2 Samuele 20:3 Commento

How do the clouds return after the rain! No sooner is one of David's troubles over than another arises, as it were out of the ashes of the former, wherein the threatening is fulfilled, that the sword should never depart from his house. I. Before he reaches Jerusalem a new rebellion is raised by Sheba (Sa2 20:1, Sa2 20:2). II. His first work, when he comes to Jerusalem, is to condemn his concubines to perpetual imprisonment (Sa2 20:3). III. Amass, whom he entrusts to raise an army against Sheba, is too slow in his motions, which puts him into a fright (Sa2 20:4-6). IV. One of his generals barbarously murders the other, when they are taking the field (Sa2 20:7-13). V. Sheba is at length shut up in the city of Abel (Sa2 20:14, Sa2 20:15), but the citizens deliver him up to Joab, and so his rebellion is crushed (Sa2 20:16-22). The chapter concludes with a short account of David's great officers (Sa2 20:23-26).

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 20 This chapter gives an account of a new rebellion raised by Sheba, Sa2 20:1; of David's shutting up his concubines unto the day of their death, whom Absalom had lain with, Sa2 20:3; of Amasa being ordered to assemble the men of Judah to crush the rebellion, but being dilatory, Abishai is sent out with David's servants, and was followed by Joab with the men under him, Sa2 20:4; and of the murder of Amasa by Joab, Sa2 20:8; and of Sheba being shut up in the city Abel, Sa2 20:14; whose head, by the means of a wise woman, was delivered to Joab, and so an end was put to the rebellion, Sa2 20:16; and, lastly, of the chief officers in David's camp and court, Sa2 20:23.

And David came to his house at Jerusalem,.... His palace there, which was in that part of the city called the fort of Zion, and city of David: and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house; when he fled from Jerusalem because of Absalom, Sa2 15:16, and put them in ward; partly as a punishment for easily yielding to the lust of Absalom, and partly that they might not be seen, which would bring to remembrance his sin: and fed them; he did not put them to death, nor put them away, but kept them thus confined, and made a proper provision for them, not suffering them to marry any other, and be maintained by them: but went not in unto them: into their apartments to lie with them, having been defiled by his son, Sa2 16:22, so they were shut up unto the day of their death; kept in the ward till they died: living in widowhood; neither used by the king as his concubines, as they had been before, nor suffered to many any other; or "in the widowhood of life" (o), which is so expressed, to distinguish it from widowhood made by death; this was such sort of widowhood as obtained while their husband was living; so the Targum,"widows of their husband alive,'' or remaining. (o) "in viduitate vitae", Pagninus, Montanus.

Sheba raises an insurrection, and gains a party in Israel, Sa2 20:1, Sa2 20:2. David shuts up the ten concubines who were defiled by Absalom, Sa2 20:3. Amasa is sent to assemble the men of Judah, Sa2 20:4, Sa2 20:5. And in the mean time Abishai is sent to pursue Sheba, Sa2 20:6, Sa2 20:7. Joab treacherously murders Amasa, Sa2 20:8-12. Joab and the army continue the pursuit of Sheba, Sa2 20:13, Sa2 20:14. He is besieged in Abel; and, by the counsels of a wise woman, the people of Abel cut off his head, and throw it over the wall to Joab; who blows the trumpet of peace, and he and his men return to Jerusalem, Sa2 20:15-22. Account of David's civil and military officers, Sa2 20:23-26.

The ten women - He could not well divorce them; he could not punish them, as they were not in the transgression; he could no more be familiar with them, because they had been defiled by his son; and to have married them to other men might have been dangerous to the state: therefore he shut them up and fed them - made them quite comfortable, and they continued as widows to their death.

SHEBA MAKES A PARTY IN ISRAEL. (Sa2 20:1-9) Sheba . . . a Benjamite--Though nothing is known of this man, he must have been a person of considerable power and influence, before he could have raised so sudden and extensive a sedition. He belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, where the adherents of Saul's dynasty were still numerous; and perceiving the strong disgust of the other tribes with the part assumed by Judah in the restoration, his ill-designing heart resolved to turn it to the overthrow of David's authority in Israel. every man to his tents--This proverbial expression may have had its foundation in the fact, that many of the Israelite peasantry adhered to the custom of the patriarchs who tilled land, and yet lived in tents, as Syrian peasants often do still. This was the usual watchword of national insurrection, and from the actual temper of the people, it was followed by effects beyond what he probably anticipated.

the king took the ten women his concubines--Jewish writers say that the widowed queens of Hebrew monarchs were not allowed to marry again but were obliged to pass the rest of their lives in strict seclusion. David treated his concubines in the same manner after the outrage committed on them by Absalom. They were not divorced, for they were guiltless; but they were no longer publicly recognized as his wives; nor was their confinement to a sequestered life a very heavy doom, in a region where women have never been accustomed to go much abroad.