2 Samuel 13:23 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Samuel 13:23
And it came to pass after two full years, that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baalhazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
years
לִשְׁנָתַ֣יִםlish.na.Ta.yim
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual absolute
Absalom
לְאַבְשָׁל֔וֹםle.'av.sha.Lom
H53
Abshalom · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
sheepshearers
גֹֽזְזִים֙go.ze.Zim
H1494
to cut off · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Baal-hazor
בְּבַ֥עַלbe.Va.'al
H1178
Baal-Chatsor · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Ephraim
אֶפְרָ֑יִם'ef.Ra.yim
H669
Ephrajim · proper noun, a man's name
Absalom
אַבְשָׁל֖וֹם'av.sha.Lom
H53
Abshalom · proper noun, a man's name
invited
וַיִּקְרָ֥אvai.yik.Ra'
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
king’s
הַמֶּֽלֶךְha.Me.lekh
H4428
a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sons
בְּנֵ֥יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
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
Genesis 38:12-13 And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah’s wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he a…
1 Samuel 25:4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
1 Samuel 25:2 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand g…
1 Samuel 25:7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto t…
1 Samuel 25:36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for…
1 Kings 1:9 And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel, and called all his brethren the king’s sons,…
1 Kings 1:19 And he hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab th…
1 Kings 1:25 For he is gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king’s sons, and the captai…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 13:21-29
What Solomon says of the beginning of strife is as true of the beginning of all sin, it is as the letting forth of water; when once the flood-gates are plucked up, an inundation follows; one mischief begets another, and it is hard to say what shall be in the end thereof.
I. We are here told how David resented the tidings of Amnon's sin: He was very wroth, Sa2 13:21. So he had reason to be, that his own son should do such a wicked thing and draw him to be accessory to it. It would be a reproach to him for not giving him a better education; it would be a blot upon his family, the ruin of his daughter, a bad example to his kingdom, and a wrong to his son's soul. But was it enough for him to be…
Absalom had sheep-shearers in Baal-hazor, which is beside Ephraim--A sheep-shearing feast is a grand occasion in the East. Absalom proposed to give such an entertainment at his estate in Baal-hazor, about eight miles northeast of Jerusalem near a town called Ephraim (Jos 11:10). He first invited the king and his court; but the king declining, on account of the heavy expense to which the reception of royalty would subject him [Sa2 13:25], Absalom then limited the invitation to the king's sons [Sa2 13:26], which David the more readily agreed to, in the hope that it might tend to the promotion of brotherly harmony and union.
Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 13:23
Absalom had sheep-shearers - These were times in which feasts were made, to which the neighbors and relatives of the family were invited.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 13:23
And it came to pass after two full years,.... Two complete years after the rape was committed; so long Absalom kept it in his mind, and was contriving how to avenge it; he let it alone so long, that it might be thought by the king and Amnon, and all the family, that it was quite worn out of his mind, and entirely forgotten by him, and therefore might the more safely confide in him:
that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baalhazor, which is beside Ephraim; though a prince, the son of a king, he had his flocks, and attended to the care of them, and had shearers to shear them at the proper time of the year, which it now was. The Chinese shear their sheep three times a year, the spring, summer, and…
Dictionary and topics
Absalom — Father of peace; i.e., “peaceful” David’s son by Maacah (2 Sam. 3:3; comp. 1 Kings 1:6). He was noted for his personal beauty and for the extra-ordinary profusion of the hair of his head (2 Sam.…
Amnon — Faithful. (1.) One of the sons of Shammai, of the children of Ezra (1 Chr. 4:20; comp. 17). (2.) The eldest son of David, by Ahinoam of Jezreel (1 Chr. 3:1; 2 Sam. 3:2). Absalom caused him to be put…
Baal — Lord. (1.) The name appropriated to the principal male god of the Phoenicians. It is found in several places in the plural BAALIM (Judg. 2:11; 10:10; 1 Kings 18:18; Jer. 2:23; Hos. 2:17). Baal is…
Baal-hazor — Having a courtyard, or Baal’s village, the place on the borders of Ephraim and Benjamin where Absalom held the feast of sheep-shearing when Amnon was assassinated (2 Sam. 13:23). Probably it is the…
Banquet — A feast provided for the entertainment of a company of guests (Esther 5; 7; 1 Pet. 4:3); such as was provided for our Lord by his friends in Bethany (Matt. 26:6; Mark 14:3; comp. John 12:2). These…
Cattle — Abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (Deut. 8:13; 12:21; 1 Sam. 11:5; 12:3; Ps. 144:14; Jer. 3:24). They may be classified as,…
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Entertain — Entertainments, “feasts,” were sometimes connected with a public festival (Deut. 16:11, 14), and accompanied by offerings (1 Sam. 9:13), in token of alliances (Gen. 26:30); sometimes in connection…
Ephraim — Double fruitfulness (“for God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction”). The second son of Joseph, born in Egypt (Gen. 41:52; 46:20). The first incident recorded regarding him is his…
Sheep — Are of different varieties. Probably the flocks of Abraham and Isaac were of the wild species found still in the mountain regions of Persia and Kurdistan. After the Exodus, and as a result of…
Absalom's Revenge and Flight. - Sa2 13:23, Sa2 13:24. Absalom postponed his revenge for two full years. He then "kept sheep-shearing," which was celebrated as a joyous festival (see Sa1 25:2, Sa1 25:8), "at Baal-hazor, near Ephraim," where he must therefore have had some property. The situation of Baal-hazor cannot be precisely determined. The clause "which (was) beside Ephraim" points to a situation on the border of the tribe-territory of Ephraim (juxta Ephraim, according to the Onom. s.v. Baalasor); for the Old Testament never mentions any city of that name. This definition does not exactly tally with v. Raumer's conjecture (Pal. p. 149), that Baal-Hazor may have been preserved in Tell Asr…
Baal-hazor should not be confused with the famous fortified city of Hazor located north of the Sea of Galilee. The generally accepted location of Baal-hazor is Jebel el-Asur, some fifteen miles north of Jerusalem. • a feast: Sheep shearing was a time for sharing bounty and blessing with others (see 1 Sam 25:2-8).
Rashi on 2 Samuel 13:23
The were shearing. It was there custom to make a party when they sheared their flocks.
Tamar — Palm. (1.) A place mentioned by Ezekiel (47:19; 48:28), on the southeastern border of Palestine. Some suppose this was “Tadmor” (q.v.). (2.) The daughter-in-law of Judah, to whose eldest son, Er, she…
Absalom · Kills Amnon — Kills Amnon
Baal-Hazor · The place where Amnon was killed — The place where Amnon was killed
Entertainments · Given on occasions of: Sheep-shearing — Given on occasions of: Sheep-shearing
Rape · of Absalom, Tamar’ s brother — of Absalom, Tamar’ s brother
Revenge · .By Absalom — .By Absalom
Sheep · Time of shearing, a time of rejoicing — Time of shearing, a time of rejoicing
Tamar · 2. Daughter of David — 2. Daughter of David
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).
