The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-22
david, SOLOMON and
HIRAM IN music
Three Artists Who Lived
Three Thousand
Years Ago.
THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.
The Wonderful and Pro-
longed Vitality of the
Psalms of David.
Article VIII.

III ILLS anu Tie lOl4ON4lS al l4S4b IL 10
the purpose of the writer to dwell
mainly upon the artistic qualities of
three men who lived about three
thousand years ago. They were Dav-
i'd, Solomon and Hiram.
David, the son of Jesse of Bethle-
hem, in the tribe of Judah, belonged
ito the valiant men whom Saul hal
taken to himself" He had distin-
guished himself In the struggle against
the Philistines, and the king made him
his arInor bearer and sent him out FREE
quently against them. He was below
sd by the people and the kings SER
wants; and Jonathan, the brave son Of
Saul made covenant with David,
for he loved him as his own soul" At
ter, Abner the first cousin Of Saul,
and ommander-in-chief OF his army,
David was the first of Sauls followers
and ate at his table He married
Michal. the second daughter of Saul
and David said, What am ! and what
is my life or my fathers family that /
should be the kings son-in-law? But |
am a poor man and lightly esteemed"
Saul became suspicious of David,
fearing that he would conspire against
him with Samuel and other priests who
were unfriendly to his newly establish
ed throne and the man who filled it.
1T is related that Saul thrust at David
with q spear and that the latter avoid
ed the blow and fled to his house. Saul
commanded that the house be sur
rounded in order that David might be
killed the next day, but Michal let
Iva 10 1at1f u,
dow ana laid the household god in the
the bed in his place, covered it UP
with cloth and placed a fly net Of
goats hair over the face of the image.
Saul blamed his daughter for having
helped David and said to Jonathan,
''As long as the son of Jesse liveth,
thou shalt not be established nor thy
kingdom" Then he held strict trial
of the priests under the tamarisk at
Gibeah. When the priests of Mob
were brought before him. Saul asked
Ahtmelech, why have We conspired
against me, thou and the son Of Jesse
that he should rise against me? Thou
shalt surely die. Stay the priests he
cried to his bodyguard," heir
hand is with David and because they
knew when he fed and did not show 1t
to me- But the servants of the king
would not put forth their hand to fall
upon the priests Of the Lord. And the
king said to Doeg, Turn thou and
fall upon the priests" And Doeg, the
Edomite, turned and fell upon the
priests, and slew on that day fourscore
and five persons that did wear a linen
ephod.
And Mob, the city of priests, smote
he with the edge of the sword, both
men and women, children and suck
lings, and oxen and asses and sheep,
with the edge Of the sword.
And one of the sons of Ahimelech
the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar,
escaped and fed after David, And Abb
athar showed David that Saul had
slain the Lords priests
This would seem to prove that David
was in close alliance with the priests
and David's own actions after he had
broken with Saul are evidence Of far
reaching and carefully laid schemes,
the means Of whose execution were not
too scrupulous. At any rate, he pre-
pared himself to be strong adver-
sary of Saul and he entered into rela-
tions with many enemies of his coun-
try. He attempted to organize an up
rising In eastern Judea about the Dead
Sea, where he counted upon the adhe-
sion OF the tribe Of Judah to which
he belonged.
David actually led robber life and
ran the danger of rousing the inhabit-
ants Of the neighborhood against him.
He sent to a rich man, Nabal of Car
mel, who possessed three thousand
sheep and one thousand goats, and
asked him whether he would not send
him some means of subsistence Ma
bal answered David's messenger,
"WhoAie David and who is the son of
Jesse. there be many servants now
adays that break away every man
from his master" Then David set out
by night to fall upon Nabals house
and focizs. On the way he was met
by Nabals wife, Abigail, who, in her
dread Of the freebooters, had led out
some asses laden with slaughtered
sheep, bread, jars of wine, figs and
raisin cakes, to take secretly to Day.
ids camp. BLESSED be thy advice,
woman" said David, "for as the Lord
God of Israel liveth. hadst thou not
met me, surely by the morning light
there had been none left of Nabal and
his house." Nabal miraculously died
ten days after this incident. David
reflected that so rich possession
would be useful in this region Sauls
daughter was lost to him for a time so
he sent some servants to Abigail at
Carmel, They said, David sent us
unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.
And Abigail arose and bowed herself
on her face to the earth and said Be
hold, let thine handmade by a servant
to wash the feet of the servants of my
Lord Then she arose with five of her
maidens and went after the messen-
gers of David and became his wife"
This marriage was Of great assistance
to David's enterprise The southern
towns Of Judah-Aroer, Hormah, Ra-
moth, Jattir, Eshtemoa, even Hebron
itself declared for him.
After the death of Saul his throne
was vacant and David, being the hus-
band of his daughter, came into pos
session of the throne of Israel. David
was not content with the successes he
had so far attained Israel was not
merely to be free 1t was to be united
and raised to a position commanding
respect among the neighboring states.
Step by step David brought this aim
nearer fIllllment. He trained the
tribes to give new and better express
sion to their cohesion than had form
erly been possible; he fitted them to
Ef.5fss f.- ~ y, l.