Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 2:36 — The object, apparently, was to keep Shimei under the immediate eye of the government. Shimei’s old home, Bahurim, lay east of Jerusalem, on the road to Jericho, 2 Samuel 17:18, and could only be reached by crossing the Kedron valley. Solomon assumes, that, if he quits the city, it will probably be in this direction 1 Kings 2:37.

1 Kings 2:9 — Hold him not guiltless - i. e. “Do not treat him as an innocent man. Punish him as in thy wisdom thou deemest best. Not capitally at once; but so that he may be likely to give thee in course of time a just occasion to slay him.” So, at least, Solomon seems to have understood the charge. (See 1 Kings 2:36-46.)

1 Kings 21:2 — I will give thee the worth of it in money - literally, “I will give thee silver, the worth of it.” Money, in our sense of the word, that is to say, coins of definite values, did not yet exist. The first coin known to the Jews was the Persian daric, with which they became acquainted during the captivity. (1 Chronicles 29:7 note).

1 Kings 8:31 — The oath come before ... - “The oath” is equivalent to “the man who swears the oath.” A slight alteration in the present Hebrew text gives the sense “and he (the accused) go and swear before thine altar,” etc. The threats and the promises, the punishments and calamities of 1 Kings 8:31-38 were distinctly named in the Law. See the margin reference.

2 Kings 13:5 — The Lord gave Israel a saviour - Not immediately on the repentance of Jehoahaz but after his death (see 2 Kings 13:25).They went out from under the hand of the Syrians - i. e. they ceased to be oppressed by the Syrians; they shook off their yoke, and became once more perfectly independent.Tents - See 1 Kings 8:66 note.

2 Kings 20:5 — The captain of my people - This phrase (which does not occur elsewhere in Kings) is remarkable, and speaks for the authenticity of this full report of the actual words of the prophet’s message (abbreviated in Isaiah 38:1, etc.). The title, “Captain נגיד nāgı̂yd of God’s people,” commonly used of David, is applied to Hezekiah, as David’s true follower 2 Kings 18:3.

2 Kings 3:17 — No rain was to fall where the Israelites and their enemies were encamped; there was not even to be that all but universal accompaniment of rain in the East, a sudden rise of wind (compare 1 Kings 18:45; Psalms 147:18; Matthew 7:25).Cattle, and your beast - The former are the animals brought for food. The latter are the baggage animals.

1 Chronicles 29:4 — The numbers here have also suffered to some extent from the carelessness of copyists (compare the 1 Chronicles 22:14 note). The amount of silver is not indeed improbable, since its value would not exceed three millions of our money; but as the gold would probably exceed in value thirty millions, we may suspect an error in the words “three thousand.”

2 Chronicles 17:1 — Jehoshaphat ascended the throne in the fourth year of Ahab 1 Kings 22:41, probably after that monarch had contracted his alliance with the royal family of Sidon, and before he was engaged in war with Syria. It was thus not unnatural that Jehoshaphat should begin his reign by strengthening himself against a possible attack on the part of his northern neighbor.

2 Chronicles 17:11 — Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents - i. e. “some of the Philistines were among his tributaries.” Compare 2Sa 8:2; 1 Kings 4:21.Tribute silver - Or, “much silver” - literally “silver of burthen.”The Arabians - The Arab tribes who bordered Judaea to the south and the southeast paid Jehoshaphat a fixed tribute in kind. Compare 2 Kings 3:4 note.

2 Chronicles 24:3 — Athaliah’s destruction of the seed royal had left Joash without a natural successor, and his marriage at the earliest suitable age, was, therefore, a matter of state policy. One of his wives in question was probably “Jehoaddan of Jerusalem,” the mother of Amaziah 2 Chronicles 25:1, who must have been taken to wife by Joash as early as his 21st year.

2 Chronicles 28:9 — Nothing more is known of this Oded. Compare 2 Chronicles 15:1.He went out before the host - Rather, “He went out to meet the host,” as the same phrase is translated in 2 Chronicles 15:2.A rage that reacheth up to heaven - i. e. not merely an exceedingly great and violent rage, but one that has displeased God.

2 Chronicles 29:8 — He hath delivered them to ... hissing - See 1 Kings 9:8 note. It was an expression which Hezekiah might naturally use, for it had occurred in a prophecy of Micah Micah 6:16, his contemporary and monitor Jeremiah 26:18-19, which was probably uttered toward the close of the reign of Ahaz. In Jeremiah the phrase becomes common (marginal references).

Psalms 119:15 — I will meditate in thy precepts - I will think of them; I will find my happiness in them. See the notes at Psalms 1:2.And have respect unto thy ways - And look to thy ways - thy commands. I continually regard them, or refer to them in my mind as the guide of my life. See the notes at Psalms 119:6.

Psalms 140:4 — Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked ... - See the notes at Psalms 71:4. This is a repetition of the prayer in Psalms 140:1.Who have purposed to overthrow my goings - To thrust me down as I go; to defeat my plans; to destroy me. They endeavor to prevent my accomplishing what I had designed to do.

Deuteronomy 20:2 — The priest - Not the high priest, but one appointed for the purpose, and called, according to the rabbis, “the anointed of the war”: hence, perhaps the expression of Jeremiah 6:4, etc. “prepare ye” (literally consecrate) “war.” Thus, Phinehas went with the warriors to fight against Midian (Numbers 31:6; compare 1Sa 4:4, 1 Samuel 4:11; 2 Chronicles 13:12).

Ruth 1:21 — The Lord hath testified against me - The phrase is very commonly applied to a man who gives witness concerning (usually against) another in a court of justice Exodus 20:16; 2 Samuel 1:16; Isaiah 3:9. Naomi in the bitterness of her spirit complains that the Lord Himself turned against her, and was bringing her sins up for judgment.

1 Samuel 18:6 — The Philistine - Rather as in the margin. The allusion is not to Goliath, but to one of the expeditions referred to in 1 Samuel 18:5.Singing and dancing - Women used to dance to the sound of the timbrel, and to sing as they danced and played.(instruments of music The word means, an instrument like the triangle, or with three cords.

1 Samuel 4:15 — Dim - Rather, “set.” The word is quite different from that so rendered in 1 Samuel 3:2. The phrase seems to express the “fixed” state of the blind eye, which is not affected by the light. Eli’s blindness, while it made him alive to sounds, prevented his seeing the ripped garments and dust-besprinkled head of the messenger of bad news.

2 Samuel 2:12 — This expedition to Gibeon may have been for the purpose of shifting his metropolis to his own tribe of Benjamin, and to his family place, “Gibeah of Saul,” close to Gibeon, with the further purpose of attacking the kingdom of David. “To go out” 2 Samuel 2:12-13 is a technical phrase for going out to war 1 Samuel 18:30.