Bibelkommentare

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 16

In this chapter is an account of Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, getting his inheritance by misrepresentation of him, and by presents to David, 2 Samuel 16:1; and of Shimei's cursing David as he passed along, which David bore patiently, and would not suffer others to avenge it on him, 2 Samuel 16:5; and of Hushai's offer of his service to Absalom, who admitted him to be of his privy council, 2 Samuel 16:15; and of the counsel which Ahithophel gave, 2 Samuel 15:20.

And when David was a little past the top of the hill,.... Of the mount of Olives, the ascent of which he is said to go up by, and to come to the top of it, 2 Samuel 15:30,

behold, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him; of whom see 2 Samuel 9:2;

with a couple of asses saddled: and so fit to ride on, but for the present he used them to another purpose:

and upon them two hundred loaves of bread; an hundred on each ass very probably:

and an hundred bunches of raisins; or dried grapes, as the Targum:

and an hundred of summer fruits: not in number, but in weight, as apples, pears, plums, apricots, &c. so the Targum, an hundred pounds of figs:

and a bottle of wine: a cask or flagon of wine; for a bottle, such as is in use with us, would have signified nothing in such a company.

And the king said unto Ziba, what meanest thou by these?.... Are they to be said, or are they presents?

and Ziba said, the asses be for the king's household to ride on; for himself, his wives, and children, his courtiers, and the principal officers of his house; it being usual in those times and countries for great personages to ride on asses, see Judges 5:10,

and the bread and summer fruits for the young men to eat; the king's menial servants, his guards and his soldiers:

and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink; where no water was to be had, that their fainting spirits might be revived, and they be able whether to fight or march.

And the king said, and where is thy master's son?.... The son of Saul, who was Ziba's master, meaning Mephibosheth:

and Ziba said unto the king, behold, he abideth at Jerusalem; as there was reason for it, since he was lame of both his feet, 2 Samuel 9:13, though he could have rode upon an ass, and followed the king, as he proposed to do; but his servant deceived him, and carried off the asses to serve a purpose for himself, see 2 Samuel 19:26,

for he said, today shall the house of Israel restore unto me the kingdom of my father; his father Saul; which was far from his thoughts; and a most wicked suggestion of his servant to blacken his character, and get his estate from him; nor was there the least probability of the kingdom coming to him, but all the reverse; for let it go how it would with David, Absalom, and not Mephibosheth, stood fair for the kingdom.

Then said the king to Ziba, behold, thine are all that pertaineth to Mephibosheth,.... Being forfeited to the king by an overt act of treason as they had been before by the rebellion of Ishbosheth, but had been graciously restored to Mephibosheth; and had it been true what Ziba suggested, it would have been a righteous thing to have taken them from him; though it seems to be too hasty a step in David to take and give them away without further inquiry:

and Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king; he had found favour already, but seems not to be sufficiently thankful for it, and satisfied with it, but craved more and other favours, when opportunity should serve.

And when King David came to Bahurim,.... The Targum is, Alemath, perhaps the same that is said to be a city of the Levites, given unto them out of the tribe of Benjamin, 1 Chronicles 6:60 for the man next described, who was of this place, was a Benjaminite, 2 Samuel 19:16; See Gill on 2 Samuel 3:16; David was not yet come to the city itself, but into the neighbourhood of it, the fields adjacent to it: and

behold, thence came out a man of the family of Saul; a descendant of a branch of his family, who had entertained a private grudge and secret enmity against David, to whom he imputed the fall of the family of Saul:

whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: which might be a name common in the tribe of Benjamin, one of Benjamin's sons being named Gera, Genesis 46:21. Some say (s) he was the same with Nebat, the father of Jeroboam; but he was of the tribe of Ephraim, this of Benjamin:

he came forth, and cursed still as he came; he came out of Bahurim, of which place he was, and all the way he came continued cursing David, until he came near unto him.

(s) Hieron. Trad. Helb. in 2. Reg. fol. 79. B.

And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of King David,.... Not that he was within the reach of them, or could hurt them, by casting them at them; but this he did to show his contempt of them, and to intimate that they deserved to be stoned, and especially David, at whose adultery he might point by it:

and all the people, and all the mighty men were on his right hand,

and on his left; that is, of David; which is observed, not so much to indicate the safety of David's person, as the impudence and madness of Shimei, to cast stones at David when so guarded.

And thus said Shimei, when he cursed, come out, come out,.... Or rather, "go out, go out" (t); that is, out of the nation, where he deserved not to live, as he judged, and out of the kingdom, which he had usurped, as he supposed; and the repeating the words not only denotes his vehement desire to have him gone, but the haste he should make to get out, or he was liable to be overtaken by Absalom and his forces; upbraiding him also with the hurry he was in, and the speedy flight he was making:

thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial; or wicked man; perhaps referring by these characters in the one to the murder of Uriah, and in the other to his adultery with Bathsheba; and these crimes coming fresh into David's mind hereby, might make him more mild and humble under his reproaches.

(t) "egredere, egredere", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.