The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 101

meutioned in eh. iii. 22. Their ORpte.ina and i~ there in its plaoe, while it is out or would be men of import&n<'e with Ishboebeth, place m ver. 6. And that the Mptains would who is here described eomewhat contemptu- ~hemlM:lvee fetoh wheat, instead of hnving ously, not RB king, nor by his own name, but 1t carried from the grn.nary by their men ; RB" S1rnl's son." Beeroth, This ple.ce, lite- and that they would go through the king's rally t.he Wella, WII.B one of the four towns cham her to obtn.in it: are both improbable. reserved for the Gibeonites (Josh. ix. 17), The very act of going to get whent nt mid- though nomine.lly belonging to Benje.min day, when everybody w&s having hie siesta, (Josh. xviii. 25). The note, that it we.a would itself be suspicious. The Syrin.o se.ys reokoned to Benjamin, suggests thl\t it had nothing about wheat, but that these "wicked until quit.e le.t.ely been oconpied by the men took and smote him." The VuJgate (An&RDites, whose :flight to Gitt.aim had no and LXX. lay the blame on the wome.n who doubt been Mused bv Saul's eruel attack kept the door, the narrative of the !otter upon them referred to in eh. xxi. 1, 2. It being as follows : "They entered into the was thus reme.rk&ble that the destruction house of Ishbosheth in the hee.t of the day, of Se.ul's dynasty was the work of the and he was asleep in hie midday chn.mber. Gibeonit.es of Beeroth, As we find another And behold, the woman that kept the door of these Beerothites, Nahara.i, holding the of the house had been winnowing whee.t, office of armour-bearer to Joab (1 Chron. xi. and she slumbered and slept. And the 39), it seems probable that many of them brothers Rechab and Bae.nab entered the l!&ved themselves from eJ::puleion by becom- house without being noticed, and Ishbosheth mg soldiers. But among David's worthies was a.sleep on his bed in hie chamber, e.nd a large number were strangers, and some they smote him," eto. There is, confessedly, even men of foreign extraction. Beeroth, considerable confusion in the text, but the however, was probably seized in Se.ul's reign versions do not altogether clee.r it up; and by the Benjamites, by force, aud occupied until we have better materials for forming by them, as its citizens returned in large a judgment, we must be content t.o wait. numbers from the erile (Ezra ii 25), and In ver. 5, instead of "whole.yon 11, bed at are CODI1ted as genuine Isre.elites. More- noon," the Hebrew has "as he was taking over, by thus dispossessing the natives, Saul hie noonday rest." In ver. 7 the bed is the was able to give his tribesmen " fields and divan, or raised bank, whioh in an Oriental vineyards" (1 Sam. x:rii. 7), which otherwise honee runs along the wall, and is supplied would have been in violation of the Mos&io with pieces of carpet, or cushions, on which Law. to sit cross-legged or recline. For sleep, the Ver. 8.--0ittaim, This word is a dual, comers were the favourite plaoes. Even and means " the two Ge.the ; " the one the pnblio rooms had these divans. But being, probably, the acropolis, or upper Ishbosheth had probably retired for his town, at the foot of which nestled a new siesta mto a privat.e chamber, where the Gath, protected by the ancient stronghold. captains knew that he would be alone. The It is mentioned as oolonging to Benjamin plain through whioh they :fled was the in Neh. xi. 83; but could not have been an Ara.bah, or Jorden valley, as in eh. ii. 29. Iemelit.e 1:own at this time, as the Beerothitee Ver. 8.-Whioh sought thy life, Saul had Bre described as •f!iwrner,, that is, dwellers sought David's life, but Ishbosheth was in a foreign coDI1try. When expelled from innocent of any such attempts. Still, had .Beeroth, they probably seized Gitt.aim by he been victorious, David, as his rival, would force, and, on the reconciliation effected by certainly have been put to death. Jehovah the execution of Saul's sons, returned to hath avenged my lord the king, The ordinary their allegiance to Israel language of the East is so religious the.t Ver. 4.-J'onatha.n., Saul's aon, had a son. these words imply nothing more than that Thie is mentioned to show that Saul's line- these wicked men saw in their hn.se act a age virtually became extinct on lehb~eth'I! step towards the carrying out of a Divine death. Mephibosheth, the heir, was a cripple, purpose. But in thus referring to the com- and physically incapable of reigning. Saul mon belief that David's kingdom was had, indeed, sons by a concubine, and grand- assured to him by Jehovah, they evidently children by hie daughter llforab (eh. xxi. intended to commend their deed to the 8). Bui throughout the history there is no really devout mind of the king. hint that any of these were regarded as the Vere. 9, 10.-AndDavidanswered. De.vi<l's representa.tivee of Saul's hoUBe. (For the answer is worthy of him. His appeal 1:o name Mephibosheth, see note on eh. ii. 8.) Jehovah, as One that had saved him in all Vere. 6, 7.-AB though they would have time of adversity, was a declaration that fetched whea.t. Not only is the narrative he had no need of criminals. And through- confW1ed, but the versions offer extra- out he had carefully abstained from taking ordinary varieties of reading. The murder any steps to bring about the accomplish- of Ishbosheth is fully described in ver. 7, ment of God's will, and had been upright OtJ, IV. 1~12.] TIIE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 101