Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Samuel 19:40 - 19:40

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Samuel 19:40 - 19:40


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Quarrel between Israel and Judah about the restoration of the king. - 2Sa 19:40. David went across to Gilgal (in the plain of the Jordan: Jos 4:19), and Chimham (Chimhan is a modified form for Chimham: 2Sa 19:37) had gone over with him, and all the people of Judah had brought the king over (the Keri הֶעֱבִירוּ is an easier reading than the Chethib וַיַּעֲבִירוּ, “and as for the people, they had,” etc.), and also “half the people of Israel,” namely, beside the thousand Benjaminites who came with Shimei (2Sa 19:17), other Israelites who dwelt in the neighbourhood.

2Sa 19:41

All the men of Israel, i.e., the representatives of the other tribes of Israel, came to meet the king in Gilgal; and being annoyed at the fact that the men of Judah had anticipated them, they exclaimed, “Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away?” i.e., fetched thee thus secretly without saying a word to us. “All David's men” were all his faithful adherents who had fled with him from Jerusalem (2Sa 15:17.).

2Sa 19:42

The men of Judah replied against (על) the men of Israel: “The king stands near to us” (inasmuch as he belonged to their tribe), “and wherefore then art thou angry at this matter? Have we eaten from the king (i.e., derived any advantage from our tribe-relationship to him, as the Benjaminites did from Saul, according to 1Sa 22:7), or received anything for ourselves therefrom?” נִשֵּׂאת is an infinitive abs. Niph. with a feminine termination, borrowed from ה;ל literally, “or has taking been taken for us.”

2Sa 19:43

The Israelites were annoyed at this answer, and retorted, “I (Israel) have ten portions in the king, and also more than thou in David; and wherefore hast thou despised me?” They considered that they had ten shares in the king, because they formed ten tribes, in opposition to the one tribe of Judah, as the Levites did not come into consideration in the matter. Although David was of the tribe of Judah, he was nevertheless king of the whole nation, so that the ten tribes had a larger share than one tribe. הֱקִלֹּתַנִי refers to the fact, that Judah took no notice at all of the tribes of Israel when fetching back the king. וגו וְלֹא־הָיָה, “and was not my speech the first to fetch back my king?” (On the fact itself, see 2Sa 19:10-11.) לִי is an emphatic dat. commodi, and is to be taken in connection with לְהָשִׁיב, notwithstanding the accents. “And the speech of the men of Judah became fiercer (more violent) than the speech of the men of Israel.” With these words the historian sums up briefly the further progress of the dispute, for the purpose of appending the account of Sheba's rebellion, to which it gave rise.