The Great Victory Over the Philistines. Saul and his warriors on the heights to the south looked across the ravine and saw the tumult among the Philistines. With his characteristic impetuosity the king, without even waiting to consult the divine oracle, rushed in pursuit of the Philistines and was soon joined by the Hebrews who had fled for refuge to the rocky hills and valleys of Ephraim. The territory was well adapted to the fierce guerilla warfare in which the Hebrews were skilled, and the Philistines, accustomed to manœuvring upon the open plain, were caught at a disadvantage. The pursuit swept down through the valleys to the west, through the pass of Beth-horon, and thence southward to Ajalon, which was the chief western gateway of the hill country.
Saul's Wars. The victory was so complete that for several years the Philistines appear to have left Saul undisturbed. This opportunity he improved to develop his army and to organize his kingdom, which probably did not extend far beyond the Plain of Esdraelon to the north. His capital, Gibeah, was really a military camp, for he was exposed to constant attack on every side. In the south he made a campaign against the Bedouin Amalekites. From the southeast came the attacks of the Edomites, and from the east the Ammonites were seeking to push their bounds farther westward. In this stern school, under the leadership of a bold, warlike king, the Israelites learned not only to fight bravely, but unitedly and therefore effectively.
THE HEBREW EMPIRE UNDER DAVID
XVI
THE SCENES OF DAVID'S EXPLOITS
David's Home at Bethlehem. The history of the united Hebrew empire gathers about the personality of its founder, David. The life of no other Old Testament character is recorded with greater detail and picturesqueness than that of the shepherd boy from Bethlehem. His native town was beautifully situated on a spur that ran eastward from the watershed of central Judah.[(86)] It is surrounded on three sides by deep valleys and looks eastward down upon the wilderness of Judea. About it are fields of wheat and barley and on the hillsides are vineyards and groves of olive and almond trees, for it is one of the two most fertile spots in the entire territory of Judah.[(23)] There are no springs in the village itself, the nearest being about eight hundred yards to the southeast. The inhabitants are dependent upon rock-cut wells or cisterns, of which there are many, or upon the water conducted by an aqueduct from the Pools of Solomon to the southwest. The territory about Bethlehem is pre-eminently the land of the shepherd.[(87)] The traveller to-day sees almost no cattle or large animals. Their absence is probably due to the limited supply of water and to the frequent outcrops of gray limestone, which make travelling dangerous for cattle and horses. The landscape is dotted with flocks of sheep and goats. The rocky pastures run up to the outskirts of Bethlehem, which appears to have been in ancient times simply a shepherd's village.
The Contest in the Valley of Elah. Bethlehem lies only ten miles south in a straight line from Saul's capital at Gibeah. Hence the journey of the messenger who summoned David to the service of his king was not long. The event which brought the youthful shepherd to the attention of the nation took place in the Valley of Elah,[(88)] but twelve miles in a straight line west of Bethlehem. Its geographical setting throws much light upon this dramatic event in Israel's early history. The Philistine army was drawn up between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammin, the Valley of Dark-red Lands, doubtless so named from the patches of dark-red ploughed land which in the spring still impart a rich glow to the landscape. Socoh was on the south side of the Valley of Elah and Azekah was across the wady to the northwest. The Philistine position was, therefore, on the southwestern side of the valley, which is here about one-quarter of a mile wide and well adapted to the manœuvring of their chariots. The Hebrew position was evidently across the valley on the steep bluff to the northeast, with its left flank at the entrance of the wady and highway which led to Bethlehem and Gibeah. Through the middle of the fertile valley the mountain torrent has cut a deep ravine, with steep banks on either side and a bed strewn with white stones. The strength of the strategic position occupied by each of the two armies and the danger involved in advancing through the deep ravine, clearly explain their delay in making an attack. The situation also reveals the courage of the youth who dared cross the deep ravine and advance single-handed across the plain against the Philistine champion. It is not strange that the moment David slew Goliath, the Bethlehem shepherd became the idol of the people. It was equally natural that the impulsive Saul should feel a growing jealousy toward the one who seemed to have stolen from him the heart of the people.