The solemn services of the consecration ended, David dismissed the people, giving to each individual,

probably for the journey homewards, needful provisions.282

But in that most joyous hour David had once more to experience, how little sympathy he could expect, even

in his own household. Although we can understand the motives which influenced Michal's "contempt" of

David's bearing, we would scarcely have been prepared for the language in which she addressed him when,

in the fullness of his heart, he came to bless his assembled household, nor yet for the odious representation

she gave of the scene. Such public conduct on her part deserved and, in the circumstances, required the

almost harsh rebuke of the king. The humiliation of the proud woman before man was ratified by her

humiliation on the part of God: "Therefore Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child unto the day of her

The placing of the Ark in the capital of Israel, thus making it "the city of God," was an event not only of

deep national but of such typical importance, that it is frequently referred to in the sacred songs of the

sanctuary. No one will have any difficulty in recognizing Psalm 24 as the hymn composed for this occasion.

But other Psalms also refer to it, amongst which, without entering on details that may be profitably studied

by each reader, we may mention Psalm 15, 68, 78, and especially Psalm 101, as indicating, so to speak, the

moral bearing of the nearness of God's ark upon the king and his kingdom.