SHIMEI'S HUMILIATION,

AND DAVID'S SUPPOSEL

PARDON, are thus recorded, 2 Sam. xix. 16-23:

"16 And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David.

"17 And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the king.

"18 And there went over a ferry-boat to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan;

"19 And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely, the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

"20 For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come, the first this day of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my lord the king.

"21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD's Anointed?

"22 And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?

"23 Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him."

SOLOMON'S CONFINEMENT OF SHIMEI TO Jerusalem, AND THE OCCASION OF HIS DEATH, are related 1 Kings, ii. 36-46:

"36 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Build thee a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither.

"37 For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head.

"38 And Shimei said unto the king, The saying is good as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

"39 And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish son of Maachab, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants be in Gath.

"40 And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants: and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. "41 And it was told Solomon that Shimei had from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again.

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"42 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by the LORD, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst unto me, The word that I have heard is good.

"43 Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have charged thee with?

knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head;

"45 And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever.

"46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon."

The OBJECTIONS, made to this dying charge of David, are these:

1. After Shimei's repentance, confession, and deprecation of David's wrath, it seems ungenerous and mean to remember his sin against him.

2. David having forgiven him, and promised, and even sworn, that he should not die, his injunction to Solomon to put him to death appears inconsistent with David's "last words," (2 Sam. xxiii. 1-5,) with his character for piety, (Acts, xiii. 36,) and with his appellation, "the man after God's own heart," (1 Sam. xiii. 14.)

3. David's dying in peace after such a charge, and Solomon's early peaceful reign, seem inconsistent with the breach of an oath, and with God's usual punishment of those who violated their oaths. Exodus, xx. 7. Psalms, xv. 4. Judges, xi. 30,31, 35. 2 Sam. xxi. 1-14. Matt. v. 33. Num. xxx. 2. Deut. xxiii. 21-3. Eccles. v. 4. Matt. xiv. 9.

4. A revengeful unforgiving spirit is as unsafe to die in, as it is to live in; our Lord having declared, that

God's forgiveness of us is dependant on our forgiveness of others. Matt. vi. 15; xviii. 35. See also Jas. ii. 13. The ANSWERS, which may be made to these objections, are:

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1. David's reply, to Abishai's proposal to put Shimei to death, "Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel?" 2 Sam. xix. 22. (which words, this day,' occur thrice in that one verse,) may imply his unwillingness to stain with blood, (and especially with the blood of a professed penitent,) "a day so much to be remembered." If this be true, his assurance to Shimei, "Thou shalt not die," v. 23. may be taken rather as a respite than as a reprieve or unconditional pardon. And the oath which "he sware unto him," (v. 23.) 'by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword," 1 Kings, ii. 8. may be understood, either, "I myself will not avenge myself for what thou hast done to me;" or, "I will not allow thee to be slain by the sword of Abishai; i. e. put to death in military execution or martial law," as Agag and others had been. By this clement delay, he gave Shimei time to "set his house in order," to repent of his sins against God, and thus to prepare for death; but did not, probably, intend to pardon him absolutely; but, even if he did bind himself to forgiveness, he could not bind his son and successor Solomon to do the same; and might justly give him his advice. At all events, he left him to "God, to whom vengeance belongeth;" who, by his righteous retribution and mysterious providence, justly punished him for having" cursed the Lord's Anointed."

2. As David's charge to Solomon, respecting Shimei, closely follows a similar injunction respecting Joab,

v. 6, "Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace," it is not only possible, but highly probable, that he resembled Joab in his great crime, namely, in siding with Adonijah. 1 Kings, i. 7; ii. 28. If so, he was justly punished for his second act of treason and rebellion : there could be no peace for Solomon, as long as Joab and Shimei were at large.

3. "The last words" and the last hours of many of the eminent servants of God; before other methods were appointed of discovering or revealing God's will, or predicting future events; were spoken and passed under the influence of God the Holy Ghost. 2 Sam. xxiii. 1,2. 2 Peter, i. 21. This was evidently the case with Jacob, (Genesis, xlix. 1-28;) Joseph, (Genesis, 1. 24;) Moses, (Deut. xxxiii. 1-29;) Elijah, (2 Kings, ii. 1 -15;) and Elisha, (2 Kings, xiii. 14-25.) His dying directions, therefore, to Solomon, must be considered as proceeding from God himself, who, he says, 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, "spake by me." His soul was not ruffled with anger or revenge, no more than Jacob's was, who, notwithstanding his heavy dying denunciations against Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, (Genesis, xlix. 3-7,) yet said, piously and patiently, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord:" (v. 18 :) like holy Simeon, (Luke, ii. 25-28,) who was, perhaps, the last, to whom this prophetic impulse was granted. The words, indeed, were his; but, "the thing proceeded from the Lord."

4. The Hebrew conjunction here used, ( vau,) which is rendered (v. 9,) "but," not only should have been rendered "nor," which, after, or , (" not,”