Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
And Joab sendeth and declareth to David all the matters of the war,
Then Joab sent and told David all the matters of the war;
2 Samuel — David's reign in three movements — rise, fall, consequences — with the Davidic covenant (ch. 7) as the vertical spine down the centre. A covenant held through both rise and fall; a throne established for ever.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Voices2
Then Joab sent,.... Messengers to David, as soon as Uriah was killed: and told David all the things concerning the war; how the siege had been carried on; what success they had had, good or ill; what their advantages and disadvantages; what men they had lost, and especially in one sally of the enemy upon them, for the sake of which the express was sent.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
We have taken up the task of writing an apology for the present style of the prophet David, not because he needs this gift, who has excelled in such great merits and flourished in virtues, but because many people, reading the sequence of his deeds without considering the power of the Scriptures or the hidden mysteries, wonder how such a great prophet did not avoid the contagion of adultery first and then of murder. Therefore, it was our desire to review the history itself, which seems to have been exposed to sin.
Ambrose of Milan· Apology for the Prophet David, Chapter 1, 397patristic
The verses this one reaches1
When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the sons of the king.” And Jehu ordered, “Pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.”
