2 Samuel 15:20

Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:13-23 David determined to quit Jerusalem. He took this resolve, as a penitent submitting to the rod. Before unrighteous Absalom he could justify himself, and stand out; but before the righteous God he must condemn himself, and yield to his judgments. Thus he accepts the punishment of his sin. And good men, when they themselves suffer, are anxious that others should not be led to suffer with them. He compelled none; those whose hearts were with Absalom, to Absalom let them go, and so shall their doom be. Thus Christ enlists none but willing followers. David cannot bear to think that Ittai, a stranger and an exile, a proselyte and a new convert, who ought to be encouraged and made easy, should meet with hard usage. But such value has Ittai for David's wisdom and goodness, that he will not leave him. He is a friend indeed, who loves at all times, and will adhere to us in adversity. Let us cleave to the Son of David, with full purpose of heart, and neither life nor death shall separate us from his love.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou camest but yesterday - Meaning, "Thou art not a native Israelite, but only a sojourner for a few years, it is not reason therefore that thou shouldst share my calamities. Return to thy place, thy adopted home Jerusalem, and to the king, Absalom" 2 Samuel 15:34-35.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18-20. all the Gittites, six hundred men—These were a body of foreign guards, natives of Gath, whom David, when in the country of the Philistines, had enlisted in his service, and kept around his person. Addressing their commander, Ittai, he made a searching trial of their fidelity in bidding them (2Sa 15:19) abide with the new king.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thou camest but yesterday; by which it may be gathered that these were not the Israelitish soldiers which went with David to Gath, and came up with him from thence to Hebron, which was above thirty years before this time, but some proselytes which came from thence more lately. For though this word

yesterday be sometimes used of a time long before past, as @2Ki 9:26 Job 8:9 Isaiah 30:33; yet it seems to be here restrained to a shorter compass by the following words, and by the argument here used.

Go whither I may; I know not whither; having now no certain dwelling-place.

Thy brethren; thy countrymen and soldiers the Gittites, 2 Samuel 15:18.

Mercy and truth be with thee; since I am now unable to recompense thy kindness and fidelity to me, my hearty prayer to God is, that he would show to thee his mercy, in blessing thee with all sorts of blessings, and his faithfulness, in making good all those promises which he hath made, not to Israelites only, but in and with them to all true-hearted proselytes, such as thou art.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Whereas thou camest but yesterday,.... From Gath, or from an expedition he and his men had been on:

should I this day make thee, go up and down with us? wander up and down from place to place with David, when he was but just come off a journey, weary and fatigued:

seeing I go whither I may; where it will be most safe for me, I know not where; may be obliged to flee here and there, which would be very inconvenient to Ittai in his circumstances:

return thou, and take back thy brethren; the six hundred men under him, and whom David could ill spare at this time, and yet, consulting their ease, advises to return to Jerusalem with them:

mercy and truth be with thee; the Lord show mercy and kindness to thee, in that thou hast shown favour and respect to me, and make good all his promises to thee, who hast been true and faithful to me.

Geneva Study Bible

Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy {m} brethren: mercy and {n} truth be with thee.

(m) Meaning, those of his family.

(n) God require of you your friendship and fidelity.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. I go whither I may] Not knowing where he might find a home, as in the old days of his flight from Saul. Cp. 1 Samuel 23:13.

take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee] The Hebrew as it stands must be rendered: take back thy brethren with thee in mercy and truth: but the true text is probably preserved by the Sept. and Vulg. Take back thy brethren with thee: and the Lord shew thee [or, shall shew thee] mercy and truth: to which some texts of the Vulg. add: because thou hast shewn kindness and faithfulness. Cp. ch. 2 Samuel 2:5-6.

2 Samuel 15:20

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"Thy coming is yesterday (from yesterday), and should I disturb thee to-day to go with us, when I am going just where I go?" i.e., wherever my way may lie (I go I know not whither; Chald.: cf. 1 Samuel 23:13). The Chethib אנוּעך is a copyist's error. The thought requires the Hiphil אניעך (Keri), as נוּע in the Kal has the intransitive meaning, to totter, sway about, or move hither and thither. "Return and take thy brethren back; grace and truth be with thee." It is evidently more in accordance with the train of thought to separate עמּך from the previous clause and connect it with ואמת חסד, though this is opposed to the accents, than to adopt the adverbial interpretation, "take back thy brethren with thee in grace and truth," as Maurer proposes. (For the thought itself, see Proverbs 3:3). The reference is to the grace and truth (faithfulness) of God, which David desired that Ittai should receive upon his way. In the Septuagint and Vulgate the passage is paraphrased thus: "Jehovah show thee grace and truth," after 2 Samuel 2:6; but it by no means follows from this that עמּך ועשׂה והוה has fallen out of the Hebrew text.