vi. 21), sufficiently shew that David scorned to al low that he was in any way indebted to his connec tion with the family of Saul, through her, for the royalty over all Israel to which he had now at tained. 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 future change of its abode. This design, when imparted to the prophet Nathan, was received by him with warm encouragement. He had to learn, however, that the seemingly obvious fitness of a public mea sure, did not excuse a prophet from the obligation of consulting the Lord before he ventured to utter an authoritative opinion ; for the next day he had to return to the king with an intimation that he must abandon the intention of executing this great undertaking. The design is indeed commended; yet as he had been a warrior from his youth, and had shed much human blood, he was pronounced unfit for this sacred work, which was therefore to be reserved for the peaceful reign of his successor. Encouraged by the Divine approbation, and by the high promises which were on this occasion given to him, David henceforth made it one of the great objects of his reign to gather materials and support for this important undertaking, the credit. of which he is fairly entitled to divide with his son, by whom it was actually executed. [SoLoaloN.] Great as might appear the advantage of esta blishing the same city as the religious and civil me tropolis, the effect was, in one respect, most unfor tunate : it offended the powerful and central tribe of Ephraim. They had been accustomed to regard Shiloh as the rightful abode of the ark. Against Kirjath-jearim no envy was felt, especially while the ark and its priests were in obscurity. But when so much honour attended it ; when it became a peculiar glory to Judah and Benjamin—tribes al ready too much favoured ; when a magnificent edi fice was erected to receive it ; the seeds were sown of that disaffection which ended in a rending of the tribes apart. Nor was the argument unreasonable, that a more central spot was needed for Israel to assemble at year by year.
David's further victories are narrated in the fol lowing order—Philistines, Moab, Zobah, Edom, Northern League stirred up by the Ammonites, Ammon. I. The short and dry notice concerning the Philistines just gives us to understand that this is the era of their decisive, though not final subju gation. 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 were a pastoral 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 book of Ruth we see them as friendly neighbours, 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. Who are meant by the Syrians of Zobah, is still a problem [Z0BAH]. 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 Hamath, but had obtained homage beyond the Euphrates. The trans-Jordanic tribes in the time of Saul had founded a little em pire for themselves by conquering their eastern neighbours, the Hagarenes ; and, perhaps, occa sionally overran the district on the side of the Euphrates, which Hadadezer, king of Zobah, con sidered as his own. His efforts to recover his border at the river Euphrates' 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 that of Damascus too, which came, too late, with succour ; and put Israelite garrisons into the towns of the Damascenes. In this career of success, we see, for the first time in history, the uniform supe riority over raw troops of a power which is always fighting ; whose standing army is ever gaining ex perience and mutual confidence. 4. Another vic tory, gained in the valley of salt,' ought, perhaps, to be read, as in i Chron, xviii. 12, and in the su perscription of Ps. lx., over the Edomites,' not over the Syrians.' The difference of the Hebrew textual letters is very slight, CiN and nu. The verse which follows (2 Sam. viii. 14) seems to tell the result of this victory, viz., the complete subju gation and garrisoning of Edom, which, like Moab, was incorporated with David's empire. Immedi ately before this last conquest, as would appear, he wrote the 60th Psalm ; and as that Psalm gives no hint of his achievements against the king of Zobah and the Damascenes, this is a strong ground for believing that those successes were not gained till somewhat later in time. 5. 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 consisting 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 king of Hamath, who, having suffered from Hadadezer's hostility, courted the friendship of the Israelitish mon arch (2 Sam. viii. 9, to). We are barely in formed that one division of the Israelites under Abishai was posted against the Ammonites ; a second under Joab met the confederates from the north, 30,00o strong, and prevented their junction with the Ammonites. In both places the enemy was repelled, though, it would seem, with no deci sive result. A second campaign, however, 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 victorious. He is said to have slain, according to 2 Sam. x. IS, the men of 7o0 chariots, and 40,00o horsemen ; or, according to i Chron. xix. 18, the men of 7000 chariots, and 40,000 footmen. If we had access to the court records of Hamath, we should probably find that Toi had assembled his whole cavalry to assist David, and that to him was due the important ser vice of disabling or destroying the enemy's horse. Such foreign aid may explain the general result, without our obtruding a miracle, for which the narrative gives us not the least warrant. The Sy rians henceforth left the Ammonites to their fate, and the petty chiefs who had been in allegiance to Hadadezer hastened to do homage to David. 6. Early in the next season Joab was sent to take ven geance on the Ammonites in their own home, by attacking their chief city, or Rabbah of Ammon. The natural strength of their border could not keep out veteran troops and an experienced leader ; and though the siege of the city occupied many months (if, indeed, it was not prolonged into the next year), it was at last taken. It is characteristic of Oriental despotism, that Joab, when the city was nearly reduced, sent to invite David to command the final assault in person. David gathered a large force, easily captured the royal town, and despoiled it of all its wealth. His vengeance was as much more dreadful on the unfortunate inhabitants than formerly on the Moabites, as the danger in which the Ammonites had involved Israel had been more imminent. The persons captured in the city were put to death by torture ; some of them being sawed in pieces, others chopped up with axes or mangled with harrows, while some were smothered in brick kilns (2 Sam. xii. 31 ; I Chron. xx. 3). This severity was perhaps effectual in quelling future movements of revolt or war ; for, until insurrec tions in Israel embolden them, foreign foes after this remain quiet. [To these wars Pss. lx., lxviii., cviii., cx., are with some certainty referred. Ps. xviii. may belong to this period of David's life, or to an earlier period, when he escaped from the power of Saul. Pss. xx. and xxi. have also, by some, been thought to belong to this period.] During the campaign against Rabbah of Am mon the painful and never-to-be-forgotten outrage of David against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah the Hittite took place. It is principally through this narrative that we know the tediousness of that siege ; since the adultery with Bathsheba and the birth of at least one child took place during the course of it. Although on his deep contrition for this great sin he was forgiven ; yet seeing that this sin in one so exalted and so religious had given great occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme,' it behoved the Lord to vindicate his own righteousness and his abhorrence of sin, by not leaving the heinous crimes of his servant unpunished. The sentence that went forth against him was Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house,' in which we are furnished with the key to the disasters which darkened the re mainder of his course. [To this sad event David refers in Ps. li., and probably also in Ps. xxxii.] Of all David's sons, Absalom had naturally the greatest pretensions, being by his mother's side grandson of Talmai, king of Geshur ; while through his personal beauty and winning manners he was high in popular favour. It is evident, moreover, that he was the darling son of his father. When his own sister Tamar had been dishonoured by her half-brother Amnon, the eldest son of David, Ab salom slew him in vengeance, but, in fear of his father, then fled to his grandfather at Geshur. Joab, discerning David's longings for his son, effected his return after three years ; but the con flict in the king's mind is strikingly shewn by his allowing Absalom to dwell two full years in Jeru salem before he would see his face.