“He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” - Psalm xxii. 8.
DAVID experienced what Paul afterwards so aptly described as “cruel mockings.” Note the adjective cruel: it is well chosen. Mockings may not cut the flesh, but they tear the heart; they may shed no blood, but they cause the mind to bleed internally. Fetters gall the wrists, but the iron of scorn entereth into the soul. Ridicule is a poisoned bullet which goes deeper than the flesh, and strikes the centre of the heart. David in the wilderness hunted by Saul, and on the throne abused by Shimei, knew what it was to be the butt of scorn, the football of contempt. Many a time an...