2 Samuel 20:3

3 Then David came to his house at Jerusalem, and ¹the king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and placed them under guard * and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as widows.

2 Samuel 20:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 20:3

And David came to his house at Jerusalem
His palace there, which was in that part of the city called the fort of Zion, and city of David:

and the king took the ten women [his] concubines, whom he had left to
keep the house;
when he fled from Jerusalem because of Absalom, ( 2 Samuel 15:16 ) ;

and put them in ward;
partly as a punishment for easily yielding to the lust of Absalom, and partly that they might not be seen, which would bring to remembrance his sin:

and fed them;
he did not put them to death, nor put them away, but kept them thus confined, and made a proper provision for them, not suffering them to marry any other, and be maintained by them:

but went not in unto them:
into their apartments to lie with them, having been defiled by his son, ( 2 Samuel 16:22 ) ;

so they were shut up unto the day of their death;
kept in the ward till they died:

living in widowhood;
neither used by the king as his concubines, as they had been before, nor suffered to many any other; or "in the widowhood of life" ^F15, which is so expressed, to distinguish it from widowhood made by death; this was such sort of widowhood as obtained while their husband was living; so the Targum,

``widows of their husband alive,''

or remaining.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (twyx twnmla) "in viduitate vitae", Pagninus, Montanus.

2 Samuel 20:3 In-Context

1 Now a worthless fellow happened to be there whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite ; and he blew the trumpet and said, "We have no portion in David, Nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse; Every man to his tents, O Israel!"

2 So all the men of Israel withdrew from following David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah remained steadfast to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

3 Then David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and placed them under guard and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as widows.

4 Then the king said to Amasa, "Call out the men of Judah for me within three days, and be present here yourself."

5 So Amasa went to call out the men of Judah, but he delayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Samuel 15:16; 2 Samuel 16:21, 22