FOOTNOTES:[1]"Scriptura est sensus Scripturæ."—St. Augustine.[2]For a decisive proof of these statements I refer to my Bampton Lectures on theHistory of Interpretation(Macmillan, 1890).[3]Bacon.[4]How closely these documents are transcribed is shown by the recurrence of "unto this day," though the phrase had long ceased to be true when the book appeared.[5]It is inferred from 1 Kings viii. 12, 13, which have a poetic tinge, and to which the LXX. add "Behold they are written in the Book of the Song," that in this section the "Book of Jashar" has been utilised, and that the reading הישר has been confused with השיר (Driver, p. 182).[6]2 Chron. xx. 34, R.V., "The history of Jehu, the son of Hanani, whichis inserted in the Book of the Kings of Israel" (not "who is mentioned," A.V., which, however, gives in the margin the literal meaning "was made to ascend").[7]Movers,Krit. Untersuch., p. 185 (Bonn, 1836). The use of older documents explains the phrase "till this day," and the passages which speak of the Temple as still standing (1 Kings viii. 8, ix. 21, xii. 19; 2 Kings x. 27, xiii. 23). Sometimes the traces of earlier and later date are curiously juxtaposed, as in 2 Kings xvii. 18, 21 and 19, 20.[8]Difference of sources is marked by the different designations of the months, which are called sometimes by their numbers, as in the Priestly Codex (1 Kings xii. 32, 33), sometimes by the old Hebrew names Zif ("blossom," April, May, 1 Kings vi. 1), Ethanim ("fruit," Sept., Oct., 1 Kings viii. 2), and Bul ("rain," 1 Kings vi. 38).[9]מִז־הַנָּהָר (compare עֲבַר־נַהֲרָה).Lit., "Beyondthe river,"i.e., from the Persian standpoint. It becomes a fixed geographical phrase. Traces of the editor's hand occur in 1 Kings xiii. 32 ("the cities of Samaria"); 2 Kings xiii. 23 ("as yet").[10]Comp. 2 Kings viii. 25 with ix. 29.[11]See 2 Kings xv. 30 and 33, viii. 25 and ix. 29.[12]As, perhaps, the clause "In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah" in 1 Kings xvi. 23; and the much more serious "in the 480th year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt," which are omitted by Origen (comm. in Johannem, ii. 20), and create many difficulties. The only narratives which critics have suggested as possible interpolations, from the occurrence of unusual grammatical forms, are 2 Kings viii. 1-6 and iv. 1-37 (in the story of Elisha); but these forms are perhaps northern provincialisms.[13]Speaker's Commentary, ii. 475. Instances will be found in 1 Kings xiv. 21, xvi. 23, 29; 2 Kings iii. 1, xiii. 10, xv. 1, 30, 33, xiv. 23, xvi. 2, xvii. 1, xviii. 2.[14]Stade, p. 79; Kalisch,Exodus, p. 495.[15]See Keil, pp. 9, 10.[16]R. F. Horton,Inspiration, p. 843.[17]He was not the author of the Book of Samuel, for the standpoint and style are quite different. In the First and Second Books of Samuel the high places are never condemned, as they are incessantly in Kings (1 Kings iii. 2, xiii. 32, xiv. 23, xv. 14, xxii. 43, etc.).[18]Baba Bathra, 15 a.[19]Seder Olam Rabba, 20.[20]Even then he would have been ninety years old.[21]There are, however, somedifferencesbetween 2 Kings xxv. and Jer. lii. (see Keil, p. 12), though the manner is the same, Carpzov,Introd., i. 262-64 (Hävernick,Einleit., ii. 171). Jer. li. (verse 64) ends with "Thus far are the words of Jeremiah," excluding him from the authorship of chap. lii. (Driver,Introd., p. 109). The last chapter of Jeremiah was perhaps added to his volume by a later editor.[22]"The Old Testament does not furnish a history of Israel, though it supplies the materials from which such a history can be constructed. For example, the narrative of Kings gives but the merest outline of the events that preceded the fall of Samaria. To understand the inner history of the time we must fill up this outline with the aid of the prophets Amos and Hoshea."—Robertson Smith'sPrefaceto translation of Wellhausen, p. vii.[23]"In der Chronik," on the other hand, "ist es der Pentateuch, d.h. vor Allem derPriestercodex, nach dessen Muster die Geschichte des alten Israels dargestellt wird" (Wellhausen,Prolegom., p. 309). It has been said that the Book of Kings reflects the political and prophetic view, and the Book of Chronicles the priestly view of Jewish history. It is about the Pentateuch, its date and composition, that the battle of the Higher Criticism chiefly rages. With that we are but indirectly concerned in considering the Book of Kings; but it is noticeable that the ablest and most competent defender of the more conservative criticism, Professor James Robertson, D.D., both in his contribution toBook by Bookand in hisEarly Religion of Israel, makes large concessions. Thus he says, "It is particularly to be noticed that in the Book of the Pentateuch itself the Mosaic origin is not claimed" (Book by Book, p. 5). "The anonymous character of all the historical writings of the Old Testament would lead us to conclude that the ancient Hebrews had not the idea of literary property which we attach to authorship" (p. 8). "It is long since the composite character of the Pentateuch was observed" (p. 9). "There may remain doubts as to when the various parts of the Pentateuch were actually written down; it may be admitted that the later writers wrote in the light of the events and circumstances of their own times" (p. 16).[24]Driver, p. 189. Comp. Professor Robertson Smith: "The most notable feature in the extant redactions of the book is the strong interest shown in the Deuteronomic law of Moses, and especially in the centralisation of worship in the Temple on Zion, as pre-supposed in Deuteronomy and enforced by Josiah. This interest did not exist in ancient Israel, and is quite foreign to the older memories incorporated in the book."[25]Driver, p. 192.[26]Delitzsch,Genesis, 6th ed., p. 567.[27]Geschichte des Volkes Israel, i. 73.[28]Even the First Book of Maccabees begins with καὶ ἐγένετο.[29]Stade thinks that this is confirmed by viii. 46-49.[30]Stade, pp. 32 ff. Thus, in 1 Kings viii. 14-53, verses 12, 13 are in the Septuagint placedafterverse 53, are incomplete in the Hebrew text, and have a remarkable reading in the Targum. Professor Robertson Smith infers that a Deuteronomic insertion has misplaced them in one text, and mutilated them in another. The order of the LXX. differs in 1 Kings iv. 19-27; and it omits 1 Kings vi. 11-14; ix. 15-26. It transposes the story of Naboth, and omits the story of Ahijah and Abijah, which is added from Aquila's version to the Alexandrian MS. See Wellhausen-Bleek,Einleitung, §§ 114, 134.[31]See Appendix on theChronology.[32]See Wellhausen,Prolegomena, pp. 285-87; Robertson Smith,Journ. of Philology, x. 209-13.[33]Encycl. Brit., s.v. Kings (W.R.S.).[34]See Stade, i. 88-99; W. R. Smith,l. c.; Kreuz,Zeitschr. f. Wiss. Theol., 1877, p. 404. Some of the dates, as Dr. W. R. Smith shows, are "traditional," and are probably taken from Temple records (e.g., the invasion of Shishak, and the change of the revenue system in the twenty-third year of Joash). Taking these as data, we have (roughly) 160 years to the twenty-third year of Joash, + 160 to the death of Hezekiah, + 160 years to the return from the Exile = 480. He infers that "the existing scheme was obtained by setting down a few fixed dates, and filling up the intervals with figures in which 20 and 40 were the main units."[35]Speaker's Commentary, ii. 477.[36]1 Kings xiii. 1-32, xx. 13-15, 28, 35, 42; 2 Kings xxi. 10-15.[37]2 Kings xvii. 7-23, 32, 41, xxiii. 26, 27.[38]נְבִיאִים רֹאשׁוֹנִים. The three greater and twelve minor prophets are calledprophetæ posteriores(אַחֲרוֹנִים). Daniel is classed among the Hagiographa (כְּתּוּבִים). This title of "former prophets" was, however, given by the Jews to the historic books from the mistaken fancy that they were allwrittenby prophets.[39]Martensen,Dogmatics, p. 363.[40]2 Sam. vii. 12-16; 1 Kings xi. 36, xv. 4; 2 Kings viii. 19, xxv. 27-30. "His object evidently was," says Professor Robertson, "to exhibit the bloom and decay of the Kingdom of Israel, and to trace the influences which marked its varying destiny. He proceeds on the fixed idea that the promise given to David of a sure house remained in force during all the vicissitudes of the divided kingdom, and was not even frustrated by the fall of the kingdom of Judah."[41]1 Kings xi. 9-13.[42]Amos ix. 11, 12.[43]Psalm lxxxix. 48-50.[44]2 Kings xx. 16-18, xxii. 16-20.[45]Isa. xxx. 16.[46]Queen of the Air, p. 87.[47]Tac.,Hist., 1, 2: "Opus aggredior opimum casibus, atrox prœliis, discors seditionibus, ipsa etiam pace sævum."[48]Wellhausen,History of Israel, p. 432; Stade,Gesch. des Volkes Israel, i., p. 12; Robinson,Ancient History of Israel, p. 15.[49]Od., ix. 51, 52.[50]Acts iv. 27, 28.[51]1 Cor. i. 26-28.[52]Id., v. 25.[53]Deut. xxvi. 5.[54]Isa. xxxviii. 17 (Heb.).[55]See Stade, i. 1-8.[56]1 Chron. xxiii. 1.[57]2 Sam. v. 5.[58]It is mentioned by Galen, vii.; Valesius,De Sacr. Philos., xxix., p. 187; Bacon,Hist. Vitæ et Mortis, ix. 25; Reinhard,Bibel-Krankheiten, p. 171. See Josephus,Antt., VII. xv. 3.[59]Now Solam, nearZerin(Jezreel), five miles south of Tabor (Robinson,Researches, iii. 462), on the south-west of Jebel el-Duhy (Little Hermon), Josh. xix. 18; 1 Sam. xxviii. 4.[60]Æsch.,Sept. c. Theb., 690.[61]See Psalm cxxii. 3-5.[62]See Kittel, ii. 147.[63]The same word is rendered "worship" in Psalm xlv. 11. Comp. 2 Sam. ix. 6; Esth. iii. 2-5. In 1 Chron. xxix. 20 we are told that the people "worshipped" the Lord and the king.[64]"Μηδὲ βαρβάρου φωτὸς δίκηνΧαμαιπετὲς βόαμα προσχανῇς ἐμοί."Æsch.,Agam., 887.[65]Ecclus. xvi. 1-3. He must have had at least twenty sons, and at least one daughter (2 Sam. iii. 1-5, v. 14-16; 1 Chron. iii. 1-9, xiv. 3-7). Josephus again (Antt., VII. iii. 3) has a different list.[66]Kohanim.[67]From the fact that his son Eliada (2 Sam. v. 16) is called Beeliada (i.e., "Baal knows") in 1 Chron. xiv. 7, it is surely a precarious inference that "now and then he paid his homage to some Baal, perhaps to please one of his foreign wives" (Van Oort,Bible for Young People, iii. 84). The true explanation seems to be that at one time Baal, "Lord," was not regarded as an unauthorised title for Jehovah. The fact that David once hadteraphimin his house (1 Sam. xix. 13, 16) shows that his advance in knowledge was gradual.[68]Chileab was either dead, or was of no significance.[69]2 Sam. xiii. 39. "The soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom."[70]Max. Tyr.,Dissert., 9 (Keil,ad loc.).[71]In 2 Sam. xv. 7 we should certainly alter "forty" into four.[72]Rephaim seems a more probable reading than Ephraim in 2 Sam. xviii. 6; see Josh. xvii. 15, 18. Yet the name "Ephraim" may have been given to this transjordanic wood. The notion that hehung by his hairis only a conjecture, and not a probable one.[73]His three sons had pre-deceased him; his beautiful daughter Tamar (2 Sam. xiv. 27) became the wife of Rehoboam. She is called Maachah in 1 Kings xv. 2, and the LXX. addition to 2 Sam. xiv. 27 says that she bore both names. The so-called tomb of Absalom in the Valley of Hebron is of Asmonæan and Herodian origin.[74]Morier tells us that in Persia "runners" before the king's horses are an indispensable adjunct of his state.[75]The Stone of Zoheleth, probably a sacred stone—one of the numerous isolated rocks of Palestine; is not mentioned elsewhere. The Fuller's Fountain is mentioned in Josh. xv. 7, xviii. 16; 2 Sam. xvii. 17. It was south-east of Jerusalem, and is perhaps identical with "Job's Fountain," where the wadies of Kedron and Hinnom meet (Palestine Exploration Fund, 1874, p. 80).[76]Comp. 1 Kings i. 9-25.[77]The same phrase is used of Rehoboam (2 Chron. xii. 13, xiii. 7) when he was twenty-one, reading כא for מא, forty-one.[78]2 Sam. xii. 25: "And he sent by the hand of Nathan, the prophet; he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord" (A.V.). The verse is somewhat obscure. It either means that David sent the child to Nathan to be brought up under his guardianship, or sent Nathan to ask of the oracle the favour of some well-omened name (Ewald, iii. 168). Nathan was perhaps akin to David. The Rabbis absurdly identify him with Jonathan (1 Chron. xxvii. 32; 2 Sam. xxi. 21), nephew of David, son of Shimmeah.[79]1 Chron. xxii. 6-9.[80]LXX., Σαλωμών, and in Ecclus. xlvii. 13. Comp. Shelōmith (Lev. xxiv. 11), Shelōmi (Num. xxxiv. 27). But it became Σαλόμων in the New Testament, Josephus, the Sibylline verses, etc. The long vowel is retained in Salōme and in the Arabic Sūleyman, etc.[81]Among Solomon's adherents are mentioned "Shimei and Rei" (1 Kings i. 8), whom Ewald supposes to stand for two of David's brothers, Shimma and Raddai, and Stade to be two officers of the Gibborim. Thenius adopts a reading partly suggested by Josephus, "Hushai, the friend of David." Others identify Rei with Ira; a Shimei, the son of Elah, is mentioned among Solomon's governors (Nitzabim, 1 Kings iv. 18); and there was a Shimei of Ramah over David's vineyards (1 Chron. xxvii. 27). The name was common, and meant "famous."[82]Duncker, Meyer, Wellhausen, Stade, regard Solomon's accession as due to a mere palace intrigue of Nathan and Bathsheba, and David's dying injunctions as only intended to excuse Solomon. They treat 1 Kings ii. 1-12 as a Deuteronomic interpolation. Dillmann, Kittel, Kuenen, Budde, rightly reject this view. Stade says, "Nach menschlichen Gefühl, ein Unrecht war die Salbung Salomos." He thinks that "the aged David was over-influenced by the intrigues of the harem and the court" (i. 292).[83]She said that they would be counted as "offenders" (chattaim) Comp. 1 Kings i. 12, where Nathan assumes that they will both be put to death. Thus Cassander put to death Roxana, the widow of Alexander the Great, and her son Alexander (Justin., xv. 2).[84]Reuss,Hist. des Israelites, i. 409.[85]Comp. 2 Sam. iv. 9; Psalm xix. 14.[86]"The servants of your Lord." Comp. 2 Sam. xx. 6, 7.[87]Comp. Gen. xli. 43; 1 Kings i. 33; Esth. vi. 8.[88]2 Chron. xxxii. 30, xxxiii. 14. It was apparently "the Virgin's Fountain," east of Jerusalem, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.[89]Comp. 2 Kings ix. 13.[90]1 Chron. xxvii. 5, where the true rendering is not "Benaiah the chief priest," as in A.V., nor "principal officer," as in the margin: but "Benaiah the priest, as chief."[91]1 Sam. xxx. 14; Josephus, σωματοφύλακες. The Targum calls them "archers and slingers" (which is unlikely), or "nobles and common soldiers." This body-guard is also said to be composed of Gittites (2 Sam. xv. 18, xviii. 2); but some suppose that they were so called not by nationality, but because they had served under David at Gath. The question is further complicated by the appearance of "Carians" (A.V., captains) in 2 Kings xi. 4, 15, and also in 2 Sam. xx. 23 (Heb.). The Carians were universal mercenaries (Herod., ii. 152; Liv., xxxvii. 40). That there was an early intercourse between Palestine and the West is shown by the fact that such words as peribolory, machaera, macaina, lesche, pellex, have found their way into Hebrew (see Renan,Hist. du Peuple Israel, ii. 33).[92]2 Sam. xxiii. 8-39; 1 Chron. xi. 10-47; 1 Kings i. 8. The Gibborim are by some supposed to be a different body from the Krêthi and Plêthi (2 Sam. xv. 18, xx. 7); but from 1 Kings i. 8, 10, 38 they seem to be the same (Stade, i. 275). The thirty heroes at their head furnish, as Renan says, the first germ of a sort of "Legion of Honour."[93]Saul (1 Sam. x. 1), David (1 Sam. xvi. 13, and twice afterwards, 2 Sam. ii. 4, v. 3), Jehu (1 Kings xix. 16), Joash (2 Chron. xxiii. 11).[94]1 Kings i. 39. "Tent," not "tabernacle," as in A.V. It has generally been supposed that Zadok took it from the tabernacle at Gibeon (1 Chron. xvi. 39), but there would have been no time to send so far. Zadok is called a "Seer" in the A.V. (2 Sam. xv. 27); but the true version may be "Seeth thou?" The LXX. and Vulgate omit the words.[95]Morier, quoted by Stanley, p. 172, says that the Mustched, or chief priest, and the Munajem, or prophet, are always present at a Persian coronation.[96]LXX., ἐῤῥάγη, ἤχησεν; Vulg., insonuit. Comp. Josephus,Antt., VII. xiv. 3, 5.[97]2 Sam. xv. 27, xvii. 17.[98]2 Sam. xviii. 27. Heb., אִשׁחַי; LXX., ἀνὴρ δυνάμεως; Vulg., vir fortis. It is rather "virtuous," as in Prov. xii. 4.[99]It is true that Solomon's adherents had wasted no time over a feast.[100]1 Kings i. 50.[101]Psalm cxviii. 27, and Exod. xxvii. 2 ff., xxix. 12, xxx. 10. Comp. Exod. xxi. 14.[102]Exod. xxi. 14. It protected the homicide, but not the wilful murderer.[103]1 Kings i. 51. The words "this day" should be "first of all,"i.e., before I leave the sanctuary. Many must have been reminded of this scene when Eutropius, the eunuch-minister of Arcadius, under the protection of St. Chrysostom, cowered in front of the high altar at Constantinople.[104]"There shall not a hair of him fall." Comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 45; 2 Sam. xiv. 11.[105]"Bowed himself." Comp. 1 Kings i. 47.[106]Grätz, i. 138 (E. T.).[107]2 Sam. xxiii. 1-7. It is no part of my duty here to enter into the extent of David's share in the Psalms; but I think that it is an exaggerated inference (of Wellhausen and others) from Amos vi. 5, 6 to suppose that he only wrote festal and warlike songs.[108]Apparently an allusion to Deut. xvii. 18-20. We read of no such exhortation having been addressed to Saul, or to David.[109]Chimham accompanied David to Jerusalem (2 Sam. xvii. 27, xix. 37-40), and perhaps inherited his property at Bethlehem, where he founded the Khan (Jer. xli. 17), in the cavern stable of which it may be that Christ was born.[110]Wellhausen, Stade, and others venture on the conjecture that David never gave these injunctions at all, but that they were invented afterwards to excuse Solomon for his acts of severity towards Adonijah's conspirators. I cannot see any valid ground for such arbitrary re-writing of the history. Shimei had taken no part in Adonijah's rebellion.[111]Zeruiah was "a sister of the sons of Jesse" (1 Chron. ii. 16), and was therefore a sister of Abigail, mother of Amasa; but she is called "the daughter ofNahash" (2 Sam. xvii. 25).[112]1 Chron. ii. 17. "Jether (i.e., Jethro, 'pre-eminence') the Ishmaelite" has been altered in 2 Sam. xvii. 25 into Ithra, anIsraelite(see 2 Sam. xix. 13). The way in which names have been tampered with is an interesting study, and often conceals Masoretic secrets.[113]David's enemies thought but little of the fact that David had spared Mephibosheth. They may have supposed that David spared him, not only because he was the son of the beloved Jonathan, but because being lame he could never become king. David's relations to him do not seem to have been very cordial.[114]2 Sam. xvi. 14 (Heb.). For Bahurim, see 2 Sam. xvi. 5, xvii. 18.[115]Acts xvii. 30.[116]Matt. v. 43, 44.[117]There is something analogous to protectiongranted only for a lifetimein the fact that the homicide at a refuge city could not be slain there while the high priest lived. See Num. xxxv. 28.[118]Comp. Josh. xxiii. 14; Keil,ad loc.[119]Acts ii. 29. Josephus says that both Hyrcanus and Herod opened it to find the treasures which legend asserted to have been buried there (Antt., VII. xv. 3. Comp. XIII. viii. 4, XVI. vii.). The kings alone were buried in Jerusalem; but legend says that an exception was made in favour of Huldah the prophetess.[120]These events—like almost everything derogatory to David and Solomon—are omitted by the chronicler.[121]Luke iii. 31. Salathiel, son of Neri (Luke iii. 27), of Nathan's house, was probably adopted by Jeconiah, who was childless; or if he had a son Assir (captive), the son had died. 1 Chron. iii. 17; Isa. xxii. 3.[122]2 Sam. xii. 8. Comp. 1 Kings xx. 7; 2 Kings xxiv. 15. We only know, however, of one wife of Saul, and one concubine.[123]Herod., iii. 68; Justin., x. 2.[124]Comp. 1 Kings xv. 13; 2 Kings xi. 1. The queen-mother, like the Sultana Walidé, is always more powerful than even the favourite wife.[125]Cant. iii. 11.[126]Psalm xlv. 9. Some little mystery evidently hangs over the name of Bathsheba. In 2 Sam. xi. 3 she is called "Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite"; but in 1 Chron. iii. 5 she is called "Bathshua, the daughter ofAmmiel." Now Shua was a Canaanite name (Gen. xxxviii. 12; 1 Chron. ii. 3), and it is at least remarkable that Bathsheba should be married to a Hittite. Further, the chronicler disguises "Ahithophel the Gilonite (the father of Eliam) into Ahijah the Pelonite," who is one of David's Gibborim in 1 Chron. xi. 36. Pelonite meansnescio qius; in Spanish, Don Fulano,—Signor So-and-so. And how are we to account for the strange name Ahithophel ("brother of foolishness?")?[127]Comp. Cant. vii. 1. It has been assumed that Solomon had already married Naamah the Ammonitess, and that Rehoboam was already born (see 1 Kings xiv. 21), but this is uncertain. Rehoboam, if he had reached the age of forty-one, could hardly have been called "young and tender-hearted" (2 Chron. xiii. 7).[128]Shunem (Sulem, Euseb.,Jer.) is nowSolam(Robinson,Researches, iii. 402).[129]1 Sam. xxii. 23.[130]2 Sam. xv. 18 (LXX.).[131]Anata, Robinson,Researches, ii, 319; Josh. xxi. 18; 1 Chron. vi. 60. It was the native town of Jeremiah (Jer. i. 1).[132]It should be remembered that, as Ewald points out, imprisonment for life was a thing unknown.[133]This interesting addition is found in the Septuagint version.[134]2 Sam. xxiii. 20. Ewald, Thenius, and most other critics, followed by the R.V., adopt the LXX. reading, "Slew the two sons of Ariel of Moab."[135]Comp. 2 Kings xi. 15.[136]See Deut. xix. 13.[137]2 Sam. iii. 28, 29.[138]אָנֶה וָאָנָה(1 Kings ii. 36).[139]It should be remembered that when Shimei came to meet David on his return, he managed to muster one thousand of his Benjamite kinsmen. Such local influence might prove troublesome.[140]Achish seems to have been the dynastic name of the kings of Gath (1 Sam. xxi. 10, xxvii. 2). If this was the Achish, son of Maoch, with whom David had taken refuge fifty years before, he must now have been a very old man.[141]Esth. ii. 5.[142]Prov. xix. 11, xx. 2, 8, 26.[143]1 Kings ii. 7; Jer. xli. 17.[144]Lev. x. 1-20; Num. iii. 4, xxvi. 61. This has been not unnaturally inferred from the prohibition to the priests to drink wine while serving the tabernacle lest they die, which occurs immediately after the catastrophe of the two priests (Lev. x. 9-11).[145]1 Chron. vii. 4-15. In David's time there were only eight descendants of Ithamar, but sixteen of Eleazar (1 Chron. xxiv. 4). For full discussion of these priestly genealogies, see Lord A. Hervey,On the Genealogies, pp. 277-306. It is true that they are not free from elements of difficulty, but I am unable to find any valid ground for the suspicion of some critics that Zadok was not even a priest, or of the priestly house at all. All the evidence we have points in the opposite direction.[146]Num. xxv. 13.[147]2 Chron. xxxiii. 6; 2 Kings xxi. 6. "His children."[148]2 Chron. xxviii. 3; 2 Kings xvi. 3. "His son."[149]1 Sam. ii. 27-36. For eight centuries there was no other instance of a high priest's deposition.[150]Isa. iii. 10.[151]See 1 Sam. xxi. 6, compared with 1 Chron. xvi. 39, 40; 2 Chron. i. 3.[152]An old Hivite capital (Josh. xviii. 21-25), now El Jib. Josephus alters it to "Hebron."[153]See 1 Chron. xvi. 39, 40, xxi. 29; 2 Chron. i. 3. The annals of Solomon fall into three divisions: first, his secure establishment upon the throne (1 Kings i, ii.); next, his wisdom, wealth, glory, and great buildings, especially the building of the Temple (iii.-x.); lastly, his fall and death (xi.).[154]It was sufficiently sanctioned by Exod. xx. 24, and Jerusalem was not yet chosen (Deut. xii. 13, 14). See Judg. vi. 24, xiii. 19; 1 Sam. ix. 12, etc. This seems to have been the last great sacrifice there. In 1 Kings iii. 5-15 the sacrifice is regarded with approval; in verses 2, 3 it is condemned, but excused by circumstances; in the verses inserted by the chronicler (2 Chron. i. 3-6) it is said that the Tabernacle was there.[155]See 1 Sam. xxii. 17-19.[156]Herod., vii. 43. Xerxes offered one thousand at Troy, and Crœsus three thousand at Delphi (Id., i. 50).[157]Hence, perhaps, the LXX. rendering of Δήλωσις καὶ Ἀλήθεια. This view is accepted by Hengstenberg (Egypt and the Five Books of Moses, chap. vi.), and Kalisch (on Exod. xxviii. 31).[158]Arist.,Eth. Nic., i. 13: "βελτίω τὰ φαντάσματα τῶν ἐπιεικῶν ἢ τῶν τυχόντων."[159]Bishop Hall.[160]"Εὔδουσα γὰρ φρὴν ὄμμασιν λαμπρύνεται."—Æsch.,Eum., 104.[161]Ecclus. xv. 16, 17.[162]Emerson.[163]The phrase "a little child" (comp. Jer. i. 6) hardly bears on his actual age. See Gen. xliii. 8; Exod. xxxiii. 11. It is proverbial like the subsequent phrase, for which see Deut. xxviii. 6; Psalm cxxi. 8, etc.[164]Heb., "A hearing heart." LXX., "A heart to hear and judge Thy people in righteousness." In 2 Chron. i. 10, "Wisdom and knowledge."[165]Matt. vi. 33.[166]Josephus (Antt., VIII. vii. 8) makes him die at ninety-four, and become king at fourteen. Perhaps he mistook μ' for π' in the LXX.[167]Psalm cxxvii. 2 (uncertain).[168]1 Sam. viii. 6, 20; 2 Sam. xv. 4. "To rule was with the ancients the synonym of to judge." Artemidorus,Oneirocr., ii. 14. (Bähr,ad loc.).[169]Compare the Phœnician'sSuffetes(Liv.).[170]As instances of the lower sense in which the term "wisdom" was applied, see 2 Sam. xiii. 3 (Jonadab); xiv. 2 (the woman of Tekoa); xx. 16 (the woman of Abel of Beth-maachah).[171]The Rabbis call them "innkeepers," as they call Rahab.[172]I follow the not improbable additional details given by Josephus from tradition.[173]יֵלֶד. LXX., παιδίον.[174]So the Greek version, which represents the clause rightly. Tradition narrates a yet earlier specimen of Solomon's wisdom. Some sheep had strayed into a pasture. The owner of the land demanded reparation. David said that to repay his loss he might keep the sheep. "No," said Solomon, who was but eleven years old, "let him keep them only till their wool, milk, and lambs have repaid the damage; then let him restore them to their owner." David admitted that this was the more equitable judgment, and he adopted it. See The Qur'an,Suraxxi. 79 (Palmer's Qur'an, ii. 52).[175]The parallel is adduced by Grotius.[176]Quoted by Bähr.[177]Suet.,Claud., 15.[178]For references to animals, etc., see Prov. vi. 6, xxiv. 30-34, xxx. 15-19, 24-31; Josephus,Antt., VIII. ii. 5; Ecclus. xlvii. 17.[179]See Isa. xix. 11, xxxi. 2; Acts vii. 22; Herod., ii. 160; Josephus,Antt., VIII. ii. 5 (Keil).[180]See 1 Chron. ii. 6, vi. 44, xv. 17, 19, xxv. 5. Titles of Psalms xviii., lxxxviii., lxxxix. "Ezrahite," perhaps, is a transposition of Zerahite.[181]1 Chron. ii. 6. InSeder Olamthey are called "prophets who prophesied in Egypt."[182]"Sons of Mahol" (comp. Eccles. xii. 4).[183]Psalms lxxii., cxxvii. The so-called "Psalms of Solomon," fifteen in number, are of the Maccabean age; Josephus calls his songs βίβλια περὶ ὠδῶν καὶ μελῶν, and his proverbs βίβλους παραβολῶν καὶ εἰκόνων.[184]See Euseb.,Præp. Evang., ix. 34, § 19.[185]Prov. xi. 22, xxiv. 30-34, xxv. 25, xxvi. 8, xxx. 15.[186]E.g., Prov. vi. 10.[187]1 Kings x. 1; LXX., ἐν αἰνίγμασι. See Wünsche,Die Räthselweisheit, 1883; Grätz,Hist. of the Jews, i. 162. For specimens of her traditional puzzles see the author'sSolomon, p. 135 (Men of the Bible).[188]"And Solomon was David's heir, and said, Ye folk! we have been taught the speech of birds, and we have been given everything: verily this is a Divine grace" (Qur'an,Suraxxvii. 15). For the legend of Solomon and the hoopoes, seeSura27.[189]According to Suidas (s.v., Ἐζεκίας) Hezekiah found his (magic?) formulæ for the cure of diseases engraved on the posts of the Temple. See Targum on Esth. i. 2; Eccles. ii. 8.[190]Job xxviii. 23, 28.[191]Prov. i. 7.[192]Ecclus. xlvii. 13-18.[193]Josephus,Antt., VIII. vii. 8. According to one tradition he lived to fifty-three (Ewald, iii. 208), and was only twelve when he succeeded David.[194]2 Chron. viii. 3. Ewald thinks it is confirmed by 2 Kings xiv. 28, where, however, the Hebrew is obscure.[195]1 Kings x. 26.[196]1 Kings ix. 18. Here the "Q'rî," the marginal, or "read" text, has Tadmor (i.e., Palmyra), as also in 2 Chron. viii. 4. But this Tamar (Ezek. xlvii. 19, xlviii. 28) is "in the land" on the south border. In the Chronicles Tadmor is the right reading, for the chronicler is speaking of Hamath-Zobah and the north. It is not at all unlikely that Solomon also built Tadmor (Josephus,Antt., VIII. vi. 1) to protect his commerce on the route to the Euphrates.[197]The forty-fifth psalm is supposed by old interpreters to have been an epithalamium on this occasion, but was probably much later. Perhaps notices like 1 Kings iii. 1-3 (the Egyptian alliance), the admonition in 1 Kings ix. 1-9 and the luxury described in x. 14-29, are meant as warning notes of what follows in xi. 1-8 (the apostasy), 9-13 (the prophecy of disruption), and 14-43 (the concluding disaster).[198]Gezer is Abu-Shusheh, or Tell-el-Gezer, between Ramleh and Jerusalem (Oliphant,Haifa, p. 253), on the lower border of Ephraim. Ewald identifies it with Geshur, the town of Talmai, Absalom's grandfather. See Lenormant,Hist. anc. de l'Orient., i. 337-43. The genealogy of this dynasty is thus given by Brugsch-Bey (Gen. Table iv.),Hist. of Egypt, vol. ii.:—
[1]"Scriptura est sensus Scripturæ."—St. Augustine.
[2]For a decisive proof of these statements I refer to my Bampton Lectures on theHistory of Interpretation(Macmillan, 1890).
[3]Bacon.
[4]How closely these documents are transcribed is shown by the recurrence of "unto this day," though the phrase had long ceased to be true when the book appeared.
[5]It is inferred from 1 Kings viii. 12, 13, which have a poetic tinge, and to which the LXX. add "Behold they are written in the Book of the Song," that in this section the "Book of Jashar" has been utilised, and that the reading הישר has been confused with השיר (Driver, p. 182).
[6]2 Chron. xx. 34, R.V., "The history of Jehu, the son of Hanani, whichis inserted in the Book of the Kings of Israel" (not "who is mentioned," A.V., which, however, gives in the margin the literal meaning "was made to ascend").
[7]Movers,Krit. Untersuch., p. 185 (Bonn, 1836). The use of older documents explains the phrase "till this day," and the passages which speak of the Temple as still standing (1 Kings viii. 8, ix. 21, xii. 19; 2 Kings x. 27, xiii. 23). Sometimes the traces of earlier and later date are curiously juxtaposed, as in 2 Kings xvii. 18, 21 and 19, 20.
[8]Difference of sources is marked by the different designations of the months, which are called sometimes by their numbers, as in the Priestly Codex (1 Kings xii. 32, 33), sometimes by the old Hebrew names Zif ("blossom," April, May, 1 Kings vi. 1), Ethanim ("fruit," Sept., Oct., 1 Kings viii. 2), and Bul ("rain," 1 Kings vi. 38).
[9]מִז־הַנָּהָר (compare עֲבַר־נַהֲרָה).Lit., "Beyondthe river,"i.e., from the Persian standpoint. It becomes a fixed geographical phrase. Traces of the editor's hand occur in 1 Kings xiii. 32 ("the cities of Samaria"); 2 Kings xiii. 23 ("as yet").
[10]Comp. 2 Kings viii. 25 with ix. 29.
[11]See 2 Kings xv. 30 and 33, viii. 25 and ix. 29.
[12]As, perhaps, the clause "In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah" in 1 Kings xvi. 23; and the much more serious "in the 480th year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt," which are omitted by Origen (comm. in Johannem, ii. 20), and create many difficulties. The only narratives which critics have suggested as possible interpolations, from the occurrence of unusual grammatical forms, are 2 Kings viii. 1-6 and iv. 1-37 (in the story of Elisha); but these forms are perhaps northern provincialisms.
[13]Speaker's Commentary, ii. 475. Instances will be found in 1 Kings xiv. 21, xvi. 23, 29; 2 Kings iii. 1, xiii. 10, xv. 1, 30, 33, xiv. 23, xvi. 2, xvii. 1, xviii. 2.
[14]Stade, p. 79; Kalisch,Exodus, p. 495.
[15]See Keil, pp. 9, 10.
[16]R. F. Horton,Inspiration, p. 843.
[17]He was not the author of the Book of Samuel, for the standpoint and style are quite different. In the First and Second Books of Samuel the high places are never condemned, as they are incessantly in Kings (1 Kings iii. 2, xiii. 32, xiv. 23, xv. 14, xxii. 43, etc.).
[18]Baba Bathra, 15 a.
[19]Seder Olam Rabba, 20.
[20]Even then he would have been ninety years old.
[21]There are, however, somedifferencesbetween 2 Kings xxv. and Jer. lii. (see Keil, p. 12), though the manner is the same, Carpzov,Introd., i. 262-64 (Hävernick,Einleit., ii. 171). Jer. li. (verse 64) ends with "Thus far are the words of Jeremiah," excluding him from the authorship of chap. lii. (Driver,Introd., p. 109). The last chapter of Jeremiah was perhaps added to his volume by a later editor.
[22]"The Old Testament does not furnish a history of Israel, though it supplies the materials from which such a history can be constructed. For example, the narrative of Kings gives but the merest outline of the events that preceded the fall of Samaria. To understand the inner history of the time we must fill up this outline with the aid of the prophets Amos and Hoshea."—Robertson Smith'sPrefaceto translation of Wellhausen, p. vii.
[23]"In der Chronik," on the other hand, "ist es der Pentateuch, d.h. vor Allem derPriestercodex, nach dessen Muster die Geschichte des alten Israels dargestellt wird" (Wellhausen,Prolegom., p. 309). It has been said that the Book of Kings reflects the political and prophetic view, and the Book of Chronicles the priestly view of Jewish history. It is about the Pentateuch, its date and composition, that the battle of the Higher Criticism chiefly rages. With that we are but indirectly concerned in considering the Book of Kings; but it is noticeable that the ablest and most competent defender of the more conservative criticism, Professor James Robertson, D.D., both in his contribution toBook by Bookand in hisEarly Religion of Israel, makes large concessions. Thus he says, "It is particularly to be noticed that in the Book of the Pentateuch itself the Mosaic origin is not claimed" (Book by Book, p. 5). "The anonymous character of all the historical writings of the Old Testament would lead us to conclude that the ancient Hebrews had not the idea of literary property which we attach to authorship" (p. 8). "It is long since the composite character of the Pentateuch was observed" (p. 9). "There may remain doubts as to when the various parts of the Pentateuch were actually written down; it may be admitted that the later writers wrote in the light of the events and circumstances of their own times" (p. 16).
[24]Driver, p. 189. Comp. Professor Robertson Smith: "The most notable feature in the extant redactions of the book is the strong interest shown in the Deuteronomic law of Moses, and especially in the centralisation of worship in the Temple on Zion, as pre-supposed in Deuteronomy and enforced by Josiah. This interest did not exist in ancient Israel, and is quite foreign to the older memories incorporated in the book."
[25]Driver, p. 192.
[26]Delitzsch,Genesis, 6th ed., p. 567.
[27]Geschichte des Volkes Israel, i. 73.
[28]Even the First Book of Maccabees begins with καὶ ἐγένετο.
[29]Stade thinks that this is confirmed by viii. 46-49.
[30]Stade, pp. 32 ff. Thus, in 1 Kings viii. 14-53, verses 12, 13 are in the Septuagint placedafterverse 53, are incomplete in the Hebrew text, and have a remarkable reading in the Targum. Professor Robertson Smith infers that a Deuteronomic insertion has misplaced them in one text, and mutilated them in another. The order of the LXX. differs in 1 Kings iv. 19-27; and it omits 1 Kings vi. 11-14; ix. 15-26. It transposes the story of Naboth, and omits the story of Ahijah and Abijah, which is added from Aquila's version to the Alexandrian MS. See Wellhausen-Bleek,Einleitung, §§ 114, 134.
[31]See Appendix on theChronology.
[32]See Wellhausen,Prolegomena, pp. 285-87; Robertson Smith,Journ. of Philology, x. 209-13.
[33]Encycl. Brit., s.v. Kings (W.R.S.).
[34]See Stade, i. 88-99; W. R. Smith,l. c.; Kreuz,Zeitschr. f. Wiss. Theol., 1877, p. 404. Some of the dates, as Dr. W. R. Smith shows, are "traditional," and are probably taken from Temple records (e.g., the invasion of Shishak, and the change of the revenue system in the twenty-third year of Joash). Taking these as data, we have (roughly) 160 years to the twenty-third year of Joash, + 160 to the death of Hezekiah, + 160 years to the return from the Exile = 480. He infers that "the existing scheme was obtained by setting down a few fixed dates, and filling up the intervals with figures in which 20 and 40 were the main units."
[35]Speaker's Commentary, ii. 477.
[36]1 Kings xiii. 1-32, xx. 13-15, 28, 35, 42; 2 Kings xxi. 10-15.
[37]2 Kings xvii. 7-23, 32, 41, xxiii. 26, 27.
[38]נְבִיאִים רֹאשׁוֹנִים. The three greater and twelve minor prophets are calledprophetæ posteriores(אַחֲרוֹנִים). Daniel is classed among the Hagiographa (כְּתּוּבִים). This title of "former prophets" was, however, given by the Jews to the historic books from the mistaken fancy that they were allwrittenby prophets.
[39]Martensen,Dogmatics, p. 363.
[40]2 Sam. vii. 12-16; 1 Kings xi. 36, xv. 4; 2 Kings viii. 19, xxv. 27-30. "His object evidently was," says Professor Robertson, "to exhibit the bloom and decay of the Kingdom of Israel, and to trace the influences which marked its varying destiny. He proceeds on the fixed idea that the promise given to David of a sure house remained in force during all the vicissitudes of the divided kingdom, and was not even frustrated by the fall of the kingdom of Judah."
[41]1 Kings xi. 9-13.
[42]Amos ix. 11, 12.
[43]Psalm lxxxix. 48-50.
[44]2 Kings xx. 16-18, xxii. 16-20.
[45]Isa. xxx. 16.
[46]Queen of the Air, p. 87.
[47]Tac.,Hist., 1, 2: "Opus aggredior opimum casibus, atrox prœliis, discors seditionibus, ipsa etiam pace sævum."
[48]Wellhausen,History of Israel, p. 432; Stade,Gesch. des Volkes Israel, i., p. 12; Robinson,Ancient History of Israel, p. 15.
[49]Od., ix. 51, 52.
[50]Acts iv. 27, 28.
[51]1 Cor. i. 26-28.
[52]Id., v. 25.
[53]Deut. xxvi. 5.
[54]Isa. xxxviii. 17 (Heb.).
[55]See Stade, i. 1-8.
[56]1 Chron. xxiii. 1.
[57]2 Sam. v. 5.
[58]It is mentioned by Galen, vii.; Valesius,De Sacr. Philos., xxix., p. 187; Bacon,Hist. Vitæ et Mortis, ix. 25; Reinhard,Bibel-Krankheiten, p. 171. See Josephus,Antt., VII. xv. 3.
[59]Now Solam, nearZerin(Jezreel), five miles south of Tabor (Robinson,Researches, iii. 462), on the south-west of Jebel el-Duhy (Little Hermon), Josh. xix. 18; 1 Sam. xxviii. 4.
[60]Æsch.,Sept. c. Theb., 690.
[61]See Psalm cxxii. 3-5.
[62]See Kittel, ii. 147.
[63]The same word is rendered "worship" in Psalm xlv. 11. Comp. 2 Sam. ix. 6; Esth. iii. 2-5. In 1 Chron. xxix. 20 we are told that the people "worshipped" the Lord and the king.
[64]
"Μηδὲ βαρβάρου φωτὸς δίκηνΧαμαιπετὲς βόαμα προσχανῇς ἐμοί."Æsch.,Agam., 887.
"Μηδὲ βαρβάρου φωτὸς δίκηνΧαμαιπετὲς βόαμα προσχανῇς ἐμοί."Æsch.,Agam., 887.
[65]Ecclus. xvi. 1-3. He must have had at least twenty sons, and at least one daughter (2 Sam. iii. 1-5, v. 14-16; 1 Chron. iii. 1-9, xiv. 3-7). Josephus again (Antt., VII. iii. 3) has a different list.
[66]Kohanim.
[67]From the fact that his son Eliada (2 Sam. v. 16) is called Beeliada (i.e., "Baal knows") in 1 Chron. xiv. 7, it is surely a precarious inference that "now and then he paid his homage to some Baal, perhaps to please one of his foreign wives" (Van Oort,Bible for Young People, iii. 84). The true explanation seems to be that at one time Baal, "Lord," was not regarded as an unauthorised title for Jehovah. The fact that David once hadteraphimin his house (1 Sam. xix. 13, 16) shows that his advance in knowledge was gradual.
[68]Chileab was either dead, or was of no significance.
[69]2 Sam. xiii. 39. "The soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom."
[70]Max. Tyr.,Dissert., 9 (Keil,ad loc.).
[71]In 2 Sam. xv. 7 we should certainly alter "forty" into four.
[72]Rephaim seems a more probable reading than Ephraim in 2 Sam. xviii. 6; see Josh. xvii. 15, 18. Yet the name "Ephraim" may have been given to this transjordanic wood. The notion that hehung by his hairis only a conjecture, and not a probable one.
[73]His three sons had pre-deceased him; his beautiful daughter Tamar (2 Sam. xiv. 27) became the wife of Rehoboam. She is called Maachah in 1 Kings xv. 2, and the LXX. addition to 2 Sam. xiv. 27 says that she bore both names. The so-called tomb of Absalom in the Valley of Hebron is of Asmonæan and Herodian origin.
[74]Morier tells us that in Persia "runners" before the king's horses are an indispensable adjunct of his state.
[75]The Stone of Zoheleth, probably a sacred stone—one of the numerous isolated rocks of Palestine; is not mentioned elsewhere. The Fuller's Fountain is mentioned in Josh. xv. 7, xviii. 16; 2 Sam. xvii. 17. It was south-east of Jerusalem, and is perhaps identical with "Job's Fountain," where the wadies of Kedron and Hinnom meet (Palestine Exploration Fund, 1874, p. 80).
[76]Comp. 1 Kings i. 9-25.
[77]The same phrase is used of Rehoboam (2 Chron. xii. 13, xiii. 7) when he was twenty-one, reading כא for מא, forty-one.
[78]2 Sam. xii. 25: "And he sent by the hand of Nathan, the prophet; he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord" (A.V.). The verse is somewhat obscure. It either means that David sent the child to Nathan to be brought up under his guardianship, or sent Nathan to ask of the oracle the favour of some well-omened name (Ewald, iii. 168). Nathan was perhaps akin to David. The Rabbis absurdly identify him with Jonathan (1 Chron. xxvii. 32; 2 Sam. xxi. 21), nephew of David, son of Shimmeah.
[79]1 Chron. xxii. 6-9.
[80]LXX., Σαλωμών, and in Ecclus. xlvii. 13. Comp. Shelōmith (Lev. xxiv. 11), Shelōmi (Num. xxxiv. 27). But it became Σαλόμων in the New Testament, Josephus, the Sibylline verses, etc. The long vowel is retained in Salōme and in the Arabic Sūleyman, etc.
[81]Among Solomon's adherents are mentioned "Shimei and Rei" (1 Kings i. 8), whom Ewald supposes to stand for two of David's brothers, Shimma and Raddai, and Stade to be two officers of the Gibborim. Thenius adopts a reading partly suggested by Josephus, "Hushai, the friend of David." Others identify Rei with Ira; a Shimei, the son of Elah, is mentioned among Solomon's governors (Nitzabim, 1 Kings iv. 18); and there was a Shimei of Ramah over David's vineyards (1 Chron. xxvii. 27). The name was common, and meant "famous."
[82]Duncker, Meyer, Wellhausen, Stade, regard Solomon's accession as due to a mere palace intrigue of Nathan and Bathsheba, and David's dying injunctions as only intended to excuse Solomon. They treat 1 Kings ii. 1-12 as a Deuteronomic interpolation. Dillmann, Kittel, Kuenen, Budde, rightly reject this view. Stade says, "Nach menschlichen Gefühl, ein Unrecht war die Salbung Salomos." He thinks that "the aged David was over-influenced by the intrigues of the harem and the court" (i. 292).
[83]She said that they would be counted as "offenders" (chattaim) Comp. 1 Kings i. 12, where Nathan assumes that they will both be put to death. Thus Cassander put to death Roxana, the widow of Alexander the Great, and her son Alexander (Justin., xv. 2).
[84]Reuss,Hist. des Israelites, i. 409.
[85]Comp. 2 Sam. iv. 9; Psalm xix. 14.
[86]"The servants of your Lord." Comp. 2 Sam. xx. 6, 7.
[87]Comp. Gen. xli. 43; 1 Kings i. 33; Esth. vi. 8.
[88]2 Chron. xxxii. 30, xxxiii. 14. It was apparently "the Virgin's Fountain," east of Jerusalem, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
[89]Comp. 2 Kings ix. 13.
[90]1 Chron. xxvii. 5, where the true rendering is not "Benaiah the chief priest," as in A.V., nor "principal officer," as in the margin: but "Benaiah the priest, as chief."
[91]1 Sam. xxx. 14; Josephus, σωματοφύλακες. The Targum calls them "archers and slingers" (which is unlikely), or "nobles and common soldiers." This body-guard is also said to be composed of Gittites (2 Sam. xv. 18, xviii. 2); but some suppose that they were so called not by nationality, but because they had served under David at Gath. The question is further complicated by the appearance of "Carians" (A.V., captains) in 2 Kings xi. 4, 15, and also in 2 Sam. xx. 23 (Heb.). The Carians were universal mercenaries (Herod., ii. 152; Liv., xxxvii. 40). That there was an early intercourse between Palestine and the West is shown by the fact that such words as peribolory, machaera, macaina, lesche, pellex, have found their way into Hebrew (see Renan,Hist. du Peuple Israel, ii. 33).
[92]2 Sam. xxiii. 8-39; 1 Chron. xi. 10-47; 1 Kings i. 8. The Gibborim are by some supposed to be a different body from the Krêthi and Plêthi (2 Sam. xv. 18, xx. 7); but from 1 Kings i. 8, 10, 38 they seem to be the same (Stade, i. 275). The thirty heroes at their head furnish, as Renan says, the first germ of a sort of "Legion of Honour."
[93]Saul (1 Sam. x. 1), David (1 Sam. xvi. 13, and twice afterwards, 2 Sam. ii. 4, v. 3), Jehu (1 Kings xix. 16), Joash (2 Chron. xxiii. 11).
[94]1 Kings i. 39. "Tent," not "tabernacle," as in A.V. It has generally been supposed that Zadok took it from the tabernacle at Gibeon (1 Chron. xvi. 39), but there would have been no time to send so far. Zadok is called a "Seer" in the A.V. (2 Sam. xv. 27); but the true version may be "Seeth thou?" The LXX. and Vulgate omit the words.
[95]Morier, quoted by Stanley, p. 172, says that the Mustched, or chief priest, and the Munajem, or prophet, are always present at a Persian coronation.
[96]LXX., ἐῤῥάγη, ἤχησεν; Vulg., insonuit. Comp. Josephus,Antt., VII. xiv. 3, 5.
[97]2 Sam. xv. 27, xvii. 17.
[98]2 Sam. xviii. 27. Heb., אִשׁחַי; LXX., ἀνὴρ δυνάμεως; Vulg., vir fortis. It is rather "virtuous," as in Prov. xii. 4.
[99]It is true that Solomon's adherents had wasted no time over a feast.
[100]1 Kings i. 50.
[101]Psalm cxviii. 27, and Exod. xxvii. 2 ff., xxix. 12, xxx. 10. Comp. Exod. xxi. 14.
[102]Exod. xxi. 14. It protected the homicide, but not the wilful murderer.
[103]1 Kings i. 51. The words "this day" should be "first of all,"i.e., before I leave the sanctuary. Many must have been reminded of this scene when Eutropius, the eunuch-minister of Arcadius, under the protection of St. Chrysostom, cowered in front of the high altar at Constantinople.
[104]"There shall not a hair of him fall." Comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 45; 2 Sam. xiv. 11.
[105]"Bowed himself." Comp. 1 Kings i. 47.
[106]Grätz, i. 138 (E. T.).
[107]2 Sam. xxiii. 1-7. It is no part of my duty here to enter into the extent of David's share in the Psalms; but I think that it is an exaggerated inference (of Wellhausen and others) from Amos vi. 5, 6 to suppose that he only wrote festal and warlike songs.
[108]Apparently an allusion to Deut. xvii. 18-20. We read of no such exhortation having been addressed to Saul, or to David.
[109]Chimham accompanied David to Jerusalem (2 Sam. xvii. 27, xix. 37-40), and perhaps inherited his property at Bethlehem, where he founded the Khan (Jer. xli. 17), in the cavern stable of which it may be that Christ was born.
[110]Wellhausen, Stade, and others venture on the conjecture that David never gave these injunctions at all, but that they were invented afterwards to excuse Solomon for his acts of severity towards Adonijah's conspirators. I cannot see any valid ground for such arbitrary re-writing of the history. Shimei had taken no part in Adonijah's rebellion.
[111]Zeruiah was "a sister of the sons of Jesse" (1 Chron. ii. 16), and was therefore a sister of Abigail, mother of Amasa; but she is called "the daughter ofNahash" (2 Sam. xvii. 25).
[112]1 Chron. ii. 17. "Jether (i.e., Jethro, 'pre-eminence') the Ishmaelite" has been altered in 2 Sam. xvii. 25 into Ithra, anIsraelite(see 2 Sam. xix. 13). The way in which names have been tampered with is an interesting study, and often conceals Masoretic secrets.
[113]David's enemies thought but little of the fact that David had spared Mephibosheth. They may have supposed that David spared him, not only because he was the son of the beloved Jonathan, but because being lame he could never become king. David's relations to him do not seem to have been very cordial.
[114]2 Sam. xvi. 14 (Heb.). For Bahurim, see 2 Sam. xvi. 5, xvii. 18.
[115]Acts xvii. 30.
[116]Matt. v. 43, 44.
[117]There is something analogous to protectiongranted only for a lifetimein the fact that the homicide at a refuge city could not be slain there while the high priest lived. See Num. xxxv. 28.
[118]Comp. Josh. xxiii. 14; Keil,ad loc.
[119]Acts ii. 29. Josephus says that both Hyrcanus and Herod opened it to find the treasures which legend asserted to have been buried there (Antt., VII. xv. 3. Comp. XIII. viii. 4, XVI. vii.). The kings alone were buried in Jerusalem; but legend says that an exception was made in favour of Huldah the prophetess.
[120]These events—like almost everything derogatory to David and Solomon—are omitted by the chronicler.
[121]Luke iii. 31. Salathiel, son of Neri (Luke iii. 27), of Nathan's house, was probably adopted by Jeconiah, who was childless; or if he had a son Assir (captive), the son had died. 1 Chron. iii. 17; Isa. xxii. 3.
[122]2 Sam. xii. 8. Comp. 1 Kings xx. 7; 2 Kings xxiv. 15. We only know, however, of one wife of Saul, and one concubine.
[123]Herod., iii. 68; Justin., x. 2.
[124]Comp. 1 Kings xv. 13; 2 Kings xi. 1. The queen-mother, like the Sultana Walidé, is always more powerful than even the favourite wife.
[125]Cant. iii. 11.
[126]Psalm xlv. 9. Some little mystery evidently hangs over the name of Bathsheba. In 2 Sam. xi. 3 she is called "Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite"; but in 1 Chron. iii. 5 she is called "Bathshua, the daughter ofAmmiel." Now Shua was a Canaanite name (Gen. xxxviii. 12; 1 Chron. ii. 3), and it is at least remarkable that Bathsheba should be married to a Hittite. Further, the chronicler disguises "Ahithophel the Gilonite (the father of Eliam) into Ahijah the Pelonite," who is one of David's Gibborim in 1 Chron. xi. 36. Pelonite meansnescio qius; in Spanish, Don Fulano,—Signor So-and-so. And how are we to account for the strange name Ahithophel ("brother of foolishness?")?
[127]Comp. Cant. vii. 1. It has been assumed that Solomon had already married Naamah the Ammonitess, and that Rehoboam was already born (see 1 Kings xiv. 21), but this is uncertain. Rehoboam, if he had reached the age of forty-one, could hardly have been called "young and tender-hearted" (2 Chron. xiii. 7).
[128]Shunem (Sulem, Euseb.,Jer.) is nowSolam(Robinson,Researches, iii. 402).
[129]1 Sam. xxii. 23.
[130]2 Sam. xv. 18 (LXX.).
[131]Anata, Robinson,Researches, ii, 319; Josh. xxi. 18; 1 Chron. vi. 60. It was the native town of Jeremiah (Jer. i. 1).
[132]It should be remembered that, as Ewald points out, imprisonment for life was a thing unknown.
[133]This interesting addition is found in the Septuagint version.
[134]2 Sam. xxiii. 20. Ewald, Thenius, and most other critics, followed by the R.V., adopt the LXX. reading, "Slew the two sons of Ariel of Moab."
[135]Comp. 2 Kings xi. 15.
[136]See Deut. xix. 13.
[137]2 Sam. iii. 28, 29.
[138]אָנֶה וָאָנָה(1 Kings ii. 36).
[139]It should be remembered that when Shimei came to meet David on his return, he managed to muster one thousand of his Benjamite kinsmen. Such local influence might prove troublesome.
[140]Achish seems to have been the dynastic name of the kings of Gath (1 Sam. xxi. 10, xxvii. 2). If this was the Achish, son of Maoch, with whom David had taken refuge fifty years before, he must now have been a very old man.
[141]Esth. ii. 5.
[142]Prov. xix. 11, xx. 2, 8, 26.
[143]1 Kings ii. 7; Jer. xli. 17.
[144]Lev. x. 1-20; Num. iii. 4, xxvi. 61. This has been not unnaturally inferred from the prohibition to the priests to drink wine while serving the tabernacle lest they die, which occurs immediately after the catastrophe of the two priests (Lev. x. 9-11).
[145]1 Chron. vii. 4-15. In David's time there were only eight descendants of Ithamar, but sixteen of Eleazar (1 Chron. xxiv. 4). For full discussion of these priestly genealogies, see Lord A. Hervey,On the Genealogies, pp. 277-306. It is true that they are not free from elements of difficulty, but I am unable to find any valid ground for the suspicion of some critics that Zadok was not even a priest, or of the priestly house at all. All the evidence we have points in the opposite direction.
[146]Num. xxv. 13.
[147]2 Chron. xxxiii. 6; 2 Kings xxi. 6. "His children."
[148]2 Chron. xxviii. 3; 2 Kings xvi. 3. "His son."
[149]1 Sam. ii. 27-36. For eight centuries there was no other instance of a high priest's deposition.
[150]Isa. iii. 10.
[151]See 1 Sam. xxi. 6, compared with 1 Chron. xvi. 39, 40; 2 Chron. i. 3.
[152]An old Hivite capital (Josh. xviii. 21-25), now El Jib. Josephus alters it to "Hebron."
[153]See 1 Chron. xvi. 39, 40, xxi. 29; 2 Chron. i. 3. The annals of Solomon fall into three divisions: first, his secure establishment upon the throne (1 Kings i, ii.); next, his wisdom, wealth, glory, and great buildings, especially the building of the Temple (iii.-x.); lastly, his fall and death (xi.).
[154]It was sufficiently sanctioned by Exod. xx. 24, and Jerusalem was not yet chosen (Deut. xii. 13, 14). See Judg. vi. 24, xiii. 19; 1 Sam. ix. 12, etc. This seems to have been the last great sacrifice there. In 1 Kings iii. 5-15 the sacrifice is regarded with approval; in verses 2, 3 it is condemned, but excused by circumstances; in the verses inserted by the chronicler (2 Chron. i. 3-6) it is said that the Tabernacle was there.
[155]See 1 Sam. xxii. 17-19.
[156]Herod., vii. 43. Xerxes offered one thousand at Troy, and Crœsus three thousand at Delphi (Id., i. 50).
[157]Hence, perhaps, the LXX. rendering of Δήλωσις καὶ Ἀλήθεια. This view is accepted by Hengstenberg (Egypt and the Five Books of Moses, chap. vi.), and Kalisch (on Exod. xxviii. 31).
[158]Arist.,Eth. Nic., i. 13: "βελτίω τὰ φαντάσματα τῶν ἐπιεικῶν ἢ τῶν τυχόντων."
[159]Bishop Hall.
[160]"Εὔδουσα γὰρ φρὴν ὄμμασιν λαμπρύνεται."—Æsch.,Eum., 104.
[161]Ecclus. xv. 16, 17.
[162]Emerson.
[163]The phrase "a little child" (comp. Jer. i. 6) hardly bears on his actual age. See Gen. xliii. 8; Exod. xxxiii. 11. It is proverbial like the subsequent phrase, for which see Deut. xxviii. 6; Psalm cxxi. 8, etc.
[164]Heb., "A hearing heart." LXX., "A heart to hear and judge Thy people in righteousness." In 2 Chron. i. 10, "Wisdom and knowledge."
[165]Matt. vi. 33.
[166]Josephus (Antt., VIII. vii. 8) makes him die at ninety-four, and become king at fourteen. Perhaps he mistook μ' for π' in the LXX.
[167]Psalm cxxvii. 2 (uncertain).
[168]1 Sam. viii. 6, 20; 2 Sam. xv. 4. "To rule was with the ancients the synonym of to judge." Artemidorus,Oneirocr., ii. 14. (Bähr,ad loc.).
[169]Compare the Phœnician'sSuffetes(Liv.).
[170]As instances of the lower sense in which the term "wisdom" was applied, see 2 Sam. xiii. 3 (Jonadab); xiv. 2 (the woman of Tekoa); xx. 16 (the woman of Abel of Beth-maachah).
[171]The Rabbis call them "innkeepers," as they call Rahab.
[172]I follow the not improbable additional details given by Josephus from tradition.
[173]יֵלֶד. LXX., παιδίον.
[174]So the Greek version, which represents the clause rightly. Tradition narrates a yet earlier specimen of Solomon's wisdom. Some sheep had strayed into a pasture. The owner of the land demanded reparation. David said that to repay his loss he might keep the sheep. "No," said Solomon, who was but eleven years old, "let him keep them only till their wool, milk, and lambs have repaid the damage; then let him restore them to their owner." David admitted that this was the more equitable judgment, and he adopted it. See The Qur'an,Suraxxi. 79 (Palmer's Qur'an, ii. 52).
[175]The parallel is adduced by Grotius.
[176]Quoted by Bähr.
[177]Suet.,Claud., 15.
[178]For references to animals, etc., see Prov. vi. 6, xxiv. 30-34, xxx. 15-19, 24-31; Josephus,Antt., VIII. ii. 5; Ecclus. xlvii. 17.
[179]See Isa. xix. 11, xxxi. 2; Acts vii. 22; Herod., ii. 160; Josephus,Antt., VIII. ii. 5 (Keil).
[180]See 1 Chron. ii. 6, vi. 44, xv. 17, 19, xxv. 5. Titles of Psalms xviii., lxxxviii., lxxxix. "Ezrahite," perhaps, is a transposition of Zerahite.
[181]1 Chron. ii. 6. InSeder Olamthey are called "prophets who prophesied in Egypt."
[182]"Sons of Mahol" (comp. Eccles. xii. 4).
[183]Psalms lxxii., cxxvii. The so-called "Psalms of Solomon," fifteen in number, are of the Maccabean age; Josephus calls his songs βίβλια περὶ ὠδῶν καὶ μελῶν, and his proverbs βίβλους παραβολῶν καὶ εἰκόνων.
[184]See Euseb.,Præp. Evang., ix. 34, § 19.
[185]Prov. xi. 22, xxiv. 30-34, xxv. 25, xxvi. 8, xxx. 15.
[186]E.g., Prov. vi. 10.
[187]1 Kings x. 1; LXX., ἐν αἰνίγμασι. See Wünsche,Die Räthselweisheit, 1883; Grätz,Hist. of the Jews, i. 162. For specimens of her traditional puzzles see the author'sSolomon, p. 135 (Men of the Bible).
[188]"And Solomon was David's heir, and said, Ye folk! we have been taught the speech of birds, and we have been given everything: verily this is a Divine grace" (Qur'an,Suraxxvii. 15). For the legend of Solomon and the hoopoes, seeSura27.
[189]According to Suidas (s.v., Ἐζεκίας) Hezekiah found his (magic?) formulæ for the cure of diseases engraved on the posts of the Temple. See Targum on Esth. i. 2; Eccles. ii. 8.
[190]Job xxviii. 23, 28.
[191]Prov. i. 7.
[192]Ecclus. xlvii. 13-18.
[193]Josephus,Antt., VIII. vii. 8. According to one tradition he lived to fifty-three (Ewald, iii. 208), and was only twelve when he succeeded David.
[194]2 Chron. viii. 3. Ewald thinks it is confirmed by 2 Kings xiv. 28, where, however, the Hebrew is obscure.
[195]1 Kings x. 26.
[196]1 Kings ix. 18. Here the "Q'rî," the marginal, or "read" text, has Tadmor (i.e., Palmyra), as also in 2 Chron. viii. 4. But this Tamar (Ezek. xlvii. 19, xlviii. 28) is "in the land" on the south border. In the Chronicles Tadmor is the right reading, for the chronicler is speaking of Hamath-Zobah and the north. It is not at all unlikely that Solomon also built Tadmor (Josephus,Antt., VIII. vi. 1) to protect his commerce on the route to the Euphrates.
[197]The forty-fifth psalm is supposed by old interpreters to have been an epithalamium on this occasion, but was probably much later. Perhaps notices like 1 Kings iii. 1-3 (the Egyptian alliance), the admonition in 1 Kings ix. 1-9 and the luxury described in x. 14-29, are meant as warning notes of what follows in xi. 1-8 (the apostasy), 9-13 (the prophecy of disruption), and 14-43 (the concluding disaster).
[198]Gezer is Abu-Shusheh, or Tell-el-Gezer, between Ramleh and Jerusalem (Oliphant,Haifa, p. 253), on the lower border of Ephraim. Ewald identifies it with Geshur, the town of Talmai, Absalom's grandfather. See Lenormant,Hist. anc. de l'Orient., i. 337-43. The genealogy of this dynasty is thus given by Brugsch-Bey (Gen. Table iv.),Hist. of Egypt, vol. ii.:—