The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 175

20:35. And when the morning came, Jonathan went into the field according to the appointment with David, and a little boy with him.

20:36. And he said to his boy: Go, and fetch me the arrows which I shoot. And when the boy ran, he shot another arrow beyond the boy.

20:37. The boy therefore came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot: and Jonathan cried after the boy, and said: Behold the arrow is there further beyond thee.

20:38. And Jonathan cried again after the boy, saying: Make haste speedily, stand not. And Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows, and brought them to his master:

20:39. And he knew not at all what was doing: for only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

20:40. Jonathan therefore gave his arms to the boy, and said to him: Go, and carry them into the city.

20:41. And when the boy was gone, David rose out of his place, which was toward the south, and falling on his face to the ground, adored thrice: and kissing one another, they wept together; but David more.

20:42. And Jonathan said to David: Go in peace: and let all stand that we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying: The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever.

20:43. And David arose, and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

1 Kings Chapter 21

David receiveth holy bread of Achimelech, the priest: and feigneth himself mad before Achis, king of Geth.

21:1. And David came to n.o.be, to Achimelech, the priest and Achimelech was astonished at David's coming. And he said to him: Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?

n.o.be... A city in the tribe of Benjamin, to which the tabernacle of the Lord had been translated from Silo.

21:2. And David said to Achimelech, the priest: The king hath commanded me a business, and said: Let no man know the thing for which thou art sent by me, and what manner of commands I have given thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.

21:3. Now therefore if thou have any thing at hand, though it were but five loaves, give me, or whatsoever thou canst find.

21:4. And the priest answered David, saying: I have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread, if the young men be clean, especially from women?

If the young men be clean, etc... If this cleanness was required of them that were to eat that bread, which was a figure of the bread of life which we receive in the blessed sacrament; how clean ought Christians to be when they approach to our tremendous mysteries. And what reason hath the church of G.o.d to admit none to be her ministers to consecrate and daily receive this most pure sacrament, but such as devote themselves to a life of perpetual purity.

21:5. And David answered the priest, and said to him: Truly, as to what concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day before, when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy.

Now this way is defiled, but it shall also be sanctified this day in the vessels.

The vessels... i. e., the bodies, have been holy, that is, have been kept from impurity.-Ibid. Is defiled... Is liable to expose us to dangers of uncleanness.-Ibid. Be sanctified, etc... That is, we shall take care, notwithstanding these dangerous circ.u.mstances, to keep our vessels holy, that is, to keep our bodies from every thing that may defile us.

21:6. The priest therefore gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there, but only the loaves of proposition, which had been taken away from before the face of the Lord, that hot loaves might be set up.

21:7. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, within the tabernacle of the Lord: and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen.

21:8. And David said to Achimelech: Hast thou here at hand a spear, or a sword? for I brought not my own sword, nor my own weapons with me, for the king's business required haste.

21:9. And the priest said: Lo, here is the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Terebinth, wrapped up in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take this, take it, for here there is no other but this. And David said: There is none like that, give it me.

21:10. And David arose and fled that day from the face of Saul: and came to Achis, the king of Geth:

21:11. And the servants of Achis, when they saw David, said to him: Is not this David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to him in their dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

21:12. But David laid up these words in his heart, and was exceedingly afraid at the face of Achis, the king of Geth.

21:13. And he changed his countenance before them, and slipt down between their hands: and he stumbled against the doors of the gate, and his spittle ran down upon his beard.

21:14. And Achis said to his servants: You saw the man was mad: why have you brought him to me?

21:15. Have we need of mad men, that you have brought in this fellow, to play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

1 Kings Chapter 22

Many resort to David. Doeg accuseth Achimelech to Saul. He ordereth him and all the other priests of n.o.be to be slain. Abiathar escapeth.

22:1. David therefore went from thence, and fled to the cave of Odollam.

And when his brethren, and all his father's house, had heard of it, they went down to him thither.

22:2. And all that were in distress, and oppressed with debt, and under affliction of mind, gathered themselves unto him: and he became their prince, and there were with him about four hundred men.

22:3. And David departed from thence into Maspha of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab: Let my father and my mother tarry with you, I beseech thee, till I know what G.o.d will do for me.

22:4. And he left them under thc eyes of the king of Moab, and they abode with him all the days that David was in the hold.

The hold... The strong hold, or fortress of Maspha.

22:5. And Gad the prophet said to David: Abide not in the hold, depart, and go into the land of Juda. And David departed, and came into the forest of Haret.

22:6. And Saul heard that David was seen, and the men that were with him. Now whilst Saul abode in Gabaa, and was in the wood, which is by Rama, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him,

22:7. He said to his servants that stood about him: Hear me now, ye sons of Jemini: will the son of Isai give every one of you fields, and vineyards, and make you all tribunes, and centurions:

22:8. That all of you have conspired against me, and there is no one to inform me, especially when even my son hath entered into league with the son of Isai? There is not one of you that pitieth my case, nor that giveth me any information: because my son hath raised up my servant against me, plotting against me to this day.

22:9. And Doeg, the Edomite, who stood by, and was the chief among the servants of Saul, answering, said: I saw the son of Isai, in n.o.be, with Achimelech, the son of Achitob, the priest.

22:10. And he consulted the Lord for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine.

22:11. Then the king sent to call for Achimelech, the priest, the son of Achitob, and all his father's house, the priests that were in n.o.be, and they came all of them to the king.

22:12. And Saul said to Achimelech: Hear, thou son of Achitob. He answered: Here I am, my lord.

22:13. And Saul said to him: Why have you conspired against me, thou, and the son of Isai, and thou hast given him bread and a sword, and hast consulted the Lord for him, that he should rise up against me, continuing a traitor to this day.

22:14. And Achimelech answering the king, said: And who amongst all thy servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son in law, and goeth forth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thy house?

22:15. Did I begin to day to consult the Lord for him? far be this from me: let not the king suspect such a thing against his servant, or any one in all my father's house: for thy servant knew nothing of this matter, either little or great.

22:16. And the king said: Dying thou shalt die, Achimelech, thou and all thy father's house.

22:17. And the king said to the messengers that stood about him: Turn, and kill the priests of the Lord, for their hand is with David, because they knew that he was fled, and they told it not to me. And the king'sservants would not put forth their hands against the priests of the Lord.