2 Samuel 20:19

19 I am peaceable [and] faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah?

2 Samuel 20:19 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 20:19

I [am one of them that are] peaceable [and] faithful in
Israel
Her meaning is, that she was of a city which consisted of peaceable and faithful men, that were peaceable among themselves, and faithful to their king, who never were concerned in any insurrection or rebellion, not in the late one under Absalom:

thou seekest to destroy a city, and a mother in Israel;
a metropolitan city, which had several towns and villages under its jurisdiction, which were as daughters to it. Some think she means herself, because very old, supposed ^F3 to be Serah, the daughter of Asher, a son of Jacob, which is improbable:

wilt why thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?
a city which is a part of the land, that is the Lord's inheritance.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Jarchi & Kimchi in loc. Hieron. Trad. Heb. in 2 Reg. fol. 79. L.

2 Samuel 20:19 In-Context

17 And he came near to her; and the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he said, I [am he]. And she said to him, Listen to the words of thy handmaid. And he said, I am listening.

18 And she spoke saying, They were wont to speak in old time saying, Just inquire in Abel; and so they ended.

19 I am peaceable [and] faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah?

20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.

21 The matter is not so; but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David: give up him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said to Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.

Footnotes

• [a]. * Or 'a city, even a mother (city) in Israel.' See 2Sam. 8.1; Num. 21.25,32; 32.42; Josh. 17.11 and Notes.