DAVID HEARS THAT SAUL AND JONATHAN ARE DEAD. HE GOES TO HEBRON, AND IS MADE KING. HE TAKES THE CITY OF JERUSALEM AND BRINGS THE ARK THERE. HIS KINDNESS TO MEPHIBOSHETH.
DAVID was still at Ziklag. He did not know that the Philistines had fought with the men of Israel, and gained the victory over them. But there came to Ziklag a man with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head, as though he were in great distress. When he saw David he bowed down to the ground before him. And David asked him from what place he had come. The man said, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. David asked him how the battle went. He answered, The men of Israel have fled and many of them are slain, and Saul and Jonathan are dead also.
David said to the young man, How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan are dead? The young man answered, As I happened, by chance, to be upon mount Gilboa, in the battle, Saul stood there leaning on his spear, while the Philistines with their chariots and horsemen, were coming swiftly upon him to kill him. When he looked behind him he saw me and called me; I answered, Here am I. And he spoke to me, saying, Come, I pray thee, and put me to death, for I am grieved that my life is still in me. So I went to him and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live. And I took the crown that was on his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them to thee.
But what the young man told David was not true; for, as we have read, Saul had killed himself. The young man said that he had killed him, because he thought it would please David, and that David would reward him for saying so. But David was not pleased. He took hold of his clothes and rent them; and all the men who were with him rent their clothes. And they mourned and wept for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the men of Israel, because so many of them had been slain. And David asked the young man where his home was, and to what country he belonged. He answered that he was not one of the children of Israel, but an Amalekite. Then David asked him why he was not afraid to kill Saul, whom the Lord had chosen to be king over the people. And David said that the young man should die for his sin, and that the fault was his own, because he had confessed with his own mouth that he had slain the king of Israel.
After this David asked the Lord whether he should leave the land of the Philistines and go back to the land of Israel. And the Lord said he should go. Then David asked to what part of the land he should go. The Lord told him, to the city of Hebron. Now David belonged to the tribe of Judah, and Hebron was one of the cities of that tribe; for, as we have read, Joshua gave to each of the twelve tribes a part of the land for its own, and Hebron was in that part which he gave to the tribe of Judah.
And David, who was now thirty years old, went up out of Ziklag to the city of Hebron. And the chief men of the tribe of Judah came to Hebron and made him king over that tribe. But the other tribes did not come, because one of Saul's sons whose name was Ish-bosh-eth, and who was not slain in the battle, still ruled over them. Ish-bosh-eth ruled over the other tribes for seven years after Saul was dead. Then one day, as he lay on his bed, about noon, two of his captains came into his house, pretending they wanted only to bring in some wheat, but when they had come into his chamber, they slew him.
And they cut off his head and fled away with it all night to Hebron, where David was. And they brought it to David, saying, Behold we have brought thee the head of Ish-bosh-eth, the son of Saul who was thy enemy, and wanted to kill thee. But David was greatly displeased; he told them that when he was living at Ziklag, and a young man came to him, and said he had killed Saul, thinking that David would reward him for it, instead of rewarding him he had put him to death. So now, David said, these two men who had killed Ish-bosh-eth, Saul's son, when he was doing no wrong, should be put to death for their sin. And he commanded that they should be slain. But he sent away the head of Ish-bosh-eth to be buried in a sepulchre.
And when the other tribes saw that Ish-bosh-eth, who had ruled over them, was dead, they also came to David in Hebron, and made him their king. So, at last, David was king over all the tribes of Israel.
And he went with his army to the city of Jerusalem. The men of Israel had, before this time, taken a part of that city from the people of the land, but not all of it. There was a strong fort, or castle, on the mountain called Zion, in which those people still lived. But now David took this also from them, and went and lived in the castle himself; and he called it the city of David. And he came to be a very great man, for the Lord helped him in all that he did. And the king of a city called Tyre was his friend. This king's name was Hiram. His people knew well how to work in wood and stone. And Hiram sent builders and carpenters to David, and they built a house for him in Jerusalem.
We have been told that after the Philistines sent back the ark to the land of Israel, it was carried to the city of Kirjath-jearim, and left there in the house of a man named Abinadab. It had been in Abinadab's house ever since that time—for more than seventy years—because the people had grown careless about it and neglected it. But now David spoke to them, and asked them to come with him and get it, and bring it to Jerusalem. Then David went, and the people with him, and they took the ark out of Abinadab's house and set it on a new cart, to bring it to Jerusalem.
Now the ark was a very holy thing. We have read that when it was first brought inside of the tabernacle, God came in a cloud, into the tabernacle, above the ark: and there he dwelt in the cloud, over the mercy-seat. We have read also, that when the children of Israel went on their journey through the wilderness, and took the ark with them, they were not allowed to put it into a cart, but it was carried on the Levites' shoulders. And the Levites themselves, were not allowed to come near it, until the priests had covered it with the curtains of the tabernacle. For none but the priests were permitted to touch it, or even to look upon it uncovered. All other persons were forbidden to do so, lest they might die. Therefore when David wanted to bring the ark up to Jerusalem, he should not have laid it on a cart. Yet he did this; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the cart. But when they came to the threshing-floor of Nachon, the oxen that drew the ark stumbled and shook it; and Uzzah stretched out his hand and took hold of it. And the Lord was angry at Uzzah for doing this, and he put him to death there beside the ark. And David was displeased because the Lord had put Uzzah to death. He was afraid, also, that some punishment might be sent upon him. So he took the ark no further but stopped on the way, before he came to Jerusalem, and left it in the house of Obed-edom, a Levite. It was in Obed-edom's house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his family while it was there. When David heard how the Lord blessed him because the ark was in his house, he called for the priests and Levites, and told them to make ready to bring up the ark, and put it into the tent which he had made for it in Jerusalem; for he said, because the priests and the Levites had not brought it up the first time, the Lord was angry and put Uzzah to death.
Then David and all the people with him, went to bring up the ark out of Obed-edom's house. But now he commanded the Levites to carry it on their shoulders. David was clothed in a robe of white linen, and so were the Levites who carried the ark, and those who were chosen to sing praises to the Lord. And they brought up the ark with shoutings and the sound of trumpets, and cymbals and harps. As soon as the Levites who carried it had started and gone a few steps, David offered up sacrifices to the Lord. And the Bible tells us that he danced before the Lord with all his might; that is, he was so glad in being allowed to bring up the ark, that he felt as though he could not walk quietly along, but must leap and dance for joy. And Michal, his wife, looked out of a window and saw him leaping and dancing, and she despised him for it in her heart. And she told him that he, who was a king, made himself look mean and humble before his servants, by doing so. But David said it was before the Lord he had done it, and that he would make himself still more humble and mean before him.
And they brought the ark to Jerusalem and set it in the tent which David had made for it. Then David offered up more sacrifices, burnt offerings and peace offerings. As soon as he had done this, he blessed the people, and he gave to each one, to the women as well as the men, a good piece of flesh, a loaf of bread, and a cake of pressed grapes. And when they had received these things, they went away, every man to his own home.
But as David sat in the beautiful house which he had built for himself at Jerusalem, and remembered how the ark was kept in a tent, he felt in his heart that he would love to build a house yet more beautiful than his own, in which to keep the ark. Now there was at that time among the children of Israel, a prophet named Nathan, and David told Nathan of what he wanted to do. Nathan said to him, Do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee to help thee. But that night the Lord spoke to Nathan, and said that he should tell David not to build the house. Yet the Lord was not displeased at David for wanting to built it, but he said that David's son, who would be king after him, should build the house for the ark. So David did not go on to build it, but left it for his son to build, as the Lord commanded.
And David went out to war against the heathen kings around him, and gained the victory over them, and took from them great numbers of horses and chariots, and much gold and silver. Of the gold and silver, he gave a part into the treasury of the Lord. And the Lord was with him, to prosper him, wherever he went; and he ruled justly over all his people.
And now that he was grown rich and great, David remembered how Jonathan, Saul's son, had loved him when he was poor and in trouble, and how they had made a covenant together to be kind to each other's children. Therefore David sent for a man named Ziba, who had been a servant to Saul, and he asked Ziba whether any of Jonathan's children were yet alive, because, if they were, he wanted to be kind to them for Jonathan's sake. And Ziba told the king that one of Jonathan's sons was still living, who was lame in his feet. For on the day that Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle, when word of it came to Jonathan's house, the little boy's nurse took him up and fled. But as she made haste to flee away, he fell out of her arms and was hurt, so that ever since, he had been lame. And now he was grown to be a man; his name was Mephibosheth.
And David sent for him, and when he came to the king he bowed down to the ground before him. And David said, Mephibosheth. He answered, Behold, I am thy servant. David said to him, Fear not, because I have sent for thee; for I will surely be kind to thee for thy father's sake, and will give back to thee all the land that belonged to Saul, thy grandfather. And thou shalt come and eat at my table. Mephibosheth said to the king, What am I, that thou shouldest take any notice of me? Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, I have given Mephibosheth all the land that belonged to Saul. Do thou, therefore, and thy sons, take care of it, and bring all the fruits that shall grow on it to him. But as for Mephibosheth, he shall stay with me, and always eat at my table, and be as one of my sons. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, and did eat continually at the table of the king.