2 Samuel 17:19

19 Then the man’s wife took a covering, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain over it so nobody would know a thing.

2 Samuel 17:19 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 17:19

And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's
mouth
This woman, very probably, was the man's wife of the house, as Abarbinel notes; who took a cloth, and spread it over the well's mouth, that it could not be seen or known that there was a well there:

and spread ground corn thereon:
just taken out of the mill, before it was sifted, while in the bran; or corn unhusked, or just threshed out, in order to be dried in the sun, and then parched; or wheat bruised for that purpose: Josephus says ^F17 they were locks of wool she spread:

and the thing was not known;
that the young men were in the well.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 Antiqu. l. 7. c. 9. sect. 7.

2 Samuel 17:19 In-Context

17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, where a servant girl would come and pass along information to them. They in turn would go and inform King David, for they dared not be seen entering the city.

18 But a young man did see them and told Absalom. So the two left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.

19 Then the man’s wife took a covering, spread it over the mouth of the well, and scattered grain over it so nobody would know a thing.

20 When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” “They have crossed over the brook,” she replied. The men searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

21 After the men had gone, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed up out of the well and went to inform King David, saying, “Get up and cross over the river at once, for Ahithophel has given this advice against you.”