ii. 5, the Cretans are by some thought to be meant, which

would account for their association with the Philistines.

Gaza enjoyed among them a kind of hegemony, alike on account of its strategic position and its favourable situation for commerce, but this supremacy was of very precarious character, and brought with it no right whatever to meddle in the internal affairs of other members of the confederacy. Each of the latter had a chief of its own, a Seren,* and the office of this chief was hereditary in one case at least--Gath, for instance, where there existed a larger Canaanite element than elsewhere, and was there identified with that of “melek,” ** or king.

* The _sarnê plishtîm_ figure in the narrative of the last Philistine campaign against Saul (1 Sam. xxix. 2-4, 7, 9). Their number, five, is expressly mentioned in 1 Sam. vi. 4, 16-18, as well as the names of the towns over which they ruled.

** Achish was King of Gath (1 Sam. xxi. 10, 12, xxvii. 2), and probably Maoch before him.

The five Sarnîm assembled in council to deliberate upon common interests, and to offer sacrifices in the name of the Pentapolis. These chiefs were respectively free to make alliances, or to take the field on their own account, but in matters of common importance they acted together, and took their places each at the head of his own contingent.* Their armies were made up of regiments of skilled archers and of pikemen, to whom were added a body of charioteers made up of the princes and the nobles of the nation. The armour for all alike was the coat of scale mail and the helmet of brass; their weapons consisted of the two-edged battle-axe, the bow, the lance, and a large and heavy sword of bronze or iron.**

* Achish, for example, King of Gath, makes war alone against the pillaging tribes, owing to the intervention of David and his men, without being called to account by the other princes (1 Sam. xxvii. 2-12, xxviii. 1, 2), but as soon as an affair of moment is in contemplation--such as the war against Saul--they demand the dismissal of David, and Achish is obliged to submit to his colleagues acting together (1 Sam. xxix.).

** Philistine archers are mentioned in the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam. xxxi. 3) as well as chariots (2 Sam. i. 6). The horsemen mentioned in the same connexion are regarded by some critics as an interpolation, because they cannot bring themselves to think that the Philistines had cavalry corps in the Xth century B.C. The Philistine arms are described at length in the duel between David and Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 5 -7, 38, 39). They are in some respects like those of the Homeric heroes.

Their war tactics were probably similar to those of the Egyptians, who were unrivalled in military operations at this period throughout the whole East. Under able leadership, and in positions favourable for the operations of their chariots, the Philistines had nothing to fear from the forces which any of their foes could bring up against them. As to their maritime history, it is certain that in the earliest period, at least, of their sojourn in Syria, as well as in that before their capture by Ramses III., they were successful in sea-fights, but the memory of only one of their expeditions has come down to us: a squadron of theirs having sailed forth from Ascalon somewhere towards the end of the XIIth dynasty,* succeeded in destroying the Sidonian fleet, and pillaging Sidon itself.

* _Justinus_, xviii. 3, § 5. The memory of this has been preserved, owing to the disputes about precedence which raged in the Greek period between the Phoenician towns. The destruction of Sidon must have allowed Tyre to develop and take the first place.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Beato.

But however vigorously they may have plied the occupation of Corsairs at the outset of their career, there was, it would appear, a rapid falling off in their maritime prowess; it was on land, and as soldiers, that they displayed their bravery and gained their fame. Their geographical position, indeed, on the direct and almost only route for caravans passing between Asia and Africa, must have contributed to their success. The number of such caravans was considerable, for although Egypt had ceased to be a conquering nation on account of her feebleness at home, she was still one of the great centres of production, and the most important market of the East. A very great part of her trade with foreign countries was carried on through the mouths of the Nile, and of this commerce the Phoenicians had made themselves masters; the remainder followed the land-routes, and passed continually through the territory of the Philistines. These people were in possession of the tract of land which lay between the Mediterranean and the beginning of the southern desert, forming as it were a narrow passage, into which all the roads leading from the Nile to the Euphrates necessarily converged. The chief of these routes was that which crossed Mount Carmel, near Megiddo, and passed up the valleys of the Litâny and the Orontes. This was met at intervals by other secondary roads, such as that which came from Damascus by way of Tabor and the plain of Jezreel, or those which, starting out from the highland of Gilead, led through the fords of the Lower Jordan to Ekron and Gath respectively. The Philistines charged themselves, after the example and at the instigation of the Egyptians, with the maintenance of the great trunk road which was in their hands, and also with securing safe transit along it, as far as they could post their troops, for those who confided themselves to their care. In exchange for these good offices they exacted the same tolls which had been levied by the Canaanites before them.

In their efforts to put down brigandage, they had been brought into contact with some of the Hebrew clans after the latter had taken possession of Canaan. Judah, in its home among the mountains of the Dead Sea, had become acquainted with the diverse races which were found there, and consequently there had been frequent intermarriages between the Hebrews and these peoples. Some critics have argued from this that the chronicler had this fact in his mind when he assigned a Canaanite wife, Shuah, to the father of the tribe himself. He relates how Judah, having separated from his brethren, “turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hiram,” and that here he became acquainted with Shuah, by whom he had three sons. With Tamar, the widow of the eldest of the latter, he had accidental intercourse, and two children, Perez and Zerah, the ancestors of numerous families, were born of that union.*

* Gen. xxxviii., where there is a detailed account of Judah’s unions.

Edomites, Arabs, and Midianites were associated with this semi-Canaanite stock--for example, Kain, Caleb, Othniel, Kenaz, Shobal, Ephah, and Jerahmeel, but the Kenites took the first place among them, and played an important part in the history of the conquest of Canaan. It is related how one of their subdivisions, of which Caleb was the eponymous hero, had driven from Hebron the three sons of Anak--Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai--and had then promised his daughter Achsah in marriage to him who should capture Debir; this turned out to be his youngest brother Othniel, who captured the city, and at the same time obtained a wife. Hobab, another Kenite, who is represented to have been the brother-in-law of Moses, occupied a position to the south of Arad, in Idumsean territory.* These heterogeneous elements existed alongside each other for a long time without intermingling; they combined, however, now and again to act against a common foe, for we know that the people of Judah aided the tribe of Simeon in the reduction of the city of Zephath;** but they followed an independent course for the most part, and their isolation prevented their obtaining, for a lengthened period, any extension of territory.

* The father-in-law of Moses is called Jethro in Exod. iii. 1, iv. 19, but Raguel in Exod. ii. 18-22. Hobab is the son of Raguel, Numb. x. 29.

** Judges i. 17, where Zephath is the better reading, and not Arad, as has been suggested.

They failed, as at first, in their attempts to subjugate the province of Arad, and in their efforts to capture the fortresses which guarded the caravan routes between Ashdod and the mouth of the Jordan. It is related, however, that they overthrew Adoni-bezek, King of the Jebusites, and that they had dealt with him as he was accustomed to deal with his prisoners. “And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me.” Although Adoni-bezek had been overthrown, Jerusalem still remained independent, as did also Gibeon. Beeroth, Kirjath-Jearim, Ajalon, Gezer, and the cities of the plain, for the Israelites could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron, with which the Hebrew foot-soldiers found it difficult to deal.* This independent and isolated group was not at first, however, a subject of anxiety to the masters of the coast, and there is but a bare reference to the exploits of a certain Shamgar, son of Anath, who “smote of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad.” **

* See Josh. ix. 3-27 for an explanation of how these people were allowed afterwards to remain in a subordinate capacity among the children of Israel.

** Judges iii. 31; cf. also Judges v. 6, in which Shamgar is mentioned in the song of Deborah.

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 265 of the _Palestine Exploration Fund._

These cities had also to reckon with Ephraim, and the tribes which had thrown in their lot with her. Dan had cast his eyes upon the northern districts of the Shephelah--which were dependent upon Ekron or Gath--and also upon the semi-Phoenician port of Joppa; but these tribes did not succeed in taking possession of those districts, although they had harassed them from time to time by raids in which the children of Israel did not always come off victorious. One of their chiefs--Samson--had a great reputation among them for his bravery and bodily strength. But the details of his real prowess had been forgotten at an early period. The episodes which have been preserved deal with some of his exploits against the Philistines, and there is a certain humour in the chronicler’s account of the weapons which he employed: “with the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men;” he burned up their harvest also by letting go three hundred foxes, with torches attached to their tails, among the standing corn of the Philistines. Various events in his career are subsequently narrated; such as his adventure in the house of the harlot at Gaza, when he carried off the gate of the city and the gate-posts “to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.” By Delilah’s treachery he was finally delivered over to his enemies, who, having put out his eyes, condemned him to grind in the prison-house. On the occasion of a great festival in honour of Dagon, he was brought into the temple to amuse his captors, but while they were making merry at his expense, he took hold of the two pillars against which he was resting, and bowing “himself with all his might,” overturned them, “and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein.” *

* Some learned critics considered Samson to have been a sort of solar deity.

The tribe of Dan at length became weary of these unprofitable struggles, and determined to seek out another and more easily defensible settlement. They sent out five emissaries, therefore, to look out for a new home. While these were passing through the mountains they called upon a certain Michah in the hill-country of Ephraim and lodged there. Here they took counsel of a Levite whom Michah had made his priest, and, in answer to the question whether their journey would be prosperous, he told them to “Go in peace: before the Lord is the way wherein ye go.” Their search turned out successful, for they discovered near the sources of the Jordan the town of Laish, whose people, like the Zidonians, dwelt in security, fearing no trouble. On the report of the emissaries, Dan decided to emigrate: the warriors set out to the number of six hundred, carried off by the way the ephod of Micah and the Levite who served before it, and succeeded in capturing Laish, to which they gave the name of their tribe. “They there set up for themselves the ephod: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.” * The tribe of Dan displayed in this advanced post of peril the bravery it had shown on the frontiers of the Shephelah, and showed itself the most bellicose of the tribes of Israel.

* The history of this migration, which is given summarily in Josh. xix. 47, is, as it now stands, a blending of two accounts. The presence of a descendant of Moses as a priest in this local sanctuary probably offended the religious scruples of a copyist, who substituted Manasseh for Moses (Judges xviii. 30), but the correction was not generally accepted. [The R.V. reads “Moses” where the authorised text has “Manasseh.”--Tr.]

It bore out well its character--“Dan is a lion’s whelp that leapeth forth from Bashan” on the Hermon;* “a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider falleth backward.” ** The new position they had taken up enabled them to protect Galilee for centuries against the incursions of the Aramaeans.

* See the Blessing of Moses (Dent, xxxiii. 22).

** These are the words used in the Blessing of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 17).

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 100 of the _Palestine Exploration Fund._

Their departure, however, left the descendants of Joseph unprotected, with Benjamin as their only bulwark. Benjamin, like Dan, was one of the tribes which contained scarcely more than two or three clans, but compensated for the smallness of their numbers by their energy and tenacity of character: lying to the south of Ephraim, they had developed into a breed of hardy adventurers, skilled in handling the bow and sling, accustomed from childhood to use both hands indifferently, and always ready to set out on any expedition, not only against the Canaanites, but, if need be, against their own kinsfolk.* They had consequently aroused the hatred of both friend and foe, and we read that the remaining tribes at length decreed their destruction; a massacre ensued, from which six hundred Benjamites only escaped to continue the race.** Their territory adjoined on the south that of Jerusalem, the fortress of the Jebusites, and on the west the powerful confederation of which Gibeon was the head. It comprised some half-dozen towns--Ramah, Anathoth, Michmash, and Nob, and thus commanded both sides of the passes leading from the Shephelah into the valley of the Jordan. The Benjamites were in the habit of descending suddenly upon merchants who were making their way to or returning from Gilead, and of robbing them of their wares; sometimes they would make a raid upon the environs of Ekron and Gath, “like a wolf that ravineth:” realising the prediction of Jacob, “in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at even he shall divide the spoil.” ***

* Benjamin signifies, properly speaking, “the Southern.”

** Story of the Lévite of Ephraim (Judges xix.-xxi.). The groundwork of it contains only one historical element. The story of the Lévite is considered by some critics to be of a later date than the rest of the text.

*** He is thus characterised in the Blessing of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 27). VOL. VI. X

The Philistines never failed to make reprisals after each raid, and the Benjamites were no match for their heavily armed battalions; but the labyrinth of ravines and narrow gorges into which the Philistines had to penetrate to meet their enemy was a favourable region for guerilla warfare, in which they were no match for their opponents. Peace was never of long duration on this ill-defined borderland, and neither intercourse between one village and another, alliances, nor intermarriage between the two peoples had the effect of interrupting hostilities; even when a truce was made at one locality, the feud would be kept up at other points of contact. All details of this conflict have been lost, and we merely know that it terminated in the defeat of the house of Joseph, a number of whom were enslaved. The ancient sanctuary of Shiloh still continued to be the sacred town of the Hebrews, as it had been under the Canaanites, and the people of Ephraim kept there the ark of Jahveh-Sabaoth, “the Lord of Hosts.” * It was a chest of wood, similar in shape to the shrine which surmounted the sacred barks of the Egyptian divinities, but instead of a prophesying statue, it contained two stones on which, according to the belief of a later age, the law had been engraved.** Yearly festivals were celebrated before it, and it was consulted as an oracle by all the Israelites. Eli, the priest to whose care it was at this time consigned, had earned universal respect by the austerity of his life and by his skill in interpreting the divine oracles.***

* At the very opening of the _First Book of Samuel_ (i. 3), Shiloh is mentioned as being the sanctuary of _Jahveh- Sabaoth_, Jahveh the Lord of hosts. The tradition preserved in Josh, xviii. 1, removes the date of its establishment as far back as the earliest times of the Israelite conquest.

** The idea that the Tables of the Law were enclosed in the Ark is frequently expressed in Exodus and in subsequent books of the Hexateuch.

*** The history of Eli extends over chaps, i.-iv. of the _First Book of Samuel_; it is incorporated with that of Samuel, and treats only of the events which accompanied the destruction of the sanctuary of Shiloh by the Philistines.

His two sons, on the contrary, took advantage of his extreme age to annoy those who came up to worship, and they were even accused of improper behaviour towards the women who “served at the door of” the tabernacle. They appropriated to themselves a larger portion of the victims than they were entitled to, extracting from the caldron the meat offerings of the faithful after the sacrifice was over by means of flesh-hooks. Their misdeeds were such, that “men abhorred the offering of the Lord,” and yet the reverence for the ark was so great in the minds of the people, that they continued to have recourse to it on every occasion of national danger.* The people of Ephraim and Benjamin having been defeated once between Eben-ezer and Aphek, bore the ark in state to the battle-field, that its presence might inspire them with confidence. The Philistines were alarmed at its advent, and exclaimed, “God is come into the camp. Woe unto us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods?... Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you.” ** In response to this appeal, their troops fought so boldly that they once more gained a victory. “And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon his seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man hasted, and came and told Eli. Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see. And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to-day out of the army. And he said, How went the matter, my son? And he that brought the tidings answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phineas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy.” ***

* Sam. iv. 12-18.

** This is not mentioned in the sacred books; but certain reasons for believing this destruction to have taken place are given by Stade.

*** The Philistine garrison at Geba (Gibeah) is mentioned in 1 Sam. xiii. 3, i.

The defeat of Eben-ezer completed, at least for a time, the overthrow of the tribes of Central Canaan. The Philistines destroyed the sanctuary of Shiloh, and placed a garrison at Gibeah to keep the Benjamites in subjection, and to command the route of the Jordan;* it would even appear that they pushed their advance-posts beyond Carmel in order to keep in touch with the independent Canaanite cities such as Megiddo, Taanach, and Bethshan, and to ensure a free use of the various routes leading in the direction of Damascus, Tyre, and Coele-Syria.**

* After the victory at Gilboa, the Philistines exposed the dead bodies of Saul and his sons upon the walls of Bethshan (1 Sam. xxxi. 10, 12), which they would not have been able to do had the inhabitants not been allies or vassals. Friendly relations with Bethshan entailed almost as a matter of course some similar understanding with the cities of the plain of Jezreel.

** 1 Sam. vii. 16, 17. These verses represent, as a matter of fact, all that we know of Samuel anterior to his relations with Saul. This account seems to represent him as exercising merely a restricted influence over the territory of Benjamin and the south of Ephraim. It was not until the prophetic period that, together with Eli, he was made to figure as Judge of all Israel.

The Philistine power continued dominant for at least half a century. The Hebrew chroniclers, scandalised at the prosperity of the heathen, did their best to abridge the time of the Philistine dominion, and interspersed it with Israelitish victories. Just at this time, however, there lived a man who was able to inspire them with fresh hope. He was a priest of Bamah, Samuel, the son of Elkanah, who had acquired the reputation of being a just and wise judge in the towns of Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; “and he judged Israel in all those places, and his return was to Bamah, for there was his house... and he built there an altar unto the Lord.” To this man the whole Israelite nation attributed with pride the deliverance of their race. The sacred writings relate how his mother, the pious Hannah, had obtained his birth from Jahveh after years of childlessness, and had forthwith devoted him to the service of God. She had sent him to Shiloh at the age of three years, and there, clothed in a linen tunic and in a little robe which his mother made for him herself, he ministered before God in the presence of Eli. One night it happened, when the latter was asleep in his place, “and the lamp of God was not yet gone out, and Samuel was laid down to sleep in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, that the Lord called Samuel: and he said, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called thee not; lie down again.” Twice again the voice was heard, and at length Eli perceived that it was God who had called the child, and he bade him reply: “Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.” From thenceforward Jahveh was “with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.” Twenty years after the sad death of his master, Samuel felt that the moment had come to throw off the Philistine yoke; he exhorted the people to put away their false gods, and he assembled them at Mizpah to absolve them from their sins. The Philistines, suspicious of this concourse, which boded ill for the maintenance of their authority, arose against him. “And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering unto the Lord: and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.” The Philistines, demoralised by the thunderstorm which ensued, were overcome on the very spot where they had triumphed over the sons of Eli, and fled in disorder to their own country. “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer (the Stone of Help), saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” He next attacked the Tyrians and the Amorites, and won back from them all the territory they had conquered.* One passage, in which Samuel is not mentioned, tells us how heavily the Philistine yoke had weighed upon the people, and explains their long patience by the fact that their enemies had taken away all their weapons. “Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears;” and whoever needed to buy or repair the most ordinary agricultural implements was forced to address himself to the Philistine blacksmiths.** The very extremity of the evil worked its own cure. The fear of the Midian-ites had already been the occasion of the ephemeral rule of Jerubbaal and Abimelech; the Philistine tyranny forced first the tribes of Central and then those of Southern Canaan to unite under the leadership of one man. In face of so redoubtable an enemy and so grave a peril a greater effort was required, and the result was proportionate to their increased activity.

* This manner of retaliating against the Philistines for the disaster they had formerly inflicted on Israel, is supposed by some critics to be an addition of a later date, either belonging to the time of the prophets, or to the period when the Jews, without any king or settled government, rallied at Mizpah. According to these scholars, 1 Sam. vii. 2-14 forms part of a biography, written at a time when the foundation of the Benjamite monarchy had not as yet been attributed to Saul.

** 1 Sam. xiii. 20, 21.

The Manassite rule extended at most over two or three clans, but that of Saul and David embraced the Israelite nation.* Benjamin at that time reckoned among its most powerful chiefs a man of ancient and noble family--Saul, the son of Kish--who possessed extensive flocks and considerable property, and was noted for his personal beauty, for “there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.” ** He had already reached mature manhood, and had several children, the eldest of whom, Jonathan, was well known as a skilful and brave soldier, while Saul’s reputation was such that his kinsmen beyond Jordan had recourse to his aid as to a hero whose presence would secure victory. The Ammonites had laid siege to Jabesh-Gilead, and the town was on the point of surrendering; Saul came to their help, forced the enemy to raise the siege, and inflicted such a severe lesson upon them, that during the whole of his lifetime they did not again attempt hostilities. He was soon after proclaimed king by the Benjamites, as Jerubbaal had been raised to authority by the Manassites on the morrow of his victory.***

* The beginning of Saul’s reign, up to his meeting with David, will be found in 1 Sam. viii.-xv. We can distinguish the remains of at least two ancient narratives, which the writer of the Book of Samuel has put together in order to form a complete and continuous account. As elsewhere in this work, I have confined myself to accepting the results at which criticism has arrived, without entering into detailed discussions which do not come within the domain of history.

** 1 Sam. ix. 2. In one account he is represented as quite a young man, whose father is still in the prime of life (1 Sam. ix.), but this cannot refer to the time of the Philistine war, where we find him accompanied, at the very outset of his reign, by his son, who is already skilled in the use of weapons.

*** 1 Sam. xi. According to the text of the Septuagint, the war against the Ammonites broke out a month after Saul had been secretly anointed by Samuel; his popular proclamation did not take place till after the return from the campaign.

We learn from the sacred writings that Samuel’s influence had helped to bring about these events. It had been shown him by the divine voice that Saul was to be the chosen ruler, and he had anointed him and set him before the people as their appointed lord; the scene of this must have been either Mizpah or Gilgal.*

* One narrative appears to represent him as being only the priest or local prophet of Hamah, and depicts him as favourable to the establishment of the monarchy (1 Sam. ix. 1-27, x. 1-16); the other, however, admits that he was “judge” of all Israel, and implies that he was hostile to the choice of a king (1 Sam. viii. 1-22, x. 17, 27, xii. 1-25)

The accession of a sovereign who possessed the allegiance of all Israel could not fail to arouse the vigilance of their Philistine oppressors; Jonathan, however, anticipated their attack and captured Gibeah. The five kings at once despatched an army to revenge this loss; the main body occupied Michmash, almost opposite to the stronghold taken from them, while three bands of soldiers were dispersed over the country, ravaging as they went, with orders to attack Saul in the rear. The latter had only six hundred men, with whom he scarcely dared to face so large a force; besides which, he was separated from the enemy by the Wady Suweinît, here narrowed almost into a gorge between two precipitous rocks, and through which no body of troops could penetrate without running the risk of exposing themselves in single file to the enemy. Jonathan, however, resolved to attempt a surprise in broad daylight, accompanied only by his armour-bearer. “There was a rocky crag on the one side, and a rooky crag on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez (the Shining), and the name of the other Seneh (the Acacia). The one crag rose up on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba (Gribeah).” The two descended the side of the gorge, on the top of which they were encamped, and prepared openly to climb the opposite side. The Philistine sentries imagined they were deserters, and said as they approached: “Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armour-bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armour-bearer, Come up after me: for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armour-bearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armour-bearer slew them after him. And that first slaughter that Jonathan and his armour-bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre of land.” From Gribeah, where Saul’s troops were in ignorance of what was passing, the Benjamite sentinels could distinguish a tumult. Saul guessed that a surprise had taken place, and marched upon the enemy.

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 402 of the _Palestine Exploration Fund_.

The Philistines were ousted from their position, and pursued hotly beyond Bethel as far as Ajalon.* This constituted the actual birthday of the Israelite monarchy.

* The account of these events, separated by the parts relating to the biography of Samuel (1 Sam. xiii. 76-15a, thought by some to be of a later date), and of the breaking by Jonathan of the fast enjoined by Saul (1 Sam. xiv. 23- 45), covers 1 Sam. xiii. 3-7a, 156-23, xiv. 1-22, 46. The details appear to be strictly historical; the number of the Philistines, however, seems to be exaggerated; “30,000 chariots, and 6000 horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude “(1 Sam. xiii. 5).

Gilead, the whole house of Joseph--Ephraim and Manasseh--and Benjamin formed its nucleus, and were Saul’s strongest supporters. We do not know how far his influence extended northwards; it probably stopped short at the neighbourhood of Mount Tabor, and the Galileans either refused to submit to his authority, or acknowledged it merely in theory. In the south the clans of Judah and Simeon were not long in rallying round him, and their neighbours the Kenites, with Caleb and Jerahmeel, soon followed their example. These southerners, however, appear to have been somewhat half-hearted in their allegiance to the Benjamite king: it was not enough to have gained their adhesion--a stronger tie was needed to attach them to the rest of the nation. Saul endeavoured to get rid of the line of Canaanite cities which isolated them from Ephraim, but he failed in the effort, we know not from what cause, and his attempt produced no other result than to arouse against him the hatred of the Gibeonite inhabitants.* He did his best to watch over the security of his new subjects, and protected them against the Amalekites, who were constantly harassing them.

* The fact is made known to us by an accidental mention of it in 2 Sam. xxi. 1-11. The motive which induced Saul to take arms against the Gibeonites is immediately apparent when we realise the position occupied by Gideon between Judah and the tribes of Central Canaan.

Their king, Agag, happening to fall into his hands, he killed him, and destroyed several of their nomad bands, thus inspiring the remainder with a salutary terror.* Subsequent tradition credited him with victories gained over all the enemies of Israel--over Moab, Edom, and even the Aramaeans of Zobah--it endowed him even with the projects and conquests of David. At any rate, the constant incursions of the Philistines could not have left him much time for fighting in the north and east of his domains. Their defeat at Gibeah was by no means a decisive one, and they quickly recovered from the blow; the conflict with them lasted to the end of Saul’s lifetime, and during the whole of this period he never lost an opportunity of increasing his army.**

The monarchy was as yet in a very rudimentary state, without either the pomp or accessories usually associated with royalty in the ancient kingdoms of the East. Saul, as King of Israel, led much the same sort of life as when he was merely a Benjamite chief. He preferred to reside at Gibeah, in the house of his forefathers, with no further resources than those yielded by the domain inherited from his ancestors, together with the spoil taken in battle.***

* The part taken by Samuel in the narrative of Saul’s war against the Amalekites (1 Sam. xv.) is thought by some critics to have been introduced with a view of exalting the prophet’s office at the expense of the king and the monarchy. They regard 1 Sam. xiv. 48 as being the sole historic ground of the narrative.

** 1 Sam. xiv. 47. We may admit his successful skirmishes with Moab, but some writers maintain that the defeat of the Edomites and Aramaeans is a mere anticipation, and consider that the passage is only a reflection of 2 Sam. viii. 8, and reproduces the list of the wars of David, with the exception of the expedition against Damascus.

*** Gibeah is nowhere expressly mentioned as being the capital of Saul, but the name Gibeah of Saul which it bore shows that it must have been the royal residence; the names of the towns mentioned in the account of Saul’s pursuit of David--Naioth, Eamah, and Nob--are all near to Gibeah. It was also at Gibeah that the Gibeonites slew seven of the sons and grandsons of Saul (2 Sam. xxi. 6-9), no doubt to bring ignominy on the family of the first king in the very place in which they had governed.

All that he had, in addition to his former surroundings, were a priesthood attached to the court, and a small army entirely at his own disposal. Ahijah, a descendant of Eli, sacrificed for the king when the latter did not himself officiate; he fulfilled the office of chaplain to him in time of war, and was the mouthpiece of the divine oracles when these were consulted as to the propitious moment for attacking the enemy.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the bronze original in the Louvre.

The army consisted of a nucleus of Benjamites, recruited from the king’s clan, with the addition of any adventurers, whether Israelites or strangers, who were attracted to enlist under a popular military chief.* It comprised archers, slingers, and bands of heavily armed infantry, after the fashion of the Phoenician, bearing pikes. We can gam some idea of their appearance and equipment from the bronze statuettes of an almost contemporary period, which show us the Phoenician foot-soldiers or the barbarian mercenaries in the pay of the Phoenician cities: they wear the horizontally striped loin-cloth of the Syrians, leaving the arms and legs entirely bare, and the head is protected by a pointed or conical helmet.

* Ahijah (1 Sam. xiv. 3), son of Ahitub, great-grandson of Eli, appears to be the same as Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, who subsequently helped David (1 Sam. xxi. 1-10), and was massacred by order of Saul (1 Sam. xxii. 9-19). The scribe must have been shocked by the name Melech--that of the god Milik [Moloch]--and must have substituted Jah or Jahveh.

Saul possessed none of the iron-bound chariots which always accompanied the Qanaanite infantry; these heavy vehicles would have been entirely out of place in the mountain districts, which were the usual field of operations for the Israelite force.* We are unable to ascertain whether the king’s soldiers received any regular pay, but we know that the spoil was divided between the prince and his men, each according to his rank and in proportion to the valour he had displayed.** In cases of necessity, the whole of the tribes were assembled, and a selection was made of all those capable of bearing arms. This militia, composed mainly of a pastoral peasantry in the prime of life, capable of heroic efforts, was nevertheless ill-disciplined, liable to sudden panics, and prone to become disbanded on the slightest reverse.***

* With regard to the use of the bow among Saul’s soldiers, cf. 1 Sam. xx. 18-42, where we find the curious scene of the meeting of David and Jonathan, when the latter came out of Gibeah on the pretext of practising with bow and arrows. The accoutrement of the Hebrews is given in the passage where Saul lends his armour to David before meeting with Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 38, 39).

** Cf. the quarrel which took place between the soldiers of David about the spoil taken from the Amalekites, and the manner in which the strife was decided by David (1 Sam. xxx. 21-25)

*** Saul, for instance, assembles the people and makes a selection to attack the Philistines (1 Sam. xiii. 2, 4, 7) against the Ammonites (1 Sam. xi. 7, 8) and against the Amalekites (1 Sam. xv. 4).

Saul had the supreme command of the whole; the members of his own family served as lieutenants under him, including his son Jonathan, to whom he owed some of his most brilliant victories, together with his cousin Abner, the _sar-zaba_, who led the royal guard.* Among the men of distinguished valour who had taken service under Saul, he soon singled out David, son of Jesse, a native of Bethlehem of Judah.** David was the first Judæan hero, the typical king who served as a model to all subsequent monarchs. His elevation, like that of Saul, is traced to Samuel. The old prophet had repaired to Bethlehem ostensibly to offer a sacrifice, and after examining all the children of Jesse, he chose the youngest, and “anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David.” ***

* 1 Sam. xiv. 50, 51. There is no record of the part played by Abner during Saul’s lifetime: he begins to figure in the narrative after the battle at Gilboa under the double reign of Ish-bosheth and David.

** The name of David is a shortened form of Davdo, Dodo, “the favourite of Him,” i.e. God.

*** The intervention of the prophet occupies 1 Sam. xvi. 1- 13. Some critics have imagined that this passage was interpolated at a later date, and reflects the events which are narrated in chap. x. They say it was to show that Saul was not alone in enjoying consecration by the prophet, and hence all doubt would be set at rest as to whether David was actually that “neighbour of thine, that is better than thou,” mentioned in 1 Sam. xv. 28.

His introduction at the court of Saul is variously accounted for. According to one narrative, Saul, being possessed by an evil spirit, fell at times into a profound melancholy, from which he could be aroused only by the playing of a harp. On learning that David was skilled in this instrument, he begged Jesse to send him his son, and the lad soon won the king’s affection. As often as the illness came upon him, David took his harp, and “Saul was refreshed, and the evil spirit departed from him.” * Another account relates that he entered on his soldierly career by killing with his sling Goliath of Gath,** who had challenged the bravest Israelites to combat; though elsewhere the death of Goliath is attributed to Elhanan of Bethlehem,*** one of the “mighty men of valour,” who specially distinguished himself in the wars against the Philistines. David had, however, no need to take to himself the brave deeds of others; at Ephes-dammîm, in company with Eleazar, the son of Dodai, and Shammah, the son of Agu, he had posted himself in a field of lentils, and the three warriors had kept the Philistines at bay till their discomfited Israelite comrades had had time to rally.****

* 1 Sam. xvi. 14-23. This narrative is directly connected with 1 Sam. xiv. 52, where we are told that when “Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him.”

** 1 Sam. xvii., xviii. 1-5. According to some writers, this second version, the best known of the two, is a development at a later period of the tradition preserved in 2 Sam. xxi. 19, where the victory of Elhanan over Goliath is recorded.

*** 2 Sam. xxi. 19, where the duel of Goliath and Elhanan is placed in the reign of David, during the combat at Gob. Some critics think that the writer of Chronicles, recognising the difficulty presented by this passage, changed the epithet Bethlehemite, which qualified the name of Elhanan, into Lahmi, the name of Goliath’s brother (1 Citron, xx. 5). Say ce thought to get over the difficulty by supposing that Elhanan was David’s first name; but Elhanan is the son of Jair, and not the son of Jesse.

**** The combat of Paz-Dammîm or Ephes-Dammîm is mentioned in 1 Sam. xvii. 1; the exploit of David and his two comrades, 2 Sam: xxiii. 9-12 (cf. 1 Chron. xi, 12-14, which slightly varies from 2 Sam. xxiii. 9-12).

Saul entrusted him with several difficult undertakings, in all of which he acquitted himself with honour. On his return from one of them, the women of the villages came out to meet him, singing and dancing to the sound of timbrels, the refrain of their song being: “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” The king concealed the jealousy which this simple expression of joy excited within him, but it found vent at the next outbreak of his illness, and he attempted to kill David with a spear, though soon after he endeavoured to make amends for his action by giving him his second daughter Michal in marriage.* This did not prevent the king from again attempting David’s life, either in a real or simulated fit of madness; but not being successful, he despatched a body of men to waylay him. According to one account it was Michal who helped her husband to escape,** while another attributes the saving of his life to Jonathan. This prince had already brought about one reconciliation between his father and David, and had spared no pains to reinstall him in the royal favour, but his efforts merely aroused the king’s suspicion against himself. Saul imagined that a conspiracy existed for the purpose of dethroning him, and of replacing him by his son; Jonathan, knowing that his life also was threatened, at length renounced the attempt, and David and his followers withdrew from court.

* The account of the first disagreement between Saul and David, and with regard to the marriage of David with Michal, is given in 1 Sam. xviii. 6-16, 20-29, and presents every appearance of authenticity. Verses 17-19, mentioning a project of union between David and Saul’s eldest daughter, Merab, has at some time been interpolated; it is not given in the LXX., either because it was not in the Hebrew version they had before them, or because they suppressed it owing to the motive appearing to them insufficient.

** 1 Sam. xix. 11-17. Many critics regard this passage as an interpolation.

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 430 of the _Palestine Exploration Fund._

He was hospitably received by a descendant of Eli,* Ahimelech the priest, at Nob, and wandered about in the neighbourhood of Adullam, hiding himself in the wooded valleys of Khereth, in the heart of Judah. He retained the sympathies of many of the Benjamites, more than one of whom doubted whether it would not be to their advantage to transfer their allegiance from their aged king to this more youthful hero.

* 1 Sam. xxi. 8, 9 adds that he took as a weapon the sword of Goliath which was laid up in the sanctuary at Nob.

Saul got news of their defection, and one day when he was sitting, spear in hand, under the tamarisk at Gibeah, he indignantly upbraided his servants, and pointed out to them the folly of their plans. “Hear, now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards? will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds?” Ahimelech was selected as the victim of the king’s anger: denounced by Doeg, Saul’s steward, he was put to death, and all his family, with the exception of Abiathar, one of his sons, perished with him.* As soon as it became known that David held the hill-country, a crowd of adventurous spirits flocked to place themselves under his leadership, anticipating, no doubt, that spoil would not be lacking with so brave a chief, and he soon found himself at the head of a small army, with Abiathar as priest, and the ephod, rescued from Nob, in his possession.**

* 1 Sam. xix.-xxii., where, according to some critics, two contradictory versions have been blended together at a late period. The most probable version is given in 1 Sam, xix. 8- 10 [11-18a], xxi. 1-7 [8-10], xxii., and is that which I have followed by preference; the other version, according to these writers, attributes too important a rôle to Jonathan, and relates at length the efforts he made to reconcile his father and his friend (1 Sam. xviii. 30, xix. 1-7, xx.). It is thought, from the confusion apparent in this part of the narrative, that a record of the real motives which provoked a rupture between the king and his son-in-law has not been preserved.

** 1 Sam. xxii. 20-23, xxiii. 6. For the use of the ephod by Abiathar for oracular purposes, cf. 1 Sam. xxiii. 9-12, xxx. 7, 8; the inquiry in 1 Sam. xxiii. 2-4 probably belongs to the same series, although neither Abiathar nor the ephod is mentioned.

The country was favourable for their operations; it was a perfect labyrinth of deep ravines, communicating with each other by narrow passes or by paths winding along the edges of precipices. Isolated rocks, accessible only by rugged ascents, defied assault, while extensive caves offered a safe hiding-place to those who were familiar with their windings. One day the little band descended to the rescue of Keilah, which they succeeded in wresting from the Philistines, but no sooner did they learn that Saul was on his way to meet them than they took refuge in the south of Judah, in the neighbourhood of Ziph and Maôn, between the mountains and the Dead Sea.*

* 1 Sam. xxiii. 1-13; an episode acknowledged to be historical by nearly-all modern critics.

Drawn by Boudior, from photograph No. 197 of the _Palestine Exploration Fund._ The heights visible in the distance are the mountains of Moab, beyond the Dead Sea.

Saul already irritated by his rival’s successes, was still more galled by being always on the point of capturing him, and yet always seeing him slip from his grasp. On one afternoon, when the king had retired into a cave for his siesta, he found himself at the mercy of his adversary; the latter, however, respected the sleep of his royal master, and contented himself with cutting a piece off his mantle.* On another occasion David, in company with Abishai and Ahimelech the Hittite, took a lance and a pitcher of water from the king’s bedside.** The inhabitants of the country were not all equally loyal to David’s cause; those of Ziph, whose meagre resources were taxed to support his followers, plotted to deliver him up to the king,*** while Nabal of Maôn roughly refused him food. Abigail atoned for her husband’s churlishness by a speedy submission; she collected a supply of provisions, and brought it herself to the wanderers. David was as much disarmed by her tact as by her beauty, and when she was left a widow he married her. This union insured the support of the Calebite clan, the most powerful in that part of the country, and policy as well as gratitude no doubt suggested the alliance.

* 1 Sam, xxiv. Thought by some writers to be of much later date.

** 1 Sam. xxvi. 4-25.

Skirmishes were not as frequent between the king’s troops and the outlaws as we might at first be inclined to believe, but if at times there was a truce to hostilities, they never actually ceased, and the position became intolerable. Encamped between his kinsman and the Philistines, David found himself unable to resist either party except by making friends with the other. An incursion of the Philistines near Maôn saved David from the king, but when Saul had repulsed it, David had no choice but to throw himself into the arms of Achish, King of Gath, of whom he craved permission to settle as his vassal at Ziklag, on condition of David’s defending the frontier against the Bedawin.*

* 1 Sam. xxvii. The earlier part of this chapter (vers. 1-6) is strictly historical. Some critics take vers. 8-12 to be of later date, and pretend that they were inserted to show the cleverness of David, and to deride the credulity of the King of Gath.

Saul did not deem it advisable to try and dislodge him from this retreat. Peace having been re-established in Judah, the king turned northward and occupied the heights which bound the plain of Jezreel to the east; it is possible that he contemplated pushing further afield, and rallying round him those northern tribes who had hitherto never acknowledged his authority. He may, on the other hand, have desired merely to lay hands on the Syrian highways, and divert to his own profit the resources brought by the caravans which plied along them. The Philistines, who had been nearly ruined by the loss of the right to demand toll of these merchants, assembled the contingents of their five principalities, among them being the Hebrews of David, who formed the personal guard of Achish. The four other princes objected to the presence of these strangers in their midst, and forced Achish to dismiss them. David returned to Ziklag, to find ruin and desolation everywhere. The Amalekites had taken advantage of the departure of the Hebrews to revenge themselves once for all for David’s former raids on them, and they had burnt the town, carrying off the women and flocks. David at once set out on their track, overtook them just beyond the torrent of Besor, and rescued from them, not only his own belongings, but all the booty they had collected by the way in the southern provinces of Caleb, in Judah, and in the Cherethite plain.

He distributed part of this spoil among those cities of Judah which had shown hospitality to himself and his men, for instance, to Jattir, Aroer, Eshtemoa, Hormah, and Hebron.* While he thus kept up friendly relations with those who might otherwise have been tempted to forget him, Saul was making his last supreme effort against the Philistines, but only ito meet with failure. He had been successful in repulsing them as long as he kept to the mountain districts, where the courage of his troops made up for their lack of numbers and the inferiority of their arms; but he was imprudent enough to take up a position on the hillsides of Gilboa, whose gentle slopes offered no hindrances to the operations of the heavy Philistine battalions. They attacked the Israelites from the Shunem side, and swept all before them. Jonathan perished in the conflict, together with his two brothers, Malchi-shua and Abinadab; Saul, who was wounded by an arrow, begged his armour-bearer to take his life, but, on his persistently refusing, the king killed himself with his own sword. The victorious Philistines cut off his head and those of his sons, and placed their armour in the temple of Ashtoreth,** while their bodies, thus despoiled, were hung up outside the walls of Bethshan, whose Canaanite inhabitants had made common cause with the Philistines against Israel.

* 1 Sam. xxviii. 1, 2, xxix., xxx. The torrent of Besor is the present Wady Esh-Sheriah, which runs to the south of Gaza.

** The text of 1 Sam. xxxi. 10 says, in a vague manner, “in the house of the Ashtaroth” (in the plural), which is corrected, somewhat arbitrarily, in 1 Chron. x. 10 iato “in the house of Dagon” (B.V.); it is possible that it was the temple at Gaza, Gaza being the chief of the Philistine towns.

The people of Jabesh-Gilead, who had never forgotten how Saul had saved them from the Ammonites, hearing the news, marched all night, rescued the mutilated remains, and brought them back to their own town, where they burned them, and buried the charred bones under a tamarisk, fasting meanwhile seven days as a sign of mourning.*

* 1 Sam. xxxi. It would seem that there were two narratives describing this war: in one, the Philistines encamped at Shunem, and Saul occupied Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. xxviii. 4); in the other, the Philistines encamped at Aphek, and the Israelites “by the fountain which is in Jezreel” (1 Sam. xxix. 1). The first of these accounts is connected with the episode of the witch of Endor, the second with the sending away of David by Achish. The final catastrophe is in both narratives placed on Mount Gilboa and Stade has endeavoured to reconcile the two accounts by admitting that the battle was fought between Aphek and “the fountain,” but that the final scene took place on the slopes of Gilboa. There are even two versions of the battle, one in 1 Sam. xxxi. and the other in 2 Sam. i. 6-10, where Saul does not kill himself, but begs an Amalekite to slay him; many critics reject the second version.

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 79 of the _Palestine Exploration Fund._

David afterwards disinterred these relics, and laid them in the burying-place of the family of Kish at Zela, in Benjamin. The tragic end of their king made a profound impression on the people. We read that, before entering on his last battle, Saul was given over to gloomy forebodings: he had sought counsel of Jahveh, but God “answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” The aged Samuel had passed away at Ramah, and had apparently never seen the king after the flight of David;* Saul now bethought himself of the prophet in his despair, and sought to recall him from the tomb to obtain his counsel.

* 1 Sam. xxv. 1, repeated 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, with a mention of the measures taken by Saul against the wizards and fortune-tellers.

The king had banished from the land all wizards and fortune-tellers, but his servants brought him word that at Endor there still remained a woman who could call up the dead. Saul disguised himself, and, accompanied by two of his retainers, went to find her; he succeeded in overcoming her fear of punishment, and persuaded her to make the evocation. “Whom shall I bring up unto thee?”--“Bring up Samuel.”--And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice, saying, “Why hast thou deceived me, for thou art Saul?” And the king said unto her, “Be not afraid, for what sawest thou?”--“I saw gods ascending out of the earth.”--“What form is he of?”--“An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle.” Saul immediately recognised Samuel, and prostrated himself with his face to the ground before him. The prophet, as inflexible after death as in his lifetime, had no words of comfort for the God-forsaken man who had troubled his repose. “The Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David, because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord,... and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. The Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.” *

* 1 Sam. xxviii. 5-25. There is no reason why this scene should not be historical; it was natural that Saul, like many an ancient general in similar circumstances, should seek to know the future by means of the occult sciences then in vogue. Some critics think that certain details of the evocation--as, for instance, the words attributed to Samuel --are of a later date.

We learn, also, how David, at Ziklag, on hearing the news of the disaster, had broken into weeping, and had composed a lament, full of beauty, known as the “Song of the Bow,” which the people of Judah committed to memory in their childhood. “Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places! How are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph! Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew nor rain upon you, neither fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil! From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death they were not divided.” *

* 2 Sam. i. 17-27 (R.V.). This elegy is described as a quotation from Jasher, the “Book of the Upright.” Many modern writers attribute its authorship to David himself; others reject this view; all agree in regarding it as extremely ancient. The title, “Song of the Bow,” is based on the possibly corrupt text of ver. 18.

The Philistines occupied in force the plain of Jezreel and the pass which leads from it into the lowlands of Bethshan: the Israelites abandoned the villages which they had occupied in these districts, and the gap between the Hebrews of the north and those of the centre grew wider. The remnants of Saul’s army sought shelter on the eastern bank of the Jordan, but found no leader to reorganise them. The reverse sustained by the Israelitish champion seemed, moreover, to prove the futility of trying to make a stand against the invader, and even the useless-ness of the monarchy itself: why, they might have asked, burthen ourselves with a master, and patiently bear with his exactions, if, when put to the test, he fails to discharge the duties for the performance of which he was chosen? And yet the advantages of a stable form of government had been so manifest during the reign of Saul, that it never for a moment occurred to his former subjects to revert to patriarchal institutions: the question which troubled them was not whether they were to have a king, but rather who was to fill the post. Saul had left a considerable number of descendants behind him.* From these, Abner, the ablest of his captains, chose Ishbaal, and set him on the throne to reign under his guidance.**

* We know that he had three sons by his wife Ahinoam-- Jonathan, Ishbaal, and Malchi-shua; and two daughters, Merab and Michal (1 Sam. xiv. 49, 50, where “Ishvi” should be read “Ishbaal”). Jonathan left at least one son, Meribbaal (1 Chron. viii. 34, ix. 40, called Mephibosheth in 2 Sam. xxi. 7), and Merab had five sons by Adriel (2 Sam. xxi. 8). One of Saul’s concubines, Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had borne him two sons, Armoni and Meribbaal (2 Sam. xxi. 8, where the name Meribbaal is changed into Mephibosheth); Abinadab, who fell with him in the fight at Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. xxxi. 2), whose mother’s name is not mentioned, was another son.

** Ishbaal was still a child when his father died: had he been old enough to bear arms, he would have taken a part in the battle of Gilboa with his brothers.. The expressions used in the account of his elevation to the throne prove that he was a minor (2 Sam. ii. 8, 9); the statement that he was forty years old when he began to reign would seem, therefore, to be an error (ii. 10).

Gibeah was too close to the frontier to be a safe residence for a sovereign whose position was still insecure; Abner therefore installed Ishbaal at Mahanaim, in the heart of the country of Gilead. The house of Jacob, including the tribe of Benjamin, acknowledged him as king, but Judah held aloof. It had adopted the same policy at the beginning of the previous reign, yet its earlier isolation had not prevented it from afterwards throwing in its lot with the rest of the nation. But at that time no leader had come forward from its own ranks who was worthy to be reckoned among the mighty men of Israel; now, on the contrary, it had on its frontier a bold and resolute leader of its own race. David lost no time in stepping into the place of those whose loss he had bewailed. Their sudden removal, while it left him without a peer among his own people, exposed him to the suspicion and underground machinations of his foreign protectors; he therefore quitted them and withdrew to Hebron, where his fellow-countrymen hastened to proclaim him king.* From that time onwards the tendency of the Hebrew race was to drift apart into two distinct bodies; one of them, the house of Joseph, which called itself by the name of Israel, took up its position in the north, on the banks of the Jordan; the other, which is described as the house of Judah, in the south, between the Dead Sea and the Shephelah. Abner endeavoured to suppress the rival kingdom in its infancy: he brought Ishbaal to Gibeah and proposed to Joab, who was in command of David’s army, that the conflict should be decided by the somewhat novel expedient of pitting twelve of the house of Judah against an equal number of the house of Benjamin. The champions of Judah are said to have won the day, but the opposing forces did not abide by the result, and the struggle still continued.**

* 2 Sam. ii. 1--11. Very probably Abner recognised the Philistine suzerainty as David had done, for the sake of peace; at any rate, we find no mention in Holy Writ of a war between Ishbaal and the Philistines.

** 2 Sam. ii. 12-32, iii. 1.

An intrigue in the harem furnished a solution of the difficulty. Saul had raised one of his wives of the second rank, named Eizpah, to the post of favourite. Abner became enamoured of her and took her. This was an insult to the royal house, and amounted to an act of open usurpation: the wives of a sovereign could not legally belong to any but his successor, and for any one to treat them as Abner had treated Rizpah, was equivalent to his declaring himself the equal, and in a sense the rival, of his master. Ishbaal keenly resented his minister’s conduct, and openly insulted him. Abner made terms with David, won the northern tribes, including that of Benjamin, over to his side, and when what seemed a propitious moment had arrived, made his way to Hebron with an escort of twenty men. He was favourably received, and all kinds of promises were made him; but when he was about to depart again in order to complete the negotiations with the disaffected elders, Joab, returning from an expedition, led him aside into a gateway and slew him. David gave him solemn burial, and composed a lament on the occasion, of which four verses have come down to us: having thus paid tribute to the virtues of the deceased general, he lost no time in taking further precautions to secure his power. The unfortunate king Ishbaal, deserted by every one, was assassinated by two of his officers as he slept in the heat of the day, and his head was carried to Hebron: David again poured forth lamentations, and ordered the traitors to be killed. There was now no obstacle between him and the throne: the elders of the people met him at Hebron, poured oil upon his head, and anointed him king over all the provinces which had obeyed the rule of Saul in Gilead--Ephraim and Benjamin as well as Judah.*

* 2 Sam. v. 1-3; in 1 Ghron. xi. 1-3, xii. 23-40, we find further details beyond those given in the Book of Samuel; it seems probable, however, that the northern tribes may not have recognised David’s sovereignty at this time.

As long as Ishbaal lived, and his dissensions with Judah assured their supremacy, the Philistines were content to suspend hostilities: the news of his death, and of the union effected between Israel and Judah, soon roused them from this state of quiescence. As prince of the house of Caleb and vassal of the lord of Grath, David had not been an object of any serious apprehension to them; but in his new character, as master of the dominions of Saul, David became at once a dangerous rival, whom they must overthrow without delay, unless they were willing to risk being ere long overthrown by him. They therefore made an attack on Bethlehem with the choicest of their forces, and entrenched themselves there, with the Canaanite city of Jebus as their base, so as to separate Judah entirely from Benjamin, and cut off the little army quartered round Hebron from the reinforcements which the central tribes would otherwise have sent to its aid.* This move was carried out so quickly that David found himself practically isolated from the rest of his kingdom, and had no course left open but to shut himself up in Adullam, with his ordinary guard and the Judsean levies.**

* The history of this war is given in 2 Sam. v. 17-25, where the text shows signs of having been much condensed. It is preceded by the account of the capture of Jerusalem, which some critics would like to transfer to chap, vi., following ver. 1 which leads up to it. The events which followed are self-explanatory, if we assume, as I have done in the text, that the Philistines wished to detach Judah from Israel: at first (2 Sam. v. 17-21) David endeavours to release himself and effect a juncture with Israel, as is proved by the relative positions assigned to the two opposing armies, the Philistines at Bethlehem, David in the cave of Adullam; afterwards (2 Sam. v. 22-25) David has shaken himself free, has rejoined Israel, and is carrying on the struggle between Gibeah and Gezer. The incidents recounted in 2 Sam. xxi. 15- 22, xxiii. 13-19, seem to refer almost exclusively to the earlier part of the war, at the time when the Hebrews were hemmed in in the neighbourhood of Adullam.

** The passage in 2 Sam. v. 17 simply states that David “went down to the hold,” and gives no further details. This expression, following as it does the account of the taking of Jerusalem, would seem to refer to this town itself, and Renan has thus interpreted it. It really refers to Adullam, as is shown by the passage in 2 Sam. xxiii. 13-17. 1 2 Sam. xxi. 15-17.

The whole district round about is intersected by a network of winding streams, and abounds in rocky gorges, where a few determined men could successfully hold their ground against the onset of a much more numerous body of troops. The caves afford, as we know, almost impregnable refuges: David had often hidden himself in them in the days when he fled before Saul, and now his soldiers profited by the knowledge he possessed of them to elude the attacks of the Philistines. He began a sort of guerilla warfare, in the conduct of which he seems to have been without a rival, and harassed in endless skirmishes his more heavily equipped adversaries. He did not spare himself, and freely risked his own life; but he was of small stature and not very powerful, so that his spirit often outran his strength. On one occasion, when he had advanced too far into the fray and was weary with striking, he ran great peril of being killed by a gigantic Philistine: with difficulty Abishai succeeded in rescuing him unharmed from the dangerous position into which he had ventured, and for the future he was not allowed to run such risks on the field of battle. On another occasion, when lying in the cave of Adullam, he began to feel a longing for the cool waters of Bethlehem, and asked who would go down and fetch him a draught from the well by the gates of the town. Three of his mighty men, Joshebbasshebeth, Eleazar, and Shammah, broke through the host of the Philistines and succeeded in bringing it; but he refused to drink the few drops they had brought, and poured them out as a libation to Jehovah, saying, “Shall I drink the blood of men that went in jeopardy of their lives?” * Duels between the bravest and stoutest champions of the two hosts were of frequent occurrence. It was in an encounter of this kind that Elhanan the Bethlehemite [or David] slew the giant Goliath at Gob. At length David succeeded in breaking his way through the enemies’ lines in the valley of Kephaîm, thus forcing open the road to the north. Here he probably fell in with the Israelitish contingent, and, thus reinforced, was at last in a position to give battle in the open: he was again successful, and, routing his foes, pursued them from Gibeon to Gezer.** None of his victories, however, was of a sufficiently decisive character to bring the struggle to an end: it dragged on year after year, and when at last it did terminate, there was no question on either side of submission or of tribute:*** the Hebrews completely regained their independence, but the Philistines do not seem to have lost any portion of their domain, and apparently retained possession of all that they had previously held.

* 2 Sam. xxiii. 13-17; cf. 1 Ghron. xi. 15-19. Popular tradition furnishes many incidents of a similar type; cf. Alexander in the desert of Gedrosia, Godfrey de Bouillon in Asia Minor, etc.

** The Hebrew text gives “from Geba [or Gibeah] to Gezer” (2 Sam. v. 25); the Septuagint, “from Gibeon to Gezer.” This latter reading [which is that of 1 Chron. xiv. 16.--Tr.] is more in accordance with the geographical facts, and I have therefore adopted it. Jahveh had shown by a continual rustling in the leaves of the mulberry trees that He was on David’s side.

*** In 2 Sam. viii. 1 we are told that David humiliated the Philistines, and took “the bridle of the mother city” out of their hands, or, in other words, destroyed the supremacy which they had exercised over Israel; he probably did no more than this, and failed to secure any part of their territory. The passage in 1 Chron. xviii. 1, which attributes to him the conquest of Gath and its dependencies, is probably an amplification of the somewhat obscure wording employed in 2 Sam. viii. 1.

But though they suffered no loss of territory, their position was in reality much inferior to what it was before. Their control of the plain of Jezreel was lost to them for ever, and with it the revenue which they had levied from passing caravans: the Hebrews transferred to themselves this right of their former masters, and were so much the richer at their expense. To the five cities this was a more damaging blow than twenty reverses would have been to Benjamin or Judah. The military spirit had not died out among the Philistines, and they were still capable of any action which did not require sustained effort; but lack of resources prevented them from entering on a campaign of any length, and any chance they may at one time have had of exercising a dominant influence in the affairs of Southern Syria had passed away. Under the restraining hand of Egypt they returned to the rank of a second-rate power, just strong enough to inspire its neighbours with respect, but too weak to extend its territory by annexing that of others. Though they might still, at times, give David trouble by contesting at intervals the possession of some outlying citadel, or by making an occasional raid on one of the districts which lay close to the frontier, they were no longer a permanent menace to the continued existence of his kingdom.

But was Judah strong enough to take their place, and set up in Southern Syria a sovereign state, around which the whole fighting material of the country might range itself with confidence? The incidents of the last war had clearly shown the disadvantages of its isolated position in regard to the bulk of the nation. The gap between Ekron and the Jordan, which separated it from Ephraim and Manasseh, had, at all costs, to be filled up, if a repetition of the manouvre which so nearly cost David his throne at Adullam were to be avoided. It is true that the Gibeonites and their allies acknowledged the sovereignty of Ephraim, and formed a sort of connecting link between the tribes, but it was impossible to rely on their fidelity so long as they were exposed to the attacks of the Jebusites in their rear: as soon therefore as David found he had nothing more to fear from the Philistines, he turned his attention to Jerusalem.* This city stood on a dry and sterile limestone spur, separated on three sides from the surrounding hills by two valleys of unequal length. That of the Kedron, on the east, begins as a simple depression, but gradually becomes deeper and narrower as it extends towards the south. About a mile and a half from its commencement it is nothing more than a deep gorge, shut in by precipitous rocks, which for some days after the winter rains is turned into the bed of a torrent.**

* The name Jerusalem occurs under the form Ursalîmmu, or Urusalîm, in the Tel el-Amarna tablets. Sion was the name of the citadel preserved by the Israelites after the capture of the place, and applied by them to the part of the city which contained the royal palace, and subsequently to the town itself.

** The Kedron is called a nalial (2 Sam. xv. 23; 1 Kings ii. 37; Jer. xxxi. 40), i.e. a torrent which runs dry during the summer; in winter it was termed a brook. Excavations show that the fall diminishes at the foot of the ancient walls, and that the bottom of the valley has risen nearly twelve yards.

During the remainder of the year a number of springs, which well up at the bottom of the valley, furnish an unfailing supply of water to the inhabitants of Gibon,* Siloam,** and Eôgel.*** The valley widens out again near En-Kôgel, and affords a channel to the Wady of the Children of Hinnôm, which bounds the plateau on the west. The intermediate space has for a long time been nothing more than an undulating plain, at present covered by the houses of modern Jerusalem. In ancient times it was traversed by a depression in the ground, since filled up, which ran almost parallel with the Kedron, and joined it near the Pool of Siloam.**** The ancient city of the Jebusites stood on the summit of the headland which rises between these two valleys, the town of Jebus itself being at the extremity, while the Millo lay farther to the north on the hill of Sion, behind a ravine which ran down at right angles into the valley of the Hedron.

* Now, possibly, the “Fountain of the Virgin,” but its identity is not certain.

** These are the springs which feed the group of reservoirs now known as the Pool of Siloam. The name “Siloam” occurs only in Neh. iii. 15, but is undoubtedly more ancient.

*** En-Rôgel, the “Traveller’s Well,” is now called the “Well of Job.”

**** This valley, which is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament, was called, in the time of Josephus, the Tyropoon, or Cheesemakers’Quarter. Its true position, which had been only suspected up to the middle of the present century, was determined with certainty by means of the excavations carried out by the English and Germans. The bottom of the valley was found at a depth of from forty to sixty feet below the present surface.

An unfortified suburb had gradually grown up on the lower ground to the west, and was connected by a stairway cut in the rock* with the upper city. This latter was surrounded by ramparts with turrets, like those of the Canaanitish citadels which we constantly find depicted on the Egyptian monuments. Its natural advantages and efficient garrison had so far enabled it to repel all the attacks of its enemies.

* This is the Ophel of the Hebrew text.

When David appeared with his troops, the inhabitants ridiculed his presumption, and were good enough to warn him of the hopelessness of his enterprise: a garrison composed of the halt and the blind, without an able-bodied man amongst them, would, they declared, be able successfully to resist him. The king, stung by their mockery, made a promise to his “mighty men” that the first of them to scale the walls should be made chief and captain of his host. We often find that impregnable cities owe their downfall to negligence on the part of their defenders: these concentrate their whole attention on the few vulnerable points, and give but scanty care to those which are regarded as inaccessible.* Jerusalem proved to be no exception to this rule; Joab carried it by a sudden assault, and received as his reward the best part of the territory which he had won by his valour.**

* Cf. the capture of Sardis by Cyrus (Herodotus) and by Antiochus III. (Polybius), as also the taking of the Capitol by the Gauls.

** The account of the capture of Jerusalem is given in 2 Sam. v. 6-9, where the text is possibly corrupt, with interpolated glosses, especially in ver. 8; David’s reply to the mockery of the Jebusites is difficult to understand. 1 Citron, xi. 4-8 gives a more correct text, but one less complete in so far as the portions parallel with 2 Sam. v. 6-9 are concerned; the details in regard to Joab are undoubtedly historical, but we do not find them in the Book of Samuel.

In attacking Jerusalem, David’s first idea was probably to rid himself of one of the more troublesome obstacles which served to separate one-half of his people from the other; but once he had set foot in the place, he was not slow to perceive its advantages, and determined to make it his residence. Hebron had sufficed so long as his power extended over Caleb and Judah only. Situated as it was in the heart of the mountains, and in the wealthiest part of the province in which it stood, it seemed the natural centre to which the Kenites and men of Judah must gravitate, and the point at which they might most readily be moulded into a nation; it was, however, too far to the south to offer a convenient rallying-point for a ruler who wished to bring the Hebrew communities scattered about on both banks of the Jordan under the sway of a common sceptre. Jerusalem, on the other hand, was close to the crossing point of the roads which lead from the Sinaitic desert into Syria, and from the Shephelah to the land of Gilead; it commanded nearly the whole domain of Israel and the ring of hostile races by which it was encircled. From this lofty eyrie, David, with Judah behind him, could either swoop down upon Moab, whose mountains shut him out from a view of the Dead Sea, or make a sudden descent on the seaboard, by way of Bethhoron, at the least sign of disturbance among the Philistines, or could push straight on across Mount Ephraim into Galilee. Issachar, Naphtali, Asher, Dan, and Zebulun were, perhaps, a little too far from the seat of government; but they were secondary tribes, incapable of any independent action, who obeyed without repugnance, but also without enthusiasm, the soldier-king able to protect them from external foes. The future master of Israel would be he who maintained his hold on the posterity of Judah and of Joseph, and David could not hope to find a more suitable place than Jerusalem from which to watch over the two ruling houses at one and the same time.

The lower part of the town he gave up to the original inhabitants,* the upper he filled with Benjamites and men of Judah;** he built or restored a royal palace on Mount Sion, in which he lived surrounded by his warriors and his family.*** One thing only was lacking--a temple for his God. Jerubbaal had had a sanctuary at Ophrah, and Saul had secured the services of Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh: David was no longer satisfied with the ephod which had been the channel of many wise counsels during his years of adversity and his struggles against the Philistines. He longed for some still more sacred object with which to identify the fortunes of his people, and by which he might raise the newly gained prestige of his capital. It so happened that the ark of the Lord, the ancient safeguard of Ephraim, had been lying since the battle of Eben-ezer not far away, without a fixed abode or regular worshippers.****

* Judges i. 21; cf. Zech. xi. 7, where Ekron in its decadence is likened to the Jebusite vassal of Judah.

** Jerusalem is sometimes assigned to Benjamin (Judges i. 21), sometimes to Judah (Josh. xv. 63). Judah alone is right.

*** 2 Sam. v. 9, and the parallel passage in 1 Chron. xi. 7, 8.

**** The account of the events which followed the battle of Eben-ezer up to its arrival in the house of Abinadab, is taken from the history of the ark, referred to on pp. 306, 307, supra. It is given in 1 Sam. v., vi., vii. 1, where it forms an exceedingly characteristic whole, composed, it may be, of two separate versions thrown into one; the passage in 1 Sam. vi. 15, where the Lévites receive the ark, is supposed by some to be interpolated.

The reason why it had not brought victory on that occasion, was that God’s anger had been stirred at the misdeeds committed in His name by the sons of Eli, and desired to punish His people; true, it had been preserved from profanation, and the miracles which took place in its neighbourhood proved that it was still the seat of a supernatural power.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch published by Schick and Oldfield Thomas.

At first the Philistines had, according to their custom, shut it up in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod. On the morrow when the priests entered the sanctuary, they found the statue of their god prostrate in front of it, his fish-like body overthrown, and his head and hands scattered on the floor;* at the same time a plague of malignant tumours broke out among the people, and thousands of mice overran their houses. The inhabitants of Ashdod made haste to transfer it on to Ekron: it thus went the round of the five cities, its arrival being in each case accompanied by the same disasters. The soothsayers, being consulted at the end of seven months, ordered that solemn sacrifices should be offered up, and the ark restored to its rightful worshippers, accompanied by expiatory offerings of five golden mice and five golden tumours, one for each of the five repentant cities.**

* The statue here referred to is evidently similar to those of the Chaldæan gods and genii, in which Dagon is represented as a man with his back and head enveloped in a fish as in a cloak.

** In the Oustinoff collection at Jaffa, there is a roughly shaped image of a mouse, cut out of a piece of white metal, and perhaps obtained from the ruins of Gaza; it would seem to be an ex-voto of the same kind as that referred to in the Hebrew text, but it is of doubtful authenticity.

The ark was placed on a new cart, and two milch cows with their calves drew it, lowing all the way, without guidance from any man, to the field of a certain Joshua at Bethshemesh. The inhabitants welcomed it with great joy, but their curiosity overcame their reverence, and they looked within the shrine. Jehovah, being angered thereat, smote seventy men of them, and the warriors made haste to bring the ark to Kirjath-jearim, where it remained for a long time, in the house of Abinadab on the hill, under charge of his son Eleazar.* Kirjath-jearim is only about two leagues from Jerusalem. David himself went thither, and setting “the ark of God upon a new cart,” brought it away.* Two attendants, called Uzzah and Ahio, drove the new cart, “and David and all Israel played before God with all their might: even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.” An accident leading to serious consequences brought the procession to a standstill; the oxen stumbled, and their sacred burden threatened to fall: Uzzah, putting forth his hand to hold the ark, was smitten by the Lord, “and there he died before the Lord.” David was disturbed at this, feeling some insecurity in dealing with a Deity who had thus seemed to punish one of His worshippers for a well-meant and respectful act.**

* The text of 1 Sam. vi. 21, vii. 1, gives the reading Kirjath-jearim, whereas the text of 2 Sam. vi. 2 has Baale- Judah, which should be corrected to Baal-Judah. Baal-Judah, or, in its abbreviated form, Baala, is another name for Kirjath-jearim (Josh. xv. 9-11; cf. 1 Ghron. xiii. 6). Similarly, we find the name Kirjath-Baal (Josh. xv. 60). Kirjath-jearim is now Kharbet-el-Enab.

** The transport of the ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem is related in 2 Sam. vi. and in 1 Ghron. xiii., xv., xvi.

He “was afraid of the Lord that day,” and “would not remove the ark” to Jerusalem, but left it for three months in the house of a Philistine, Obed-Edom of Gath; but finding that its host, instead of experiencing any evil, was blessed by the Lord, he carried out his original intention, and brought the ark to Jerusalem. “David, girded with a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the Lord,” and “all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.” When the ark had been placed in the tent that David had prepared for it, he offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and at the end of the festival there were dealt out to the people gifts of bread, cakes, and wine (or flesh). There is inserted in the narrative* an account of the conduct of Michal his wife, who looking out of the window and seeing the king dancing and playing, despised him in her heart, and when David returned to his house, congratulated him ironically--“How glorious was the King of Israel to-day, who uncovered himself in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants!”

* Renan would consider this to have been inserted in the time of Hezekiah. It appeared to him to answer “to the antipathy of Hamutal and the ladies of the court to the worship of Jahveh, and to that form of human respect which restrained the people of the world from giving themselves up to it.”

David said in reply that he would rather be held in honour by the handmaids of whom she had spoken than avoid the acts which covered him with ridicule in her eyes; and the chronicler adds that “Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.” *

* [David’s reply shows (2 Sam. vi. 21, 22) that it was in gratitude to Jehovah who had exalted him that he thus humbled himself.--Tr.]

The tent and the ark were assigned at this time to the care of two priests--Zadok, son of Ahitub, and Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, who was a descendant of Eli, and had never quitted David throughout his adventurous career.* It is probable, too, that the ephod had not disappeared, and that it had its place in the sanctuary; but it may have gradually fallen into neglect, and may have ceased to be the vehicle of oracular responses as in earlier years. The king was accustomed on important occasions to take part in the sacred ceremonies, after the example of contemporary monarchs, and he had beside him at this time a priest of standing to guide him in the religious rites, and to fulfil for him duties similar to those which the chief reader rendered to Pharaoh. The only one of these priests of David whose name has come down to us was Ira the Jethrite, who accompanied his master in his campaigns, and would seem to have been a soldier also, and one of “the thirty.” These priestly officials seem, however, to have played but a subordinate part, as history is almost silent about their acts.** While David owed everything to the sword and trusted in it, he recognised at the same time that he had obtained his crown from Jahveh; just as the sovereigns of Thebes and Nineveh saw in Amon and Assur the source of their own royal authority.

* 2 Sam. viii. 17, xx. 25; cf. 1 Sam. xxi. 1, xxii. 20; 1 Chron. xv. 11.

** 2 Sam. xx. 26, where he is called the Jairite, and not the Ithrite, owing to an easily understood confusion of the Hebrew letters. He figures in the list of the _Gibborim_, “mighty men,” 2 Sam. xxiii. 38.

He consulted the Lord directly when he wished for counsel, and accepted the issue as a test whether his interpretation of the Divine will was correct or erroneous. When once he had realised, at the time of the capture of Jerusalem, that God had chosen him to be the champion of Israel, he spared no labour to accomplish the task which the Divine favour had assigned to him. He attacked one after the other the peoples who had encroached upon his domain, Moab being the first to feel the force of his arm. He extended his possessions at the expense of Gilead, and the fertile provinces opposite Jericho fell to his sword. These territories were in dangerous proximity to Jerusalem, and David doubtless realised the peril of their independence. The struggle for their possession must have continued for some time, but the details are not given, and we have only the record of a few incidental exploits: we know, for instance, that the captain of David’s guard, Benaiah, slew two Moabite notables in a battle.* Moabite captives were treated with all the severity sanctioned by the laws of war. They were laid on the ground in a line, and two-thirds of the length of the row being measured off, all within it were pitilessly massacred, the rest having their lives spared. Moab acknowledged its defeat, and agreed to pay tribute: it had suffered so much that it required several generations to recover.**

* 2 Sam. xxiii. 20-23: cf. 1 Chron. xi. 22-25. “Ariel,” who is made the father of the two slain by Benaiah, may possibly be the term in 11. 12, 17, 18 of the Inscription of Mesha (Moabite Stone); but its meaning is obscure, and has hitherto baffled all attempts to explain it.

** 2 Sam. viii. 2.

Gilead had become detached from David’s domain on the south, while the Ammonites were pressing it on the east, and the Ararnæans making encroachments upon its pasture-lands on the north. Nahash, King of the Ammonites, being dead, David, who had received help from him in his struggle with Saul, sent messengers to offer congratulations to his son Hanun on his accession. Hanun, supposing the messengers to be spies sent to examine the defences of the city, “shaved off one-half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.” This was the signal for war. The Ammonites, foreseeing that David would endeavour to take a terrible vengeance for this insult to his people, came to an understanding with their neighbours. The overthrow of the Amorite chiefs had favoured the expansion of the Aramæans towards the south. They had invaded all that region hitherto unconquered by Israel in the valley of the Litany to the east of Jordan, and some half-dozen of their petty states had appropriated among them the greater part of the territories which were described in the sacred record as having belonged previously to Jabin of Hazor and the kings of Bashan. The strongest of these principalities--that which occupied the position of Qodshû in the Bekâa, and had Zoba as its capital--was at this time under the rule of Hadadezer, son of Behob. This warrior had conquered Damascus, Maacah, and Geshur, was threatening the Canaanite town of Hamath, and was preparing to set out to the Euphrates when the Ammonites sought his help and protection. He came immediately to their succour. Joab, who was in command of David’s army, left a portion of his troops at Babbath under his brother Abishaî, and with the rest set out against the Syrians. He overthrew them, and returned immediately afterwards. The Ammonites, hearing of his victory, disbanded their army; but Joab had suffered such serious losses, that he judged it wise to defer his attack upon them until Zoba should be captured. David then took the field himself, crossed the Jordan with all his reserves, attacked the Syrians at Helam, put them to flight, killing Shobach, their general, and captured Damascus. Hadadezer [Hadarezer] “made peace with Israel,” and Tou or Toi, the King of Hamath, whom this victory had delivered, sent presents to David. This was the work of a single campaign. The next year Joab invested Kabbath, and when it was about to surrender he called the king to his camp, and conceded to him the honour of receiving the submission of the city in person. The Ammonites were treated with as much severity as their kinsmen of Moab. David “put them under saws and harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln.” *

* The war with the Aramaeans, described in 2 Sam. viii. 3- 12, is similar to the account of the conflict with the Ammonites in 2 Sam. x.-xii., but with more details. Both documents are reproduced in 1 Chron. xviii. 3-11, and xix., xx. 1-3.

This success brought others in its train. The Idumæans had taken advantage of the employment of the Israelite army against the Aramæans to make raids into Judah. Joab and Abishaî, despatched in haste to check them, met them in the Valley of Salt to the south of the Dead Sea, and gave them battle: their king perished in the fight, and his son Hadad with some of his followers took flight into Egypt. Joab put to the sword all the able-bodied combatants, and established garrisons at Petra, Elath, and Eziongeber* on the Red Sea. David dedicated the spoils to the Lord, “who gave victory to David wherever he went.”

Neither Elath nor Eziongeber are here mentioned, but 1 Kings ix. 25-28 and 2 Chron. viii. 17, 18 prove that these places had been occupied by David. For all that concerns Hadad, see 1 Kings xi. 15-20.

Southern Syria had found its master: were the Hebrews going to pursue their success, and undertake in the central and northern regions a work of conquest which had baffled the efforts of all their predecessors--Canaanites, Amorites, and Hittites? The Assyrians, thrown back on the Tigris, were at this time leading a sort of vegetative existence in obscurity; and, as for Egypt, it would seem to have forgotten that it ever had possessions in Asia. There was, therefore, nothing to be feared from foreign intervention should the Hebrew be inclined to weld into a single state the nations lying between the Euphrates and the Red Sea.

Drawn by Boudier, from photograph No. 377 of the _Palestine Exploration Fund._

Unfortunately, the Israelites had not the necessary characteristics of a conquering people. Their history from the time of their entry into Canaan showed, it is true, that they were by no means incapable of enthusiasm and solidarity: a leader with the needful energy and good fortune to inspire them with confidence could rouse them from their self-satisfied indolence, and band them together for a great effort. But such concentration of purpose was ephemeral in its nature, and disappeared with the chief who had brought it about. In his absence, or when the danger he had pointed out was no longer imminent, they fell back instinctively into their usual state of apathy and disorganisation. Their nomadic temperament, which two centuries of a sedentary existence had not seriously modified, disposed them to give way to tribal quarrels, to keep up hereditary vendettas, to break out into sudden tumults, or to make pillaging expeditions into their neighbours’ territories. Long wars, requiring the maintenance of a permanent army, the continual levying of troops and taxes, and a prolonged effort to keep what they had acquired, were repugnant to them. The kingdom which David had founded owed its permanence to the strong will of its originator, and its increase or even its maintenance depended upon the absence of any internal disturbance or court intrigue, to counteract which might make too serious a drain upon his energy. David had survived his last victory sufficiently long to witness around him the evolution of plots, and the multiplication of the usual miseries which sadden, in the East, the last years of a long reign. It was a matter of custom as well as policy that an exaltation in the position of a ruler should be accompanied by a proportional increase in the number of his retinue and his wives. David was no exception to this custom: to the two wives, Abigail and Ahinoam, which he had while he was in exile at Ziklag, he now added Maacah the Aramaean, daughter of the King of Geshur, Haggith, Abital, Bglah, and several others.* During the siege of Babbath-Ammon he also committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and, placing her husband in the forefront of the battle, brought about his death. Rebuked by the prophet Nathan for this crime, he expressed his penitence, but he continued at the same time to keep Bathsheba, by whom he had several children.** There was considerable rivalry among the progeny of these different unions, as the right of succession would appear not to have been definitely settled. Of the family of Saul, moreover, there were still several members in existence--the son which he had by Eizpah, the children of his daughter Merab, Merib-baal, the lame offspring of Jonathan,*** and Shimei****--all of whom had partisans among the tribes, and whose pretensions might be pressed unexpectedly at a critical moment.

* Ahinoam is mentioned in the following passages: 1 Sam. xxv. 43, xxvii. 3, xxx. 5; 2 Sam. ii. 2, iii. 2; cf. also 1 Chron. iii. 1; Maacah in 2 Sam. iii. 3; 1 Chron. iii. 2; Haggith in 2 Sam. iii. 4; 1 Kings i. 5, 11, ii. 13; 1 Chron. iii. 2; Abital in 2 Sam. iii. 4; 1 Chron. iii. 3; Eglah in 2 Sam. iii. 5; 1 Chron. iii. 3. For the concubines, see 2 Sam. v. 13, xv. 15, xvi. 21, 22; 1 Chron. iii. 9, xiv. 3.

** 2 Sam. xi., xii. 7-25.

*** 2 Sam. ix., xvi. 1-4, xix. 25-30, where the name is changed into Mephibosheth; the original name is given in 1 Chron. viii. 34.

**** Sam. xvi. 5-14, xix. 16-23; 1 Kings ii. 8, 9, 36-46.

The eldest son of Ahinoam, Amnon, whose priority in age seemed likely to secure for him the crown, had fallen in love with one of his half-sisters named Tamar, the daughter of Maacah, and, instead of demanding her in marriage, procured her attendance on him by a feigned illness, and forced her to accede to his desires. His love was thereupon converted immediately into hate, and, instead of marrying her, he had her expelled from his house by his servants. With rent garments and ashes on her head, she fled to her full-brother Absalom. David was very wroth, but he loved his firstborn, and could not permit himself to punish him. Absalom kept his anger to himself, but when two years had elapsed he invited Amnon to a banquet, killed him, and fled to his grandfather Talmai, King of Geshur.*

* It is to be noted that Tamar asked Amnon to marry her, and that the sole reproach directed against the king’s eldest son was that, after forcing her, he was unwilling to make her his wife. Unions of brother and sister were probably as legitimate among the Hebrews at this time as among the Egyptians.

His anger was now turned against the king for not having taken up the cause of his sister, and he began to meditate his dethronement. Having been recalled to Jerusalem at the instigation of Joab, “Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him,” thus affecting the outward forms of royalty. Judah, dissatisfied at the favour shown by David to the other tribes, soon came to recognise Absalom as their chief, and some of the most intimate counsellors of the aged king began secretly to take his part. When Absalom deemed things safe for action, he betook himself to Hebron, under the pretence of a vow which he had made daring his sojourn at Geshur. All Judah rallied around him, and the excitement at Jerusalem was so great that David judged it prudent to retire, with his Philistine and Cherethite guards, to the other side of the Jordan. Absalom, in the mean while, took up his abode in Jerusalem, where, having received the tacit adherence of the family of Saul and of a number of the notables, he made himself king. To show that the rupture between him and David was complete, he had tents erected on the top of the house, and there, in view of the people, took possession of his father’s harem. Success would have been assured to him if he had promptly sent troops after the fugitives, but while he was spending his time in inactivity and feasting, David collected together those who were faithful to him, and put them under the command of Joab and Abishai. The king’s veterans were more than a match for the undisciplined rabble which opposed them, and in the action which followed at Mahanaim Absalom was defeated: in his flight through the forest of Ephraim he was caught in a tree, and before he could disentangle himself was pierced through the heart by Joab.

David, we read, wished his people to have mercy on his son, and he wept bitterly. He spared on this occasion the family of Saul, pardoned the tribe of Judah, and went back triumphantly into Jerusalem, which a few days before had taken part in his humiliation. The tribes of the house of Joseph had taken no side in the quarrel. They were ignorant alike of the motives which set the tribe of Judah against their own hero, and of their reasons for the zeal with which they again established him on the throne. They sent delegates to inquire about this, who reproached Judah for acting without their cognisance: “We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye: why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?” Judah answered with yet fiercer words; then Sheba, a chief of the Benjamites, losing patience, blew a trumpet, and went off crying: “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.” If these words had produced an echo among the central and northern tribes, a schism would have been inevitable: some approved of them, while others took no action, and since Judah showed no disposition to put its military forces into movement, the king had once again to trust to Joab and the Philistine guards to repress the sedition. Their appearance on the scene disconcerted the rebels, and Sheba retreated to the northern frontier without offering battle. Perhaps he reckoned on the support of the Aramæans. He took shelter in the small stronghold of Abel of Bethmaacah, where he defended himself for some time; but just when the place was on the point of yielding, the inhabitants cut off Sheba’s head, and threw it to Joab from the wall. His death brought the crisis to an end, and peace reigned in Israel. Intrigues, however, began again more persistently than ever over the inheritance which the two slain princes had failed to obtain. The eldest son of the king was now Adonijah, son of Haggith, but Bathsheba exercised an undisputed sway over her husband, and had prepared him to recognise in Solomon her son the heir to the throne. She had secured, too, as his adherents several persons of influence, including Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah, the captain of the foreign guard.

Adonijah had on his side Abiathar the priest, Joab, and the people of Jerusalem, who had been captivated by his beauty and his regal display. In the midst of these rivalries the king was daily becoming weaker: he was now very old, and although he was covered with wrappings he could not maintain his animal heat. A young girl was sought out for him to give him the needful warmth. Abishag, a Shunammite, was secured for the purpose, but her beauty inspired Adonijah with such a violent passion that he decided to bring matters to a crisis. He invited his brethren, with the exception of Solomon, to a banquet in the gardens which belonged to him in the south of Jerusalem, near the well of Eôgel. All his partisans were present, and, inspired by the good cheer, began to cry, “God save King Adonijah!” When Nathan informed Bathsheba of what was going on, she went in unto the king, who was being attended on by Abishag, complained to him of the weakness he was showing in regard to his eldest son, and besought him to designate his heir officially. He collected together the soldiers, and charged them to take the young man Solomon with royal pomp from the hill of Sion to the source of the Gibôn: Nathan anointed his forehead with the sacred oil, and in the sight of all the people brought him to the palace, mounted on his father’s mule. The blare of the coronation trumpets resounded in the ears of the conspirators, quickly followed by the tidings that Solomon had been hailed king over the whole of Israel: they fled on all sides, Adonijah taking refuge at the horns of the altar. David did not long survive this event: shortly before his death he advised Solomon to rid himself of all those who had opposed his accession to the throne. Solomon did not hesitate to follow this counsel, and the beginning of his reign was marked by a series of bloodthirsty executions. Adonijah was the first to suffer. He had been unwise enough to ask the hand of Abishag in marriage: this request was regarded as indicative of a hidden intention to rebel, and furnished an excuse for his assassination. Abiathar, at whose instigation Adonijah had acted, owed his escape from a similar fate to his priestly character and past services: he was banished to his estate at Anathoth, and Zadok became high priest in his stead. Joab, on learning the fate of his accomplice, felt that he was a lost man, and vainly sought sanctuary near the ark of the Lord; but Benaiah slew him there, and soon after, Shimei, the last survivor of the race of Saul, was put to death on some transparent pretext. This was the last act of the tragedy: henceforward Solomon, freed from all those who bore him malice, was able to devote his whole attention to the cares of government.*

* 1 Kings i., ii. This is the close of the history of David, and follows on from 2 Sam. xxiv. It would seem that Adonijah was heir-apparent (1 Kings i. 5, 6), and that Solomon’s accession was brought about by an intrigue, which owed its success to the old king’s weakness (1 Kings i. 12, 13, 17, 18, 30, 31).

The change of rulers had led, as usual, to insurrections among the tributary races: Damascus had revolted before the death of David, and had not been recovered. Hadad returned from Egypt, and having gained adherents in certain parts of Edom, resisted all attempts made to dislodge him.*

* It seems clear from the context that the revolt of Damascus took place during David’s lifetime. It cannot, in any case, have occurred at a later date than the beginning of the reign of Solomon, for we are told that Rezôn, after capturing the town, “was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon” (1 Kings xi. 23-25). Hadad returned from Egypt when “he had heard that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead” (1 Kings xi. 21, 22, 25).

As a soldier, Solomon was neither skilful nor fortunate: he even failed to retain what his father had won for him. Though he continued to increase his army, it was more with a view to consolidating his power over the Bnê-Israel than for any aggressive action outside his borders. On the other hand, he showed himself an excellent administrator, and did his best, by various measures of general utility, to draw closer the ties which bound the tribes to him and to each other. He repaired the citadels with such means as he had at his disposal. He rebuilt the fortifications of Megiddo, thus securing the control of the network of roads which traversed Southern Syria. He remodelled the fortifications of Tamar, the two Bethhorons, Baâlath, Hazor, and of many other towns which defended his frontiers. Some of them he garrisoned with foot-soldiers, others with horsemen and chariots. By thus distributing his military forces over the whole country, he achieved a twofold object;* he provided, on the one hand, additional security from foreign invasion, and on the other diminished the risk of internal revolt.

* 1 Kings ix. 15, 17-19; cf. 2 Chron. viii. 4-6. The parallel passage in 2 Chron. viii. 4, and the marginal variant in the _Book of Kings_, give the reading Tadmor Palmyra for Tamar, thus giving rise to the legends which state that Solomon’s frontier extended to the Euphrates. The Tamar here referred to is that mentioned in Ezeh. xlvii. 19,