2 Samuel 2:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Samuel 2:5
And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabeshgilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the LORD, that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him.
to send away · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
messengers
מַלְאָכִ֔יםmal.'a.Khim
H4397
a messenger · noun, common masculine plural absolute
men
אַנְשֵׁ֖י'an.Shei
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Jabesh-gilead
יָבֵ֣ישׁya.Veish
H3003
Jobesh · proper noun, a place name
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Blessed
בְּרֻכִ֤יםbe.ru.Khim
H1288
to kneel · verb, qal passive participle, masculine plural absolute
LORD
לַֽיהוָ֔הla.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
shewed
עֲשִׂיתֶ֜ם'a.si.Tem
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
kindness
הַחֶ֣סֶדha.Che.sed
H2617
kindness · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
lord
אֲדֹֽנֵיכֶם֙'a.do.nei.Khem
H113
sovereign · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
Saul
שָׁא֔וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
buried
וַֽתִּקְבְּר֖וּva.tik.be.Ru
H6912
to inter · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
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
1 Samuel 23:21 And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the LORD; for ye have compassion on me.
Psalms 115:15 Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.
Ruth 2:20 And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Na…
Ruth 3:10 And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch…
1 Samuel 24:19 For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.
1 Samuel 25:32-33 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
Ruth 1:8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 2:1-7
When Saul and Jonathan were dead, though David knew himself anointed to be king, and now saw his way very clear, yet he did not immediately send messengers through all the coasts of Israel to summon all people to come in and swear allegiance to him, upon pain of death, but proceeded leisurely; for he that believeth doth not make haste, but waits God's time for the accomplishment of God's promises. Many had come in to his assistance from several tribes while he continued at Ziklag, as we find (1 Chr. 12:1-22), and with such a force he might have come in by conquest. But he that will rule with meekness will not rise with violence. Observe here,
I. The direction he sought and had from God in th…
David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead--There can be no doubt that this message of thanks for their bold and dangerous enterprise in rescuing the bodies of Saul and his sons was an expression of David's personal and genuine feeling of satisfaction. At the same time, it was a stroke of sound and timely policy. In this view the announcement of his royal power in Judah, accompanied by the pledge of his protection of the men of Jabesh-gilead, should they be exposed to danger for their adventure at Beth-shan, would bear an important significance in all parts of the country and hold out an assurance that he would render them the same timely and energetic succor that Saul had done at t…
David sent messengers unto - Jabesh-gilead - This was a generous and noble act, highly indicative of the grandeur of David's mind. He respected Saul as his once legitimate sovereign; he loved Jonathan as his most intimate friend. The former had greatly injured him, and sought his destruction; but even this did not cancel his respect for him, as the anointed of God, and as the king of Israel. This brings to my remembrance that fine speech of Saurin, when speaking of the banishment of the Protestants from France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He thus at the Hague apostrophizes Louis XIV., their persecutor: Et toi, prince redoubtable, que j'honorai jadis comme mon roi, et que je resp…
The Church Fathers
The martyrs of Christ in their strivings for truth have conquered this love of one's flesh.… For, in all flesh that lacks life, the one who has left the body cannot be aware of injury to the lifeless body, nor can he who created it lose anything. But in the midst of what was being done to the bodies of the dead, although the martyrs were enduring them fearlessly with great fortitude, among the brothers there was great grief, because no opportunity was given to them to pay just dues at the burial of the saints.… And thus, although no misery came upon those who had been slain, in the dismemberment of their bodies, in the burning of their bones, in the scattering of their ashes, a great sorrow tortured those who were unable to bury anything of theirs, because they themselves in a certain manner felt for those who had no feeling in any manner, and where now there was no passion on the part of the one, there was wretched compassion on the part of the other.Those men were praised and called blessed by King David who had bestowed the merciful kindness of burial on the dry bones of Saul and Jonathan, in keeping with that wretched compassion which I have mentioned. But, pray tell, what compassion is bestowed on those who have no feeling? Or should one think that the unburied were not able to cross the infernal river? May this be far from the Christian belief! Otherwise, it worked out very badly for so great a multitude of martyrs whose bodies could not be buried, and for them truth emptily said, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do," if they were able to do them such wrongs as to prevent their crossing over to the desired places. But, without any doubt, this is exceedingly false, for it is no hindrance to the faithful to be denied burial of the bodies. Also, it is of no advantage if burial is granted to the godless. Why, then, are those men said to have done an act of mercy in burying Saul and his son and blessed by good King David for this, unless it is because the hearts of the compassionate are favorably affected when they are concerned over the well-being of other bodies of the dead? Or is it because of that love which keeps one from ever hating his own flesh that they do not wish such things to happen after their own death to their own bodies, so that what they wish to be done for them when they shall…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Abner — Father of light; i.e., “enlightening”, the son of Ner and uncle of Saul. He was commander-in-chief of Saul’s army (1 Sam. 14:50; 17:55; 20:25). He first introduced David to the court of Saul after…
Cord — Frequently used in its proper sense, for fastening a tent (Ex. 35:18; 39:40), yoking animals to a cart (Isa. 5:18), binding prisoners (Judg. 15:13; Ps. 2:3; 129:4), and measuring ground (2 Sam. 8;2;…
Ish-bosheth — Man of shame or humiliation, the youngest of Saul’s four sons, and the only one who survived him (2 Sam. 2-4). His name was originally Eshbaal (1 Chr. 8:33; 9:39). He was about forty years of age…
Jabesh-Gilead — A town on the east of Jordan, on the top of one of the green hills of Gilead, within the limits of the half tribe of Manasseh, and in full view of Beth-shan. It is first mentioned in connection with…
Burial · Of the friendless, a kind act — Of the friendless, a kind act
Hebron · .David crowned king of — .David crowned king of
Judah · .Make David king — .Make David king
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).
And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabeshgilead,.... To return them thanks for their courage and boldness in rescuing the bodies of Saul and his sons out of the hands of the Philistines, and for their civility in the burial of them:
and said unto them, blessed be ye of the Lord; which may be considered either as a wish, the Lord bless you for it, or as a prediction, the Lord will bless you:
that ye have showed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul,
and have buried him. To bury the dead, with the Jews, was always reckoned an instance of humanity and kindness, and indeed of piety; an act done in imitation of God (z), who buried Moses, and so it might be expected the divine ble…
David's return to Hebron, and anointing as king over Judah. - Sa2 2:1. "After this," i.e., after the facts related in 2 Samuel 1, David inquired of the Lord, namely through the Urim, whether he should go up to one of the towns of Judah, and if so, to which. He received the reply, "to Hebron," a place peculiarly well adapted for a capital, not only from its situation upon the mountains, and in the centre of the tribe, but also from the sacred reminiscences connected with it from the olden time. David could have no doubt that, now that Saul was dead, he would have to give up his existing connection with the Philistines and return to his own land. But as the Philistines had taken the greater pa…
2:4b-7 Once established in Hebron, David made good faith gestures to those still loyal to Saul, such as the men of Jabesh-gilead. However, because they were loyal to . . . Saul and his dynasty, they rejected David as king (2:8-11). David was also in league with Nahash, king of the Ammonites (see 10:2; 17:27-29), who had caused havoc in Jabesh-gilead (1 Sam 11:1-15).
