So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Guzik • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • King • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) (22) A tent upon the top of the house.—Nathan had foretold that the nature of David’s public punishment should correspond to the character of his secret crime. The fact that this punishment takes place on the very roof where David had first yielded to his guilty passion makes it particularly striking.2 Samuel 16:22. So they spread a tent upon the top of the house — Of the king’s palace, the very place from whence David had gazed upon Bath-sheba: so that his sin was legible in the very place of his punishment. And Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines — To one or some of them. In the sight of all Israel — Who saw him go into the tent, and thence concluded that he had converse with them as he had designed. “An action of such profligate impiety, and abandoned impudence, as it were to be wished no sun had seen, or history related.” By this we may see the character of Absalom and his party, and how abominably wicked they must have been, whom such a scandalous action tied the faster to him. And we may further learn how corrupt the body of the people were, and how ripe for that judgment, which was now hastening toward them. Now was David’s adultery (which had been planned, and, it may be, perpetrated in the same place) judicially chastised, and God’s vengeance denounced upon it by his prophet signally executed, and his wives prostituted in the sight of the sun, 2 Samuel 12:11. The Lord is righteous, and no word of his shall fall to the ground! and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel; they saw the tent or canopy erected, and saw him go into it, and might reasonably conclude he lay with his father's concubines, or half wives, in it; and this being done in so public a manner fulfilled the prophecy, which said it should be done in the sight of the sun, and of all Israel, 2 Samuel 12:11; this shows how corrupt the people of Israel were at this time, at least those that were with Absalom, that there should be none to object to the counsel Ahithophel gave, nor any to remonstrate against the execution of it, but all seemed to look upon it with pleasure; nor even did Hushai, David's friend, oppose it; perhaps he saw it was to no purpose. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) 22. upon the top of the house] The fact that the very roof on which David was walking when he secretly conceived his great sin was the public scene of its punishment, and the nature of the punishment, corresponding to the nature of the sin, as Nathan had foretold, make this retribution signally striking. See ch. 2 Samuel 12:11-12; and cp. 2 Kings 9:25-26.Verse 22. - A tent; Hebrew, the tent; that constantly used by David and his family for the enjoyment of the cool evening breeze, and which the citizens of Jerusalem had frequently seen erected on the flat roof of David's house. It was when walking on this roof that David had given way to guilty passion, and now it is the scene of his dishonour. 2 Samuel 16:22Absalom had a tent put up on the roof of the king's palace, that his going in to the concubines might be done publicly in the sight of all Israel. For (as the historian adds in 2 Samuel 16:23 by way of explanation) the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was like a divine oracle both with David and with Absalom. The words from ועצת to ההם are placed at the commencement absolutely: "and (as for) the counsel of Ahithophel, ... as if one inquired the word of God, so was every counsel of Ahithophel." The Masoretes have supplied אישׁ as the Keri to ישׁאל. This is correct so far as the sense is concerned, but it is quite unnecessary, as ישׁאל may be taken impersonally. האלהים בּדבר שׁאל is to be explained from the formula בּעלהים שׁאל (see at Judges 1:1). Links 2 Samuel 16:22 Interlinear2 Samuel 16:22 Parallel Texts 2 Samuel 16:22 NIV 2 Samuel 16:22 NLT 2 Samuel 16:22 ESV 2 Samuel 16:22 NASB 2 Samuel 16:22 KJV 2 Samuel 16:22 Bible Apps 2 Samuel 16:22 Parallel 2 Samuel 16:22 Biblia Paralela 2 Samuel 16:22 Chinese Bible 2 Samuel 16:22 French Bible 2 Samuel 16:22 German Bible Bible Hub |