48443 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Joab arose and went to Geshur,.... Where Absalom was with his grandfather, the king of the place; see 2 Samuel 13:37; and brought Absalom to Jerusalem; from thence, which, according to Bunting (t), was the distance of eighty eight miles from it. (t) Travels, &c. p 146, 148.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king said,.... Very probably to Joab, when he informed him of Absalom's being come to Jerusalem: let him turn to his own house; depart from the king's palace, where Joab had brought him, and go to his own house, which was in Jerusalem; for here he had one before he fled to Geshur; see 2 Samuel 13:20; and let him not see my face; which he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty,.... Which is observed to account in some measure for the interest he had in the affections of the people, both now and hereafter: from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him; not any spot, freckle, wart, scurf, or scab; nothing...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when he polled his head,.... Or cut off the hair of it; for that was one thing, a good head of hair which he had, that made him look very comely and beautiful: for it was at every year's end that he polled [it]; or cut it off once a year; but the Jews say (w) he was a perpetual Nazarite: because [the hair] was heavy upon him, and therefore he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And unto Absalom there were born three sons,.... Who very probably died young; and the rather it may be thought so, since their names are not given, and more especially since it is said that Absalom had no sons, and therefore erected a pillar to keep up the remembrance of his name; unless it can be thought that that was set up before he had any...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem,.... After his return from Geshur: and saw not the king's face; all that time; which was owing either to the king's resentment of the fact committed by him, or to state policy.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king,.... To introduce him into his presence, being uneasy to be thus confined at his own house, and not suffered to come to court: but he would not come to him; knowing the king's mind, and being unwilling to disoblige him by a troublesome solicitation: and when he sent again the second...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore he said unto his servants,.... That did his business for him in the field, in keeping his flocks, and tilling his ground: see Joab's field is near mine: for great personages in those days attended to husbandry: and he hath barley there, go and set it on fire; it being ripe, and so capable of being fired, and therefore must be some time...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto [his] house,.... Provoked at what he had done, and to know the reason of it; and which was answering Absalom's end: and said unto him, wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire? which was not only injurious to his property, but a malicious action.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Absalom answered Joab,.... Neither denying the fact, nor being ashamed of it, nor asking pardon for it; but endeavouring to vindicate it, by giving a reason as he thought sufficient for it: behold, I sent unto thee, saying, come hither, that I may send thee to the king; which was assuming great authority over a person in such an high office as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Joab came to the king, and told him,.... What Absalom had said to him: and when he had called for Absalom; sent messengers to his house to order him to come to him: he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king; made a very reverend bow to him, according to the custom of those times, throwing himself at his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 15 This chapter relates how that Absalom by various artful methods stole away the hearts of the people of Israel, 2 Samuel 15:1; that pretending a vow he had made, he got leave of the king to go to Hebron to perform it, 2 Samuel 15:7; where he formed a considerable conspiracy, 2 Samuel 15:10; of which David having...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass after this,.... After the reconciliation of David and Absalom, and the latter was admitted to court again: that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses; to make himself look grand and respectable among the people; perhaps he got these from his grandfather at Geshur in Syria: and fifty men to run before him; which added to his...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Absalom's name signifies "the peace of his father," yet he proves his greatest trouble; so often are we disappointed in our expectations from the creature. The sword entailed upon David's house had hitherto been among his children, but now it begins to be drawn against himself, with this aggravation, that he may thank himself for it, for, had he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Absalom rose up early,.... Every morning, to show how diligent and industrious he should be, and closely apply himself to business, was he in any office trader the king, and especially when he should be king himself; this he did to ingratiate himself into the affections of the people: and stood beside the way of the gate; either of the king's...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Absalom said unto him,.... After some further talk, and finding he had a suit at law to bring on, and either seeing it drawn up in writing, or hearing his account of it, at once declared, without hearing the other party: see, thy matters [are] good and right; thy cause is a good cause, and if it could be heard by proper persons there is no...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Absalom said, moreover,.... To the same persons, at the same time: oh that I were made judge in the land; by which it appears that he had no office under the king; partly either because of his crime, and so not thought fit, and partly because he appeared to be an ambitious aspiring man, and so it was thought not safe to put him into any office:...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it was [so], that when any man came nigh [to him] to do him obeisance,.... To pay his respects, and bow to him, as being the king's son, a prince of the blood, and heir to the crown, as was supposed: he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him; he put out his hand and shook hands with him, or took him about the neck and kissed him, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And in this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment,.... Told them there was none to be had, wished that he was in office to administer it to them, and behaved in the above loving manner towards them: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel; got the affections of the people in a private and clandestine manner,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...