The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 286

not return to me. These words indica.te, be given him until hia good and gre,d first of RU, muoh pereona.l feelin@: for the qua.lities were developing; and 11.11 it was I\ child. Henoe some ha.ve llUpposed tha.t., a.s sort of indic&tion that he waa the chosen Solomon ie pla.oed lut of Batheheb&.'e four and elect sou of D11vid, and therefore the -,na in eh. v. H and l Chron. iii. 5, three next king, we shall probablv be right in other sons hRd already been bome by her, believing that this second mission of Nathan, and tha.tooneequently this child, the fn1it of and this mark of Divine favour to David's their adultery, would now ha.ve been seven or youngest child, did not take place until after eight yea.rs of age. It is oerta.inly reme.rkable AbSBlom's de11th, possibly not until Solomon that in ver. 16 David calls him "the illd " wa.s ten or twelve years of a.ge. The name (so the H.,brew), though in every other place &lomon means "the peaceful," and answers he is styled " the child," On the other hand, to the Germcm Friedrioh. It was given we gather from ver. 14 tha.t probably be W88 t.o the child in recognition that David's as yet the only ohild, and this is the more wa.rs were now over, and tha.t the era of :tc8.80n&ble view, eveu if Solomon was the quiet had b~un, which was to be oonee- ,•oungest eon (but see note on ver. 24). cni.ted to the building of Jehova.h's temple. But llOOOndly, the words indiCA.te a. belief It WBS the name givon to the infant at his in the continued existenoe of the ohild, a.nd birth, and we., a name of hope. Alas I this even tha.t David would recognize and know pesce was to be rudely broken by the re- him in the future world. Less then this bellion of the son whom David, in vain would have given no comfort to the father expectation and with all a father's pride, for his JOBS. Now, it is true tha.t we oa.n bed named .Ab-salom, "his father's peace." find no olear dogma.tic tea.ohing in the ea.rly Ver. 25.-He sent. Some oommente.tors Scriptures upon the immorta.lity of the soul make David the subject of the sentence, and Job could give ex:p1'81!1ri.on to no such hope translate, "And he, David, sent in· the hand in vii. 6--10, and the belief in a world to of Nathan, and called," etc. They suppose c,ome would have solved the difficulties of that this mesne that Nathan was entrusted himself and his friends, which really are le~ with Solomon's education; but "in the unsolved. Even in the Psalms there are hand" is the ordinary Hebrew preposition, words that border on despair (see vi. 5; meaning " by," and the sense plainly is m. 9 ; lx:D:viii 11 ; cxv. 17); nor had that God sent a message by Nathan. David Hezekiah any such belief in continued ex- bed already called the child Solomon, and istence as could sol.ace him in the expecta- now Jehovah, some years afterwards, gives tion of an early death (Isa. in::viiL 18, 19). him an indication of his special favour by This hopeleasness was not unnatnml at a naming him Yedidyah. The word is formed time when the doctrine had not been as yet from the same root as David, that is, "lovely," clearly taught. On the other band, in Ps. with the addition of the Divine name. As we :icvii. 15 and xvi. 9-ll we find proof that have already pointed ont, this was no slight David did believe in his own immorta.lity. matter, but the virtual selection of Solomon For though the latter words have a second to be David's successor, and probably, there- and higher meaning, yet the primary sense fore, was delayed until he had given indica- of Ps. xvi 10 is that David's own soul (or of his great intellectual gifts. Hie elder self) would not always remain in Sheol, the brothers would not be passed over without abode of the departed, nor would he, Jeho- valid reasons. vah's anointed one, see BUch corrnption as Ver. 26.--J'oab ... took the royal oity. would end in &D.Di.hilation. As the siege of Re.bbah would be conducted Ver. 24.-He Dlllled his :name Solomon. by the slow process of blockade, it might It is rashly assumed that Solomon's birth easily be prolonged into the second year, followed 11ext in order after that of the and so give ample space for Dl\vid'e sin deceased child. More probably there was and its punishment by the. death of the a long interval of time, and son after son child. But more probably the narre.tor, was born, with little increase of happiness having commenced the history of Do.vid's 'io the family polluted by .Amnon's sin and sin, completes the story before returning to troubled by its miserable consequences. his account of the war .. .Thus the capture While we ID.llllt not lay too great stress of Rabbah would ocoupl some of the in- upon Solomon calling himself "a little terval between Davids adultery and child " ( 1 Kings iiL 7) after his accession, Nathan's visit of rebuke, and would leeaen yet it forbids onr believing that he was the difficulty, which we cannot help feeling, more than just grown up. It was the re- of David remaining for nine ·or ten months mukable ability of Solomon, hie goodness with the guilt of adultery and murder rest- and precocious talent, which m&de him so ing upon him, and no open aot of repentance. great a comfort t.o hill parent.a, and which Some short time, then, after Uria.h!s death, rtceived Jehovah'e seal of approval in the Joe.b captured "ihe city of waters." Thi~ ll&llle JedAd.iah.. Thill name would 8C&l00ly is not a poetical name fv.- Ra.bbfU\, but means; OH. XJI, 1-31.] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 291