2 Samuel 11:21

21 Who killed Jerubbaal's son Abimelech? didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on top of him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?' then say: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.'"

2 Samuel 11:21 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 11:21

Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth?
&c.] The same with Jerubbaal, who was Gideon, ( Judges 6:32 ) ; Baal, one part of his name, was the name of an idol, and sometimes called Bosheth or Besheth, which signifies shame, being a shameful idol; Gideon had a son called Abimelech, who was smitten, and it is here asked, by whom?

did not a woman cast a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died
in Thebez?
which should have been a warning not to go too near the wall of an enemy; the history is recorded in ( Judges 9:52 Judges 9:53 ) ;

why went ye nigh the wall?
exposing your lives to so much danger, and by which so many lives were lost:

then say thou, thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also;
the whole has not been told, the worst of all is, as the messenger was to represent it, that brave gallant soldier Uriah is dead; this Joab ordered to be told last, as knowing very well it would pacify the king's wrath, and was the agreeable news he wanted to hear.

2 Samuel 11:21 In-Context

19 "When you have finished reporting all the news of the battle to the king," Joab instructed the messenger,
20 "if the king gets angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? didn't you know they would shoot from the wall?
21 Who killed Jerubbaal's son Abimelech? didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on top of him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?' then say: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.'"
22 So the messenger set off, and when he arrived he reported to David everything Joab sent him to say.
23 "The men overpowered us," the messenger told David. "They came out against us in the open field, but we fought against them up to the entrance of the city gate.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. LXX, Syr, Judg 7:1; MT Jerub-besheth
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