character
further, it may be well to do so from this point of view, and see what
he has to teach us regarding a true old age. Four points at least
stand out clearly from the Bible narrative.

I.

_Barzillai was evidently by nature a warm-hearted, sunshiny old man,
himself happy and making others happy_.

David himself was such a man before the great sin which brought a
trouble and a sorrow into his life that he was never again able wholly
to surmount. And it may have been the sight of his own lost gaiety and
lightness of spirit in the aged Gileadite that first drew out his heart
to him.

It may be said, perhaps, that it was easy for Barzillai to be cheerful.
The sun had shone on him very brightly: the good things of life had
fallen very freely to his share. He was, according to the Bible
record, "_a very great man_" (2 Sam. xix. 32), evidently a most
successful farmer, rich in flocks and herds, looked up and respected in
the district in which he lived. But after all, is it the universal, or
even the general, experience that wealth and power are associated with
simple cheerfulness and happiness? Could anything, for example, have
exceeded the bitterness and the boorishness of the other rich
flockmaster whom David's youths, with Eastern frankness, had asked,
"_Give, we pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy
servants, and to thy son David_" "_Who is David? and who is the son of
Jesse_?" burst out Nabal in a fury. "_Shall I then take my bread, and
my water . . . and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be_?"
(1 Sam. xxv. 8, 10, 11). And even if that be an extreme instance, it
will not be denied that outward blessings in themselves, and considered
only by themselves, are apt to have a hardening rather than a softening
effect. It says much, therefore, for Barzillai, that amidst his great
possessions, he still kept the free, open, happy disposition of youth.

II.

_That he did so, is due amongst other reasons to the fact that he was a
generous man_.

His unsolicited assistance of David clearly proves this, while the very
length of the catalogue of articles with which he and his friends
supplied the fugitive's needs, proves that when he gave, he did so in
no stinted fashion, but freely and liberally.

It is an excellent example for all who are feeling themselves burdened
by the possessions and the opportunities with which God has enriched
them. Let them remember that they hold t