Ver. 1. Now the days of David.] Days are one of the shortest measures of time; but long enough to decipher man’s life by. We are Ερημεροβιοι. That he should die.] Death is the only king against whom there is no rising up. (Proverbs 30:31) He may give for his motto that of Terminus, Nulli cedo, I give place to none. And he charged Solomon his son, saying.] Natural motion is more swift and violent toward the end of it. And grace will bestir itself when it hath not long to act; being oft most lively in those that lie a-dying.
Ver. 2. I go the way of all the earth.] Behold, I die, as Genesis 48:21. Be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man.] sc., In understanding and courage, (1 Corinthians 14:20) making up thy want of years by thy virtues, and not prevaricating either for fear or favour. The least deviation in the greatest and highest orb is both most sensible and most dangerous.
Ver. 3. And keep the charge of the Lord.] Piety maketh true magnanimity. The “spirit of a sound mind” is “a spirit of power,” (2 Timothy 1:7) and “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7) To walk in his ways,] i.e., To imitate him, saith Vatablus, and to resemble him, as much as is possible.
Ver. 4. If thy children take heed to their way.] Walking circumspectly and by rule; not at random, at all adventures. Here observe that God’s promises are with a condition; which is as an oar in a boat, or stern of a ship, and turneth the promise another way.
Ver. 5. What Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me.] Why, what did Joab to David? Pellican justifieth him, and commendeth Joab highly for a good man; but few interpreters are of his mind. David had much ado with him all along, and complained of his insolences, which yet he dared not punish, till in his old age the armies fell off from him, and Benaiah, captain of the guard, was able to deal with him. What is it that David here meaneth which Joab had done against him, is uncertain. The Hebrews tell us, that he showed David’s letters to him concerning the death of Uriah, which was much to his disgrace. Others hold that the death of Absalom still stuck in David’s stomach, together with that rough and rude language which Joab gave him for his excessive mourning thereupon. Theodoret thinketh it was his siding with Adonijah, and the evil that he might yet work against Solomon, whom he never loved, but held him unworthy to reign for his scandalous birth. And what he did to the two captains, &c.] This seemeth to be the very thing that he did against David; for besides that the sovereign is smitten in the subject, David had given the public faith to these two captains for their safety, and, therefore, appropriateth their slaughter, as good reason he had. And put the blood of war upon his girdle, &c.] In a bold and public way, as if he had bragged of his murders; like as Alexander Pheraeus is said to have consecrated the javelin wherewith he slew his uncle Polyphron, and called it his god Tychon, of great luck. Plutarch, in Pelopida.
Ver. 6. Do therefore according to thy wisdom,] q.d., He is of a turbulent spirit, and will be apt enough to give thee just occasion to fall upon him. See that it be thoroughly done, for it lieth upon my conscience, that he hath hitherto passed unpunished. Of his adultery and murder we hear not a word, because he had made a thorough peace with God for those sins in his lifetime; he had compounded with his judge, &c.: but the cases of Joab and Shimei troubled him on his death bed. And let not his hoar head, &c.] Let him be well punished, though he is now old, and hath done great exploits.
Ver. 7. For so they came to me.] So as I now desire thee to do to them, as did they to me when I was in distress—viz., they fed and relieved me, for which I hold myself their perpetual debtor. Eaten bread, we say, is soon forgotten; but not with the thankful. Agesilaus, king of Sparta, was always very grateful for any courtesies that he received; and used to say, that it was not only an unjust thing not to be thankful, but if a man did not return greater kindness than he received. How bountifully dealt the Lord Cromwell with Francis Frescobald, the Florentine, who had sometime relieved him in his great necessity, furnishing him with a horse, clothes, and money to bear his charges from Italy to England. Plut. Act. and Mon.
Ver. 8. Thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gerah.] Some think that, moved by David’s favour in forgiving him, (2 Samuel 19:23) he would not take part with Adonijah. (1 Kings 1:8) But if it were the same Shimei, and not rather another and better of his name, (1 Kings 4:18) yet now he must answer for his old faults. So that deferring payment is no breach of bond: there will come a time wherein the Lord will have a full blow at the impenitent person, be the pretences of impunity what they will. Which cursed me with a grievous curse.] Heb., Strong; Gr., Dolorous; Chald., Bitter. Indeed his mouth was “full of cursing and bitterness,” as if he had been as far as hell to fetch every word. (2 Samuel 16:5-13) And I sware to him.] See on 2 Samuel 19:23.
Ver. 9. Hold him not guiltless.] But when he shall have “added iniquity to his iniquity,” pay him home for the new and the old together. It hath been before observed, that sin may sleep a long time, like a sleeping debt, not called for of many years.
Ver. 10. So David slept with his fathers.] When he had served out his time, (Acts 13:25) when he had done his work, God sent him to bed. (Isaiah 57:2) In 1 Chronicles 29:28, it is said that “he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour.” He was regum omnium idea et exemplar, a notable pattern for princes, and in very many things a type of Christ. And was buried in the city of David.] Not in Bethlehem, but in Zion, (2 Samuel 5:7) the usual royal burying place. Josephus writeth that his son Solomon buried him magnificently; and that into his sepulchre were put very great riches, &c. It was to be seen till the apostles’ times. (Acts 2:29) Lib. vii.
Ver. 11. Were forty years.] Scarce any king of Judah reigned so long. Our Queen Elizabeth reigned four and forty years, and lived about seventy years; having been the most glorious woman that ever swayed sceptre, as her very enemies acknowledged.
Ver. 12. And his kingdom was established greatly,] sc., After that he had cut off those three arch-rebels Joab, Adonijah, and Shimei.
Ver. 13. And Adonijah…came to Bathsheba.] Being put on and advised thereunto, as it is thought, by Joab and Abiathar. Comest thou peaceably?] She had reason to suspect the contrary; as knowing him discontented and turbulent.
Ver. 14. I have somewhat to say unto thee.] But take heed that your tongue cut not your throat, as the Arabic proverb hath it.
Ver. 15. Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine,] viz., By right of succession, I being the eldest son now alive, [see 1 Kings 1:6] and chosen by the people too. (1 Kings 1:25) Howbeit the kingdom is turned about.] By that great Induperator, who putteth down one and setteth up another; “ Ludit in humanis divina potentia rebus. ” For it was his from the Lord.] Why then would Adonijah dash against the divine decree, and sin against his own knowledge, by saying, I will be king?
Ver. 16. Deny me not.] Heb., Turn not away my face, i.e., Ne reiecias me more denegantium, reject me not as those do that deny one a request. Quaeque repulsa gravis: A repulse is grievous.
Ver. 17. For he will not say thee nay.] He knew that a mother might do much, as Olympias with Alexander, Agrippina with Nero, &c. The Romanists blasphemously pray to the mother of Christ, to command her Son to do this or that for them.
Ver. 18. Well; I will speak for thee.] Though Bathsheba were a wise woman, grandchild to Ahithophel, yet she perceived not Adonijah’s drift—viz., to undermine her son Solomon, and to shoulder him out of the throne. Hence she was so facile and forward to gratify him.
Ver. 19. And bowed himself unto her.] Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, would in Westminster Hall beg his father’s blessing on his knees.
Ver. 20. I desire one small petition of thee.] Small she called it, but Solomon, who saw further into the matter, judged otherwise of it. (1 Kings 2:22) There are depths of the devil which every one cannot dive into. “ Ut fugias quae sunt noxia, tuta time. ”
Ver. 21. Let Abishag…be given to Adonijah to wife.] Overcome by Adonijah’s fair words and her own melting thoughts of compassion towards him, Bathsheba, not considering the consequents, proposeth the suit, and presseth it by the rela tion that was betwixt Solomon and Adonijah his brother. But was not David Adonijah’s father also? and will none serve his turn but his father’s concubine was not this to attempt against natural honesty and common decency? What if Abishag were καλη και σοφη —as Aelian saith Aspasia Milesia, Cyrus’s concubine, was—both fair and discreet, which is a rare mixture, yet she was not so fit for Adonijah; but he had a further fetch in this incestuous desire of his.
Ver. 22. Ask for him the kingdom also.] For that is it he gapes after, and seeks to strengthen his cracked title by marrying the late king’s concubine, [see 2 Samuel 3:7,12:8 16:21] who was likely grown very gracious with the great ones, and as potent at court, as was once here Dame Alice Pierce, King Edward III’s concubine, who did whatsoever she pleased. And for Abiathar the priest and for Joab.] Who are his counsellors, and fellow conspirators. This he knew, by a specal instinct of the Spirit.
Ver. 23. And Solomon sware.] That his mother, seeing him so resolute, might no more solicit.
Ver. 24. Adonijah shall be put to death this day.] This day; before tomorrow, lest delay should breed danger: who knoweth what a great-bellied day may bring forth? We use to say, A day breaketh no square: but that is not always true. Oh that we would be as quick in slaying our arch-rebels, those predominant sins that threaten our precious souls!
Ver. 25. And he fell upon him that he died.] This was another piece of the punishment of David’s two great sins: the small and short pleasure whereof, behold, what a train and tail of calamities it draweth after it!
Ver. 26. And unto Abiathar the priest.] Cuius et Ioabi consilio atque auxilio usus est Adoniiah, who together with Joab had conspired with Adonijah, and had his hand elbow deep in this new plot. Get thee to Anathoth.] Here Solomon exauthorateth him, and depriveth him of the chief priesthood, for the execution whereof he should have been resident at Jerusalem. Because thou hast been afflicted.] But for this, he had been now a dead man. So God by the rod preventeth the sword; and therefore will not condemn his saints for their sins, because they have suffered, (1 Corinthians 11:31) and in his account suffered double. (Isaiah 40:2)
Ver. 27. So Solomon thrust out Abiathar.] Our Henry II could not so easily rid his hands of Thomas Becket, that arch-traitor; but having had him above his wit while he lived, he was forced to have him over his faith being dead, kneeling and praying to his shrine. And yet forty-eight years after he was sainted, it was disputed at Paris among the doctors whether he was damned or saved. And one Roger, a Norman, maintained he had justly deserved death for rebelling against his sovereign, the minister of God. Dan., Hist., 99.
Ver. 28. For Joab had turned after Adonijah.] And that was his bane. If men do not cast away all their transgressions—that “all” is a little word but of large extent—they perish undoubtedly. Many here, like Benhadad, recover of one disease and die of another. And caught hold.] See on 1 Kings 1:50.
Ver. 29. Go, fall upon him.] Wilful murderers were to be drawn from the altar to the slaughter. (Exodus 21:14)
Ver. 30. Nay, but I will die here.] He dreamed not now of death; as hoping that his murdering of the two captains had been forgotten, and that for his conspiracy with Adonijah, the altar might secure him. But “the hypocrite’s hope is as the giving up of the ghost.” (Job 27:8)
Ver. 31. Do as he hath said.] Slay him, though it be at the altar. Becket, the traitor, was so served by some that belonged to our Henry II, and thought to gratify him thereby. And although the king constantly protested, se nec mandasse, nec voluisse, nec suo artificio quaesivisse necem Thomae, that he was neither witting nor willing to the taking away of his life in that sort; yet, for a penance, he was, by the command of the Pope’s legate, lashed on the bare back with rods, each of the priests and friars there present—and they were not a few—giving him three or four stripes, till the blood followed: besides that he was forced to go three miles on his bare feet, which yielded bloody tokens of his devotion, on the way to Becket’s sepulchre, which he went to visit. Rev., De Vit. Pontif., 149. Dan., Hist., fol. 101.
Ver. 32. My father David not knowing of it.] This he is careful to insert for the honour of his father.
Ver. 33. And upon the head of his seed for ever.] See 2 Samuel 3:29. [See Trapp on “2Sa 3:29”]
Ver. 34. And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness,] i.e., In a forest, fit for pasturage, and but thinly inhabited. The Hebrews say that Joab’s house here mentioned was a hospital that he built in the way for the harbouring of poor passengers: and that for this good deed his soul was saved. But of this none can judge, saith Pet. Martyr, because the Scripture saith nothing of it. But this it saith, that when Joab was dead and buried, Hadad the Edomite hearing thereof, returned out of Egypt into his own country, and became an adversary to Solomon, when once he forgot his God. (1 Kings 11:14,22)
Ver. 35. And Zadok the priest did the king put, &c.] Abiathar, the fourth from Eli, was of the race of Ithamar, the younger brother. Zadok was the right heir of Eleazar and Phinehas, (Numbers 25:13 1 Chronicles 6:3, &c.) and was therefore rightly restored by Solomon. Of his commendation, see 1 Samuel 2:35.
Ver. 36. Build thee a house in Jerusalem.] Shimei was no further to be trusted than he might be seen, and is therefore confined, and kept within compass: so should our deceitful hearts be dealt with. Set a jealous eye upon them, or else they will give you the slip, as David’s did. (Psalms 39:1,2) He said he would look to his ways and bridle his tongue; but presently after, he shows how he broke his word. (1 Kings 2:3)
Ver. 37. And passest over the brook Kidron.] The black brook, the town ditch: this was between Jerusalem and Bahurim, Shimei’s inheritance. He might do much hurt among his Benjamites; and is therefore kept from them. We must also set bounds to our affections, and threaten them if extravagant.
Ver. 38. The saying is good:…so will thy servant do.] The false heart praiseth the law and promiseth obedience, but faileth in performance; here it “starteth aside, like a deceitful bow.” (Psalms 78:57) [See Trapp on “Ps 78:57”] And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.] Till he had an occasion of doing otherwise. Augustine thanks God that the heart and temptation met not together.
Ver. 39. At the end of three years.] When he might haply hope that Solomon had forgotten him, or did not at least so strictly look to him. God had an overruling hand in it, to bring Shimei to condign punishment. And they told Shimei.] Either for good or evil will; so shall a man sooner or later hear of his faults either by his friends or his foes: and malice though an ill judge, may be a good informer.
Ver. 40. And Shimei arose, &c.] The dust of covetousness had blinded him: his passions also miscarried him—as they oft do better men—to his cost. And brought his servants from Gath.] But to the loss of his life. How many are there who cry out of this folly, and yet imitate it! These earthly things either are our servants, or should be: how commonly do men break the bound set them by God’s law, to hunt after them, though they perish for it!
Ver. 41. And it was told Solomon.] Kings have long ears, and more eyes than their own. And was come again.] He thought by a secret escape and a speedy return haply to do it unnoticed.
Ver. 42. Did not I make thee to swear.] Ορκος quasi ιρκος, oaths should bind to good abearance: but some can play with them as apes do with nuts, or monkeys with their collars, which they slip on and off again at pleasure.
Ver. 43. The oath of the Lord.] Made in his name, and to be kept to his glory, whereof he is jealous.
Ver. 44. Thou knowest all the wickedness.] To know other things is science: but to know ourselves is conscience. This is the reflection of the soul upon itself. “Our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them.” Quid tibi prodest non habere conscium, habenti couscientiam?
Ver. 45. And king Solomon shall be blessed.] For such due execution of justice. See Numbers 25:11,12 Ps 106:30.
Ver. 46. And the kingdom was established.] Hoc est, sine aemulis regnare coepit; the contrary faction was destroyed, and none left to oppose him.