THE LIFE AND REIGN OF DAVID KING OF ISRAEL. BY GEORGE SMITH, LL.D., F.A.S., MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY Or LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER. SOLD ALSO AT 66, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1867. 101. f. 167 PREFACE. THE Life and Reign of David is a subject so full of interest and importance, that it has had a large share of attention from biblical critics, commentators, and historians. Yet, notwithstanding the numerous articles and able works which have been devoted to it, there has been, as far as the observation of the author has extended, one important aspect of the case left almost untouched; and thus at least one great desideratum remains unsupplied. The Life and Reign of David was the most influential portion of Hebrew history; for it was the grand epoch which gave to the elect people of God the first important movement toward the development of their national resources, and which introduced into their polity great elements of social and religious progress. Besides all this, there were then brought into view such glorious revelations of Divine truth respecting the future of God's Israel, as made that period not only the centre-point of Old-Testament history, but also, in no unimportant sense, a key to the great scheme of human redemption. The reign of David also exhibited the divinely appointed theocracy of Hebrew government in its nearest approach to purity and practical perfection. And |