Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.
| Word | Hebrew | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| guiltless | תְּנַקֵּ֔הוּ te.na.Ke.hu | H5352 | to be (or make) clean (literally or figuratively) · verb, piel jussive, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular |
| wise | חָכָ֖ם cha.Kham | H2450 | wise · adjective, masculine singular absolute |
| man | אִ֥ישׁ 'ish | H376 | a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| knowest | וְיָֽדַעְתָּ֙ ve.ya.da'.Ta | H3045 | to know (properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular |
| do | תַּֽעֲשֶׂה ta.'a.seh- | H6213 | to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular |
| head | שֵׂיבָת֛וֹ sei.va.To | H7872 | old age · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular |
| down | וְהוֹרַדְתָּ֧ ve.ho.rad.Ta | H3381 | to descend (literally · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular |
| grave | שְׁאֽוֹל she.'ol | H7585 | Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean re… · noun, common both genders singular absolute |
| blood | בְּדָ֖ם be.Dam | H1818 | blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or… · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
for thou art a wise man--Solomon had given early indications of wisdom before his miraculous endowment with the heavenly gift (see Kg1 3:11), and his own sagacity would dictate the course that should be followed in any new offense that Shimei might commit.
Hold him not guiltless - Do not consider him as an innocent man, though I have sworn to him that I would not put him to death by the sword; yet as thou art a wise man, and knowest how to treat such persons, treat him as he deserves; only as I have sworn to him, and he is an aged man, let him not die a violent death; bring not down his hoary head to the grave with blood. So Solomon understood David, and so I think David should be understood; for the negative particle לא lo, in the former clause, hold him Not guiltless, should be repeated in this latter clause, though not expressed, his hoary head bring thou Not down; instances of which frequently occur in the Hebrew Bible. See Dr. Kennicott's…
Read the whole note in the consoleNow therefore hold him not guiltless,.... Do not look upon him as an innocent person; and if he commits an offence against thee, as he has against me, do not acquit him as I have done: for thou art a wise man; so it seems he was before the appearance of the Lord to him at Gibeon, even before his father's death he had given some proofs of it to David himself: and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; to watch and observe him, and, if found offending, to punish him according to the rules of justice, and the laws of the land: but his hoary head bring thou down to the grave with blood; spare him not on account of his age, but put him to death whensoever he shall be found guilty, let him…
Read the whole note in the consoleThe anointing of Solomon as king, which was effected by David's command (1 Kings 1), is only briefly mentioned in Ch1 23:1 in the words, "When David was old and full of days, he made his son Solomon king over Israel;" which serve as an introduction to the account of the arrangements made by David during the closing days of his life. After these arrangements have been described, there follow in 1 Chron 28 and 29 his last instructions and his death. The aged king gathered together the tribe-princes and the rest of the dignitaries and superior officers to a diet at Jerusalem, and having introduced Solomon to them as the successor chosen by God, exhorted them to keep the commandments of God, and…
After expounding the crimes of Joab and Shimei, David entrusts Solomon with their punishment, but only gives him few details about the manner and quality of the punishment: "You will do," he says, "according to your wisdom." It is as if he said, Since both Joab and Shimei committed such [terrible] actions, it is unlawful that they are left unpunished. Therefore, solve this matter with the help of your wisdom so that your equity may catch them in their iniquity: may your severity, with the revelation of new crimes, find out the sins that your father's indulgence had hidden.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Mahanaim was David’s refuge during Absalom’s rebellion (2 Sam 17:24). The Egyptian pharaoh, Shishak, invaded it during Rehoboam’s reign (see 1 Kgs 14:25).
For you are a wise man. Turn your attention to find for him a capital iniquity on account of another matter. This is [what it means by], “You will know how to deal with him.”
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
