  KING DAVID REIGNING. FIRST READING.
THE last thing that has to be told about Saul is very sad. You know he would not do as God bade him, but chose to go his own way. Then God forsook him, and left him to grow worse and worse. Then his enemies, the Philistines, came up against him, and his army came together on the hills to meet them. But God was not with Saul, so his men could not fight, and he was beaten back step by step up into his own hills, close to his home; and there, when he found he could go no further, and that the Philistines would soon be upon him, he did the saddest thing of all—he threw himself on his own sword, that they might not take him alive. He did not quite kill himself; and when a young robber came by, trying to get garments and weapons from the dead bodies, the unhappy king begged for a death-blow as he lay. The robber gave him the last stroke, and then took the crown from his helmet, and his bracelets, and brought them to David, to show that he was dead. The robber thought he should have a reward, but David put him to death for having dared to strike the king: and David grieved and mourned for Saul, who had been a great and noble king once. But he had come to this miserable end because he would have his own way and will. THE DEATH OF SAUL.—1 Sam. 31:4. DAVID ANOINTED KING OVER ISRAEL.—2 Sam. 2:4. Then, when Saul was killed, David was anointed to be king; and he was a very good man, and served God with all his heart. So God blessed him, and made him great and powerful. QUESTIONS.
SECOND READING.
KING David had a little son, a baby, whom he loved very much; and this child fell sick. While it was sick King David grieved for it, and prayed that it might be made well. But it was not God's will to make the little boy well, and he died. And then David was patient, and knew it was God's will; and he said, "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." For David meant that one day he should die, and then his soul would go to be with his little son's soul in the happy place of rest; and by-and-by their bodies will rise again out of their graves, and be joined to their souls again, and live for ever and ever. King David used to sing the Psalms to praise God; indeed, he first made most of them; and in one he says, "My flesh also shall rest in hope." That was, the hope that he should rise again from the dead, and always live in God's holy home in heaven. Heaven is the happy place where we all hope to meet and live by-and-by, and that is the comfort that good Christians have when death takes away friends whom they love. QUESTIONS.
DAVID MOURNS THE DEATH OF HIS CHILD.—2 Sam. 12:18. THIRD READING.
GOOD King David had more sons besides the little one who died. One was named Absalom. He was a very fine, handsome young man, and had most beautiful hair; but he was fierce and proud, and wanted to be king. And when David was old, this wicked Absalom gathered men together, and drove his father away, that he might SHIMEI CASTING STONES AT DAVID.—2 Sam. 16:5, 6. But when he came into a wood, his thick hair was caught in an oak tree, and he could not get it loose; and his mule went away, and left him still with his hair caught in the tree. Now, though Absalom had been so wicked, his father loved him still, and had begged all his men to take care not to hurt the young man Absalom. So when one of the men saw Absalom caught by the hair in a tree he would not hurt him, and only went and told Absalom's cousin, Joab, who was the captain of David's army. Joab had no pity; he thought Absalom richly deserved to die, and he was afraid the king would pardon him; so he went at once, with three darts in his hand, and killed Absalom as he hung in the tree. King David was grieved to the heart. No words can say how sad he was to think that his son had died in his sin, and never asked his pardon. He wept, and cried aloud, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I And when all the people came joyfully to bring King David home to his palace, to be king again, still his heart mourned for his son Absalom. THE DEATH OF ABSALOM.—2 Sam. 18:9. QUESTIONS.
|
|
