es, the court of the prison formed, agreeably
to the customs of the East, part of the royal castle on Zion; and it
was in this court that the tower rose. The other principal passage is
in the Song of Solomon iv. 4: "Thy neck is like the tower of David
built for arms; a thousand bucklers are hanging on it, all arms of
heroes." According to this passage, the majestic appearance which the
tower afforded was still further increased by the glittering arms which
covered it. _Doepke_ and others think of the armour of conquered heroes;
but that we must rather think of the armour of David's own heroes,
appears from Ezek. xxvii. 10, 11, where it is said of [Pg 458] the
hired troops of the Tyrians, "Shield and helmet they hanged up in
thee," and is confirmed by the constant designation of David's faithful
ones, as _his heroes_; compare Song of Sol. iii. 7: "Threescore heroes
stand around the bed of the king, of the heroes of Israel;" and 1
Chron. xii. 1: "These were among the heroes, helpers in the war." The
expression in the Song of Solomon iv. 4, "All shields of the heroes,"
indicates that the armour of all those who were received into the
number of the heroes, was hung up on that tower, as an outward sign of
this reception, as a kind of diploma of it. The circumstance that this
tower, which is certainly quite identical with the tower mentioned by
Nehemiah, is called the tower of David, refutes the supposition of
_Clericus_, on Nehemiah, _l.c._, according to which, it is not the
castle of David or Zion which is spoken of in that passage, but another
castle and its tower in the lower town, supposed to have been built by
Solomon. This hypothesis is refuted, moreover, by that passage itself,
inasmuch as the castle is there designated as the upper, or high one.

Now, it is this tower which Micah considers as the symbol of the
Davidic house; and in so doing, he follows the example of the Song of
Solomon, where it is the symbol of the lofty elevation of Israel, the
centre and life-blood of which was the Davidic family. It scarcely
needs any lengthened demonstration to show how well suited it was for
this signification, how very naturally it represented the thing
signified. It was indeed the most elevated part of the castle, the
main-mast, as it were, of the ship, which, since the elevation of the
Davidic family to the royal dignity, had been for centuries, and was
still to be, the seat of the Davidic race. Its height was a symbol of
t