2 Samuel 6:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Samuel 6:5
And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
played
מְשַֽׂחֲקִים֙me.sa.cha.Kim
H7832
to laugh (in pleasure or detraction) · verb, piel active participle, masculine plural absolute
before
לִפְנֵ֣יlif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
fir
בְרוֹשִׁ֑יםve.ro.Shim
H1265
a cypress (?) tree · noun, common masculine plural absolute
wood
עֲצֵ֣י'a.Tzei
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine plural construct
harps
וּבְכִנֹּר֤וֹתu.ve.khi.no.Rot
H3658
a harp · conjunction + preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute
psalteries
וּבִנְבָלִים֙u.vin.va.Lim
H5035
a skin-bag for liquids (from collapsing when empty) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
timbrels
וּבְתֻפִּ֔יםu.ve.tu.Pim
H8596
a tambourine · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
cornets
וּבִמְנַֽעַנְעִ֖יםu.vim.na.'an.'Im
H4517
a sistrum (so called from its rattling sound) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
cymbals
וּֽבְצֶלְצֶלִֽיםU.ve.tzel.tze.Lim
H6767
a clatter · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural 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
1 Chronicles 13:8 And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, a…
Psalms 150:3-5 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Psalms 68:25-27 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.
Amos 5:23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
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 16:16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pa…
1 Samuel 18:6-7 And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Isr…
2 Kings 3:15 But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 6:1-5
We have not heard a word of the ark since it was lodged in Kirjath-jearim, immediately after its return out of its captivity among the Philistines (Sa1 7:1, Sa1 7:2), except that, once, Saul called for it, Sa1 14:18. That which in former days had made so great a figure is now thrown aside, as a neglected thing, for many years. And, if now the ark was for so many years in a house, let it not seem strange that we find the church so long in the wilderness, Rev 12:14. Perpetual visibility is no mark of the true church. God is graciously present with the souls of his people even when they want the external tokens of his presence. But now that David is settled in the throne the honour of the ark b…
they set the ark of God upon a new cart--or a covered wagon (see on Sa1 6:7). This was a hasty and inconsiderate procedure, in violation of an express statute (see on Num 4:15 and see Num 7:9; Num 18:3).
Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 6:5
On all manner of instruments made of fir wood - This place should be corrected from the parallel place, Ch1 13:8 : "All Israel played before God, with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries," etc. Instead of בכל עצי bechol atsey, "with all woods" or "trees;" the parallel place is בכל עז bechol oz. "with all their strength:" this makes a good sense, the first makes none. The Septuagint, in this place, has the verse reading; εν ισχυΐ, with might.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 6:5
And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord,.... That is, before the ark, which was a symbol of the presence of the Lord:
on all manner of instruments made of fir wood: which is a general expression, the particulars follow; though instruments of different sorts are mentioned, and even some of metal, as cymbals, which were vessels of brass, they struck one against another, and gave a very acute sound, being hollow (g):
even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals; harps, psalteries, and timbrels, are frequently met with; cornets, according to Kimchi, are such sort of instruments, that in playing upon them it required an agitation of the…
Dictionary and topics
Ark — Noah’s ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (Gen. 6:14-16); an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side…
Chidon — Dart, the name of the threshing-floor at which the death of Uzzah took place (1 Chr. 13:9). In the parallel passage in Samuel (2 Sam. 6:6) it is called “Nachon’s threshing-floor.” It was a place not…
Chronicles, Books of — The two books were originally one. They bore the title in the Massoretic Hebrew Dibre hayyamim, i.e., “Acts of the Days.” This title was rendered by Jerome in his Latin version “Chronicon,” and hence…
Cornet — Heb. shophar, “brightness,” with reference to the clearness of its sound (1 Chr. 15:28; 2 Chr. 15:14; Ps. 98:6; Hos. 5:8). It is usually rendered in the Authorized Version “trumpet.” It denotes the…
Cymbals — (Heb. tzeltzelim, from a root meaning to “tinkle”), musical instruments, consisting of two convex pieces of brass one held in each hand, which were clashed together to produce a loud clanging sound;…
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.…
Fir — The uniform rendering in the Authorized Version (marg. R.V., “cypress”) of berosh (2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Kings 5:8, 10; 6:15, 34; 9:11, etc.), a lofty tree (Isa. 55:13) growing on Lebanon (37:24). Its wood…
Music — Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the…
Music, Instrumental — Among instruments of music used by the Hebrews a principal place is given to stringed instruments. These were, (1.) The kinnor, the “harp.” (2.) The nebel, “a skin bottle,” rendered “psaltery.” (3.)…
Sa2 6:1
The ark fetched from Kirjath-jearim. - Sa2 6:1. "David assembled together again all the chosen men in Israel, thirty thousand." יסף for יאסף is the Kal of אסף, as in Sa1 15:6; Psa 104:29. עוד, again, once more, points back to Sa2 5:1, Sa2 5:3, where all Israel is said to have assembled for the first time in Hebron to anoint David king. It is true that that assembly was not convened directly by David himself; but this was not the point in question, but merely their assembling a second time (see Bertheau on Ch1 13:5). בּחוּר does not mean "the young men" here (νεάνια, lxx), or "the fighting men," but, according to the etymology of the word, "the picked men." Instead of thirty thousand…
— (There has been great obscurity as to the instruments of music in use among the Hebrews, but the discoveries on the monuments of Egypt and Assyria have thrown much light upon the form and nature of…
Obed-Edom — Servant of Edom. (1.) “The Gittite” (probably so called because he was a native of Gath-rimmon), a Levite of the family of the Korhites (1 Chr. 26:1, 4-8), to whom was specially intrusted the custody…
Psaltery — A musical instrument, supposed to have been a kind of lyre, or a harp with twelve strings. The Hebrew word nebhel, so rendered, is translated “viol” in Isa. 5:12 (R.V., “lute”); 14:11. In Dan. 3:5,…
Uzzah — Strength, a son of Abinadab, in whose house the men of Kirjath-jearim placed the ark when it was brought back from the land of the Philistines (1 Sam. 7:1). He with his brother Ahio drove the cart on…
Ark Of The Covenant · Removed from Kirjath-jearim to the house of Obed-edom — Removed from Kirjath-jearim to the house of Obed-edom
Bullock · .With wagons — .With wagons
Cymbal · Used in the tabernacle service — Used in the tabernacle service
Fir Tree · Instruments of music ma — Instruments of music ma
Kirjath-Jearim · David brings the ark of the covenant from — David brings the ark of the covenant from
Music · Instruments of: Made of fir wood — Instruments of: Made of fir wood
Psaltery · Used in religious services — Used in religious services
Timbrel · Used in religious services — Used in religious services
Trumpet · of Obed-edom — of Obed-edom
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).
