rary reconciliation between him and Saul *, at which time Saul swore he would no more attempt his life. Nevertheless, whether it was that he could not get the better of his jealousy, or that he discovered more than is transmitted down to us, we know not; consequences incline us to the last conjecture. Saul made two more attempts to kill him t, from one of which he was protected by his wife Michal; and finding it not safe to stay at court, he fled to Samuel in Ramah ‡. Hither Saul sent messengers to apprehend him §; but these it seems, seeing Samuel presiding over a company of prophets and prophesying, were seized with a spirit of prophesying also: and not only so, but it is related that Saul, finding this, went at last him. self, to just the same purpose; for he likewise prophesied I, stripping off his clothes, in which ridiculous condition he continued for a day and a night This is an extreme odd relation! That the solemn appearance of an assembly of prophets, presided over by a person so respectable, and heretofore of such great autho rity in Judea, might influence, in an extraordinary manner, persons entrusted with a commission to apprehend or kill a man patronised by these prophets, exhibits nothing wonderful; they might easily perhaps be prophesied out of Protheir errand, and might then prophesy in concert. phesy is a vague term, not always limited to the prediction of future events. The extempore preaching of many Dissenters, and the discourses of the Quakers, who profess to speak as the spirit gives them utterance, seem to come under the term prophesy. These persons can work themselves and others into such fits of enthusiastic intoxication, that they believe themselves agitated by superna tural influence. Such might be the prophesying here men. tioned. But Saul prophesied! so it is said. Had the subject of Saul's prophesying been transmitted down to us, it might have greatly illustrated this passage in the history; but no! he is barely said to have prophesied ; and we are prudently left to guess what. Being thus at liberty, we, among other expositors, may easily surmise Ver. 18. § Ver. 20. * 1 Sam. xix. 4. + Ver. 10, 11. Ver. 23. what he might take for his text, and was the general tenor of his discourses on this particular occasion. Afterward David had a private interview with Jona than, for he durst not venture to appear at court. At this meeting Jonathan, who had conceived too great an affection for this man, was at length seduced by him from the duty and allegiance which he owed to his father and king, solemnly promised that he would sound his father's intentions on the next day—which being the festival of the new moon, David's attendance was expected at the king's table-and that he would warn him of any danger intended him. David lay hid in the field until Jonathan brought him the required intelligence; and when the king enquired concerning him, Jonathan, as had been before concerted, said, that he had requested leave to go and perform a family sacrifice at Bethlehem. Saul's reply on this occasion is very pertinent, and shews his antipathy to David not to have been the causeless inveteracy of a disordered mind. "Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman! do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom: Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die." Jonathan expostulated with his father, and had a javelin hurled at him for his reward §. David being advertised, according to agreement, of the king's disposition toward him, retired to Abimelech the high priest, at the city of Nob, who treated him with shew-bread, and armed him with the sword of Goliah, which had been hung up and consecrated to God ¶. We may consider David's resuming this sword, after its dedication as a religious trophy, whatever gloss may be put on his interview with Abimelech, to be a clear manifestation of hostile intentions, or a declaration of war against his father-in-law, for which he now took the first opportunity to prepare. Thus accoutred, he fled out of Judea to Achish, king of Gath, intending, as we have good reason to believe, to enter into a treaty of alliance with him against the Ilebrews; but the popular cry was against him before he accomplished any thing, or at least any thing that has reached our times. Here David appears to disadvantage in point of policy; for though his carrying with him the sword of Goliah was artful enough, and likely to collect followers in Judea, since it was a continual witness of that prowess which had gained him such extraordinary reputation; yet for him, under this circumstance, to throw himself into the power of the Philistines, among those very people from whose champion he had ravished that sword, was the highest imprudence; and we perceive he might have suffered for it, had he not made use of a stratagem to procure his release, which he effected by acting the madman t. Mankind seems to have been very easily imposed on in those days. David now thinking it time openly to avow his design of disputing the crown with Saul, went to a cave called Adullam, which he appointed the place of rendezvous for his partizans. Here we are told he collected together a company of debtors, vagrants, and disaffected persons, to the number of four hundred, and opened his rebellion by putting himself at the head of this body of men ‡,—men whose desperate situations under the government in being, rendered them fit agents to disturb it, and proved the surest bond to connect them to a partizan thus embarked in an enterprize against it. Ilither also came to him his father and all his brethren; and the first movement that he made was to go to the king of Moab, to obtain a retreat for his father and mother, until he knew the event of his enterprize §. By the advice of the prophet Gad, David next marched into the land of Judah : Gad no doubt hoped that, as the young adventurer was of that tribe, he would there meet with considerable reinforcement. When Saul heard of this insurrection, he pathetically laments his misfor tune to those about him, that they, and even his son Jonathan, should conspire against him. Then started up one Doeg, an Edomite, who informed Saul, that he had seen David harboured by the priests in Nobt. Upon this Saul summoned all those belonging to that city before him, with Abimelech their chief, who began to excuse himself as well as he could; but Saul remember. ing, without doubt, the threatening of Samuel, concerning the affair of king Agagt; and considering these priests as traitors, from this corroborating evidence ageinst them, he commanded them all to be slain, to the number of eighty five persons §. Morcover, agreeable to the barbarous usage of that nation, the massacre included the whole city of Nob, man and beast, young and old, without exception. Though the king's rage in this instance exceeded ot only the bonds of humanity, but also of good policy, it nevertheless serves to shew how deeply the priests were concerned in the rebellion of David, since he could not be mad enough to commit so flagrant an act, without some colourable pretence, and shews also that Saul had not so great an opinion of their holiness as we, at this distance of time, are, by their own annals, instructed to have. Had Saul been more implicit, he might have enjoyed the name of king, have continued the dupe of the priests, have died in peace, and his children have suc ceeded quietly to the inheritance. But, "Ye Gods! what havock does Ambition make During this time, David rescued the city of Keilah from the Philistines, who were besieging it, hoping to * 1 Sam. xxii. 7, S. + Ch. xii. 9. Ch. xiii. 14. xv. 26, 28. § Ch. xxii. 16, 17, 18. || Ver. 19. In so small a territory as Judea, the difference between the king and his son-in-law, so popular a man, could not be unknown to persons in any measure removed from the vulgar. Therefore Abimelech's pleas of ignorance did not deserve credit. ** 1 Sam. xxiii. 3. S2 |