FROM Keilah David now removed to a stronghold in the wilderness of Ziph258, in the highlands of Judah, between Carmel and Juttah, about three miles south of Hebron. Hither Saul pursued him with ceaseless zeal, but was utterly unable to discover his hiding-place. Jonathan, however, sought him out and found him in a neighbouring wood, and strengthened his hand in God, assuring him of his belief that his father would never find him, that he would live to come to the throne, and that he himself should be next unto him. The former covenant was now for the third time ratified, and the two friends parted, never to meet again (1 Sam. xxiii. 16–18).
Meanwhile Saul returned to Gibeah, whither messengers from the Ziphites followed him with news of David’s hiding-place, and offering to betray him into his hands259. Thereupon the king set out, and so close were the pursuer and pursued on one another’s track, that while David was climbing down one side of a cliff in the waste pasture ground of Maon, in the extreme south of Judah, Saul and his men were posted to intercept them on the other. But the arrival of a messenger, with news of a sudden inroad of the Philistines, obliged the king to discontinue the pursuit, and the name of the spot Sela-hammahlekoth, The Cliff of Divisions, long commemorated David’s narrow escape (1 Sam. xxiii. 28).
Engedi260, or The Spring of the Wild Goats, a town on the western shore of the Dead Sea, was his next hiding-place, and the scene of an instance of magnanimity on his part, rare at all times, especially rare amongst Oriental nations. The panic of the Philistine invasion being over, Saul advanced to Engedi at the head of 3,000 men, and on one occasion entered one of the numerous caves of the neighbourhood. David and his men, seeing but not seen, were concealed in the dark recesses of the same retreat. Had he listened to the advice of his men, he might now have surprised and slain his unsuspecting foe, but he contented himself with cutting off the skirt of the royal robe. Even for this, however, his heart smote him, and bidding his men remember that the king was his master and the Lord’s anointed (1 Sam. xxiv. 6), he refused to permit them to rise up against him. Presently Saul left the cave, and then David followed, and cried after him, My lord the king! Saul looked behind him, and David, bowing before him with his face to the ground, expostulated with him in words of touching beauty, and in the skirt of his robe bade him behold a pledge of his unwillingness to do him any harm261. Even Saul himself was deeply moved, and lifted up his voice and wept, frankly acknowledging the generosity of his rival. He then owned how well he knew David was to be the future king, and made him solemnly swear not to visit his own ill-will on his posterity, or destroy his name out of his father’s house. All this David faithfully undertook to perform, but knowing well the capriciousness of the king did not quit his stronghold. About this time the aged prophet Samuel died, and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him within the walls of his own house at Ramah (1 Sam. xxv. 1).
The relations of David towards the neighbouring landholders is strikingly illustrated by an incident which now took place. On the neighbouring range of Carmel dwelt a rich sheep-master named Nabal. In these troublous times his shepherds experienced more than usual difficulty in safely keeping his 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. The presence, therefore, of David’s valiant men was a matter of no small importance, for instead of injuring or robbing them, they were a wall unto them both by day and by night (1 Sam. xxv. 15–17). Hearing that Nabal was about to shear his sheep, an occasion of much festivity, David sent ten of his retinue to request a small reward for the kindness he had ever shewn to his shepherds. This Nabal, who was notorious for his churlish temper, flatly and insultingly refused. Enraged at such selfish insolence, David resolved on vengeance. Leaving 200 men to guard the baggage, he marched with the remaining 400 towards Carmel, and would certainly have inflicted severe punishment on the churlish sheep-master, had he not on the way encountered his beautiful and prudent wife Abigail, who, informed of her husband’s uncivil conduct, had come forth to meet him with a long train of asses laden with provisions. In language courteous and politic she deprecated his vengeance, frankly allowing that as for her husband, Nabal (fool) was his name, and folly was with him (1 Sam. xxv. 25). David consented to desist from his determined revenge, and Abigail returned to find her lord drinking to excess at the feast. The next morning she told him of the risk he had run, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone (1 Sam. xxv. 37). Smitten with a sudden stroke he only lingered ten days, when he died. Thereupon David married Abigail, and besides her, his wife Michal having been bestowed by Saul upon another, he espoused Ahinoam of Jezreel (1 Sam. xxv. 43, 44), a town in the neighbourhood of the southern Carmel. (See Josh. xv. 56.)
Returning once more to the old hiding-place in the pasture country of Ziph, and the neighbouring hill of Hachilah, the secret of his retreat was again betrayed to Saul by the Ziphites262, who at the head of 3,000 men went forth to capture David (1 Sam. xxvi. 3). Informed of his approach, David retired from the hill to the lower ground, the wood which then covered the country concealing him from view263. Saul advanced to the hill, and there pitched his tent, with Abner his captain-general, and his forces round about him. Accompanied by his nephew Abishai, David in the dead of the night penetrated through the lines to the spot where the king slept within the baggage, his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster264. Again Abishai bade him take advantage of the opportunity, and asked permission to smite but once the sleeping king, promising not to smite a second time. But again David refused, and contented himself with taking the royal spear, and the cruse of water from his bolster, and passing through the lines of sleeping warriors went over to the other side, and standing on the top of a hill afar off, called across the long intervening space to Abner, who was sunk in heavy sleep after the fatigues of the day. Roused by the strange voice disturbing the still midnight air, Abner awoke, and asked who called. Then David reproached him for the little care he had taken of his master, and in the well-known royal spear and the cruse of water bade him see a second proof of his generosity towards an unrelenting foe. Presently Saul himself awoke, and recognised the voice of David. Again the fugitive pleaded in moving words with the pursuer, and again Saul, touched to the heart with admiration for his magnanimous rival, acknowledged his own guilt, and bestowed a blessing upon him (1 Sam. xxvi. 13–25).
This last occurrence seems to have convinced David that there was no hope of any permanent change in the king’s feelings towards himself (1 Sam. xxvii. 1), and he therefore determined to seek refuge once more among the Philistines. No longer a solitary fugitive, but accompanied by his two wives, and his 600 followers with their households, he again presented himself before the king of Gath. In answer to his petition for a place in some town in the country265, Achish assigned to him and his retinue the town of Ziklag, situated at some distance from Gath, towards the south or south-east of the Philistine frontier266 (1 Sam. xxvii. 5). His stay here lasted over a year and four months, and during this period he and his men made an expedition against the Geshurites, Gezrites, and Amalekites, who roamed over the desert plateau overhanging the Philistian plain, and having carried off enormous booty, lest the truth should reach the ears of Achish, saved neither man nor woman alive. The king, however, did hear of the expedition, but in reply to his enquiries, was assured that it had been directed against the country south of Judah, and against the south of the Kenites. Satisfied with this proof of the fidelity of his vassal, he rejoiced that David had made his own people Israel utterly to abhor him, and deemed it an earnest of still greater services (1 Sam. xxvii. 8–12).
Before long the Philistines gathered their armies together for another and a decisive contest with the Israelites for the supremacy. Achish and his contingent prepared to take part in the expedition, and as his vassal, David consented to accompany him with his 600 men. Aphek, near Jezreel, was fixed upon as the place of rendezvous, and thither, probably along the sea-coast, the hundreds and thousands of the Philistines poured up from their fertile lowlands. As David passed on the way to Aphek, seven valiant chiefs, captains of thousands of the powerful tribe of Manasseh, instead of joining Saul’s army, preferred to throw in their lot with him and share his fortunes (1 Ch. xii. 19–21). But the unsuspecting confidence of Achish in his new-found vassal was not shared by the other Philistine chiefs, and they protested against David’s followers being allowed to accompany them. Achish was, therefore, constrained much against his will to dismiss him, and with the first dawn David set out on his return to Ziklag (1 Sam. xxix. 11). On arriving there, no town was to be found, nothing but a mass of burning ruins. During his absence the Amalekites had burst upon the place, burnt it to the ground, and carried off David’s wives and those of his retinue, whose faith in their leader, now for the first and only time, seems to have failed, and in the extremity of their grief they even threatened to stone him to death. It was a critical moment, but David’s old trust did not fail him, and he encouraged himself in the Lord his God (1 Sam. xxx. 6). Abiathar was bidden to bring the ephod and ascertain the Divine Will. Shall I pursue after this troop? David enquired. The reply was favourable, and his six hundred men, accompanied by the chiefs of Manasseh, set out in the direction of the brook Besor, a wady somewhere in the extreme south of Judah. Here 200 of his forces were so spent that he was fain to leave them by the brook, while the remainder pressing on, found in a field an Egyptian at the point of death, who had neither eaten bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. But being supplied by David’s men with food and drink he revived, revealed that he was a slave of one of the Amalekite chiefs, and on promise of his life consented to guide the avengers to their foes. On coming up with them they were found spread abroad upon all the earth, eating, drinking, and dancing in honour of their late victory (1 Sam. xxx. 16). The attack was instantly made, and David smote them from the twilight of the early dawn to the evening of the next day, till none remained, save only 400 young men, who effected their escape on camels. With all the captives recovered and enormous spoil267 the conqueror returned to Ziklag, and was now for the first time enabled to requite the kindness of many of his own tribe, who had protected him during the long period of his wanderings, and distributed of the spoil to the elders of many friendly towns (1 Sam. xxx. 26–31).
Two days after his return news arrived of the utmost importance respecting the Philistine invasion. With their chariots and horses the Philistines had pressed forward towards the plain of Esdraelon and pitched their camp by Shunem268, on the southern slope of the range now called Little Hermon, or Jebel ed Dûhy, while Saul encamped his forces on the opposite heights of Mount Gilboa, at the fountain that is in Jezreel269, on the eastern side of the plain. As he beheld the masses of his foes passing on by hundreds and thousands, the Israelite king was filled with the utmost alarm (1 Sam. xxviii. 5). In this dreadful crisis he felt himself utterly alone. Samuel, his old adviser, had been sometime dead; the cruel massacre at Nob had alienated from him the entire priestly body; he enquired of the Lord, but the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets (1 Sam. xxviii. 6). Alone, and distrusted even by his own army, he bade enquiry be made for a woman that had a familiar spirit. After diligent search it was ascertained that by going a distance of about 7 or 8 miles to Endor, he would find, in one of the dark and gloomy caverns270 with which the mountain here is hollowed, a woman who might serve his purpose. Disguising himself, therefore, and accompanied by two of his retinue, the unhappy king set out under cover of night. It was an undertaking perilous in the extreme, and nothing but the agony of despair would have induced him to venture upon it. Stealing down the mountain from the camp, the three crossed the shoulder of the very hill on which the Philistines were entrenched, and made for Endor, which lay behind Shunem. Reaching the cave, the king told the witch the object of his coming. He longed to have one more interview with his old adviser, the prophet Samuel, and desired her by her arts to bring him up. At first the woman demurred, and pleaded the danger of exciting the wrath of the king, who in better days had distinguished himself by his zeal against all magic and sorcery. But her visitor calmed her fears. She exercised her arts, and the awful form of Samuel, an old man, and covered with a mantle, appeared. Bowing himself with his face to the earth, Saul made known his deep distress. The Philistines, said he, make war against me: God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do (1 Sam. xxviii. 15). In reply the Prophet could only inform the king that the Day of Doom was near. To-morrow, said he, the Lord will deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. This awful sentence utterly prostrated the unhappy king. He fell with the fulness of his stature all along upon the earth (1 Sam. xxviii. 20, marg.). For a day and a night he had eaten nothing, and now there was no more strength in him. With the utmost difficulty the woman and his two attendants succeeded in compelling him to partake of food, and then he rose up, once more crossed the shoulder of the hill, and reached the heights of Gilboa (1 Sam. xxviii. 21–25).
The next morning broke, and the Philistines made their onset. The Israelite leader, with his doom upon him, could do little in such a crisis. His army was driven up the sides of Gilboa, and as it fled from the victorious Philistines, numbers were slain on the heights. Resolved on striking a decisive blow, the Philistine archers and charioteers followed hard after Saul and his sons. Three of the latter, including the valiant Jonathan, were slain outright, and Saul himself was sore wounded. In this extremity he implored of his armour-bearer to thrust him through with his sword, and put an end to his sufferings. But his armour-bearer refused, and Saul, taking his own sword, fell upon it and died, and the other then followed his example. The rout of the Israelites was now complete, and extended even to the tribes beyond the Jordan. Even here the Israelites fled from their cities, and the Philistines dwelt in them (1 Sam. xxxi. 7).
On the morrow after this disastrous battle, the bodies of Saul and his three sons were found by the Philistines, when they came to strip the slain. With savage glee they cut off his head, stripped him of his armour, and sent it into their own land, to be placed as a trophy in the temple of Ashtaroth, probably at Ashdod, and fastened his body and those of his three sons to the wall overhanging the open space in front of the gate of the Canaanite city of Beth-shan271. On the mountain-range beyond Jordan in full view of Beth-shan272 was the town of Jabesh-Gilead, by his heroic relief of which Saul had inaugurated his reign273. Hearing from the fugitives what had occurred to their king, the grateful inhabitants, mindful of past services, determined that his remains should not continue thus dishonoured. Their valiant men arose, crossed the Jordan, and under cover of night took down his body and those of his sons, buried them under the terebinth of their native town, and fasted seven days (1 Sam. xxxi. 13).
Such was the news David now received at Ziklag from a young Amalekite, who had been present at the battle. Deeming himself sure of the reward that greeted the bearer of glad tidings, he had brought with him Saul’s crown and the bracelet that was on his arm, and pretended to have slain him at his own request (2 Sam. i. 1–12). But David’s wrath was kindled, and having sternly rebuked him for touching the Lord’s anointed, he bade one of his young men put him to death, and then burst into a strain of passionate lamentation over Saul and Jonathan. Forgetting all that had passed between him and the fallen king, he remembered only the better features of his character, while towards Jonathan his whole soul gushed forth in expressions of the tenderest affection (2 Sam. i. 17–27).
THE hour which the prophet of Ramah had long ago foretold was now come. The long period of trial and discipline was over. The brave shepherd, the conqueror of Goliath, the daring but prudent leader of attached followers was the only one left, to whom the Israelites could look for guidance in this great crisis of their national history.
But though the way was open, David did not enter upon it without seeking the Divine direction. Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? he enquired of the Lord; and the Lord bade him go up to Hebron, “the ancient sacred city of the tribe of Judah, the burial-place of the patriarch274, and the inheritance of Caleb275.” Accordingly, leaving Ziklag, he repaired thither with his two wives Ahinoam and Abigail, and his faithful band of six hundred; and there the chiefs of Judah, now after a long period of obscurity to become the ruling tribe, anointed him as their king. His first act after his accession was to thank the men of Jabesh-Gilead for their bravery in removing the corpses of Saul and his sons from the walls of Beth-shan (2 Sam. ii. 1–7).
Of the family of the late king there now remained only Ishbosheth his youngest son, and Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, a child but five years old. Ishbosheth, according to the law of Oriental succession, ascended the throne, and, under the protection of his kinsman, the powerful Abner, established his kingdom at the ancient sanctuary of Mahanaim276 on the east of the Jordan, ruling over not only the eastern tribes, but the territory of Asher, the plain of Esdraelon, central Ephraim, his own tribe of Benjamin, and eventually over all Israel (2 Sam. ii. 9), excepting only Judah, which remained faithful to David.
The first of many skirmishes between the rival kings took place at Gibeon, to the heights of which, in their native Benjamin, Abner and his forces went out from Mahanaim (2 Sam. ii. 12). Thither also, as if to watch their movements, repaired the three nephews of David, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. On the east side of the hill of Gibeon, at the foot of a low cliff, was a large pool or tank, on either side of which the rival forces encamped, and, as if to try their respective strength, Abner proposed that a select body from both sides should engage in combat. Joab accepted the challenge, and twelve picked champions of the party of Ishbosheth met an equal number of the warriors of David277. The struggle was desperate; each combatant caught his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword into his side, and thus all fell dead together on a spot henceforth called Helkath-hazzurim, the Field of Heroes. This brought on a general engagement, in which the forces of Ishbosheth were defeated, and Abner himself was fain to fly hotly pursued by Asahel, the youngest of David’s nephews, and as light of foot as a wild roe (2 Sam. ii. 18). Abner recognised his fleet pursuer, and advised him to desist from the chase. But the youth, heeding not, pressed on, and Abner, turning back upon him, thrust him through with a spear.
The bleeding corpse lay in the middle of the road, and was quickly surrounded by the men of Judah, who as they came up stood still in mournful astonishment (2 Sam. ii. 23). But the sight of their brother’s body only roused Joab and Abishai to greater fury, and they pursued after Abner as far as the hill of Ammah, by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon, which they reached at sunset. There the men of his own tribe of Benjamin rallied round the general of Ishbosheth, and stood on the top of the hill, while he cried to the pursuing Joab, and implored him not to push matters further. On this Joab gave the signal for a cessation of the pursuit, and drew off his men, and conveying his brother’s corpse to Bethlehem, laid it in the ancestral tomb. Then at daybreak he rejoined David at Hebron, to whom he announced the loss of only 19 men in the late encounter. Meanwhile Abner returned to Mahanaim, whence he carried on a series of petty wars with the adherents of David, in which David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker (2 Sam. iii. 1).
In the course of time a quarrel with his kinsman and general precipitated the fall of Ishbosheth. Abner had married Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, and a concubine of Saul. According to the notions of Orientals, this very nearly amounted to treason (Comp. 2 Sam. xvi. 21; xx. 3; 1 K. ii. 13–25), and as such Ishbosheth flung it in the teeth of his general. Abner replied in words of utmost anger and reproaching Ishbosheth with the basest ingratitude, straightway began to open communications with David, who agreed to receive him at Hebron, on condition that Michal, his former wife, was restored to him. This condition was complied with, and after sounding the chiefs of Israel and of his own tribe, Abner with twenty men came to David at Hebron. A feast greeted his arrival, and he departed with the avowed intention of gathering all Israel unto his lord the king (2 Sam. iii. 17–21).
He had hardly departed from the royal presence, when Joab returned from a foray, and was informed of this unexpected visit. Jealous probably of a possible rival, and burning with rage against his brother’s murderer, he remonstrated in no measured terms with David for his imprudence, as he termed it, in admitting the general of Ishbosheth to an audience and sending him away in peace. Then, unknown to the king, he sent messengers after Abner to call him back. Not suspecting treachery the latter returned to Hebron, and, as he entered the gate, Joab took him aside, and stabbed him to death, as he had stabbed his brother Asahel. News of this cruel and treacherous deed roused David’s unbounded indignation. Unable to punish the assassin, he imprecated on the house of Joab the most fearful curses, and compelled him to attend the funeral of his murdered victim, robed in sackcloth, and wearing all the signs of mourning. He himself fasted till sunset, and as he followed the bier to the burial-place at Hebron, poured forth a solemn dirge. This incident gave David an insight into Joab’s unscrupulous character, which he never forgot. These men, he said, the sons of Zeruiah, be too hard for me, and I am this day weak though anointed king (2 Sam. iii. 39).
The death of Abner was the signal for the dissolution of the tottering kingdom he had supported. On receiving the tidings of his kinsman’s murder, Ishbosheth’s hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled (2 Sam. iv. 1). His body-guard was composed of men from his own tribe of Benjamin, but two divisions of it were commanded by two men, Baanah and Rechab, who, though descendants of the Canaanitish natives of Beeroth278, were reckoned among the Benjamites. In revenge, it has been suggested, for some injury they had received from Saul—possibly the slaughter of their Gibeonite kinsmen (Comp. 2 Sam. xxi. 1, 2)—and certainly with the hope of conciliating the new king at Hebron, these two resolved to take the life of Ishbosheth. About the heat of the day (2 Sam. iv. 5), therefore, they entered the palace under pretence of fetching some wheat piled up near the entrance (2 Sam. iv. 6), and finding Ishbosheth lying on his bed they stabbed him to the heart, and cut off his head. Then hurrying all that afternoon and all night (2 Sam. iv. 7) down the valley of the Jordan, they presented themselves before David at Hebron with the bloody head in their hands. But they met with no better reception than the pretended slayer of Saul. David sternly rebuked them for their cold-blooded murder of a righteous person in his own house upon his bed, and ordered their instant execution. Their hands and feet were cut off, and their bodies were suspended over the pool at Hebron, while the head of Ishbosheth was buried with all honours in the sepulchre of Abner (2 Sam. iv. 8–12).
EVERY obstacle was thus removed that had hitherto prevented David’s assuming the royal power over all the tribes. Ishbosheth was dead, Abner was dead, Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s only surviving son, was barely 12 years of age. The son of Jesse had long waited for his hour, and at length it was come. A deputation from all the tribes of Israel (2 Sam. v. 1) repaired to Hebron, and formally offered him the crown. A solemn league was then entered into, and for the third time David was anointed amidst great rejoicings. At Hebron he had reigned for 7½ years over Judah; he was now king of all Israel. His band of six hundred faithful followers had rapidly swelled into a great host, like the host of God (1 Ch. xii. 22). And now not only Dan and Judah and Simeon, not only Benjamin and Ephraim, not only the tribes beyond the Jordan, Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, flocked around his standard, but Issachar sent men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do (1 Ch. xii. 32), and Zebulun and Naphtali sent not only men, but the peculiar products of their rich territory279 (1 Ch. xii. 40), while a still more important accession consisted of 4,600 warriors of the Levitical tribe, and 3,700 of the house of Aaron, headed by Jehoiada, and the youthful but valiant Zadok (1 Ch. xii. 25–28). Upwards of 300,000 choice warriors of the flower of Israel were thus gathered together to turn the kingdom of Saul to David, and join in celebrating the three days’ festival which greeted his accession to the throne (1 Ch. xii. 39).
His first act after his coronation was significant. Saul had been always content with the obscurity of his native Gibeah, and had cared little for any central point of union for the tribes. As sovereign over all Israel, both north and south, David resolved to move the seat of government from Hebron nearer to the centre of the country. No spot seemed to present so many advantages as the rocky mass on which rose the city of the Jebusites280. It was neutral ground, on the very meeting-point of his own tribe and that of Benjamin281. The lower city had been once taken by the warriors of Judah (Judg. i. 8)282, but the fortress of the Jebusites, strong in its seemingly impregnable position, had never been reduced. The presence of so many warriors from all the tribes was favourable for making an attempt on so renowned a citadel, and at the head of all his forces David advanced against it, probably from the south. As before, the lower city appears to have been easily captured, but again the fortress held out against every attack283. Moreover, so convinced were the Jebusites of the strength of their castle and of the ancient “everlasting gates” of its rocky ravines, that they merely manned its walls with the lame and blind (2 Sam. v. 6), deeming them amply sufficient for the defence. Their taunts roused the wrath of David, and he promised that whoso first scaled the rocky sides of the citadel and smote the Jebusite garrison, should have the post of captain-general of the forces. Thereupon the agile Joab climbed up first, and as the conqueror of the fastness of Jebus was rewarded with the post of commander-in-chief, the same office that Abner had held under Saul. Then, without loss of time, David took measures for securing his new possession. He enclosed the whole city with a wall, and connected it with the newly-captured fortress, and there took up his abode, and thus the Jebusite stronghold became the City of David.
The effect of the conquest of this celebrated fortress was very great. The news no sooner reached the court of Hiram, king of Phœnicia284, than he despatched messengers to David with offers of artificers and materials for constructing a palace, which was accordingly built, and hither David removed his wives from Hebron, and increased his already numerous household (2 Sam. v. 13–16). In other quarters the news was very differently received. The Philistines made two distinct attempts to crush the new king, of whose powers they were well aware. On the first occasion they came and encamped their numerous forces in the valley of Rephaim, or the Valley of Giants, south-west of Jerusalem, and stretching thence half-way to Bethlehem. After duly enquiring of the Lord, David marched out against them, and swept them away, as though with a “burst of waters,” whence he named the spot Baal-perazim, the Plain of Bursts or Destruction (2 Sam. v. 17–20). A second attempt of the same pertinacious foe met with no better success; they were entirely routed, and the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations (1 Chr. xiv. 17).
His next care was to consecrate his new capital with religious associations. After consultation with the chiefs of the nation, he assembled 30,000 from all Israel (2 Sam. vi. 1; 1 Chr. xiii. 1), and went to Kirjath-jearim, the Village of Forests, where the Ark seems to have remained all through the reign of Saul in the custody of the Levite Abinadab (1 Sam. vii. 1, 2). The sacred coffer was placed in a new cart drawn by oxen, and with Uzzah and Ahio the sons of Abinadab preceding it, was escorted towards Jerusalem amidst great rejoicings, and the sound of psalteries, cornets, timbrels, and cymbals. On reaching the threshing-floor of Chidon or Nachon (1 Chr. xiii. 9, margin), the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark. In a moment he fell dead (2 Sam. vi. 7). This untoward event filled David with alarm; the spot itself was henceforth known as Perez-uzzah, the breaking or disaster of Uzzah (1 Chr. xiii. 11), and it was resolved to desist from any further attempt at present to remove the sacred coffer. Accordingly it was carried aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite, that is, probably, a native of Gath-Rimmon, a town of Dan, allotted to the Kohathite Levites, of whom Obed-Edom was one, where it remained three months (2 Sam. vi. 10, 11; 1 Chr. xiii. 13).
Meanwhile David prepared a new Tabernacle at Jerusalem, and hearing that the presence of the Ark had brought a blessing to the house of Obed-Edom, he assembled the Levites, and Zadok and Abiathar the two representatives of the Aaronic family, and bade them prepare for the duty of removing the sacred symbol. Solemn purifications, neglected on the previous occasion (1 Chr. xv. 12–14), were now performed, and the Levites, arranged in orderly divisions with singers and musicians, the elders of Israel, and captains of the host, set out for the house of Obed-Edom. On this occasion the Levites, as enjoined in the Law, lifted it with the long staves passing through the rings of the ark285, and raising it upon their shoulders, commenced the joyous procession (1 Chr. xv. 15).
When they had advanced six paces (2 Sam. vii. 13), it was clear that the Lord was this time helping them, and the procession paused to offer a sacrifice of seven bullocks and seven rams in token of thankfulness for this proof of the Divine favour. Then the march was resumed amidst shouting and the joyful sounds of all kinds of music, headed by David himself in an ephod of linen, and by the singers and Levites arrayed in white vestments. As they ascended the path leading upwards to the ancient fortress of the Jebusites, the king, carried away by the associations of this great day, not only played on a stringed instrument, but accompanied the music with leaping and dancing. At length the city was reached, and the gates of the ancient fortress lifted up their heads, as the symbol of the presence of Jehovah, the King of Glory, the Lord strong and mighty, entered in (Ps. xxiv. 8, 9), and was placed within the awnings of the new Pavilion-Tent that had been prepared for it. A series of burnt-offerings and peace-offerings were then celebrated, and the king blessed the people, and dismissed them to their homes with ample presents. A single untoward incident marred this the greatest day in David’s life. As the procession passed under the windows of her apartments, Michal, the daughter of Saul, deeming David’s dance undignified, despised him in her heart (2 Sam. vi. 16), and when at the conclusion of all the gorgeous ceremonial he entered his house to bless his family (2 Sam. vi. 20), she came out to meet him, but in place of congratulations taunted him with his indecorous appearance that day. David replied with great bitterness to this untimely scoffing, and Michal had no child unto the day of her death (1 Sam. vi. 23).
The construction of his own palace and the reception of the Ark within the folds of a new Tabernacle in Zion, now awoke in the king the desire to build a more ample and permanent Temple for Jehovah. The design received the Divine approval, but it was intimated to him by Nathan the prophet, that as he was a man of war and blood (1 Chr. xxviii. 3), so peaceful a work would be better reserved for another. The refusal, however, was accompanied by a promise of the permanence of his dynasty; the mercy of Jehovah should not be taken from him as it had been from Saul; a son of his own should carry on the work, and his throne should be established for ever (2 Sam. vii. 12–17; 1 Chr. xvii. 3–15).