The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 35

('' nullum tempus occurrit regi ") ; he can and the grandson of Benjamin (Gen. xlvi. deo.l with the blasphemer as the law directs, 21; cf. 1 Chron. vii. 6). Ehud, three 1LI1d this David now charges him to do. hundred years earlier, is also described as "a son of Gera," Judg. iii. 15], a Benjamite Ver. 8.-And, behold, thou hast with thee [lit., theBenjamite, meaning that Gera., not [Bahr understands by ,~ll, 11 near thee," (in Shimei, was the Benjamite. He was well ,Ze-iner Niihe) because Ba.hurim was near known as the son of Benjamin's firstbom Jerusalem. Keil gathers from this word (1 Chron. viii. 1), and the head of a house that Shimei II wn.s living a.t that time in in Benjamin. Professor Gardiner ( American Jerusalem," and refers to ver. 36, which, if translation of Lange, textual note, p. 29), anything, implies that he was not. But it following the LXX. and Vulg., insists that, is worth suggesting whether Shimei may ')'t;,'.ir!* (with the article) can only mea.n not be the Shimei to whom reference is "son of the Jaminite, i.e., of the descen- ma.de in eh. i 8. (Dean Stanley notices dants of Jamin, a son of Simeon." But this a.s a possibility, but alleges nothing in this is directly contrary to what we read support of it.:: "Jewish Church," vol. ii. p. 2 Sam. xvi., viz., that Shimei was of " a 171, note.) We there find Shimei a.nd Rei family of the house of Saul," i.e., a Ben- mentioned a.a fum adherents of Solomon a.t ja.mite. And to this the grammar agrees. the time of Adonija.h's rising, and in these Judges iii. 15 is an exact parallel, and com- words, they II were not with .A.donijah." paro 'C?t;,~;:i-n'.;!, 1 Sam. vi. 14, 18, and Surely it is not an unfair presumption-if there is nothing to rebut it-that the Shimei 't;,)'.1~;:i-ri•:;i, 1 Sam. xvi. 1, 18; xvii. 58] or subsequently mentioned as II with" Solomon Ba.b.nrlm [the name means "The young is the same person. But it has been ob- men." It was some six miles distant from jected (e.g., by Kitto) that the false part Jerusalem, in Benjamin, and on (or off, as that Shimei played at the time of Absalom's Josephus, A.nt. vii. 9, 7, implies) the ma.in revolt would have for ever prevented his road to Jericho and the Jordan vo.lley. It being recognized and mentioned a.a one of may have le.in in one of the wadieb bra.nch- Solomon's supporters. I very much doubt ing out from the ravine which runs con- it. The great influence which Shimei pos- tinuously alongside the steep descent to sessed must be ta.ken into account. Nothing Jericho. The event narrated in 2 Sam. iii. shows that influence more clearly than the 16 as happening at Ba.huri.m may well have fa.et that on the day of David's restoration, served to inflame Shimei's hatred. In spite despite the part he had to.ken, and the of his rancorous hostility, howe,er, we possible dis 6ra.ce a.nd danger that a.waited gather from 2 Sam. xvii. 18, that Da,id had him, he could still co=and the attendance some faithful adherents there] , which [lit., of one thousand men of Benjamin (2 Sam. " and he"] cursed me with a grievous [acc. xix. 17). Probably the secret of his in- 'to Gesenius, al., "strong," i.e., sweeping; fluence lay in the fact that he wa.s "of the Keil, vehement; Thcnius, "heil/os," fiagi- family of the house of Sanl,'' and possibly, tions. LXX., ,r:arcipav OOVJ/f/pav. Vulg., male- owing to the insignificance of Saul's de- dictio pessima] curse in the day wllen I scendants, was the mainstay and chief re- went to Ma.ha.na.1m [2 Sam. xvi. 5) ; but he presentative of that house. And if so, there came down to meet me at Jordan [lit., the is nothing at all surprising in the mention Jordan, i.e., the descender, so co.lied from of the fact that he was " not with Adonij ah," tht. rapidity of the stream (it has a fo.ll of and was subsequently "with" Solomon. 1400 feet in about 100 miles) or from the It may have been a matter of great con- steep descents which lead to 1t. The word sequence at that critioal time, which side always has the defin. a.rt.], and I sware to Bhimci-11Jld the thousand or more Ben- him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee je.mites at his back-espoused. And if he to death with the sword [2 Sam. x.ix. 23). did then declare for Solomon, it could Ver. 9.-Now therefore [lit., 11 and now." hardly fail to procure him some amount of Possibly the •' now " is a note of time in favour and consideration, He would thence- apposition to the "do.y" of ver. 8, or rather forward ra.nk amongst the friends of the the time of David's oath. "I then un- young king, and the words II thou hast with advised.Jy swe.re unto him, but now the la.w thee" would accurately describe his po- mnst have its course." Probably it is merely sition] Shi.me!, the son or Gera [another in[erentia.1,-quae cum ita sint] hold him Shimei, the son of Eleb, is mentioned (1 not guiltless [rather, thou shalt not leave Kings iv. 11) as Solomon's officer in Ben- ltimunpunished (Va.ta.Lins, Gesen., Bahr,a!.); iamin. Gera must not be thought of as the cf. Exod. xx. 7; Jer. xxx. 11]; for thou art " father " of Shimei, except in the sense of a wise JllB.Il [,Ppov,µo!; rather tha.n rro,po~· ancestor. He was removed from him by (LXX.) Gesen. renders here," endued with many generations. teing the son of Bela ability to judge." David clearly de&ires 28 THE FIRST BOOK OF RINGS. [cH. ll, 1-11.