DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING

[nChrist]

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

2. THE CAPTURE.

Making a levy of all Israel, David went up to Jerusalem. For the first time after seven years, he took the lead of his army in person. Passive, when he was called to wait for the gift of God, he was intensely active and energetic when he discerned the Divine summons. The Jebusites ridiculed the attempt to dislodge them. They had held the fortress for so long, and were so confident of its impregnable walls, that in derision they placed along the walls a number of cripples, and boasted that these would be strong enough to keep David and his whole army at bay. But it appears, from the narrative given by Josephus, that Joab, incited by David's proclamation of making the captor of the city his commander-in-chief, broke in by a subterranean passage, excavated in the soft limestone rock, made his way into the very heart of the citadel, and opened the gates to the entire army.

Whether this story be true or not, it is certain that through Joab's prowess the city speedily fell into David's hands; and he dwelt in the stronghold, afterwards known as Zion, or the City of David. This was only part of what was afterwards known as Jerusalem. Moriah, where afterwards the Temple was erected, was probably an unoccupied site. Araunah, the Jebusite, had a threshing-floor there.

David's first act was to extend the fortifications: "He built round about from Millo and inward"; whilst Joab seems to have repaired and beautified the buildings in the city itself. This first success laid the foundation of David's greatness. "He waxed greater and greater; for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him." Indeed, neighbouring nations appear to have become impressed with the growing strength of his kingdom, and hastened to seek his alliance (1 Chronicles 11:7-9; 2 Samuel 5:11).
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[nChrist]

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

3. A FAIR DAWN.

It has been suggested that we owe Psalms 101:1-8, to this hour in David's life. He finds himself suddenly called to conduct the internal administration of a great nation, that had, so to speak, been born in a day, and was beginning to throb with the intensity of a long-suspended animation. The new needs were demanding new expression. Departments of law and justice, of finance, and of military organization, were rapidly being called into existence, and becoming localized at the capital. Functionaries and officials of every description were being created. The palace and court were every day thronged with those who sought promotion to offices of trust. It was highly desirable that no mistake should be made in these early selections, and that the country should be reassured as to the character of the men whom the king was prepared to entrust with its concerns. For these purposes this psalm may have been prepared. In any case, it exactly suits such an occasion and purpose.

The royal psalmist declares that he will behave himself wisely in a perfect way, and will walk within his house with a perfect heart. He will set no base thing before his eyes, and hate the work of those that turn aside. Then he describes those who shall be his chosen counsellors and ministers. He will listen to no privy slanders, subtly suggested to his ear, as from another Doeg or Cush. He will not suffer Hamans, with their high looks and proud hearts, to rule his privy-council, and oppress the poor Mordecais at the gate. If he discovers deceit or falsehood in any of his attendants, any species of deception or misrepresentation, he pledges himself to dismiss him instantly. His earliest and best energies should be devoted to cutting off all workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord, and to the destruction of all the wicked of the land; whilst his eyes should be upon all the faithful of the land, they should dwell with him, and he would choose as his most favoured attendants those who walked in a perfect way.

It was a fair ideal. These early days of the new kingdom were fitly described by him, as he reviewed them from the threshold of eternity, as a morning without clouds, or as when the tender grass springeth out of the earth through clear shining after rain. The conception of the righteous ruler, ruling men in the fear of God, and thrusting away the ungodly as thorns and briars, stood out sharply defined, and clear-cut before him. It beckoned to him to follow, and if only he had obeyed and followed, without swerving to the right or left, what tears of blood, what years of anguish would have been saved! As a dying man, that ideal of more than thirty years before came back on him, and compared sadly with what had actually befallen him. It was bitter to contrast what had been, with what might have been; the muddy swamp in which the river of his life had nearly lost itself, with the clear crystal of its first inception (2 Samuel 23:1-5).
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXII.  THE CONVEYANCE OF THE ARK TO MOUNT ZION
F. B. MEYER

(2 Samuel 6)

"Hark! what a sound, and too Divine for hearing,
Stirs on the earth, and trembles in the air!
Is it the thunder of the Lord's appearing?
Is it the music of his people's prayer?
Surely He cometh! and a thousand voices
Shout to the saints, and to the deaf are dumb!
Surely He cometh! and the earth rejoices,
Glad in his coming, who hath sworn, 'I come'."
F. MYERS.

AS soon as David had acquired a capital, he was eager to make it the religious, as well as the political, centre of the national life. With this object in view, he resolved to place in a temporary structure hard by his palace, the almost forgotten Ark; which, since its return from the land of the Philistines, had found a temporary resting-place in the "city of the woods," some eleven miles southwest of Jerusalem, in the house, and under the care of Abinadab.

In all probability, David felt unable to remove the Tabernacle -- which, after Saul's slaughter of the priests, had been set up in the high place that was at Gibeon -- because Zadok, the priest, and his brethren the priests, ministered to it, and maintained the burnt-offering continually upon the altar. An old root of jealousy lay between the families of Zadok and Abiathar; and it was wiser in every way not to bring them together, or to interfere with the religious rites which had been maintained through the broken years of recent history (1 Chronicles 16:39, etc.). But David's purpose would be sufficiently served by securing the presence of the Ark in the heart of the new city. He would not, however, take any step upon his own initiative; but consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. With their acquiescence he sent abroad everywhere throughout all the land of Israel to gather priests, Levites, and people, to bring again the sacred emblem.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXII.  THE CONVEYANCE OF THE ARK TO MOUNT ZION
F. B. MEYER

1. THE MISTAKE OF THE CART.

It was a great procession that wended its way that day to the little town. In addition to a vast host of priests and Levites, and a great concourse of people, there were thirty thousand chosen soldiers, whose presence would be sufficient to protect the assembly from any hostile incursion or surprise.

Probably we owe Psalms 132, to this occasion; in which the royal singer records the determination which he had formed in the days of his affliction, that whenever he should be delivered from them, and established in his kingdom, one of his earliest acts would be to find out a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the mighty one of Jacob. Then followed the magnificent stanzas which refer directly to this event:

"Lo we heard of it in Ephratah:
We found it in Kirjath-jearim.
We will go into his tabernacles;
We will worship at his footstool.
Arise, O Lord, into thy resting-place,
Thou and the ark of thy strength."

But one fatal mistake marred the events of the day, and postponed the fulfilment of the nation's high hope and resolve. It was strictly ordained in the law of Moses, that Levites alone, specially consecrated to the task, should bear the Ark upon their shoulders, not touching it with their hands, lest they should die (Numbers 4:15; Numbers 7:9). Nothing could be clearer than this specific injunction, or more obvious than the reason for it, in enforcing the sanctity of all that pertained to the service of the Most High. This command had, however, fallen into disuse with much else; and it was arranged that the Ark should be carried on a new cart driven by the two sons of Abinadab. This mistake could not be passed over. That the Philistines had used such a cart with impunity had been permitted because they did it ignorantly; but for Israel to set aside the repeated injunction of the Levitical law, and follow their own caprice, could not be condoned, lest the entire Levitical code should be treated as a dead letter, and sink into desuetude.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXII.  THE CONVEYANCE OF THE ARK TO MOUNT ZION
F. B. MEYER

The oxen started amid a blast of song and trumpet, and for the first two miles all went well, until they came upon a piece of rough road, on which the oxen stumbled, and the ark shook so violently as to be in danger of being precipitated to the ground. Then Uzzah, the younger son of Abinadab, who perhaps had become too familiar with the sacred emblem, put out his hand to steady it, and instantly fell dead. The effect on the procession was terrific. Horror silenced the song, and panic spread through the awed crowd, as the tidings of the catastrophe spread backward through its ranks. David was greatly dismayed. He was afraid of God that day, and said, How shall I bring the Ark of God home to me? So he directed that the Ark should be deposited in the house of Obededom, a Levite, who lived in the vicinity, and there it remained for three months. The terrified crowds returned to Jerusalem, in consternation and dismay.

It has been suggested in some quarters that the breach of Uzzah was a needlessly severe act of God -- a too stern treatment of a sin of ignorance. On the other hand, it must be borne in mind how important it was at this juncture to insist on literal obedience to the ancient code. If it had been permitted to man's caprice to set its injunctions at defiance, it is easy to see that the entire system might have fallen into disuse, and its important functions been left unrealized.


2. THE SHOULDERS OF LIVING MEN.

"The Lord blessed the home of Obededom." Josephus states that from the moment the Ark rested beneath his roof, a tide of golden prosperity set in, so that he passed from poverty to wealth; an evident sign that Jehovah had no controversy with those who obeyed the regulations and conditions laid down in the ancient law. In the meanwhile, David searched into the Divine directions for the conveyance of the sacred emblem; for he said: "None ought to carry the Ark of the Lord but Levites; for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the Ark of God, and to minister unto Him for ever."
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXII.  THE CONVEYANCE OF THE ARK TO MOUNT ZION
F. B. MEYER

Again a vast concourse was gathered. This time, however, the prescribed ritual was minutely observed; and the children of the Levites bare the Ark of God upon their shoulders, with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord. Then the deep bass of the white-robed choirs, the clash of the cymbals of brass, the sweet strains of the bands of psalteries and harps, the measured march of the captains over thousands, the stately procession of the elders, the shoutings of the teeming crowds of all Israel -- together made up such a welcome as was worthy of the occasion, and thrilled the soul of David, responsive as a musical instrument to a master-hand. Clad in a linen ephod, he leapt and danced before the Lord.

So they brought in the Ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord. Then he turned to bless the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts; and distributed to them bread, and wine, and raisins. The one cloud that marred the gladness of the day was the biting speech of Michal, who had no sympathy with her husband's religion. Poor woman! perhaps she was still smarting over the loss of Phaltiel; possibly she was jealous at David's independence of her and her father's house -- hence the venom in her speech to the man whom she had loved, and whose life she had once saved.


3. THREE MAJESTIC PSALMS.

Upon this occasion three of the greatest psalms were composed: Psalms 15, Psalms 168, and Psalms 24:1-10, was evidently composed with direct reference to the death of Uzzah, and in answer to the question:

"Lord who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle --
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?"

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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXII.  THE CONVEYANCE OF THE ARK TO MOUNT ZION
F. B. MEYER

Psalms 68, which was chanted as a processional hymn. It begins with the ancient formula, uttered in the desert march each time the camp was struck:

"Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered;
Let them also that hate him, flee before him."

As the Ark was borne forward, in its majestic progress, the symphony was softly played which told of the ancient days in which He went before his people and marched through the wilderness, whilst the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped at his presence.

As the Levite-bearers drew near the ascent of the road up to the citadel of Zion, the high mountains of Bashan were depicted as regarding its lowlier height with envy; and then, as the august procession swept up the steep, the choristers broke into a strophe of unrivalled grandeur, the full meaning of which could only be fulfilled in the Ascension of the Christ Himself, far above all principality and power into the presence of his Father:

"Thou hast ascended on high,
Thou hast led captivity captive:
Thou hast received gifts for men,
Even for the rebellious, that the
Lord God might dwell among them."

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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXII.  THE CONVEYANCE OF THE ARK TO MOUNT ZION
F. B. MEYER

An enumeration of the constituent parts of that mighty host follows. The singers who went before, and the minstrels that followed after; the damsels that played with timbrels, and the great host of women publishing the tidings; little Benjamin and the princes of Judah; the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali. Finally, the psalmist anticipates the gathering of distant nations to that sacred spot:

"Princes shall come out of Egypt,
Ethiopia shall haste to stretch out her hands unto God."

But Psalms 24:1-10, is perhaps the master-ode of the three. It begins with a marvellous conception, when we consider the narrowness of ordinary Jewish exclusiveness:

"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein."

The first half of the psalm answers the question as to the kind of men who may stand before with God (Psalms 24:3-6). They must be clean in hands, and put in heart, not lifting their soul to vanity nor swearing deceitfully. No mere ablutions or external ceremonial will meet the case. The requirement of this holy God is the righteousness which He alone can give to those who seek his face.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXII.  THE CONVEYANCE OF THE ARK TO MOUNT ZION
F. B. MEYER

The second half declares God's willingness to abide with man upon the earth. The low-browed gates, beneath which Melchizedek may have come forth to greet Abraham, seemed all too low to admit the Ark borne aloft on the Levites shoulders; and they were bidden to lift up themselves, and open to the entering king. In thunders of voice and instrument, the white-robed choirs, halting before the closed portals, cried:

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors,
And the King of Glory shall come in."

Then from within, a single voice, as though of some startled and suspicious warder, demands:

"Who is this King of Glory?"

Again the challenge to open. Again the enquiry.

Again the magnificent reply, that the King of Glory -- for whom admittance was demanded to this ancient city, held once by demons, the nest of every unclean bird -- is the Lord of Hosts, to whom all angels, all demons, all the living things in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, are subject. So the Ark at last reached its resting-place.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXIII.  "THOU DIDST WELL THAT IT WAS IN THINE HEART"
F. B. MEYER

(2 Samuel 7; 2 Chronicles 6:8 )

"There lives
A Judge, who, as man claims by merit, gives;
To whose all-pondering mind a noble aim,
Faithfully kept, is as a noble deed;
In whose pure sight all virtue doth succeed."
WORDSWORTH.

WITH the assistance of Hiram, king of Tyre, a palace of cedar had been erected for David on Mount Zion. It was a remarkable contrast to the shelter of Adullam's cave, or even to any house he might have occupied during his stay at Hebron. It was a great contrast also to the temporary structure which served as a house for the Ark. One day the impulse suddenly came to David to realize a purpose, the germ-thought of which had probably been long in his heart. Calling Nathan the prophet, now mentioned for the first time, he announced to him his intention of building a house for God. For the moment, the prophet cordially assented to the proposal; but in the quiet of the night, when he was more able to ascertain the thought of God, the word of the Lord came to him, and bade him stay the king from taking further steps in that direction.

The next day he broke the news to David with the utmost delicacy and gentleness. Indeed, in the account of his interview with the king, it is difficult to detect the sentence which contained the direct negative. The impression of the whole is that the offer was refused; but the refusal was wrapped up in so many assurances of blessing, in so much promise and benediction, that the king was hardly sensible of disappointment amid the rush of intense and overwhelming gladness which Nathan's words aroused. "Wilt thou build a house for God? -- He will build thee an house."
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXIII.  "THOU DIDST WELL THAT IT WAS IN THINE HEART"
F. B. MEYER

1. A CONCEPTION OF A NOBLE PURPOSE.

It was a great thought that came to David. It was in part suggested by the exigencies of the situation. After the Ark had come to its new home, Asaph and others had been appointed to celebrate, and thank, and praise the Lord, and minister before Him (1 Chronicles 16:4-37); and it is supposed that, at this period, the twenty-four courses of priests were appointed, an arrangement which lasted to the time of our Lord. It is also supposed that the Levites were now organized -- twenty-four thousand to help the priests, four thousand as musicians and singers, four thousand as guards and watchmen; whilst the remainder were scattered throughout the land to teach the law, execute justice, and perform other public offices. An immense body of men was thus gathering around the Ark and palace, for whom it was necessary to find suitable headquarters; and this no, doubt partly urged David towards the fulfilment of his purpose. But surely there was a deeper reason; to show his love for God, to establish some monument of his reverence, devotion, and lasting gratitude.

It is thus, especially in young life, that great conceptions visit the soul; ideals of surpassing beauty cast a light forward upon the future; resolves of service for God and man brace the soul as the air from the glaciers does the dwellers in the plains; and all life assumes a nobler aspect, and is set to a higher key. Secretly that lad resolves to be a preacher, missionary, or philanthropist; and that girl, to be queen in an ideal home, or to go far hence to the zenanas of India. "I will do this great thing for God," the young heart says to itself, altogether heedless of sacrifice, tears, blood. The bugle-notes of lofty purpose ring out gladly, summoning the soul to noble exploit; and it is saved from the low levels which satisfy others by the immortal hope that has already gone forward to occupy the future.

Young people, never surrender your ideal, nor act unworthily of it, nor disobey the heavenly vision. Above all, when you come to the house of cedar, and God has given you rest, be more than ever careful to gird yourselves, and arise to realize the purpose that visited you when you kept your father's sheep.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXIII.  "THOU DIDST WELL THAT IT WAS IN THINE HEART"
F. B. MEYER

2. THE IDEAL IS NOT ALWAYS REALIZED.

There is no definite "No" spoken by God's gentle lips. He presses his promises and blessings upon us, and leads us forward in a golden haze of love, which conceals his negative. Like David, we cannot point out the word or moment of refusal, we are lovingly carried forward from sentence to sentence in life's long speech of Divine care and bounty; and it is only in moments of review that we find that our purpose is not destined to work itself out just as we thought.

The plant is conscious of a great possibility throbbing within it; but somehow the days pass, and it does not come to a flower. The picture which is to gain immortality is always to be painted; the book which is to elucidate the problem of the ages is always to be written; the immortal song is always to be sung. The young man is kept at his desk in the counting-house instead of going to the pulpit; the girl becomes a withered woman, cherishing a faded flower; the king hands on to his son the building of the house.


3. GOD EXPLAINS HIS REASONS AFTERWARDS.

What we know not now, we shall know hereafter. Years after David said to Solomon his son, not born at this time, "The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars, thou shalt not build a house unto my Name" (1 Chronicles 22:8 ). The blood-stained hand might not raise the temple of peace. It would have wounded David needlessly to have been told this at the time. It was enough to wrap up the Divine "No" in a promise of infinite blessing; but, as the years passed, the reason for God's refusal grew clear and distinct before him. Meanwhile, David possessed his soul in patience, and said to himself: God has a reason, I cannot understand it; but it is well.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXIII.  "THOU DIDST WELL THAT IT WAS IN THINE HEART"
F. B. MEYER

Some day we shall understand that God has a reason in every "No" which He speaks through the slow movement of life. He would reveal it to us if we could bear it; but it is better not to pry into the mystery of his providence. He fences our questions, saying, "If I will that he tarry, what is that to thee!" But the time will come, probably in this life -- certainly in the next -- when the word of the Lord will come to us; and from the eminence of the years we shall descry why He led us as He did.


4. AN UNREALIZED CONCEPTION MAY YET BE FRAUGHT WITH IMMENSE BLESSING.

Solomon completes the story: "The Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house for my Name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart." David was a better man because he had given expression to the noble purpose. Its gleam left a permanent glow on his life. The rejected candidate to the missionary society stands upon a higher moral platform than those who were never touched by the glow of missionary enthusiasm. For a woman to have loved passionately, even though the dark waters may have engulfed her love before it was consummated, leaves her ever after richer, deeper, than if she had never loved, nor been loved in return. That a plant should have dreamt in some dark night of the possibility of flowering into matchless beauty, stamps it as belonging to a higher family than the moss that clings around the stump. "Thou didst well that it was in thine heart."

The martyrs in the apocalyptic vision behold a day when their wrongs will be avenged; but they are told to wait, since God's time had not come: in the meanwhile, white robes are given them. Their ideal was not yet, but it purified them, and bound them closer to the Christ.

God will credit us with what we would have been if we might. He that has the missionary's heart, though he be tied to an office-stool, is reckoned as one of that noble band; the woman at Zarephath, who did nothing more than share her last meal with the prophet, shall have a prophet's reward; the soul that thrills with the loftiest impulses, which the cares of the widowed mother, or dependent relatives, stay in fulfilment, will be surprised one day to find itself credited with the harvest which would have been reaped, had those seed-germs been cast on more propitious soil. In the glory David will find himself credited with the building of the temple on Mount Zion.
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXIII.  "THOU DIDST WELL THAT IT WAS IN THINE HEART"
F. B. MEYER

5. DO THE NEXT THING.

The energy which David would have expended in building the temple wrought itself out in gathering the materials for its construction. "I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God . . ." (1 Chronicles 29:2, etc.). If you cannot have what you hoped, do not sit down in despair and allow the energies of your life to run to waste; but arise, and gird yourself to help others to achieve. If you may not build, you may gather materials for him that shall. If you may not go down the mine, you can hold the ropes.

There is a fact in nature known as the law of the conservation of force. The force of the accumulating velocity of the falling stone passes into heat, of which some is retained by the stone, the rest passes into the atmosphere. No true ideals are fruitless; somehow they help the world of men. No tears are wept, no prayers uttered, no conceptions honestly entertained in vain.

Somehow God makes up to us. He stooped over David's life in blessing. The promise made through Nathan was threefold:

(1) That David's house should reign for ever;

(2) that David's seed should build the temple;

(3) that the kingdom of Israel should be made sure.

As we read the glowing words, we feel that they could only be realized in Him whom Peter declares David foresaw. There is only One of the sons of men whose reign can be permanent, and his Kingdom without end, who can bring rest to the weary sons of men, and build the true temple of God (Acts 2:30). But how great the honour that He should be David's Son!

Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, "Who am I, O Lord God..." (2 Samuel 7:18 ). We have no words to characterize the exuberant outflow of his soul in that transcendent hour. There was no complaint that the purpose of his heart was thwarted, amid the successive billows of glory that swept over his soul. Does God withhold the less, and not give the greater? Does He refuse the offer we make, and not bestow some heavenly gift that enriches for evermore? Dare to trust Him: sit before Him; and let his assurances comfort thee. Claim that He should do as He has said, and know that not one good thing shall fail: "For brass He will bring gold; for iron, silver; for wood, brass; and for stones, iron. The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory."
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[nChrist]

DAVID SHEPHERD, PSALMIST, KING
XXIV.  "YET HAVE I SET MY KING"
F. B. MEYER

(2 Samuel 8, 1 Chronicles 18, 19, 1 Chronicles 20:1-8 )

"Crown Him the Lord of Heaven!
Enthroned in worlds above;
Crown Him the King to whom is given
The wondrous name of Love,
Crown Him with many crowns,
As thrones before Him fall;
Crown Him, ye kings, with many crowns,
For He is King of all!"
GODFREY THRING.

THE time of rest which succeeded the removal of the Ark was broken in upon by a succession of fierce wars. One after another the surrounding nations gathered together, either singly or in confederacies, against David. "The nations raged; the kingdoms were moved."

The Philistines. -- For the last time they arose; but David smote and subdued them, and, to use the significant phrase of the R.V., took the bridle of the mother-city out of their hand.

The Moabites. -- The hereditary alliance, dating from the time of Ruth, between the Hebrew monarch and his restless neighbours was insufficient to restrain them; and Benaiah was commissioned to lead an expedition against them, which was so successful that their entire army fell into his hands, and was dealt with according to the terrible custom of the time, one-third only being spared.

The Syrians. -- The king of Zobah and the Syrians of Damascus were utterly defeated; vast spoils of gold and brass fell into David's hand, and the border of Israel was carried to the line of the Euphrates, so that the ancient promise made by God to Abraham was fulfilled: "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."
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