CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.
2 Samuel 17:25. “An Israelite.” Rather, as in 1 Chronicles 2:17, an Ishmaelite. He was an illegitimate son. “From the description here given of Abigail as a daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, not of David, some of the earlier commentators have very justly concluded that Abigail and Zeruiah were only step-sisters of David, i.e., daughters of his mother by Nahash and not by Jesse.” (Keil). Otherwise we must either take Nahash as a woman’s name or as another name for David’s father.
2 Samuel 17:27. “Shobi.” “Possibly a son of Nahash, the deceased king of the Ammonites, and brother of Hanun, who was defeated by David (2 Samuel 10:1), and one of those to whom David had shown kindness when Rabbah was taken.” (Keil). “Maohir.” (See 2 Samuel 9:4.) “Rogelim.” Only mentioned here and in 2 Samuel 19:32, and otherwise unknown.
2 Samuel 17:28. “Basons.” Metal vessels for cooking.
2 Samuel 17:29. “Batter.” “Rather, curdled milk, which being mixed with the honey, forms a light and refreshing beverage.” (Song Song of Solomon 4:11). (Jamieson). “Cheese of kine.” “Slices of coagulated milk.” (Jamieson).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 2 Samuel 17:25-29
DAVID AT MAHANAIM
I. That help is the most effectual which is most fitted to supply the present need. Although the seat of David’s distress at this time was in the mind rather than in the body, the goodwill of his friends in Gilead could have been expressed in no more acceptable manner at this moment than by giving to him and his followers food and the means of bodily rest. The events of the past day must have told greatly upon David’s body, and he, in common with the most ordinary man, must sometimes submit to be at the mercy of his animal organism. He was at this moment most likely incapable of appreciating anything of a spiritual nature so highly as this kindly provision for his material wants. That is the true and real sympathy which discerns the most pressing need of the present moment, and hastens to supply it to the best of its ability. For those wrung with the deepest anguish of soul cannot ignore the demands of the body, and solace to a wounded spirit sometimes enters by this channel. When Elijah, in bitterness of soul, lay down in the wilderness and prayed for death, the first step which God took to restore his spiritual strength was to provide food for his body (1 Kings 19:6-8). The goodwill, also, which is expressed by such a ministration, is a direct balm to a soul in sorrow.
II. Even self-love should prompt men to a generous treatment of those beneath them. The reversals of position which are continually taking place in human life ought to teach men wisdom in this matter. Human beings are continually changing places, the servant becomes the master, and he who rules to-day may soon be at the mercy of those whom he now commands. When David set the crown of Ammon upon his own head (2 Samuel 12:30) it did not seem likely that in a few years he would be a fugitive from his kingdom and indebted to the good offices of an Ammonite prince. But this had now come to pass, and any kindness which he then showed to those whom he conquered was now returned with interest, or, if he had upon that occasion been unduly harsh, the magnanimity of Nahash must have smitten him with remorse. If we would in adversity receive the favours of others without self-reproach we must beware lest in prosperity we forget the claims of those over whom for a time God has exalted us.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The same God that raised enmity to David from his own loins, procured him favour from foreigners: strangers shall relieve him, whom his own son persecutes: here is not a loss, but an exchange of love. Had Absalom been a son of Ammon, and Shobi a son of David, David had found no cause of complaint. If God takes with one hand, he gives with another; while that divine bounty serves us in good meat, though not in our dishes, we have good reason to be thankful. No sooner is David come to Mahanaim, than Barzillai, Machir, and Shobi, refresh him with provisions. Who ever saw any child of God left utterly destitute? Whosoever be the messenger of our aid, we know whence he comes: heaven shall want power, and earth means, before any of the household of faith shall want maintenance.—Bp. Hall.
The faithfulness of human love is not only the copy, but also the means and instrument of the Divine love, granted to those who bow humbly beneath God’s hand and wholly trust Him.—Lange’s Commentary.
David was received with kindness in the land of Gilead, on the east of Jordan, at a time when he was driven by his own son out of his own capital, Jerusalem, in his own tribe. The Jews rejected Christ, but the gospel was gladly received by Samaritans (Acts 8:4-6) and by the Gentiles (Acts 13:46-48; Acts 28:28).—Wordsworth.
It has been conjectured with much probability that as the first sleep of that evening was commemorated in the fourth Psalm, so in the third is expressed the feeling of David’s thankfulness at the final close of those twenty-four hours, of which every detail has been handed down, as if with the consciousness of their importance at the time. He had “laid him down in peace” that night and slept; for in that great defection of man “the Lord alone had caused him to dwell in safety.” The tradition of the Septuagint ascribes the 143rd Psalm to the time “when his son was pursuing him.” Some at least of its contents might well belong to that night (2 Samuel 17:2; 2 Samuel 17:8). There is another group of Psalms, the 41st, the 55th, the 69th, and the 109th, in which a long popular belief has seen an amplification of David’s bitter cry, “O Lord, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” Many of the circumstances agree. The dreadful imprecations in these Psalms—unequalled for vehemence in any other part of the sacred writings—correspond with the passion of David’s own expressions. The greatness, too, of Ahithophel himself in the history is worthy of the importance ascribed to the object of those awful maledictions. That oracular wisdom which made his house a kind of shrine (2 Samuel 15:31) seems to move the spirit of the sacred writer with an involuntary admiration. Everywhere he is treated with a touch of awful reverence. When he dies, the interest of the plot ceases, and his death is given with an awful grandeur, quite unlike the mixture of the terrible and the contemptible which has sometimes gathered round the end of those whom the religious sentiment of mankind has placed under its ban. When “he hanged himself, and died” he was buried, not like an excommunicated outcast, but like a venerable Patriarch ‘in the sepulchre of his father.’ ”—Stanley.