073. L. The Internal Events Of David’s Reign

§ L. THE INTERNAL EVENTS OF DAVID’S REIGN

2 Samuel 21, 24

1. Demand of the Gibeonites. Now in the days of David there was a famine three years, year after year. And when David sought the face of Jehovah, Jehovah said, Upon Saul and upon his house there is blood-guilt, because he put to death the Gibeonites (now the Gibeonites were not of the Israelites, but of the remnant of the Amontes; nevertheless the Israelites had sworn to them; and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal for the Israelites and the Judahites). And David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the expiation, that you may bless the heritage of Jehovah? And the Gibeonites said to him, It is not a matter of silver and gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel. And he said, What do you say that I shall do for you? And they said to the king, The man who consumed us, and who planned to destroy us that we should not remain in any of the borders of Israel—let seven men of his sons be given to us, and we will hang them up to Jehovah in Gibeon in the mount of Jehovah. And the king said, I will give them.

2. Execution of the sons of Saul and Rizpah. So the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Meribaal, and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. And he delivered them over to the Gibeonites, and they hung them in the mountain before Jehovah, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest.

3. Rizpah’s devotion to the dead. Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of the barley harvest until water was poured upon them from heaven; and she did not permit the birds of the heavens to settle down upon them by day nor the wild beasts by night. And when it was reported to David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh in Gilead, who had stolen them from the citizens of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day that the Philistines slew Saul in Gilboa. And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. And they buried the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son in the territory of Benjamin in Zela in the sepulchre of Kish his father, and they did all that the king commanded. And after this God was propitiated toward the land.

4. Meribaal’s lameness. Now Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news came from Jezreel regarding Saul and Jonathan. And his nurse took him up and fled, and while she was hastily fleeing, he fell and became lame. And his name was Meribaal.

5. David’s search for descendants of Saul. And David said, Is there left of the house of Saul any to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake? Now there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba; and they called him to David. And the king said to him, Are you Ziba? And he said, Your servant am I. The king said, is there no one else belonging to the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God? And Ziba said to the king, Jonathan has still a son, who is lame in his feet. And the king said to him, Where is he? And Ziba said to the king, Behold he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar. Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar. And when Meribaal the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, Meribaal! And he answered, Behold your servant! Then David said to him, Fear not, for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of Jonathan your father and will restore to you all the land of Saul your ancestor; and you shall eat at my table continually. And he did obeisance and said, What is your servant that you should look favorably upon such a dead dog as I am?

6. His provision for Meribaal. Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, All that belongs to Saul and all his house have I given to your master’s son. And you shall cultivate the land for him, together with your sons and servants, and bring in the fruits that your master’s son may have food to eat; but Meribaal your master’s son shall always eat bread at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Then said Ziba to the king, Just as my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do. So Meribaal ate at David’s table like one of the sons of the king. And Meribaal had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were Meribaal’s servants. So Meribaal dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table, being lame in both feet.

7. The taking of the census. Then Jehovah’s anger was again aroused against Israel, and he instigated David against them, saying, Go number Israel and Judah! So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army who were with him, Go now about among all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and muster the people that I may know the number of the people. Then Joab answered the king, May Jehovah your God add to the people, a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king are looking on! But why has my lord the king a desire for such a thing? But the king’s command prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. And Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. And they crossed the Jordan, and began from Aroer and from the city that is in the midst of the torrent valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. Then they came to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites, toward Kadesh; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon, and came to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the South Country of Judah at Beersheba. So when they had gone about through the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. And Joab gave to the king the number of the people who had been enrolled, and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand able-bodied, fighting men; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.

8. David’s remorse. Then David’s conscience smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Jehovah, pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.

9. His choice. Then the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, Go and speak to David, ‘Thus saith Jehovah, “Three things I offer thee; choose one of them, that I may do it to thee.”’ So when David rose up in the morning, Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, Shall three years of famine come over your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now take counsel and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me. And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait. We would rather fall into the hand of Jehovah, for his mercy is great, but let me not fall into the hand of man.

10. The pestilence. So David chose the pestilence. And when it was the time of wheat harvest, the plague began among the people and slew of the people from Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men. And when the Messenger stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah repented of the evil, and said to the Messenger who was destroying the people, Enough, now stay thy hand! and the Messenger of Jehovah was by the threshing-floor of Araunah.

11. The altar on the threshing-floor of Araunah. And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to Jehovah on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. So David went up at the command of Gad, as Jehovah commanded. And when Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over to him, Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor of you, to build an altar to Jehovah, that the plague may be averted from the people. And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer what he pleases, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing-sledges and the implements of the oxen for the wood. All this has your servant, my lord the king, given to the king. And Araunah said to the king, Jehovah your God accept you! And the king answered Araunah, No, but I will surely buy it of you at a price. I must not offer burnt-offerings to Jehovah my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. Then David built there an altar to Jehovah, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So Jehovah was entreated for the land and the plague was averted from Israel.

1. The Ancient Doctrine of Evil. From earliest times the dogma that calamity was the sign of divine displeasure was widely accepted. It was one of the fundamental doctrines of ancient theology. Hence when Israel was afflicted with a severe famine, the one question raised by all was, In what has the nation sinned to be thus afflicted with the mark of Jehovah’s displeasure? The survivors of the old Canaanite town of Gibeon appeared with an explanation which was accepted not only by the Israelites but by David himself. It was that Jehovah was punishing the crime of Saul, who, disregarding the ancient covenant (§ XXXII), had put to death many of the Gibeonites. Their proposal that the two surviving sons of Saul and his five grandsons be hung up before Jehovah, as an expiation for the crime of their ancestor, was adopted. The relief from the famine which followed was interpreted as evidence that Jehovah had accepted the bloody sacrifice. The devotion of Rizpah, Saul’s wife, to her sons at last aroused the sympathy of the nation, and moved David honorably to inter the bones of Saul and his descendants in the family sepulchre in Benjamin.

II. The False and the True Doctrine of Human Sacrifice. This ancient story reveals the imperfect belief of the age. The later prophetic teaching that Jehovah was a righteous God and that all his acts were prompted by justice and love had not yet dawned upon the popular consciousness. In common with their heathen neighbors, they still thought of their Deity as a God whose anger could be appeased by sacrifice of an innocent human being. Later and more enlightened prophets recognized the act, even though it was inspired by religious zeal, as simple murder. They also saw clearly that God’s attitude toward men was that of love, and that he was ever ready to forgive the nation or individual who came to him with true penitence. No bloody sacrifice was required to win God’s favor. Indeed they declared that he desired not sacrifice, but only “a broken and contrite heart.” The later theologies, therefore, which clung to the old heathen doctrine, were far removed from the nobler teachings of the early prophets. In the suffering, discordant life of humanity, human sacrifice plays its essential part. To be effective, however, the sacrifice must be voluntary, and it is effective, not in changing the attitude of God toward men, but of men toward God. The noble self-giving of parents for their children, of friend for friend, of patriot for his country, of reformer and philanthropist for the down-trodden and suffering, is absolutely essential for the salvation of humanity.

III. David’s Treatment of Jonathan’s Son. Possibly as a reaction for the cruel penalty that was visited upon the descendants of Saul, David made earnest search, and succeeded in finding the crippled son of his beloved friend Jonathan. Upon him David bestowed Saul’s family estates and the honor of eating at the royal table. Thus Meribaal remained a pathetic reminder of David’s noblest passion and of the departed glories of the house of Saul.

IV. The Census of All Israel. As a part of David’s policy and in order to ascertain upon how many warriors he could rely in his foreign campaigns, command was given to number all Israel. The royal order was carried out in the face of Joab’s earnest protestation. Nearly ten months were required for the task. The report revealed one million three hundred thousand warriors in all Israel. It is interesting to note that the population of Judah, which doubtless included the tribes of the south, at this time nearly equalled that of Northern Israel.

V. The Pestilence. A vivid, picturesque, popular tradition tells of a pestilence which swept through Israel about this time, and connects the calamity with David’s numbering the Israelites. The old Semitic belief that a census was displeasing to the Deity was accepted, and the pestilence was interpreted as a direct punishment. At the direction of his prophetic adviser, Gad, David purchased from Araunah the Jebusite, a threshing-floor, which was probably on the northern extension of the hill of Ophel. There he reared an altar to Jehovah and sacrificed burnt-offerings. The ancient story was apparently preserved because it told of the acquisition of the sacred site on which Solomon later reared the temple. Possibly David’s sacrifice was offered on the same jagged native rock, which later figured as the great altar before Solomon’s temple, and is to-day covered by the quaint Mosque of Omar.

VI Israel’s Faith in the Days of David. These popular stories lay bare the beliefs held by the Hebrews at this early period. Their faith, like their civilization, was a blending of the beliefs, which their ancestors brought from the wilderness, with the new and very different ideas which they found regnant in Canaan. It was inevitable that their theology should contain many heathen superstitions. Ceremonial correctness was evidently still regarded as more important than ethical righteousness. Man continued to bargain with his God in order to attain cherished ends, Jehovah was regarded more with fear than with love. He was the supreme King, who demanded the absolute loyalty and devotion of his subjects, very much as did their human king. David reigned as Je hovah’s viceroy, consulting his divine King through the priestly oracl before deciding any important question of state. The consolidation, of all the tribes under one ruler not only rendered their beliefs more uniform, but also fixed their faith on one God supreme throughout all the nation. Thus it was that the institution of the united Hebrew kingdom represents an important step forward in the development of Israel’s religion from the crude polytheism of the desert into the exalted [??] theism of the later prophets.