2 Samuel · WEB-C
2 Samuel
20
Bible textSynthetic voice (AI)
There happened to be there a wicked fellow, whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet, and said, “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, Israel!” See also: 1 Kings 12:16Deuteronomy 13:132 Chronicles 10:16So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem. See also: Acts 11:23John 6:66-68Psalms 118:8-10David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody and provided them with sustenance, but didn’t go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. See also: 2 Samuel 16:21-222 Samuel 15:16Genesis 40:3Then the king said to Amasa, “Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be here present.” See also: 2 Samuel 17:252 Samuel 19:131 Chronicles 2:17So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together, but he stayed longer than the set time which had been appointed to him. See also: 1 Samuel 13:82 Samuel 19:13David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord’s servants and pursue after him, lest he get himself fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.” See also: 2 Samuel 11:111 Kings 1:332 Samuel 21:17Joab’s men went out after him with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. See also: 2 Samuel 8:181 Kings 1:382 Samuel 15:18When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was clothed in his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a sash with a sword fastened on his waist in its sheath; and as he went along it fell out. See also: 2 Samuel 3:302 Samuel 2:132 Samuel 20:4-5Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. See also: Matthew 26:48-49Luke 22:47-48Proverbs 26:24-26But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So he struck him with it in the body and shed out his bowels to the ground, and didn’t strike him again; and he died. Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. See also: 2 Samuel 2:232 Samuel 3:27Judges 3:21One of Joab’s young men stood by him, and said, “He who favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab!” See also: 2 Samuel 20:132 Samuel 20:6-72 Samuel 20:21Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. When the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still. See also: Proverbs 24:21-22Psalms 9:162 Samuel 17:25When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. See also: Mark 10:46Numbers 20:19Isaiah 36:2He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, to Beth Maacah, and all the Berites. They were gathered together, and went also after him. See also: 2 Kings 15:292 Chronicles 16:4Numbers 21:16They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. See also: 2 Kings 19:32Jeremiah 32:242 Kings 15:29Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’” See also: 2 Samuel 14:2Ecclesiastes 9:14-181 Samuel 25:32-33He came near to her; and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your servant.” He answered, “I’m listening.” See also: 1 Samuel 25:242 Samuel 14:12Then she spoke, saying, “They used to say in old times, ‘They shall surely ask counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled a matter. See also: Deuteronomy 20:10-11I am among those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?” See also: 1 Samuel 26:192 Samuel 21:31 Timothy 2:2Joab answered, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. See also: 2 Samuel 20:10Proverbs 28:132 Samuel 23:17The matter is not so. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Just deliver him, and I will depart from the city.” The woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” See also: Jeremiah 4:152 Samuel 23:18Jeremiah 50:19Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. See also: Ecclesiastes 7:192 Samuel 20:12 Samuel 20:16Now Joab was over all the army of Israel, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites, See also: 2 Samuel 8:16-181 Kings 4:3-61 Chronicles 18:15-17Adoram was over the men subject to forced labor, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder, See also: 1 Kings 12:181 Kings 4:31 Kings 4:6Sheva was scribe, Zadok and Abiathar were priests, See also: 1 Kings 4:42 Samuel 8:171 Chronicles 18:16and Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David. See also: 2 Samuel 23:38Exodus 2:14Judges 10:4-5
See also: Cross references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), derived in part from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Reflections
No reviewed reflections for this passage yet.
Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)19 notes
Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.
These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity
2 Samuel 20:1
Ver. 1. Belial. Sept. "lawless." --- Jemini. The tribe of Benjamin continued to be rather disaffected. H. --- Part. This was an usual mode of expressing a disunion. 3 K. xii. 16. Acts viii. 21. C. --- See C. xix. 43. H. Seba was perhaps a kinsman of Saul, (M.) in come command.
C.
↑ 12 Samuel 20:2
Ver. 2. Jordan, near which the contest had happened. Some chosen troops attended Seba to the north, while the rest went home. H.
↑ 22 Samuel 20:3
Ver. 3. Widowhood, or celibacy, (M.) like nuns. Grot. Salien. --- David could not with propriety approach to them, (E.) as they resembled his daughters-in-law; (Lev. xviii. 15. M.) and no other person could marry them, while he was still their husband. H. --- The punishment of seclusion was very small in the East, where women seldom go out. The Jews assert, that the widows of the Hebrew kings could not marry again. Selden. Uxor. i. 10. --- The like custom formerly prevailed in Spain. Coun. of Toledo. xiii. 3. A.D. 683, of Saragossa, c. 5. A.D.
691. So great was the respect for the king or the apprehension, lest those who married their widows, should aspire to the throne. C.
↑ 32 Samuel 20:4
Ver. 4. Here, to be invested with the command over the army, and to pursue Seba. M.
↑ 42 Samuel 20:5
Ver. 5. Him, owing to some insuperable difficulties. He was not long behind, since he joined the forces at Gabaon, where he was treacherously slain by the envious Joab. H.
↑ 52 Samuel 20:6
Ver. 6. Lord, the king; or perhaps Joab. M. --- A select company always attended the king; and some of these he sent, for greater expedition, to attack Seba, before he had become too strong.
↑ 62 Samuel 20:7
Ver. 7. Men. It seems Joab accompanied them, though in a manner divested of his command, by the king's appointing Amasa, and then Abisai, to his exclusion. After the slaughter of the former, he resumed his authority; (v. 10) and David was forced to acquiesce, for fear of another civil war, reserving his punishment for more peaceable times. H.
↑ 72 Samuel 20:8
Ver. 8. Stone, where Abner and Joab had formerly joined battle. C. ii. M. ---
Habit, or body. ---
Flank; they usually hand at the thigh. Ps. xliv. 4. --- Strike: the scabbard was very wide; so that, when it was hanging very high, it would easily fall out, when he stooped; and thus afford Joab an opportunity of stabbing Amasa, without suspicion. C. --- Prot. "Joab's garment, that he had put on, was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword, fastened upon his loins, in the sheath thereof, and as he went forth, it fell out."
↑ 82 Samuel 20:9
Ver. 9. God, &c. Lit. "Hail, my brother." H. --- Kiss him. "In former times it was the custom, in Greece, for supplicants to touch the chin, (Plin. xi. 45.) having the left hand upon the person's knees. Iliad Α.) The touched a woman's cheeks; (Eurip. Hecuba.) or, among the Hebrews, her chin. Cant. ii. 6. The Turks and Arabs still kiss the beard, with the utmost reverence. Thevenot xxii.
Darvieux, C. vii. C.
↑ 92 Samuel 20:10
Ver. 10. Struck him with his left hand. H. --- Side. The same word is, elsewhere, translated groin; Sept. "loin." Moderns commonly render "in the fifth rib. " C. ii.
23. and iii. 27. and iv. 6.
C. --- Josephus, "the belly."
↑ 102 Samuel 20:11
Ver. 11. Some men. The same author and the Heb. only mention "one of," &c.
H. --- Behold.
Thus they insult over him, being attached to Joab. Heb. "Who loves Joab? and who is David?
Let him follow Joab;" or, "who is this who wished to supplant Joab? and who desired to be in David's favour, after Joab? C.
↑ 112 Samuel 20:12
Ver. 12. A certain. Heb. "the man" stationed by Joab, near the body, to inform those who passed, that he had been justly slain. Josephus, (vii. 10,) who observes, that this crime of Joab proceeded from envy, and was less deserving of excuse than the murder of Abner. H.
↑ 122 Samuel 20:14
Ver. 14. Tribes, north-west of the Jordan. C. --- Abela and Bathmaacha. Cities of the tribe of Nephtali. Ch. --- The former is called simply Abel (4 K. xv. 29. C.) as it is here by the Prot.
version. H. --- It is also called Abyla, (Luke iii. 1,) and Hoba, (Gen. xiv. 15. C.) between Damascus and Paneas, (Euseb.) situated on the borders of Syria, as well as Beth Maaca, or "the canton of Maacha," or Machati. Jos. xii. 5. ---
Chosen. Heb. Berim, (which is translated
"Berites," by the Prot. H.) is derived from Bara, "to choose," by S. Jerom. Sept.
have read airim,
"cities." Some suppose that the inhabitants of Bahurim (near Mount Ephraim, v. 21, where Semei, a relation of Saul, and many disaffected people resided) shut themselves up with him in Abela.
↑ 142 Samuel 20:15
Ver. 15. Works. Heb. a bank, or terrace against the city, and it stood in the trench; (H.) so that the town ditch was filled up, (Grot.) or terraces were raised, from which archers assailed the besieged. Joab made a ditch to defend his men from foreign assailants; and he had already taken the outward wall, so that the town could not hold out for any length of time. --- The walls. S.
Jerom thinks with battering rams: but they were not yet invented. C. --- They undermined the walls, while some attempted to pull them down with hooks and ropes. C. xvii. 13. H.
↑ 152 Samuel 20:16
Ver. 16. Say to Joab. This woman was noted for her prudence, and it was hoped that her words would have more influence to disarm Joab. She addresses those who were nearest the wall, that she may have an interview with the general, at the request of her fellow-citizens.
↑ 162 Samuel 20:18
Ver. 18. End of their disputes, (H.) as Abela was remarkable for its wise counsellors, (M.) and equitable decisions; (H.) so that many came, from a distance, to consult the learned of this city.
C. --- Others suppose that she refers to the law, which ordains that peace shall first be proposed, and, if this had been done, the affair would long ago have been decided. Deut. xx. 10. Jonath. E.
&c. --- Heb. "They spoke a word at first: Let them ask at Abela, and so they shall make an end."
Much must be supplied to make the text conformable to the former explication.
We may translate, "They said, in ancient times: Let those who require more, go seek at Abela: so they finished their discourse." C. --- Prot. "They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so the ended the matter. "
↑ 182 Samuel 20:19
Ver. 19. Truth. Heb. "I am peaceable, faithful in Israel." H. --- I am one of the cities most inclined to peace, and to the king's service, noted for lessons of loyalty. C. --- Probably there was an academy here. M. --- Mother, city, or metropolis. The Hebrews styled the inferior towns, daughters. C. --- Lord, a city belonging to Israel. H.
↑ 192 Samuel 20:20
Ver. 20. God, ( Absit. ) Lit. "Far be it, far be it from me;" as we need not put the name of God in the mouth of this profane man, without reason. H.
↑ 202 Samuel 20:26
Ver. 26. Jairite, a descendant of Jair, (C.) son of Manasses. H. --- Priest. Hebrew cohen, respected like a priest, (H.) chief favourite, (W.) the Rab. (Chal.) chief counsellor of David, (Vatab.) almoner, &c. It is not certain that he was of the family of Aaron, or qualified to be the domestic chaplain of the king. See C. viii.
16, &c. No other king of Israel had an officer to whom this title was given. C.
↑ 26License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses