=Saul’s jealousy.=—­When Saul heard of this couplet he was jealous.  “They gave more glory to David than to me,” he thought.  “One of these days, they will make him king in my place.”  His son Jonathan did not share his fears.  He loved and trusted David.  But from that time forward Saul hated David, and finally drove him out as a fugitive.  Instead of fighting the Philistines he spent all his strength chasing David from town to town and from cave to cave.  Of course the Philistines took advantage of this quarrel between the two ablest men among their foes and came back with a strong counter attack.  Saul’s own life was forfeited and that of Jonathan also in a disastrous defeat.  The Philistines were masters once more.  Saul’s kingdom also had proved for the most part a failure.

STUDY TOPICS

1.  Locate on the map the Midianites and the Philistines.

2.  Why would it have been a calamity for the world if the Philistines had conquered the Hebrews?

3.  Study carefully the parable of Jotham (Judges 9. 8-15).  In the light of this shrewd illustration, why is it hard to get good men to run for political office, even to-day?

4.  If we should undertake to have an entirely different kind of mayors, aldermen, governors, Presidents and so on, perhaps really good men would accept these offices.  What kind?

CHAPTER XIII

THE NATION UNDER DAVID AND SOLOMON

After Saul’s death his son Ishbaal fled across the Jordan where the Philistines were not yet in control, and was accepted as king by the East Jordan tribes.  More and more, however, the hearts of all the Hebrews turned toward the young David, who, under the Philistines, to whom he paid tribute, now became king over the tribe of Judah in the south.

DAVID AS A LEADER

David was a born leader.  Physically he was an athlete.  With his sling he could throw stones straight, as Goliath, the Philistine giant, discovered to his sorrow.  He had the gift of winning friends, even among those who might naturally have been his enemies, for example Jonathan and Michal, son and daughter of Saul, and Achish, the Philistine king.  His followers with few exceptions were deeply devoted to him, risking their lives, sometimes, to gratify his slightest wish.  He was wise in his dealings with men, knowing when to be stern and when to be lenient.

=The nation united under David.=—­For a few years there was more or less of war between the followers of David and the followers of Ishbaal.  David did not like this war.  He had no heart for fighting his own kinsmen, the people of the north.  His method was to win them over without conquest.  His chief difficulty in this was to restrain his own followers.  Fighting always leads to more fighting.  A bitter personal feud flamed up between Joab, David’s chief general, and Abner, who was the real power in the other kingdom.  David did not dare to punish Joab, yet he plainly showed his displeasure.  When finally Ishbaal himself was murdered in his sleep, David put the assassins to death.