God by Samuel the prophet*, he and his sons; and declaring besides, how God had given him power to save the land of the Hebrews, and to overcome the Philistines. Whereupon he received kindly this their alacrity on his account; and exhorted them to continue in it, for that they should have no reason to repent of being thus disposed to him. So when he had feasted them, and treated them kindly, he sent them out to bring all the people to him; upon which there came to him about six thousand and eight hundred armed men of the tribe of Judah, who bare shields and spears for their weapons, for these had [till now] continued with Saul's son, when the rest of the tribe of Judah had ordained David for their king. There came also seven thousand and one hundred out of the tribe of Simeon. Out of the tribe of Levi came four thousand and seven hundred, having Jehoiada for their leader. After these came Zadoc the high-priest, with twenty-two captains of his kindred. Out of the tribe of Benjamin the armed men were four thousand, but the rest of the tribe continued, still expecting that some one of the house of Saul should reign over them. Those of the tribe of Ephraim were twenty thousand and eight hundred, and these mighty men of valour, and eminent for their strength. Out of the half tribe of Manasseh came eighteen thousand, of the most potent men. Out of the tribe of Issachar came two hundred+

* This may be a true observation of Josephus, that Samuel, by command from God, entailed the crown on David and his posterity, for no farther did that entail ever reach, Solomon himself having never had any promise made him that his posterity should always have the right to it.

+ These words of Josephus concerning the tribe of Issachar, "who foreknew what was to come hereafter," are best paraphrased by the parallel text; 1 Chron. xii. 32; "Who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" that is, Who had so much knowledge in astronomy as to make calendars for the Israelites, that they might keep their festivals, and plow and sow, and gather in their harvests and vintage in due

season.

who foreknew what was to come hereafter, but of armed men twenty thousand. Of the tribe of Zebulon fifty thousand chosen men. This was the only tribe that came universally in to David, and all these had the same weapons with the tribe of Gad. Out of the tribe of Naphtali the eminent men and rulers were one thousand, whose weapons were shields and spears, and the tribe itself followed after, being (in a manner) innumerable [thirty-seven thousand]. Out of the tribe of Dan, there were of chosen men twenty-seven thousand and six hundred. Out of the tribe of Asher were forty thousand. Out of the two tribes that were beyond Jordan and the rest of the tribe of Manasseh, such as used shields, and spears, and head pieces, and swords, were a hundred and twenty thousand. The rest of the tribes also made use of swords. This multitude came together to Hebron to David with a great quantity of corn and wine, and all other sorts of food, and established David in his kingdom with one consent. And when the people had rejoiced for three days in Hebron, David and all the people removed and came to Jerusalem.

CHAP. III.

How David laid Siege to Jerusalem; and when he had taken the City, he cast the Canaanites out of it, and brought in the Jews to inhabit therein. § 1. Now the Jebusites, who were the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and were by extraction Canaanites, shut their gates and placed the blind and the lame, and all their maimed persons upon the wall, in way of derision of the king; and said, that the very lame themselves would hinder his entrance into it. This they did out of contempt of his power, and as depending on the strength of their walls. David was hereby enraged, and began the siege of Jerusalem,

and employed his utmost diligence and alacrity therein, as intending by the taking of this place to demonstrate his power, and to intimidate all others that might be of the like [evil] disposition towards him. So he took the lower city by force, but the citadel * held out still: whence it was that the king, knowing that the proposal of dignities and rewards would encourage the soldiers to greater actions, promised that he who should first go over the ditches that were beneath the citadel, and should ascend to the citadel itself and take it, should have the command of the entire people conferred upon him. they all were ambitious to ascend, and thought no pains too great in order to ascend thither, out of their desire of the chief command. However, Joab the son of Zeruiah prevented the rest; and as soon

So

* What our other copies say of Mount Sion, as alone properly called the city of David, 2 Sam. v. 6-9, and of this its siege and conquest now by David, Josephus applies to the whole city Jerusalem, though including the citadel also: by what authority we do not know; perhaps after David had united them together, or joined the citadel to the lower city, as sect. 2, Josephus esteemed them as one city. However, this notion seems to be confirmed by what the same Josephus says concerning David's and many other kings of Judah's sepulchres, which, as the authors of the books of Kings and Chronicles say, were in the city of David, so does Josephus still say they were in Jerusalem. The sepulchre of David seems to have been also a known place in the several days of Hyrcanus, of Herod, and of St. Peter; Antiq. b. xiii. ch. viii. sect 4; b. xvi. ch. vii. sect. 1; Acts, ii. 29. Now no such royal sepulchres have been found about Mount Sion, but are found close by the north wall of Jerusalem, which I suspect therefore to be these very sepulchres. See the note on chap. xv. sect. 3. In the meantime, Josephus's explication of the lame, and the blind, and the maimed, as set to keep this city or citadel, seems to be the truth, and gives the best light to that history in our Bible. Mr. Ottias truly observes, app. Havercamp. p. 305, that Josephus never mentions Mount Sion by that name, as taking if for an appellative, as I suppose, and not for a proper name: he still either styles it the citadel, or the upper city; nor do I see any reason for Mr. Ottius's evil suspicions about this precedure of Josephus's.

VOL. II.

F

as he was got up to the citadel, cried out to the king, and claimed the chief command.

2. When David had cast the Jebusites out of the citadel, he also rebuilt Jerusalem, and named it The City of David, and abode there all the time of his reign. But for the time that he reigned over the tribe of Judah only in Hebron, it was seven years and six months: Now when he had chosen Jerusalem to be his royal city, his affairs did more and more prosper, by the providence of God, who took care that they should improve and be augmented. Hiram also the king of the Tyrians, sent ambassadors to him, and made a league of mutual friendship and assistance with him. He also sent him presents, cedar trees, and mechanics, and men skilful in building and architecture, that they might build him a royal palace at Jerusalem. Now David made buildings round about the lower city; he also joined the citadel to it, and made it one body; and when he had encompassed all with walls, he appointed Joab to take care of them. It was David, therefore, who first cast the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, and called it by his own name [The City of David]: for under our forefather Abraham, it was called [Salem or] Solima*; but after that time some say that Homer mentions it by that name of Solyma [[for he named the temple Solyma, according to the Hebrew language, which denotes security]]. Now the whole

* Some copies of Josephus have here Solyma or Salem, and others Hierosolyma or Jerusalem. The latter best agree to what Josephus says elsewhere, Of the War, b. vi. ch. x; that this city was called Solyma or Salem before the days of Melchisedec, but was by him called Hierosolyma or Jerusalem. I rather suppose it to have been so called after Abraham had received that oracle Jehovah Jireh, "The Lord will see or provide," Gen. xxii. 14. The latter word Jireh, with a little alteration, prefixed to the old name Salem, Peace, will be Jerusalem. And since that expression, "God will see," or rather, "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering," ver. 8, 14, is there said to have been proverbial, till the days of Moses, this seems to me the most probable

time from the warfare under Joshua our general against the Canaanites, and from that war in which he overcame them, and distributed the land among the Hebrews (nor could the Israelites ever cast the Canaanites out of Jerusalem until this time, when David took it by siege), this whole time was five hundred and fifteen years.

3. I shall now make mention of Araunah, who was a wealthy man among the Jebusites, but was not slain by David in the siege of Jerusalem, because of the good will he bore to the Hebrews, and a particular benignity and affection which he had to the king himself, which I shall take a more seasonable opportunity to speak of a little afterwards. Now David married other wives over and above those which he had before: he had also concubines. The sons which he had were in number eleven, whose names were Amnon, Emnos, Eban, Nathan, Soloman, Jeban, Elien, Phalna, Ennaphen, Janae, Eliphale; and a daughter Tamar. Nine of these were born of legitimate wives, but the two last named, of concubines; and Tamar had the same mother with Absalom.

CHAP. IV.

That when David had conquered the Philistines, who made War against him at Jerusalem, he removed the Ark to Jerusalem, and had a mind to build a Temple.

§ 1. WHEN the Philistines understood that David was made king of the Hebrews, they made war against him at Jerusalem; and when they had seized derivation of that name, which will then denote, that " God would provide peace by that Lamb of God, which was to take away the sins of the world." However that which is put into double brackets can hardly be supposed the genuine words of Josephus, as Dr. Hudson well judges.