was designed to produce this effect, that advantage might be taken of David's indiscretion to effect his ruin. But from this snare he was delivered. It was well that it thus happened, and that his submission under injuries is so much more obvious than his resentments, as to have caused it to be questioned whether he might not well have manifested a little more of what is very improperly called 'proper spirit.' But it has been acutely remarked by an old writer, that retired students are not always the best judges of what best becomes a truly heroic spirit. We are glad that David's conduct took this direction; for had it been otherwise-had he, even under strong temptation, swerved from his loyalty to the right hand or to the left, much would have been made of it to the discredit of his rectitude in these latter days, when the whole of his conduct has been so searchingly and unsparingly investigated.

Some time after this-and it is a loss to us that the intervals of time are not distinctly marked-it came to the knowledge of Saul that his daughter Michal cherished a tender regard for David. It might have displeased him to hear that the heart of another of his children had gone over to one whom he had by this time learned to hate and to dread. But it happened to please him, as he hoped to be able to use her as an instrument for his destruction. We all know that in the East the husband is expected in some sort to purchase his bride, by a payment to her father. One who cannot pay this in money, may do it by his services, as Jacob did, or by some exploit fixed by the father, as was done by Othniel. David had a clear claim to one of Saul's daughters; but this, as a matter of right, he did not urge; and his family was not in such circumstances as to afford such 'gift and dowry' as a king had a right to expect when he bestowed a daughter. To meet this difficulty, the king was graciously content to accept some great exploit against the public enemy as a sufficient equivalent for his daughter's hand. Thus understood, what Saul required was not, as the difference of manners has led many to suppose it to be, a gratuitous task, the real object of which might have been, even at the first view, very obvious; but it was in

appearance a generous and considerate mode of enabling the son of Jesse to contract this match on somewhat equal terms, by the acceptance of a service that he could render in lieu of payments beyond his power. For Saul to give his daughter without any consideration, would have been a slur upon her; and to accept her on such terms would have been, according to eastern notions, dishonourable in David. It was, therefore, not without the appearance of generosity on the part of the king that he offered to accept a public service in lieu of a private benefit; and it was right that he should make that service bear some proportion, in hazard and difficulty, to the value he set upon his daughter. This, as we view it, was the aspect in which Saul intended the transaction to appear, and in which it probably did appear in the eyes of all but the few who were prepared to see through it the deeper design to compass the ruin of Jesse's son. Whether David himself was of the number is not clear-probably not, if we may judge from the alacrity with which he undertook the proposed enterprise; and if we consider that, to his heroic spirit there were few achievements which would seem difficult or dangerous.

This enterprise was, that he should, probably within a given time, destroy with his own hand a hundred of the Philistines, and bring to the king such proofs of their deaths as might assure him that they were Philistines and no others who had been slain. This demand, so much in unison with the spirit of the age, and of which we have a subsisting example in the scalps which the North American Indians take from their slaughtered enemies as trophies of their valour, was undertaken by David; and when the time expired, he appeared before the king with not only an hundred, but with two hundred such proofs of his prowess as the king had required. This was another great exploit, far more arduous, although less renowned, than the overthrow of Goliath. It must, however, have attracted great attention at the time, and have conduced in no small degree to the public estimation in which David was held. Thus, whatever the hitherto concealed aversion of Saul devised for his destruction led only to his greater honour, and materially

advanced the results which the king desired to avert.

So shall

it be with every one who blindly and foolishly endeavours to frustrate the counsels of God.

Thirty-third Week-Sixth Day.

TERAPHIM.-I SAMUEL XIX. I-17.

DAVID was now still more conspicuously brought before the view of the people, and his consequence in their eyes was much enhanced by his alliance with the royal family. Aware of this, and perceiving that his underhand devices only tended to raise the son of Jesse to higher credit, and gave him opportunities of achieving greater distinction, the king's dislike ripened fast into mortal hatred. He also found that his daughter really loved her husband, and could not in any way be made instrumental in bringing his person into danger. These things goaded Saul on to infuriate rage. He began among his intimates to throw aside the mask which had hitherto veiled, however thinly, the motive of his proceedings; and he hinted that the removal of David, by any means, would be a service most acceptable to him. Providentially, he mentioned this to Jonathan among the rest. That faithful friend said nothing at the time, but went and apprised David of his danger, and directed him to a place of concealment; and he promised to lead Saul the next day in that direction, so that his friend might overhear what passed when he interceded with his father for him. He arranged this, probably, that in case the king broke forth into violence, or proved inexorable, David might be aware of it, and escape without incurring the danger of further personal communications.

In this conversation with his father, Jonathan took a strong and decided tone. He plainly told him that he was about to commit a great sin in thus seeking the destruction of a valuable public servant, who had rendered great services to the state, and all whose conduct towards him had been most true and

loyal. 'Wherefore, then,' he said, with vehemence, 'wilt thou sin against innocent blood, by slaying David without a cause?' The king-a man of impulses, and in whom the impulse to right feeling was not yet extinct-was moved by this earnest appeal, and he pledged himself by an oath to Jonathan, that he would no longer seek the life of Jesse's son.

David then left his concealment, and resumed his usual duties; and soon after he went again to the wars, and acquired still further renown, so that his praise was in the mouth of all the people. This was wormwood to Saul. His former malignity, suspicion, and hatred, all revived; and when David came back to court, his old paroxysms of madness returned with such violence, that the harp of David, who had now a place at the king's table, as his son-in-law, had no longer the power over him it once possessed. He could no longer heed the voice of the charmer, charm he ever so wisely. One day his pent-up passion so overmastered him that he again threw his javelin at David. With such force was it thrown, that it stuck into the wall and remained there, for David had evaded the stroke, and immediately withdrew from the king's presence. But now that he had committed himself by this act, Saul was determined to carry his purpose out; and he sent a guard to watch David's house all night to prevent his escape. We may guess that only the fear of alarming the town, and of rousing the populace to rescue their favourite hero, prevented him from directing them to break into the house, and to slay David there. It was so providentially ordered; for he was thus, at the suggestion of his wife, enabled to escape through a back window, by which she let him down.

David having thus escaped, the remaining anxiety of Michal was to protract the time as much as possible, that he might be far enough off before the pursuit commenced. She 'took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for a bolster, and covered it with a cloth.' The ob ject of this was to convey the impression, on a cursory view, that some one was lying in the bed. The 'image' is, in the original, 'teraphim.' There is much difficulty about these

teraphim. They are first mentioned as things that had been secreted by Rachel when her husband fled from Padanaram, and about which Laban made so much uproar when he overtook the fugitives. That they were held in superstitious regard, partaking of idolatry, is manifest; nevertheless, that they were not looked upon by those who used them as interfering with the worship of Jehovah, but were, on the contrary, regarded as being auxiliary to it, seems evident from their being found in families which professed to be true worshippers of the Lord. It seems to us that they were superstitious symbolical figures, which were supposed to bring peculiar blessings, and to secure peculiar protection-essentially the blessings and protection of Jehovah to the houses in which they were found, like, in some degree, the tutelary and household gods, the Penates and Lares of the Romans; or, as we take it, still more like the pictures of St Nicholas or of the Virgin, which one sees in every Russian shop, before which a lamp is kept continually burning, and which every one who enters the place reverently salutes. Of their sinful character there can be no question, from their tendency to lead into more direct idolatry, and from the deficient appreciation which the use of them evinced of the spiritual worship which God, who is a Spirit, requires, and which is most acceptable in his sight. It was a form of worshipping God; but, being an unscriptural and dangerous form, it was evil in his eyes, and was, with the express commendation of God, put down, along with other forms of idolatry, by Josiah ;1 yet it is nowhere denounced and suppressed with the same rigour as the worship of Moloch or of Baal. It is observable that women were peculiarly addicted to the use of these teraphim. First, there was Rachel, who had them without the knowledge of her husband; and now here is Michal, who has a teraph, doubtless without the privity of David. That may have been easy in the case of Rachel, seeing the images appear to have been small, from the facility with which they were concealed; but this of Michal seems to have been as large as a human body; and it may be asked, Was it possible for David to have

1 2 Kings xxiii. 24, where the word 'images' is in the original 'teraphim.’