2 Samuel 20:15

Contextual Overview

¹⁴Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Maacah and through the entire region of the Berites, who gathered together and followed him. ¹⁴ Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Maakah and through the entire region of the Bikrites, who gathered together and followed him. ¹⁴Now he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, even Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they were assembled and also came after him. ¹⁴ Now he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, even Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they were gathered together and also went after him. ¹⁴ And he went thorow all the tribes of Israel, vnto Abel, and to Bethmaacha, and all the places of Berim: And they gathered together, and went after him. ¹⁴ Sheba son of Bicri passed through all the tribes of Israel on his way to Abel Beth Maacah. All the Berites joined together and followed Sheba. ¹⁴ And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-maachah, and to all the Berites. And they were gathered, and went after him also. ¹⁴ And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-ma'acah; and all the Bichrites assembled, and followed him in. ¹⁴ He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-maacah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. ¹⁴ And hee went thorow all the tribes of Israel vnto Abel, and to Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

cast up: 2 Kings 19:32, Jeremiah 32:24, Jeremiah 33:4, Luke 19:43

a bank: So LXX generally render solelah, by נסןףקשלב or קשלב; which latter is described by Potter as "a mount, which was raised so high as to equal, if not exceed, the top of the besieged walls. The sides were walled in with bricks or stones, or secured with strong rafters; the fore part only, being by degrees to be moved near the walls, remained bare."

it stood in the trench: or, it stood against the outmost wall

battered: etc. Heb. marred to throw down

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 15:20 - Dan 2 Kings 15:29 - Ijon Ecclesiastes 9:14 - There was Ezekiel 26:8 - he shall make

Cross-References

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left."

Genesis 13:9
"Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left."

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole lande before thee? Seperate thy selfe I pray thee from me: yf thou wilt take the left hande, I wyll go to the ryght: or yf thou depart to the ryght hande, I wyll go to the left.

Genesis 13:9
We should separate. You can choose any place you want. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left."

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left."

Genesis 13:9
Lo! al the lond is bifore thee, Y biseche, departe thou fro me; if thou go to the left side, Y schal holde the riyt side; if thou chese the riyt side, Y schal go to the left side.

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thy selfe, I pray thee, from mee: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will goe to the right: or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will goe to the left.

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah,.... That is, Joab and Abishai, with the forces under them, who pursued him hither:

and they cast up a bank against the city; which some understand of a warlike machine or engine, with which stones were cast; but it rather seems to be a bank of earth thrown up, for the better working of such engines to more advantage against the city, by throwing from thence darts into the city, or stones against the walls of it, to batter it down; such banks were used in sieges, as that Caesar's soldiers raised in twenty five days, which was three hundred thirty feet broad, and eighty feet high z; Kimchi interprets this of filling up the ditches round about the city with dust and earth, and so making it level, whereby they could come the more easily to the walls and batter them, or scale them, and take the city by storm:

and it stood in the trench; the army under Joab stood where the trench round the city had been, now filled up:

and all the people that [were] with Joab battered the wall to throw it down; with their engines, or whatever battering instruments they had; so, often, as Hesiod a says, a whole city suffers for one bad man.

z Caesar. Comment. l. 7. c. 24. a Opera & Dies, l. 1. ver. 236.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Cast up a bank - See the marginal references. The throwing up of mounds against the walls of besieged places by the besiegers is well illustrated in the Assyrian sculptures.

The trench - The “pomoerium,” or fortified space outside the wall. When the mound was planted in the pomoerium the battering engines were able to approach close to the wall to make a breach.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 20:15. They cast up a bank against the city — The word סללה solelah, which we render bank, means, most probably, a battering engine of some kind, or a tower overlooking the walls, on which archers and slingers could stand and annoy the inhabitants, while others of the besiegers could proceed to sap the walls. That it cannot be a bank that stood in the trench, is evident from the circumstance thus expressed.