53

DAVID'S THREE MIGHTY ONES

II Samuel xxiii. 15

Faint on Rephaim's sultry side

Sat Israel's warrior king;

"Oh, for one draught," the hero cried,

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From Bethlehem's cooling spring!

From Bethlehem's spring, upon whose brink
My youthful knee bent down to drink!

"I know the spot, by yonder gate,
Beside my father's home,
Where pilgrims love at eve to wait,
And girls for water come.

Oh, for that healing water now,

To quench my lip, to cool my brow!

But round that gate, and in that home,

And by that sacred well,

Now hostile feet insulting roam,

And impious voices swell.

The Philistine holds Bethlehem's halls,
While we pine here beneath its walls."

Three gallant men stood nigh, and heard
The wish their king expressed;
Exchanged a glance, but not a word,

And dashed from midst the rest.
And strong in zeal, with ardor flushed,
They up the hill to Bethlehem rushed.

The foe fast mustering to attack,
Their fierceness could not rein;
No friendly voice could call them back.
"Shall David long in vain?

Long for a cup from Bethlehem's spring,
And none attempt the boon to bring?"

And now the city gate they gain,
And now in conflict close;
Unequal odds! three dauntless men

Against unnumbered foes.

Yet through their ranks they plough their way
Like galleys through the ocean spray.

The gate is forced, the crowd is passed;
They scour the open street,

While hosts are gathering fierce and fast
To block up their retreat.

Haste back! haste back! ye desperate three!
Or Bethlehem soon your grave must be!

They come again, and with them bring
Nor gems nor golden prey;

A single cup from Bethlehem's spring
Is all they bear away;

And through the densest of the train
Fight back their glorious way again.

O'er broken shields and prostrate foes
They urge their conquering course.
Go, try the tempest to oppose,

Arrest the lightning's force;

But hope not, Pagans, to withstand
The shock of Israel's chosen band!

Hurrah! hurrah! again they're free;
And 'neath the open sky,

On the green turf they bend the knee,
And lift the prize on high;

Then onward through the shouting throng
To David bear their spoil along.

All in their blood and dust they sink

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Full low before their king.

'Again," they cry, "let David drink
Of his own silver spring;

And if the draught our lord delight,
His servants' toil 'twill well requite."

With deep emotion David took

From their red hands the cup;
Cast on its stains a shuddering look,
And held it heavenward up.

"I prize your boon," exclaimed the king,
"But dare not taste the draught you bring.

"I prize the zeal that perill'd life

A wish of mine to crown;
I prize the might that in the strife
Bore foes by thousands down;
But dare not please myself with aught
By Israel's blood and peril bought.

"To Heaven the glorious spoil is due;

And His the offering be,

Whose arm hath borne you safely through,
My brave, but reckless three!"—
Then on the earth the cup he poured,

A free libation to the Lord.

HENRY FRANCIS LYTE

54

THE END OF KING DAVID

A LEGEND OF THE TALMUD

"Lord, let me know mine end, and of my days. The number, that I may be certified

How long I have to live!" So prayed, in heat,
The monarch after God's own heart, whose son
Was wiser than himself. The Voice Divine
Made answer: "I have set behind a veil
From man the knowledge of his time of death.
That he must die he knows, and knows enough."
But David wrestled with the Lord in prayer:
'Let me but know the measure of my days!"
And God said: "Of the measure of his days
May no man know." Yet David urged again
The Lord: "I do beseech Thee, let me know
When I shall cease to be." "Thy time," said God,

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Shall come upon a Sabbath; ask no more.”

"Nay, not upon Thy Sabbath-day, O Lord,"

Cried David, "let Thy servant meet his end;
Upon the morrow following let me die!"

And God once more made answer: "I have said!
The reigns of kings are pre-ordained, nor may

By so much as the breadth of one thin hair

Be lengthened or diminished. Solomon,

Thy son, upon the Sabbath mounts thy throne;

I may not take from him to add to thee."

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Nay, then," said David, "let me die, O Lord,
The day before; for, in Thy courts, one day
Is better than a thousand spent elsewhere!"

ΙΟ

And God made final answer: Nor from thee
To add to him. But know thou this-one day
Spent by thee in the study of My law

Shall find more favor in My sight than steam
And savor of burnt-offerings thousandfold
That Solomon, thy son, shall sacrifice."

And the Lord ceased; and David held his peace;
But ever after, when the Sabbath dawned,
Till sunset followed sunrise, sate the king-
The volume of the Book upon his knees-
Absorbed in meditation and in prayer,

So to be found what time his hour should come;
And many a week the Sabbath came and went.
About the rearward of the palace grew
An orchard trimly planted,-to the sense
Pleasant with sight and smell and grateful shade
In summer noons,—and, beyond this again,
Such lodging as the king should give the steeds
That draw his royal chariot, and the hounds
That, for his pastime, in the forest rouse
The lion from his lair. And lo! it chanced
One Sabbath morn, the slave whose office 'twas
To tend King David's kennels, in his task
Had made default, and left the unfed hounds
Howling for hunger. So their cry disturbed
The king, who knew it not. And David rose,
And put aside the volume, and in haste

Passed through the postern to the orchard plot,
Seeking the uproar's cause. And as his foot
O'erstepped the threshold, there he fell down-dead!