Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 7 Aug 2022
At this point in the book of 2 Samuel, Absalom has usurped his father David’s throne and is marching toward Jerusalem to take it over, while David is fleeing toward the Jordan River. It is at this point that we see a dramatic battle of wits between Bathsheba’s grandfather Ahithophel, who wanted Absalom in power, and David’s friend, Hushai, whom David had commissioned to be a double agent in Absalom’s court.
Let
me read the text in my version, while you follow along in your own
Bible, starting at 16:15
Now, as for Absalom, he and all his
people of the men of Israel entered Jerusalem, Ahithophel along with
him. And it happened that just when David’s friend Hushai the
Archite came to Absalom, then Hushai said to Absalom, “[Long]
live the king! [Long] live the king!” Then Absalom said to
Hushai, “Is this your lovingkindness to your friend? Why
didn’t you go with your friend?” And Hushai said to
Absalom, “No, for he whom Yahweh has chosen (along with this
people and all the men of Israel) I will {belong to him}, so it is
with with him that I will dwell. And secondly, who is it that I
myself should serve? Shouldn’t I be in the presence of his
son? Just as I served in the presence of your father so shall I be
in your presence.” Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Y’all
come up with a plan among yourselves. What should we do?” Then
Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s
concubines whom he left home to tend to the palace. Then all Israel
will hear that you made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the
hands of all who are with you will become strong.” So they
pitched Absalom’s tent for him on the housetop, and Absalom
went in to his father’s concubines before the eyes of all
Israel. Indeed, the counsel of Ahithophel which he counseled in
those days was like when {a man} would consult with the word of God.
The counsel of Ahithophel was like that, both for David as well as
for Absalom.
[Ch 17] Ahithophel also said to Absalom, “Please
let me select 12,000 men, so I can get up and chase after David
tonight. Thus I will go against him while he is weary and his hands
are weak, and I will frighten him. Then all the people that is with
him will flee, and I will strike down the king by himself. Thus I
will return all the people to you like the turning of the {bride to
her husband.} If you take {the life of only one} man, {then} all the
people will be at peace.” Well, this statement seemed right in
the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel. But
Absalom said, “Please call for Hushai the Archite also, and
let us hear also from him what is in his mouth.” Then Hushai
went to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him saying, “Ahithophel
stated things this way. Should we do it his way? If not, speak
yourself.” So Hushai said to Absalom, “The advice which
Ahithophel has advised is not good at this time.” Then Hushai
explained, “You yourself know your father and his men, that
they are mighty men and they are bitter of soul, like a bear
bereaved of cubs in the field. Also, your father is a man of war, so
he will not spend the night with his people. Probably now he is
hiding himself in one of his trenches or in one of his
hiding-places, and it will happen, when he gets the drop on them at
the outset, that he who hears will hear of it and say that a rout
happened to the people who followed Absalom. Then even the one who
is an army-guy - whose heart is like the heart of the lion - will
surely be melted, because all Israel knows that your father is a
mighty-man, as well as the army guys who are with him. That’s
why I advise that all Israel - from Dan all the way to Beersheba -
be diligently recruited to you, like the sand which is at the sea in
its multitude, with your presence going in {their} midst. Then we
will go to him - to one of the places where he will be found there,
and we will be on him like when the dew falls upon the ground, and
{we} will not let even one man remain with him, even among all the
men who were with him! And, in case he rallies to a city, all Israel
should also carry ropes to that city, and we will drag {it} off to
the river until the point that there is not found there even one
thing attached [to another]!” Then Absalom said, along with
all the men of Israel, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is
better than the advice of Ahithophel!” For Yahweh had decreed
to subvert the good advice of Ahithophel, in order that Yahweh might
bring his calamity {upon} Absalom.
Let’s look more in depth at these two royal advisors as they duel over the fate of the kingdom.
Hushai, according to 1 Chron. 27:33, was King David’s “friend” when Ahithophel was David’s “advisor.” Absalom was aware of that, and, as he enters Jerusalem and sees Hushai there, he needles Hushai for it.
When Absalom says, “why didn’t you go with your friend?” he seems to be saying it in a mocking way, gloating that even David’s friend had abandoned David for him, the new King Absalom, when push came to shove.
But we saw in 2 Samuel 15:32ff that Hushai HAD offered to go with David, and David had told him to go back to Jerusalem and see what he could do to subvert Ahithophel’s counsel to Absalom for usurping the throne.
Hushai’s words were cleverly disguised to speak the truth of his support for David while appearing instead to support Absalom.
When Hushai said, “Long live the king!” he meant King David, but Absalom interpreted it to mean himself,
and when Hushai said that he would serve “the one whom God and the people had chosen,” he meant David. He knew that God had chosen David and not Absalom. (This may also have been a subtle word of warning to Absalom that he needed to consider God’s choice in the matter of the kingdom rather than acting of his own accord. But Absalom was too full of himself to pay attention to subtle warnings. “Pride in your heart deceives you…” ~ Obadiah 1:3
“All the people” had chosen David king back in chapter five1, but not all the people were in support of Absalom.
Hushai also doesn’t say that he should serve Absalom, but merely that he should serve the “king’s son,” knowing that one of David’s sons would eventually be chosen as king, but for now, God had not confirmed which one yet, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t Absalom.
And yet, to a proud dictator like Absalom, he assumed it was all about him. He didn’t suspect the possibility that this man Hushai, who so obviously came to honor him, was actually looking for a way to cause him to fall from power.
Hushai’s words, although they were intentionally misleading (and therefore not a good example of integrity), are nevertheless a good example of how we can pledge our allegiance to our king Jesus: “[Long] live the king! I will belong to him whom the LORD has chosen, and it is with with him that I will dwell. And secondly, who is it that I myself should serve? Shouldn’t I be in the presence of his son?”
Luke 9:35 Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My Son, My Chosen2 One; listen to Him!" (NASB, cf. Isaiah 49:7)
King Jesus should be the one to whom we pray, “Let Your kingdom come… on earth as it is in heaven”! (Matthew 6:10)
And Jesus should be the one of whom we say, with the Apostle Paul in Acts 27:23, that this is “the God to whom I belong and whom I serve3”? - just as Hushai said of his king, “his will I be, and him will I serve.”
Jesus Himself said, in the Gospel of Mark 9:41, that we “belong” to Him: “...you belong to Christ4…”
And do we not also “serve in His presence”? Colossians 3:24b says explicitly, “...It is the Lord Christ whom you serve5.” (NASB)
And, just as Hushai was committed to “dwell/reside/sit” with his King, so Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 19:28b, using the same Greek verb that is in Hushai’s statement in the Greek Old Testament, “...whenever the Son of Man shall sit upon His throne of glory, even you yourselves will sit6 upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (NAW). I’m looking forward to sitting with King Jesus in heaven!
Anyway, once assured of Hushai’s loyalty, Absalom turns to Ahithophel to decide what to do now that he has taken over David’s abandoned capitol of Jerusalem.
Note, however, that the ark was in Jerusalem with the high priests standing by. Absalom should have asked God what to do, but instead he looked to Man for counsel.
Ahithophel’s first piece of advice was for Absalom to claim David’s concubines.
Concubines were extra women, kind-of married to an important man, but with the understanding that none of their children would be his heirs.
David had left ten of his concubines back in Jerusalem to take care of things at the palace, perhaps watering the gardens, cleaning the rooms, or whatever, while David ran away.
These women were part of David’s household, and it would be adultery for Absalom to add them to his harem, not to mention a gross insult to his father.
It may well be that this particular action was suggested by Ahithophel’s desire to get revenge upon David for committing adultery with his granddaughter, Bathsheba.
However, if Absalom had been concerned about the ways of God and righteousness, he would have rejected this counsel to commit adultery and dishonor his father.
He should have remembered the judgment in Leviticus 20:11 that “any man who lies down with his father's wife... shall surely die...”
and he sould have stopped consulting with Ahithophel. We must “not walk in the counsel of the wicked” (Psalm 1:1).
But Absalom acted on Ahithophel’s advice; it appealed to his flesh and his pride.
Absalom’s tent was probably pitched on the very rooftop lounge where David had lusted over Bathsheba years ago, and Absalom made a show of leading David’s concubine-wives into his own tent, one-by-one, so that nobody with eyes could miss what was happening, and tongues would wag all over Israel.
And thus the prophecy of Nathan was fulfilled from 2 Sam. 12:11-12 “Thus says Yahweh, 'Here I am, raising up against you an evil out of your own household, and I will take your wives before your eyes and will give them to your fellow, and he will lie down with your wives in the sight of this same sun! As for you, you did it in secret, but I, I will do this thing in the presence of all Israel and in the presence of the sun.'” What a horrendous price secret sins have!
But as for Absalom, the goal was to do something so incredibly provacative that it would make war between Absalom and David inevitable.
This was going past the point of no return. Absalom couldn’t say after this, “Oh hey, I was just testing the water; I’m not really ready to take the throne right now; let me just back off for a few years and let my Dad keep reigning for now.”
No, there would be nothing for the men of Israel now but to join either Absalom’s army or David’s army and fight over this.
The Hebrew word translated “abhorred/odious/stench/obnoxious” only occurs in this (Niphal) form two other times in the Bible:
the first is in 1 Samuel 13, when the Philistines had a stranglehold on Israel, and then Jonathan raided one of their garrisons, immediately bringing out the full fury of the Philistinese against the Israelites, and making any further delay for the Israelites out-of-the-question.
And the other is in 2 Samuel 10, when the Ammonites shaved half the beards of David’s messengers, so thoroughly insulting David and his court that the Israelite army had to come out in battle against Ammon to avenge the insult.
So this strategy of poking your enemy in the eye, as it were, in order to order to make everybody choose sides quickly and start fighting was apparantly a thing in those days.
It also signaled that Absalom did not fear God, and that he did not fear David either, and so, if you were on David’s side (or on God’s side), you were about to get taken advantage of by this new administration, just like those concubines were, so watch out, and join the winning team!
You know, in the current culture war, we see similar things happening, where those who have no fear of God – and who have lost their respect for God’s people – tell us that we’re on the “wrong side of history” and boldly do horrible, wicked things with seeming confidence that there will be no consequences for them, and they use threats to intimidate and disenfranchise those who believe in God’s word.
We must not let that dismay us. Absalom won’t get the last laugh.
In the face of such a show of evil, it is not time to give up all as lost; it is a time to hold fast to the hope of Jesus saving His people and building His kingdom such that the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).
The other piece of advice that Ahithophel gave to Absalom was to pursue David immediately with the army.
He figured 12,000 troops would be enough to outmatch David’s 600 troops, so much so that he thought David’s men would surrender or flee rather than fight.
V3 has a curious range of translations because there are a variety of slightly-different ways of saying the same basic thing among the many manuscripts going back through history:
The ESV, uncharacteristically, departs from all the other English versions by following the 4th Century AD Greek Vaticanus (which seems to be supported by the 1st century BC Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls) with Ahithiphel telling Absalom, “...I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.” (That is also the gist of the NLT.)
The KJV, on the other hand, followed the reading of the 10th century AD Masoretic Hebrew text with, “...the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned...” The NASB and NIV are similar: “...The death of the man you seek will mean the return of all...” “...The return of everyone depends on the man you seek...”
And the Latin Vulgate from the 5th century AD is somewhere inbetween the two with: “I will bring back all the people, as if they were but one man: for thou seekest but one man: and all the people shall be in peace.”
Without going into all the details, let me just note that the Hebrew word for “all” and the Hebrew word for “bride” can be spelled the same.
But despite these minor variants, the gist comes through that “if we can get rid of David, everybody will unite under Absalom.”
David was indeed in a very vulnerable position
with no walled city to protect him,
and with a bunch of dependants who could not join in his (or their own) defense.
And David and his company were indeed all tired out, as we saw in 16:14, not exactly feeling fresh and ready for a battle.
If Ahithophel had gotten his way, the next few chapters would have turned out differently, but God heard David’s prayer to make the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness, and God provided protection for David in this vulnerable state. God listens to you when you pray, and He saves!
I find it interesting that Absalom even bothered to ask Hushai for his input, but
Back in chapter 16 v20, Absalom had directed his request for advice at Ahithophel, obviously intending for him to take the lead, but there, in his native language, Absalom had spoken a plural command, telling Ahithophel not just to give his own personal opinion but to consult with any other counselors at hand and give their consensus. Ahithophel instead appears to have answered right away in v.21 without consulting with Hushai or anybody else.
Once again, at the beginning of chapter 17, when Ahithophel presents the idea of attacking David right away, he presents it as his own idea, not in consultation with any other advisors, and, although the elders gave it a rubber stamp of approval, I think Absalom noticed that Ahithophel hadn’t consulted with the other advisors, and I think that may be why he stoped and asked Hushai for his opinion.
Ahithophel had wanted to use the army to frighten David’s troops, but Hushai turns the fear factor back upon Absalom’s soldiers, saying they ought to be afraid of David’s troops instead,
because the Kerithites and Pelethites won’t be a pushover; they are seasoned battle-veterans, and it could be a nasty imbroglio, even if Ahithophel had the advantage of numbers.
Now, if you’ve ever been to one of the national parks where there are bears, one of the big warnings they tell you is: Never get between a bear and its cubs! Bears are legendary for going beserk if they think you are trying to bother their offspring, and you might not survive the encounter. Hushai plays up the fear factor by saying, “Hey, David is like one of those bears; if you get between David and his wives and children (like Ahithophel is suggesting you do), David is liable to tear you apart!
Furthermore,” he says, “there is no guarantee you’re even going to be able to find David, because he’s not stupid. He knows he’s the man you want, so he isn’t going to stay in the same place that the people will be in. So if you try the scare tactic of frightening away his people, you’re likely to come home empty-handed because he won’t even be there,
and that is going to put egg on your face. People are going to say, ‘What kind of army does Absalom run? They went after a geriatric former-king and couldn’t even find him, then they got routed and came running home with their tails between their legs, as it were!’ Then people are not going to be so sure they want to follow you anymore.”
“David is probably right now digging trenches from which he will pop out of nowhere and get the drop on you.”
The Hebrew word translated “cave/pit” is not the main word in Hebrew to denote a “cave” or a “pit,” rather it denotes “digging,” furthermore, it is plural, and it is not indefinite (as in “some cave”) but it is definite (as in “the trenches” or “his trenches”).
This leads me to picture David using trenches or pits that he had dug as part of a national defense plan for just such a time as this.
In addition to the fear factor, Hushai also cleverly appeals to Absalom’s pride to delay Ahithophel’s plan.
Hushai says, in effect, “Why let Ahithophel get all the glory? You, O Absalom, ought to be the one riding like a king in the midst of a vast army, crushing all your foes beneath your feet!
Of course that will take a larger war mobilization effort to draft soldiers from all over the contry, but just think how grand you will feel riding at the head of an army as vast as the sand upon the seashore! Think about it!
Imagine scrubbing out every last vestige of support for your father. If you had an army big enough, you could do anything – you could even destroy a city to the point where there were no longer even two bricks stuck together!” Now, that’s power!
It is a common tactic of salesmen to appeal to your fears or to your pride, like Hushai did, to get you to buy their product or do what they want you to do. Not everyone out there who is giving advice to you is giving you good advice. There are a lot of people out there who are giving out bad advice, sometimes they don’t even know that it’s bad advice.
Growing in Biblical wisdom means recognizing when someone is playing up your fears or pandering to your pride and responding with caution, and replacing that fear and that pride with humble trust in God, perhaps simply with a prayer in the name of Jesus for wisdom and help.
And growing in Biblical wisdom means taking in God’s word, the Bible, through your eyes and your ears, so that you know what God’s standards of truth and righteousness are, and you can identify – and turn away from – bad advice that doesn’t line up with God’s word.
17:14 Then Absalom said, along with all the men of Israel, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel!” For Yahweh had decreed to subvert the good advice of Ahithophel, in order that Yahweh might bring His calamity {upon} Absalom.
What is fascinating is that:
David prayed that God would turn Ahithophel’s counsel to foolishness,
and David sent Hushai to subvert Ahithophel’s counsel, which he then does,
but the summary statement in v. 14 is that this happened because God decreed for Ahithophel’s counsel to be subverted.
David prays and acts according to God’s will, and God commands that it be done.
Do you understand that you who trust Jesus have the same opportunity to pray and act and see the power of God come in behind you and be a part of making impossible things happen?
Jesus said in John 14:12-14 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Do you believe that? Of course, if you pray in Jesus’ name, you need to be certain that it is the kind of thing Jesus would want to do, but hey, what are you praying for?
In the midst of a topsy-turvy world, where powerful people do bad things, we can reassure ourselves that God is sovereignly guiding history, and nothing is outside of His control.
Psalm 33:10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
Prov. 19:21 There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the LORD'S counsel that will stand.
Prov. 21:30-31 There is no wisdom or understanding Or counsel against the LORD. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But deliverance is of the LORD.
Job 5:12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot carry out their plans.
Isaiah 8:10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; Speak the word, but it will not stand, For God is with us."
Remember, Absalom had the ark right there with him all the time, and the priests with the word of God right there. He could have gotten really good advice rather than worldly-wise advice from Ahithohel or deceptive advice from Hushai.
We likewise need to go to our Bibles and to prayer for good counsel, as well as to genuinely-godly friends and authorities
and stop consulting with the crooked world. That means not subscribing to certain news sources and blogs and entertainment feeds, not idly hanging out with certain people, and not browsing just any content that is pushed to you.
Psalm 1: “Oh the blessings of the man who didn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, didn't stand in the path of sinners, and didn't sit in the bench of the scornful; for his delight was in the law of Yahweh, And he meditated in the law of Him day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, who his fruit gives in its season, his leaf does not wither; and all which he does prospers. Not so the wicked! for they will be like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, and sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.” (NAW)
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT |
15 Καὶ Αβεσσαλωμ καὶ πᾶς X X ἀνὴρ Ισραηλ εἰσῆλθον εἰς Ιερουσαλημ καὶ Αχιτοφελ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ. |
15 And Abessalom and all X the men of Israel went into Jerusalem, and Achitophel with him. |
15 But Absalom and all his people X X came into Jerusalem, and Achitophel was with him. |
15 And Absalom, and all the people the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. |
15 Now, as for Absalom, he and all his people of the men of Israel entered Jerusalem, Ahithophel along with him. |
15 וְאַבְשָׁלוֹם וְכָל-הָעָם אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵלB בָּאוּ יְרוּשָׁלִָם וַאֲחִיתֹפֶל אִתּוֹ: |
16 καὶ ἐγενήθη ἡνίκα ἦλθεν Χουσι ὁ Αρχι ἑταῖρος Δαυιδ πρὸς Αβεσσαλωμ, καὶ εἶπεν Χουσι πρὸς Αβεσσαλωμ Ζήτω ὁ βασιλεύς X X X. |
16
And it came to pass when Chusi the |
16
And X
when
Chusai the Arachite, David's friend, was come to Absalom, X
|
16
And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was
come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, [God]
|
16 And it happened that just when David’s friend Hushai the Archite came to Absalom, then Hushai said to Absalom, “[Long] live the king! [Long] live the king!” |
16 וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר- בָּא חוּשַׁי הָאַרְכִּי רֵעֶה דָוִד אֶל- אַבְשָׁלוֹם וַיֹּאמֶר חוּשַׁי אֶל-אַבְשָׁלֹם יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ: |
17 καὶ εἶπεν Αβεσσαλωμ πρὸς Χουσι Τοῦτο τὸ ἔλεός σου μετὰ τοῦ ἑταίρου σου; ἵνα τί οὐκ [ἀπ]ῆλθες μετὰ τοῦ ἑταίρου σου; |
17 And Abessalom said to Chusi, Is this thy kindness to thy friend? why wentest thou not [forth] with thy friend? |
17
And Absalom said to |
17 And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this thy kindness to thy friend? why wentest thou not with thy friend? |
17 Then Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your lovingkindness to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” |
17 וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶל- חוּשַׁי זֶה חַסְדְּךָ אֶת- רֵעֶךָ לָמָּה לֹא-הָלַכְתָּ אֶת-רֵעֶךָ: |
18
καὶ εἶπεν Χουσι
πρὸς Αβεσσαλωμ
Οὐχί, ἀλλὰ
[κατόπισθεν]
οὗ ἐξελέξατο
κύριος
καὶ ὁ λαὸς οὗτος
καὶ πᾶς ἀνὴρ
Ισραηλ, |
18
And Chusi said to Abessalom, Nay, but [following]
whom the Lord, and this people, and all Israel have chosen, -- |
18
And Chusai answered Absalom: Nay: for I will be |
18
And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay; but whom the LORD, and this
people, and all the men of Israel, cho |
18 And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for he whom Yahweh has chosen (along with this people and all the men of Israel) I will {belong to him}, so it is with with him that I will dwell. |
18 וַיֹּאמֶר חוּשַׁי אֶל-אַבְשָׁלֹם לֹא כִּי אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר יְהוָה וְהָעָם הַזֶּה וְכָל-אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹאC אֶהְיֶה וְאִתּוֹ אֵשֵׁב: |
19 καὶ τὸ δεύτερον τίνι ἐγὼ δουλεύσω; οὐχὶ ἐνώπιον τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ; καθάπερ ἐδούλευσα ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρός σου, οὕτως ἔσομαι ἐνώπιόν σου. |
19 And again, whom shall I X serve? should I not in the presence of his son? As I served in the sight of thy father, so will I be in thy presence. |
19
Besides this, whom shall I X
serve?
is it not the X
|
19 And again, whom should I X serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence. |
19 And secondly, who is it that I myself should serve? Shouldn’t I be in the presence of his son? Just as I served in the presence of your father so shall I be in your presence.” |
19 וְהַשֵּׁנִית לְמִי אֲנִי אֶעֱבֹד הֲלוֹא לִפְנֵי בְנוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר עָבַדְתִּי לִפְנֵי אָבִיךָ כֵּן אֶהְיֶה לִפָנֶיךָ: פ |
20 καὶ εἶπεν Αβεσσαλωμ πρὸς Αχιτοφελ Φέρετε ἑαυτοῖς βουλὴν τί ποιήσωμεν. |
20 And Abessalom said to Achitophel, Deliberate among yourselves [concerning] what we should do. |
20 And Absalom said to Achitophel: Consult X X what we are to do. |
20 Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do. |
20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Y’all come up with a plan among yourselves. What should we do?” |
20 וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶל-אֲחִיתֹפֶל הָבוּ לָכֶם עֵצָה מַה-נַּעֲשֶׂה: |
21 καὶ εἶπεν Αχιτοφελ πρὸς Αβεσσαλωμ Εἴσελθε πρὸς τὰς παλλακὰς τοῦ πατρός σου, ἃς κατέλιπεν φυλάσσειν τὸν οἶκον [αὐτοῦ], καὶ ἀκούσεται πᾶς Ισραηλ ὅτι κατῄσχυνας τὸν πατέρα σου, καὶ ἐνισχύσουσιν αἱ χεῖρες πάντων τῶν μετὰ σοῦ. |
21 And Achitophel said to Abessalom, Go in to thy father's concubines, whom he left to keep his house; and all Israel shall hear that thou hast dishonoured thy father; and the hands of all that are with thee shall be strengthened. |
21 And Achitophel said to Absalom: Go in to the concubines of thy father, whom he hath left to keep the house: that when all Israel shall hear that thou hast disgraced thy father, their hands X X may be strengthened with thee. |
21 And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong. |
21 Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines whom he left home to tend to the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of all who are with you will become strong.” |
21 וַיֹּאמֶר אֲחִיתֹפֶל אֶל- אַבְשָׁלֹם בּוֹא אֶל-פִּלַגְשֵׁי אָבִיךָ אֲשֶׁר הִנִּיחַ לִשְׁמוֹר הַבָּיִת וְשָׁמַע כָּל-יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי-נִבְאַשְׁתָּD אֶת-אָבִיךָ וְחָזְקוּ יְדֵי כָּל- אֲשֶׁר אִתָּךְ: |
22 καὶ ἔπηξαν τὴν σκηνὴν τῷ Αβεσσαλωμ ἐπὶ τὸ δῶμα, καὶ εἰσῆλθεν Αβεσσαλωμ πρὸς τὰς παλλακὰς τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ κατ᾿ ὀφθαλμοὺς παντὸς Ισραηλ. |
22
And they pitched |
22
So they spread |
22
So they spread Absalom |
22 So they pitched Absalom’s tent for him on the housetop, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines before the eyes of all Israel. |
22 וַיַּטּוּ לְאַבְשָׁלוֹם הָאֹהֶל עַל-הַגָּג וַיָּבֹא אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶל-פִּלַגְשֵׁי אָבִיו לְעֵינֵי כָּל-יִשְׂרָאֵל: |
23
καὶ ἡ βουλὴ
Αχιτοφελ, ἣν
ἐβουλεύσατο
ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις
ταῖς |
23
And the counsel of Achitophel, which he counselled in |
23 Now the counsel of Achitophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man should consult X X God: so was all the counsel of Achitophel, both [when he was] with David, and [when he was] with Absalom. |
23
And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days,
was
as if a man had enquired at the |
23 Indeed, the counsel of Ahithophel which he counseled in those days was like when {a man} would consult with the word of God. The counsel of Ahithophel was like that, both for David as well as for Absalom. |
23 וַעֲצַת אֲחִיתֹפֶל אֲשֶׁר יָעַץ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם כַּאֲשֶׁר יִשְׁאַל-זזE בִּדְבַר הָאֱלֹהִים כֵּן כָּל-עֲצַת אֲחִיתֹפֶל גַּם-לְדָוִד גַּם לְאַבְשָׁלֹם: ס |
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT |
1 καὶ εἶπεν Αχιτοφελ πρὸς Αβεσσαλωμ Ἐπιλέξω δὴ [ἐμαυτῷ] δώδεκα χιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἀναστήσομαι καὶ καταδιώξω ὀπίσω Δαυιδ τὴν νύκτα· |
1 And Achitophel said to Abessalom, Let me now choose out [for myself] twelve thousand men, and I will arise and follow after David this night: |
1
And Achitophel said to Absalom: I will choose |
1 Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: |
1 Ahithophel also said to Absalom, “Please let me select 12,000 men, so I can get up and chase after David tonight. |
1 וַיֹּאמֶר אֲחִיתֹפֶל אֶל-אַבְשָׁלֹם אֶבְחֲרָה נָּא שְׁנֵים- עָשָׂר אֶלֶף אִישׁ וְאָקוּמָה וְאֶרְדְּפָה אַחֲרֵי-דָוִד הַלָּיְלָה: |
2 καὶ ἐπελεύσομαι ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν, καὶ αὐτὸς κοπιῶν καὶ ἐκλελυμένος χερσίν, καὶ ἐκστήσω αὐτόν, καὶ φεύξεται πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ὁ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πατάξω τὸν βασιλέα μονώτατον· |
2 and I will come upon him when he is weary and weak-handed, and I will strike him with terror; and all the people X with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only [of all]. |
2 And coming upon him ([for] he is now weary, and weak handed) I will defeat him: and when all the people is put to flight that is with him, X I will kill the king [who will be left] alone. |
2 And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only: |
2 Thus I will go against him while he is weary and his hands are weak, and I will frighten him. Then all the people that is with him will flee, and I will strike down the king by himself. |
2 וְאָבוֹא עָלָיו וְהוּא יָגֵעַ וּרְפֵהF יָדַיִם וְהַחֲרַדְתִּי אֹתוֹ וְנָס כָּל- הָעָם אֲשֶׁר-אִתּוֹ וְהִכֵּיתִי אֶת- הַמֶּלֶךְ לְבַדּוֹ: |
3
καὶ ἐπιστρέψω
πάντα τὸν λαὸν
πρὸς σέ, ὃν τρόπον
ἐπιστρέφει
ἡ νύμφη [πρὸς
τὸν ἄνδρα
αὐτῆς]·
|
3
And I will bring back all the people to thee, as |
3 And I will bring back all the people X X, as if they were but one man: [for] thou seekest [but one] man: [and] all the people shall be in peace. |
3 And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.G |
3 Thus I will return all the people to you like the turning of the {bride to her husband.} If you take {the life of only one} man, {then} all the people will be at peace.” |
3 וְאָשִׁיבָה כָל-הָעָם אֵלֶיךָ כְּשׁוּב הַכֹּלH הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה מְבַקֵּשׁ Iכָּל-הָעָם יִהְיֶה שָׁלוֹם: |
4 καὶ εὐθὴς ὁ λόγος ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς Αβεσσαλωμ καὶ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς πάντων τῶν πρεσβυτέρων Ισραηλ. |
4 And the saying was right in the eyes of Abessalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel. |
4
And his saying |
4 And the saying [pleased] X X Absalom well, and X X all the elders of Israel. |
4 Well, this statement seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel. |
4 וַיִּישַׁר הַדָּבָר בְּעֵינֵי אַבְשָׁלֹם וּבְעֵינֵי כָּל-זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: ס |
5
καὶ εἶπεν Αβεσσαλωμ
Καλέσ |
5 And Abessalom said, Call now also Chusi the Arachite, and let us hear what is in his mouth, even in his [also]. |
5
But Absalom said: Call X
X Chusai
the Arachite, and let us hear what he also X
X |
5
Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us
hear likewise what he X
X |
5 But Absalom said, “Please call for Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear also from him what is in his mouth.” |
5 וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם קְרָאJ נָא גַּם לְחוּשַׁי הָאַרְכִּי וְנִשְׁמְעָה מַה-בְּפִיו גַּם-הוּא: |
6 καὶ εἰσῆλθεν Χουσι πρὸς Αβεσσαλωμ· καὶ εἶπεν Αβεσσαλωμ πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγων Κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο ἐλάλησεν Αχιτοφελ· εἰ ποιήσομεν κατὰ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ; εἰ [δὲK] μή, σὺ λάλησον. |
6 And Chusi went in to Abessalom, and Abessalom spoke to him, saying, After this manner spoke Achitophel: shall we do according to his word? [but] if not, do thou speak. |
6
And when Chusai was come to Absalom, Absalom said to him X:
Achitophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we |
6
And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him,
saying, Ahithophel
hath spoken after this manner: shall we do |
6 Then Hushai went to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him saying, “Ahithophel stated things this way. Should we do it his way? If not, speak yourself.” |
6 וַיָּבֹא חוּשַׁי אֶל-אַבְשָׁלוֹם וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֵלָיו לֵאמֹר כַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה דִּבֶּר אֲחִיתֹפֶל הֲנַעֲשֶׂה אֶת-דְּבָרוֹ אִם- אַיִן אַתָּה דַבֵּר: ס |
7 καὶ εἶπεν Χουσι πρὸς Αβεσσαλωμ Οὐκ ἀγαθὴ αὕτη ἡ βουλή, ἣν ἐβουλεύσατο Αχιτοφελ X τὸ ἅπαξ τοῦτο. |
7 And Chusi said to Abessalom, This counsel which Achitophel has counselled X this one time is not good. |
7
And Chusai said to Absalom: The counsel that Achitophel hath |
7
And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath
|
7 So Hushai said to Absalom, “The advice which Ahithophel has advised is not good at this time.” |
7 וַיֹּאמֶר חוּשַׁי אֶל-אַבְשָׁלוֹם לֹא-טוֹבָה הָעֵצָה אֲשֶׁר-יָעַץ אֲחִיתֹפֶל בַּפַּעַם הַזֹּאת: |
8 καὶ εἶπεν Χουσι Σὺ οἶδας τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας αὐτοῦ ὅτι δυνατοί εἰσιν [σφόδρα] καὶ κατάπικροι τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτῶν ὡς ἄρκος ἠτεκνωμένη ἐν ἀγρῷ [καὶ ὡς ὗς τραχεῖα ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ], καὶ ὁ πατήρ σου ἀνὴρ πολεμιστὴς καὶ οὐ μὴ καταλύσῃ τὸν λαόν· |
8 And Chusi said, Thou X knowest thy father and his men, that they are [very] mighty, and bitter in their spirit, as a bereaved bear in the field, [and as a wild boar in the plain]: and thy father is a man of war, and will not give the people rest. |
8
And [again]
Chusai said: Thou X
knowest
thy father, and the men [that
are with]
him, that they are [very]
valiant, and bitter
in
their mind,
as a bear raging
in the |
8
|
8 Then Hushai explained, “You yourself know your father and his men, that they are mighty men and they are bitter of soul, like a bear bereaved of cubs in the field. Also, your father is a man of war, so he will not spend the night with his people. |
8 וַיֹּאמֶרL חוּשַׁי אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ אֶת-אָבִיךָ וְאֶת- אֲנָשָׁיו כִּי גִבֹּרִים הֵמָּה וּמָרֵי נֶפֶשׁM הֵמָּהN כְּדֹבO שַׁכּוּלP בַּשָּׂדֶה וְאָבִיךָ אִישׁ מִלְחָמָה וְלֹא יָלִין Qאֶת-הָעָם: |
9
ἰδοὺ [γὰρ]
αὐτὸς νῦν κέκρυπται
ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν |
9
[For,]
behold, he is now hidden in one of the |
9
|
9
Behold, he is hid now in some X
pitX,
or in some other
X
placeX:
and it will come to pass, when some of them [be]
overthrow |
9 Probably now he is hiding himself in one of his trenches or in one of his hiding-places, and it will happen, when he gets the drop on them at the outset, that he who hears will hear of it and say that a rout happened to the people who followed Absalom. |
9 הִנֵּה עַתָּה הוּא-נֶחְבָּאR בְּאַחַת הַפְּחָתִיםS אוֹ בְּאַחַד הַמְּקוֹמֹת וְהָיָה כִּנְפֹלT בָּהֶם בַּתְּחִלָּה וְשָׁמַע הַשֹּׁמֵעַ וְאָמַר הָיְתָה מַגֵּפָה בָּעָם אֲשֶׁר אַחֲרֵי אַבְשָׁלֹם: |
10 καί γε αὐτὸς υἱὸς δυνάμεως, οὗ ἡ καρδία καθὼς ἡ καρδία τοῦ λέοντος, τηκομένη τακήσεται, ὅτι οἶδεν πᾶς Ισραηλ ὅτι δυνατὸς ὁ πατήρ σου καὶ υἱοὶ δυνάμεως οἱ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ. |
10
Then even he that is X
strong,
whose heart is as the heart of |
10
And X
the
most
valiant
man whose heart is as the heart of |
10
And he also that
is
X
valiant,
whose heart is
as the heart of |
10 Then even the one who is an army-guy - whose heart is like the heart of the lion - will surely be melted, because all Israel knows that your father is a mighty-man, as well as the army guys who are with him. |
10 וְהוּא גַם- בֶּן-חַיִלU אֲשֶׁר לִבּוֹ כְּלֵב הָאַרְיֵה הִמֵּס יִמָּס כִּי-יֹדֵעַ כָּל-יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי-גִבּוֹר אָבִיךָ וּבְנֵי-חַיִל אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ: |
11 ὅτι [οὕτως συμβουλεύων] ἐγὼ συνεβούλευσα, καὶ συναγόμενος συναχθήσεται ἐπὶ σὲ πᾶς Ισραηλ ἀπὸ Δαν καὶ ἕως Βηρσαβεε ὡς ἡ ἄμμος ἡ ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης εἰς πλῆθος, καὶ τὸ πρόσωπόν σου πορευόμενον ἐν μέσῳ [αὐτῶν], |
11 For [thus] I have [surely] given counsel, that all Israel be generally gathered to thee from Dan even to Bersabee, as the sand that is upon the sea-shore for multitude: and that thy presence go in the midst [of them]. |
11
But
[this
seemeth to me to be good]
counsel: Let all Israel be X
gathered to thee, from Dan X
to
Bersabee, as the sand X
of
the sea |
11
Therefore
I counsel that all Israel be generally
gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that
is
by the sea for multitude;
and that thou X
go
[to
battle]
in [thine
own]
|
11 That’s why I advise that all Israel - from Dan all the way to Beersheba - be diligently recruited to you, like the sand which is at the sea in its multitude, with your presence going in {their} midst. |
11 כִּי יָעַצְתִּיV הֵאָסֹף יֵאָסֵף עָלֶיךָ כָל-יִשְׂרָאֵל מִדָּן וְעַד-בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע כַּחוֹל אֲשֶׁר-עַל-הַיָּם לָרֹבW וּפָנֶיךָX הֹלְכִים בַּקְרָבY: |
12
καὶ ἥξομεν πρὸς
αὐτὸν εἰς ἕνα
τῶν τόπων, οὗ ἐὰν
εὕρωμεν
αὐτὸν ἐκεῖ, καὶ
|
12
And we will come upon him in one of the places where Zwe
shall find
him X,
and we will |
12
And we shall come upon him in |
12
So shall we come upon him in |
12 Then we will go to him - to one of the places where he will be found there, and we will alight upon him like when the dew falls upon the ground, and {we} will not let even one man remain with him, even among all the men who were with him! |
12 וּבָאנוּ אֵלָיו בְּאַחַתAB הַמְּקוֹמֹת אֲשֶׁר נִמְצָא שָׁם וְנַחְנוּAC עָלָיו כַּאֲשֶׁר יִפֹּל הַטַּל עַל-הָאֲדָמָה וְלֹא-נוֹתַרAD בּוֹ וּבְכָל-הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר-אִתּוֹ גַּם-אֶחָד: |
13
καὶ ἐὰν εἰς
πόλιν συναχθῇ,
καὶ λήμψεται
πᾶς Ισραηλ πρὸς
τὴν πόλιν ἐκείνην
σχοινία καὶ
συροῦμεν |
13
And if he shall have taken
refuge
[with
his army]
in a city, then shall all Israel take ropes to that city, and we
will draw |
13
And if he shall |
13
Moreover, if he be
gotten
into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and
we will draw |
13 And, in case he rallies to a city, all Israel should also carry ropes to that city, and we will drag {it} off to the river until the point that there is not found there even one thing attached [to another]!” |
13 וְאִם-אֶל-עִיר יֵאָסֵף וְהִשִּׂיאוּ כָל-יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל-הָעִיר הַהִיא חֲבָלִים וְסָחַבְנוּAE אֹתוֹAF עַד-הַנַּחַל עַד אֲשֶׁר-לֹא- נִמְצָא שָׁם גַּם-צְרוֹרAG: פ |
14 καὶ εἶπεν Αβεσσαλωμ καὶ πᾶς ἀνὴρ Ισραηλ Ἀγαθὴ ἡ βουλὴ Χουσι τοῦ Αραχι ὑπὲρ τὴν βουλὴν Αχιτοφελ· καὶ κύριος ἐνετείλατο διασκεδάσαι τὴν βουλὴν Αχιτοφελ τὴν ἀγαθήν, ὅπως ἂν ἐπαγάγῃ κύριος ἐπὶ Αβεσσαλωμ τὰ κακὰ πάντα. -- |
14 And Abessalom, and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Chusi the Arachite is better than the counsel of Achitophel. For the Lord ordained to disconcert the good counsel of Achitophel, that the Lord might bring all evil upon Abessalom. |
14
And Absalom, and all the men of Israel said: The counsel of Chusai
the Arachite is better than the counsel of Achitophel: and
|
14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom. |
14 Then Absalom said, along with all the men of Israel, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel!” For Yahweh had decreed to subvert the good advice of Ahithophel, in order that Yahweh might bring his calamity {upon} Absalom. |
14 וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם וְכָל-אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל טוֹבָה עֲצַת חוּשַׁי הָאַרְכִּי מֵעֲצַת אֲחִיתֹפֶל וַיהוָה צִוָּה לְהָפֵרAH אֶת-עֲצַת אֲחִיתֹפֶל הַטּוֹבָה לְבַעֲבוּר הָבִיא יְהוָה אֶל- אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶת- הָרָעָה: ס |
12 Sam. 5:1 “Then all the tribes of Israel... and all the elders of Israel went to the King at Hebron, and King David contracted a covenant for them in Hebron in the presence of Yahweh. Then they anointed David to be king over Israel.” (NAW)
2ἐκλελεγμένος (“chosen” – the same Greeek verb used in the LXX of Hushai’s statement) is the reading of the oldest-known manuscripts of this passage; but the Byzantine majority read ἀγαπητός (“beloved”).
3Compare the NT Greek (οὗ εἰμι, ᾧ καὶ λατρεύω) with the OT Greek of Hushai’s statement (αὐτῷ ἔσομαι καὶ… δουλεύσω).
4Χριστοῦ ἐστε - compare to the OT Greek of Hushai’s statement αὐτῷ ἔσομαι.
5δουλεύετε - compare to the OT Greek of Hushai’s statement: δουλεύσω
6 καθήσεσθε – compare to the OT Greek of Hushai’s statement: καθήσομαι (lit. “sit,” by extention “dwell/abide/remain”)
AMy
original chart includes the NASB, NIV and ESV, but their copyright
restrictions have forced me to remove them from the
publicly-available edition of this chart. (NAW is my translation.)
When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text),
I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses
a wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in
my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the
Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original
text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a
word which is in the original text, I insert an X. (I also place an
X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the
English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help
the reader see correlations between the various editions and
versions when there are more than two different translations of a
given word. The only known Dead Sea Scroll containing 2 Samuel 16 &
17 is 4Q51 Samuela containing parts of verses 1-22 of
chapter 16 and verses 2, 3, 23, 24, 25 and 29 of chapter 17, dated
between 50-25 B.C.. Where the DSS is legible and in agreement with
the MT, the MT is colored purple. Where
the DSS supports the LXX (or Vulgate/Syriac) with omissions or text
not in the MT, I have highlighted
with yellow the LXX
and its translation into English, and where I have accepted that
into my NAW translation, I have marked it with {pointed brackets}.
BGoldman noted that “men of Israel” is used repeatedly in this story to refer to Absalom’s followers, whereas “the people” is used to refer to David’s followers.
CAll (including Qere, Syriac, LXX, Vulgate, and Targums, and even other Hebrew manuscripts and all the English versions) seem to agree that the MT substituted a homophone (לא “not”) for the correct word (לו "to him”).
DDSS seems to add a paragogic he to the end of this word, which probably doesn’t change the meaning. The only other occurences of this verb in the Niphal stem are 1 Sam. 13:4 and 2 Sam. 10:6.
EThe Qere here is אִישׁ = “a man,” and there are multiple Hebrew manuscripts with the Qere reading instead. The LXX, Vulgate, Targums, and Syriac also read according to the Qere. The DSS is obliterated and unavailable for comparison.
FCf Deut. 25:18 describing the Amalekites attacking the “faint and weary” עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ stragglers of the Israelites. The only other occurence of the latter (which is the former in 2 Sam. 17) is in Eccl. 1:8 “All things are wearisome…,” and the only other occurences of the other are Num. 13:18 “whether they are strong or weak”; Job 4:3 “strengthen weak hands”; and Isa. 35:3 “Strengthen the drooping hands and make firm the feeble knees.”
GNKJV is significantly different: “Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return [except] the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace." This follows the Geneva’s interpretation of the opening coph preposition as a temporal (“when”) as well as the AJV. The NET Bible, on the other hand, stretched the meaning of the opening coph preposition as “in exchange for” in order to get yet another plausible interpretation. The Lucian rescription translated the coph preposition in a more frequently-used way: “like/as,” and the LXX translation is similar “in the manner of.”
HLXX
interpreted hakol as “bride” (which in Hebrew is
כּלּה),
followed by the ESV and NLT. The problem is that this pretty much
requires adding the words “to her husband,” which are
not in the MT or Vulgate. English versions KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, NET
translated it “all/every,” which also seems to be the
interpretation of the Syriac לכלה.
The Vulgate omitted the word “all/bride” altogether.
However, the DSS, even though it is partially obliterated, does not
support the reading of the MT, whereas it does support the reading
of the LXX with extra space for “to her husband” and
with readable letters from the Hebrew words for “only”
and for “soul” (yes those letters are in the Hebrew
words for “seek” and “who/man” but the way
they are spaced and sequenced in the DSS [ ?**
q*
], they can’t be the wording of the
MT.
https://hb.openscriptures.org/structure/OshbVerse/index.html?b=2Sam&c=17&v=3
associated the phrases of the MT thus:
And
I will bring back all the people | unto thee ||| as the whole
returned || the man | whom thou seekest || all the people | shall be
in peace.
ILXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and some Targums as well as several Hebrew manuscripts insert a conjunction here.
JLXX, Syriac, and Vulgate all render this verb plural instead of singular. Plural seems more plausible in the circumstances.
KSyriac also adds a conjunction.
LTsumura (NICOT) noted that Hushai’s speech is about 3x the length of Ahithophel’s, suggesting that even in giving a long, drawn-out speech, he is trying to buy time.
MK&D = “of a ferocious disposition”
NThe Masoretic pointing indicates that this pronoun goes with the preceeding phrase (“bitter of soul are they”) not the following phrase (not “they are like a bear...”). https://hb.openscriptures.org/structure/OshbVerse/index.html?b=2Sam&c=17&v=8
OWillet made the point that this noun is masculine and therefore can’t be a “she-bear.” BDB says it is masculine, but later lexicons (such as Holiday and JDP - Groves-Wheeler Westminster Morphology and Lemma Database) label it as either gender.
PThe
Targums תְכִיל
seems to have the
meaning of “taken by surprise” – perhaps also the
meaning of the Syriac דתברא
? The LXX is
literally “childless,” but the text it adds next about a
“wild boar” does not seem to be the same text that the
Vulgate (followed curiously by the NLT) was rendering when it added
text about “removed cubs.” The Syriac and Targums match
the MT which doesn’t have any of those extra words. The extra
words in the LXX and Vulgate add descriptiveness, but do not add
anything new to the gist of Hushai’s statement.
cf.
Proverbs 17:12 “Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs,
Rather than a fool in his folly.” (NKJV) and Hosea 13:8 “I
will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs” The only
other instances of this verb in the Bible are Canticles 4:2/6:6
“your teeth are like sheep... none barrenKJV/lost
youngNASB/alone/missingNIV”, and Isaiah
49:21/Jer. 18:21 “lost children/childless/bereaved.”
QThis word can either signal that “the people” is the direct object of the verb, as the LXX and some Targums interpreted it (“he will not lodge the people”), or it can mean “with,” as the Vulgate, English versions, and some Targums interpreted it (“he will not lodge WITH the people”).
RCf 1 Sam. 13:6 “Then each man of Israel saw that it was a crisis, for their army had been put in a stranglehold, so the people hid themselves in the caves and in the brambles and in the rock-mountains and in the cellars and in the cisterns.” (NAW) Also 1 Sam. 14:11 & 22, 19:2, and 23:23.
SThis
word is rare. It is not the
normal Hebrew word for “cave” (which is חר
or
מערה)
or the most common word
for “pit”
(באר/בור).
Besides the other occurrence in 2 Sam 18:17 (describing the burial
pit of Absalom), there is the “fear, pit,
and trap” in Isa. 24:17-18/Jer. 48:43-44, and there is the
“hole/cave/chasm/cleft” in Jer. 48:28, and the
“trap/pitfall” in Lam. 3:47. BDB suggested that it is
based on a verb which means “to dig.” This meaning,
together with the plural form of this word and the adjective “one”
modifying it, steer me away from interpreting it as simply “a
cave,” and make me wonder if David had used trenches or pits
in past battles to his advantage or if he had dug some as part of a
national defense plan. K&D on the other hand, suggested
“פְּחָתִים
are hiding-places that are strong by nature, מְקֹומֹת
are places rendered strong by art.”
TKJV and ESV interpret “with them” to be the subject of “when falls,” but the participle for “falls” is singular, and the pronoun “them” is plural, so the subject of the participle must be “he,” that is, David.
Ucf. 1 Samuel 14:52 “And there was heavy warfare against the Philistines all of Saul's days, so when Saul saw any strong man or any son of valor, he would gather him to himself” (NAW) - also 18:17.
V“a performative perfect, hence the translation I advise, rather than ‘I advised.’” ~Tsumura (NICOT)
Wcf. 1 Sam. 13:5 “Meanwhile, the Philistines were assembling 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horses, and a horde as vast as the sand which is upon the shore of the sea for war against Israel…” (NAW)
XK&D took the plural “your faces” to be the subject of “going.”
YLXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and Targums add the pronoun “them” to the end, supporting the word being interpreted according to the more common meaning of “midst” rather than as the more-obscure noun for “battle.” The Geneva Bible, however, translated it “battle,” followed by KJV, K&D, and most contemporary English versions, and there are about 8 other places where this word seems to mean “battle” rather than “midst”: Job 38:23; Psalms 55:18,21; 68:30; 78:9; 144:1; Eccl. 9:18; and Zech. 14:3.
ZThe ancient Hebrew text without the vowels could be interpreted as a 1st person plural Qal perfect (“we found”) or as a 3rd person singular Niphal perfect (“he was found”). The LXX chose the former, whereas the Masorites (followed by the Vulgate and English versions) chose the latter. It doesn’t really make for a different meaning.
AAThe Hebrew word for “we” bears resemblance to the word for “encamp” but wouldn’t quite match the spelling that “we will encamp” would require.
ABQere notes suggest בְּאַחַד, the masculine form instead of the feminine form, since macom/place is masculine.
ACThe JDP - Groves-Wheeler Westminster Morphology and Lemma Database parses this as a contraction of the Hebrew pronoun for “we,” and Beal & Banks’ OT Parsing Guide appears to concurr, but the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, LXX, Vulgate, and most English versions interpreted this as a verb (“alight/fall”). K&D wrote, “It is more correct, therefore, to take נַחְנוּ ... as the first pers. perf. of נוּחַ, as the early translators have done: so do we let ourselves down upon him.”
ADThe JDP - Groves-Wheeler Westminster Morphology and Lemma Database parses this as Hiphil Imperfect 3ms (“he will cause to remain”) and with this, Davidson’s Analytical Lexicon agrees. Beal & Banks’ OT Parsing Guide, however, labels it as Hiphil Jussive 1cp (“let us cause to remain”), and the Open Source Hebrew Bible labels it as Niphal Perfect 3ms (“he will be left”). The latter two make sense, but the first does not. Since the LXX and Vulgate followed the 1cs form, I’m following that. I also think that, despite the popularity of translating the beth prepositions which follow as ablatives (“of him… of them”), that meaning is pretty much the opposite of what that preposition means, so I have rendered it “with him… with them.” The same gist still comes through either way, however.
AERare
word found as a verb only here and in Jer. 15:3; 22:19; 49:20; and
50:45.
“This strange suggestion, how impracticable
soever, being new, served for an amusement, and recommended itself
by pleasing the fancy, for they would all smile at the humour of
it.” ~Matthew Henry
AFLXX changes this masculine pronoun to feminine, as do the Latin and the English versions, to match the feminine singular Hebrew word for “city.”
AGNowhere else in any English translation of the the Bible is this word translated “pebble.” It occurs in Gen. 42:35; 1 Sam. 9:1; 25:29; Job 14:17; Prov. 7:20; Cant. 1:13; Amos 9:9; and Hag. 1:6, and most of the time it is translated “bundle.”
AHcf. the same Hebrew word in 2 Sam. 15:34 “...you may subvert Ahithophel's counsel for me.”