CXXII.] DAVID'S GREAT THANKSGIVING ANTHEM.

167

Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king's work, offered willingly,

And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand' talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the LORD, by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.

Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said,

Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.
Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power,

And the glory, and the victory, and the majesty:

For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine;

Thine is the kingdom, O LORD,

And thou art exalted as head above all.

Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all;

And in thine hand is power and might;

And in thine hand it is to make great,

And to give strength unto all.

Now therefore, our God, we thank thee,

And praise thy glorious name.

But who am I, and what is my people,

That we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?

For all things come of thee,

And of thine own have we given thee.

For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our
fathers:

Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee
an house

For thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own

I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart,

And hast pleasure in uprightness.

As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart

I have willingly offered all these things:

And now have I seen with joy thy people,

Which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.

O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers,

Keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people,

And prepare their heart unto thee:

And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart,

To keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes,
And to do all these things,

And to build the palace, for the which I have made provision.

And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the LORD your God. And all the congregation blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped* the LORD, and the king.

And they sacrificed sacrifices unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings unto the LORD, on the morrow after that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thousand ranis, and a thousand lambs, with their drink-offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel :

And did eat and drink before the LORD on that day with great gladness.

LESSON CXXIII.

THE SWEET PSALMIST OF ISRAEL.

B.C. 1016.-2 SAM. xxiii. 1-7.

Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

The Spirit of the LORD spake by me,

And his word was in my tongue.

The God of Israel said,

The Rock of Israel spake to me,

He that ruleth over men must be just,

Ruling in the fear of God.

And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth,
Even a morning without clouds;

As the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after
rain.

For is not my house so with God?

Because he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,

Ordered in all things, and sure:

For this is all my salvation, and all my desire;

Will he not make it to grow?+

But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away,

Because they cannot be taken with hands:

But the man that shall touch them

Must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear;

And they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.

* Did honour by bending down.

The words in italics in our version make it appear as if David meant to confess that he had failed, and it had not been so with himself; but the true purport of the original has been preserved in the reading we have ventured to give from Bishop Wordsworth.

B.C. 1015.-One more disturbance vexed the last days of David. It is not quite clear whether it took place before or after his great reception of the gifts of the Israelites for the Temple, for it is related only in the First Book of Kings, while the thanksgiving anthem is only in that of Chronicles. We have placed it later because it joins rather with the history of Solomon than of his father. David had become very aged and feeble, and was confined to his chamber, when Adonijah, the eldest survivor of his sons, set up his claim to the throne. His mother was named Haggith, one of the Hebrew wives; and he was as handsome and ambitious as Absalom. Unwilling to submit to the decree, divine though it was, which set a mere lad before him, he took advantage of his father's age and Solomon's youth to draw together a party of whom the chief were Joab, to whom the appointment of the man of peace was doubtless unwelcome, and Abiathar, the High Priest, who seems to have been jealous of Zadok, the head of the elder line of Aaron. With these, and all the men whom they could bring together, he went out to En-rogel, the fountain where the two young priests had once been hidden, and which seems to have belonged to a garden palace beyond the walls. Here Adonijah made a great feast, to which he called all his brothers except Solomon, and many of the mighty men. Tidings were brought to David in his sick chamber, first by Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, and then by Nathan the prophet, and his resolution was taken as vigorously as ever.

And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king.

The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon :

And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon.

Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen : the LORD God of my lord the king say so too.

As the LORD hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David.

So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon.

And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

And all the people came up af er him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.

And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar?

And while he yet spake, behold Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came and Adonijah said unto him, Come in; for thou art a valiant man, and bringest good tidings.

And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Verily our lord king David hath made Solomon king.

And the king hath sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride upon the king's mule :

And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon and they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard.

And also Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom.

And moreover the king's servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, God make the name of Solomon better than thy name, and make his throne greater than thy throne. And the king bowed himself upon the bed. And also thus said the king, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which hath given one to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing it.

And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way.

And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me to-day that he will not slay his servant with the sword.

And Solomon said, If he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die.

So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said unto him, Go to thine house.

CXXV.]

THE DEATH OF DAVID.

171

LESSON CXXV.

THE DEATH OF DAVID.

B.C. 1015.-1 KINGS ii. 1-10; I CHRON. xxix. 23--30.

Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,

I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself

a man;

And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:

That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.

Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.

But shew kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom thy brother.

And, behold, thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword.

Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.

So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

*

*

*

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*

Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.

And all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of king David, submitted themselves unto Solomon the king.

And the LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king.

before him in Israel.

Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel.