For six months David was afflicted with leprosy; for it is said (Ps. li. 7), "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. At that time the Shechinah departed from him; for it is said (Ps. li. 12), " Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and the Sanhedrin kept aloof from him, for it is said (Ps. cxix. 79), " Let those that fear thee turn unto me." That this ailment lasted six months is proved from 1 Kings ii. 11, where it is said, " And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem; whereas in 2 Sam. v. 5, it is said, " In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months.