roots, and the song which shall then be sung in the land of Judah, has a surprising number of words in it, which form portions of the names of members of the house of David. Thus, (xi. 4), 7 DAY contains the roots of Jehoshaphat, Shephatiah, Zedekiah, Sadoc, &c., and in v. 5, the recurrence of P followed by i, 'a girdle,' suggests the enquiry whether Azor, the father of Sadoc, may not rather be derived from i, a girdle,' than from

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יָדוֹ...... יוֹסִיף אֲדֹנָי,11 .to help. In xi עזר שְׁנית

we have the root of Joseph. Ch. xii. 1, 2, 'thou comfortest me,' gives us the root of Naum, Luke iii. 25. Ch. xii. 2,

God is my

Salvation,' has the root of Jesaiah, and of the name of Jesus. In the same verse, y, the Lord is my strength,' is the name Uzziah. Ch. xii. 4,

,אוֹרְךָ יְהוָה ,1 .Praise the Lord, and xii : הוֹדוּ לַיהוָה

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O Lord, I will praise thee,' gives us the origin of Hodijah and Judah. In 2 Sam. xxii. 28, we read, Thou art my lamp, O Lord.' Hence Neri, and the fuller form Neriah. And in like manner the names Zuri-shaddai, Uriah, Melchiah, &c., are expressions either actually found in psalms, or suitable for such compositions. And this observation convinces me that the right rendering of such names as Abijah, Malchijah, Urijah, Eliel, Elijah, &c., is, 'The Lord is my Father,' 'The Lord is my King,' the Lord is my light,' 'God is my God,' The Lord is my God,' &c.

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CHAPTER VII.

Further evidence that the Shimei of Zech. xii. 13 is the person mentioned in 1 Chron. iii. 19.

A

LLUSION was made at page 102 to the famous prophecy of Zechariah, chap. xii., wherein at ver. 13, special mention is made of the family of Shimei, as not only existing at the time of the prophet Zechariah, but as to continue to exist till the times of Messiah. And it was there argued that this specific mention of the family of Shimei makes it improbable that the author or compiler of the book of Chronicles should, in giving the genealogy of the remnant of the house of David, pass over in utter silence the posterity of Shimei, as according to the present text of 1 Chron. iii. 22 he does. And an argument was drawn thence in support of the emendation proposed, by which Shemaiah is identified with Shimei, and the theory of the identity of Hodaiah and Juda made possible. A few further remarks are now offered with a view of proving that the Shimei of Zech. xii. 13 is the brother of Zerubbabel, and that there was a peculiar propriety in the specification of the different branches of the house of David.

And

The prophecy of Zechariah is as follows. I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of

VII.] FURTHER EVIDENCE OF THE IDENTITY, &c. 161

supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. Here then we see that this great mourning was to be the result of the outpouring of the spirit of grace and of supplications upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem: as also in the 7th and 8th verses special mention is made of the house of David, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. When therefore we read the specification of the mourners, and find that we have all the families that remain' in ver. 14, to correspond to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;' and that to correspond to 'the house of David,' we have four families mentioned by name, 'the family of the house of David, the family of the house of Nathan, the family of the house of Levi, and the family of Shimei;' it is natural to conclude, unless we have any special reason to the contrary, that these are different parts of what was before described in general as the

house of David.' And this first impression is certainly not weakened when we go on to observe that of the four families so specified, the first is avowedly of the house of David, that eldest branch of it who by right of primogeniture and inheritance was called 'the family of the house of David;' that the second family represents an illustrious scion of David's house, being descended from one of his sons, Nathan, of whom we learn from the Gospel that he was the ancestor of Christ, and therefore necessarily had a family' in the days of Zechariah; and that the fourth family bears the name of one, viz. Shimei, of whom we learn from 1 Chron. iii., that he was brother of Zerubbabel, the head of the house of David in the Prophet's time. Indeed, had these three come together consecutively, few would, I think, have doubted to ascribe them all to the chiefs of the house of David whose names they bear. But some difficulty arises from the interposition of the family of the house of Levi' between Nathan and Shimei. This circumstance has influenced some commentators to give a different explanation of Shimei. Thus Rosenmüller seems to prefer Jerome's explanation, who identifies Shimei with the tribe of Simeon, (according to the Septuagint version, where we read puλn toû Zupewv), and tells us, that from that tribe the greatest number of doctors and masters had arisen-and that therefore as under the name of David was included the royal tribe of Judah, under Nathan the order of Prophets, and under Levi the priestly order, so by Semei is to be

understood the order of Doctors, or Rabbis; as Tertullian (Advers. Marcion. Lib. III. cap. 18) interprets the prophecy of Jacob concerning Simeon and Levi, in Gen. xlix. 6, as applying to scribas et Pharisæos,' 'ex illis enim deducitur census eorum.' See also to the same effect, and indeed in the very same words, Advers. Judæos, ch. x. And this, Rosenmüller tells us, was the common opinion of the Jews. Some however think the family of Shimei' are a branch of the Levites, (referring to Exodus vi. 17,) viz. the Shimites, mentioned Num. iii. 21, as descended from Shimei, ver. 18, to which opinion Dr Mill seems rather inclined. Without, however, denying that the order in which Shimei is named is a difficulty, I would suggest that a reason for it may possibly be found in the probable circumstance, that when Zechariah wrote this prophecy Shimei had not returned from Babylon. No mention is made of Shimei either in the book of Ezra or Nehemiah; but we are told by Ezra, that Hattush, whom we believe to be the son of Shimei, returned from Babylon with Ezra, (Ezra viii. 2,) in the reign of Artaxerxes. This makes it probable that his father Shimei did not return, and at the same time accounts for his insertion in the genealogy by Ezra himself in 1 Chron. iii. But if Shimei was not at Jerusalem at the time Zechariah delivered his prophecy, it may be conjectured that the prophet, meaning to specify the two families of David and Levi, for reasons which we shall presently consider, in the first instance named those branches of the Davidic House