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(^247) The Hebrew construction of ver. 27 is difficult. The probable meaning is as
follows: "As the Elohim liveth! For unless thou hadst spoken - then if before the
morning the people had returned, each from after his brother!" In other words, the
pursuit would have been continued till the morning.
(^248) This is the correct rendering, and not "under the fifth rib," as in the Authorised
Version (2 Samuel 2:23).
(^249) The expression in 2 Samuel 3:1: "Now there was long war," refers not to actual
war, of which there is no evidence in the record, but to a state of chronic warfare.
(^250) The words of Abner (ver. 8) should be thus rendered: "Am I a dog's head which
belongeth to Judah? This day" (at present) "I show kindness to the house of Saul
thy father," etc.
(^251) The difference is marked in the original of ver. 30: Joab and Abishai slew or
murdered Abner because he made Asahel die.
(^252) Of course, we must in all such instances not lose out of view the religious
standpoint of the times, even in the case of a David.
(^253) I explain the word: "He who blows down Baal," which seems best to correspond
with the parallel name Merib-Baal, in 1 Chronicles 8:34.
(^254) So in The Speaker's Commentary, Vol. 2 p. 380.
(^255) There is no real difficulty about the repetition in the narrative, 2 Samuel 4:5, 6 -
the latter verse taking up and continuing the interrupted narrative in ver. 5.
Accordingly, there is no need for the addition made in the LXX. which must be
regarded not as an emendation of, but as a gloss upon, the text.
(^256) Without here entering on a detailed analysis of the Books of Chronicles (for
which see the Table at the beginning of this Volume), we may remark that their
position in the canon appropriately indicates their character relatively to the Books
of Samuel and of the Kings. These latter are prophetic, while the Books of
Chronicles are hagiographic. In the one series all is viewed from the prophetic
standpoint; in the other, from that of the "sacred writer." In the one case, it is the
theocracy, with its grand world-wide principles, which dominates the view; in the
other, it is rather the sanctuary which is in Judah -God-appointed in its location,
(^)