
Text -- 2 Samuel 20:14 (NET)




Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics



collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Sheba, who marched from tribe to tribe to stir them up to sedition.

Wesley: 2Sa 20:14 - -- Unto Abel - beth - maachah, as this place is called here in the Hebrew text, 2Sa 20:15, to distinguish it from other Abels; and to signify, that this ...

Wesley: 2Sa 20:14 - -- Such as lived in the city, or territory of Beeroth of Benjamin, Jos 18:25, who being of the same tribe, if not city with Sheba, adhered to him, and fo...
Such as lived in the city, or territory of Beeroth of Benjamin, Jos 18:25, who being of the same tribe, if not city with Sheba, adhered to him, and followed him through all the tribes of Israel.

Wesley: 2Sa 20:14 - -- The tribes of Israel; that is, a considerable number of them; as might well be expected, when the discontents were so high and general.
The tribes of Israel; that is, a considerable number of them; as might well be expected, when the discontents were so high and general.
JFB -> 2Sa 20:14
JFB: 2Sa 20:14 - -- Beating up for recruits. But there the prompt marches of Joab overtook and hemmed him in by a close siege of the place.
Beating up for recruits. But there the prompt marches of Joab overtook and hemmed him in by a close siege of the place.
Clarke: 2Sa 20:14 - -- Unto Abel - This is supposed to have been the capital of the district called Abilene in St. Luke’ s Gospel, Luk 3:1
Unto Abel - This is supposed to have been the capital of the district called Abilene in St. Luke’ s Gospel, Luk 3:1

Clarke: 2Sa 20:14 - -- Beth-maachah - Is supposed to have been in the northern part of the Holy Land, on the confines of Syria, and probably in the tribe of Naphtali.
Beth-maachah - Is supposed to have been in the northern part of the Holy Land, on the confines of Syria, and probably in the tribe of Naphtali.
TSK -> 2Sa 20:14
TSK: 2Sa 20:14 - -- Abel : Or rather, probably, Abel of Beth-Maachah, as in the next verse. It appears, from Joab having marched ""through all the tribes of Israel,""to ...
Abel : Or rather, probably, Abel of Beth-Maachah, as in the next verse. It appears, from Joab having marched ""through all the tribes of Israel,""to have been situated in the northern confines of the land of Israel, and in the half tribe of Manasseh, east of Jordan, as that was the situation of Maachah, to which it belonged. This agrees with the situation of the Abila which Eusebius and Jerome place between Paneas, or Cesarea Philippi, and Damascus. Josephus says it was a fortified city, and a metropolis of the Israelites; and also that it belonged to the ten tribes, having been taken from the king of Damascus. 1Ki 15:20; 2Ki 15:29; 2Ch 16:4
Berites : Jos 18:25, Beeroth

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> 2Sa 20:14
Barnes: 2Sa 20:14 - -- Abel - More commonly called 2Sa 20:15 "Abel-Beth-maachah"to distinguish it from other places of the name of "Abel"(a grassy plain). It is repre...
Abel - More commonly called 2Sa 20:15 "Abel-Beth-maachah"to distinguish it from other places of the name of "Abel"(a grassy plain). It is represented by the modern Abil-el-Kamh, a Christian village on the northwest of lake Huleh, the ancient Merom. Compare 2Ch 16:4, "Abel-maim,"Abel by the water.
And all the Berites - What this means is utterly unknown. Many approve of the reading of the Latin Version, connecting it with what follows: "And all the choice young men mustered and followed him."
Poole -> 2Sa 20:14
Poole: 2Sa 20:14 - -- He went either,
1. Joab, who pursued Sheba through all the tribes as far as Abel. Or rather,
2. Sheba, who was last mentioned, who marched from tri...
He went either,
1. Joab, who pursued Sheba through all the tribes as far as Abel. Or rather,
2. Sheba, who was last mentioned, who marched from tribe to tribe to stir them up to sedition; and to him the following words seem best to agree.
Unto Abel, and to Beth-aachah or rather, to Abel, even to Beth-maachah , i.e. unto Abel-beth-maachah , as this place is called here in the Hebrew text, 2Sa 20:15 1Ki 15:20 2Ki 15:29 , to distinguish it from other Abels; and to signify that this was that Abel which was in the tribe of Naphtali in the northern border of Canaan, towards that part of Syria called Maachah , 2Sa 10:8 .
The Berites such as lived in the city or territory of Beeroth of Benjamin, Jos 18:25 , who being of the same tribe, if not city, with Sheba, and his greatest acquaintance and friends, or being most implacable against David, adhered to Sheba, and followed him through all the tribes of Israel.
They were gathered together to wit, the tribes of Israel, i. e. a considerable number of them; as might well be expected, when the discontents were so high and general.
After him i.e. after Sheba.
Haydock -> 2Sa 20:14
Haydock: 2Sa 20:14 - -- Tribes, north-west of the Jordan. (Calmet) ---
Abela and Bathmaacha. Cities of the tribe of Nephtali. (Challoner) ---
The former is called simp...
Tribes, north-west of the Jordan. (Calmet) ---
Abela and Bathmaacha. Cities of the tribe of Nephtali. (Challoner) ---
The former is called simply Abel (4 Kings xv. 29.; Calmet) as it is here by the Protestant version. (Haydock) ---
It is also called Abyla, (Luke iii. 1,) and Hoba, (Genesis xiv. 15.; Calmet) between Damascus and Paneas, (Eusebius) situated on the borders of Syria, as well as Beth Maaca, or "the canton of Maacha," or Machati, Josue xii. 5. ---
Chosen. Hebrew Berim, (which is translated "Berites," by the Protestants.; Haydock) is derived from Bara, "to choose," by St. Jerome. Septuagint have read airim, "cities." Some suppose that the inhabitants of Bahurim (near Mount Ephraim, ver. 21, where Semei, a relation of Saul, and many disaffected people resided) shut themselves up with him in Abela.
Gill -> 2Sa 20:14
Gill: 2Sa 20:14 - -- And he went through all the tribes of Israel,.... That is, Sheba the son of Bichri, last mentioned, 2Sa 20:13, who passed through all the tribes of Is...
And he went through all the tribes of Israel,.... That is, Sheba the son of Bichri, last mentioned, 2Sa 20:13, who passed through all the tribes of Israel to get as many to be of his party as he could, and to be proclaimed their king; or finding himself pursued, he passed on as fast as he could from place to place, through all the tribes, until at length he fixed for safety in a place later named; though Josephus w understands this of Joab pursuing Sheba through all the tribes of Israel with the forces under him; and to this sense the Syriac and Arabic versions, and so R. Isaiah interprets it; but the first sense is more generally received, that Sheba is meant, who passing through various tribes, came
unto Abel, and unto Bethmaachah; which were two places very near one another, if not one and the same place; since Abel is in 2Sa 20:15 called Abel of Bethmaachah, to distinguish it from any other place: it was a city that lay to the north of Israel near Syria; and from 2Ki 15:29, it appears to be in the tribe of Naphtali. There was one city of this name of Abel, six miles from Philadelphia, another twelve miles from Gadara, and a third between Paneas and Damascus, which, of the three, Reland thinks x, is most eligible to be the place here meant; though he rather chooses to look for it in Galilee, to the west or south of Paneas, than to the east or north in the way to Damascus; and so Adrichomius y calls it a city of upper Galilee, sixty furlongs or seven and an half miles from Jordan; and though he also places it in the tribe of Naphtali, in the plain of the country of Berim (from whence perhaps were the Berites next mentioned), not far from Caesarea Philippi; see 1Ki 15:20,
and all the Berites; the inhabitants of Beeroth, in the tribe of Benjamin, of which tribe Sheba was, they followed him hither, as in the next clause:
and they were gathered together, and went also after him; unto Abel; of these, see Jos 18:25; though perhaps these Berim or Berites were nearer to Abel; or rather that was in their country, as has been observed by Adrichomius.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: 2Sa 20:14 The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading וַיִּקּ...
Geneva Bible -> 2Sa 20:14
Geneva Bible: 2Sa 20:14 And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to ( i ) Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also ...

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> 2Sa 20:1-26
TSK Synopsis: 2Sa 20:1-26 - --1 By occasion of the quarrel, Sheba makes a party in Israel.3 David's ten concubines are put in confinement for life.4 Amasa, made captain over Judah,...
MHCC -> 2Sa 20:14-22
MHCC: 2Sa 20:14-22 - --Justly is that place attacked, which dares to harbour a traitor; nor will the heart fare better which indulges rebellious lusts, that will not have Ch...
Matthew Henry -> 2Sa 20:14-22
Matthew Henry: 2Sa 20:14-22 - -- We have here the conclusion of Sheba's attempt. I. The rebel, when he had rambled over all the tribes of Israel, and found them not so willing, upon...
Keil-Delitzsch -> 2Sa 20:1-22
Keil-Delitzsch: 2Sa 20:1-22 - --
Sheba's Rebellion. - 2Sa 20:1. There happened to be a worthless man there, named Sheba , a Benjaminite. He blew the trumpet, and said, "We have no ...
Constable: 2Sa 9:1--20:26 - --VI. DAVID'S TROUBLES chs. 9--20
Chapters 9-20 contrast with chapters 2-8 in that this later section is negative ...

Constable: 2Sa 13:1--20:26 - --C. David's Rejection and Return chs. 13-20
This is the longest literary section in the Court History of ...

Constable: 2Sa 15:1--20:26 - --2. Absalom's attempt to usurp David's throne chs. 15-20
Absalom was never Yahweh's choice to suc...
