upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. And he said unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me: for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after he was fallen and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord.

11. Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men that were with him; and they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Adoni, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.

13. And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite.

14. And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy Adoni's anointed? And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died. And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain Adoni's anointed.

The lament of David.—2 Samuel i. 17. And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son.

18. (Also he bade them teach the Bene Yudah the use of the bow behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)

19. The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places; how are the mighty fallen!

20. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.

21. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings; for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.

22. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.

23. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,

and in their deaths they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

24. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.

25. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.

26. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan : very pleasant hast thou been unto me thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

27. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished! DAVID AT HEBRON.-Although David slew the man who brought him the crown of Saul, he was prompt enough to assume it. He forthwith consulted his fetish. Shall I go up and whither? to

Hebron.

That is he deliberated on the course he should pursue, and enunciated the result of his deliberations as the mandate of the oracle.

He came to the conclusion that the forces he had collected, with the assurances of support which he had received in reply to his presents of Amalekite spoil, were sufficient to enable him to acquire Hebron and establish a sovereignty in that region. He held also the district of Ziklag, and was in alliance with Achish.

The predatory chieftain, like a Nadir Shah, found abundant followers to augment his original banditti.

The policy of David, warned by the fate of Saul, of the danger of trusting to his superstitious subjects, led him to form a bodyguard of foreigners, like the Swiss guard of the French kings and the popes, not only for the protection of his person, but for the execution of mandates, which his Hebrew subjects might have been less ready to obey against their countrymen.

He collected for this guard 600 Philistines, and perhaps other foreigners, Cherethites, Pelethites and Gittites. This guard was for some years under the command of Ittai of Gath, and at the time of David's death under the command of the unscrupulous Benaiah.

This was the master stroke of David's policy. It secured him alike against the intrigues of the Adonians, over whom, including the high priest, he assumed an absolute religious supremacy; and also against those of the worshippers of other cults, and the ambition of the captains of his Palestinian army.

He endeavoured to coax the men of Jabesh, the capital of Gilead, to join his standard; but they were faithful to the family of Saul their deliverer.

Abner Ben Ner, the surviving leader of Saul's routed army, rallied his forces, and established a military station, Mahanaim, in Gilead. He there proclaimed his cousin Esh-baal (by the petty malignity of levitical writers metamorphosed into Ish-bosheth), Saul's remaining son, king of Israel. For although Jonathan had left a son Mephi-bal (similarly corrupted into Mephi-bosheth), he was only 5 years old, and had been lamed by a fall from the arms of his nurse.

In religious, as well as in popular matters, David, after the death of Samuel, exhibited great talent, as well as duplicity. There were powerful antagonistic elements in the centre of his realm, the Adonian and the heathen. He availed himself of the former, by an affectation of devoted subserviency to Adonism, dominant in his immediate neighbourhood, after he had obtained possession of Zion; but he prudently concentrated in himself the supremacy over that sect. He does not appear to have entered into any antagonism with the votaries of other religions; and surrounded by this favoured body-guard, whose religion differed entirely from the Adonite, and to a great extent from the other worships of his own dominions, he was able to establish an absolute despotism over all, except his army, and a considerable control over that. In this, however, he found a rival, of whom he was always jealous, and often afraid. The army too was probably jealous of the favourite Philistine body-guard. The sons of Zeruiah, David's sister, had, from their conduct in the marauding campaigns, become almost as formidable to David as he had been to Saul. But Joab and his brothers were content to enjoy the leadership of the armies, with the privilege of occasional dictation, and to leave their uncle in the enjoyment of kingship and sloth.

From the time of David's establishment as king of Hebron, Joab took upon himself the real control of all military affairs, but leaving to David the popular fame of his achievements, and the ignominy of perpetrating the massacres of which Joab was ashamed. David was conscious of this imperial domination from the time of his settlement in Hebron. He endeavoured to emancipate himself from it; especially when he was under the greatest obligations of gratitude for Joab's services, as in the case of Abner's treachery, and of Absalom's rebellion, but in vain. He

therefore bequeathed to Solomon the duty of murdering the man who had established him twice, if not thrice, upon the throne.

It does not appear to what extent the leadership of Joab had contributed to the success of David's marauding warfare. But from the time of David's establishment in Hebron, except in marking the epoch, in receiving gratulations and applause, in exposing himself in superstitious ceremonies, in committing atrocious cruelties, and domestic crimes, by which David obtained celebrity, Joab was the conspicuous character of David's reign. In all the wars of David, Joab was the victor, David the triumphal phantom. Joab is the true hero of Hebrew history, beside whom David, notwithstanding all the pageantry, and laudation with which he is surrounded, sinks into insignificancy, on an analysis of its records. He imbued his hand in blood, frequently at the command of his sovereign, occasionally on his own account. He assassinated Abner, but Abner had bartered his treason for Joab's blood. He assassinated Amasa, but Amasa had been bribed by David to get rid of Joab, who had just restored that dotard to his realm. Joab had been guilty of crimes enough for his sovereign and himself. His murder may have been a just punishment; but it was ordered by an ungrateful king, and executed by an ungrateful successor in the kingdom which he had created.

Story.-2 Samuel ii. 1. And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of Adoni saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And Adoni said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.

2. So David went up thither, and his 2 wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal's wife the Carmelite. And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household, and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.

4. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David saying, That the men of Jabesh-gilead were they that buried Saul. And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of Adoni, that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him. And now Adoni shew kindness and truth unto you: and I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing. Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye valiant: for your master Saul is dead and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them.

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8. But Abner Ben Ner, captain of Saul's host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim; and made him king over Gilead and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.

10. Ish-bosheth Saul's son was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned 2 years.

But the house of Judah followed David.

11. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was 7 years and 6 months.

Josephus says (Ant. VII. i. 3), "But as soon as Aber Ben Ner, who was general of Saul's army, and a very active man, and good natured, knew that the king and Jonathan and his 2 other sons were fallen in battle, he made haste into the camp, and taking away with him the remaining son of Saul, whose name was Ishbosheth, he passed over to the land beyond Jordan, and ordained him the king of the whole multitude, excepting the tribe of Judah ; and made his royal seat in a place called in our language Mahanaim, but in the language of the Grecians The Camps; from whence Abner made haste with a select body to fight with such of the tribe of Judah as were disposed to it, for he was angry that this tribe had set up David for their king."

THE BATTLE BETWEEN JOAB AND ABNER.-The commencement of this battle corresponds with the beginnings of the fights presented in various ancient histories, in single combats, or the conflicts of a few champions of each army; and with certain fatal sports practised in Scotland in comparatively recent times; and seems to have grown into a general fight after the modern fashion of warfare of the Samauli tribes.

The result of this battle seems to have been the establishment of David's rule in the south, and that of Esh-bal in Ephraim and Gilead, and a fierce animosity between Joab and Abner.

Josephus (Ant. VII. i. 3) says, "Joab, whose father was Suri, and his mother, Zeruiah, David's sister, was general of David's army."

Story.-2 Samuel ii. 12. And Abner Ben-Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

13. And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met together by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool.