John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Samuel 22:1



INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 22



This chapter contains a song or psalm, the same with the eighteenth psalm, and which, according to Jarchi, was composed by David in his old age, and, as Kimchi says, at the end or close of his days; but Abarbinel is of opinion that it was written in his youthful time, in the midst of his troubles, and was sung by him as often as he had a deliverance from any; and which may account for the several variations in it from the eighteenth psalm, which, the same writer observes, are seventy four; and are not to be ascribed to the difference of copies, or neglect of copiers: and very probably, towards the close of his days, he revised it, and made it fit for general use, and sent it with the rest of his psalms to the chief musician; but the particular consideration of it, and of the differences in it from Ps 18:1 are referred to the exposition of that book in its course.



Ver. 1. And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day [that] the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. See Gill on "Ps 18:1".





2 Samuel 22:2



Ver. 2. And he said, The Lord [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. See Gill on "Ps 18:2".





2 Samuel 22:3



Ver. 3. The God of my rock; in him will I trust: [he is] my shield,

and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour;

thou savest me from violence. See Gill on "Ps 18:2".





2 Samuel 22:4



Ver. 4. I will call on the Lord, [who is] worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. See Gill on "Ps 18:3".





2 Samuel 22:5



Ver. 5. When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. See Gill on "Ps 18:4".





2 Samuel 22:6



Ver. 6. The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me. See Gill on "Ps 18:5".





2 Samuel 22:7



Ver. 7. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God:

and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry [did enter] into his ears. See Gill on "Ps 18:6".





2 Samuel 22:8



Ver. 8. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth. See Gill on "Ps 18:7".





2 Samuel 22:9



Ver. 9. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. See Gill on "Ps 18:8".





2 Samuel 22:10



Ver. 10. He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness [was] under his feet. See Gill on "Ps 18:9".





2 Samuel 22:11



Ver. 11. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind. See Gill on "Ps 18:10".





2 Samuel 22:12



Ver. 12. And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters,

[and] thick clouds of the skies. See Gill on "Ps 18:11".





2 Samuel 22:13



Ver. 13. Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled. See Gill on "Ps 18:12".





2 Samuel 22:14



Ver. 14. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice. See Gill on "Ps 18:13".





2 Samuel 22:15



Ver. 15. And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them. See Gill on "Ps 18:14".





2 Samuel 22:16



Ver. 16. And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. See Gill on "Ps 18:15".





2 Samuel 22:17



Ver. 17. He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. See Gill on "Ps 18:16".





2 Samuel 22:18



Ver. 18. He delivered me from my strong enemy, [and] from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. See Gill on "Ps 18:17".





2 Samuel 22:19



Ver. 19. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. See Gill on "Ps 18:18".





2 Samuel 22:20



Ver. 20. He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me,

because he delighted in me. See Gill on "Ps 18:19".





2 Samuel 22:21



Ver. 21. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

See Gill on "Ps 18:20".





2 Samuel 22:22



Ver. 22. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. See Gill on "Ps 18:21".





2 Samuel 22:23



Ver. 23. For all his judgments [were] before me: and [as for] his statutes, I did not depart from them. See Gill on "Ps 18:22".





2 Samuel 22:24



Ver. 24. I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. See Gill on "Ps 18:23".





2 Samuel 22:25



Ver. 25. Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.

See Gill on "Ps 18:24".





2 Samuel 22:26



Ver. 26. With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, [and] with the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright.

See Gill on "Ps 18:25".





2 Samuel 22:27



Ver. 27. With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself unsavoury. See Gill on "Ps 18:26".





2 Samuel 22:28



Ver. 28. And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes [are] upon the haughty, [that] thou mayest bring [them] down.

See Gill on "Ps 18:27".





2 Samuel 22:29



Ver. 29. For thou [art] my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness. See Gill on "Ps 18:28".





2 Samuel 22:30



Ver. 30. For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall. See Gill on "Ps 18:29".





2 Samuel 22:31



Ver. 31. [As for] God, his way [is] perfect; the word of the Lord [is] tried: he [is] a buckler to all them that trust in him.

See Gill on "Ps 18:30".





2 Samuel 22:32



Ver. 32. For who [is] God, save the Lord? and who [is] a rock, save our God?] See Gill on "Ps 18:31".





2 Samuel 22:33



Ver. 33. God [is] my strength [and] power: and he maketh my way perfect. See Gill on "Ps 18:32".





2 Samuel 22:34



Ver. 34. He maketh my feet like hinds' [feet]: and setteth me upon my high places. See Gill on "Ps 18:33".





2 Samuel 22:35



Ver. 35. He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. See Gill on "Ps 18:34".





2 Samuel 22:36



Ver. 36. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great. See Gill on "Ps 18:35".





2 Samuel 22:37



Ver. 37. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip. See Gill on "Ps 18:36".





2 Samuel 22:38



Ver. 38. I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them. See Gill on "Ps 18:37".





2 Samuel 22:39



Ver. 39. And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet.

See Gill on "Ps 18:38".





2 Samuel 22:40



Ver. 40. For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.

See Gill on "Ps 18:39".





2 Samuel 22:41



Ver. 41. Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. See Gill on "Ps 18:40".





2 Samuel 22:42



Ver. 42. They looked, but [there was] none to save; [even] unto the Lord, but he answered them not. See Gill on "Ps 18:41".





2 Samuel 22:43



Ver. 43. Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, [and] did spread them abroad.

See Gill on "Ps 18:42".





2 Samuel 22:44



Ver. 44. Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people,

thou hast kept me [to be] head of the heathen: a people [which] I knew not shall serve me. See Gill on "Ps 18:43".





2 Samuel 22:45



Ver. 45. Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me. See Gill on "Ps 18:44".





2 Samuel 22:46



Ver. 46. Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places. See Gill on "Ps 18:45".





2 Samuel 22:47



Ver. 47. The Lord liveth; and blessed [be] my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. See Gill on "Ps 18:46".





2 Samuel 22:48



Ver. 48. It [is] God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me. See Gill on "Ps 18:47".





2 Samuel 22:49



Ver. 49. And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. See Gill on "Ps 18:48".





2 Samuel 22:50



Ver. 50. Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

See Gill on "Ps 18:49".





2 Samuel 22:51



Ver. 51. [He is] the tower of salvation for his king: and showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

See Gill on "Ps 18:50".

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Samuel 23:1



INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 23



In this chapter are recorded the last words of David under a divine inspiration, 2Sa 23:1; and an account is given of his great men, famous for warlike exploits, particularly of three mighty men who did very marvellous things, 2Sa 23:8; and of two others next unto them, which belonged to another class of three, 2Sa 23:18; and then of thirty one more, 2Sa 23:24; who are all mentioned by name.



Ver. 1. Now these [be] the last words of David,.... Which refer not to the psalm in the preceding chapter, but to what follows; not the last words he spoke, for he said many things afterwards; for the advice he gave to Solomon, and the instructions to him about building the temple, were delivered after this time; but these were the last after he had finished the book of Psalms; or the last that he spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or that he delivered out by way of prophecy; though the Jews {f} will not allow him to speak by the spirit of prophecy; they own he spoke by the Holy Spirit, which they distinguish from prophecy; but the Targum calls these words a prophecy, and takes them to be a prophecy of the Messiah, and of things to come, as undoubtedly they are, paraphrasing them thus;



"these are the words of the prophecy of David, which he prophesied concerning the end of the world, concerning the days of consolation that should come;''



this is observed to excite attention, the last words of dying men being usually regarded and remembered:



David the son of Jesse said; he began with his descent, which was comparatively mean, in order to illustrate the distinguishing goodness of God to him in his exaltation:



and the man [who was] raised up on high; from a low estate to an high one, from the sheepfold to the throne, to be king over all the tribes of Israel, and a conqueror, and head of the nations round about him:



the anointed of the God of Jacob; who was anointed king by Samuel by the order of the God of Jacob; and which was an instance of his being the God of Jacob or Israel, and of his care of them, and regard unto them, that he anointed such a man to be king over them, as well as it was an honour to David:



and the sweet psalmist of Israel; who composed most of the psalms and hymns of praise for the people of Israel; invented and set the tunes to them to which they were to be sung, and the instruments of music on which they were sung; and appointed singers to preside, and lead them in that part of divine worship, singing psalms and hymns; and very sweet were the psalms he composed as to the matter of them, and very sweet and delightful to the ear was the music in the manner of singing them: it may be rendered, who was "sweet" or "pleasant [in the] songs of Israel" {g}, his warlike exploits and victories being the subject of them, 1Sa 18:6;



said; as follows; for all that goes before are the words of the penman of this book, drawing the character of David; in which he was a type of Christ, a branch out of the root of Jesse, highly exalted, and chosen from among the people, anointed to be prophet, priest, and King; and who sweetly expounded the psalms concerning himself, and ordered them to be sung in the churches, and of which he is the subject, and may be said to be sweetly held forth in them, see Lu 24:44.



{f} Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 45. {g} twrmz Myen "jucundus psalmis", Montanus; "suavis in canticis", Vatablus; "amoenus psalmis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





2 Samuel 23:2



Ver. 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,.... The psalms and songs he composed were not the fruits of his own genius, but were written by him under the inspiration of the Spirit of God; by whom holy men of God, the penmen of the Scriptures, spoke, even as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, of whom David was one, being a prophet; see Ac 1:16 Ac 2:30; so the Targum here,



"David spoke by the spirit of prophecy of the Lord:''



or spake "in me" {h}; what he spoke was first internally impressed upon his mind by the Spirit of God, and then he expressed it with his tongue, as follows:



and his word [was] in my tongue; not only the matter of his psalms was indited by the Spirit of God, and suggested to his mind; but the very words in which they are delivered were given to him, and he was directed to make use of them, and did.



{h} yb "in me", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius.





2 Samuel 23:3



Ver. 3. The God of Israel said,.... To David, or by him; he who was the covenant God of Israel literally considered, and is the covenant God and Father of the whole spiritual Israel, and who is owned, believed in, and worshipped by them:



the Rock of Israel spake to me; the same with the God of Israel in other words, who is the strength and security of Israel; or the second divine Person, the Son and Word of God, is meant, who is often called a rock in Scripture; and is the rock on which the Israel or church of God is built, and in whom it remains safe and firm, the gates of hell not being able to prevail against it; and so here is an instance and proof of a trinity of persons in the Godhead; the God of Israel, Jehovah the Father; the Rock of Israel, Jehovah the Son; and the Spirit of Jehovah, as in 2Sa 23:2, who is Jehovah the Spirit: now what was said by these three divine Persons to David, and by him, and concerning himself as a type of the Messiah, follows:



he that ruleth over men [must be] just, ruling in the fear of God; which is a character every king among men ought to have, administering justice to their subjects; ruling not only according to the laws of the land, but according to the law of God; having his fear before their eyes, and acting with a view to his honour and glory, whose vicegerents they are, and to whom they are accountable; they should rule with gentleness and humanity, considering they are men, and not brutes, they rule over. Agamemnon in Homer is often called "king of men". This character, in all respects, was found in David, 2Sa 8:15; and may be here given as an instruction to his son and successor, Solomon; and is in all respects applicable to the Messiah, who is a "ruler" or King by the designation of his father; a ruler "over men", even over all men, yea, over the greatest of men, King of kings, and Lord of lords, and especially, and in an eminent sense, King of saints; and he is "just", a King that reigns in righteousness, righteous in all his ways and works, and particularly just as a King, as well as in all his other characters, see Jer 23:5; and upon whom, as man and Mediator, the Spirit of "the fear of the Lord" rests, and under the influence of which, as such, he has acted, Isa 11:1; so the Targum applies these words to the Messiah thus,



"the true Judge said, he would appoint to me a King, who is the Messiah, who shall arise and rule in the fear of the Lord:''



and they may be rendered, there shall be "a ruler over men, just, ruling in the fear of God"; or ruling, appointing, ordering, and directing the worship of God, and the ordinances of it under the Gospel dispensation, as Christ did, see Mt 28:18.





2 Samuel 23:4



Ver. 4. And [he shall be] as the light of the morning, [when] the sun riseth, [even] a morning without clouds,.... That is, such a ruler that rules in righteousness, and in the fear of God; he is the light and glory of his people, who guides and directs them, makes them cheerful and comfortable; his administrations are pleasant and delightful, and promise a growing and increasing happiness to them, like the morning light and rising sun; and there are no clouds, nor forebodings of dark times, affliction and distress, coming upon them, but all the reverse: and with Christ these metaphors well suit, who is the true light that shines, Joh 1:9; the morning star, Re 22:16; the dayspring from on high, Lu 1:78; the sun of righteousness, Mal 4:2; and light of the world, Joh 8:2; his going forth or appearance in human nature, at his incarnation, was as the morning, Ho 6:3; the first discovery him to Adam, after sin had brought a night of darkness on the world, was as the dawn of the morning; and this light like that of the morning increased, fresh and clearer discoveries of him being made to the patriarchs afterwards; and though as yet the sun was not up, and it was not a morning without clouds, yet the discoveries then made brought joy with them, as to Abraham and others, and were a sure sign of the sun rising. When Christ appeared in the flesh, the sun of righteousness then arose, and scattered the darkness of the night, both in the Jewish and Gentile world; introduced the light of the Gospel to a greater degree than it was under the legal dispensation, and made the Gospel day; which was not only like the morning light, growing and increasing, but was as a morning without clouds, without the darkness of the ceremonial law, the shadows of which now disappeared; and without the storms and tempests of the moral law, its curses being bore and removed by Christ; and without the frowns of divine wrath, reconciliation and satisfaction being made by him: and this is all applicable particularly to the government of Christ, which is delightful and grateful to his people, serviceable and beneficial to them, under which they enjoy great peace and prosperity; and which will more and more increase, and stilt be more glorious and illustrious, see Ps 72:7. A learned writer {i} has observed, that in an ancient manuscript the word "Jehovah" is inserted and read thus,



"and as the light of the morning shall arise Jehovah the sun,''



which clearly points to Christ the sun of righteousness; and be it an interpolation, it gives the true sense of the words: a glorious, beautiful, and illustrious person is described in Ovid {k} by the same figure as here:



[as] the tender grass [springing] out of the earth by clear shining after rain; which springs up the faster, and is more flourishing after a shower of rain, and when upon that the sun breaks out and shines clearly: or "from clear shining from rain" {l}; that is, the springing of the tender grass out of the earth is owing partly to the rain which falls in the night, and partly to the sun rising in the morning, and the clear shine of it: this may denote the fruitful and flourishing estate which a good and righteous ruler over men is the happy instrument of bringing his people into; and may be applied both to the incarnation of Christ, when he grew up as a tender plant, or as the tender grass, mean in his original and descent, weak in himself as man; and yet this fruit of the earth was excellent and comely, beautiful and glorious, and the springing of it owing to the favour and good will of God, and his coming was as the latter and former rain to the earth, Ho 6:3; and to the government of Christ, and the benefits of it to his church and people; who flourish under it the light of his grace and favour, and through rains of Gospel doctrines they are blessed with: or "than clear shining, than rain"; Christ is more beneficial to his people, who are comparable to grass for their meanness, and weakness, and number, than the sun and rain are to the grass in the field.



{i} Dr. Kennicott's State of the Hebrew Text, Dissert. 1. p. 468. {k} "Talisque apparuitilli", &c. Metamorph. l. 14. Fab. 16. ver. 767. {l} rjmm hgnm "a splendore, a pluvia germen de terra", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.





2 Samuel 23:5



Ver. 5. Although my house [be] not so with God,.... So bright, and flourishing, and prosperous as the government of the just ruler before described; or is not "right" {m} with God, meaning his family, in which great sins were committed, and great disorders and confusions brought into it, as the cases of Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah showed; or "not firm" or "stable" {n}, through the rebellion of one, the insurrection of another, and the usurpation of a third; yet he believed it would be firm and stable in the Messiah that should spring from him, promised in the everlasting covenant; though the Jewish writers understand this of the firmness and stability of his kingdom and government: "but my house is not so", &c. like the morning light, which increases by little and little, and like the morning, which sometimes is not cloudy, and sometimes is; sometimes the sun shines clearly, and sometimes not; or like the tender grass, which is sometimes flourishing, and after withers; but so is not my kingdom, it is a perpetual one, given and secured by an everlasting covenant; and such certainly is or will be the kingdom of the Messiah:



yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all [things], and sure; or, "for {o} he hath made", &c. the covenant by which the kingdom was settled on David and his seed was a covenant that would continue for ever, and would be kept, "observed", and "preserved" {p} in all the articles of it, and so be sure to his seed, particularly to the Messiah that should spring from him, in whom it was fulfilled, Lu 1:32; and the covenant of grace made with David's antitype, with Christ the head of the church, and the representative of it, and so with all his people in him, is an everlasting one: it was made with Christ from everlasting, as appears from the everlasting love of God, the source and spring of it; the earliness of the divine counsels on which it is formed, and blessings and promises of it, with which it is filled, which were before the world was; and from Christ being set up as the Mediator of it from everlasting: and it will continue to everlasting; it is a covenant that cannot be broken, will never be removed, nor give way to or be succeeded by another: it is "ordered in all things": to promote and advance the glory of all the three Persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit; to secure the persons of the saints, and to provide everything needful for them for time and eternity: and it is "sure"; it stands upon a sure basis, the unchangeable will and favour of God, and is in the hands of Christ, the same today, yesterday, and for ever; its mercies are the sure mercies of David, and its promises are yea and amen in Christ, and are sure to all the seed. Though things may not be with them God-ward, as they desire, and could be wished for; though they may be attended with many sins and infirmities, the temptations of Satan, divine desertions, and various afflictions, and be guilty of many backslidings, yet covenant interest always continues; and so, though in the kingdom and interest of Christ in the world, there are, and may be, many things disagreeable; it may be attended with persecutions, heresies, scandals, &c. yet it shall continue and increase, and spread, and be an everlasting kingdom:



for [this is] all my salvation: all depends upon this covenant; the safety of David's family, and the security of the kingdom in it, and to his seed, till the Messiah came, depended on the covenant made with him respecting that; and the spiritual and eternal salvation of the Lord's people depends upon the covenant of grace; which was contrived, formed, and settled in it, in which the Saviour is provided, and the persons to share in his salvation are taken into it and secured, with all blessings both of grace and glory:



and all [my] desire; to see it fulfilled; as it is the desire of good men to be led more and more into it, to see their interest in it, to have the blessings and promises of it applied unto them, and to be saved by it, and not by the covenant of works; and there is all that in it that a believer can desire to make him comfortable here, or happy hereafter; and it is what gives him delight and pleasure in all his troubles: it may be supplied he is, as well as "this is", and be applied to Christ, the ruler over men, described, 2Sa 23:3; with whom the covenant of grace is made, in whom is the salvation of men; he is the author and the only author of it; in whom it is complete and perfect; "all" salvation is in him, and which they can claim as theirs; to whom is "all [their] desire"; and in whom is "all [their] delight", as it may be rendered; on account of the glory of his person, the fulness of his grace, and his suitableness as a Saviour; whom they desire to know more of, and have more communion with:



although he made [it] not to grow; though there may not be at present any growth of outward prosperity, or of inward grace, or even of the produce of the earth, Hab 3:17; though the horn of David is not yet made to bud, or his family in growing and flourishing circumstances, or the Messiah, the man, the branch, does not yet shoot forth, though he certainly would; or, "for shall he not bud forth" he shall, Jer 23:5.



{m} Nk al "non recta", Cocceius. {n} "Non est re firma", Vitringa in Jesaiam, c. xi. 1. {o} yk "quia", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator. {p} hrmv "scrvatum", Tigurine version, Vatablus; "conservatum", Junius & Tremellius.





2 Samuel 23:6



Ver. 6. But [the sons] of Belial [shall be] all of them as thorns thrust away,.... Not like the tender grass that springs up, and flourishes after rain, and the sunshine upon that; but like thorns, useless, hurtful, and pernicious, and fit only for burning: this is true of wicked men in general, that cast off the yoke of the Lord, and become unprofitable, as Belial signifies; and of wicked governors in particular, who, instead of being helpful, are harmful to a commonwealth; and instead of being the joy and comfort of their subjects, and of giving pleasure to them, and making them cheerful and prosperous, give pain and trouble, and cause grief and sorrow; and are, if possible, to be thrust away, and deposed from government:



because they cannot be taken with hands; thorns cannot be handled and gently dealt with, but some instrument must be used to put them away with force; so wicked men, and especially wicked rulers, are untractable, and not to be managed in a gentle way, and therefore violent ones must be taken.





2 Samuel 23:7



Ver. 7. But the man [that] shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear,.... To remove these thorns, or sons of Belial, out of the way, or to defend himself against them; or weapons of war must be made use of to conquer and destroy them, according to the sense of Ben Gersom, and which De Dieu follows; a man that meddles with them must expect to be as much hurt and wounded by them, all over the body, as if not only the point or iron head of a spear, but the wood or handle of the spear, were thrust up in him; but the former sense seems best:



and they shall be utterly burnt with fire in the [same] place: where the thorns grew, or whither they are removed, or are sitting; where persons are sitting to warm themselves by them: and this may be understood of the destruction of wicked rulers, when their kingdom is taken from them, and they are consumed root and branch; and was true not only of Saul, and his posterity, as some apply it, and of Jeroboam, and those like to him, as the above Jewish writer; but of the wicked Jews, and their rulers, those sons of Belial, who rejected the yoke of Christ, and would not have him to rule over them; to whom the Lord sent the Roman armies fenced with swords and spears, and burnt their city, and destroyed them in the same place; and may take in antichrist, and antichristian states, those sons of Belial, of the wicked anomov, and lawless one, the son of perdition, whose city, Rome, shall be burnt with fire; and even all wicked men, at the great day of judgment, to which the Targum refers these words; when they, whose end, like thorns, is to be burnt, will be cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.





2 Samuel 23:8



Ver. 8. These [be] the names of the mighty men whom David had,.... Besides Joab his general, who is not mentioned; for these were all military men under him, which are distinguished into three classes; the first and highest consisted of three only, who were general officers; and the second also of three, who perhaps were colonels of regiments; and the third of thirty, who were captains of thousands and hundreds:



the Tachmonite that sat in the seat, the chief among the captains: not in the chief seat in the sanhedrim, and was the head of that, and so had the name of Tachmonite, from his wisdom, as the Jewish writers say; but in the council of war, where he presided under the general, or in his absence, and was, perhaps, lieutenant general, and so over all the captains; and therefore was neither David nor Joab, to whom some of the Rabbins apply these words, as observed by Kimchi; or rather he was the chief of the three to whom he belonged; his name, in 1Ch 11:11, is Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, or the son of an Hachmonite, the same as in

1Ch 27:2; and here it may be as well read Josheb-bashebeth the Tachmonite, the same name, with a little variation; which seem to be names given him, taken from his character and office; for his proper name was as follows:



the same [was] Adino the Eznite: so called either from the family he was of, or from the place of his birth; though a learned man thinks it should be read as in the following supplement {q},



[he lifted up his spear] against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time; which, though a very extraordinary exploit, yet not more strange, or so strange as that of Shamgar's slaying six hundred men with an ox goad, Jud 3:31, or as that of Samson's killing a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass, Jud 15:15: in 1Ch 11:11, the number is only three hundred, which some attempt to reconcile by observing, that not the same person is meant in both places; here he is called Joshebbashebeth, there Jashobeam; here the Tachmonite, there the son of an Hachmonite; nor is he there called Adino the Eznite; but yet it seems plain that in both places the chief of the three worthies of David is meant, and so the same man: others observe, that he engaged with eight hundred, and slew three hundred of them, when the rest fled, and were pursued and killed by his men; and he routing them, and being the occasion of their being slain, the slaying of them all is ascribed to him; or he first slew three hundred, and five hundred more coming upon him, he slew them also: but what Kimchi offers seems to be best, that there were two battles, in which this officer was engaged; at one of them he slew eight hundred, and at the other three hundred; for so what is omitted in the books of Samuel, and of the Kings, is frequently supplied in the books of Chronicles, as what one evangelist in the New Testament omits, another records. The above learned writer {r} conjectures, that v being the first letter of the words for three and eight, and the numeral letter being here reduced to its word at length, through a mistake in the copier, was written hnmv, "eight", instead of

vlv, "three": the Septuagint version is,



"he drew out his spear against eight hundred soldiers at once,''



and says nothing of slaying them; and seems to be the true sense of the word, as the same learned writer {s} has abundantly shown.



{q} Kennicott's Dissert. 1. so Hillerus in Onomastic. Sacr. p. 230, 231, renders it, "the glory of the spear or spearmen stood against eight hundred", &c. and Weemse, "his delight was to lift up his spear". Exercitat. 16. p. 137. {r} P. 96. {s} P. 103.





2 Samuel 23:9



Ver. 9. And after him [was] Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite,.... Or the son of Ahohi, perhaps the same with Ahoah, a descendant of Benjamin, 1Ch 8:4; this Eleazar was the next to the Tachmonite, the second worthy of the first class:



[one] of the three mighty men with David; the second of the three valiant men that were with David in his wars, and fought with him, and for him:



when they defied the Philistines; clapped their hands at them, gloried over them, daring them to come and light them; so did David and his mighty men, as Goliath had defied them before:



[that] were there gathered together to battle; at Pasdammim, as appears from 1Ch 11:13;



and the men of Israel were gone away; fled when they saw the Philistines gather together to fight them, notwithstanding they had defied them; and so David, and his three mighty men, were left alone to combat with the Philistines.





2 Samuel 23:10



Ver. 10. He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary,.... He rose up when the Israelites fled, and stood his ground alone, and fought with the Philistines, and smote them with his sword, until his hand was weary with smiting:



and his hand clave unto the sword; which was contracted by holding it so long, and grasping it so hard, that it could not easily be got out of it; or through the quantity of blood which ran upon his hand, as it was shed, so Josephus {t}; and which being congealed, and dried, caused his hand to stick to the hilt of his sword, so that they were, as it were, glued together by it; or the sense may be only, that though weary, he did not drop his sword, but held it fast till he had destroyed the enemy:



and the Lord wrought a great victory that day; for to him it must be ascribed, and not to the strength and valour of the man:



and the people returned after him only to spoil; they that fled, when they saw what a victory was obtained by him, returned and came after him; not to help him in smiting, but to spoil those that were slain, and strip them of what they had.



{t} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 4.





2 Samuel 23:11



Ver. 11. And after him [was] Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite,.... One who was of the mountainous country, as the Targum, the hill country of Judea, of Hebron, or the parts adjacent; this was the third of the first three; there was one of this name among the thirty, 2Sa 23:33;



and the Philistines were gathered together into a troop; but so they were no doubt at first; R. Isaiah takes it to be the name of a place called Chiyah; as the Targum, Chayatha; and which Kimchi says was a village, an unwalled town; and Ben Melech observes, that it is said in the Arabic language, a collection of houses is called Alchai: it may be the same with Lehi, where Samson slew a thousand with the jawbone of an ass, Jud 15:17, whence it had its name; and Josephus {u} says, the place where the Philistines were gathered together was called "the Jawbone": but perhaps the sense of Ben Gersom may be best of all, that they gathered together in this place for provision, for food and forage, to support the life of them and their cattle: since it follows,



where was a piece of ground full of lentiles; a sort of pulse, which was eaten in those countries, and the pottage of which was delicious food, see Ge 25:30;



and the people fled from the Philistines; as they did before under Eleazar, 2Sa 23:9.



{u} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 4.





2 Samuel 23:12



Ver. 12. But he stood in the midst of the ground,.... The field of lentiles:



and defended it; the field, so that the Philistines could not ravage it, and get food and forage from it:



and slew the Philistines; made a great slaughter among them, entirely routed them, so that they that escaped his sword were obliged to flee:



and the Lord wrought a great victory; to whom the glory of it belonged; a similar fact is ascribed to Eleazar before mentioned in

1Ch 11:13; and, indeed, it seems to be the same, and in which they were both concerned; for it is plain from the account that there were more than one engaged in this action, since it is there said, "and they set themselves in the midst of that parcel"; and though that parcel of ground is said there to be full of barley, it may easily be reconciled by observing, that one part of it might be sowed with barley, and the other part with lentiles; so the Targum in 1Ch 11:13; for it was half lentiles and half barley; and Eleazar might be placed to defend the one, and Shammah the other; from whence it appears it was about March when this action was, at the latter end of which barley harvest began.





2 Samuel 23:13



Ver. 13. And three of the thirty chiefs went down,.... Or three that were chief of the thirty, superior to them; which some understand of the three before mentioned, so Josephus {w}; and that having related some particular exploits of theirs, here observes one, in which they were all concerned; and others think the three next are meant, of whom Abishai was the chief, Benaiah the next, and the third Asahel; but the first sense is best:



and came to David in the harvest time, unto the cave of Adullam; not when he was there, upon his flight from Saul, 1Sa 22:1; but after he was king, when engaged in war with the Philistines; perhaps wheat harvest is here meant:



and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim; the army of the Philistines, as the Targum; of the valley of Rephaim,

See Gill on "Jos 15:8".



{w} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 4.





2 Samuel 23:14



Ver. 14. And David [was] then in an hold,.... In a strong hold; the strong hold of Zion, as Josephus {x}, or one on a rock near the cave of Adullam, see 1Ch 11:15;



and the garrison of the Philistines [was] then [in] Bethlehem; which was about six miles from Jerusalem; the valley of Rephaim lay between that and Bethlehem; so far had they got into the land of Judea, and such footing in it, as to have a garrison so near its metropolis.



{x} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 4.





2 Samuel 23:15



Ver. 15. And David longed, and said,.... It being harvest time, the summer season, and hot weather, and he thirsty:



oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem,

which [is] by the gate! which he was well acquainted with, being his native place; and which might make it the more desirable, as well as its waters might be peculiarly cool and refreshing, and very excellent, as Kimchi suggests. This well was about a mile from Bethlehem, now called David's well, as some travellers say {y}. It is said to be a very large well, with three mouths, and lies a little out of the road {z}; and that there is now near Rachel's grave a good rich cistern, which is deep and wide; wherefore the people that go to dip water are provided with small leathern buckets, and a line, as usual in those countries {a}; but Mr. Maundrell {b} says it is a well, or rather a cistern, supplied only with rain, without any excellency in its waters to make them desirable; but it seems, he adds, David's spirit had a further aim. Some think he meant by this to get Bethlehem out of the hands of the Philistines, and obtain the possession of it; others, as Jarchi, that he intended to ask some question of the sanhedrim that sat there; and others, that his desire was after the law of God, called waters, as in Isa 55:1; and some Christian writers, both ancient and modern {c}, are of opinion, that not literal but spiritual water was desired by him, and that he thirsted after the coming of the Messiah, to be born at Bethlehem, and the living water which he only can give, Joh 4:10.



{y} Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 1. p. 363. {z} Le Bruyn's Voyage to the Levant, ch. 52. p. 204. {a} Rauwolff's Travels, part 3. p. 317, 318. {b} Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 90. {c} Ambros. Apolog. David l. 1. c. 7. gloss. ordinar. & Schmidt in loc. Pfeiffer. Difficil. Loc. Script. cent. 2. loc. 91. Horn. Dissert. de desiderio David. sect. 10.





2 Samuel 23:16



Ver. 16. And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines,.... Which lay in the valley of Rephaim, between the hold in which David was and the well of Bethlehem; these three men hearing David express himself in the above manner, though without any view that any should risk their lives to obtain it, only in a general way said, oh for a draught of the water of the well of Bethlehem! immediately set out, and made their way through the army of the Philistines to the well:



and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that [was] by the gate,

and took [it], and brought [it] to David; in a vessel which they probably carried with them for that purpose:



nevertheless he would not drink thereof; because, say they who take these words in a spiritual sense, it was not this water, but spiritual water, he desired: but the reason is given in 2Sa 23:17:



but poured it out unto the Lord; as a libation to him, it being rather blood than water, being fetched at the hazard of men's lives, and therefore more fit to be offered as a sacrifice to God than to be drank by him; and this he might do in thankfulness to God for preserving the lives of the men. Gersom thinks it was now the feast of tabernacles, which was the feast of ingathering the fruits of the earth, when great quantities of water were drawn and poured out at the altar, which was done to obtain the blessing of the former rain; See Gill on "Joh 7:37" and See Gill on "Joh 7:38".





2 Samuel 23:17



Ver. 17. And he said, be it far from me, O Lord, that one should do this,.... Drink of the water these men had brought him:



[is not this] the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? who risked the shedding of their blood, and went in danger of their lives to get it:



therefore he would not drink it: some compare with this the story of Alexander {d} to whom a vessel of water was offered when in extreme thirst, which he refused, because he could not bear to drink it alone, and so small a quantity could not be divided among all about him; but the reasons are not the same:



these things did these three mighty men; which made them very famous.



{d} Curt. Hist. l. 7. c. 5.





2 Samuel 23:18



Ver. 18. And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among the three,.... Another triumvirate, of which he was the head:



and he lifted up his spear against three hundred, [and] slew [them]; Josephus {e} says six hundred; this seems to confirm the reading of

2Sa 23:8, that the number eight hundred is right, for if it was only three hundred, Abishai would have been equal to one, even the first, of the former three; which yet is denied him in 2Sa 23:19:



and had the name among three; of which he was one; and he had the chief name among them, or was the most famous of them.



{e} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 4.





2 Samuel 23:19



Ver. 19. Was he not most honourable of three?.... He was; who, besides the exploit here mentioned, did many other things; he went down with David into Saul's camp, and took away his spear and cruse, which were at his bolster, 1Sa 26:6; he relieved David when in danger from Ishbibenob the giant, 2Sa 21:16; he beat the Edomites, and slew eighteen thousand of them in the valley of salt, 1Ch 18:12:



therefore he was their captain; of the other two, or was head over them, took rank before them:



howbeit he attained not unto the [first] three; for fortitude, courage, and warlike exploits, namely, to the Tachmonite, Eleazar, and Shammah.





2 Samuel 23:20



Ver. 20. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel,.... A city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:21; the father of this man was a man of great vivacity, valour, and strength, so that it was like father like son. Procopius Gazaeus says Benaiah was David's brother's son, and a grandson of Jesse:



who had done many acts; which may refer either to the father of Benaiah or to Benaiah himself; and indeed the Syriac and Arabic versions refer the preceding character, "a valiant man", not to the father, but the son:



he slew two lionlike men of Moab; two princes of Moab, as the Targum, or two giants of Moab, as the Syriac and Arabic versions; men who were comparable to lions for their strength and courage; for this is not to be understood of two strong towers of Moab, as Ben Gersom, which were defended by valiant men like lions, or which had the form of lions engraved on them: nor of Moabitish altars, as Gussetius {f}, the altar of the Lord, being called by this name of Ariel, the word used; but of men of uncommon valour and fortitude:



he went down also, and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow; not Joab, 1Ki 2:34, as is the tradition {g}, but a real lion, the strongest among the beasts; and that in a pit where he could not keep his distance, and turn himself, and take all advantage, and from whence he could not make his escape; and which indeed might quicken his resolution, when he must fight or die; and on a snowy day, when lions are said to have the greatest strength, as in cold weather, or however are fiercer for want of food; and when Benaiah might be benumbed in his hands and feet with cold. Josephus {h} represents the case thus, that the lion fell into a pit, where was much snow, and was covered with it, and making a hideous roaring, Benaiah went down and slew him; but rather it was what others say, that this lion very much infested the places adjacent, and did much harm; and therefore, for the good of the country, and to rid them of it, took this opportunity, and slew it; which one would think was not one of the best reasons that might offer; it seems best therefore what Bochart {i} conjectures, that Benaiah went into a cave, for so the word used may signify, to shelter himself a while from the cold, when a lion, being in it for the same reason, attacked him, and he fought with it and slew it; or rather it may be an hollow place, a valley that lay between Acra and Zion, where Benaiah, hearing a lion roar, went down and slew it {k}.



{f} Ebr. Comment p. 95. {g} Hieron. Trad. Heb. in 2 Reg. fol. 80. C. {h} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 4.) {i} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 4. col. 758. {k} See the Universal History, vol. 4. p. 227.





2 Samuel 23:21



Ver. 21. And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man,.... A person of good countenance and shape, very large and tall; in 1Ch 11:28, he is said to be a man of great stature, and five cubits high, and so wanted a cubit and a span of the height of Goliath, 1Sa 17:4;



and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; as large as Goliath's; for in

1Ch 11:23, it is said to be like a weaver's beam, as Goliath's was,

See Gill on "1Sa 17:7":



and he went down to him with a staff; with a walking staff only, having no other weapon:



and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand; and therefore must be a man very nimble and dexterous, as well as bold and courageous:



and slew him with his own spear; as David cut off Goliath's head with his own sword. This is supposed {l} to be Shimei, the son of Gera, 1Ki 2:46.



{l} Hieron. Trad. Heb. ut supra. (in. 2 Reg. fol. 80. C.)





2 Samuel 23:22



Ver. 22. These [things] did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,.... Slew a lion, and two lion-like men of Moab, and an Egyptian of a gigantic stature, 2Sa 23:20:



and had the name among three mighty men; of which he was one, and Abishai another, the third Asahel, one of the thirty; or was over them, 2Sa 23:24, since thirty are reckoned without him. Abarbinel thinks that the third was Adina, the son of Shiza, the Reubenite, 1Ch 11:42; since thirty were with him, and he at the head of them.





2 Samuel 23:23



Ver. 23. He was more honourable than the thirty,.... Whose names are after recorded:



but he attained not to the [first] three; the first triumvirate, Jashobeam, Eleazar, and Shammah; he was not equal to them for fortitude, courage, and military exploits:



and David set him over his guard; his bodyguard, the Cherethites and Pelethites, 2Sa 8:18; who are called in the Hebrew text "his hearing" {m}, because they hearkened to his orders and commands, and obeyed them.



{m} wtemvm la "ad auditum suum", Pagninus, Montanus.





2 Samuel 23:24



Ver. 24. Asahel the brother of Joab [was] one of the thirty,.... Or rather over the thirty {n}, who are next mentioned; since there are thirty reckoned besides him, and the Arabic version calls him the prince of the thirty; Joab is not named at all, because he was general of the whole army, and so not to be reckoned in any of the three classes:



Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem: a townsman of David.



{n} Myvylvb "supra triginta istos", Junius & Tremellius.





2 Samuel 23:25



Ver. 25. Shammah the Harodite,.... Called Shammah the Harorite in

1Ch 11:27; by a change of the letters r "R" and d "D", which is frequent:



Elika the Harodite; or who was of Harod, as the Targum; these both were from one place: mention is made of the well of Harod, Jud 7:1.





2 Samuel 23:26



Ver. 26. Helez the Paltite,.... Who was of a place called Pater, as the Targum; in 1Ch 11:27, he is called the Pelonite:



Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite; who was of the city of Tekoah, the native place of Amos the prophet, famous for oil, about twelve miles from Jerusalem; See Gill on "Am 1:1".





2 Samuel 23:27



Ver. 27. Abiezer the Anethothite,.... He was of Anathoth, in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 21:18, the birthplace of Jeremiah the prophet, Jer 1:1:



Mebunnai the Hushathite; the same with Sibbecai, 1Ch 11:29; this man had two names, and was a descendant of Hushah, who came of Judah, 1Ch 4:4.





2 Samuel 23:28



Ver. 28. Zalmon the Ahohite,.... The same with Ilai, 1Ch 11:29; a descendant of Ahoah, a grandson of Benjamin, 1Ch 8:4;



Maharai the Netophathite, who was of Netophah, a city of the tribe of Judah, mentioned along with Bethlehem, Ne 7:26; a place of this name is spoken of in the Misnah {o}, famous for artichokes and olives.



{o} Misn. Peah, c. 7. sect. 1. Sheviith, c. 9. sect. 5.





2 Samuel 23:29



Ver. 29. Heleb the son of Baanah, a Netophathite,.... Called Heled, 1Ch 11:30;



Ittai the son of Ribai out of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin: sometimes called Gibeah of Benjamin, Jud 20:10, and Gibeah of Saul, 1Sa 11:4, being a city in the tribe of Benjamin, and the birth place of Saul king of Israel; and this man is distinguished hereby from Ittai the Gittite, 2Sa 15:19.





2 Samuel 23:30



Ver. 30. Benaiah the Pirathonite,.... Who was of Pirathon, a city in the tribe of Ephraim, Jud 12:15.



Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash; which perhaps ran by the hill Gaash, and was also in the tribe of Ephraim, Jos 24:30. This man is called Hurai, 1Ch 11:32.





2 Samuel 23:31



Ver. 31. Abialbon the Arbathite,.... A native of Betharabah, either in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:6, or in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:18; he is called Abiel in 1Ch 11:32;



Azmaveth the Barhumite; or Bachurimite, the letters transposed, an inhabitant of Bachurim or Bahurim, a city in the tribe of Benjamin, 2Sa 16:5.





2 Samuel 23:32



Ver. 32. Eliahba the Shaalbonite,.... Of Shaalboa or Shaaiabin, a city in the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:42; perhaps the Silbonitis of Josephus {p}:



of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan; in 1Ch 11:34, it is, the sons of Hashem the Gizonite: sons are spoken of, though but one, as in

Ge 46:23.



{p} De Bello Jud. l. 3. c. 3. sect. 3.





2 Samuel 23:33



Ver. 33. Shammah the Hararite,.... From the mountainous country, as the Targum; the Arabic and Syriac versions say, from the mount of Olives:



Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite: from the high mountain, as the Targum; in 1Ch 11:35, he is called the son of Sacar.





2 Samuel 23:34



Ver. 34. Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite,.... In 1Ch 11:35, he is called Eliphal the son of Ur:



Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite; David's counsellor, that went off to Absalom, 2Sa 15:12; Eliam his son is supposed, by the Jews, to be the father of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, 2Sa 11:3; according to Hillerus {q}, he is the same with Ahijah the Pelonite, 1Ch 11:36.



{q} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 906.





2 Samuel 23:35



Ver. 35. Hezrai the Carmelite,.... Of Mount Carmel; or from Carmela, as the Targum, see 1Sa 25:2; he is called Hezro, 1Ch 11:37;



Paarai the Arbite; or from Arab, as the Targum, a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:52; according to Hillerus {r}, the same with "Naarai the son of Ezbai", in 1Ch 11:37.



{r} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 499.





2 Samuel 23:36



Ver. 36. Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah,.... kingdom in Syria, 2Sa 8:3; according to Hillerus {s} the same with Joel, 1Ch 11:38;



Bani the Gadite; who was of the tribe of Gad, as the Targum; in the room of this stands "Mibhar, the son of Haggeri", in 1Ch 11:38.



{s} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 856.





2 Samuel 23:37



Ver. 37. Zelek the Ammonite,.... Who was so either by birth, and became a proselyte; so the Targum says, he was of the children of Ammon; or is so called, because he had sojourned some time in their land, or had done some exploits against them; unless he was of Chepharhaammonai, a city of the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:24;



Naharai the Beerothite; native of Beeroth, a city in the same tribe, Jos 18:25;



armourbearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah; Joab had ten of them, this perhaps was the chief of them, 2Sa 18:15; who was advanced to be a captain, and therefore has a name and place among the thirty, very likely for some military, exploits performed by him; he is in the list of David's worthies, though not Joab his master, as before observed; the reason of Joab being left out is either because he was over them all, as before noted; according to Josephus {t}, Uriah the Hittite, after mentioned, was an armourbearer to Joab.



{t} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 7. sect. 1.





2 Samuel 23:38



Ver. 38. Ira an Ithrite, Gareb an Ithrite. These were of Jether, as the Targum, a descendant of Caleb, of the tribe of Judah, 1Ch 2:50 1Ch 4:15.





2 Samuel 23:39



Ver. 39. Uriah the Hittite,.... The husband of Bathsheba; of whom

See Gill on "2Sa 11:3";



thirty and seven all; reckoning the three mighty men of the first class, the three of the second, and the third class consisting of thirty men, whose names are as above, and Joab the general and head of them all. In 1Ch 11:41, Zabad the son of Ahlai follows Uriah as one of this catalogue; he succeeding in honour one that soon died, particularly Elika, 2Sa 23:25, who is omitted in Chronicles, where a list of fifteen more is given, 1Ch 11:42; at the head of which stands Adina a Reubenite, "and thirty" are said to be "with him", according to our version; but should be rendered, as by Junius and Tremellius, "but the thirty were superior to him", that is, the above thirty; for these fifteen, though brave men, were of lesser note.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Samuel 24:1



INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 24



In this chapter an account is given of David's numbering of the people, 2Sa 24:1; of the sense he had of his sin, and of his acknowledgment of it; and of the Lord's displeasure at it, who sent the prophet Gad to him, to propose three things to him, one of which he was to choose as a punishment for it, 2Sa 24:10; when he chose the pestilence, which carried off a great number of the people, 2Sa 24:14; and David was directed to build an altar to the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite, with whom he agreed for it, and built one on it, and offered upon it, and so the plague was stayed, 2Sa 24:18.



Ver. 1. And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,.... It had been kindled, and appeared before in sending a three years' famine among them for Saul's ill usage of the Gibeonites, 2Sa 21:1; and now it broke forth again, either for some secret sins committed, as Kimchi suggests, or for the rebellion of Absalom, and the insurrection of Sheba, in which multitudes of them joined; so Abarbinel; no doubt there was cause for it, though it is not expressed:



and he moved David against them; not the Lord, but Satan, as may be supplied from 1Ch 21:1; or "it moved him"; the anger of the Lord, as the last mentioned writer interprets it; or the heart of David, as Ben Gersom; that is, the evil imagination of his heart, as Kimchi; the Lord left him to the corruption of his nature, sometimes called Satan, 2Co 12:7; which wrought powerfully in him, and stirred him up to take a step contrary to the interest of Israel, and what was prejudicial to them, as the event showed: it moved him to say; to Joab and his captains:



go, number Israel and Judah: not all the individuals, but such as were fit for war, able to bear arms, see 2Sa 24:9.





2 Samuel 24:2



Ver. 2. For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which [was] with him,.... Or who was with him, even Joab, who was now at court, and was a counsellor of David, as well as his general; or which army was with Joab, a standing army he had the command of:



go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba; from the northern part of the land of Israel to the southern part of it, and this course was accordingly steered, 2Sa 24:6;



and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people; so that this appears to be done not through any urgent necessity, but merely out of curiosity, and to gratify the pride of his heart, and please himself with the thought of ruling such a numerous people, and brag of their numbers to other nations, and place his confidence therein; and no wonder it was displeasing to the Lord.





2 Samuel 24:3



Ver. 3. And Joab said unto the king,.... Not so rudely and insolently as he did on account of his mourning for Absalom, but in a more modest, decent, and polite manner:



now the Lord thy God add unto the people (how many soever they be) an hundredfold; he wished his subjects were an hundred times more numerous than they were:



and that the eyes of my lord the king may see [it]; that he might live to see with his own eyes so great an increase:



but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? he being now old, and therefore it might seem strange to indulge such curiosity, pride, and vanity, and besides quite needless and useless: the numbering of them would not make them more or less; and they were all the king's servants, who were ready to obey him whenever he needed them, whether numbered or not; and it might be prejudicial to them, and bring down the wrath of God upon them, as well as be a troublesome and expensive business; all which, though not expressed here, is hinted at in

1Ch 21:3.





2 Samuel 24:4



Ver. 4. Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host,.... Who it seems were of the same mind with Joab, and were against numbering the people, yet their arguments and remonstrances were of no avail with the king; he was determined it should be done, and laid his commands upon them to do it, which they were obliged to comply with:



and Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel; seeing him resolute and determined, they submitted, took his orders, and set out to execute them.





2 Samuel 24:5



Ver. 5. And they passed over Jordan,.... To take the number of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh first:



and pitched in Aroer; for it seems that Joab and the captains had the army with them, and the several captains under their command, partly to assist in numbering the people, and partly to keep them in awe, lest they should oppose them, not knowing what was the design of all this Aroer was a city given to the tribe of Gad, and rebuilt by them, Nu 32:34;



on the right side of the city; that is, of Aroer, the south side of it, as the Targum, did Joab and his army pitch:



that [lieth] in the midst of the river of Gad; which was the river Arnon, so called now from the tribe of Gad, which possessed it, and so the Targum, in the midst of the river of the tribe of Gad; for in the midst of the river Arnon Aroer lay, see Jos 13:9;



and toward Jazer; another city given to the Gadites, Nu 32:3; and, according to Bunting {u}, was sixteen miles from Aroer.



{u} Travels, &c. p. 147.





2 Samuel 24:6



Ver. 6. Then they came to Gilead,.... The land of Gilead, half of which was given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the other half to the half tribe of Manasseh, De 3:12; which tribes were numbered, and the first of all:



and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; or the low lands of a new place; it seems to be a country newly possessed and inhabited; the Targum calls it the southern land of Hodshi; Bunting {w} calls it the lower country of Hodshi, near to the city Corazin, in the half tribe of Manasseh, fifty two miles from Jerusalem, and towards the northeast, and signifies a new land:



and they came to Danjaan; the same that is simply called Dan, and formerly Leshem, Jos 19:47; why Juan is added to it is not easy to say; it lay at the northern border of the land of Israel, and was four miles from Paneas as you go to Tyre {x}:



and about to Zidon; from Dan they went round about to Zidon, to the parts adjacent to it; for with Zidon itself they had nothing to do, of which See Gill on "Jos 11:8".



{w} Travels, &c. p. 147. {x} Hieron. de loc. Heb. fol. 90. H.





2 Samuel 24:7



Ver. 7. And came to the strong hold of Tyre,.... That is, old Tyre, which stood thirty furlongs from new Tyre, the island {y}; of which

See Gill on "Isa 23:1"; this must be understood of the parts near unto it; for that itself was not within the land of Israel, and so its inhabitants not to be numbered:



and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: which were possessed by them, and from whence they were not driven out by the Israelites; to all places contiguous to them, Joab and his captains came to take the number of them:



and they went out to the south of Judah: [even] to Beersheba; passing through the western part of the land, they came to the southern part of it, even as far as Beersheba, which was the extreme part of the land to the south.



{y} Strabo. Geograph. l. 16. p. 521.





2 Samuel 24:8



Ver. 8. So when they had gone through all the land,.... Beginning at the east, and from thence to the north, and then going about to the west, came to the south, which finished their circuit:



they came to Jerusalem, at the end of nine months and twenty days: they were ten months wanting ten days in numbering the people; in which they seem to have been very expeditious.





2 Samuel 24:9



Ver. 9. And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king,.... Having collected from the several captains employed in this work their several particular numbers, he put them together, and gave in the sum total to David:



and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; though many of them might be under the age of twenty, yet being robust and tall, and fit to bear arms, though but sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, or nineteen years of age, were mustered, contrary to the law; which, according to Cornelius Bertram {z} was David's sin, see 1Ch 27:23. In 1Ch 21:5, they are said to be a million and an hundred thousand, which is three hundred thousand more than the sum here given; several methods are taken to reconcile this; but what seems to be the best solution of the difficulty is what is observed by a Jew {a}, that here the number of the people in the several parts of the land of Israel was given, which were eight hundred thousand, there along with them, the numbers of the standing army which waited on the king in their courses, which were twenty four thousand every, month, and amounted in the twelve months to 288,000, and reckoning lo thousand officers to them, they make the sum of three hundred thousand wanted, see 1Ch 27:1, &c.



and the men of Judah [were] five hundred thousand men. In

1Ch 21:5, they are said to be only 470,000, thirty thousand less than here; which may be accounted for by making use of a round number, though something wanting, as is often done; or else the thirty companies, consisting of a thousand each, under the eighty captains mentioned in 2Sa 23:8, are taken into the account here, but left out in the book of Chronicles; or there were so many in the sum total of the men of Judah before the plague, but thirty thousand being consumed thereby, are left out in the latter accounts, so Kimchi; but the other solutions seem best: Levi and Benjamin were not counted; it being abominable to Joab, he did not finish it, and especially being displeasing to God, who smote Israel for it, 1Ch 21:6.



{z} Lucubrat. Frauktall, c. 2. {a} R. Eliezer in Halicot Olam, tract. 4. c. 3. p. 181.





2 Samuel 24:10



Ver. 10. And David's heart smote him, after that had numbered the people,.... For nine or ten months his conscience lay asleep, but now the thing was done, it is awakened, and accuses him for it, and he repents of it; now he began to see the pride and haughtiness of his heart; his vanity and confidence in the creature, which led him to it; aggravated by doing it without seeking to know the mind of God, and without giving him his due, the half shekel, according to the law, Ex 30:12; intent only upon increasing his own revenue, as some think, intending to impose a poll tax upon the people when he had numbered them; and attempting to number a people who were not to be numbered; and numbering those who were under the age of twenty, and therefore the plague began before it was finished, 1Ch 27:23;



and David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done; he saw and owned his sin to be exceeding sinful, attended with very aggravating circumstances:



and now I beseech thee, Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; the guilt of it from his conscience, which lay heavy there, and suffer not the punishment it deserves to take place on him, but grant an application of pardon to him:



for I have done very foolishly; all sin is folly, and some sins are exceeding foolish, and so this appeared to David; or, "though I have done very foolishly" {b}, yet forgive my sin, see Ps 38:5.



{b} yk "quamvis", so Goassius notes it may be rendered; so Pool.





2 Samuel 24:11



Ver. 11. For when David was up in the morning,.... Which it is probable was very early, he not being able to sleep through the distress of mind he was in; for the words should be rendered, "and David arose in the morning" {c}, for, as we render them, they seem to imply as if he had no sense of his sin before the prophet came to him next mentioned; whereas it was in the night he had been under the conviction of it, and had acknowledged it, and prayed for the pardon of it; upon which the prophet was sent to acquaint him what was the will of God concerning him:



the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer; with whom he had used to advise about the will of God on various occasions, though in this he had neglected to consult him; the Targum calls it the word of prophecy from the Lord:



saying; as follows.



{c} Mqyw "et surrexit", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.





2 Samuel 24:12



Ver. 12. Go, and say unto David,.... Not my servant David, as Nathan was bid to say to him when it was in his heart to build an house for him, 2Sa 7:5; but now he had sinned and displeased the Lord, and therefore it is only plain David:



thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three [things]; or lay them before thee to consider of which thou wouldest have done; the Targum is,



"one of three things I cast upon thee,''



as a burden to bear; one of the three I will certainly inflict upon thee by way of chastisement:



choose thee one of them, that I may [do it] unto thee; here is mercy mixed with judgment; the Lord is angry, yet shows great condescension and goodness; a sovereign Being, who could have imposed what punishment he pleased, and even all the three after mentioned, yet resolves but on one, and leaves that to the option of David.





2 Samuel 24:13



Ver. 13. So Gad came to David, and told him,.... Said nothing to him about his sin, but correction for it; which confirms it that David was made sensible of his sin before he came to him:



and said unto him, shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? in 1Ch 21:12, only "three years" are mentioned, and so the Septuagint version here; but Josephus {d}, the Targum, the Syriac and Arabic versions, have the number "seven"; three seems to be more agreeable to the numbers after mentioned, and no more as to come were designed, though seven are here expressed; for the reconciling of which let it be observed, that there had been three years of famine already on account of the sin of Saul, 2Sa 21:1; and in the current year, through the rains not falling in the proper time, the land was barren and unfruitful; or through the penury of the preceding years the famine would be continued at least until the harvest; and then three years more now proposed made seven years; or, if these three years would have immediately followed the other three, the following in course would be a sabbatical year, in which were no ploughing, sowing, nor reaping, or the current year was such an one: and the sense is, shall there be a continuance of seven years of famine, that is, three more added to what had been? which must be most dreadful to think of; but a learned writer {e} thinks it a mistake of the copier, writing z, "seven", for g, "three":



or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? be in such a condition as not to be able to face or fight his enemies, or, if he did, would not be able to stand his ground, but be forced to flee before them, and be pursued by them three months running; during which time a prodigious number might well be thought to be slain, sad devastations made in the land, and great shame and disgrace endured, and what a man of David's spirit could not bear the thoughts of:



or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? which in

1Ch 21:12 is called "the sword of the Lord", in distinction from the sword of man, it coming immediately from him, and the destroying angel, in all the coasts of the land; being inflicted by means of one:



now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me; that is, consult with himself, or with his friends, or both, what answer the prophet must return to the Lord that sent him; for him he means.



{d} Antiqu. l. 7. c. 13. sect. 2. {e} Dr. Kennicott's Dissert. 1. p. 474.





2 Samuel 24:14



Ver. 14. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait,.... Not knowing well which to choose, each of them being so grievous, and an answer being to be returned immediately; but by his next words, and by the event, it seems he chose the pestilence, though that is not expressly said:



let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; the Targum in

1Ch 21:13, is



"into the hand of the Word of the Lord:''



(for his mercies [are] great), and let me not fall into the hand of men; indeed all the three judgments mentioned are by the hand of the Lord whenever they come; but in the pestilence the hand of the Lord is more visible, it coming immediately from his hand, as especially this was to do, and did; it did not arise from second causes, a noxious air, &c. but by means of an angel of God: David chose this, because he and his people would have nothing to do with men, as in famine they must have gone into other countries for food, and in war flee before their enemies, and lie at their mercy, and either of them more disgraceful than this; and which he might the rather choose on his own account, that his people might not be able to say he sought himself and his own interest; for had he chosen famine, as his people had been lately distressed that way already, they might, besides urging that, say, that he could lay up stores for himself and family; or had he chosen war, they might observe he had fortified places to flee to, one after another, and shelter himself; but for the arrows of the pestilence he was as likely a mark as the meanest of his subjects: but what seems to have moved him chiefly to make this choice is, that it would not only be the soonest over, but that it wholly depended on the pleasure of God what use he would make of it in that time; and chiefly because he knew God was gracious and merciful, and it was upon his great mercy he cast himself and his people.





2 Samuel 24:15



Ver. 15. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel,.... Upon the land of Israel, the people of the land, directly employing an angel to go through the coasts of it, and empowering him to inflict a pestilential disease:



from the morning even to the time appointed: from the morning the prophet Gad came to David with a message from the Lord; that very morning the plague began, and lasted to the time set for it, the three days, or at least unto the beginning of the third, when reaching Jerusalem, the Lord repented of it, and stayed his hand; though many think a much shorter time is intended; some think it lasted no more than half a day, if so much; some say but three hours {f}; the Septuagint version, until dinnertime; and the Syriac and Arabic versions, until the sixth hour of the day, which was noon; and so Kimchi says, some of their Rabbins interpret it of the half or middle of the day; the Targum is,



"from the time the daily sacrifice was slain until it was burnt;''



and it is the sense of several learned men that it was only from the morning until the time of the evening sacrifice, or evening prayer, about three o'clock in the afternoon, and so lasted about nine hours:



and there died of the people, from Dan even to Beersheba, seventy thousand men; so that there was a great diminution of the people in all places where they were numbered; and David's sin may be read in the punishment of it; his heart was lifted up by the numbers of his people, and now it must be humbled by the lessening of them.



{f} Pirke Eliezer, c. 43.





2 Samuel 24:16



Ver. 16. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it,.... Which, as it was perhaps the last place where the people were numbered, it was the last to which the plague came: this angel appeared in an human form, standing "between the earth and the heaven"; in the midst of the heaven, in the air, right over Jerusalem: "having a drawn sword in his hand stretched over the city"; as is said in 1Ch 21:16; which was done as a menace, and to inject terror into David and the inhabitants of the city, and to give them notice of what they must expect:



the Lord repented him of the evil; he was inflicting, and now threatened Jerusalem with; having compassion on the place where the ark, the symbol of his presence, was, where a temple was to be built to the honour of his name, and where he should be worshipped; and therefore stopped proceeding; as men, when they repent of anything done by them, cease from it, so did the Lord now; otherwise repentance, properly speaking, falls not on him, and so it is next explained:



and said to the angel that destroyed the people; not the angel of death, the devil, but a good angel, who had a commission from God for this business:



it is enough: stay now thine hand: there is a sufficient number slay no more:



and the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite; that is, he was in the air, right over the spot, or near it, where was this man's threshingfloor; and was seen by Araunah and his four sons, who upon it hid themselves, perhaps among the sheaves they were threshing, 1Ch 21:20; and this threshingfloor was on Mount Moriah, 2Ch 3:1; as threshingfloors commonly were on mountains for the sake of winnowing the corn when threshed; See Gill on "Ru 3:2"; who, according to Ben Gersom, though he was by birth a Jebusite, was proselyted to the Jewish religion.





2 Samuel 24:17



Ver. 17. And David spake unto the Lord,.... In prayer; he and the elders of Israel being clothed in sackcloth, and fallen on their faces, he prayed, not unto the angel, but to Jehovah that sent him; see

1Ch 21:16;



when he saw the angel that smote the people; in the air over Jerusalem, with a drawn sword in his hand, which made him appear terrible:



and said, lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; in numbering the people:



but these sheep, what have they done? he looked upon himself as the only transgressor, and his people as innocent, and as harmless as sheep; he thought of no sins but his own; these were uppermost in his mind, and lay heavy on his conscience; and it grieved him extremely the his people should suffer on his account: but they were not so innocent as he thought and suggests; and it was not only for his, but their sins, this evil came; he was suffered to do what he did, to bring upon them deserved punishment for their rebellion against him, and other sins; however, this shows the high opinion he had of them, the great affection he had for them, and his sympathy with them in this time of distress:



let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house; let me and mine die, and not they; a type of Christ, the good Shepherd, willing to lay down his life for the sheep, and suffer in their stead, that they might go free.





2 Samuel 24:18



Ver. 18. And Gad came that day to David,.... Ordered and directed by the angel of the Lord, 1Ch 21:18;



and said unto him, go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite: it was too far to go to Gibeon, where the tabernacle was, at such a time of extremity, when the sword of the angel was stretched out over Jerusalem, 1Ch 21:29; and this was the most proper place, as it was the very spot over and nearest to which the angel was; and was on Mount Moriah, where the Jews say Abraham offered up Isaac; and where the temple was afterwards built, as Kimchi and Ben Gersom observe; and Eupolemus, an Heathen writer {g}, says, that when David desired to build a temple for God, and that he would show him the place of the altar, an angel appeared to him, standing over the place where the altar at Jerusalem was to be built.



{g} Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 30. p. 447.





2 Samuel 24:19



Ver. 19. And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. From the place where he was in a lower part of the city to Mount Moriah, on which was the threshing floor, a place fit for winnowing corn when threshed.





2 Samuel 24:20



Ver. 20. And Araunah looked,.... Peeped up out of the place in which he had hid himself with his four sons, for fear of the angel, and which they saw, 1Ch 21:20;



and saw the king and his servants coming towards him; he perceived, by the course they steered, that they were coming to him:



and Araunah went out; of the threshingfloor, out of the place where he had hid himself, for he had been threshing wheat, 1Ch 21:20; nor was it thought below great personages in those times to be employed in such work; so Gideon was threshing, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him, Jud 6:11; Boaz winnowed barley in his threshingfloor, Ru 3:2;



and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground; in reverence of the king.





2 Samuel 24:21



Ver. 21. And Araunah said, wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?.... Which both implies admiration in him, that so great a person should visit him in his threshingfloor; that a king should come to a subject his servant, who should rather have come to him, and would upon the least intimation; it was a piece of condescension he marvelled at; and it expresses a desire to know his pleasure with him, supposing it must be something very urgent and important, that the king should come himself upon it: and to this David made answer,



and David said, what he was come for:



to buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people; for though David had acknowledged his sin, and God had repented of the evil he inflicted for it, and given orders for stopping it; yet he would have an altar built, and sacrifices offered, to show that the only way to have peace, and pardon, and safety from ruin and destruction, deserved by sin, is through the expiatory sacrifice of Christ, of which fill sacrifices were typical, and were designed to lead the faith of the Lord's people to that.





2 Samuel 24:22



Ver. 22. And Araunah said unto David, let my lord the king take and offer up what [seemeth] good unto him,.... Build an altar, offer sacrifices of whatsoever he found upon the premises fit for the same, and make use of whatever came to hand proper to perform such service with, as follows:



behold, [here be] oxen for burnt sacrifice: which were employed in treading the corn, hence the law in De 25:4;



and threshing instruments; not flails, such as are used by us, but wooden sledges, drays or carts drawn on wheels, which were filled with stones, and the bottom of them stuck with iron teeth, and were drawn by oxen to and fro over the sheaves of corn; see Isa 28:27;



and [other] instruments of the oxen for wood; as their yokes; these Araunah gave leave to take to burn the sacrifice with; and in

1Ch 21:23, it is added, "and the wheat for the meat offering", which was upon the threshingfloor; and there always went a meat offering with a burnt offering.





2 Samuel 24:23



Ver. 23. All these [things] did Araunah, [as] a king, give unto the king,.... The note of similitude as is not in the text; from whence some have thought he was king of the Jebusites before Jerusalem was taken out of their hands, or however was of the royal race, perhaps the son and heir of the then king at that time; or he has this title given him, because of his great liberality, having the spirit of a prince in him, even of a king; so Ulysses addressed Antinous, saying, thou art like a king, and therefore should give more largely than others {h}:



and Araunah said unto the king, the Lord thy God accept thee; thine offering with a good will; with pleasure and delight, as the Targum; that so the plague might be removed, and which no doubt made him the more ready to part with the above things, and all that he had; so dreadful did the calamity appear to him, and especially after he saw the angel with his drawn sword just over him.



{h} Homer. Odyss. 17. ver. 335.





2 Samuel 24:24



Ver. 24. And the king said unto Araunah, nay, but I will surely buy [it] of thee at a price,.... And a full price too, 1Ch 21:24; that is, give him as much for it as it was worth:



neither will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing; which shows an ingenuous spirit, and contrary to the temper of many, who like to serve the Lord in the cheapest manner, or with little cost to themselves:



so David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver; which, reckoning a shekel at two shillings and sixpence, made but just six pounds five shillings of our money; though its value is but about two shillings and four pence farthing, which reduces the sum; in 1Ch 21:25, David is said to give six hundred shekels of gold by weight; two ways are proposed by the Jews {i} for the reconciling of the difficulty; the one is, that fifty shekels were collected out of every tribe, and twelve times fifty make six hundred shekels, and these were of the value or weight of gold; but this seems not likely, that it should be collected out of all the tribes, and since it appears plainly to be the king's purchase, and with his money: the other is, that there were two purchases, the first was of the threshingfloor, oxen, and instruments, which were bought for fifty shekels of silver, as here, and the other was a purchase of the place, as it is called in the book of Chronicles; that large space of ground on which afterwards the temple, and all the courts adjoining to it, were built, and which was now Araunah's farm, and on which were his dwelling house, and other buildings; and for all this David gave him six hundred shekels of gold, which made three hundred ounces {k} and reckoning gold as twelve times the value of silver, according to Brerewood {l}, it amounted to four hundred fifty pounds of our money; and learned men have not been able to give a better solution of this difficulty; and with this Montanus {m} agrees. Bochart and Noldius have taken another way, but not so clear and satisfactory; the Septuagint of 1Ch 21:25 has fifty shekels, as here.



{i} T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 116. 2. {k} Vid. Gronov. de Pecunia Vet. l. 3. c. 7. p. 369. {l} De Ponder. & Pretiis, c. 5. {m} Tubal-Cain, p. 15. So Hieron. Trad. Heb. fol. 80. F.





2 Samuel 24:25



Ver. 25. And David built there an altar unto the Lord,.... After he had made the purchase:



and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings; the one to expiate the sin or sins committed, the other to give thanks for the intimation given, that the plague would be stayed upon this:



so the Lord was entreated for the land; was pacified and prevailed upon to remove the pestilence from it; which was signified by fire descending upon the altar of burnt offering, which showed the sacrifice was accepted, and by the angel being ordered to put his sword into its sheath, 1Ch 21:26; and the Targum is,



"and the Lord received the prayer of the inhabitants of the land:''



and the plague was stayed from Israel; no more died of the pestilence, either at Jerusalem, or in any other part of the land Israel.

 

↑ Back to top