knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head;

"45 And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever.

"46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon."

The OBJECTIONS, made to this dying charge of David, are these:

1. After Shimei's repentance, confession, and deprecation of David's wrath, it seems ungenerous and mean to remember his sin against him.

2. David having forgiven him, and promised, and even sworn, that he should not die, his injunction to Solomon to put him to death appears inconsistent with David's "last words," (2 Sam. xxiii. 1-5,) with his character for piety, (Acts, xiii. 36,) and with his appellation, "the man after God's own heart," (1 Sam. xiii. 14.)

3. David's dying in peace after such a charge, and Solomon's early peaceful reign, seem inconsistent with the breach of an oath, and with God's usual punishment of those who violated their oaths. Exodus, xx. 7. Psalms, xv. 4. Judges, xi. 30,31, 35. 2 Sam. xxi. 1-14. Matt. v. 33. Num. xxx. 2. Deut. xxiii. 21-3. Eccles. v. 4. Matt. xiv. 9.

4. A revengeful unforgiving spirit is as unsafe to die in, as it is to live in; our Lord having declared, that

God's forgiveness of us is dependant on our forgiveness of others. Matt. vi. 15; xviii. 35. See also Jas. ii. 13. The ANSWERS, which may be made to these objections, are:

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1. David's reply, to Abishai's proposal to put Shimei to death, "Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel?" 2 Sam. xix. 22. (which words, this day,' occur thrice in that one verse,) may imply his unwillingness to stain with blood, (and especially with the blood of a professed penitent,) "a day so much to be remembered." If this be true, his assurance to Shimei, "Thou shalt not die," v. 23. may be taken rather as a respite than as a reprieve or unconditional pardon. And the oath which "he sware unto him," (v. 23.) 'by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword," 1 Kings, ii. 8. may be understood, either, "I myself will not avenge myself for what thou hast done to me;" or, "I will not allow thee to be slain by the sword of Abishai; i. e. put to death in military execution or martial law," as Agag and others had been. By this clement delay, he gave Shimei time to "set his house in order," to repent of his sins against God, and thus to prepare for death; but did not, probably, intend to pardon him absolutely; but, even if he did bind himself to forgiveness, he could not bind his son and successor Solomon to do the same; and might justly give him his advice. At all events, he left him to "God, to whom vengeance belongeth;" who, by his righteous retribution and mysterious providence, justly punished him for having" cursed the Lord's Anointed."

2. As David's charge to Solomon, respecting Shimei, closely follows a similar injunction respecting Joab,

v. 6, "Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace," it is not only possible, but highly probable, that he resembled Joab in his great crime, namely, in siding with Adonijah. 1 Kings, i. 7; ii. 28. If so, he was justly punished for his second act of treason and rebellion : there could be no peace for Solomon, as long as Joab and Shimei were at large.

3. "The last words" and the last hours of many of the eminent servants of God; before other methods were appointed of discovering or revealing God's will, or predicting future events; were spoken and passed under the influence of God the Holy Ghost. 2 Sam. xxiii. 1,2. 2 Peter, i. 21. This was evidently the case with Jacob, (Genesis, xlix. 1-28;) Joseph, (Genesis, 1. 24;) Moses, (Deut. xxxiii. 1-29;) Elijah, (2 Kings, ii. 1 -15;) and Elisha, (2 Kings, xiii. 14-25.) His dying directions, therefore, to Solomon, must be consi dered as proceeding from God himself, who, he says, 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, "spake by me." His soul was not ruffled with anger or revenge, no more than Jacob's was, who, notwithstanding his heavy dying denunciations against Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, (Genesis, xlix. 3-7,) yet said, piously and patiently, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord:" (v. 18 :) like holy Simeon, (Luke, ii. 25-28,) who was, perhaps, the last, to whom this prophetic impulse was granted. The words, indeed, were his; but, "the thing proceeded from the Lord."

4. The Hebrew conjunction here used, ( vau,) which is rendered (v. 9,) " but," not only should have been rendered "nor," which, after, or N, (“not,"

"neither," or "nor,") is its exact, grammatical, meaning; but is so rendered in English, in almost innumerable passages; as the collation of the Hebrew text with the English version, by the help of a Hebrew Concordance, will shew. Take the following twelve texts as proofs: Genesis, xix. 33, 35; xlix. 10. Exodus, xx. 17, five times. Numbers, xvi. 14. Deut. vii. 25, twice; xxiii. 6. 2 Sam. i. 21. Psalms, xxvi. 9; xxxvii. 25. Prov. vi. 4; xxx. 3; and this very book, 1 Kings, iii. 7. In addition to which alteration, so sanctioned, so legitimate, (this being its very common acceptation,) if we put in a parenthesis the words in the ninth verse, "for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him," the verse will read thus: "Now, therefore, hold him not guiltless; (for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him ;) nor his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood;" and the whole passage may be paraphrased as follows: "Moreover," (or, besides him, i. e. Joab,)" thou hast with thee another traitor, one Shimei, the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim; which cursed me with a grievous curse, in the day when I fled from Absalom, and went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and humbled himself before me, and I sware to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. Now, therefore, my son, considering that he is a suspicious character, and dangerous subject, hold him not altogether guiltless; (nor need I point out to thee how to deal with him; for thou art a wise man; and well knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him;)

nor yet, as my avenger, do thou bring down, at once, his hoary head to the grave with blood, for his past offence which I did not punish; but, keep thine eye and thy hand upon him: confine him to Jerusalem under pain of death: if he obey thy commands and restrictions, let him live and die in peace; but, if not, then let him die the death of a traitor, as one whose sin, though overlooked by me, Providence will find out, if not truly repented of before God; and on whose head God will visit his sin and wickedness, in having cursed the Lord's Anointed, which a man may not do, no, not even in his heart." Exodus, xxii. 28. Eccles. x. 20. This injunction Solomon both so understood and obeyed. He confined him within the limits of Jerusalem, charging him, at his peril, as he valued his life, not to go beyond its walls; and took both his promise and his oath, that he would conform to these conditions, to which conditions he even thankfully assented, acknowledging Solomon's clemency therein. The sequel is well known: he either forgot his obligations, or presumptuously burst through them; and Solomon, in putting him to death, (not, be it remembered, for his past offence, but for his present disobedience,) considered himself as God's servant, and acted as His instrument, for the punishment of treason and blasphemy; and thereby obtained God's blessing on his person and reign, as he himself had predicted.

By this proposed rendering of the passage, the character of David is redeemed from the charge of insincerity, breach of word and oath, injustice, revenge, and cruelty; and Shimei is made to appear to have