Chapter 12.
HOW THE HEBREWS WERE DELIVERED FROM A FAMINE WHEN THE GIBEONITES
HAD CAUSED PUNISHMENT TO BE INFLICTED FOR THOSE OF THEM THAT HAD BEEN SLAIN:
AS ALSO, WHAT GREAT ACTIONS WERE PERFORMED AGAINST THE PHILISTINES BY DAVID,
AND THE MEN OF VALOR ABOUT HIM.FJAJ 7.73
1. AFTER this, when the country was greatly afflicted with a famine,
David besought God to have mercy on the people, and to discover to him
what was the cause of it, and how a remedy might be found for that distemper.
And when the prophets answered, that God would have the Gibeonites avenged
whom Saul the king was so wicked as to betray to slaughter, and had not
observed the oath which Joshua the general and the senate had sworn to
them: If, therefore, said God, the king would permit such vengeance to
be taken for those that were slain as the Gibeonites should desire, he
promised that he would be reconciled to them, and free the multitude from
their miseries
As soon therefore as the king understood that this it was
which God sought, he sent for the Gibeonites, and asked them what it was
they should have; and when they desired to have seven sons of Saul delivered
to them to be punished, he delivered them up, but spared Mephibosheth the
son of Jonathan
So when the Gibeonites had received the men, they punished
them as they pleased; upon which God began to send rain, and to recover
the earth to bring forth its fruits as usual, and to free it from the foregoing
drought, so that the country of the Hebrews flourished again
A little
afterward the king made war against the Philistines; and when he had joined
battle with them, and put them to flight, he was left alone, as he was
in pursuit of them; and when he was quite tired down, he was seen by one
of the enemy, his name was Achmon, the son of Araph, he was one of the
sons of the giants
He had a spear, the handle of which weighed three hundred
shekels, and a breastplate of chain-work, and a sword
He turned back,
and ran violently to slay [David] their enemy's king, for he was quite
tired out with labor; but Abishai, Joab's brother, appeared on the sudden,
and protected the king with his shield, as he lay down, and slew the enemy.
Now the multitude were very uneasy at these dangers of the king, and that
he was very near to be slain; and the rulers made him swear that he would
no more go out with them to battle, lest he should come to some great misfortune
by his courage and boldness, and thereby deprive the people of the benefits
they now enjoyed by his means, and of those that they might hereafter enjoy
by his living a long time among them.FJAJ 7.74
2. When the king heard that the Philistines were gathered together at
the city Gazara, he sent an army against them, when Sibbechai the Hittite,
one of David's most courageous men, behaved himself so as to deserve great
commendation, for he slew many of those that bragged they were the posterity
of the giants, and vaunted themselves highly on that account, and thereby
was the occasion of victory to the Hebrews
After which defeat, the Philistines
made war again; and when David had sent an army against them, Nephan his
kinsman fought in a single combat with the stoutest of all the Philistines,
and slew him, and put the rest to flight
Many of them also were slain
in the fight
Now a little while after this, the Philistines pitched their
camp at a city which lay not far off the bounds of the country of the Hebrews.
They had a man who was six cubits tall, and had on each of his feet and
hands one more toe and finger than men naturally have
Now the person who
was sent against them by David out of his army was Jonathan, the son of
Shimea, who fought this man in a single combat, and slew him; and as he
was the person who gave the turn to the battle, he gained the greatest
reputation for courage therein
This man also vaunted himself to be of
the sons of the giants
But after this fight the Philistines made war no
more against the Israelites.FJAJ 7.75
3. And now David being freed from wars and dangers, and enjoying for
the future a profound peace, (22)
This section is a very remarkable one, and shows that, in the opinion of
Josephus, David composed the Book of Psalms, not at several times before,
as their present inscriptions frequently imply, but generally at the latter
end of his life, or after his wars were over. Nor does Josephus, nor the
authors of the known books of the Old and New Testament, nor the Apostolical
Constitutions, seem to have ascribed any of them to any other author than
to David himself. See Essay on the Old Testament, pages 174, 175. Of these
metres of the Psalms, see the note on Antiq. B. II. ch. 16. sect. 4.
composed songs and hymns to God of several sorts of metre; some of those
which he made were trimeters, and some were pentameters.He
also made instruments of music, and taught the Levites to sing hymns to
God, both on that called the sabbath day, and on other festivals
Now the
construction of the instruments was thus: The viol was an instrument of
ten strings, it was played upon with a bow; the psaltery had twelve musical
notes, and was played upon by the fingers; the cymbals were broad and large
instruments, and were made of brass
And so much shall suffice to be spoken
by us about these instruments, that the readers may not be wholly unacquainted
with their nature.FJAJ 7.76
4. Now all the men that were about David were men of courage
Those
that were most illustrious and famous of them for their actions were thirty-eight;
of five of whom I will only relate the performances, for these will suffice
to make manifest the virtues of the others also; for these were powerful
enough to subdue countries, and conquer great nations
First, therefore,
was Jessai, the son of Achimaas, who frequently leaped upon the troops
of the enemy, and did not leave off fighting till he overthrew nine hundred
of them
After him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, who was with the king
at Arasam
This man, when once the Israelites were under a consternation
at the multitude of the Philistines, and were running away, stood alone,
and fell upon the enemy, and slew many of them, till his sword clung to
his band by the blood he had shed, and till the Israelites, seeing the
Philistines retire by his means, came down from the mountains and pursued
them, and at that time won a surprising and a famous victory, while Eleazar
slew the men, and the multitude followed and spoiled their dead bodies.
The third was Sheba, the son of Ilus
Now this man, when, in the wars against
the Philistines, they pitched their camp at a place called Lehi, and when
the Hebrews were again afraid of their army, and did not stay, he stood
still alone, as an army and a body of men; and some of them he overthrew,
and some who were not able to abide his strength and force he pursued.
These are the works of the hands, and of fighting, which these three performed.
Now at the time when the king was once at Jerusalem, and the army of the
Philistines came upon him to fight him, David went up to the top of the
citadel, as we have already said, to inquire of God concerning the battle,
while the enemy's camp lay in the valley that extends to the city Bethlehem,
which is twenty furlongs distant from Jerusalem
Now David said to his
companions, "We have excellent water in my own city, especially that
which is in the pit near the gate," wondering if any one would bring
him some of it to drink; but he said that he would rather have it than
a great deal of money
When these three men heard what he said, they ran
away immediately, and burst through the midst of their enemy's camp, and
came to Bethlehem; and when they had drawn the water, they returned again
through the enemy's camp to the king, insomuch that the Philistines were
so surprised at their boldness and alacrity, that they were quiet, and
did nothing against them, as if they despised their small number
But when
the water was brought to the king, he would not drink it, saying, that
it was brought by the danger and the blood of men, and that it was not
proper on that account to drink it
But he poured it out to God, and gave
him thanks for the salvation of the men
Next to these was Abishai, Joab's
brother; for he in one day slew six hundred
The fifth of these was Benaiah,
by lineage a priest; for being challenged by [two] eminent men in the country
of Moab, he overcame them by his valor, Moreover, there was a man, by nation
an Egyptian, who was of a vast bulk, and challenged him, yet did he, when
he was unarmed, kill him with his own spear, which he threw at him; for
he caught him by force, and took away his weapons while he was alive and
fighting, and slew him with his own weapons
One may also add this to the
forementioned actions of the same man, either as the principal of them
in alacrity, or as resembling the rest
When God sent a snow, there was
a lion who slipped and fell into a certain pit, and because the pit's mouth
was narrow it was evident he would perish, being enclosed with the snow;
so when he saw no way to get out and save himself, he roared
When Benaiah
heard the wild beast, he went towards him, and coming at the noise he made,
he went down into the mouth of the pit and smote him, as he struggled,
with a stake that lay there, and immediately slew him
The other thirty-three
were like these in valor also.FJAJ 7.77