2 Samuel 19:12

Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) My bones and my flesh.—More exactly, bone, as in 2Samuel 19:13 and 2Samuel 5:1. Of course the tribe of Judah, from which David sprung, was more closely connected with him by blood than any other; but the point likely to influence them was that the king recognised this relationship.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:9-15 God's providence, by the priests' persuasions and Amasa's interest, brought the people to resolve the recall of the king. David stirred not till he received this invitation. Our Lord Jesus will rule in those that invite him to the throne in their hearts, and not till he is invited. He first bows the heart, and makes it willing in the day of his power, then rules in the midst of his enemies, Ps 110:2,3.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

David saw the justice of what Joab said, and the new danger which threatened him if he did not rouse himself from his grief.

For Israel ... - Not David's followers, but as before 2 Samuel 17:26; 2 Samuel 18:6, 2 Samuel 18:17, Absalom's army.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Sa 19:9-43. The Israelites Bring the King Back.

9-11. all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel—The kingdom was completely disorganized. The sentiments of three different parties are represented in 2Sa 19:9, 10: the royalists, the adherents of Absalom who had been very numerous, and those who were indifferent to the Davidic dynasty. In these circumstances the king was right in not hastening back, as a conqueror, to reascend his throne. A re-election was, in some measure, necessary. He remained for some time on the other side of Jordan, in expectation of being invited back. That invitation was given without, however, the concurrence of Judah. David, disappointed and vexed by his own tribe's apparent lukewarmness, despatched the two high priests to rouse the Judahites to take a prominent interest in his cause. It was the act of a skilful politician. Hebron having been the seat of the rebellion, it was graceful on his part to encourage their return to allegiance and duty; it was an appeal to their honor not to be the last of the tribes. But this separate message, and the preference given to them, occasioned an outburst of jealousy among the other tribes that was nearly followed by fatal consequences [see 2Sa 19:40-43].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

My bones and my flesh; of the same tribe, and some of you of the same family, with myself; and therefore if I should revenge myself of you, which perhaps you may fear I will do when I have fully regained my power, I should but tear my own flesh in pieces, and hate my own body which nature and interest obligeth every man to preserve.

Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king? this delay doth not suit with the relation you have, and the affection you owe to me.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh,.... Being of the same tribe, and therefore he should deal gently with them, as if they were parts of his body; and not be severe upon them, for the hand they had in the conspiracy, as they might fear:

and wherefore then are ye the last to bring the king back? since they were so nearly related to him, and he so ready to forgive them.

Geneva Study Bible

Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. my bones and my flesh] See note on ch. 2 Samuel 5:1. Bones should be, as there, bone.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - My bones; Hebrew, my bone and my flesh, so nearly related as to be part of my own self (Genesis 2:23). 2 Samuel 19:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When these words of all Israel were reported to David, he sent to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, saying, "Speak to the elders of Judah, why will ye be the last to bring back the king to his palace? ... Ye are my brethren, my bones and flesh (i.e., my blood relations): why then," etc.? The last clause of 2 Samuel 19:11, "the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house," is a circumstantial clause inserted in the midst of David's words, to explain the appeal to the men of Judah not to be the last. In the lxx, and some Codices of the Vulgate, this sentence occurs twice, viz., at the end of 2 Samuel 19:10, and also of 2 Samuel 19:11; and Thenius, Ewald, and Bttcher regard the clause at the end of 2 Samuel 19:10 as the original one, and the repetition of it at the close of 2 Samuel 19:11 as a gloss. But this is certainly a mistake: for if the clause, "and the speech of all Israel came to the king to his house (at Mahanaim)," ought to stand at the close of 2 Samuel 19:10, and assigns the reason for David's sending to Zadok and Abiathar, 2 Samuel 19:11 would certainly, or rather necessarily, commence with המּלך ויּשׁלח: "The word of all Israel came to the king, and then king David sent," etc. But instead of this, it commences with שׁלח דּיד והמּלך, "But king David sent." This construction of the sentence decidedly favour the correctness of the Hebrew text; whereas the text of the Septuagint, apart altogether from the tautological repetition of the whole of the sentence in question, shows obviously enough that it is nothing more than a conjecture, by which the attempt was made to remove the difficulty occasioned by the striking position in which the circumstantial clause occurred.