There is no note of time whatever, nor any clue as to what part of David’s reign the events of this chapter ought to be assigned. ENQUIRED OF THE LORD - Hebrew “sought the face of the Lord,” quite a different phrase from that so often used in Judges (e. g. Judges 1:1) and the Books of Samuel, and p... [ Continue Reading ]
The way in which the writer here refers to the history of the league with the Gibeonites Joshua 9 shows that the Book of Joshua was not a part of the same work as the Books of Samuel. OF THE AMORITES - The Gibeonites were Hivites Joshua 9:7; Joshua 11:19; and in many enumerations of the Canaanite na... [ Continue Reading ]
NO SILVER, NOR GOLD ... - Money payments as a compensation for blood-guilt were very common among many nations. The law, too, in Numbers 35:31, presupposes the existence of the custom which it prohibits. In like manner the speech of the Gibeonites implies that such a payment as they refuse would be... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVEN MEN - Seven was a sacred number not only with the Hebrews but with other Oriental nations Numbers 23:1, Numbers 23:29, and is therefore brought in on this occasion when the judicial death of the sons of Saul was a religious act intended to appease the wrath of God for the violation of an oath... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD’S OATH - The calamity brought upon Israel by Saul’s breach of the oath to the Gibeonites would make David doubly careful in the matter of his own oath to Jonathan.... [ Continue Reading ]
RIZPAH - See the marginal reference. A foreign origin was possibly the cause of the selection of Rizpah’s sons as victims. SONS OF MICHAL - An obvious error for “Merab” (1 Samuel 18:19 note).... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE FIRST DAYS - The barley harvest (about the middle or toward the end of April) was earlier than the wheat harvest Exodus 9:31; Ruth 1:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
DROPPED - Rather, “poured,” the proper word for heavy rain Exodus 9:33. The “early rain,” or heavy rain of autumn, usually began in October, so that Rizpah’s devoted watch continued about six months. How rare rain was in harvest we learn from 1 Samuel 12:17; Proverbs 26:1. The reason of the bodies b... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE STREET OF BETH-SHAN - This was the wide place just inside the gate of an Oriental city, bounded therefore by the city wall (compare the marginal reference). Here, as the place of concourse, the Philistines had fastened the bodies.... [ Continue Reading ]
This, like the preceding paragraph 2 Samuel 21:1, is manifestly a detached and unconnected extract. It is probably taken from some history of David’s wars, apparently the same as furnished the materials for 2 Samuel 5; 2 Samuel 8; 2 Samuel 23:8. There is no direct clue to the time when the events he... [ Continue Reading ]
ISHBI-BENOB - A corrupt reading. The whole passage should perhaps run thus: “And David waxed faint. So they halted in Gob (as in 2 Samuel 21:18). And there was a man (in Gob) which was of the sons of the giant, etc.” SONS OF THE GIANT - The “giant” here 2 Samuel 21:18, 2 Samuel 21:20, 2 Samuel 21:22... [ Continue Reading ]
A BATTLE IN GOB - In the parallel passage (marginal reference), “Gezer” is named as the field of this battle. However, Gath is named 2 Samuel 21:20, 2 Samuel 21:22 in a way to make it probable that Gath was the scene of all the battles. The Septuagint in this verse has “Gath.”... [ Continue Reading ]
The Hebrew text is manifestly very corrupt. First, for “Jaare-oregim,” 1 Chronicles 20:5 gives us the reading Jair. “Oregim” has evidently got in by a transcriber’s error from the line below, where “oregim” is the Hebrew for “weavers.” Again, the word the “Bethlehemite” is very doubtful. It is suppo... [ Continue Reading ]
FOUR - Not necessarily meaning that they were brothers, but that they were all of the race of the Giant, all Rephaim. The word “four” is omitted in the parallel passage, only the three last being mentioned in that chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]