who had supported David in his adversity, and now came, despite the weight of his years, to escort the king

over the Jordan. No reward or acknowledgment did he seek - in fact, the suggestion seemed almost painful.

A good and true man this, h appy in his independence, though not too proud to allow his son Chimham to

go to court - all the more that he had nothing to gain by it. May we not legitimately infer, that his conduct

was influenced not merely by loyalty to his earthly sovereign, but by the recognition of the higher spiritual

truths, and the hope for Israel and the world, symbolized by the reign of David. For nearly eighty years

Barzillai had watched in distant Rogelim the varying fortunes of his loved people. He remembered the time

when Samuel was "judge;" he recalled the hope enkindled in the hearts of Israel when, after the brilliant

exploit in his own Jabesh-gilead, Saul was proclaimed king. He had followed the waning glory of that same

Saul - for far and wide are tidings carried in the East, told by watch-fires, and borne from home to home -

until hope had almost died out in his soul. Then came the story of David, and increasingly, as he followed

his career, or when some one would repeat one of those new Psalms - so different from the o ld war-songs in

which Jewish deeds of valor had been recorded - ascribing all to Jehovah, and making man of no account, it

all seemed to mark a new period in the history of Israel, and Barzillai felt that David was indeed God's

Anointed, the symbol of Israel's real mission, and the type of its accomplishment. And at last, after the

shameful defeat of Israel and the sad death of Saul, he had hailed what had taken place in Hebron. The

capture of Jerusalem, the erection of a central sanctuary there, and the subjection of Israel's enemies round

about, would seem to him bright links in the same chain. And though David's sad fall must have grieved him

to the heart, it could never have influenced his views of Absalom's conduct, nor yet shaken his own

allegiance. And now that David's reign, so far as its spiritual bearing was concerned, was evidently coming

to a close - its great results achieved, its spiritual meaning realized - he would feel that nothing could undo

the past, which henceforth formed part of the spiritual inheritance of Israel, or rather of that of the world at

large. And so, in the spirit of Simeon, when he had witnessed the incipient fulfillment of Israel's hopes,

Barzillai was content to "turn back again" to his own city, to die there, and be laid in the grave of his father

and mother, who had lived in times far more troubled than his own, and had seen but "far off" that of which

he had witnessed the happy accomplishment.

On the other hand, we may, at this stage of our inquiries, be allowed to pla ce by the side of Barzillai another

representative man of that period. If Barzillai was a type of the spiritual, Joab was of the national aspect of

Judaism. He was intensely Jewish, in the tribal meaning of the word, not in its higher, world -wide bearing,

only Judaean in everything that outwardly marked Judaism, though not as regarded its inward and spiritual

Fearless, daring, ambitious, reckless, jealous, passionate, unscrupulous, but withal most loving of his

country and people, faithful to, and, no doubt, zealous for his religion, so far as it was ancestral and national

- Joab represented the one phase of Judaism, as Barzillai the other. Joab stands before us as a typical

Eastern, or rather as the typical Eastern Judean. Nor is it without deep symbolical meaning, as we trace the

higher teaching of history, that Joab, the typical Eastern Judaean, -may we not say, the type of Israel after

the flesh? - should, in carrying out his own purposes and views, have at last compassed his own

David's difficulties did not end with the crossing of Jordan. On the contrary, they seemed rather to

commence anew. He had been received by the tribe of Judah; a thousand Benjamites had come for purposes

of their own; and probably a number of other tribesmen may have joined the king during his progress.33 But

the tribes, in their corporate capacity, had not been asked to take part in the matter, and both David and

Judah had acted as if they were of no importance. Accordingly, when the representatives of Is rael arrived in

Gilgal, there was fierce contention between them and the men of Judah about this unjustifiable slight - the

men of Judah being the more violent, as usual with those who do a wrong.

It needed only a spark to set the combustible material on fire. A worthless man, one Sheba, a Benjamite, who

happened to be there, blew a trumpet, and gave it forth to the assembled representatives of the tribes that,

since they had no part in David, they should leave him to reign over those who had selected him as their

king. It was just such a cry as in the general state of excitement would appeal to popular feeling. David soon