a net · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
garrison
וּמַצַּ֣בu.ma.Tzav
H4673
a fixed spot · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
Philistines
פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔יםpe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
Beth-lehem
בֵּ֥יתbeit
H1035
Beth-Lechem · proper noun, a place name
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 22:4-5 And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold.
1 Samuel 10:5 After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thith…
1 Samuel 13:4 And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistin…
1 Samuel 13:23-14:1 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash.
1 Samuel 14:6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that t…
1 Samuel 22:1 David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down…
1 Samuel 24:22 And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.
1 Chronicles 12:16 And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 23:13
And three of the thirty - The word שלשים shalishim, which we translate thirty, probably signifies an office or particular description of men. Of these shalishim we have here thirty-seven, and it can scarcely be said with propriety that we have thirty-seven out of thirty; and besides, in the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 11:11-47, there are sixteen added. The captains over Pharaoh's chariots are termed שלשים shalishim, Exo 14:7.
The Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim - This is the same war which is spoken of Sa2 5:17, etc.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 23:14
And David was then in an hold,.... In a strong hold; the strong hold of Zion, as Josephus (x), or one on a rock near the cave of Adullam, see 1 Chronicles 11:15,
and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem; which was about six miles from Jerusalem; the valley of Rephaim lay between that and Bethlehem; so far had they got into the land of Judea, and such footing in it, as to have a garrison so near its metropolis.
(x) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 4.
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Samuel 23:8–end
The following list of David's heroes we also find in 1 Chron 11:10-47, and expanded at the end by sixteen names (Ch1 11:41-47), and attached in Ch1 11:10 to the account of the conquest of the fortress of Zion by the introduction of a special heading. According to this heading, the heroes named assisted David greatly in his kingdom, along with all Israel, to make him king, from which it is evident that the chronicler intended by this heading to justify his appending the list to the account of the election of David as king over all the tribes of Israel (Ch1 11:1), and of the conquest of Zion, which followed immediately afterwards. In every other respect the two lists agree with one another, ex…
The cave of Adullam was a place of refuge for David from Saul (see 1 Sam 22:1). • The valley of Rephaim was located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem (see 2 Sam 5:17-25).
The Church Fathers
Finally, whom among men shall we consider better and stronger than the holy David, who could not take for himself the water he desired from the Bethlehem lake, which was cut off by the enemy army, but could he mitigate it? For we cannot find that it was lacking for others. That is, with so great a number of soldiers, when he certainly could have had much less water shortage than the king from other sources; having endured a certain irrational desire, he desired that water which was surrounded by the enemy's fortification, from which it could not easily be brought without great danger. Therefore he said, 'Who will give me a drink from the well that is in Bethlehem at the gate?' And when the three men were found who had cut through the enemy's camp and brought the water that he had desired so eagerly, knowing that the same water had been obtained at the risk of others' lives, he poured it out to the Lord, so that it would not seem that he was drinking the blood of those who had brought it. This incident shows that desire indeed comes before reason, but reason resists desire. Therefore, David underwent suffering so that he might desire irrationally. But that is praiseworthy, which he wisely thwarted with a rational remedy. While I praise men who blushed at the desire for their king and preferred to bring an end to their own modesty or the danger to their own safety, I praise him even more who blushed at his own desire and purchased the blood of a dubious fate with a worthy price, as if he poured out water to the Lord with his victorious desire restrained, so as to show that he could restrain his desire with the comforting word.
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
Bethlehem — House of bread. (1.) A city in the “hill country” of Judah. It was originally called Ephrath (Gen. 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah (1…
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.…
Garrison — (1.) Heb. matstsab, a station; a place where one stands (1 Sam. 14:12); a military or fortified post (1 Sam. 13:23; 14:1, 4, 6, etc.). (2.) Heb. netsib, a prefect, superintendent; hence a military…
Giants — (1.) Heb. nephilim, meaning “violent” or “causing to fall” (Gen. 6:4). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying…
Hareth — Thicket, a wood in the mountains of Judah where David hid when pursued by Saul (1 Sam. 22:5). It was possibly while he was here that the memorable incident narrated in 2 Sam. 23:14-17, 1 Chr.…
Jashobeam — Dweller among the people; or to whom the people turn, the Hachmonite (1 Chr. 11:11), one of David’s chief heroes who joined him at Ziklag (12:6). He was the first of the three who broke through the…
Shammah — Desert. (1.) One of the “dukes” of Edom (Gen. 36:13, 17). (2.) One of the sons of Jesse (1 Sam. 16:9). He is also called Shimeah (2 Sam. 13:3) and Shimma (1 Chr. 2:13). (3.) One of David’s three…
Bethlehem · .Taken and held by the Philistines — .Taken and held by the Philistines
Garrison · A military — A military
Philistines · General references — General references
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).
Rashi on 2 Samuel 23:14
And a contingent of Pesishtim was then in Beis Lechem. The [Pelishtim] army was camped in the Rephoim valley and they had sent a contingent to Beis Lechem.
