A. M. 2949. A. C. 105; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4341. A. C. 1070. 2 SAM. i–xix. these days, looked upon as an indignity offered to the David indeed had reason to lament the death of Abner, which, in all probability, had defeated the measures that were concerted for the union of the two kingdoms, had not the sudden and untimely death of Ishbosheth paved the way for it afresh. Ishbosheth, upon the loss of Abner, began to despair of his affairs, grew negligent of himself, and fell under the contempt of his subjects; so that Rechab and Baanah, e two Benjamites, that were of his household, came upon him, as he was asleep in the heat of the day, and having cut off his head, ƒ carried it as a present to David at Hebron; but instead of the reward which they expected, he 5 rebuked them d And good reason he had to express his detestation of so foul a fact. For besides that Abner was himself a man of great power and authority, and at this time, the head of the contrary party, it carried an air of suspicion, that David might have some concern in the murder; especially since Joab, his first minister, and general of his forces, was the wicked instrument of it. Abner still worse, and added the breach of faith and hospitality to the had been reconciled to David indeed; but this made the matter sin of murder, which was enough to alienate the minds of the Israelites from him for ever. And therefore Josephus gives us this account of David's behaviour upon so critical an occasion, David was extremely displeased at this cruel and in-not only to testify his abhorrence of so base a practice, but to hospitable action; but his affairs were in so unsettled a a What notion the world, at this time, had of marrying any royal relict, is evident from the case of Adonijah, whom Solomon put to death for desiring but to ask for Abishag, one of David's concubines, though he had employed Bath-sheba, the king's mother, to be his intercessor, and was himself his brother, (1 Kings ii. 17.) It may be said perhaps, that Adonijah was at this time aspiring at the throne, which Solomon perceiving, took occasion from this his request, to fall out with him, and prevent it. But however this be, a general rule it was, not among the Jews only, but among other nations, that no private person should presume to marry the king's widow; for this made him appear as a rival and competitor for the crown.—Calmet's Commentary. 6 Abner is an instance of what a strange alteration the study of revenge will work in a man. It was but just lately that we found him going about the country to confirm the Israelites in their attachment to the house of Saul, and opposition to David; but now, upon a slight disgust, he is not only for deserting himself, but for carrying all the strength of his interest over to the opposite party. For, "such is the genius of many great ministers," says one, "that upon slight occasions, they are irritated, and do rather rule over kings, than are ruled by them."'-Patrick's Commentary. c Abner was a man longer versed in military affairs than himself, who, in the time of Saul's distraction, had been regent of the nation, and, since the time that he had set up Ishbosheth to be king, prime minister. And therefore Joab had reason to suspect, that in case he once got into David's favour, as the service he was able to do him, gave him a title to it, it would not be long before he would gain a superior ascendant; and therefore he took this wicked method to prevent him. For to use the reflection which Josephus makes upon this occasion. "What will men not dare to do, who are covetous, ambitious, and will be inferior to none? They press forward to the end, without ever considering the means, and will commit a thousand crimes in pursuit of what they desire. Nor are they less bold in maintaining, than they were in acquiring their places and preferments by evil practices; insomuch that, rather than suffer the disgrace of losing what they have unjustly gotten, they will plunge themselves still deeper and deeper in wickedness, to retain it."Jewish Antiq. b. 7. c. 1. honour, that he had been true to Abner. e This is added, to show us, that these two regicides were not only officers in the king's army, but of the same tribe with Saul, and therefore had more ties than one upon them, to be honest and faithful to his family. For there is reason to be lieve, that Saul, who lived in the borders of Benjamin, conferred more favours upon that tribe than any other, and might therefore justly expect, both to him and his, a greater esteemd and fidelity from those of his own tribe, than from others. This patronymic is therefore very properly prefixed to the names of Rechab and Baanah, to show what vile ungrateful villains they were, and how justly they deserved the severe and exemplary punishment which David inflicted on them.-Le Clerc's Com mentary. f It may seem a little strange, that these two ruffians were not discouraged by David's punishing the Amalekite for killing Saul, and by the detestation he had publicly shown of Jeab's baseness in murdering Abner; but the former of these cases, they might think, was not parallel to theirs; because Saul was anointed king by God's immediate direction, whereas Ishbosheth, having never had such sacred unction, was no more than a usurpati and as for the latter, they might think, that David's conduct in relation to Abner's death, proceeded from art and policy, rather than any serious dislike of the thing itself; and in this opinion, they might the rather be confirmed, when they saw Joab, instead of being punished, continuing in the very same post and power that he had before.-Poole's Annotations. g The manner in which Josephus makes David express himself upon this occasion, is to this effect:-"Wicked wretches A. M. 2949. A. C. 1055; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4341. A. C, 1070. 2 SAM. i-xIX. severely, and ordered their hands and feet to be cut off, | derision, replied, that the meanest of them all, © their and themselves hung up in a public place, for the terror | blind and lame, were able to defend it against all he of all regicides; but the head of Ishbosheth was honourably interred in Abner's tomb. could do. This incensed David to such a degree, that he caused proclamation to be made through the camp, that When Ishbosheth was dead, all the tribes of Israel whoever first took the fort, should be made captainsent their deputies to David, acknowledging his title, and general of all his forces; whereupon Joab, who was a promising him their allegiance, upon condition that he bold, pushing man, undertook to storm it, and carried it would reign righteously over them; so that now he was sword in hand. After this, David, for the reception of anointed king over all the tribes, after that he had reign-his guards and domestics, enlarged the buildings of the ed at Hebron, over that of Judah only, for the space of place, and made it his royal palace ; while Joab repaired seven years and six months. and beautified the old city Jebus, or Jerusalem, for the more commodious habitation of his subjects. a Being thus invested with full regal power, and having a multitude of brave and gallant officers to attend him, he made his first expedition against Jerusalem, to dispossess the Jebusites of the fort of Zion, which commanded the city, and was thought so impregnable, that when he summoned the besieged to surrender, they, in d Hiram, who had lately made himself king of Tyre and Sidon, hearing how prosperous David was in all his affairs, sent an embassy to congratulate his accession to the throne, and withal a present of cedar trees, with carpenters and other artificers to assist him in his buildings. But the Philistine princes had other notions of David's growing greatness, which they took for a sure presage of their own downfall; and therefore to put a stop to it as soon as possible, they raised one great army, which, as they approached to Jerusalem, he defeated; and the next year, when they came e with a much larger, God manifestly interposed in his favour. For instead of advancing directly upon them, he ordered him to take a that you are! prepare yourselves immediately to receive the just reward of your villany. Do not you know that I required the murder of Saul, when he, who had taken away that sacred life, had the confidence to bring me his golden crown, for an ostentation of the service he had done me in it? And yet it was at the instance of Saul that he did it, and to prevent the indignity of his being taken alive by his enemies. And am not I the same man now that I was then? or do you think that I am turned so abandoned a wretch since, as to countenance the most profligate of men and actions, or to account myself under any obligation to you, for dipping your hands, upon my account, as you would have e The blind and the lame, says Luther upon this place, were it thought, in the blood of your lord; for cutting the throat of a the idols of the Jebusites, which, to irritate David, they set upon person, and in his bed too, so just, that he never did any man their walls, as their patrons and protectors; and these they call wrong, and so generous a patron and benefactor to your ungrate-blind and lame sarcastically, and with respect to David's opinion: ful selves, that all the advantages you can pretend to in this world, as if they had said, "These gods of ours, whom ye Israelites reare but what you stand indebted for to his bounty and goodness?proach as blind and lame, and so unable to direct or defend us, will You shall therefore now be sure to pay, both for your breach of faith to your master, and the scandal you have cast upon me. For what greater wound can any man give me in my reputation, than to expose me for a person that can take pleasure in the tidings, or give countenance to the committing of so barbarous an assassination." (Jewish Antiquities, b. 7. c. 2.) Which speech of David's has a good deal of the spirit of Alexander the Great in it, whose exacting of punishment of Bessus for his murder of Darius, drew from the historian this reflection: "For he thought that Darius had not been so much the foe as the friend of him by whom he was slain."-Justin, b. 12. c. 6. a This was David's part of the covenant, which the elders of Israel suggested to him in a very elegant metaphor, which here occurs the first time, though afterwards it is frequently used in sacred writ, especially in the prophets, as well as some profane authors. The expression is "Thou shalt feed my people Israel;' which was the rather made use of, to put David in mind that he was created a king, not so much for the advancement of his own honour and interest, as for the good and benefit of the community, which he was to rule with all tenderness, and watch over with all diligence. The very manner of the expression implies, that kings ought to have the same care for their people, as the shepherd has over his flock; and that, as the shepherd is not the owner of the sheep he keeps, so should no king look upon his subjects as his own peculium, but as a flock committed to him by the only true Lord of all mankind, and to whom he must give an account of his administration. For this is the greatest grace of a king, that he certainly believes himself to be made a king by God, for the sake of the people; and let him often call to mind, that the people were not created, or ordained, by God for the king," says Conradus Pelicanus upon these words. Patrick's Commentary, and Poole's Annotations. In this account of David's worthies, which are mentioned both in the second book of Samuel, and the first of Chronicles, there is a great difference of names; and the reason is, because the catalogue in Chronicles was made in the beginning of David's reign, that in Samuel, at the latter end; and so the former mentions those men who had helped David to his settlement in the kingdom, whereas the latter takes notice of those who had stuck to him all the time of his reign, and died in, his service.-Bedford's Scripture Chronology, b. 5. c. 5. secure us against you, and to your cost, make you find that they are e It cannot well be supposed, that the Philistines, out of their small territories, could produce such vast numbers of men as they brought against the Israelites; and therefore the remark, which Josephus makes, helps to explain this matter, namely, "That Syria and Phoenicia, as well as several other warlike nations, were engaged in the confederacy:" but this cannot be meant of Hiram, who was in a league of the strictest amity with David, but of such Phoenicians only as would not submit to him, and therefore joined with the Philistines, first to subdue his ally, and then to subdue him, before his government could be settled.-Bedford's Scripture Chronology, b, 5, c. 4. A. M. 2949. A. C. 1055; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4341. A. C. 1070. 2 SAM. i-xix. compass round by a wood of mulberry trees, which would | this occasion; and, with the rest of the company that cover and conceal his march, and when he heard a sound, attended this solemnity, feasted and rejoiced. or rushing in the trees, which would affrighten the Philistines, then to fall upon them; which he accordingly did, and gave them so total a defeat, that for many years after, they never pretended to give Israel any more disturbance. This time of rest, and public security, David thought a proper season, wherein to bring home the ark of God, which for almost fifty years had continued in the house of Abinadab, into a place which he had prepared for it in his own city. To this purpose, attended with the a principal men of the nation, and the chief officers of his court, together with a strong guard for the convoy of the ark, in case any enemy should attempt to surprise them, he came to Kirjath-jearim: but, either through inadvertency, or neglect of the divine law, which obliged them to carry it upon men's shoulders, they in imitation of the Philistines, put it in a cart, and when the cart had like to have been overturned, Uzzah, who was one of its drivers, taking hold of the ark to prevent its falling, was immediately struck dead upon the spot; so that David, terrified at this judgment, durst not at that time carry it into Jerusalem, but left it near the city, in the house of Obed-Edom, a Levite, whom God blessed with a large increase of all his substance, for the little time that it continued with him. In the space of three months, the king, recollecting that none were to carry the ark but the Levites, though they themselves were expressly forbidden 2 to touch it, he adventured to remove it from Obed-Edom's, which he did in great form and solemnity. The Levites, who were to bear the ark on their shoulders, he caused to be sanctified; himself, clothed in a linen ephod, and dancing before it, brought it into a convenient place which he had prepared for it; offered a great quantity of e sacrifices upon Num. iv. 15. b * Num. iv. 15; xviii. 3. a It is supposed by some, that this bringing back of the ark was appointed to be one of the great festivals; and the reason why David might summon so many of his principal ministers and officers to accompany him in the expedition, might be, to possess the young people, who perhaps had heard little or nothing of the ark, by reason of its having been absent so long, with a mighty veneration for it when they saw the king, and so many of the chief nobility waiting on it, with such a variety of music, and such public declarations of joy.-Miller's History of the Church. | d His wife Michal, who was Saul's daughter, and proud perhaps on account of her pedigree, upbraided him upon this occasion with his humility, as a diminution of his regal dignity; but he, in reply to the sarcastic manner wherein she spake it, only told her, "That what he had done was in honour of that God, who had chosen him to govern Israel rather than any of her family; and that such condescensions as these would never bring him under any just contempt." that bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed d After that David was by Saul banished from court, and forced to seek for shelter in foreign countries, Saul, to cast the more contempt upon him, gave his wife away to one Phalti, er Phaltiel, son of Laish of Gallim; but David, when he came to the crown of Judah, had her restored to him again; for which purposes he sent messengers to Ishbosheth, who then reigned over the eleven tribes at Mahanaim, to demand her, and whe according to that demand, took her from Phaltiel, and sent her back to David. The Hebrews pretend that Phaltiel never came near Michal, who, in strictness, could not be his wife, because she had never been divorced by David; but others believe, tha she had five sons by Phaltiel, which were given up to the Gibeonites to be executed, (2 Sam. xxi. 8, 9.) But, in this place there seems to be an error crept into the text, which should be read Merob instead of Michal.—Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Michal. e The words of Michal, wherein she upbraids David, are these: How glorious was the king of Israel to-day, who uncovered himself to day, in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself;' (2 Sam. vi. 20.) At first reading, they seem to intimate, that David, in his dancing, had exposed his naked body, and acted some way or other immodestly. But these words, we are to consider, were spoken in a fit of passion, and when Michal was minded to ag gravate matters; for it is not to be doubted, but that David kept himself within the bounds of modesty, how joyous soever he might be. It was a command which God gave the Israelites, that they should rejoice in their feasts, (Deut. xii. 7.) but then, their joy was not to be lascivious or petulant, but pious and me derate. In the case before us, David was in the more imme diate presence of God, and about a very sacred business; and therefore it is incongruous to think, that he would commit any thing immodest. And, that he could not expose his nakedness, as his wife would insinuate, is evident from his having not only an ephod on, but being clothed with a robe of fine linen, besides his usual under garments, (1 Chron. xv. 27.) and therefore, though his putting off his regal robes might give some occasion to Michal's expression of his uncovering himself,' yet it must be b Strabo tells us, that it was customary among the Greeks, as well as other nations, to use music and dancing in the processions before their gods, (b. 10.) Callimachus mentions the chori, and dancings of the youth at the altar of Apollo; Plato observes that among the Egyptians, all kinds of music, songs and dances were consecrated to their gods; (De legibus, b. 3.) And even Lucian (De Saltatione) expressly says that among the ancients, no ceremonial of religion, no expiation, no atonement was accounted rightly accomplished without dancing. So that David was far from being singular in his behaviour upon this occasion; nor was his behaviour, in this particular, any disparagement to his regal dignity. His dancing, that is, his moving in certain serious and solemn measures, suited to music of the same character and tendency, was an exercise highly conducive to the purposes of piety, and his mixing with the public festivities of his people, was a condescension, as Tacitus relates of Augustus the Roman emperor, not unbecoming the greatest monarch. Policy taught Augustus to put himself upon a level with his subjects in the public rejoicings: piety taught David, that all men are upon a level in the solemnities of religion. So that David was not singular in his behaviour upon this occasion.-Patrick's Commen-owned, that this opprobrious term proceeded from nothing but tary, and The History of the Life of King David, vol. 2. the overflowing spleen of a proud passionate woman-Calmet's e The words in the text are, And it was so, that when they and Patrick's Commentaries. |