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2 Samuel 4:2

in 2 Samuel 4

Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding parties. One was named Baanah and the other Rechab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite of the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, had two men that were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin (for Beeroth also is reckoned to Benjamin:

KJV

And Saul’s son had two men that were captains of bands: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin: (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin:

This verse in 2 Samuel 4

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Captains of bands - Principes latronum, captains of banditti, says the Vulgate; the Syriac is the same. Whether Ish-bosheth kept bands of marauders, whose business it was to make sudden incursions into the country places, and carry off grain, provisions, cattle, etc., we know not; but such persons would be well qualified for the bloody work in which these two men were afterwards employed.

This site's exposition

were captains of bands

on 2 Samuel 4:2-3

Rechab and Baanah come from Beeroth, one of the four Gibeonite cities Israel had sworn to spare at Joshua 9:17, a town the narrator has to explain still counts as Benjamin's own. Its people have already scattered to Gittaim by the time this book is written, refugees from within Saul's own reign rather than from any foreign army. Two men carrying that history are the ones who walk into the king's house claiming to fetch grain.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

There the Beerothites were when this was written, and probably took root there, and never returned to Beeroth again, which made Beeroth, that had been one of the cities of the Gibeonites ( Josh. ix. 17 ), to be forgotten, and Gittaim to be famous long after, as we find, Neh. xi. How the murder was committed,
And Saul's son had two men that were captains of bands,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Beeroth - See the marginal reference. From Jos 9:17, it might have been expected that the population of Beeroth would be Canaanite. But from some unknown cause the Canaanite inhabitants of Beeroth had fled to Gittaim - perhaps the same as Gath - and continued there as sojourners. If this flight of the Beerothites took place at the time of Saul’s cruel attack upon the Gibeonites 2Sa 21:1-2, Baanah and Reehab may have been native Beerothites, and have been instigated to murder the son of Saul by a desire to avenge the blood of their countrymen. The fact of their being reckoned as Benjamites is quite compatible with their being Canaanites by blood.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Were for the son of Shaul Were for the son of Shaul similar to (Shmuel I,, 8) "until the time of Shmuel" of Shmuel.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 4:2:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And the Be'erosites fled When Shaul died, the people of Yisroel abandoned the cities that surround the Peleshtim as is mentioned above. 1 Shmuel I,,7. It was then that the Be'erosites fled.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 4:3:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

24 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וּשְׁנֵ֣יand two

    usheneiH8147768 times

  • אֲנָשִׁ֣יםmen

    ʾanashimH582566 times

  • שָׂרֵֽי־commanders of

    sarei-H8269421 times

  • גְדוּדִ֣יםmarauding bands

    gedudimH141633 times

  • הָי֪וּthey were

    hayuH19613559 times

  • בֶן־[the] son of

    ven-H11214930 times

  • שָׁא֟וּלSaul

    shaulH7586402 times

  • שֵׁם֩[the] name of

    shemH8034864 times

  • הָאֶחָ֨דthe one

    haechadH259971 times

  • בַּֽעֲנָ֜ה[was] Baanah

    baanahH11969 times

  • וְשֵׁ֧םand [the] name of

    veshemH8034864 times

  • הַשֵּׁנִ֣יthe second

    hasheniH8145156 times

  • רֵכָ֗ב[was] Rechab

    rekhavH739413 times

  • בְּנֵ֛י[the] sons of

    beneiH11214930 times

  • רִמּ֥וֹןRimmon

    rimonH741716 times

  • הַבְּאֶֽרֹתִ֖יthe Beerothite

    habeerotiH8865 times

  • מִבְּנֵ֣יfrom [the] descendants of

    mibeneiH11214930 times

  • בִנְיָמִ֑ןBenjamin

    vinyaminH1144166 times

  • כִּ֚יfor

    kiH35884482 times

  • גַּם־also

    gam-H1571769 times

  • בְּאֵר֔וֹתBeeroth

    beerotH881

  • תֵּחָשֵׁ֖בit is reckoned

    techashevH2803124 times

  • עַל־to

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • בִּנְיָמִֽן׃Benjamin

    binyaminH1144166 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    2 Kings 5:2

    At this time the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken a young girl from the land of Israel, and she was serving Naaman’s wife.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 6:23

      So the king prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. And the Aramean raiders did not come…

    • 2 Kings 13:20

      And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring.

  • Through

    2 Kings 6:23

    So the king prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. And the Aramean raiders did not come…

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 5:2

      At this time the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken a young girl from the land of Israel, and she was serving Naaman’s wife.

    • 2 Kings 24:2

      And the LORD sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through His servants the prophets.

    • 2 Kings 6:8–9

      Now the king of Aram was at war against Israel. After consulting with his servants, he said, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”

    • Luke 6:35

      But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is…

  • Through

    Joshua 9:17

    So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities—Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.

    it leads to

About 2 Samuel

David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.