2 Samuel 5:8

Whosoever getteth up to the gutter.

The assault upon Zion

“Some far-seeing Hittite or Amorite had designed from the inside of the city that a subterraneous passage should be cut through the rock to the spring below, so that in troublous times when the daughters of Zion could no longer venture outside the gates to draw water from the fountain, the needful supply should be obtainable without the knowledge of the besiegers, and without risk to the besieged.” (Harper.) There is strong presumption that David obtained information of this secret way through a citizen--Araunah the Jebusite. At all events whoever disclosed to him the singular viaduct--“gutter” of our Bibles--he issued forthwith the proclamation that an attack through it was feasible. This has received the amplest confirmation from two other well-known Palestine explorers by having themselves accomplished the feat. They worked their way up through this same covered passage. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)

Storming the citadel

Joab stormed the stronghold of Zion, which the Jebusites thought-impregnable. Jonathan and his armour-bearer were scornfully despised by the Philistine garrison (2 Samuel 5:1.) So General Wolfe won the great victory which has made his name famous, by leading his men up the Heights of Abraham above Quebec, his French opponents not dreaming that such a feat was practicable.

Storming the fortress

The whole incident recalled a kindred adventure in Scottish history; when during the wars of the Douglas, Dumbarton Rock--550 feet in height, crowned with its fortress and castle, had its precipices of ballast sealed by a few daring men, with the aid of ladders and grappling irons and misty midnight. An ash tree growing in a crevice near the top served as an equivalent for what, in the water-course of Jebus, helped materially to crown the feat with success. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)