and their eyes.

ON the third day of David's return to Ziklag a man arrived in haste, with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head, and laid at the feet of David the crown and armlet which Saul had worn. He told, truly, that Israel had fled before the Philistines, and that Saul and his sons were slain; but thinking to win royal rewards from the son of Jesse, he boasted that he had slain Saul with his own hand. The truth was probably that he had found the body of Saul in the night after the battle, and had taken from it the royal insignia which he brought to David. His expectations were grievously disappointed; for David, believing his statement, caused him to be put to death, as one who had not feared to slay the Lord's anointed. The man was an Amalekite. David mourned and fasted for the desolation of Israel, and he lamented the death of his beloved Jonathan, and even of Saul, in a most affecting and beautiful elegy, which we may here introduce as a specimen of the poetical compositions of one whose rank among the poets of the Hebrews is fully equal to that which he occupies among their kings:

"O antelope of Israel! pierced on thy high place! How are the mighty fallen!

Tell it not in Gath,

Publish it not in the streets of Askelon,
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.

Ye mountains of Gilboa, on you be no dew, Nor rain, nor fields of first-fruits;

Since there hath been vilely cast away,
The shield of the mighty, the shield of Saul,
The armor of him anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain,
From the fat of the mighty.

The bow of Jonathan was not held back,
Nor did the sword of Saul return in vain.
Saul and Jonathan !

In mutual love were they in life united,
And in their death they were not separated.

PURPOSE TO BUILD A TEMPLE.

Swifter than eagles, stronger than lions were they!

Ye daughters of Israel weep over Saul, Who clothed you pleasantly in scarlet, And put golden ornaments upon your robes. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle! O Jonathan, slain on thy own mountains!. I am grieved for thee, O Jonathan, my brother! Very dear to me wast thou : Wonderful was thy love to me, Surpassing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen! And the weapons of war perished!"

BOOTHROYD'S VERSION.

That he mourned even for Saul will only be attributed to hypocrisy by those who are themselves incapable of such magnanimity, and are determined to forget that David, during the life of his persecutor, always respected him as a king appointed by God, and twice spared him when he had his life completely in his power.

With the approbation of the Lord, whom he consulted, David now removed, with his family and friends, to Hebron, where the rulers of the tribe of Judah, with views altogether theocratical, awarded the sceptre to him, as one whom God had already designated as king. David was at this time thirty years of age.

But no other tribe concurred with Judah in this important step. On the contrary, all the other tribes elected Saul's only surviving (1 Chron. xiii. 33, ix. 39), but nicknamed son, Eshbaal, as he was originally named Ishbosheth (a man of shame) from his weakness and incapacity, which, it would appear, saved his life, by precluding him from being present at the battle in which his brothers perished. This measure was probably promoted by that radical jealousy between the tribes of Judah and Ephraim, which prevented the latter (which took the lead among the other tribes) from concur

ring in the appointing a king of the rival tribe, or indeed from heartily sympathizing in any measure which that tribe originated. But the prime agent in this schism was Abner, the commander of the army, who had drawn off the remnant of the defeated army to the other side the Jordan, and there, at Mahanaim, proclaimed Ishbosheth king. Abner was a bold and able, but unprincipled man; and doubless expected to govern in the name of his feeble nephew. And he did so.

For two years no hostile acts between the two kingdoms took place. But war was at length provoked by Abner, who crossed the Jordan with the intention to subdue the tribe of Judah to the authority of Ishbosheth. David sent Joab to meet him; and the opposing forces met near the pool of Gibeon. But the men on each side felt that they were all Israelites, and were reluctant to fight against each other. The two generals, therefore, thought of a device which has often been employed in the East, and else

where, to excite tribes or nations to battle when relationship or other causes made them reluctant or wanting in zeal. Twelve men on each side were matched to fight against each other between the two armies; and so well were they matched that they no sooner came within reach of one another than each man seized his antagonist by the head and sheathed his sword in his body, so that they were all killed upon the spot. This kindled the opposing forces, and a desperate and most sanguinary battle followed. It ended in the defeat of Abner, who was himself obliged to flee for his life. As he fled, he

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was singled out by Joab's brother Asahel, who was as swift of foot as any antelope of the field and he pursued him, without allowing himself to be drawn aside by other objects. He was close at the heels of Abner, when the latter looked back, and finding who it was, he became most anxious to avoid such a blood-feud as would arise between him and Joab, in case he slew his brother, even in his own defence. He therefore entreated Asahel to turn back that he might not be compelled to smite him to the ground. But finding that he was still pursued, and that it was impossible to outstrip his pursuer,