A. M. 2949. A. C. 1055; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4341. A. C. 1070. 2 SAM. i-xix. their long hair flowing about their shoulders, which they powdered with small particles of gold, to make it sparkle, and glisten against the sun; and that therefore it is not improbable, that Absalom, who himself was a gay young man, and wanted none of these helps or improvements, might, in process of time, bring his hair up to the weight that the Scripture records, which, according to the gold shekel, that was but half as much as the silver, came to no more, as the learned Bochart endeavours to prove, than three pounds and two ounces. Thus have we attempted to solve most of the remarkable difficulties, that either affect the character of David, or other parts of Scripture account, during this period of its history; and may now begin to wave the testimony of heathen authors, in confirmation of what we may think strange and unaccountable in the sacred records; because facts of that kind will not so frequently occur; and the Jewish nation begins now, in the reign of king David, to make so considerable a figure, as to have their affairs either mentioned or alluded to, by the most remarkable historians, both Greek and Latin. But since the Scripture says nothing of any such additions, as ointments, or gold dust, to enhance the weight of the hair; others, who think this too much for a man that polled his hair once every year, if not oftener, have observed, from the words which we render at 'every year's end,' that in the original they imply no particular CHAP. III.-Of the Sacred Chronology, and Profane designation of time; and thence infer, that Absalom did not weigh his hair so often as once every year, but at this particular time only, when he returned to Jerusalem. "He in his exile," say they, "which lasted about three years, pretending great sorrow for his sin, seems to have taken upon him the vow of a Nazarite, until his return; one part of which was, that he should not suffer his hair to be cut for such a determinate time : but upon his recall home, being now discharged from his vow, he ordered his hair to be cut all clean off, because it was grown very cumbersome to him; which being of so long a growth, amounted to the weight that the sacred history 1 relates of it." But this notion of Absalom's Nazaritism has no foundation in Scripture, except that lying pretence to his father, when under the cloak of religion, he was minded to conceal his intended rebellion; and therefore all the superstructure built upon it must necessarily fall. 2 Others, perceiving that none of these inventions would answer the purpose, have endeavoured to solve the difficulty, by attending to the latter words in the text, two hundred shekels, after the king's weight:' and, to this purpose, they lay it down as a principle, that, during the reigns of the kings of Judah, there was no variation in the Hebrew weights, nor were there any that were called the king's: that the difference between the king's and the common weight did not commence, till after some continuance of the Babylonish captivity; that, towards the end of this captivity, whoever he was that revised these books of Samuel, made mention of such weights as were not properly Hebrew, but such as (after sixty or seventy years' captivity) the Jews only knew, and these were the Babylonish; and that therefore, when he comes to mention the weight of Absalom's hair, and tells us, that it was two hundred shekels, he adds, by way of explanation, that it was after the king's weight, that is, after the weight of the king of Babylon, whose shekel was but the third part of a Hebrew shekel, as the best writers upon weights and measures are generally agreed. So that, according to this hypothesis, Absalom's hair, which weighed two hundred Babylonish shekels, came but in our weight, to about thirty-three ounces; a quantity which those who deal in that commodity have not unfrequently met with upon several women's heads; and therefore what brings this long contested story, at least, within the bounds of a fair probability. 3 account of it. History during this Period. BEFORE we enter upon the foreign history of this period, 5 The generality of the Jews who make it 450 years from the death of Joshua to the time of Samuel," suppose 1 Kings vi. 1. Bedford's Scripture Chronology, b. 5. c. 1. a The chronology of the period here treated of, namely, from corrupted in the common Hebrew text; in fact the various parts the death of Joshua to the building of the temple, has been much are totally irreconcilable, as the efforts of our author to this end in the foregoing portion of this chapter clearly shows. The great alterations made in the chronology at a late period by the Jews, and their reasons for so doing, have already been stated, note pages 65, 66, on the period from the creation to the deluge. And for the shortening of this period they had the very same motive; it was indeed a part of the same scheme for raising prejudices in the minds of their countrymen against the Messiahsecond edition, gives from one of the Jewish rabbis, David ship of Jesus of Nazareth. Dr Hales, vol. 1. pp. 221, 222, Ganz, a table of the period from the exode to the building of the temple, in which they have contrived to crowd the various events within the space of 480 years; but, he adds, the Jewish chronologers were hard set to make out this detail, as Ganz honestly confesses:-For, 1. "By a curious invention, they included the first four servitudes in the years of the judges, who put an end to them, contrary to the express declarations of Scripture, which represent the administrations of the judges, not (Judges ii. 18.) 2. They were forced to allow the fifth servitude as synchronizing with the servitudes, but as succeeding them, to have been distinct from the administration of Jephthah, because it was too long to be included therein; but they curtailed a year from the Scripture account of that servitude, making it, instead year from Ibzan's administration, making it only six, instead of of eighteen, only seventeen years; and they curtailed another seven years. 3. They sunk entirely the sixth servitude, to the Philistines, of forty years, because it was too long to be contained in Samson's administration; and, to crown all, 4. They reduced The dishonesty of the whole contrivance could be equalled only Saul's reign of forty years, (Acts xiii. 21.) to two years only! by its absurdity; furnishing internal evidence that the period of four hundred and eighty years, foisted into the Hebrew text of Ibid. 1 Kings, is itself a forgery." We have given, at page 396, Dr ́ A. M. 2949. A. C. 1055; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4341. A. C. 1070. 2 SAM. i-xix. 2 the difference, from the departure out of Egypt, to the first beginning of the temple, to be 597 years; but this account is 117 more than what we find in Scripture. 1 Josephus expressly tells us, that when Solomon began that mighty work, it was 592 years from the coming of the Israelites out of Egypt; but then it is presumed, that he (as well as the other Jews) reckons the years of the oppressors apart; whereas they ought to be included in the years of the judges, who delivered the people from that bondage; for, it is but looking into the Scripture account, and we shall see that, before Othniel, Israel was oppressed eight years; before Ehud, eighteen; before Deborah, twenty; before Gideon, seven; before Jephthah, eighteen; and before Samson, forty; now, adding all these together, we shall find that they amounted to 111 years; which, if joined to the years of the judges will make the particular years of this period far exceed the general; but, by being included in the time assigned for the government of the judges, they make that particular and general account of the years agree very rightly. There is another difference between this account in the first book of Kings, and what the apostle affirms in the Acts of the Apostles, namely, that, after the time The reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, were forty years each, (Acts xiii. 21; 2 Sam. v. 4; 1 Kings xi. 42.) which determines the length of the period. But the dates of detail are not noticed in Scripture. They may, however, be collected from incidental circumstances, and from the series of events, to a considerable degree of exactness, not differing, perhaps, above a year more or less from the truth.-Hales' Analysis, v. 2. pp. 308, 309, second edition.-ED. that Joshua divided the land to them by lot, God gave them judges for about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.' But now, if there be 450 years from the division of the land of Canaan, which happened in the seventh year of Joshua's government, to the time of the government, or even of the death of Samuel, there must be many more than 480 years in the whole interval from the departure out of Egypt to the building of the temple. To solve this difficulty, some have imagined, that the words μзтà Taūτa, after that, which are found in the twentieth verse, should be placed at the beginning of the seventeenth, and then the sense will be, that, from God's choosing our fathers, to the time of the judges, were 450 years; for, from Isaac's birth, say they, to the departure of Israel out of Egypt, are 405 years; they wandered in the wilderness 40 years; and the land was divided by lot seven years after that; so that all these put together, make 452 years, which the Apostle expresses by the round sum of 450. But this apparently is not the sense of the apostle, who, in his discourse to the people, goes on gradually and methodically thus: God chose our fathers; he brought them out of Egypt; he led them in the wilderness forty years; he divided the land; and then he gave them judges,' &c. Others therefore have fallen into a different way of computation, by making the years of the judges and oppressors distinct; for, the years of the judges, say they, until Samuel's time, are 339; the years of the tyrants are 111; which, put together, make exactly 450: and this kind of reckoning the apostle might mention, though he did not entirely approve of it; and therefore we find him introducing it with an 5, that is, after a manner, or, as some will have it, who compute the years of the oppressors as distinct from the years of the judges, though in reality they ought to be included in one another. 5 There is still a farther difficulty, which arises from comparing the scripture chronology, with the genealogies in the book of Ruth. From the entrance into the land of Canaan to the building of the temple, were 440 years: now, if out of this, we subtract for David's life, 70 years, and for that part of Solomon's reign which was before the foundation of the temple, four years, the remainder will be 366; and yet for these 366 years, we have four generations only, for Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab; Boaz begat Obed of Ruth; Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David, which at a time when the age of man was reduced to the compass of seventy or eighty years, is a thing almost impossible. But, as it is not certain, that the lives of all men were shortened at the time when the Israelites murmured in the wilderness, forasmuch as the reason for cutting them off so soon (even to prevent their entering into the land of promise) was peculiar to that generation, and might not affect others; so the lives of others might be extended much longer, until the days of David, and especially in that family, which God had honoured so highly as to appoint, that in it his blessed Son should be born. A, M. 2949. A. C. 1955; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4341. A. C. 1070. 2 SAM. i-xix. about the same age; and that Rahab might bear Boaz in | so incommoded with extraordinary heats, that the earth the sixty-second year of her age, which in those days | became dry, and barren for several years, 2 it hence bewas no extraordinary thing: and then it is but suppos-came a renowned fable among the poets, that by his ing farther, that Boaz was 102 years old before he begat misguidance of the horses of the sun, who is said to have Obed; Obed 111 before he begat Jesse; and Jesse of been his father, he set the earth on fire. the same age before he begat David; and the whole About the fourteenth year of Tolah's judging Israel, difficulty is removed: only it may be thought a little Ganymede, the son of Tros, king of Phrygia, being bestrange, that men, above 100 years old, should be capa - | loved by Jupiter, as the poets fable, was by him carried ble of begetting children, until it be considered, that Moses and Aaron, and Joshua and Caleb, were all vigorous men at this age; that, long after this, Jehoiada, the high priest, was 130 years old when he died; and that, almost in our own remembrance, our countryman, Thomas Parr, lived to 152, and had a son when he was 105 years old. This may suffice for settling the chronology; and now to proceed to the history of this period. Our last connexion of the sacred and profane history we concluded with the life and adventures of Sesostris, a who reigned in Egypt, and made a very distinguished figure in several parts of the world, while the Israelites were sojourning in the wilderness; but from the time that they entered into Canaan, they seem to have had no intercourse with the Egyptians, nor do their several histories at all interfere. All history, indeed, in this period of time, is so defaced and corrupted with fables, that it is a hard matter to discern any lineaments of truth in it; and yet it may not be amiss to take notice of some of its remarkable events. up to heaven in the shape of an eagle, and much against Juno's will made cupbearer to the gods. About the sixth year of Jair's government, Perseus appeared in the world, and of him the fabulous writers have many strange stories; as, that he was begot by | Jupiter on Danae in a golden shower; that when he came to be of age he conquered the Gorgons, with their queen Medusa, whose hair was interwoven with snakes; that he subdued the inhabitants of Mount Atlas, and first delivered Andromeda, by killing the sea monster sent to devour her, and then married her; that afterwards he fought against the kings of Mauritania and Ethiopia, and, returning to Greece, overcame his uncle Prœtus, and Polydectes king of the island Seriphus. d Few things are more famous in the songs of the poets than the expedition of those valiant Greeks that accompanied Jason to Colchos; e and the foundation of the story is conceived to be this :-That the Argonauts sailed to some part of Scythia, to carry off a share of the riches of that country, where the inhabitants gained a great deal of gold out of the rivers that ran from Mount Caucasus, by using sheep skins with the wool on, in order to About the thirty-ninth year of Ehud's government in take up that precious metal, from whence it was called Israel, in the time of Deucalion son of Prometheus, there the golden fleece. But the poets, out of their fruitful happened such a deluge in Thessaly, as gave the brains, have made large additions to the story, namely, poets an occasion to say that all mankind were therein that Jason fell in love with Hypsipyle at Lemnos; and destroyed, and that Deucalion, and Pyrrha his wife, that at Colchos he married Medea, the king's daughter, re-peopled the world, by throwing stones behind them, who, being a famous witch, taught him how to kill the which were instantly changed into men and women. dragon that kept the rich fleece; how to conquer the bulls, that vomited fire; and how to sow the serpent's teeth, out of which there arose an army of men; with many more fictions of the like nature. Much about this time lived Phaeton, a prince of the Ligurians, and a great astrologer, that applied himself chiefly to the study of the course of the sun; and because, in his days, the country of Italy, near the river Po, was 1 Ovid's Metamorphoses, b. 1. fab. 7. a See note on this subject, p. 336.—ED. But, of all the occurrences in this period, that which has been most celebrated by the poets is the siege of Troy; and the probable occasion is supposed to be this: Not long before this remarkable event happened, the seas were very much infested with pirates, who, landing on the shores, seized upon all the women and cattle they could meet with; and so carrying them off, either sold them in some distant country, or kept them for their own use. Hereupon Tyndarus, the father of Helena, considering the beauty of his daughter, caused all In her lovers, who were some of the principal men of Greece, to bind themselves by a solemn oath, that, if at any time she should be taken from her husband, they 6 We have formerly taken notice, (b. 3. c. 5. in the notes,) of the series of the Egyptian kings, written by Erastosthenes, and preserved by Syncellus; and here to proceed with that catalogue. In the year of the world 2523, reigned in Egypt Echesius Caras one year. In the year 2524, began Nitocris, and reigned six years. In the year 2530, began Myrtæus, and reigned twenty years. In the year 2552, began Thyosimares, the same that Herodotus calls Myris, or Myrios, and reigned twelve years. In the year 2564, began Thyrillus, and reigned eight years. the year 2572, began Semiphucares, and reigned eighteen years. In the year 2590, began Chuter Taurus, and reigned seven years. In the year 2597, began Cheres Philosophus, and reigned twelve years. In the year 2609, began Chomo Ephtha, and reigned eleven years. In the year 2620, began Anchurius Ochus, and reigned sixty years. In the year 2680, began Pen- d With respect to the era of Phaeton and Ganymede there is teathyris, and reigned sixteen years. In the year 2696, began | no evidence whatever; no good evidence indeed that such perStamenes, and reigned twenty-three years. In the year 2719, sonages ever existed. Perseus is supposed to have been the most began Sistosichemes, and reigned fifty-five years. In the year ancient of all the Grecian heroes, and founder of the city of My2774, began Maris, and reigned forty-three years.. In the year cena, of which he was the first king. According to most chro2817, began Siphous Hermes. In the year 2826, began Phru-nologists, he flourished in the year 1348 B. C. and was contemporon, or Nilus. In the year 2843, began Amurrheus, and rary with the Hebrew judge Gideon. Sir Isaac Newton, however, reigned sixty-three years, or to the year of the world 2906.-See brings him down to the year 1028 B. C.—Bp. Gleig. Millar's Church History, c. 1. period 4. e The Argonautic expedition was made, according to Hales, 2 Ovid's Metamorphoses, b. 2. f. 1. c This flood occurred B. C. 1518, or twelve years before the | in the year 1225 B. C. during the administration of the judge commencement of Ehud's administration.-Hales.-ED. Abdon.-Bp. Gleig. A. M. 2949. A. C. 1055; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4341. A. C. 1070. 2 SAM. i-xix. would join all their forces together to recover her. And | Hector fell the city, which was soon reduced to ashes, and so, being left to choose whom she would have for her its inhabitants forced to undergo a military execution. husband, she made choice of Menelaus king of Mycenæ, But, how severe soever the Greeks might be to their and brother to Agamemnon. Paris, one of the youngest conquered enemies, several historians have observed, sons of Priamus, king of Troy, upon the report of her that in their return home, they suffered almost as much beauty, came into Greece to see her, and was kindly misery as they had brought upon the Trojans. For this entertained by Menelaus; but he soon took an opportu- is the account which Thucydides gives of them. "By nity to debauch his wife, and having robbed the husband reason of their long absence, they found many alteraof a great deal of treasure, found means to make his tions when they returned, so that some of them were escape both with her and it. driven by their neighbours from their ancient seats; many were expelled their countries by faction; others slain, soon after their arrival; and others deposed from their kingdoms by such as had staid at home." Nestor and Pyrrhus got safe home indeed, but were slain by Orestes. Idomeneus and Philoctetes, upon their return, were soon driven away to seek for new habitations. Agamemnon was, upon his first arrival, slain by his wife, and her adulterer Ægisthus, who had usurped his kingdom. Menelaus, having long wandered upon the sea, was forced into Egypt, before he could return to Sparta. Ulysses, after ten years' peregrination, and the loss of his whole company, came home in a poor condition, and had much difficulty to recover the mastership of his own house. Ajax, the son of Oileus, was drowned; Teucer fled into Cyprus ; and Diomedes to king Daunus, Some of the Locrians were driven into Africa, others into Italy, others into Sicily, and settled themselves in such numbers in these parts, that Greek became the current language of this island, and most of the east part of Italy obtained the name of Magna Græcia, Menelaus, as soon as his wife was gone, complained of the injury that had been done him, to all the Grecian princes, and required the performance of their oath; which they readily consented to, and made his brother Agamemnon general of the forces, that were to be employed in this expedition. The Greeks, however, being unwilling to enter into a war, if matters could be accommodated by a treaty, sent Ulysses and some others, as ambassadors to Troy, to demand Helena, and all the things of value that were taken with her. What answer the Trojans made to this demand, we are nowhere informed; but sure it is, that the ambassadors returned back so very much offended with their ill treatment, that, in a short time, they fitted out a vast armament. | Thus the wise Ruler of the world was pleased to make one wicked nation the instrument of punishing another. But, whatever they severally suffered, the succeeding But there was an unhappy accident, which mightily retarded the siege of the city, and that was a difference which fell out between Agamemnon and Achilles. Agamemnon, as general, had the preoption of what part of the booty he pleased, and had then taken to himself a captive woman, the daughter of Chryses, the priest of Apollo, as Achilles, and the other commanding officers, had made choice of others; but, being obliged to give up the priest's daughter, in atonement for the pestilence that was fallen upon the army, he sent and took Achil-generations obtained this advantage by it, that the disles's captive from him, which so exasperated this gallant warrior, that, to revenge himself effectually, he took up a resolution, neither to fight himself, nor suffer any forces under him to engage; and this gave the enemy so great an advantage, that Hector, at the head of his forces, broke through the Grecian trenches one day, and set fire to the ships. In the midst of this extremity, Patroclus, the bosomfriend of Achilles, not being able to stand neuter any persion 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. SECT. V. longer, begged of Achilles to let him have the use of his CHAP. I.-From the death of Absalom to the Building armour, and the command of his troops, in order to repulse the Trojans; which he bravely attempted, but, in the engagement fell by the hands of Hector, who took from him the arms of Achilles, and carried them off. This conjuncture Agamemnon made use of to be reconciled to Achilles; and to this purpose, sent him back his captive maid, with many very valuable presents, and made an excuse for his former behaviour as well as he could. Achilles, in order to be revenged for the loss of his friend, laid aside all resentment, and joined the Greeks in the next battle, wherein he vanquished the Trojans; and, singling out Hector, never left pursuing him, wherever he went, until he had killed him. a With a Homer indeed gives us this account of the taking of Troy; but Virgil has informed us, that it was done by a large wooden horse, in which were enclosed several of the chief commanders of the Greeks; that the rest setting sail to the island of Tenedos, left Sinon to persuade the Trojans, that this horse was built upon a religious account, and was necessary for them to take into the city; that, by his craft and instigation, they pulled down part of of the Temple. THE HISTORY. As soon as David was informed of his son's death, all the wall for that purpose; and so the Greeks, returning on a sudden, and entering the breach, opened the horse, and seized on the gates, and burned the city. But another author, who per haps might know the truth as well as Virgil, gives us a different account of this matter, namely, that Eneas, Antenor, and Po lydamus, having taken some disgust at king Priamus, agreed with the Grecians to betray the city to them, upon condition, that they might retire with their men wherever they thought fit, provided they did not settle in Phrygia. To this purpose it was concerted, that the Grecians should set sail the day before to the island Tenedos, as if they were quite gone, but return in the dark of the night, when the Trojans thought themselves secure, and so be let in at the Scaan gate, over which was a large image of an horse, which gave the first rise and occasion to all this story. Troy was taken in the year B. C. 1183, and consequently just at the termination of Samson's administration. See Hales, vol. i. p. 216, and vol. ii. p. 257.—Ev. A. M. 2981. A. C. 1023; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4375. A. C. 1036. 2 SAM. xİx—1 KINGS viii. the joy of the victory was turned into sorrow. The king himself withdrew to a private apartment, where he vented his grief in such a mournful exclamation, as a The place to which David withdrew, in order to vent his grief, was, as Josephus tells us, (b. 7. 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 counsel was wont to meet. (Calmet's Commentary.) The death of this favourite but unprincipled son, was a grievous blow to the heart of his royal father-and the intense anxiety with which he waited for intelligence of the fate of the day's engagement, and especially of Absalom, may be judged of from the position he occupied when the messengers arrived. To understand his situation, it is necessary to remind the reader that he was then in the provincial town of Mahanaim, in the tower that overhung the gates of which a sentinel was posted, as usual in cases of emergency, to hail the approach of any emissary from the seat of war. By this scout, communications of every thing important he discovered were ever and anon made to the impatient monarch, who sat in an adjoining chamber-one of those which served as halls of justice—and which, in ancient times, were always situated on the gates of the city. It was in this apartment, the nearest in the city to the scene of action, and commanding, from its elevated position, an extensive view of the country, that David watched, in the most painful suspense, the tidings of the civil contest that involved the fate of his crown. It was in this chamber at the gate, that, according to the practice of remotest antiquity on the most solemn occasions, he continued to indulge his pathetic lamentations over the death of his profligate son. It was out of a window in the same place of public resort, that when roused by the remonstrances of Joab, he returned his thanks to the army for their gallant defence of his life and his kingdom. And it was in the same apartments that he appeared afterwards before the people of the city, distributing justice to all who came with cases for his decision. That it was the practice of the ancient kings of Israel, as well as of other Oriental monarchs, to decide cases while sitting openly at the gate, appears from many passages of the sacred history; and, in many parts of the East, we are informed that the same practice prevails to this day. Mr Campbell describes an interesting scene of this nature at which he happened to be present. "While in Kurreechare," says he, "a city twelve or thirteen hundred miles up from the Cape of Good Hope, he was told that a cause was going to be brought before the king. Being anxious to witness it, I was led in haste to the gate, where I saw the king sit down at the right side of it, with his secretary on his right hand, and the prosecutor, or complainer, on his left, who stated his case across to the secretary. During his narrating his case, the king was looking about, as if not attending to what was said, but I saw from his eyes that he was attending to what, for form's sake, was addressed to the secretary. When the party had finished what he had to say, the secretary repeated the whole to the king, as if he had been entirely ignorant of the matter, after which he pronounced his judgment. This picturesque description gives us a lively idea of the scenes in which the chiefs and kings of sacred history are frequently represented as placed among their dependents or their people; and accounts for the universal joy that pervaded the whole city of Mahanaim, when it was known that their afflicted monarch had resumed his daily custom of meeting with, and taking an interest in the affairs of the people at the gate of the city.Jamieson's Eastern Manners.-ED. 6 Nothing certainly can be more moving and pathetic, than the words which David utters upon this sad occasion; but whether it was David's deliberate wish, that he had died in Absalom's stead, or only the effect of his excessive love and grief for him, is not so easy a matter to determine. St Austin seems to be on the affirmative side, and gives this reason for it: -That Absalom died impenitent, but might have lived to become a better man; whereas, if David had died, he had reason this: O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee! O Absalom, my son, my son!' And as for the army, instead of returning in triumph, they stole silently into the city, 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, e 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, d 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 e 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 12 Sam. xviii. 33. to hope well of his salvation: but this supposition, as I take it, is not so well founded, since there is much more probability that if Absalom had survived his father, he would have grown more profligate than ever, triumphed in his good success; insulted and persecuted all his father's friends; and proved a wicked and abominable tyrant. But whether David's wish was deliberate or no, it is certain, that his grief might be increased from this reflection, that himself, by his own sin in the case of Uriah, had been the unhappy instrument and occasion of his son's death; though some learned men have observed, that the oriental people were accustomed to express their passions with more vehemence than we, in these parts of the world are wont to do; and that the repetition of the same word,' My son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son,' is a style proper for mournful lamentation. "To the stars we will extol thy Daphnis, Daphnis to the stars we will praise, for Daphnis also loved us. " (Virg. Eccl. v.) "I am grieved for Adonis, Adonis the fair is dead, Adonis the beautiful is gone." (Bion. Id. 1.)-Patrick's and Calmet's Commentaries. 1 c 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 blessing of his being taken away. Let me entreat you therefore to show 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 Antiquities, b. 7. c. 10. d 2 Samuel xix. 8. And the king arose and sat in the gate.' The custom noticed in this passage appears to have been very ancient, and is found in other writings than the sacred books. Homer thus represents Nestor: The old man early rose, walk'd forth, and sat Odyss. i. 518.-ED. e 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 cool 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 state of arrogance will ministers sometimes arrive, when they find that their service is become necessary to their prince. Patrick's Commentary. |