for 1,000 talents of silver. The Ammonites formed a separate army by themselves.

To meet this formidable army, David sent a strong force under the command of Joab, who, finding himself placed between the two hostile armies, selected all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians; and sent the rest of the army, under his brother Abishai, against the Ammonites; with the understanding, that in case of need, they were mutually to succour each other: but Joab having defeated the Syrian army, the Ammonites fled before Abishai

into their cities.*

In order to revenge this defeat, Hadarezer, King of Zobah, whom David had so lately defeated,† drew his forces from beyond the river Euphrates, and sent them to Helam, under the command of Shophach. Upon this David gathered all Israel together, and passing over Jordan, fought a pitched battle before Helam, and slew near 50,000 men, including their commander-in-chief; upon which the Syrian princes immediately sued for peace, and no longer afforded any assistance to the Ammonites.+

David, having determined to finish the war with this devoted nation, sent Joab with a large army to besiege Rabbah, their royal city, but remained himself at Jerusalem. Joab's expedition having proved successful, he sent messengers to his sovereign, saying, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters;§ now, therefore, gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it; lest I take the city, and it be called after my name. And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. And he took the king's

2 Sam. x. 1 Chron. xix.

+2 Sam. viii. 3-7. 2 Sam. x. 19. 1 Chron. xix. 9. § That is, I have cut off the water of the city. Ad. Clarke.

crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a talent of gold, with the precious stones: and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.*

It was during the early part of this siege, whilst David was, perhaps improperly, staying at Jerusalem, and whilst his army was warring against the Ammonites, that the melancholy occurrence took place, which involved the Israelitish monarch in such a complication of flagitious iniquity. So much has been written upon this subject by every commentator, that it will probably be better in this place only to touch generally upon the leading features of a transaction, which we would gladly avoid noticing altogether.

Uriah, the Hittite, was one of David's bravest officers,† and, at this time, absent from Jerusalem, and fighting his sovereign's battles under the command of Joab. The monarch having accidentally seen Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, in a situation calculated to excite unholy desires, yielded to their influence, and having signified his wishes, obtained but too ready a compliance.

The first object of David, like all impenitent sinners, being to conceal his crime, he sent orders to Joab, that Uriah should come immediately to Jerusalem, in the confident expectation that he would immediately repair to his own house, and associate with his wife; and thus, if she should prove pregnant, it would create neither suspicion nor scandal.

Whether Uriah had received any intimation of his wife's infidelity, and his sovereign's baseness, or whether he was

restrained from visiting his own house and family, by the especial providence of God, who had determined that David's sin should be exposed, and that he should thereby be instructed in the depths of iniquity in his own heart; Uriah refused to go to his own dwelling, and that so steadily, that although the monarch descended so low as to make Uriah drunk for that express purpose, he was not to be diverted from his resolution. And we may easily imagine what a stinging reproach Uriah's remark must have made upon the conscience of his sovereign, when he reflected upon the contrast which it formed to his own conduct, "the ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat, and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing."*

Unable by this means to secure a protection from discovery, David conceived the horrible design of adding murder to adultery, and actually accomplished that object by the most base and atrocious means: for he sent Uriah back with his own death warrant in his hand, ordering Joab to place him in the front of the battle, in a feigned assault of that part of the city which was known to be guarded by the most vigilant troops; and then, if a sortie was made, to order a retreat secretly, so that this brave and faithful officer might be certainly slain.

Joab obeyed the unhallowed command, and Uriah was slain with others of the army. The sacred history informs us that Bathsheba mourned for her husband, by which most probably, no more is meant than that she complied with such outward ceremonials as the manners then in use prescribed upon such occasions; for that her sorrow could not be real, may be inferred, not only from her previous criminality, but

* 2 Sam. xi. 11.

from her subsequent conduct; for David sent for her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son.

The transaction however displeased Jehovah, and he sent to David the prophet Nathan, who thus beautifully but pointedly, brought conviction and contrition upon the fallen monarch. "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the way-faring man that was come unto him: but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, as Jehovah liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: and he shall restore the lamb four-fold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said unto David, thou art thE MAN! Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of Jehovah to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite, to be thy wife. Thus saith Jehovah, behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house,

and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said unto David, Jehovah also hath put away thy sin: thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die."*

The child died, but David afterwards had by this same Bathsheba, his successor Solomon, whom Jehovah loved; and he called his name Jedidiah,† because of Jehovah.

It is perhaps one of the most mysterious transactions in the divine economy, that the genealogy of the divine Saviour, who knew no sin, and who was, and was to be, designated

2 Sam. xii. 1-14.

"Thou art this son of death, and thou shalt restore this lamb FOURFold. Is it indulging fancy too much to say David was called, in the course of a just providence, to pay this fourfold debt: to lose four sons by untimely deaths, viz: this son of Bathsheba, on whom David had set his heart, was slain by the Lord; Ammon, murdered by his brother Absalom; Absalom, slain in the oak by Joab; and Adonijah, slain by the order of his brother Solomon, even at the altar of the Lord. The sword of calamity did not depart from his house, from the murder of the wretched Ammon by his brother, to the slaughter of the sons of Zedekiah before their father's eyes, by the King of Babylon. His daughter was dishonoured by her own brother; and his wives contaminated, publicly, by his own son. How dreadfully, then, was David punished for his sin! Who would repeat his trangression to share in its penalty! Can his conduct ever be an inducement to, or an encouragement in sin?-Surely, no. It must ever fill the reader and the hearer with horror; behold the goodness and severity of God! Reader, lay all these solemn things to heart." Ad. Clarke. It was probably upon this occasion that David wrote the 51st Psalm. SCOTT.

+ Or, beloved of Jehovah.