Chapter 15. David's parting advice to his son, Solomon (Book 7. From Saul's death in battle, until the death of King David (40 years)) (Antiquities of the Jews) (Flavius Josephus)

1. A little afterward David also fell into an illness by reason of his age; and perceiving that he was near to death, he called his son Solomon and discoursed to him as follows: �I am now, O my son, going to my grave and to my fathers, which is the common way which all men that now are, or shall be hereafter, must go; from which way it is no longer possible to return and to know anything that is done in this world. On which account I exhort you, while I am still alive, though already very near to death, in the same manner as I have formerly said in my advice to you, to be righteous towards your subjects and religious towards God, that has given you your kingdom; to observe his commands and his laws, which he has sent us by Moses; and neither do you out of favour nor flattery allow any lust or other passion to weigh with you to disregard them; for if you transgressest his laws, you will lose the favour of God and you will turn away his providence from you in all things; but if you behave yourself so as it behooves you and as I exhort you, you will preserve our kingdom to our family and no other house will bear rule over the Hebrews but we ourselves for all ages. Be you also mindful of the transgressions of Joab, the captain of the host, who has slain two generals out of envy and those righteous and good men, Abner the son of Ner and Amasa the son of Jether; whose death do you avenge as shall seem good to you, since Joab has been too hard for me and more potent than myself and so has escaped punishment up to this. I also commit to you the son of Barzillai the Gileadite, whom, in order to gratify me, you shall have in great honour and take great care of; for we have not done good to him first, but we only repay that debt which we owe to his father for what he did to me in my flight. There is also Shimei the son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin, who, after he had cast many reproaches upon me, when, in my flight, I was going to Mahanaim, met me at Jordan and received assurances that he should then suffer nothing. Do you now seek out for some just occasion and punish him."

2. When David had given these admonitions to his son about public affairs and about his friends and about those whom he knew to deserve punishment, he died, having lived seventy years and reigned seven years and six months in Hebron over the tribe of Judah and thirty-three years in Jerusalem over all the country. This man was of an excellent character and was endowed with all virtues that were desirable in a king and in one that had the preservation of so many tribes committed to him; for he was a man of valor in a very extraordinary degree and went readily and first of all into dangers, when he was to fight for his subjects, as exciting the soldiers to action by his own labours and fighting for them and not by commanding them in a despotic way. He was also of very great abilities in understanding and apprehension of present and future circumstances, when he was to manage any affairs. He was prudent and moderate and kind to such as were under any calamities; he was righteous and humane, which are good qualities, peculiarly fit for kings; nor was he guilty of any offense in the exercise of so great an authority, but in the business of the wife of Uriah. He also left behind him greater wealth than any other king, either of the Hebrews or, of other nations, ever did.

3. He was buried by his son Solomon, in Jerusalem, with great magnificence and with all the other funeral pomp which kings used to be buried with; moreover, he had great and immense wealth buried with him, the vastness of which may be easily conjectured at by what I shall now say; for a thousand and three hundred years afterward Hyrcanus the high priest, when he was besieged by Antiochus, that was called the Pious, the son of Demetrius and wished of giving him money to get him to raise the siege and draw off his army and having no other method of compassing the money, opened one room of David's sepulcher and took out three thousand talents and gave part of that sum to Antiochus; and by this means caused the siege to be raised, as we have informed the reader elsewhere. Indeed after him and that many years, Herod the king opened another room and took away a great deal of money and yet neither of them came at the coffins of the kings themselves, for their bodies were buried under the earth so artfully, that they did not appear to even those that entered into their monuments. But so much shall suffice us to have said concerning these matters.