i. to xix. Thus the wise Ruler of the world was pleased to make one wicked nation the instru- From 2 Sam. ment of punishing another: But, whatever they severally suffered, the succeeding generations obtained this advantage by it,-That the dispersion of the Greeks occasioned a fuller peopling of distant countries, by an accession of these new inhabitants; and the taking of Troy became, in some years, the settled epocha, whereby all that were acquainted with the story of it might agree in their account of time. [It was taken 1183 years before Christ, and consequently in the last year of Samson, as ascertained by Hales.] CHAPTER V. FROM THE DEATH OF ABSALOM TO THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. THE HISTORY. M. 2991, As soon as David was informed of his son's death, all the joy of the victory was turn- From 2 Sam. or 4375. ed into sorrow. The king himself withdrew to a † private apartment, where he vent- xix. to 1 Kings 23, &c. ed his grief in such a te mournful exclamation as this: (a) "O my son Absalom, my mt. Christ. r1036. The place to which David withdrew, in order to vent his grief, was (as Josephus tells us, lib. vii. c. 10.) to the top of one of the highest towers in the city; but the Sacred History calls it "the chamber over the gate," 2 Sam. xviii. 33. for the gate was a spacious place, and much of the same form with the forum among the Romans, not only the market for all commodities, but the place where all great assemblies of the people were likewise held. There were several buildings where the chief magistrates sat to administer justice, Ruth iv. 1, 2. and where the other affairs of the state were transacted; so that it is not improbable, that this chamber over the gate, where David went to weep, might be some withdrawing room in the place, where the privy-council was wont to meet. Patrick's Commentary. vation: But this supposition (as I take it) is not so Nothing certainly can be more moving and paper for mournful lamentation. Daphninque tuum tollemus ad astra, Αιάζω τὸν Αδωνιν, ἀπώλετο καλὸς Αδωνις Bion. Id. 1. viii. A. M. 2981, son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee! O Absalom, my son, my son!" &c. or 4375. And as for the army, instead of returning in triumph, they stole silently into the city, Ant. Chris. 1023, &c. or 1036 as if they had done amiss, and had lost instead of gaining the battle. This Joab perceiving, and being sensible that such excessive grief, at this juncture of affairs, would be of great prejudice to the king, went boldly in to him, and * expostulated the matter with him in terms that might perhaps be necessary on that occasion, but did not so well become a subject's mouth. However, they had this good effect upon the king, that they roused him from his melancholy, and made him appear in public, to the great satisfaction of all his loyal subjects; but, as he thought himself very insolently used by Joab upon several occasions, from that time he made it his resolution to take the first opportunity of † dismissing him from being his general. Those of his subjects who had appeared in arms against him, being now made sensible of the folly of their rebellion, became the forwardest for his restoration; but (what grieved him much) his own tribe—the tribe of Judah-seemed a little indifferent as to the matter; which made him send to Zadok and Abiathar, the chief priests, not only to remind them of their own duty, but to authorise them likewise to treat with Amasa (who, though he had commanded Absalom's army, was still a man of great authority in the tribe) to offer him his pardon, and, in case he would come fully into his interest, to promise him the generalship in the room of Joab. Thus, all things conspiring to his happy restoration, the king left Mahanaim, and set forward on his journey to Jerusalem, when the chiefs of the tribe of Judah came to meet and conduct him over the Jordan. Old Barzillai, who had been very kind to the king in his exile, and supplied him with provisions while he continued at Mahanaim, hearing that he was upon his return, came to take his leave of him, and see him safe over the river; and when the king, in gratitude for his kindness, gave him an invitation to go with him to Jerusalem, the good old man modestly excused himself upon the account of his age, as having now lost the relish of the pleasures of a court, and desired rather to retire to his own estate, where he might spend the remainder of his days in quiet: But as he had a son, whose age was more proper to attend him, if his majesty would be pleased to confer any favour on him, the obligation would be the same; †o which David promised to do, and so, with much mutual blessings and salutations, they parted. Among the many others who came to meet David upon this occasion, Shimei the Benjamite, who, not long before, had loaded him with curses and imprecations, came, + with a thousand men of his tribe, to beg pardon for his fault; and when Abishai * Josephus concludes the speech which he supposes Joab to have made to David upon this occasion, in words to this effect:" Pray, sir, does not your conscience, as well as your honour, reprove you for this intemperate tenderness, for the memory of so implacable an enemy? He was your son, it is true, but a most ungracious one; and you cannot be just to God's Providence without acknowledging the bless ing of his being taken away. Let me intreat you therefore to shew yourself cheerful to your people, and let them know, that it is to their loyalty and bravery that you are indebted for the honour of the day; for if you go on as you have begun, your kingdom and your army will most infallibly be put into other hands, and you will then find something else to cry for." Jewish Antiq. lib. vii. c. 10. † For he had sufficient reason to think of depressing a man who was grown so insufferably insolent and imperious. He had slain Abner most perfidiously in cold blood; had killed Absalom against the king's express command; in his late bold reproof had insulted over his sorrow, and (if we may believe Josephus) threatened to depose him and give his kingdom to another. To such a height of arrogance will ministers sometimes arrive, when they find that their ser vice is become necessary to their prince! Patrick's Commentary. + What David did for Chimham is uncertain; but as he had a patrimony in Bethlehem, which was the place of his nativity, it is not improbable that he gave a great part of it to Chimham and his heirs for ever; and that this was afterwards called "the habitation of Chimham," in the days of Jeremiah, Jer. xli. 17. Bedford's Scripture Chronology, lib. v. c. 4. +3 The reason why Shimei came with so large a retinue, was to let David see that he was a man of some considerable rank, and capable of doing him great service among the people, which might be some would have persuaded the king to have him killed, he resented the motion as an indig- From 2 Sam nity put upon himself: And, being unwilling to eclipse the public joy with the blood of xix. to 1 Kings any one, gave him his royal word and oath that he should live. Another remarkable person that came to wait upon David at this time, was the perfidious Ziba, with his fifteen sons and twenty servants. He had again imposed upon his master; and when he ordered him to make ready his ass, that he, among others, might go and meet the king, slid away himself to make his court first; so that Mephibosheth, being lame, was forced to stay at Jerusalem, (where he had all along * mourned for the king's absence) until the king arrived: But, when he was admitted into his presence, and the king seemed to be angry with him for not having accompanied him in his exile, be charged this seeming neglect upon the perfidy of his servant, and *2 set his case in so fair a light, that the king revoked the hasty grant he had made in favour of Ziba, and put his estate upon the same foot of possession that it was before. When David was passed the Jordan, he was willing to make all possible haste to Jerusalem; and as the tribe of Judah was the first that came to conduct him home, he (very probably to gratify them) marched on without waiting for the great men of Israel, who in all parts of the kingdom were making ready to join him. This occasioned some hot disputes between the princes of Israel and, those of Judah: And as the king was loath to displease either party, and therefore did not care to intermeddle in the controversy, several of the tribes of Israel took an outward umbrage at this, which occasioned a fresh insurrection. Sheba, a Benjamite, and not unlikely one of Saul's family, made public proclamation, by the sound of trumpet, that since the tribe of Judah had engrossed David to themselves, they might even take him; and, since all the other tribes he had visibly deserted, their wisest way would be to stand to their arms, and in like manner desert him;" whereupon a great many of the other tribes followed Sheba, but the men of Judah persisted in their loyalty, and conducted the king to Jerusalem. As soon as he arrived in the city, the first thing he did was to declare Amasa his general, and to order him to get together a sufficient body of forces, as fast as he could, to pursue after Sheba. † Amasa, however, found more difficulty in executing this order than his putting on no clean linen, but wearing the same inducement to the king to grant him his pardon; or, crown. * The words in the text are, that he had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day that the king departed," 2 Sam. xix. 24. These were some of the instances wherein the Jews were wont to express their mourning; and they are here mentioned by the historian as evidences of the falsehood of Ziba's information a gainst his master, since no one, who neglected himself to this degree, could be supposed ambitious of a "Not dressing his feet," may signify either not cutting his toe-nails, or his not washing his feet, which the Jews were accustomed very frequently to do, because of the bad smell which was natural to them, as well as the Arabians and some other nations; and therefore his omission of this could not but make him offensive to himself. Not trimming his beard" was letting its hair grow negligently, and without any order. For the manner of the Jews was to cut the hair from the lip upwards, and what grew likewise on the cheek, but what was on the chin, and so backwards to the ear, that they suffered to grow; and "not washing his clothes" must denote VOL. II. †The people, having been harassed in the late civil war, were not perhaps so forward to engage in another. Some of them might not like to serve un2 E viii. Ant. Chris. 1036. A. M. 2981. was expected; which when David understood, he sent Abishai with his guards (for he &c. or 4375. was resolved not to employ his brother Joab any more) in quest of Sheba, until Amasa, 1023, &c. or with the rest of the army, could join him. Exasperated at this, Joab, without any order, went along with his brother; and when Amasa came up with them (which was at Gibeon), and was going to take upon him the command of the whole army, he advanced, with all seeming friendliness, to salute him, but when he came within reach, he * took him by the beard, and stabbed him to the heart; and so, leaving him to wallow in his blood, proclaimed himself general in chief, and, taking the army with him, pursued after Sheba, † leaving orders for the forces that were coming up to follow after. Sheba had gone about all the tribes of Israel to see if he could prevail with them to take up arms against David; but finding very few, that, upon second thoughts, were willing to engage in his measures, he was forced at last, with the few forces he had got together, to shut himself up in Abel, a fortified town in the tribe of Naphtali, in the northern part of Judea : But Joab was soon at his heels, and having besieged the town, and battered the walls, was making preparation for an assault, when † a woman of great prudence called to the besiegers from off the walls, and desired to speak with their general. When Joab was come within hearing, the woman addressed herself to him in a very handsome manner, and told him, "That, +3 by a long prescription of time, it had der a man who had lately beaded a rebellious army against the king, and others, might have conceived so high an opinion of Joab, as not easily to be brought to serve under any other general. Any of these things might very well retard Amasa's recruits, and yet he might be loath to make such a report to the king, for fear that it might diminish his authority, and make him appear not so well qualified for the office wherein he had placed him. Patrick's Commentary. It was an ancient custom among the Grecians to take the person, to whom they had any address to make, by the chin or beard, "antiquis Græciæ in supplicando mentum attingere mos erat," says Pliny, lib. x. c. 45. and even to this day the Turks, in their salutations, do very frequently take one another by the beard, (Vide Thevenot's Travels, c. 22.) The Arabians have a great regard to the beard: The wives kiss their husbands, and the children their fathers beards, when they come to salute them; and when two friends meet together, their custom is, in the course of their compliments, to interchange kisses in this manner, (Vide Darvieuz Coustumes des Arabes, c. 7.), as the like custom is still preserved among the Eastern people, the Indians, who take one another by the chin, when they would give an hearty salute, and say bobba, i. e. father, or bii, brother, as the author of the voyage to the East Indies relates. Vide Peter de Valles's Travels. + So insolent was Joab become, upon the presumption that David durst not punish him, that as he ventured upon this bloody fact, so he imagined, that though the sight of Amasa's dead body might stop the march of those that came by it, yet, upon its being given out that he was again become their general, their love for him was such, that they would not scruple to follow him. Patrick's Commentary. + It seems not unlikely, that this woman was a governess in this city; for though that office was most commonly occupied by men, yet there want not instances of women, (as in the case of Deborah, Judg. iv. 4. and queen Athaliab, 2 Kings xi.) who have been employed in the administration of civil affairs. If she was invested with any such authority, she was the properest person to desire a parley with the general; and reason good she had to desire it, because she knew the present temper and fears of the citizens and soldiers both, viz. that, considering the imminent danger they were in, they were generally desirous of peace, and restrained from it only by Sheba's power and authority. Pool's Annotations. +3 In the beginning of this woman's speech to Joab, there is something that, seems both abrupt and obscure. "They were wont to speak in old time, saying, they should surely ask counsel at Abel, and so they ended the matter," 2 Sam. xx. 18. According to this translation, the sense of the words is," This ci ty, which thou art about to destroy, is no mean and contemptible one, but so honourable and considerable for its wisdom, and the wise people in it, that when any difference did arise among any of the neighbour ing places, they used proverbially to say, We will ask the opinion and advice of the men of Abel about it, and we will stand to their arbitration, and so all parties were satisfied, and disputes ended." So that her words, according to this sense, are an high commen dation of the city of Abel, for its being a place (time out of mind) very eminent for the wisdom and pru dence of its inhabitants. But there is another translation in the margin of our bibles, which seeins to be more natural, and makes the woman speak in this manner :-" When the people saw thee lay siege to the city, they said, Surely he will ask, if we will have peace; for the law prescribes, that he should offer peace to strangers, much more then to Israelitish cities; and if he would once do this, we should soon bring things to an amicable agreement; for we are peaceable people, and faithful to our prince." So that, according to this interpretation, the woman both modestly reproved Joab for the neglect of his duty, and artfully engaged him in the performance of it. Patrick's Commentary, and Pool's Annotations. viii. always been a custom, founded (a) on the law of God, whenever the Hebrews came be- From & Sam. fore any city, to offer peace in the first place, even though the inhabitants were of ano- xix. to 1 Kings ther nation; much more then ought this to have been done to a people that were all of the same blood, and the greatest part of them loyal subjects to the king." To which Joab replied, "That he had no ill design against the people of the city, only as they harboured a rebel and a traitor, whom he demanded of them:" whereupon the woman persuaded the inhabitants to cut off Sheba's head, and throw it over the wall; which when they had done, Joab raised the siege, and withdrew with his army to Jerusalem; where his services, upon this occasion, were thought to be such, that the king found himself obliged to restore him to his post of captain-general Not long after this, there happened a sore famine in the land, and the long continuance of it (which was for three years) made David suspect that it did not proceed from any common cause, but was inflicted by the immediate hand of God; and when he consulted the Divine oracle to know the occasion of it, he was given to understand that Saul's cruelty to the Gibeonites in slaying so many, contrary to the treaty then depending between him and them, was the cause of it. Hereupon David sent to the Gibeonites to know what satisfaction they desired; and when he was told that they expected seven of Saul's posterity to be delivered to them, he complied with their demand, and sent two sons of Rizpah, Saul's concubine, and † five of Merab, his eldest daughter, but spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, for the love which he had for his father when alive. These seven the Gibeonites took and hung upon gibbets; and there they intended them to hang ‡ until God should send rain upon the earth, for the want of this occasioned the famine; but Rizpah being informed of this, had a tent made of sackcloth (pitched near the place) for her to live in, that so by the help of her servants she might * keep watch day and night, to fright away the birds and beasts from doing any hurt to the dead bodies. It was not long, however, before God sent plentiful showers of rain, so that Rizpah had the liberty to take down the bodies: and when David was informed of this her pious care, he was moved thereby to take up the bones of Saul, and Jonathan his son, (who, for five and thirty years before, had been buried under a tree at Jabesh-Gilead) and, together with these seven sufferers of the same family, gave them an honourable interment in the tomb of Kish, the father of Saul, at Zelah, in the country of Benjamin. (a) Deut. xx. 10. This may seem strange, unless we suppose (as Josephus does), that, when David consulted God, he told him, not only for what crime it was that he sent this punishment, but that he should take such a revenge for it as the Gibeonites should desire: And there was this farther reason for humouring the Gi beonites herein, because they had been modest under their sufferings, and never made any complaint to David of the injuries that had been done them. Patrick's Commentary. + Michal is put in the text indeed, 2 Sam. xxi. 8. but not by mistake, as some will have it; for though Michal was not the wife of Adriel, but Merab; yet those children which Merab had by Adriel, Michal brought up; and the Jews observe, upon this occasion, that whoever brings up a pupil in his house, is in Scripture said to have begotten him. Nor is it in Scripture only, that this form of expression takes place, but in heathen authors likewise. For Agamemnon and Menelaus are called sons of Atreus, because Plisthenes (who was their father) being dead, Atreus their grandfather took care to bring them up. Howell's History in the Notes, and Patrick's Commentary. +3 It was a positive law to the Israelites, Deut. xxi. 22, 23. that, if any man was hanged, he should be buried before night; but the Gibeonites, being not of that nation, thought themselves not obliged by that law. They are remarked, indeed, to have been a remnant of the Amorites, (2 Sam. xxi. 2.) and among them (as some have imagined) it was a barbarous custom in those days (as it certainly prevailed in afterages), to hang up men, in order to appease the anger of the gods in time of famine. Patrick's and Calmet's Commentaries. * It is an obvious remark from hence, that crosses and gibbets, whereon malefactors were executed, did not stand high from the ground, since the dead bodies of such were in danger of being torn by carnivo. rous creatures; and what we may farther observe is, that it was an ancient custom for the relations of such as were thus executed, to watch their dead bodies. Thus Homer (Iliad xxiii.) mentions Venus, as taking care of Hector's body, and the story of the Ephesian matron every one can tell. Calmet's Commentary. |