At an early period he attracted the notice of Samuel, and if we are to arrange events accord ing to their probable connection, we may believe that after David had been driven away from Saul and his life several times attempted, Samuel ven tured on the solemn step of anointing him king. Whenever this took place, it must have produced on David a profound impression and prepared him to do that in which Saul had so eminently failed, viz., to reconcile his own military government with a filial respect for the prophets and an hon orable patronage of the priesthood. Besides this, he became knit into a bond of brotherhood with his heroic comrades, to whom he was eminently endeared by his personal self-denial and liberality (I Sam. xxx :21-3r ; I Chron. xi:18).
This, indeed, drew after it one of the most painful results, viz., the necessity of enduring the turbulence of his violent but able nephew Joab, nor could we expect that of a band of free booters many should be like David. Again, dur ing his outlawry, David became acquainted in turn not only with all the wild country in the land, but with the strongholds of the enemy all round. By his residence among the Philistines he must have learned all their arts and weapons of war, in which it is reasonable to believe the Israelites previously inferior (i Sam. xiii :io-23). \Vith Nahash the Ammonite he was in intimate friend ship (2 Sam. x :2) ; to the king of Moab he en trusted the care of his parents (I Sam. xxii :3) ; from Achish of Gath he received the important present of the town of Ziklag (i Sam. xxvii :6). It must, however, be confessed that the details of the last passage, without professing to be miraculous. go beyond the limits of probabil ity; for if we even suppose that David could commit the massacres there described, merely in order to hide his own perfidy, it is still incredible that the secret could have been kept and Achish continue to trust him (xxviii :2 and xxix :3). That Ziklag was a strong place may be inferred from 1 Chron. xii :1, 20.
The celebrity acquired in successful guerilla warfare, even in modern days, turns the eyes of whole nations on a chieftain, and in an age which regarded personal heroism as the first qualification of a general (i Chron. xi :6) and of a king, to triumph over the persecutions of Saul gave David the fairest prospects of a kingdom. That he was able to escape the malice of his enemy was due in part to the direct help given him by the nations round, who were glad to keep a thorn rankling in Saul's side ; in part also to the indirect results of their invasions (i Sam. xxiii :27).
The account transmitted to us of David's dan gers and escapes in this first period is too frag mentary to work up into a history; nevertheless, it seems to be divisible into two parts, differing in character. During the former he is a fugitive and outlaw in the land of Saul, hiding in caves, pitching in the wilderness, or occasionally with great risk entering walled cities (i Sam. xxiii :7; in the latter he abandons his native soil entirely and lives among the Philistines as one of their chieftains (xxvii:t). While a rover in the land of Judah, his position (to our eyes) is anything but honorable, being a focus to which 'all who were in distress, in debt or discontented gathered themselves' (xxii :2). Yet, as the number of his followers became large, six hundred we read, (xxiii :13), and David knew how to conciliate the neighboring sheep-masters by his urbanity and kind services, lie gradually felt himself to be their protector and to have a right of maintenance and tribute from them. Hence he resents the refusal of Nabal to supply his demands, as a clear in justice, and, after David's anger has been turned away by the prudent policy of Abigail, in bless ing her for saving him from slaying Nabal and every male of his family, the thought seems not to have entered his mind that the intention of such a massacre was more guilty than Nabal s refusal to pay him tribute (xxv :3.1). This whole narrative is characteristic and instructive. By his marriage with Abigail he afterwards probably became rich (for she seems to have been a widow at her own disposal), and on passing immediately after into the land of the Philistines, he was en abled to assume a more dignified place. Becom ing possessed of the stronghold of Ziklag, he now appeared like a legitimate chieftain with fixed possessions, and no longer a mere vagabond and freebooter. This was accordingly a transition state in which David was prepared for assuming the kingdom over Judah. In Ziklag he was joined, not, as before, by mere outcasts from Israelitish life, but by men of consideration and tried warriors (1 Chron. xii :1-22), not only of the tribe of Judah, but from Gad, Manasseh, and even 'from Saul's brethren of Benjamin.' (2) Reign Over Judah in Hebron. Immedi ately upon the death of Saul the tribe of Judah invited David to become their prince.