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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 Samuel 3:2 - 3:2
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Growth of the House of David. - Proof of the advance of the house of David is furnished by the multiplication of his family at Hebron. The account of the sons who were born to David at Hebron does not break the thread, as Clericus, Thenius, and others suppose, but is very appropriately introduced here, as a practical proof of the strengthening of the house of David, in harmony with the custom of beginning the history of the reign of every king with certain notices concerning his family (vid., 2Sa 5:13.; 1Ki 3:1; 1Ki 14:21; 1Ki 15:2, 1Ki 15:9, etc.). We have a similar list of the sons of David in 1Ch 3:1-4. The first two sons were born to him from the two wives whom he had brought with him to Hebron (1Sa 25:42-43). The Chethibh וילדו is probably only a copyist's error for וַיִּוָּלְדוּ, which is the reading in many Codices. From Ahinoam - the first-born, Amnon (called Aminon in 2Sa 13:20); from Abigail - the second, Chileab. The latter is also called Daniel in 1Ch 3:1, and therefore had probably two names. The lamed before Ahinoam and the following names serves as a periphrasis for the genitive, like the German von, in consequence of the word son being omitted (vid., Ewald, §292, a.). The other four were by wives whom he had married in Hebron: Absalom by Maachah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, a small kingdom in the north-east of Bashan (see at Deu 3:14); Adonijah by Haggith; Shephatiah by Abital; and Ithream by Eglah. The origin of the last three wives is unknown. The clause appended to Eglah's name, viz., “David's wife,” merely serves as a fitting conclusion to the whole list (Bertheau on 1Ch 3:3), and is not added to show that Eglah was David's principal wife, which would necessitate the conclusion drawn by the Rabbins, that Michal was the wife intended.