Then Nathan the Prophet stood up and said:“O King,you are the man.It is you who have killed Uriah because you wanted his wife.And therefore Jehovah shall bring grief upon you and upon your family,and the son of yourself and of Bathsheba shall die a violent death to atone for the terrible sin of his father and his mother.”
David was stricken with fear and remorse.A short while later,his youngest child fell ill.That was part of the prophecy.David put ashes upon his head and humiliated himself before Jehovah in every possible way.For seven days and seven nights he did not eat nor drink.On the eighth day,the child died and the words of Nathan had come true.
From that moment on,David regarded himself as the murderer of his own boy.He confessed unto Jehovah that he had been utterly wrong in his treatment of Uriah.He offered to do penance.He begged and prayed and beseeched that he might be forgiven.Apparently this show of grief impressed Jehovah with its sincerity and for a short while David suffered no further punishment.
Soon afterwards Bathsheba had another son.He was called Solomon,and David,in his joy,promised the mother that he would make that boy his successor to the exclusion of all his other children.
This,of course,was very unpleasant news to the rightful heirs,whose names were Absalom and Adonijah.
Adonijah was not very energetic and did not care much what happened.Absalom,however,whose mother had been born in the hot Syrian desert,was a reckless youth,and he began to plot against his father.
He went out of his way to make himself popular with the people of Jerusalem.He was a good-looking young man with long blond hair which he wore down his neck.For ever he was to be seen where there was a crowd.He loved to pose as the defender of the poor against the oppressions of the rich.As David was becoming more and more of a despot,and as taxes were going higher all the time,there were plenty of people with grievances.They eagerly brought their complaints before this crown-prince who so suddenly had lost his claim to the throne.
After four years of such agitation,when Absalom thought that he could count upon a sufficient number of followers,he left Jerusalem and went to Hebron,on the pretext of there making a sacrifice to Jehovah,but really to start his campaign against his father.
It was a terrible blow to David.
He had loved Absalom better than all his other children and felt that he had not been quite fair to him.He could not bear the idea of making war upon his own flesh and blood.He left his palace and he fled across the river Jordan and went to live in the village of Mahanaim.
As a result of his flight there followed a period of civil war.But in this hour of defeat and humiliation,the people remembered David the glorious leader against the Philistines who had slain Goliath,while they forgot David the King who had stolen another man's wife.
They rallied to their master with the greatest loyalty.
Soon the entire country was divided into two parts.One of these supported David and the other was faithful to Absalom.But the majority was on the side of the King.
A battle took place in the forest of Ephraim,east of the river Jordan.Before the fighting commenced,David begged his soldiers to deal kindly with Absalom.Even then he cared more for the boy than he was willing to confess after his scandalous and rebellious conduct.
All day long the partisans of the King and those of his son fought.Many men were killed but when evening came,the followers of David got the better of their adversaries and Absalom was forced to retreat.
He trotted away on his mule as fast as he could.But the stout branch of a tree caught his long hair.The animal which he was riding got frightened and ran away and Absalom was left hanging in the air.
One of David's soldiers found him.He knew that the King had asked mercy for the rebels and he refused to kill the boy.
He ran back and told Joab.
This gruff sinner had no such scruples.He took three spears and went to the place where the helpless Absalom was suspended between the heaven and the earth,and he killed him and threw the corpse into a grave underneath the oak tree and he called a negro slave and ordered him to go and tell David what had just happened.
The negro went to the King's camp and cheerfully informed the old ruler how his enemies had been defeated and how his son had been killed.David did not rejoice.He was broken-hearted.
He remembered his own crimes and the curse of Nathan the Prophet.
Now that he was victorious,all the rebellious tribes hastened to make their peace,but this could not bring back poor Absalom,for whom David wailed from one end of his palace to the other.
And now there followed another succession of misfortunes.The King was growing weak and his days were numbered.He would no longer lead his armies and soon there was another invasion on the part of the Philistines.
Then Adonijah,the brother of Absalom,began a revolution.
This aroused David to his last great act.
He ordered Solomon to be crowned King of the Jews.
Adonijah,who knew that Solomon was far brighter than he was himself,thereupon surrendered and made his peace with his brother,who forgave him.
But of all these events,David took no notice.He sat in a dark corner of his palace and mumbled words of affection for his son Absalom,who had been slain when he dared to make war upon his father.
Until merciful death made an end to his suffering and gave him that peace which he had not been able to find since he had broken the commands of the God of Moses and Joshua.
And now Solomon was King of all the Jews and many things had changed since the first of the pioneers had left the desert lands of Ur to settle down amidst the hills and the valleys across “the River,”which in those days was the common West Asiatic appellation for the Euphrates.
When Abraham desired to entertain a guest,he told his servants to kill a single lamb.
