in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller to the rich man; and he spared to take of his own flock, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him."

Now David never suspected that the parable was meant to shew how wicked he had himself been; and his anger was greatly kindled, and he said to Nathan, "As the Lord liveth, the man who hath done this shall surely die; and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."

Then Nathan told David plainly that he was the man whom he meant in the parable; for that, although God had delivered him out of the hand of Saul, and made him king of Israel, and given him great riches and honour, yet he had caused Uriah the Hittite to be killed with the sword, and had taken his wife to be his wife. For this he told

him that God would greatly afflict him, and make him unhappy in his family. Accordingly, God took from him the child which had been born to him by Bathsheba; and He caused him to have trouble with his other sons,-all which was a deep grief to David, and made him shed many bitter tears of repent

ance.

We see here, as in other instances, how one fault leads to another. David committed one heinous sin, and in order to conceal it, he committed another, which was still greater. This should teach us to abstain from the very appearance of evil, lest we be led on from one sin to another, and become very wicked. Whatever God has commanded us to do, that we must do with all our might; and we must carefully abstain from what He has forbidden. We must do justly and love mercy, and walk humbly before our God and then He will accept and

reward us. But if we suffer ourselves to depart from his law, He will, sooner or later, bring heavy affliction upon us, in order that He may lead us to true repentance and amendment.

We see here, too, how much more quickly people find out the faults of their neighbours than their own. David easily perceived that the man described in the parable had acted very unjustly, but he considered not that he had himself been much more to blame. Let us, then, search our own hearts, and examine our thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in us; and let us pray Him, who knoweth our hearts, to lead us in the way everlasting.

THE REBELLION OF ABSALOM.
(2 Samuel xiii.—xviii.)

NATHAN told David that God would

"raise up evil against him out of his own

house;" and that which the prophet had foretold came to pass, for David had much reason to be displeased with his son Amnon, and still more with Absalom.

This young man was much admired for his fine person; there was not a blemish in him from head to foot, and he had on his head a large quantity of hair, which in those times was regarded as a great ornament. But the admiration which he received appears to have been a snare to him, for we are told that he "stole the hearts of the people of Israel," which means, that he gained their favour; and he tried to have himself made king instead of his father. great a number of the people joined him, that David was obliged to leave Jerusalem, and to fly into the country. At first this wicked son had the advantage over his father's troops; but afterwards, when he advanced towards the place where his father was, David sent forth

So

his men of war, and they conquered Absalom, and made a great slaughter of his army.

The battle was fought in the wood of Ephraim; and as Absalom was trying to escape, the mule on which he rode went under the thick boughs of a large oak, and his head was caught in the branches of it, so that he was taken up between

*

the heaven and the earth; for the mule that was under him went away. While he was in this situation, hanging from the tree, Joab, one of David's generals, came up, and thrust three spears through his heart, and Joab's men also smote him with their weapons till he was quite dead.

It is generally thought that Absalom hung by his hair in the branches of the tree. This, however, is not said in the Bible, (2 Sam. xviii 9,) but only that "his head caught hold of the oak," from which it would appear that it stuck between two branches.