2 Samuel 23:16

_AND THE THREE MIGHTY MEN BRAKE THROUGH THE HOST OF THE PHILISTINES, AND DREW WATER OUT OF THE WELL OF BETHLEHEM, THAT WAS BY THE GATE, AND TOOK IT, AND BROUGHT IT TO DAVID: NEVERTHELESS HE WOULD NOT DRINK THEREOF, BUT POURED IT OUT UNTO THE LORD._ He would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. The probability is that a vivid recollection of the refreshing water of Beth-lehem excited a momentary wish to taste it again, and he gave utterance to the wish, without dreaming that any of his attendants heard or heeded his exclamation. When he thought of the imminent peril at which the draught had been procured, he would not partake of it, lest he should seem to prefer the selfish gratification of his palate to the lives of his most valued soldiers. "He poured it out unto the Lord," as a sort of libation or acknowledgment of the divine goodness in preserving the lives of his men....

8-39 David once earnestly longed for the water at the well of Bethlehem. It seems to be an instance of weakness. He was thirsty; with the water of that well he had often refreshed himself when a youth, and it was without due thought that he desired it. Were his valiant men so forward to expose themselves, upon the least hint of their prince's mind, and so eager to please him, and shall not we long to approve ourselves to our Lord Jesus, by ready compliance with his will, as shown us by his word, Spirit, and providence? But David poured out the water as a drink-offering to the Lord. Thus he would cross his own foolish fancy, and punish himself for indulging it, and show that he had sober thoughts to correct his rash ones, and knew how to deny himself. Did David look upon that water as very precious which was got at the hazard of these men's blood, and shall not we much more value those b...

Verse 2 Samuel 23:16. _POURED IT OUT UNTO THE LORD._] To make _libations_, both of _water_ and _wine_, was a frequent custom among the heathens. We have an almost similar account in _Arrian's_ Life of Alexander: "When his army was greatly oppressed with heat and thirst, a soldier brought him a cup of water; he ordered it to be carried back, saying, I cannot bear to drink alone while so many are in want, and this cup is too small to be divided among the whole." Tunc poculo pleno sicut oblatum est reddito: Non solus, inquit, bibere sustineo, nec tam exiguum dividere omnibus possum. - ARRIAN, lib. vi. The example was noble in both cases, but David added _piety_ to _bravery_; he poured it out unto the Lord....

BRAKE THROUGH THE HOST - Their camp was pitched in the valley of Rephaim 2 Samuel 23:13; 1 Chronicles 11:15. It follows from this that the way from Adullam to Bethlehem lay through or across the valley of Rephaim. POURED IT OUT UNTO THE LORD - It was too costly for his own use, none but the Lord was worthy of it. For libations, see Judges 6:20 note....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 23:1 NOW THESE BE THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID. A long interval separates this psalm from the preceding. The one was written when David had just reached the zenith of his power, and, when still unstained by foul crime, he could claim God's favour as due to his innocence. These last words were David's latest inspired utterance, written, probably, towards the end of the calm period which followed upon his restoration to his throne, and when time and the sense of God's renewed favour had healed the wounds of his soul. DAVID THE SON OF JESSE SAID. It was probably this account of the author, and its personal character, which caused the exclusion of this hymn from the Book of Psalms. It seemed to belong rather to David's private history than to a collection made for use in the public services of the temple....

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...

3. THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID AND THE RECORD OF THE MIGHTY MEN CHAPTER 23 _ 1. His last words (2 Samuel 23:1)_ 2. The names and records of David's mighty men (2 Samuel 23:8) In his last words an even greater and clearer vision is given to King David. “If Psalms 18 was a grand Hallelujah, with which David quitted the scene of life, these ‘his last words' are the divine attestation of all that he had sung and prophesied in the Psalms concerning the spiritual import of the kingdom which he was to found in accordance with the divine message that Nathan had been commissioned to bring to him. Hence these ‘last words' must be regarded as an inspired prophetic utterance by David, before his death, about th

DAVID'S HEROES (_continued)._ The Three and the Thirty (J). (_Cf._ above.) 2 SAMUEL 23:8. 2 Samuel 23:8 must be emended to read, instead of Josheb, etc., Ishbaal the Hachmonite, chief of the three, he lifted up his spear against eight hundred, etc. 2 Samuel 23:9 should read Eleazar ben Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men, was with David at Pas-dammim (1 Samuel 17:1), when the Philistines were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel retreated. Shammah's exploit was when the Philistines were assembled at Lehi ...

THE THREE. The three referred to in 2 Samuel 23:13....

David's Heroes and their exploits = 1 Chronicles 11:11-41 This section is placed in Chronicles after the account of David's election as King of Israel and his capture of Zion, and is prefaced by the heading: "These also are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who shewed themselves strong with him in his kingdom with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel." The list therefore belongs, at any rate in substance, to the earlier part of David's reign....