2 Samuel 4:6

6 ingressi sunt autem domum adsumentes spicas tritici et percusserunt eum in inguine Rechab et Baana frater eius et fugerunt

2 Samuel 4:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 4:6

And they came thither into the midst of the house
They not only came unto it, but entered into it, and went into the inmost part of it; the guards being asleep also perhaps, or not on duty, so that there were none to obstruct them; or if there were, they deceived them, since they went in

[as though] they would have fetched wheat;
out of the king's granaries, for the payment and support of the soldiers under them, who in those days were paid in corn, as were the Roman soldiers ^F25 in later times; and these granaries might not only be in the king's house, but near his bedchamber; for in those ancient ages of simplicity there was not such grandeur in the courts of princes as now; the Targum is,

``as sellers of wheat,''

in the guise and habit of such persons, pretending they came to sell wheat to the king's purveyors, who were at the granaries; or, as others interpret it, they went in along with the wheat merchants as if they belonged to them, and so found their way to the king's bedchamber:

and smote him under the fifth [rib]; (See Gill on 2 Samuel 2:23);

and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped;
they got out of the palace after they had committed the murder undiscovered and unsuspected.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F25 Vid. Valtrinum de re militar. Roman. l. 3. c. 15. p. 236.

2 Samuel 4:6 In-Context

4 erat autem Ionathan filio Saul filius debilis pedibus quinquennis enim fuit quando venit nuntius de Saul et Ionathan ex Iezrahel tollens itaque eum nutrix sua fugit cumque festinaret ut fugeret cecidit et claudus effectus est habuitque vocabulum Mifiboseth

5 venientes igitur filii Remmon Berothitae Rechab et Baana ingressi sunt fervente die domum Hisboseth qui dormiebat super stratum suum meridie

6 ingressi sunt autem domum adsumentes spicas tritici et percusserunt eum in inguine Rechab et Baana frater eius et fugerunt

7 cum autem ingressi fuissent domum ille dormiebat super lectulum suum in conclavi et percutientes interfecerunt eum sublatoque capite eius abierunt per viam deserti tota nocte

8 et adtulerunt caput Hisboseth ad David in Hebron dixeruntque ad regem ecce caput Hisboseth filii Saul inimici tui qui quaerebat animam tuam et dedit Dominus domino meo regi ultiones hodie de Saul et de semine eius