2 Samuel 15:8

8 For while your servant was at Geshur in Aram, I promised to sacrifice to the LORD in Hebron if he would bring me back to Jerusalem.”

2 Samuel 15:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 15:8

For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria,
&c.] When at his grandfather's court there:

saying, if the Lord will bring me again indeed to Jerusalem;
which he might be sincerely desirous of:

then I will serve the Lord;
but it is a question whether he ever made a vow to this purpose, or concerned himself about serving the Lord; but it rather may be, this was a lie of his, now framed in order to get leave of the king to go to Hebron.

2 Samuel 15:8 In-Context

6 Absalom did this with everyone who came to the king for judgment, and so he stole the hearts of all the people of Israel.
7 After four years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron to offer a sacrifice to the LORD and fulfill a vow I made to him.
8 For while your servant was at Geshur in Aram, I promised to sacrifice to the LORD in Hebron if he would bring me back to Jerusalem.”
9 “All right,” the king told him. “Go and fulfill your vow.” So Absalom went to Hebron.
10 But while he was there, he sent secret messengers to all the tribes of Israel to stir up a rebellion against the king. “As soon as you hear the ram’s horn,” his message read, “you are to say, ‘Absalom has been crowned king in Hebron.’”

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. As in some Greek manuscripts; Hebrew lacks in Hebron.
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