Ammonite,' 2S.xxiii.37, Uriah the Hittite,' 2S.xxiii.39, and 'Ittai the Gittite,' 2S.xv.19, with all the Gittites, the 600 men that came at his foot from Gath,' v.18, as well as the Cherethites and the Pelethites,' the former of these identified by some with the Cretans, of the same race as the Philistines, and the latter supposed to be some other tribe of Philistine origin (D.B. ii.p.766), who were employed by David as mercenariesthough the words are explained also, more probably, to mean 'executioners' and 'runners,' composing together the bodyguard. So Araunah, the Jebusite king, was allowed to live in Jerusalem, 2S.xxiv.18, and was on friendly terms with David. Nay, one of David's wives, the mother of Absalom, was 'Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur,' at whose Court Absalom took refuge, 2S.xiii.37,38. As the Philistines and Geshurites are reckoned among the Canaanite nations, the old inhabitants of the land,' who were to be 'subdued by Israel,' J.xiii.2, comp. 1S.xxvii.8, it is obvious that these alliances were in direct violation of the later Deut. commands in E.xxiii.32,33, &c., which enjoin their utter extermination.

6

xxvi.19. They have driven me out this day from cleaving to the inheritance of Jehovah, saying, Go, serve other Elohim.'

We have here the recognition of Jehovah, as the national deity of the land of Canaan, as in E.xv.17 of the O.S., comp. also 2S.xx.19, xxi.3, and inheritance of Elohim,' 2S.xiv.16.

6

xxvii.6. Therefore Ziklag belonged to the kings of Judah unto this day.'

This notice must have been written after the separation of the two kingdoms, and may, perhaps, be due to D., as that in ix.9 apparently is (58.i). So THENIUS, Sam. p.124, ascribes this clause to a later editor.

xxviii.3,9. Saul 'puts away the necromancers and the wizards out of the land,' in accordance with the law in E.xxii.18(17), which, if not written, as we suppose it may have been (VI. 493),

had very probably been enforced by Samuel's influence, while he had still control over the actions of Saul.

XXX.23-25. David's law for the division of spoils says nothing about any portion to be set apart for the priests and Levites, as enjoined in N.xxxi.29,30(L.L.).

142

CHAPTER VIII.

COMPARISON OF THE RESULTS WITH THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL.

142. i.17-27. We have here apparently a genuine specimen of David's poetical compositions, and another appears in iii.33, 34, and a third in xxiii.1-7.

As to xxii, which occurs again with some slight modifications as Ps.xviii, EWALD, Ps. p.43, ascribes it to David in his later age, and so HENGSTENBERG, Ps. i.281 (Clark's Eng. Ed.), regards it as a great Hallelujah, with which he retired from the theatre of life.' HITZIG, Ps. i.96, assigns it also to David, but observes that

6

'the rebellion and death of Absalom had not yet thrown a dark shadow upon the king's sunny prosperity, nor had the transgression with Bathsheba yet palsied David's pride in his own virtue.'

And, certainly, it is incredible that such language as that in v.21-25 could have been uttered or written down by David after his grievous sin,-to say nothing of the fact that the persecutions of Saul, expressly referred to in the superscription, occurred precisely in the earlier part of David's life.

The marked difference, which is thus seen to exist in the judgments of those critics, who regard this Psalm as David's, throws a grave doubt upon its Davidic origin. Accordingly OLSHAUSEN writes as follows, Ps. p.98 :

Hardly would David himself have said of Jehovah, Who showeth mercy to His anointed, unto David and his seed for evermore; but this is a formula which could not have been formed until David's House had already for a long time enjoyed the Divine protection, and the hope was cherished that for all future time He would deem the exalted ruling House of Israel worthy of His favour. It will, therefore,

be right to assume that this poem was written at a time when David's House still ruled, or at all events still existed as a flourishing Family, by a member or worshipper of that Family, in David's spirit and under his name. And for such an assumption of a considerably later origin speaks almost yet more distinctly the style of it throughout, which, in spite of all the talent of the writer, is yet diffuse and prolix, such as belongs to an age when the national Literature had long sunk below its highest point. The mention also of the Temple in v.7 does not suit David.'

HUPFELD takes nearly the same view, and says, Ps. i.p.362,— 'It seems rather to have been composed by a later writer concerning a king, probably David, and placed in his mouth.'

143. Upon the whole it would seem that this Psalm cannot be David's. But the other passages are quite sufficient to show that he possessed great lyrical power, which he had most probably cultivated when living at Naioth in Ramah' with Samuel and his school of prophets, 1S.xix.19, &c. Whether the later tradition, which ascribed similar poetical talent to Solomon, whose songs were a thousand and five,' 1K.iv.32, is equally veracious, may be doubted. But the record in David's case is, probably, that of a contemporary, and the instances given of his genius are decisive in his favour on this point. That musical instruments were used at bringing up the ark, 2S.vi.15, in David's Tabernacle as well as in Solomon's Temple, 1K.x.12, cannot be doubful, when we read of the 'company of prophets' with the psaltery, tabret, pipe, and harp before them, 1S.x.5. But, if psalmody had made such decided progress in Israel in David's age, there can be no reason for hesitating to admit that the Elohistic and Jehovistic portions of the Pentateuch, including various striking poetical passages, e.g. G.xlix.1-27, E.xv.1-19, N.xxiii,xxiv, may have been composed in the same age.

144. i.18. The Book of Jasher'-rather, the Book of the Righteous'-was probably, like the Book of the Wars of Jehovah,' N.xxi.14, one of the literary works of the prophetical school in the age of Saul and David, recounting a series of the most famous passages in the primitive history of the Righteous

People, Jeshurun '—from which, indeed, extracts may have been inserted in the narrative of the Pentateuch itself, comp. J.x.13.

v.21. David and his men did not destroy the idols of the Philistines, but 'carried them off': so the LXX, Vulg., Syr., Arab., and the E.V. (margin), though our translators have followed in the Text the false statement of the Chronicler, 1Ch.xiv.12, and of the Chaldee Paraphrast, burned them.'

145. vi. The account of the bringing-up of the ark here given militates very remarkably with the laws of the L.L. David makes a great effort to celebrate the occasion with due pomp, and gathers together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand,' for the purpose. Yet, though trained under Samuel's influences, with the prophets Nathan and Gad by his side, and with the Pentateuch, it is supposed, in his hands, and the object of his daily study, this pious king never bethinks him that none but Levites were allowed to carry the ark, nor even ordinary Levites except when it had been duly covered by the priests,——

'they shall not touch the sanctuary lest they die,' they shall not go-in to see at the covering of the Sanctuary lest they die,' N.iv.15,20, and the children of Israel shall not draw-near henceforth unto the Tent of Meeting-[much less unto the ark]-lest they bear sin and die,' N.xviii.22.

Here, however, instead of the ark being borne by the Levites, as it was through all the long and difficult marches in the wilderness, according to N.iv.15, vii.9, x.21, it is placed for the short journey to Jerusalem from Kirjath-Jearim upon a cart, which is driven by the two sons of Abinadab, v.3. Yet the statement, that Elohim smote' one of them, Uzzah, for his daring to take hold of it, when the oxen shook it, v.6,7, tends to foster a spirit of reverence for this mystery of Jehovah's worship, and may have been written with this view, like the similar statement in 1S.vi.19, about the 50,070 Bethshemites being smitten for gazing at it (see G.xxxiv.1, Ju.xvi.27). the ark contained, perhaps for the first time, as we suppose, (124)—the two stone-tables inscribed with the laws in E.xx.22,

If