2 Samuel 19:36

36 Your servant only wants to cross the Yarden with the king; why should the king reward this so generously?

2 Samuel 19:36 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 19:36

Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king,
&c.] That is, go a little way after he was over Jordan with him, and then return to his own city:

and why should the king recompense it with such a reward?
the sense is, why should the king recompense so trifling a thing as I have done, and which was but my duty, with such a reward, as to maintain me in so grand a manner at his court?

2 Samuel 19:36 In-Context

34 Barzillai said to the king, "How much longer can I live, that I should go up with the king to Yerushalayim?

35 I am now eighty years old. Can I tell good from bad? Can your servant even taste what he eats or drinks? Can I hear the voice of men and women singing any more? Why should your servant burden my lord the king?

36 Your servant only wants to cross the Yarden with the king; why should the king reward this so generously?

37 Please, just let your servant go back and die in my own city, near the grave of my father and mother. But here is your servant Khimham; let him cross with my lord the king; and do for him whatever seems good to you."

38 The king answered, "Khimham will cross with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you. Whatever you ask of me, I will do for you."