the South, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; and had taken captive the women and all that were therein, both small and great: they slew not any, but carried them off, and went their way. So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. And he arose, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor. But David pursued, he and four hundred men for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they gave him water to drink and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins; and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick. We made an invasion into the south country of the Cherethites, and into that which belongeth to Judah, and we burned Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this troop.

And when he had brought him down, behold they were spread abroad, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, who rode upon camels and fled. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and

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Daniel rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all. And they took all the flocks and the herds, and drave them before David, and they said, This is David's spoil.

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And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him and when David came near with his men, they saluted them. Then said all the churlish men of those that went with David, Because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart. Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which God hath given unto us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his share is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his share be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall share alike. And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel, unto this day.

And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of God; also to them who were in Bethul, and to them who were in Ramoth of the south, and to them who were in Jattir, and to them who were in Ararah, and to them who were in Siphmoth, and to them who were in Eshtemoa, and to them who were in Carmel, and to them who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them who were in the cities of the Kenites, and to them who were in Hormah, and to them who were in Bor-Ashan, and to them who were in Athach, and to them who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.

§ 16. It was not long before the news of Saul's death and Jonathan's reached the ears of David. The narrative how David was told seems made up of two stories, of which the first probably followed the older and (I should imagine) truer tradițion that Saul

died by his own hand, while the second followed a later tradition according to which Saul was killed by an Amalekite.

And it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag; it came even to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head: and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obeisance. And David said unto him, From whence comest thou? And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

Here you see the news is borne by 'a man' (in Hebrew Ish) and probably an Israelite. But at this point this narrative is broken off, and its place is taken by the other narrative which followed the later tradition. In it the news was brought by a 'young man,' (in Hebrew Na'ar), the very Amalekite by whom Saul was slain. Ignorant of the noble elements in David's character, he rashly believed that news, evil to the friends of Saul, would be to David good news and pleasant. He hopes for reward, and he gets a reward, but it is different from what he had expected. It is also possible that the whole story was invented by the Amalekite for the sake of the reward which he had hoped to obtain, and in that case it may be that the manner of Saul's death was the same in both versions.

And David said to the young man that told him, How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son be dead? And the young man that told him said, I happened by chance to be upon mount Gilboa and, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. And he said unto me, Stand, I pray thee, beside me, and slay me, for giddiness hath taken hold of me; because my life is yet whole in me. So I stood beside him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that

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was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord.

And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite. And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to put forth thine hand to destroy God's anointed? And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died. And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain God's anointed.

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Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men that were with him and they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.

And David composed this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: and he bade them teach it to the children of Judah.

Thy beauty, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places!
How are the mighty fallen!

Tell it not in Gath,

Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon ;

Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the foreigner triumph.
Ye mountains of Gilboa,

Let there be no dew nor rain upon you:

For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.

From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan turned not back,

And the sword of Saul returned not empty.

Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, And in their death they were not divided;

They were swifter than eagles,

They were stronger than lions.

Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,

Who clothed you in scarlet and delights,

Who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel.

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!

Jonathan is slain upon thy high places.

I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan :

Very pleasant hast thou been unto me:
Thy love to me was wonderful,

Passing the love of women.

How are the mighty fallen,

And the weapons of war perished!

There is no reason why we may not believe that in this beautiful and manly elegy we have the very words of the warrior-poet before us, written some 2,912 years ago. There were grand elements of nobility and tenderness in David's nature, and we feel that the heroic first king of Israel (for he too, with all his faults, was yet a hero), together with his brave and gracious son, has received for all time a worthy lamentation and requiem at the hand of the man whose life he sought so keenly and so long.