Bible Commentaries
2 Samuel 18

Verse 1

numbered = mustered, or inspected. David, was now fifty-six.

Verse 3

succour us out of the city = come to us out of the city with succour by prayer and counsel.

Verse 5

heard. this explains 2 Samuel 18:12

Verse 6

wood of Ephraim . Compare Joshua 17:15-18

Verse 8

the face . Figure of speech Pleonasm, with Prosopopceia. App-6 . devoured. Hebrew "multiplied to devour", to emphasise the great number. Figure of speech Prosopopaia. App-6 .

Verse 9

taken up . The tradition about his "hair" comes from Josephus 2 Samuel 10:2 ).

Verse 10

man. Hebrew. 'ish . App-14 .

Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6 .

Verse 11

girdle . A common present, made of silk, linen, or leather, and worked sometimes in gold. Used for fastening up loose garments.

Verse 12

our hearing . See 2 Samuel 18:5

Beware that none touch = Watch any one who (would touch) the, &c. After "Watch", Septuagint, Aramaean, Syriac, and Vulgate add "for my sake", as in 2 Samuel 18:5 .

Verse 13

life = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13 .

Verse 14

darts = clubs. Hebrew. shebet, a club with a long spike at the end. Still used in Palestine.

Verse 15

armour = weapons.

slew him . David being fifty-seven years old; Absalom, twenty-four; Solomon, seven.

Verse 17

heap of stones . Not a memorial to honour but to warn (Joshua 7:26 ; Joshua 8:29 ). See note on 2 Samuel 18:18 .

Verse 18

pillar . Marks ambition's aim, while the heap of stones (2 Samuel 18:17 ) marks ambition's end.

no son. Compare 2 Samuel 14:27 . Therefore built, before the first-born; or after his sons (2 Samuel 14:27 ) were dead. place-monument. About a quarter of a mile east of Jerusalem, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

Verse 19

the LORD . Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4 .

Verse 24

between the two gates . The outer and inner gates of the city wall.

Verse 25

If he be alone . Otherwise it would be flight.

Verse 26

porter = gatekeeper. No gates without the "Bawab "or gatekeeper. Compare 2 Kings 7:17 . 1 Chronicles 9:21 .

Verse 27

good . Compare 1 Kings 1:42 .

Verse 28

Blessed be the LORD thy God . Some codices, with three early printed editions, reverse the order, thus changing the emphasis, and read: "Jehovah thy God be blessed".

God. Hebrew. Elohim . App-4 .

men . Hebrew. 'enosh. App-14 .

Verse 29

and = even.

what it was = what [it meant].

Verse 32

be as that young man . Figure of speech Euphemism. App-6 .

Verse 33

my son . . . my son . Figure of speech Epizeuxis. App-6 . for = instead of.