But it was a sinful thing to do, to go as a soldier and be obliged to live like a Gentile, of his own free will.

And David knew how wicked it was, for he was a pious man at heart.

When he returned from service, he was aged and broken, bowed down with the sense of his sins.

And he set himself a penance, which was to go through the streets every Sabbath morning, calling the people to prayer.

Now this was a hard thing to do, because David labored bitterly all the week, exposed to the weather, summer or winter; and on Sabbath morning there was nobody so tired and lame and sore as David.