2 Samuel 18:21

21 Joab dit donc à Cushi: Va, et rapporte au roi ce que tu as vu. Cushi se prosterna devant Joab, puis il se mit à courir.

2 Samuel 18:21 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 18:21

Then said Joab to Cushi
The Ethiopian, or blackamoor; who either was an Ethiopian by birth and proselyted, or he was an Israelite of a black complexion, and therefore so called; and was judged a proper person by the general to carry such dismal news to the king, as he knew it would be. Some Jewish writers ^F1 take him to be the same with Cush the Benjaminite, in the title of the seventh psalm, ( Psalms 7:1 ) ; and that he is the same that told Joab he saw Absalom hanging in an oak, and declared that, if a thousand shekels of silver were offered him, he would not have put forth his hand against him, ( 2 Samuel 18:10-12 ) ; though some think this was one of the ten young men that waited on Joab, and by his orders slew Absalom; but it would have been dangerous for one of these to have carried the tidings, had he been known by David to have done it:

go tell the king what thou hast seen:
by which it should seem that he was present when Absalom was killed:

and Cushi bowed himself unto Joab;
in reverence to him as his general, and in thankfulness for sending him on this errand:

and ran;
as fast as he could.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Pirke Eliezer, c. 53.

2 Samuel 18:21 In-Context

19 Et Achimaats, fils de Tsadok, dit: Je te prie, que je coure porter au roi cette bonne nouvelle, que l'Éternel lui a fait justice de la main de ses ennemis.

20 Et Joab lui répondit: Tu ne seras pas aujourd'hui porteur de bonnes nouvelles, mais tu le seras un autre jour; car aujourd'hui tu ne porterais pas de bonnes nouvelles, puisque le fils du roi est mort.

21 Joab dit donc à Cushi: Va, et rapporte au roi ce que tu as vu. Cushi se prosterna devant Joab, puis il se mit à courir.

22 Achimaats, fils de Tsadok, dit encore à Joab: Quoi qu'il arrive, laisse-moi courir après Cushi. Joab lui dit: Pourquoi veux-tu courir, mon fils, puisque le message ne te rapportera rien?

23 N'importe, dit-il, je veux courir. Alors Joab lui dit: Cours! Achimaats courut donc par le chemin de la plaine, et il dépassa Cushi.