4 And Jonathan stripped himself1 of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

5¶ And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved2 himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the peo

PARALLEL PASSAGES.-1Gen. 41: 42.

ple, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

6 And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that3 the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instru ments of music.

2Verses 14, 15, 30. Ex. 15: 20. Judg. 11:34.

young men among the modern Greeks, reminding of their ancestors' custom and also of that of the Middle Ages. Jenks.-Those who love Christ as their own soul will be willing to join themselves to him in an everlasting covenant. Henry.

4. Gave it to David. Jonathan, to evince his regard and admiration, "stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David." In the East this mode of showing regard or approval is still very general. "I recollect," says Mrs. Postans, "a tiger-hunting party, held by Meer Alli Moorad in Upper Sindh, where that chief sat in a small tower with his personal friends to see the sport. A Sindhian behaved most valiantly, killing a tiger and her cubs, and the hero was brought up on the tower, when Meer Alli Moorad took from his neck a muslin scarf, and bestowed it on the man, who felt himself distinguished above all honor and remunerated beyond all price." Kitto. - Such interchanges of gifts were not uncommon between friends in ancient times, and Homer gives us some instances that may illustrate what is here recorded. In particular he tells that Glaucus exchanged armor with Diomede, "golden for brazen, the value of a hundred oxen for the value of nine." Perhaps, therefore, there was some similar reciprocity here, as the seal of the new-born affection between Jonathan and David. Taylor. As a sign and pledge of his friendship, Jonathan gave David his clothes and his armor. This seems to have been a custom in very ancient times, as we meet with it also among the early Celts. Keil.-David is seen in Jonathan's clothes that all may notice that he is Jonathan's second self. Our * Lord Jesus thus showed his love to us, stripped himself to clothe us, emptied himself to enrich us; yea more, clothed himself in our rags, whereas Jonathan did not put on David's. Henry.

5. Behaved himself wisely. Aristotle is praised for naming fortitude the first of the cardinal virtues, as that without which no other virtue can steadily be practised; but he might, with equal propriety, have placed prudence before it, since without prudence, fortitude is madness. Goodrich. — As the hermits were communing together, there arose a question as to which of all the virtues was most necessary to perfection. One said chastity; another, humility; a third, justice. St. Anthony remained silent until all had given their opinion, and then spoke: "Ye have all said well, but none of you have said aright. The virtue most necessary to perfection is prudence; for the most virtuous actions of men, unless governed and directed by prudence, are neither pleasing to God nor serviceable to others nor profitable to ourselves." Foster. —It is certainly a great instance of the power of God's grace in David that he was able to bear all this respect and honor flowing in upon him of a sudden without being lifted up above measure. Scott.-He was accepted. If we look to the deep depression into which the Israelites had fallen, so that the most daring spirits, under the stimulus of the highest rewards, had not ventured upon the enterprise which the son of Jesse had so nobly and so piously achieved, we may form some notion of the admiration and gratitude with which this exploit was regarded and the enthusiasm which it excited. It was the one great act by which some men are enabled in one little hour- or even in the time of a passing thought-to illustrate and adorn their whole career, presenting to the public view one illustrious deed, the memory of which becomes in every mind inseparably connected with their name, and goes down with it to future ages. It was impossible for any Israelite thenceforward in David's lifetime to behold him, or in the ages to come to think of him, without remembering this great exploit, with its antecedents and its consequences. How naturally, even in David's old age, the remembrances of this rise freshly to the minds of the people, "The king delivered us out of the hands of the Philistines." Kitto.

6. As they came. I suppose that Saul and the whole court thought fit to honor David by accom⚫ panying him to Jerusalem when he carried Goliath's head there. Patrick.-The women—singing and dancing. After their successful campaign against the Philistines the Israelitish troops returned in formal triumph through many of the cities. They were met, generally, at the gates by companies of women, who, playing on the tabret and dancing to their own music, chanted also in responsive chorus

7 And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath1 slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

8 And Saul was very wroth,2 and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?3

9 And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied5 in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.

PARALLEL PASSAGES.-1Ch. 21:11. 2Prov. 27: 4. Eccl. 4:4. Ch. 15:28. 4Ch. 16:14. 5Ch. 19: 24. Acts 16: 16. Ch. 19:9, 10; 20: 33.

rhythmic lines appropriate to the occasion. At the end of every strophe there came this refrain, sung by answering companies, "Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands." Very likely there was nothing more meant by this than an expression of joy at the nation's deliverance with such exaggeration as strong emotion is always prone to indulge in; but the sensitive soul of Saul, now all the more inclined to be suspicious since Samuel had foretold the taking of the kingdom from him, took offence at the implied preference of David to himself, and seeing, perhaps for the first time, in the youthful Bethlehemite that "neighbor better than himself" to whom his kingdom was to be given, he murmured thus moodily to himself: "They have ascribed unto David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed but thousands; and what can he have more but the kingdom?" Taylor.

8. What can he have more ? In this foreboding utterance of Saul there was involved not only a conjecture, which the result confirmed, but a deep, inward truth: if the king of Israel stood powerless before the subjugators of his kingdom at so decisive a period as this, and a shepherd boy came and decided the victory, this was an additional mark of his rejection. Gerlach. - Proud men cannot endure to hear any praised but themselves, and think all the honor lost that goes by themselves. It is a sign the Spirit of God is departed from men if they be peevish in their resentment of affronts, envious and suspicious of all about them, and ill-natured in their conduct. For the wisdom from above makes us quite otherwise. Henry.

9. Saul eyed David. Was looking askance at David. Keil.-Saul eyed [invidiously] David from that day and forward. Kitto.

10. The evil spirit from God. "What more may be meant by this than that God, for Saul's hardened impenitence, withdrew his restraining and guiding grace, I cannot say," observes Dr. Delaney: "this only I am sure of, that no man living needs a heavier chastisement from Almighty God than the letting his own passions loose upon him." Kitto. In what sense was this evil spirit "from the Lord"? (a.) One vital fact in Saul's case is that he was apostate from God, and therefore inevitably wretched. (b.) The next fact pertaining to the state of such a mind is that it presents a most congenial field for Satan's agency. He loves to torment such souls, and never misses his opportunity. (c.) It only remains to say that there is need of no other agency from God than the permissive. Satan never needs to be sent on such a mission; it is only requisite that the Lord suffer him to go. - They having chosen sin and rebellion rather than obedience, and consequently evil rather than good, God leaves them to their own guilty choice, to "eat the fruit of their own way and to be filled with their own devices." What can be said against his wisdom or his love in leaving sinners to their own chosen ways? What reason can be given why he should not thus leave them? How can sin be more effectually forestalled and resisted in a moral universe than by sometimes giving it scope to develop its full and fearful power to sink human souls under an unutterable desolation? If permissive agency on the part of God be all the case requires, then it is unphilosophical to assume anything more. The known character of God forbids us to go beyond this, unless the case demands it, as it does not. Moreover, Hebrew usage fully justifies this construction of the passage. Things done under God's permissive agency are usually said to be done by God. See the case of hardening Pharaoh's heart, and also God's agency in the sin of Joseph's brethren. Cowles. It is still called "an evil spirit from the Lord." For that which torments us and does not suffer us to sink into the ease and security we long for, surely has a commission from God for our good. Surely this feeling of suspicion more explains to us than anything else the nature of the retribution which a man brings upon himself by tampering with evil thoughts and imaginations, by trifling with the loving power which is so close to him and so ready to nourish him with wholesome and gracious food. Awful as is the misery which this sin causes to others, yet the punishment which it inflicts upon the heart that is the seat of it, the madness which it produces there, is something more ter. rible still. Maurice.-- We may see the evil of centring our thoughts and plans entirely on ourselves

11 And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to

the wall with it. And David avoided1 out of his presence twice. PARALLEL PASSAGES.-1Ps. 37: 32, 33.

This was the root of Saul's misery. He was one of the most ardent selfists that ever lived. He had made self his god. He looked only and always at his own interests. "How will this affect me?" was his constant question as each new event transpired; and whensoever he imagined that he was to be injured by any other man's elevation or advancement, he was stirred up to seek his ruin. Thus he was ever moody and unhappy. He hugged himself to his heart, and as a punishment God left him to him. self, and no companionship could have been more miserable. But this was not the worst. His selfdevotion generated envy, hatred, malice, and even murder in his heart. Because, in a woman's song, David had apparently been set above him, he is filled with rage, and schemes for the destruction of one who had in former days been a blessing to him; who had rid him of one of the fiercest of his foes; and who in his inmost heart was loyal to him as the Lord's anointed. Behold how foul a progeny may spring from one parent evil passion! Men are apt to regard self-worship as a little thing, and in its lower form of self-conceit they think that it is worthy oniy to be laughed at; but when it is permitted to get the mastery, it may work incalculable mischief. Who can tell how many alienations, heart-burnings, jealousies, plottings against others' welfare, and even murders, grow out of this root? The absorbing selfishness of Saul embroiled the land in civil discord, leaving it open as a prey to its ever-watchful enemies. It imbittered his own heart; it made his home a scene of strife and debate; it chased away from him one of his most faithful servants and most daring captains; and in the end it sent him forth in isolation, God-deserted, to meet his doom on the field of battle by his own hand. Behold the retribution! The man who schemed and planned so constantly for the pre-eminence and profit of himself perishes at last by his own sword. But is it not always so, in a very real and solemn sense? The selfish man is ever a moral suicide. He poisons his own happiness; he kills his own joy; he destroys his own soul. "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Behold here the far-reaching character of the Saviour's words. He that is determined at all hazards to seek only and always his own interests shall lose that to which he is so devoted; but he that, for the Saviour's sake, is willing to lose everything, or to be anything, shall have the highest degree of honor, and his salvation too. He who is always thinking of his own happiness and planning for it is thereby doing his best to drive all happiness from him. Taylor.-And he prophesied. The word does not mean to prophesy in this instance, but to rave. Keil. It is not certain whether he assumed this appearance to cloak his attempting to murder David, or whether Satan really wrought upon him till he seemed to prophesy. Scott. - The power of music. And David played. It is stated by Thaunus, that after the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the sleep of Charles the Ninth was wont to be disturbed by nightly horrors, and he could only be composed to rest by a symphony of singing boys. More remarkable, as well as more truly parallel, is the case of Philip V of Spain and the musician Farinelli, in the last century. The king was seized with a total dejection of spirits, which made him refuse to be shaved, and incapable of appearing in council or of attending to any affairs. The queen, after all other methods had been essayed, thought of trying what might be effected by the influence of music, to which the king was known to be highly susceptible. We have no doubt that the experiment was suggested to her by this case of Saul and David. The celebrated musician Farinelli was invited to Spain; and on his arrival it was contrived that there should be a concert in a room adjoining the king's apartment, in which the artist should perform one of his most captivating songs. The king appeared surprised at first, then greatly moved; and at the end of the second air he summoned the musician to his apartment, and loading him with compliments and caresses, asked him how he could reward such talents, assuring him that he could refuse him nothing. Farinelli, previously tutored, answered that he desired nothing but that his Majesty would permit his attendants to shave and dress him, and that he would endeavor to make his appearance in the council as usual. The king yielded, and from this time his disease gave way, and the musician had all the honor of the cure. By singing to his Majesty every evening, his favor increased to such a degree that he came to be regarded as first minister, in which capacity he conducted himself with such propriety and discretion that the proud Spanish nobles about the court, instead of envying his prosperity, honored him with their esteem and confidence. This favor he did not forfeit under Philip's successor (Ferdinand VI), who made him a knight of Calatrava, and employed him in political affairs. Kitto.

11. Javelin. Equivalent to a sceptre. Kitto.-The chanith (here translated javelin, but a very large and heavy spear) was the constant companion of Saul, a fit weapon for one of his gigantic stature. His fits of anger or madness become even more terrible to us when we find that it was this heavy weapon and not the lighter javelin (as the common version renders it) that he cast at David (1 Sam. 18:10) and at Jonathan (20:33). A striking idea of the weight and force of this ponderous arm may

12¶ And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.

13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

11 And David behaved himself

|

wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him.

15 Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him.

16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

PARALLEL PASSAGES.-1Numb. 27:17. 2 Sam. 5:2. 1 Kings 3:7.

be gained from the fact that a mere back thrust from the hand of Abner was enough to drive its butt end through the body of Asahel (2 Sam. 2:23). Geo. Grove. - Avoided twice. Eluded it twice. His doing so a second time presupposes that Saul hurled the javelin twice; that is to say, he probably swung it twice without letting it go out of his hand. Saul seems to have held the javelin in his hand as a sceptre, according to ancient custom. Keil.

12. And Saul was afraid. He really stood in awe of him, as Herod of John. He was sensible he had lost the favorable presence of God himself, and that David had it; and for this reason he feared him. Those are truly great and to be reverenced that have God with them. Henry. "When he saw that David behaved himself very wisely he was afraid of him" (verse 15). The historian makes Saul's fear of David very prominent, naming it even the third time in this one chapter (verses 12, 15, 29). "Fear" is altogether the right word, yet it was not fear that David would take or even plot against his life, but that he would inevitably have the hearts of the people, would eclipse the honor of himself as king, and ultimately become king by virtue of his greatly superior merit. The bitter self-consciousness of being forsaken of God and unworthy to reign, and a sense of David's superior worth, to which he could not blind his eyes, conspired to make him the most wretched of men. Cowles.

13. Saul removed him. Alarmed to see the progress David was making in the affections of the notable persons at court, and that even his son Jonathan had become entirely subject to the fascination by which the son of Jesse gathered to him the hearts of men like summer fruits, he deemed it wise to remove him from this sphere of influence by sending him into a sort of honorable exile. He was intrusted with the command of a thousand men and sent upon the dangerous service of guarding the frontier, in the hope that his daring spirit would lead him into such hazardous enterprises as would soon accomplish his destruction by the sword of the Philistines. But this only afforded David the better opportunities of showing that he possessed not only the qualities of a champion, but the talents, the sagacity, and prudence of a military leader, while he was thus also enabled to gather that experience in war which availed him much in later years. Kitto.- And he went in and out. Went out on the expeditions to which Saul commanded him, and came in from them with success, before the people, who took great notice of his prudent and successful conduct. Dr. Wells.

LESSON V. JANUARY 30, 1876.

DAVID AND JONATHAN. 1 SAMUEL 20: 35-42.

[B. C. 1062.]

CONNECTION.

Next he is with Samuel at the prophet-college in Ramah, and tells him all that Saul had done to him. It was here that messengers sent by Saul to take David's life-hard, bloody men-three companies in succession, were seized with the spirit of prophesying as they saw and heard the sons of the prophets prophesying, and quite forgot their bloody errand. At last Saul came himself, only to fall under the same mysterious, or perhaps we should say, sympathetic influence, and he too prophesied. Next we learn that David was not safe from Saul even in his own house, for Saul sent men there to watch the house by night and slay him in the morning. By the artful policy of his wife Michal he eluded these men and made his escape to Samuel in Ramah. Here we may begin to find definite points of coincidence between this history of David, written probably by Samuel or by Gad (David's seer), and his own

35¶ And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out

into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him.

Psalms. Ps. LIX is definitely located at this point in his history, "When Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him." Here, then, we may raise the question, What were the thoughts of his heart under these stern and sore afflictions? Did he look upward to God for help? Did he prove the priceless comfort of prayer in human emergencies? He himself gives the answer: "Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God! defend me from them that rise up against me." Cowles. - David now saw clearly that his life at Saul's court was ended, and that it only remained for him, thenceforth, to keep himself beyond the reach of Saul and await in patience the progress of events. This was probably also the purport of the advice that he received from Samuel. Yet he took advantage of Saul's state to return to Gibeah, wasting, as some may deem, the precious time which might have served him well for his escape. But every generous heart will appreciate his motive in subjecting himself to this risk: it was to see once more his beloved Jonathan, the friend and brother of his soul, and to obtain his sanction to the step he was about to take. The interview between these two generous and high-minded young men is deeply interesting; and although there are longer speeches in the historical Scriptures, there is no conversation — with the natural changes of interlocution - reported at equal length. The object of David was to convince his friend of the reality of the danger he was in, and the necessity for his departure. This was opposed by Jonathan, partly from the love he bore to David and the pain he would feel in being for a long, indefinite period separated from him, and partly from the charity that thinketh no evil rendering him reluctant to judge harshly of his father. He could not bring himself to believe that, after the oath which Saul had taken to make no attempt against David's life, he had any real intention to destroy him. He urged that he was in his father's confidence and would surely have known had any such intention existed. The reader will do well to note the admirable delicacy of David's reply to this: "Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes, and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this lest he be grieved; but truly, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but one step between me and death." To avoid giving pain to Jonathan he avoids implying or expressing that his father had any mistrust of him, and gives it quite another turn, as if Saul concealed his designs upon David from his son only to spare his feelings. Jonathan could not, however, be satisfied without further proof of his father's present state of feeling towards David. He probably hoped, from David's account, that whatever had been his intentions, a more effectual change had been wrought in him at Ramah than his friend supposed. To satisfy him David agreed to defer his flight. It was arranged that he should visit his family at Bethlehem and return in three days to his former place of concealment, near the stone of Ezel, where, by a concerted signal, Jonathan was to apprise him of the result, it being uncertain but that he might be so watched as to render another interview unsafe. The next day was the feast of the new moon, when the king was wont to entertain the high officers of his court; and David, as his son-in-law and a high military officer, had a seat at his table. But his place remained empty. Saul asked Jonathan wherefore came not the son of Jesse to meat neither yesterday nor to-day. Jonathan answered him that he had asked for and obtained his permission to attend a family celebration at Bethlehem. The king broke forth into violent and insulting abuse. Jonathan restrained himself, and the king went on to tell him that while the son of Jesse lived the prospect of his own inheritance of the crown was nothing worth. This is the first time Saul had expressed that conviction, showing that the previous flight of David to Samuel had turned into certainty the suspicions he had before entertained. Even this did not move the firm friendship of Jonathan, who seems to have himself, before this, reached the conviction that David was indeed the man chosen of God to reign-according to the announcement of Samuel, which must have been known to him- and to have brought his mind to acquiesce in it, seeing that the man so chosen was one whom he loved as his own soul. It was in the recollection of this, among the other manifestations of his deep and selfsacrificing affection, that David, in a later day, characterized Jonathan's regard for him in the memorable words, "Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of woman." So now, in this trying moment, Jonathan ventured to speak for his friend, urging justly that a man was to be judged by his acts and intentions, and those of David were laudable and pure. "Wherefore," he asked, "shall he be slain? What hath he done?" The answer was from the javelin of the infuriated king, which this time he cast at his own son. He missed; and his son, regardless of the insult and danger to himself, but seeing from this that his father was determined to slay David, arose from the table and went out "in fierce anger," leaving his food untasted. Kitto.

35. In the morning. The next morning Jonathan made David acquainted with what had occurred by means of the sign agreed upon with David. Keil.-Into the field. Near the stone Ezel (20:19). Ezel (stone of departure or separation), a well-known stone in the neighborhood of Saul's residence (at Gibeah). Grove.-The stone was evidently named Ezel from the memory of this parting of the two friends from each other at this place. The name is therefore given in the passage above by