2 Samuel 17:29

29 and honey, and cream, and sheep, and cheese of kine to David, and to the people that were with him, to eat; for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.

2 Samuel 17:29 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 17:29

And honey and butter
Honey was much in use with the ancients; Homer F2 speaks of it as a part of the provisions at a feast, and as food with which persons were nourished and brought up; and the ancient Scythians lived on milk and honey F3; and this and butter were pretty much the food of the people in Judea; see ( Isaiah 7:15-22 ) ;

and sheep;
with which and goats the land of Gilead abounded; see ( Song of Solomon 4:1 Song of Solomon 4:2 ) ;

and cheese of kine:
made of the milk of cows, as it commonly is:

for David, and for the people that [were] with him, to eat;
and no doubt they brought wine with them for them to drink; the men that brought these, some brought one sort, and some another, or however different parcels of the same, and did not join in one present; for they came from different parts:

for they said, the people [is] hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the
wilderness;
where they had been some time, and out of which they had just come, and so weary with travelling, and therefore brought beds to lie down and rest upon; and being hungry and thirsty, through want of bread and water in the wilderness, they brought them both eatables and drinkables; for though the latter is not expressed, it is to be understood, as the word "thirsty" supposes.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Iliad. 11. ver. 630. Odyss. 10. ver. 245. & Odyss. 20. ver. 72. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 11. Sueton. Vita Nero. c. 27.
F3 Justin e Trogo, l. 2. c. 2.

2 Samuel 17:29 In-Context

27 And as soon as David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
28 brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched [corn], and beans, and lentils, and parched [pulse],
29 and honey, and cream, and sheep, and cheese of kine to David, and to the people that were with him, to eat; for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.