Then the Lord sent Samuel to Saul. And Saul hastened to meet him with the words: "Blessed be thou of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord!" But Samuel answered: "What meaneth then the bleating of sheep in my ears?" And Saul answered: "The people spared the best of the flocks to sacrifice to the Lord." And Samuel said to Saul: "Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord has said to me this night." "When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made head over the tribes of Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, 'Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.'" "Wherefore then didst thou fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?" "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?" "Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He also hath rejected thee from being king." This is the reason why God gave the kingdom to David, and allowed Saul to be killed on Mount Gilboa. [Illustration] XXIV. ABSALOM THE story of Absalom cannot be anything but a sad one. He was the third son of David, and his mother's name was Maachah, who was the daughter of the King of Geshur. He inherited great beauty from both his father and his mother, and was evidently the idol of David's heart. But with all his fascinating beauty, he was not a good man. His mother was a heathen princess, and Absalom had not been taught in her home the justice, the purity, the forbearance, the love, and the fear of God, which ought to be the ruling-spring of our lives. His one thought was how to please himself, no matter what impediments stood in his way. By and by he had cause to be angry with his half-brother Amnon, who had acted very wickedly; but instead of bringing him to be judged by the law, Absalom secretly plotted to kill him. For this purpose, he invited all the king's sons to be present at a great feast; and he gave his servants orders to set upon Amnon and kill him, when he gave a sign to do so after supper. When the rest of the king's sons saw this dreadful deed, they all fled on their mules in hot haste; but while they were on their way back to Jerusalem, the tidings reached David that all his sons were dead! The sorrowful king tore his clothes, and lay upon the earth, and all his servants stood by with their clothes rent. But Jonadab, David's nephew, tried to comfort the king, by assuring him that only Amnon was dead. While Jonadab was persuading the king that it was not as bad as had first been told him, they saw a great company coming down the hillside, and Jonadab said to the king: "See, it is as I said; there are the king's sons!" Then all David's sons wept for the sad thing which had happened, and David and his servants wept very much. But Absalom had fled, and had gone to his mother's relatives at Geshur, where he stayed three years. And David mourned for his son every day.