Bible Commentaries

numbered = mustered, or inspected. David, was now fifty-six.

succour us out of the city = come to us out of the city with succour by prayer and counsel.

heard. this explains 2 Samuel 18:12

wood of Ephraim. Compare Joshua 17:15-18

the face. Figure of speech Pleonasm, with Prosopopceia. App-6. devoured. Hebrew "multiplied to devour", to emphasise the great number. Figure of speech Prosopopaia. App-6.

taken up. The tradition about his "hair" comes from Josephus 2 Samuel 10:2).

man. Hebrew. "ish. App-14.

Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.

girdle. A common present, made of silk, linen, or leather, and worked sometimes in gold. Used for fastening up loose garments.

our hearing. See 2 Samuel 18:5

Beware that none touch = Watch any one who (would touch) the, &c. After "Watch", Septuagint, Aramaean, Syriac, and Vulgate add "for my sake", as in 2 Samuel 18:5.

life = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.

darts = clubs. Hebrew. shebet, a club with a long spike at the end. Still used in Palestine.

armour = weapons.

slew him. David being fifty-seven years old; Absalom, twenty-four; Solomon, seven.

heap of stones. Not a memorial to honour but to warn (Joshua 7:26; Joshua 8:29). See note on 2 Samuel 18:18.

pillar. Marks ambition's aim, while the heap of stones (2 Samuel 18:17) marks ambition's end.

no son. Compare 2 Samuel 14:27. Therefore built, before the first-born; or after his sons (2 Samuel 14:27) were dead. place-monument. About a quarter of a mile east of Jerusalem, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

between the two gates. The outer and inner gates of the city wall.

If he be alone. Otherwise it would be flight.

porter = gatekeeper. No gates without the "Bawab "or gatekeeper. Compare 2 Kings 7:17. 1 Chronicles 9:21.

good. Compare 1 Kings 1:42.

Blessed be the LORD thy God. Some codices, with three early printed editions, reverse the order, thus changing the emphasis, and read: "Jehovah thy God be blessed".

God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.

men. Hebrew. "enosh. App-14.

and = even.

what it was = what [it meant].

be as that young man. Figure of speech Euphemism. App-6.

my son . . . my son. Figure of speech Epizeuxis. App-6. for = instead of.