Samuel was unwilling. Perhaps he grieved for Jonathan, and feared to stir up strife; at any rate he objected that Saul would take vengeance quickly if he heard of a rival. He was answered that he should take a heifer with him, and hold one of his sacrificial feasts, as he had been wont to do in different places ever since he had re-awakened religion in Israel, and that Jesse and his sons would naturally come to the feast.

At first the elders of the little mountain village were afraid, lest the Judge should have come to rebuke them for some evil practised among them; but he assured them it was a friendly visit, and bade them sanctify themselves; namely, abstain from all forms of uncleanness, so as to hold the feast the next day. It was a peaceoffering, the only kind for which female animals were used, and the chief portion was therefore eaten. To the banquet came Jesse, owner of those fair fields of Boaz, and with him seven goodly sons : the eldest, tall and stately, seemed to the prophet so kingly-looking, that he surely must be the chosen ; but the Voice of the Lord bade him not look at the fine presence and lofty stature. God seeth not as man seeth, but looketh at the heart. And verily, the only time Eliab shows his character, he proves that in him Samuel would only have anointed another jealous and violent Saul. The same Voice forbade him to anoint any of the other seven as they passed by him in turn, and he at last in perplexity asked Jesse whether he had any more children. One more there was the youngest-left behind by his proud brethren, and sent to watch the flock upon the hill-side, while they came to hold festival with the great Judge of Israel. He was sent for, and he came,—as unlike the first king whom Samuel had anointed as could well be. That was a mighty man, of giant mould, in the prime of life; this was a mere lad, small and slender of stature, fair in complexion, and auburn-haired (for that is the sense of the word ruddy), and with "beautiful eyes,”eyes beautiful, no doubt, from the pure, high, loving soul within. So unlike was he, in his shepherd garb, to Samuel's ideal, that another intimation was needed before he poured the holy oil; and in the midst of his seven brethren, the shepherd stripling, David, was anointed with the outward sign of the Holy Spirit, who thenceforth rested on him, and moulded him to his great and holy office.

Whether all knew the purport of the action is not clear; at any rate, David went back to his sheep, to wait in the duties of daily life till the time and the call should come.

LESSON LXIII.

DAVID SOOTHING SAUL.

B.C. 1065.-I SAM. xvi. 14-23.

But the Spirit of the LORD'departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning* player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.

And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.

Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.

Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep.

And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul.

And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armour-bearer.

And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight.

And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

COMMENT.-After Saul's rejection, and his resolute obduracy against repentance, the presence of the Holy Spirit, which in some measure had been with him since his anointing, departed from him. What was the degree in which that Holy Presence was with him we know not; but we do know that we too have an anointing of the Holy Ghost, and that when we harden ourselves against owning

* Skilful.

ourselves in the wrong, He will in like manner leave us. And when He bath left the soul empty, swept, and garnished, there is one who taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, to enter in and dwell there. So God, the just Judge, allowed an evil spirit to haunt the moody king, and terrify him into fits of madness. In this state, it seemed to his servants that music would be the best cure; and though no one was aware of the anointing at Bethlehem, it was already known that there dwelt a shepherd lad, beautiful in person, and a skilful player on the small light harp (the traditional shape of which was last preserved among the Jews in Mesopotamia). He was also known for his courage, for it seems that he had already slain the lion and the bear that attacked the flock; and if his brothers held him cheap, his neighbours better knew his worth. So the young David was sent to the rude court, under the pomegranate tree of Gibeah, where the King sat with his long spear by way of sceptre; loyal old Jesse sending gifts with his son, in thorough Oriental fashion. His sweet music and voice drove away the evil spirit, and Saul, to reward him, gave him a place among his armourbearers, who seem to have been a sort of young attendants like the squires or pages of our own old times. Well might David's song drive away the evil spirit, for he was already the sweet psalmist whose verses above all still drive away the evil spirits of temptation, pride, and despondency, or whatever else assails the heart of man.

The LORD is my shepherd;
Therefore can I lack nothing.

He shall feed me in a green pasture:

And lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.

He shall convert * my soul:

And bring me forth in the paths of righteousness, for his Name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For thou art with me;

Thy rod and thy staff comfort me.

Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me :

Thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full.

But thy loving-kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

It is believed that the 23rd Psalm, at least the beginning of it.

* Restore.

belonged to these pure and bright days of David's life, when his own care for his sheep made him look up to the Lord, his own Shepherd, who fed and guarded him even as he fed and guarded his flock amid the mountains and perilous ravines. He may have learnt to know the Lord as "the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel," from Jacob's blessing (Gen. xlix.); and either now, or in moulding his boyhood's song to temple worship, his verse was filled with the promise of Him who should spring from his family, the Good Shepherd who leads us forth, gives us the Water of Life, feeds us at His table with the Bread of Heaven to strengthen us against our enemies, fills our cup, and with His Rod and Staff, the Cross on which He suffered for us, leads us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and brings us at length to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

LESSON LXIV.

GOLIATH'S DEFIANCE.

B.C. 1063.-I SAM. xvii. 1-19.

Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.

And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.

And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

*

And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.

And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target § of brass between his shoulders.

And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine,

* About ten feet altogether. Plate.

+ Scales of brass. Buskins guarded with brass. The great bar to which the web was hung.

and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Beth-lehem-judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.

And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.

But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Beth-lehem.

And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;

And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare,* and take their pledge.+

Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

COMMENT. At least two years had passed since the anointing of David and since his music had been required by Saul, and not being needed by the King, he had retired to his father's home at Bethlehem and to the homely care of the sheep upon the hills. He seems to have been as ready to take the hardest, humblest, most dangerous, and least honoured tasks as were his brothers to thrust him down to them. For when the Philistines came forth and the armies of Israel were summoned to meet them, the elder brothers went to the camp, hoping to gain honour and glory, but David was left behind to act as a shepherd on the mountains. The camps of Saul and of the Philistines were but eleven miles off, one of them on one hill and the other on the opposite one, and between them lay a valley named Elah, a word that means a terebinth tree;" and travellers tell us that such trees still grow there. Saul marshalled his men in order of battle; but the Philistines, who had lost many battles to the Israelites, had now found a new plan by which they proposed Bring home a token.

See how they do.

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