2 Samuel 23:1-7. The last words of David The great hymn of triumph in ch. 22, composed when David was in the zenith of his prosperity, is followed by his "last words:" his last prophetic utterance, delivered not long before his death, a parting testimony to the world of his confidence in the fulfil... [ Continue Reading ]
_David the son of Jesse said_ THE ORACLE OF DAVID THE SON OF JESSE: a peculiar word, generally used of a direct message from God through a prophet in the phrase rendered, "saith the Lord," and joined with the name of the human speaker only here and in Numbers 24:3-4; Numbers 24:15-16; Proverbs 30:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Spirit of the_Lord] A direct claim of inspiration, to which Christ Himself bears witness (Matthew 22:43). Observe the _parallelisms_, which constitute Hebrew poetry.... [ Continue Reading ]
The oracular brevity of these verses hardly admits of translation, and makes the meaning of them obscure. They may be rendered: A RULER OVER MEN, A RIGHTEOUS ONE! a ruler in the fear of God! and he shall be as the light of morning when the sun riseth; a morning without clouds; when from sunshi... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IS NOT MY HOUSE THUS WITH GOD? for an eternal covenant hath he made for me, ordered in all and secured: for all my salvation and all good pleasure shall he not cause it to spring forth? This seems to be the most probable rendering of an obscure passage. The meaning then will be: Is not my... [ Continue Reading ]
_But_the sons of _Belial_ BUT THE WICKED, &c. All ungodly men and evil things are described as WORTHLESSNESS or WICKEDNESS. Their judgment and destruction is the necessary consequence of the perfect rule of the righteous king. Cp. Matthew 13:41.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the man_, &c. BUT THE MAN WHO TOUCHETH THEM MUST ARM HIMSELF WITH IRON AND A SPEAR SHAFT. The thorns cannot be touched by hand, but must be torn up with an iron hook fastened to a long handle. The expression is chosen so as to be applicable to the enemies who are figured, as well as to the thor... [ Continue Reading ]
The first Three 8. _the mighty men_ Used here in a narrower sense, not of the whole body-guard of six hundred. See note on ch. 2 Samuel 15:18. _The Tachmonite that sat in the seat_ The text is corrupt, and we must follow 1 Chronicles 11:11 in reading JASHOBEAM THE HACHMONITE. He joined David at Zik... [ Continue Reading ]
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 w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Dodo_ The _Kthîbh_may be read _Dodai_, as the name is given in 1 Chronicles 27:4, where we learn that Dodai, as next in rank to Jashobeam, was general of the second division of the army. _the Ahohite_ A patronymic derived from Ahoah, the son of Benjamin's eldest son Bela (1 Chronicles 8:4). Perhap... [ Continue Reading ]
_his hand clave unto the sword_ At the close of the massacre of the Christians of Mount Lebanon by the Druses, in 1860, Sheikh Ali Amad's hand so clave to the handle of his sword that he could not open it until the muscles were relaxed by fomentation of hot water. Van Lennep's _Bible Lands_, II. p.... [ Continue Reading ]
_into a troop_ Probably the consonants should be read with different vowels TO LEHI, the scene of Samson's victory over the Philistines (Judges 15:9; Judges 15:14; Judges 15:19). _lentiles_ Chr. reads _barley_. The two words might easily be confused in Hebrew. The Philistines came up to carry off t... [ Continue Reading ]
_three of the thirty chief_ Not the three mentioned before, but in all probability Abishai, Benaiah, and a third not named, who were promoted from the "Thirty" to form a second triad as a reward for this feat of valour. _in the harvest time_ The preposition does not mean _in_, and the reading of 1... [ Continue Reading ]
The water of the well at Beth-lehem... [ Continue Reading ]
_in a hold_ IN THE STRONG-HOLD, probably the same as that mentioned in ch. 2 Samuel 5:17, where see note. The ruins bearing the name _Aid el Ma_, which is supposed to be a corruption of _Adullam_, lie at the foot of a high rounded hill almost isolated by subordinate valleys. This forms a natural for... [ Continue Reading ]
_the well of Beth-lehem_ The traditional "David's well" is half a mile N.N.E. of Beth-lehem. Ritter (_Geogr. of Pal._III. 340) speaks of its "deep shaft and clear cool water;" but it is too far from the town to be described as "at the gate.... [ Continue Reading ]
_brake through the host of the Philistines_ A striking proof of the enthusiasm which David inspired in his followers, and a noble instance of the true spirit of chivalry, which fears no danger and shrinks from no self-sacrifice, in order to do the smallest service for the object of its devotion; the... [ Continue Reading ]
is not this _the blood_ As the text stands, the sentence is simply an interrogative exclamation: _The blood of the men …?_But Sept., Vulg. and Chron. read: _Shall I drink the blood …?_The water fetched at the risk of his comrades" lives seemed to him the very blood in which the life resides (Levitic... [ Continue Reading ]
Exploits of Abishai and Benaiah 18. _Abishai_ David's valiant but hard-hearted nephew, who shared the command of the army with his brother Joab in the Ammonite war and in Absalom's rebellion (ch. 2 Samuel 10:10; 2 Samuel 10:14; 2 Samuel 18:2). The characteristic trait of his nature was a blunt impe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Benaiah the son of Jehoiada_ Commander of the body-guard (ch. 2 Samuel 8:18; 2 Samuel 20:23), and general of the third division of the army (1 Chronicles 27:5-6). He was an active supporter of Solomon against Adonijah, and was rewarded by being made commander-in-chief in place of Joab. See 1Ki 1:8;... [ Continue Reading ]
_a goodly man_ Lit. _a man of appearance_, a notable man; which is explained in 1 Chronicles 11:23 to mean "a man of great stature," with the addition, "five cubits high." _a spear_ The Sept. adds, _like the beam of a bridge_(or, _of a ladder_): Chron. _like a weaver's beam_, as in ch. 2 Samuel 21:... [ Continue Reading ]
_among three mighty men_ AMONG THE THREE MIGHTY MEN of the second rank.... [ Continue Reading ]
_set him over his guard_ MADE HIM A MEMBER OF HIS PRIVY COUNCIL: lit. _appointed him to his audience_. Cp. 1 Samuel 22:14 (note). If, as seems not improbable, _Jehoiada the son of Benaiah_in 1 Chronicles 27:34 is a textual error for _Benaiah the son of Jehoiada_, we have another reference to his ten... [ Continue Reading ]
The list in Chron. is headed "And the mighty men of valour were Asahel," &c. _Asahel_ David's nephew. See note on ch. 2 Samuel 2:18. _Elhanan_ Apparently not the same as Elhanan the son of Jair of Beth-lehem (ch. 2 Samuel 21:19), if the text is sound.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Thirty Heroes The names in this list vary considerably from those in the corresponding list in 1 Chronicles 11:26-41. In all probability both lists have suffered considerably from textual corruption, by which names are especially liable to be affected, and many of the differences can clearly be... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shammah the Harodite_ Of Harod, perhaps the place mentioned in Judges 7:1, which may be either _Ain Jâlûd_near Jezreel, or _Ain el Jemmaîn_near Beth-shan. He is probably to be identified with _Shamhuth the Izrahite_, general of the fifth division of the army (1 Chronicles 27:8), _Izrahite_being his... [ Continue Reading ]
_Helez the Paltite_ Generally explained to mean _of Beth-pelet_, an unid entified town in the extreme south of Judah, named in the same group with Beer-sheba (Joshua 15:27). But this seems questionable, as he is called an _Ephraimite_in 1 Chronicles 27:10; 1 Chronicles 27:1 Chron. twice reads _Pelon... [ Continue Reading ]
_Abiezer the Anethothite_ Of Anathoth in Benjamin. The modern village of _Anâta_, three miles N.N.E. of Jerusalem, preserves the name and marks the site. It was a priests city (Joshua 21:18); the home of Abiathar (1 Kings 2:26); and the birth-place of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1). _Antothite_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zalmon the Ahohite_ Chron. has _Ilai_. Whether the difference is original, or due to corruption of the text, it is impossible to decide. On _Ahohite_see 2 Samuel 23:9. _Maharai the Netophathite_ Of Netophah, perhaps the modern _Umm Toba_, three miles N.E. of Beth-lehem, a place inhabited by Levite... [ Continue Reading ]
_Heleb_ Or _Heled_(1 Chronicles 11:30), or _Heldai_(1 Chronicles 27:15), of the house of Othniel, commander of the twelfth division. _Ittai Ithai_in Chron. is merely a different way of pronouncing the same name. He must of course be distinguished from Ittai the Gittite.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Benaiah the Pirathonite_ Of Pirathon in Ephraim (Judges 12:13; Judges 12:15), perhaps the modern _Ferâta_, six miles W.S.W. of Shechem. Benaiah was general of the eleventh division (1 Chronicles 27:14). _Hiddai_ In 1 Chronicles 11:32 _Hurai_, owing to the common confusion of _d_and _r_. _the brook... [ Continue Reading ]
_Abi-albon the Arbathite_ Called in 1 Chronicles 11:32 _Abiel_, which is probably the true reading, as _Abi-albon_is an unknown name, and may easily have arisen from confusion with _Shaalbonite_in the line below. For a similar confusion cp. ch. 2 Samuel 21:19. He was a native of Arabah or Beth-araba... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Shaalbonite_ of Shaalabbin in the tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:42; Judges 1:35; 1 Kings 4:9); perhaps the modern _Selbît_, 3 miles N. W. of _Yâlo_(Aijalon), and about 15 miles W. N. W. of Jerusalem. of _the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, Shammah the Hararite Of_is not in the Heb. text; Chron. reads "the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shammah the Hararite_ Shammah has already been mentioned in 2 Samuel 23:11 as one of the first Three, so that his name is evidently out of place among the Thirty. A comparison of the text of 1 Chronicles 11:34 makes it tolerably certain that we should read either _Jonathan the son of Agee the Harar... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the text of 1 Chronicles 11:35-36 diverges widely, and in place of the names in this verse reads "Eliphal the son of Ur, Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite." _the son of the Maachathite_ Better, THE MAACHATHITE, a member of the clan or family of Maachah, settled at Abel-beth-Maachah... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hezrai the Carmelite_ The _Kthîbh_agrees with 1 Chronicles 11:37 in reading _Hezro_. He belonged to Carmel in the mountainous country of Judah, now _Kurmul_, about seven miles S. S. E. of Hebron. Cp. 1 Samuel 25:2. _Paarai the Arbite_ Of Arab, a city also in the neighbourhood of Hebron (Joshua 15:... [ Continue Reading ]
_Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah_ In Chron. "Joel the brother of Nathan." The consonants of _Igal_(ינאל) and _Joel_(יואל) are so similar that one or other of the names is probably corrupt. _Igal_occurs in Numbers 13:7; 1 Chronicles 3:22. If the text is correct he was a Syrian of Zobah. See note on c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zelek the Ammonite_ Like Igal the Syrian, and Ittai the Philistine, a foreigner who rose to distinction in David's service. _Naharai the Beerothite_ Of Beeroth (see note on ch. 2 Samuel 4:2), and therefore perhaps a Gibeonite by race. _armourbearer_ The _Kthîbh_has the plural _armourbearers_, but... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ithrite_ Belonging to the family of Jether, which settled at Kirjath-jearim (1 Chronicles 2:53).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Uriah_ See on ch. 2 Samuel 11:3. _thirty and seven in all_ This total is obtained either (_a_) by reckoning _three_in the first class (2 Samuel 23:8), _two_in the second (2 Samuel 23:18), and _thirty-two_in the third (2 Samuel 23:24), emending 2 Samuel 23:34 by the help of Chron. so as to contain t... [ Continue Reading ]