A Book of Golden Deeds | Page 8

Brave captain and Heaven-destined
king as he was, his name attracted around him a motley group of those

that were in distress, or in debt, or discontented, and among them were
the 'mighty men' whose brave deeds won them the foremost parts in
that army with which David was to fulfill the ancient promises to his
people. There were his three nephews, Joab, the ferocious and
imperious, the chivalrous Abishai, and Asahel the fleet of foot; there
was the warlike Levite Benaiah, who slew lions and lionlike men, and
others who, like David himself, had done battle with the gigantic sons
of Anak. Yet even these valiant men, so wild and lawless, could be kept
in check by the voice of their young captain; and, outlaws as they were,
they spoiled no peaceful villages, they lifted not their hands against the
persecuting monarch, and the neighboring farms lost not one lamb
through their violence. Some at least listened to the song of their
warlike minstrel:
'Come, ye children, and hearken to me, I will teach you the fear of the
Lord. What man is he that lusteth to live, And would fain see good days?
Let him refrain his tongue from evil And his lips that they speak no
guile, Let him eschew evil and do good, Let him seek peace and ensue
it.'
With such strains as these, sung to his harp, the warrior gained the
hearts of his men to enthusiastic love, and gathered followers on all
sides, among them eleven fierce men of Gad, with faces like lions and
feet swift as roes, who swam the Jordan in time of flood, and fought
their way to him, putting all enemies in the valleys to flight.
But the Eastern sun burnt on the bare rocks. A huge fissure, opening in
the mountain ridge, encumbered at the bottom with broken rocks, with
precipitous banks, scarcely affording a foothold for the wild goats---
such is the spot where, upon a cleft on the steep precipice, still remain
the foundations of the 'hold', or tower, believed to have been the
David's retreat, and near at hand is the low-browed entrance of the
galleried cave alternating between narrow passages and spacious halls,
but all oppressively hot and close. Waste and wild, without a bush or a
tree, in the feverish atmosphere of Palestine, it was a desolate region,
and at length the wanderer's heart fainted in him, as he thought of his
own home, with its rich and lovely terraced slopes, green with wheat,
trellised with vines, and clouded with grey olive, and of the cool
cisterns of living water by the gate of which he loved to sing--
'He shall feed me in a green pasture, And lead me forth beside the

waters of comfort'.
His parched longing lips gave utterance to the sigh, 'Oh that one would
give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem that is by the
gate?'
Three of his brave men, apparently Abishai, Benaiah, and Eleazar,
heard the wish. Between their mountain fastness and the dearly loved
spring lay the host of the Philistines; but their love for their leader
feared no enemies. It was not only water that he longed for, but the
water from the fountain which he had loved in his childhood. They
descended from their chasm, broke through the midst of the enemy's
army, and drew the water from the favorite spring, bearing it back, once
again through the foe, to the tower upon the rock! Deeply moved was
their chief at this act of self-devotion--so much moved that the water
seemed to him to be too sacred to be put to his own use. 'May God
forbid it me that I should do this thing. Shall I drink the blood of these
men that have put their lives in jeopardy, for with the jeopardy of their
lives they brought it?' And as a hallowed and precious gift, he poured
out unto the Lord the water obtained at the price of such peril to his
followers.
In later times we meet with another hero, who by his personal qualities
inspired something of the same enthusiastic attachment as did David,
and who met with an adventure somewhat similar, showing the like
nobleness of mind on the part of both leader and followers.
It was Alexander of Macedon, whose character as a man, with all its
dark shades of violence, rage, and profanity, has a nobleness and
sweetness that win our hearts, while his greatness rests on a far broader
basis than that of his conquests, though they are unrivalled. No one else
so gained the love of the conquered, had such wide and comprehensive
views for the amelioration of the world, or rose so superior to the
prejudice of race; nor