2 Samuel 15:3
in 2 Samuel 15Absalom would say, “Look, your claims are good and right, but the king has no deputy to hear you.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.
KJV
And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.
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This verse in 2 Samuel 15
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
To flatter each man by pronouncing a favorable verdict in his case, to excite a sense of grievance and discontent by censuring the king for remissness in trying the causes brought before him by his subjects, and to suggest a sure and easy remedy for all such grievances, namely, to make Absalom king; all this, coupled with great affability and courtesy, which his personal beauty and high rank made all the more effective, were the arts by which Absalom worked his way into favor with the people, who were light and fickle as himself.
This site's exposition
fifty men to run before him
on 2 Samuel 15:1-3
Absalom stages himself as king before he is one. The chariots, horses and fifty runners going before him are the very furniture Samuel had named years before as the manner of the king that would take from Israel, in 1 Samuel 8:11. He borrows the picture of royalty rather than wait for the office, and every man who watches him pass at the gate reads the message he intends.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
For nothing is so necessary for the proper conduct of affairs as prudence; and there is no greater hindrance to prudence than wickedness, and malice, and hollowness. Look at bilious persons, how unsightly they are, with all their bloom withered away. How weak they are, and puny, and unfit for anything. So also are souls of this nature. What else is wickedness, but a jaundice of the soul? Wickedness then has no strength in it, indeed it has not. Have ye a mind that I again make what I am saying plain to you by an instance, by setting before you the portraits of a treacherous and a guileless man? Absalom was a treacherous man, and "stole all men's hearts." And observe how great was his treachery. "He went about," it saith, "and said, 'Hast thou no judgment?'" wishing to conciliate every one to himself. But David was guileless. What then? Look at the end of them both, look, how full of utter madness was the former! For inasmuch as he looked solely to the hurt of his father, in all other things he was blinded. But not so David. For "he that walketh uprightly, walketh surely"; and reasonably; he is one that manages nothing over-subtilely, the man who devises no evil.
Moreover, due measure befits even our words and instructions, that it may not seem as though there was either too great mildness or too much harshness. Many prefer to be too mild, so as to appear to be good. But it is certain that nothing feigned or false can bear the form of true virtue; no, it cannot even last.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And Absalom said unto him,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
This dissatisfaction was artfully fomented by Absalom, who addressed himself to the various suitors; and after briefly hearing their tale, he gratified everyone with a favorable opinion of his case.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵלָיו֙ | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אַבְשָׁל֔וֹם | ʾavshalom | Absalom | H53 → | 110 times |
| רְאֵ֥ה | reeh | see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| דְבָרֶ֖ךָ | devarekha | matter your | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| טוֹבִ֣ים | tovim | [are] good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| וּנְכֹחִ֑ים | unekhochim | and right | H5228 → | |
| וְשֹׁמֵ֥עַ | veshomea' | and [one who] hears | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| אֵין־ | ʾein- | not | H369 → | 789 times |
| לְךָ֖ | lekha | [belongs] to <the> you | ||
| מֵאֵ֥ת | meet | from with | H854 → | 929 times |
| הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֵלָיו֙to him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
אַבְשָׁל֔וֹםAbsalom
ʾavshalomH53 →110 times
רְאֵ֥הsee
reehH7200 →1300 times
דְבָרֶ֖ךָmatter your
devarekhaH1697 →1440 times
טוֹבִ֣ים[are] good
tovimH2896 →538 times
וּנְכֹחִ֑יםand right
unekhochimH5228 →
וְשֹׁמֵ֥עַand [one who] hears
veshomea'H8085 →1159 times
אֵין־not
ʾein-H369 →789 times
לְךָ֖[belongs] to <the> you
lekha
מֵאֵ֥תfrom with
meetH854 →929 times
הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃the king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 15:4For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
it leads to
- Exodus 21:17
Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- Leviticus 20:9
If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.
- Deuteronomy 21:18–21
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,
- Deuteronomy 5:16
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the…
- Exodus 21:17
Through
Proverbs 30:11There is a generation of those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.
it leads to
- Proverbs 20:20
Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 27:16
‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 20:20
Through
Proverbs 12:2The good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a man who devises evil.
it leads to
- Proverbs 8:35
For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor of the LORD.
- Proverbs 8:35
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 2 Samuel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 2.22.112-14; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS 15; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.