2 Samuel 20:19

19 I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel: you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why will you swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh?

2 Samuel 20:19 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 20:19

I [am one of them that are] peaceable [and] faithful in
Israel
Her meaning is, that she was of a city which consisted of peaceable and faithful men, that were peaceable among themselves, and faithful to their king, who never were concerned in any insurrection or rebellion, not in the late one under Absalom:

thou seekest to destroy a city, and a mother in Israel;
a metropolitan city, which had several towns and villages under its jurisdiction, which were as daughters to it. Some think she means herself, because very old, supposed ^F3 to be Serah, the daughter of Asher, a son of Jacob, which is improbable:

wilt why thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?
a city which is a part of the land, that is the Lord's inheritance.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Jarchi & Kimchi in loc. Hieron. Trad. Heb. in 2 Reg. fol. 79. L.

2 Samuel 20:19 In-Context

17 He came near to her; and the woman said, Are you Joab? He answered, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of your handmaid. He answered, I do hear.

18 Then she spoke, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask [counsel] at Abel: and so they ended [the matter].

19 I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel: you seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why will you swallow up the inheritance of Yahweh?

20 Joab answered, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.

21 The matter is not so: but a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David; deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. The woman said to Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.