History of the Jews (Vol. 1-6). Graetz Heinrich

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ certainly did not fail to offer up heartfelt prayers, and to make atonement in order to obtain God's forgiveness. The child which was born died in early infancy, although David had worn himself away in fasting and prayers for its life. Bathsheba afterwards had a second son named Jedidiah, or Solomon (1033), who became the favourite of his father.

      But though God pardoned the king for his heinous sins, humanity did not forgive them, and they proved fatal to domestic peace. Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, was the daughter of Eliam (one of David's warriors), and the granddaughter of his counsellor Ahithophel. The father and grandfather felt their honour disgraced through their daughter's seduction, which they could never forgive, although they kept silence, and did not betray their hatred. Ahithophel especially nursed his vengeance in secret, and only awaited an opportunity to wreak it on the king. David did all in his power to appease them. He elevated Bathsheba to the rank of first queen, promised her secretly that her son should be his successor, and solemnly swore to fulfil this promise. He wished at any cost to make peace with Ahithophel, whose counsel was precious to him. Ahithophel, however, remained immovable. A scandalous event in the house of David involved matters to a still greater extent, and robbed his remaining years of all tranquillity. His eldest son Amnon seduced his half-sister Tamar, and thereby aroused the fierce anger of her brother Absalom, who determined to avenge her. Each of the king's sons, six of whom had been born in Hebron, and eleven, in Jerusalem, had, when he attained manhood, his own house, household and lands. Absalom's lands and herds were situated at Baal-Hazor, not far from the capital. Thither he invited all the king's sons to the feast of sheep-shearing. Whilst they and their guests were enjoying the feast, and drinking freely, Absalom's servants, at their master's command, attacked Amnon, and dealt him his death-blow. Absalom served a double purpose by this murder. He avenged the insult offered to his sister, and hoped to secure his own succession to the throne by ridding himself of his elder brother. The son of Abigail, the second in succession, was already dead, and so it seemed inevitable that he, as the third son, must be the successor. David's son a fratricide!—What will be the consequences of this bloody deed? Only his faith in God saved him from becoming, like his predecessor, a victim to insanity, although the dire fate which had befallen him was but too real, and not merely the effect of a distrustful imagination.

      David's first impulse was to seek out the murderer, who had taken refuge with his grandfather, King Talmai, of Geshur, on the south-west boundary of Judæa, in order to deal with him as he deserved, even at the risk of going to war on his account. But there were various influences at work against such a policy. In fact, since the affair with Bathsheba, intrigues had been rife at David's court. Joab was opposed to the succession of the last-born, Solomon, and was naturally on the side of Absalom, the eldest surviving son. Ahithophel, David's infallible counsellor, also favoured Absalom's claim to the throne, because he could use him as a tool against his father. On the other hand, Adonijah, David's fourth son, advocated the infliction of condign punishment on Absalom. Adonijah thought his prospects of displacing the infant Solomon fairer than his chance with the remorseless Absalom. If the latter were punished for fratricide, Adonijah would be the next in succession. He and his mother Haggith may perhaps, therefore, have incensed David against Absalom, but Joab and Ahithophel were wiser, and knew how to exert their influence in favour of abandoning all warlike attempts upon him or his grandfather, whose protection he was enjoying.

      When David had at length decided on seizing or demanding the surrender of his guilty son (though he had been absent for three years), Joab employed a ruse to turn the king from his resolve. He sent for a woman living in the adjacent town of Tekoah, who had a reputation for adroit and clever speech. With her he devised a plan to make the king realise how horrible it was for a father to be willing to put to death a son for the not altogether unjustifiable murder of his brother. The wise woman of Tekoah consequently appeared before the king in mourning garments, and as though invoking his mercy she called out in an entreating voice and with deep prostrations, Help! O king, help! When she stated her fictitious case, the king readily recognised the hidden point of her story, and the allusion to his own case, and he demanded an open answer from her as to whether Joab had assisted her in her disguise and invention. When the woman of Tekoah had confessed the truth, the king sent for Joab, and assured him that he no longer entertained evil intentions against Absalom, and assigned to him the task of conducting his son to Jerusalem. The woman of Tekoah had, in her ingenious manner, made it clear to him that blood-revenge against his own son would be a contradiction in itself.

      Joab himself brought Absalom from Geshur to Jerusalem. The son, however, was not permitted to appear before his father, but was obliged to remain in his own house. By this means Joab unconsciously sowed the seeds of dissension in the house of David. Night and day, Absalom, in his isolation and disgrace, brooded over the vile plan of deposing his father. But he dissembled in order to lull the latter's suspicion. To this end it was absolutely necessary that a reconciliation should be effected. Joab, who earnestly desired peace between father and son, became the mediator, and David decided that, after a two years' exile from his presence, his son might now be allowed to return. At this meeting, Absalom played to perfection the part of the penitent, obedient son; David then gave him a fatherly embrace, and the reconciliation was complete. Seven years had passed since the death of Amnon. But now Absalom's intrigues commenced. No doubt he had frequent meetings with Ahithophel, and was following his advice. He obtained chariots and horses from Egypt, procured a guard of fifty men, and displayed regal grandeur. He arose betimes in the morning, listened to disputes, and found every one's case just, but regretted that the king would not listen to all, and would not give justice to all. He hinted that were he the judge, no one would have to complain of difficulty in obtaining his dues. Absalom pursued this course for four years after the reconciliation with his father. He was the handsomest man of his times. He was then about thirty, and in the full pride of his strength. His beautiful thick hair fell in waves over his neck and shoulders, like the mane of a lion. His affability won him the hearts of all who approached him. David was so blinded that he did not see how his crafty son was alienating the affections of the people from their sovereign, whilst Absalom merely awaited a favourable opportunity to proceed against his father, to dethrone him, and perhaps to attempt his life. This opportunity soon offered itself.

      It appears that David was occupied, in the last decade of his reign, with a comprehensive plan, apparently that of a great war which would require a numerous body of soldiers. He had already enlisted bands of mercenaries, six hundred Hittites, who, with their general Ittai, (whose admiration for David secured his unswerving attachment), had arrived from Gath. The king also wished to ascertain the number of able-bodied men over twenty years of age in all the Israelitish tribes, in order to determine whether he could undertake with their aid a campaign which would probably prove severe and tedious. The king delegated the office of numbering the men who could bear arms to his commander-in-chief, Joab, and the other generals. The work of enumeration lasted nine months and twenty days. From the numbers which were handed in, supposing them to be correct, it appears that, out of an entire population of 4,000,000, there were 1,300,000 men and youths capable of bearing arms.

      This counting of the nation, however, proved to be a mistake for which David had to pay heavily. The people were highly incensed against him. In itself the act was displeasing to them, as they saw in it the preliminaries to enlistments for a war of long duration; added to this was the fear that the counting itself must be attended by evil results, for such was the view held in those days. A fearful pestilence broke out, which carried off great numbers, and confirmed all minds in the belief that it had arisen in consequence of the numbering of the people. The capital, being densely populated, naturally suffered the greatest loss from the pestilence. On seeing the heaps of corpses, or, to speak in the metaphorical language of those days, at sight of "the angel of Destruction" that had snatched away so many, David exclaimed:—"I have sinned and done wrong, but what has my poor flock done? Let thy hand strike me and the house of my fathers." The plague having spared Mount Moriah, where the Jebusites had settled, the prophet Gad bade the king erect an altar, and offer up sacrifices on that mountain, and he announced that the pestilence would then be averted from Jerusalem. Without hesitation, David and his entire court repaired thither. When the chief of the Jebusites, Ornah (Araunah), saw David approaching, he hurried to meet him, saluted him humbly, and asked what was his desire. David СКАЧАТЬ