The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 412

of Orn p1aee8; one of the fortified Ol\mps because, though they would have b~en ad- elreadv descriood in ,•er. 9. mitted into the city, they would ecrncoly Yer: 13.-The river. The word does not have been allowed to leave it. Instead of si,:-nify " rh·er, but e. re.Tine or gorge worn wenoh-a term Joss disrespectful when tho ewav bv the action of a torrent. Such Authorized Version was made than it is now re.,·ines ~.re oommon in Palestine, where the -the Hebrew has the maidsen,ant. Probably 11treams rush along with ret;istless fury after the maid is meant whose usual duty it was the rains, but in summer are dry (Job vi. to fetch water for domestic purposes, and 17); itnd their desolate beds, bordered by thus her journey to the well would excite pr1:eipitou~ cliffs, are described by Isaiah as no suspicion. fRvourite places for the cruel rites of Moloch Ver. 18.-A lad saw them. Probably (Isa. h-ii. 5). Dragged to the edge of one Abee.lorn ha.cl Btlnt out spies to w1itch the of these gorges, the city, with its few de- route which David bad taken, to prevent any fenders. would topple over, 11,nd in the next friends joining him from the city, who would re.iny season be entirely swept away. give him information as to the progress of Yer. H.-The ooumel of Rnshai is better. events there. The word" lad" does not mean It seemed safer. Nothing in it w11,9 left to 11, boy; more probably he was one of the young chance, and Absalom. already at the head of men who formed Abse.lom's body-guard, like such numbers as to be able to select from the ten •• lads," translated "young men," in them twel rn thousand picked men, saw him- eh. xviii. 15, who bare Joab's armour. It self, in fancy, marching forward with all would be his duty to seize them, but when lArael at his feet. As e. mattt:r of fact, he he tried to approach them, they fled, and did advance with so large an army that ma.de their way e.t full speed to Bahurim, Do. vid was saved only by the skilful strategy where they were saved by the shrewdness of J oa.b. Like otl.Jer king-makers, Ahithophel and fidelity of a woman. Two such fleet ha.cl put himself too forward. He asked for runners would have had no difficulty in out- twelve thousand men to be placed nnder his stripping e. boy, but one of .A.bsalom's young command, that he might smite David, and men would have roused the neighbourhood eo be, not only Absalom's counsellor, but to join in the pursuit. The well in his court also his commander-in-chief. .A.mesa and really signifies e. cistern for storing rain- the other commanders would be displeased water; but it was at that time dry, and at this, and .A.bealom would feel that he waa served as e. convenient hiding-ple.ce for the himself placed in a very secondary position. two messengers. Ahithophel may have asked for the command Ver. 19.-A oovering; Hebrew, th.e cover; 110lely because no one's presence would so that is, the usual cover of the cistern, which ensure success as his own, but he wounded had been taken off to let the young men the vanity both of Absa.lom and .A..mase., and descend into it. Over it she spread, not me.de them ready to listen to any other gronnd oorn, but brayed or peeled corn (see advice that might be offered. The Lord had Prov. x.xvii. 22), probably ba.rley-groe.ts, appointed; literally, and, JehO'IJah had com- She was probably busy in removing the 'fluwded to bring to nought, etc. So plain did hUBks of the barley with e. pestle in e. mortar it seem to the writer that Absalom's success when Jona.than and .A.himaaz sought refuge depended upon rapid action, that nothing lees with her; and thus her whole proceeding than tbe direct interference of the Divine was so natural as to excite no suspicions. prmidenee could account for the infatuation Ver. 20.-They be gone over the brook of of Absalow and his counsellors. water. The word michal, translated "brook," Ver. 16.-Lodge not this night in the does not occnr elsewhere, and proba.bly it plains (at the fords) of the wilderne■B, The was 11, local no.me for some stream near Be.- plan of Ahithophel made David's position hurim. It was, we may suppose, in the 110 dangerous, that he mUBt hesitate no right direction, but when the pursuers had longer, lest, on second tbonghts, Abse.lom followed for some time, and caught no should still adopt it. Hnshe.i had frustr11.ted glimpse of the runners, knowing their swift- it for the present; but Ahithophel might ness of foot, they concluded tha.t they had urge it a.gain, and get the necessary per- outstripped them, and, giving up the chase mission; and then David and all the people e.s hopeless, returned to J eruealem. It was that were with him would be 1We.llowed up, only wheu she had seen tbem fa.r on their that is, destroyed utterly, and with ease. way back that she removed the cover and Ver. 17.---tlt&yed by En-rogel. The two allowed the young priests to resume their louths were posted at En-rogel, that is, the journey. The delay would have been fats.I Fuller's spring," near Jeruse.lem:(Joeh xv. to Da.vid if vigorous counsel had beau 7 ; 1 Kings i. !I), and probably the place followed at Jerusalem; e.s it we.a, they now known as "Job's Well," situated e.t the reached David's camp without further inci- point where the ve.lleys of Jehoshe.pha.t and dent, and acquainted him with Ahithophel's Hinnom meet. The7 were pl&ced there plan ; 11.nd the king at onQe recognized his on. xvu. 1-29.] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL, 419