the Week of Proper 23 / Ordinary 28
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2 Samuel 15:7
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Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
am 2983, bc 1021, An, Ex, Is, 470
forty years: As David reigned in the whole only forty years, this reading is evidently corrupt, though supported by the commonly printed Vulgate, LXX, and Chaldee. But the Syriac, Arabic, Josephus, Theodoret, the Sixtine edition of the Vulgate, and several manuscripts of the same version, read four years; and it is highly probable that arbaim, forty, is an error for arba, four, though not supported by any Hebrew manuscript yet discovered. Two of those collated by Dr. Kennicott, however, have yom, "day," instead of shanah, "year," i.e., forty days instead of forty years; but this is not sufficient to outweigh the other authorities. 2 Samuel 13:38, 1 Samuel 16:1, 1 Samuel 16:13
let me go: 2 Samuel 13:24-27
pay: 1 Samuel 16:2, Proverbs 21:27, Isaiah 58:4, Matthew 2:8, Matthew 23:14
Reciprocal: Genesis 34:14 - uncircumcised Numbers 21:2 - vowed Joshua 21:11 - is Hebron 2 Samuel 2:1 - Hebron Psalms 109:7 - and let Proverbs 7:14 - this Jonah 2:9 - I will pay
Cross-References
Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
Now Yahweh said to Abram, Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you:
The Lord said to Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land I will show you.
Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father's household to the land that I will show you.
Now the LORD had said to Abram, Depart from thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, to a land that I will show thee:
Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.
Now [in Haran] the LORD had said to Abram, "Go away from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;
Forsothe the Lord seide to Abram, Go thou out of thi lond, and of thi kynrede, and of the hous of thi fadir, and come thou in to the lond which Y schal schewe to thee;
And Jehovah saith unto Abram, `Go for thyself, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, unto the land which I shew thee.
Then the LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country, your kindred, and your father's household, and go to the land I will show you.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And it came to pass after forty years,.... Or four years; so long it was from the reconciliation of Absalom to David, as Josephus f says; and so read Theodoret on the place, the Syriac and Arabic versions: but some say it was either forty years from the time Israel first had a king; and which might be an era of reckoning with the Jews, as the era of Seleucidae was with the Greeks, on the like account; or from the time Saul slew the priests at Nob, as Jerom g; or from the time of David's being anointed by Samuel; or this was the year of Absalom's age, or of David's reign: but these, and other attempts made to account for this passage, are not entirely satisfactory; and therefore one may be tempted to conclude there must be a mistake in the copy, of "arbaim" for "arba", forty for four; which makes it quite easy, and confirms the first sense:
that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow,
which I have vowed unto the Lord, in Hebron; not what he vowed in Hebron; for according to his own account he had vowed it in Geshur, as in 2 Samuel 15:8; but his request is, that he might pay it in Hebron; which place he fixed upon, being his native place, and where David was anointed king; and which, being about twenty miles from Jerusalem, was at a proper distance to lay the scene of his conspiracy in, and bring it to perfection.
f Antiqu. l. 7. c. 9. sect. 1. g Trad. Heb. in 2 lib. Reg. fol. 78. M.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Forty years - An obvious clerical error, though a very ancient one for four years, which may date from Absalom’s return from Geshur, or from his reconciliation with David, or from the commencement of the criminal schemes to which 2 Samuel 15:1 refers.
Hebron - This, as having been the old capital of David’s kingdom and Absalom’s birthplace, was well chosen. It was a natural center, had probably many inhabitants discontented at the transfer of the government to Jerusalem, and contained many of the friends of Absalom’s youth. As the place of his birth (compare 1 Samuel 20:6), it afforded a plausible pretext for holding there the great sacrificial feast (“the serving the Lord,” 2 Samuel 15:8), which Absalom pretended to have vowed to hold to the glory of God.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 2 Samuel 15:7. After forty years — There is no doubt that this reading is corrupt, though supported by the commonly printed Vulgate, the Septuagint, and the Chaldee. But the Syriac has [Syriac] arba shanin, FOUR years; the Arabic the same [Arabic] arba shinin, FOUR years; and Josephus has the same; so also the Sixtine edition of the Vulgate, and several MSS. of the same version. Theodoret also reads four, not forty; and most learned men are of opinion that ארבעים arbaim, FORTY, is an error for אברע arba, FOUR; yet this reading is not supported by any Hebrew MS. yet discovered. But two of those collated by Dr. Kennicott have יום yom instead of שנה shanah, i.e., forty DAYS, instead of forty YEARS; and this is a reading more likely to be true than that in the commonly received text. We know that Absalom did stay THREE years with his grandfather at Geshur, 2 Samuel 13:38; and this probably was a year after his return: the era, therefore, may be the time of his slaying his brother Amnon; and the four years include the time from his flight till the conspiracy mentioned here.
