PART XVI THE REHEARSAL PERIOD OF INTRIGUE. DAVID THE POLITICIAN (Ehud, the messenger of the Lord, offered a present when he murdered Eglon.) Having degraded kings and made them responsible for all the follies which the priesthood and the church might subsequently commit, it now is essential to discredit the older forms of religion from which they took their doctrines. The display of wisdom and learning will glorify the church and dazzle the world, and at the same time exhibit the destructive effects of "running after strange gods," meaning "carnal things." Moreover, Solomon's dispensation reveals the dangers of placing in the control of kings the wisdom which is claimed for the church. Solomon is personified intellect, the light of men, and the last step in the rehearsal. David did not do himself credit by leaving to the world Solomon, as immoral and profligate as himself. But Solomon fulfilled his function of destroyer of sun-worship and fireworship. It cannot be said, however, that he left any great inheritance of wisdom to the world. Neither David nor Solomon could safely be permitted to be at large in a decent, self-respecting community, under present-day ideas of morality, as criminal as humanity now is, and that is saying much. Solomon means recompense. Recompense means indemnity, compensation, remuneration, requital, satisfaction, reward, pay. Each of these important periods ends with some form of compensation. Bathsheba bare Solomon as compensation to David for the death of the previous child. "To me belongeth vengeance and recompense: their foot shall slide in due time." (Deut. 32:35.) This is aimed at froward, stubborn kings. David's foot did slip in the case of Bathsheba, as too in the affair of Nabal, whom he also had killed, taking his wife Abigail, who some declare is David's own sister, who became the mother of Daniel the prophet. They are hanging men in this enlightened age for abducting other men's wives and murdering their legitimate husbands. David's contribution to the family tree: Ibhar means chosen, elected. Elishama means whom god hears. Shama means dutiful. Eli means god. Signifying that god only responds to the obedient-eternal bribery. Eliphelet means the god of deliverance Two sons of David by the same name. (I Chr. 3:6-8.) In I Chronicles 8:39, Eliphelet is said to be the son of Eshek, meaning oppression, and brother to Jehush, meaning collector, hence they must be tax gatherers in David's system of confiscation; a strange line, taxation, oppression, and deliverance. Nogah means bright. Nepheg means sprout. Japhia means splendor, which enlightens. Elishama means whom god hears. Eliada means knowledge of god. Also the sons of David by concubines and by Tamar, his own daughter. There are several outstanding features of David's career which brand him as wholly unfit to be referred to as the alleged forefather of the equally fabulous Christ. But when we fully analyze the matter, we find some of the most cunning intrigues concealed in these stories.. Both Saul and David are surreptitiously held up as ex amples to demonstrate that the divine authority should not be vested in kings. They should be under the temporal authority of the pope, with power to remove or appoint at will. This is why the apparent indecency of David is thrust before the people. Kings are utterly unfit to exercise "divine authority," and temporal power, therefore, should be censored by god's vicar. This, however, does not prevent their giving royal blood to their offspring. David had innumerable so-called wives, also had children by his many concubines. Concubine means prostitute. It is not sufficient to give as an excuse that at that period these things were permissible by custom. No good can come out of evil. A good fruit tree cannot grow out of the seed of a bramble. Moreover, such customers could not deliver to modern civilization a correct moral code. Christianity, to itself be perfect, must have been brought forth from an unsullied stock. On the contrary, practically every essential character of the scriptures, and agent and practice of the ecclesiastical experiment, reeks with evil and even crime. It could not exist without them. Neither the laws of god nor of man could justify the inquisition. By the laws of nature, and by their own confessions, good cannot come out of a system which sows and feeds upon evil. It is not sufficient to say that the contrast is to emphasize the Christian dispensation, for this evil precedent is glorified. The past record of the church proves beyond doubt that it has inspired and encouraged evil under the false pretense of "trying" humanity. David is chosen as an example of correction, by confession and forgiveness, to justify the confessional, to prove the power of the church to condone evil, that it may dispense indulgences. The case of Nabal was a precedent to cover a multitude of subsequent papal sins, and to excuse the fact that such conduct of kings was prevalent regardless of popes. The fact that these bald and palpable precedents are found in nearly every page of the scriptures, is quite sufficient to prove that these evil acts were premeditatedly condoned because they could not be prevented without bringing authority under the law. David's acts toward Nabal were intended to reach the villagers, who were difficult to entice into the church, because of lack of surrounding influences. Humanity does not seek the church, it seeks humanity and does not hesitate at coercion. Abigail signifies father's joy. We are unable to reconcile the attempt to show that Nabal's wife is not the sister of David, by whom she had children, as he also had by his own mother-in-law. We do not find two Abigails at David's court at one time. "David is the seventh son of Jesse. His sisters were Abigail and Zeruiah." Zeruiah means pain and tribulation, the opposite of Abigail. "Abigail bare Amasa, and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite." (I Chr. 2:17.) "Amasa was a man's son, whose name was Ithra, an Israelite, then went in unto Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah." Ithra means plenty. Abigail means the same, whether Nabal's wife or David's sister, and she is celebrated for wisdom. Nahash means serpent, and serpent is the symbol for wisdom as well as for Satan. This mixup is quite sufficient to justify the belief that there was but one Abigail, and she was "father's joy." Joy means gaiety, pleasure, of which David was passionately fond. Nabal means fool. He was the Carmelite who refused food to David. He paid the penalty of omitting to contribute to the support of the church. fruit. Carmel means fruitful, and the church demands the first David took not only his substance, but also his life and his wife, Abigail. This is a palpable precedent for the brigandish crusades against stubborn communities. We are told by the standard Bible dictionaries that David, at this period was a recognized outlaw. In I Samuel, chapter 30, we find he "divided his spoils" with thirteen chieftains of places "where David himself and his men were wont to haunt." He prowled about, slaying and plundering, exactly as did the modern crusaders under the popes of Rome. He was under the guidance of Samuel and Nathan. "And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels and the apparel." (I Sam. 27:9.) Thus we see David symbolizes and sets the examples for the accursed crusades and inquisition. "And when David came to Ziklag he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah-to them which were in Beth-el, and to them who were in Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir and Siphmoth and Eshtemoa, and Rachal, and the Jerahmeelites, and Kenites, and Hormah, and chor-a-shan, and Hebron." (I Sam. 30.) Now, we have the true meaning of David. He was the founder of crusades, a common highwayman, and an astute politician, who bribed his way into popularity-an executive king-priest. Ziklag means the measure pressed down, that is, more than an ordinary full measure. David is the most unscrupulous and immoral character in the Bible. Let us examine the meaning of those he bribed. Jattir means the prominent. Siphmoth means fertility (one of his haunts). Rachal means trade. Jerahmeelites means god's mercy-indulgences. |