" from 11po11 me." Solomon evidently be- yivo,ro] peace [i.e., prosperity] ror ever lieved that the guilt of blood we.s upon him from the Lord. [So persuaded is Solomon and his house so long 11s Abner's and that he is fulfilling a religious duty in de~ A.mnsa's blood remained unavenged (" The creeiug the exeoution of Joo.b; so little blood tbe.t is not required from the mur- thought has he of me.lioe, revenge, or any derer will be required from the magistrate." baser motive, that he oounte on the Divine Henry), and that he and his seed might blessing in perpetuity for the deed.] • have to answer for it, as Saul's seed had Ver. 34.-So Ben&ia.h, the son of Jehoia.di, done (2 Snm. xxi. 1, 9). This is one of the went up [not because the altar" stood higher Jlll1ny considemtions which show that both up Mount Zion than Solomon's house,; Dand and Solomon were actuated not (Keil), but because Gibeon, where the to.her~ by ••cold- blooded -vengeance'' or ••long. nacle and brazen altar then were, stood cherished resentment" (Stanley), but by e. higher than Jerusalem. It is remarkable seuse of duty. In fact, Jewish law im- that retiibution thus overtook Joab on the peratively demanded the death of Joab, very scene of his last murder, for it was "at and to spare him was to violate all lo.w, the great stone which is in Gibeon" (2 Sam. and to imperil the throne and the people. xx. 8), that he slew Amasa. Cf. 2 Kings "Only a superficial observer," says Ewald, ix. 26: "I will requite thee in this plat, "can here reproach Solomon with needless saith the Lord " J , a.nd fell upon him, and severity.'"] slew him : a.nd he wa.s buried In hls own Ver. 32.-And the Lord shall return ~ouse [possibly in the courtyard : .hardly [LXX. ,r.i<Trp,i/,e, returns, or retUIDed] m the garden. The same is recorded of his blood [LXX. ro aiµa rii!; ciouci.ai; avroii, Samuel (1_ Sam. nv. 1). It_ was evidently i.e., the blood he ha.d shed. Cf. vers. 33, an exceptional occurrence. Remembering 44 J upon his own hea.d, who fell upon [same the estimhtion in which the Jew held the word as in vers. 29, 31. So that it was corpse and the grave (Num. xix, 11, 16, strictly a re-taliation. The lex talionis was 22; of. Matt. xxiii. 27), it must have been carried out to the letter] two men more a singular honour to make of the house a righteous and better than he, and slew mausoleum. No doubt it was designed to them with the sword, my father Da.vid not be such in Joab's case. Whatever his knowing-. [Heb. " and rny father David crimes, his services had deserved well of k11fw 1101," i.e., was not privy thereto. his country. Possibly his friends were led Solomon thinks of the unjust suspicions to pay him this special honour as a kind of which these crimes cast upon his father.] counterpoise to the ignominy of his death) Ver. 33.-Their blood shall therefore re- 1n the wilderness [i.e., of Judah. Joab's turn upon the hea.d of Joab, and upon the mother was of Bethlehem, which was on head of his seed [according to Exod. xx. 5; the border of the desert. The " wilderness =xiv. 7 ; Lev. xx. 5 ; xxvi. S9. There is of Tekoah" (2 Chron. xx. 20), according to an obvious reference to David's curse Jerome, was visible from Bethlehem, being 2 Sam. iii. 29, which thoroughly agreed but six Roman miles distant. with the spirit of the Old Testament in Ver. 35.-And the king put Benaia.h the comprehending the children in its sweep. son of Jehoia.da. In his room over the host : And it is to be noticed that the sins of the and Za.dok the priest did the king put 1n fe.tbers are still, by the operation of natural the room of Abia.thar. [It is hardly likely laws, and by the constitution a.nd la.we of the.t J oab would be retained in co=and of society, visited upon the children, to the the e.rmy after the conspiracy of chap. i., third and fourth generationJ for ever: )>ut nor is this implied in this verse, the mean·- upon [Heb. to] Da.vid, a.nd upon his seed, ing of which is that Benaie.h took the place and upon his house, and upon his throne, of Joab, and that Ze.dok henceforward was shall there be [or "be," optative; LXX. sole high priest. J
HOMILETICS. Vers. 2G, 27.-The Degraded High Priest. We may find in this section 11, sermon on Ca:,swrism. The relations of the world-power to the Church; the province of the State and the prerogatives of the clergy; what are the proper limits of the temporol power and what is the exclusiYe domain of the spiritual; these have been vexed questions for many centuries. They are prominent topics o.t the present day. We may pei:baps find in this history a few principles to guide us. For we loam I. THAT PUIEBTS IIAD BETTER NOT MEDDLE WITH POLITICS. No one can deny thetr abstract right to do so. They are men, if they are clergymen, and "nihil humani," &c. As citizens, they may have convictions. Having convictions, they may surely on. u. 2B-35.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 43