baton of command or sceptre of kingly rule (Gen. xlix. 10).

Thus, strong in the possession of a united kingdom, his flashing eye
turns to his enemies, and a stern joy, mingled with contempt, blazes up
as he sees them reduced to menial offices and trembling before him.
"Moab (is) my washing-basin; to Edom will I fling my shoe; because of
me, Philistia, cry out" (in fear). The three ancestral foes that hung on
Israel's southern border from east to west are subdued. He will make of
one "a vessel of dishonour" to wash his feet, soiled with battle; he
will throw his shoes to another the while, as one would to a slave to
take care of; and the third, expecting a like fate, shrieks out in fear
of the impending vengeance. He pants for new victories, "Who will bring
me into (the) strong city?" probably the yet unsubdued Petra, hidden
away in its tortuous ravine, with but one perilous path through the
gorge. And at last all the triumph of victory rises to a higher region
of thought in the closing words, which lay bare the secret of his
strength, and breathe the true spirit of the soldier of Jehovah. "In God
we shall do valiantly; and He, even He, shall tread down our enemies."

The twentieth psalm, another of these stirring war-songs, is in that
choral manner which we have already seen in psalm xxiv., and the
adoption of which was probably connected with David's careful
organization of "the service of song." It is all ablaze with the light
of battle and the glow of loyal love.

The army, ready drawn up for action, as we may fancy, prays for the
king, who, according to custom, brings sacrifices and offerings before
the fight. "Jehovah hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God
of Jacob defend thee, send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen
thee out of Zion, remember all thine offerings, and accept thy burnt
sacrifice." Then, as they wave their standards in the sunshine, or plant
before the ranks of each tribe its cognizance, to be defended to the
death, the hoarse shout rises from the files, "In the name of our God we
will set up (or wave) our banners." Then the single voice of the king
speaks, rejoicing in his soldiers' devotion, which he accepts as an omen
that his sacrifice has not been in vain: "Now know I that Jehovah saveth
His anointed. He will hear him from the heaven of His holiness with the
strength of the salvation of His right hand;" not merely from a God
dwelling in Zion, according to language of