They be chased in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps— The curious have, in general, long since remarked the coarseness of the images used in the Eastern writings. I have met with instances of this kind, which may serve to illustrate some passages of Scripture more perfectly than I have yet seen. In particular, Hushai's comparing David and his men, in this place, to a bear robbed of her whelps, appears to us very odd; and it shocks our delicacy much more when we find it applied to the Majesty of heaven, Lamentations 3:10. This, however, is entirely owing to the difference of the taste of the Europeans, from that of the people of the Levant. We in England, when we compare a person to a bear, have something of a disagreeable fierceness, and awkward roughness in view; and therefore these paintings give us pain. But though we do, the Eastern nations do not, blend these ideas with those of strength and terribleness in displeasure: that, therefore, which appears an indecent comparison to us, was none to them: and, accordingly, this image still continues in use among those people. Maillet, in his 11th letter, informs us, that Saladine going one day from Cairo up to the castle he had built there, and causing his brother Sirocoe, who had accompanied him, to take a view of its works and buildings, said to him, "This castle, and all Egypt, will be one day the possession of your children." Sirocoe replying, that it was wrong to talk after that manner, since heaven had given him children to succeed to the crown, Saladine rejoined, "My children are born in Egypt, where men degenerate, and lose their spirit and bravery; but yours are born in the mountains of Circassia, of a man that possesses the fierceness of bears, and their courage." The event justified the prediction, the posterity of Saladine reigning but a few years in Egypt after the death of that great prince. Here the reader sees Sirocoe compared to bears by an Eastern prince, when an eulogium was intended, and not the least disrespectful hint designed. See Observations, p. 321 and Scheuehzer, tom. 5: p. 13.
Related Commentaries of 2 Samuel 17:8
2 Samuel 17:8
8 For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafedc in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.