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Abner. And David himself followed the bier, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept. And when the people saw that king David wept for Abner, and that he fasted all that day, they and all Israel understood that it was not by the king's will that Abner had been slain; and it pleased them: "as whatsoever the king did, pleased all the people."

After the death of Abner, the men who were with Ishbosheth began to fear that his kingdom could not stand; and they fell away from him. Then two men of the tribe of Benjamin, who were captains in the army of Ishbosheth, resolved to kill him, that they might win favour with David. So they went into the house of Ishbosheth in the heat of the day, at the time that he was accustomed to sleep; and when they found him sleeping in his chamber, they slew him, and cut off his head, and fled away to David, bearing the head with them.

When they came to Hebron, they went in to David and said, "Behold the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul thine enemy, who sought thy life."

And David answered them, "As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed me out of all adversity, when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings: how much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? Shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?"

Then king David commanded that the men should be put to death. So his servants slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up. And they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner, at Hebron.

2 Samuel iii. iv.

A league is an agreement between persons to help one another. Sackcloth is coarse, hard cloth, which was worn by the Israelites and other people of the East, when they wished to humble themselves in sorrow before God. To be girt with sackcloth, or to wear sackcloth, was a sign of sorrow and humiliation.

To redeem is to save, to deliver from danger or death.

160

B.C.

1048.

Chapter CXXX.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DAVID'S KINGDOM
OVER ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL.

AFTER the death of Ishbosheth, the hearts of all the tribes of Israel were turned again to David, whom the Lord had chosen to be king over His people in the place of Saul.

Then they gathered themselves together, and came to David, saying, "Behold, we are thy kinsmen, thy bone and thy flesh. Moreover, in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel; and the Lord said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel." And the men of war of every tribe came armed to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel.

Then David made a covenant with all the elders of Israel in Hebron, before the Lord: and they anointed him king over Israel. And the elders of Israel, and the men of war who had come from all

the tribes of Israel to Hebron, remained with David for three days, eating and drinking; for their brethren had prepared a feast for them. "And all the tribes of Israel around the land of Judah, even to Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen; and meat, and meal, and cakes of figs, and bunches of raisins, and wine. and oil abundantly: for there was joy in Israel."

And when the feast was ended, before the men of war returned to their own homes, David led them forth against Jerusalem, to take the city that was on the top of the hill, where the Jebusites had dwelt from the time of Joshua: for the men of Israel had not yet been able to drive them from their stronghold. And the Jebusites mocked at David; for their city was strongly built, and stood upon a high hill, the hill of Sion; and they said. that even the lame and the blind could keep him from entering into it. But Joab, the captain of David's army, climbed up the hill with his men of war, and entered within the city, and smote the

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Jebusites. So David took the stronghold of Sion, and drove forth the Jebusites.

From this time King David dwelt in the city of Jerusalem, on the hill of Sion, and it was called the city of David; and he built another wall round it, and repaired the city. And afterwards, when his kingdom was established, the king of Tyre, a city on the sea-shore to the north of the land of Israel, sent messengers to David, with a present of cedar trees, to build a palace; he sent also carpenters and masons, and they built a palace for king David on the hill of Sion.

But when the Philistines-who had held possession of many of the cities of Israel from the time when they destroyed Saul and his armyheard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they came up with their armies to fight against him before his kingdom was established. And they spread themselves over the valley of Rephaim, which was near Jerusalem, and placed a garrison in Bethlehem. Then David went down with his chief captains who were with him, to the

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