Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-05-08
Golden Text: Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life" Psalms 1856.

mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life" Psalms 2S:5.
There are not many people who
can do more than one thing we'll
David was one of the. exceptions
and probably the great exception,
Tor he did so many things and did
them all we'll He was shepherd
courtier, soldier, musician, poet,
outlaw, friend, king, organizer, re.
hgionist, prophet-and in each he
excelled. 1t must also be told that
he eXcelled as a sinner; but, thank
God, he also excelled as a repenter
! An! how we love the manysided
| authenticated boy without being at
tracted to him--he must have got
| ten his looks from his great grand
mother, Ruth. Michael Angelo s
conception of him in marble makes
one realize very wildly what a mar
Vicious physique he had-it must
have been fine, for he put on Saul s
! armor, and you remember that Saul
was head and shoulders higher than
any of the people. The STRIPPING
who stood before Goliath was not
a child, but full grown young man
in all the vigor that life in the
open fields had perfected. But it
Is not his physical appearance that
attracts us so much as his versatil-
ity. He had a point of contact with
SO many people because he could
touch so many interests. Let us
think aloud about him for a bit.
Jesse, his father, had become the
chief man of his tribe, and was we'll
known to Samuel and to Saul. He
was getting old. He had eight sons,
and had acquired a large number of
sheep, who were herded on the hill
sides around about Bethlehem, and
| tended by servants. His youngest
son, at least, had been sent to tend
| the sheep with the servants. There
out in the open, the lad had time to
| think--the metaphors that he uses
later in life prove him very observ-
ant; we shall notice these later. The
heavens above him reminded him of
God, the things on earth about him
| brought God into his consciousness.
| The boy loved music; and used
to take his harp-a light instrument
easily carried-with him and sing of
the things about him. At least twice
he got more interested in his
musings and music than he ought
to have been, otherwise the lion or
the bear would not have been able
to have stepped up on him and steal
lamb outof the flock. But the
lambs cry brought him into imme-
date action, with no thought of his
own danger in his determination to
rescue the darling out of the lion S
mouth. He had not only great
physical courage. but also great
physical strength, to tackle a lion
or a bear with no other weapon
than a shepherds staff and a knife;
but he caught the lion by the beard
and slew him. He never forgot his
shepherd experiences; in his old
age, when things were anything but
pleasant in his life, he went back
to them with longing, and left them
crystallized for us in that beautiful
shepherd psalm.
AS a musician and a poet he was
hardly less attractive. His musical
career began as a lad watching his
fathers sheep. He found many a
| theme for song and story in the
fastness of the Bethlehem, hills
when he was a fugitive from Saul.
| When he had become established as
king, he instituted a very elaborate
system of musical worship, with
choirs and orchestras. He is cred
tied with nearly two-thirds of the
psalms in the inspired collection.
and these are made up of many
moods and movements. OF his
psalms the following deserve especial
attention and study, 2, IS, 10, %,
%, "a; 27, 50, "a, 81, 40, AZ, As, 81,
62, 119. 13S. If you will, study any
one of these carefully, from the
standpoint of literature, of thought,
of diction, of purpose, of musical ap-
probation, and rendition, you will
have to admit David's superiority
as musician and a poet.
l. 1t was his fame as musician that
| brought him into the royal house as
a courtier. Saul had gotten moody,
and his physician had prescribed
music to sooth the savage ear. David
was selected for this purpose, and
ofttimes quieted the unsettled mind
and spirit of the king who had lost
touch with God. But David did his
work we'll.
| He seemed not to have been we'll
known to Saul at first-probably
| because he was not seen except
| when he was needed and Saul then
was not in any normal condition. 1t
was not until a. bit later that he
came into the service of the king as
a courtier. This came about through
| the incident of Goliath. The details
OF that are too we'll known to us to
do more than make reference to
| thnn0 harn ht1f @11nrn SC ar
that should be noted. David had
grown up in close proximity to the
territory of Benjamin. You will re-
call that in the time of the judges,
there were found in Benjamin 700
men who could throw a stone from
the sling with their left hands and
never miss the mark even by the
breadth of a hair. Judges 20:16) 1t
is more than probable, that some of
these or at least their descendants
had taught David the art, and he
proved himself an apt scholar.
The victory over Goliath brought
him forth as a soldier, and the
popularity which it gave him made
him the object of Saurs jealousy.
Saul's attempts to kill him by CIV
ing him dangerous jobs to tackle
| acted as boomerang, Tor IL only
made him all the more popular, and
gave him chances for development
both as soldier and as politician
that he would not otherwise have
had.
Goaded by jealousy, Saul finally
drove him out. of the royal palace,
zut not until he had won the love
of the kings son, Jonathon, and of
the kings daughter. Michal. David
became the chieftain of band of
outlaws. All those who were dis
contented or in debt, or discouraged.
flocked to his leadership-400 of
them. David's four hundred became
the nucleus of the greatest army
that Israel ever had. His expert
ences as a shepherd had taught him
every nook and Granny in the hill
! Sidoc with tho of AHJIlIIlO9