Yet he ventured not to interrupt him in his prayer, till he heard him ask, “O my God! pardon King David his sins, and save him from further trespass! for my sake be merciful to him, for Thou hast destined him to be my comrade for all eternity!”
Then David ran towards him, but the old man tottered and fell, and before the king reached him he was dead.
So David dug into the ground which had been moistened by the tears of Mata, and laid him there, and said the funeral prayer over him, and covered him with the earth, and then returned to Jerusalem.
And when he came into his harem, the Angel of Death stood there and greeted him with the words, “God has heard thy supplications; now has thy life reached its end.”
Then David said, “The Lord’s will be done!” and he fell down upon the ground, and expired.
Gabriel descended to comfort Solomon, and to give him a heavenly shroud in which to wrap David. And all Israel followed the bier to Machpelah, where Solomon laid him by the side of Abraham and Joseph.[655]
It will doubtless interest the reader to have an English version of the Psalm supposed to have been composed by David after the slaying of Goliath, which is not included in the Psalter, as it is supposed to be apocryphal.
Psalm CLI. (Pusillus eram).
1. I was small among my brethren; and growing up in my father’s house, I kept my father’s sheep.
2. My hands made the organ: and my fingers shaped the psaltery.