2 Samuel 17:1-4

The Death of Ahithophel

17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night. 17:2 When I catch up with ¹  him he will be exhausted and worn out. ²  I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king 17:3 and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. ³  The entire army will return unharmed.” ⁴ 

17:4 This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders ⁵  of Israel.

2 Samuel 17:2

17:2 When I catch up with ⁶  him he will be exhausted and worn out. ⁷  I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king

2 Samuel 19:37

19:37 Let me ⁸  return so that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But look, here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever seems appropriate to you.”

2 Samuel 19:2

19:2 So the victory of that day was turned to mourning as far as all the people were concerned. For the people heard on that day, “The king is grieved over his son.”

2 Samuel 1:21

1:21 O mountains of Gilboa,

may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings! ⁹ 

For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled; ¹⁰ 

the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil. ¹¹ 

Matthew 10:21

10:21 “Brother ¹²  will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against ¹³  parents and have them put to death.

¹ tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”

² tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”

³ tc Heb “like the returning of all, the man whom you are seeking.” The LXX reads differently: “And I will return all the people to you the way a bride returns to her husband, except for the life of the one man whom you are seeking.” The other early versions also struggled with this verse. Modern translations are divided as well: the NAB, NRSV, REB, and NLT follow the LXX, while the NASB and NIV follow the Hebrew text.

⁴ tn Heb “all of the people will be safe.”

⁵ tn Heb “elders.”

⁶ tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”

⁷ tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”

⁸ tn Heb “your servant.”

⁹ tc Instead of the MT’s “fields of grain offerings” the Lucianic recension of the LXX reads “your high places are mountains of death.” Cf. the Old Latin montes mortis (“mountains of death”).

¹⁰ tn This is the only biblical occurrence of the Niphal of the verb גָּעַל (ga’al). This verb usually has the sense of “to abhor” or “loathe.” But here it seems to refer to the now dirty and unprotected condition of a previously well-maintained instrument of battle.

¹¹ tc It is preferable to read here Hebrew מָשׁוּחַ (mashuakh) with many Hebrew mss, rather than מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh) of the MT. Although the Syriac Peshitta understands the statement to pertain to Saul, the point here is not that Saul is not anointed. Rather, it is the shield of Saul that lies discarded and is no longer anointed. In ancient Near Eastern practice a warrior’s shield that was in normal use would have to be anointed regularly in order to ensure that the leather did not become dry and brittle. Like other warriors of his day Saul would have carefully maintained his tools of trade. But now that he is dead, the once-cared-for shield of the mighty warrior lies sadly discarded and woefully neglected, a silent but eloquent commentary on how different things are now compared to the way they were during Saul’s lifetime.

¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹³ tn Or “will rebel against.”