SUDDEN DEATH OF OZA. 229 he himself who was to fill it, consulted the Lord to know how he was to act in this emergency. The Lord bade him go up to Hebron, the capital city of Juda; having gone thither, he was publicly anointed king, and acknowledged as such by that Tribe. The other Tribes being influenced by Abner, the general of the late king, acknowledged Isboseth, a son of Saul, for their king, and thereby divided the nation into two parties. A contest for the crown began between the two competitors; David appointed Joab to be his general, while Abner, with great ability, supported the interest of Isboseth. The war was carried on with the loss of many lives for seven years, when Isboseth was traitorously murdered by two captains of his guard, Rechab and Baana, who carried his head to David. David was not more inclined to reward the base conduct of these two traitors than he had been in the case of the young Amalecite who had declared himself the author of the death of Saul; and he therefore ordered them to be treated in the same manner. Far from insulting an enemy in his fall, or from rejoicing at the advantage which he himself was to reap by it, David considered rather the wrong that his enemy had suffered from the hands of his assassins; and thus, by another and most striking instance, he convinces us that he had not only the meekness to forgive the injuries inflicted on him by his enemies, but also the generosity to honour the memory even of those whose hostility to him was most inveterate. A.M. 2956.] Sudden death of Oza.-2 Kings, vi. [A.c. 1048. By the death of Isboseth, David became the peaceable possessor of the crown of Israel: the Tribes unanimously acknowledged his right, and voluntarily submitted to his authority. The flame of civil discord being thus happily extinguished, the power of the nation was no longer divided, and the Israelites being again united under one head, had no other than the common interest to pursue. David resolved, then, to use against the ancient enemies of his country, the * Joab was David's nephew, the son of his sister, Sarvia. See 2 Kings, ii. 18. power which God had placed in his hands. Resolved to transfer the seat of government from Hebron to a more central position, he determined for this purpose to obtain possession of the fortress of Jerusalem, which, after the capture of the other portions of the city, had remained in the hands of its Canaanite inhabitants, the Jebusites.* This fortress, which stood within the walls of the city, upon Mount Sion, was so advantageously situated, that it seemed to bid defiance to any force that could be brought against it; and the garrison insultingly taunted David with his folly in undertaking so hopeless an enterprise, telling him that even the blind and the lame of the place would be sufficient to repel his attacks. But there is nothing too arduous for true courage to overcome when supported by the arm of God. David at that time had an army composed of heroes; to encourage them to victory, he promised the supreme command to him who should first smite the Jebusites. Joab was the first to mount upon the wall; the remainder of the troops rushed bravely on, and the city was added to the conquests of Israel. David then took possession of the castle of Sion, repaired the old buildings, and erected new ones upon the hill: thenceforward, the Jebusite stronghold was called the City of David. Gratitude to God for the success of his arms, made him turn his thoughts to the public duties of religion. The Ark of God had for many years lain in a state of obscurity at Cariathiarim, in the house of the Levite Abinadab. The intention of the pious king was to restore it to its first splendour: he therefore prepared a magnificent pavilion for its reception * From the map of Ancient Jerusalem, in the Bible Atlas, it will be seen that the city stood chiefly on two hills, Sion and Moria, which were separated by a deep valley (the Tyropcon Valley, or Valley of the Cheesemongers). The Upper City was built upon Mount Sion, the summit of which was considerably higher than that of Mount Moria, on which, and in the intervening valley, the Lower City was situated. On its eastern, southern, and western sides, Jerusalem was surrounded by precipitous ravines, from which—to use the words of a recent writer-the rocky slopes of the city rose like the walls of a fortress out of its ditches. The ravine which bounded the city on the west and south, was known as the Valley of Ennom, Hinnom, or Gihon: the eastern boundary of the city was formed by the Valley of Josaphat, known also as the Valley of the Brook Cedron, from the stream of that name which flowed through it; west of this valley stood the Mountain of Olives, SUDDEN DEATH OF OZA. 231 upon Mount Sion, within the precincts of his own palace. Notice was given for a solemn ceremonial in the removal of the Ark, and the people were ordered to attend. They assembled to the number of thirty thousand; a new waggon was made for the occasion; the Ark was laid upon it, and Oza, the son of Abinadab, was appointed to drive the oxen. The procession was conducted with that solemn show of religious magnificence which became the piety of a great king. David thought it not beneath his royal dignity to play upon the harp, accompanied by numerous choirs of musicians, whose joyful and harmonious sounds enlivened the country as they passed along. Everything seemed to promote the public jubilee, when an unhappy accident interrupted the procession, and suddenly threw the minds of all into a melancholy consternation. One of the oxen began to kick, and made the Ark lean on one side; Oza thinking the sacred symbol to be in danger of falling, hastily stretched out his hand, and held it. The indignation of the Lord, as the Scripture tells us, was enkindled against him for his rashness, in punishment of which, he was struck dead upon the spot. The spectators were seized with dread; David himself was terrified, and durst not persevere in his design of placing the Ark within the precincts of his palace. He deposited it in the house of Obededom, a virtuous Levite, where it remained for three months. The dreadful judgment that befel Oza for rashly laying his hand upon the Ark leaves no room to doubt of the respect which is due, and which God rigorously requires to be paid Him in the things that regard His holy service. The Altar of the Almighty, in the law of grace, is infinitely more holy than was the Ark under the law of Moses. Any irreverence shown to those priceless gifts, of which the Ark was no more than the figure, must be, then, of far more enormous guilt; and its punishment, though not perhaps attended with visible proofs of the Divine vengeance, is infinitely more to be apprehended. A.M. 2956.] Removal of the Ark.-2 Kings, vi. [A.C. 1048. The visible blessings which God poured down upon Obededom, in consideration of the Ark being under his roof, dispelled the king's fears, and made him wish to share in the Divine favours. At the end, then, of three months from Oza's death, David resumed his original design of removing the Ark to Jerusalem; and to guard against every accident such as had happened on the former occasion, he considered in what manner Moses had directed the Ark to be carried, whenever it should be necessary to remove it from one place to another. He found, upon examination, that none but Priests and Levites were permitted to approach it, and that it was not to be drawn by beasts, but carried upon men's shoulders. He therefore ordered the Levites to be present on the day appointed, peace-offerings to be prepared, and every arrangement to be made which was suitable for the solemnity. Sacred canticles of his own composition were set to music, and skilful musicians appointed to perform upon their instruments. The Ark was brought forth by the sons of Levi, who advanced with it upon their shoulders through a prodigious crowd of spectators who lined the road; the ground streamed with the blood of victims which were immolated to the living God, while hill and dale resounded with the strains of vocal and of instrumental music. Dressed in a linen garment, such as was worn by the priests, the king played upon his harp, and danced, as the Scripture says, with all his might, before the Ark, as it moved along, till he came to Mount Sion. Michol was at the palace window waiting for the procession, and seeing her royal consort without his robes of state, dancing in the crowd, she despised him in her heart for his devotion. When the ceremony was over she ran to meet him, and in a strain of irony said, that it was a glorious sight to see the king of Israel stripped of his royal robes, and dancing like a buffoon before his subjects. David, whose sentiments of religion, says St. Ambrose, were too well grounded to be shaken by a woman's ridicule, meekly answered, "The Lord hath selected me from among REMOVAL OF THE ARK. 233 the meanest of His servants, and hath preferred me before thy father. From God have I received my crown, and through His mercy am I peaceably possessed of the kingdom of Israel: for which reason I will humble myself still more and more before Him. I wish to be always little in my own eyes, and it shall be my glory thus to place myself on a level with the lowest of my subjects.' Thus did this holy king, says St. Gregory, lay aside the marks of royalty that he might give scope to his piety. Forgetful of his dignity, forgetful of his victories, which had made him great in everyone's eyes but his own, he not only humbled himself, but was also willing to be humbled by others. His example is a pattern of true devotion and humility; it teaches all Christians, of whatsoever rank, never to be ashamed of the duty they owe to God, and never to imagine that they vilify or degrade themselves by their attention to the external observances of religious worship. To be afraid of demeaning themselves by a public performance of their Christian obligations, is to be ashamed of the cross of Christ. If an irreligious world should try, like Michol, to laugh them out of their duty, let them with a noble disdain, like that of David, despise the impious raillery, remembering the sacred dignity to which God has raised them by adopting them for His sons, and by making them members of His Church. A.M. 2967.7 David's Project of building the [A.C. 1037. Temple; his Victories over the Ammonites.—2 Kings, vii.-x. The sublime idea that David entertained of the majesty of God, and his zeal for promoting the splendour of Divine worship, made him think that the honours he had paid to God in translating the Ark to Mount Sion, fell far short of those that were due. He reflected that the Ark of God had no better covering than that of skins, whilst he himself was lodged in a palace of cedar; he therefore traced in his mind the plan of a stately temple, which he resolved to build to the Lord of Hosts. He communicated his design to the prophet Nathan, who, however, was inspired to tell him that |