Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.
| Word | Hebrew | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do | וְעָשִׂ֖יתָ ve.'a.Si.ta | H6213 | to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular |
| wisdom | כְּחָכְמָתֶ֑ךָ ke.cha.khe.ma.Te.kha | H2451 | wisdom (in a good sense) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular |
| head | שֵׂיבָת֛וֹ sei.va.To | H7872 | old age · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular |
| down | תוֹרֵ֧ד to.Red | H3381 | to descend (literally · verb, hiphil jussive, 2nd person masculine singular |
| grave | שְׁאֹֽל she.'Ol | H7585 | Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean re… · noun, common both genders singular absolute |
| peace | בְּשָׁלֹ֖ם be.sha.Lom | H7965 | safe · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Do . . . according to thy wisdom--Joab's immense popularity with the army required that any proceedings instituted against him should be taken with great prudence and deliberation.
Let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace - It would have been an insult to justice not to have taken the life of Joab. David was culpable in delaying it so long; but probably the circumstances of his government would not admit of his doing it sooner. According to the law of God, Joab, having murdered Abner and Amasa, should die. And had not David commanded Solomon to perform this act of justice, he could not have died in the approbation of his Maker.
Do therefore according to thy wisdom,.... Which though young began to appear in him, even in the life of his father; he therefore exhorts him to use the wisdom he had, and take the first and fittest opportunity to cut him off for his former murders and late treason, as a dangerous man to his government and the peace of it: and let not his hoary head go down to the grave in peace; that is, let him not die a natural, but a violent death; and let not his grey hairs be any argument for sparing him, or any reason for delaying the taking of him off, because he would in course die quickly; for he must be now an old man, as old as David, or perhaps older; since he had been his general forty years,…
Read the whole note in the consoleThe anointing of Solomon as king, which was effected by David's command (1 Kings 1), is only briefly mentioned in Ch1 23:1 in the words, "When David was old and full of days, he made his son Solomon king over Israel;" which serve as an introduction to the account of the arrangements made by David during the closing days of his life. After these arrangements have been described, there follow in 1 Chron 28 and 29 his last instructions and his death. The aged king gathered together the tribe-princes and the rest of the dignitaries and superior officers to a diet at Jerusalem, and having introduced Solomon to them as the successor chosen by God, exhorted them to keep the commandments of God, and…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Joab had supported David’s bid for kingship but had become too ambitious. He had murdered former military rivals Abner (2 Sam 3:22-30) and Amasa (2 Sam 20:10), as well as David’s son Absalom (2 Sam 18:1-18). A party to David’s murder of Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam 11:14-27), Joab had grown very powerful (2 Sam 20:23), and his backing of Adonijah posed a serious threat to Solomon.
And do not let his greying head go down to the grave in peace. Do not let him die a natural death [causing him] to fall into Gehinnom.6Dovid had Yoav’s ultimate welfare in mind.
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
