7 neutr. nobilia, noble things, Prov. viii. 6. Comp. the Arabic usage above. Ver. 3. לִפְנֵי יְהוָה וגו' יֹאמְרוּ עִבֵּר וּפְסֵחַ לֹא יָבוֹא אֶל־ du. rer. 3 So all the elders of Israel שנואי קרי .8 .ver -- AT · ἐνώπιον κυρίου, κ.τ.λ. Ver.-3 came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel. Before the Lord; either, 1. Before the ark, which might be here, though that be not mentioned in this place. Or, 2. Before the priest clothed with the ephod; whereby he was in a manner put into God's presence. Or rather, 3. In the congregation of the mighty, or magistrates, where God used to be present, Psalm lxxxii. 1; in the public assembly now met together in God's name and fear, and as in his presence, to call upon him, to appeal to him as the witness and judge of their transactions. Compare Judg. xi. 11; 1 Sam. xxiii. 18. Bp. Patrick. Before the Lord;] The ark of God's presence was not in Hebron; and therefore it is a question how it could be said, that he made a league before the Lord. But see what I have said of this, Judg. xx. 1. [Judg. xx. 1, As for that phrase, unto the Lord, it is no argument that either the ark was here, or so much as a place of prayer; for where all the people of God were assembled in any place, there God was in a special manner present; as when they all assembled to make David their king, it is said, he made a league with them "in Hebron before the Lord," though there was no ark nor altar there (2 Sam. v. 3).] -by obwan: `waşı aban abày 6 Au. Ver.-6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking [or, saying, David shall not, &c.], David cannot come in hither. 7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the city of David. 8 And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house [or, because they had said, Even the blind and the lame, he shall not come into the house]. Pool.-6 Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither; or, Thou shalt not come in hither, but the blind and the lame shall remove or hinder thee. By the blind and the lame they understand, either, 1. Their own people; and so they imply that the place was so impregnable, that a few blind and lame men were able to defend it against all David's assaults. And these may be called and were the hated of David's soul, ver. 8, not because they were blind and lame, but because they were God and the Jebusites of this place were more hateful to him than the rest of that Jebusites, a people hated and accursed by הַיְבָסִי יוֹשֵׁב הָאָרֶץ וַיֹּאמֶר לְדָוִד לֵאמֹר לֹא־תָבוֹא הֵנָּה כִּי אִם־הֵסִירְךְ הָעִוְרִים nation ; partly because they possessed this וְהַפַּסְחִים לֵאמֹר לֹא־יָבוֹא דָוִד הֵנָּה: place, which David knew was designed for | David and others upon this occasion. Or the one and only place of God's solemn otherwise, The blind and the lame Jebusites worship; and partly because they did so were set to keep the house, i. e., the fort of wickedly and insolently defy the armies of Zion; and to keep others from coming into Israel, and consequently, the God of Israel. it; but now they are shut out of it, and Or, 2. Their gods or images; which, after none of them, to wit, either, 1. Of the Jethe manner of the heathens, they wor- busites; or, 2. Of blind and lame persons, shipped as their tutelary gods, and placed in shall be admitted to come into it again; their gates and walls. These they call blind which David might resolve, and ordain, to and lame sarcastically, and with respect to keep up the memory of this great exploit, David's opinion; as if they said, These gods and of the insolent carriage of the Jebusites, of ours, whom you Israelites reproach, as and their unhappy success. Or, the blind blind and lame, Psal. cxv. 5, 6, and so and the lame shall not come into my house, unable to direct and protect us, they will to wit, into the king's palace. And although defend us against you; and you will find this might be a general rule and decree of they are neither blind nor lame, but have David's, yet he might dispense with it in eyes to watch for us, and hands to some special cases, as in that of Mephifight against you; and you must conquer bosheth. But it is not necessary that this them before you can take our city. And should be a proverb; for the words may be these may well be called the hated of David's soul. But I prefer the former sense, as being most easy, and natural, and proper; whereas the latter is metaphorical, and seems doubtful and forced. David cannot come in hither; concluding their fort to be impregnable. 7 The stronghold of Zion; either, 1. A very strong fort which they had built upon Mount Zion; which being taken, the city quickly yielded. Or, 2. The city of Zion, which was very strongly fortified. 8 Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, i.e., whosoever scaleth the fort, or getteth up to the top of it, where the gutter was. And the lame and the blind, or even, or especially (for the Hebrew particle vau signifies both ways) the lame and the blind; i. e., those of them who are set to defend that place; who, as they pretend, should be only the lame and the blind. Others understand it of their idols or images. But they could not properly be said to be smitten, i.e., killed; as that word is used here, and elsewhere. That are hated of David's soul: this belongs to the Jebusite, and the lame and the blind; and it is explained in ver. 6. He shall be chief and captain: these words are fitly supplied out of 1 Chron. xi. 6, where they are expressed; and they must needs be understood to make the sense complete. And such ellipses or defects of a part of the sentence are usual in promises, and oaths, and conditional offers, such as this was. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house, i. e., whence it became a proverb, or a common saying, used by thus rendered, as it is in the margin of our Except thou take away the blind and the Chron Psalm cxv.), they shall defend us: and you by .Sam דוד הנה וילכד דוד את מצדת must overcome them before you overcome .Chron ציון היא עיר דויד : ויאמר דויד Luther himself thus explains the .San ציון היא עיר דוד : ויאמר דוד (sense - These blind and lame (saith he Chron. כל מכה יבוסי ההוא כל .Sam ביום .Chron בראשונה Sam. Chron. us. were the idols of the Jebusites; which, to irritate David, they set upon their walls as their patrons and defenders; and they did as good as say, Thou dost not fight with ויגע בצנור ואת הפסחים | us, but with our gods, who will easily repel .Sam ואת העורים שנאו נפש דוד על Chron. .Sam כן יאמרו עור ופסח לא יבוא אל | which the waters fell; for the Hebrew word .Sam הבית . . . thee." 8 Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, &c.] i. e., "Cuts off their pipes of water," or their cisterns into tzinnor, which we translate gutter, is no-bybı wanb num... Chron. where found but in this place, and in Ps. xlii. 7, and by St. Jerome is translated fis-7 12 21 7 Chron. tule. But I know not how we come to transpose the words, "he that smiteth the Jebusites," behind the other, which in the Hebrew are first. "He that smiteth the Jebusites, let him throw down into the ditch (which was by the wall) both the blind and the lame, which David extremely hates." Thus Bochart translates the words in the place above named, which, if it be admitted, there is no need to add those words (out of 1 Chron. xi. 6) to make out the sense," he shall be chief and captain;" for the sense is complete without them. Sam. Chron. τω Aavid, our eiedevon wde. τησαν οι τυφλοι και οι χωλοι, λεγοντες, την οτι ουκ εισελεύσεται Δαυιδ ωδε. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.] Or, as it is in the margin, "Because they had said, even the blind and the lame, He shall not come into the house." That is, because they had taunted him with the blind and Sam. lame, as if they could defend the fort, and hinder him from coming into it; therefore he was highly provoked to wish they might be thrown down headlong from their walls into the ditch. And then by the house is meant, neither the house of David, nor the house of the Lord (as many take it), but Chron. that very fort wherein the Jebusites had Sam. dwelt; from which hereafter they were ex- Chron. cluded. And indeed it is a very large word Sam. in the Hebrew, signifying any place. Chron. Sam. του Δαυιδ την πολις περιοχήν Σιων αυτη η πολις Kai eiñe David. Και είπε Δαυιδ τη Chron. Aavid. εκείνη πας πας ημερα τυπτων Ιεβουσαίον εν τυπτων Ιεβουσαίον, απτεσφω εν παραξιφίδι και τους ερουσι· τυφλοι και χωλοι ουκ εισελευ και ανέβη Chron. Chron. en aur Ev Tols Iwaß vios Ɛa .Chron ויאמרו ישבי יבוס לדויד . לדוד לאמר .Sam לא תבוא הנה כי אם הסירך .Sam העורים והפסחים לאמר לא יבוא Sam. Chron. Chron. ρουιας, και εγενετο εις άρχοντα. Sam. 3 U VOL. II. The present English Version. there seems to be very sufficient room for offering another interpretation, in some material points differing from them all. The words in Samuel, so far as the text in Chronicles coincides, are clear and determinate in their meaning, "And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither." But the succeeding words in Samuel are very difficult; or, at least, have been variously interpreted. The present English translation is, "Except thou take Chron. David took the castle .. of away the blind and the lame, thinking David Sam. David took the strong hold of cannot come in hither." Chron. Zion, which is the city of David. Zion: the same is the city of David. Chron. thinking David Nevertheless, Sam. cannot come in hither. Nevertheless, Sam. Who Sam. And David said on that day, Who Chron. soever Sam. soever getteth up to the gutter, and Chron. smiteth the Jebusites first, and the Sam. The blind and the lame shall not Sam. come into the house. The chief difficulty here lies in determining who are these blind and lame; whether Jebusites, or the Jebusite Deities called blind and lame by way of derision. The latter opinion has been maintained by some considerable writers; but yet seems indefensible. For however David and the Israelites might be disposed to treat such idols with scorn and contempt, 'tis not at all likely the Jebusites should revile their own Deities; and we must remember, that these Deities are supposed to be here called blind and lame by the Jebusites themselves. But, admitting them to be idol Deities, what meaning can there be in the Jebusites telling David, "he should not come into the citadel, unless he Chron. and captain. So Joab the son of took away the Deities upon the walls?" If But he could scale the walls, so as to reach these The reason of placing this whole sentence together being obvious, let us proceed to consider the several parts of it in the two chapters. The words ', which are not in the original of Samuel, are not in the Vat. copy of the LXX in Chronicles; but the Alex. translates regularly according to the present Hebrew text. In Samuel there is a clause or two in the speech of the Jebusites, which is omitted in Chronicles for brevity; as the history in Chronicles is regular, and the sense complete without it. But though the history be regular and very But, though these Deities could not deintelligible in Chronicles, yet the additional nounce these words, yet the Jebusites might; clauses in Samuel make the history there and 'tis possible (it has been said) that the remarkably perplexed; and (as Dr. Delany blind and the lame in this latter part of the observes) encumber it with more difficulties sentence may signify the Jebusites; not any than are ordinarily to be met with. In full particular Jebusites so maimed; but the proportion to the difficulties has been the Jebusites in general, called blind and lame, number of different interpretations; and yet for putting their trust in blind and lame idols. This seems too refined an interpre- David took the strong hold of Sion, which tation; and we may safely conclude that the is the city of David. And David said on same expression of the blind and lame that day, Whosoever (first) smiteth the means the same beings in the two different Jebusites, and through the subterraneous parts of the same sentence. It has been passage reacheth the lame and the blind, farther observed, that these blind and lame that are hated of David's soul, because the are here spoken of as different from the blind and the lame continued to say, He Jebusites, "Whosoever smiteth the Jebu- shall not come into this house sites, and the lame and the blind; and if shall be chief captain." they were different, it requires no great skill at deduction to determine they were not the same. nouns, which are necessarily the nominatives to this verb, we may infer, that it was originally, the vau having been dropped here as in many other places. (et subtwice in the reputavimus verses of the That the connected particles signify for in this place is evident, because the words following are rather causal than obPerhaps then these blind and lame were, jective, and we have several instances of in fact, a few particular wretches, who this sense of the two particles given us by laboured under these infirmities of blindness Noldius: thus Prov. xxiii. 18, they are renand lameness; and therefore were different dered for in the English translation; and so from the general body of the Jebusites. in the English, Greek, Syriac and Arabic But here it will be demanded at once, how versions of Lam. v. 22. That the verb 7 we can then account rationally for that bit- is not here the infinitive, but the preter of terness, with which David expresses himself Hiphil, is apparent from the sense; that it here against these blind and lame; and how has been so considered is certain, from the it was possible for a man of David's hu- Masoret pointing, as De Dieu and other manity to detest men for mere unblameable, critics have observed; and we see it is and indeed pitiable, infirmities? And lastly, translated as such by the LXX, in the plural the authors of the "Universal History," in number, avreσTησav. From this version their note on this transaction, mention the then, and from the plurality of the two following as the first plausible argument against the literal acceptation; how could David distinguish the halt, or the lame, or the blind, from able men, when posted upon lofty walls; since those infirmities are not Thus Gen. i. 28, we have discernible but near at hand? This, it must jicite eam) instead of be allowed, would be a difficulty indeed, if verb (regularly David's information here had been only eum) in the 3d and 4th from his eye-sight. But this objection im- 53d of Isaiah; in this very 7th verse, in the mediately vanishes, when we reflect that the word 'D, which should be 'D, as it is Jebusites are said in the text to have told in the 9th and other adjoining verses, and David, "the blind and the lame should this vau is also omitted in the 9th verse in keep him off;" for certainly David could, which we are told in the margin should easily conceive the men who were placed be, where the yod has also been upon the walls to insult him were "blind corrupted into a vau. Enough having and lame," when he was told so by the been said of the number, let us now consider Jebusites themselves, and told so, to render the tense of this verb; which being preter, this insult of theirs the greater. some have translated it by a word expressive of time past. But the sense necessarily requires it to be translated as future in other languages, though it be more expressive in the original in the preter tense: it being agreeable to the genius of the Hebrew language frequently to speak of events yet future, as having actually happened, when the speaker would strongly express the cer"And the inhabitants of Jebus said to tainty of such event. This observation is David, Thou shalt not come hither: for the peculiarly applicable to the case here. For blind and the lame shall keep thee off, by this castle of Mount Sion had never yet saying, David shall not come hither. But been taken by the Israelites, though they Having thus mentioned some of the present interpretations, it may be now proper to submit another to the judgment of the learned reader. And here, for the sake of clearness, I shall first give what seems to be the true interpretation of this passage; and then subjoin the several arguments in defence of it. |