But he did not regain hold of Judah.  David seized the opportunity to set up for himself, with the sanction of the Philistines, and, it may safely be presumed, as their vassal, a separate principality which had its centre of gravity in the south, which was inhabited, not by the tribe of Judah properly so called, but by the Calebites and Jerachmeelites.  This territory Abner disputed with him in vain.  In the protracted feud between the houses of Saul and David, the fortunes of war declared themselves ever increasingly for the latter.  Personal causes at last brought matters to a crisis.  Abner, by taking to himself a concubine of Saul’s called Rizpah, had roused Ishbaal’s suspicions that he was aiming at the inheritance, and was challenged on the point.  This proved too much for his patience, and forthwith he abandoned the cause of his ward (the hopelessness of which had already perhaps become apparent), and entered into negotiations with David at Hebron.  When about to set out on his return he fell by the hand of Joab in the gate of Hebron, a victim of jealousy and blood-feud.  His plans nevertheless were realised.  His death left Israel leaderless and in great confusion; Ishbaal was personally insignificant, and the people’s homage continued to be rendered to him only out of grateful fidelity to his father’s memory.  At this juncture he also fell by assassins’ hands.  As he was taking his midday rest, and even the portress had gone to sleep over her task of cleaning wheat, two Benjamite captains introduced themselves into his palace at Mahanaim and murdered him in the vain hope of earning David’s thanks.  The elders of Israel no longer hesitated about offering David the crown, which he accepted.

His residence was immediately transferred from Hebron to Jebus, which until then had remained in possession of the Canaanites, and first derives historical importance from him.  It lay on the border between Israel and Judah,—­still within the territory of Benjamin, but not far from Bethlehem; near also to Nob, the old priestly city.  David made it not only the political but also the religious metropolis by transferring thither from Kirjathjearim the ark of the covenant, which he placed within his citadel on what afterwards became the temple hill.

Still the crown was far from being a merely honorary possession; it involved heavy responsibilities, and doubtless what contributed more than anything else to David’s elevation to the throne was the general recognition of the fact that he was the man best fitted on the whole to overtake the labour it brought with it, viz., the prosecution of the war with the Philistines, a war which was as it were the forge in which the kingdom of Israel was welded into one.  The struggle began with the transference of the seat of royalty to Jerusalem; unfortunately we possess only scanty details as to its progress, hardly anything more indeed than a few anecdotes about deeds of prowess by individual heroes.  The result was in the end that David completed what Saul had begun, and broke for ever the Philistine yoke.  This was undoubtedly the greatest achievement of his reign.