2 Samuel 5:8

8 For David had purposed in that day to have given meed to him, that had smitten Jebusites, and that had touched the gutters of the house roofs, and that had taken away lame men and blind, hating the life of David. Therefore it is said in common speech, A blind man and a lame shall not enter into the temple. (For David had put forth a reward that day, to anyone who struck down the Jebusites, yea, up to the gutters of the housetops, and who did away even the crippled and the blind, yea, any and all who hated the life of David. And so it is said in common speech, No one blind or crippled shall enter into the Temple.)

2 Samuel 5:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 5:8

And David said on that day
On which he took the strong hold of Zion:

whosoever getteth up to the gutter;
where it is generally supposed the blind and lame were, whether images or real men: but what is meant by "Tzinnur", we render "gutter", is not easy to say; we follow some of the Jewish writers, who take it to be a canal, or water spout, used to carry off the water from roofs of houses into cisterns, as the word is rendered in ( Psalms 42:7 ) ; which is the only place besides this in which it is used in Scripture; but R. Isaiah takes it to be the bar or bolt of the gate, and the sense to be, whoever got up to the gate, and got in at that, unbolting it, or breaking through it; the Targum interprets it of the tower of the city, or strong fortress, and so Abarbinel; but Jarchi says it was a ditch, agreeably to which Bochart ^F8 translates the words, and indeed more agreeably to the order of them;

``whosoever smites the Jebusites, let him cast into the ditch (next the wall) both the blind and the lame, extremely hated by David.''

But a learned modern writer ^F9 gives a more ingenious and probable interpretation of these words thus;

``whosoever (first) smiteth the Jebusites, and through the subterraneous passages reaches the lame and the blind''

and which seems to be favoured by Josephus, as he observes; who says {k}, the king promised the command of the whole army to him who should (dia twn upokeimenwn faraggwn) , "through the subterraneous cavities", go up to the citadel, and take it: to which I would add that the word is used in the Chaldee paraphrase of ( Ecclesiastes 1:7 ) , of the several subterraneous passages, through which the rivers flow out of and reflow into the ocean: remarkable is the note of Theodoret,

``a certain Hebrew says, Aquila renders it "through a pipe"; on which, he observes, David being willing to spare the walls of the city, ordered the citizens should enter into the city by an aqueduct;''

according to the Jews, there, was a cave underground, which reached from the king's house in Jerusalem to Jericho, when it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar; (See Gill on Jeremiah 39:4); in which story there may be a mixture of fable; yet it is not improbable that there was such a subterraneous passage; since Dio Cassius ^F12 speaks of several such, through which the Jews made their escape in the last siege of the city:

and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind;
or even the lame and the blind men the Jebusites had placed to mock David; and therefore it follows,

[that are] hated of David's soul:
because he was despised and jeered at by them, and through them: if these could be understood of their idols and images, the phrase would be easily accounted for, nothing being more abominable to David than idolatry:

[he shall be chief and captain];
these words are not in the original text here, but are supplied from ( 1 Chronicles 11:6 ) ; that is, he shall be chief commander of the army, as Joab became, who was the first that went up and smote them:

wherefore they said, the blind and the lame shall not come into the
house;
that is, either the Jebusites said this, that their images, called in derision by David the blind and the lame, if these did not keep David out, they should never be intrusted with the safety of their fort any more ^F13; or rather because the blind and the lame men said this of David, he shall not come into the house, the fort, or citadel, therefore David hated them; which is the sense of the above learned writer ^F14.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. col. 304.
F9 Dr. Kennicott's Dissert. 1. p. 35.
F11 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 3. sect. 1.)
F12 Hist. l. 66.
F13 Gregory, ut supra. (Notes and Observations ch. 7.)
F14 Dr. Kennicott, ut supra. (Dissert. 1. p. 35.)

2 Samuel 5:8 In-Context

6 And the king went, and all [the] men that were with him, into Jerusalem, to Jebusites, the dweller(s) of the land. And it was said of them to David, Thou shalt not enter hither, no but thou do away blind men and lame, saying, David shall not enter hither. (And the king, and all the men who were with him, went to Jerusalem, unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. And they said to David, Thou shalt not come in here until thou do away all the blind and the crippled, that is to say, Thou, David, shalt never come in here.)

7 Forsooth David took the tower of Zion; this is the city of David. (But David captured the stronghold, or the fortress, of Zion; this is known as the City of David.)

8 For David had purposed in that day to have given meed to him, that had smitten Jebusites, and that had touched the gutters of the house roofs, and that had taken away lame men and blind, hating the life of David. Therefore it is said in common speech, A blind man and a lame shall not enter into the temple. (For David had put forth a reward that day, to anyone who struck down the Jebusites, yea, up to the gutters of the housetops, and who did away even the crippled and the blind, yea, any and all who hated the life of David. And so it is said in common speech, No one blind or crippled shall enter into the Temple.)

9 And David dwelled in the tower, and called it the city of David; and he builded by compass from Millo, and within. (And David lived in the stronghold, and called it the City of David; and he built all around from Millo, inwards.)

10 And he entered profiting, and increasing; and the Lord God of hosts was with him.