48443 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king lamented over Abner,.... Delivered an elegy or funeral oration, which he had composed on this occasion, as Josephus (u) suggests: for he had cried and wept before, but now he expressed something as follows: and said, died Abner as a fool dieth? the meaning of the interrogation is, he did not; the Targum is "did Abner die as wicked men...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thy hands [were] not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters,.... As malefactors are when they are taken up for any crime, and especially when proved upon them, and condemned for it, and brought forth to be executed. This was not his case, and had he been aware of the design against him, as his hands and feet were at liberty, he might have defended...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when all the people came to cause David to eat meat while it was yet day,.... The custom was to bury in the daytime, and after the funeral was over to provide and send in food to the relations of the deceased, and come and eat with them; as was also the usage with the Greeks and Romans (w); [See comments on Jeremiah 16:5] and [See comments on...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the people took notice [of it],.... Not only of his oath, that he would not eat food till evening, but of his whole conduct at the funeral of Abner; the sorrow he expressed for his death, and the oration he made on account of it, in which he pretty severely reflected on his murderer: and it pleased them; that he showed such a concern for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For all the people and all Israel understood that day,.... Not the people of Judah only, but of Israel also, to whom the knowledge of these things came; they knew and were satisfied by his conduct and behaviour, by his words and actions: that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner; it was not by the counsel or advice of the king, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king said unto his servants,.... His courtiers, giving a reason why he mourned as he did; or "had said" (w), and so is a reason why the people concluded, and were fully satisfied, he had no hand in his death; but the first is best, because what follows was said not to the people at the grave, but to his servants at court: know ye not that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I [am] this day weak, though anointed king,.... Which seems to be given as a reason, or for an excuse why he did not inflict just punishment upon the murderer, according to the law of God, because he was "weak"; not in body or mind, but with respect to the kingdom, that was like a tender branch, or in its infant state; and great care and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 4 This chapter relates the concern the death of Abner gave to Ishbosheth, and the men of Israel, 2 Samuel 4:1; the murder of Ishbosheth by two of his captains, who cut off his head, and brought it to David, 2 Samuel 4:2; by whom they were rewarded according to their deserts, he putting them to death, and exposing...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron,.... By Saul's son is meant Ishbosheth, to whom tidings were soon brought of the death of Abner his general, and that he died in Hebron, where David his rival reigned, and was there murdered by Joab the general of his army: his hands were feeble: not only in a natural sense, being quite...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
When Abner was slain David was at a loss for a friend to perfect the reduction of those tribes that were yet in Ish-bosheth's interest. Which way to adopt for the accomplishment of it he could not tell; but here Providence brings it about by the removal of Ish-bosheth. I. Two of his own servants slew him, and brought his head to David, ver. 1-8....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Saul's son had two men [that were] captains of bands,.... Of troops in the army, or of guards about the person of Ishbosheth son of Saul: the name of the one [was] Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin; so that these men were brethren in nature, as well as in iniquity; they had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until that day. At the death of Saul, when many of the Israelites deserted their cities, and left them to the Philistines, 1 Samuel 31:7; and so the inhabitants of Beeroth forsook their city, which was near the Philistines, and went to Gittaim, a city in the same tribe, though a little...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Jonathan, Saul's son,.... His eldest son, who died at the same time with him: had a son [that was] lame of [his] feet; of both feet, which were broken or bruised by a fall, as later related: and he was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel: that is, when the tidings of their death came from Jezreel, the place...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went,.... From Gittaim, where they were sojourners, 2 Samuel 4:3; or from the army, where they had commissions, wherever it was: and came, about the heat of the day; the middle of the day, at noon, as follows: to the house of Ishbosheth; which was at Mahanaim: who lay on a bed at noon; as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they came thither into the midst of the house,.... They not only came unto it, but entered into it, and went into the inmost part of it; the guards being asleep also perhaps, or not on duty, so that there were none to obstruct them; or if there were, they deceived them, since they went in [as though] they would have fetched wheat; out of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber,.... This is repeated to give a more particular account of the murder; though Abarbinel thinks they went in twice; when they went in first they smote him under the fifth rib, and made their escape; but fearing they had not left him dead, they returned, and did as follows: and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David to Hebron,.... Supposing it would have been a very acceptable present to him: and said to the king, behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; all which, his relation to Saul, his enmity to David, and his designs upon his life, are artfully put together to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite,.... In a manner they did not expect: and said unto them, [as] the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity; spiritual and temporal, especially the latter is meant, and particularly what he had been brought into by the persecution of Saul, while...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When one told me, saying, behold, Saul is dead,.... No more is related, not that he killed him, or assisted in killing him, only that he was dead; by which it appears, as Abarbinel thinks, that the Amalekite did not slay Saul, and that David did not put him to death on that account, but for what follows: thinking to have brought good tidings;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person,.... As Ishbosheth was in comparison of the wicked men that slew him; though not with respect to David, if he knew of his divine designation to the throne; nor with respect to Mephibosheth his eldest brother's son, whose right to the throne was prior to his, which he must know; though...