Discovery Box2 Samuel 19:1--20:26
Context19:1 (19:2) Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.” 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.” 19:3 That day the people stole away to go to the city the way people who are embarrassed steal away in fleeing from battle. 19:4 The king covered his face and cried out loudly, 1 “My son, Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”
19:5 So Joab visited 2 the king at his home. He said, “Today you have embarrassed all your servants who have saved your life this day, as well as the lives of your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your concubines. 19:6 You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now 3 that if 4 Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, 5 it would be all right with you. 19:7 So get up now and go out and give some encouragement to 6 your servants. For I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out there, not a single man will stay here with you tonight! This disaster will be worse for you than any disaster that has overtaken you from your youth right to the present time!”
19:8 So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they 7 all came before him.
But the Israelite soldiers 8 had all fled to their own homes. 9 19:9 All the people throughout all the tribes of Israel were arguing among themselves saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He rescued us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom. 19:10 But Absalom, whom we anointed as our king, 10 has died in battle. So now why do you hesitate to bring the king back?” 11
19:11 Then King David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests saying, “Tell the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back to his palace, 12 when everything Israel is saying has come to the king’s attention. 13 19:12 You are my brothers – my very own flesh and blood! 14 Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back?’ 19:13 Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood? 15 God will punish me severely, 16 if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”
19:14 He 17 won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. Then they sent word to the king saying, “Return, you and all your servants as well.” 19:15 So the king returned and came to the Jordan River. 18
Now the people of Judah 19 had come to Gilgal to meet the king and to help him 20 cross the Jordan. 19:16 Shimei son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim came down quickly with the men of Judah to meet King David. 19:17 There were a thousand men from Benjamin with him, along with Ziba the servant 21 of Saul’s household, and with him his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They hurriedly crossed 22 the Jordan within sight of the king. 19:18 They crossed at the ford in order to help the king’s household cross and to do whatever he thought appropriate.
Now after he had crossed the Jordan, Shimei son of Gera threw himself down before the king. 19:19 He said to the king, “Don’t think badly of me, my lord, and don’t recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left 23 Jerusalem! 24 Please don’t call it to mind! 19:20 For I, your servant, 25 know that I sinned, and I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”
19:21 Abishai son of Zeruiah replied, “For this should not Shimei be put to death? After all, he cursed the Lord’s anointed!” 19:22 But David said, “What do we have in common, 26 you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don’t you realize that today I am king over Israel?” 19:23 The king said to Shimei, “You won’t die.” The king vowed an oath 27 concerning this.
19:24 Now Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, 28 came down to meet the king. From the day the king had left until the day he safely 29 returned, Mephibosheth 30 had not cared for his feet 31 nor trimmed 32 his mustache nor washed his clothes.
19:25 When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?” 19:26 He replied, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me! I 33 said, ‘Let me get my donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for I 34 am lame. 19:27 But my servant 35 has slandered me 36 to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do whatever seems appropriate to you. 19:28 After all, there was no one in the entire house of my grandfather 37 who did not deserve death from my lord the king. But instead you allowed me to eat at your own table! 38 What further claim do I have to ask 39 the king for anything?”
19:29 Then the king replied to him, “Why should you continue speaking like this? You and Ziba will inherit the field together.” 19:30 Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him have 40 the whole thing! My lord the king has returned safely 41 to his house!”
19:31 Now when Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, he crossed the Jordan with the king so he could send him on his way from there. 42 19:32 But Barzillai was very old – eighty years old, in fact – and he had taken care of the king when he stayed in Mahanaim, for he was a very rich 43 man. 19:33 So the king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will take care of you while you are with me in Jerusalem.”
19:34 Barzillai replied to the king, “How many days do I have left to my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? 19:35 I am presently eighty years old. Am I able to discern good and bad? Can I 44 taste what I eat and drink? Am I still able to hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should I 45 continue to be a burden to my lord the king? 19:36 I will cross the Jordan with the king and go a short distance. 46 Why should the king reward me in this way? 19:37 Let me 47 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.”
19:38 The king replied, “Kimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever I deem appropriate. And whatever you choose, I will do for you.”
19:39 So all the people crossed the Jordan, as did the king. After the king had kissed him and blessed him, Barzillai returned to his home. 48 19:40 When the king crossed over to Gilgal, Kimham 49 crossed over with him. Now all the soldiers 50 of Judah along with half of the soldiers of Israel had helped the king cross over. 51
19:41 Then all the men of Israel began coming to the king. They asked the king, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, sneak the king away and help the king and his household cross the Jordan – and not only him but all of David’s men as well?”
19:42 All the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative! Why are you so upset about this? Have we eaten at the king’s expense? 52 Or have we misappropriated anything for our own use?” 19:43 The men of Israel replied to the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and we have a greater claim on David than you do! Why do you want 53 to curse us? Weren’t we the first to suggest bringing back our king?” But the comments of the men of Judah were more severe than those of the men of Israel.
20:1 Now a wicked man 54 named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, 55 happened to be there. He blew the trumpet 56 and said,
“We have no share in David;
we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!
Every man go home, 57 O Israel!”
20:2 So all the men of Israel deserted 58 David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stuck by their king all the way from the Jordan River 59 to Jerusalem. 60
20:3 Then David went to his palace 61 in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. 62 Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. 63 They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.
20:4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together for me in three days, 64 and you be present here with them too.” 20:5 So Amasa went out to call Judah together. But in doing so he took longer than the time that the king had allotted him.
20:6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure 65 fortified cities for himself and get away from us.” 20:7 So Joab’s men, accompanied by the Kerethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors, left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.
20:8 When they were near the big rock that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire and had a dagger in its sheath belted to his waist. When he advanced, it fell out. 66
20:9 Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” With his right hand Joab took hold of Amasa’s beard as if to greet him with a kiss. 20:10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab 67 stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s 68 intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. 69 Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.
20:11 One of Joab’s soldiers who stood over Amasa said, “Whoever is for 70 Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!” 20:12 Amasa was squirming in his own blood in the middle of the path, and this man had noticed that all the soldiers stopped. Having noticed that everyone who came across Amasa 71 stopped, the man 72 pulled him 73 away from the path and into the field and threw a garment over him. 20:13 Once he had removed Amasa 74 from the path, everyone followed Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.
20:14 Sheba 75 traveled through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of 76 Beth Maacah and all the Berite region. When they had assembled, 77 they too joined him. 20:15 So Joab’s men 78 came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through 79 the wall so that it would collapse, 20:16 a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen up! Listen up! Tell Joab, ‘Come near so that I may speak to you.’”
20:17 When he approached her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” He replied, “I am.” She said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” He said, “Go ahead. I’m listening.” 20:18 She said, “In the past they would always say, ‘Let them inquire in Abel,’ and that is how they settled things. 20:19 I represent the peaceful and the faithful in Israel. You are attempting to destroy an important city 80 in Israel. Why should you swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”
20:20 Joab answered, “Get serious! 81 I don’t want to swallow up or destroy anything! 20:21 That’s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled 82 against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute 83 his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”
20:22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. Joab 84 blew the trumpet, and his men 85 dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. 86 Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.
20:23 Now Joab was the general in command of all the army of Israel. Benaiah the son of Jehoida was over the Kerethites and the Perethites. 20:24 Adoniram 87 was supervisor of the work crews. 88 Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the secretary. 20:25 Sheva was the scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests. 20:26 Ira the Jairite was David’s personal priest. 89
[19:4] 1 tn Heb “with a great voice.”
[19:6] 4 tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSama, and many medieval Hebrew
[19:6] 5 tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”
[19:7] 6 tn Heb “and speak to the heart of.”
[19:8] 7 tn Heb “all the people.”
[19:8] 8 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Israel” (see 18:16-17).
[19:8] 9 tn Heb “had fled, each to his tent.”
[19:10] 11 tc The LXX includes the following words at the end of v. 11: “And what all Israel was saying came to the king’s attention.” The words are misplaced in the LXX from v. 12 (although the same statement appears there in the LXX as well).
[19:11] 12 tn Heb “his house.”
[19:11] 13 tc The Hebrew text adds “to his house” (= palace), but the phrase, which also appears earlier in the verse, is probably accidentally repeated here.
[19:12] 14 tn Heb “my bone and my flesh.”
[19:13] 15 tn Heb “my bone and my flesh.”
[19:13] 16 tn Heb “Thus God will do to me and thus he will add.”
[19:14] 17 tn The referent of “he” is not entirely clear: cf. NCV “David”; TEV “David’s words”; NRSV, NLT “Amasa.”
[19:15] 18 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[19:15] 19 tn The Hebrew text has simply “Judah.”
[19:15] 20 tn Heb “the king.” The pronoun (“him”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
[19:17] 22 tn Heb “rushed into.”
[19:19] 23 tn Though this verb in the MT is 3rd person masculine singular, it should probably be read as 2nd person masculine singular. It is one of fifteen places where the Masoretes placed a dot over each of the letters of the word in question in order to call attention to their suspicion of the word. Their concern in this case apparently had to do with the fact that this verb and the two preceding verbs alternate from third person to second and back again to third. Words marked in this way in Hebrew manuscripts or printed editions are said to have puncta extrordinaria, or “extraordinary points.”
[19:19] 24 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[19:20] 25 tn The Hebrew text has simply “your servant.”
[19:22] 26 tn Heb “what to me and to you.”
[19:23] 27 tn Heb “swore to him.”
[19:24] 29 tn Heb “in peace.” So also in v. 31.
[19:24] 30 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[19:24] 31 tn Heb “done his feet.”
[19:26] 33 tn Heb “your servant.”
[19:26] 34 tn Heb “your servant.”
[19:27] 35 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[19:27] 36 tn Heb “your servant.”
[19:28] 38 tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”
[19:28] 39 tn Heb “to cry out to.”
[19:31] 42 tc The MT reading אֶת־בַיַּרְדֵּן (’et-vayyarden, “in the Jordan”) is odd syntactically. The use of the preposition after the object marker אֶת (’et) is difficult to explain. Graphic confusion is likely in the MT; the translation assumes the reading מִיַּרְדֵּן (miyyarden, “from the Jordan”). Another possibility is to read the definite article on the front of “Jordan” (הַיַּרְדֵּן, hayyarden; “the Jordan”).
[19:35] 44 tn Heb “your servant.”
[19:35] 45 tn Heb “your servant.”
[19:36] 46 tn Heb “Like a little your servant will cross the Jordan with the king.”
[19:37] 47 tn Heb “your servant.”
[19:39] 48 tn Heb “to his place.”
[19:40] 49 tn The MT in this instance alone spells the name with final ן (nun, “Kimhan”) rather than as elsewhere with final ם (mem, “Kimham”). As in most other translations, the conventional spelling (with ם) has been used here to avoid confusion.
[19:40] 51 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
[19:42] 52 tn Heb “from the king.”
[19:43] 53 tn The translation understands the verb in a desiderative sense, indicating the desire but not necessarily the completed action of the party in question. It is possible, however, that the verb should be given the more common sense of accomplished action, in which case it means here “Why have you cursed us?”
[20:1] 54 tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”
[20:1] 55 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.
[20:1] 56 tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.
[20:1] 57 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.
[20:2] 58 tn Heb “went up from after.”
[20:2] 59 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[20:2] 60 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[20:3] 62 tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”
[20:3] 63 tn Heb “he did not come to them”; NAB “has no further relations with them”; NIV “did not lie with them”; TEV “did not have intercourse with them”; NLT “would no longer sleep with them.”
[20:4] 64 tn The present translation follows the Masoretic accentuation, with the major mark of disjunction (i.e., the atnach) placed at the word “days.” However, some scholars have suggested moving the atnach to “Judah” a couple of words earlier. This would yield the following sense: “Three days, and you be present here with them.” The difference in meaning is slight, and the MT is acceptable as it stands.
[20:6] 65 tn Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל (vÿhitsil, “and he will get away”).
[20:8] 66 sn The significance of the statement it fell out here is unclear. If the dagger fell out of its sheath before Joab got to Amasa, how then did he kill him? Josephus, Ant. 7.11.7 (7.284), suggested that as Joab approached Amasa he deliberately caused the dagger to fall to the ground at an opportune moment as though by accident. When he bent over and picked it up, he then stabbed Amasa with it. Others have tried to make a case for thinking that two swords are referred to – the one that fell out and another that Joab kept concealed until the last moment. But nothing in the text clearly supports this view. Perhaps Josephus’ understanding is best, but it is by no means obvious in the text either.
[20:10] 67 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[20:10] 68 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[20:10] 69 tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”
[20:11] 70 tn Heb “takes delight in.”
[20:12] 71 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[20:12] 72 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who spoke up in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[20:12] 73 tn Heb “Amasa.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.
[20:13] 74 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[20:14] 75 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sheba) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[20:14] 76 tc In keeping with the form of the name in v. 15, the translation deletes the “and” found in the MT.
[20:14] 77 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew
[20:15] 78 tn Heb “they.” The following context makes it clear that this refers to Joab and his army.
[20:15] 79 tc The LXX has here ἐνοοῦσαν (enoousan, “were devising”), which apparently presupposes the Hebrew word מַחֲשָׁבִים (makhashavim) rather than the MT מַשְׁחִיתִם (mashkhitim, “were destroying”). With a number of other scholars Driver thinks that the Greek variant may preserve the original reading, but this seems to be an unnecessary conclusion (but see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 346).
[20:19] 80 tn Heb “a city and a mother.” The expression is a hendiadys, meaning that this city was an important one in Israel and had smaller cities dependent on it.
[20:20] 81 tn Heb “Far be it, far be it from me.” The expression is clearly emphatic, as may be seen in part by the repetition. P. K. McCarter, however, understands it to be coarser than the translation adopted here. He renders it as “I’ll be damned if…” (II Samuel [AB], 426, 429), which (while it is not a literal translation) may not be too far removed from the way a soldier might have expressed himself.
[20:21] 82 tn Heb “lifted his hand.”
[20:22] 84 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[20:22] 85 tn Heb “they”; the referent (Joab’s men) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[20:22] 86 tn Heb “his tents.”
[20:24] 87 tn Heb “Adoram” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV, CEV), but see 1 Kgs 4:6; 5:14.
[20:24] 88 tn Heb “was over the forced labor.”
[20:26] 89 tn Heb “priest for David.” KJV (“a chief ruler about David”) and ASV (“chief minister unto David”) regarded this office as political.
