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Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary Right The Church, after the celebration in honor of the great sacred events with its songs of praise and gratitude, turning to the most chosen instruments of Providence, through which the celebrated events took place, the day after the feast of the Nativity of Christ gathers to praise the Mother of God. “Come,” calls St. Church on this day, let us glorify the Mother of Spasova, who again appeared as a Virgin after the Nativity.” This meeting of believers on the eve of the Nativity of Christ for the glorification and thanksgiving of the Mother of God, who gave birth to the Savior, is called the Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos. The establishment of this council dates back to the ancient times of the Christian Church. On the day of this Council in the 4th century, the Fathers of the Church already spoke teachings; These include the word of Epiphanius of Cyprus, the interlocutor of John Chrysostom and who died in 402 AD. This word is mentioned in the church service of the cathedral in honor of the Most Holy. Mother of God, where it says: “and we honor the word of Epiphanius of Cyprus, the praise of the Most Holy. Mother of God." Also St. Ambrose of Milan and Blessed. Augustine, in his teachings on the feast of Christ, combined praise for the born God-man with praise for the Virgin who gave birth. An indication of the celebration of the Mother of God after the Nativity of Christ can also be found in Rule 79 of the 6th Ecumenical Council, which took place in 691. This rule says: “The divine birth from the Virgin, as if it were seedless, we confess that it is painless and preach this to the whole flock, we subject to correction those who, out of ignorance, do something improper. Some people, according to the day of St. The Nativity of Christ our God is seen preparing bread cookies and passing them on to each other, supposedly in honor of the diseases of birth, the all-immaculate Virgin Mother: then we determine that the faithful should not do anything like that. For this is not an honor to the Virgin, more than the mind and the word, who gave birth in the flesh to the incontainable Word, if her ineffable birth is determined and represented, following the example of an ordinary birth that is characteristic of us.” This custom originated from an ancient false teaching, which was later spread by Nestorius, calling the Mother of God not the Mother of God, but the Mother of Christ. St. David the Godfather, prophet and king of the Jews David was the youngest of the 8 sons of Jesse, the grandson of Obed, the great-grandson of Boaz and his wife, “blessed by the Lord” Ruth; through Boaz, he came from the descendants of Judah, to whom his father Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, promised control of the Jewish people until the coming of the Savior to earth. “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet. until the Reconciler comes, and to Him is the obedience of the nations” (Gen. 49:10), Jacob said to Judah, when, having gathered his sons, he prophetically announced to them about “what will happen to them in the days to come”... But in complete ignorance of his future high appointment, David humbly spent his childhood in the small town of Bethlehem, in his father’s poor house, tending his sheep. Meanwhile, the hour of his election and Divine calling was approaching... Saul reigned over the Israelites at that time and was already warned by the prophet Samuel that for an unworthy reign, God would “take away the kingdom of Israel from him and give it to his neighbor, to his better” (1 Samuel 15:28). When the aged Samuel, who was greatly grieved over King Saul, whom he loved, departed from the king rejected by God to live in the city of Ramah, God said: “How long will you grieve over Saul, whom I rejected so that he would not be king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided a king for Myself among his sons. “And Samuel said, How shall I go? Saul will hear and kill me. The Lord said: Take in your hand a heifer from the herd and say: I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. And invite Jesse (and his sons) to the sacrifice; I will show you what you should do, and you will anoint for Me the one I tell you about. And Samuel did as the Lord told him. When he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city came out to meet him with trepidation and said: Is your coming peaceful? And he answered: peaceful; I came to sacrifice to the Lord; Sanctify yourself and come with me to the sacrifice; - and sanctified Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. And when they arrived, he saw Eliab and said, “This is truly His anointed before the Lord!” “But the Lord said to Samuel: Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature; I don't look the way a person looks; For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” And thus “Jesse brought his seven sons to Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse: The Lord has not chosen any of these. – Are all your children here? – Samuel then asked Jesse. “No: there is an even smaller one, but he tends the sheep,” answered Jesse. “Come and get him,” said Samuel, “for we will not sit down to dinner until he comes here.” And Jesse sent, and they brought David. He was blond, with beautiful eyes and a pleasant face. And the Lord said: Arise, anoint him, for it is he.” “And the prophet Samuel anointed David, “and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon David from that day and after;” Samuel went to Ramah. And David returned to his sheep. He continued his modest work in his father’s house, meanwhile he grew physically and mentally.” “Without a doubt,” the Reverend says about him. Filaret, Metropolitan. Moscow 362, - from the Spirit of God hovering over the young man David, bright rays descended into his mind to enlighten him in the knowledge of what is true, pleasing to God and saving; holy sparks fell into the heart to ignite it with good intentions and saving deeds - and his whole being was filled with the highest power, with which he boldly began difficult deeds and completed them without fatigue.” – Various talents developed in the young man chosen by God; among other things, they manifested themselves in music and singing: “my hands made an organ, my fingers tuned a psalter,” he says about himself, remembering his youth, and subsequently achieved such art in music that brought him fame. Probably already then, in these youthful years, when he was tending his father’s sheep, inspired by the beauty of the nature around him, David began to compose his psalms, in which he praised the Creator of nature and man. - “Lord, our God! - cried the fiery soul of the young shepherd, - how majestic is Your name throughout the whole earth! Your glory extends above the heavens!” “When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, at the moon and the stars that You have set. What is man, that You remember him, and the son of man, that You visit him? You did not make him a little lower than the angels; crowned him with glory and honor; You have made him ruler over the works of Your hands; He put everything under his feet, all the sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, everything that passes along the paths of the sea. Lord our God! How majestic is Your name throughout the whole earth!” (Psalm VIII). And the shepherd David became so famous for his skill in music that when King Saul, who at that time was suffering from fits of severe melancholy, tormented everyone around him with his irritability, they one day said to him: “Behold, an evil spirit from God troubles you... Let our master order his servants who are in front of you to look for a person skilled in playing the harp; and when an evil spirit from God comes upon you, he, playing with his hand, will calm you down. And Saul answered his servants, Find me a man who plays well, and present him to me. Then one of his servants said: Behold, I saw Jesse the Bethlehemite’s son who knew how to play, a brave and warlike man, and intelligent in speech, and distinguished in appearance, and the Lord was with him. And Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send to me David your son, who is with the flock. And Jesse took a donkey with bread, and a bottle of wine, and one kid, and sent it with David his son to Saul. And David came to Saul, and served before him, and he liked him very much, and became his armor bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, Let David serve with me; for he has found favor in my sight. And when the spirit from God came upon Saul, David took the harp and played, and Saul felt more joyful and better, and the evil spirit departed from him.” Meanwhile, the Philistines, a neighboring people who were constantly at war with the Israelites, again attacked them. Going to war, Saul sent David to his father, probably because he was still too young, and, returning to Bethlehem, David began to tend the flocks again; His three older brothers - Eliab, Abminadab and Samma - went to war. David's return to solitude after a vain and difficult life at the court of a sick-souled king should have been fruitless and even more expensive. His feelings and thoughts, nourished by beneficial impressions, actively worked, developed, rose and poured out at that time and subsequently in appropriate chants, which reflected the calmness inspired by the silence of nature, and the wisdom of the heart taught by it, and trust in the Creator of all beauty in the world, that He will preserve man, His beloved, even among the storms and unrest of the world... Eg. “Truly, I am calm and quiet in my soul, like a weaned child near its mother, like a weaned child, the soul is within me”... “The Lord is my shepherd; I won't need anything. He makes me lie down in green pastures, and leads me beside still waters. Strengthens my soul, guides me on the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff—they give me peace” (Ps. 22). “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Day conveys speech to day and night reveals meaning to night. There is no language and no dialect where their voice is not heard. Their sound goes throughout the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. He made a dwelling for the sun in them. And it comes out like a bridegroom from his bridal chamber, rejoicing like a giant to run the race. From the edge of heaven is his departure, and his march to the edge of them, and nothing is hidden from his warmth. The law of the Lord is perfect, strengthens the soul; The revelation of the Lord is true, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are righteous and gladden the heart; The commandment of the Lord is bright and enlightens the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure; abides forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, all are righteous. They are more desirable than gold and even much pure gold, sweeter than honey and drops of honeycomb. And Your servant is guarded by them; in observing them there is a great reward. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be acceptable before You, O Lord, my rock and my Savior!” (Ps. 17). Meanwhile, the war with the Philistines continued; Jesse once sent David to the camp of Israel, located not far from Bethlehem, to inquire about his eldest sons. And so, when David came to the camp and talked with his brothers, then “a single combatant named Goliath came out of the Philistine camp,” a giant in stature and clad from head to toe in copper weapons, mocked the Israelites, and shouted to them: “Why did you go out to fight? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a person from yourself and let him come to me. If he can fight me and kill me, then we will be your slaves; if I defeat and kill him, then you will be our slaves and serve us.” This was not the first time that this Philistine addressed the Israelites with such a challenge and threatened to put them to shame, and all the Israelites, “seeing this man, ran away from him and were very afraid. And the Israelites said, Do you see this man speaking? He comes out to revile Israel. If someone had killed him, the king would have given him great wealth and given him his daughter in marriage, and his father’s house would have been made free in Israel.” Meanwhile, no one dared to oppose the giant, who had extraordinary strength. David, seeing and hearing the Philistine, was indignant that he “blasphemed the army of the living God and expressed his readiness to fight with a single combatant. This was reported to Saul, and he called him. And David said to Saul, Let no one lose heart because of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight with him... And Saul said to David: You cannot go against this Philistine, for you are still a youth, but he has been a warrior from his youth. And David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and carried away a sheep from the flock, I chased after him and attacked him and snatched him from his mouth; and if he rushed at me, then I took him by the hair, and struck and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, and the same thing will happen to this uncircumcised Philistine as to them, because he thus defies the army of the living God. The Lord, who delivered me from the lion and the bear, will also deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul then said to David, Go, and may the Lord be with you.” Saul dressed David in his own armor, but, embarrassed by it, “David took all this off from himself, and taking his staff in his hand, he chose for himself five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his shepherd’s bag; and with a bag and a sling in his hand he came out against the Philistine. - Why are you coming at me with a stick and stones? Am I a dog? - he turned to the young man David with contempt, - come to me, and I will give your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field... “You are coming against me with a sword and shield,” David answered Goliath, “and I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which you have defied.” Now the Lord is delivering you into my hand, and I will kill you and take off your head, and I will give your corpse and the corpses of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel. And this entire crowd will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for this is the Lord’s war, and He will deliver you into our hands.” And according to the faith of the unarmed with nothing but faith, it came true: David struck the giant with a stone thrown from a sling, and with his own sword, not having his own, cut off his head. Seeing this, the Philistines fled, and complete victory remained with the Israelites. The new song pours out gratitude to the God of the humble conqueror: “Blessed is the Lord, my stronghold, who teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to fight,” sings David in Ps. 143, “my mercy, and my fence, my refuge and my deliverer, my shield - and I trust in Him; He makes my people subject to me. God! What is man, that You know him, and the son of man, that You pay attention to him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a retreating shadow...”, perhaps in David’s mind his suddenly slain enemy is brought, and, turning his thoughts to other enemies, fellow tribesmen of the deceased, he continues: “Lord! bow down Thy heavens, and come down; touch the mountains and they will rise. “Flash with lightning and scatter them; shoot your arrows and destroy them. Stretch out Your hand from on high, deliver me and save me from many waters, from the hand of the sons of foreigners, whose lips speak vain things and whose right hand is the right hand of lies. God! I will sing a new song to You, on a ten-stringed psalter I will sing to You, who gives salvation to kings and delivers David His servant from the fierce sword. Deliver me and save me from the hand of the sons of foreigners, whose lips speak vain things and whose right hand is the right hand of lies. Let our sons be like overgrown plants in their youth; Our daughters are like skillfully sculptured pillars in the palaces! Let our granaries be full, abundant with all grain; May our sheep multiply by the thousands and in tens of thousands in our pastures! Let our oxen be fat; let there be no theft, no loss, no outcry on our streets! Blessed are the people who have this. Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord!” “And David himself, the prayer book for others, God did not leave His guardianship, apparently stayed with him and protected him from the dangers that were not slow to present themselves to him as soon as he left his peaceful Bethlehem shelter and from a humble shepherd of sheep turned into a ruler over people... Although “he acted prudently wherever Saul sent him,” bringing him finally closer to himself after his miraculous victory over Goliath and even made him the commander of all the troops, nevertheless, he was subjected to the hatred of Saul himself, who could not bear the rapidly growing glory of David and, sensing a rival in him, began to suspect him and pursue him and even tried to kill him several times... For the first time, the king’s hostile feeling towards the young winner was manifested when, when they returned together from the war against the Philistines, “women from all the cities of Israel, coming out to meet them with singing and dancing, with solemn timbrels and cymbals, they exclaimed: Saul defeated thousands, and David - tens of thousands! And Saul was greatly grieved, and this word was unpleasant to him; he said: They gave tens of thousands to David, and thousands to me; he only lacks the kingdom... - And from that day he looked at David suspiciously. Soon, during one of his fits of extreme irritation, which at times overcame him to the point of fury, Saul, listening to David’s music, instead of the calm that it usually produced on him, indulged in an angry feeling against David and, thinking: “I will nail David to the wall, he threw the spear that was with him at him... but David dodged it twice”... Envy, meanwhile, played out more and more in the heart of Saul, as he saw that young David was more and more possessed by the love and respect of the people, and he sought to destroy him, “but,” he thought, “let not my hand be on him, but the hand of the Philistines,” and in the hope that David would be killed in the war with these strong enemies, he instructed him to wage war with them, promising him, if successful in the war, to marry his eldest daughter to him. your Merova. “Who am I, and what is my life, and my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?” - David humbly wondered in response to this proposal from the king. Meanwhile, Saul did not fulfill his promise to give his eldest daughter to the brave conqueror of the Philistines and gave her in marriage to another. But having learned that his youngest daughter Michal fell in love with David, he decided to “make her a snare for him.” “Through your youngest daughter you will become related to me,” he promised David again; Meanwhile, wanting to catch him in his ambition, he ordered his close associates to secretly convey to him: “Behold, the king favors you, and all his servants love you; So, be the king’s son-in-law.” – But humility is elusive for deceit; With sincere simplicity, David answered the king’s servants: “Does it seem easy to you to be the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor and insignificant person." - When these words of David were conveyed to Saul, he, continuing “to have in his thoughts - to destroy David by the hands of the Philistines,” said: so tell David: the king does not want a vein (usual ransom) for the bride, but wants him to kill a hundred Philistines - in vengeance on the king’s enemies. “And Saul’s servants told these words to David, and David liked to become the king’s son-in-law. “And before the time appointed for the killing of one hundred Philistines was fulfilled, David, with the help of his men, had already killed two hundred. And then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage. And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David (and all Israel loved him), and that his daughter Michal loved David. And Saul began to fear David even more, and became his enemy for life.” Without retreating from his idea of ​​destroying him, he finally began to directly tell his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan, attached with all his soul to David, made every effort to save him and calm his father’s insane irritation; he reminded him of all the virtues and merits of David and achieved this time that “Saul listened to the voice of his son, and Saul swore: as the Lord lives, David will not die”... But the man does not remember his oaths for long, indulging in his passions that blind him... Soon, the new defeat that David inflicted on the Philistines again aroused envy in the heart of Saul and, in a fit of anger, he threw a spear at David at the same time as he tried to calm the king’s indignant heart with music... But the spear pierced the wall past David, who had escaped the blow, and who hastened to take refuge in his own room. home. But even here he did not get rid of the persecution that hated him: “Saul sent servants to David’s house to guard and kill until the morning. And Michal his wife said to David: If you do not save your soul this night, you will be killed tomorrow. - And Michal let David down from the window, and he went and ran away and was saved. And he came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him everything that Saul had done to him.” Having learned about this, Saul continued to pursue his victim here too - through his servants and personally, but the Lord protected His chosen one, who, having lost hope of disarming the king’s anger, decided to leave the borders of his land. When he came to Achish, king of Gath, he was in great danger, because he was recognized by his servants: “Isn’t this David, the king of that country? - They said to Achish, - wasn’t it him they sang in round dances and said: Saul killed thousands, and David - tens of thousands? David was frightened by these words, and was it not at this time that he cried out to God, trusting in Him: “Hear, O God, my cry, hearken to my prayer!” From the ends of the earth I cry to You in the despondency of my heart: lead me to a rock out of reach for me; for you are my refuge, you are a strong defense from the enemy. May I live forever in Your dwelling, and may I rest under the shelter of Your wings.”... and, praying for his salvation from his enemies, he at the same time prayed to God for his evil enemy: “Add the days to the days of the king; his summers were extended for generations and generations. May he abide forever before God; command mercy and truth to protect him” (Ps. 60). Meanwhile, “David changed his face in front of them (hostile foreigners) and pretended to be crazy in their eyes”... - “You see,” then the king said to his servants, you see, he is a crazy man; Why did you bring him to me?” “And then the Philistines drove the stranger away, and he took refuge in the cave of Adollam, not far from Bethlehem, where he could count on safety from the persecutions of Saul and, filled with gratitude to God for his deliverance, joyfully sang to his Deliverer: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise is continually in my mouth. In the Lord my soul will glory; The meek will hear and rejoice. Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together! I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my dangers. Those who turned their gaze to Him were enlightened, and their faces would not be ashamed. This beggar cried out, and the Lord heard and saved him from all his troubles. The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them. Taste and see how good the Lord is! Blessed is the man who trusts in him! The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and He will save those who are humble in spirit. The Lord will deliver the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him will perish!” (Ps. 34) 363. “In the cave of Adollam, where David was hiding, “his brothers and all his father’s house came to him, and all the oppressed and all the debtors and all the sorrowful in soul gathered to him, and he became a ruler over them, and there were about 400 people with him. David went with them across the Jordan to the Massif of Moab and said to the king of Moab: “Let my father and my mother stay with you until I find out what God will do to me.” And, leaving them here, on the advice of the prophet Gad, he went to the land of Judah and hid here in the Hearst forest. At this time, despite his own dangerous situation, David could not resist giving help to the inhabitants of the city of Keilah against the Philistines who attacked them and, as usual, resorting to God, repelled the enemies. Meanwhile, Saul, having learned that David was in Keilah, called all the people to war to go to Keilah and besiege David and his people. But, warned of the danger threatening him, David, having prayed to God and received a suggestion not to be exposed to a meeting with Saul, withdrew from Keilah and “stayed in the desert, in inaccessible places, and then on a mountain in the desert of Ziph.” His constant friend Jonathan came here to him, “and strengthened him with trust in God, and said to him: Do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul will not find you, and you will reign over Israel, and I will be second to you; and Saul my father knows it.” But those who loved each other like brothers and sincerely entered into the above-mentioned fraternal union did not know that it would not take place, because this meeting was their last in this world... Freed for a time from the pursuit of Saul, who again set off to repel the Philistines, David, having retired from unsafe places where Saul was already looking to destroy him, “settled in the safe places of En-Gaddi.” But here, too, Saul, having returned from the war, was going to pursue him, and at that time he had the opportunity to verify the complete kindness and holy devotion to him on the part of David. Having once accidentally entered a cave in the depths of which David and his men were hiding, Saul found himself in their complete power. “This is the day that the Lord spoke to you about, that he will deliver your enemy into your hands, and you will do with him what you please.”...the people who were with him told David. But David convinced them that they could not lay hands on God’s anointed, and limited himself to cutting off only the edge of his clothing without Saul noticing. Having waited until Saul left the cave, he followed him and, bowing to the king to the ground, said to him: “Why do you listen to the speech of people who say to you: behold, David is plotting evil against you? Behold, today your eyes see that the Lord has today delivered you into my hands in the cave; and they told me to kill you; but I spared you and said: I will not lift up my hand against my master, for he is the Lord’s anointed... My father! look at the hem of your garment in my hand; I cut off the hem of your garment, but I did not kill you. Find out and make sure that there is no evil or deceit in my hand, and I have not sinned against you; and you are looking for my soul to take it away... May the Lord judge between me and you, and may the Lord take revenge on you for me; but my hand will not be on you." Saul was moved to tears by David’s act and admonished by his words, and said to David: “You are more right than me, for you repaid me with good, and I repaid you with evil... Who, having found an enemy, would let him go on his good path? The Lord will reward you with goodness for what you did to me today. And now I know that you will surely reign, and the kingdom of Israel will be firmly in your hand. So, swear to me before the Lord that you will not uproot my descendants after me and will not destroy my name in my father’s house. And David swore to Saul; and Saul went to his house, and David and his men went up to the fortified place.” But David did not eradicate the malice in Saul’s heart with his generosity. Soon again, Saul, having learned that David was hiding “on the hill of Hahilah, which is to the right of Jeshimon, “rose and went down into the wilderness of Ziph, and with him 3,000 chosen men of Israel, to look for David there.” “Having learned about this, David, “rising up at night, went (secretly) to the place where Saul encamped, and, seeing where Saul and his army commander Abner, who was with him, were sleeping, he said to Abishai (the son of Sarhuin, Joab’s brother) who accompanied him: “Do not kill Saul, for who, having raised his hand against the anointed of God, will remain unpunished? The Lord lives! may the Lord strike him down, or his day come and he die, or go to war and perish; May the Lord not allow me to raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed... But take his spear, which is at his head, and the vessel of water, and let’s go to ourselves”... They did so and quietly moved away from the tent, without waking the sleeping people. Having gone a long distance, David, standing on the top of the mountain, loudly woke him up, called Abner and began to reproach him for not taking care of his master, the Lord’s anointed. “Look,” he shouted, “where is the king’s spear and the vessel of water that were at his head? Why don’t you take care of your lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy the king, your lord... You are not doing this well. And you are worthy of death because you do not protect your master, the Lord’s anointed.” Awakened by the voice of David and the noise that arose in the camp, Saul also woke up and, learning from David’s words about what happened at night, was again struck by the generosity of the one he hated, again expressed his repentance, saying: “I have sinned, return, my son David! for I will do you no more harm, because my soul is now dear in your eyes; I acted foolishly and made a lot of mistakes." But, having already experienced how incompetent the king was in his impulses, David could no longer trust him and answered: “Here is the king’s spear; let one of the youths come and take him,” and he went his way, and Saul returned to his place. And so, not trusting the king’s fickle promises, David continued to wander, avoiding his persecution. - "My God! - he sang during this wandering through the land of Judea 364, - You are my God, I have been looking for You since the early dawn; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You in an empty, parched and waterless land... How my soul is satisfied with fatness and oil, and my lips praise You with a joyful voice, when I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You during the night watches. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. And those who seek the destruction of my soul will descend to the underworld of the earth; They will slay them with the might of the sword." Continuing to be under the yoke of persecution by the king who hated him, sometimes mentally exhausted among his tedious wanderings, David “said once in his heart: someday I will fall into the hands of Saul, and there is no better thing for me than to flee to the land of the Philistines... And Saul will leave me behind and will no longer look for me throughout all the borders of Israel, and I will be saved from his hand... And David arose and went, himself and the 600 men who were with him, again to Achish king of Gath. And he lived in Gath, himself and his men, each with his family, David and his two wives - Abigail, the former wife of Nabal, the Carmelite, and Ahinoam the Jezreelite. “And they told Saul that David had fled to Gath, and he sought him no more.” From Gath, the city of Ziklag, which Achish gave David, he made constant raids on foreigners to feed himself and those with him, and did not reveal to Achish that he was not defeating the Jews, so Achish, assuming that he, having gone over to him, was acting against his own, “confided in David, saying: he has opposed his people Israel, and will be my servant forever.” But David was put in a difficult position when war broke out between the Israelites and the Philistines and the king of Gath Achish said to him: “let it be known to you that you will go with me into the army, you and your people.” And David went with his men, accompanying Achish, after the princes of the Philistines, who came with hundreds and thousands. But even here the Lord helped him and did not allow him to draw a sword against his native people. The Philistine princes drew attention to the presence of the Jews among their militias and, having learned that they were led by David, their constant and victorious enemy, they were indignant at Achish and said to him: “Let this man go, so that he does not become our enemy in the war... How can he appease his master, if not with the heads of these men? Isn’t this the same David to whom they sang in round dances: Saul killed thousands, and David tens of thousands?” - And in order to calm the alarmed princes of the Philistines, Achish sent David to his place of settlement, the city of Ziklag. Having found this town devastated by the Amalekites during his absence, David almost suffered from his companions, who came to despair because they had lost their families and property and wanted to stone David... But David, “strengthened by the hope of the Lord his God,” set out in pursuit of the Amalekites, unexpectedly attacked them and took from them everything that they had taken. Meanwhile, the news came that the Philistines had put the Israelites to flight and killed Saul and his three sons... Struck by this news, David “grabbed his clothes and tore them, and all the people who were with him tore their clothes, and wept and wept, and fasted until evening for Saul and for his son Jonathan, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen from sword" ... “And David mourned Saul and his son Jonathan with a lamentable song: “Your beauty, O Israel, is stricken on your heights!” how the mighty have fallen! Do not speak in Gath, do not proclaim in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice... Mountains of Gilboa! Let neither dew nor rain fall upon you, and let there be no fields of fruit upon you, for there the shield of the mighty is broken, the shield of Saul, as if it had not been anointed with oil... Without the blood of the wounded, without the fat of the mighty, Jonathan's bow did not return, and Saul's sword did not return in vain. Saul and Jonathan, amiable and agreeable in their lives, were not separated in their death; They were faster than eagles, stronger than lions... Daughters of Israel! Weep for Saul, who dressed you in scarlet robe with ornaments and set your garments in gold. How the mighty fell in battle! Jonathan is slain on your high places. I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan; you were very dear to me; your love was for me higher than a woman’s love. How the mighty fell, the weapons of war perished” 365! Having mourned his fallen enemy - the king and his beloved friend - Jonathan, David, having prayed, at the inspiration of God, went to the city of Hebron, the main city of Judah, where he was anointed king, but only over one house of Judah, since the rest of the Israelite tribes proclaimed Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, king over themselves. David lived in Hebron for 6½ years, until Ishbosheth died from the betrayal of his two commanders, who, foreseeing the subordination of all tribes to David, decided to speed up this matter and, hoping to please David, killed Ishbosheth, sleeping in his house, and brought his head to David... But those who did not understand the sublime heart of David were mistaken in their calculation. He shuddered at the atrocity of the traitors. “Do you really think,” he said to them, “that I will not exact blood from the hands of worthless people who killed an innocent man in his house on his bed, and that I will not destroy you from the face of the earth?” And he ordered their hands and feet to be cut off and hanged over the pond in Hebron. Meanwhile, all the elders of Israel gathered in Hebron, and “King David made a covenant with them before the Lord; and they anointed David king over all Israel. He was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned after that for 40 years.” “And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites (Canaanite tribe), the inhabitants of that country,” who were firmly established there behind their almost impregnable fortress on Mount Zion. “But David took this fortress and settled in it, and called it the city of David, and built it around from Milla and inside. “And David prospered and was exalted, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.” Having established his stay in Jerusalem, King David transferred to it the ark of the Lord, which had until then been in Eariathyarim, in the house of Amminadab, since his return from captivity in the Philistines. This transfer of the shrine to the new capital, Mount Zion, was accomplished with complete zeal and with all possible solemnity. In majestic psalms, King David sang this entry into Zion of the Lord’s holiness: “The earth is the Lord’s and the things that fill it, the world and everything that lives in it, for He founded it on the seas and established it on the rivers. Who will ascend to the mountain of the Lord, or who will stand in His holy place? The one whose hands are innocent and whose heart is pure, who has not sworn with his soul in vain and has not sworn falsely (to his neighbor); he will receive blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, those who seek Your face, O God of Jacob! Lift up your heights, O gates, and be lifted up, O eternal doors, and the King of glory will enter! Who is this King of glory? - The Lord is mighty and strong, the Lord is mighty in battle. Lift up your heights, O gates, and lift up the eternal doors, and the King of glory will enter! Who is this King of glory? “The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory!” (Ps.23). "God! who can dwell in Your habitation? Who can dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks uprightly and does righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue, does not do evil to his sincere and does not accept reproach against his neighbor; he in whose eyes the outcast is despised, but who glorifies those who fear the Lord; who swears even to evil, and does not change; who does not give his silver at interest and does not accept gifts against the innocent. He who does this will never be shaken” (Ps. 14) 366. After the ark of the Lord was transferred to Mount Zion, David helped ensure that Divine services began to be performed here with special amenities. He himself sang and commanded others to “chant the holy name of the Lord, to proclaim in the sanctuary from early morning and to praise Him in the evening.” “Great is the Lord and most praised in the city of our God, on His holy mountain! - he chants. Beautiful height, the joy of the whole earth, Mount Zion; on its northern side is the city of the great King. God is known in His dwellings as an intercessor. Let Mount Zion rejoice, (and) let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of Thy judgments (Lord)! Go around Zion and go around it; count its towers; turn your heart to its strongholds; consider it at home to retell it to the future generation. For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our leader until his death!” (Ps.47). Having completed the construction of the new tabernacle and established the appropriate Divine service, David burned with zeal to serve the saints and, moreover, to build a church to God. “Behold,” he once said to the prophet Nathan, “I live in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is under a tent... And Nathan said to the king, Go do whatever is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David, Thus says the Lord: Will you build me a house to dwell in, when I have not dwelt in a house from the time I brought the children of Israel out of Egypt until this day, but have traveled in tents and tabernacles? Wherever I walked with all the children of Israel, did I even say a word to any of the tribes to whom I appointed to shepherd My people Israel: Why don’t you build Me a house of cedar? And now say this to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the flock of sheep, that you might be a leader of my people Israel. I was with you wherever you went, and I destroyed all your enemies before your face, and made your name great, like the name of the great ones on earth. And I will build a place for My people Israel, and I will establish them, and they will live quietly in their place and will no longer be troubled, and wicked people will no longer oppress them as before, from the time that I appointed judges over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. And the Lord declares to you that He will build you a house. When your days are fulfilled, and you rest with your fathers, then I will raise up your seed after you, which will come from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be My son; and if he sins, I will punish him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the sons of men; but I will not take My mercy from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I rejected before your face. And your house and your kingdom will be established forever before My face, and your throne will stand forever.” Nathan recounted all these words and this entire vision to David. “And King David went and stood before the face of the Lord, and said: Who am I, Lord, Lord, and what is my house, that You have exalted me so much! And this has not yet appeared in Thy sight, my Lord, Lord; but you also proclaimed the house of your servant afar off. This is already human, my Lord, Lord! What else can David tell you? You know Your servant, my Lord, Lord! For the sake of Your word and according to Your heart You do this, revealing all this great things to Your servant. You are great in everything, my Lord, Lord! for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like Your people Israel, the only people on earth for whom God came to acquire them for His own people and glorify His name, and to do great and terrible things before Your people, which You acquired for Yourself from the Egyptians, driving out the nations and their gods? And You have established Your people Israel behind You as Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God, And now, Lord God, establish forever the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, and fulfill what You have spoken. And let Thy name be rejoiced forever, that they may say: The Lord of hosts is God over Israel. And let the house of Your servant David be established before You. Since You, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to Your servant, saying, “I will build you a house,” Your servant has prepared his heart to pray to You with this prayer: So, my Lord, my Lord! You are God, and Your words are immutable, and You have announced such good things to Your servant! And now begin and bless the house of Thy servant, that it may be ever before Thy face; for You, my Lord, Lord, have declared this, and by Your blessing the house of Your servant will be made blessed (that he may be before You) forever.” And King David, blessed by God, prospered in all his deeds. He happily waged wars with his enemies and protected his country from them on all sides: he defeated and humbled the Philistines, and the Moabites, and Adraazar, the king of Suba, and his allies - the Syrians of Damascus - and he dedicated everything he obtained from the conquered peoples to God, preparing the richest material for the construction in the future of the most majestic church to Him. In the midst of his prosperity, David did not exalt himself, “executed justice and righteousness over all his people” and did not grow cold in sympathy for people; He was especially concerned about showing mercy to someone from the house of Saul. “Is there anyone left from the house of Saul? “David asked one day, “I would show him mercy for Jonathan’s sake.” And, having learned that Jonathan’s lame-footed son Mephibosheth was still alive, he returned to him “everything that belonged to Saul and his whole house,” and invited him to always dine at his royal table. However, David did not retain his peace forever, living piously and enjoying all external blessings. Sin entered his soul; and the calm left her. Once, having fallen in love with a beautiful woman named Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was then in the war waged between the Israelites and the Ammonites under the command of Joab, David reached such a criminal infatuation with an unlawful feeling for a married woman that he wrote a letter to the military commander Joab, instructing him to place Uriah where the strongest battle would be, and to retreat from it so that he would be defeated and die. And when this order of the king was fulfilled, and Uriah died, David married his widow Bathsheba. “And this work which David did was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Then, to admonish the criminal king, God sent the prophet Nathan to him. He came to the king and began the task entrusted to him with the following story: “There were two people in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a lot of large and small livestock; but the poor man had nothing but a little lamb, which he bought as a small one and fed, and it grew up with him along with his children; She ate of his bread, and drank from his cup, and slept on his chest, and was like a daughter to him. “And a stranger came to a rich man, and he was sorry to take some of his sheep or oxen to prepare dinner for the stranger who came to him, but he took the poor man’s sheep and prepared it for the man who came to him.” – David was very angry with this man and said to Nathan: “As the Lord lives!” The person who did this deserves death. And for the lamb he must pay four times, for the fact that he did this, and for the fact that he had no compassion" ... “And Nathan said to David, “You are the man who did this... Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul and gave you the house of your master and the house of Israel and Judah, and if this was not enough for you, I would add even more to you. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, doing what is evil in His sight? You smote Uriah the Hittite with the sword of Ammon, and took his wife to be your wife... So the sword shall not depart from your house forever, because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will bring evil against you out of your house... You did it in secret, but I will do it before all Israel and before the sun" ... “And David said to Nathan, “I have sinned before the Lord”... Seeing the full depth of David’s contrite repentance for his sin, Nathan softened the burden that had taken possession of the heart of the criminal king with the following words: “The Lord has taken away your sin from you; you will not die... But since by this deed you have given the enemies of the Lord a reason to blaspheme Him, the son born to you (by Bathsheba) will die. And this prediction of the prophet was fulfilled, despite the fact that David “prayed to God for the child, and fasted, and, secluded, spent the night lying on the ground” in heartfelt contrition. How great this contrition was is most eloquently expressed by the famous psalms L, VI, XXXI, XXXVII and CXLII, which St. The Church itself recognizes them as repentant. After the death of his dear baby, other disasters visited David and did not leave his house. The king's son Amnon, having insulted his sister Tamar (from his father's other wife), was killed for this by her half-brother Absalom, who after that disappeared from his father's house and fled to the king of Geshur Talmai - to the land of Canaan and stayed there for three years. King David, who loved his children, was greatly saddened by this evil in his house, and for the rest of his life he did not cease to mourn his beloved son, his first-born Amnoia. Long after Absalom’s return to Jerusalem, David, although he forgave him, did not want to see him. Meanwhile, from this son he faced a new, difficult test. The ambitious, insinuating and vindictive Absalom planned to rebel the people against his father and succeeded in this: “the people (who believed his slander against David and were seduced by Absalom’s various promises) flocked and multiplied around him... And a messenger came to David and said: the heart of the Israelites turned towards Absalom... And David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem: Arise, let us flee; for there will be no salvation for us from Absalom; hurry up so that we can leave, so that he does not overtake and capture us, and bring disaster upon us and destroy the cities with the sword... “In everything that pleases our lord the king,” answered the king’s servants. - we are your slaves... And the king and all his house went out after him on foot;" They turned out to be loyal to the king and accompanied him and 600 people from the Philistine city of Gath. “And the whole earth wept with a loud voice... And the king crossed over the brook Kidron, and the people followed him along the way to the wilderness...” “The priests Zadok and Abiathar and all the Levites also gathered on the road with the king, carrying the ark of God before him, but David ordered it to be returned to the city and put in its place, saying: “If I find mercy in the eyes of the Lord, then He will return me and let me see him and his dwelling; and if He says this: “My favor is not with you,” then here I am: let him do to me what is pleasing to Him.” And Zadok and Abiathar brought the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and remained there. And David went to the Mount of Olives, walked and wept; his head was covered; he walked barefoot, and all the people who were with him covered their heads, walked and wept.” At this time it was reported to David that his best adviser Ahithophel was also among the conspirators with Absalom. But with boundless meekness he treated all the insults that struck him one after another. This is how he treated Shimei, a distant relative of Saul, who, taking advantage of the king’s deplorable position, hastened to join his enemies. Having met David when he approached Bahurim, Shimei came out from there and cursed the king: go away, go away, murderer and lawless one! - he shouted to him and threw stones at David and all his servants, - the Lord turned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you reigned, and the Lord delivered the kingdom into the hands of Absalom your son; and behold, you are in trouble, for you are a bloodsucker... When Abishai, a close associate of King David, wanted to kill the daring insulter of his sovereign, David forbade him to inflict even the slightest harm on the one who rebelled against him. - “What do you and me, sons of Saruina? - he said, - leave him, let him slander; for the Lord commanded him to curse David. Who can say: why are you doing this? Behold, if my son, who came out of my loins, seeks my life, how much more is he the son of Benjamite. Leave him, let him slander; for the Lord commanded him. Perhaps the Lord will look upon my humiliation, and the Lord will reward me with goodness for his current slander." The kindness, humility, and unconditional devotion to the will of God, which David showed during his difficult trials, which he accepted as retribution for his sins, were poured out with inimitable eloquence in many psalms that relate to this time of his life. These are, for example, 5, 10, 25, 40, 54, 57, 63, 139 and other ten psalms: 4, 22, 24, 26, 27, 36, 60, 61, 85 and 140 367. Psalm 142 expresses with particular clarity the state of mind of King David at the time when he suffered from the persecution of his son Absalom. - "God! hear my prayer! - he appeals to his God and the only intercessor and comforter, - who listens to my prayer in Thy truth; hear me according to Your righteousness! And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for not one living will be justified before You. The enemy pursues my soul, trampled my life into the ground, forced me to live in darkness, like those long dead. And my spirit became sad within me; My heart became numb within me. I remember the days of old, I meditate on all Your works, I reason about the works of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; my soul is drawn to You like a thirsty land. Hear me soon, Lord; my spirit faints; do not hide Your face from me, lest I become like those who go down to the grave. Grant me early hearing of Your mercy, for I trust in You. Show me, Lord, the path I should follow, for I lift up my soul to You. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies, for I take refuge in You. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; May Your good Spirit lead me to the land of righteousness. For Thy name's sake, O Lord, quicken me; For the sake of Your righteousness, lead my soul out of adversity. And by Thy mercy destroy my enemies, and destroy all who oppress my soul, for I am Thy servant." Meanwhile, Absalom continued to arm himself against his father. Hushai the Archite, a friend of David, whom David instructed to stay in Jerusalem to notify him of everything that was happening there, warned the king to move across the Jordan River. “And David arose and all the men that were with him, and crossed over Jordan; and David came to Mahanaim” (the city of Gilead), where he met many people devoted to him, who supplied him and the people who were with him with various supplies - for, they said, the people were hungry and tired, and suffered thirst in the desert. And David examined the people who were with him, and appointed commanders of thousands and centurions over them, and entrusted the leadership over them to Joab, Abishai and Ephthah the Gittite, and he himself wanted to go out with them, but the people devoted to him restrained him, saying: “Even if we run, even if half of us die, then they will not pay attention to it, and you alone are the same as ten thousand of us; So, it is better for us that you help us from the city. Therefore, David remained and, standing at the gates of the city, when the troops were leaving it for battle, he asked only Joab, Abishai and Epheath to take care of his youth Absalom." “And the people went out into the field to meet the Israelites, and there was a battle in the forest of Ephraim, which spread throughout all that country, and the forest destroyed more people than the sword destroyed that day. And Absalom met with the servants of David; he was on a mule. When the mule ran with him under the branches of a large oak tree, Absalom got his hair entangled in the branches of the oak tree and hung between heaven and earth, and the mule that was under him ran away... When they reported this to Joab, despite the king’s request for his son, he “took three arrows in his hands and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, who was still alive on the oak tree, and at the same time ten youths, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom, and struck and killed him”... And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel, for Joab spared the people. And they took Absalom and threw him into a deep hole in the forest, and heaped a huge pile of stones over him. And all the Israelites fled, every one to his tent.” When the news of this outcome of the battle reached King David, “he was embarrassed, and went to the upper room above the gate, weeping, and as he walked, he said: My son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! Oh, who would let me die instead of you, Absalom, my son! Because of this grief and weeping for the king’s son, the victory of that day turned into lamentation for all the people: “and then the people entered the city stealthily, as ashamed people sneak, who during the battle fled... And the king covered his face and cried out loudly: “My son Absalom!” Absalom, my son, my son! And Joab came to the king’s house and said: today you have brought all your servants to shame, who have now saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters... You love those who hate you and hate those who love you, for you have shown today that both leaders and servants are nothing to you; Today I learned that if Absalom had lived and we had all died, it would have been more pleasant for you. So, get up, go out and speak to the hearts of your servants, for I swear by the Lord that if you do not come out, then this night you will not have a single person left, and that will be worse for you than all the disasters that have come upon you from your youth until now." David paid attention to this warning from his military commander and “got up and sat down at the gate, and they told all the people that the king was sitting at the gate: and all the people came before the king.” The Israelites, who first fled to their tents, soon decided to return King David to his kingdom. Thus, the uprising raised by Absalom ended, and the rebels were pacified, but at that time another rebel appeared - Sheba, from the family of Saul, who carried away with him all the tribes of Israel, except Judah. However, this indignation was soon pacified, and Savei was beheaded by decision of the people themselves. The persecution of David by his enemies stopped, but he was not spared from disasters in the remaining years of his life: “there was a famine in (his) land for three years, year after year;” then the war between the Philistines and the Israelites opened again, and David and his servants went out with him and fought with the Philistines, and David was tired,” which is why he did not personally participate in the following wars, since the people did not allow him, saying: “You will not go out with us to war anymore, lest the lamp of Israel go out”... But when these wars ended in glorious victories, and the Lord delivered King David from all his enemies, then He sang praises to God, in which he poured out grateful feelings for the almighty preservation and wonderful help of God, which invariably accompanied him throughout his entire life: “The Lord is my rock and fortress and my deliverer! My God is my rock; in Him I trust; my shield, the horn of my salvation, my hedge and my refuge; My Savior, You delivered me from troubles. I will call on the Lord, the venerable one, and I will be saved from my enemies. The waves of death enveloped me, and the streams of iniquity terrified me; the chains of hell have encircled me, and the snares of death have entangled me; but in my distress I called on the Lord and cried out to my God, and He heard my voice from His holy palace, and my cry reached His ears. The earth shook and shook, the foundations of the heavens trembled and moved; for the Lord was angry. Smoke arose from His wrath, and consuming fire came from His mouth; burning coals fell from Him. He bowed the heavens and came down; and darkness is under His feet. And he sat on the Cherubim and flew, and was carried on the wings of the wind, and covered Himself with darkness like a canopy, thickening the waters of the clouds of heaven; from the brilliance, the coals of fire flared up before Him. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High gave His voice; he shot arrows and scattered them; flashed lightning and destroyed them. And the sources of the sea were opened, the foundations of everything were laid bare at the terrible voice of the Lord, at the breath of the spirit of His wrath. He stretched out His hand from on high and took me, and brought me out of many waters; delivered me from my powerful enemy. from those who hated me and were stronger than me. They rose up against me in the day of my calamity; but the Lord was a support for me and brought me to a spacious place and delivered me, for He delights in me. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, He rewarded me according to the purity of my hands, for I kept the ways of the Lord and was not wicked before my God; for all His commandments were before me, and I did not depart from His statutes, and I was blameless before Him and was careful not to sin against me. And the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my purity in His sight. With the merciful you act mercifully, with a sincere man - sincerely, with the pure - purely, and with the evil one - according to his wickedness. You save oppressed people and humiliate the arrogant with Your gaze. You, Lord, are my lamp; The Lord enlightens my darkness. With You I defeat the army: with my God I ascend the wall. God! - His way is blameless, the word of the Lord is pure, He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God besides the Lord, and who is a defense besides our God? God will gird me with strength, He will arrange for me the right path; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and places me on high places. He teaches my hands to fight, and strains my muscles like a copper bow. You give the shield of Your salvation, and Your mercy magnifies me. You widen my step under me, and my feet do not falter. I pursue my enemies and destroy them, and I do not return until I destroy them. And I destroy them, and smite them, and they do not rise up, but fall under my feet. You gird me with strength for war and bring down before me those who rise up against me. You turn the rear of my enemies to me, and I destroy those who hate me. They call; but there is no one who saves - to the Lord, but He does not heed them. I scatter them like the dust of the earth, I crush them like street mud and trample them. You delivered me from the rebellion of my people; You have preserved me to be my head over the foreigners; a people whom I did not know serves me. Foreigners caress me; by hearing about me they obey me. The foreigners turn pale and tremble in their fortifications. The Lord lives and blessed is my protector! Exalted be God, the refuge of my salvation, the God who avenges me and subdues the nations for me, and delivers me from my enemies! You have exalted me above those who rebel against me; You delivered me from a cruel man. For this reason I will praise You, O Lord, among the foreigners, and I will sing to Your name, majestically saving Your king and showing mercy to Your anointed David and his descendants forever!” During the plague that visited the country and destroyed in a short time up to 70,000 people, King David again expressed his love for the Israelites and his deep humility in prayer, in which he asked God that “it would be better for the hand of God to turn on him and on his father’s house than on an innocent people. “Behold, I sinned, I (the shepherd) acted lawlessly,” he confessed before God, “and these sheep, what did they do?” “And the Lord had mercy on the land, and the defeat of the Israelites ceased” ... And David, according to the word of the prophet Gad, “built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord” on the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite - at the place where the Angel of God, exterminating the Jews, stopped, having bought the land, the entire Mount Moriag from Orna, which he designated for the construction of the future church. Having reached old age, the decrepit and weak King David was upset in his house by Adonijah, who remained the eldest among his sons, who, even during his lifetime, arbitrarily declared himself the successor of his royal dignity. However, David, promptly warned about this by his wife Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, and the prophet Nathan, managed to resist the claims of Adonijah, ordering his son Solomon to be proclaimed and anointed as his successor, about whom the king had previously sworn to Bathsheba “by the Lord God of Israel, that he would reign after him and sit on the throne in his place.” Finally, “the time approached for David to die, (and then) he bequeathed to his son Solomon, saying: behold, I am going on the journey of the whole earth, but you be strong and be courageous. And thou shalt keep the covenant of the Lord thy God, by walking in His ways, and keeping His statutes and His commandments, and His statutes, and His statutes, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest be wise in all that thou shalt do, and wherever thou shalt turn; that the Lord may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying: If thy sons take heed to their ways, to walk before Me in truth with all their hearts and with all their souls, then there shall not fail a man from you upon the throne of Israel... And having handed over to Solomon for the construction all the materials that he had prepared for the church, as well as the very plan of the church, which “it was in his heart to build in the name of his Lord,” he bequeathed his nobles to assist in the construction of this church and, calling on God’s blessing on the entire people of Judah, glorifying the Lord for all His mercies, David peacefully “reposed with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.” This was around 1048 BC. As a prophet, King David appears in the third part of his psalms, which contain detailed predictions about the coming to earth and the entire earthly life of the Savior, about His suffering, resurrection from the dead, ascension and glorification of His most holy flesh, as well as about the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, Who was to bring with Her to heaven many virgins who would be glorified by imitating Her in Her life. The wise Jesus, the son of Sirach, praising in his book the glorious men and fathers, “through whom the Lord showed many glorious things and his greatness from the beginning,” tells the following about King David: “As the fat is separated from the peace offering, so is David from the children of Israel. He played with lions as with kids, and with bears as with lambs. In his youth, didn’t he kill a giant, didn’t he remove the reproach from the people when he raised his hand with a sling stone and overthrew the pride of Goliath? For he called upon the Lord Most High, and He gave strength to his right hand to smite the man mighty in war, and to exalt the horn of his people; Thus the people glorified him with darkness, and praised him in the blessings of the Lord, as worthy of the crown of glory. For he destroyed the surrounding enemies and humbled the hostile Philistines - even to this day he has crushed their horn. After each of his deeds, he brought thanks to the Holy Most High with a word of praise; With all his heart he praised and loved His Creator. And he placed singers of hymns before the altar, to delight in the song with their voices. He gave splendor to the holidays, and precisely determined the times so that they would praise His holy name, and from early morning the sanctuary would be announced. And the Lord forgave him his sins and lifted up his horn forever, and gave him a royal covenant and a throne of glory in Israel”... (Sir.47:2-13). St. James, Brother of the Lord (see about him on October 23rd). "Words and Speeches", ed. 2, part 2, page 183. About the application of these Psalms and Ps. For the case of the transfer of the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, see the book. “On the origin of the Psalter”, priest N. Vishnyakov. According to the author of the book “On the Origin of the Psalter,” priest Vishnyakov, pp. 188–209.