ee to what he said to be true; and
added, "I, for certain, have abstained from taking a just revenge upon
thee, yet art thou not ashamed to prosecute me with unjust hatred. [23]
May God do justice, and determine about each of our dispositions."--But
Saul was amazed at the strange delivery he had received; and being
greatly affected with the moderation and the disposition of the young
man, he groaned; and when David had done the same, the king answered
that he had the justest occasion to groan, "for thou hast been the
author of good to me, as I have been the author of calamity to thee; and
thou hast demonstrated this day, that thou possessest the righteousness
of the ancients, who determined that men ought to save their enemies,
though they caught them in a desert place. I am now persuaded that God
reserves the kingdom for thee, and that thou wilt obtain the dominion
over all the Hebrews. Give me then assurances upon oath, That thou wilt
not root out my family, nor, out of remembrance of what evil I have done
thee, destroy my posterity, but save and preserve my house." So David
sware as he desired, and sent back Saul to his own kingdom; but he, and
those that were with him, went up the Straits of Mastheroth.

5. About this time Samuel the prophet died. He was a man whom the
Hebrews honored in an extraordinary degree: for that lamentation which
the people made for him, and this during a long time, manifested his
virtue, and the affection which the people bore for him; as also did
the solemnity and concern that appeared about his funeral, and about the
complete observation of all his funeral rites. They buried him in his
own city of Ramah; and wept for him a very great number of days, not
looking on it as a sorrow for the death of another man, but as that in
which they were every one themselves concerned. He was a righteous man,
and gentle in his nature; and on that account he was very dear to God.
Now he governed and presided over the people alone, after the death of
Eli the high priest, twelve years, and eighteen years together with Saul
the king. And thus we have finished the history of Samuel.

6. There was a man that was a Ziphite, of the city of Maon, who was
rich, and had a vast number of cattle; for he fed a flock of three
thousand sheep, and another flock of a thousand goats. Now David had
charged his associates to keep these flocks without hurt and without
damage, and to do them no mischief, neither out of coveto