The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 556

to Bethlohem, nm!, to gurud thoir position, iii, of the brigade. He was thu~ the son or the Philistines hehl Bethlehem with a the Jehoilido who was leo.der of the house strong garrison. Of courso the heroes would of Aaron, and whose coming to Hebron with use every precaution; for to be disco1'ered three thoasa.nd seven hundred martial priests would be certain death. The story of their did so much to make David king of all Israel perils and ptesence of mind in d11nger, and (I Chron. xii. 27). Subsel'Juently he took lmirbreadth eaonpe, would be full of interest; the side of Solomon a.gainst Adonijnh, a.nd but we 1iro told only that they succeeded, and was rewarded by being made comm11nder- returned in sA.fety, boo.ring their precious in-chief, in place of Joab (l Kings ii. 35). burden; but David would not drink, aud Kabzeel. An uni,lentifierl place in the poured it out 11I1to Jehovah. 'fhe word is south of Jud.-i.h, on the Edomite border that used of a so.criflciA.l libation; for David (Josh. xv. 21), citlled Je 1.a.l1Zeel in ::--I"eh. xi. regarded it as holy, and consecrated to God, 25. Two lionlike men of Moab. The Septna- been.use it had been bought with bloorl-at gint reads, "the two sons of Ariel of Moab." the risk, that is, of the lives of these gallant which the Revised Version e,:lopts. "Ariel" men. Nothing is recorded in the rom,.nccs means" lion of God," and is a name girnn of the Middle Ages, when knightly chivalry to Jerusalem in Isa. xxix. I, 2. The Syriac was u.t its height, more gallant and noble supports the Authorized Version in und.,r- than the exploit of these men. And the ste.nding by the term "heroes," or ·• cham- very essence of its dovotion lay in the fact pions;" but the use of poetie><I language in that it was doue to gratify a mere sick long- a pl'o~e.ic catalogu9 is so strange tho.t the ing, and therefore out of pure love. Sick, Septuagint is probably right. If so, Ariel no doubt, Do.vid was, and burning with fever; is the proper nrLme ot' the King of Moab, and even more depressed by the apparent o.nd the achievement took place in the war hopelessness of his position. 'fhe exploit recorded in eh. viii. 2. A lion. This achiev0- .olumged the course of his thoughts. What ment wonld be as gratefully rememberer! as could he not do with such heroes I Though the killing of a man-eating tiger by the raeked during their absence with anxiety natives in India. A lion, driven by the and self-reproach, yet on their retul'n he cold from the fores18, had made its lair iu would be dispirited no longer, but filled with a dry tank near some town, and thence confidence. The words, "Shall I drink?" preyed upon the inhabitants BB they went inserted in the Revised Version, havt1 ap- in and out of the city. And Benaiah had parently dropped out of the text by acci- pity upon them, and Cfl.me to the rescue, dent. They ere found in the parallel place and w~nt down into the pit, o.nd. at the risk in Chronicles, and in the Septuagint and of his life, slew the lion. Vulgate here. The Syriac has, "4t the Ver. 21.-A goodly man. The Hebrew peril of their life's bloo.d these men went." text has "who a sight," for which the Ver. 18.-Abiaha.i , , , was ohief among Masaorites read, "a man of sight," that i8, three. The sense is obsc.ured in the Autho- handsome, and worth looking at. In 1 rized Version by the transfotors having Chron. xi. 23 we find what, no doubt, is the failed to notice the presence of the defi- right reading," a man of measure (equiva- nite article. Abishe.i, by reason of this lent to 'a tall man'], five oubits high." exploit, became " chief of the three;" that The height of Goliath w11s six cubits o.nd a is. of the•second order of three established span (1 S11m. xvii. 4). -in the fraternity of the mighties, At the Ver. 23.-David set him over his guard. end or the verse, and in ver. 19, the Autho- We ho.ve already seen (upon 1 Sam. xxii. rized Version strangely puts the article where 14) that the words mean that David made it is absent in the llebrew, and omits it him a member of his privy council. Lite- where it is present. 'l'he right renrlering rally the words are, and flavid appohited and meaning is, " He had a name, that is, him to his audience. In 1 Chrou. xnii. 3-l: rank, reputation, among the three. Was he mention is me.de of" Jehoie.da the son of not the most honourable of the three ? For Benaiah" as being next in the council to this he wo.s made their 011ptain : yet he Ahithophel, o.nd many commentators think attained not to equal dignity with the first that the names have been transposed, and three." that we ought to read, '' Benaiah the son Ver. 20.-:Benaiah the son of J'ehoiada. of .J ehoiada." He. was a very important person throughout Ver. 2-1.-The thirty. This order of David's reign, beinµ; the commandt1r of the knighthood consisted originally of thirty- body-guard (oh. viii. 18), and general of the three men, of whnm three wel'e of higher third brigade of twenty-four thousand men rank, and presided, probo.bly, each over ten, (I Chron. xxvii. 5), The meaning of the de- while Joab was chief over them all. Thi~ scription given of him there fa disputed; bnt arrangement of men in tem, with an oilic<Jr probably it shouhl be tl'a11slnted, " Dono.iah over thtim, was, in fact, the normo.l rule the sou ,,f JoholcL<lll the prie~t, o.s. head," tho.t among tue Hebrewa. The second trio.d ia 572 Ttm SECONt) noott OF SAMUEL. [olt. Xltlll. 1-89,