Times-promoter., 1907-11-08

there had ranked in his heart the evil
passions which had been aroused when
his beautiful sister Tamar had poured
into his sympathetic ear the story of
her grievous wrongs at the hands of
her half-brother, Amnon, and certain
1t is that time had not softened his
anger, or weakened his murderous re-
| solve.
Day after day he had fed the flame
of his hatred, and day after day he
had plotted and schemed how he might
compass the destruction OF Amnon
without danger to himself.
| Secretly, Absalom rejoiced that he
had found occasion against Amnon,
for with him out of the way Absalom
would be heir to the throne of David.
From his earliest boyhood he could re-
call how his mother. had encouraged
| him In the hope that some day he
should be heir to the kingdom His
grandfather Talmai was king over
Geshur, and why should not he be king
over Israel, and thus unite two strong
Kingdoms? Absalom's mother looked
J with contempt upon Ahinoam, mother
! of Amnon, for she had no claim to royal
birth, while she, Maacah, was daughter
of the king of Geshur. And this con-
! tempt which she had felt for Ahinoam
she had instilled into the heart of her
| son Absalom, SC that he had come to
feel that her son Amnon was quite be-
meath him. This feeling had grown
with the years and there was no pleas
ant intercourse between the half bro
theirs, and as Absalom came to man.
+, hoods estate and the pride and ambi-
! tion took complete possession OF his
/ heart, there grew upon him the feel
| ing that somehow Amnon stood In his
way to success; that he was doing
him an injustice.
He had been told too often of the
charms of his own person not to be
conscious of them, and he felt that
his beauty and grace would never be
fittingly set forth until he was sur
rounded by regal honors and power.
, Amnon seemed In his way OF realiza-
tion of this ambition, and long before
| the wicked conduct of Amnon had
brought him within his power he had
secretly plotted how he might COM
pass his ruin without evil consequences
, to himself.
Hence, as we have said, when Am
non SO wickedly wronged his sister,
he welcomed 1t as the long sought OPP
portunity, but even in his passionate
eagerness to strike the blow he knew
that he must move cautiously, else he
would Illustrate his own ends. For
, this reason he counseled his sister to
say nothing which would bring punish
ment upon the head of Amnon and
take him out OF the reach of his pow
er. His hand and his alone should deal
with him, and all Israel should know
| that Absalom was as brave as he was
| beautiful, and as fearless in righting
| wrong as he was In defending the in
nocent.
So the time slipped by until, as we
have said, almost two years had
passed. That had been an exception
ally good year with Absalom. His
I, fields and his focks had yielded splen-
did increase, and there seemed moth.
ing for him to desire.
Others had forgotten his enmity to-
wards Amnon, in fact even the latter
had In the brutishness of his own
black heart ceased to think about it,
for pleasures of the present always
shut out the memory of past misdeeds.
But, Notwithstanding the prosperity
which had come to him, Absalom was
not satisfied. The ranking hatred in
his heart gave him no peace day or
night The one thing he desired above
all else was to destroy his brother
Amnon. He deserved to de, he ar
gued with himself, and his death
would place him In direct succession
to the throne.
One day, as the time for shearing
the sheep drew near, as he was out
inspecting the focks and planning for
the harvest of wool, the thought
flashed across his mind:
why not make the feasting time
4 and the time of gladness which always
marked the sheep ehearing season tho
occasion of shifting Amnon? The
very thing!" he exclaimed aloud. "All
] the royal family knows what a pros