before His accusers, answered never a word? And in the ensuing Psalm, the 39th, David owns that the stroke came from God, therefore he dares not complain, even while he earnestly entreats for pardon and restoration, that he may continue his pilgrimage like his fathers:

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth;
Because thou didst it.

Remove thy stroke away from me:

I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth:
Surely every man is vanity.

Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry;
Hold not thy peace at my tears:

For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
O spare me, that I may recover strength,

Before I go hence, and be no more.

How wonderful was the fulfilment! It was from this deepest moment of dejection at Ziklag that David's glory began.

LESSON LXXXIV.

THE PURSUIT.

B.C. 1055.-1 SAM. xxx. 7—26.

And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.

And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.

So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.

But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor. And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water;

And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins : and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.

And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick.

We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.

And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.

And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.

:

And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.

And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.

And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.

And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.

:

Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart.

Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand.

For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.

And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD.

COMMENT.-After his earnest prayer, David caused the priest Abiathar to consult the Urim, and the reply bade him pursue the enemy, and promised that he should recover all he had lost. It further appears (from the Book of Chronicles) that some of the tribe

of Manasseh had joined him instead of Saul-probably seeing that in him lay the hope of Israel. They were all mighty men and captains of the host, the Book says; and they helped him against the "bands of the rovers." On then he went, with his 600, so speedily that at the brook Besor 200 were exhausted and had to be left behind, while the rest followed the track of the spoilers towards the southern desert. Presently they came to a man lying exhausted and nearly dead, and when they had given him food and water, he was able to tell them that he was an Egyptian slave, in bondage to the Amalekites, who no doubt had stolen him in his youth. He said the marauders had plundered the south of Judah, and the Cherethites-a word believed to mean Cretans, and to denote the Philistines most recently come from Crete-and they had burnt Ziklag, all the country being bare of defenders on account of the war. On the way back the poor slave had fallen sick, and had been left by his cruel master to die, without food or water. He had tasted nothing for three days, and when David succoured him and swore not to restore him to his master, he promised to lead the pursuers to where they could fall upon the Amalekites. Thus this act of cruelty brought its punishment. The Egyptian guided the 400 to the halting-place where the savage Amalekites were revelling in their spoil, all spread abroad upon the earth, feasting and drinking and dancing in joy at the great spoils they had brought away. So complete was the victory that David gained over them, that none escaped except 400 of the most active, who rode away upon swift camels or dromedaries. The whole of the spoil of Ziklag was recovered, and all the wives and children-not one was missing—and an immense quantity besides of the plunder collected from other places, so that huge flocks and herds were driven before the victors, while they sung "This is David's spoil!" The 200 who had waited exhausted came to meet them on their return, but the fiercer and more lawless spirits declared that they had no share in the spoil, but should receive nothing but their wives and children. Then David showed himself a true and just leader. He not only gave their full share to the 200, but established it as a rule of the Israelite army, that those left on guard at the camp should be held to have done as good service as those who fought in the battle. It was a wise law, since it secured order, and

hindered undue pressing forward in search of spoil; and many a beautiful thought has been founded on it to comfort those who have to serve God by hearing instead of doing His will:-" He Thy glory also shares, who waits beside the tent." Of David's own portion, he sent presents to those in Judah who had befriended him, and perhaps to those who had been robbed in the Amalekite inroad.

LESSON LXXXV.*

THE PROPHETICAL THANKSGIVING.

B.C. 1055.-PSALM xl.

I waited patiently for the LORD;

And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:
Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust,

And respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done,

And thy thoughts, which are to us-ward:

They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee:

If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;

Mine ears hast thou opened:

Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required.

Then said I, Lo, I come :

In the volume of the book it is written of me,

I delight to do thy will, O my God :

Yea, thy law is within my heart.

I have preached righteousness in the great congregation:

Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart;†

I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation:

I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD:

Let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

*Not for the younger ones.

+ I have made it known.

For innumerable evils have compassed me about:

Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up;

They are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart

faileth me.

Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me:

O LORD, make haste to help me.

Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my
soul to destroy it;

Let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me,
Aha, Aha.

Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee:

Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be mag-
nified.

But I am poor and needy; yet the LORD thinketh upon me:
Thou art my help and my deliverer ;
Make no tarrying, O my God.

COMMENT.-David had encouraged himself in the Lord in his utmost distress, before his ruined home at Ziklag. Though the title does not tell us so, there is great reason to think that this 40th Psalm was his thanksgiving, a song of praise all full of inspiration and prophecy far beyond what he knew. See how he looked at his long years of patient waiting, and the dangers and miseries he had undergone, in "dens and caves of the earth ;" till now joy and hope were before him, and he was singing a new song of thanksgiving. Trusting solely to God, and not to man, he had gained this mighty victory. Be it observed that it was over the Amalekites, the very people whom Saul had failed to destroy, when he had offered that false excuse to which Samuel had replied by telling him that to obey is better than sacrifice. So here David, who in this exile can offer no sacrifice, consoles himself by the assurance that to open his ears to hear and to do God's will is acceptable. He promises to show forth in word and in life that will; and then again he prays earnestly for aid and mercy, feeling that his sins are more in number than the hairs of his head; and looking about at the number of deadly foes around, he prays that their discomfiture may be soon, and that the deliverance so long promised to him may not long be delayed.

But this prayer stretched much further. Nay, it is not David's prayer these are the words of the Son of David. He it is who patiently fulfilled His time on earth, and went down into the