2 Samuel 4:6

And they came, &c. An explanation how it was possible for Rechab and Baanah to enter Ish-bosheth's house unsuspected. They came, as they may have been accustomed to do, to procure wheat for their men from the king's granary.

The Heb. however may be otherwise rendered, "And hither [some MSS. read "and behold"] there came wheat-fetchers into the midst of the house:" men whose business it was to draw the rations of wheat from the granary. If this is the right rendering, the meaning is that the murderers obtained entrance to the house by going in their company.

2 Samuel 4:7 appears at first sight to be a somewhat awkward repetition of 2 Samuel 4:6. But it is a peculiar feature of Hebrew historical writing to give a general account of a fact first, and then to repeat it with additional details. The murderers" entrance into the house, their deed, and their escape are first briefly related: then the fact of their entrance is repeated as an introduction to the fuller details of the scene and manner of the murder, and the route by which the assassins escaped. Compare the double mention of Joab's return to Hebron in ch. 2 Samuel 3:22-23; and of the national assembly at Hebron in ch. 2 Samuel 5:1; 2 Samuel 5:3; and note on ch. 2 Samuel 13:38.

The Sept. however has the following entirely different reading, which is found also in some MSS. of the Vulgate in addition to the rendering of the present Heb. text, but apparently was not retained by Jerome himself. "And behold the portress of the house was cleaning wheat, and she slumbered and slept; and the brothers Rechab and Baanah came unobserved into the house. Now Ish-bosheth was sleeping on the bed in his chamber: and they smote him," &c. This also explains how the murderers entered unobserved. The female slave who watched the door (ἡ θυρωρός, cp. John 18:16; Acts 12:13) had fallen asleep over her task of sifting [98] or picking the wheat, and there was no one to give the alarm. This reading gives a clear straightforward narrative, and certainly seems preferable to the repetitions of the present Hebrew text.

[98] Cp. Amos 9:9. An illustration of a Bethlehem woman sifting wheat is given in Neil's Palestine Explored, p. 246. He says that it is a process constantly going on and forming a marked feature of Palestine life.

under the fifth rib In the belly. See note on ch. 2 Samuel 2:23.