then parted him from David, was from thenceforward called Selahammalekoth. The Rock of Divifions; a name which Ofiander thinks David gave it, in gratitude for this deliverance, as a memorial, that God had there, by little lefs than a miracle, divided his enemy from him*.

CHA P. XVI.

The Vineyards of Engedi, in all Probability, planted by David.

venture of the Cave explained.

The Ad

WHEN David was delivered from Saul, as related in the laft chapter, he departed," and took up his retreat in the ftrong-holds of Engedi, now called Anguedi†: here he refided during the whole time of Saul's pursuing and cpelling the Philistines.

WHAT time this took up, we cannot fay: but from the expreffion here ufed, of David's dwelling at Engedi, it feems to have been no inconfiderable space.

THE Word En-gedi, fignifies, in Hebrew, the Kids fountain; from whence the neigbouring

* Poffibly this was a rock of one of those mountains which So lomon calls the mountains of Bether (Cant. ii. 17.); which, in the margin of the Bible, is interpreted Divifion.

+ The venot's Travels, part. 1. chap. 47.

region took its name, probably, because there they watered their flocks.

Eufebius places it on the confines of the Dead-fea to the weft. With him, it is famous for excellent balm; and with Solomon in his Song, for vineyards.

SINCE then it appears from the cviith pfalm, that David had, in his exile, planted vineyards in the defart, (and vineyards are known to thrive among barren wilds) is it irrational to furmife, that the vineyards of Engedi were of his planting, and, for that reafon, peculiarly celebrated by his fon*?

THIS opinion is not ill fupported by other circumstances. Solomon compares his beloved to a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi (Cant. i. 14.). If by this he meant, as fome interpret it, the garden cyprefs; that is faid to delight in hot fandy ground, fuch as may naturally be expected in a defart, and therefore not ill fuited to Engedi. And if, as others interpret it, the noble balfam-tree peculiar to Judea be here meant; Pliny tells us, that this antiently grew there only in two royal gardens.

Now Eufebius and St. Jerom tell us, it grew in the vineyards of Engedi; may we not then fairly conclude, that this was antiently a royal garden? And what reafon fo likely for its being fo diftinguifhed, a fcene fo rude, and fo untempting, and of fuch difficult accefs, as its having been originally planted by David? Nay,

Poffibly too this may be alluded to, Cant. iv. 6. I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, to the bill of frankincenfe.

K 4

there

there is a place ftill fhewn there, in the recess of a low valley, faid to have been Solomon's garden, called Hortus Conclufus, because it is fhut in by two high hills.

I AM perfuaded, that all readers of refinement take a pleasure in pursuing great men to their retirements; and their curiofity is agreeably gratified, in contemplating upon their amufements and employment in thofe receffes. For my own part, I must confefs, I behold David with more pleasure, retiring to a defart, after the conqueft of Goliah, the relief of Keilah, and the repeated defeats of the Philistines, there weeding his wilds, planting and pruning his vineyards, and tending his balfam, than I do Cincinnatus returning to his plough from his dictatorship, and his triumph! Indeed, the pleasure of attending him thither is very much allayed, by the regret to fee him fo foon difturbed, and forced to fly once more for his life; for Saul was no fooner returned from repelling the Philistines, but he inquired eagerly after David, and, being told, that he was in the wilderness of Engedi, he purfued him thither with three thoufand men chofen out of all Ifrael. His intelligence was, that David was in that wilderness, and hẹ naturally expected to find him in the moft unfrequented receffes and faftneffes of it. And that he went thither in queft of him, is plainly implied in the text, which tells us, that Saul went to fearch for him upon the faces of the rocks of the wild goats*; that is, upon the highest 1 Sam. xxiv. 3. Hebr. Bibl.

and

and craggieft cliffs; doubtlefs, according to the information he had received of David's refiding there.

DAVID was a foldier, and a master in the trade; and, from his knowledge of Saul's skill in the military art, could form a rational conjecture how he would reafon, and conduct himself, in this pursuit. He knew very well, that rocks could be furrounded, and fastnesses starved out by a long fiege; and therefore he had no way to cfcape, but by hiding himself in a place where Saul, according to the intelligence he had received, and according to all the rules of prudence, and military skill, could have no reason, to expect him.

THERE happened to be a large capacious cave on the fide of the high-way to thefe mountains, by the fheep-cotes, the public place of resort to all that fed and milked the flocks, and of confequence the most unlikely place in the world for a fugitive to hide himself in, because the most public and frequented: into this cave, David, watching his opportunity, (probably in the dead and filence of the night) ftole, with all his followers.

IF he escaped Saul's fearch here, which he had little reason to fear, he then had his choice of two advantages from it; either, when Saul was paffed by, to fteal, in the dead of the night following, into some other part of the country; or elfe, if he could fubfift himself where he was for two or three days, he might, when Saul and his army were fufficiently haraffed in their wild

goat chace*, and obliged to give it over, ftcal back to thofe very mountains they had quitted, and effectually elude their fearch.

How this conduct will be deemed of in a David, I cannot fay: but am perfuaded, that in an Eumenes, or a Sertorius, it had been crowned with fufficient applaufe,

WHETHER Saul traverfed these wilderneffes, or what time he might have spent in search of David, is not fo much as hinted at in the text. We only learn, that as he paffed by the cave, where David and his men lay, whether oppreffed by the heat of the day, or urged by fome neceffary call of nature, he stept into the cave, as the text expreffes it, to cover his feet.

I was cafy to difcern who he was by the light from without, and by the noife of his attendants; and it is natural to believe, that, upon the first fight of him, David and his men concluded themselves betrayed and undone.

WE have a pfalm exprefly penned by himfelf, in memory of this adventure; and it is aftonishing that no commentator, or writer of facred hiftory, hath ever applied or explained the adventure by it; efpecially confidering how clear it is with this comment, and how utterly unintelligible without it. All the motions of David's mind, on this occafion, his fears, his apprehenfions, his prayers to GOD for deliverance, are very naturally fet forth by himself in this pfalm.

* The common expreffion of wild-goose chase I take to be a corruption beafts only are chafed..

UPON