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chamber, stabbed him in his sleep in the abdomen, and cut off his head, to carry it to
David as gory evidence of their deed.^255
The reception which they met was such as might have been expected. To the daring
appeal of those interested murderers that they had been the instruments of Jehovah's
vengeance upon Saul's wrongs to David, the king gave no further reply than to point
to what had hitherto been the faith and experience of his heart and the motto of his
life: "Jehovah liveth, Who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity!" It needed not
man's help, least of all the aid of crime. Never - not even in his darkest hour - had he
either desponded, doubted, or sought to right himself. His strength, as his
confidence, had lain in realizing Jehovah as the living God and his all-sufficient
Savior. No other deliverance did he either need or seek. But as for this crime - had
not his conduct to the lying messenger at Ziklag sufficiently shown his abhorrence
of such deeds? How much more in regard to a murder so foul as this! Swift, sure,
and signally public punishment was the only possible reply in such a case.
And thus at last, not by his own act, but through circumstances over which he had
had no control, - allowed by Him Who gives full liberty to each man, though He
overrules even the darkest deeds of the wicked for the evolving of good - David was
left undisputed claimant to the throne of Israel. Faith, patience, and integrity were
vindicated; the Divine promises to David had come true in the course of natural
events - and all this was better far than even if Saul had voluntarily resigned his
place, or Abner succeeded in his plans.
(^)