_Unto him, after the birth of the child. A whole year had nearly elapsed, and David continued blind and impenitent. The spirit of prophecy had left him; and, though he was clear-sighted, and equitable enough to punish the faults of others, he could not discern his own picture, till Nathan had remove... [ Continue Reading ]
_Daughter. All these expressions tended to shew the affection of the owner for this pet lamb. (Haydock) --- In Arabia, one of the finest is commonly fed in the house along with the children. (Bochart, Anim. T. i. B. ii. 46.) --- It is not necessary that every word of this parable should have been ve... [ Continue Reading ]
_To him. This wanton cruelty caused David to pronounce him deserving of death; as simple theft was punished with only a four-fold restitution, Exodus xxii. 1. Judges sometimes diminish, and at other times increase, the severity of the law, according to the dispositions of the offenders, which lawgiv... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fold. Septuagint, "seven-fold," which Grabe corrects by the Hebrew. (Haydock) --- David lost four of his sons; the first born of Bethsabee, Amnon, Absalon, and Adonias: and saw his daughter Thamar, (Calmet) and his ten inferior wives, dishonoured, in punishment of his crime. (Menochius)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_The man, against whom thou hast pronounced sentence, and who has treated thy neighbour with still less pity. (Haydock) ----- Mutato nomine de te_ Fabula narratur.----- (Horace)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wives. We know of none that David married. But, as king, he enjoyed alone that privilege. (Grotius) (Chap. ii. 7., and xvi. 21.) --- Unto thee. Hebrew, "I would have given thee such and such." (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "I will moreover give thee like unto these;" a continuation of prosperity. (Haydo... [ Continue Reading ]
_House. What a dismal scene opens itself to our view during the remaining part of David's reign! (Haydock) --- Scarcely one of his successors was free from war; even Solomon was disturbed by the rebellion of Jeroboam, &c., and many of David's family and descendants came to an untimely end, ver. 6. ... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will raise, &c. All these evils, inasmuch as they were punishments, came upon Daivd by a just judgment of God, for his sin; and therefore God says, I will raise, &c. But inas much as they were sins, on the part of Absalom and his associates, God was not the author of them, but only permitted them... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sun, publicly, chap. xvi. 22. How abominable soever this conduct of an unnatural son must have been to God, he says, I will do this; because, when he might have prevented it by a more powerful grace, or by the death of the delinquent, he suffered him to carry his infernal project into execution. (H... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sinned. His confession was sincere, and very different from that of Saul, 1 Kings xv. 24. "The expression was the same; but God saw the difference of the heart." (St. Augustine, contra Faust. xxii. 27.) --- Sin. He has remitted the fault and the eternal punishment, and he has greatly diminished the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Occasion. Literally, "made" almost, in the same sense, as God threatened to do, what was effected by Absalom, ver. 12. David did not co-operate with the malice of infidels; but he was responsible for it: in as much as he had committed an unlawful action, which gave them occasion to blaspheme God, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of. Hebrew, "it was sick" (Calmet) of a fever._... [ Continue Reading ]
_A fast, ( jejunavit jejunio) denotes, with more than ordinary rigour. (Salien) --- By himself. Hebrew, "he went in, and lay all night upon the ground." (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Day. After his birth, when he had received circumcision; (Salien) or on the 7th day since the commencement of his malady. (Calmet; Menochius)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_To me. No instance of any one being raised from the dead had yet occurred; though David did not disbelieve its possibility. (Menochius)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wife. She had partaken in his affliction and repentance. The Jews say that David told her the divine oracle, which is mentioned [in] 3 Kings i. 13, 17., that her next son should succeed to the throne. Salien (the year of the world 3000) supposes that he was conceived in May, two months after the de... [ Continue Reading ]
_Amiable to the Lord. Or beloved of the Lord. In Hebrew, Yedideya. (Challoner) --- Loved him, is not expressed in Hebrew, "because of the Lord." (Haydock) --- Theodotion, "in the word, or agreeably to, the order of the Lord." Solomon never went by the name which God here gives him, (Calmet) except i... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER XII. _ The city of waters. Rabbath, the royal city of the Ammonites, was called the city of waters, from being encompassed with waters. (Challoner) See chap. v. 8. --- The Hebrew in the preceding verse seems to insinuate, (Haydock) that "he had taken the royal city." But he was only on the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take it. The higher, and more impregnable part; which honour Joab reserved for David._... [ Continue Reading ]
_King. Hebrew, Malcam, "their king." Moloc, "king," or the chief idol of the Ammonites. It was forbidden to use the ornaments of the idols on Chanaan, but not of other nations. This crown might be worth a talent, on account of the gold and precious stones; (1 Paralipomenon xx. 2.; Sanchez; Bochart,)... [ Continue Reading ]
Sawed. Hebrew, "he put them under saws, and under rollers of iron, and under knives," &c. (Haydock) --- The Jews say that Isaias was killed by being sawed asunder; to which punishment St. Paul alludes, Hebrews xi. 37. (Menochius) --- Brick-kilns, or furnaces, Psalm xx. 10. (Muis) --- David and his c... [ Continue Reading ]