39 Uriah the Hittite; in all thirty and seven.
And David sendeth unto Joab, `Send unto me Uriah the Hittite,' and Joab sendeth Uriah unto David; and Uriah cometh unto him, and David asketh of the prosperity of Joab, and of the prosperity of the people, and of the prosperity of the war. And David saith to Uriah, `Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet;' and Uriah goeth out of the king's house, and there goeth out after him a gift from the king, and Uriah lieth down at the opening of the king's house, with all the servants of his lord, and hath not gone down unto his house. And they declare to David, saying, `Uriah hath not gone down unto his house;' and David saith unto Uriah, `Hast thou not come from a journey? wherefore hast thou not gone down unto thy house?' And Uriah saith unto David, `The ark, and Israel, and Judah, are abiding in booths, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, on the face of the field are encamping; and I -- I go in unto my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife! -- thy life, and the life of thy soul -- if I do this thing.' And David saith unto Uriah, `Abide in this `place' also to-day, and to-morrow I send thee away;' and Uriah abideth in Jerusalem, on that day, and on the morrow, and David calleth for him, and he eateth before him, and drinketh, and he causeth him to drink, and he goeth out in the evening to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, and unto his house he hath not gone down. And it cometh to pass in the morning, that David writeth a letter unto Joab, and sendeth by the hand of Uriah; and he writeth in the letter, saying, `Place ye Uriah over-against the front of the severest battle, and ye have turned back from after him, and he hath been smitten, and hath died.' And it cometh to pass in Joab's watching of the city, that he appointeth Uriah unto the place where he knew that valiant men `are'; and the men of the city go out and fight with Joab, and there fall `some' of the people, of the servants of David; and there dieth also Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sendeth and declareth to David all the matters of the war, and commandeth the messenger, saying, `At thy finishing all the matters of the war to speak unto the king, then, it hath been, if the king's fury ascend, and he hath said to thee, Wherefore did ye draw nigh unto the city to fight? did ye not know that they shoot from off the wall? Who smote Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast on him a piece of a rider from the wall, and he dieth in Thebez? why drew ye nigh unto the wall? that thou hast said, Also thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.' And the messenger goeth, and cometh in, and declareth to David all that with which Joab sent him, and the messenger saith unto David, `Surely the men have been mighty against us, and come out unto us into the field, and we are upon them unto the opening of the gate, and those shooting shoot at thy servants from off the wall, and `some' of the servants of the king are dead, and also, thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead. And David saith unto the messenger, `Thus dost thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing be evil in thine eyes; for thus and thus doth the sword devour; strengthen thy warfare against the city, and throw it down -- and strengthen thou him.' And the wife of Uriah heareth that Uriah her husband `is' dead, and lamenteth for her lord; and the mourning passeth by, and David sendeth and gathereth her unto his house, and she is to him for a wife, and beareth to him a son; and the thing which David hath done is evil in the eyes of Jehovah.
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Commentary on 2 Samuel 23 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 23
2Sa 23:1-7. David Professes His Faith in God's Promises.
1. Now these be the last words of David—Various opinions are entertained as to the precise meaning of this statement, which, it is obvious, proceeded from the compiler or collector of the sacred canon. Some think that, as there is no division of chapters in the Hebrew Scriptures, this introduction was intended to show that what follows is no part of the preceding song. Others regard this as the last of the king's poetical compositions; while still others consider it the last of his utterances as an inspired writer.
raised up on high—from an obscure family and condition to a throne.
the anointed of the God of Jacob—chosen to be king by the special appointment of that God, to whom, by virtue of an ancient covenant, the people of Israel owed all their peculiar destiny and distinguished privileges.
the sweet psalmist of Israel—that is, delightful, highly esteemed.
2. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me—Nothing can more clearly show that all that is excellent in spirit, beautiful in language, or grand in prophetic imagery, which the Psalms of David contain, were owing, not to his superiority in natural talents or acquired knowledge, but to the suggestion and dictates of God's Spirit.
3. the Rock of Israel—This metaphor, which is commonly applied by the sacred writers to the Almighty, was very expressive to the minds of the Hebrew people. Their national fortresses, in which they sought security in war, were built on high and inaccessible rocks.
spake to me—either preceptively, giving the following counsels respecting the character of an upright ruler in Israel, or prophetically, concerning David and his royal dynasty, and the great Messiah, of whom many think this is a prophecy, rendering the words, "he that ruleth"—"there shall be a ruler over men."
4. as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain—Little patches of grass are seen rapidly springing up in Palestine after rain; and even where the ground has been long parched and bare, within a few days or hours after the enriching showers begin to fall, the face of the earth is so renewed that it is covered over with a pure fresh mantle of green.
5. Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure—"the light of the morning," that is, the beginning of David's kingdom, was unlike the clear brilliant dawn of an Eastern day but was overcast by many black and threatening clouds; neither he nor his family had been like the tender grass springing up from the ground and flourishing by the united influences of the sun and rain; but rather like the grass that withereth and is prematurely cut down. The meaning is: although David's house had not flourished in an uninterrupted course of worldly prosperity and greatness, according to his hopes; although great crimes and calamities had beclouded his family history; some of the most promising branches of the royal tree had been cut down in his lifetime and many of his successors should suffer in like manner for their personal sins; although many reverses and revolutions may overtake his race and his kingdom, yet it was to him a subject of the highest joy and thankfulness that God will inviolably maintain His covenant with his family, until the advent of his greatest Son, the Messiah, who was the special object of his desire, and the author of his salvation.
6. But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns—that is, the wicked enemies and persecutors of this kingdom of righteousness. They resemble those prickly, thorny plants which are twisted together, whose spires point in every direction, and which are so sharp and strong that they cannot be touched or approached without danger; but hard instruments and violent means must be taken to destroy or uproot them. So God will remove or destroy all who are opposed to this kingdom.
2Sa 23:8-39. A Catalogue of His Mighty Men.
8. These be the names of the mighty men whom David had—This verse should be translated thus: He who sits in the seat of the Tachmonite (that is, of Jashobeam the Hachmonite), who was chief among the captains, the same is Adino the Eznite; he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time. The text is corrupt in this passage; the number eight hundred should be three hundred [Davidson, Hermeneutics]. Under Joab he was chief or president of the council of war. The first or highest order was composed of him and his two colleagues, Eleazar and Shammah. Eleazar seems to have been left to fight the Philistines alone; and on his achieving the victory, they returned to the spoil. In like manner Shammah was left to stand alone in his glory, when the Lord, by him, wrought a great victory. It is not very easy to determine whether the exploits that are afterwards described were performed by the first or the second three.
15, 16. the well of Beth-lehem—An ancient cistern, with four or five holes in the solid rock, at about ten minutes distance to the north of the eastern corner of the hill of Beth-lehem, is pointed out by the natives as Bir-Daoud; that is, David's well. Dr. Robinson doubts the identity of the well; but others think that there are no good grounds for doing so. Certainly, considering this to be the ancient well, Beth-lehem must have once extended ten minutes further to the north, and must have lain in times of old, not as now, on the summit, but on the northern rise of the hill; for the well is by or (1Ch 11:7) at the gate. I find in the description of travellers, that the common opinion is, that David's captains had come from the southeast, in order to obtain, at the risk of their lives, the so-much-longed-for water; while it is supposed that David himself was then in the great cave that is not far to the southeast of Beth-lehem; which cave is generally held to have been that of Adullam. But (Jos 15:35) Adullam lay "in the valley"; that is, in the undulating plain at the western base of the mountains of Judea and consequently to the southwest of Beth-lehem. Be this as it may, David's men had in any case to break through the host of the Philistines, in order to reach the well; and the position of Bir-Daoud agrees well with this [Van De Velde].
19-39. the first three—The mighty men or champions in David's military staff were divided into three classes—the highest, Jashobeam, Eleazar, and Shammah; the second class, Abishai, Benaiah, and Asahel; and the third class, the thirty, of which Asahel was the chief. There are thirty-one mentioned in the list, including Asahel; and these added to the two superior orders make thirty-seven. Two of them, we know, were already dead; namely, Asahel [2Sa 3:30] and Uriah [2Sa 11:17]; and if the dead, at the drawing up of the list, amounted to seven, then we might suppose a legion of honor, consisting of the definite number thirty, where the vacancies, when they occurred, were replaced by fresh appointments.