2 Samuelchapter 17
29 verses · Samuel, Nathan and Gad, by tradition · 10th century BC · History
When David came to Mahanaim, he was met by Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim.
Introduction
Samuel, Nathan and Gad, by tradition, History, 2 Samuel Overview.
This chapter is decided in a council room before any army takes the field. The writer of 2 Samuel records it for a people whose safety often hung on which adviser their king believed. Two plans are put to the rebel prince, and both are sound military thinking. The first hearers knew that a revolt which moves slowly usually fails. Listen for the speed of each plan and for the pictures one counsellor uses to win the room. Listen too for the single sentence in which the narrator tells the reader what is really happening. It answers a prayer said on the road a chapter earlier.
Context
- Who
- Israelites who knew how quickly a rebellion has to move to succeed
- What
- An account of the council where Hushai's counsel defeats Ahithophel's, the warning carried to David, and Ahithophel's death.
- Where
- Absalom's council in Jerusalem, the spring of En-rogel, a courtyard well at Bahurim, the Jordan fords and Mahanaim.
- When
- About 979 BC, within a day or two of the flight.
- Why
- To show that the LORD had ordained the defeat of Ahithophel's good counsel, in answer to David's prayer at 15:31.
Historical context
Two military plans are on the table, and both are competent. Ahithophel wants twelve thousand men moving tonight to catch a tired column and kill one man, which would end the war before it starts. Hushai argues for calling up the full national levy from Dan to Beersheba with Absalom at its head, flattering, slow, and fatal, because it gives David time to cross the river and organize.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Hushai wins by using images a soldier feels. A bear robbed of her cubs, a veteran who will not sleep with the troops, and a whole nation so numerous it could drag a city's stones into a riverbed with ropes. Ropes on walls was a real siege technique, not a figure of speech.
The escape turns on a village courtyard. Houses had cisterns or wells in the yard, and a woman spreads a covering over the mouth and scatters crushed grain on it to dry, an ordinary domestic sight nobody would look twice at, with two royal messengers hidden underneath.
Ahithophel's end is told with legal precision: he saddles his donkey, goes home to his own town, sets his house in order, and hangs himself, and is buried in his father's tomb. Putting his affairs in order first was the act of a man who knew exactly what a failed conspiracy costs and chose the timing himself. Meanwhile the supplies that arrive at Mahanaim are listed like an inventory, beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, beans, honey, curds, and sheep, because men east of the Jordan were feeding an army in the field.
Significance
The narrator gives away the point in one sentence: the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel. The first hearers were watching a war decided in a council chamber, by an argument, before a sword was drawn.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For a people whose survival often hung on which adviser the king believed, that was the lesson, the best advice in Israel lost because God had already answered a prayer said on a hilltop two chapters earlier.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The chapter turns on two speeches of counsel, and Rashi reads Hushai's speech as a piece of persuasion built to frighten. At the eighth verse he explains the line about David being a man of war. David knows strategy and the nature of a man who sets a trap (Rashi on II Samuel 17:8:1, the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J., CC-BY). At the ninth he gives the fear Hushai plants, that the king will not be in the camp when the pursuit arrives (Rashi on II Samuel 17:9:1). At the tenth he spells out what the rumour of a first defeat would do to a soldier with the heart of a lion (Rashi on II Samuel 17:10:1).
Rashi's judgment on the hearers is short and hard. At the fourth verse the text says the saying pleased the elders of Israel, and his whole note on it reads, "Wicked elders" (Rashi on II Samuel 17:4:1). The rest of the speech he handles as a philologist. He shows that the word for encamping is used of a plague of locusts and of an army (Rashi on II Samuel 17:12:1). He takes the word for groups from the Targum and from its use for a company of prophets (Rashi on II Samuel 17:13:1).
The escape of the two messengers draws the chapter's most human note. At the twentieth verse Rashi meets a word he cannot construe and says so. He writes that he does not know the translation of the word. He then takes a sense from the Machberet of Menachem and reads it as the streaming water of the river (Rashi on II Samuel 17:20:1). At the seventeenth he explains the launderers' fountain from the trade itself, where woollen garments were worked by foot (Rashi on II Samuel 17:17:1).
Two notes at the end settle names rather than words. At the twenty-fifth verse Rashi identifies Nahash, the father of Amasa's mother, with Jesse the father of David. He carries with it a saying of the rabbis that Jesse died through the counsel of the serpent. In that saying Jesse had no sin of his own to merit death, and Rashi points to Bava Batra for it (Rashi on II Samuel 17:25:1). At the twenty-seventh he identifies Shobi son of Nahash with Hanun, who met David earlier in the book (Rashi on II Samuel 17:27:1).
Metzudat David, Radak and Malbim carry the rest. The corpus holds ten of their refs with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand cited and unquoted. They are Metzudat David on II Samuel 17:2:1, 17:5:1, 17:14:1, 17:15:1, 17:18:1 and 17:22:1, Radak on II Samuel 17:1:1, 17:7:1 and 17:23:1, and Malbim on II Samuel 17:6:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. The opening counsel of Ahithophel draws five, Aggadat Bereshit 37:2, Bamidbar Rabbah 19:2, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 1:19, Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 4:1 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Chukat 7:1. Four more stand on the second verse, Bamidbar Rabbah 11:3, Bereshit Rabbah 32:1 and 38:1, and Midrash Shmuel 17:4. On the elders who approved it the corpus carries Sanhedrin 102b:12 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:75.
The death of Ahithophel at the twenty-third verse is the other place the rabbis gather. The corpus carries Bava Batra 147a:9, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Makkot 2:8, Ein Yaakov, Makkot 2:12 and Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 8:1. The identification of Nahash at the twenty-fifth verse draws four more, Bava Batra 17a:6 with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 1:43, Shabbat 5:4 and Yevamot 8:3. That is the material behind Rashi's own note on Jesse.
The rest follow the flight and the welcome. On the woman at the well and the covered pit the corpus carries Keritot 11a:8, Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 1:1:32, Ein Yaakov, Sotah 8:3 and Midrash Shmuel 32:4. On the crossing of the Jordan it carries Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 27:5, and on the sending of Jonathan and Ahimaaz, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 17:9. On the men who brought beds and food to Mahanaim it carries Bereshit Rabbah 58:8, Ein Yaakov, Avodah Zarah 2:14, Midrash Tehillim 3:3, Avodah Zarah 38b:17, Yoma 77a:9 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Leviticus 23:32:1. Nine more stand singly across the chapter. They are Tractate Kallah Rabbati 4:2, Aggadat Bereshit 83:1, Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 845:1 and 938:5, and Midrash Aggadah, Deuteronomy 4:37:1. The other four are Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 36:19, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 42:35:3, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 2:1 and Yevamot 13b:6. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on II Samuel 17:3:1 to 17:27:1, the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J., CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on II Samuel 17:2:1, 17:5:1, 17:14:1, 17:15:1, 17:18:1 and 17:22:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on II Samuel 17:1:1, 17:7:1 and 17:23:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on II Samuel 17:6:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 17a:6 and 147a:9, Sanhedrin 102b:12, Keritot 11a:8, Avodah Zarah 38b:17, Yevamot 13b:6 and Yoma 77a:9, cited by locator from the Sefaria corpus for 2 Samuel 17; The Midrash, Bamidbar Rabbah 11:3 and 19:2, Bereshit Rabbah 32:1, 38:1 and 58:8, Midrash Shmuel 17:4 and 32:4, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 17:9, 27:5 and 36:19, and Pesikta DeRav Kahana 2:1, cited by locator from the Sefaria corpus for 2 Samuel 17.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Jehovah defeats the good counsel of Ahithophel
2 Samuel 17:1-3
Ahithophel asks for twelve thousand men and a strike that night. He means to “strike down only the king” and “bring all the people back to you as a bride returning to her husband”. Matthew Henry sets the plan beside the counsel of Caiaphas, one man dying for the nation.
2 Samuel 17:1
“This night - The night of the day on which David fled, and Absalom entered into Jerusalem. Ahithophel’s idea was to fall upon David by surprise, and in the first confusion of the surprised army to seize and kill David only.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
2 Samuel 17:1
“Let that one man die for the people, John xi. Kill the heir, and the inheritance shall be ours, Matt. xxi. But the counsel of them both was turned into foolishness.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Samuel 17:1
“But his dexterity was chiefly displayed in that part of his counsel which recommended a general levy throughout the country; and that Absalom should take command of it in person--thereby flattering at once the pride and ambition of the usurper. The bait was caught by the vainglorious and wicked prince.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
while he is weak and weary: Ahithophel counts on the state of David's company after the flight, which had arrived weary at 16:14. A strike that same night would find them spent. Matthew Henry sets the plan beside the tenants' scheme against the heir at Matthew 21:38 and says both counsels were turned into foolishness.
as a bride returning: Ahithophel pictures all the people coming back to Absalom as a bride returning to her husband. Adam Clarke reads the older wording to mean that David is the one man whose life holds the whole, and his death ends all resistance. Albert Barnes hears a promise of peace.
2 Samuel 17:3
The man whom thou seekest - namely, David. Ahithophel means to say: “If I can only smite David, there will be no civil war, all the people will peaceably submit.”
2 Samuel 17:4-6
This proposal seemed good to Absalom: The proposal seemed good to Absalom and all the elders of Israel, yet he calls for Hushai before acting on it. David had sent Hushai back at 15:32-37 to thwart Ahithophel's advice, and this council is the test of that charge.
2 Samuel 17:4
“And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all elders of Israel.”
Absalom said to summon Hushai as well, and Matthew Henry allows Absalom thought he was wise to hear what he too had to say. Henry then applies Job 5:13, repeated at 1 Corinthians 3:19, that God traps the crafty in their own schemes. The step let David's friend give advice.
Should we carry it out?: Absalom tells Hushai the whole plan first. John Gill takes the invitation as leave to speak freely, without fear of giving offence. The telling also hands David's agent the exact scheme he will report to Zadok and Abiathar at verse 15.
2 Samuel 17:6
“And when Hushai was come to Absalom,.... Into the council chamber, very probably: Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner; and then related the counsel he had given as before: shall we do after his saying? is it right to proceed on this scheme, and carry it into execution? if not, speak thou; thy mind freely, without any reserve, or fear of giving any offence.”
2 Samuel 17:7-13
Hushai limits his objection to one occasion: “This time the advice of Ahithophel is not sound”. He urges a levy of all Israel “from Dan to Beersheba” with Absalom himself at its head. Such a levy takes time, and time is what David needs.
2 Samuel 17:7
“And Hushai said to Absalom,.... Having leave to give his opinion freely: the counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time; he owns that Ahithophel was a good counsellor, and that the counsel he gave was for the most part, if not always, good, but what he gave at this time was not so; the wisest of men may sometimes be mistaken. Abarbinel thinks he respects his former counsel, particularly that that was good, advising him to defile his father's bed, 2Sa 16:21; but this was not, for which he gives the following reasons.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 17:7
“At this time - Rather, “The counsel which Ahithophel has given this time is not good.” He contrasts it with that given before 2Sa 16:21, which was good. This gave an appearance of candour to his conduct, and so gave weight to his dissent. Observe the working of David’s prayer 2Sa 15:31.”
robbed of her cubs: Hushai's second claim answers Ahithophel point by point. A man of war from Saul's long pursuit would never spend the night with the troops. Adam Clarke notes the fury of a wild bear robbed of her cubs, the same picture used at Proverbs 17:12 and Hosea 13:8.
2 Samuel 17:8
“As a bear robbed of her whelps - All wild beasts are very furious when robbed of their young; but we have some remarkable instances of the maternal affection of the bear in such circumstances; see one at the end of the chapter.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
hiding in a cave: Hushai says David is surely hiding in a cave. Albert Barnes notes the Hebrew reads one of the pits or one of the places. Matthew Henry hears the real threat in the second half, where one early loss would be called a slaughter and the revolt would lose heart.
2 Samuel 17:9
“Some pit, or in some other place - The Hebrew has “in one of the pits,” or “in one of the places.” Hence, “place” must have some defined meaning. It probably is used here, as elsewhere, for a “dwelling-house” or “village,” which might in that district be fortified houses 2Sa 17:12; 1Sa 26:25. Hushai’s argument is that there was no chance of seizing David by surprise as Ahithophel suggested.”
the heart of a lion: Hushai plays on fear of a first defeat. John Gill sets the melting heart beside Israel's panic after Ai at Joshua 7:5 and suggests the barb reaches even Ahithophel's boasted courage. Matthew Henry adds that Absalom's men were raw recruits facing angry veterans.
2 Samuel 17:10
“And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt,.... That is, whoever should hear of Absalom's forces, or a part of them, being routed, would be intimidated, though ever so courageous, or of such a lion-like temper and disposition; and even Ahithophel himself, notwithstanding all his boasted courage, his heart would fail, he would melt like water (h), Jos 7:5; should he meet with such a rebuff at first setting out.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 17:10
“One of them would chase a thousand. [3.] They were all exasperated against Absalom, who was the author of all this mischief, were chafed in their minds, and would fight with the utmost fury; so that, what with their courage, and what with their rage, there would be no standing before them, especially for such raw soldiers as Absalom's generally were.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hushai advises that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba be gathered, and John Gill takes this to mean every man fit to bear arms. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown see the master stroke in the flattery that Absalom himself lead them into battle, where he dies in 18:14.
like dew on the ground: Albert Barnes reads the dew as numbers beyond counting. The promise that none of David's men will survive reverses Ahithophel's offer to kill the king alone. Matthew Henry thinks Absalom liked this bloodier plan better, having a grudge against some of his father's friends.
2 Samuel 17:12
“Perhaps Absalom was better pleased with the design of cutting off all the men that were with him, having a particular antipathy to some of David's friends, than with Ahithophel's project of smiting the king only.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
all Israel will bring ropes: John Wesley calls the ropes a boast shaped to Absalom's vanity. No city is dragged down to the valley by hand, and Adam Clarke notes that the Chaldee renders the word for ropes as towers. Matthew Henry notes that Absalom and all the men of Israel agreed with this advice.
2 Samuel 17:13
“Shall all Israel bring ropes to that city - The original word חבלים chabalim, which signifies ropes, and from which we have our word cable, may have some peculiarity of meaning here; for it is not likely that any city could be pulled down with ropes. The Chaldee, which should be best judge in this case, translates the original word by משרין mashreyan, towers: this gives an easy sense.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 17:13
“As dew - That is, plenteously, suddenly, irresistibly, and on all sides; for so the dew falls. Bring ropes - It is an hyperbolical expression, suited to the vain-glorious temper of this insolent young man: implying, that they would do so if they could not destroy him another way: or, that they should be enough to do so, if there were occasion.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel: Absalom and the men of Israel judge Hushai's advice better than Ahithophel's. The narrator gives the reason: “the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom”. This answers David's prayer at 15:31 that the LORD would turn Ahithophel's counsel into foolishness.
2 Samuel 17:14
“For what shall we say about Hushai's pious deception of Absalom for the sake of King David's safety which, although formulated with good will by the deceiver and cheater and opposed to the well-being of the questioner, is approved by the text of divine Scripture that says, "By the will of the Lord the useful advice of Ahithophel was undone, so that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom"?”
John Cassian · written before 435 · CONFERENCE 17.19.5patristic
A cloth spread over a well at Bahurim
2 Samuel 17:15-16
Hushai tells Zadok and Abiathar the priests both counsels, Ahithophel's and his own. The message tells David not to spend the night at the fords of the wilderness but to cross over. The priests pass it on through their own sons, who wait outside the city at verse 17.
2 Samuel 17:15
“For in the history, Hushai is mentioned as the chief companion of David and the son of Arachi, but in the psalm, Hushai is the son of Jemini. Neither he nor any other of those appearing in the history was the son of Jemini. Perhaps he was called the son of Jemini for this reason, because he displayed great valor and strength through a mere pretense of friendship, going over, as he pretended, to Absalom, but in reality thwarting the plans of Ahithophel, a very skilled man, well trained in military affairs, who was giving his counsel.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · Homilies on the Psalms 7.1patristic
fords of the wilderness: The fords were where David had promised at 15:28 to wait for word from the priests. Hushai tells him to cross anyway. Basil of Caesarea takes the son of Jemini in the title of Psalm 7 to be Hushai, honored for valor shown under a pretended friendship.
2 Samuel 17:16
“Hushai, like a wise and prudent man, knowing, too, Absalom’s weak and fickle character, would not depend upon the resolution, taken at his instigation, not to pursue the king, but took instant measures to advertise David of his danger.”
2 Samuel 17:17-21
they dared not be seen entering the city: Jonathan and Ahimaaz wait at En-rogel, “for they dared not be seen entering the city”. A young man sees them, and they climb down into a well at a house in Bahurim. The man's wife spreads a covering over it, “scattering grain over it so nobody would know a thing”.
2 Samuel 17:17
“En-rogel - See the marginal reference. A wench - Hebrew “the maid servant,” namely, of the high priest, either Zadok or Abiathar, or possibly one employed in some service in the temple courts. (1Sa 2:22 note.) And they went and told king David - As related afterward 2Sa 17:21. Here mentioned by anticipation.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 17:17
“The young priests that were to be the messengers were forced to retire secretly out of the city, by En-rogel, which signifies, as some say, the fountain of a spy. Surely it went ill with Jerusalem when two such faithful priests as they were might not be seen to come into the city.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a well in his courtyard: A young man saw Ahimaaz and Jonathan, so the two came to a house in Bahurim, where David had been cursed. Albert Barnes remarks that not everyone there was a Shimei. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the well to be a household cistern, and Matthew Henry supposes it was dry.
scattering grain over it: The man's wife hid the well under a covering scattered with grain. Albert Barnes notes the Hebrew says the covering, which he suggests was the awning, and the grain was barley set out as if to dry. The scene recalls Rahab hiding the spies at Joshua 2:6.
2 Samuel 17:19
“And what shall we say about the deed of the woman who received those who had been sent to King David by the aforementioned Hushai and who hid them in a well, spreading a cover over the mouth of it and making believe that she was drying barley? "They went on," she said, "after having drunk a little water," and by this trick she saved them from the hands of their pursuers. Tell me, then, I ask you, what you would have done if a similar situation had arisen for you who now live under the gospel.”
John Cassian · written before 435 · CONFERENCE 17.19.6-7patristic
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 17:19
“A covering - Hebrew “the covering,” perhaps “the hanging” or “awning” at the door of the house, as the word seems to mean when spoken of the tabernacle. Ground corn - Or “peeled barley,” which she spread out as if for the purpose of drying it in the sun.”
The woman tells Absalom's servants that Ahimaaz and Jonathan have crossed over the brook, a Hebrew word Albert Barnes finds only here. John Cassian asks what a believer under the gospel would do in her place. Matthew Henry adds that God kept Absalom from avenging himself on Zadok and Abiathar.
2 Samuel 17:20
“As soon as ever she had hid the men she went into the house, as if busy about her usual occupations. Had Absalom’s servants, who had had information from some of the people of Bahurim that the men had come to this house, found her in the court it might have directed their attention to the peeled barley. Over the brook of water - Compare 2Sa 16:9 note. The word for “brook” (“Michal”) occurs only here. One has been found in this very district, still so called.”
cross over the river at once: Ahimaaz and Jonathan urge King David to cross at once. Their warning names the advice of Ahithophel, the one plan that could still take David that night. Matthew Henry moves from this report to verse 23, where Ahithophel sees his advice set aside, goes home and hangs himself.
2 Samuel 17:21
“23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
there was no one left who had not crossed: David and all the people with him cross the Jordan in the night. The narrator adds, “By daybreak, there was no one left who had not crossed the Jordan”. Matthew Henry sets this beside the word of Jesus that he lost none of those the Father gave him.
2 Samuel 17:22
“Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and passed over Jordan,.... Taking the advice of Hushai: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan; they travelled all night, and before it was morning they had all passed the river in boats, or through the fords, and not one was lost in the passage, nor any deserted, see Joh 17:12; and now perhaps David penned the forty second and forty third psalms, Psa 42:1.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 17:22
“But special notice is taken of this, that there lacked not one of them: none deserted him, though his distress was great, none staid behind sick or weary, nor were any lost or cast away in passing the river. Herein some make him a type of the Messiah, who said, in a difficult day, Of all that thou hast given me have I lost none.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ahithophel sets his house in order and hangs himself
He put his affairs in order and hanged himself: Ahithophel rode home, “put his affairs in order and hanged himself”. The only other man in Scripture said to hang himself is Judas at Matthew 27:5. The church has read Psalm 41:9 as David's word about Ahithophel, and Jesus applies that verse to Judas at John 13:18.
2 Samuel 17:23
“It is well that that breath is stopped and that head laid from which nothing could be expected but mischief. It seems, it was not then usual to disgrace the dead bodies of self-murderers, for Ahithophel was buried, we may suppose honourably buried, in the sepulchre of his father, though he deserved no better than the burial of an ass.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 17:23
“To his city - To Giloh (marginal reference). Ahithophel was probably influenced by deep mortification at the slight put upon him by rejecting his counsel. He is a memorable example of the impotence of worldly wisdom. Compare the marginal reference.”
2 Samuel 17:24-26
Then David went to Mahanaim: David goes to Mahanaim, which had sheltered Ish-bosheth in the civil war, and Absalom crosses the Jordan with all the men of Israel. Absalom has set Amasa over the army in place of Joab, and the two commanders are cousins, sons of the sisters Abigail and Zeruiah.
2 Samuel 17:24
“Then David came to Mahanaim--in the high eastern country of Gilead, the seat of Ish-bosheth's government. Absalom passed over Jordan--It is not said how long an interval elapsed, but there must have been sufficient time to make the intended levy throughout the kingdom.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 17:24
“Mahanaim - See 2Sa 2:8. The same reasons which induced Abner to choose it for Ishbosheth probablv made it a good rallying point for David. It was a strong city, in a well-provisioned country, with a mountainous district for retreat in case of need, and with a warlike and friendly population.”
the Ishmaelite who had married Abigail: The Hebrew here calls Ithra an Israelite, while 1 Chronicles 2:17 calls him an Ishmaelite; Matthew Henry reconciles the two as birth and adopted religion. John Wesley makes Nahash Jesse's wife, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report Jesse himself as an option, and Barnes allows a first husband of Abigail's mother.
2 Samuel 17:25
“Ithra an Israelite - Or “Jether the Ishmeelite” 1Ch 2:17. “Ithra” and “Jether” are practically the same names. “Israelite” in the text is wrong. It should be either “Ishmaelite” or “Jezreelite” 2Sa 3:2. Abigail the daughter of Nahash - If Zeruiah and Abigail were Jesse’s daughters, the only probable way of reconciling our text with 1Ch 2:16-17, is to suppose that Nahash was Jesse’s wife. If Zeruiah and Abigail were only sisters of David by the mother, then Nahash might be the name of her first husband.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Samuel 17:25
“It was not long since that Absalom himself fled for a crime, and David contented himself with his being an exile, though he deserved death, nay, he mourned and longed for him; but so perfectly void of all natural affection is this ungrateful Absalom that he eagerly thirsts after his own father's blood.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Samuel 17:25
“Amasa--By the genealogy it appears that this captain stood in the same relation to David as Joab, both being his nephews. Of course, Amasa was Absalom's cousin, and though himself an Israelite, his father was an Ishmaelite (1Ch 2:17). Nahash--is thought by some to be another name of Jesse, or according to others, the name of Jesse's wife.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
camped in the land of Gilead: Gilead was the territory of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh, as John Gill notes, so Absalom now brings the war onto the lands. Matthew Henry sets this against David's mercy. David had spared the exile who now hunts his blood.
2 Samuel 17:26
“So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. Which belonged to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; here the Israelites that were with Absalom encamped, in order to give battle to David and his men.”
Barzillai brings beds, wheat, and honey to Mahanaim
2 Samuel 17:27-29
Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites: Three men meet David at Mahanaim: Shobi son of Nahash the Ammonite, Machir of Lo-debar, who had sheltered Mephibosheth, and Barzillai the Gileadite. They bring beds and basins, grain, honey, curds and flocks, for they said, “The people have become hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the wilderness”.
2 Samuel 17:27
“Shobi’s father may have been the king of the Ammonites, and Shobi appointed by David as tributary king or governor of Ammon after he took Rabbah 2Sa 12:29. On the other hand, Nahash may have been a common name among the Ammonites, and the Nahash of 2Sa 17:25 may have been of that nation. On Machir, see the marginal reference.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Samuel 17:27
“Shobi - Who, as it may seem, disliked and disowned that barbarous action to the ambassadors; and therefore, when the rest were destroyed, was left king or governor of the residue of the Ammonites.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 Samuel 17:27
“Those that think their prosperity most confirmed know not but, some time or other, they may stand in need of the kindness of those that now lie at their mercy, and may be glad to be beholden to them, which is a reason why we should, as we have opportunity, do good to all men, for he that watereth shall be watered also himself, when there is occasion.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
beds, basins, and earthen vessels: Shobi, Machir and Barzillai brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels to David at Mahanaim. Adam Clarke takes the beds to be skins and mats, the basins wooden bowls for eating and kneading, and the earthen vessels sun-baked clay. Matthew Henry draws the duty of open hands toward the distressed.
2 Samuel 17:28
“Brought beds - These no doubt consisted in skins of beasts, mats, carpets, and such like things. Basons - ספות sappoth. Probably wooden bowls, such as the Arabs still use to eat out of, and to knead their bread in. Earthen vessels - כלי יוצר keley yotser. Probably clay vessels, baked in the sun. These were perhaps used for lifting water, and boiling those articles which required to be cooked.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
cheese from the herd: The gift came when the people were hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the wilderness. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that honey honored David as king. Albert Barnes reads the cheese from the herd as milch cows, and John Wesley sees God supplying from strangers what David's own family denied him.
2 Samuel 17:29
“Cheese of kine - Or, as others, “milch cows,” which is more in accordance with the context, being coupled with “sheep,” and is more or less borne out etymologically by the Arabic. God’s care for David was evident in the kindness of these people.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Samuel 17:29
“Being considered a luxurious refreshment (So 4:11), the supply of it shows the high respect that was paid to David by his loyal and faithful subjects at Mahanaim.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
How this psalm is built
The form: Narrative, a council scene in which two counsels are weighed against each other and the narrator names the cause of the outcome, as Samuel classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The two counsels set side by side | Verses 1 to 3 and verses 7 to 13 carry two complete military plans in the same scene, and the chapter is built so that a reader weighs them against each other. Ahithophel asks for twelve thousand men, one night and one target. Hushai asks for the whole levy from Dan to Beersheba with Absalom at its head. John Gill and Matthew Henry read Hushai's concession as the move that gives his dissent the appearance of fairness. He grants that Ahithophel's counsel has generally been sound, then stakes his whole objection on the words at this time.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, on 2 Samuel 17:7, as the published exposition of this chapter reports him. | 2 Samuel 17:1, 2 Samuel 17:3, 2 Samuel 17:7, 2 Samuel 17:13 |
| The speech that argues by picture | Hushai's speech runs on images a soldier feels rather than on figures he can check. A bear robbed of her cubs stands for David and his men. A multitude like the sand on the seashore stands for the levy, and dew on the ground stands for the attack. Ropes dragging a city into a valley stand for what such a host could do to a walled town. Ropes on walls was a siege method of the period rather than a figure of speech.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 2 Samuel 17:7 to 13, as the published exposition of this chapter reports him. | 2 Samuel 17:8, 2 Samuel 17:11, 2 Samuel 17:12, 2 Samuel 17:13 |
| The relief listed by name | Verses 28 and 29 name the supplies one by one rather than in a word: beds, basins and earthen vessels, then wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans and lentils, then honey, curds, sheep and cheese. The list reads as an inventory because men east of the Jordan were feeding an army in the field. The reason is given in the same breath, that the people have become hungry, exhausted and thirsty in the wilderness.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on 2 Samuel 17:27 to 29, as the published exposition of this chapter reports him. | 2 Samuel 17:28, 2 Samuel 17:29 |
The New Testament's use
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter is read into the New Testament at one point above all, and the church has read it there for as long as there are records. Ahithophel sets his affairs in order and hangs himself at verse 23, which the published exposition records as the only such death in the Old Testament. The only other self-hanging in Scripture is Judas at Matthew 27:5.
The link between the two men runs through a psalm rather than through the narrative. Psalm 41:9 reads that the familiar friend who ate David's bread lifted up his heel against him, and the church has long read that verse of Ahithophel. John 13:18 has Jesus quote the same verse of Judas. So the two betrayals are joined by the text Jesus himself cites, and a student who works through this chapter has the background for the upper room already in hand.
Matthew Henry hears a second likeness in Ahithophel's opening plan. The counsel to strike the king alone, so that all the people may be brought back in peace, has the shape of Caiaphas at John 11:50. One man dies so that the nation need not perish. The published exposition of this chapter is careful about the status of that reading. It records the parallel as a likeness Henry draws rather than a citation the text itself makes, and this row keeps it at that level.
The divine connection
Verse 14 is the one place in the chapter where the narrator steps out from behind the scene and says what is happening. Absalom and all the men of Israel prefer Hushai's advice, and the reason given is that the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.
The claim is measurable inside the book rather than only asserted, and that is what gives it its weight. David prayed one sentence on the ascent of Olivet at 15:31, asking the LORD to turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Verse 14 answers that prayer in almost the same words, and the published exposition of this chapter notes the correspondence. Keil and Delitzsch and Matthew Henry are both cited on the verse. The point they hold in common is that the outcome is credited to God rather than to Hushai's skill, although the speech is the means.
The second thing the chapter shows is how David's own arrangements serve the same end. Hushai is in the council chamber because David sent him back from Olivet at 15:32 to 37 with one assignment, to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. Zadok and Abiathar are in the city for the same reason. The prayer and the planning run together, and the text gives the result to God without treating the planning as idle.
Keep studying
Studies2
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, on 2 Samuel 17:5, as the published exposition of this chapter reports him; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel, on 2 Samuel 17:14, as the published exposition of this chapter reports them and This site's published guide to 2 Samuel, src/components/book/guides/2-samuel/Book2SamuelGuide.tsx, act II, "The Troubles: Sin's Fruit, Fourfold" at 9:1 to 20:26.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Basil of Caesarea, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 7.1; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 17.19.6-7; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.