John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Samuel 18:1



INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 18



In this chapter is an account of David's review of his army, preparing it for battle with Absalom, and those with him, 2Sa 18:1; and of the defeat and flight of the rebels, 2Sa 18:6; and of the death of Absalom, and the manner of it, and of his burial, 2Sa 18:9; and of the news of it brought to David by different persons, 2Sa 18:19; and of his great grief and sorrow on that account, 2Sa 18:33.



Ver. 1. And David numbered the people that [were] with him,.... Which Josephus says {d} were four thousand; but one would think there should be more by what follows:



and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them; he divided his army into companies, which consisted some of a thousand and others of a hundred; over each of which he set captains, to lead them on, direct, and command them in battle.



{d} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10. sect. 1.





2 Samuel 18:2



Ver. 2. And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab,.... Very likely that which made the centre of the army, since Joab was the general of the army; though this distribution was made when David thought to have headed the army himself, and so made with respect to that:



and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother; who was next to Joab in the army, and fought with him against the Syrians and Ammonites, 2Sa 10:10;



and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite; of whom see

2Sa 15:19; of these two parts consisted the right and left wings of the army:



and the king said unto the people; the soldiers, and particularly the officers:



I will surely go forth with you myself also; in which he seemed very resolute and peremptory; and this he proposed to do, not merely to animate the soldiers with his presence, and to show that he was willing to hazard his life with them, but chiefly for the sake of Absalom, to preserve his life, if possible.





2 Samuel 18:3



Ver. 3. But the people answered, thou shalt not go forth,.... They were as resolute as David:



for if we flee away, they will not care for us; to pursue after us;



neither if half of us die, will they care for us; they will make no account of the victory; but if they could slay David, or get him into their hands, it would be more to them than if the whole army was routed:



but now [thou art] worth ten thousand of us; not only in our own esteem, but in the account of the enemy, who had rather thou shouldest fall into their hands than ten thousand of us; and as the advantage to them, so the loss to us would be more than ten thousand men:



therefore now [it is] better that thou succour us out of the city; either by sending them provisions or recruits, that might be there in reserve, if necessary; or by being ready to receive them into it should they be repulsed; or rather by his prayers to God for them; so the Targum,



"now it is better that thou pray for us out of the city;''



that is, that the Lord would help us; and so most of the Jewish commentators understand it of helping them by his prayers and counsels.





2 Samuel 18:4



Ver. 4. And the king said unto them, what seemeth you best I will do,.... Which was an instance of great condescension in him; and it was his wisdom and prudence to yield to them at such a time as this, and especially as their sentiments were founded on affection and loyalty to him:



and the king stood by the gate side; of the city of Mahanaim:



and all the people came out by hundreds, and by thousands; and passed by him, to whom no doubt he gave his blessing and best wishes; and, as Abarbinel thinks, now it was he composed and said the twentieth psalm, "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble", &c. Ps 20:1.





2 Samuel 18:5



Ver. 5. And the king commanded Joab, and Abishai, and Ittai,.... His three generals, to whom he had committed his army divided into three parts:



saying, [deal] gently for my sake with the young man, [even] with Absalom; he does not call him his son, being in rebellion against him, but the young man, who was young, and rash, and foolish, and so to be pitied; his request is, that they would spare him, and not take away his life, when in their power; that they would not aim at him, and push him hard, and fall upon him with wrath and fury; but if he fell into their hands, to take him alive, and bring him away, and not put him to death. This flowed from a natural affection to him, and a concern for the welfare of his soul, that he might not die in this sin; and also from a consciousness that it was for his own sins that he was raised up to rebel against him; and he seems to speak as if he was certain that the battle would go for him, and against Absalom; and which he might conclude from the answer of prayer he had in defeating the counsel of Ahithophel:



and all the people heard when he gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom; not only the three generals, but all the captains of hundreds and thousands, and this was heard by the common soldiers as well as by the people of the city that were spectators on this occasion, see 2Sa 18:12.





2 Samuel 18:6



Ver. 6. So the people went out into the field against Israel,.... Josephus {e} calls it a great field, with a wood behind it:



and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim; or near it {f} rather; not in a wood in the tribe of Ephraim, which lay on this side Jordan; whereas this battle was fought on the other side Jordan, in the land of Gilead, not far from Mahanaim, where was this wood; and which was so called, either from the slaughter of the Ephraimites here in the times of Jephthah, Jud 12:4; or from the Ephraimites feeding their cattle here and near it; for the Jews say {g}, that Joshua gave them a grant to feed their cattle in any wood in any of the tribes of Israel; and lying near Jordan, they used to drive their cattle over to this place, from whence it had its name.



{e} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10.) sect. 2. {f} reyb "ad sylvam", Junius & Tremellius; "prope sylvam", Piscator. {g} In Jarchi, Kimchi, & Abarbinel, in loc.





2 Samuel 18:7



Ver. 7. Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David,.... That is, the people of Israel that were under Absalom, these were beaten by David's army:



and there was a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand [men]; including both those that fell in the field of battle, and that were slain in the pursuit; and this is to be understood only of Absalom's party.





2 Samuel 18:8



Ver. 8. For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country,.... Or the warriors were scattered, as the Targum; Absalom's soldiers, their ranks were broken, and they were thrown into the utmost confusion, and ran about here and there all over the field or plain in which the battle was fought, and into the neighbouring wood:



and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured; there were more slain in it the in the field of battle, what by one thing or another; as by falling into pits and on stumps of trees, and being entangled in the bushes, and could make but little haste, and so were overtaken by David's men, and slain; insomuch that, as Josephus {h} observes, there were more slain fleeing than fighting, and perhaps some might perish by wild beasts; so the Targum,



"and the beasts of the wood slew more of the people than were slain by the sword;''



and so the Syriac and Arabic versions render the words to the same purpose.



{h} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10. sect. 2.)





2 Samuel 18:9



Ver. 9. And Absalom met the servants of David,.... When his army was routed, he was in such a fright that he knew not which way to flee, and instead of flying from David's men, he fled in the way of them; but none of them attempted to slay him, nor even to stop him, but let him pass by them, knowing David's charge concerning him:



and Absalom rode upon a mule; as was common for great personages to do in those days, 2Sa 13:29;



and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak; and running full speed, Absalom could not guide him, nor stop, nor divert him from going under it:



and his head caught hold of the oak; either the hair of his head was twisted and entangled in the thick boughs of the oak; or rather his head was jammed into a forked branch of the oak:



and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; hung in the air between both, as unworthy to live in either:



and the mule that [was] under him went away; and left him hanging in the oak.





2 Samuel 18:10



Ver. 10. And a certain man saw [it],.... Saw him in the above posture, one of David's soldiers:



and told Joab, and said, behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak; caught by the neck in one, out of which he could not disengage himself, but there he hung, though alive.





2 Samuel 18:11



Ver. 11. And Joab said unto the man that told him,.... That gave the above account of him:



and, behold, thou sawest [him]; in reality; or, "didst thou see him?" is it a fact?



and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground; kill him on the spot, that he might have dropped from the tree to the ground:



and I would have given thee ten [shekels] of silver; on the news of it, for doing it, which was near twenty four shillings of our money; Josephus says {i} fifty shekels; the Arabic version has it ten thousand talents of silver, too great a sum by far:



and a girdle? which was a mark of great honour, and a token of a commission under him, and of investing: him with a military office; see

1Sa 18:4; it used to be given as an honorary reward to soldiers that behaved well, as on the contrary it was reckoned a reproach to be ungirt, or the girdle to be taken away {k}.



{i} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10. sect. 2.) {k} Vide Lydium de re militare, l. 3. c. 6.





2 Samuel 18:12



Ver. 12. And the man said unto Joab,.... Disdaining his proposal:



though I should receive a thousand [shekels] of silver in mine hand; or such a sum should be offered to me; the Arabic version is a million;



[yet] would I not put forth my hand against the king's son; to smite him, and slay him:



for in our hearing the king charged thee, and Abishai, and Ittai; his three generals:



saying, beware that none [touch] the young man Absalom; so as to slay him; they were charged to abstain from it themselves, and to watch and observe others, and keep them from doing it.





2 Samuel 18:13



Ver. 13. Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life,.... Or "soul"; he should not only have exposed his life to danger, but acted falsely to the king, by going contrary to his orders; yea, would have done that which was contrary to his own conscience; and if he had buoyed himself up with the hope of impunity, or of a reward, he should have found himself mistaken; the textual reading is, "against his life" {l}, or "soul", the life of Absalom, by taking it away:



for there is no matter hid from the king; this, though done ever so secretly, would have come to his knowledge by some means or another, and then I should have incurred his displeasure, and suffered for it:



and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against [me]; to accuse and bring him to justice; he would have been so far from protecting him, that he would have been the first man that would have insisted on it that he should be punished for it; or why dost not thou thyself set thyself against him, and smite him? thou mayest if thou pleasest, yonder he hangs, go and smite him.



{l} wvpnb en th quch autou, Sept. "contra animam illius", Piscator.





2 Samuel 18:14



Ver. 14. Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee,.... It is not worth while to talk with thee any longer, nor must I lose time, and neglect my opportunity; I do not desire you to go and smite him, I will go and do it myself:



and he took three darts in his hand; or three rods, which were either all iron, or however the tops of them were iron spikes:



and thrust them through the heart of Absalom; or through the midst of his body; for if he had thrust through his heart, properly speaking, he must have died instantly, whereas he seems to have lived after this:



while he [was] yet alive; Joab found him alive when he came to him, and so he was when he thrust his darts through him; and so he was afterward; for the words may be rendered, "being yet alive", even after the darts were fixed in him, and even so deeply as to pierce through his body:



in the midst, or "heart",



of the oak; into which the darts penetrated.





2 Samuel 18:15



Ver. 15. And ten young men that bare Joab's armour,.... That waited upon him in the battle, to carry his armour, and supply him with it as he should have occasion; these, by his orders,



compassed about, and smote Absalom, and slew him; they enclosed him that none might rescue him, and smote him with their spears or swords, or whatsoever armour they had, until it was a clear case that he was really dead. Joab in this disobeyed the king's order, but provided for the good of the nation, and the safety of the king. The Jews observe {m}, that measure for measure was given to Absalom; he was proud of his hair, 2Sa 14:25, and therefore was hanged by it, 2Sa 18:9; he lay with ten concubines of his father, 2Sa 16:21, and therefore was smitten with ten lances or spears by ten young men; and he stole three hearts, the heart of his father, the heart of the sanhedrim, and the heart of the men of Israel, and therefore three darts were fixed in him, 2Sa 18:14.



{m} Misn. Sotah, c. 1. sect. 8.





2 Samuel 18:16



Ver. 16. And Joab blew the trumpet,.... As the sign of a retreat:



and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; upon the sound of the trumpet, the meaning of which they understood:



for Joab held back the people: from shedding any more blood; the head of the conspiracy being removed, the thing would be crushed at once; and Joab neither chose to slay any more, nor take any prisoners, to be tried as traitors, being unawares, without thought, drawn into this rebellion.





2 Samuel 18:17



Ver. 17. And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood,.... In the wood of Ephraim, near to which the battle was fought, and into which Absalom fled, and where he was slain:



and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: his punishment was very exemplary; he was first hanged on an oak, and then thrust through with darts, and swords, and then covered with stones, 2Sa 18:9, pointing to the death that a rebellious son, according to the law, ought to die, De 21:21; though this might be done in honour of him as a king's son; for such "tumuli", or heaps of stones or earth, were used by the ancients as sepulchral monuments, and the larger the more honourable {n}; See Gill on "Jos 7:26" and

See Gill on "Jos 8:29";



and all Israel fled everyone to his tent; or to his city, as the Targum; everyone returned to their own house, and to their own business, and so the rebellion ceased.



{n} Homer. Iliad. 23. ver. 245, 257.





2 Samuel 18:18



Ver. 18. Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken,.... Had taken it into his head, had of himself devised it, as Kimchi explains it; he contrived the following scheme to perpetuate his memory:



and reared up for himself a pillar, which [is] in the king's dale: or valley, the valley of Jehoshaphat; this pillar was of marble, as Josephus {o} says, and stood about two furlongs or a quater mile from Jerusalem. The author of Cippi Hebraici {p} places it at the bottom of the mount of Olives: this is observed to show how vain are the devices and contrivances of men's hearts; Absalom intended to have been buried under or by this monumental pillar near Jerusalem, and, lo, he was buried in a pit, under an heap of stones, in a wood on the other side Jordan; whether his bones were ever removed hither it is not certain, though a notion has obtained that his grave was near this pillar. Rauwolff {q} says, that as you go from the valley of Jehoshaphat {r} to the Mount of Olives, you see below, towards your left hand, near unto the bridge of the river Kidron, an old square building like unto a steeple; this, although it is believed to this day, not only by Christians, but also by Turks and Moors, to be the grave of Absalom, as you shall see them fling stones into it as they go by, to revenge his unfaithfulness to his father, yet was he not buried there. Sandys {s} says, at the east end of the bridge (over Kidron), and a little on the north, stands the pillar of Absalom, being yet entire, and of a good fabric, rising in a lofty square, below adorned with half columns, wrought out of the sides and corners, of the Doric form; and then changing into a round, a good height higher doth grow to a point in fashion of a bell, all framed of the growing stone; against this there lies a great heap of stones, which increaseth daily, by Jews and Mahometans throwing stones as they pass by; so that the frontispiece of it, which faces the road, as Le Bruyn {t} says, looks like a mountain of stones; but as to the fabric itself, he says, there is not a finer piece of workmanship to be met with in all those parts; it takes up a compass of ground of eighty two feet and an half square; the body, which is square, with its moulding, is one entire piece; and the coping, which is an ornament to it, and runs up into a point, taken with the rest of the work, is above thirty feet high; twenty columns, cut out of the same rock, add to the beauty of this pile; one sees through a broken window a great many pieces of antiquity that hang up in a chamber. Adrichomius also relates {u}, from travellers, that in the king's valley is now a tower, and a large heap of stones, which is increased every day more and more; for Heathens and strangers passing by there have a custom to cast everyone a stone at it, as it were revenging, according to the law, Absalom's rebellion against David his father, and curse him after this manner; let Absalom the parricide be cursed, and whoever unrighteously persecutes their parents are cursed for ever:



for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance; for though he had three sons, it seems they were all dead, see 2Sa 14:27;



and he called the pillar after his own name, and it is called unto this day Absalom's place; or his "hand" {w}, the work of his hand; some wrongly think it was in the form of an hand; it was an obelisk, or monument, erected to preserve his name; but since it became so infamous, it would have been better to have had it buried in oblivion. Such sepulchral monuments were used in other nations; so Minerva advised Telemachus {x} to go in quest of his father Ulysses, and if he could not find him, but was assured of his death, then to raise a signal or monument in memory of him, which he resolved to do.



{o} Antiqu l. 7. c. 10. sect. 3. {p} P. 26. Ed. Hotting. {q} Travels, part 3. c. 21. p. 310, 311. Ed. Ray. {r} So Benjamin. Itinerar. p. 43. {s} Travels, l. 3. p. 147. Ed. 5. {t} Voyage to the Levant, c. 48. p. 188. {u} Theatrum Terrae Sanet. p 174. {w} dy ceir, Sept. "manus", V. L. Montanus. {x} Homer. Odyss. 1. ver. 297. Odyss. 2. ver. 243.





2 Samuel 18:19



Ver. 19. Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok,.... To Joab; for it seems he stayed with the army when he with Jonathan brought the message from Hushai to David:



let me now run, and bear the king tidings how that the Lord hath avenged him on his enemies; which he thought would be very acceptable to hear of as soon as possible; and to be a messenger with tidings of a victory, as it was honourable, so likewise profitable then as now; though perhaps Ahimaaz might have no respect to the reward, as indeed none could be expected, since the death of Absalom would be so disagreeable to the king; but was desirous of it, that the king might be acquainted with the event of the battle as soon as might be.





2 Samuel 18:20



Ver. 20. And Joab said unto him, thou shall not bear tidings this day,.... Because Joab knew the tidings of Absalom's death would not be acceptable to the king; and Ahimaaz being a good man, and the son of a priest, for whom Joab had a respect, he would not send the tidings by him, which he was sensible would not recommend him to the king:



but thou shalt bear tidings another day; when any salvation is wrought, or victory obtained, the tidings of which will be welcome:



but this day thou shall bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead; and thou must carry the news concerning his death, which it is not proper thou shouldest, being a priest, nor will it be to thine advantage.





2 Samuel 18:21



Ver. 21. Then said Joab to Cushi,.... The Ethiopian, or blackamoor; who either was an Ethiopian by birth and proselyted, or he was an Israelite of a black complexion, and therefore so called; and was judged a proper person by the general to carry such dismal news to the king, as he knew it would be. Some Jewish writers {a} take him to be the same with Cush the Benjaminite, in the title of the seventh psalm, Ps 7:1; and that he is the same that told Joab he saw Absalom hanging in an oak, and declared that, if a thousand shekels of silver were offered him, he would not have put forth his hand against him, 2Sa 18:10; though some think this was one of the ten young men that waited on Joab, and by his orders slew Absalom; but it would have been dangerous for one of these to have carried the tidings, had he been known by David to have done it:



go tell the king what thou hast seen: by which it should seem that he was present when Absalom was killed:



and Cushi bowed himself unto Joab; in reverence to him as his general, and in thankfulness for sending him on this errand:



and ran; as fast as he could.



{a} Pirke Eliezer, c. 53.





2 Samuel 18:22



Ver. 22. Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab,.... He could not be easy, even though a messenger was dispatched, but pressed Joab still:



but howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi; only permit me to go after him, though not as a messenger:



and Joab said, wherefore wilt thou run, my son? having a great affection for him, and concerned that he should take trouble on him to no purpose:



seeing thou hast no tidings ready; no news to carry, but what Cushi is gone with, and so can have no audience of the king, nor any reward from him.





2 Samuel 18:23



Ver. 23. But howsoever ([said he]) let me run,.... Be it as it may, I beg I may have leave; and being so very importunate, it was granted:



and he said unto him, run; since he would take no denial:



then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi; who ran by the way of the mountains; which though the shorter way, that through the plain was easiest, and soonest run, though the longest.





2 Samuel 18:24



Ver. 24. And David sat between the two gates,.... Of the city of Mahanaim; which being a fortified place had two walls, one within another, and in each wall a gate; and between these David sat, waiting for news of the battle:



and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall; the gate to the outward wall, over which was a tower, and on that a flat roof; to which the watchman went to observe if he could see an express coming; no doubt by David's orders:



and lifted up his eyes and looked; that is, very diligently and wistfully:



and, behold, a man running alone: which made him the more observable, and was the more likely to be a messenger.





2 Samuel 18:25



Ver. 25. And the watchman cried and told the king,.... Called with a loud voice from the roof of the watchtower to the king, sitting between the gates, and informed him what he saw:



and the king said, if he [be] alone [there is] tidings in his mouth; for if the army was routed and fled, and were pursued, there would be more in company, or several running one after another; but being but one, it was highly improbable that he was sent express:



and he came apace, and drew near; which was another sign of his being a messenger, the haste he made towards the city.





2 Samuel 18:26



Ver. 26. And the watchman saw another man running,.... At a further distance:



and the watchman called unto the porter; that kept the gate, under which the watchtower was:



and said, behold, [another] man runneth alone; as the other, and has the same appearance of a messenger:



and the king said, he also bringeth tidings; it being usual then, as now, to dispatch one messenger after another, as fresh accounts coming in made it necessary.





2 Samuel 18:27



Ver. 27. And the watchman said, me thinketh,.... Or, "I see" {b}; I perceive, so it appears to me:



that the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok; who it seems was well known, and famous for his manner of running and swiftness in it, having been employed in carrying expresses before from Jerusalem to David, and his army, wheresoever they were; and some of these persons thus employed were very swift; we read {c} of one that was a king's messenger, that went from Jerusalem to Tyre, on the first of Elul, or August, in a night and a day; which, according to Bunting {d} was an hundred miles: this watchman must be one of David's sentinels, who was well acquainted with the people about him:



and the king said, he [is] a good man, and cometh with good tidings; he knew he was a man of courage, and therefore was not one that fled, but must be a messenger; and that he was well affected to him, and would never be the messenger of evil tidings to him.



{b} har yna egw orw, Sept. "ego videns", Montanus; "video", Tigurine version. {c} T. Hieros. Taanioth, fol. 68. 3. {d} Travels, p. 200.





2 Samuel 18:28



Ver. 28. And Ahimaaz called and said unto the king,.... As soon as he came so near as to be heard by him, before he came up to him, he said with a loud voice:



all is well; the king's army has had success, beat the rebels, and obtained a complete victory: or "peace" {e}; for it is but one word in the original, which signifies all happiness and prosperity, and this he wished the king; and so it is the same as if he had said, God save the king, may all happiness attend him:



and he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king; when he came nearer to him, not only in reverence of him, but in thankfulness to God:



and said, blessed [be] the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king; in which he ascribes the victory, not to Joab and his army, but to the Lord, to whom he gives thanks; and this agreeably to his character as a good man, and a priest of the Lord.



{e} Mwlv eirhnh, Sept. "pax", Montanus, Pagninus; "salus", Tigurine version; "salve rex", V. L.





2 Samuel 18:29



Ver. 29. And the king said, is the young man Absalom safe?.... Or, is there "peace" {f} to him? you say there is peace, and that prosperity and success have attended my army; but what peace has Absalom? is he well, and in safety? David seemed more concerned for him than for his army and the success of it; and even suggests as if it was nothing if Absalom was not safe, so great were his affections towards him:



and Ahimaaz answered, when Joab sent the king's servant; which was Cushi, the first messenger, whose office perhaps it was to be one of the king's messengers, and therefore called his servant:



and [me] thy servant: Ahimaaz himself who was sent after the other:



I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what [it was]; he perceived that the tidings of the death of Absalom would be disagreeable to the king, and therefore concealed it from him; and though a good man, he cannot be excused from lying, for certainly he knew that Absalom was dead, as appears from 2Sa 18:19; though indeed what he said might be true, that after Joab had sent him and Cushi, as the Targum paraphrases it, he saw a company of people gathered together in a tumultuous manner, the meaning of which he knew not; but then this was no other than an evasion.



{f} renl Mwlv "estne pax puero?" V. L. "pax puero", Pagninus, Montanus.





2 Samuel 18:30



Ver. 30. And the king said [unto him], turn aside, [and] stand here,.... On the side of him, not far from him, until the other messenger came, that he might learn from them both the true state of the case:



and he turned aside, and stood still; saying nothing more to the king, nor he to him.





2 Samuel 18:31



Ver. 31. And, behold, Cushi came,.... A little after:



and Cushi said, tidings, my lord the king; news is sent and brought by me, and good news it is:



for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee; they are either killed or dispersed; there is an entire victory over them, and deliverance from them.





2 Samuel 18:32



Ver. 32. And the king said unto Cushi, is the young man Absalom safe?.... The same question that was put to Ahimaaz, 2Sa 18:29; which shows what lay nearest his heart, and was uppermost in his mind,



and Cushi answered, the enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do [thee] hurt, be as [that] young man [is], which was tacitly saying he was dead, and so David understood it; and he expressed it in such a manner, that David could not be displeased with the messenger; though the message was grievous to him.





2 Samuel 18:33



Ver. 33. And the king was much moved,.... His affections were moved, his passions were stirred up; he was greatly troubled, distressed, and grieved:



and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; got out of sight and company as soon as he could; as his own dwelling was at some distance, he made haste to the chamber in the watchtower, over the gate of the city, where the watchman was, to vent his grief; and could not suppress it till he got thither:



and as he went; up the stairs to the chamber:



thus he said, O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! which repetition expresses the vehemence of his affections, and how inconsolable he was on account of his son's death:



would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! some think he said this on account of his eternal state, being satisfied of his own; but it may be it was only the effect of natural affection, indulged to too great a degree, and unbecoming so good a man in such a case; the Targum is,



"I wish I had died for thee, and thou hadst remained this day.''

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Samuel 19:1



INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 19



David indulging to too much grief for the death of his son, is rebuked by Joab, and threatened with a revolt of the people from him, if he did not change his conduct, which be accordingly did, 2Sa 19:1; upon which the men of Israel were the first that moved for the bringing him back to Jerusalem, and the men of Judah were solicited to join with them in it, which was effected, 2Sa 19:9; and at Jordan, Shimei, that had cursed him, met him, and asked his pardon, and was forgiven, 2Sa 19:16; and when come to Jerusalem, Mephibosheth excused so well his not going out with him, that he had half his land restored to him, which had been given to his servant, 2Sa 19:24; and Barzillai, who had very liberally supplied the king, was allowed to return to his own city, and Chimham his son was taken to court, 2Sa 19:31; and a contention arose between the men of Israel and of Judah about the restoration of the king, which issued in an insurrection, as the next chapter shows, 2Sa 19:41.



Ver. 1. And it was told Joab,.... When returned to Mahanaim, or on his way to it; perhaps by the messengers he sent; and this report he had before he saw the king:



behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom; for the death of him, instead of rejoicing at the victory obtained, and the deliverance from his enemies.





2 Samuel 19:2



Ver. 2. And the victory that day was [turned] into mourning unto all the people,.... They also mourned too, instead of expressing joy upon the occasion:



for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son; this report was spread among them, which damped their joy, and hindered them from giving any tokens of it, as were usual at such times.





2 Samuel 19:3



Ver. 3. And the people got them by stealth that day into the city,.... Did not march into it in companies, in a public and triumphant manner, as conquerors used to do; but entered in a private manner, one by one, or a very few together, not caring to be seen or known, at least by the king, as fearing they had incurred his displeasure: but



as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle; as if they had been conquered, and not conquerors; nay, had acted a cowardly part, and ran away; and so cared not to be seen, lest they should be reproached, or suffer for their cowardice.





2 Samuel 19:4



Ver. 4. But the king covered his face,.... And would not see his generals, and thank them for their services: but wrapped himself in his mantle, after the manner of mourners:



and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son! and this was some time, perhaps some days after he had received the news of his death, since Joab and the army were returned from the battle; had it been a sudden start of passion, upon first hearing thee news, and had continued a few hours, it would have been more excusable; but to continue some days, as it is very probable it did, was very unbecoming.





2 Samuel 19:5



Ver. 5. And Joab came into the house to the king,.... For by this time he was removed from the chamber over the gate to his own dwelling house or palace, where he continued the same doleful ditty as at first:



and said, thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants; they cannot lift up their heads, and look any in the face, nor one another; but behave as if they had committed some very great fault, in fighting with the rebels, and beating them:



which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons, and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines; which in all probability would have been taken away if the victory had been on the side of Absalom.





2 Samuel 19:6



Ver. 6. In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends,.... Which though not strictly true, there was some appearance of it, which is here greatly exaggerated; in that he expressed so much grief and sorrow for Absalom his enemy, who had rebelled against him, and showed so little regard to his friends, that had exposed their lives for him:



for thou hast declared this day: by his conduct and behaviour, mourning for his rebellious son, and taking no notice of his faithful servants:



that thou regardest neither princes nor servants; neither the officers of the army, the generals and captains, nor the common soldiers: since neither the one were admitted into his presence privately, nor had the other public thanks as they entered the city, as might have been expected: or "that thou hast no princes and servants" {g}; none that are accounted of as such; they are nothing with thee, in no esteem at all, as if thou hadst none:



for this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well; this was carrying the matter too far; for though it would have been agreeable to David if Absalom had lived, and not been slain, yet not that his army should perish, or his people be destroyed; it would have pleased him well if both had lived.



{g} Mydbew Myrv Kl Nya "non tibi principes et servi", Pagninus, Montanus; "nihil tibi sint principes et servi", Piscator.





2 Samuel 19:7



Ver. 7. Now therefore arise, go forth,.... Arise from his couch, he was watering with his tears, and go forth from his house, where he had shut himself up retired from all company, to the gate of the city, where the people passed and repassed, and there was a concourse of them: this he said not by way of command, but by way of advice; though all along he seems to take too much upon him, and to speak unbecoming a subject, and not with that decency as was necessary in, speaking to a king; but it may be observed, that a general of an army had great power over princes in those times; and presumed very much on their interest in the army, which led them sometimes not to behave with that decorum as became them:



and speak comfortably unto thy servants; commend them for their courage and faithfulness, thank them for their services, and reward them suitably; at least give them assurance of it:



for I swear by the Lord; by the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; this he said to arouse him, and make him bestir himself, and think what was proper for him to do:



if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night; signifying that he would use his interest in the army to go off with it, and set up another king; and did not doubt of success, as well knowing what temper and humour the people were in through the king's conduct:



and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now; for when he was persecuted by Saul he had a number of friends that adhered close to him; and when Ishbosheth was set up against him by Abner as king of Israel, the tribe of Judah cleaved to him, anointed him their king, and abode by him; wherefore, should he now be abandoned by his army, his case would be worse than ever it had been.





2 Samuel 19:8



Ver. 8. Than the king arose, and sat in the gate,.... Of the city, a public place, where the inhabitants met on divers accounts at times, and where there were always people passing and repassing:



and they told unto all the people; or it was reported to the soldiers particularly:



saying, behold the king doth sit in the gate; has laid aside his mourning, appears in public, and receives his friends, and attends to business:



and all the people came before the king; to congratulate him on the victory obtained, to receive his thanks and his favours:



for Israel had fled every man to his tent: or to his city, as the Targum; that is, those that followed Absalom; which is observed not on account of what goes before, but of what follows after; see 2Sa 18:17.





2 Samuel 19:9



Ver. 9. And all the people were at strife through all the tribes of Israel,.... Excepting the tribe of Judah; they blamed and reproved one another for taking part with Absalom in the rebellion, and especially for their coldness and backwardness in bringing back David to Jerusalem:



saying, the king saved us out of the hand of our enemies; exposed his life to danger, fought our battles for us, and gained us victory over our enemies, and saved us from them, especially those next mentioned:



and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; in the times of Saul, and since; which were benefits which ought to have endeared him to them, and were aggravations of the crime of those who had been concerned in the late rebellion; and were such as ought not to be buried in oblivion, and were proper arguments to engage them to return to their allegiance to him, and abide by it:



and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom; being obliged to quit Jerusalem, and the land of Judea on this side Jordan, and to pass that river; not from a spirit of cowardice, but from tenderness to his son, he did not choose to fight against; and from a concern for his metropolis Jerusalem, lest that should be hurt, as well as for the safety of his person.





2 Samuel 19:10



Ver. 10. And Absalom, whom we anointed over us,.... To be king; which either was really done by Absalom's party, or in effect by proclaiming and appointing him king:



is dead in battle; which shows the thing was not of God, and by which means they were released from their oath of allegiance to him:



now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back? nobody speaks of it, gives the least hint of it, or shows any concern about it; but the greatest coldness and indifference, as if it was a matter of no importance.





2 Samuel 19:11



Ver. 11. And King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests,.... Who were at Jerusalem, and in his interest; perhaps by Ahimaaz and Jonathan their sons:



saying, speak unto the elders of Judah; particularly those that were at Jerusalem, with whom they had an interest:



saying, why are ye the last to bring back the king to his house? to his palace at Jerusalem, since David was of their tribe, and was first anointed their king: what might make them the more backward to it was their being so deep in the rebellion, which was formed and cherished among them, and brought to the height it was, through their connivance and encouragement, both at Hebron and Jerusalem; and therefore they might fear the resentment of David, and that he would not be easily reconciled unto them:



seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, [even] to his house: or he has received invitations from all the tribes of Israel to return to his house or palace at Jerusalem; and so this was a part of the message of David to the priests, to be told to the elders as an aggravation of their backwardness, and as an argument to excite them to their duty; though some think these are the words of the historian, to be inserted in a parenthesis, as in our version.





2 Samuel 19:12



Ver. 12. Ye [are] my brethren, ye [are] my bones and my flesh,.... Being of the same tribe, and therefore he should deal gently with them, as if they were parts of his body; and not be severe upon them, for the hand they had in the conspiracy, as they might fear:



and wherefore then are ye the last to bring the king back? since they were so nearly related to him, and he so ready to forgive them.





2 Samuel 19:13



Ver. 13. And say ye to Amasa,.... Who was the general of Absalom's army, and who might fear he should never be pardoned, whoever was, and looked upon his case as desperate; who had led on the army with Absalom against the king's threes, and fought them:



[art] thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? nearly related to him, being his sister's son:



God do so to me, and more also: than he had done to Absalom; or he imprecates the greatest evil upon himself that could be thought of or named:



if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab; signifying that he would not only pardon the treason he had been guilty of, but raise him to the highest post in the army; and to assure him of it, of which he might be doubtful, considering what he had done to merit his displeasure, he makes this oath or imprecation. Joab had got his ill will by many instances, as by the murder of Abner, and now by slaying Absalom against his orders; and by his rude and insolent behaviour to him when lamenting the death of his son; he wanted to be rid of him, and now, having an opportunity of putting a valiant man into his place, and thereby attaching him to his interest, he was determined to make use of it.





2 Samuel 19:14



Ver. 14. And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as [the heart of] one man,.... This the Jewish commentators generally understand of Amasa that he used his interest with the men of Judah, and so wrought upon them, that they agreed as one man to send for the king, and bring him back; but it seems best to understand it of David, who by these gentle methods, kind messages, and affectionate speeches, powerfully inclined and engaged the hearts of the people towards him; so that they were unanimously and affectionately agreed to restore him: in this way David chose to return; he could have come without their leave, or any invitation from them, as he was their lawful king, and a victorious one, the rebellion being crushed; and had it in his power to chastise those concerned in it, and use them with severity; but he chose rather to gain the hearts of his people, and to come in a way peaceable to them, and honourable to himself:



so that they sent [this word] unto the king, return thou and all thy servants; perhaps by the same messengers that David sent; or it may be, rather for honour's sake they deputed some of their principal men to wait on David, and invite him to return to them with all his retinue and army, promising allegiance and fidelity to him.





2 Samuel 19:15



Ver. 15. So the king returned, and came to Jordan,.... From Mahanaim thither, which according to Bunting {i} was twenty eight miles:



and Judah came to Gilgal; that is, the elders, or principal men of the tribe of Judah, came thither; which place, according to the same writer {k}, was twelve miles from Jerusalem, and four from Jordan; and was the first place the Israelites came to when they passed that river in Joshua's time; but it seems to be rather more; See Gill on "Jos 2:1" and See Gill on "Jos 4:19";



to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan; but then they must proceed further on, for Gilgal seems to be live or six miles on this side Jordan.



{i} Travels, &c. p. 142. {k} Travels, &c. p. 142, 143.





2 Samuel 19:16



Ver. 16. And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which [was] of Bahurim,.... Of whom see 2Sa 16:5;



hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David: he took the first opportunity to meet the king, and ask his pardon for his ill treatment of him when he fled from Jerusalem; for, hearing: that Absalom was slain, and the victory was on the side of David, who was returning in triumph, he thought it advisable as soon as possible to make his submission, and entreat forgiveness, lest he should fall a just sacrifice to his vengeance; and a better opportunity he could not well have than to go along with the men of Judah, who met the king first of all.





2 Samuel 19:17



Ver. 17. And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him,.... Of which tribe he was, and these were either a band of soldiers, of which he was the chiliarch; or tenants of his, which showed him to be a great man; or his neighbours, and persons of some figure, whom he prevailed upon to come as intercessors for him:



and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul; who had imposed upon David, and got his master's inheritance from him, knowing that David would be undeceived by Mephibosheth his master, when he came to Jerusalem; and therefore that he might be more tenderly dealt with, and come off the better, he was thus forward to meet the king, and pay his respects to him:



and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him: which made a considerable appearance; see 2Sa 9:10;



and they went over Jordan before the king: to meet him on the other side, both Shimei and his a thousand men, and Ziba with his sons and servants.





2 Samuel 19:18



Ver. 18. And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household,.... His wives and children, who could not so well ford the river on foot: some will have this to be a bridge of boats, a pontoon; and Abarbinel thinks it might be a company of men, who carried the women and children on their shoulders, one after another:



and to do what he thought good; to carry over whatever else the king pleased, besides his family:



and Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan; or just as he was about to come over, when he came to Jordan to take the boat in order to come over; for he went over Jordan to meet him, and therefore would take the first opportunity of coming into his presence, and fall down before him, and make his submission to him.





2 Samuel 19:19



Ver. 19. And said unto the king, let not my lord the king impute iniquity unto me,.... That is, deal with him according to the desert of it, punish him for it, but forgive it: for non-imputation of sin is in effect the pardon of it:



neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day my lord the king went out of Jerusalem: he desires that he would not only forgive, but forget it; he owns it was a perverse action, and aggravated by being done at the time when the king was in great trouble and distress:



that the king should take it to his heart; and determine to avenge himself on him for it.





2 Samuel 19:20



Ver. 20. For thy servant doth know that I have sinned,.... He was sensible of it, and sorry for it, and publicly acknowledged it before all the men he brought with him, and before all the servants of David; and as a token of the sincerity of his repentance, and as an earnest of his future fidelity, he made this early submission:



therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my lord the king; but why does he make mention of the house of Joseph, when he was of the tribe of Benjamin? Kimchi says that Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, were called the house of Joseph; and it may be observed that it is sometimes used for all Israel, as in Ps 80:1; and he was the first of them that came, inasmuch as he came along with the men of Judah, who came first of all to fetch the king back; or Joseph may stand for the tribes of Israel, as distinct from Judah, and he was the first of them; some of the Jewish writers think he makes mention of the name of Joseph, because as the brethren of Joseph used him ill, and he returned good to them; so though he had used David ill, he hoped he would do as Joseph did, return good for evil; and others represent him as suggesting hereby to David, that all Israel had used him ill, and he worse than them all; and now he was come first, and they were all waiting what he would do to him, that if he received him kindly, all would come and make their peace with him.





2 Samuel 19:21



Ver. 21. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said,.... The same person that would have taken off the head of Shimei at the time he cursed David, if he would have given him leave, 2Sa 16:9;



shall not Shimei be put to death for this? this humiliation and acknowledgment he has made, shall he be forgiven on that account? shall so small a matter as this atone for so great a crime he has been guilty of, as that he shall not die?



because or "though" {l}



he cursed the Lord's anointed; is asking pardon sufficient to expiate so foul an offence, for which according to the law he ought to die? or for this action which he has done, as the Arabic version, in cursing the Lord's anointed.



{l} yk, "quamvis, vel cum tamen", Piscator.





2 Samuel 19:22



Ver. 22. And David said, what have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?.... See Gill on "2Sa 16:10";



that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? or a Satan unto me, as the word is, by advising him to do what would be prejudicial to his interest; see Mt 16:22; as to use severity at such a time as this would have been; for had he immediately ordered Shimei to be put to death, though he deserved it, who was the first man that came to ask pardon, the Israelites in general, or all however concerned in the rebellion, would have concluded they must share the same fate, and so would not have submitted, but have raised a new rebellion against him; and some think Joab and Abishai had this in view, that they might keep their posts in the army:



shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? there shall not: the glory of this day shall not be sullied by the death of any; nor the joy of it be turned into sorrow in any family in Israel, as would, if any was put to death for what had passed during the rebellion:



for do not I know that I [am] this day king over Israel? and can and will do as I please; as he had been driven from his throne and palace, and was now invited back again, and upon his return, it was as if he was made king anew, and afresh inaugurated into his office; and therefore no blood should be split on that day on which he was restored to his kingdom.





2 Samuel 19:23



Ver. 23. Therefore the king said unto Shimei, thou shalt not die,.... This day by my hands, or order, or by the sword, 1Ki 2:8;



and the king sware unto him; that he should not die for that offence, or for that only; but if he committed a new one, this oath was no longer binding on him, and not at all upon his heir and successor.





2 Samuel 19:24



Ver. 24. And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king,.... Not down to Jordan, but Jerusalem; when the king was come thither, he came from his own dwelling to the king's palace; he is called the son of Saul, though he was his grandson, and grandsons are sometimes called sons; though in the Septuagint it is, the son's son of Saul; and the Syriac and Arabic versions are, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul:



and had neither dressed his feet; had not cut his nails, as the Septuagint adds, his toenails; or rather had not washed his feet, as the Targum paraphrases it; which was frequently done in those countries, partly for refreshment, and partly to remove the filth of them contracted by walking barefooted, or only with sandals; as also because of the ill smell of them, which was offensive:



nor trimmed his beard; or shaved his upper lip, and took no care that the hair of his chin should be in any order; otherwise that was never shaved, to do it would be contrary to the law in Le 19:27;



nor washed his clothes; his linen clothes, his shirts, or any other that used to be washed; or "whitened" them, as the Targum, he had not sent them, his woollen clothes, to the fuller, to get out the spots, and whiten them. All these were tokens of mourning, and showed him to be a sincere mourner for the king's departure, and the trouble he was in, since it was so long continued:



from the day the king departed, until the day he came [again] in peace; which must be a considerable time, and therefore he must be in a most sordid and rueful condition.





2 Samuel 19:25



Ver. 25. And it came to pass, when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king,.... Perhaps from the place where his estate was; or, as the Arabic version, when he came from Jerusalem, from whence he went a little way to meet the king, as he was coming thither; for it was said he abode at Jerusalem, 2Sa 16:3;



that the king said unto him, wherefore wentest not thou with me,

Mephibosheth? when he departed from Jerusalem, being obliged to flee from thence because of Absalom; it is very probable David would never have asked him this question, knowing his lameness, had it not been for the suggestion of Ziba his servant, that he stayed at Jerusalem, hoping that the kingdom of his father would be restored to him, 2Sa 16:3.





2 Samuel 19:26



Ver. 26. And he answered, my lord, O king, my servant deceived me,.... His servant Ziba, who, instead of saddling an ass for him by his order, went off with that and another himself, 2Sa 16:1; for thy servant



said, I will saddle me an ass; he not only determined this in his own mind, but gave orders to his servant to saddle one for him:



that I may ride thereon, and go to the king, because thy servant [is] lame; and could not walk afoot, being lame of both his feet, 2Sa 4:4.





2 Samuel 19:27



Ver. 27. And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king,.... By suggesting that he stayed at Jerusalem with a view to the kingdom, hoping that the quarrel between David and Absalom would issue in the restoration of it to his father's family; which was a mere calumny, he having had no such thought, nor was there any foundation for it:



but my lord the king [is] an angel of God; for understanding and wisdom, to discern the falsehood of such suggestions:



do therefore [what is] good in thine eyes; condemn him or acquit him; reject him or receive him into favour; he entirely submitted himself to him, to do with him as seemed good in his sight.





2 Samuel 19:28



Ver. 28. For all [of] my, father's house were but dead men before my lord the king,.... Or "men of death" {m}; worthy of death, not on account of Saul's persecution, for which his family did not deserve to suffer; rather for the attempt of Ishbosheth to get the kingdom from him, which might be deemed treason, and so the family was tainted for it; though the sense may be only this, that their lives lay at his mercy, and that if he had dealt with rigour and severity towards them, as was usual for princes to do towards the family of their predecessors, who had any claim to the kingdom, put them to death, this would have been their case:



yet didst thou set thy servant among them that eat at thine own table; which was showing him great kindness, and doing him great honour:



what right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king? to ask any favour of him, or make any complaint to him.



{m} twm yvna "viris mortis", Montanus.





2 Samuel 19:29



Ver. 29. And the king said unto him, why speakest thou any more of thy matters?.... Of his father's family, and the injuries done by them to David, and of the benefits and favours which he had received from David, or of his temporal affairs, of his estate, which David had given away to Ziba:



I have said, thou and Ziba divide the land; revoking his last grant to Ziba, which gave him all that belonged to Mephibosheth, 2Sa 16:4; he established his first decree, that Ziba should have half the profit of the land for tilling it, and the other half be given to Mephibosheth; he did not choose to punish Ziba for slandering his master, being inclined to clemency and mercy, and determined to show no severity at that time; and might be in some fear of Ziba, being a considerable man, lest he should raise a new insurrection, if he bore hard upon him; besides, he might have a large share in his affection, having made a present to him in the time of his distress, and was one of the first that came to meet him upon his return, 2Sa 19:17.





2 Samuel 19:30



Ver. 30. And Mephibosheth said unto the king, yea, let him take all,.... The whole estate, as David had given it to him; he was content that that last grant should stand:



forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house; his palace in Jerusalem; which was a strong expression of affection for him, and loyalty to him.



(Solomn used a similar test to determine which woman's baby was alive. 1Ki 3:16. He purposed the baby be cut in two to reveal who the real mother was. Likewise, David suggests the property should be divided between Ziba and Miphibosheth to determine the true loyalty of the later. 2Sa 19:29 Editor.)





2 Samuel 19:31



Ver. 31. And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim,.... The place of his habitation, to Jordan, see 2Sa 17:27;



and went over Jordan with the king to conduct him over Jordan; to accompany him over the river, and then take his leave of him.





2 Samuel 19:32



Ver. 32. Now Barzillai was a very aged man, [even] fourscore years old,.... Which was ten years beyond the common term of man's life, and reckoned a very great age in David's time, and has been ever since, and still is, see Ps 90:10;



and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim: had supported him and his family, furnished him with provisions, and all the necessaries of life, during his stay there:



for he [was] a very great man; in wealth and riches, and was a very liberal man, and a man of great wisdom and good sense; and very probably was a man of great grace, which taught him his duty to his prince, and influenced him to show mercy to him in distress.





2 Samuel 19:33



Ver. 33. And the king said to Barzillai, come thou over with me,.... Over Jordan; Barzillai came with an intent to accompany the king over Jordan; but the king meant not only to go over Jordan, but when over to go further with him, even to Jerusalem:



and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem; meaning, that he should dwell with him in his palace, and eat at his table, in return for feeding him at Mahanaim.





2 Samuel 19:34



Ver. 34. And Barzillai said unto the king,.... In answer to the grateful proposal he made:



how long have I to live; that could not be said with exactness by any; but it might be probably conjectured from the age he was of, and the infirmities that attended him, that he could not live long; it was but a short time he had to be in the world:



that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? take so long a journey as that, seeing he might die before he got thither; and if he did not, since it could not be thought he should live long, he could not think of it, or judge it advisable at such an age to take such a journey, change his place of abode, and manner of living.





2 Samuel 19:35



Ver. 35. I [am] this day fourscore years old,.... Not that that day was precisely his birthday, but that he was about such an age, very little under or over; very probably he was full that age:



[and] can I discern between good and evil? signifying, either that his intellectual powers were impaired, and could not distinguish what was right and wrong, and so could be of no service to David in his privy council, or any court of judicature, he was fit for no post or office under him; or that his natural senses were not quick to distinguish between good and bad, particularly between good and bad food, which he could neither discern by smell nor taste, as follows:



can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? have any gust or relish of, or take any delight or pleasure in eating and drinking; so that the most delicious food, and richest wines, and all the dainties of a king's table, would signify nothing to him:



can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? either being so deaf that he could not hear them at all, or however not with any delight; the evil days being come upon him, in which he could take no pleasure in the diversions of a court:



wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king? he could neither take any pleasure himself, nor be of any service to the king, but on the contrary a burden to him; not only on account of his sustenance, and being obliged to have servants to attend him, which might be the least part of his burden, but his company would be disagreeable and troublesome, through the infirmities of old age upon him.





2 Samuel 19:36



Ver. 36. Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king,.... That is, go a little way after he was over Jordan with him, and then return to his own city:



and why should the king recompense it with such a reward? the sense is, why should the king recompense so trifling a thing as I have done, and which was but my duty, with such a reward, as to maintain me in so grand a manner at his court?





2 Samuel 19:37



Ver. 37. Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again,.... To his own city, after he is gone ever Jordan, and seen the king a little way on his journey:



that I may die in my own city: the city of Rogelim, where perhaps he was born, and had lived all his days, and where it is natural for people to desire to die, even in their native place:



[and be buried] by the grave of my father, and of my mother: or "in" their grave, as Kimchi and Ben Melech, in the sepulchre of his fathers, where men usually choose to be buried:



but behold, thy servant Chimham: who was his son; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions express it, my son Chimham:



let him go over with my lord the king; not only over Jordan, but to Jerusalem with him:



and do to him what shall seem good unto thee; advance him, and put him into any post or office the king should think fit, or bestow a pension upon him, or give him an estate to live upon, or whatever he pleased.





2 Samuel 19:38



Ver. 38. And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me,.... He admitted of him instead of his father:



and I will do unto him that which shall seem good unto thee; he puts it to Barzillai, and leaves it with him to ask what he would for his son, and he would grant it. We nowhere read what it was that Barzillai asked, or whether he asked anything; only this we read, that some hundreds of years afterward there was a place called the habitation of Chimham near Bethlehem, Jer 41:17; which makes it probable that David gave him a paternal estate of his there, since Bethlehem was his city; and the Targum on that place is expressly for it;

See Gill on "Jer 41:17":



and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, [that] will I do for thee; whatever suit he should make to him, or whatever favour he should ask of him hereafter, when returned to his own city, he would grant it to him, if it could be possibly done; such a sense should he always retain of his kindness to him.





2 Samuel 19:39



Ver. 39. And all the people went over Jordan,.... That were with David:



and when the king was come over; over Jordan, had got to the other side of it, whither Barzillai accompanied him:



the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; took his leave of him with a kiss, as friends were wont to do at parting, thanked him for all his favours, wished him well, and prayed to God to bless him with all blessings temporal and spiritual:



and he returned to his own place: his own city Rogelim, having crossed over again the river Jordan.





2 Samuel 19:40



Ver. 40. Then the king went on to Gilgal,.... Which, according to Josephus {n}, was fifty furlongs from Jordan, six miles and a quarter:



and Chimham went on with him; after Barzillai had left them, and accompanied the king to Jerusalem:



and all the people of Judah conducted the king; to Jerusalem; who came to meet him, 2Sa 19:15;



and also half the people of Israel; or a part of them, as the word used signifies, and not always an equal half, so Kimchi observes; even such of Israel as went out with David at first, and the a thousand men of Benjamin that came to meet him, 2Sa 19:17.



{n} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 4.





2 Samuel 19:41



Ver. 41. And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king,.... A large number of them, the other part that did not come over with David, some of their principal men, who met him upon the road:



and said unto the king, why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen thee away; secretly, privately, and unknown to them, and were bringing him back to Jerusalem:



and have brought the king, and his household, and all David's men with him, over Jordan? him, and his family, and soldiers.





2 Samuel 19:42



Ver. 42. And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel,.... Such of them as went down to fetch the king back, replied to the men of Israel that now met them, and objected to their conduct:



because the king [is] near of kin to us; being of their tribe, and his palace was within their borders, and therefore they were proper persons to bring him home:



wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? for bringing the king back, and being the first in it; for who so proper as they, not only to do their duty, but to show their affection to the king as early as possible?



have we eaten at all of the king's [cost]? they had maintained themselves at their own expense, going and returning; they had no self-interest or selfish views to serve, but on the contrary had been at a considerable charge to meet the king, and conduct him home:



or hath he given us any gift? no, he had not, nor did they expect any; it was not with a view to any reward that they had taken this step, but purely out of affection to the king, and for the good of their country.





2 Samuel 19:43



Ver. 43. And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said,.... They replied to them, as follows:



we have ten parts in the king; being ten tribes, reckoning Simeon in the tribe of Judah, within which it lay, Jos 19:1;



and we have, also more [right] in David than ye; being more numerous than they; or, according to the Targum, they had more affection and good will towards David than the men of Judah, though he was of their tribe, and dwelt among them; since the rebellion was begun, and was cherished and carried on among them:



why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? they were as ready and as desirous as they to fetch the king back; and since they were far the largest body of men, and the far greater part of the nation, they thought they ought to have been consulted in an affair of so much importance, and that doing it without them was slighting them, and casting contempt upon them, and insinuating as if they were enemies to the king; or, as the Targum expresses it,



"was not my word first to bring back my king?''



the first motion was from them, as appears from 2Sa 19:11; and therefore the thing should not have been done without them; they should have been apprized of it, that they might at least have joined them, and shared in the honour with them of bringing the king back:



and the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel; not those that are here recorded, but what followed, and are not written, being so very warm and indecent; and David being silent in this hot dispute between them, which was interpreted taking the part of Judah, the men of Israel were incensed at it; and hence arose a new rebellion, of which more in the next chapter how it began, and was crushed.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Samuel 20:1



INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 20



This chapter gives an account of a new rebellion raised by Sheba, 2Sa 20:1; of David's shutting up his concubines unto the day of their death, whom Absalom had lain with, 2Sa 20:3; of Amasa being ordered to assemble the men of Judah to crush the rebellion, but being dilatory, Abishai is sent out with David's servants, and was followed by Joab with the men under him, 2Sa 20:4; and of the murder of Amasa by Joab, 2Sa 20:8; and of Sheba being shut up in the city Abel, 2Sa 20:14; whose head, by the means of a wise woman, was delivered to Joab, and so an end was put to the rebellion, 2Sa 20:16; and, lastly, of the chief officers in David's camp and court, 2Sa 20:23.



Ver. 1. And there happened to be a man of Belial,.... A wicked man, as the Targum, a lawless, yokeless man, that had cast off the yoke of the law, and was without it, as Belial is by some interpreted; or one unprofitable and useless, yea, noxious and pernicious: this man, though, with respect to second causes, may be said to be there by chance, yet it was so ordered by the providence of God that he should be present at this time for the further fulfilment of the threatening to David, that the sword should not depart from his house:



whose name [was] Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; one perhaps that had been in the rebellion of Absalom, and had a grudge against David for the removal of the kingdom out of that tribe:



and he blew a trumpet; which was done to draw off the Israelites from David, and gather a party to himself:



and said, we have no part in David; so he interpreted what the men of Judah said, because they claimed kindred to David, the rest of the Israelites had no interest in him; thus they, who just before said they had ten parts in him, now had none at all:



neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; so he calls David by way of contempt, as if he was no king, but a private person, and a descendant from a mean family:



every man to his tent, O Israel; there to consider what to do, and whom to choose to be their king, and let Judah take David for their king, and enjoy him alone, since they had so slighted, and dealt so injuriously and roughly with the rest of the tribes.





2 Samuel 20:2



Ver. 2. So every man of Israel went up from after David,.... Those that met him on the road departed from him, and went no further with him:



[and] followed Sheba the son of Bichri; and made him their captain, who was the author of their mutiny and sedition:



but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan to Jerusalem: never left him, after they had conducted him over Jordan, until they had brought him safely to Jerusalem.





2 Samuel 20:3



Ver. 3. And David came to his house at Jerusalem,.... His palace there, which was in that part of the city called the fort of Zion, and city of David:



and the king took the ten women [his] concubines, whom he had left to keep the house; when he fled from Jerusalem because of Absalom, 2Sa 15:16;



and put them in ward; partly as a punishment for easily yielding to the lust of Absalom, and partly that they might not be seen, which would bring to remembrance his sin:



and fed them; he did not put them to death, nor put them away, but kept them thus confined, and made a proper provision for them, not suffering them to marry any other, and be maintained by them:



but went not in unto them: into their apartments to lie with them, having been defiled by his son, 2Sa 16:22;



so they were shut up unto the day of their death; kept in the ward till they died:



living in widowhood; neither used by the king as his concubines, as they had been before, nor suffered to many any other; or "in the widowhood of life" {o}, which is so expressed, to distinguish it from widowhood made by death; this was such sort of widowhood as obtained while their husband was living; so the Targum,



"widows of their husband alive,''



or remaining.



{o} twyx twnmla "in viduitate vitae", Pagninus, Montanus.





2 Samuel 20:4



Ver. 4. Then said the king to Amasa,.... Whom he had promised to make general of his army, 2Sa 19:13; and by the following order declared him such:



assemble me the men of Judah within three days; which was done by the sound of the trumpet, or by the proclamation of a herald; it seems that the men of Judah, who attended David to Jerusalem, were gone to their respective cities and places of abode, or there would have been no occasion for such a summons; though it is strange they should, when the men of Israel appeared so inclinable to a new rebellion:



and be thou here present; to take the command of them.





2 Samuel 20:5



Ver. 5. So Amasa went to assemble [the men of] Judah,.... To gather, them together out of their several tribes, and bring them to Jerusalem:



but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him: than the three days; whether this was owing to the remissness of Amasa, or the unwillingness of the people to serve under him, who had been Absalom's general in the late rebellion, or not having time sufficient allowed him, is not certain.





2 Samuel 20:6



Ver. 6. And David said to Abishai,.... For it seems he would have nothing to say to Joab, being displeased with him for slaying Absalom, and having removed him from his posts; and therefore speaks to the next officer in his army, Abishai; though Josephus {p} says, he addressed himself to Joab, contrary to the express words of the text:



now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than [did] Absalom; gain a greater party, and give more trouble to subdue him, unless suppressed in time:



take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him; without waiting for Amasa, and the troops he was assembling; delays in such a case as an insurrection being dangerous, which ought to be nipped in the bud, and crushed as soon as possible; in order to which, he bids him take his servants that were about him, his bodyguards, and pursue Sheba:



lest he get him fenced cities; where he may secure himself, and hold out a siege a long time, and give a great deal of trouble:



and escape us; for the present; or "escape our eyes", as the "Keri", or marginal reading is; we shall lose sight of him, and not know which way he is gone, if he is not pursued quickly.



{p} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 11. sect. 6.





2 Samuel 20:7



Ver. 7. And there went out after him Joab's men,.... Who though he was removed from his post as general, yet might still have the command of a regiment:



and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites; over whom Benaiah was, 2Sa 20:23; these attended David in his flight, and had now returned with him, 2Sa 15:18;



and all the mighty men; the military men that were at Jerusalem as many as could be spared:



and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri; with Abishai at the head of them; Josephus {q} says there were six hundred, besides the soldiers at Jerusalem that went on this pursuit.



{q} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 11. sect. 7.





2 Samuel 20:8



Ver. 8. When they [were] at the great stone which [is] in Gibeon,.... Which, according to Josephus {r}, was forty furlongs, or five miles from Jerusalem: what this great stone was, whether an obelisk, or what, is not certain; one of the greatest stones we read of was that which Semiramis cut out of the mountains of Armenia, which was an hundred thirty feet long, and twenty five broad and thick {s}. This place was appointed for the rendezvous of David's forces, and hither Amasa came with what he had assembled together, and joined them, and took the command of them: for it follows,



Amasa went before them; as the general of them:



and Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him; who went along with his brother Abishai at the head of his own men, to which he was obliged by virtue of his commission; or went of himself to serve the common cause, and perhaps chiefly with a design to murder Amasa, whom he envied, because he was put into his post as general, and therefore accoutred himself for it; he put on, not a coat of mail, but a common garment which he girt about him, that it might be no incumbrance to him or hinderance of him, in doing what he intended, but that he might more expeditiously execute it:



and upon it a girdle [with] a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; the sword in the belt was not on his thigh, but on his loins, on the outside of his clothes, and was put into a sheath too large, and placed in such a position, that with the least motion, when he pleased, it would easily drop out of it, without drawing it, and so give no suspicion of his design:



and as he went forth; to meet Amasa, just as he came to him:



it fell out; the sword fell out of the sheath to the ground.



{r} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 11. sect. 7. {s} Diodor. Sic. l. 2. p. 100. Vid. ib. p. 53. Herodot. Euterpe, c. 111.





2 Samuel 20:9



Ver. 9. And Joab said to Amasa,.... In a friendly manner, with all the air of pleasantry and good humour:



[art] thou in health, my brother? this looked like a friendly salutation to ask of his health, and wish him it, and a loving appellation to call him brother; though they were near of kin, sisters' children, and so own cousins; thus he addressed him, to cover his design:



and Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him: as was usual for the eastern people to do when they addressed and saluted one another in an affectionate way, and as the Turks and Arabs do to this day, as travellers relate. Barthius {t} has collected passages from the Greek poets, which show it to be a custom, that when a man asked a favour of another, he caught hold of his beard with the right hand, and of his knee with the left; and in such a posture Joab might easily do what follows.



{t} Animadv. ad Claudian. de Raptu Proserp. l. 1. ver. 50. vid. Homer. Iliad. ver. 500, 501. Iliad. 8. ver. 371. & Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 2. c. 19.





2 Samuel 20:10



Ver. 10. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that [was] in Joab's hand,.... In his left hand, for with his right hand he took him by the beard; he might see the sword drop out of the scabbard, and Joab take it up, which he supposed he did in order to put it into its sheath again, having no suspicion of his wicked design, and therefore not at all upon his guard to prevent it:



so he smote him therewith in the fifth [rib]; in the same place where Abner smote Asahel, and Joab Abner; See Gill on "2Sa 2:23" and

See Gill on "2Sa 3:27": he must strike him, as some observe, on the left side, because he was embracing him; and the stroke must be deadly, because he struck him in the pericardium, which surrounds the heart round with water, to refrigerate it; for the lower part of the heart reaches to the fifth rib; see Joh 19:34 {u}:



and shed out his bowels to the ground; which fell out through the incision made by the sword:



and struck him not again: he gave him such a home thrust, there was no need to repeat it, he dispatched him at once:



and he died; and thus, though he was pardoned by David, and promoted to honour by him, yet the providence of God would not suffer him to go unpunished for joining with Absalom in an unnatural rebellion against his uncle:



so Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri: for Amasa being slain, Joab without any ceremony reassumed his post as general, and, with his brother Abishai under him, made all the haste they could in pursuit of the rebel.



{u} Weemse's Portrait of Man, p. 25.





2 Samuel 20:11



Ver. 11. And one of Joab's men stood by him,.... By the body of Amasa; no doubt by the order of Joab, to satisfy the people as they came up, and reconcile them to this fact, and to exhort them not to stop, but to follow after Joab; for though Amasa their general was dead, Joab had taken the command of the army, and the pursuit was carried on with as much rigour as ever:



and said, he that favoureth Joab, and he that [is] for David, [let him go] after Joab: he that likes Joab should be general, and is in the interest of David, let him make no stay here, but follow after Joab; Joab and David are put together, as if their interests were the same; though there seems to be an indecency in placing Joab first.





2 Samuel 20:12



Ver. 12. And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway,.... By which it seems, that though the wound was mortal, and of which he died, that as yet there was life in him, and through the pain he was in, and the pangs of death on him, he rolled himself about in his own blood in the high road, where the fact was committed:



and when the man saw that all the people stood still; gazing at the shocking sight, and could not be prevailed upon to go on:



he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field; which was adjoining to it:



and cast a cloth upon him; that the body might not be seen:



when he saw that everyone that came by him stood still; and so retarded the people in their march, to prevent which he took the above method, and it was a very prudent one.





2 Samuel 20:13



Ver. 13. When he was removed out of the highway,.... Into the field, and covered over with a cloth, that he could not be seen:



all the people went on after Joab; made no stop at all, knowing nothing of the matter, or what had happened:



to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri; these were the troops that Amasa had been assembling, which followed one another after him; for Joab and Abishai, with their men, were at Gibeon first.





2 Samuel 20:14



Ver. 14. And he went through all the tribes of Israel,.... That is, Sheba the son of Bichri, last mentioned, 2Sa 20:13, who passed through all the tribes of Israel to get as many to be of his party as he could, and to be proclaimed their king; or finding himself pursued, he passed on as fast as he could from place to place, through all the tribes, until at length he fixed for safety in a place later named; though Josephus {w} understands this of Joab pursuing Sheba through all the tribes of Israel with the forces under him; and to this sense the Syriac and Arabic versions, and so R. Isaiah interprets it; but the first sense is more generally received, that Sheba is meant, who passing through various tribes, came



unto Abel, and unto Bethmaachah; which were two places very near one another, if not one and the same place; since Abel is in 2Sa 20:15 called Abel of Bethmaachah, to distinguish it from any other place: it was a city that lay to the north of Israel near Syria; and from

2Ki 15:29, it appears to be in the tribe of Naphtali. There was one city of this name of Abel, six miles from Philadelphia, another twelve miles from Gadara, and a third between Paneas and Damascus, which, of the three, Reland thinks {x}, is most eligible to be the place here meant; though he rather chooses to look for it in Galilee, to the west or south of Paneas, than to the east or north in the way to Damascus; and so Adrichomius {y} calls it a city of upper Galilee, sixty furlongs or seven and an half miles from Jordan; and though he also places it in the tribe of Naphtali, in the plain of the country of Berim (from whence perhaps were the Berites next mentioned), not far from Caesarea Philippi; see 1Ki 15:20;



and all the Berites; the inhabitants of Beeroth, in the tribe of Benjamin, of which tribe Sheba was, they followed him hither, as in the next clause:



and they were gathered together, and went also after him; unto Abel; of these, see Jos 18:25; though perhaps these Berim or Berites were nearer to Abel; or rather that was in their country, as has been observed by Adrichomius.



{w} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 11. sect. 7.) {x} Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. p. 519. {y} Theatrum Terrae S. p. 101.





2 Samuel 20:15



Ver. 15. And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah,.... That is, Joab and Abishai, with the forces under them, who pursued him hither:



and they cast up a bank against the city; which some understand of a warlike machine or engine, with which stones were cast; but it rather seems to be a bank of earth thrown up, for the better working of such engines to more advantage against the city, by throwing from thence darts into the city, or stones against the walls of it, to batter it down; such banks were used in sieges, as that Caesar's soldiers raised in twenty five days, which was three hundred thirty feet broad, and eighty feet high {z}; Kimchi interprets this of filling up the ditches round about the city with dust and earth, and so making it level, whereby they could come the more easily to the walls and batter them, or scale them, and take the city by storm:



and it stood in the trench; the army under Joab stood where the trench round the city had been, now filled up:



and all the people that [were] with Joab battered the wall to throw it down; with their engines, or whatever battering instruments they had; so, often, as Hesiod {a} says, a whole city suffers for one bad man.



{z} Caesar. Comment. l. 7. c. 24. {a} Opera & Dies, l. 1. ver. 236.





2 Samuel 20:16



Ver. 16. Then cried a wise woman out of the city,.... And such an one as the woman of Tekoah, supposed by some to be the governess of the city; but whoever she was, she well deserved the character of a wise woman; her conduct in this affair shows it: she cried with a loud voice, upon the wall of the city, to Joab's men, who were underneath battering it,



hear, hear; which she repeated to make them hear:



say, I pray you, unto Joab, come near hither, that I may speak with thee; tell your general I desire to speak with him; which was wisely done, to have nothing to say but to the general himself.





2 Samuel 20:17



Ver. 17. And when he was come near unto her,.... As he did, upon the information of his men, that a woman on the wall had something to say to him:



the woman said, [art] thou Joab? she was willing to be satisfied that he was really the general, before she would impart her mind to him:



and he answered, I [am he]; the very person you ask after:



and she said unto him, hear the words of thine handmaid; though a woman, vouchsafe to hear what I have to say:



and he answered, I do hear: am ready to hear, and shall patiently and attentively hear whatever may be spoken; which was giving her leave and encouragement to proceed.





2 Samuel 20:18



Ver. 18. Then she spake, saying, they were wont to speak in old time,.... It was a common saying, a proverbial expression among the ancient sages:



saying, they shall surely ask [counsel] at Abel, and so they ended [the matter]. Abel, it seems, had been a city so famous for wise and prudent men, that it was common for the inhabitants of other cities, in the several parts of the kingdom, when any controversy arose among them, to say to one another, since we cannot agree this matter among ourselves, let us go to Abel, and take advice there, and leave it to their arbitration; and so they did, and things were presently brought to an issue, and happily concluded; nay, when the king had a mind to make a decree or law, as R. Isaiah observes, he used to send to Abel to know whether they would submit to it; and if they agreed to it, then he proceeded in it; for other cities followed their example, so famous was this city, and of so great account: now the woman argues from hence, that surely such a renowned city should not hastily be destroyed; but the Targum directs to another sense, and which perhaps is best, and is followed by Jarchi, Kimchi, and others, paraphrasing the words thus,



"she spake, saying, I remember now what is written in the book of the law, to ask a city first, saying, (will ye make peace?) so shouldest thou have asked of Abel, will ye make peace, or receive terms of peace?''



referring to the law in De 20:10; signifying, if that had been attended to as it ought (for if such methods were to be taken with Heathen cities, much more with a city of Israel, as Abel was), things would soon have been agreed and issued; had Joab upon approaching the city proposed his terms of peace, they would have immediately yielded to them, and so the matter would have ended at once; for they were a peaceable people, as it follows: though Dr. Lightfoot {b} gives another sense of these words, that Sheba and his party when they came to the city,



"they at first certainly said thus, that they would ask Abel of its peace (or on whose side it was), and so they made the matter entire, or made a show of their own integrity:''



by which this woman assured Joab, that the men of Abel had not invited, nor willingly received Sheba and his rebels into the city, but they had deceived them by fawning and false words, pretending only to inquire about the peace and welfare of their city.



{b} Works, vol. 2. p. 367.





2 Samuel 20:19



Ver. 19. I [am one of them that are] peaceable [and] faithful in Israel,.... Her meaning is, that she was of a city which consisted of peaceable and faithful men, that were peaceable among themselves, and faithful to their king, who never were concerned in any insurrection or rebellion, not in the late one under Absalom:



thou seekest to destroy a city, and a mother in Israel; a metropolitan city, which had several towns and villages under its jurisdiction, which were as daughters to it. Some think she means herself, because very old, supposed {c} to be Serah, the daughter of Asher, a son of Jacob, which is improbable:



wilt why thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? a city which is a part of the land, that is the Lord's inheritance.



{c} Jarchi & Kimchi in loc. Hieron. Trad. Heb. in 2 Reg. fol. 79. L.





2 Samuel 20:20



Ver. 20. And Joab answered and said, far be it from me, far be it from me,.... He repeats these words, to show how detestable it was to him to do what she suggested:



that I should swallow up or destroy; any in a violent and unrighteous manner, and especially a city of which she had given such a character for its greatness and worth, and for the peaceableness and fidelity of its inhabitants.





2 Samuel 20:21



Ver. 21. The matter [is] not so,.... I am not come with the army against this city with any ill will to it, and with an intention to destroy it: the case is this,



but a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name; for though he was by birth a Benjaminite, his dwelling was in Mount Ephraim in that tribe; unless there was a place of this name in the tribe of Benjamin, so called from any memorable event there, as the wood of Ephraim, 2Sa 18:6. This same man, says Joab,



hath lifted up his hand against the king, [even] against David; is in rebellion against the king, even so great and good a king as David; he has lifted up his hand, and blown a trumpet to draw off men from David, and after himself; he has committed acts of hostility and treason; he has drawn his sword, and raised an insurrection and rebellion in the nation:



deliver him only, and I will depart from the city: he did not desire any of his followers to be delivered up, only himself, knowing the rebellion would cease upon the delivery of him; and being unwilling that the blood of any Israelite should be shed, whom he had unawares drawn into this rebellion, and who he knew would return to their own cities upon this:



and the woman said unto Joab, behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall; she knew the fright the inhabitants of the city were in, and how disposed they were to do anything to save their city; she knew what influence she had among them, and how weak Sheba's party was, and therefore could assure Joab that this should be done.





2 Samuel 20:22



Ver. 22. Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom,.... Went from the wall of the city into it, and convened the principal inhabitants together, and made so wise a speech to them, and represented things in such a light, and so prudently conducted, that they unanimously agreed to her motion:



and they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast [it] out to Joab; whose face Joab knew full well, and was satisfied it was his head that was thrown over:



and he blew a trumpet; as a sign of retreat:



and they retired from the city, every man to his tent; the army under Joab broke up the siege, and departed, every man to his own city, as the Targum:



and Joab returned unto Jerusalem unto the king; to give him an account of his success, and how the rebellion was crushed; and this gave him courage and boldness to appear before the king, which one would wonder else he should have, when he had killed his general in cold blood, the king had sent out, and without his leave had reassumed his post as general of the army; but he was a bold daring man, a man of blood, and hardened in sin, and had power in the army, and over David himself, that he could not do what he would with him, but was obliged to be silent, and overlook things, and even to reestablish him in his office, as appears by what follows.





2 Samuel 20:23



Ver. 23. Now Joab [was] over all the host of Israel,.... Established in the post in which he formerly was; either having been never displaced, which though David thought to do, he was not able to effect it, because of his power and influence with the people; or if he had displaced him, which by some things in this chapter seemed to be the case, yet Amasa being dead, and the rebellion crushed by Joab, which still made him more haughty, and increased his popularity, David saw it most advisable to replace him; and because mention is made of him, as established in his office as general over the whole army, an account is given of the rest of David's officers; and the rather, as it was a sort of beginning his reign anew, after quelling the above rebellions:



and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the Cherethites, and over the Pelethites; was continued in his post, see 2Sa 8:18.





2 Samuel 20:24



Ver. 24. And Adoram [was] over the tribute,.... Or over those that collected and brought it, as the Targum; this was a new office, and which respected both the revenue he received from his own people, and the tribute brought him from the nations conquered by him:



and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] recorder; who was in this office before, and now continued and established in it, 2Sa 8:16.





2 Samuel 20:25



Ver. 25. And Sheva [was] scribe,.... Either the same with Benaiah, or he was dead or removed, and Sheva was put in his place, see 2Sa 8:17;



and Zadok and Abiathar [were] the priests; as before;

See Gill on "2Sa 8:17".





2 Samuel 20:26



Ver. 26. And Ira also the Jairite,.... Which some take to be the same with Ira the Ithrite, 2Sa 23:38; a son of Jether or Ithra the Israelite, 2Sa 17:25; though others suppose he was Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 2Sa 23:26; and so the Targum here calls him Ira the Jairite, which was of Tekoah; and Tekoah being the chief place in Israel for oil olive {d}, with which the lamps were lighted, Jarchi thinks he had the name of Jairite from Jair, which signifies to enlighten; but rather he was a descendant from Jair the Gileadite, and perhaps was a great friend to David when in Gilead, and from whence he brought him and promoted him: for he



was a chief ruler about David; a prime minister, an intimate friend, the chief of his privy council; perhaps he succeeded Ahithophel; it is much we hear nothing of Hushai.



{d} Misn. Menachot, c. 8. sect. 3.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Samuel 21:1



INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 21



A famine being in the land three years, the Lord was inquired of, to know the reason of it; and it being answered, that it was on account of Saul's slaughter of the Gibeonites, they were summoned by David to know what satisfaction they required for the cruel usage of them, 2Sa 21:1; to which they replied, that they only desired seven of Saul's sons to be delivered up to them, to be hanged by them, which was granted, 2Sa 21:4; whose bones, with those of Saul and Jonathan, David buried in the sepulchre of their fathers, 2Sa 21:10; and the chapter is closed with an account of the various battles fought with the Philistines, in which four of their generals were slain, 2Sa 21:15.



Ver. 1. Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year,.... That is, three years running, one after another; some think this, though here related, was before the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, and not after, and there are several things which may incline to it, as that the sin of Saul should otherwise be so long unpunished, and that the bones of Saul and Jonathan were not sooner removed, here related; and that there should be so many battles the Philistines after they were subdued, as recorded in this chapter; and in one of the Jewish {e} writings it is said, that this was the year after Saul was slain; though, in other copies of the same book, it is said to be thirty years after; and so in that Abarbinel used, and who is of the mind that what is here related stands in the order in which it was, and of the same opinion are some of our best chronologers {f}:



and David inquired of the Lord; before the high priest by Urim and Thummim, what should be the cause of the famine perhaps suspecting it was some sins of his; the first year he might take no notice of it, hoping for a more fruitful season the next year, it arising, as he might suppose, from some natural cause; the second year he might begin to think it was for some national sins, but might be remiss in his inquiry into them; but the third year he was alarmed, and concluded there was something extraordinary and special, and feared it was on his account, and this put him on making inquiry:



and the Lord answered, [it is] for Saul, and for [his] bloody house; on account of the blood shed by him and his family; which answer must in a good measure relieve the mind of David, if he was fearful it was for his sins:



because he slew the Gibeonites: which was contrary to the oath that Joshua and all Israel had given them not to slay them, but save them alive, Jos 9:15. When this was done is not certain; the Jews commonly say {g} that he slew them when he slew the priests at Nob, they being hewers of wood and drawers of water to them, and were slain with them; or because their maintenance depended on the priests, they being slain, it was in effect slaying them; but rather this refers to another time, and to other action or actions of Saul, who sought by various means to destroy these people, and root them out of the land. The Heathens had a notion that barrenness, unfruitfulness, and famine, were inflicted by God for murder. Philostratus {h} reports of the Ethiopian Indians, that for the murder of their king, Ganges, their ground was unfruitful, their cattle starved, their wives abortive, and their cities and houses fell to ruin, until the murderers were destroyed.



{e} Pirke Eliezer, c. 17. {f} Usser. Annal. Vet. Test. p. 55. Bedford's Scripture Chronology, p. 558. {g} T. Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 119. 1. {h} Vita Apollon. Tyanei, l. 3. c. 6.





2 Samuel 21:2



Ver. 2. And the king called the Gibeonites,.... Sent messengers unto them, and summoned them to come to him,



and said unto them; what is expressed in 2Sa 21:3; for what follows is in a parenthesis:



(now the Gibeonites [were] not of the children of Israel; originally, though they were proselyted to the Jewish religion, and were employed in the menial services of the sanctuary:



but of the remnant of the Amorites; they were the remains of the old Canaanites, who sometimes in general were called Amorites, otherwise the Gibeonites were called Hivites; see Jos 9:7;



and the children of Israel had sworn unto them; by their princes, as Joshua; yet,



and Saul, contrary to this oath, sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah); pretending a great concern for them, for their honour and profit; that these men ought not to live in their cities, and take the bread out of their mouths, and be employed in the service of the sanctuary; but that they ought to be expelled, and even cut off, being the old inhabitants of the land, the Lord ordered to be destroyed; and that though the Israelites had given an oath to the contrary, they were drawn into it by guile and deceit, and therefore not binding upon them; hence he sought by all means to harass and oppress them, and slew many of them, and destroyed them out of their cities, that they might be possessed by Judah and Benjamin; see 2Sa 4:2, compared with Jos 9:17.





2 Samuel 21:3



Ver. 3. Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, what shall I do for you,.... By way of satisfaction for the injuries done them:



and wherewith shall I make the atonement; for the offences committed, that so the wrath that was gone forth against the land in a famine might be appeased:



that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord? pray for a blessing upon the land which the Lord had chosen for his inheritance, and given as such to the people of Israel, that rain might descend upon it, and make it fruitful.





2 Samuel 21:4



Ver. 4. And, the Gibeonites said unto him,.... In reply to his motion:



we will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; this shall not be the ransom or atonement; it was not silver and gold Saul took from them, but the lives of their brethren, and therefore they insist upon life for life:



neither for us shall thou kill any man in Israel; who were not of the house of Saul; they did not desire any man should die, but who were of that family by whom they had suffered:



and he said, what you shall say, [that] will I do for you; whether by inflicting pecuniary fines, or punishing with death, which latter seems to be what they suggested, and afterwards insisted on; whatever, according to law and justice, was required, he was ready to do it for them.





2 Samuel 21:5



Ver. 5. And they answered the king,.... Declaring expressly what they would have done: the man that consumed us; meaning Saul, who lessened their number by cruel oppressions of some, and by taking away the lives of others:



and that devised against us, [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel; who had formed schemes, and published edicts, for banishing them out of the land; perhaps at the same time that he put away wizards and those that had familiar spirits out of the land, under the same pretence for zeal for the glory of God, and the good of the people of the land, 1Sa 28:3.





2 Samuel 21:6



Ver. 6. Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us,.... They settled upon this number, either because they were seven, and no more of the Gibeonites, whom Saul slew, as the Jew say {i}; two hewers of wood, two drawers of water, a keeper (of a synagogue), a scribe, and a servant; but perhaps the true reason was, they knew there were no more besides Mephibosheth, for whom David had a great respect, and therefore required no more:



and we will hang them up unto the Lord; not to gratify a revengeful spirit of theirs, but in honour to the justice of God, and to appease his wrath:



in Gibeah of Saul, [whom] the Lord did choose; which was Saul's native place, and where he always lived; so that to hang them there was to the greater disgrace of him and his family; and he being chosen of the Lord to be a king of Israel, was an aggravation of his crime in violating the oath made to the Gibeonites



and the king said, I will give [them]; for though he had sworn to Saul that he would not cut off his seed, yet as he had a divine direction in this case, as appears by the Lord's being pleased with it, and was entreated for the land by it, this oath of his was dispensed with; nor did he cut them off himself but delivered them to others, according to the will of God.



{i} T. Hieros. Kiddushin, fol. 65. 2.





2 Samuel 21:7



Ver. 7. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,.... As they did not name particular persons, only required seven sons, it was at the option of the king what sons to deliver to them, and therefore kept back Mephibosheth, who is thus described, to distinguish him from a son of Saul's of the same name, after mentioned:



because of the Lord's oath that [was] between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul; not merely or only out of affection to Mephibosheth, but because of the oath, that he might not be guilty of the same crime Saul was in slaying the Gibeonites.





2 Samuel 21:8



Ver. 8. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah,.... Saul's concubine, 2Sa 3:7;



whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; of whom we read nowhere else; after the name of the latter, it is probable, Jonathan's son was called, before mentioned:



and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; Michal had no children to the day of her death, nor was she the wife of Adriel, but Merab her sister, 1Sa 18:19; wherefore these sons were not whom she "bare", as the word used signifies, but, as we rightly render it, whom she "brought up" or educated, so the Targum, her sister being dead; and so the Jews say {k}, Merab brought them forth, and Michal brought them up, therefore they were called by her name; or the words may be supplied thus, "and the five sons [of the sister of Michal]", and, as in

2Sa 21:19, is supplied, "[the brother of] Goliath". Barzillai is here called the Meholathite, to distinguish him from Barzillai the Gileadite, spoken of in a former chapter, see 2Sa 17:27.



{k} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 19. 2.





2 Samuel 21:9



Ver. 9. And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites,.... The two sons of Rizpah and the five sons of Merab, two sons of Saul and five grandsons:



and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord; in the hill at Gibeah, that they might be seen by all that passed by, and serve to deter from such evils, which brought on them that punishment; gibbetings or crucifixions were commonly made on hills and mountains {l}: the phrase, "before the Lord", is either the same as "unto the Lord", 2Sa 21:6; to make atonement to the Lord, and in his sight; or it denotes that it was done publicly before the sun, and in the sight of it; for it cannot mean before the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence, for that was not there:



and they fell [all] seven together; they were hanged together, and died at one and the same time:



and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first [days], in the beginning of barley harvest; which began at the passover, the morrow after the first day of the feast, Le 23:10; which was the sixteenth of Nisan, on which day, the Jews say {m}, these men were hanged, and which must be about the beginning of our April.



{l} Vid. Lipsium de Cruce, l. 3. c. 13. {m} Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 190. 1.





2 Samuel 21:10



Ver. 10. And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth,.... Both as a token of mourning for her sons, and as fittest to defend from the weather, the heat by day of cold by night:



and spread it for her upon the rock; the hill on which her sons were hanged; this she spread as a canopy or tent to sit under, and be covered with it; not to cover the bodies with it, but herself, and where she sat to mourn the loss of her sons, and to watch their bodies, that they might not be devoured by birds and breasts of prey, as after observed: and here she sat



from the beginning of harvest until water dropped on them out of heaven; that is, as the Jews say {n}, from the sixteenth of Nisan, when barley harvest began, to the seventeenth of Marchesvan, when the former rain fell; that is, from the beginning of April to the beginning of October: but it is not likely that she continued so long watching the bodies, nor would there be any need of it to keep the birds and beasts from them; for after they had hung so many months, there would be nothing left for them; but rather the meaning is, that she continued there until it pleased God to send rain from heaven, which had been restrained, and a famine came upon it, because of the ill usage of the Gibeonites: and very probably the order from the king was, that the bodies should hang till rain came, that it might be observed what was the reason of their suffering; and no doubt Rizpah sat there praying that rain might come, and which, as Abarbinel thinks, came in a few days after, though not usual in summertime; but this was an extraordinary case, as in 1Sa 12:17; and was done to show the Lord was entreated for the land; and so Josephus says {o}, that upon the hanging up of these men, God caused it to rain immediately, and restored the earth to its former fruitfulness. According to the law in

De 21:22, the bodies should have been taken down and buried the same day: but these men suffered not for their own personal, sins, but for the sins of others, and to avert a public calamity, and therefore must hang till that was removed; nor were they executed by men bound by that law; and besides their continuing on the tree was according to the will of God, till he was entreated, who could dispense with this law; to which may be added, the ceremonial and judicial laws, of which this was one, gave place to those of a moral nature {p}, as this did to that of sanctifying the name of God in a public manner; hence the saying of one of the Rabbins upon this {q}, which is by many wrongly expressed,



"it is better that one letter should be rooted out of the law, than that the name of God should not be sanctified openly;''



that is, a lesser precept give way to a greater, or a ceremonial precept to a moral one, such as the sanctification of the name of God is:



and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day; as it is usual for crows {r} and ravens, and such sort of birds, to light on bodies thus hung up, and pick their flesh:



nor the beasts of the field by night; for it seems it was usual to make the gibbets, and so in some other nations the crosses, so low, that wild beasts could easily come at the bodies and devour them; so Blandina was hung upon a tree so low, that she might be exposed to the wild beasts to feed upon her, but not one of them would touch her body {s}; now Rizpah, by her servants, had ways and means to frighten away the birds, and beasts from doing any injury to the carcasses.



{n} Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 190. 1. {o} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 1. {p} See Stillingfleet's Origines Sacr. p. 140. {q} T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 79. 1. {r} "---- non pasces in cruce corvos", Horat. Epist, l. 1. Epist. 16. ver. 48. {s} Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 5. c. 1. Vid. Lipsium de Cruce, l. 3. c. 11. & l. 3. c. 13.





2 Samuel 21:11



Ver. 11. And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. Whether this was told out of good will or ill will is not certain; however, it was not disagreeable to David, but served to move pity and compassion in him to the woman, and to stir him up to give an honourable interment to Saul and his sons; and which would show that this fact was not done out of personal pique and revenge to his family, but in obedience to the will of God, and the honour of his name.





2 Samuel 21:12



Ver. 12. And David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabeshgilead,.... Which, according to Bunting {t}, was fifty two miles from Jerusalem; though perhaps David did not go thither in person to fetch them, but by his messengers, see 2Sa 21:14;



which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa; the history of all which see in 1Sa 31:8.



{t} Travels, &c. p. 122, 143.





2 Samuel 21:13



Ver. 13. And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son,.... Which had been buried there under an oak, 1Ch 10:12;



and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged; the seven sons of Saul, who had been lately hanged; who either had hung so long that their flesh was consumed, and the bones dropped upon the ground, from whence they gathered them; or they took them down and burnt the flesh off of them, and took the bones to bury them, which was not usually done {u}.



{u} Lipsins de Cruce, l. 2. c. 16.





2 Samuel 21:14



Ver. 14. And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son,.... Together with those who had been hanged:



buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah; a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:28;



in the sepulchre of Kish his father; the father of Saul, 1Sa 9:1; and which, according to Fuller {w}, and the position of it in his map, was not far from the hill on which the seven sons of Saul were hanged:



and they performed all that the king commanded; that is, David's messengers and servants did; they fetched the bones of Saul and Jonathan from Jabeshgilead, and buried them with those of his seven sons hanged, in the burying place of his father Kish, and made a general mourning for them; for the Jews say {x}, that by David's order Saul's coffin was carried through every tribe, and men, women, and children, came out and expressed concern:



and after that God was entreated for the land; not after the burial of the said persons, but after the seven men were hanged up; by this the wrath of God was appeased, which was seen by his sending rain and fruitful seasons, so that the famine ceased.



{w} Pisgah-Sight, B. 2. c. 12. p. 258. {x} Bemidbar Rabba, ut supra. (fol. 190. 1.)





2 Samuel 21:15



Ver. 15. Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel,.... Besides what is before recorded in this and the preceding book; being animated to it partly by the number of giants among them, and partly by the decline of David's life, and it may be chiefly by the insurrections and rebellions in Israel; though some think that these battles were not after the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, and the affair of the Gibeonites, though here recorded; but before, and quickly after the war with the Ammonites, next to which they are placed in 1Ch 20:1; but they seem to be placed here in their proper order:



and David went down, and his servants with him; to the borders of the Philistines, perceiving they were preparing to make war against him:



and fought against the Philistines; engaged in a battle with them:



and David waxed faint; in the battle, not able to bear the fatigues of war, and wield his armour as he had used, being in the decline of life; after he had been engaged a while, his spirits began to fail, not through fear, but through feebleness; but, according to Josephus, it was through weariness in pursuing the enemy put to flight, which the following person perceived, and turned upon him {y}.



{y} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 1.





2 Samuel 21:16



Ver. 16. And Ishbibenob, which [was] of the sons of the giant,.... Of Goliath, or of a giant, of the race of them:



the weight of whose spear [weighed] three hundred [shekels] of brass in weight; which must be understood either of the wood of it, or of the head of it, the flaming point of it, as many interpret it; and if so, it was but half the weight of Goliath's spear, unless there was any difference of the weight of iron and of brass, see 1Sa 17:7;



he being girded with a new [sword]; or rather with a new girdle, as the Targum; and so Jarchi, which might be given him as a mark of honour, or as a token of his having a commission in the army:



thought to have slain David; his aim was at him, and perceiving him faint and feeble, thought to take the advantage of it, and dispatch him.





2 Samuel 21:17



Ver. 17. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him,.... Observing him in danger, made haste to his relief:



and smote the Philistine, and killed him; it seems as if Abishai engaged with the Philistine, and killed him; but inasmuch as it will bear to be interpreted of David, and since the four giants here and hereafter mentioned are said to fall by the hand of David and his servants, 2Sa 21:22, it may be thought that this man fell by his hand; seeing it is clear that all the rest fell by the hands of his servants:



then the men of David sware unto him; after they had observed the danger he was exposed unto, and how narrowly he escaped with his life:



saying, thou shalt go no more with us to battle; they had persuaded him not to go to the battle with Absalom; they had suffered him to go with them now, he being, no doubt, forward and pressing to it; but now they were resolute, and determined he should never go more:



that thou quench not the light of Israel; signifying that their glory and prosperity depended on his life, and that, should he be taken away, they should be in affliction and adversity, their honour and their happiness would be at an end; the Targum is,



"thou mayest not extinguish the kingdom of Israel,''



the light and glory of it.





2 Samuel 21:18



Ver. 18. And it came to pass after this,.... After the former battle:



that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob; in

1Ch 20:4 it is called Gezer; either the place had two names, or these two places were near each other; so that the battle may be said to be fought both at the one and at the other, being fought equally near to both:



then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which [was] of the sons of the giant; who is called Sippai, 1Ch 20:4; he had his name from the lintel of a door, being as high as one, so tall that he could scarce go under one. Sibbechai was one of David's worthies, 1Ch 11:29; perhaps a descendant of Hushah, who sprung from Judah, 1Ch 4:4.





2 Samuel 21:19



Ver. 19. And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines,.... Another battle with them in the same place:



where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew [the brother of] Goliath the Gittite; the word "brother" is rightly supplied from

1Ch 20:5; where his name is said to be Lahmi, for not Goliath himself was slain, though some so interpret it, and take Elhanan to be David; so Jarchi, and with which agrees the Targum; but he was slain not at Gob, but in the valley of Elah, nor had David any such name as Elhanan; he was one of David's worthies, 2Sa 23:24; where he is called the son of Dodo, and in 1Ch 20:5, the son of Jair; and Lahmi there may not be the name of Goliath's brother, but, as here, the country name of Elhanan; for the words {z} there may be rendered,



"and Elhanan the son of Jair, the Lehemite (i.e. the Bethlehemite), slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite,''



and so perfectly agrees, with this:



the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam; not of Goliath's brother, but of Goliath himself, 1Sa 17:7.



{z} Vid. Buxtorf. Anticritic. par. 2. c. 2. p. 421.





2 Samuel 21:20



Ver. 20. And there was yet a battle in Gath,.... Besides the battles in the above place or places; for this does not necessarily suppose that one of the said battles had been there, only that this, which was another battle, had been there:



where was a man of [great] stature; for so the sense of the word appears to be from 1Ch 20:6; though here it signifies a man of strife and contention, a man of war, and both were true of him:



that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; twelve fingers on his two hands, and twelve toes on his two feet. Pliny {a} speaks of one M. Curiatius, a patrician, who had two daughters that had six fingers on an hand, and were called "Sedigitae", six-fingered; and of Volcatius, a famous poet, called "Sedigitus", or six-fingered, for the same reason; and elsewhere, from other writers {b} he makes mention of a people that had eight toes each foot; so Ctesias {c} speaks of a people in the mountains of India, which have eight fingers on each hand, and eight toes on each foot, both men and women:



and he also was born to the giant; a son of a giant.



{a} Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 43. {b} Megasthenes apud ib. l. 7. c. 2. {c} In Indicis, c. 31.





2 Samuel 21:21



Ver. 21. And when he defied Israel,.... The armies of Israel, as Goliath had done some years ago, 1Sa 17:10;



Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him; this brother of David is called Shammah, 1Sa 16:9; and Shimma, 1Ch 2:13; this son of his is another man from Jonadab his son, who was famous for his subtlety as this was for his valour, 2Sa 13:3. The Jews say {d} this was Nathan the prophet, a son of Shammah.



{d} Hieron. Trad. Heb. fol. 76. D.





2 Samuel 21:22



Ver. 22. These four were born to the giant in Gath,.... Not to Goliath, for one of them was his brother, but to some giant or another of that place, for which it was famous; they were all of them of the race of the giants; and so the Septuagint version, they were



"the offspring of the giants in Gath, whose family was Repha;''



and this Repha, or Arepha, as the Vulgate Latin version, according to Abarbinel, was a woman of the daughters of the giants; the Talmudists {e} make her to be the same with Orpah, Ru 1:4. These giants, it is highly probable, were the descendants of the Anakim which remained in Gath after they were cut off by Joshua in other places, Jos 11:22;



and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants; the first, Ishbibenob, fell by the hand of David assisted by Abishai, and the other three by the persons mentioned.



{e} T. Bab. Sotah. fol. 42. 2.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

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