is in many other places,and as being eaſily ſupplied out of the con- text. So the ſenſe is, God hath hitherto ſpared him, and did not
oft doth with Perſons who are out of the Magiſtrates reach ; but hath hitherto preſerved him evenina Heatheniſh Land. All which are intimations that God would have him ſpared. c Or, but hath deviſed means, &Cc. i. e. hath given Laws to this purpoſe, That the man-ſlayer who is baniſhed ſhould not always continue in baniſh ment, but upon the high-Prieſts death return to his own City. W kereby he hath ſhewed his pleaſure, that the Avenger of Blood ſhould not implacably peiſiſt in ſeeking reverge, and that the man= ſlayer ſhould be ſpared Or rather, thus, bur :hinketh thoughts, or but hath deſimed, or, therefore he intendeth that he who is bamſhea ( to wit, Abſalom) be not ( always ) expelled or baniſh-a from him ; 1. e. from God and from his People, and from the place of his worſhip, but that he ſhould return home to him. $0 the ſcnſe is, That God ty ſparing Abſalon''s life in the midſt of dangers,did ſufficiently intim« ate,that he would in due time bring him back to his Land &people.
16 Now therefore that I am come to ſpeak of this thing unco my lord the King, #t is becaule the people hare made me afraid 4: and thy handmaeid ſaid e. I will now ſpeak unto the King ; it may be that the king will perform the requeſt of his handmaid.
d The truth is, I was even forced to this bold Addreſs to thee, by the diſpoſition and condition of thy people, who are diſconten- ted at 4b/alom's perpetual baniſhment, and tull of fears ; either leſt, upon thy death, which none knoweth how ſoon it may happen, they ſhould be involved in a Civil War at out thy Succeſſour ; or leſt, in the mean time, if Abſalom by his Father-in-laws aſſiſtance
Righr t- the Succeſſion, the people, who have a great opinion of him, and kindneſs for him,and think he is very hardly uted,ſhould take up arms for him ; or Jeſt he who is thy Heir and Succeſſor ſhould by continual and familiar converſation with Heathens,be in« ſcared in their Errors, or alierated frem the true Religion, and from God's Worlkip, from which he is now utterly excjuced.s Or, therefore thy hanamaid ſaid, either, within my ſelf, 5. e, I intended or, to th- people, ro quiet them,
16 For the king will hear f, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of che man g that would deſtroy me and my ſon h together out of the inheritance of God 3:
f For I know the King is ſo wiſe and juſt, thatI aſſure my ſelf of Audience and Acceptation. Which expeCQtation ofhers is cunning- ly inſinuated here,that the King might conceive himſelf oblidged to anſwer it, and not to diſappoint her hope, nor to forfeit that good opinion which his Subje&s now had of him. g To graut my requeſt concerning my ſon,and conſequently the peoples Petition concern«= ing. Abſalom. h Implying that her life was beund up in the life of her Son, and that ſhe could not out-live his death ; and ſuppoſirg, it is like,thar it might be David's caſe alſo,and would therefore touch him in a tender part,though it were not proper to ſay it expreſly:) and thereby ſuggeiting, that the tranquillity, ſafety, and comfort of the people of 1ſ-ael, depending upon Abſalom's Reſtitution, and the ſettlement of the Succeſſion in him. z. #.e. Out of that Inheri- tance which God hath given to me and mine 2 or, out of that Land which God gave to his people to be their inheritance and Poſſeſſion, and in which alone Sod hath ſertled. the place ofhis Preſence and Worſhip. Whereby ſhe intimates the danger of 46- ſalom's living in a ſtate of ſeparation fiom God, and his houſe, and 2amonglt IdolJaters.
17 Then thine handmaid faid, The word of my lord + 11, the king ſhall now be + comfortable &: for as an angel fir rf. of God /,ſo is my lord the king Þ to diſcern good and t Heb. bad mz: therefore » the LORD thy God will be with # #7 thee o.
k T doubt not the king will givea gracious and ſatisfaftory An« ſwer ro my Petition. 1 To wit, in witdom and Juſtice, and Good= neſs. 2 To hear and judge of Cauſes and Requeſts, whether they be juſt, an4 good, and fit to be granted,as mine is; or unrighteous, and unreaſonable, and fit to be reje&ed. So ſhe intimates her con- fidence in the juſtice of her Cauſe, and thereby confirms the King in his purpoſe and promiſe to grant her requeſt, and withal arms the King againſt the ſuggeſtions of them- who ſhould adviſe him to a rigorous execution of Gads Laws againſt 4bſalom, and be ready to centure him for reſtoring Abſalom, and this for want of that Angeli- calWiſdom which the King had, who wiſely conſidered many things far above their reach. # Becauſe thou art ſo wiſe, and juſt, and pitiful, and gracious to rhoſe who in ſtri& Juſtice deſerve puniſh- ment- 0 Goa will owne and ſtand by thee in this thy a& ofGrace: or, God will proſper thee 1n thy enterprizes: or, at leaſt, not be
viſe means, that his baniſhed be nor expelled from him c. z Heb. Þ dying we ſþall die; i, e, we ſhall certainly and ſuddenly |
due care of thy Succeſſor, who is Ab/alom ; and A4*ſalom, who, if he. do not die by the hand of Juſtice, muſt ſhortly die by theneceſlity |
of Nature : and 4Amn:n too muſt have died in the common way of |
means, GC 11 fleſh, if 4bſam had not cur him pf, Therefore, O King,benor |
imphcable towards 4-ſalom for nipping a Flower a little before its time of fading, and reſtore him to us all before he die in a ſtrange Land. # Which is quick'y drunk up and buried-in the earth, and | cannot be recovered. b To wit, ſo far as to exempt him from this
common Law ofdying Bur this Veiſton ſeems not to agree with the Scripture-Phraſe: tor the accepting of a perſon is neverto my know. ledge expreſſed in Hebrew by Naſa Neph:ſb, which is the Phraſe here, but by Naſa Panim, every where. The words therefore may be rendred either thus: yer God will not take away, or deth not uſe to take
ſerve ) the ſou/. or ſouls, or lives of Men, to wit, by violence. God doth not ſeverely and inftantly cur off Offenders, bur ſuffers
them to live till they die by the courſe of Nature ; and therefore | of them, bur not as to all the expreſſions which ſhe uſed, for theſe
ſo ſhouldſt thou do roo, Or, rather thus : yet God hath not taken a- way his ſoul or life ; the Pronoun, ki, being underſtood here as it