2 Samuel 20:3

3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house, and put them in a house under guard, and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

2 Samuel 20:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 20:3

And David came to his house at Jerusalem
His palace there, which was in that part of the city called the fort of Zion, and city of David:

and the king took the ten women [his] concubines, whom he had left to
keep the house;
when he fled from Jerusalem because of Absalom, ( 2 Samuel 15:16 ) ;

and put them in ward;
partly as a punishment for easily yielding to the lust of Absalom, and partly that they might not be seen, which would bring to remembrance his sin:

and fed them;
he did not put them to death, nor put them away, but kept them thus confined, and made a proper provision for them, not suffering them to marry any other, and be maintained by them:

but went not in unto them:
into their apartments to lie with them, having been defiled by his son, ( 2 Samuel 16:22 ) ;

so they were shut up unto the day of their death;
kept in the ward till they died:

living in widowhood;
neither used by the king as his concubines, as they had been before, nor suffered to many any other; or "in the widowhood of life" ^F15, which is so expressed, to distinguish it from widowhood made by death; this was such sort of widowhood as obtained while their husband was living; so the Targum,

``widows of their husband alive,''

or remaining.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (twyx twnmla) "in viduitate vitae", Pagninus, Montanus.

2 Samuel 20:3 In-Context

1 Now there happened to be there a worthless fellow, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite; and he blew the trumpet, and said, "We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!"

2 So all the men of Israel withdrew from David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house, and put them in a house under guard, and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

4 Then the king said to Ama'sa, "Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself."

5 So Ama'sa went to summon Judah; but he delayed beyond the set time which had been appointed him.