2 Samuel19chapter 19

2 Samuel 19:9-10

The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies: The tribes argue among themselves over a king they had just driven out, and their own words indict the cause they followed: Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. That verb sits beside the true anointing named at 16:6, the Lord's anointed spoken over David while Saul still reigned, and sets a man-made anointing against the one God made and kept. Spurgeon preached the refrain bring the king back as a figure of the greater invitation still open to a king once rejected who returns in power.

John Gill reads the death of Absalom as a sign the revolt was never of God, which also freed the tribes from their oath to him. Matthew Henry thinks the quarrel among them was over blame. Each tribe accused its neighbour of delay.

2 Samuel 19:11-12

Speak unto the elders of Judah: David works through Zadok and Abiathar rather than approaching Judah directly, sending word that ties the elders' silence to shame, since Judah had joined the rebellion and now hesitates to be first in welcoming him back. He calls them my brethren, my bones and my flesh, the same kinship language he extends to Amasa in the next verse, offering forgiveness before anyone asks for it. Clarke reads the approach as calculated rather than naive, since David needed Jerusalem's own tribe secured before anything else could hold.

John Gill hears in the kinship words a promise of gentle treatment, since Judah had a hand in the conspiracy and feared punishment. Matthew Henry reads the question as an appeal to the rank of the royal tribe. Judah had crowned Absalom at Hebron.

captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab: David swears Amasa into Joab's command outright, an oath sworn to the very man who led the army of the rebellion against him days before. Barnes reads it as evidence of how heavily Joab's independence weighed on David, the same weight behind 3:39's I am this day weak and 16:10's what have I to do with you. The promise holds only briefly; Joab kills Amasa within two chapters, one more death from the sword the prophet said would never leave David's house.

bowed the heart of all the men of Judah: The text credits David himself with bending the tribe's heart as one man, language usually kept for what only God does within a man. Judah answers within the same verse, sending back the word David wanted: return thou, and all thy servants. Clarke notes the strategy behind it, trusting men he had reason to distrust so that offered trust might draw trust back in return.

2 Samuel 19:15-18

came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king: The crossing at Jordan draws a company from every side: a thousand men of Benjamin under Shimei, Ziba with his fifteen sons and twenty servants, and a ferry boat to carry the king's household over, the first mention of such a vessel anywhere in Scripture. Henry calls the crossing the most solemn since Joshua led Israel over the same river, and notes that David had already remembered Jordan from exile at Psalm 42:6. Two men who had wronged David in his flight, Shimei and Ziba, are both named here crossing to meet him now that he returns.

Albert Barnes thinks Shimei moved once he saw Judah unanimous for the king, and came with a Benjamite force to make his peace. Adam Clarke takes the thousand men as proof that he was a chieftain of weight. David could hardly strike such a man that day.

Albert Barnes explains the geography. The king was still on the east bank, so these men forded the river from the west to meet him. Ziba comes with his whole household, the same fifteen sons and twenty servants named at 9:10, to secure the grant David made him at 16:4.

The Hebrew word has been read as a ford, a ferry boat, or with Matthew Henry, a fleet or bridge of boats. Albert Barnes renders the timing as the moment David was about to cross, so Shimei's prostration takes place on the east bank. Henry notes that a public offence called for public submission.

2 Samuel 19:19-20

Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me: Shimei names his own sin before anyone can accuse him of it again, come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to meet the king he had cursed at Bahurim. Clarke observes that confession was the only ground available to him, and only his conduct afterward could prove it sincere. The house of Joseph title marks him a leading man among the northern tribes, not merely a private grudge holder acting alone.

all the house of Joseph: Albert Barnes notes this is the first time the house of Joseph names all ten northern tribes, an odd title from a Benjamite. Coming first gave his submission the weight of the north. Matthew Henry notes his plain admission of sin, made before his own thousand men.

2 Samuel 19:21-23

cursed the Lord’s anointed?: Abishai's demand invokes the same title David used to spare Saul twice, the Lord's anointed, but turns it toward vengeance rather than restraint, and it is not the first time a son of Zeruiah has pushed David further than he wanted to go. David's answer, what have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, matches his words at 16:10 almost exactly, and he swears the oath himself rather than let Abishai's logic decide it. Henry reads David's mercy that day as flowing from his own experience of God's mercy in restoring the kingdom his own sin had nearly cost him.

any man be put to death: David echoes Saul at 1 Samuel 11:13, who refused to put any man to death on the day his kingship was confirmed. Matthew Henry says joyful days should be forgiving days. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that David spoke as one aware that today he is king over Israel.

John Gill limits the oath to David's own hand and to this offence, which leaves room for David's charge to Solomon at 1 Kings 2:8. John Wesley hears David reasoning from his own forgiveness. A pardoned king pardons.

2 Samuel 19:24-25

had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard: Mephibosheth's unwashed feet, untrimmed beard and unwashed clothes since the day the king departed are a mourner's signs worn the whole length of David's exile, offered as evidence before he speaks a word in his own defense. Clarke reads the details as refuting Ziba's earlier report at 16:1-4 without David needing to ask a single question. David's first question still assumes Ziba's account was true, asking why Mephibosheth stayed behind rather than why he had mourned so long.

Mephibosheth met the king from Jerusalem, and David asked why he did not go with him. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that Eastern men trimmed the beard with great care, so his untrimmed mustache at verse 24 was plain to all. Matthew Henry notes that his answer turns at once to Ziba.

2 Samuel 19:26-28

my servant deceived me: Mephibosheth's account contradicts Ziba's directly: he had ordered an ass saddled to ride to David, lame as he was, and Ziba slandered him instead of doing as told. He calls David an angel of God able to judge between the two accounts and submits to whatever David decides, the same kindness of God David promised him at 9:3 now tested against a servant's word. Gregory the Dialogist read the episode centuries later as proof that even a man who usually carried the spirit of prophecy could still be deceived, since he remained a man.

Mephibosheth says Ziba has slandered him to the king. The woman of Tekoa used the same comparison with the angel of God at 14:17. Adam Clarke reads him as leaving his case to the king's own judgment, and Matthew Henry notes how much harm a wicked servant can do to the best of masters.

Mephibosheth owns that Saul's house had no claim on David at all, recalling the place at the table granted him at 9:7. Matthew Henry carries the picture to the gospel, where dead men are spared and seated at God's table. He sees no ground for complaint.

2 Samuel 19:29-30

Thou and Ziba divide the land: David cuts the dispute short rather than settling it, splitting the estate between two men whose stories cannot both be true. Barnes reads the division as David unwilling to make an enemy of Ziba while unable to disprove Mephibosheth, the same haste that marked his earlier sentence at 16:4. Mephibosheth answers by giving up his half outright, content that David has come home in peace, valuing the king's safety over the land Ziba had gained by lying.

John Gill compares the answer to Solomon's test at 1 Kings 3:26, where the true mother gave up her claim to save the child. Mephibosheth's surrender marks him as the loyal one. His joy is in the king's return.

2 Samuel 19:31-33

came down from Rogelim: Barzillai crosses Jordan with David after supplying him through the hardest stretch of the exile at Mahanaim, and David offers to bring him to Jerusalem and feed him at his own table in return. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that no reward to Barzillai himself is ever recorded, though David's kindness to his son Chimham a few verses later stands in its place. Clarke calls the eighty-year-old's loyalty beyond suspicion, since a man that age has nothing left to gain by flattering a king.

Matthew Henry notes that Barzillai had a large heart to match his large estate. The provision at 17:27 came when David's cause looked lost. Henry asks what else such wealth is good for.

John Gill sees the offer as a return in kind. Barzillai fed the king at Mahanaim, and David will feed him at his own table in Jerusalem. Matthew Henry thinks David also wanted the old man's company and counsel.

2 Samuel 19:34-37

How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king: Barzillai declines the king's offer on the ground of age alone, fourscore years old and past discerning good from evil, unable to taste what he eats or hear the singers who would perform at court. Henry reads his speech as a pattern for old age generally, dead to the delights of sense that once moved him, asking only to die in his own city and be buried by his father's grave. He asks nothing for himself and everything for Chimham, who goes over with the king in his place.

At eighty, Barzillai says he can no longer enjoy the singing men and women. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that singers were a regular part of an Eastern court, and Adam Clarke reads the verse as a picture of court life and of old age. John Wesley says his senses had grown dull.

Barzillai calls his great provision a small service, only going with the king a short distance past the Jordan. Matthew Henry sets this beside the saints at the judgment, amazed at the reward given for what they did, as at Matthew 25:37. John Gill hears plain duty in it.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note the strong attachment of Eastern families to their own burial places. John Wesley has him going home to die in his nest. Adam Clarke takes Chimham for Barzillai's son, which fits David's dying charge at 1 Kings 2:7 to show kindness to Barzillai's sons.

2 Samuel 19:38-39

Chimham shall go over with me: David grants Barzillai's request in full, taking Chimham in his father's place and promising to do for him whatever Barzillai asks. Barnes notes that Chimham's household is still remembered by name generations later at Jeremiah 41:17, settled near Bethlehem on land that may have come from David's own inheritance. The parting itself is warm rather than formal, a kiss and a blessing before Barzillai turns back toward Rogelim.

kissed Barzillai, and blessed him: Albert Barnes notes that the people in this narrative are David's own followers, who crossed by the ford while the royal household came over by boat. Adam Clarke takes the blessing as a prayer for Barzillai's prosperity, which may have been prophetic. He then went home to Rogelim.

2 Samuel 19:40-43

Then the king went on to Gilgal: Judah escorts David across on the strength of nearest kinship, but Israel arrives asking why their brethren stole the king away without them, claiming ten parts in the king by tribal count against Judah's one. Judah answers that they gained nothing personally by it, only loyalty, yet the men of Judah spoke fiercer words than Israel did in reply. Henry reads the quarrel as the seed of the division that breaks open in the next chapter, since a people already arguing over who loves the king more is a people not far from arguing over who follows him at all.

Israel charges Judah with taking the king away secretly. Albert Barnes places the scene at Gilgal, where David's company halted after crossing the Jordan, and where Saul's kingdom had once been renewed at 1 Samuel 11:14. John Wesley reads the charge as haste that left the other tribes behind, with all of David's men.

Matthew Henry has Judah treating the escort as a matter of ceremony, claimed by kinship and by the king's return into their own country. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown judge the kinship claim dangerous to David's house. It gave the other tribes a ground for exclusion.

John Wesley has Israel adding that Judah began the rebellion, since Absalom was crowned at Hebron. Matthew Henry counts Judah's share as its own tribe with Simeon inside it, and remarks how changeable a crowd is. Adam Clarke reads fiercer words as weightier ones.