er of the
sacred ark from Kirjath-jearim, where it had remained from the time of
Samuel, to Jerusalem. It was a proud day when the royal hero, enthroned
in his new palace on that rocky summit from which he could survey both
Judah and Samaria, received the symbol of divine holiness amid all the
demonstrations which popular enthusiasm could express. "And as the long
and imposing procession, headed by nobles, priests, and generals, passed
through the gates of the city, with shouts of praise and songs and
sacred dances and sacrificial rites and symbolic ceremonies and bands of
exciting music, the exultant soul of David burst out in the most
rapturous of his songs: 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift
up ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in!'"--thus
reiterating the fundamental truth which Moses taught, that the King of
Glory is the Lord Jehovah, to be forever worshipped both as a personal
God and the real Captain of the hosts of Israel.

"One heart alone," says Stanley, "amid the festivities which attended
this joyful and magnificent occasion, seemed to be unmoved. Whether she
failed to enter into its spirit, or was disgusted with the mystic dances
in which her husband shared, the stately daughter of Saul assailed David
on his return to his palace--not clad in his royal robes, but in the
linen ephod of the priests--with these bitter and disdainful words: 'How
glorious was the King of Israel to-day, as he uncovered himself in the
eyes of his handmaidens!'--an insult which forever afterward rankled in
his soul, and undermined his love." Thus was the most glorious day which
David ever saw, clouded by a domestic quarrel; and the proud princess
retired, until her death, to the neglected apartments of a dishonored
home. How one word of bitter scorn or harsh reproach will sometimes
sunder the closest ties between man and woman, and cause an alienation
which never can be healed, and which may perchance end in a
domestic ruin!

David had now passed from the obscurity of a chief of a wandering and
exiled band of followers to the dignity of an Oriental monarch, and
turned his attention to the organization of his kingdom and the
development of its resources. His army was raised to two hundred and
eighty thousand regular soldiers. His intimate friends and best-tried
supporters were made generals, governors, and ministers. Joab was
commander-in-chief; and Benaiah, son of the high-priest, was captain of
hi