II SAMUEL CHAPTER 17 - 21

Jude Thu 09 May 2013, 02:51

2 SAMUEL 17

1 Ahithophel told Absalom,
“Let me now choose men to the sum
Of twelve thousand, and I will come
And pursue David now tonight.
2 “And I will come upon the wight
While he is weary, weak in hand,
And make him afraid of the planned,
And all the folk with him shall flee,
And I will smite the king only.
3 “And I will bring the people all
Back to you, when all are in stall,
Except the man you’re looking for,
All the folk will have peace in store.”
4 And what he said seemed right before
Absalom, and all elder’s there
Of Israel under his care.
5 Then said Absalom, “Now call me
Hushai the Archite too, to see
What he says of the plan to me.”
6 When Hushai came to Absalom,
Absalom spoke to him in sum,
Saying “Ahithophel has said
To do this way, how are you led?
If you don’t agree, speak your dread.”

I too, Beloved, have heard reality
Stated by scientist and the gentry
Of church, and thought the saying was the truth.
The next one on the platform showed my youth
And lack of wisdom before reason’s tale.
I bide by logic, and all men prevail
To set up falsehood under logic’s pale.
While I do not reject logic’s appeal,
Since that is what a human being’s reel
Under the universe is paid to steal,
I know it can be ployed against the weal.
Logic governed by law, law of Your word
Once pronounced at Sinai to beast and bird,
Shows me the truth of glory, truth unblurred.

7 And Hushai said to Absalom,
“Ahithophel’s advice in sum
At this time is not good for rum.”
8 Hushai moreover said “You do
Not know your father and his crew,
That they are mighty men and true
Embittered in their spirits too,
As a bear robbed of her own cubs
In the field, and your father rubs
A man of war, and will not stay
With the people this night till day.
9 “See, he is hid now in some pit,
Or in some place that he sees fit,
And it will happen when they fall
Upon them at the first to brawl,
Whoever hears the thing will say
There’s slaughter of folk on the way
Of those that follow Absalom.
10 “So even the valiant and rum
Whose heart is like a lion’s heart,
Will melt completely, for the part
Of all Israel knows that your dad
Is a mighty man, mean and bad,
And those with him are valiant men.
11 “But I advise all Israel
Be gathered to you from the swell
Of Dan to Beersheba, like sand
That’s by the sea on every hand,
And you shall go to battle stand
In your own person to command.
12 “So we shall come upon him there
In some place where he is found fair,
And we’ll attack him like the dew
That falls upon the ground in view,
And of him and of all the men
Who are with him in glen or den
We shall not leave one or a few.
13 “And if he takes refuge to go
Into a city, then shall show
All Israel to bring up ropes
To that city, stayed without hopes,
And we shall draw it in the vale
Until no stone’s left in its pale.”
14 And Absalom and all the men
Of Israel said “Word again
Of Husai the Archite is best,
Better than Ahithophel’s quest.”
For YHWH had ordained the defeat
Of Ahithophel’s advice meet,
So that YHWH might bring to the feet
Of Absalom a foul retreat.

Beloved, advisers all seem to relate
According to their privilege of state.
Bias and education fit the bill
To find a chair upon Capitol Hill.
One speaks for peace, or at least just to take
Saddam alone and let the others make
A reconciliation for Your sake.
The other speaks for war in his deceit
To work toward fiend Absalom’s defeat.
The hawk and dove were not invented by
Americans to rule a newborn sky,
But always had a place, one traitor and
The other a foul bane upon the land.
Beloved, preserve me from advisers’ hand.

15 Then said Hushai to Zadok and
To Abiathar, priests that stand,
“Such and such is the advice of
Ahithophel who’s hand in glove
With Absalom and Israel’s great,
And such and such in counsel’s rate
I have advised them in the state.
16 “Now therefore send quickly and tell
David, saying ‘Tonight don’t dwell
In the plains of the wilderness,
But in any case in duress
Cross over, lest the king be lost
And all the people with him tossed.’”
17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz
Stayed by En-rogel for the pause,
They might not be seen come to tell
But a girl came and told the spell,
And they to king David as well.
18 But a young man saw them and told
Absalom, and they both went bold
Quickly away and came where stood
One’s house come from Bahurim’s wood,
Who had a well in his courtyard,
And they went down into it hard.
19 And the woman then took and spread
The covering over the dread
Well’s mouth, and spread out grain on it,
And the thing was not known a bit.
20 And Absalom’s servants then came
To the woman in her own claim,
And asked, “”Where are Ahimaaz and
Jonathan?” And the wench at hand
Said to them, “They have gone a way
Beyond the water-brook to stay.”
And when they looked and could not find
They returned to Jerusalem.
21 It happened then when left behind
They came up out of the well’s hem,
And went and told king David, and
They said to David, “Take command
To get up and pass quickly by
The water, for so says the spy
Ahithophel counselled to try.

To save life two men risked their own and went
By the well and the brook and then they sent
David and his across the waters spent.
The dark night and its flood may make the use
Of lying and of subterfuge abuse
Or righteous deed. I think the law is clear
Only upon divinely guided ear.
Beloved, I sit me quiet in the town
And look at treachery and with a frown
Upon my senseless brow I lift no hand
Against the legal and the contraband.
I am for David and for David’s son
In ancient times, but now that day is done
I wait to see You in the battle won.

22 And David got up and the folk,
All those with him to the last bloke,
And they passed over Jordan’s stream
Until the morning dawn light’s gleam,
And there was not one missing there
Who did not pass the Jordan fair.
23 And when Ahithophel saw that
His advice was not followed at
The court, he saddled up his ass,
And got up and went home in class
To his own city and he set
His house in order, and in fret
He strangled himself and he died,
Was buried by his father’s side.
24 When David came to Mahanaim,
Absalom passed Jordan self-same,
He and all Israel’s men of fame.
25 Absalom made Amasa chief
Of the army, and not Joab.
And Amasa was son not drab
Of a man whose name for relief
Was Ithra of Jezreel, who went
In to Abigal daughter sent
Of Nahash, she was sister to
Zeruiah, Joab’s mom too.
26 So Israel and Absalom camped
In Gilead’s land where they revamped.
27 It happened when David came to
Mahanaim, that Shobi son of
Nahash of Rabbah who was of
The folk of Ammon, and Machir
Son of Amiel of Lo-debar,
And Barzillai the Gileadite
Come from Rogelim and in sight,
28 Brought beds and basins, earthen jars,
And wheat, barley and meal cars
And parched corn, beans and lentils too
And parched pulse, everything in view,
29 And honey, cords, and sheep and cheese
Of cows’ milk for both David’s ease
And of the people with him too.
For they said “The folk, we can guess,
Are hungry in the wilderness
And faint and thirsty from distress.

Beloved, I’ve fled the patterned and the grand,
The worn street and the halls at every hand,
And sought a refuge in the wilderness
Where Your hand’s welcome to one in distress.
I’ve backed away, out, out Jerusalem,
I’ve crossed the Jordan at the desert’s hem,
Passed Jericho where once the victory
Lighted the sky, and Rahab was set free.
Back, back from mountains gained with blood and sweat
To find myself a wanderer and yet
The desert of the Sinai, its bad stones
That tumble feet and twist the ankle bones,
Are my solace. And yet when least expected
Your angels smooth my way delights confected.

2 SAMUEL 18

1 And David counted all the folk
That were with him and set in stroke
Over them captains of thousands,
And captains of hundreds of hands.
2 David sent the people to fight,
A third under Joab’s delight,
A third under Abishai’s hand,
The son of Zeruiah and
Joab’s brother, and a third band
By Ittai the Gittite’s command.
And David told the folk, “I too
Will certainly go out with you.”
3 And they said “You will not go out.
For if we flee, they will not care,
Nor if half of us die out there,
But you are worth ten thousand of
Us, so it’s better in the shove
For you to stay in town to help.”
4 And the king told them, “As you yelp,
So I will do.” And the king stood
Beside the gate as the knighthood
Went by in hundreds and in bands
Of thousands at the king’s commands.
5 The king commanded Joab and
Abishai and Ittai at hand
Saying “Deal gently for my sake
With the lad Absalom at stake.”
And all the folk heard when the king
Gave the chiefs charge about the thing.
6 And all the people went out in
The wood against Israel to win,
And the battle was in the wood
Of Ephraim where the trees stood.
7 And Israel’s folk fell down before
David’s servants and men of war,
And there was a great slaughter there
That day of twenty thousand fair.

Since when is a king worth ten thousand men?
Where did that thought come from to grace again
The human brow with courage false and neat?
Kings are not worth the lowest servant’s feet.
David is worth, instead, more than the race
Of all humans born in this awful place,
For having Your heart, my Beloved, to speak
Always the counterview of those who seek.
His worth as perfect man includes all men,
But worth as king is below counsel then.
The rabble always loves the purple robe
Everywhere on the brightly diurnal globe.
But I choose David’s woollen cloak to wear
As I step out to whirl in glory there.

8 The battle spread on the surface
Of all the country and the place,
While the forest killed more that day
Than all the sword once drawn could slay.
9 And Absalom chanced then to meet
With David’s servants in the street.
And Absalom rode on a mule,
And the mule came under the cool
Of the thick branches of an oak
Or a great terebinth to choke,
And his head got entangled in
The oak, and he was hung like sin
Between the earth and sky, the mule
Rode out from under him to school.

Strange luck it was the forest killed more men
Than could the sword when wielded with a yen.
Those used to fighting in battle array
Upon a level plain in light of day
Are lost when taken to the wood to find
The daring of the trees that are not kind.
My fathers sought the forest like a fort
And fought the English drawn up as in court
From frond and trunk and saving branch and leaf
To bring the invaders to harm and grief.
For one the forest is a refuge tight,
The other finds its buggers in the night.
Beloved, I flee to You from arid plain
And from the darkened forest in the rain.

10 And one who saw it told Joab,
And said “Look I saw in confab
Absalom hanging in an oak.”
11 And Joab told the one who saw,
“See, you saw it, why did your paw
Not strike him down there to the ground?
I’d have given you shekels sound
In number ten and a belt round.”
12 And the man said to Joab then,
“Though you should give a thousand yen,
I still would not stretch out my hand
Against the king’s son, for command
Of the king to you, Abishai
And Ittai rings in ear to say
‘Take care not to hurt any way
The young man Absalom today.’
13 “If I had falsely acted to
Destroy my own life, and the due
Is never hidden from the king,
Then you yourself, no questioning,
Would have stood aside from my fate.”
14 And Joab said “I shall be late.”
And he took three darts in his hand,
And thrust them through the heart unmanned
Of Absalom while still alive
In the midst of the oak to jive.

Though Joab saves the kingdom with a will
And three darts sharp and fit to meet the bill,
He will need great diplomacy to save
His own life and loyalty from the grave.
Give me the loyalty of that brave man
Who refused to touch hair nor hide nor plan
Of the king’s son, and give me yet the might
And courage of Joab to take the blight
And cast the dart through the heart that avails
Of popularity to fill the sails
Of rebellion against Your faith and law.
Beloved, I see the battle plan with awe
And know that You stand over king and son.
Give me obedience when all is done.

15 And ten young men who carried bound
Joab’s armour gathered around
Attacked Absalom, struck him down.
16 And Joab blew the horn renown,
And the folk turned back from the spoil
Following Israel, in his coil
Joab held all the people back.
17 And they took Absalom to stack
Into the great pit in the wood,
And there erected as they could
A great pile of stone monument,
And Israel fled each to his tent.
18 Now Absalom in his life time
Had taken and set up to chime
For himself a pillar which stands
In the king’s dale by his commands
When he said “I’ve no son to keep
My name remembered”, so the heap
He called after his own name there,
To this day it remains to share
Absalom’s name remembered there.

I have no monument in stone nor do
I have a monument in sons untrue,
My name is not remembered like the leaf
Of Absalom whose father came to grief.
The pillar that I set is everywhere
The stony forest floor rises to bear
The rustle and the echo of Your name:
Beloved, You and You only are my fame.
Some come to weep and sing in the king’s dale,
Some come to rejoice and some come to wail,
But I whirl in the round of here and now
And take no pilgrimage to granite how.
Beloved, no monument is greater than
The whisper of Your name where I began.

19 Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok
Said “Let me run now with the stock
Of good news for the king, how YHWH
Has avenged him of his foe’s crew.”
20 And Joab said to him, “You’ll not
Bear the news of this day in plot,
But bear the news another day,
But this day shall have no news’ way,
Since it’s the king’s son dead astray.”
21 And Joab said to the Cushite,
“Go tell the king what’s in your sight.”
And the Cushite bowed down before
Joab, and ran. 22 Ahimaaz
Son of Zadok spoke up with snazz
To Joab once more, “Come what may,
Let me run too, I beg and pray.”
And Joab said “Why should you run,
My son? Hear you’ve no news begun,
Nor is there profit if you run?”
23 And he said “Why should I not run?”
And Joab told him, “Run for fun.”
And Ahimaaz ran by the way
Of the plain and passed Cushite’s stay.

Who has the lighter message runs with feet
Pounding upon the ground in motion fleet.
Who has the heavy word runs slower still,
And meets the flag with sorrow on the hill.
Beloved, I am at age that I find no
Pleasure in running, my feet are so slow
That Joab would have sent me as his choice
And left David a day more to rejoice.
The bad news is the news that’s never late,
And good news only comes to dissipate
With the brief mist of morning at the gate.
Beloved, give me no news at all and I
Shall be content in wilderness to lie
Where breezes whisper nothing to the sky.

24 Now David sat between two gates,
Below where on the roof awaits
The watchman of the gate and wall,
And raised his eyes, looked toward the brawl,
And saw a lone man run withal.
25 And the watchman cried out to say
To the king what he saw that way,
And the king said “If he’s alone,
The news he brings is good as grown.
And the man came and he arrived.
26 And the watchman saw there contrived
Another man to run, and so
The watchman cried at the gate’s row
To say “See, there’s another man
Running alone.” And the king’s scan
Was to say “He also brings news
Of gladness from the army crews.”
27 And the watchman said “I think now
The first man’s running is somehow
Like that of Ahimaaz the son
Of Zadok when his running’s done.”
And the king said “He’s a good man,
And comes with good news of the span.”

Wise Joab chose a stranger, man of Cush,
To bring the sad news without vim or rush.
The watcher saw Zadok’s son, the young priest,
And so the king thought the news good at least.
The messenger embodies the news brought,
And no one listens to foreigner’s plot
With happiness, the very tongue is stiff
To say the words accented with an if.
The news was blurred by the young man’s accord
To take to David wonderings of sword.
I am a stranger to all men who stand
Upon the polished paving of this land,
And though my word is good, their ears can hear
Only the echoes of their own dark fear.

28 And Ahimaaz called to the king
And said “All’s well” and then bowing
Down before the king with his face
To the earth, said “Blessed be YHWH’s grace
And your Ælohim, who has set
To destruction the men that yet
Lifted up hand against my lord
The king and raised the fatal sword.”
29 And the king said “Does it go well
With the lad Absalom, do tell?”
And Ahimaaz answered, “When he
Joab sent the king’s servant, see
And me your servant, I saw there
A great tumult up in the air
But I did not know what it meant.”
30 And the king said “Just stand aside
Right here, and wait.” And so he tried
And stood there. 31 And see then came up
The Cushite, and the Cushite’s cup
Was, “Good news for my lord the king,
For YHWH has avenged you to sing
This day over all those who rose
Against you and all as such chose.”
32 And then the king asked the Cushite,
“Is the young Absalom all right?”
And the Cushite said “May the foes
Of my lord the king in their throes
And all who’s risen up to do
Evil against him, be in crew
As is that young man in his due.”
33 And the king was troubled and moved,
Went to the room above the gate,
And wept, and as without abate
He walked, he said as one reproved,
“My son Absalom, O my son!
Would I had died and you had won,
O Absalom, my son, my son!”

David would die in place of Absalom,
Then why did he not provide for the sum
Before it came to battle and to pitch
The many souls that fought him in the ditch?
Even when kingdom of the world is joined
To that of heaven, the golden mint is coined
To treachery, so what can now be said
When men who do not know You can be led
Into the battle zone with screeching car?
The world in ten thousand years has gone far
To reach the same place in its wandering.
Beloved, I may still have a voice to sing,
But my clear eye sees that the government
Can never be one of the ones You sent.

2 SAMUEL 19

1 And it was told Joab, “See here,
The king is weeping at the bier
Of Absalom.” 2 The victory
That day was turned to tragedy
As all the people mourned, the folk
Heard spoken that day, “The king woke
To grieve for his son.” 3 And the folk
Came quietly into the town
As folk ashamed to walk the down
When fleeing from the battle’s frown.
4 And the king covered up his face,
And the king cried aloud in place,
“O my son Absalom undone,
O Absalom, my son, my son!”
5 And Joab went in to the king,
Into his house and said a thing,
“You have today shamed every face
Of your servants, who in the race
Today have saved your life and those
Lives that your sons and daughters chose,
And the lives of your wives, the lives
Of your concubines in their hives,
6 “In that you love those who hate you,
And hate those ones who have loved you.
For you’ve declared today that all
The princes and servants in stall
Are nothing to you, for this day
I notice that if in his way
Absalom had lived and all we
Had died today you certainly
Would have been pleased. 7 Now get up, go
And speak to the heart of your show
Of servants, for I swear by YHWH,
If you do not go out as true,
Not a man will stay here with you
This night, and that it will be worse
To you than any other curse
That has fallen on you from time
Of youth till now, I can show sign.”

The truth is Joab’s heart led to rebel,
And he it was who ready not to quell
Disturbance would have taken David’s throne
Except that You, O my Beloved, had known
To stem the tide of evil in the heart.
You came alone to take David’s throne’s part.
Joab should soon have reigned upon the hill
Of Zion with a firm and ready will.
So every priest and general in town
Is ready to rebel against Your crown.
That’s why, Beloved, the darkened wave is still
Looming upon horizons fit to kill.
Beloved, let crown and crosier fall before
The brightness of new heaven’s open door.

8 Then the king got up and sat down
In the gate, and all in the town
Reported, saying “See, the king
Is sitting in the town gate’s wing.”
And all the people came before
The king. For Israel in store
Had fled each man to his own tent.
9 And all the folk about that went
Among all Israel’s tribes then said
“The king saved us from enemy,
And from the Philistine’s hand’s spree,
But now he’s fled out of the land
Before Absalom and his hand.
10 “And Absalom whom we anointed
Over us, is dead and unjointed
In battle. Now therefore why do
You not speak a word to the crew
To bring the king back in his due?”
11 And king David sent to Zadok
And to Abiathar the stock
Of priests, saying “Talk to the old
Men of Judah, saying ‘Unfold
Why you are the last to bring back
The king to his house without lack?
For all of Israel speak up for
The return of the king to shore
And to his house to bring once more.
12 ‘You are my brothers, you’re my bond
And my flesh, so why are you stoned
To be last to bring back the king?
13 ‘And say to Amasa, “Are you
Not my bone and my flesh to do,
God do to me and more also,
If you shall not be chief in stow
Of the army before me now
And always in Joab’s first row.”’”
14 He bowed the heart of Judah’s men
All as one man, so they again
Sent to the king, and said “Return,
And all are your servants astern.”

See here, Beloved, David himself removed
To speak in the ears of some men who proved
Loyal to bring him back to throne and grace.
The kingdom cannot depend on Your face.
It takes a whisper here, and word there too
To bring a king his fulsome glory due.
The stars that glitter now glitter because
They work incessantly with dirty claws
To scrape up from the rabble bold applause
And not because they follow noble laws.
Beloved, the mass and movement of earth’s woe
Is due to men and women making show,
While You stand still on silent Sinai’s brow
Without a single listener in tow.

15 And the king came back and came near
As far as Jordan. And came here
Judah to Gilgal and to meet
The king, to bring the king on feet
Over the Jordan to his seat.

Along the ways of wilderness and sun
Like glistening rivers shining on the run,
Against the rocky roadways single file
How do the royal parties stretch a mile!
Before the blood of Absalom is cold
I see the courtiers bowing to the bold
Royal diadem and shout their acclaim.
David is to be brought to town with fame.
Into the little lanes that laughed and cried
Yesterday before Absalom had died
Each caravan rides on the joyous tide
Revealed by sun, revealed by regal pride.
Ever the mote of power and will of man
Knows light better than love of son now can.

16 Then Shimei son of Gera who
Was the Benjamite in the crew,
Who was of Bahurim, came too
In haste down with Judah’s men to
Meet king David and give him due.
17 And there were a thousand men that
Came of Benjamin where he sat,
And Ziba servant of Saul’s house,
And his fifteen sons and the grouse
Of twenty servants with him too.
And they ran in the Jordan there
Before the king to show their share.
18 And the ferry passed back and forth
To bring over the king’s whole court,
And to do what he thought was good.
And Shimei son of Gera stood
And fell down before the king there
When he had crossed the Jordan’s glare.
19 And he said to the king, “Let not
My lord hold a grudge for my lot,
Neither remember what your slave
Did in his wickedness to rave
The day my lord the king went out
Of Jerusalem with a shout,
That the king take it to his heart.
20 “For your servant knows that his part
Was sinful, and see, here today
I’ve come before all Israel’s sway
And Joseph’s house to go down and
Meet my lord the king where I stand.”
21 But Abishai Zeruiah’s son
Answered and said when he’d begun,
“Shall not Shimei be put to death
For this because with all his breath
He cursed YHWH’s anointed when done?”

When the king’s in the dust the rebels rise
To curse him with tongue as well as with eyes.
When he returns in honour, then their due
Is to come to sue for forgiveness’ stew.
Sin is not to condemn the man that’s down,
Oh no, it’s to meet with portentous frown
The one who has the power to wield the sword.
When sword exists it defines who is lord.
Beloved, You who have no sword in Your hand
Stand without honour in a Christian land.
But let You once appear on judgement day,
Then those who now curse shall see the right way.
The brilliance of a heavy hand alone
Will make the rabble bow before a throne.

22 And David said “What do I do
With you, Zeruiah’s sons to stew,
That you should be today as foes
To me? Shall any man of those
In Israel today lose his life?
For I do not know in my strife
If I’m the king of Israel’s folk.”
23 And so to Shimei the king spoke,
“You shall not die” and so he swore
The king did to him all the more.

I note, Beloved, that David’s clemency
Depended on the fact the royal see
Was simply not well founded and he could
Not be sure that an execution would
Not stir up Israel to renewed fighting.
Virtue’s dependent on one’s perfect lighting.
Shimei is safe because the throne is not,
And that is all there is to virtue’s plot.
Beloved, I too bow to the brassy rate
Of circumstance before the earthly gate.
I ignore hands of power and laws of state
Not because of some justice in the mate,
But simply because Sinai’s glory still
Surrounds the makings of my martyr’s hill.

24 Mephibosheth Saul’s son’s son went
Down to meet the king from his tent,
And had not put on shoe nor trimmed
His beard, nor washed his clothes unrimmed,
From the day that the king went out
Till the day he came back with shout
Of peace for everyone about.
25 It happened when he went into
Jerusalem to meet as due
The king, the king said to him true,
“Why did you not go out with me,
Mephibosheth?” 26 He answered him,
“My lord King, my servant was grim
Deceiving me, for your servant
Said ‘I will saddle an ass scant
To ride upon and join the king’
Because your servant’s lame in wing,
27 “And he has acted with deceit
With your servant to my lord’s seat
And to the king, but my lord king
Is as angel of Ælohim,
So do what’s good in your own eyes.
28 “For all my father’s house in guise
Were as dead by my lord king’s hand,
Yet you set your servant in band
Of them who eat at the king’s board.
What rights do I have now to hoard?
Or why should I make any plaint
Before my lord the king and saint?”

When Charles and Napoleon have returned
In triumph to the capitol once burned,
Out of the woodwork crawl the feeble mice
To tell them all along they thought them nice.
It was deceit that carried word abroad
That they had failed in loyalty and laud.
It was deceit that turned their reputation
To peaceful survival for occupation.
When fighting stops and laurels can be won
For mere applause and flattery begun
Instead of bleeding underneath the sun,
Then multitudes appear to give a hand
To help to steer the carriage in the sand,
And take an honoured seat above the land.

29 And the king said to him, “Why now
Do you speak any longer how
Your matters go? I’ve made the choice,
You and Ziba both shall rejoice
To divide up the property.
30 “Mephibosheth spoke to make free
With the king, ‘Let him take the lot,
It’s enough for me that the king
Has come back in peace to the spring
Of his own house instead of not.’”

Gone are the compromises. David hopes
Only to be left in peace, faintly gropes
Doubtful solutions to reward the few
Innocent for loyalty in a crew
Sabotaged by infiltration, the cream
Of Jerusalem out to make their dream
Next to paradise. The true owner’s lot
Extends to bribes and promises once bought
Out of the dust in mist of the unreal.
None could foresee returning would be steel.
Except them all from punishment and let
Good people share the property once set.
O my Beloved, I see the heart gone out,
Doubt and unrest return from faded shout.

31 Barzillai the Gileadite
Came down from Rogelim in sight,
And he passed on to Jordan’s stream
With the king, to bring it would seem
Him on the way over Jordan.
32 And Barzillai was an old man,
Eighty years old, and he had given
The king nourishment when he’d striven
In Mahanaim, for he was great,
A wealthy man and one of state.
33 And the king said to Barzillai,
“Come over with me on the sly,
And I will keep you with me in
Jerusalem in stall and bin.”
34 And Barzillai answered the king,
“How many are my days of spring
Left in my life, that I should go
Now with the king to see the show
In the town of Jerusalem?
35 “Today I’m living on the hem
Of eighty years, can I distinguish
Between the good, or bad extinguish?
Can your servant taste any more
What I eat or drink of the store?
Can I still hear the voice of those
Who sing of men or girls in rows?
So why should your servant now be
Any longer burden in fee
To my lord the king on his toes?
36 “Your servant will just go a way
Over the Jordan in the sway
Of the king, and why should the king
Reward me for so small a thing?
37 “Let your servant please turn back then
So I may die among the men
Of my own town, beside the tomb
Of my father, in mother’s room.
But here’s your servant Chimham who
Shall go over with my lord true
The king, so do for him as you
Think best that a king ought to do.”

I too have reached the age when laurels mean
Nothing or almost nothing on my scene.
I may have striven for applause of men
In callow youth (who does avoid it then?),
But see death looming close upon my sky,
And understand that praise can never vie
With peace and quiet where I wait to die.
I speak with Barzillai. Let younger make
Their mark and set a banner at the stake
Of tent, and build a pillar set in stone.
I find my glory in Your name alone.
I die from breath to breath, and with each huu
That cools my tongue I turn towards Your throne
And glorify with my brief being You.

38 And the king answered, “Chimham shall
Go over the alluvial
With me, and I’ll do for him what
My eye finds good to grow his gut,
But whatever you want from me
I’ll do it for you faithfully.”
39 And all the folk went over Jordan,
And the king went over at fording,
And the king kissed Barzillai and
Blessed him, he returned to his land.

As I turn back from Your kingdom, Beloved,
Before the rise beyond the Jordan-gloved
Cascade, to go back to my every-day
Duties in work and rhyme along the way,
Expecting with an upturned face my due,
Frank kisses from Your lips, please bless me too.
Guise of Barzillai and David does not
Have any meaning for our passion caught.
I still expect the royal treatment here
Just as David kissed Barzillai on ear.
Known to all men is Your belovèd name,
Like cloud in sunny sky shines out Your fame,
More need I not come to Zion and throne,
Now find You at my exile’s fir and stone.

40 So the king went on to Gilgal
And Chimham went along for sal,
And all the folk of Judah went
Along with the king and half spent
Of the folk of Israel’s consent.
41 And see, all the men of Israel
Came to the king and for a while
Said to the king, “Why have the men
Our brothers of Judah in den
Stolen you away and to bring
The king and his house, everything,
Over the Jordan, and the men
All of David into the glen?”
42 And all Judah’s men answered then
The men of Israel, “Since the king
Is a near relative in wing
And feather to us, why then are
You angry for this singular?
Have we eaten from the king’s store?
Or has he given us something more?”
43 And Israel’s men answered the men
Of Judah, and said once again,
“We have ten parts of the king, and
We are your seniors in the land,
Our portion in David is more
Than yours, and so why do you pour
Insult on us, that our advice
Should not be first in the device
To bring back David to be king?”
But the words of Judah’s men were
Fiercer than Israel’s men to stir.

Manipulation of the parts of king
Is a new trend in political ring.
Ten parts are more than one indeed, yet blood
Sings in the ears of all men in the mud
Of power. I think that too is but the tool
Of those who know whom to play at the fool.
The king with German accent on the throne
Of Britain is a thing one can’t condone,
And yet the market may require the switch
From Latin, French to German at the pitch.
Now all are speaking English with a vengeance
As though no other fuel could run their engines.
Even I turn to tongue and relative
As I speak to You, Beloved, where I live.

2 SAMUEL 20

1 And there happened to be a base
Fellow called Sheba in the place,
The son of Bichri, Benjamite,
And he blew the horn, said for spite,
“We have no portion in the plot
Of David, nor have we a lot
Inherited in Jesse’s son,
Every Israel’s man to his gun.”

That’s what I just said, my Beloved, and see
The Benjamite arises to be free
Of Bethlehem and those born in the plot
Of Jesse for the common human lot.
For Jesse has a closet full of bones,
Those foreign women that appeared like drones.
The international is secret fate,
But those who grasp the reins will not be late.
Beloved, I am no son of Bich or Ben,
I have no race to run, I have no yen,
But I look up to Sheba as the pact
At the well where You once came down to act.
That prophecy of water in the load
Of kingly machinations is my goad.

2 So all the men of Israel went
Up from following David’s tent,
And followed Sheba, Bichri’s son,
But Judah’s men were loyal still
To David their king from the hill
Of Jerusalem to the run
Of Jordan flowing under sun.

David, unlike my Moses, has a bent
To charisma, and attracts men who went
In loyalty after him to the spade
And to the ditch when robber had waylaid.
But even charisma cannot last long
When there are other interests in the throng.
All power on earth must meet the breaking point
And that comes sooner than the smoking joint.
Beloved, all men follow Sheba to find
The Vatican where he sits is not blind,
Nor Canterbury hardly off the map,
And so they rush to wallow in his lap.
I run to You alone, Beloved, to get
Acquittal from Your judgement hardly set.

In days of David some men were inclined
To follow Bichri’s son after they’d dined
In David’s tents to enjoy life and health
And benefit by the king’s greater wealth.
In days of Ali some men found the way
To fair apostasy under the sway
Of Bichri’s father, while the family crew
Annointed the sent one with tears and dew.
Beloved, keep me from both father and son
Of Bichri as I lay my prayers undone,
And though I may not curse here anyone
For policy of inclination taught,
I bless the name of Ali in my plot,
Forgetting camel kin as like as not.

3 And David came into his house
At Jerusalem not the grouse,
And the king took the ten women,
His concubines left in the den
To keep the house when he had gone,
And put them in ward and upon
Provisions from him, but did not
Go in to them. So they were got
Shut up till the day of their death
In widowhood by Ashtoreth.

The punishment for female uncleanness
Is hard, and that’s a thing I do confess.
The same goes on today in Arab court
When a man finds his wife too short of sport.
She’s shut up in a pen without relief
Of light and hope to die quickly in brief.
David Your king once instituted this
And so the practice has become abyss.
Beloved, I wonder that You do not come
To intervene when Your appointed bum
Establishes atrocious things from hell.
You hardly seem to hear the ringing bell
Of women’s prayers arising from the heat
Or cold that weighs upon inactive feet.

4 Then said the king to Amasa,
“Call me all the men of Judah
In three days, and come here yourself.”
5 And Amasa went like an elf
To call Judah’s men in a group,
But he stayed longer than the scoop
Appointed for him. 6 David said
To Abishai, “Will we be led
Into more trouble by the hand
Of Sheba Bichri’s son than stand
In harm from Absalom? Take your
Lord’s servants and ambassador
Pursue him, lest he get him in
Fortified cities and in bin
Escape from us and out of sight.”
7 And there went with him Joab’s men,
The Cherethites and in the glen
The Pelethites, and all the men
Of might, and all of them went out
Of Jerusalem with a shout
To pursue Sheba, Bichri’s son.

Pre-emptive force was not invented late
To say a word on the Iraqis fate.
It’s been around at least since Sheba’s rate
On plains of Palestine and took the road
To refuge in fortified town’s abode.
So Abishai receives the king’s command
To cut him off from gaining upper hand
Before he causes grief more in that land
Than Absalom did with his hair in band.
Beloved, I hear the kingly word and song,
I see the man ride out among the strong,
And yet I cling to Your ten words alone
And call the democratic day a throne
That comes to rest on all men without stone.

8 When they came to the great stone won
In Gibeon, Amasa came
To meet them. And Joab for blame
Was dressed for battle with a sword
Fastened on a belt and a cord
Around his waist and in its sheath,
As he went out it fell beneath.
9 And Joab said to Amasa,
“How are you, brother, in the way?”
And Joab took Amasa by
The beard with his right hand apply
To kiss him. 10 But Amasa took
No heed of the sword in the crook
Of Joab’s hand, so he struck him
There in the groin, and spilled out grim
His guts on the ground, but he did
Not strike him again on the lid,
And so he died there on the skid.
11 And there stood by him a young man
Of Joab’s servants, and by plan
He said “Whoever is in hand
Of Joab, and in David’s band,
Follow Joab!” 12 And Amasa
Lay wallowing in his blood’s clay,
In the middle of the highway.
One saw that all the folk stood still,
And he took Amasa from grill
Out of the path into a field,
And covered with a coat for shield,
Because he saw that every man
That came up to him for a scan
Stood still. 13 When he was taken off
The highway, all the folk with scoff
Went on after Joab to find
Sheba, son of Bichri, in blind.

The Bible’s just the story of how all
Men in the past tried or tried not to fall
Beneath the simple command of Your law
Once promised on Mount Sinai and in awe.
The bloody way of men takes little from
The way You once presented and in sum.
The competition of great men will find
Outlet in some abuse and in some kind
Will surely kill the other rather than
Stand aside in the field as husbandman.
Beloved, few follow on the righteous way
Because the interest of kings holds the sway.
Relieve me of such hopes and feeble fear
And let me humbly walk where You may steer.

14 And he went through all Israel’s tribes
To Abel, to Beth-maacah’s ribes,
And all the Berites, and they came
Together and went without shame
In also after him the same.
15 They came and laid siege on him there
In Abel of Bethmaacah’s share,
And they threw up a mound of earth
Against the city in its girth
Standing in the moat, all the folk
That were with Joab gave a poke
To the wall there to throw it down.
16 A wise woman cried from the town,
“Hear, hear, say, I beg you, to say
To Joab, ‘Come near here, I pray,
So I can have a word with you.’ ”

The churches and the synagogues that trace
The way to faith as well as mosques in race
With every heathen temple in the place
Today set women back seat without mace.
Indeed, the priestess may sometimes arise
In Baptist, Anglican and Luther’s guise,
But where a woman wields the crosier now,
It shows the church lost power anyhow.
In ancient times there may have been the priest
As male upon the sacrificial beast,
But there was also the wise woman’s state,
The office long forgotten in the rate.
Note generals bow to her wisdom’s word,
Too bad such people now are a rare bird.

18 And she spoke saying “In old time
They used to say ‘They’ll take a rhyme
Of counsel in Abel as due’
And so end the matter in crew.
19 “We are of peaceful folk and yet
Faithful in Israel, and set
You about to destroy a town
And mother in Israel’s renown?
Why will you swallow up the lot
Of YHWH’s inheritance and plot?”
20 And Joab answered and he said
“Far be it, far be from me led,
That I should swallow or destroy.
21 “It is not so, but one’s employ
Is a man of Ephraim hill land,
Sheba, Bichri’s son, by name scanned,
This one has lifted up his hand
Against the king David. Give me
Only him, I’ll leave the city.”
And so the woman told Joab,
“See, his head shall be with confab
Thrown to you over the wall’s slab.”

Ah where there’s power, even in a woman’s hand
There is the right to sever head and hand.
One does not flee from violence when one
Flees from the male to female sceptre’s fun.
She promises what hardly man would dare
To do in handing up the good and fair.
And without batting long eyelash or care
She folds the hero in his shrouding share.
She saved the city from the gushing blood
That was in Joab’s hand and in the bud.
Who knows but what she saved the seed at last
That will put all things right once the die’s cast.
Beloved, behind the killing and the craze
I see You still the Sovereign over days.

22 So the woman went in to all
The people with her wisdom’s call,
And they cut off Sheba’s head, son’s
Of Bichri, and threw out what stuns
To Joab, and he blew the horn,
And they dispersed from the town torn
And went each one to his own tent.
Joab to Jerusalem went
Back to the king who was content.

It is expedient that one man die
To save the nation or a world awry.
The voice of Mary Magdalene or yet
Some other Mary sufficed not to set
Your Christ at liberty. In ancient time
A woman had a voice a man could climb.
Beloved, I watch the people in dispersion
Each to his tent, none looking with aversion
At bloody bodies fallen by the wall.
The fattened calf is still safe in the stall,
Why worry if a man with vision’s caught
And quartered to save the town’s wealth and plot?
I have a vision too, but I sit tight
Beneath my mountain without woman’s fright.

23 And Joab was the chief of all
The army at Israel’s call,
Benaiah Jehoiada’s son
Was over the Cherethites’ gun
And over Pelethites when done.
24 And Adoram was tribute’s chief,
Jehoshaphat son for relief
Of Ahilud recorder’s leaf.
25 And Sheva was the scribe, the men
Zadok and Abiathar then
Were priests, 26 and Ira the Jairite
Also was prime minister right
To David, all in David’s ken.

The ministers of David all in state,
I wonder how many are innocent.
Joab has killed in war, but also sent
In peace with cunning many to their fate.
Adoram, was he honest in the rate
Of tribute and taxes the people lent
To David and the realm, in where he went
Did he not have his favoured soon and late?
Beloved, like scribe and priest, I hear the call
To write a note to You, my love and praise,
And give account for my unloving heart.
With pen paused, I lift soul against the wall
And question her on how she spent her days
And whether peace or venom’s on the dart.

2 SAMUEL 21

1 And there was famine in the days
Of David three years through their ways,
And David sought the face of YHWH.
And YHWH said “It is for Saul’s due,
And for his bloody house, because
He killed the Gibeonites for straws.”

Whether the sin was treachery or murder,
How do You, my Beloved, find sense in this
Confirming that the fault of famine’s kiss
Is in what Saul did in the land to herd her?
How does the fact the lovely rain’s not stirred her
To production of corn on the abyss
Of hunger depend on the hit or miss
Of king or prince or worker on the girder?
So Saul killed Gibeonites, that act indeed
Was tragic and misplaced from where he sat.
The cause-effect relation in the brain
Of humankind grows and blooms like a weed.
My human, existentialist fiat
Suspects David heard voices from the strain.

2 The king called the Gibeonites and
Said to them, (now Gibeonite band
Were not of Israel’s folk, but they
Were remnants of Amorite day,
And Israel’s folk had sworn to them,
And Saul tried to kill all of them
In his zeal for Israel’s folk’s band
And for Judah upon the land.)
3 And David said to Gibeonites,
“What shall I do to set your rights?
And how shall I make atonement,
So you may bless YHWH’s lot unspent?”
4 The Gibeonites told him, “It is
No matter of silver or fizz
Of gold between us and twixt Saul,
Or his house, neither have we call
To put any man to death in
Israel.” And he said “To begin
What should I do for you for sin?”
5 And they said to the king, “The man
That destroyed us, devised the plan,
So that we’ve been kept from the land
Of Israel, 6 let seven men
Of his sons be delivered to
Us, and we’ll hang them up to YHWH
In Gibeah of Saul anointed
Of YHWH.” And the king said appointed
I will deliver them up too.”

Some say atonement for another’s sin
Escapes the law if innocence is slain.
Vain was not death of Christ, indeed not vain,
Even if in his innocence he’s thin.
None can say Saul’s sons were then lacking in
A grand display of wickedness or stain
To be the victims of atoning cane
Or stand before avenging carabine.
Now, my Beloved, I doubt the whipping post
Enough to restore Gibeonite lives lost
Along the bloody Jordan’s running sand.
Somehow I doubt effect of Hitler’s boast
In prowling out with heinous holocaust,
Nor that Christ bleeding lends a helping hand.

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth
The son of Jonathan the son
Of Saul, because of the oath done
Between them, between David and
Jonathan son of Saul at hand.

Who knows if David spared Mephibosheth
For love of Jonathan or love of vow?
I think the many years that passed in row
Stripped David of the love and of the breath
Of an oath made before Jonathan’s death.
Too much greed for the corn and oil and cow
Has passed beneath the stomach anyhow.
It’s politics that forms the shibboleth.
Time’s here to tell, Beloved, if You spare me
For love or treaty or the grace to show
A bright and burning lamp about the town.
It’s far more like I’ll meet mistrustingly
The lone death-bed where many people go
Without a word remembering or crown.

8 The king took two sons of Rizpah
The daughter of the wife Aiah,
Whom she bore to Saul, Armoni
And Mephibosheth, to deploy
Five sons of Michal daughter of
Saul, whom she bore as though for love
To Adriel who was the son
Of Barzillai Meholathite,
9 And he gave them when he’d begun
Into the hand of Gibeonite,
And they hanged them upon the hill
Before YHWH, and they fell until
All seven fell together, and
They were killed in the harvest days
In the first day and in the ways
Of the start of the barley harvest.
10 And Rizpah as quickly as starvest,
Daughter of Aiah took sackcloth,
And spread it for her on the rock
From start of harvest till the wroth
Of rain poured from the sky in stock,
And did not let the birds that fly
Rest on them as the days went by,
Nor any beast of field by night.
11 And it was told David what sight
Rizpah daughter of Aiah did.
12 And David went to where they hid
The bones of Saul and took them all
With Jonathan’s bones, Saul’s son’s tall,
From men of Jabesh-gilead,
Who stole them from the plaza had
In Beth-shan, where the Philistines
Had hanged them in the day’s declines
When Philistines killed Saul upon
Gilboa. 13 He brought from there drawn
The bones of Saul as well as bones
Of Jonathan his son with groans
And they gathered the bones of them
That were hanged all up in the hem.
14 And they buried the bones of Saul
And Jonathan his son from all
The country of Benjamin in
Zela, in sepulchre of kin,
Of Kish his father, and they did
All the king commanded for bid.

Perhaps it takes seven men to do right
In sacrifice vicarious in the light
Of ancient times, just as it took seven dips
To heal Naaman and make worth all his trips.
Now baptism is often done with just
One dip in water running over dust
Or in a quiet cistern, while it takes
Just one Galgothan sacrifice that makes
The cultic rite of atonement one square.
Of course there were three on the cross that night,
Just as some use the trine electrolyte.
It seems the victims get more than their share.
Beloved, I do not approve of the flight
Into superstitious cosmopolite.

I haven’t said enough, Beloved, on this
Fatal tale, I bear yet a grudge amiss.
The whole idea that one death or another
Can set right any death of son of mother
Is stupid, stupid, stupid on the brain.
If You speak to humankind, say word sane.
If You would atone for the loss, make gain
And raise up from the dead the noble slain.
But don’t mumble and curse and lay the blame
On innocent witch in Salem or where
The sons of Saul take shelter from the share
Their father set to wrong in Gibeon’s air.
Beloved, open the eyes of faithful men
To see reason instead of halogen.

15 And the Philistines warred again
With Israel, and David’s men
Went down with him to fight the foe,
The Philistines, David was slow.
16 And Ishbibenob of the sons
Of the giant upon his buns,
The wight of whose spear done in tons
Was three hundred shekels of brass
In weight, and protecting his ass
New armour, he intended thus
To kill David and make a fuss.
17 But Abishai Zeruiah’s
Son helped him and as such help does
Struck down the Philistine and dead.
Then David’s men swore to him, said
“You shall go out no more when led
To battle lest you quench the lamp
Of Israel in battle’s damp.”

There came a day when David was too old,
Decrepit and could not do battle bold
Without the risk of dying at the hand
Of Philistine uncircumcised fire-brand.
That’s why his captains and his men allowed
They would not see him more come out with crowd,
But he should sit in palace on the throne
And let the younger men risk life and bone.
Beloved, I too approach the golden years
When hair no longer brown it so appears
Turns silver with the turning of the sun.
My fighting days are now forever done.
But I still bear the Philistine a grudge
While I sit on my throne though do not budge.

18 And after this it happened so,
That there was again war with foe
Of Philistines at Gob, and there
Sibbecai the Hushathite fair
Killed Saph, who was one of the sons
Of the giant. 19 And like the Huns
There was a fight with Philistines
At Gob, and Elhanan the son
Of Jaare-oregim whose signs
Were Bethlehemite killed with done
Goliath the Gittite, the staff
Of whose spear was like a distaff,
A weaver’s beam. 20 And yet to laugh
There was a battle pitched in Gath,
Where there was a man tall in wrath,
Who had six fingers on each hand,
And six toes that both his feet spanned,
Twenty-four in all, and he too
Was born and of the giant’s crew.
21 And when he taunted Israel,
Jonathan son of Shimea well
David’s brother killed him as well.
22 These four were born to giants in
Gath, and died and were put in bin
By David’s hand, and by the hand
Of his servants by his command.

Beloved, I’ve killed no giants on the run
Up from Gath under setting of the sun.
I’ve set no dart upon the beating heart
Of enemy, and yet I’ve done my part.
Grave Milton said they also serve who stand,
And while I often sit, I’ve not been canned
From scribbling praises to Your name that sends
The Philistine to judgement round the bends.
Beloved, I rise to shout when all is lost
To the uncircumcised and to their cost,
I clap my hands in pleasure when the rude
Are swept off aircraft carriers with the brood
Of scorpions that lash out on poor, unwary.
Beloved, when You succeed I’m the one merry.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

To purchase the books, please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-genesis-to-maccabees/paperback/product-20136835.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-job-to-revelation/paperback/product-20050862.html