THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL.
This second part might have been called the book of David. Having in the preseding book considered his anointing, his singular courage, and marvellous preservation while a candidate for the throne; we here contemplate his wisdom, his valour, and a constellation of the highest virtues which can adorn human nature, or distinguish the sacred person of a King. The glory and happiness to which he raised his country, corresponded with his personal worth. He is indeed accused of cruelty to his enemies; but his punishments were legal retaliations, as the cutting off of the right thumb and the right toe of Adoni-bezek, who had most inhumanly mutilated seventy kings in that manner. Or if we consider the lamentable case of Uriah, he did all that a man or a prince could do to repair his fault. He published a penitentiary Psalm to his country; he married the woman, and made her son king over Israel. It would therefore be wise in the wicked to exceed him in the fruits of repentance, before they presumptuously take shelter under his character. From the virtues and the heroic actions, preserved in this ancient record, which comprises a period of about forty years, the discerning mind will find a vast source of pleasing and of painful instruction. A supplement to this book is given in the twenty eighth chapter of the first book of Chronicles.