Shmuel Bais 4:6

6 And they came into the midst of the bais, as though they would have been getting chittim; and they stabbed him under the fifth rib; and Rechav and Baanah achiv (his brother) escaped.

Shmuel Bais 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Shmuel Bais 4:6 In-Context

4 And Yonatan Ben Sha’ul had a ben that was nekheh raglayim (lame in both feet). He was five years old when the news came of Sha’ul and Yonatan from Yizre’el (Jezreel), and his nurse took him up, and fled; and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame, and shmo Mephivoshet.

5 And the Bnei Rimmon HaBe’eroti, Rechav and Baanah, went, and came about chom hayom (the heat of the day) to the bais Ish-Boshet, who lay on a bed at tzahorayim (noon).

6 And they came into the midst of the bais, as though they would have been getting chittim; and they stabbed him under the fifth rib; and Rechav and Baanah achiv (his brother) escaped.

7 For when they had gone into the bais, he lay on his mittah (bed) in his chedar mishkav (bedroom), and they stabbed him, and killed him, and beheaded him, and took his rosh, and got away through the derech HaAravah kol halailah.

8 And they brought the rosh Ish-Boshet unto Dovid at Chevron, and said to HaMelech, Hinei the rosh Ish-Boshet Ben Sha’ul thine oyev (enemy), which sought thy nefesh; and Hashem hath given nekamot (vengeance) against Shaul unto adoni HaMelech this day, and of his zera.