double crime of adultery with Bath-sheba and the virtual murder of Uriah. The clouds from this
time gathered over David’s fortunes, and henceforward “the sword never departed from his house.”
(2 Samuel 12:10) The outrage on his daughter Tamar, the murder of his eldest son Amnon, and
then the revolt of his best-beloved Absalom, brought on the crisis which once more sent him forth
as wanderer, as in the days when he fled from Saul. (2 Samuel 15:18) The final battle of Absalom’s
rebellion was fought in the “forest of Ephraim,” and terminated in the accident which led to the
young man’s death; and, though nearly heartbroken at the loss of his son, David again reigned in
undisturbed peace at Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 20:1-22) c. The closing period of David’s life, with
the exception of one great calamity, may be considered as a gradual preparation for the reign of
his successor. This calamity was the three-days pestilence which visited Jerusalem at the warning
of the prophet Gad. The occasion which led to this warning was the census of the people taken by
Joab at the king’s orders, (2 Samuel 24:1-9; 1 Chronicles 21:1-7; 27:23,24) which was for some
reason sinful in God’s sight. 2Sam 24. A formidable conspiracy to interrupt the succession broke
out in the last days of David’s reign; but the plot was stifled, and Solomon’s inauguration took
place under his father’s auspices. (1 Kings 1:1-53) By this time David’s infirmities had grown
upon him. His last song is preserved—a striking union of the ideal of a just ruler which he had
placed before him and of the difficulties which he had felt in realizing it. (2 Samuel 23:1-7) His
last words to his successor are general exhortations to his duty. (1 Kings 2:1-9) He died, according
to Josephus, at the age of 70, and “was buried in the city of David.” After the return from the
captivity, “the sepulchres of David” were still pointed out “between Siloah and the house of the
mighty men,” or “the guard-house.” (Nehemiah 3:16) His tomb, which became the general sepulchre
of the kings of Judah, was pointed out in the latest times of the Jewish people. The edifice shown
as such from the Crusades to the present day is on the southern hill of modern Jerusalem commonly
called Mount Zion, under the so-called “Coenaculum;” but it cannot be identified with the tomb
of David, which was emphatically within the walls.
David, City Of
[Jerusalem]
Day
The variable length of the natural day at different seasons led in the very earliest times to the
adoption of the civil day (or one revolution of the sun) as a standard of time. The Hebrews reckoned
the day from evening to evening, (Leviticus 23:32) deriving it from (Genesis 1:5) “the evening and
the morning were the first day.” The Jews are supposed, like the modern Arabs, to have adopted
from an early period minute specifications of the parts of the natural day. Roughly, indeed, they
were content to divide it into “morning, evening and noonday,” (Psalms 55:17) but when they
wished for greater accuracy they pointed to six unequal parts, each of which was again subdivided.
These are held to have been—
•“the dawn.”
•“Sunrise.”
•“Heat of the day,” about 9 o’clock.
•“The two noons,” (Genesis 43:16; 28:29)
•“The cool (lit. wind) of the day,” before sunset, (Genesis 3:8)—so called by the Persians to this
day.
•“Evening.” Before the captivity the Jews divided the night into three watches, (Psalms 63:6; 90:4)
viz. the first watch, lasting till midnight, (Lamentations 2:19) the “middle watch,” lasting till
frankie
(Frankie)
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