"If, as we have seen, the prevailing character of Judaea be pastoral, with husbandry only incidental to her life, it is not surprising that the forms which have impressed both her history and her religion upon the world should be those of the pastoral habit. Her origin; more than once her freedom and power of political recuperation; more than once her prophecy; her images of God, and her sweetest poetry of the spiritual life, have been derived from this source. It is the stateliest shepherds of all time whom the dawn of history reveals upon her fields--men not sprung from her own remote conditions, nor confined to them, but moving across the world in converse with great empires, and bringing down from heaven truths sublime and universal to wed with the simple habits of her life. These were the patriarchs of the nation. The founder of its one dynasty, and the first of its literary prophets, were also taken from following the flocks. The king and every true leader of men was called a shepherd. Jehovah was the Shepherd of His people, and they the sheep of His pasture. It was in Judaea that Christ called Himself the Good Shepherd, as it was in Judaea also that, taking the other great feature of her life, He said He was the True Vine."

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Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains."

Then said Saul, "I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my life was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly."

And David answered and said, "Behold the spear, O king! let then one of the young men come over and fetch it. And the Lord shall render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: because the Lord delivered thee into my hand to-day, and I would not put forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed. And, behold, as thy life was very precious this day in mine eyes, so let my life be precious in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation."

Then Saul said to David, "Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do mightily, and shalt surely prevail."

So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

SAUL'S PURSUIT OF DAVID.
How David a Second Time Spared the King's Life.

(Day after day Saul pursued David. First, some one would report David at a certain point, then he would be seen at another. But every time, by forced marches, hiding in caves by day, and stealing out by night, the bold outlaw escaped his foe. Once Saul entered the very cave where David and his faithful men were [{412}] hiding in the shadows. Again Saul was in David's power. Again his men wished him to kill the king, but David refused, and spared the king's life.)