And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
Ver. 6. And Jesse begat David the king] But that was not his chief title: he gloried more in styling himself the servant of the Lord, Psalms 36:1, tit. So Theodosius esteemed it a greater honour that he was membrum Christi member of Christ than Caput Imperii, head of the empire. Numa etiam του θεου υπηρεσιαν βασιλευειν existimabat. Numa held the service of God the highest honour. (Plut. in Vit.)
David the king begat Solomon] Whom Bellarmine reckoneth for a reprobate: but (besides that he was God's corculum, little heart, and by him called Jedediah) he calleth himself in his sacred retractations, Coheleth; which being interpreted the Preacher, is a word of the feminine termination, and by some rendered aggregata, where understanding the substantive anima, they conclude herehence that he was renewed by repentance and reunited to the Church.
Of her that had been the wife of Uriah] His best children he had by this wife: the fruit of humiliation doubtless. (Peccatum tametsi non bonum, tamen in bonum. Aug.) The barren women's children are observed to have been the best, as Isaac, Samuel, John Baptist, &c., for like reason.