John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
2 Samuel 8:1
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 8
This chapter gives a relation of the wars of David with his enemies, and his victories over them, particularly the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites, and of the spoils he took from them, and of the presents made to him by others, 2Sa 8:1; and of his righteous administration of government, and of the principal officers in his court and camp, 2Sa 8:15.
Ver. 1. And after this it came to pass,.... After David had rest from his enemies for a time, and after the conversation he had had with Nathan about building the house of God, and after the message sent to him from the Lord by that prophet, forbidding him to build, and David's prayer to the Lord upon it, the following events happened; and which are recorded to show that David's rest from his enemies did not last long, and that he had other work to do than to build the house of God:
that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them; these had been long and implacable enemies of Israel; Samson began to weaken them in his days; a war was waged between them and Israel in the times of Samuel and Saul, and the battle sometimes went on one side and sometimes on the other; but now David made an entire conquest of them: before they had used to come into the land of Israel, and there fight with Israel, but now David entered into their land, and took it from them:
and David took Methegammah out of the hands of the Philistines; the name of a province in Palestine, and from the parallel place in
1Ch 18:1, it appears to be Gath, and its adjacent towns; but why that was called the bridle of Ammah, or the bridle of a cubit, as it may be rendered, is not easy to say. The conjecture of Kimchi is, that there was a pool or river of water, so Ammah is thought to signify; and Aquila renders it a water course, which passed through the city, having been brought from without it into it, the communication of which from place to place it may be David cut off, by stopping or turning its stream; but interpreters more generally suppose that Gath was built upon an hill called Ammah, see 2Sa 2:24; thought to be the same with the Amgaris of Pliny {d} though that is sometimes read Angaris, a mountain he places in Palestine; and that it was called Metheg, a bridle, because being a frontier city, and being very strong and powerful, erected into a kingdom, it was a curb and bridle upon the Israelites; but now David taking it out of their hands, opened his way for the more easy subduing the rest of their country: or the word may be rendered Metheg and her mother, that is, Gath, the metropolis, since that and her daughters, or towns, are said to be taken, 1Ch 18:1; and Metheg might be one of them.
{d} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 13.
2 Samuel 8:2
Ver. 2. And he smote Moab,.... He next went against that, and invaded it, the people of it being always troublesome and distressing to the children of Israel; and though the king of it had shown some favour to David, yet it was when he considered him as an enemy to Saul, and Saul to him; but things having taken a different turn, his and his people's enmity against David and his people appeared; wherefore he went and fought them, and made them his subjects, whereby was fulfilled the prophecy of Balaam, Nu 24:17; as it referred to David:
and measured them with a line: either their country and fields, to distribute among his people, or rather the soldiers he took prisoners; which, as Procopius Gazaeus says, were so numerous that they could not be told, and therefore they were ordered to lie prostrate on the ground, and they were measured with a line, as it follows:
casting them down to the ground; or ordering them to lie down; though some understand this of casting down their cities, towers, and strong holds, and levelling them with the ground:
even with two lines measured he; with one, so it may be supplied, as the Vulgate Latin,
to put to death, and with one full line, to keep alive; that is, in measuring them with his lines, he divided them into two parts, one he put to death, and the other, the full line, which contained the most, he saved alive; though it seems according to our version, and so most understand it, that David slew two thirds, and saved one, and so Josephus {e}. This must be understood of the army of the Moabites that fell into his hands, so Josephus, who persisted and refused to submit, not of all the inhabitants of the land. The Jews say {f}, that the reason of this severe treatment of them was because they slew the father, and mother and brethren of David, whom he left to the care and custody of the king of Moab, when he fled from Saul, see 1Sa 22:3; since after that they are heard no more of; though it should rather be imputed to their enmity against the people of Israel. The phrase of "meting out the valley of Succoth" seems to be an allusion to this fact, Ps 60:6, the psalm being written on occasion of the victories here related:
and [so] the Moabites became David's servants; the inhabitants of the land who were left in it, perhaps that part of the soldiers preserved alive were brought home captives:
[and] brought gifts; paid a yearly tribute to King David, as they afterwards did to Solomon and to Rehoboam, until the revolt of the ten tribes, and then they paid it unto the kings of Israel, to the times of Ahab, see 2Ki 3:4, though these gifts may be distinct from, and besides the tribute paid, which is supposed in their being servants, see 2Ch 17:11. Thus the Arabians {g} carried gifts to the king of Persia besides tribute.
{e} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1. {f} Bemidbar Rabba, l. 14. fol. 212. 1. {g} Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 97.
2 Samuel 8:3
Ver. 3. And David also smote Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah,.... Called sometimes Aramzobah, and was a part of Syria, as its name shows. Benjamin, of Tudela {h} takes it to be the same with Haleb or Aleppo; Josephus {i} calls it Sophene; but that is placed by Ptolemy {k} beyond the Euphrates; whereas this country must be between that river and the land of Israel, and was contiguous to it, and near Damascus; and it was so near the land of Israel, and being conquered by David, that it became a controversy with the Jews, whether it was not to be reckoned part of it, and in several things they allow it to be equal to it {l}. Rehob was the first king of this part of Syria, and then his son the second and last; he is called Hadarezer in 1Ch 18:3; the letters d "D" and r "R", being frequently changed in the Hebrew tongue: him David fought with, and overcame,
as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates; which some understand of Hadadezer, so Jarchi and Kimchi, who attempted to recover part of his dominions that had been taken by some one or another from him, which lay upon the river Euphrates; or he endeavoured to enlarge his dominions, and carry them as far as the river, and establish the borders of them; and while he was doing this, or attempting it, David fell upon him, and routed him; or rather this refers to David, who considering that the ancient border of the land of Israel, as given to Abraham, reached to the river Euphrates, Ge 15:18; he set out on an expedition to recover this border, and whereas the country of this king lay in his way, he invaded that; upon which Hadadezer rose up against him, and was conquered by him, and by this means the border was recovered to the kingdom of Israel, and reached so far, as is plain it did in Solomon's time, 1Ki 4:21.
{h} Itinerar. p. 59. {i} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1.) {k} Geograph. l. 5. c. 13. {l} T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 8. 1. 2. Misn. Demai, c. 6. sect. 11. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.
2 Samuel 8:4
Ver. 4. And David took from him a thousand [chariots], and seven hundred horsemen,.... "Chariots" are not in the text here, it is only 1700 "horsemen"; but it is supplied from 1Ch 18:4; where the word is expressly mentioned, and there the horsemen are said to be seven thousand as in the Septuagint version here, and in Josephus {m}; which may be reconciled by observing, with Kimchi and Abarbinel, that here the chief officers are meant, there all the chariots and horsemen that were under their command are mentioned, which together made up that large number; or else here are meant the ranks and companies of horse David took, which were seven hundred; and these having ten in a company or rank, made seven thousand; and there the complement of soldiers in those companies and ranks are intended:
and twenty thousand footmen; the same as in 1Ch 18:4; and so in Josephus {n}:
and David houghed all the chariot [horses]; or hamstrung them, as Joshua was ordered to do with respect to the Canaanites, Jos 11:6; he did not kill them, which might seem cruel and unmerciful to the brute creatures, but hamstrung them, that they might be useless for war; and the reason of it was, that horses might not be multiplied in Israel for that purpose, that so their trust and confidence might not be placed in them; see De 17:16;
but reserved of them [for] an hundred chariots; for his own use, not for war, but for grandeur; which accounts in some measure for the number of chariots and horses Solomon had, 1Ki 4:26; the number of horses reserved is supposed to be four hundred, four horses being used in a chariot, which Jarchi gathers from 2Ch 1:17.
{m} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1.) {n} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1.)
2 Samuel 8:5
Ver. 5. And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah,.... These seem to have had no king at this time, or, if they had, Hadadezer was their king, which is not improbable; and Nicholas of Damascus {o}; an Heathen writer, is clear for it, whom he calls Adad, who, he says, reigned over Damascus, and the other Syria without Phoenicia, who made war with David king of Judea, and was routed by him at Euphrates: and he seems to be the first king of Damascus, which he joined to the kingdom of Zobah, and all the kings of Damascus afterwards were called by the same name; though Josephus {p}, who also speaks of Adad being king of Damascus and of the Syrians, yet makes him different from this Hadadezer, to whose assistance he says he came:
David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men; that is, of the Syrians of Damascus.
{o} Apud Joseph. ib. (l. 7. c. 5.) sect. 2. {p} Ibid.
2 Samuel 8:6
Ver. 6. Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus,.... Which was Coele-Syria, and lay between Libanus and Antilibanus, the chief city of which was Damascus; which Curtius {q} calls Damascus of Syria, being the head of it, Isa 7:8; in the principal places of which he put garrisons of soldiers to keep the country in subjection to him; or he put commanders or governors, as the Targum, in the, chief cities, and so Ben Gersom and R. Isaiah interpret it:
and the Syrians became servants to David, [and] brought gifts; or paid him tribute by way of homage, acknowledging themselves his subjects:
and the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went; he covered his head in the day of battle, and saved him from the hurtful sword.
{q} Hist. l. 3. c. 8.
2 Samuel 8:7
Ver. 7. And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer,.... That were found with them, which they had in their hands; these must be supposed to be with the principal officers of his army; or golden chains, as Aquila, or golden bracelets on their arms, as the Septuagint; the Syriac version is "quivers of gold", such as they put arrows into, and so Jarchi and R. Isaiah understand it of such, and refer to Jer 51:11; and so Josephus {r}:
and brought them to Jerusalem; where they were laid up, and converted to the use of the sanctuary Solomon built; see So 4:4.
{r} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5.) sect. 3.
2 Samuel 8:8
Ver. 8. And from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer,.... Which, in 1Ch 18:8, are called Tibhath and Chun, they having different names; or their names might be changed upon this conquest of them, and the one might be the names they went by with the Syrians, and the other the Israelites called them by; the latter is the same with Berothah in
Eze 47:16; and the Barathena of Ptolemy {s}, placed by him near Mesopotamia; in the Arabic version of 1Ch 18:8, they are called Emesa and Baalbec, the former was a city of Coele-Syria, the latter was at the foot of Mount Lebanon; See Gill on "Am 1:5";
King David took exceeding much brass; whereby he was furnished and able to give the large quantity he did for the service of the temple, 1Ch 29:7. The Septuagint version adds here what is expressed in
1Ch 18:8,
"wherewith Solomon made the brazen sea, and the pillars, and the layers, and all the vessels.''
{s} Geograph. l. 5. c. 19.
2 Samuel 8:9
Ver. 9. When Toi king of Hamath,.... Which was another small kingdom in Syria, perhaps lately erected to defend themselves against Hadadezer, and this the first king of it, at least the first we hear of; his name is Tou in 1Ch 18:9; where in the Targum he is called king of Antioch. Hamath lay to the north of the land of Canaan;
See Gill on "Nu 34:8": it is said {t} to be three days' journey from Tripoli, and that it stands in the midway to Aleppo, on a very goodly plain, replenished with corn and cotton wool, but very much in ruins, and falls more and more to decay: at this day (says my author, who travelled in those parts in the beginning of the seventeenth century) there is scarce one half of the wall standing, which hath been very fair and strong. The king of this place
heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer; the news of which soon reached him, he being in the neighbourhood.
{t} Cartwright's Preacher's Travels, p. 6.
2 Samuel 8:10
Ver. 10. Then Toi sent Joram his son unto King David,.... Who is called Hadoram in 1Ch 18:10; though the Syriac and Arabic versions read Joram there:
to salute him: to inquire of his welfare after his fatigue in the battles he had had with the Moabites and Syrians, and to wish him all happiness and prosperity for the future:
and to bless him; to congratulate him on his victory, and to wish him success in all after wars he might be engaged in; and particularly to give him thanks for delivering him from so great an enemy as Hadadezer had been to him, as also to bring a present to him, which is sometimes called a blessing; see Ge 33:11;
because he had fought against Hadadezer, and smitten him; that is, David had, which had endeared him to Toi:
for Hadadezer had wars with Toi; was an enemy of his, sought to take his kingdom from him, and had had many battles with him: and though he could not conquer him, he sadly harassed him, being too mighty for him:
and [Joram] brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold,
and vessels of brass; as a present to David, in gratitude for his deliverance from his enemy by him, and as a token of his homage and subjection to him; at least as a sign that he put himself under his protection, and desired to be his friend and ally. The word "Joram", though not in the Hebrew text, is rightly supplied; for none else can be supposed to bring the present.
2 Samuel 8:11
Ver. 11. Which also King David did dedicate unto the Lord,.... He devoted it to sacred uses, particularly to the building of the house of the Lord, as he also had the gold and the brass he took from Hadadezer: together
with the silver and the gold he had dedicated of all nations which he subdued; who are after particularly mentioned; he did not convert the spoils he took to his own use, but observed the law God gave to the kings of Israel, that they should not greatly multiply to themselves silver and gold, De 17:17. He set it apart, and laid it up for the service of the sanctuary; and this accounts for the abundance of gold, silver, and brass, which David had amassed together, and left to his son Solomon to build the temple with; see 1Ch 28:1.
2 Samuel 8:12
Ver. 12. Of Syria,.... Of Syria of Damascus, as distinct from Syriazobah, Hadadezer was king of, after mentioned; this is omitted in
1Ch 18:11;
and of Moab: who brought him gifts and presents, and were tributaries to him, 2Sa 8:2;
and of the children of Ammon; who very probably joined the Moabites, and were conquered and spoiled at the same time:
and of the Philistines; when Methegammah was taken from them, 2Sa 8:1;
and of Amalek; for though we have no account of any war of his with that people, since he was king, yet he doubtless had, and had been victorious and spoiled them; see Ps 83:7;
and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah; see 2Sa 8:3. These conquests of David, are confirmed by the testimony of Eupolemus, an Heathen writer, who says that he overcame the Syrians by Euphrates, and the Assyrians in Galadene (or Gilead), and the Phoenicians; that he fought against the Idumeans (or Edomites), the Ammonites, Moabites, Ituraeans, Nabathaeans, and Nabdaeans; also against Syron king of Tyre and Phoenicia; all of whom he obliged to pay tribute to the Jews {a}.
{a} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30. p. 447.
2 Samuel 8:13
Ver. 13. And David gat [him] a name,.... Fame and reputation in the several nations of the world for valour and courage, for the many and signal victories that he obtained; the Jewish writers generally refer this to his humanity in burying the dead bodies of his enemies slain in war, which gained him great esteem among all, and even his very enemies; but nothing of that kind is pointed at here, but his conquests: or "he made himself a name"; erected a triumphal arch {b} in memory of his victories:
when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt,
[being] eighteen thousand [men]; in the relation of this fact in different places some difficulties arise, both as to the people smitten, and their numbers, and by whom; in this place they are said to be Syrians, but in 1Ch 18:12, and in the title of Ps 60:1, which was composed on account of these victories, they are called Edomites, and said to be of Edom; which may be reconciled by observing, that the Syrians and Edomites were confederates in this war; and that whereas the latter were auxiliaries to the former, the whole body of the army might be called Syrians, of which twenty two thousand were slain that were properly Syrians, and eighteen thousand Edomites, in all forty thousand; which was a very great slaughter: or the sense is, that when he had smitten the twenty two thousand Syrians, and was upon the return, he met with a body of Edomites, who came to the assistance of the Syrians, and he slew eighteen thousand of them; and the Jews say, as Jarchi observes, there were two battles; and if so, this would remove all the difficulties started; as for the numbers slain, here eighteen thousand, and Ps 60:1, twelve thousand, it is reconciled by observing, that Abishai first began the attack upon the Edomites, and slew six thousand of them; and then Joab fell upon them, and slew twelve thousand more, in all eighteen thousand; in 1Ch 18:12, this slaughter is ascribed to Abishai, because he began it, even the whole number; and in Ps 60:1, to Joab, the twelve thousand slain by him, who seconded Abishai; and the whole is here attributed to David, because he was king, under whom Abishai and Joab served as generals: and no less difficult is it to ascertain the place where this slaughter was made, called "the valley of salt": it seems by our text that it was in Syria, but in other places as if it was in Edom; see 2Ki 14:7; but in Edom itself is no such valley to be found, though there is in Syria; one traveller {c} tells us, that in the way from Aleppo to the banks of Euphrates are many villages, among which is one of note, called Tedith, famous for a synod held here by the Jews, in the year from the creation 3498, of which Ezra was the scribe; when were placed the books of the Old Testament in the order in which they now are; and near this town, he says, is the valley of salt, memorable for the victory here recorded: others say {d} about three or four hours' journey from Aleppo is the valley of salt, near which is a salt spring, whose waters running over the place leave, when dried by the sun, a great quantity of excellent salt; this salt is thrown together in the Gabboul, or salt house; but by others {e} we are informed, that near about an hour's distance from the city of Tadmor, see 1Ki 9:18 2Ch 8:3, is to be seen a large valley of salt, affording great quantities thereof; and it is thought that this is more probably the valley of salt mentioned here, than another which lies about four hours from Aleppo, and has sometimes passed for it; and which the above accounts show: but a modern writer {f}, in his account of Palmyra, the same with Tadmor, speaks of a great plain, all covered with salt, from whence the whole country round is supplied. This plain is about a league from Palmyra, and extends itself towards the eastern part of Idumea (or Edom) the capital city of which was Bozra; and indeed this valley being both in Syria, and reaching to the borders of Edom, bids fair to be the valley here spoken of.
{b} So Hieron. Trad. Heb. in 2 Reg. fol. 78. D. {c} Cartwright's Preacher's Travels, p. 11. {d} Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 2. p. 347. {e} See Lowthorp's Philosophical Transactions abridged, vol. 3. p. 504. {f} Halifax apud Calmet's Dictionary in the Word "Salt".
2 Samuel 8:14
Ver. 14. And he put garrisons in Edom,.... To keep the inhabitants in subjection to him; as their forts and strong holds came into his hands, he placed companies of soldiers in them for the said purpose; or governors, as the Targum, men of his own nation, into whose hands he put their principal cities, who governed them for him, and under him. Jarchi interprets it of officers appointed to collect the tribute he exacted of them:
throughout all Edom put he garrisons; which is observed to show that the whole country was brought into subjection to him:
and all they of Edom became David's servants; and hereby were fulfilled the oracle delivered to Rebekah, and the prophetic blessing of Isaac, Ge 25:23;
and the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went;
See Gill on "2Sa 8:6".
2 Samuel 8:15
Ver. 15. And David reigned over all Israel,.... Not only over Judah, but over all the tribes of Israel, and over the whole land of Canaan, as promised to Abraham, Ge 15:18; reaching to the river Euphrates, as Syria did, now conquered by David:
and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people; when he returned from his wars, he heard and tried all causes impartially, brought before him, and gave sentence according to the law of God, and administered righteous judgment without any respect to persons; all had justice done them that applied unto him, whether high or low, rich or poor; and indeed during his wars he was not negligent of the civil government of his subjects, and the distribution of justice to them by proper officers, in which he was a type of Christ; see Isa 11:5.
2 Samuel 8:16
Ver. 16. And Joab the son of Zeruiah [was] over the host,.... Which was not only owing to his relation to David, being his sister's son, but to his promise that whoever smote the Jebusites first should be chief and captain; that is, should have the command of the army under him; this Joab did; and so was entitled to this office, and was put into it, and continued in it, 1Ch 11:6;
and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] recorder; of memorable events, who kept a diary of whatsoever remarkable happened, which were digested into a chronicle, history, or annals; see Es 6:1; so the Targum, he
"was appointed over the memorials;''
or book of memorials, as Kimchi interprets it; that is, to take care of it, and see that everything worthy of notice was inserted in it; or was "remembrancer" {g}; one that put the king in mind what was to be done every day, or in certain cases, and so R. Isaiah explains it, the king's counsellor; some take him to be chancellor, as Luther and others {h}.
{g} rykzm "commemorans", Montanus; "commemorator", Syr. Ar. "memorans, sive reducens in memoriam", Vatablus. {h} Vid. Beckium in Targ. 1 Chron. xviii. 15.
2 Samuel 8:17
Ver. 17. And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, [were] the priests,.... Not high priests, as Josephus {i} suggests, for there was only one high priest at a time; indeed there was a "sagan", or deputy priest, on occasion; and so Abarbinel says that Zadok was the high priest, and Ahimelech his second or deputy; but the truth of the case was this, Abiathar was high priest only, and continued so until the time of Solomon, when he was thrust out of his office, and Zadok put into it; and Ahimelech his son and Zadok were the principal priests under him, the one of the family of Ithamar, the other of Eleazar; so the Targum on 1Ch 18:16 calls them "sagans", or deputies of the high priesthood. Zadok is mentioned first, though Ahimelech was the son of the present high priest, because he was in great favour with David, as afterwards with Solomon, in whose days the high priesthood was translated to him; the family of Eli being now upon the decline, and near being removed from the high priesthood, as was foretold by Samuel it should:
and Seraiah [was] the scribe; or secretary of state; in 1Ch 18:16 he is called Shavsha; he seems to have had two names.
{i} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5.) sect. 4.
2 Samuel 8:18
Ver. 18. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over both the Cherethites and Pelethites,.... These, according to Josephus {k}, were the king's bodyguards, and this man is expressly said to be set over his guards, 2Sa 23:22; and which some think were of the nation of the Philistines, famous for archery, and slinging of stones; and so the Targum renders it,
"was appointed over the archers and slingers;''
so "choriti" in Virgil {l} are quivers for arrows; the great use of which in fighting David had observed, and therefore got a select company of these men, partly to teach Israel, and partly to guard himself: but others are of opinion that David would never suffer such as were Heathens to be so near his person, and therefore take them to be Israelites; and so some Jewish writers say they were two families in Israel; which is much better than to interpret them as others do of the sanhedrim, and even of the Urim and Thummim, as in the Targum on
1Ch 18:17;
See Gill on "Zep 2:5"; and it is most probable that they were Israelites, who were David's guards, and consisted of the chiefs that were with him in Philistia, and particularly at Ziklag, which lay on the south of the Cherethites, 1Sa 30:14; and so had their name from thence; and among the chief of those that came to him at Ziklag there was one named Peleth, from whence might come the Pelethites, and they were all of them archers; see 1Ch 12:2;
and David's sons were chief rulers; princes, princes of the blood, or "chief about the king", as in 1Ch 18:17; they were constant attendants at court, waiting on the king, ready at hand to do what he pleased to order; they were the chief ministers, and had the management of the principal affairs at court. Abarbinel thinks that this respects not only David's sons, but Benaiah, and the family of the Cherethites and Pelethites, who had none of them particular posts assigned them, which were settled and known, as those before mentioned had, but were always near at hand, to do whatsoever the king commanded them; and which seems better to agree with the literal order and construction of the words; which are,
and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and Pelethites,
and the sons of David, [were] princes, or chief rulers; or priests, who according to Gussetius {m} brought the offerings or presents to the king, and did that to him the priests did to the Lord.
{k} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect.4.) {l} Aeneid. 10. {m} Ebr. Comment. p. 366.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
2 Samuel 9:1
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 9
This chapter relates David's inquiry after the posterity of Saul, whether any were living and where they were, 2Sa 9:1; and on inquiry being informed of one, he sent for him, and kindly received him, 2Sa 9:5; and restored to him the land of his fathers, and appointed a person to till it for him, and bring him the fruits of it, and maintained him at his own table, 2Sa 9:9.
Ver. 1. And David said,.... To some of his courtiers:
is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul? which question was put by him, not in order to destroy them, lest they should disturb his government, as was usual with other princes, and especially such who got their crowns by usurpation; but to prevent any suspicion of that kind in the persons he inquired of, he adds,
that I may show him kindness, for Jonathan's sake? not for Saul's sake, who had been his implacable enemy, though he had sworn to him that he would not cut off his seed; but for Jonathan's sake, his dear friend, whose memory was precious to him. Some of the Jewish writers have thought, because this follows upon the account given of the officers of David, both in his camp and court, that this question was occasioned by a thought that came into his mind, while he was appointing officers, that if there were any of Saul's family, and especially any descendant of Jonathan, that was fit for any post or office, he would put him into one; but this seems to be a long time after David had settled men in his chief offices; for Mephibosheth, after an inquiry found out, was but five years of age when his father was slain, and so but twelve when David was made king over all Israel, and yet now he was married, and had a young son, 2Sa 9:12; so that it was a long time after David was established in the kingdom that he thought of this; which is to be imputed to his being engaged so much in war, and having such a multiplicity of business on his hands.
2 Samuel 9:2
Ver. 2. And [there was] of the house of Saul a servant whose name [was] Ziba,.... Or there was a servant that belonged to Saul's family; not that any of Saul's family was a servant; and this servant the Jews commonly say was a Canaanitish servant, and who upon the death of his master was not made free, but became the inheritance and possession of his children after him, Le 25:46; though Josephus {n} says he was made free by Saul:
and when they had called him unto David; who it seems was now at court, or in Jerusalem, on some account or another; or was in David's service, in some inferior post or another; however, having been a quondam servant of Saul, it was thought he could give the best intelligence of his family, and whether any were living, and therefore was sent for; and when he was come into the king's presence,
the king said unto him, [art] thou Ziba? for he had been told before by some of his courtiers what his name was:
and he said, thy servant [is he]; or my name is Ziba, and I am at thy command.
{n} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5.) sect. 5.
2 Samuel 9:3
Ver. 3. And the king said, [is] there not yet any of the house of Saul; that is, remaining or living:
that I may show the kindness of God unto him? great kindness, some large favour or benefit; for the word God added to things, as to trees, mountains, &c. serves to set forth the excellency of them; and this kindness is in imitation of God, or such as he had sworn in the presence of God to show; and that is expressed in the same language, 1Sa 20:14;
and Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son; a son still living;
[which is] lame on [his] feet; on both his feet, as the Targum; of which occasion, See Gill on "2Sa 4:4".
2 Samuel 9:4
Ver. 4. And the king said unto him, where is he?.... In what part of the land, city, or town, does he dwell?
and Ziba said unto the king, behold, he [is] in the house of Machir,
the son of Ammiel; a descendant of Machir, the son of Manasseh, to whom the land of Gilead was given, which lay on the other side Jordan:
in Lodebar; a place in that country, perhaps the same with Debir in
Jos 13:26. Here it may be his mother's relations lived, and here he might dwell in obscurity, and lie hid from the knowledge of David; who, it might be feared by his friends, would have dispatched him, had he known where he was. Some take it to be an appellative, and render it, as Abarbinel observes, "without anything"; as if he was so poor that he had not anything to support himself with. No mention as yet is made of his name, perhaps because the historian had given it before, 2Sa 4:4.
2 Samuel 9:5
Ver. 5. Then King David sent,.... Messengers; it may be Ziba, none being more proper than he that knew him, and where he was:
and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar; they demanded him in the king's name, and being delivered to them, they brought him from thence to Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 9:6
Ver. 6. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,.... For that was his name, though sometimes called Meribbaal, 1Ch 8:34; and this was his relation to Jonathan and Saul, the son of the one, and grandson of the other:
was come unto David; to his court and palace in Jerusalem, being thither brought; for he could not go of himself, being lame:
he fell on his face, and did reverence; to him as a king, in a civil way, and in the best manner he could, considering that he was lame on his feet:
and David said, Mephibosheth; is it he? having learnt what his name was, this he expressed with great vehemency and affection, as glad that he had found one of Jonathan's posterity: and
he answered, behold thy servant! he answered to his name, and owned his subjection to David, and was ready to take the oath of allegiance to him, and give him homage, and serve him in what way he could.
2 Samuel 9:7
Ver. 7. And David said unto him, fear not,.... He might observe a dejection in his countenance, a trembling in his limbs, and might discover signs of fear lest David should cut him off, because he was of the seed royal:
for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake; whom he loved as his own soul, and to whom he had sworn that he would not cut off his kindness from his house for ever, and now remembering his oath was determined to observe it:
and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; his grandfather, such sometimes being called fathers; which David had taken to him, as crown lands, or in the right of his wife; or as being confiscated by Ishbosheth's rebellion:
and thou shall eat bread at my table continually; he gave him an apartment in the court, a place at his table, admitted him to be a guest with him as long as he should live; which was a very great favour and high honour, and showed what an unshaken friendship he had for his father, and would maintain with him. This was the kindness of God he meant to show to him.
2 Samuel 9:8
Ver. 8. And he bowed himself,.... In token of gratitude, and as a sign of humility, and of the sense he had of his unworthiness to enjoy such a favour:
and said, what [is] thy servant, that thou shouldest look on such a dead dog as I [am]? one so mean, and base, and worthless; which he might say with respect to the infirmities of his body, the rejection of his family by the Lord, their attainder of high treason for rebellion against David, and the low circumstances he was brought into and now under; though one of the royal family, the son of a prince, and grandson of a king; such was his humility, and the sense he had of his being undeserving of any favour from the king, and says this with admiration and astonishment.
2 Samuel 9:9
Ver. 9. Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant,.... Who had been his servant:
and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son; meaning either, as some, the son of Mephibosheth, Micha after mentioned; or rather Mephibosheth himself, the grandson of Saul, whose servant Ziba had been:
all that pertained to Saul, and to all his house; all his paternal estate, or what he had acquired, or in any wise belonged to him and his family; which David had in possession, and which he readily and cheerfully delivered up to Mephibosheth, having so great a regard to the memory of his father.
2 Samuel 9:10
Ver. 10. Thou therefore, thy sons, and thy servants,.... Which were many, and whose numbers are after given:
shall till the land for him; manure it, plough it, sow it, and reap it:
and thou shall bring in [the fruits]; the corn, and oil, and wine, the land produces:
that thy master's son may have food to eat; meaning either Micha, the son of Mephibosheth, since Mephibosheth seems to be distinguished from him, and opposed to him in the next clause: and who would stand in no need of food from any other quarter, being a guest at the king's table continually; or else Mephibosheth, who by this means would have a sufficiency for his son and servants, and in which Ziba's family and servants would have a share:
but Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat always at my table; wherefore the land was to be tilled not for him personally, but for his family, and for what uses he should think fit to put the produce of it to:
now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants: who were enough to cultivate a considerable quantity of land.
2 Samuel 9:11
Ver. 11. Then said Ziba unto the king, according to all the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do,.... Till the land, and bring the fruits of it to Mephibosheth, for the support of his family; he promised very fair, had he been as faithful to his trust:
as for Mephibosheth, [said the king], he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons; which is repeated, for the confirmation of it, and to show that he should be treated with equal respect, and fare as the king's sons themselves did; though the clause "said the king" is not in the original text, and the words are thought by Abarbinel and others to be the words of Ziba continued; who promised to do what the king had ordered, though Mephibosheth had eaten at his table, as one of the king's sons, and needed not anything, and needed not to eat at the king's table; and if it was his pleasure, he would maintain him out of this estate like the son of a king; but the phrase "my table" seems to be too arrogant for Ziba to say, and rather fits the mouth of David the king.
2 Samuel 9:12
Ver. 12. And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name [was] Micha,.... What his age was is not said from him sprung a progeny of several generations, 1Ch 8:34;
and all that dwelt in the house Ziba [were] servants to Mephibosheth; his sons and his servants.
2 Samuel 9:13
Ver. 13. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem,.... Either in some apartments in the king's palace, or in some house in the city provided for him; for he returned not to Lodebar, nor to any mansion house upon the estate, of Saul restored unto him:
for he did eat continually at the king's table; to which he was invited, and he accepted of:
and was lame on both his feet; or "though" he was {n}, yet this was no objection to David, he admitted him notwithstanding his infirmity; nor any obstruction to Mephibosheth, who found ways and means to be carried to the king's table daily.
{n} awhw "quamvis esset", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Patrick.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
2 Samuel 10:1
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 10
This chapter gives an account of the ill treatment of David's messengers to the king of Ammon, who were sent to condole the death of his father, and were basely used by him, which David resented, 2Sa 10:1; which the Ammonites perceiving prepared for war, and got the Syrians to be confederates with them; of which David being informed, sent Joab and Abishai into their country, 2Sa 10:6; who divided the army between them, and attacked the Ammonites and Syrians with great courage, and routed them both, and returned to Jerusalem, 2Sa 10:9; after which the Syrians gathered together again to fight with David, who went out to meet them, and got an entire conquest over them, and made them servants to him, 2Sa 10:15.
Ver. 1. And it came to pass after this,.... After the wars with the Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites, being friendly with the children of Ammon, David sent an embassy to their king, after related; by which it appears what is said concerning the spoils of the children of Ammon, 2Sa 8:12, is by anticipation; for these spoils were not taken until the following war with them, the occasion of which is here told:
that the king of the children of Ammon died; whose name was Nahash, as is clear from 2Sa 10:2, and probably might be the same that came against Jabeshgilead, from whom Saul delivered the inhabitants of that place, 1Sa 11:1;
and Hanun his son reigned in his stead; who, being his son, was heir to his crown, and succeeded him in his kingdom.
2 Samuel 10:2
Ver. 2. Then said David, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash,.... Send him a friendly compliment of condolence on the death of his father:
as his father showed kindness unto me; when David was persecuted by Saul, he sent him aid, and invited him into his country for protection it may be, and some way or other showed respect unto him; though not out of real love and friendship to David, but in enmity to Saul, who had defeated him at Jabeshgilead, and had often wars with him: the Jews say {o} the particular kindness was, that when David left his father, mother, and brethren, with the king of Moab, he slew all but one, who fled to the king of the children of Ammon, and was by him saved alive:
and David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father; for the death of his father; to condole the loss of him, which was the custom of kings in friendship and alliance in former times, and still continues:
and David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon; even to Rabbah, the metropolis of the nation, and the royal city, where the king kept his court.
{o} Tanchuma apud Jarchium in loc.
2 Samuel 10:3
Ver. 3. And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord,.... His nobles and prime ministers, the courtiers that were about him:
thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? could he imagine that David was sincere, and that he really meant to do honour to the memory of his father, and comfort him under the loss of him, by sending his ambassadors to him on such an errand? there was no reason, they thought, to believe this, since an Israelite was forbidden to seek their peace and prosperity, or ask of it, nor might Ammonite enter into their congregation unto the tenth generation, De 23:3; and indeed some have thought that David did not do a right thing in sending this embassy, and was justly requited; but it is certain he acted according to the laws of friendship, and was cordial and sincere in what he did, though these courtiers of Hanun put an ill construction on his conduct, their minds being filled with enmity against the Israelites:
hath not David [rather] sent his servants unto thee to search the city,
and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? to reconnoitre the place, to observe, as they walked about in it, which were the weakest and most defenceless parts of it, and what avenues there were to it, and which were most accessible, that they might the better know how to attack it, and destroy it; these surmises and suspicions they endeavoured to fill the king's head with, to set him against them, and treat them ill.
2 Samuel 10:4
Ver. 4. Wherefore Hanun took David's servants,.... His ambassadors:
and shaved off one half of their beards; that is, he ordered them to be shaved off; than which a greater indignity could not have been well done to them and to David, whom they represented, since the Israelites shaved not their beards, and were very careful of preserving them; for had it been the custom to shave, they might have shaved off the other half, and then they would not have appeared so ridiculous; and with other people it has been reckoned a very great punishment as well could be inflicted, and as great an affront as could well be offered, to mar a man's beard, or shave it off in whole or in part {p}. The Lacedemonians, as Plutarch {q} relates, when any fled from battle, used, by way of reproach, to shave off part of their beards, and let the other part grow long; and with the Indians, as Bishop Patrick observes from an ancient writer, the king used to order the greatest offenders to be shaven, as the heaviest punishment he could inflict upon them; but what comes nearest to the case here is what the same learned commentator quotes from Tavernier, who in his Indian Travels tells us, that the sophi of Persia caused an ambassador of Aurengzeb to have his beard shaved off, telling him he was not worthy to wear a beard, and thereupon commanded it should be shaved off; which affront offered him in the person of his ambassador was most highly resented by Aurengzeb, as this was by David:
and cut off their garments in the middle, [even] to their buttocks; and as they wore long garments in those countries, without any breeches or drawers under them, those parts by these means were exposed to view which modesty requires should be concealed {r}; so that they must be put to the utmost shame and confusion:
and sent them away; in this ridiculous manner, scoffing and leering at them no doubt; that since they came with compliments of condolence, it was proper they should appear in the habit of mourners, with their beards shaved, and their garments rent; cutting of garments, and standing in them from morning tonight, was a punishment of soldiers with the Romans, when they offended {s}.
{p} Apollon. Vit. Philostrat. l. 7. c. 14. {q} In Agesitao. {r} "Dimidiasque nates Gallica palla tegit". Martial. {s} Valer. Maxim. l. 2. c. 2.
2 Samuel 10:5
Ver. 5. When they told [it] unto David,.... Not the ambassadors, for they were not yet arrived, but some of their servants, perhaps, they sent before them to acquaint David of the usage they had met with:
he sent to meet them: he sent men to meet them with proper garments to put on, and to assure them how much he resented the indignity done to them and him, and would avenge it in due and proper time, and to direct them where to go for the present, as follows:
because the men were greatly ashamed: to proceed on their journey, and come to court in the condition they were:
and the king said; gave orders by the messengers he sent to them:
tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, or "bud" {t},
and [then] return; that is, to Jerusalem; Jericho, though not yet built, might have some cottages at or near the spot on which it had stood, for the convenience of shepherds, and gatherers of fruit, in the plains of it; here the ambassadors were directed to go, it being the first place they came to when they had passed over Jordan, from the country of Ammon; and being a place where there were scarcely any inhabitants, or very few, was very proper for them in their present circumstances; and this confirms what is before observed, that it was now the custom of the Israelites not to shave their whole beards; or otherwise it was but shaving off the other half, and being now provided with other clothes, they would have had no need to have stayed at Jericho, but might have proceeded on in their journey.
{t} xmuy "germinet", Pagninus, Montanus.
2 Samuel 10:6
Ver. 6. And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David,.... Or had made themselves odious to him, as it is rendered in
1Ch 19:6; were abominable to him, that he was incensed against them, and enraged at them, and was determined to be avenged on them for the affront given, of which they had certain information: but instead of seeking to appease him, and give him satisfaction for the affront,
the children of Ammon sent, and hired the Syrians of Bethrehob; a place near Hamath, Nu 13:21; there was a city of this name in the tribe of Asher, out of which the Canaanites could not be driven, and perhaps now inhabited by Syrians, or by a people so called, Jos 19:28;
and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen: that is, out of both places; this place Hadadezer was king of, with whom David had fought before, and beat, and who owed him a grudge on that account, and was ready to assist the Ammonites against him, 2Sa 8:3,
and of King Maacah a thousand men; that is, of the king of Maacah, which was a place in the tribe off Manasseh, from whence the inhabitants could not be expelled, Jos 13:11; and seems now to have been inhabited by Syrians, and therefore is called Syriamaachah, 1Ch 19:6;
and of Ishtob twelve thousand men; which is thought to be the same with the land of Tob, whither Jephthah fled, and dwelt in it, when ill used by his brethren, Jud 11:3; these mercenary soldiers were in all thirty three thousand men; 1Ch 19:6, it is said, chariots and horsemen, even thirty two thousand; these were hired with a thousand talents of silver.
2 Samuel 10:7
Ver. 7. And when David heard of [it],.... Of the preparation made by the Ammonites to fight with him:
he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men: he sent out Joab his general, and an army under his command, consisting of men of strength, valour, and courage; or all the host and the mighty men, as Kimchi and Ben Melech, the famous mighty men mentioned in 2Sa 23:8; he did not think it advisable to wait for the Ammonites, but carried the war into their own country, and, instead of suffering them to invade his dominions, he invaded theirs.
2 Samuel 10:8
Ver. 8. And the children of Ammon came out,.... Either out of Rabbah their metropolis, as Josephus {u}; or rather out of Medeba, as it seems from 1Ch 19:7; a city that lay on the borders of their country, and was a frontier town, see Nu 21:30;
and put the battle in array, at the entering in of the gate; of the city of Medeba; they were first within the city, but, upon the approach of Joab and his army, they came out and drew up in a line of battle at the gate of it:
and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and Ishtob, and Maacah, [were] by themselves in the field; at some distance from the city, the Ammonites not choosing to trust: mercenaries in it; and perhaps they placed these ambush in the field, to get Joab between two fires, as we now express it.
{u} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 2.
2 Samuel 10:9
Ver. 9. When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind,.... Or "the face" of it {w}; armies appeared both before and behind, about to attack him both in front and rear; the Targum is,
"and Joab saw that the warriors, or those that made war, were strong against him before and behind:''
he chose of all the choice [men] of Israel; the most eminent for strength, and valour, and military skill, who had been tried, and were famous for warlike exploits, the flower of the army:
and put [them] in array against the Syrians; who might be the strongest party, and the best soldiers; though being but mercenaries, if hard beset, would sooner give way, as he might suppose, upon which the Ammonites would do the same.
{w} ynp "facies", Pagninus, Montanus.
2 Samuel 10:10
Ver. 10. And the rest of the people he delivered into the hands of Abishai his brother,.... Who was a commander under him, and a very valiant man; and thus, as his enemy had two armies, he divided his into two parts, that he might the better attack them:
that he might put [them] in array against the children of Ammon: draw them up in a line, place them rank and file to meet the children of Ammon, and give them battle.
2 Samuel 10:11
Ver. 11. And he said, if the Syrians be too strong for me,.... Which he might perceive by Joab's forces giving way, or by some signal agreed on between them
then thou shall help me; detach a part of his army to his support and assistance:
but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee; in the same manner.
2 Samuel 10:12
Ver. 12. Be of good courage, and let us play the men,.... This Joab said, not only to encourage Abishai and himself, but in the hearing of the rest of the officers of the army, and of many of the people, to hearten them to the battle; who might be somewhat intimidated with the number of their enemies, and the position they were in, being before and behind them; and therefore he thought proper to make such a speech to them to animate them to light:
for our people, and for the cities of our God; that the people of Israel might not be carried captive, and their cities spoiled and plundered; and instead of being cities where the people of God dwelt, and he was worshipped, would, if taken, become the habitations of idolatrous Heathens, and where temples would be erected to idols, and the worship of them; these were the arguments he used to engage them to fight manfully for their country, the liberties and religion of it:
and the Lord do that which seemeth him good: tacitly suggesting that victory was of the Lord, and that it became them to do their part in fighting courageously, and leave the issue to the Lord, on whom alone success depended.
2 Samuel 10:13
Ver. 13. And Joab drew nigh, and the people that were with him, unto the battle against the Syrians,.... Fell upon them; attacked them first, began the battle with them; rightly judging, that if they, being hired soldiers, were closely pressed, they would give way, which would discourage the Ammonites, who depended much upon them; and the fight, according to Josephus {x}, lasted some little time, who says, that Joab killed many of them, and obliged the rest to turn their backs and flee, as follows:
and they fled before him: the Syriac and Arabic versions in this verse, and in all others in this chapter where the word "Syrians" is used, have "Edomites", reading "Edom" instead of "Aram", the letters r "R" and d "D" in the Hebrew tongue being very similar.
{x} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 2.)
2 Samuel 10:14
Ver. 14. And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled,.... In whom they put great confidence:
then they fled also before Abishai; without engaging at all with him, as it seems:
and entered into the city; out of which they came, either Rabbah or Medeba, for their safety:
so Joab returned from the children of Ammon; did not stay to lay siege to their city, the season of the year not being proper for it, winter drawing near; see 2Sa 11:1;
and came to Jerusalem; in triumph, to report to David the victory he had obtained.
2 Samuel 10:15
Ver. 15. And when the Syrians saw that they were smitten before Israel,.... Considered it in their minds, and conversed with one another about it, and fearing what would be the consequence of it:
they gathered themselves together; not only the forces got together again, that fled before Joab, but all the kings of Syria united their forces together, as appears from 2Sa 10:19; supposing that David would avenge himself on them for assisting the Ammonites against him; and therefore judged it advisable to raise a large army, that they might be in a condition to receive him.
2 Samuel 10:16
Ver. 16. And Hadarezer sent,.... The same with Hadadezer, 2Sa 8:3, who was at the head of this confederacy, and to whom the rest of the kings of Syria were servants, 2Sa 10:19;
and brought out the Syrians that [were] beyond the river; the river Phrat or Euphrates, as the Targum; so the Arabic version and Josephus {y}, who says, that he hired them:
and they came to Helam; which, according to the same writer, was king of the Syrians beyond Euphrates; but it seems to be the name of a place, where was the general rendezvous of the Syrian army. Junius conjectures that it is the same with the Alamatha of Ptolemy {z}, which he places with the Trachonite Arabs near the Euphrates:
and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer [went] before them: before the whole combined army, which according to Josephus {a}, consisted of eighty thousand foot, and ten thousand horse: this general is called Shophach, 1Ch 19:16 the letters "B" and "P" being of the same pronunciation in the Hebrew tongue, as Kimchi observes, though it is there read "Shobach", in the Syriac and Arabic versions; he was no doubt a very able, valiant, and skilful general, since he is particularly mentioned by name, and whose name was then famous; the Arabic version calls him a spear bearer of Hadarezer.
{y} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6.) sect. 3. {z} Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. {a} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3.)
2 Samuel 10:17
Ver. 17. And when it was told David,.... What preparations the Syrians were making to fight him, and where they were:
he gathered all Israel together; all the fighting men in the country:
and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam: which, according to Bunting {b}, was twenty miles from Jerusalem. David seems to have gone himself in person to this war:
and the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him; they formed themselves in a line of battle, and attacked him first, being eager to fight, and perhaps confident of victory, because of their numbers.
{b} Travels, &c. p. 140, 141.
2 Samuel 10:18
Ver. 18. And the Syrians fled before Israel,.... After an obstinate and bloody fight between them:
and David slew [the men of] seven hundred chariots of the Syrians; the word "men" is rightly supplied, for chariots could not be said to be slain, but the men in them; in 1Ch 19:17, they are said to be seven thousand, here seven hundred; which may be reconciled by observing, that here the chariots that held the men are numbered, there the number of the men that were in the chariots given, and reckoning ten men in a chariot, seven hundred chariots held just seven thousand men; though Kimchi takes another way of reconciling the two places, by observing that here only the choicest chariots are mentioned, there all of them, but the former way seems best:
and forty thousand horsemen; in 1Ch 19:17; it is forty thousand "footmen", and so Josephus {c}; and the same may be called both horse and foot, be cause though they might come into the field of battle on horseback, yet might dismount and fight on foot; and so one historian calls them horsemen, and the other footmen; or the whole number of the slain, horse and foot mixed together, were forty thousand; Kimchi makes use of another way of removing this difficulty, and which perhaps is the best, that here only the horsemen are numbered that were slain, and there the footmen only, and both true; an equal number of each being slain, in all eighty thousand, besides the seven thousand in the chariots:
and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there; of his wounds upon the spot.
{c} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3.)
2 Samuel 10:19
Ver. 19. And when all the kings [that were] servants to Hadarezer,.... That were subject to him, and at his beck and command, at least were hired by him into his service:
saw that they were smitten before Israel; could not stand their ground against them, being too powerful for them;
they made peace with Israel, and served them; became tributaries to them, whereby the promise of the land of Canaan made to Abraham and his seed, as reaching to the river Euphrates, had its accomplishment, Ge 15:18;
so the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more; who standing by themselves, they were soon and easily conquered by David's forces, as recorded in the following chapters.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
2 Samuel 11:1
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 11
This chapter begins with the destruction of the Ammonites, and the siege of Rabbah their chief city, 2Sa 11:1; and enlarges on the sins of David in committing adultery with Bathsheba, 2Sa 11:2; in contriving to conceal his sin by sending for her husband home from the army, 2Sa 11:6; in laying a scheme for the death of him by the hand of the Ammonites, 2Sa 11:14; and in marrying Bathsheba when he was dead, 2Sa 11:26.
Ver. 1. And it came to pass, that after the year was expired,.... Or at the end of the year, as the Targum, which concluded with the month Adar or February, the spring of the year:
at the time when kings go forth [to battle]; in the month Nisan, as the Targum on 1Ch 20:1; adds, the same with Abib, which was the first month of the year, Ex 12:2, a fit time to go out to war; when, as the Jewish commentators observe, the rains were over, and there were grass in the fields, and fruit on the trees, and corn ripe, and so food for horse and men. This month was called Nisan, as some think {d}, from
Myon, the military banners then erected; so by the Romans it is called Martius, and by us March, from Mars, the god of war; though some {e} take this to be the month Tisri, answering to part of September, and part of October, when all the fruits of the earth were gathered in, and supposed to be a fit time for war, when the heat of the year was declining:
that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; his whole army under Joab as general; in 1Ch 20:1; it is "the power of the army"; the whole body of it: and they destroyed the children of Ammon; burnt their cities, and slew the inhabitants of them, and laid their land waste wherever they came:
and besieged Rabbah; their chief city, called Rabathamana by Polybius {f}, that is, Rabbah of Ammon, and afterwards. Philadelphia, from Philadelphus, king of Egypt, as it was in the times of Jerom {g}:
but David tarried still at Jerusalem; which is observed for the sake of the following history; it would have been well for him if he had gone forth with the army himself, then the sin he fell into would have been prevented.
{d} Vid. Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 50. col. 557. {e} Weemse of the Judicial Law, c. 28. p. 106. {f} Hist. l. 5. p. 414. {g} De loc. Heb. fol. 94. C.
2 Samuel 11:2
Ver. 2. And it came to pass in an eveningtide,.... Some time in the afternoon, when the sun began to decline; not in the dusk of the evening, for then the object he saw could not have been seen so distinctly by him:
that David arose from off his bed; having taken a nap in the heat of the day after dinner; indulging himself more than he used to do to sloth and luxury, which prepared him, and led him on the more eagerly to the lust of uncleanness:
and walked upon the roof of the king's house; to refresh himself after his sleep, it being the cool of the day, and the roof of the house being flat and fit to walk upon, as the houses of Judea were; see
De 22:8;
and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; in a bath in her garden, or in an apartment in her house, the window being open:
and the woman [was] very beautiful to look upon; of a fine shape and good complexion, and comely countenance; all which were incentives to lust, at which his eye was attracted to, and his heart was ensnared with her.
2 Samuel 11:3
Ver. 3. And David sent and inquired after the woman,.... Who she was, what her name, and whether married or unmarried; if the latter, very probably his intention was to marry her, and he might, when he first made the inquiry, design to proceed no further, or to anything that was dishonourable; but it would have been better for him not to have inquired at all, and endeavoured to stifle the motions raised in him at the sight of her:
and [one] said, [is] not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam; who in 1Ch 3:5; is called Bathshua, and her father Ammiel, which is the same with Eliam reversed:
the wife of Uriah the Hittite? who either was of that nation originally, and became a proselyte; or had sojourned there for a while, and took the name or had it given him, for some exploit he had performed against that people, as Scipio Africanus, and others among the Romans; this was said by one that David inquired of, or heard him asking about her, and was sufficient to have stopped him from proceeding any further, when he was informed she was another man's wife: some say {h} she was the daughter of Ahithophel's son; see
2Sa 23:34.
{h} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 8. 2.
2 Samuel 11:4
Ver. 4. And David sent messengers,.... To invite her to his palace:
and took her; not by force, but through persuasion:
and she came in unto him; into the apartment where he was:
and he lay with her; she consenting to it, being prevailed upon, and drawn into it through the greatness and goodness of the man, which might make the sin appear the lesser to her. This is recorded to show what the best of men are, when left to themselves; how strong and prevalent corrupt nature is in regenerate persons, when grace is not in exercise; what need the saints stand in of fresh supplies of grace, to keep them from falling; what caution is necessary to everyone that stands, lest he fall; and that it becomes us to abstain from all appearance of sin, and whatever leads unto it, and to watch and pray that we enter not into temptation; and such a record as this is an argument for the integrity of the Scriptures, that they conceal not the faults of the greatest favourites mentioned in them, as well as it serves to prevent despair in truly penitent backsliders:
for she was purified from her uncleanness; this clause is added in a parenthesis, partly to show the reason of her washing herself, which was not for health and pleasure, and to cool herself in a hot day, but to purify herself from her menstruous pollution, according to the law in Le 15:19; the term of her separation being expired; and partly to give a reason why she the more easily consented, and he was the more eager to enjoy her; and in this he sinned, not that he did not lie with an unclean person; but, then, as some observe, he did that which was much worse, he committed adultery; also this may be added to observe, that she was the more apt for conception, as Ben Gersom notes, and to account for the quickness of it, with which the philosopher {i} agrees:
and she returned unto her house; whether that evening, or next morning, or how long she stayed, is not said.
{i} Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 7. c. 2.
2 Samuel 11:5
Ver. 5. And the woman conceived,.... Whereby the sin would be discovered, and shame, and disgrace, or worse, would follow upon it:
and sent and told David, and said, I [am] with child; this message she sent to David, that he might think of some ways and means to prevent the scandal that would fall both upon him and her, and the danger she was exposed unto; fearing the outcries of the people against her, in acting so unfaithful a part to her husband, so brave a man, who was now fighting for his king and country; and the rage and jealousy of her husband when he should come to the knowledge of it, and the death which by the law she was guilty of, even to be stoned with stones, see Joh 8:5.
2 Samuel 11:6
Ver. 6. And David sent to Joab,.... Who was with the army besieging Rabbah, which, according to Bunting {k}, was sixty four miles from Jerusalem:
[saying], send me Uriah the Hittite; the scheme David had contrived in his mind was to get Uriah home to his wife for a few days, that it might be thought the child she had conceived was his, whereby the sin of David, and her own, might be concealed:
and Joab sent Uriah to David; not knowing his business, and besides it was his duty to obey his command.
{k} Travels, &c. p. 146.
2 Samuel 11:7
Ver. 7. And when Uriah was come unto him,.... To David, to whom he came first, before he went to his own house, desirous of knowing what was the special business of the king with him:
David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered; he asked of the welfare of Joab the general, and of the common soldiers, and of the warriors, as the Targum, the mighty men that went along with Joab, 2Sa 10:7. David seems to have been at a loss what to say to him. These questions were so mean and trivial, that it might justly give Uriah some suspicion that it could never he on this account, that he was sent for; since David could not want intelligence of such things, expresses being daily sending him.
2 Samuel 11:8
Ver. 8. And David said to Uriah, go down to thy house, and wash thy feet,.... For his refreshment, and to prepare for bed, which was what he wanted to get him to:
and Uriah departed out of the king's house; in order as it might seem to the king to go to his own:
and there followed him a mess [of meat] from the king: no doubt a delicious dish, to eat with his wife before he went to bed, to excite him the more to desire the enjoyment of her this mess consisted, according to Abarbinel, of bread, wine, and flesh; and who also observes, after Ben Gersom, that the word may be interpreted of a torch to light him home to his house, being night.
2 Samuel 11:9
Ver. 9. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house, with all the servants of his lord,.... The bodyguards, which were placed there to watch the palace in the night season; Uriah first fell into a conversation with these as is highly probable, to whom he was well known, and who might inquire of one and another of their friends in the army; and he being weary, laid himself down among there, and slept:
and went not down to his house; whether the trifling questions David asked him, or the information the guards might give him of his wife being sent for to court; made him suspect something, and so had no inclination to go to this own house; or however so it was ordered by the providence of God, which directed him to act in this manner, that the sin of David and Bathsheba they studied to hide might be discovered.
2 Samuel 11:10
Ver. 10. And when they had told David,.... The next morning, either those that went with the mess of meat, or the guards with whom he slept all night:
saying, Uriah went not down to his house; as the king had ordered him; which those persons being acquainted with, informed him of it, as an act of disobedience to him:
David said unto Uriah; having sent for him upon the above information:
camest thou not from [thy] journey? and which was a long one of sixty four miles, as before observed and therefore might well be weary, and want refreshment and rest, and his own house was the most proper place for it; for which reason David suggests he had sent him thither, and did not require nor need his service among his guards:
why [then] didst thou not go down unto thine house? which was the fittest place for him in such circumstances.
2 Samuel 11:11
Ver. 11. And Uriah said unto David,.... As an apology for this conduct:
the ark, and Israel and Judah, abide in tents; meaning not the people of Israel and Judah in the land of Canaan; for they did not now dwell in tents, though indeed the ark of the Lord did, 2Sa 7:2, which some think is here referred to; but the armies of Israel and Judah besieging Rabbah, with whom it seems the ark was, which sometimes was carried with them when they went out to war, 1Sa 4:4, though Abarbinel thinks this was not the ark in which were the two tables of stone, and therefore is not called the ark of the covenant, but an ark which was made to put the ephod, and Urim and Thummim in that they might upon occasion inquire of the Lord by them:
and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields: around Rabbah they were besieging; he calls Joab his lord, because he was the chief general under whom he served and the rest of the commanding officers he calls the servants of his lord as distinguished from the common soldiers. The Jews, who are for excusing David from blame in the case of Uriah, observe {l}, that he was guilty of rebellion against David, and so worthy of death not only because he disobeyed his command, in not going to his house when he ordered him but by calling "Joab my lord" in his presence: but this was only a respectable character of his general and no overt act of treason to his king; nor did David so understand it, nor in the least resent it: now seeing such great men, who were far superior to him in rank and office were obliged to lie on the bare ground, he argues:
shall I then go into mine house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? if he had any suspicion of David's crime, he might purposely add the last clause; and if not, it was enough to awaken the conscience of David, and cut him to the quick had he not been greatly hardened through the deceitfulness of sin to observe, that a faithful subject and a soldier of his would not allow himself the enjoyment of lawful pleasures, when his fellow soldiers were exposing their lives to danger for their country; and yet he under such circumstances indulged to sinful lusts and criminal pleasures:
[as] thou livest and [as] thy soul liveth I will not do this thing; he swears to it for the confirmation of it; this he did to prevent any further solicitations from the king, or his wife unto it, who were both anxiously desirous of it; for though no mention is made of his wife, yet no doubt she did all she could to prevail upon him to come to his house but all to no purpose; his mind was so bent to the contrary through the overruling providence of God to which it must be ascribed.
{l} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 56. 1.
2 Samuel 11:12
Ver. 12. And David said to Uriah, tarry here today also,.... In his court, when he found he could not persuade him to go to his own house:
and tomorrow I will let thee depart: after he had tried one method more with him:
so Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day and the morrow; not in his own house, but the king's palace.
2 Samuel 11:13
Ver. 13. And when David had called him,.... Invited him to sup with him:
he did eat and drink before him; very freely and plentifully:
and he made him drunk: this was another sin of David's, done in order to make him forget his oath and vow, and that being inflamed with wine, desires might be excited in him to go home and lie with his wife; but even this scheme did not succeed:
and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord: in the guard room, where he had lain before:
but went not down to his house; for he was not so drunk but he remembered his oath, and kept his resolution not to go down to his own house; the Lord no doubt working upon his mind and disinclining him to it.
2 Samuel 11:14
Ver. 14. And it came to pass in the morning,.... When David was informed that Uriah did not go to his own house, but slept with his servants, Satan put it into his head and heart to take the following wicked and cruel method:
that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent [it] by the hand of Uriah; to have him cut off by the sword of the enemy. If Uriah suspected David's criminal conversation with his wife, he was so true and trusted a servant to him, that he would not open his letter to Joab, which had he, it would have betrayed the base design. No one that knows the story of Bellerophon can read this without thinking of that, they are so much alike; and indeed that seems to be founded upon this, and taken from it with a little alteration. Bellerophon rejecting the solicitations of Sthenobaea, who was in love with him, she prevailed upon her husband Praetus to send letters by him to Jobates (a name similar to Joab), the general of his army, which contained instructions to take care that he was killed; who sent him upon an expedition for that purpose {m}.
{m} Apollodorus de Deorum Orig. l. 2. p. 70.
2 Samuel 11:15
Ver. 15. And he wrote in the letter, saying,.... Giving the following orders to Joab:
set ye Uriah is the forefront of the hottest battle: over against that part of the city where the enemy was strongest, and the battle the fiercest, and the stones and arrows were cast the thickest:
and retire ye from him; leave him to himself to combat the enemy alone; who seeing him deserted, would sally out upon him, and the few that might be with him, and slay him:
that he may be smitten, and die; thus he sought to add murder to adultery, and that in the basest manner, and which he accomplished; and this is often the case, that murder follows adultery, either by way of revenge for it, or in order to cover it, as here.
2 Samuel 11:16
Ver. 16. And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city,.... Where lay its greatest strength, and where it was best defended; or besieged it, as the Targum:
that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men [were]; who would not easily give way, and when they saw an opportunity would sally out, Joab cannot be excused from sin, unless he thought that Uriah had been guilty of death, and that David took this way of dispatching him for some political reason; however David was king, and to be obeyed.
2 Samuel 11:17
Ver. 17. And the men of the city went out,.... Made a sally out, as Joab expected they would, when they appeared before them at that part of the city where valiant men were:
and fought with Joab; at least with part of his army posted with Uriah:
and there fell [some] of the people of the servants of David: which made David's sin the more heinous, that several lives were lost through the stratagem he devised to procure the death of Uriah; who could not be placed in a dangerous post alone, and therefore others must be sacrificed with him, as were:
and Uriah the Hittite died also; which was the thing aimed at, and the end to be answered by this scheme.
2 Samuel 11:18
Ver. 18. Then Joab sent,.... Messengers to David, as soon as Uriah was killed:
and told David all the things concerning the war; how the siege had been carried on; what success they had had, good or ill; what their advantages and disadvantages; what men they had lost, and especially in one sally of the enemy upon them, for the sake of which the express was sent.
2 Samuel 11:19
Ver. 19. And charged the messenger,.... Gave him a particular direction and instruction what he should say at the close of his narrative, according as he should observe the king's countenance to be:
saying, when thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king; giving an account of all the events that happened since the siege was begun to that time.
2 Samuel 11:20
Ver. 20. And if so be that the king's wrath arise,.... Which might be seen in his countenance, or expressed in his words:
and he say, wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? as to expose the king's troops to the enemy on the wall, who by stones or darts greatly annoyed them, or sallied out on them, and killed many of them:
knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? they must have known that, and therefore should have kept out of the reach of their shot.
2 Samuel 11:21
Ver. 21. Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth?.... The same with Jerubbaal, who was Gideon, Jud 6:32; Baal, one part of his name, was the name of an idol, and sometimes called Bosheth or Besheth, which signifies shame, being a shameful idol; Gideon had a son called Abimelech, who was smitten, and it is here asked, by whom?
did not a woman cast a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? which should have been a warning not to go too near the wall of an enemy; the history is recorded in Jud 9:52;
why went ye nigh the wall? exposing your lives to so much danger, and by which so many lives were lost:
then say thou, thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also; the whole has not been told, the worst of all is, as the messenger was to represent it, that brave gallant soldier Uriah is dead; this Joab ordered to be told last, as knowing very well it would pacify the king's wrath, and was the agreeable news he wanted to hear.
2 Samuel 11:22
Ver. 22. So the messenger went,.... From Joab, from the army before Rabbah:
and came; to David in Jerusalem, a course of sixty four miles:
and showed David all that Joab had sent him for; all the events of the war hitherto.
2 Samuel 11:23
Ver. 23. And the messenger said unto David,.... The particulars of his account follow:
surely the men prevailed against us; the men of the city of Rabbah, the besieged there, in one onset they made upon them:
and came out unto us in the field; the besiegers that lay encamped there; they sallied out upon them:
and we were upon them, even unto the entering of the gate; rallied upon them, and drove them back, and pursued them to the gate of the city.
2 Samuel 11:24
Ver. 24. And the shooters shot from off of the wall upon thy servants,.... Arrows out of their bows, or stones out of their engines; the Israelites following them so closely to the gate of the city, came within the reach of their shot from the wall:
and [some] of the king's servants be dead; killed in the sally upon them, and by the shot from the wall:
and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also; the messenger did not entirely obey the orders of Joab to wait and observe if the king's wrath arose, but was in haste to tell him the last piece of news; perhaps he had some suspicion, from the manner of Joab's telling him what he should say, that this would be acceptable to the king.
2 Samuel 11:25
Ver. 25. Then David said to the messenger,.... Whom he dispatched again to Joab upon the delivery of his message:
thus shall thou say to Joab; in the name of David:
let not this thing displease thee; be not grieved, and cast down, and intimidated at the repulse he had met with, and the loss of so many brave men, and especially Uriah;
for the sword devours one as well as another; officers as well as soldiers the strong as well as the weak, the valiant and courageous as well as the more timorous; the events of war are various and uncertain, and to be submitted to, and not repined at, and laid to heart. David's heart being hardened by sin, made light of the death of his brave soldiers, to which he himself was accessory; his conscience was very different now from what it was when he cut off the skirt of Saul's robe, and his heart in a different frame from that in which he composed the lamentation over Saul and Jonathan:
make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it; more closely besiege it, more vigorously attack it; assault it, endeavour to take it by storm, and utterly destroy it, razing the very foundations of it: and encourage thou him; which words are either said to the messenger to encourage and animate Joab in David's name, which is not so likely that a messenger should be employed to encourage the general; or rather the words of David to Joab continued, that he would "encourage it", the army under him, who might be disheartened with the rebuff and loss they had met with; and therefore Joab is bid to spirit them up, to carry on the siege with vigour.
2 Samuel 11:26
Ver. 26. And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead,.... The news of which were soon sent her by David, though it is very probable she knew nothing of the plot to take away his life; and, besides, David chose to have his death published abroad as soon as possible, the more to hide his sin:
she mourned for her husband; expressed tokens of mourning by shedding tears, putting on a mourning habit, seeing no company, and this continued for the space of seven days, it may be, 1Sa 31:13; as little time as possible was spent in this way, and the marriage hastened, that the adultery might not be discovered.
2 Samuel 11:27
Ver. 27. And when the mourning was past,.... The seven days were at an end, or sooner; for he stayed not ninety days from the death of her husband, which the Jews in later times enjoined {n}, that it might be known whether with child by her former husband, and so to whom it belonged; and because David did not wait this time, Abarbinel charges it upon him as an additional sin:
David sent, and fetched her to his house; took her home to his palace to live with him:
and she became his wife; he married her according to the usual form of marriage in those days:
and bare him a son; begotten in adultery:
but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord; or "was evil in the eyes of the Lord" {o}; for though it was not done in the eyes of men, being scarcely or very little known, yet was in the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro throughout the earth, and sees all things that are done: the adultery he had been guilty of with another man's wife was abominable to the Lord, and for which, according to the law, both he and she ought to have been put to death, Le 20:10; the murder of her husband, which he was accessory to, as well as the death of many others, and the marriage of her under such circumstances, were all displeasing to God, and of such an heinous nature, that his pure eyes could not look upon with approbation: the Jews {p} endeavour to excuse David from sin; from the sin of murder, by making Uriah guilty of rebellion and treason, as before observed; and from the sin of adultery, by affirming that it was the constant custom for men, when they went out to war, to give their wives a bill of divorce; so that from the time of giving the bill they were not their wives, and such as lay with them were not guilty of adultery; but for this there is no foundation: it is certain David was charged with it by the Lord; he himself owned it, and bewailed it, both that and his blood guiltiness, and the following chapter abundantly proves it.
{n} Misn. Yebamot, c. 11. sect. 6. {o} hwhy ynyeb ery "malum in oculis Domini", Montanus. {p} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 56. 1. Gloss. in ib.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
2 Samuel 12:1
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 12
Nathan is sent to David to charge him with his sin, and convince him of it by a parable, 2Sa 12:1; which being accommodated and applied to David's case, brought him to a conviction and acknowledgment of it, and repentance for it, which was forgiven him, 2Sa 12:7; though he is told the child begotten in adultery should die, and it was quickly struck with sickness and died; and David's behaviour during its sickness and at its death is recorded, 2Sa 12:14; after which Solomon was born to him of the same woman, and had the name of Jedidiah given him by the Lord, which signifies the beloved of the Lord, and as a token of reconciliation, and a confirmation of his sin being forgiven him, 2Sa 12:24; and the chapter is concluded with the taking of the city of Rabbah, and the spoil in it, and the usage of the inhabitants of it, 2Sa 12:26.
Ver. 1. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David,.... Quickly after the child was born begotten on Bathsheba, and when it was known and became the public talk of people, and the enemies of religion were full of it, and blasphemed on account of it, 2Sa 12:14; so that David was nine months or more without any true sense of his sin, his heart hardened, his graces dormant, the joys of salvation taken from him, and he without any communion with God, and having little concern about it; though perhaps he might have some pangs at times, which quickly went off; though some think he exercised repentance in a private way before; acknowledged his sin to the Lord, and had a sense of pardon, and before this time penned the thirty second and the hundred thirtieth psalms on this occasion, Ps 32:1; but Nathan is sent to awaken and arouse him, to express a sense of his sin, and repentance for it in public, which he did by penning and publishing the fifty first psalm after Nathan had been with him, Ps 51:1; for though the Lord may leave his people to fall into sin, and suffer them to continue therein some time, yet not always; they shall rise again through the assistance of his Spirit and grace, in the acts of repentance and faith, both in private and public:
and he came unto him, and said unto him: he came as if he had a case to lay before him, and to have justice done, and he told the story as if it was a real fact, and so David understood it:
there were two men in one city: pointing at David and Uriah, who both lived in Jerusalem:
the one rich and the other poor; David the rich man, king over all Israel; Uriah a subject, an officer in his army, comparatively poor.
2 Samuel 12:2
Ver. 2. The rich [man] had exceeding many flocks and herds. In which the wealth of men lay in those times and countries; these in the parable signify David's wives and concubines, which were many; he had six wives in Hebron, and he took more wives and concubines out of Jerusalem, when he was come from Hebron, 2Sa 3:2; and besides his master's, or Saul's wives, given to him, 2Sa 12:8.
2 Samuel 12:3
Ver. 3. But the poor [man] had nothing, save one little ewe lamb,.... Uriah had but one wife, who was much younger than he, called a lamb, an ewe lamb, a little one. Abarbinel thinks Uriah had been a widower; and had children by another wife, supposed in the parable, and was much older than Bathsheba:
which he had bought; for men in those times and countries did not receive portions with their wives, but gave dowries to them, and for them:
and nourished up; as his own flesh, as husbands should their wives, Eph 5:29;
and it grew up together with him, and with his children; which Kimchi also supposes Uriah had by a former wife:
it did eat of his own meat, and drink of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter; all which are expressive of the care, kindness, love, and tenderness of a loving husband, whose affections are endeared to his wife, making her partaker of all he has, and to share in whatever he eats and drinks, and in his dearest embraces; and as there were instances of creatures, lambs and others, particularly tame or pet lambs, used in this way in a literal sense, to which the reference in the parable is, David had no suspicion of its being a parable. Bochart {q} has given many instances of creatures nourished and brought up in such a familiar manner.
{q} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 46. col. 521, 522.
2 Samuel 12:4
Ver. 4. And there came a traveller unto the rich man,.... By which some understand Satan, who came to David, and stirred up his lust by the temptations that offered; who is a walker, as the word used signifies, that goes about seeking whom he may devour, and is with good men only as a wayfaring man, who does not abide with them; and whose temptations, when they succeed with such, are as meat and drink to him, very entertaining but the Jews generally understand it of the evil imagination or concupiscence in man, the lustful appetite in David, that wandered after another man's wife, and wanted to be satiated with her:
and he spared to take of his own flock, and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that came unto him; when his heart was inflamed with lust at the sight of Bathsheba, he did not go as he might, and take one of his wives and concubines, whereby he might have satisfied and repressed his lust:
but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that came to him; sent for Bathsheba and lay with her, for the gratification of his lust, she being a young beautiful woman, and more agreeable to his lustful appetite. The Jews, in their Talmud {r}, observe a gradation in these words that the evil imagination is represented first as a traveller that passes by a man, and lodges not with him; then as a wayfaring man or host, that passes in and lodges with him; and at last as a man, as the master of the house that rules over him, and therefore called the man that came to him.
{r} T. Bab. Succah, fol. 52. 2. Jarchi, Kimchi, & Abarbinel in loc.
2 Samuel 12:5
Ver. 5. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man,.... That had done this, taking it for a real fact:
and he said to Nathan, [as] the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this [thing] shall surely die; which be said in the transport of his wrath and fury; otherwise a thief, according to the law of Moses, was not to be put to death, but to make restitution; and if he was not able to make it, then to be sold, but he was not to die for it; but David thought the crime was so greatly aggravated by being done by a rich man, and by the loss the poor man sustained, it being his all, and the fact, in all its circumstances, so cruel and barbarous, that the guilty person ought to die: how much more vehemently, and indeed with justice, would he have passed the sentence of death on him, or condemned him to it, had it been put in the parable, that the rich man not only took the poor man's ewe lamb, but killed the poor man himself? but this Nathan left out, that David might not take his meaning, as Abarbinel thinks, who then would have been upon his guard, and not have condemned himself; and hereby also Nathan had this advantage against him, that if this man deserved to die, who had only taken the poor man's ewe lamb, then how much more ought he to die, who had not only committed adultery with Bathsheba, but had slain Uriah?
2 Samuel 12:6
Ver. 6. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold,.... Which was according to the law in Ex 22:1; but Kimchi thinks, because the word is of the dual number, it signifies double the number, and that the sentence was to restore eight lambs, because he being a rich man stole from the poor man; so Mr. Weemse {s} renders it, twice four, twice as much as was commanded in the law; for the Hebrews, he observes, double in the dual number till they come to seven:
because he did this thing; committed this theft:
and because he had no pity; on the poor man, but took his all. The Jews observe, that accordingly David was punished with the loss of four of his children, that which was born of Bathsheba, Ammon, Tamar, and Absalom; so most of the commentators, but Ben Gersom, instead of Tamar, has Adonijah.
{s} Of the Moral Law, l. 2. ch. 10. p. 252. Vid. Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 776.
2 Samuel 12:7
Ver. 7. And Nathan said to David, thou [art] the man,.... The rich man, or who is designed by him in the parable, and answers to him {t}:
thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel; that is, ordered Samuel to anoint him, who did, 1Sa 16:1; to which this chiefly refers; and after that he was anointed first by the tribe of Judah, and then by all the tribes of Israel, by the appointment and providence of God; and this was great dignity he designed for him, and raised him to:
and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; when he persecuted him, and sought to take away his life.
{t} "----- mutato nomine, de te Fabula narratur -----". Horat. Sermon. l. 1. Satyr. 1. ver. 69,70.
2 Samuel 12:8
Ver. 8. And I gave thee thy master's house,.... Not his palace at Gibeah, but rather his family, his wives, servants, wealth, and riches, all being confiscated through the rebellion of Ishbosheth; or rather his kingdom he succeeded him in:
and thy master's wives into thy bosom; though we read of no more than one that belonged to Saul, if he is meant by his master, excepting Rizpah his concubine, nor ever of David taking them into his bosom and bed; wherefore this can be understood only of his having them at his disposal, to give them to whom he pleased; the word may be rendered his "women", as well as his "wives", and may design his daughters, Merab and Michal, who were both given to David, though taken again and given to others: the Jews say, that Eglah, David's sixth wife, was the wife of Saul, See Gill on "2Sa 3:5";
and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; the kingdom of both; gave him to be king over all the tribes of Israel:
and if [that had been] too little; either his wives too few, as the Jews interpret it, or his kingdom too small:
I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things; more and greater favours; and indeed such he had promised him, as a firm or stable house or kingdom, and that the Messiah should spring from him.
2 Samuel 12:9
Ver. 9. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight?.... The commandment referred to is the law of God, particularly the sixth and seventh precepts of it, Ex 20:13; which David had shown no regard unto, and by his breaking them had slighted and despised them:
thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; and so had despised and broken the sixth command, Ex 20:13; for though he had not taken away his life with his own hand, he had plotted and contrived it, and had given orders to put him in such a position as would issue in it:
and hast taken his wife [to be] thy wife; after he had defiled her, being another man's wife, and had taken such unlawful methods to make her his wife, whereby he had despised and broken both the sixth and the seventh commands, Ex 20:13:
and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon; though he had not put him to death with his own sword, he had done that which was as bad or worse in some respects, he had exposed him to the sword of the Ammonites, by which it was taken away; and not his only, but that of some of the Israelites also, which gave that uncircumcised people reason to triumph over the children of Israel, and even to blaspheme the God of Israel.
2 Samuel 12:10
Ver. 10. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house,.... During his life, and as appeared in the slaughter of his sons Ammon and Absalom before his death, and of Adonijah quickly after, and in his posterity through their wars with the children of Israel, and other nations:
because thou hast despised me; his commandments, and that in effect was despising him the lawgiver:
and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife; which being repeated shows that it was very displeasing to God, and a very heinous crime in his sight.
2 Samuel 12:11
Ver. 11. Thus saith the Lord,.... For what he said was not of himself, but under a spirit of prophecy:
behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house: that is, evil persons, who should be guilty of evil things, and that as a chastisement of him for the sins he had committed, and those out of his own family, as Amnon and Absalom:
and I will take thy wives before thine eyes; which is so expressed, because it was done in his lifetime, and he knowing it, but not able to hinder it, though he did not, strictly speaking, see it with his eyes:
and give [them] unto thy neighbour; or friend, meaning his son Absalom, as they were:
and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun; pointing to the sun in the firmament, and which might be then shining in the room where they were: and which is represented by Homer {u} as seeing all things, "and eyes" are ascribed to it here in the original; the meaning is, that this fact should be done in the daytime, openly and publicly, and was fulfilled, when by the advice of Ahithophel a tent was spread on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel, 2Sa 16:22.
{u} Odyss. 11. ver. 119. & 12. ver. 380.
2 Samuel 12:12
Ver. 12. For thou didst [it] secretly,.... Committed adultery with Bathsheba privately, and endeavoured to conceal it, by getting her husband killed in battle, and then marrying her as soon as he could to hide the shame of it:
but one will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun; as the above fact was; that is, he would suffer it to he done, and so order it in his providence, that everything should concur to the doing of it; as David's leaving his wives behind him, Ahithophel's wicked counsel he was suffered to give, and the lustful inclination Absalom was left unto, and not any of the people of Israel having religion, spirit, and courage enough to remonstrate against it.
2 Samuel 12:13
Ver. 13. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord,.... Which confession, though short, was a full one, arising from a thorough conviction of the evil of the sin he had been guilty of, accompanied with real brokenness of heart, sincere humiliation, and a sorrow after a godly sort, as the fifty first psalm, that penitential psalm composed upon this occasion shows, Ps 51:1:
and Nathan said unto David; being fully satisfied with the sincerity and genuineness of his repentance, of which he gave proof by words and deeds, and being under the direction and impulse of the Spirit of God:
the Lord hath put away thy sin; would not charge it upon him, impute it to him, or punish him for it, but freely and fully forgive it, cast it behind his back, and into the depth of the sea; cause it to pass from him and never more bring it against him, and which is the Lord's act, and his only, against whom sin is committed:
thou shall not die; though he should die a corporeal death, yet not by the immediate hand of God, or by the sword of justice as a malefactor, a murderer, and adulterer, as he, according to the law, deserved to die; nor should he die a spiritual death, though his grace had been so low, and his corruptions had risen so high; nor an eternal death, the second death, the lost wages of sin.
2 Samuel 12:14
Ver. 14. Howbeit, because by this deed,.... This complicated wickedness, adultery with Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband, and occasioning the death of others:
thou hast given great reason to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme; to insult over Israel, and the God of Israel, and to magnify their own idols on account of the advantage they got when Uriah and other Israelites were slain; and to speak ill of God as a respecter of persons, who had cast off Saul and his family from the kingdom, and yet established David in it, guilty of crimes the other was not; and of the word, ways, and worship of God, and of the true religion, as all hypocrisy and deceit, when men that made such pretensions to it were guilty of such atrocious crimes; wherefore to let such see and know that the Lord did not approve of and countenance such actions, but abhorred and resented them:
the child also [that is] born unto thee shall surely die; which would be a visible testimony of God's displeasure at his sin, to all men that should hear of it, and know it; and being taken away in such a manner would be a great affliction to him, and the more as his affections were much towards the child, as appears by what follows; or otherwise the removal of it might have been considered as a mercy, since its life would have kept up the remembrance of the sin, and have been a standing reproach to him.
2 Samuel 12:15
Ver. 15. And Nathan departed unto his house,.... His own house, which probably was in the city of Jerusalem, having delivered his message, and brought David to a sense of his sin, and declared to him from the Lord the forgiveness of it; yet for the honour of religion, and the stopping of the mouths of blasphemers, the death of the child is threatened and foretold, and then Nathan took his leave of him, having nothing more from the Lord to say to him:
and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David; for so she was, and not David's wife, when this child was begotten of her; and, as a mark of God's displeasure at the sin of adultery, the child was struck with a sore disease by the immediate hand of God:
and it was very sick; even unto death, as the event showed.
2 Samuel 12:16
Ver. 16. David therefore besought God for the child,.... Perhaps went into the tabernacle he had built for the ark, and prayed to the Lord to restore the child, and spare its life; for though the Lord had said it should die, he might hope that that was a conditional threatening, and that the Lord might be gracious and reverse it, 2Sa 12:22;
and David fasted: all that day:
and went in; to his own house from the house of God:
and lay all night upon the earth; would neither go into, nor lie upon a bed, but lay on the floor all night, weeping and praying for the child's life, and especially for its eternal welfare: he having through sin been the means of its coming into a sinful and afflicted state.
2 Samuel 12:17
Ver. 17. And the elders of his house arose, [and went] to him, to raise him up from the earth,.... To persuade him to rise up, and sit upon a seat, and go to bed, after having taken some food; these were some of the chief officers at court, and had the management of the affairs of his household:
but he would not; they could not persuade him to it:
neither did he eat bread with them; that evening, as he had used to do; they being the princes of his court, who were wont to sit at table with him.
2 Samuel 12:18
Ver. 18. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died,.... Not the seventh day from its being taken ill, but from its birth; for it cannot be thought that David should fast seven days:
and the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; lest he should be overwhelmed with too much sorrow:
for they said, behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him; to rise from the ground, and eat food:
and he would not hearken unto our voice; we could not prevail upon him to do the one nor the other:
how will he then vex himself if we tell him that the child is dead? or should we acquaint him with it, "he will do mischief" {w} to himself, to his body; he will tear his flesh to pieces, and cut and kill himself; this they were afraid of, observing the distress and agony he was in while it was living, and therefore they concluded these would increase upon hearing of its death.
{w} her hvew kai poihsei kaka, Sept. "faciat malum", Pagninus, Montanus; "malum [sibi] inferet", Syr. Ar.
2 Samuel 12:19
Ver. 19. And when David saw that his servants whispered,.... For they said the above to one another with a low voice, that he might not hear them, though in the same room with them:
David perceived the child was dead; he guessed it was, and that this was the thing they were whispering about among themselves:
therefore David said unto his servants, is the child dead? and they said, he is dead; for putting the question to them so closely, they could not avoid giving the answer they did, and which he was prepared to receive, by what he had observed in them.
2 Samuel 12:20
Ver. 20. Then David arose from the earth,.... From the floor on which he lay:
and washed, and anointed [himself], and changed his apparel; neither of which he had done during his time of fasting:
and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped; went into the tabernacle he had built for the ark of God, and then in prayer submitted himself to the will of God, and acknowledged his justice in what he had done; gave thanks to God that he had brought him to a sense of his sin, and repentance for it, and had applied his pardoning grace to him, and given him satisfaction as to the eternal welfare and happiness of the child, as appears from 2Sa 12:23;
then he, came to his own house; from the house of God, having finished his devotion there:
and when he required; ordered food to be brought in:
they set bread before him, and he did eat: whereas before, while the child was living, he refused to eat.
2 Samuel 12:21
Ver. 21. Then said his servants unto him, what thing [is] this that thou hast done?.... Or what is the reason of such conduct and behaviour? they knew what was done, but they did not know the meaning of it, which is what they inquired after:
thou didst fast and weep for the child, [while it was] alive; prayed with fasting and weeping for it, that it might live and not die:
but when the child was dead thou didst rise and eat bread; and appeared cheerful; this seemed strange to them, when they expected his sorrow would be increased.
2 Samuel 12:22
Ver. 22. And he said, while the child was yet alive,.... And so there was hope it might be continued:
I fasted and wept; or sought the Lord by prayer, and fasting, and weeping, that the threatening might not take place, that the child's life might be spared:
for I said; within himself, thus he reasoned in his own mind:
who can tell [whether] God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? and in hope of this he kept praying, fasting, and weeping; he could not tell but God might repent of the evil he had threatened, as in some cases he has done; see Joe 2:13. Abarbinel thinks that David fasted and wept to hide this matter from his wife, and his servants, and did not let them know that this was in his punishment, that the child should die.
2 Samuel 12:23
Ver. 23. But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast?.... And pray; it is to no purpose, no end can be thought to be answered by it:
can I bring him back again? from the state of the dead, bring him to life by fasting, and praying, and weeping; that is not to e expected:
I shall go to him; to the state of the dead, to the grave, where his body was, or would be; to heaven and eternal happiness, where his soul was, as he comfortably hoped and believed: from whence it appears, that the Old Testament saints did not suppose an annihilation at death; but believed the immortality of the soul, a future state after death of eternal life and bliss:
but he shall not return to me; in the present mortal state, though at the resurrection they should meet again.
2 Samuel 12:24
Ver. 24. And David comforted Bathsheba his wife,.... Which is the first time she is so called, Uriah being dead, and David having married her; which though at first displeasing to the Lord, because the circumstances attending it, was afterwards confirmed by him. Bathsheba no doubt was very much distressed, and greatly disconsolate, on account of the sin she had committed, and because of the wrath and displeasure of God, and because of the death of the child, which was a token of it; and she might have some scruples in her mind whether it was lawful to continue cohabiting with David. Now David comforted her, by telling her that God had pardoned that iniquity they had been guilty of, and that he would give them another son, who should succeed him in the throne, and build an house for his name:
and went in unto her, and lay with her, as his wife:
and she bare a son; at the proper time:
and he called his name Solomon; either the Lord called him so, or David by his direction; for this name was given before his birth, 1Ch 22:9; the Keri or marginal reading is, "and she called his name", &c. that is, Bathsheba, who had been informed by David that this was the name the Lord would have him called by, which signifies "peaceable"; and the birth of this son was a confirmation of the peace and reconciliation between God and them, and which his name carried in it; as well as pointed to the peaceable times that should be during his reign, and in which be was a type of Christ, the Prince; of peace; who is the author of peace between God and men by the blood of his cross, and from whom spiritual peace flows, and by whom eternal peace and happiness is:
and the Lord loved him; and was to him a father, and he to him a son, as was promised, 2Sa 7:14. This love and affection of the Lord to Solomon was signified to David by Nathan, as follows.
2 Samuel 12:25
Ver. 25. And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet,.... Either David did; he sent by him to Bathsheba, to acquaint her with the name of the child, that it was to be Solomon; which is not so likely: or "he, David, delivered it into the hand of Nathan the prophet"; to educate it, instruct it, and bring it up in the nurture of the Lord; or rather the Lord sent a message by Nathan the prophet to David, that he loved Solomon:
and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord: that is, David also called him by this name, because of the love of the Lord unto him; for Jedidiah signifies "the beloved of the Lord"; a name and character which well agrees with the Messiah, Solomon's antitype, Mt 3:17.
2 Samuel 12:26
Ver. 26. And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon,.... Of his being sent against it, and of his besieging it, we read in
2Sa 11:1; but it can hardly be thought that he had been so long besieging it, as that David had two children by Bathsheba; but the account of the finishing of it is placed here, that the story concerning Bathsheba might lie together without any interruption:
and took the royal city; or that part of it in which the king's palace was, and which, as Abarbinel observes, was without the city, as the palaces of kings now usually are.
2 Samuel 12:27
Ver. 27. And Joab sent messengers to David,.... To acquaint him how he had proceeded, and what success he had had:
and said, I have fought against Rabbah; laid siege to it, and skirmished with parties that sallied out upon them:
and have taken the city of waters; the same with the royal city, and so the Targum here renders it; so called because situated by the waterside; Adrichomius says {x} the river Jabbok flowed round about it: or it abounded with fountains of water, from whence the other part of the city, or what was properly the city Rabbah, was supplied with water; and which communication being cut off, it could not hold out long, which Joab being sensible of, therefore sent for David. Junius and Tremellius render the words, "I have intercepted the water from the city"; with which the account of Josephus {y} agrees, who says, that he cut off the water from them, and precluded other supplies, so that they were in great distress for want of food and drink; and in like manner it was taken by Antiochus some hundreds of years later; for that; historian says {z} the siege by him lasted long, and they could not prevail, because of the multitude of men it, until one of the prisoners showed them a subterraneous passage, through which they came and fetched water; which they stopped up with stones and such like things, and then through want of water yielded.
{x} Theatrum T. S. p. 34. {y} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 7. sect. 5. {z} Polyb. Hist. l. 5. p. 414.
2 Samuel 12:28
Ver. 28. Now therefore gather the rest of the people together,.... The rest of the soldiers in the land of Israel, and come to Rabbah:
and encamp against the city; invest it in form:
and take it; upon a surrender or by storm; for it could not hold out long:
lest I take the city, and it be called after my name; so great a regard had Joab, though an ambitious man, to the fame and credit of David his king: so Craterus {a} at the siege of Artacacna, being prepared to take it, waited the coming of Alexander, that he might have the honour of it.
{a} Curt. Hist. l. 6. c. 6.
2 Samuel 12:29
Ver. 29. And David gathered all the people together,.... The soldiers that were with him, or near him; which was done partly to recruit Joab's troops, who, by the continuance of the siege, and the sallies of the enemy on them, might be greatly diminished; and partly to make conquests of other cities of the Ammonites, and to carry off the spoil of them:
and went to Rabbah; which must be after the death of Uriah, and very probably during the time of Bathsheba's mourning for him:
and fought against it, and took it; by assault.
2 Samuel 12:30
Ver. 30. And he took their king's crown from off his head,.... The crown of Hanun the king of the Ammonites, who now fell into his hands, and whom he stripped of his ensigns of royalty, who had so shamefully abused his ambassadors, 2Sa 10:4:
(the weight whereof [was] a talent of gold with the precious stones): or, "and a precious stone"; there might be more, as our version suggests, but there was one in it remarkably large and valuable; Josephus {b} says it had in it a very precious stone, a sardonyx; and this, according to the Talmud {c} was of the value of a talent of gold. A talent was equal to three thousand shekels, as appears from
Ex 38:25; and was in value, according to Brerewood {d} of our money, 4500 pounds; but according to Bishop Cumberland {e} 5067 pounds, three shillings and ten pence. This crown was of the same value with the golden candlestick in the tabernacle, Ex 25:39; and some think that value here is meant, and not the weight, a talent of gold being very heavy; according to Bishop Cumberland {f}, ninety three and three quarter pounds; some say an hundred thirteen pounds ten ounces, and more; too great a weight to be borne on the head by Hanun or David; but, what with the gold and precious stones about it, it might be equal in value to a talent of gold; but weight is expressly mentioned, and the crowns of the eastern princes were of great bulk and weight, as well as value: Athenaeus {g} makes mention of one made of ten thousand pieces of gold, placed on the throne of King Ptolemy, and of some of two cubits, of six, yea, of sixteen cubits. Some {h} are of opinion that this crown was not the crown of the king of Ammon, but of Milcom or Molech, their idol, and that the proper name should be retained in the version, and that David had a crown made of it he could bear; but if, as others {i}, the Syriac talent is meant, which was but the fourth part of an Hebrew one, the difficulty is greatly lessened; for it seems to be the same crown David afterwards wore, as follows:
and it was [set] on David's head; to show that the kingdom was translated to him, or was become subject to him; as Alexander, on the conquest of Darius, put the Persian diadem on his own head {k}, in token of that monarchy being translated to him: though, after all, the phrase, "from off", may be rendered "from above" or "over" {l} his head, and so it was set "above" or "over" the head of David, being supported by some means or other, that its weight did not bear thereon however, Paschalius, who wrote a learned work, "De Coronis", must be mistaken when be says {m} this seems to be the first use of a crown in the kingdom of Judah, there being no mention of a crown before, either of Saul or David, only of anointing; since express mention is made of Saul's crown, 2Sa 1:10; though his observation may be just, that this crown, allowed to be worn by David, was a pledge of the renewal of his royal dignity, and of his acceptance with God upon his repentance for his above sins:
and he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance; which, or at least part of it, was dedicated to the building of the sanctuary, 2Sa 8:11.
{b} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 7. sect. 5.) {c} T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 44. 1. {d} De Ponder. & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 4. {e} Of Scripture Weights and Measures, c. 4. p. 121. {f} Ib. p. 119. {g} Apud Paschalium de Coronis, l. 9. c, 8. p. 587. {h} Vid. Hieron. Trad. Heb. in 2 Reg. fol. 78. H. & in Paralipom. fol. 83. M. Weemse of Jewish Weights, p. 141. {i} Pfeiffer. Difficil. Script. Loc. cent. 2. loc. 87. {k} Diodor. Sic. l. 17. p. 549. {l} lem "desuper", Montanus, "supra caput David", Munster. {m} Ut supra, (Apud Paschalium de Coronis) l. 10. c. 10. p. 695.
2 Samuel 12:31
Ver. 31. And he brought forth the people that [were] therein,.... Not all the inhabitants of the place, but the princes of the children of Ammon, the counsellors of Hattun, who advised him to use David's ambassadors in so shameful a manner, and others that expressed their pleasure and satisfaction in it:
and put [them] under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron; whereby they were cut asunder, as some were by the Romans and others {n}, or their flesh torn to pieces, and they put to extreme pain and agony, and so died most miserably; see 1Ch 20:3;
and made them pass through the brickkiln; where they burnt their bricks, by which they were not only scorched and blistered, but burnt to death; so the word in the "Keri", or margin, signifies, which we follow; but in the text it is, they caused them to pass through Malcem, the same with Milcom or Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon, 1Ki 11:5; unto which they made their children pass through the fire, and burnt them; and now in the same place they themselves are made to pass through, and be burnt, as a righteous punishment of them for their barbarous and wicked idolatry. The word used in the Greek version, according to Suidas {o}, signifies an army, or a battalion of men drawn up in a quadrangular form, like a brick; and in the same sense Josephus {p} uses it; hence a learned man {q} conjectures that David's army was drawn up in the like form, through which the Ammonites were obliged to pass, and as they passed were assailed with darts, and killed; a like punishment to which is what the Italians call "passing through the pikes":
and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon; to the inhabitants of them; that is, the chief, who bad expressed their joy at the ill usage of his ambassadors: this he did to strike terror into other nations, that they might fear to use his ambassadors in such like manner. This action of David's showing so much severity, is thought by most to be done when under the power of his lust with Bathsheba, in an hardened and impenitent state, when he had no sense of mercy himself, and so showed none; which is too injurious to his character; for this was a righteous retaliation of this cruel people, 1Sa 11:2. Which may be observed in other instances, Jud 8:6; but the charge of cruelty in David will be easily removed by following the translation of a learned {r} man, and which I think the words will bear, "and he obliged the people that were in it to go out, and put them to the saw", to cut stones; "and to the iron mines", to dig there; "and to the axes of iron", to cut wood, with; "after he had made them to pass with their king" out of the city.
So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem; in triumph, and with great spoil.
{n} Suetonius in Vita Caii, c. 27. Vid. Herodot. l. 2. c. 139. {o} In voce plinyion. {p} Antiqu. l. 13. c. 4. sect. 4. {q} Menochius de Repub. Heb. l. 8. c. 3. col 752. {r} Danzii Commentat. de miligat. David in Ammon. crudel. Jenae 1710, apud Michael. in 1 Chron. xx. 3. Vid. Stockium, p. 392.