en followed by so dire a calamity as a pestilence
in which seventy thousand persons perished in four days, we cannot see
by the light of reason, unless it indicated the purpose of establishing
an absolute monarchy for personal aggrandizement, or the extension of
unnecessary conquests, and hence an infringement of the theocratic
character of the Hebrew commonwealth. The conquests of David had thus
far been so brilliant, and his kingdom was so prosperous, that had he
been a pagan monarch he might have meditated the establishment of a
military monarchy, or have laid the foundation of an empire, like Cyrus
in after-times. From a less beginning than the Jewish commonwealth at
the time of David, the Greeks and Romans advanced to sovereignty over
both neighboring and distant States. The numbering of the Israelitish
nation seemed to indicate a desire for extended empire against the plain
indications of the divine will. But whatever was the nature of that sin,
it seems to have been one of no ordinary magnitude; and in view of its
consequences, David's heart was profoundly touched. "O God!" he cried,
in a generous burst of penitence, "I have sinned. But these sheep, what
have they done? Let thine hand be upon me, I pray thee, and upon my
father's house!"

If David committed no more sins which we are forced to condemn, and
which were not irreconcilable with his piety, he was subject to great
trials and misfortunes. The wickedness of his children, especially of
his eldest son Amnon, must have nearly broken his heart. Amnon's offence
was not only a terrible scandal, but cost the life of the heir to the
throne. It would be hard to conceive how David's latter days could have
been more embittered than by the crime of his eldest son,--a crime he
could neither pardon nor punish, and which disgraced his family in the
eyes of the nation. As to Absalom, it must have been exceedingly painful
and humiliating to the aged and pious king to be a witness of the pride,
insolence, extravagance, and folly of his favorite son, who had nothing
to commend him to the people but his good looks; and still harder to
bear was his rebellion, and his reckless attempt to steal his father's
sceptre. What a pathetic sight to see the old warrior driven from his
capital, and forced to flee for his life beyond the Jordan! How
humiliating to witness also the alienation of his subjects, and their
willingness to accept a brainless youth as his successor, after all the