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A KNIGHTLY DEED.

_David and His Three Brave Captains. How They Brought the Water for Which He Longed and How He Would Not Drink It_.

There were three valiant captains in David's army. These three went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines were encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

And David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem. And David longed, and said, "Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate!"

And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but he would not drink thereof, but poured it out to the Lord.

And he said, "Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this: shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?"

therefore he would not drink it.

These things did the three mighty men.

HOW DAVID BOUGHT A THRESHING-FLOOR FOR AN ALTAR.

"_Neither Will I Offer Burnt Offerings Unto the Lord My G.o.d of That Which Cost Me Nothing_."

And David said unto the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in that I have done: but now, O Lord, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly."

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

A PALESTINE THRESHING FLOOR, WITH CATTLE TREADING OUT THE GRAIN

From a photograph belonging to Dr. W. J. Moulton and used by his kind permission.

This was the method, still in use, whereby during all the times of the Bible the farmer in Palestine threshed out his grain. It was then thrown up by forks and the wind blew away the chaff. A level place for a threshing floor was much prized. It was such a floor that David bought of Araunah as a suitable place to build an altar.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

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And when David rose up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, "Go and speak to David, 'Thus saith the Lord: I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.'"

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, "Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me."

And David said unto Gad, "I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man."

So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.

And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, "It is enough; now stay thine hand."

And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. And David spoke unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, "Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely: but these sheep, my people, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house."

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And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, "Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as the Lord commanded. And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

And Araunah said, "Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?"

And David said, "To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people."

And Araunah said unto David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the furniture of the oxen for the wood: all this, O king, doth Araunah give unto the king."

And Araunah said unto the king, "The Lord thy G.o.d accept thee."

And the king said unto Araunah, "Nay; but I will verily buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my G.o.d which cost me nothing."

So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

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THE REBELLION OF ABSALOM.

_How an Evil Son Met His Fate in the Branches of an Oak_.

(David had much trouble and many wars during his reign, but the rebellion of his own son Absalom brought more grief to him than anything else. For a time the rebellion was successful, and David was driven from his own palace. Then the tide turned and Absalom was defeated and slain in a great battle. The strange way in which Absalom met his death, and how David mourned for his son, are told in the following story.)

And David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. And David sent forth the people, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gitt.i.te. And the king said to the people, "I will surely go forth with you myself also."

But the people said, "Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou be ready to succor us out of the city."

And the king said to them, "What seemeth to you best I will do."

And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, "Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom."

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And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom. So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. And the people of Israel were smitten there before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. For the battle was there spread over the face of all the country: and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. And Absalom chanced to meet the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went on. And a certain man saw it and told Joab, and said, "Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak."

And Joab said to the man that told him, "And, behold, thou sawest it, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten pieces of silver and a girdle."

And the man said to Joab, "Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 'Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.'

Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hid from the king), then thou thyself wouldest have stood aloof."

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

JERUSALEM, FROM THE WELL OF EN-ROGEL