DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING

[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XIX.  THRICE CROWNED
F. B. MEYER

(2 Samuel 1, 2 Samuel 4:1-12)

"For life, with all its yields of joy and woe,
Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love;
And that we hold henceforth to the uttermost
Such prize, despite the envy of the world."
R. BROWNING.

TWO WHOLE days had passed since that triumphant march back from the slaughter of Amalek to the charred and blackened ruins of Ziklag, and it appeared as though David were awaiting some sign to determine his future course. What should he do next? Should he begin to build again the ruined city? Or was there something else in the Divine programme of his life? His heart was on the watch. He could not forget that when, but a few days back, he had left the camp of Achish, a battle was imminent between the Philistines and his countrymen. Had that battle been fought? and, if so, what had been the issue? How had sped the fortunes of that momentous day? What tidings were there of Saul, of the beloved Jonathan, and of his comrades? Surely it could not be long ere rumours, breathed as on the wind, would answer the questions which were surging through his mind.

On the third day a young man rushed breathless into the camp, his clothes rent and earth upon his head. He made straight for David, and fell to the ground at his feet. In a moment more his tidings were told, each word stabbing David to the quick. Israel had fled before the foe; large numbers were fallen on the battlefield; Saul and Jonathan were dead also. That moment David knew that the thundercloud which had been so long louring over his head had broken, and that the expectations of years were on the point of being realized; but he had no thought for himself or for the marvellous change in his fortunes. His generous soul, oblivious to itself, poured out a flood of the noblest tears man ever shed, for Saul and' for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XIX.  THRICE CROWNED
F. B. MEYER

1. DAVID'S TREATMENT OF SAUL'S MEMORY.

There could be no doubt that he was dead. His crown, the symbol of kingly power, and the bracelet worn upon his arm, were already in David's possession. The Amalekite indeed, to lay David more absolutely under obligation, had made it appear that the king's life had been taken, at his own request, by himself. "He said to me," so the man's tale ran, "'Stand, I pray thee, beside me, and slay me; for anguish 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." David seems to have been as one stunned till the evening, and then he aroused himself to show respect to Saul's memory.

He gave short shrift to the Amalekite. The bearer of the sad news had been held under arrest, because on his own showing, he had slain the Lord's anointed; and, as the evening fell, the wretched man was again brought into the chieftain's presence. David seems to have had some doubt as to his tale, and it afterwards appeared that the story was false; still it was necessary that the regicide should pay the extreme penalty for the deed to which he had confessed.

With that reverence for the Lord's anointing which had smitten him to the heart when he cut off the piece of his robe, David asked, an expression of horror in his tone, "How wast thou not afraid to put forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed!" Then calling one of the young men, he bade him go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died.

He next poured out his grief in the Song of the Bow, which at first was taught to and sung by the children of Judah, and has since passed into the literature of the world, as an unrivalled model of a funeral dirge. The Dead March in Saul is a familiar strain in every national mourning. It was originally called the Song of the Bow (2 Samuel 1:18, R.V.), because of the reference to that weapon in the poem.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XIX.  THRICE CROWNED
F. B. MEYER

The greatness of Israel's loss is brought out in the fancied exultation with which the daughters of Philistia would welcome their returning warriors; in the lasting curse invoked on the mountains where the shield of the mighty was polluted with gore and dust; and in the exploits which the heroes wrought with bow and sword before they fell. And then the psalmist bursts into pathetic reminiscences of the ancient friendship which had bound him to the departed. He forgets all he had suffered at the hands of Saul; he thinks only of the ideal of his early manhood. His chivalrous love refuses to consider anything but what had been brave and fair and noble in his liege lord, before self-will had dragged down his soul into the murky abyss, where for the last few years it had been entombed as in a living grave. "Lovely and pleasant," such is the epitaph he inscribes on the memorial cenotaph.

But for Jonathan there must be a special stanza. Might had been his, as Saul's. Had he not, single-handed, attacked an army, and wrought a great deliverance? But with all his strength, he had been sweet. A brother-soul; every memory of whom was very pleasant, like a sweet strain of music, or the scent of the spring breeze. Tender, gentle, loving as a woman. A knightly nature; dreaded by foe, dearly loved by friend; terrible as a whirlwind in battle, but capable of exerting all the witchery of a woman's love, and more.

"Thy love to me was wonderful,
Passing the love of women."

Moreover, he sent a message of thanks and congratulation to the men of Jabesh-Gilead. The indignity with which the Philistines had treated the royal bodies had been amply expiated by the devotion of the men of Jabesh-Gilead. They had not forgotten that Saul's first act as king had been to deliver them from a horrible fate; and had organized an expedition which had taken the bodies of Saul and his three sons from the walls of Bethshan, to which, after being beheaded, they were affixed; and had carded them through the night to their own city, where they had burned them to save them from further dishonour -- the ashes being reverently buried under the tamarisk tree in Gilead.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XIX.  THRICE CROWNED
F. B. MEYER

As soon as David heard of this act, he sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead, thanking them for their chivalrous devotion to the memory of the fallen king, and promising to requite the kindness as one done to the entire nation, and to himself.

In all this David evinced great magnanimity. There was no thought of himself or his own interests. He had learn the secret of escaping from himself in his devotion and care for another. It is the secret of all self-oblivion. Live in another's life, especially in the interests of your Master, Christ, and you will be freed from the constant obtrusion and tyranny of self.


2. DAVID'S ATTITUDE WITH RESPECT TO THE KINGDOM.

There is something very beautiful in his movements at this juncture, evidencing how completely his soul had come back to its equipoise in God. He had resumed his old attitude of waiting only upon God, and directing all his expectation to Him. It was for God to give him the kingdom, and therefore he refused to take one step towards the throne apart from the direct Divine impulse.

This was the most remarkable, when so many reasons might have been alleged for immediate action. The kingdom was overrun by Philistines; indeed it is probable that for the next five years there was no settled government among the northern tribes. It must have been difficult for his patriot heart to restrain itself from gathering the scattered forces of Israel and flinging himself on the foe. He knew, too, that he was God's designated king, and it would have been only natural for him immediately to step up to the empty throne, assuming the sceptre as his right. Possibly none would have disputed a vigorous decisive policy of this sort. Abner might have been out-manoeuvred, and have shrunk from setting up Ishbosheth at Mahanaim. So mere human judgment might have reasoned. But David was better advised. Refusing to judge according to the judgment of his eyes, he inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And when the Divine oracle directed him to proceed to Hebron, he does not appear to have gone there in any sense as king or leader, but settled quietly with his followers among the towns and villages in its vicinity, waiting till the men of Judah came, and by a consentaneous movement owned him king. Then for a second time he was anointed.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XIX.  THRICE CROWNED
F. B. MEYER

Anointed first by Samuel in the secrecy of his father's house, he was now anointed king over his own people; just as the Lord Jesus, of whom he was the great exemplar and type, was anointed first by the banks of the Jordan, and again as the representative of his people, when He ascended for them into the presence of the Father, and was set as King on the holy hill of Zion.

We cannot turn from this second anointing without emphasizing the obvious lesson that at each great crisis of our life, and especially when standing on the threshold of some new and enlarged sphere of service, we should seek and receive a fresh anointing to fit us to fulfil its fresh demands. There should be successive and repeated anointings in our life-history as our opportunities widen out in ever-increasing circles. It is a mistake to be always counting back to an anointing which we have received; we must be anointed with fresh oil. When leaving the school for the college, and again when stepping forth from the college to the first cure of souls; when standing at the altar to become a wife, and again when bending over the cradle of the first babe; when summoned to public office in Church or State -- -each new step should be characterized by a definite waiting on God, that there may be a fresh enduement of power, a re-charging of the spirit with his might.


3. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF DAVID'S REIGN IN HEBRON.

For seven years and six months David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah. He was in the prime of life, thirty years of age, and seems to have given himself to the full enjoyment of the quiet sanctities of home. Sandwiched between two references to the long war that lasted between his house and that of Saul is the record of his wives and the names of his children (2 Samuel 3:2-5).

Throughout those years he preserved that same spirit of waiting expectancy, which was the habit and temper of his soul, and which was so rarely broken in upon. In this he reminds us of our Lord, who sits at his Father's side, till his foes are made the footstool of his feet. Similarly, David sat on the throne of Judah, in the city of Hebron, which means fellowship -- waiting until God had levelled all difficulties, removed all obstacles, and smoothed the pathway to the supreme dignity which He had promised. The only exception to this policy was his request that Michal should be restored to him; it would perhaps have been wiser for them both if she had been left to the husband who seemed really to love her. But David may have felt it right to insist on his legal status as the son-in-law of the late king, and as identified by marriage with the royal house.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XIX.  THRICE CROWNED
F. B. MEYER

With this exception, he maintained an almost passive policy; what fighting was necessary, was left to Joab. The overtures for the transference of the kingdom of Israel were finally made by Abner himself, who for years had known that he was fighting against God; and who at last told the puppet king whom he had set up and supported, that what God had sworn to David, he was resolved to effect -- namely, to translate the kingdom from Dan even to Beersheba, from the house of Saul to that of David. The negotiations with Israel and Benjamin were carried out by Abner in entire independence of David; it was he who had communications with the elders of Israel, and spake in the ears of Benjamin, and went finally to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel and to the whole house of Benjamin. It was Abner who proposed to David to go and gather all Israel unto him, addressing him as lord and king, and bidding him prepare to rule over all that his soul desired (2 Samuel 3:17-21).

Throughout these transactions, David quietly receives what is offered; and only asserts himself with intensity and passion on two occasions, when it was necessary to clear himself of complicity in dastardly crimes, and to show his detestation and abhorrence of those who had perpetrated them.

It was a noble spectacle when the king followed the bier of Abner, and wept at his grave. He forgot that this man had been his persistent foe, and remembered him only as a prince and a great man; and he wove a chaplet of elegiacs to lay on his grave, as he had done for Saul's. It is not wonderful that all the people took notice of it, and that it pleased them, as whatever the king did pleased the people.

Then followed the dastardly assassination of the puppet king, Ishbosheth. His had been a feeble reign throughout. Located at Mahanaim, on the eastern side of Jordan, he had never exercised more than a nominal sovereignty, all his power was due to Abner, and when he was taken away the entire house of cards crumbled to pieces, and the hapless monarch fell under the daggers of traitors. As soon as they bore the tidings to David, bringing his head as ghastly evidence, David turned to the Lord, who had redeemed him from all adversity, and solemnly swore that he would require at their hands the blood of the murdered man. The reward for the tidings borne by the Amalekite, who asserted he had taken Saul's life, was death; and surely nothing less could be the sentence on wicked men who had slain a righteous man in his own house upon his bed.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XIX.  THRICE CROWNED
F. B. MEYER

Then came all the tribes of Israel to that "long stone town on the western slope of the bare terraced hill," and offered him the crown of the entire kingdom. They remembered his kinship with them as their bone and flesh; recalled his former services, when, even in Saul's days, he led out and brought in their armies; and reminded him of the Divine promise that he should be shepherd and prince. Then David made a covenant with them, and became their constitutional king and was solemnly anointed, for the third time; king over the entire people -- as the Son of Man shall be one day acknowledged king over the world of men, and shall reign without a rival.

It is to this period that we must attribute Psalms 18, which undoubtedly touches the high-water mark of rapturous thankfulness and adoration. Every precious name for God is laid under contribution; the figure of his coming to rescue his servant in a thunderstorm is unparalleled in sublimity. We can hear the rattle of the hailstones, see the forked lightning flash, and the gleam of the coals of fire; but there is throughout an appreciation of the tenderness and love of God's dealings with his children, which might have been written by the apostle whom Jesus loved:

"Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation;
Thy right hand hath holden me up;
And thy gentleness hath made me great."

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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XX.  OH FOR THE WATER OF THE WELL OF BETHLEHEM!
F. B. MEYER

(2 Samuel 5:17-25; 2 Samuel 21:15; 2 Samuel 23:8 )

"Let us be patient, God has taken from us
The earthly treasures upon which we leaned,
That from the fleeting things that lie around us
Our clinging hearts should be for ever weaned."
ANNA L. WARING.

IT must have been a rare and imposing assembly that came to crown David king of all Israel. The Chronicles record the names and numbers of the principal contingents that were present on that memorable occasion (1 Chronicles 12:23, etc.). Mighty men of valour from Judah and Simeon; Levites, led by Jehoiada and Zadok; famous men from Ephraim; men of Issachar that had understanding of the times; of Zebulun, such as were not of double heart, and could order the battle array. These and many more came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. For three days they remained with him, keeping high festival, the provisions being contributed by such distant tribes as Zebulun and Naphtali, as well as by those near at hand, so that all Israel participated in the joy of the occasion.

The Philistines, however, were watching the scene with profound dissatisfaction. So long as David was content to rule as a petty king in Hebron, leaving them free to raid the northern tribes at their will, they were not disposed to interfere; but when they heard that they had anointed David king over all Israel, all the Philistines went down to seek David. They probably waited until the august ceremonial was over, and the thousands of Israel had dispersed to their homes, and then poured over into Judah in such vast numbers  -- spreading themselves in the Valley of Ephraim, and cutting off David's connection with the northern tribes -- that he was forced to retire with his mighty men and faithful six hundred to the hold, which, by comparison of passages, must have been the celebrated fortress-cave of Adullam (2 Samuel 5:17 and 2 Samuel 23:13-14).
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XX.  OH FOR THE WATER OF THE WELL OF BETHLEHEM!
F. B. MEYER

1. A SUDDEN REVERSAL OF FORTUNE.

It was but as yesterday that David was the centre of the greatest assembly of warriors that his land had seen for many generations. With national acclaim he had been carried to the throne of a united people. He realized that he was fondly enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen; but to-day he is driven from Hebron, where for more than seven years he had dwelt in undisturbed security, back to that desolate mountain fastness, in which years before he had taken refuge from the hatred of Saul. It was a startling reversal of fortune, a sudden overcasting of a radiant noon, a bolt out of a clear sky. It is probable, however, that he took refuge in God. These were days when he walked very closely with his Almighty Friend, and he did not for a moment waver in his confidence that God would perfect what concerned him, and establish him firmly in his kingdom.

Such sudden reversals come to us all -- to wean us from confidence in men and things; to stay us from building our nest on any earth-grown tree; to force us to root ourselves in God alone. It was salutary that David should be reminded at this crisis of his history that he was as dependent on God as ever, and that He who had given could as easily take back his gifts. Child of mortality, such lessons will inevitably be set before thee to learn. In the hour of most radiant triumphs, thou must remember Him who has accounted thee fit to be his steward; thou must understand that thy place and power are thine only as his gift, and as a trusteeship for his glory. Be not surprised then if He makes thy throne tremble now and again, that thou mayest remember that it rests, not on some inherent necessity, but only on the determination of his will, the forth-putting of his might.

This contrast between the anointing of Hebron and the conflict of Adullam presents a striking analogy to the experiences of our Lord, who, after his anointing at the banks of the Jordan, was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness of Judaea to be forty days tempted of the devil. It is the law of the spiritual life. The bright light of popularity is too strong and searching for the perfect development of the Divine life. Loneliness, solitude, temptation, conflict -- these are the flames that burn the Divine colours into our characters; such the processes through which the blessings of our anointing are made available for the poor, the broken-hearted, the prisoners, the captives, the blind.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XX.  OH FOR THE WATER OF THE WELL OF BETHLEHEM!
F. B. MEYER

2. GLEAMS OF LIGHT.

The misty gloom of these dark hours was lit by some notable incidents. The mighty men excelled themselves in single combat with the Philistine champions. Then Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, smote the giant, who with his new sword thought to have slain David; and Elhanan slew the brother of Goliath of Gath; and Jonathan, David's nephew, slew a huge monstrosity who had defied Israel; and Eleazar stood in the breach, when the rest had fled, and smote the Philistines till his hand was weary, and the discomfited soldiers returned only to spoil. Such prodigies of valour were performed around the person of their Prince, whom his followers delighted to call the Light of Israel, albeit for the hour obscured by clinging mists (2 Samuel 21:17).

What marvels may be wrought by the inspiration of a single life! We cannot but revert in thought to that hour when, hard by that very spot, an unknown youth stepped forth from the affrighted hosts of Israel to face the dreaded Goliath. Alone, so far as human succour went, he had encountered and defeated that terrible antagonist; but now, after some fourteen or fifteen years had run their course, he no longer stood by himself, there were scores of men, animated by his spirit, inspired by his faith, who pushed him gently back, and told him that they must be permitted to bear the brunt of the conflict, since his life, which was the fountain-source of all their energy, must be carefully withheld from needless peril.

Thus the lives of great men light up and inspire other lives. They mould their contemporaries. The inspiration of a Wesley's career raises a great army of preachers. The enthusiasm of a Carey, a Livingstone, a Paton stirs multitudes of hearts with missionary zeal. Those who had been the disciples of Jesus became his apostles and martyrs. His own life of self-sacrifice for men has become the beacon-fire that has summoned myriads from the lowland valley of selfishness to the surrender, the self-denial, the anguish of the Cross, if only they might be permitted to follow in his steps.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XX.  OH FOR THE WATER OF THE WELL OF BETHLEHEM!
F. B. MEYER

3. A TOUCHING INCIDENT.

Adullam was not far from Bethlehem. Often, in his earliest years, David had led his father's flocks to pasture amid the valleys where he was now sheltering; and the familiar scenes recalled, as a scent or strain are wont to do, memories which came trooping back from the past, and spoke to him of Jesse, his mother, and his boyhood's home.

One sultry afternoon, as it would seem, these recollections were unusually fresh and vivid. He was a semi-prisoner in the hold. Over yonder, almost within sight, a garrison of Philistines held Bethlehem. Suddenly an irresistible longing swept across him to taste the water of the well of Bethlehem, which was by the gate. Almost involuntarily he gave expression to the wish. He did not suspect that any of his stalwarts were within earshot, or if they were, that they would be foolhardy enough to attempt to gratify his whim. If he had thought this, however, he miscalculated. He had not gauged the warmth of the affection with which those strong men loved him.

Three of his mightiest warriors overheard their chieftain's wish, stole secretly out of the cave and down the valley, burst through the host of the Philistines, drew water from the well, and, before they had been missed, placed the brimming vessel in David's hands. It was the priceless expression of a love that was stronger than death. He could not drink it. To him the vessel seemed gleaming crimson with the blood it might have cost. With that instinctive chivalry of soul which made him in all the changes of his fortune so absolutely kingly as to compel the enthusiastic devotion of his adherents, he arose and poured it out as a libation to God, as though the gift were fit only to be made to Him; saying, as he did so, "My God, forbid it me that I should do this, shall I drink of the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy?"

We have another example in this graphic episode of David's marvellous self-control. Up to this time of his life, he seems always to have lived with the tightly-girded loin -- no desire was allowed to have unchallenged sway. The wayward impulse of passion, the assertion of caprice, were repressed by the iron determination of the purpose in all things to live according to the loftiest ideals of manhood and kingliness. The question of selfish gratification was always secondary to the considerations of high and noble principle.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XX.  OH FOR THE WATER OF THE WELL OF BETHLEHEM!
F. B. MEYER

It were well if all young men and women, aye, and others also, who read these words would ask themselves whether certain gratifications, in which they, with others of their class, have been accustomed to indulge, are not purchased at too dear a cost. Could they quaff the cup of pleasure in the theatre and opera-house, if they realized that it was presented to their lips at the cost of scores of souls, whose modesty and virtue were being sacrificed behind the scenes? Could they drink of the intoxicating cup, as a beverage, if they realized that the drinking customs of society were annually costing the happiness, the life, and the eternal welfare of myriads?

How often we sigh for the waters of the well of Bethlehem! We go back on our past, and dwell longingly on never-to-be-forgotten memories. Oh to see again that face; to feel the touch of that gentle hand; to hear that voice! Oh to be again as in those guileless happy years, when the forbidden fruit had never been tasted, and the flaming sword had never been passed! Oh for that fresh vision of life, that devotion to the Saviour's service, that new glad outburst of love! Oh that one would give us to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is beside the gate I They are vain regrets; there are no mighties strong enough to break through the serried ranks of the years, and fetch back the past. But the quest of the soul may yet be satisfied by what awaits it in Him who said, "He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but he that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst: but it shall be in him a spring of water, rising up to everlasting life." Not in Bethlehem's well, but in Him who was born there, shall the soul's thirst be quenched for ever.


4. THE OVERTHROW OF THE PHILISTINES.

Prosperity had not altered the attitude of David's soul, in its persistent waiting on God. As he was when first he came to Hebron, so he was still; and in this hour of perplexity, he inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Wilt Thou deliver them into mine hand?" In reply, he received the Divine assurance of certain victory; and when the battle commenced, it seemed to him as if the Lord Himself were sweeping them before Him, like a winter flood, which, rushing down the mountain-side, carries all before it in its impetuous rush. "The Lord," said he, "hath broken forth upon mine enemies." The routed foe had no time even to gather up their gods, which fell into the conqueror's hands.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XX.  OH FOR THE WATER OF THE WELL OF BETHLEHEM!
F. B. MEYER

Again the Philistines came up to assert their olden supremacy, and again David waited on the Lord for direction. It was well that he did so; because the plan of campaign was not as before. Those that rely on God's cooperation must be careful to be in constant touch with Him. The aid which was given yesterday in one form, will be given tomorrow in another. In the first battle the position of the Philistines was carried by assault; in the second it was turned by ambush. To have reversed the order, or to have acted on the two occasions identically, would have missed the method and movement of those Divine legions who acted as David's invincible allies.

This movement in the mulberry trees, which indicated that the ambush must bestir itself, and advance on the foe, suggests the footfalls of invisible angelic squadrons passing onward to the battle.

"The Lord is gone out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.'' Then David broke on their ranks and pursued them from Gibeon down into the heart of the maritime plain.

Sometimes we have to march, sometimes to halt; now we are called to action, again to suffering: in this battle to rush forward like a torrent; in the next to glide stealthily to ambush and wait. We must admit nothing stereotyped in our methods. What did very well in the house of Dorcas will not suit in the stately palace of Cornelius. Let there be living faith in God; the calm waiting on the housetop in prayer; the perception of the new departure which the Spirit of God is intending and foreshadowing; and the willingness to follow, though it be at the sacrifice of all the older prejudices. Then shall we know what God can do as a mighty co-operating force in our lives, making a breach in our foes, and marching his swift-stepping legions to our succour.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXI.  JERUSALEM, THE HOLY CITY
F. B. MEYER

(2 Samuel 5).

"Fair Jerusalem,
The Holy City, lifted high her towers."
MILTON, Paradise Regained.

ONE of the first acts of the new king was to secure a suitable capital for his kingdom. And his choice of Jerusalem was a masterpiece of policy and statesmanship. Surely it was more; it was the result of the direct guidance of the Spirit of God. This was the time of which Jehovah speaks in that passage of Ezekiel: "I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold thy time was the time of love; and I swore unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine" (Ezekiel 16:8 ).

It was highly desirable that the capital should be accessible to the whole country, and should possess the necessary features that rendered it fit to become the heart and brain of the national life. It must be capable of being strongly fortified, so as to preserve the sacred treasures of the kingdom inviolate. It must combine features of strength and beauty, so as to arouse the national pride and devotion. It must be hallowed by sacred associations, so as to become the religious centre of the people's holiest life. All these features blended in Jerusalem, and commended it to David's Divinely-guided judgment. In this he greatly differed from Saul, who had made his own city, Gibeah, his capital -- an altogether insignificant place, and the scene of an atrocious crime, the infamy of which could not be obliterated. To have made Hebron the capital would have excited the jealousy of the rest of Israel; and Bethlehem, his birthplace, would have struck too low a keynote. None were to be compared with the site of Jerusalem, on the frontier between Judah and Benjamin, surrounded on three sides by valleys, and on the other side, the north, strongly fortified.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXI.  JERUSALEM, THE HOLY CITY
F. B. MEYER

1. ITS PREVIOUS HISTORY.

To the Jew there was no city like Jerusalem. It was the city of his God, situate in his holy mountain: "Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth." The high hills of Bashan were represented as jealous of the lowlier hill of Zion, because God had chosen it for his abode. The mountains that stood around her seemed to symbolize the environing presence of Jehovah. The exile in his banishment opened his windows towards Jerusalem as he knelt in prayer, and wished that his right hand might forget its cunning sooner than his heart fail to prefer Jerusalem above its chief joy. The charm of the yearly pilgrimage to the sacred feasts was that the feet of the pilgrim should stand within her gates; and when at a distance from her walls and palaces, pious hearts were wont to pray that peace and prosperity might be within them for the sake of those brethren and companions who were favoured to live within her precincts. The noblest bosom that ever throbbed with true human emotion heaved with convulsive sobs at the thought of the desolation impending over her. Jesus wept when He beheld the city and said: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee, as a hen gathers her chickens beneath her wings: and ye would not!"

But it had not always been so. Her birth and nativity were of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was her father, and her mother a Hittite. In the day that she was born she was cast out as a deserted child on the open field, weltering in her blood. For a brief spell the priest-king Melchizedek reigned over her, and during his life her future glory must have been presaged: the thin spiral columns of smoke that arose from his altars, anticipating the stately worship of the Temple; his priesthood foreshadowing a long succession of priests. Thereafter a long spell of darkness befell her; and for years after the rest of the country was in occupation of Israel, Jerusalem was still held by the Jebusites. Joshua, indeed, nominally subdued the city in his first occupation of the land, and slew its king; but his tenure of it was very brief and slight, and the city speedily relapsed under the sway of its ancient occupants.
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