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believed) by her enchantments. It is not material here to inquire into the mysteries of that art to which she pretended. It is sufficient that fame reported this woman to have this power, and Saul believed it; and the woman, trusting to her art, undertook the thing, but God Himself, as it seems, interposed, and both conducted and governed the whole transaction.

12. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried &c.] That God should permit evil spirits, employed by a wretched woman, to summon at pleasure His departed servants from the other world, is not to be imagined. It remains, therefore, either that the whole affair of Samuel's appearance was a contrivance; or that, by the interposition of God, there was a real appearance, which the enchantress did not expect, and could not have effected. The most probable opinion is, that God suffered Samuel's departed spirit, or a miraculous representation of his person, to appear to Saul, and as a punishment for his presumptuous impiety, to disclose his impending fate. 13.-1 saw gods ascending] The Hebrew word here translated gods, is often taken in the singular a god, or a great person, which is the meaning of it here.

15.-and God is departed from me,] We should well observe from this history, how miserable, how melancholy a thing it is, for a man to have sinned to such a degree, as to be entirely abandoned by God, and to have the best friend in the world become his enemy.

19.-to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me:] "To morrow," that is, not the next day, but very shortly shalt thou and thy sons be as I am, amongst the dead.

21.-I have put my life in my hand,] I have exposed my life to hazard, by letting thee know I practise arts of divination.

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that by this means he might reconcile himself to Saul. Hereby God delivered him out of a very great strait; either of being an enemy to his country, or false to his friends and to his trust.

8.-David said-But what have I done?] David's answer was a prudent one, and such as became the circumstances in which he was placed; for he promised nothing, and laid himself under no sort of engagement: he neither denied what the Philistines suspected, that he would fall off to Saul in the battle, nor made the least mention of his readiness to fight with the Philistines against the Hebrews. He merely asked why he should be refused to fight against the enemies of the king.

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Verse 2.-the Philistines slew Jonathan,] Jonathan seems to have deserved a better fate: but we should remember that death is no evil to the righteous, who, when they are taken out of this world, pass into a much higher state of happiness. The Providence of God suffered Jonathan to be slaio, that David might more easily come to the throne. For though he had freely consented to it, yet he was such a favourite with the people, that many of them might have stickled for him.

9.—in the house of their idols,] That they might give thanks to their gods for the victory they had obtained.

NOTES

ON THE

Second Book of Samuel, otherwise otherwise called, The Second Book of Kings.

THE second book of Samuel is a continuation of the preceding history after the death of Saul, giving an account of the reign of David. It contains a period of about forty years.

CHAP. I.

Verse 6-Saul leaned upon his spear;] Or rather, "Saul had fallen on his spear.' We must either suppose that, after Saul had fallen on his sword, as related 1 Sam. xxxi. 4, he was not quite dead when this Amalekite came up, and was requested to kill him outright; or else, that the Amalekite contrived a false account, perhaps to ingratiate himself with David, if he approved the fact.

15.--he smote him that he died.] By thus publickly executing the man who professed himself to be the slayer of the Lord's anointed, David vindicated his own innocence to the world; other. wise he might have been branded with the guilt of employing this Amalekite to murder his persecutor. The Amalekite deserved to die for taking the guilt of Saul's death upon himself, in hopes of finding favour with his successor by bringing him this welcome intelligence.

19.- how are the mighty fallen!] What a slaughter is made among the valiant men of the army; the flower of the nation, the choicest of its young men, lost, together with Saul and his sons!

21.-let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you,] These are poetical expressions, signifying the abhorrence with which the mountains of Gilboa would be regarded as having been the scene of such a calamity. By "fields of offerings" we are to understand fruitful fields, from which offerings might be brought to the house of God.

-the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away,] Even "the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil;" that is, as if he had not been a king, but a common soldier.

22. From the blood of the slain,-the bow of Jonathan turned not back, &c.] The meaning is, that the bow of Jonathan and the sword of Saul did great execution.

24.-who clothed you in scarlet, &c.] With the rich spoils of their enemies.

27.-the weapons of war perished!] All military glory is gone from Israel. Or the words may allude to the armour of the slain taken away by the Philistines in triumph.

CHAP. II.

Verse 9.-over all Israel.] Over all the tribes on the western side Jordan, save the tribe of Judah.

14.-Let the young men now arise, and play before us.] While the two armies faced one another, on different sides of the pool, Abner desires that some soldiers may be picked out, to make sport for the two armies, and to undergo a trial of their strength and courage.

16.-they caught every one his fellow &c.] The sense seems to be, that the servants of David thrust à sword into each of the Benjamites, so that the twelve men of Benjamin fell down dead together. "Helkath-hazzurim" signifies the field of strong

men.

27.-unless thou hadst spoken,] Unless thou hadst sent the challenge, and provoked me to battle.

CHAP. III.

Verse 7gone in unto my father's concubine?] It was in those days looked upon as an insult to the royal family, and a proof of aspiring to the

kingdom, to have any intercourse with the relicts of princes, of what denominations so ever they were. 8.-Am I a dog's head,] Am I so insignificant and worthless?

12.-saying, Whose is the land?] Acknowledging by these words, that he owned David to be lord of all the country, by God's special gift. Abner, in his behaviour on this occasion, cannot be excused from a treacherous inconstancy. If Saul's son had no true title to the crown, Abner ought not to have maintained it, if he had he should not have deserted him.

24.-why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?] How came you to let him escape in safety? Joab being jealous of Abner, pretended that his object in coming over to David was only to deceive him, and that therefore it was the king's interest to secure him or put him to death.

27.-smote him there-that he died,] This murder of Abner by Joab is allowed to be a base piece of treachery: though his pretence for this villainous action was to revenge the death of his brother Asahel, yet undoubtedly his principal reason, was his jealousy of Abner, and his fear of losing the first post under the king.

29. Let it rest on the head of Joab, &c.] These and the following words must be looked upon rather as a prophetical prediction, than as a private imprecation; or else, as the expressions of violent passion, since be thought that the punishment for so horrid a crime could not be too severe or too lasting.

-that leaneth on a staff,] On account of some lameness or infirmity.

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that falleth on the sword,] That commits suicide.

33.-Died Abner as a fool dieth?] Died he as a worthless vile fellow dieth, who is put to death by the hands of justice for some folly or wickedness? The meaning is, that he did not die in this manner, for he was not bound and carried to execution; but he died, as many good men have done, by the hands of envious ruffianlike assassins.

39.-I am this day weak, &c.] That is, he was not so established in his new kingdom, as to deem it prudent to punish Joab and Abishai, in the manner they deserved, for so base a fact.

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ment of the murderers of Ish-bosheth was highly commendable, not only as it was an act of justice in itself, but as it publickly declared that he would never be served by treachery and murder, nor ever pardon such crimes, however the pretence for committing them might be for his own interest and service.

CHAP. V.

Verse 1.-we are thy bone and thy flesh.] Meaning that they were of the same blood with him, being descended from their common father, Israel; and that he was therefore qualified by the law of God, Deut. xvii. 15. to be their king.

6.-Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither:] This is said by way of scorn and contempt: they imagined their fortress to be so imprégnable, that they told him the blind and the lame were able to defend it against him and all his forces.

8.-that are hated of David's soul,] They were hated by David, not only as being Jebusites, a people accursed of God, but also as possessing a place which David knew to be designed for God's solemn worship, and as having insolently defied the armies of Israel.

Wherefore they said, &c.] These words are more properly rendered, " Because they said, even the blind and the lame, He," (that is David) "shall not come into the house" or fort.

13.- David took him more concubines and wives] He appears to have taken this great number of wives and concubines, not so much from motives of licentiousness, as from a desire of having issue which might strengthen him on his throne.

24. the sound of a going in the tops of the mul berry trees,] A sound in the mulberry trees, as a sigual of David's going against the enemy.

CHAP. VI.

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Verse 6.-for the oxen shook it.] Or stumbled: it is probable that by some accident occuring to the oxen which drew the ark, it was in danger of being overturned.

7,-God smote him there for his error;] Or, for his rashness in touching the ark: his error consisted, 1st, in not carrying the ark upon his shoul ders, together with his brethren. 2dly, in touching it, which he ought not to have done, but only the staves by which it was carried: but principally, in wanting faith in God, who, he ought to have known, was able to support His ark without human help.

8.-David was displeased,] Was afflicted and struck with this exemplary judgment.

-a breach upon Uzsah:] A breaking forth of the Divine anger upon Uzzah.

13. he sacrificed oxen and futlings.] As a thanksgiving to God for the hope now afforded, that His former displeasure respecting the removal of the ark had ceased, and they might bring it safe to Jerusalem without a similar disaster.

16.-she despised him in her heart.] Imagining that he debased himself, by stripping himself of the ornaments of majesty, and dancing among the people. Yet it does not appear that David's behaviour on this occasion was any disparagement of his royal dignity. His dancing (by which is meant, his moving to certain serious and solemn measures, with musick of the same character and tendency) was an exercise highly conducive to purposes of piety; and his mixing with the publick festivities of his people was a condescension not unbecoming the greatest monarch.

20.-How glorious was the king &c.] This she speaks ironically, by way of derision and contempt.

who uncovered himself &c.] Though his putting off his royal robes might give occasion to Michal's expression of his "uncovering himself," yet this opprobrious term proceeded from nothing but her pride and passion.

22.-I will yet be more vile &c.] He intimates, that he thinks nothing too mean for him to stoop to, provided he did honour to God; and that the more he humbled himself for that purpose, the more he would be honoured and esteemed by the people.

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23. Therefore Michal-had no child]` As a judgment sent upon her for her insolence.

CHAP. VII.

Verse 10.-move no more;] They shall not wander about, as they formerly did in the wilder

ness.

13.-I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.] These words in their primary sense relate to the earthly kingdom of David's family, and the long duration of it, enough to justify the expression "for ever," taken in a less strict signification. But if we take it in a more sublime and absolute sense, it can belong to none but that Son of David, to whom God the Father gave an eternal kingdom (properly so called) over all things in heaven and in earth; which, though it was not so well known in the times when the prophecy was uttered, was by subsequent events made clear and evident.

14. I will be his father, &c.] These words being applied Heb. i. 5. to Christ, plainly shew, that this, like many other prophecies, is of a mixed nature, partly belonging to Christ, and partly to Solomon, and his successors in the temporal king

dom of Israel.

-I will chasten him with the rod of men,] I will chastise him gently as an affectionate parent does his child.

19.-And is this the manner of man, &c.] He means, it was not usual for kingdoms to continue in one family for a long time.

CHAP. VIII.

Verse 2.-measured them with a line, &c.] Having conquered the whole country, he took an exact survey of it, laying level their strong holds and fortified places.

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with two lines measured he to put to death,' &c.] The meaning is, that he divided the country into three parts, condemning two of them to be destroyed; and preserving one, that the country might not be quite dispeopled.

16.-recorder ;] Remembrancer or writer of chronicles.

17.-the scribe;] The publick secretary, one who registered all publick acts and decrees.

18.-the Cherethites and the Pelethites;] They were the body guard who constantly attended the person of the Jewish king. It is supposed that they took their name from the place of their birth, or of their residence.

CHAP. IX.

Verse 3.-the kindness of God] That is, great kindness, or the kindness that he solemnly before God promised to Saul, and especially to Jonathan.

8. such a dead dog as I am?] That is, a person so unworthy of such favours, as I am.

13.-and was lame on both his feet] See the cause of his lameness related at 2 Sam. iv. 4. The conduct of David, in taking care of Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, his dear friend, and giving him all that belonged to Saul, shews that he was a man of great equity and uprightness, as well as kind and affectionate. He would not suffer Mephibosheth to be deprived of that which justly be-. longed to him; he preserved in the midst of his prosperity a tender remembrance of Jonathan, his. intimate friend, and religiously performed his promise of taking care of his family.

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6.-saw that they stank before David,] Saw that they had highly provoked him, and were become very odious to him.

9.-that the front of the battle was against him before and bellind,] That the enemy was drawn up, so as to have a double front against him, the Syrians being before him, and the Ammonites behind him.

12.-play the men] Fight like valiant men.

CHAP. XI..

Verse 1.-after the year was expired,] Meaning, in the spring time, the season most fit for action.

2. walked upon the roof of the king's house :] The manner of building in all eastern countries was to have the houses flat roofed, with a terrace and parapet wall, for the convenience of walking in the cool air, see note on Deut. xxii. 8. and, as David's palace was built on one of the highest places of Mount Zion, he might easily look down' on the lower parts of the town, and take a view of all the gardens that were within a due distance.

he saw a woman washing herself;] David at first violated only the rules of decency, which he might easily have observed, by turning his eyes from an improper object. This, which doubtless" he was willing to think a very pardonable gratification of nothing worse than curiosity, carried him on far beyond his first intention, to the heinous crime of adultery. There undoubtedly he designed to stop, and keep what passed secret from all the world: but after he had in vain tried to conceal his adultery, he was driven to the most horrible of all wickedness, murder; and a murder too, deliberately planned and brought about by treachery. In this dreadful manner was one, who had been till then of an excellent character, hurried on, from a single, and seemingly slight, indulgence, into the depth of the grossest crimes. And in like manner may any one, if he be not on his guard, against the deceitfulness of sin, be hurried unawares to his final destruction.

The design of God in recording the sins and miscarriages with which the best of men are sometimes overtaken, is, to admonish us all of the frailty of our nature, and the deceitfulness of our hearts; and to represent to the best of men how much it concerns them to be constantly on their guard against temptations, and earnest in prayer for Divine assistance. The fall of David is recorded for the purpose of deterring others from sin; if therefore, we attempt to excuse our own faults under shelter of his example, we greatly increase our guilt.

8.-and wash thy feet.] In those countries, where it was the custom to wear sandals, and some times to go barefoot, to wash the feet was the greatest refreshment after a journey.

9.- went not down to his house.] It seems to have been a sinful contrivance of David, that, by Uriah's holding intercourse with his wife, the child which was conceived, might be thought to be his. But things were so ordered by Providence, that the crime of David should not be concealed, as he intended.

13.-he made him drunk:] Such are the scandalous shifts, to which the consciousness of guilt reduces men! David hoped that Uriah, when inflamed with liquor, would return to his house and cohabit with his wife, which he had refused to do when sober.

27.-the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.] God resolved to shew His abhorrence of the crime, to execute on David a vengeance proportionable to the heinousness and guilt of it, and thereby to rouse his conscience, and bring him to those acknowledgements of his siu which might prepare him for that forgiveness of which he was now greatly unworthy, however much he needed it.

CHAP. XII.

Verse 1.-There were two men in one city; &c.] This parable, in which Nathan conveyed his message from God, is dressed up with all the circumstances of art, tenderness, and delicacy, to move compassion, and at the same time to force from David that dreadful sentence of his own condemnation, verse 5, even before he perceived it.

7. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.] How blind are men to their own sins, and how ready to judge severely the much slighter offences of their neighbours! Till Nathan had spoken these awakening words, David's thoughts were entirely occupied with what he supposed to be the case of another sinner; and he remained blind to his own crime, which was much more heinous than that, against which he had passed so heavy a sentence. This history affords one of the strongest instances of self-deceit, and should make us seriously consider our aptness to delude ourselves, and the danger which attends such conduct.

8. I gave thee-thy master's wives] The practice of marrying more wives than one was tolerated by God under the Jewish dispensation, although it was contrary to the first institution of marriage. It was allowed to the Jews in the same manner as divorces, on account of the hardness of their hearts.

10. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house;] Meaning, that as long as he lived, there should be slaughters in his family; which was fulfilled in the violent deaths of his children Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah.

The miserable consequences of sin in this life were never more displayed than in the history of

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