2 Samuel 15:1--18:33
Absalom <053> [A.M. 2980. B.C. 1024. Absalom.]
get up <07925> [rose up.]
bring <0935> [came. Heb. to come.]
claims <01697> [thy matters.]
king <04428> [there is, etc. or, none will hear thee from the king downward.]
make <07760> [Oh that I.]
just settlement <06663> [I would do.]
embrace .... kiss <02388 05401> [took him.]
kiss <05401> [and kissed.]
way ... won <01589> [stole.]
four years <0705 08141> [A.M. 2983. B.C. 1021. An. Ex. Is. 470. forty years.]
As David reigned in the whole only forty years, this reading is evidently corrupt, though supported by the commonly printed Vulgate, LXX., and Chaldee. But the Syriac, Arabic, Josephus, Theodoret, the Sixtine edition of the Vulgate, and several MSS. of the same version, read four years; and it is highly probable that {arbÆ’im,} forty, is an error for {arbÆ’,} four, though not supported by any Hebrew MS. yet discovered. Two of those collated by Dr. Kennicott, however, have {yom,} "day," instead of {shanah,} "year," i.e., forty days instead of forty years; but this is not sufficient to outweigh the other authorities.
<03212> [let me go.]
repay <07999> [pay.]
I <05650> [thy servant.]
Geshur <01650> [Geshur.]
serve <05647> [I will serve.]
spies <07270> [spies.]
rules <04427> [reigneth.]
Hebron <02275> [Hebron.]
invited <07121> [called.]
naively <08537> [their simplicity.]
Ahithophel <0302> [Ahithophel.]
David's <01732> [David's.]
Giloh <01542> [Giloh.]
offering <02076> [while he offered.]
people <05971> [the people.]
<03820> [The hearts.]
Come on <06965> [Arise.]
bring <05080> [bring. Heb. thrust.]
kill <05221> [and smite.]
servants <05650> [Behold.]
decides <0977> [appoint. Heb. choose.]
king ................ king <04428> [the king.]
king ............. foot .... king <07272 04428> [after him. Heb. at his feet.]
set out <03318> [went forth.]
Kerethites <03774> [Cherethites.]
Gittites <01663> [Gittites.]
Ittai <0863> [Ittai.]
wander around <05128 03212> [go up and down. Heb. wander in going.]
going ..... go ..... go <01980> [seeing.]
loyal love <02617> [mercy.]
Lord <03068> [As the Lord.]
wherever <04725> [surely.]
dependents <02945> [and all the little.]
Sir John Chardin informs us,in a MS. note on this place, that it is usual with the greatest part of the eastern people, especially the Arabs, to carry their whole family with them when they go to war.
land <0776> [all the country.]
Valley <05158> [the brook.]
The brook Kidron, which is but a few paces broad, runs along the valley of Jehoshaphat, east of Jerusalem, to the south-west corner of the city, and then, turning to the south-east, empties itself into the Dead Sea. Like the Ilissus, it is dry at least nine months in the year, being only furnished with water in the winter, and after heavy rains: its bed is narrow and deep, which indicates that it must formerly have been the channel for waters which have found some other, and probably subterraneous course.
Kidron <06939> [Kidron.]
[Cedron. the wilderness.]
Zadok <06659> [Zadok.]
carrying <05375> [bearing.]
back <07725> [Carry back.]
back <07725> [he will bring.]
dwelling <05116> [habitation.]
[I have not.]
<06213> [let.]
seer <07200> [a seer.]
back <07725> [return.]
Mount <04608> [the ascent.]
Olives <02132> [mount Olivet.]
Mount Olivet, so called from its abounding with olive trees, is situated east of Jerusalem, being separated from it only by the valley of Jehoshaphat and the brook Kidron. Josephus says it is five stadia, i.e., 625 geometrical paces from Jerusalem; and St. Luke (Ac 1:12) says it is a Sabbath day's journey, or about eight stadia distant, i.e., to the summit. It forms part of a ridge of limestone hills, extending from north to south for about a mile; and it is described as having three, or, according to others, four summits; the central and highest of which overlooks the whole of the city, over whose streets and walls the eye roves as if in the survey of a model.
going up ........ weeping .... went ......................... weeping .... went up <05927 01058> [and wept as he went up. Heb. going up and weeping.]
head ... covered ................. heads covered <02645 07218> [his head covered.]
This custom was only practised by persons in great distress, or when convicted of great crimes. Thus Darius, when informed by Tyriotes, the eunuch, that his queen was dead, and that she had suffered no violence from Alexander, covered his head, and wept a long time; then throwing off the garment that covered him, he thanked the gods for Alexander's moderation and justice.
feet were bare <03182> [barefoot.]
weeping ............................ weeping <01058> [weeping.]
Ahithophel .................. Ahithophel <0302> [Ahithophel.]
Lord <03068> [O Lord.]
advice <06098> [turn the counsel.]
summit ..................... head <07218> [the top.]
worship <07812> [he worshipped.]
Hushai <02365> [Hushai.]
Arkite <0757> [Archite.]
clothes torn <07167 03801> [coat rent.]
burden <04853> [then thou.]
back <07725> [return.]
father's <01> [as I have been.]
counter <06565> [then mayest.]
tell <05046> [thou shalt tell.]
two sons <01121 08147> [their two sons.]
friend <07463> [friend.]
Absalom <053> [Absalom.]
When .... gone a short <05674 04592> [little past.]
Ziba <06717> [Ziba.]
couple <06776> [with a couple.]
summer fruit <07019> [summer.]
These were probably pumpkins, cucumbers, or water-melons; the two latter being extensively used in the East to refresh travellers in the burning heat of the summer; and probably, as Mr. Harmer supposes, called summer fruits on this very account.
container <05035> [a bottle.]
Ziba ........ Ziba <06717> [What meanest.]
The asses. This is the eastern mode of speaking when presenting any thing to a great man: "This is for the slaves of the servants of your majesty;" when at the same time the presents are intended for the sovereign himself, and it is so understood. .# 15:1 19:26 Jud 5:10 10:4
attendants <05288> [for the young.]
exhausted <03287> [that such.]
master's <0113> [where is.]
[Today.]
Mephibosheth's <04648> [Behold.]
bow ...... find <07812 04672> [I humbly beseech thee. Heb. I do obeisance.]
Bahurim <0980> [Bahurim.]
This place is supposed to be the same as Almon, (Jos 21:18,) and Almeth, (1 Ch 6:60,) a city of Benjamin, north of Jerusalem, and apparently not far from Olivet.
named <08034> [whose name.]
extended ........ came out <03318> [he came, etc. or, he still came forth and cursed. cursed.]
man ... bloodshed .... man <0376 01818> [bloody man. Heb. man of blood.]
man ..... wicked man <0376 01100> [man of Belial.]
punished <07725> [returned.]
blood .................................... bloodshed <01818> [the blood.]
blood ........... rule ................ Disaster ........... bloodshed <04427 07451 01818> [thou, etc. or, thee in thy evil.]
Abishai <052> [Abishai.]
dead dog <03611 04191> [dead dog.]
curse <07043> [curse.]
go over <05674> [let me go.]
sons <01121> [What have.]
curses ......... Curse <07043> [so let him.]
said ................... said ........ say <0559> [Who shall.]
son <01121> [Behold.]
flesh and blood <03318> [came forth.]
trying <01245> [seeketh.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
<05869> [affliction. or, tears. Heb. eye. requite.]
curses <07043> [cursed.]
dirt <06083 06080> [cast dust. Heb. dusted him with dust.]
It was an ancient custom, in those warm and arid countries, to lay the dust before a person of distinction, by sprinkling the ground with water. Dr. Pococke and the consul were treated with this respect when they entered Cairo. The same custom is alluded to in the well-known fable of Ph‘drus, in which a slave is represented going before Augustus and officiously laying the dust. To throw dust in the air while a person was passing was therefore an act of great disrespect; to do so before a sovereign prince, an indecent outrage. But it is probable that Shimei meant more than disrespect and outrage to this afflicted king. Sir John Chardin informs us, that in the East, in general, those who demand justice against a criminal throw dust upon him, signifying that he ought to be put in the grave: and hence the common imprecation among the Turks and Persians, "Be covered with earth," or, "Earth be upon thy head."
[there.]
Absalom <053> [Absalom.]
Long live ... king Long live ... king <02421 04428> [God save the king. Heb. let the king live.]
loyalty <02617> [Is this thy.]
go <01980> [why wentest.]
serve <06440> [should I not serve.]
Give .... advice <03051 06098> [Give counsel.]
Have sex <0935> [Go in.]
father's ....................... father <01> [unto thy.]
repulsive <0887> [abhorred.]
father's ....................... father <01> [thy father.]
support <03027> [then shall.]
support <03027> [the hands.]
roof <01406> [the top.]
<0935> [went in.]
<0376> [as if.]
prophetic <0430 01697> [oracle of God. Heb. word of God.]
advice ................. advice <06098> [so was.]
The first counsel of this sagacious but wicked man to Absalom was more like an oracle of Satan, both for subtlety and atrocity. He advised the shameless measure just detailed, in order to establish Absalom, and to preclude the possibility of a reconciliation with David. The wives of a conquered king were always the property of the conqueror; and in possessing these he appeared to possess the right to the kingdom.
advice ................. advice <06098> [all the counsel.]
David <01732> [both.]
Then .... go <06965> [I will arise.]
night <03915> [this night.]
exhausted <03023> [weary.]
kill <05221> [I will smite.]
bring ..... back <07725> [I will bring.]
unharmed <07965> [shall be.]
idea <01697> [the saying.]
seemed ..... idea ... Absalom <03474 053 05869> [pleased Absalom well. Heb. was right in the eyes of Absalom.]
Hushai <02365> [Hushai.]
say <06310> [he saith. Heb. is in his mouth.]
said ...... what ......... advice <0559 01697> [saying. Heb. word.]
<03289> [given. Heb. counselled. not good.]
soldiers <01368> [mighty men.]
dangerous <05315 04751> [chafed in their minds. Heb. bitter of soul.]
bear <01677> [as a bear.]
father .... men ........................ father .... experienced <01 0376> [thy father is.]
hiding <02244> [he is hid.]
one ........ other similar <0259 05307> [some.]
similar <05307> [over thrown. Heb. fallen.]
lion-hearted <03820> [heart.]
virtually melt away <04549> [utterly melt.]
father <01> [thy father.]
bravest soldier ............................ brave <02428> [and they which.]
Israel <03478> [all Israel.]
sand <02344> [as the sand.]
lead <01980> [thou go. Heb. they face, or presence, go, etc. in thine.]
wherever ................................... one <04725 0259> [in some place.]
<05168> [we will light.]
This is a very beautiful and expressive figure. The dew in Palestine, and other warm climates, falls fast, sudden, and heavy; and it falls upon every spot of earth, so that not a blade of grass escapes it. It is therefore no inapt emblem of a numerous and active army; and it was, perhaps, for this reason that the Romans called their light armed forces {rorarii.}
take up ropes <05375 02256> [bring ropes.]
In the same manner the king of Maturan, in Java, proposed pulling down a tower which the Dutch had built, by making his people and elephants pull at a number of chains, and ropes of cocoa-nut bark, thrown around it.
pebble <01571 06872> [one small.]
Lord .............. Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
had <06680> [appointed. Heb. commanded.]
frustrate <06565> [to defeat.]
advice ....... better .... advice ............. advice <06098 02896> [good counsel.]
Zadok <06659> [Zadok.]
spend <03885> [Lodge.]
cross over <05674> [but speedily.]
overwhelmed <01104> [be swallowed.]
Jonathan <03083> [Jonathan.]
staying <05975> [stayed.]
En Rogel <05883> [En-rogel.]
Bahurim <0980> [Bahurim.]
covering ... spread <04539 06566> [spread a covering.]
what ... had done <01697> [the thing.]
crossed over <05674> [They be gone.]
searched <01245> [when they had sought.]
Get <06965> [Arise.]
Ahithophel <0302> [thus hath Ahithophel.]
crossed ................ crossed <05674> [and they passed.]
left <05737> [there lacked.]
When ... realized <07200> [saw.]
he <06213> [followed. Heb. done. his city.]
had ............. house ...... setting ... household <06680 01004> [put his household in order. Heb. gave charge concerning his house.]
hanged <02614> [and hanged.]
Mahanaim <04266> [Mahanaim.]
Amasa ............. Amasa <06021> [Amasa.]
Jether <03501> [Ithra.]
[Jether the Ishmaelite. Abigail. Heb. Abigal. Nahash. or,]
Jesse.
land <0776> [land of the Gilead.]
son ... Nahash ...... Ammonites .... son <01121 05176> [the son of Nahash.]
Makir <04353> [Machir.]
Barzillai <01271> [Barzillai.]
bedding <04904> [beds.]
These no doubt consisted of skins of beasts, mats, carpets, and such like.
basins <05592> [basons. or, cups.]
{Sappoth,} probably wooden bowls, such as the Arabs still eat out of, and knead their bread in.
pottery utensils <03627 03335> [earthen vessels.]
{Keley yotzair}, literally, "vessels of the potter." So when Dr. Perry visited the temple of Luxor in Egypt, he says, "We were entertained by the Caliph here with great civility and favour; he sent us, in return of our presents, several sheep, a good quantity of eggs, {bardacks,}" etc. The {bardacks,} he informs us, were earthen vessels, used "to cool and refresh their water in, by means of which it drinks very cool and pleasant in the hottest seasons of the year." See Harmer, ch. vi.
wheat <02406> [wheat.]
Mr. Jones says, "Travellers use {zumeet, tumeet,} and {limereece.} {Zumeet} is flour mixed with honey, butter, and spice; {tumeet} is flour done up with organ oil: and {limereece} is flour mixed with water, for drink. This quenches thirst much better than water alone, satisfies a hungry appetite; cools and refreshes tired and weary spirits," etc.
cheese <01241 08194> [cheese of kine.]
<01732> [for David.]
<0398> [to eat.]
people <05971> [The people.]
desert <04057> [in the wilderness.]
assembled <06485> [numbered.]
leaders ... thousands ... leaders <08269 0505> [captains of thousands.]
third ........ third .............. third <07992> [a third part.]
leadership ... Joab ...... leadership ... Joab's ............ leadership <03097 03027> [the hand of Joab.]
Ittai <0863> [Ittai.]
march out <03318> [I will surely.]
<03318> [Thou shalt.]
rapid retreat <05127> [if we flee.]
make ......... concerned ...... half ................ like <07760 02677 03644> [care for us. Heb. set their heart on us. but now.]
The particle {Æ’ttah,} Now, is doubtless a mistake for the pronoun {attah,} Thou: and so it appears to have been read by the LXX., Vulgate, and Chaldee, and by two of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS.
like <03644> [worth, etc. Heb. as ten thousand of us.]
support <05826> [succour. Heb. be to succour.]
gate <08179> [by the gate.]
hundreds <03967> [by hundreds.]
David's small company, by this time, was greatly recruited; but what its number was we cannot tell. Josephus says it amounted only to 4,000 men.
gently <0328> [Deal gently.]
army <05971> [all the people.]
forest ... Ephraim <0669 03293> [wood of Ephraim.]
The wood of Ephraim was evidently beyond Jordan, and apparently not far from Mahanaim; and it is supposed to be the place where the Ephraimites were slain by Jephthah.
army <05971> [the people.]
great <01419> [a great.]
20,000 <0505 06242> [twenty thousand men.]
[in the wood.]
That is, probably, many more were slain in pursuit through the wood than in the battle, by falling into swamps, pits, etc., and being entangled and cut down by David's men. Such is the relation of Josephus; but the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic state, that they were devoured by wild beasts in the wood.
consumed more ...... devoured <0398 07235> [devoured more. Heb. multiplied to devour.]
head <07218> [his head.]
Riding furiously under the thick boughs of a great oak, which hung low and had never been cropped, either the twisted branches, or some low forked bough of the tree, caught him by the neck, or, as some think, by the loops into which his long hair had been pinned, which had been so much his pride, and was now justly made a halter for him. He may have hung so low from the bough, in consequence of the length of his hair, that he could not use his hands to help himself, or so entangled that his hands were bound, so that the more he struggled the more he was embarrassed. This set him up as a fair mark to the servants of David; and although David would have spared his rebellious son, if his orders had been executed, yet he could not turn the sword of Divine justice, in executing the just, righteous sentence of death on this traitorous son.
suspended <05414> [taken up.]
receiving <08254> [receive, etc. Heb. weigh upon mine hand. in our hearing.]
Protect <08104> [Beware, etc. Heb. Beware, whosoever ye be, of the, etc.]
acted <06213> [wrought.]
nothing <01697> [for there is no.]
<06440> [with thee. Heb. before thee. thrust them.]
oak tree <0424> [midst. Heb. heart.]
Then ... blew ... trumpet <08628 07782> [blew the trumpet.]
<05324> [laid.]
This was the ancient method of burying, whether heroes or traitors; the heap of stones being designed to perpetuate the memory of the event, whether good or bad. The Arabs in general make use of no other monument than a heap of stones over a grave. Thus, in an Arabic poem, it is related, that Hatim the father, and Adi the grandfather of Kais, having been murdered, at a time before Kais was capable of reflection, his mother kept it a profound secret; and in order to guard him against having any suspicion, she collected a parcel of stone on two hillocks in the neighbourhood, and told her son that the one was the grave of his father, and the other of his grandfather. The ancient cairns in Ireland and Scotland, and the tumuli in England, are of this kind.
set up <05324> [reared up.]
King's <04428> [the king's.]
son <01121> [I have no son.]
He ............. known <07121> [he called.]
Absalom ......................................... Absalom's Memorial <053 03027> [Absalom's place.]
Josephus says there was in his time, about two furlongs from Jerusalem, a marble pillar called Absalom's hand, as it is in the Hebrew, (See note on 1 Sa 15:12;) and there is one shown to the present day, in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which, though comparatively a modern structure, probably occupies the site of the original one set up by Absalom.
Ahimaaz <0290> [Ahimaaz.]
vindicated <08199 03027> [avenged him. Heb. judged him from the hand, etc.]
news ..... bear good news <01309 01319> [bear tidings. Heb. be a man of tidings.]
king's <04428> [because.]
Whatever ............ Why <04100> [howsoever. Heb. be what may. ready. or, convenient.]
passed ... Cushite <03569 05674> [overran Cushi.]
<08147> [between.]
watchman <06822> [the watchman.]
[Methinketh. Heb. I see.]
good ....... good <02896> [He is a good.]
Greetings <07965> [All is well. or, Peace be to thee. Heb. Peace. he fell down upon his face.]
This act was not only in reverence to the king, but in humble adoration of God, whose name he praises for this victory. The more our hearts are fixed and enlarged, in thanksgiving to God for our mercies, the better disposed we shall be to bear with patience the afflictions mixed with them.
praised <01288> [Blessed.]
defeated <05462> [delivered up. Heb. shut up.]
young man Absalom <05288 053 07965> [Is the young man Absalom safe? Heb. is there peace to, etc.]
I saw a great.
receive the good news <01319> [Tidings. Heb. Tidings is brought. the Lord.]
Cushi was the man Joab ordered to carry the tidings to David. He was an Ethiopian, as his name signifies, and some think he was so by birth--a black, who waited on Joab, probably one of the ten who had helped to dispatch Absalom; though it was dangerous for one of those to bring the news to David, lest his fate should be the same with theirs that reported the death of Saul and Ishbosheth to him.
enemies <0341> [The enemies.]
Thus Cushi obliquely and slowly informs David of the death of his son Absalom.
son .... son ... son .............. son ... son <01121> [O my son.]
died <04191> [would God.]
