THE KING'S MIRROR 341 



Son. What do you think about the death of Joab and 

 Adonijah, whom King Solomon slew ?/Was that a right- 

 eous judgment or not ? And why did King Solomon 

 cause Shimei to be slain for cursing his father David, 

 seeing that David had already forgiven Shimei this , - 

 offence ? S 



Father. If King Solomon had done this except as law- 

 ful punishment, God would have visited him with a 

 worthy penalty as for murder J But after he had done 

 all this, God revealed Himself to him in a dream and 

 bade him choose whatever gift he might wish. But Solo- 

 mon asked God to give him wisdom and insight into 

 righteous judgments. Then God answered him in this 

 wise: " If this choice were given to the multitude, there 

 would be many who would choose riches and power, or 

 a long life, or peace, or success in warfare. But because 

 thou hast chosen this thing, thou shalt receive what thou 

 hast chosen and likewise all the other gifts that I have 

 enumerated." From this you will observe how well God 

 is pleased with righteousness in judgments; for God 

 gave Solomon all the supreme gifts, because he chose 

 equity as his part. And you will understand that, if he 

 had slain those others unjustly, God would not have 

 given him such excellent gifts as He did give him. 



LXV 



SOLOMON'S DECISION IN THE CASE OF SHIMEI 



Son. What you have just said does indeed seem rea- 

 sonable. If Solomon had been led to execute these men 

 through selfishness and injustice, he would not have 

 received such excellent gifts from God, as were given 



