2 Samuel 8:16

David’s Cabinet

8:16 Joab son of Zeruiah was general in command of ¹  the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was secretary;

2 Samuel 20:24

20:24 Adoniram ²  was supervisor of the work crews. ³  Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the secretary.

2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ⁴  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ⁵  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ⁶  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ⁷  O Israel!”

2 Samuel 18:15

18:15 Then ten soldiers who were Joab’s armor bearers struck Absalom and finished him off.

¹ tn Heb “was over.”

² tn Heb “Adoram” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV, CEV), but see 1 Kgs 4:6; 5:14.

³ tn Heb “was over the forced labor.”

⁴ tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

⁵ tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.

⁶ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

⁷ tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.