And will not sit with the wicked.

I will wash my hands in innocency:

So will I compass Thine altar, O Lord:

That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving,

And tell of all Thy wondrous works.

Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house,

And the place where Thine honour dwelleth.

Gather not my soul with sinners,

Nor my life with bloody men:

In whose hands is mischief,

And their right hand is full of bribes.

But as for me, I will walk in my integrity:
Redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
My foot standeth in an even place:

In the congregation will I bless the Lord."

PSALM XXVII.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked (even my enemies and my foes) came upon me to eat up my flesh,

They stumbled and fell.

Though a host should encamp against me,

My heart shall not fear:

Though war should rise against me,

In this will I be confident.

One thing have I desired of the Lord,

That will I seek after;

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the

days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord,

And to inquire in His temple.

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For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His

pavilion:

In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me ; He shall set me upon a rock.

And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me:

Therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of

joy;

I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice:

Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face;

My heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

Hide not Thy face far from me,

Put not Thy servant away in anger:

Thou hast been my help; leave me not,

Neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

When my father and my mother forsake me,

Then the Lord will take me up.

Teach me Thy way, O Lord,

And lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Deliver me not over to the will of mine enemies:

For false witnesses are risen up against me,

And such as breathe out cruelty.

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the good

ness of the Lord

In the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord:

Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart:

Wait, I say, on the Lord."

Having detailed the rise, progress, and termination

of these rebellions, it is not unreasonable to pause and inquire how they could have been possible. David had subdued all his enemies in all the surrounding countries, and reduced them at least to tributary subjection, so that the authority of the Hebrew state was paramount in Western Asia. And, in addition to this extension of his power abroad, he had done much to improve the civil polity of his own country; and had not only extended and improved its religious institutions, but had, as far as possible, brought these improvements to bear on the several tribes for the purpose of fusing them into one compact, united nation. In these circumstances it seems strange that the first action of Absalom should have been sufficiently formidable to drive the king precipitately from his capital; and that after the death of Absalom an obscure individual, or, at least, a man unknown before in the history of the nation, should, by a single proclamation, have had sufficient influence to detach from their allegiance all the men of Israel who had come to welcome the return of the king, and thus to cause at least a dangerous insurrection. This proneness to disloyalty to a sovereign who had done so much for his country seems to indicate the existence of some peculiar cause or causes which do not appear on the surface of the history, and which merit a brief but explicit solution.

The Divine appointment of Saul to the sovereignty of all the tribes of Israel, and his possession of royal power through the long period of forty years, had, to a great extent, given to his family and the tribe of Benjamin, to which it belonged, a prestige, accompanied by aspirations after regal dignity and power, which were admitted and recognised by great numbers in the other tribes. It was this mainly by which Abner maintained Ishbosheth at the head of the ten tribes

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for seven years; and it had not died out when David had established the military ascendancy of the Hebrews over the neighbouring nations. Proofs of this fact are seen in the suspicions entertained of Mephibosheth, in Ziba's slander of him, in the conduct of Shimei, and also in the treason of Sheba, who was also of the tribe of Benjamin.

Another fruitful cause of disunion among the Hebrews was the power of the tribe of Ephraim, and its intense jealousy of Judah. Probably the terms of the blessing which Jacob pronounced on the sons of Joseph, and more particularly the benediction which, when dying, he pronounced on the head of this tribe, greatly encouraged their aspirations to dominion in Israel. And these ambitious hopes and desires were strengthened by the great number to which the men of this tribe were multiplied. Whatever may be thought of these as causes producing a desire and claim for prominent distinction in Israel, it is certain that this tribe took a leading part in the affairs of the Hebrew people, and fully expected to be consulted in all affairs of moment, and to co-operate in all matters of great public interest. It was so in the case of Gideon, (Judges viii. 1,) and of Jephthah, (xii. 1,) and again on the return of David. (2 Sam. xix. 41-43.) The complaint always evinced the same spirit, and was sometimes put forth in terms indicative of great annoyance: "Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not?" "Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? Why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back the king?"

It is also remarkable that the measures taken by David for uniting all the Hebrew tribes in their religious worship could scarcely have had any but an

irritating effect on this sensitive tribe. When the people, under the conduct of Joshua, had so far subdued the Canaanitish nations that the general war was terminated, the tabernacle of the congregation, containing the ark and the altars of sacrifice and incense, which had previously been located at the head-quarters of the army, was set up at Shiloh, within the allotted portion of the tribe of Ephraim. What determined Joshua in the selection of this place we are not informed. Probably it was on account of its central situation ; perhaps because it pertained to the powerful tribe of Ephraim, to which the great Hebrew leader of the day himself belonged. But, whatever the cause which led to the location of the tabernacle at Shiloh, it unquestionably gave great importance to the house of Ephraim, and was highly prized by the people of that tribe. Of the removal of this sacred tent to Nob, and afterward to Gibeon, we know nothing. But, when denuded of the ark, this sacred sanctuary lost the greater portion of its importance; so that, during the time that this sacred coffer remained in the house of Abinadab, neither the tabernacle nor it seemed to exercise much influence on the people.

When, however, David had prepared his tabernacle on Mount Zion, and by placing the ark there had made it the centre of an extensive religious institution, and the seat of a popular and spiritual system of worship, the case was altered: by the proximity of this sanctuary to the Mosaic tabernacle at Gibeon, and to the throne of David and the seat of government at Jerusalem, all the great elements of Hebrew interest and power were concentrated in and about that city, all the means of distinction were removed from the tribe of Ephraim, and it sank down in political and religious importance to the level of the other