Saul. The result justified the wisdom of David's choice. For when his army had grown to sufficient dimensions to meet the rebel forces in the field, it found sufficient accommodation here; for, on that occasion, "all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands." (2 Sam. xviii. 4.)

However wisely these measures might have been planned, it was a work of great difficulty and peril to carry them into actual practice. The hurried retreat of the king, and of his household, when considered in connexion with all the circumstances of the case, was fraught with immense danger, and exhibited a scene perhaps without a parallel in history. Never, perhaps, did a man display more true nobility of soul and sterling piety than did David on that day. The whole court, with all his faithful attendants, his body-guard and other soldiers, and all those who attached themselves to his fortunes, sallied forth from the city on the morning of that mournful day, amid the amazement and lamentation of those among the people who were aware of the cause of this strange movement. It does not appear that the usual cavalcade of horses or mules were called into requisition on that occasion; for the whole procession seems to have been on foot. Having emerged from the city, the vast crowd made their first halt at a place called Beth-maachah. Here they were arranged into something like regular order. The body-guard of the king, the Cherethites and Pelethites, took the lead, followed by the regular soldiery; then came the six hundred men who had accompanied David in his wanderings, before his accession to the throne ; the king and his household and friends came next; a guard of soldiers covering the rear.

As they thus proceeded, the king observed Ittai of Gath among his followers; and, addressing him, urged

THE PEOPLE LAMENT THE KING'S DEPARTURE. 269

his return, advising him not to expose himself and his men to danger and travel on his account, at the same time giving him his blessing. The noble-minded Philistine promptly and positively refused to leave the king, declaring, with the utmost fervour, his determination. to share the fate of his sovereign, whether in life or in death. Thus the procession passed on; descending the valley east of the city, they crossed the brook Kedron, and went up the slopes of Olivet. Not till then did the general population comprehend the serious nature of this measure. Now they saw that the king had resolved to abandon the city, and to depart to a distance; and, as this conviction became general, a universal cry of sorrow ascended to the skies: according to the expressive language of the sacred record, "All the country wept with a loud voice."

As they went up the hill, the king's company was joined by another procession. The two principal priests, Zadok and Abiathar, with a troop of Levites, bearing the ark of God, which they had taken from the sacred sanctuary on Mount Zion, came to accompany the sovereign in his flight. But this David would not allow. Influenced apparently by high religious principle, he would not consent to take the ark with him in his wandering and dangers. He had too sacred a regard for the seat of the presence of Jehovah to expose it to the vicissitudes of his flight, and the warlike struggles which were likely to be the result of this rebellion. David had also a faith in God too intelligent in its nature to suppose that even this sacred symbol could confer any additional benefit on him in his trouble, while he had full confidence in the mercy and protection of Jehovah. He therefore commanded the priests and Levites to return with the ark to the city, and to replace it in the tabernacle, saying: "If I

shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me again, and show me both it and His habitation; but if He thus say, I have no delight in thee, here I am, let Him do to me as seemeth good unto Him." In this way did the afflicted king unreservedly trust in the Lord.

But David, while acting under a sense of religious obligation in returning the sacred ark to its place, saw that this incident might be turned to very favourable account in his difficult and dangerous circumstances. He could not be ignorant of the vast importance to his cause of having confidential friends in Jerusalem to apprise him of the measures which his rebellious son would adopt, and thus enable him as far as possible to frustrate them. So he urged Zadok and Abiathar to return to the city, telling them that he would go on, and abide in the wilderness, until Ahimaaz the son of Zadok and Jonathan the son of Abiathar should bring him intelligence of the course taken by Absalom. The priests complied with this request; and, with their attendant Levites bearing the ark, returned to Jerusalem.

The king, having disposed of this matter, resumed his march, and, with his head uncovered, weeping and barefoot, followed by his attendants, also weeping, reached the summit of Olivet. Here the afflicted sovereign was told of the defection of Ahithophel, and that he was now attending on Absalom. This intelligence sensibly affected the king: from the effects of such treason he felt there was but one refuge, and to this he instinctively turned with all the power of his devout mind; for, lifting his weeping eyes to heaven, he exclaimed, "O Lord, I pray Thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." Soon afterward the procession made another halt by a soli

THE KING POURS OUT HIS SORROW IN PSALMS. 271

tary olive-tree in the wilderness on the way to Jericho.

Here David gave vent to his feelings on the unprincipled defection of Ahithophel, in one of the most spirited and impassioned of his poetical compositions.

PSALM LV.

"Give ear to my prayer, O God!

And hide not Thyself from my supplication.
Attend unto me, and hear me :

I mourn in my complaint and make a noise,
Because of the voice of the enemy,

Because of the oppression of the wicked:

For they cast iniquity upon me,

And in wrath they hate me.

My heart is sore pained within me:

And the terrors of death are fallen upon me.

Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me,
And horror hath overwhelmed me.

And I said, O that I had wings like a dove!
For then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Lo! then would I wander far off,

And remain in the wilderness.

I would hasten my escape

From the windy storm and tempest.

Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues :

For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

Day and night they go about upon the walls

thereof:

Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.

Wickedness is in the midst there of:

Deceit and guile depart not from her streets.

For it was not an enemy that reproached me;
Then I could have borne it:

Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me;

Then I would have hid myself from him.

But it was thou-a man mine equal,

My guide, and mine acquaintance.

We took sweet counsel together,

And walked to the house of God in company.

Let death seize upon them,

And let them go down quick into hell;

For wickedness is in their dwellings, and among

them.

As for me, I will call upon God;
And the Lord shall save me.

Evening, and morning, and at noon,
Will I pray and cry aloud ;

And He shall hear my voice.

He hath delivered my soul in

peace

From the battle that was against me;

For there were many with me.

God shall hear and afflict them,

Even He that abideth of old.
Because they have no changes,
Therefore they fear not God.

He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him:

He hath broken his covenant.

The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,

But war was in his heart: