The king took the ten women his concubines, &c.— As soon as David arrived at Jerusalem, one of his first cares was to remove those concubines, or secondary wives, whom Absalom had so scandalously abused. He ordered them, therefore, to be separated from the palace, and maintained in a proper place of seclusion and retirement, where they ended their lives as widows. The Jews say, that the widows of their kings could never marry again. David treated them as widows, and allowed them not to appear again in public, that there might be as little renewal as possible in the minds of men of the opprobrious infamy of his son. Mahomet, who borrowed a variety of his laws from the Jews, forbade his wives to marry again after his death. See Selden, Uxor. Heb. lib. 1: cap. 10.
REFLECTIONS.—When men's spirits are exasperated in popular tumults, some crafty and ambitious head fails not to improve the circumstances for his own advancement.
1. Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite, a man of Belial, thinking that he might now step into the throne, widens the breach into rebellion. Since Judah seemed to engross the king, he advises the men of Israel to renounce the ten parts they claimed, and to have no part in David. The trumpet is blown, and Sheba now is their leader. Note; (1.) We must not promise ourselves long peace here below. Whilst the old enmity reigns in the heart of the sinner, new storms will arise. (2.) Foolish quarrels have dangerous consequences. (3.) We are apt to be swinging to extremes; and those who seemed the most zealous friends sometimes turn the bitterest enemies.
2. David proceeds to Jerusalem, and his first care is to shut up his concubines, whom Absalom had defiled, Note; Obscure retirement is the fittest place for those who have made themselves publicly scandalous.