358 THE KING'S MIRROR 



holy altar. Now Solomon did not wish to make this a 

 pretext that he intended to bring gifts or sacrifices to 

 God's holy altar, as if he were carrying out episcopal 

 functions; nor did he wish to take away by force or 

 violence anything that had come so near God's holy 

 altar as Joab then was, inasmuch as he was clinging to 

 the sacred altar. But Solomon pondered the whole mat- 

 ter in his own mind :/^ It is my duty to carry out the 

 provisions of the sacred law, no matter where the man 

 happens to be whose case is to be determined; but it is 

 not my duty to remove a man by force or violence who 

 has fled to the holy place; for all just decisions are in 

 truth God's decisions and not mine. [And I know of. a 

 surety that God's holy altar will not be defiled or dese- 

 crated by Joab's blood, for it will be shed in righteous 

 punishment and as a penance for him, but not in hatred 

 as in the case of an unjust verdict." In this decision 

 King Solomon illustrated the division of duties that 

 God made between Moses and Aaron; and he did not 

 wish to disturb this arrangement, lest he should fall 

 into disfavor with God. /For God had marked out their 

 duties in such a way that Moses was to watch over the 

 rules of the holy law, while Aaron was to care for the 

 sacrifices that might come to the sacred altarj And_ 



YOU Shall knOW Of a truth that %'ff 



by right to stand even at this day: and you may be 

 able to see this more clearly, if I add a few words in 

 explanation. For the reason is this, that God has estab- 

 lished two houses upon earth, each chosen for a_defimie 

 service. The one is the church; in fact we may give this 



* See Exodus, xxviii. 



