_JOAB BLAMES DAVID, ON ACCOUNT OF HIS IMMODERATE GRIEF FOR ABSALOM. THE TRIBE OF JUDAH GO TO MEET THE KING AT GILGAL. DAVID SPARES SHIMEI, AND RESTORES TO MEPHIBOSHETH THE HALF OF HIS LAND. THE TEN TRIBES DISPUTE WITH THE TRIBE OF JUDAH._ _Before Christ 1023._... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY SPEAK YE NOT A WORD OF BRINGING THE KING BACK?— David, now victorious over a rebel army, had it in his power to take ample revenge of all those whose treachery and infidelity well deserved to be severely chastised; and it is evident, that if he had had any thing revengeful and sanguinary in his... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEAK UNTO THE ELDERS OF JUDAH, &C.— The authors of the Universal History charge this message with partiality, and with being, on that account, the cause of jealousy and revolt among the other ten tribes: but I see nothing in the history to justify this reflection. Instead of "inviting the elders of... [ Continue Reading ]
SAY YE TO AMASA, &C.— David did not suffer himself to be conducted home by a deputation from the tribe of Judah; for it appears from 2 Samuel 19:17; 2 Samuel 19:40 _that there were a thousand men of the tribe of Benjamin under Shimei,_ and also _half the people of Israel._ All the tribes in general,... [ Continue Reading ]
FIRST—OF ALL THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH— By _the house of Joseph_ we may very well understand, all the tribes, in opposition to that of Judah, the rights of primogeniture having been divided betwixt Judah and Joseph, 1 Chronicles 5:1. Indeed, when the separation of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel took... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KING SAID UNTO SHIMEI, THOU SHALT NOT DIE— Shimei was of the house and family of Saul, and a person of great power and influence in the tribe of Benjamin, of whom he had _a thousand_ in his train, when he made his submission to David upon his restoration. The manner in which he accosted David, c... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SAID, THOU AND ZIBA DIVIDE THE LAND— He first gave the whole in property to Mephibotheth, and afterwards to Ziba: and yet, _I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land,_ must refer to some former determination of David with respect to the estate. But no such determination is to be found, excep... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD THY SERVANT CHIMHAM— Chimham, it is generally supposed, was Barzillai's son; see 1 Kings 2:7. In Jeremiah 41:17 there is mention of _the habitation of Chimham,_ which was near Bethlehem; and it is a very reasonable conjecture of Grotius, that David, having a patrimony in the field of Bethlehe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORDS OF THE MEN OF JUDAH WERE FIERCER, &C.— It was a natural contest between greater power and nearer relationship; both claim a preference which both cannot have; and which those of nearer relationship in this case should have yielded, both in point of prudence and affection for their friend;... [ Continue Reading ]