2 Samuel 10:5

WEB

When they told David this, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.”

BSB

When this was reported to David, he sent messengers to meet the men, since they had been thoroughly humiliated. The king told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”

KJV

When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.

Matthew Henry

Verses 1–5

2 Samuel 10:1–5

Here is, I. The great respect David paid to his neighbour, the king of the Ammonites, Sa2 10:1, Sa2 10:2. 1. The inducement to it was some kindness he had formerly received from Nahash the deceased king. He showed kindness to me, says David (Sa2 10:2), and therefore (having lately had satisfaction in showing kindness to Mephibosheth for his father's sake) he resolves to show kindness to his son, and to keep up a friendly correspondence with him. Thus the pleasure of doing one kind and generous action should excite us to another. Nahash had been an enemy to Israel, a cruel enemy (Sa1 11:2), and yet had shown kindness to David, perhaps only in contradiction to Saul, who was unkind to him: however, if David receives kindness, he is not nice in examining the grounds and principles of it, but resolves gratefully to return it. If a Pharisee give alms in pride, though God will not reward him, yet he that receives the alms ought to return thanks for it. God knows the heart, but we do not. 2. The particular instance of respect was sending an embassy to condole with him on his father's death, as is common among princes in alliance with each other: David sent to comfort him. Note, It is a comfort to children, when their parents are dead, to find that their parents' friends are theirs, and that they intend to keep up an acquaintance with them. It is a comfort to mourners to find that there are those who mourn with them, are sensible of their loss and share with them in it. It is a comfort to those who are honouring the memory of their deceased relations to find there are others who likewise honour it and who had a value for those whom they valued.

II. The great affront which Hanun the king of the Ammonites put upon David in his ambassadors. 1. He hearkened to the spiteful suggestions of his princes, who insinuated that David's ambassadors, under pretence of being comforters, were sent as spies, Sa2 10:3. False men are ready to think others as false as themselves; and those that bear ill-will to their neighbours are resolved not to believe that their neighbours bear any good-will to them. They would not thus have imagined that David dissembled but that they were conscious to themselves that they could have dissembled, to serve a turn. Unfounded suspicion argues a wicked mind. Bishop Patrick's note on this is that "there is nothing so well meant but it may be ill interpreted, and is wont to be so by men who love nobody but themselves." Men of the greatest honour and virtue must not think it strange if they be thus misrepresented. Charity thinketh no evil. 2. Entertaining this vile suggestion, he basely abused David's ambassadors, like a man of a sordid villainous spirit, that was fitter to rake a kennel than to wear a crown. If he had any reason to suspect that David's messengers came on a bad design, he would have done prudently enough to be upon the reserve with them, and to dismiss them as soon as he could; but it is plain he only sought an occasion to put the utmost disgrace he could upon them, out of an antipathy to their king and their country. They were themselves men of honour, and much more so as they represented the prince that sent them; they and their reputation were under the special protection of the law of nations; they put a confidence in the Ammonites, and came among them unarmed; yet Hanun used them like rogues and vagabonds, and worse, shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the midst, to expose them to the contempt and ridicule of his servants, that they might make sport with them and that these men might seem vile.

III. David's tender concern for his servants that were thus abused. He sent to meet them, and to let them know how much he interested himself in their quarrel and how soon he would avenge it, and directed them to stay at Jericho, a private place, where they would not have occasion to come into company, till that half of their beards which was shaved off had grown to such a length that the other half might be decently cut to it, Sa2 10:5. The Jews wore their beards long, reckoning it an honour to appear aged and grave; and therefore it was not fit that persons of their rank and figure should appear at court unlike their neighbours. Change of raiment, it is likely, they had with them, to put on, instead of that which was cut off; but the loss of their beards would not be so soon repaired; yet in time these would grow again, and all would be well. Let us learn not to lay too much to heart unjust reproaches; after awhile they will wear off of themselves, and turn only to the shame of their authors, while the injured reputation in a little time grows again, as these beards did. God will bring forth thy righteousness as the light, therefore wait patiently for him, Psa 37:6, Psa 37:7.

Some have thought that David, in the indignity he received from the king of Ammon, was but well enough served for courting and complimenting that pagan prince, whom he knew to be an inveterate enemy to Israel, and might now remember how, when he would have put out the right eyes of the men of Jabesh-Gilead, he designed that, as he did this, for a reproach upon all Israel, 1 Sam. Psa 11:2. What better usage could he expect from such a spiteful family and people? Why should he covet the friendship of a people whom Israel must have so little to do with as that an Ammonite might not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth generation? Deu 23:3.

Cross-references: 2Sam 10:1 · 2Sam 10:2 · 1Sam 11:2 · 2Sam 10:3 · 2Sam 10:5 · Ps 37:6 · Ps 37:7 · Ps 11:2 · Deut 23:3

Hebrew interlinear

H5046

נָגַדnâgad/naw-gad'/

v — front, manifest, announce, expose, predict, explain, praise

Derivation: a primitive root;

properly, to front, i.e. stand boldly out opposite; by implication (causatively), to manifest; figuratively, to announce (always by word of mouth to one present); specifically, to expose, predict, explain, praise

KJV: bewray, × certainly, certify, declare(-ing), denounce, expound, × fully, messenger, plainly, profess, rehearse, report, shew (forth), speak, × surely, tell, utter.

נָגַד

vb — be conspicuous

[נָגַד] 363 vb. be conspicuous

Hiph. declare, tell

Hoph. be told, announced, reported

H1732

דָּוִדDâvid/daw-veed'/

n-pr-m — David

Derivation: rarely (fully); דָּוִיד; from the same as 1730; loving;

David, the youngest son of Jesse

KJV: David.

דָּוִד

n.pr.m — David

דָּוִד, דָּוִיד 1066 n.pr.m. David

H7971

שָׁלַחshâlach/shaw-lakh'/

v — send

Derivation: a primitive root;

to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)

KJV: × any wise, appoint, bring (on the way), cast (away, out), conduct, × earnestly, forsake, give (up), grow long, lay, leave, let depart (down, go, loose), push away, put (away, forth, in, out), reach forth, send (away, forth, out), set, shoot (forth, out), sow, spread, stretch forth (out).

שָׁלַח

vb — send

שָׁלַח 814 vb. send

Qal

1. send: human subj.

2. send: subj. י׳ (God)

3. stretch out, esp. acc. hand

4. rarely send away: human subj.

5. let loose

Niph. letters were sent

Pi.

1. send off, away, human subj.

2.

a. send away, subj. י׳

b. give over

c. cast out

d. send out, forth

3. let go, set free

4. shoot forth branches

5. let down

6. shoot

7. Phrases

Pu. be sent off (started on journey); be put away, divorced, of wife; be impelled(?)

Hiph. and I (י׳) will send

H7125

קִרְאָהqirʼâh/keer-aw'/

n-m — encountering, opposite

Derivation: from 7122;

an encountering, accidental, friendly or hostile (also adverbially, opposite)

KJV: × against (he come), help, meet, seek, × to, × in the way.

קָרָא

vb — encounter

[קָרָא] 137 vb. encounter, befall

Qal 131

1. meet, encounter

2. fig. befall

Niph. meet unexpectedly

Hiph. thou didst cause all this evil to befall them

H3588

כִּיkîy/kee/

conj — relative conjunction

Derivation: a primitive particle (the full form of the prepositional prefix) indicating causal relations of all kinds, antecedent or consequent;

(by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed

KJV: and, (forasmuch, inasmuch, where-) as, assured(-ly), but, certainly, doubtless, else, even, except, for, how, (because, in, so, than) that, nevertheless, now, rightly, seeing, since, surely, then, therefore, (al-) though, till, truly, until, when, whether, while, whom, yea, yet.

כִּי

conj — that

כִּי conj. that, for, when

1. that

2.

a. Of time, when, of the past

b. elsewhere כִּי has a force approximating to if, though it usu. represents a case as more likely to occur than אִם

c. when or if, with a concessive force, i.e. though

3. Because, since

כִּי אם־

relative conjunction

כִּי אם־

1. each part. retaining its independent force, and relating to a different clause:

a. that if

b. for if

2. (About 140 t.) the two particles being closely conjoined, and relating to the same clause—

a. limiting the prec. clause, except

b. the if being neglected, and treated as pleonastic, so that the clause is no longer a limitation of the preceding clause but a contradiction of it: but rather, but

c. after an oath, surely

כִּי עַל כֵּן

forasmuch as

כִּי עַל כֵּן forasmuch as

H1961

הָיָהhâyâh/haw-yaw/

v — exist, be, become, come to pass

Derivation: a primitive root (compare 1933);

to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary)

KJV: beacon, × altogether, be(-come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, follow, happen, × have, last, pertain, quit (one-) self, require, × use.

הָיָה

vb — fall out

הָיָה 3570 vb. fall out, come to pass, become, be

Qal

I.

1.

a. Fall out, happen

b. occur, take place, come about, come to pass

2. esp. & very oft., come about, come to pass

a.

(1). וַיְהִי and it came to pass that, most often (c. 292 t.)

(2). rarely also Pf. c. וְ conj. וְהָיָה

b. less oft. וְהָיָה Pf. consec. and it shall come to pass, or frequentat. came to pass (repeatedly, etc.)

II. Come into being, become

1.

a. abs., in lively narrative, arise, appear, come

b. sq. prep.

2. become

a. sq. pred. noun (to be viewed as implicit accus.)

b. sq. pred. adj.

c. become like

d. sq. pred. לְ pers.

e. sq. לְ pred.

f. oft. c. לְ pred. לְ pers.

g. with עַל and לְ

h. sts. c. לְ pers. only = became the property of, come into the possession of

III. Be (often with subbordinate idea of becoming)

1. exist, be in existence

2. abide, remain, continue

3. with word of locality, be in or at a place, be situated, stand, lie

4. as copula, joining subj. & pred.

5. periphrastic conjug.

Niph.

1. either be done, be brought about, or occur, come to pass

2. be done, finished, gone

H376

אִישׁʼîysh/eesh/

n-m — man

Derivation: contracted for 582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant);

a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation)

KJV: also, another, any (man), a certain, champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-) man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), none, one, people, person, steward, what (man) soever, whoso(-ever), worthy. Compare 802.

אִישׁ

n.m — man

אִישׁ 2166 n.m. man (= vir)

H3637

כָּלַםkâlam/kaw-lawm'/

v — wound, taunt, insult

Derivation: a primitive root;

properly, to wound; but only figuratively, to taunt or insult

KJV: be (make) ashamed, blush, be confounded, be put to confusion, hurt, reproach, (do, put to) shame.

כָּלַם

vb — be humiliated

[כָּלַם] vb. only Niph. Hoph. be humiliated, Hiph. humiliate

Niph. be humiliated, ashamed, put to shame, dishonoured, confounded

Hiph.

1. put to shame = insult, humiliate

2. exhibit shame

Hoph.

1. we were not insulted, humiliated

2. they were put to shame, dishonoured, confounded

H3966

מְאֹדmᵉʼôd/meh-ode'/

a — vehemence, vehemently, wholly, speedily

Derivation: from the same as 181;

properly, vehemence, i.e. (with or without preposition) vehemently; by implication, wholly, speedily, etc. (often with other words as an intensive or superlative; especially when repeated)

KJV: diligently, especially, exceeding(-ly), far, fast, good, great(-ly), × louder and louder, might(-ily, -y), (so) much, quickly, (so) sore, utterly, very ( much, sore), well.

מְאֹד

n.m — muchness

מְאֹד n.m. muchness, force, abundance, exceedingly

1. force, might

2. in diff. idioms (298 t.) to express the idea of exceedingly, greatly, very (whether of magnitude or degree)

H559

אָמַרʼâmar/aw-mar'/

v — say

Derivation: a primitive root;

to say (used with great latitude)

KJV: answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, × desire, determine, × expressly, × indeed, × intend, name, × plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), × still, × suppose, talk, tell, term, × that is, × think, use (speech), utter, × verily, × yet.

אָמַר

vb — utter

אָמַר 5287 vb. utter, say

Qal

1. Say

2. Say in the heart (= think)

3. Promise

4. Command (esp. late)

Niph. be said, told

Hiph. avow, avouch (lit. cause to declare)

Hithp. act proudly, boast

H4428

מֶלֶךְmelek/meh'-lek/

n-m — king

Derivation: from 4427;

a king

KJV: king, royal.

מֶ֫לֶךְ

n.m — king

מֶ֫לֶךְ 2513 n.m. king

H3427

יָשַׁבyâshab/yaw-shab'/

v — sit, dwell, remain, settle, marry

Derivation: a primitive root;

properly, to sit down (specifically as judge. in ambush, in quiet); by implication, to dwell, to remain; causatively, to settle, to marry

KJV: (make to) abide(-ing), continue, (cause to, make to) dwell(-ing), ease self, endure, establish, × fail, habitation, haunt, (make to) inhabit(-ant), make to keep (house), lurking, × marry(-ing), (bring again to) place, remain, return, seat, set(-tle), (down-) sit(-down, still, -ting down, -ting (place) -uate), take, tarry.

יָשַׁב

vb — sit

יָשַׁב 1090 vb. sit, remain, dwell

Qal

1.

a. sit

b. sit, sit down

c. sit down

d. sit = be set (as a jewel)

2.

a. remain, stay, tarry

b. with special emphasis of qualifying phr.

3. dwell, have one’s abode

4. of a land or city, sit, abide, seated in its place, fig. for be inhabited

Niph. be inhabited, of land

Pi. and they shall set their encampments in thee

Hiph.

1. cause to sit

2. cause to abide

3.

a. cause to dwell

b. cause cities to be inhabited

4. marry (prop. give a dwelling to)

Hoph. and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land

H3405

יְרִיחוֹYᵉrîychôw/yer-ee-kho'/

n-pr-loc — Jericho, Jerecho

Derivation: or יְרֵחוֹ; or variation (1 Kings 16:34) יְרִיחֹה; perhaps from 3394; its month; or else from 7306; fragrant;

Jericho or Jerecho, a place in Palestine

KJV: Jericho.

יְרִיחוֹ

n.pr.loc — Jericho

יְרִיחוֹ, יְרִיחֹה, יְרֵחוֹ 57 n.pr.loc. Jericho

H5704

עַדʻad/ad/

prep — as far, long, much, as, even unto, during, while, until, equally with

Derivation: properly, the same as 5703 (used as a preposition, adverb or conjunction; especially with a preposition);

as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)

KJV: against, and, as, at, before, by (that), even (to), for(-asmuch as), (hither-) to, how long, into, as long (much) as, (so) that, till, toward, until, when, while, ( as) yet.

עַד

prep — as far as

עַד, in poetry עֲדֵי prep. as far as, even to, up to, until, while

I. prep.

1. of space

2. Of time

3. Of degree

II. conj.

1. until

2. While

3. Of degree, to the point that, so that even (rare)

III. עַד לְ, a strengthened form for עַד. Thus

1. of space

2. Of time

3. Of degree

H6779

צָמַחtsâmach/tsaw-makh'/

v — sprout

Derivation: a primitive root;

to sprout (transitive or intransitive, literal or figurative)

KJV: bear, bring forth, (cause to, make to) bud (forth), (cause to, make to) grow (again, up), (cause to) spring (forth, up).

צָמַח

vb — sprout

צָמַח vb. sprout, spring up

Qal sprout, spring up

Pi. grow abundantly

Hiph.

1. cause to grow

2. of rain, cause the earth to sprout

H2206

זָקָןzâqân/zaw-kawn'/

n-m — beard, age

Derivation: from 2204;

the beard (as indicating age)

KJV: beard.

זָקָן

n.m — chin

זָקָן n.m. and f. chin, beard

H7725

שׁוּבshûwb/shoob/

v — turn, return, retreat, again

Derivation: a primitive root;

to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point); generally to retreat; often adverbial, again

KJV: ((break, build, circumcise, dig, do anything, do evil, feed, lay down, lie down, lodge, make, rejoice, send, take, weep)) × again, (cause to) answer ( again), × in any case (wise), × at all, averse, bring (again, back, home again), call (to mind), carry again (back), cease, × certainly, come again (back), × consider, continually, convert, deliver (again), deny, draw back, fetch home again, × fro, get (oneself) (back) again, × give (again), go again (back, home), (go) out, hinder, let, (see) more, × needs, be past, × pay, pervert, pull in again, put (again, up again), recall, recompense, recover, refresh, relieve, render (again), requite, rescue, restore, retrieve, (cause to, make to) return, reverse, reward, say nay, send back, set again, slide back, still, × surely, take back (off), (cause to, make to) turn (again, self again, away, back, back again, backward, from, off), withdraw.

שׁוּב

vb — turn back

שׁוּב 1056 vb. turn back, return

Qal 683;—turn back, return:

1. turn back

2. return, come or go back

3. esp. return unto

4.

a. of dying

b. of revival from death

5. fig. of human relations:

a. return to leader, king

b. = change so as to appoach (in purpose, desire)

c. turn, i.e. resort to

d. return to a physical condition

e. abs. = change course of action

6. fig., specif. of spiritual relations:

a. turn back from God = apostatize

b. of י׳, turn away

c. turn back to God (= seek penitently)

d. abs. repent

e. turn back from evil

f. of י׳

g. of י׳, return (to shew favour)

7. of inanimate things (sts. personified, or treated as things of life):

8. denoting repetition, etc.

9. trans.

Pō‛l.

1. bring back

2.

a. fig. restore, refresh

b. restore, repair

3. lead away (enticingly)

4. shew turning = apostatize

Hiph. 353 cause to return, bring back

1.

a. bring back into bondage

b. put back

c. = draw back

d. = give back, restore

e. = relinguish

f. = give in payment, requital

g. bring one back (from dead)

2.

a. bring back heart

b. = refresh

3. bring back words of people

4.

a. bring back (in retribution) upon

b. pay as recompense

5. turn back, backward = repel, defeat

6.

a. turn away face

b. late, turn toward, acc. face

7. turn against

8. bring back to mind, take into consideration

9.

10. = shew a turning away from your idols (i.e. turn away)

11. reverse, revoke = repel, defeat

Hoph. my money has been returned

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