobi up in his stead in thankful remembrance whereof he now brought provisions to David The second was Machir of Lodebar who was Guardian to Mephibosheth when David came to the Crown see Ch. 9.4 who observing how much David favoured him and what kindness he shewed to him did highly esteem him ever after for it and was the readier as 't is probable to commiserate him in this time of his troubles The third was Barzillai the Gileadite of whom we shall say more when we come to the 19th Chapter These all came to comfort David †Sic solet Deus cum usitata auxilia absunt suis de improviso suecurrere in his great distress when his own unnatural Son sought his life and they brought beds and cups and earthen vessels and wheat barley meal parched corn beans lintils and parched pulse and honey butter and sheep and cheese to refresh David and the people that were with him who they thought must needs be weary and hungry and thirsty having had so long a march thorough the Wilderness where they could not but be in great want From v. 27 to the end 13ly Absalom having now gathered together a mighty Army of the Israelites as Hushai had advised he marches out with them against his Father Amasa (a) 'T is said here that Ithra an Israelite was his father and Abigail sister to Zerviah his mother In 1 Chron. 2.17 this Ithra is call'd Jether the Ishmaelite It seems therefore that he was an Ishmaelite by birth but an Israelite by profession and habitation being become a proselyte or else he was call'd an Ishmaelite because he had lived among the Ishmaelites as upon the same account some were called Hittites and Gittites 'T is said of this I hra that he went in to Abigail and begat this Amasa on her which intimates he was not then married to her 'T is also said of this Abigail that she was daughter to Nahash sister to Zerviah 1 Chron. 2.16 17. 't is evident that both this Abigail and Zerviah were daughâ—ers of Jesse and Sisters to David Either therefore Jesse had also the name of Nahash or his wifes name was Nahash who was the mother of Abigail who was Nephew to David and Cousin-german to Joab being made his General and with them he passed over Jordan and pitched in the land of Gilead 2 Sam. 17. v. 24 25 26. 14ly The Armies of David and Absalom being now near one another David drew out his Army which was at this time much increased by the resort of many out of the two Tribes and half on the other side Jordan unto him and mustering them he set Captains over hundreds and Colonels over thousands and divided his Army into three Battalions appointing three Generals over them viz. Joab Abishai and Ittai Then he told them He would go forth with them in person to encourage them and possibly he inclined the more to it that being present in the Army he might use his best endeavour for the saving of Absalom his great Commanders and Souldiers would by no means consent that he should venture his person in the battel telling him that he was worth ten thousand of them the Commonwealth should receive more damage and the enemy more advantage if he should be kill'd than if ten thousand of them should be slain alas say they if we should flee or half of us be slain the enemy will not much regard it if thou remainest alive who art the mark at which they principally aim and who they know as long as thou livest wilt be able to raise forces and make head against them and therefore we think it much better that thou remain in the City and from thence that thou send us forth succours and
Is the young man Absalom safe Ahimaaz answers that when Joab sent away Cushi the Kings servant and him to bring tidings he saw a great tumult but knew not what the matter was He knew undoubtedly of Absalom's death but through humane frailty fearing to displease the King he here miserably faulters Then came Cushi who cried out Good tidings my Lord the King for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all those that rose up against thee Then said the King is the young man Absalom safe Cushi replied let the enemies of my Lord the King and all that rise up against him be as that young man is David was smitten with a wonderful consternation at this news and his grief and passion brake out so violently that it almost overwhelmed him he now retires into the Chamber over the Gate there in secret to pour out his sorrow and as he went up he cried out O my Son Absalom my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee my Son Absalom if my temporal death would have saved thee from eternal misery 2 Sam. Ch. 18. whole Chapter 15. The King taking on so immoderately for the death of Absalom his excessive grief came to be known in the Army and caused great trouble of spirit among them also so that the victory was turned into mourning neither came they up like a victorious army with joy and triumph to the City but dispersing themselves secretly stole into it not as if they had been Conquerours but rather as if they had been beaten and fled away from their enemies The King still took on excessively and covered his head in token of extream sorrow and cried out O my Son Absalom O Absalom my Son my Son Joab understanding this and seeing in what a discontent the Souldiers were hereupon and how their hearts began to be alienated from the King so that they were even ready to fall quite off from him he comes in a great rage to him and highly expostulates with him and tells him He had shamed the faces of all his faithful servants that day who had saved his life and the lives of his wives and children with the extreme hazard of their own and had frustrated them of their deserved praise and reward this strange carriage of thine saith he sheweth as if thou lovedst thy enemies in that thou mournest so excessively for this Traytor Absalom and hatedst thy friends seeing thou dost thus discountenance their faithful service Thou seemest not to regard thy faithful subjects let them be of what degree or quality they will I perceive that if that Arch-Rebel Absalom had lived thou hadst not much cared if all we had died I solemnly protest to thee if thou wilt not give over thy whining for that Rebel and go forth presently and speak comfortably to thy people and congratulate their victory and give them thanks for their venturing their lives for thee I believe they will all forsake thee as a person unfit to govern them who canst not govern thine own passions and possibly they will think of chusing another * Prospicient sibi de alio rege site aequum habere non possint and that will be worse to thee than all the afflictions thou hast hitherto met with in all thy life David being startled at this bold speech of Joab's which though harsh and tart yet was needful at this time he took his counsel and went and sat in the Gate and there shaking off sorrow manifested his kindness and grace to his Souldiers to win their hearts again to him As for those that had followed Absalom and escaped in the battel they were fled to their own houses 2 Sam. Ch. 19. from v. 1 to 9. 16. The people now through all the Ten Tribes of Israel began to blame one another for siding with Absalom against his Father and to call upon one another and upon their Elders and Officers to submit themselves unto David and to go and fetch him back again to the City of Jerusalem with honour they began to recount the great and manifold benefits they had enjoyed under his Government and how he had saved them out of the hands of their enemies especially the Philistines And they saw that God was against them in that attempt of making Absalom King and therefore there was great reason they should go and seek reconciliation with David whom they had so highly injured and offended This resolution of the Israelites to fetch their King home with honour coming to his ears and he perceiving that the men of Judah who had been first and chief in siding with Absalom and had delivered up to him the City of Jerusalem and the strong fort of Sion being conscious to themselves of their great ingratitude against him were now afraid to address themselves to him or to go to fetch him home therefore he sent to Zadock and Abiathar who had stayed all this while at Jerusalem that they should acquaint the Elders of Judah how ready he was to pardon them and to forget all that was past They were also to assure them of his singular affection to them they being his brethren and of the same Tribe therefore he would not have them to be the last in fetching home their King who ought to be the first He sends also unto Amasa whom Absalom had made General of his Army and who if he should despair of pardon might draw a great party of the Israelites after him to assure him that he was ready to receive him into his favour and to regard him as his nephew nay he intended to prefer him and to make him General of his Army as long as he lived in the place of Joab Indeed Joab had incurred his displeasure by killing Abner and several other unjustifiable acts yet he had also done him great services and had been always faithful to him whereas Amasa had been faithless and rebellious Besides the place of General belonged to Joab both by Davids promise and his own purchase he having hazarded his life in that dangerous service of assaulting and taking the strong fort of Sion However David being now offended with him for killing Absalom he resolv'd to prefer Amasa before him thinking by that policy to reduce all Absaloms party that stood out against him under his obedience By this kind message to the men of Judah and to Amasa David bowed the hearts of the men of Judah even as the heart of one man so that they sent this word unto the King Return thou and all thy servants we are most willing to receive thee and submit unto thee David considered that it might cost a great deal of blood to subdue them by force therefore he thought it best by these tenders of grace to bow their hearts to him and it happened according to his desire for the men of Judah now agreed to meet together at Gilgal and from thence they passed over the river Jordan to meet the King and to bring him
unto me Thus the glory and strength of the Heathens shall by little and little fade and decay and though they be in places of strength yet even in those close places their fortified Cities and Towers they shall be no less afraid then if they were only in some poor unwalled villages He now concludes his Song praising God for all the benefits before recited The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and exalted be the God who is the rock of my Salvation It is God who avengeth me and bringeth down the people under me and who bringeth me forth and delivereth me out of the hands of mine enemies notwithstanding all their power and policies Thou hast lifted me up on high over those that rose up against me Thou hast delivered me from the violent man viz. from Saul my most violent and deadly enemy Therefore I will give thanks unto the Lord among the heathen that is I will labour to spread the knowledg of thee and so to exalt thy praise among the Heathen Nations †See Apostol Hist on Rom. 15.9 This David speaks by a spirit of Prophesie having respect to the calling of the Gentiles whom thou hast brought into subjection to me God is the Tower of Salvation for his King that is he is as a Tower in which he is safe and sheweth mercy unto his anointed unto David and to his seed for evermore that is God will manifest his favour to him to his posterity after him and principally to Christ who was to be of his seed according to the flesh Rom. 1.3 and to all the faithful members of Christ who are also by faith his seed See Isa 53.10 and Heb. 2.13 2 Sam. Ch. 22. whole Chapter SECT CCI. DAvid now towards his latter end apprehending his death approaching in imitation of Jacob and Moses leaves behind him a kind of Testamentary Prophesie that his Kingdom and Throne should be established for ever namely in the person of the Messias who was to come of him according to Gods Covenant 2 Sam. 7.16 and he Prophesies of the righteousness glory and prosperity of that Kingdom and these were the last words he wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost for the use of the Church In the Preface to this Prophesie he first sets down his own Titles saying I am the Son of Jesse by birth yet by the grace and favour of God exalted to be King of Israel and who have been enabled by the Spirit of God to compose many Divine Hymns and Psalms for the benefit of the Church and thereupon have been call'd the sweet Psalmist of Israel I David do now declare that the Spirit of the Lord did formerly speak by me and his word was in my tongue when I uttered those Divine composures And the same God of Israel who is the Rock of Israel hath now spoken to me and I am to declare that there shall be a ruler over men a righteous person that shall rule them in the fear of God (a) These words are unstood by learned men as a promise of the Messiah Quid dominabitur in timore Domini cum spiritu timoris Domini unctus sit quid subditos suos ita spiritu suo gubernavit ut ex vero Dei timore sanctitati vitae studeant Osiand And he shall reign prosperously and still increase in glory his glory shall be like the morning light that shines more and more unto perfect day and shall daily increase like the grass that hath seasonably the moistning rain and warming Sun to make it sprout up and grow And though my house be not so with God as it should be but I and mine have been guilty of many great sins and transgressions yet God hath made with me an everlasting Covenant viz. that my Kingdom and Throne shall be established for ever in the person of the Messiah who shall come out of my loyns Ch. 7.16 and this Covenant is well ordered in all things for the glory of God and Salvation of man and sure to be performed And this promise of God that the Messiah should spring from my loyns and come into the world to save sinners is that on which my hope of Salvation is firmly grounded and this thing I wish and desire above all things though God do not make the glory of my Temporal Kingdom to grow and increase But as for those sons of Belial those prophane graceless and stubborn wretches who will not submit to the Kingdom of the Messiah they shall be all of them as thorns plucked up and cast away because they are so intractable that they cannot be taken with hands but the man that shall go about to touch them had need have his hands armed with some iron glove or gantlet and to have a staff in his hands like the staff of a Spear wherewith to thrust them into the oven And these intractable thorns shall be burnt and consumed in the same place where they grew Whereby as some think he Prophesied of the destruction of the obstinate Jews who were by the Romans destroyed in the same place or City where they lived and by wicked hands had crucified the Lord of life 2 Sam. Ch. 23. from v. 1. to 8. SECT CCII. HEre now follows a Catalogue of David's Worthies men renowned for valour and admirable exploits and such as were great supports to him in all his troubles 1 Chron. 11.10 These are the chief of the mighty men whom David had who held strongly with him in his Kingdom and join'd with the Elders of the people to make him King they were in all thirty seven whereof Joab was the chief being Captain General of the Host 1 Chron. 11.6 Next to him were six chief Colonels and of them the first three were above the other three The first three were Adino Eleazar and Shammah This Adino was call'd the Eznite from the Country where he was born or bred and the Tachmonite or Hackmonite from his Father being the Son of one Tachmani or Hackmani And also Jashobeam or Josheph-Bassebet because he sat in the Chair and was President of the Council of War Concerning his Exploits 't is said of him 2 Sam. 23.8 That he lifted up his Spear against eight hundred and slew them In the 1 Chron. 11.11 There are only 300 mentioned Therefore either 800 were slain by him at one time and 300 at another or else he discomfited 800 whereof only 300 were slain outright by himself and the rest by others which yet are said to be slain by him because they were slain by those that fought under him The Second of the first three was Eleazar one of the posterity of Ahoah a Benjamite 1 Chron. 8.4 he was with David at Pasdammim when the Philistines were gathered together in battel against him and there defended a field of barley against them when the rest of the people fled away and slew so many of them that at last the people returned to the spoil of the enemy
soever they be they are all thy servants and ready to be imploy'd at thy command and therefore if thou dost this thing I am afraid thou wilt be a cause of trespass (c) Sed quid in to commisit populus consensit assentatus est Regi Merc. unto Israel and wilt hereby occasion them to be too carnally confident and to relye too much on the arm of flesh But the King declar'd he would have it done though Joab and the Captains that were with him did what they could to disswade him from it Joab seeing the King so bent upon it like a servile Courtier though the Kings command was abominable to him 1 Chron. 21.6 and his judgment against it and his mind did presage that some judgment would come upon the Kingdom for it yet to please the King he and the Captains with him set upon it and so taking their journey towards the East they passed over Jordan and began the work at Aroer a City of the Gadites situate on the river Arnon thence marching to Gazer they passed Northward and entred into Gilead and so came to Dan in the North of Palestine and then turned towards the Mediterranean Sea and so came along the Northern Coasts by Zidon and Tyre and then came to the South of Judah even to Beersheba and so after nine months and twenty days Joab came to Jerusalem and gave in the sum of the number of the people unto the King The sum that he gave in as it is here set down 2 Sam. 24.9 was in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword and in Judah five hundred thousand But in 1 Chron. 21.5 't is said he gave in the number of Israel eleven hundred thousand and in Judah only four hundred threescore and ten thousand so that here is a double diversity three hundred thousand short in the one and thirty thousand over in the other For the reconciling of this some think that Joab when he gave in the account eight hundred thousand he left out the Trained bands which were before enrolled and did their service in Jerusalem every month of which there were twenty four thousand for every month which will make 288000 and left out also their Colonels Captains Commanders and Officers of all sorts which might amount to twelve thousand more and so make up three hundred thousand which being added to the eight hundred thousand make up altogether eleven hundred thousand As for the other diversity concerning Judah viz. that in the Chronicles he is said to have given in of them only four hundred threescore and ten thousand and in Samuel five hundred thousand for the reconciling of that possibly when he came first to Jerusalem he gave in but only four hundred threescore and ten thousand but then there was an addition of thirty thousand more out of Jerusalem which made it up five hundred thousand But yet he did not number Levi and Benjamin which still join'd themselves to Judah being weary of the work and the plague soon after breaking out he gave it quite over The total of all was sixteen hundred thousand scarce a Kingdom in the world of no larger extent was ever so prodigiously fruitful The next morning after the number of the people was given in to the King the Prophet Gad was sent unto him by the Lord to make known his sin and how God intended to punish him for it Hereupon David's heart smote him and he humbly confessed and acknowledged he had sinned greatly and done foolishly and earnestly begged pardon of the Lord. The Prophet Gad tells him that the Lord was resolved severely to chastise him but yet he would offer him his choice of three judgments viz. either * In 2 Sam. 24.13 't is seven years famine as if God should have said you have lately suffered three years famine for the sin of Saul against the Gibeonites and this fourth year being a Sabbatical year hath an harvest indeed but for want of seed sown a very poor one and no ways able to supply the necessities of the land Now to these four years of famine art thou willing the Lord should add three years of famine more which will make the famine continue in all upon the land seven years three years famine or to fly three months before the enemy who should overtake and slaughter his people in the flight or three days pestilence (b) Not an ordinary pestilence arising from the infection of the air but by the immediate stroke of an Angel See 1 Chron. 21.12 So that the Lord now dealt with David as a Father doth that bringeth forth three or four rods some greater than others though he means to use but one of them and possibly the least yet thereby he doth the more scare his child and humble him with the fear of his anger thus the Lord shewed three dreadful judgments to David but yet he manifested so much gentleness and kindness as to permit him to chuse which of them he had rather suffer David upon this message said I am in a great straight for these are all such sore judgments that I know not which to chuse He knew the Pestilence might destroy as many in three days as the sword in three months or the famine in three years but at last he chose the Pestilence and that because he judged it better to fall into the hands of God (c) Like a loving child David chuses to be chastised by his Father rather than by the hand of a servant or a slave whose mercies are great then into the hands of men 'T is true the sword and famine are sent by God yet in them he useth other instruments besides and when the Lord punisheth by men he usually suffers them to deal with great severity and cruelty even more than himself is wont to deal with when he takes them into his own hand and this was the main cause why David chose the Pestilence yet withal this is to be observ'd that he chose such a calamity as would not spare the Prince any more than the people For no antidotes or preservatives could secure him against the sword of the Angel whereas in war he might have got into some strong fort and in famine might have stored up provision for himself and so have escaped but what fence is there against the destroying Angel but only the protection of the Almighty David therefore having chosen that judgment the Lord sent a Pestilence from the morning of that day that Gad came first to him until the evening of the third day after and there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand And thus was David punished in the very way wherein he had sinned His heart was proud and lifted up because of the number of his people and now their number is sadly diminished by this sore judgment The Angel went still on destroying and at last stretched out his hand over Jerusalem and as he
was going to destroy that City David and the Elders thereof being clothed in sackcloth lift up their eyes and saw the Angel standing between Heaven and Earth near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem whereupon they fell on their faces and Araunah and his four Sons saw the Angel also and his Sons hid themselves through fear Then Then David spake to the Lord saying It is I O Lord it is I that commanded the people to be numbred It is I that have sinned but as for these sheep what have they done Let thy hand I pray thee be on me and my Fathers house but not on thy people that they should be plagued Then the Angel commanded Gad to speak to David that he should presently set up an Altar in the threshing floor of Araunah and thereon offer sacrifices intimating to him that there was no other way for them to obtain the pardon of their sins and the removal of the present judgment but by faith in that propitiatory sacrifice which their promised Messias was to offer up for them The Tabernacle and the Altar of Burnt-offerings was at this present at Gibeon but David could not now go thither for fear of the slaughter and dreadful execution that might be made by the Angel in the mean time therefore no place at present was fitter to rear an Altar in than that where the Angel appeared with a drawn sword and the Lord it seems would have that place as it were consecrated and endeared to the people by a sacrifice that should procure a very great blessing for them namely the staying of this raging plague because he determined in that very place to have his Temple built See 2 Chron. 3.1 David accordingly went forthwith to Araunah (a) This Araunah or Ornan seems to be descended of the Royal blood of the Jebusites and now was the chief of the Jebusites that enjoy'd Estates in and about Jerusalem under a Tribute who seeing the King come to him attended with his servants went out towards him and bowed himself to the ground and said Wherefore is my Lord the King come unto me The King said I am come to buy of thee thy threshing floor there to build an Altar to the Lord that the plague may be stayed Araunah answered Let the King freely take it and offer up there what sacrifices he pleases Behold here be also my oxen which thou maist take for burnt offerings and take also the wooden instruments which are used in this work which being dry will soon take fire and expedite the business and take wheat also for a Meat-offering I freely give thee all All these did Araunah as free as a Prince profer unto David adding the Lord graciously accept thee and the sacrifices thou art about to offer But the King said Nay but surely I will buy it of thee at a price neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord of that which cost me nothing So David bought of him the threshing floor and the oxen and materials for sacrifice for fifty shekels of silver and David built an Altar there to the Lord and called upon the Lord and offered burnt-offerings which were miraculously consumed by fire from heaven whereby God testified his acceptance of the sacrifice and granted his desire for the staying of the Plague and the Lord repented (a) That is did as men do when they repent viz. cease to proceed on so the Lord ceased from punishing the people neither was there any change in Gods Decree for he decreed to cease punishing when he had brought David and the people to unfeigned repentance him of the evil and punishment he had brought upon them and said to the Angel It is enough stay now thine hand and put up thy sword into the sheath So the Lord was intreated for the land and the plague was stayed Then David offered Peace-offerings on the same Altar by way of Thanksgiving for so great a mercy And possibly God made known to David by Gad at this time that in that very place (b) This was upon mount Moriah where Abraham intended to have offered up Isaac who was a Type of Christ he would have the Temple built and thereupon David purchased of Ornan the whole place or plot of ground with all the buildings gardens and all things belonging to it containing a large compass and a sufficient circuit of ground for the building of the Temple upon it with all the Courts thereof and for this he gave him six hundred shekels of Gold whereas the meer Threshing-floor with the oxen and materials of Sacrifice cost him but fifty shekels of Silver as we said before And possibly David might give more for it than the real worth out of his Royal bounty 2 Sam. Ch. 24. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 21. whole Chapter SECT CCV DAvid now knowing that this Threshing-floor of Araunah which he had purchased was the place where the Temple was to be built he said of it This is the house of the Lord and this is the Altar of the Burnt-offering for Israel that is this is the place of which God long since spake by his servant Moses that he would have an house there built which should be the setled place of his Worship and where there should be an Altar not this I have now set up but another whereon only they should offer Sacrifices unto him see Deut. 12.11 Not long after it seems he received from the Lord by the illumination of his Spirit * Except we may suppose that this pattern set down in writing was brought him by some Prophet See 2 Chr. 29.25 the pattern or model whereby the Temple was to be built and this he set down in a draught or plat-form and afterwards delivered it to his Son Solomon as we shall see 1 Chron. 28.11 12 13. In order therefore to the carrying on of this great work David prepared materials in great abundance and called the strangers that were in the land and employ'd them in hewing of stone and timber and such like works He also prepared iron in abundance and brass without weight that is it was so much they would not trouble themselves to weigh it Also abundance of Cedar-trees which he had from the Tyrians and Zidonians And he said Solomon my Son is yet young and tender and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceeding magnificent and must excell all others †Thus it was in the service it self and in the ornaments appertaining thereunto It was one of the worlds wonders It was far more excellent than the Tabernacle and in its dimensions far exceeding it There were some greater Buildings in the world yet there was never any that had such costly materials such curious workmanship such divine services such representations of Gods Majesty and mercy and which prefigured such Mystical Spiritual and Caelestial things as this Temple had that
wives yea furthered it by suffering them to build Temples for their Idols and thus his Idolatrous wives turned his heart from the Commandments of God which enjoin'd him to root out Idolatry but it seems his carnal love to them devouring his zeal for God he was so far from rooting it out that he permitted it and thereupon is said to have followed * Dicitur sequutus Deos alienos quod eorum cultum non repulcrit Debuit quatenus vir ab Idololatria uxores reprimere quatenus vero Rex ditionem suam in vero Dei cultu retinere Horum neutrum praestitit sed uxorum blanditiis dilinitus Templa Fana extruxit impensas ad Sacrificia Sacerdotes suppeditavit after Ashtaroth (e) See Judg. 2.13 the Goddess of the Zidonians and Milcom (f) Levit. 18.21 or Molech the Abomination of the Ammonites namely because he connived at the worship of these Idols And to the great aggravation of his guilt he permitted (g) V. 7. Aedificavit scil permisit ut uxores aedificarent Non increpavit eas a Temple or an Image or both to be built for Chemosh (h) Numb 21.29 the Abomination of Moab and for Molech on Mount Olivet (i) And there it seems they continued till Josiahs days 2 King 23.13 nigh unto Jerusalem even in the very face and as it were to affront the Temple of the living God And though at first possibly he granted this favour but only to two or three of his Idolatrous wives yet the rest by degrees so far wrought upon him that he was fain to gratifie all of them that sought to him for it and undoubtedly many of the people were hereby ensnar'd And thus he shewed that his heart was not so upright with God as his Father Davids was For though David was guilty of many gross sins yet he never yielded to any Idolatry but kept the worship and service of God pure all his days And a great aggravation of Solomon's guilt it was that he turned from observing the Commandments of the Lord who had in so extraordinary a manner twice appeared to him viz. once at Gibeon Ch. 3.5 and a second time at Jerusalem Ch. 9.2 and had commanded him particularly to take heed of this thing namely not to go after other Gods The Lord therefore had just cause to be angry with him for this and accordingly he sent Ahiah the Shilonite or some other Prophet to him to speak to him after this manner Thus saith the Lord Forasmuch as thou hast done this and hast not kept my Covenant (a) A Covenant when applied to God signifies a Law appointed or enjoyned to be kept and that with promise of reward to them that keep it and of penalty to such as transgress it Deut. 29.9 25. and my statutes which I commanded thee I will surely rend the greatest part of thy Kingdom from thee and will give it to thy servant But I will not do it in thy days because of my promise to David thy Father 2 Sam. 7. from v. 12 to 16. but I will rend it out of the hand of thy Son and so thou shalt be punished (b) Monentur hinc Parentes ut sancte vivant ne filiis poenas intempestive attrahant in him Yet I will not rend away the whole Kingdom from him but will give him one (c) He speaks here of one of the Tribes that belonged to the Kingdom of Israel considered as separate from the Kingdom of Judah which in regard of its eminency was reckoned apart from the rest of the Tribes See 1 Sam. 11.8 So much also of Simeon as lay within Judah was comprised under Judah See Josh 19. from 1 to 9. of the Tribes of Israel viz. Benjamin besides the Tribe of Judah See 2 Chron. 11.12 And this I will do for David my servants sake and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen for the place of my publick worship and the seat of the Kings from whom the Messiah who I have promised is to come 1 King 11. from v. 1 to 14. SECT XVI SOlomon as 't is conceived was so terrified with this threatning that he repented of his sin and as an evidence of his repentance wrote his Book call'd Ecclesiastes in which he publisheth to the world his remorse for his former sins and follies and the vanities to which he had been too intemperately addicted * Ecclesiastes or the Preaching Soul truly penitent gathering it self to the Church and by wholsome admonitions gathering others also that were going astray after vanity In this Book he reflects upon the honours pleasures and wealth he had so abundantly enjoyed the errors and miscarriages he had fallen into the observations he had made of things Natural Moral Domestical Civil Sensual and Divine and the curious enquiry he had made after true happiness And in the first six Chapters he shews wherein it doth not consist and in the six last wherein it doth And first he shews it doth not consist in knowledg either Natural or Moral 2. Not in pleasures or sensual delights 3. Not in honour greatness and power which is so far from making men happy that without the fear of God to correct and temper it it is ordinarily the occasion of much wickedness in them that have it and of much misery to others 4. Not in an outward formal religiousness 5. Not in riches and great possessions which are often snares and occasions of much hurt to the possessours who must leave them and many times they know not to whom Then he shews wherein mans happiness doth consist 1. In contentation of mind and the free and regular and joyful fruition of Gods blessings and the comforts he gives us with humility moderation and thankfulness 2. In a quiet and humble acquiescence in the will of God 3. In sincerity of heart in the worship of God and in a due care that we offend not in vows prayers and addresses unto him 4. In patience of spirit under all oppressions 5. In a composed preparedness of mind to undergo afflictions 6. In a pious and prudent behaviour towards all men that so we may preserve our names from calumny and our persons from danger 7. In meekness charity and patience towards such as offend us considering humane frailty 8. In a due deportment of our selves towards our Superiours that our lives may not be made uncomfortable to us by their dispeasure 9. In a practical prudence or wisdom rightly to judg and discern of times wherein things are to be done 10. In submission to the holy and invincible Providence of God admiring his works and adoring his judgments 11. In a conscionable industriousness in our particular Callings And lastly he concludes that in old age elegantly described by him and at death it will appear that to fear the Lord and keep his commandments is both the duty and the happiness of man and the chief thing wherein it consists And so
came to Ahab and said to him Thy servant Benhadad saith unto thee I pray thee let me live Ahab replies Is he yet alive He is my brother Now the messengers did diligently observe whither any words would fall from him that signified any comfort to them and hastily catched at them And accordingly hearing these words they speedily replied Thy Brother Benhadad yet liveth Does he says he go and bring him unto me And he spake these words so as they perceived he intended good to their King Then Benhadad came forth to him and he caused him to come up into his Chariot so that he not only shewed mercy to him who had before carried it so insolently towards himself but he highly honoured him Benhadad being much wrought upon by this kindness tells him that the Cities which his Father had taken from Ahab's Father or Predecessor see Chap. 15.20 he would now restore to him and he should make streets for his subjects to meet and freely trade in at Damascus as his Father had made in Samaria so that it seems the former Kings of Syria had great power over the Kings of Israel Ahab like a weak Prince told him he did accept those conditions and would send him away upon that Covenant and agreement and accordingly so dismissed him Thus slightly did this weak and wicked King Ahab pass over the great damage had been done to the people of Israel by the Syrians invading their land two years together But how well Benhadad performed his Covenant will appear afterwards by his detaining Ramoth-Gilead so that Ahab and Jehoshaphat were fain to join their forces to besiege it see Ch. 22.3 Nevertheless upon this league made there followed a three years cessation of Arms between the two Nations see 1 King 22.1 Shortly after this victory one of the Sons of the Prophets to foreshew in himself as was usual with the Prophets see Isa 20.2 3 4 Jer. 27.2 a shadow of that calamity which was to come upon Ahab requires one of his neighbours by command from the Lord which he made known unto him to smite him to wit with a sword so as to wound him that thereby he might the better resemble a Souldier that had been in the battel and being wounded and bloody he might the better shew Ahab what he was to expect from the revenging hand of God for sparing Benhadad But this neighbour preferring his own reason before the command of God refused to smite the Prophet and was thereupon for his disobedience immediately slain by a Lion as the Prophet threatned him And hereby Gods anger against Ahab for his miscarriage in not smiting Benhadad whom God had appointed to destruction under a pretence of clemency was intimated Then the Prophet met another man whom he bad as he did the former to smite him and he smote him so that he wounded him Then the Prophet departed and waited for the King by the way and disguised himself puting ashes upon his face besmeared with blood that it could not easily be discerned who he was that so the King not knowing him might the more impartially give his judgment in the case propounded As the King passed by he cried unto him saying Thy servant O King went out into the midst of the battel and behold a Commander in the Army turned aside to me and brought me a prisoner and charged me to keep him safe and to look to him that he might not escape if he did he told me my life should go for his or else I should pay a Talent * A Talent of silver was reckoned at Three hundred seventy five pounds of our money A Talent of Gold was ten times as much of silver for my neglect But so it was as thy servant was busie here and there the prisoner slipt away from me Ahab replied As thou hast stated the case so shall thy judgment be Thou hast decided the case against thy self and shalt suffer accordingly Then the Prophet washed off the ashes from his face so that the King knew him And he said to Ahab Thus saith the Lord because thou hast let Benhadad go whom I put into thy hands and whom I appointed to utter destruction as Saul spared Agag therefore thy life shall go for his life and thou thy self shalt die for it and thy people shall die instead of his people Possibly Ahab had been expresly charged not to spare Benhadad certain it is the Prophet had told him v. 28. that because he and his Syrians had blasphemed the Lord saying He was the God of the hills and not of the vallies therefore he would deliver them into his hands And therefore he could not spare that blasphemous wretch without plain contempt of God who had delivered him into his power Ahab being thus self-convict went to his own house in Samaria heavy and displeased with this doleful message of the Prophet 1 King 20. wh Ch. God had now given to Ahab great evidences of his Almighty power and that he was the true and only God in giving rain in so strange a manner Ch. 18.45 and in giving him two such great and wonderful victories over the Syrians as we have seen in the foregoing Chapter But yet none of these things as it seems so far wrought upon him as to turn his heart to God No mercies will mend some kind of men nor work upon their base and disingenuous tempers We have this fully exemplified in Ahab of whom we are next to relate a remarkable story Ahab had in Jezreel a Palace Royal and near unto it one Naboth a Citizen of that place had a Vineyard which Ahab's eye being often upon he had a great mind to it and spake to Naboth to let him have it to make a Garden of Herbs and he would either give him a better Vineyard for it or the full worth of it in money Naboth considering that God had forbidden in his Law the perpetual alienating of Inheritances Levit. 25.23 told the King he could not do it without sinning against God Ahab hereupon went home heavy and displeased and so inwardly vext that he laid him down upon his bed and turn'd away his head as not caring to speak to any body and refus'd to eat Jezebel his wife came to him and seeing him so much out of humour asked him what ailed him He told her the reason of it was Naboths refusing to sell him his Vineyard Jezebel answered Art thou King of Israel and dost thou trouble thy self so much about such a thing as this chear up thy heart and be merry let me alone see if I do not procure this Vineyard for thee Whereupon she presently wrote Letters in Ahab's name to the Elders and Nobles of the City and sealed them with the Kings Seal wherein she orders them to proclaim a Fast as if some high wickedness had been committed against God that called for speedy humiliation from all the people and after that to set Naboth upon a Scaffold in the sight
run to and fro through the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him Herein therefore thou hast done foolishly and from henceforth thou shalt have wars with Baasha 1 King 15.16 Asa was very wroth with the Seer for this his plain and faithful dealing with him and put him into prison and dealt very harshly also with some of his subjects at the same time who possibly shewed their dislike of these his proceedings In the 39th year of his reign he was diseased in his feet probably with the Gout and his disease proving exceeding painful he sought not so much to the Lord for help as to the Physicians He died in the forty first year of his reign having reigned in the time of seven Kings of Israel viz. in some part of Jeroboam's and all the time of Nadab Baasha Elah Zimri Omri and in some part of Ahab's and they buried him in a Sepulcher which he had made for himself in the City of David and they laid him in the Bed or Coffin which was filled with all kinds of odours and sweet spices prepared by the Art of the Apothecaries and they made a great burning for him that is they burnt sweet perfumes at his burial in very great abundance and Jehoshaphat his Son reigned in his stead 1 King 15. from v. 9 to 25. 2 Chron. 14. wh Ch. 2 Chron. 15. wh Ch. 2 Chron. 16. whole Chapter The 4th King that reigned in Judah was JEHOSHAPHAT JEhoshaphat began his reign in the fourth year of the reign of Ahab he was thirty five years old when he began to reign and reigned twenty five years in Jerusalem He walked in the ways of Asa his Father doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. And the Lord was with him because he walked in the first ways of David his Father which were purer and more free from sin than were his latter days He sought not to Baal as did Ahab but sought to the Lord and walked in his ways and commandments and not after the doings of Israel And the Lord established the Kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought him presents and he had riches and honour in abundance and his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord that is he was very zealous and couragious in the cause of God and went on with an high and magnanimous spirit without any fear or discouragement At his first coming to the Crown he placed forces in all the fenced Cities of Judah and Garrison'd the Cities of Ephraim which his Father Asa had taken See 2 Chron. 15.8 And strengthened himself against Israel The remnant of the Sodomites which remain'd in the days of his Father he took out of the land He took away also such high-places as were dedicated to the worship of strange gods but those wherein the people served the true God of Israel he took not away but the people offered and burnt incense still in them See 1 King 22.43 'T is true his Father had twice removed them 2 Chron. 14.5 15.8 16. yet it seems some escaped or else the people in his Fathers declining time when he was diseased in his feet renewed them But those high-places wherein they served the true God of Israel he took not quite away but the people offered and burnt incense still in them for they had not at least not a great many of them disposed their hearts to follow the Lord intirely and his commandments and injunctions See 2 Chron. 20.33 Some reformation indeed they had yielded unto but yet their hearts hankered still after their old superstition See 2 Chron. 15.17 And though Jehoshaphat did endeavour to reform what was amiss among them yet from the high-places * Docemur hinc Deo displicere Electitios cultus a Deo non prascriptos Osiander the people would not be reclaimed In the third year of his reign finding as we said before that the people were in many places much addicted to Idolatry and had set up the high-places which his Father Asa had pulled down he sent some choice Priests and Levites as Visitors into several parts of his Kingdom to see whither they were rightly taught and instructed and by their own personal teaching to confirm those that were well instructed and to convince those that were corrupted or misled and to shew them how expresly the Law did forbid and threaten all Idolatry whatsoever and with them he sent some Princes and men of note to countenance and encourage them and possibly to punish those who should oppose them or be obstinate in their errors Jehoshaphat thus setting himself to the work of Reformation a great terror from the Lord fell upon all the Kingdoms round about him so that they made no war nor gave any disturbance to him Also some Philistines that were deadly enemies to the Jews brought presents to him and tribute-silver Asa having subdued a considerable part of them as we may see 2 Chron. 14.14 And the Arabians brought him flocks their chief calling being to breed and feed cattel and so brought such presents as they had viz. seven thousand and seven hundred rams and as many he-goats These were all clean cattel and so fit both for meat and sacrifice Jehoshaphat now waxed great exceedingly great in riches great in power and great in honour and esteem and he built Castles in Judah and Cities of store viz. to lay up his ammunition and provisions in And he had much business in the Cities of Judah that is he took great care himself and employ'd others under him about such things as were of publick concernment for the good of those Cities in particular and the whole Kingdom in general but his chief Commanders and Captains with some choice Companies of Souldiers he kept about his own person in Jerusalem Moreover he had a great Militia ready to attend him upon any emergent occasion and these were under the command of five able leaders successively The Trained bands of Judah being first under the command of Adnah and when Adnah was dead under the command of Jehohanan and when he was dead under Amaziah the Son of Zichri who willingly offered himself to the Lord viz. to fight the Lords battels against the enemies of the land So likewise the Trained bands of Benjamin were first under Eliada and next after him under Jehozabad and their numbers were in the several times of these Generals sometimes more and sometimes less This was his Militia besides the Souldiers he had in Garrisons and these in their courses some at one time and some at another came up to Jerusalem to wait upon the King About the eighth year of his reign he join'd in affinity with Ahab and married his eldest Son Jehoram to Athaliah Ahab's daughter It may seem strange that so pious a King as Jehoshaphat was should ever be induc'd to marry his Son and heir of his Crown to the daughter of wicked and
power I striking fear into their hearts and were dismayed and confounded nay they were as the grass of the field and as the grass on the house-tops which soon withereth away and as the corn that is blasted before it be grown up And as for thee I know thine abode and where thou dwellest and what thou dost meditate against me at home and abroad when thou goest out and when thou comest in I know all thy counsels and actions both publick and private I know thy rage against me and how thou reproachest my power and threatnest me as if I were an Idol See Isa 36.20 And because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come into my ears that is because I have heard thy outragious and ruffling words I will put my hook into thy nose and my bridle into thy lips and will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest that is thou shalt go as thou camest without effecting what thou designest against Jerusalem Thus the Prophet delivered to Hezekiah the mind of God concerning the King of Assyria Then he tells the King and the people that this shall be a sign to them by which they may assuredly know that they are loved of God with a Fatherly love viz. that though they had been hindred from sowing and planting this year by reason of the Assyrians invading their land and though they could not sow nor plant the next year because it was the Sabbatical year yet they should have plenty of corn notwithstanding that should grow and spring of it self without any tillage from the scattered seeds that fell on the earth the former years And herein says he the Providence of God will eminently appear for you that the ground shall yield of it self sufficient food for three years together for though in the third year ye may sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof yet ye cannot reap what ye shall sow in that year until the end of it therefore it will be no less than miraculous that two years together so much corn shall grow of it self as shall serve you for three years The Prophet further encourages them and bids them not fear because their Nation was reduc'd to a small number nor think that therefore they should not be able long to subsist for he tells them that that small remnant of them which shall escape the sword of the Assyrians shall be like a thriving flourishing tree that shoots its roots downwards and its branches upward on which it bringeth forth much fruit So they shall be well setled in their Nation and shall be fruitful in it He further tells them that that remnant which is now shut up in Jerusalem and mount Zion shall go out of it when the siege is raised into all parts of the land of Judah and shall inhabit it and replenish it shall sow the ground and reap the fruit thereof For the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this that is the zeal he hath for his own glory and the love he bears to his people and the indignâ—tion he hath against â—is enemies will move him to do it And further says he let the King and all his faithful people encourage themselves for thus saith the Lord Sennacherib shall not come into this City nor force the Gates of it nor shoot an arrow at those that stand upon the wall neither shall he assault it with men armed with shields nor cast a bank or trench * This is to be understood of Sennacherib himself and the Army that he personally commanded for though he did not closely besioge Jerusalem himself nor make a Trench about it yet it seems part of his Army did as we may gather from Isaiah 29.3 against it but he shall go back the way that he came for I will defend this City and save it for mine own sake and for my servant Davids sake because of the promise I made to him that I would establish the Throne of his Kingdom †2 Chron 7.18 2 King 19. from 8 to 35. 2 Chron. 32. from 10 to 21. Isa 37. from 8 to 36. Hezekiah about this time viz. in the fourteenth year of his reign when the Assyrian Army lay about Jerusalem fell extreme sick and his sickness seemed such as threatned to put an end to his life The Prophet Isaiah coming to him from the Lord bad him set his house in order for he should die This sentence though very sad in it self yet seemed not absolute but conditional and so Hezekiah understood it and accordingly turning his face to the wall as he lay in his bed he earnestly prayed to the Lord to spare his life saying Remember now O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which was good in thy sight He mentions not his good deeds as if he thought them meritorious but only that he might incline the Lord the rather to shew him mercy for the Lord is more ready to shew mercy to those that walk according to his laws and commandments than to those that disobey them And Hezekiah wept sore He had many reasons to desire to be spared at this time For first if he should now die he should leave Judah and Jerusalem under the pressure of Sennacherib and should not see the delivery of it 2ly He had no Son as yet to succeed him in the Throne and it could not but be a matter of great sorrow and grief to him to think that the promise made to David and Solomon 1 King 8.25 should not appertain to him He knew also that the Mâ—ssiah was to spring from the seed of David and he being lineally descended from David if he lived to have issue he might hope that the Messiah might spring from him from which hope he should be cut off if he died at this time 3ly He had reason to think that they who were so ready to ascribe the calamities of his time unto him because he had broken down the Idolatrous Altars and Images and made a reformation would be more ready to ascribe them to him if he now died and would say though unjustly that for this cause God had cut him off in displeasure And therefore for this reason he pleads his integrity and that what he had done in the reformation of Religion he had done it with an upright heart knowing it to be well-pleasing unto God And accordingly he found that the Lord was well pleased with it for before the Prophet was gone out of the middle Court of the Kings house he was sent back again to the King with this comfortable message Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy Father intimating to him thereby that he was mindful of his promise made to David 1 King 2.4 I have seen thy tears and am moved to compassion by them and I will spare thy life and add unto thy days fifteen years and on the third day from hence
thou shalt be so perfectly recovered that thou shalt go up to the Temple to render praises and thanksgivings unto me for thy sudden and wonderful recovery and moreover I will deliver thee and this City out of the hands of the King of Assyria and I will defend it for my own glories sake and for the sake of David my servant The Prophet having delivered this comfortable message to the King he then directed him to lay a mass made of dry figs as a plaister upon his boil or plague-sore for so it is conceived to be and though the medicine prescribed was proper for the cure in a natural way yet if we consider the speediness of the cure we may well conclude there was a supernatural and miraculous virtue added by God to hasten the operation of it Hezekiah though he made use of the means prescribed by the Prophet yet for the strengthning of his faith he humbly desired a sign from the Lord that he should recover because this new promise was so contrary to the former threatning Isaiah tells him he shall have this sign from the Lord the shadow on the Sun-dial of Ahaz should suddenly either go backward or forward ten degrees or ten half-hour lines which he should choose The going backward or forward of the shadow which always follows the motion of the Sun ten degrees on a sudden would have been a wonderful miracle yet because it is natural for the Sun and consequently the shadow to go forward and not backward and though it had moved faster away forward now then at other times it had not been so great a miracle as to remove backward which was a course directly against nature therefore Hezekiah chose the going backward of the shadow to be his sign Isaiah thereupon prayed unto the Lord and the Sun went back ten degrees see Isa 38.8 and so caused the shadow on Ahaz's Dial to go back ten degrees also and 't is like the shadow went back in the same manner in all their Dials as we may gather from 2 Chron. 32.31 though here in the Dial of Ahaz it was most observed And thus was Hezekiah's faith confirmed and accordingly he was healed on the third day as was promised 2 King 20. from v. 1 to 12. 2 Chron. 32.24 Isa 38. fr. 1 to 9. v. 21 22. Hezekiah sometime after his recovery composed and set forth an excellent song of praise and thanksgiving wherein he magnifies the mercies and loving kindnesses of the Lord towards him in preserving him from that dangerous sickness which Song he begins thus I said in my extream sickness when the Lord was about to cut off my days and to take away my life I shall go down to the gates of the grave and shall be laid in my sepulchre I said my life is cut short I am deprived of the residue of my years which in the ordinary course of nature I might have hoped to live I said I shall not visit the Temple of the Lord any more among those that will there worship I shall no longer converse with men on the earth I said mine age that is the residue of my years which I might have hoped to live is departed from me and is removed out of my sight as a shepherds tent which we see pitched here to day is to morrow remov'd we know not whither I said I have caused * Est Metonym effecti the Lord by my sin to cut off my life as if a weaver should cut off his web from the thrumb before it be finished I said the Lord will cut me off with a grievous sickness which makes my flesh to consume and pine away I said every day and all the day long that the Lord would make an end of me before the night came and when the night came I thought every hour that as a lion he would break my bones and destroy me before morning and so again after the morning came I thought every hour I should die by reason of the extremity of my pain Like a crane or a swallow so did I chatter that is I made a doleful noise through the greatness of my pain and anguish I did mourn as a dove and so long did I lift up mine eyes towards heaven in prayer that they were weary and dim with looking up I said often O I am oppressed by my disease Lord undertake for me and rescue me from this oppressing pain When he had thus set forth his sad and deplorable condition he then declares Gods unexpected mercy and goodness to him in revoking his former sentence against him stirs up himself to all possible thankfulness What shall I say says he in what words shall I express the loving kindness of the Lord who hath not only graciously removed my disease but hath promised to add to my life fifteen years The Lord hath promised it unto me by his Prophet and I doubt not but he will * Isa 38.15 Himself hath done it a preterperfect tense is put for a future perform it I shall go softly all my years that is I shall pass the rest of my life chearfully and quietly after (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic valet post i. e. postquanâ—â— expertus sum hanc amaritudinem morbi Pisc this bitterness of my soul after this sharp brunt is past and gone O Lord by these things men live that is by thy promises and performances is the life of man prolonged and mine among the rest whom thou hast graciously restored to health again And thus thou hast * Enallage temporis recovered me and made me to live Behold for health I had bitter sickness but thou hast in great love to me (b) To my soul that is to me a part being put for the whole man by Synecdoche delivered me from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back and freely forgiven them and thereupon hast taken away the punishment which they had brought upon me And thou hast done all this for me that I might praise thee in the land of the living For the dead (c) He puts death for the dead per metonymiam adjuncti that lye in the grave cannot praise thee nor celebrate thy name The dead that go down into the pit cannot hope nor expect thy truth and faithfulness in performing thy gracious promises as the living may The living the living he will praise thee for thy mercy shewed unto him as I do this day The living Fathers will declare to their children thy goodness and mercy which thou hast shewed unto them and I hope I shall transmit to my posterity how ready thou wert to save me when I was brought so very low And accordingly I and my people will sing this and other songs of praise to thee in the Temple with stringed instruments all the days of my life Isa Ch. 38. from v. 9 to 21. Sennacherib hearing of Tirraka King of Ethiopia's coming against him went
And therefore God upbraiding the King of Tyre with his pride and arrogancy Behold saith he thou art wiser than Daniel no secret can be hid from thee therefore I will bring strangers upon thee the terrible of the Nations and they shall bring thee down c. Ezek. Ch. 26. Ch. 27. Ch. 28. In the same year also in the third month God revealed his will to Ezekiel of sending Nebuchadnezzar against Pharoah to the ruin of the Egyptians In the same month also God declared that the Egyptians could no more avoid his decree and determination than the Assyrians had done before Ezek. Ch. 30. Ch. 31. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah the ninth day of the fourth month when the famine grew extream in the City and the pestilence as 't is like very hot Jerusalem was broken up and the Caldeans entred it Ezek. 4. from 9 to the end Lament 4.10 2 King 25.2 3 4. Jer. 52.5 6 7. Jer. 39.2 3. The City being taken Zedekiah and all the men of war fled away by night by the way of the Gate between two walls which was by the Kings garden being it seems a secret way provided on purpose for escape in such a time of danger but the Caldeans pursuing after them took Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho and brought him prisoner to Riblah where Nebuchadnezzar lay where having judgment passed upon him for his perjury and having seen his children first slain before his eyes to his extream torment together with the Nobles of Judah he had then his own eyes put out and being clogged with chains and fetters he was carried away from thence to Babylon so the Prophesies before utter'd concerning him were fulfilled viz. that with his eyes he should see the King of Babylon and speak with him mouth to mouth Jer. 32.4 34.3 But Babylon he should not see though he should die there For so the Prophet Ezekiel foretold Ch. 12.13 My net also will I spread upon him and he shall be taken in my snare and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Caldeans yet shall he not see it though he shall die there 2 King 25. from 4 to 8. Jer. 39. from 4 to 8. Jer. 52. from 7 to 12. Upon the seventh day of the fifth month Nebuzaradan Captain of the Guard sent by Nebuchadnezzar made his entry into the City and on the tenth day he set fire on the Temple and on the Kings Palace and upon all the Noblemens houses in Jerusalem and burnt all down to the ground and brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about In remembrance of which dismal calamity the Fast of the fifth month was ordained to be kept Zach. 7.3 v. 5. Zach. 8.19 Thus was the glorious Temple destroyed in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzars reign and four hundred twenty four years three months and eight days after that Solomon laid the first stone thereof 2 King 25.8 9 10. Jer. 52.12 13 14. Jer. 39.8 In the same fifth month the walls of Jerusalem being broken down all that were left in the City and all that had before fled over to Nebuchadnezzar and all the common people of the City with all the treasure of the King and his Nobles and furniture of the Temple did Nebuzaradan carry away to Babylon and thus was Judah for their sins removed out of her own land four hundred sixty eight years after David began to reign over it From the division of the Ten Tribes from the Tribe of Judah three hundred eighty eight years and from the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel one hundred thirty four years If any shall enquire why the Lord gave up this his own people into the hands of their enemies you may find 2 Chron. 36. from v. 12 to 20. that the high provocations both of King and people were the cause thereof Zedekiah did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking to him from the mouth of the Lord and he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear by God but he stiffned his neck and hardned his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel Moreover all the chief of the Priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up betimes (a) That is continually and carefully sendding them a Metaphor taken from careful housholders who with the soonest seek to redress mischiefs causing their servants for that end to rise betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place but they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people and there was no remedy * After that there remain'd nothing but expectation of judgment Therefore he brought upon them the King of the Caldees who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their Sanctuary (b) That is the Temple whither 't is like many of them fled for refuge and had no compassion upon young man or maiden old man or him that stooped for age he gave them all into his hand And all the vessels of the house of God great and small and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the King and of his Princes all these he brought to Babylon And they burnt the house of God and brake down the walls of Jerusalem and burnt all the Palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof Jer. 39.9 Jer. 52.15 2 King 25. from 11 to 18. 2 Chron. 36. from 14 to 22. The Scripture saith that they that were carried away captive to Babylon in the eleventh year of Zedekiah were to continue seventy years in their captivity 2 Chron. 36.20 21. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the Kingdom of Persia To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremy until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath to fulfill threescore and ten years Where by those words until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths we are to understand that so long as the people were kept out of it the land rested there being none to plow or dig it up and so it continued for the most part till the expiration of seventy years as Jeremy had Prophesied Jer. 25.11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment and these Nations shall serve the King of Babylon seventy years And Chap. 29.10 Thus saith the Lord after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return to
could go abrest on it Nehemiah divided the people into two great companies consisting of Priests Levites Princes and people they entred upon the wall about the middle of the west-wall near the dung-gate and there the two Companies parted and each went as in procession in this order The one company had Ezra the Priest before them and other Priests followed after him sounding with their Trumpets after them came the Levites playing on sacred Musical instruments and the Singers all sounding forth Gods praises and their own joy and thankfulness After them came the Princes and Rulers and after them the people and this company went on the right hand Southward by the fountain-gate and about the City of David and all along the South-wall even unto the water-gate on the East The other company went in like manner and Nehemiah himself the last of them And they made their procession on the left hand Northwards from beyond the Tower of the Furnaces even unto the broad wall These two Companies somewhat beyond the Prison-gate met together and in order descended from the East-wall to go into the house of God and that day they offered great sacrifices and greatly rejoiced with feasting and singing for God by his gracious Providence over them gave unto them their wives and children great occasion of rejoicing so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard a great way off and the report of it went into other Nations After they had thus manifested their zeal in dedicating the wall they manifest their piety in providing for the Priests and Levites who had had so great an hand in it and accordingly some faithful Levites were appointed to take care of all such things as by the people should be brought for the Ministers of the house of God and places were appointed to lay up all offerings first fruits and tythes which were brought out of the fields viz. the portions appointed by the Law for the Priests and Levites And the people chearfully brought in the forementioned portions rejoycing that there was care taken to settle the Priests and Levites in their accustomed courses and so to provide for them that they should not be forced to go into the Country to seek maintenance but might now stay their full time and course at the house of God to perform their particular services there And both Singers and Porters kept the watch of their God that is which by Gods command they were appointed unto taking care that the worship of God should be duly performed and they kept the watch of purification taking care that themselves and the people should be kept from legal uncleanness according to the commandment of David and Solomon his Son who walked in the statutes of David his Father 1 King 3.3 For in the days of David and Asaph Jedathun and Heman with whom David consulted there were some chief Singers appointed who had a charge over the rest to see all things belonging unto the Singers duly and orderly performed and there were Songs of praise and thanksgiving composed and set unto tunes by those Singers And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave to the Singers and Porters such portions as were appointed for their daily maintenance And the people set apart holy things for the Levites and the Levites set apart a tenth part of them for the Priests Neh. 12. wh Ch. After these things Nehemiah appointed Hanani who first brought him word of the sad estate of Jerusalem and Hananiah the Ruler of the Palace * i e. Palatii R gii in monte Sion who was a faithful man and one that feared God above many to be Governours over the City and to order the guards and matches thereof and to take care that the Gates were carefully shut and opened in due time Then perceiving that the City was large and great yet but thinly inhabited and that though some fair houses were built before the Temple was finished Hag. 1.4 yet abundance of other houses were not built thereupon God putting it into his heart †Good motions useful and profitable for the Church arise from Gods Spirit he calls together the Nobles and Rulers and people and numbred them that had returned out of the Captivity according to their Genealogies that so it might be known what families formerly appertained to the City that out of them a number might be selected and appointed to settle themselves there again And secondly that as need required others also might be called to dwell there though their Progenitors had not been formerly inhabitants thereof And 3ly that as men were found able they might lend aid towards the rebuilding of those houses in Jerusalem that now lay in rubbish And for their better proceeding in this matter a precedent was sought of their former numbring in the days of Zerubbabel and a Register was found of it which is here set down which in many things differs from that Ezr. 2. therefore 't is thought that that in Ezra was taken and written when they were preparing to come out of Babylon and this when they were come into Judea And there is added to that Register what was given at their first return out of Babylon towards the building of the Temple c. viz. all that was given by the encouragement of Cyrus viz. both by Jews and Persians but here is only set down what was collected after the people were numbred by Nehemiah And as then there was a collection of money and other things made when they were numbred according to their Genealogies in Zerubbabels time Ezra 2.68 so was it now also only that collection was meerly for the building of the Temple and this was partly for the service of the Temple for why else were so many Priests garments given and in part also for the rebuilding of the City See v. 4. Nehem. 7. from 1 to 8. v. 70 71 72. On the first day of the seventh month which was the Feast of Trumpets Levit. 23.24 the Jews were gathered together as one man to Jerusalem and they met both men and women before the water-gate the Court of the Temple not being able to contain so great a multitude and desired Ezra to bring the Book of the Law and to read it and expound it to them See Deut. 31.11 Ezra accordingly brought it and standing upon a pulpit of wood he read therein distinctly before the people and expounded it and gave them the sense of it Ezra also blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered Amen and Amen with lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground And several other persons viz. Priests and Levites stood on his right hand and on his left to be witnesses of the truth of what he delivered and to move the people the better to entertain it And not only Ezra but others of the Priests and Levites also expounded the Law and caused the people to understand
message from the Lord against them therefore they presently asked him whether he came peaceably he said yes for I come to sacrifice unto the Lord sanctifie therefore your selves and come with me to the Sacrifice and particularly let Jesse and his Sons prepare and sanctifie themselves both legally and spiritually that they may eat of the Sacrifice 'T is like Samuel had acquainted Jesse privately with the cause of his coming and that thereupon Jesse brought in his Sons one by one into some private place whether before they sat down to eat of the Sacrifice they had retired themselves for that purpose that that person might be anointed whom God should point out to Samuel Accordingly Eliab Jesse's eldest Son was first brought forth when Samuel saw him he thought within himself surely this is the man the comeliness of his person made him think this was he whom God had chosen but herein he was led and guided only by his own spirit for the Lord presently said to him Look not on his countenance or the heighth of his stature consider the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the heart Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him appear before Samuel and Samuel was admonished by a secret voice of Gods Spirit that neither was this the man whom he had chosen Then Shammah was called he also was refused Jesse then called four more of his Sons in order and set them one after another before Samuel but he told him never an one of these was the person whom the Lord had chosen Jesse wondring at this Samuel asked him whether these were all his Sons DAVID chosen to be King and first anointed by Samuel He told him he had one more viz. the youngest whom he imployed in keeping his sheep he had omitted to bring him as imagining it could not in any likelihood be he of all the rest whom God would chose and this possibly was so ordered by Providence that it might more evidently appear that David was meerly chosen of God Samuel orders that this youngest Son should be immediately sent for for says he we will not sit down till he come At last David came who was of a ruddy and beautiful * Solet pulcher animus etiam in vultu apparere vide Platonis convivium Erat in Davide forma non mollis sed virilis militaris Oculi ipsius bellicam quandam ferociam spirare videbantur Unctus est non ut statim regnaret sed ut Sauli morienti in regno succederet countenance and comely to look on and as it is probable about twenty two years of age The Lord now by a secret voice of his Spirit said unto Samuel This is the man arise and anoint him then Samuel took the horn of oyl and anointed him in the midst of his Brethren whereby he incurred their envy see Ch. 17.28 no less than Joseph did of his Brethren And from the very day of his anointing the Spirit of the Lord came upon him namely the Spirit of Wisdom Courage and Fortitude so that he was moved and led on by the Spirit of God to undertake great and noble enterprizes such as was that of killing a Lion and a Bear For it seems as he was keeping his fathers sheep there came a Lion at one time and a Bear at another and took a Kid out of his flock and he pursued after them and when the Lion turned upon him he took him by the beard and slew him and took the prey from him which he had selzed upon and so he served the Bear also see Ch. 17.35 36. and other famous and valourous exploits it seems he atchieved soon after he was anointed whereby he became famous even among Saul's Courtiers see v. 18. and probably from that time forward he had an extraordinary measure of the gifts and graces of the Spirit poured forth upon him and particularly the Spirit of Prophesie and the gift of Poetry and composing Divine Psalms and Hymns together with the gift of Musick wherein afterwards he became very eminent insomuch that he was called the sweet Singer of Israel and has left such Divine Psalms and Hymns as may serve to instruct the people of God to the end of the world Samuel having thus anointed David he returned to his own house at Ramah 1 Sam. Ch. 16. from v. 1 to 14. SECT CLXVIII SAVL now was bereaved of those Heroical gifts that God had before bestowed upon him and Satan by Gods permission taking advantage of his extream melancholy and discontent for the loss of Gods favour and his Kingdom filled him with frights and fears with disquietness of mind and grief of heart which so distempered and distracted him that he fell into fits of Phrensie and sometimes grew outragious and ready to kill any body that came in his way and was for a time as one possessed with a Devil He had preferred his own reason before Gods directions in the business of the Amalekites and so made an Idol of it and now God justly deprives him of the use of it His Physicians tell him that an evil spirit sent of the Lord to execute his righteous judgment troubled him and therefore advise him to seek out a man that was skilful to play on the Harp who by his Musick might chear and revive his spirits and allay his melancholy passions and thereby he would be less subject to the Devils operations One of Saul's servants that stood by said he had seen a Son of Jesse that was very skilful in playing on the Harp and was also a man of war and prudent in matters (e) Ego existimo ex quo David cum unctione alia quoque dona accepit plane rara eum viciniâ— fuisse notissimum nam eximia erant illa dona inopinata atque nova Sanct. and a comely person and the Lord was with him and assisted him in all his designs and prospered him in all his enterprizes Saul hearing this sent messengers to Jesse to desire him to send that Son of his that kept his sheep (f) Hereby we see that tho' David was chosen by God and anointed King yet in humility of spirit he returned unto his former employment of keeping his fathers sheep waiting upon God till it should be his good pleasure in his own way to raise him to the Kingly dignity unto him Jesse sent his Son David to him with a small present (g) Such a Present Jacob sent to Joseph under the notion of the Lord of all Egypt that his Sons might find favour with him Gen. 43.11 namely an Asse laden with bread and a bottle of wine and a Kid for great persons do many times kindly accept of small presents from their inferiours seeing they are signs that they do respect and honour them But Jesse knowing that God had anointed his Son David to succeed Saul in the Kingdom might well have been afraid to put him into