After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel had gone away. He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand froze to the sword; and Yahweh worked a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take plunder. After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines. But he stood in the middle of the plot and defended it, and killed the Philistines; and Yahweh worked a great victory. Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. David longed, and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!”
The three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David; but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 Or, assailed with danger of their lives.
Or, assailed with danger of their lives.
Meaning, fled from the battle.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–16 2Sa 23:9 And after him [was] Eleazar the son…
2Sa 23:9 And after him [was] Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, [one] of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines [that] were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away:
Ver. 9. When they defied the Philistines,] viz., At Pasdammim. {1Ch 11:13}
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And the men of Israel were gone away.] Fled, and forsook their captains; a shame to forsake such a captain, of whom it might be said, as was once of Fabius Maximus,
“ Hic patria est, murique urbis stant pectore in uno. ” - Silius.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 The Ahohite; of the children of Ahoah, 1Ch 8:4.
The Ahohite; of the children of Ahoah, 1Ch 8:4.
One of the three, i. e. one of the first three, 2Sa 23:19.
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Mighty men with David; who were with David at this time, or who usually attended upon David.
When they defied the Philistines; when he either in the name of all the Israelites, or with the countenance and help of some of them, challenged the Philistines to fight. Or, when some of, or among, the Philistines defied them, i. e. the Israelites, according to their manner, and the example of their great Goliath, 1Sa 17:25,36. Or, in Harpam (for some make it a proper name of a place) among the Philistines. Gone away, i. e. fled away, 1Ch 11:13, being dismayed at the approach of their enemies. Heb. ascended, i. e. vanished away like smoke, which ascends, and so disappears, as that verb is oft used.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–16 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo…
And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite,.... Or the son of Ahohi, perhaps the same with Ahoah, a descendant of Benjamin, Ch1 8:4; this Eleazar was the next to the Tachmonite, the second worthy of the first class:
one of the three mighty men with David; the second of the three valiant men that were with David in his wars, and fought with him, and for him:
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when they defied the Philistines; clapped their hands at them, gloried over them, daring them to come and light them; so did David and his mighty men, as Goliath had defied them before:
that were there gathered together to battle; at Pasdammim, as appears from Ch1 11:13,
and the men of Israel were gone away; fled when they saw the Philistines gather together to fight them, notwithstanding they had defied them; and so David, and his three mighty men, were left alone to combat with the Philistines.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 12, 15, 16 Gone away - That is, fled away, 1 Chron.…
Gone away - That is, fled away, 1 Chron. xi, 13, being dismayed at the approach of their enemies.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 13, 15, 16 Verse 9. When they defied the Philistines that were…
Verse 9. When they defied the Philistines that were there gathered] This is supposed to refer to the war in which David slew Goliath.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 2Sa 23:9-10. The men of Israel were gone away…
2Sa 23:9-10. The men of Israel were gone away — Had fled from before the Philistines, as it is explained, 1Ch 11:13, being dismayed at the sight of them. And his hand clave unto the sword — Being all besmeared with blood. The Lord wrought a great victory that day — Like that of Shamgar and of Samson; God inspiring him with wonderful courage, and striking a terror into the Philistines. The people returned after him only to spoil — They that had fled, rallied again when they saw the wonders he did; and followed after him, not to fight, but only to partake of the spoil.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 Gone away - Rather, went up to battle (2Sa…
Gone away - Rather, went up to battle (2Sa 5:19; 2Ki 3:21, etc.) against them. These words and what follows as far as “troop” 2Sa 23:11 have fallen out of the text in Chronicles. The effect of this is to omit EIeazar’s feat, as here described, to attribute to him Shammah’s victory, to misplace the flight of the Israelites, and to omit Shammah altogether from the list of David’s mighty men.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 Dodo. In Latin, Patrui ejus, which is the interpretation…
Dodo. In Latin, Patrui ejus, which is the interpretation of the Hebrew name Dodo. The same occurs in ver. 24, (Challoner) and signifies, "of his paternal uncle." (Haydock) --- Septuagint read Dudia, (Calmet) "of his father’s brother." He, or his father, is styled Dudai, 1 Paralipomenon xxvii. 4. (Calmet) --- Septuagint (Alexandrian) translates both Dodo and Dodi, "the son of his father’s brother," the son of Sousei, or (Vatican) Doudei. Dodi seems to be the more accurate here, as he is thus more distinguished from Dodo, ver. 24., and Chronicles v. 26.[1 Paralipomenon xi. 26.?] --- Defied. Hebrew is incorrect, and ought to be a proper name as is evident from the word there. Josephus calls it, Greek: arasamo, (perhaps originally, Greek: aphasdamo) Chronicles, Pasdammim, or Ephesdammim, 1 Kings xvii. 1. It is hardly probable that the Hebrews should defy or upbraid the Philistines, and immediately run away. We should therefore translate with 1 Paralipomenon men. "He was with David at Pasdammim. And when the Philistines were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away, he arose," &c. (Kennicott)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 9. Of the three mighty men — Referring, doubtless,…
9. Of the three mighty men — Referring, doubtless, to the three of this first class, namely, Jashobeam, Eleazar, and Shammah.
When they defied the Philistines — According to Chronicles this encounter took place at Pas-dammim, doubtless the same as Ephes-dammim of 1Sa_17:1, but it was not the same battle as there described.
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The men of Israel were gone away — Retreated from him, so that he was left singlehanded before the enemy.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 9. Dodo] The Kthîbh may be read Dodai, as…
9. Dodo] The Kthîbh may be read Dodai, as the name is given in 1Ch_27:4, where we learn that Dodai, as next in rank to Jashobeam, was general of the second division of the army.
the Ahohite] A patronymic derived from Ahoah, the son of Benjamin’s eldest son Bela (1Ch_8:4). Perhaps Dodo, like Jashobeam, was one of the Benjamites who joined David at Ziklag (1Ch_12:1-2).
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that were there gathered together] There implies the previous mention of the name of some place, and certain anomalies of construction also indicate that the text is defective. 1Ch_11:13 reads: “Eleazar … one of the three mighty men. He was with David at Pas-dammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle.” Pas-dammim, or Ephesdammim, where David slew Goliath, was in the valley of Elah, between Shochoh and Azekah. The name, signifying “boundary of blood,” was probably due to its being the scene of frequent skirmishes with the Philistines. See 1Sa_17:1.
were gone away] Rather, went up to battle. The words “and the people fled from before the Philistines,” which appear to correspond to this in 1Ch_11:13, really belong to Shammah’s exploit (2Sa_23:11). Several lines have been lost from the text there.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16 (9) Dodo the Ahohite.—So in the Hebrew margin here,…
(9) Dodo the Ahohite.—So in the Hebrew margin here, and so also in 1Ch_11:12; the text here has Dodai, as in 1Ch_27:4, where he is mentioned as the general for the second month. The name is the same under slightly differing forms. “Ahohite” is a patronymic derived from Ahoah, son of Bela, Benjamin’s son (1Ch_8:4).
When they defied . . . there gathered.—The words “there gathered” require the mention of some place, and the construction of the word for “defied” is unusual. The parallel passage in Chronicles reads, “He was with David at Pas-dammim, and there the Philistines,” &c. The difference between the two readings is not great in the original, and the latter is better. Pas-dammim is the Ephes-dammim of 1Sa_17:1, where Goliath defied the armies of Israel, and was slain by David.
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Were gone away—Rather, were gathered to battle. So it is translated in the LXX., Vulg., and Syriac, and so the Hebrew requires. The error is a curious one, and seems to have arisen in this way: In 1Ch_11:13 the mention of the battle in which Shammah was engaged (2Sa_23:11) is altogether omitted, and the expression “the people fled from before the Philistines” therefore becomes connected with this battle. Josephus follows that text, and our translators were probably misled by him. Several lines have dropped out from the text in Chronicles.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 Dodo. The Hebrew has Dodai, and "Dodo" is a…
Dodo. The Hebrew has Dodai, and "Dodo" is a mere correction of the Massorites to bring the name into verbal agreement with 1Ch_11:12; but in 1Ch_27:4 he is called Dodai, and we there find him in command of the second division of the army. For "Dodai," however, we ought to read there "Eleazar the son of Dodai." Ahohite; Hebrew, the son of an Ahohite, and probably a member of the family descended from Ahoah, a son of Benjamin. (1Ch_8:4) He would thus belong to the most warlike tribe of Israel, though not mentioned among the Benjamites who joined David at Ziklag. (1Ch_12:1-7) He joined him, apparently, at an earlier date. That were there gathered together. The word "there" implies the previous mention of some place, and though the text in the parallel passage in Chronicles is more corrupt than that before us, it has, nevertheless, preserved the name of the spot where the encounter took place. In Chronicles the name of Shammah is omitted, and his achievement is mixed up in a strange fashion with that of Eleazar. Here the two heroes have each his separate record, and it is only on minor matters that the text there is more correct. Restored from the readings in Chronicles, the narrative is as follows: "He was with David at Pas-dammim, and the Philistines were gathered there to battle, and the men of Israel were gone up: and he stood (that is, made a stand) and smote," etc. Pas-dammim is called Ephes-dammim in 1Sa_17:1. It was situated in the valley of Elah, and, as being upon the border, was the scene of numerous conflicts, whence its name, "the boundary of blood." It was there that David slew Goliath. Were gone away; Hebrew, went up; that is, to battle. The idea that the Israelites had fled is taken from the parallel place in Chronicles, where, however, it refers to Shammah"s exploit. In vers. 9 and 11 there, the phrase, "the Philistines were gathered together," occurs twice, and the scribe, having accidentally omitted the intervening words, has confused together the exploits of Eleazar and Shammah. In this battle Eleazar withstood the Philistine onset, and smote them till his hand clave to his sword hilt. Many such instances of cramp are recorded, and Mr. Kirkpatrick, in his commentary, quotes one in which the muscles of a warrior"s hand could be relaxed, after hard fighting, only by fomentations of hot water.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13, 15, 16 His hand clave unto the sword.
2Sa_23:10
His hand clave unto the sword.
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A heroic sword-grasp
In the roll of honour of King Davids army, there was one, Eleazor by name, who was counted worthy to stand with the first three mighty men of David, because he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil. In this account we see that his heroic sword-grasp was looked upon as a proof of his valour, and was made the mark of his honour and of his reward.
I. We observe that Eleazars grasp shows his appreciation of the sword as a weapon both for defence and for aggression.
1. We cannot do much with a weapon in which we have little or no confidence.
2. The sword of the Spirit is the only weapon by which we can gain a great victory.
3. The efficiency of Gods Word does not consist in the mere letter, but in the doctrines and duties which it teaches, and in the virtues which it commends such as truthfulness, justice, purity, benevolence, holiness. Our grasp of these shows cur appreciation of them.
II. Eleazar grasped his sword firmly, and did not relax his hold.
1. The enemy, knowing the power of the sword, will seek to wrest it from ones grasp. If the grasp be weak, a sly thrust at the Mistakes of Moses, or a bold, materialistic blow at the Miracles of Jesus, may break the grasp, and then we are helpless.
2. Worldliness, or avarice, or appetite, or lust, or malice, may so loosen our grasp upon the principles of the Word that we shall be compelled to surrender.
3. It requires true heroism to hold on to principle when the men of Israel are gone away, and the Philistines are arrayed against us.
4. A true soldier will die rather than lose his sword.
III. Eleazars grasp was made firmer by the conflict.
1. Heroic conflict requires and produces an heroic sword-grasp.
2. A true hero does not stop to count the enemy nor to consider a compromise, nor to hide himself through fear of ridicule or other evil weapons; but putting his strength into his sword he rushes on to victory.
3. Christian conflict is not controversy, but an heroic Christian life which requires and produces a firm grasp on the words and the principles of the Gospel.
4. Jesus With this sword met and repulsed Satan. (Mat_4:10.)
5. When we are alone, as Jesus was and as Eleazar was, we can gain our greatest victories.
IV. Eleazars firmness of grasp, and fierceness of conflict, made his sword cleave unto his hand.
1. Whatever we cling to, shapes the grasp, and will, in proportion to the strength of the grasp, cleave unto the hand.
2. The more firmly we grasp, and the more efficiently we use, the words and the principles of the Word, the more deeply will they be impressed into our nature and cleave unto us.
3. When the sword cleaves unto the hand, and the hand grows weary, we can still fight on.
4. The sword of the Spirit has adhered so firmly to the hand of many a hero in Gods army that even death could not break the grasp.
V. Eleazars heroic sword-grasp was made the mark of his heroism and of his reward.
1. The true marks of honour are obtained through conflict and suffering.
2. The cleaving of the sword unto the hand is the mark of Gods greatest heroes: the prophets, apostles, martyrs, reformers, missionaries, and others.
3. Clinging to the true and the right until the true and the right cleave unto us, is as heroic in the peculiar temptations of our day as was Eleazars conflict.
4. The marks of our sword-grasp will be our badge of honour in eternity. Let us, then, be assured that if we rightly appreciate the sword of the Spirit, grasp it firmly, and use it efficiently until it cleave unto the hand, we also shall gain a great victory in the conflicts of life, and in the kingdom of heaven a glorious reward. (J. Saxtell.)
The warriors scars
I want you to hold the truth with undetachable grip, and I want you to strike so hard for God that it will react, and while you take the sword, the sword will take you. Soldiers coming together are very apt, to recount their experiences, and to show their scars. Here is a soldier who pulls up his sleeve and says, There I was wounded. I have had no use of that limb since the gunshot fracture. Oh, when the battle of life is over, and the resurrection has come, and our bodies rise from the dead, will we have on us any scars of bravery for God? Christ will be there all covered with scars. And all heaven will shout aloud as they look at those scars. Ignatius will be there, and he will point out the place where the tooth and the paw of the lion seized him in the Coliseum; and John Huss will be there, and he will show where the coal first scorched the foot on that day when his spirit took wing of flame from Constance. McMillan, and Campbell, and Freeman, American missionaries in India, will be there--the men who with their wives and children went down in the awful massacre at Cawnpore, and they will show where the daggers of the Sepoys struck them. The Waldenses will be there, and they will show where their hones were broken on that day the Piedmontese soldiery pitched them over the rocks. And there will be those there who took care of the sick and who looked after the poor, and they will have evidences of earthly exhaustion. And Christ, with His scarred hand waving over the scarred multitude, will say, You suffered with Me on earth; now be glorified with Me. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The sword of the valiant
Of the old hero the minstrel sung, With his Yemen sword for aid, ornament it carried none but the notches on the blade. What nobler declaration of honour can any good man seek after than his scar of service, his losses for the cross, his reproaches for Christs sake, his being worn out in the Masters service. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The sword for use
The glittering sword with its keen edge and jewelled hilt is an object of beauty as a work of art, yet it is harmless. But in the muscular grip of a soldiers hand and swung with a purpose and an aim, it is a dread weapon. So with truth wielded with skill and power by the consecrated preacher.
Hitting hard
It is told of Abraham Lincoln that once, when quite a young man, he saw men and women put on the block, exhibited for sale, and bought like cattle. He saw the humbling and degrading familiarities which the buyers took with file human chattels, saw the looks of dumb and piteous agony which stole across the poor black faces as wives were sold away from their husbands, and children torn from their mothers arms; and he forced his way out the ring and with flaming eyes, and voice husky with suppressed passion, said to a companion, gripping him by the arm, If ever I get a chance to hit at this thing Ill hit hard, by the Eternal God. My chance has come, he exclaimed, later in life, and I mean to hit hard.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v15 2 Samuel
2 Samuel
A LIBATION TO JEHOVAH
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2Sa 23:15 - 2Sa 23:17.
David’s fortunes were at a low ebb. He was in hiding in his cave of Adullam, and a Philistine garrison held Bethlehem, his native place. He was little different from an outlaw at the head of a band of ‘broken men,’ but there were depths of chivalry and poetry in his heart. Sweltering in his cave in the fierce heat of harvest, he thought of his native Bethlehem; he remembered the old days when he had watered his flock at the well by its gate, or mingled with the people of the little town, in their evening assemblies round it. The memories of boyhood rose up radiant before him, and as he was immersed in the past, the grim present, the perils that threatened his life, the savage, gaunt rocks without a trace of greenness that girded him, the privations to which he was exposed, were all forgotten, and he longed for one more draught of the water that tasted so cool and sweet to memory. Three of his ‘mighty men,’ bound to him by loyal devotion and unselfish love, were ready to die to win for their chief a momentary gratification. So they slipped away from Adullam, ‘brake through the host of the Philistines,’ and brought back the longed-for draught. David’s reception of the dearly-bought, sparkling gift was due to a noble impulse. The water seemed to him to be dyed with blood, and to be not water so much as ‘lives of men.’ It had become too precious to be used to satisfy his longing. It would be base self-indulgence to drink what had been won by such self-forgetting devotion. God only had the right to receive what men had risked their lives to obtain, and therefore he ‘poured it out unto the Lord.’
The story gleams out of the fierce narratives in which it is embedded, like a flower blooming on some grim cliff. May we not learn lessons from it?
I. David’s longing.
David, a fugitive in the cave, haunted by the ‘nostalgia’ that made Bethlehem seem so fair and dear, may stand for us as an example of the longings and thirsts that sometimes force themselves into consciousness in every soul. Below the bustle and strife of daily life, occupied as it must be with material and often ignoble things, below the hardness into which the world has compressed men’s surface nature, there lies a yearning for the cool water that rises hard by the gate of our native home. True, it is with many of us overlaid for the most part by coarser desires, and may be as unlike our usual dominant longings and aims, as David’s tender outbreak of sentiment was to the prevailing tenor of his life, in those days when he was an outlaw and a freebooter. But the longing, though often stifled, is not wholly quenched. It is misinterpreted by the man who is conscious of it, and far too often he tries to slake the thirst by fiery and drugged liquors which but make it more intense. Happy are they who know what it is that their parched palates crave, and have learned, while yet the knowledge avails, to say, ‘My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God’! ‘Blessed are they who thirst after’ the water of the well of Bethlehem, ‘for they shall be filled!’
II. The three heroes’ devotion.
These three rough soldiers, lawless and fierce as they were, had been so mastered by their chief that they were ready to dare anything to pleasure him. Who would have looked for such delicacy of feeling and such enthusiastic self-surrender in such men?
They stand as grand instances of the height of devotion of which the rudest nature is capable, when once its love and loyalty to the Beloved are evoked.
How such deeds ennoble the lowest types of character, and make us think better of men, and more sadly of the contrast between their habitual characteristics and the possibilities that lie slumbering in their ignoble lives! There are sparks in the hard cold flint, if only they could be struck out. There is water in the rock, if only the right hand, armed with the wonder-working rod, smites it.
Let us not judge men too harshly by what they do and are, but let us try to bring their sleeping possibilities into conscious exercise.
Let us remember that love and self-sacrifice, which is the very outcome and natural voice of love, ennoble the most degraded.
But these heroic three may suggest to us a sadder thought. They were ready to die for David; would they have been as ready to die for God? These noble emotions of love, leading to glad flinging away of life to pleasure the beloved, are freely given to men, but too often withheld from God, We lavish on our beloveds or on our chosen leaders, a devotion that ought to shame us, when contrasted with the scantiness of our grudging devotion and self-surrender to Him. If we loved God a tenth part as ardently as we love our wives or husbands or parents or children, and were willing to do and bear as much for Him as we are willing to bear for them, how different our lives would be! We can love utterly, enthusiastically, self-forget-tingly, absorbed in the beloved, and counting all surrender of self to, and the sacrifice of life itself for, him or her a delight. Many of us do love men so. Do we love God so?
But these heroic three may suggest another thought. Their self-sacrificing love was illustrious; but there is a nobler, more wonderful, more soul-subduing instance of such love. They broke through the ranks of the Philistines to bring David a draught from the well of Bethlehem. Jesus has broken through the ranks of our enemies to bring us the water of which ‘if a man drink, he shall live for ever.’ If we would see the highest example of self-sacrificing love, we must turn to look, not on the instances of it that shine through the ages on the page of history, and make men thrill as they gaze, and think better of the human nature that can do such things, but on the Christ hanging on the Cross because He loved those who did not love Him, and giving His life a ransom for sinners.
III. David’s reception of the water.
The chivalrous devotion of the three touched an answering chord in their chivalrous chief. His heart filled at the thought of what they had risked, and revolted from employing what had been thus won for no higher use than to gratify a piece of sentiment in himself. The sparkling water was too sacred to be taken for any baser use than as a libation to Jehovah. And who can doubt that the three were more fully repaid for their devotion, as David poured it out unto the Lord, than if he had drunk it eagerly up? His feeling and his act indicate beautiful delicacy of instinct, and swiftness of perception of how to requite the devotion of the three.
We may separate into its two parts the generous impulse which sprang as one whole in David’s breast. There was the shrinking from using the water to slake his thirst merely, and there was the resolve to pour it out as a libation to God. Both parts of that whole may yield us profitable thoughts.
To risk their lives for the water was noble in the three; to have quaffed it as if it had been drawn like any other water from a well, would have been ignoble in David. There are things that it may be noble to give and ignoble to accept. There are sacrifices which we are not entitled to allow others to make for our sakes. Gratifications which can only be procured at the hazard of men’s lives are too dearly bought.
Would not a civilisation, that draws much of its comforts and appliances from ‘sweated industries,’ and is languidly amused by seeing men and women performers peril their lives nightly, and lose them too, for its gratification, be the better for copying David’s recoil from drinking ‘the blood of men that went in jeopardy of their lives’? Is there not ‘blood’ on many a woman’s ball-dress, on many an article of luxury, on many an amusement?
There are sacrifices which we have no right to accept from others. The three had no right to risk life for such a purpose, and David would have been selfish if he had drunk the water. Do not such thoughts lead us by contrast to Him who has done what none other can do? ‘None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give his life a ransom for him’; but Jesus can and Jesus does, and what it would be impossible, and wrong if it were possible, for one man to do for another, He has done for us all, and what it would be base for a man to accept from another if that other could give it, it is blessed and the beginning of all nobleness of character for us to accept from Him. David would not drink because the cup seemed to him to be red with blood. Jesus offers to us a cup, not of cold water only but of ‘water and blood,’ and bids us drink of it and remember Him.
The generous devotion of the three kindled answering emotions in David’s breast. It would be a churlish soul that was not warmed into some faint replica of such self-sacrifice, and most of us would be ashamed of ourselves if we were unmoved by such love. But does the supreme example of it affect us as much as the lesser examples of it do? How many of us stand before it like the peaks of the Alps that front full south, and lift an unmelted breastplate of snow to the midday sun! How many of us have lived all our lives in presence of Jesus’ infinite love and self-surrender for us each, and never have felt one transient touch of answering love!
The other part of David’s impulse was to offer to God what was too precious for his own use. That is the fitting destination of our most precious and prized possessions. And whatever is thus offered becomes more precious by being offered. The altar sanctifies and enhances the worth of the gift. What we give to God is more our own than if we had kept it to ourselves, and develops richer capacities of ministering to our delight. It is so with our greatest surrender, the surrender of ourselves. When we give ourselves to Jesus, He renders us back to ourselves, far better worth having than before. We are never so much our own as when we are wholly Christ’s. And the same thing is true as to all our riches of mind, heart, or worldly wealth. If we wish to taste their most delicate and refined sweetness, let us give them to Jesus, and the touch of His hand, as He accepts them and gives them back to us, will leave a lingering fragrance that nothing else can impart. Was not the water from the well of Bethlehem sweeter to David as he poured it out unto the Lord than if he had greedily gulped it down?
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 11, 13, 15 General Information:
General Information:
This continues the list of David's greatest soldiers. (See: How to Translate Names)
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The army returned after Eleazar
This means that the army returned after Eleazar returned from battle. AT: "The Israeli army returned to the battle field after Eleazer had already won the battle" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
only to strip the bodies
"only to take what they wanted from the dead bodies of the enemies"
translationWords
might
Philistines
sword
Yahweh
body
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 13, 15 23:10 to collect the plunder: Cp. 1 Sam 30:9-10,…
23:10 to collect the plunder: Cp. 1 Sam 30:9-10, 21-25.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.