Pontificate, and banished to his ancestral property at Anathoth, the city of the priests. But Holy Scripture

calls us to mark, how by the deposition of Abiathar the Divine prediction against the house of Eli (1 Samuel

2:31-36) was fulfilled, though in this instance also through a concurrence of intelligible causes.

There was now only one other left, who in heart and mind, as well as in popular opinion, belonged to the

party opposed to the reigning house. That old offender, Shimei, was still at large, and enjoying ill-deserved

safety. Had he during those years learned to respect the dynasty which he had once so wantonly insulted,

or did he still consider it too weak to resent insubordination on his part? The question was soon to be

decided; for Solomon now ordered Shimei to remain permanently within the bounds of Jerusalem, at the

same time warning him that any infringement of this command, from whatever cause, would be punished by

death. Shimei, who had probably expected a far more severe sentence, received with gratitude this

comparatively slight restriction upon his liberty. He must have known that most Eastern monarchs would

have acted towards him in a very different spirit. Besides, the restriction was not more irksome than that

which limited the safety of an ordinary manslayer by the condition of his remaining within the bounds of the

city of refuge. Nor was the command in itself unreasonable, considering the necessity of watching Shimei's

movements, and the importance of convincing the people that a strong hand now held the reins of

government. But whatever outward acquiescence Shimei had shown, he had no idea of yielding such

absolute obedience as in his circumstances seemed called for. On the first apparently trivial occasion,76

Shimei left Jerusalem for the capital of Philistia without having sought the king's permission, and, upon his

return, suffered the penalty which, as he well knew, had been threatened. By such measures of vigor and

firmness "the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon."