The bringing of the ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem established the line of high priests in direct service before it; and from this time we may presume that the ceremonies of the great day of Atonement began to be observed. Previously. it would appear the Connection between the priest hood and the tabernacle had been very loose. The priests fixed their abode at Nob. when !•e ark was at Kiriath-jearim. a very short distance; vet there is nothing to denote that thee at all interfered with Abinadab in his care of the sacred de posit. (Concerning the chronological difficulties involved in the stay of the ark at Kirjath-jearim FCC the article SAt't When the ark entered Jerusalem in triumph David put on a priest's ephod and danced before it. This proved the occasion of the rupture be tween him and his royal snouse. Michal, which sooner or later was ine..itable. Accustomed to see in her father's court a haughty pre-eminence of the monarch over the priest, she could not sympathize with the deeps piety which led the royal Psalmist to forga his dignity in presence of the ark. The words of David to her, 'Jehovah chose me before thy father and before all his house' (2 Sam. vi :21) sufficiently show Michal to have felt that she had been taken from her hus band Phaltiel, merely to give color to David's claim to the kingdom, and that David scorned to allow that he was in any way indebted to her for it.
After this event the king, contrasting his cedar palace with the curtains of the tabernacle, was desirous of building a temple for the ark; such a step, moreover, was likely to prevent any fu ture change of its abode. The prophet Nathan, however, forbade it, on pious and intelligible grounds.
4. Principal Victories. David's further vic tories are narrated in the following order : Philis tines, Moab, Zobah, Edom, Northern League stirred up by the Ammonites, Ammon.
(1) Philistines. The short and dry notice concerning the Philistines just gives us to under stand that this is the era of their decisive, though not final, subjugation. Their towns were despoiled of their wealth (2 Sam. viii., xii.), and doubtless all their arms and munitions of war passed over into the service of the conqueror.
(2) The Moabites. The Moabites were a pas toral people, whose general relations with Israel appear to have been peaceful. The slight notice of Saul's hostilities with them (I Sam. xiv :47) is the only breach recorded since the time of Eglon and Ehud. In the hook of Ruth we see them as friendly neighbors, and much more recently (I Sam. xxii :3, 4) David committed his parents to the care of the king of Moab. We know no cause, except David's strength, which now drew his arms upon them. A people long accustomed to peace, in conflict with a veteran army, was struck down at once, but the fierceness of his triumph may sur prise us. Two-thirds of the population (if we rightly interpret the words. 2 Sam. viii :2) were put to the sword ; the rest became tributary.
(3) Syrians. Who are meant by the Syrians of Zobah is still a problem (see ZOBAH). We here follow the belief that it was a power of northern Syria, then aiming at extensive empire, which had not only defeated and humbled the king of Ha math, but had obtained homage beyond the Eu phrates. The trans-Jordanic tribes in the time of
Saul had founded a little empire for themselves by conquering their eastern neighbors, the Haga renes; and, perhaps, occasionally overran the dis trict on the side of the Euphrates, which Hada dezer, king of Zobah, considered as his own. His efforts 'to recover his border at the river Eu phrates' first brought him into collision with David, perhaps by an attack which he made on the roaming Eastern tribes. David defeated not merely his army, but those of Damascus too, which came too late with succor, and put Israelite gar .isons into the towns of the Damascenes.
(4) In the Valley of Salt. Another victory, gained 'in the valley of salt,' ought, perhaps, to be read, as in r Chron. xviii :I2, and in the super scription of Ps. lx., 'over the Eder/tiles,' not 'over the Syrians.' The verse which follows (2 Sam. viii :14) seems to tell the result of this victory, viz., the complete subjugation and garrisoning of Edom, which, like Moab, was incorporated with David's empire. Immediately before this last con quest, as would appear, he wrote the both Psalm; and as that Psalm gives no hint of his achieve ments against the king of Zobah and the Damas cenes, this is a strong ground for believing that those successes were not gained till somewhat later in time.
(5) The Ammonites. After David had be come master of all Israel, of the Philistine towns, of Edom and of Moab, while the Eastern tribes, having conquered the Hagarenes, threatened the Ammonites on the north, as did Moab on the south, the Ammonites were naturally alarmed, and called in the powers of Syria to their help against a foe who was growing dangerous even to them. The coalition against David is described as con sisting of the Syrians of Bethrehob and of Maacah, of Zobah and of Tob. The last country appears to have been in the district of Trachonitis, the two first immediately on the north of Israel. In this war we may believe that David enjoyed the important alliance of Toi, king of Hamath, who having suffered from Hadadezer's hostility, courted the friendship of the Israelitish monarch (2 Sam. viii :9, io). We are barely informed that one division of the Israelites under Abishai was posted against the Ammonites; a second under Joab -met the confederates from the north, 30,000 strong, and prevented their junction with the Am monites. In both places the enemy was repelled, though, it would seem, with no decisive result. The spirit of exaggeration is certainly displayed in the statement—whoever is answerable for it— (I Chron. xix :7) that the Syrian confederates brought with them 32,00o chariots, which are not noticed in the parallel place of 2 Sam. Perhaps the text is corrupt ; for 1,000 talents of silver (verse 6) appears a small sum to hire such a force with. A second campaign took place. The king of Zobah brought in an army of Mesopotamians, in addition to his former troops, and David found it necessary to make a levy of all Israel to meet the pressing danger. A pitched battle on a great scale was then fought at Helam—far beyond the limits of the twelve tribes—in which David was vic torious.