Verse 23
Joab was over all the host - He had murdered Amasa, and seized on the supreme command: and such was his power at present, and the service which he had rendered to the state by quelling the rebellion of Sheba, that David was obliged to continue him; and dared not to call him to account for his murders without endangering the safety of the state by a civil war.
Benaiah - over the Cherethites - Benaiah was over the archers and slingers.
See the notes on [2Sam 8:18].
Verse 24
Adoram was over the tribute - Probably the chief receiver of the taxes; or Chancellor of the Exchequer, as we term it.
Jehoshaphat - recorder - The registrar of public events.
Verse 25
Shevah was scribe - The king's secretary.
Verse 26
Ira - was a chief ruler about David - The Hebrew is כהן לדויד cohen ledavid, a priest to David; and so the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic. The Chaldee has רב rab, a prince, or chief. He was probably a sort of domestic chaplain to the king. We know that the kings of Judah had their seers, which is nearly the same: Gad was David's seer, [2Sam 24:11], and Jeduthun was the seer of King Josiah, [2Chr 35:16].
The conclusion of this chapter is very similar to the conclusion of [2Sam 8:16-18] (note), where see the notes.
Introduction
A famine taking place three successive years in Israel, David inquired of the Lord the cause; and was informed that it was on account of Saul and his bloody house, who had slain the Gibeonites, [2Sam 21:1]. David inquires of the Gibeonites what atonement they require, and they answer, seven sons of Saul, that they may hang them up in Gibeah, [2Sam 21:2-6]. Names of the seven sons thus given up, [2Sam 21:7-9]. Affecting account of Rizpah, who watched the bodies through the whole of the time of harvest, to prevent them from being devoured by birds and beasts of prey, [2Sam 21:10]. David is informed of Rizpah's conduct, and collects the bones of Saul, Jonathan, and the seven men that were hanged at Gibeah, and buries them; and God is entreated for the land, [2Sam 21:11-14]. War between the Israelites and Philistines, in which David is in danger of being slain by Ishbi-benob, but is succoured by Abishai, [2Sam 21:15-17]. He, and several gigantic Philistines, are slain by David and his servants, [2Sam 21:18-22].
Verse 1
Then there was a famine - Of this famine we know nothing; it is not mentioned in any part of the history of David.
Because he slew the Gibeonites - No such fact is mentioned in the life and transactions of Saul; nor is there any reference to it in any other part of Scripture.
Verse 2
The remnant of the Amorites - The Gibeonites were Hivites, not Amorites, as appears from [Jos 11:19] : but Amorites is a name often given to the Canaanites in general, [Gen 15:16]; [Amo 2:9], and elsewhere.
Verse 3
Wherewith shall I make the atonement - It is very strange that a choice of this kind should be left to such a people. Why not ask this of God himself?
Verse 6
Seven men of his sons - Meaning sons, grandsons, or other near branches of his family. It is supposed that the persons chosen were principal in assisting Saul to exterminate the Gibeonites. But where is the proof of this?
Verse 8
Five sons of Michal - whom she brought up - Michal, Saul's daughter, was never married to Adriel, but to David, and afterwards to Phaltiel; though it is here said she bore ילדה yaledah, not brought up, as we falsely translate it: but we learn from [1Sam 18:19], that Merab, one of Saul's daughters, was married to Adriel.
Two of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. have Merab, not Michal; the Syriac and Arabic have Nadab; the Chaldee has properly Merab; but it renders the passage thus: - And the five sons of Merab which Michal the daughter of Saul brought up, which she brought forth to Adriel the son of Barzillai. This cuts the knot.
Verse 9
In the beginning of barley harvest - This happened in Judea about the vernal equinox, or the 21st of March.
Verse 10
Rizpah - took sackcloth - Who can read the account of Rizpah's maternal affection for her sons that were now hanged, without feeling his mind deeply impressed with sorrows?
Did God require this sacrifice of Saul's sons, probably all innocent of the alleged crime of their father? Was there no other method of averting the Divine displeasure? Was the requisition of the Gibeonites to have Saul's sons sacrificed to God, to be considered as an oracle of God? Certainly not; God will not have man's blood for sacrifice, no more than he will have swine's blood. The famine might have been removed, and the land properly purged, by offering the sacrifices prescribed by the law, and by a general humiliation of the people.
Until water dropped upon them - Until the time of the autumnal rains, which in that country commence about October. Is it possible that this poor broken-hearted woman could have endured the fatigue, (and probably in the open air), of watching these bodies for more than five months? Some think that the rain dropping on them out of heaven means the removal of the famine which was occasioned by drought, by now sending rain, which might have been shortly after these men were hanged; but this by no means agrees with the manner in which the account is introduced: "They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah - took sackcloth, and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped upon them out of heaven." No casual or immediately providential rain can be here intended; the reference must be to the periodical rains above mentioned.
Verse 12
Took the bones of Saul - The reader will recollect that the men of Jabesh-gilead burned the bodies of Saul and his sons, and buried the remaining bones under a tree at Jabesh. See [1Sam 31:12], [1Sam 31:13]. These David might have digged up again, in order to bury them in the family sepulcher.
Verse 15
Moreover the Philistines had yet war - There is no mention of this war in the parallel place, [1Chr 20:4], etc.
David waxed faint - This circumstance is nowhere else mentioned.
Verse 16
Being girded with a new sword - As the word sword is not in the original, we may apply the term new to his armor in general; he had got new arms, a new coat of mail, or something that defended him well, and rendered him very formidable: or it may mean a strong or sharp sword.
Verse 17
That thou quench not the light of Israel - David is here considered as the lamp by which all Israel was guided, and without whom all the nation must be involved in darkness. The lamp is the emblem of direction and support. Light is used in this sense by Homer: - Ουδε τι Πατροκλῳ γενομην φαος, αυδ' ἑταροισι Τοις αλλοις, οἱ δη πολεες δαμεν Ἑκτορι διῳ.
Iliad, lib. xviii. ver. 102. "I have neither been a Light to Patroclus nor to his companions, who have been slain by the noble Hector."
Verse 18
A battle - at Gob - Instead of Gob, several editions, and about forty of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., have Nob; but Gezer is the name in the parallel place, [1Chr 20:4].