2 Samuel 3:34

34 Your hands were not tied. Your feet were not chained. You fell as one falls in front of wicked men. And all the people continued to cry for him.

2 Samuel 3:34 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 3:34

Thy hands [were] not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters,
&c.] As malefactors are when they are taken up for any crime, and especially when proved upon them, and condemned for it, and brought forth to be executed. This was not his case, and had he been aware of the design against him, as his hands and feet were at liberty, he might have defended himself; or if he found he had too many to deal with, might have made use of his feet and fled:

as a man falleth before wicked men, [so] fellest thou;
as a man being before bloodthirsty and deceitful men, falls before them, through treachery and deceit, privately and unawares, so fell Abner before Joab and Abishai; this David said in the presence of Joab, and before all the people, to declare the plain fact how it was, to express his detestation of it, and to show he had no hand in it; and Joab must be an hardened creature to stand at the grave of Abner, and hear all this, and not be affected with it:

and all the people wept again over him;
over Abner, being laid in his grave; they had wept before, but hearing this funeral oration delivered by the king in such moving language, and in such a mournful tone, it drew tears afresh from them.

2 Samuel 3:34 In-Context

32 They buried Abner in Hebron. The king cried loudly at Abner's grave, and all the people cried.
33 The king sang a funeral song for Abner: Should Abner die like a godless fool?
34 Your hands were not tied. Your feet were not chained. You fell as one falls in front of wicked men. And all the people continued to cry for him.
35 That entire day all the people tried to get David to eat some food. But David had taken an oath: "May God strike me dead if I taste any food or anything else before the sun goes down."
36 Then all the people understood and approved of this, as all the people approved of everything the king did.
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