And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.

Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter.

I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?

And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.

The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David : deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.

Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king. Now Joab was over all the host of Israel.

LESSON CXIX.

DAVID'S CHOICE.

ABOUT B.C. 1020.-2 SAM. xxiv. 1-18 and I CHRON. xxi. I-18 (collated).

And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.

And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.

And Joab answered, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?

Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:

Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi,* and they came to Dan-jaan, and about to Zidon,

* The lower part of the new moon; probably the land where it was worshipped.

CXIX.]

DAVID'S CHOICE.

163

And came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beer-sheba.

So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.

But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done : and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant ; for I have done very foolishly.

When David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee

Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait :* let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.

So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

:

And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.

Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

* Difficulty.

LESSON CXX.

THE PURCHASE OF THE SITE OF THE TEMPLE.

B.C. 1020.-2 SAM. xxiv. 19—25; I CHRON. xxi. 19—30 (collated); I CHRON. xxi. 1—5.

And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the LORD.

And Araunah turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Araunah was threshing wheat.

And as David came to Araunah, Araunah looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

Then David said to Araunah, Grant me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.

And Araunah said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burntofferings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat-offering; I give it all. All this did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king.

And king David said to Araunah, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt-offerings without cost.

So David gave to Araunah for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering.

And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.

At that time when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt-offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.

But David could not go before it to inquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel.

And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.

And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight;

CXXI.]

DAVID'S CHARGE TO SOLOMON.

165

Also cedar trees in abundance for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.

And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the LORD must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.

LESSON CXXI.

DAVID'S CHARGE TO SOLOMON.

B.C. 1018.-1 CHRON. xxviii. (abridged).

And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem.

Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:

But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood.

Howbeit the LORD God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel :

And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.

And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

Moreover I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he be constant to do my commandments, and my judgments, as at this day.

Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the congregation of the LORD, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek for all the commandments of the LORD your God: that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever.

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

Take heed now; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.

Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat,

And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things.

All this, said David, the LORD made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.

And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

And, behold, the courses of the priests and the Levites, even they shall be with thee for all the service of the house of God: and there shall be with thee for all manner of workmanship every willing skilful man, for any manner of service: also the princes and all the people will be wholly at thy commandment.

LESSON CXXII.

DAVID'S GREAT THANKSGIVING ANTHEM.

B.C. 1016.—1 CHRON. xxix. 1—22.

Furthermore David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great for the palace is not for man, but for the LORD God.

Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.

Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house,

Even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal : The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. And who then

is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?