ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for 2 Samuel 23

2 Sam 23:1–7 The “last words of David” are a song praising God for establishing his house as the ruler; the song recalls God’s promise in 7:8–19. It contrasts the just ruler and worthless men. The righteous ruler is like the morning light at sunrise; worthless men are like uprooted thorns.

2 Sam 23:1 The man who was raised on high refers to David’s position as king. the sweet psalmist of Israel. David wrote about half of the psalms in the book of Psalms.

2 Sam 23:2 The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me. David describes himself as a prophet, whose songs and wise sayings come from God (see Acts 1:16; 4:25).

2 Sam 23:4 Like the morning light, like the sun . . . like rain are images for bringing health and life. He in this verse refers to the just ruler of the previous verse.

2 Sam 23:5 This verse refers to the covenant God made with David in ch. 7 (see also Ps. 89:29; 132:12). Ordered in all things and secure is probably a legal term. It stresses the validity of God’s covenant with David.

2 Sam 23:8–39 This list of David’s mighty men is divided into two groups: the three (vv. 8–12), and the thirty (vv. 18–39). Together, these two groups include thirty-seven in all (v. 39). Actually, the list of the “thirty” includes 34 names. This could mean that (1) “thirty” is a round number; or (2) the group began with 30 members and continued to be called “the thirty” when other men were added to the group; or (3) the group remained at 30, but when some died they were replaced by others on this list (the parallel list in 1 Chron. 11:10–47 has 16 additional names, probably for this reason).

2 Sam 23:11–12 Shammah is remembered for defending a garden against the Philistines. Compare the Philistines’ robbing the threshing floors in 1 Sam. 23:1.

2 Sam 23:13–17 The three men remembered in these verses were apparently not the “three” of vv. 8–12 but rather members of the “thirty” listed in vv. 18–39. This episode may have occurred while David was fleeing Saul, or possibly during one of the Philistine attacks in 5:17–25. Oh, that someone would give me water . . . from the well of Bethlehem. David’s words are not a command. It probably did not occur to him that someone might actually act on his words.

2 Sam 23:16–17 When his men actually brought David water from Bethlehem, he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord. David realized that the water represented the very blood of his men, for they had risked their lives to get it. By pouring it out, David was saying that he was not worthy of it; he offered it “to the Lord” instead.

2 Sam 23:18–39 This is the list of David’s thirty men. Some of the names appear as officers in 1 Chronicles 27. Most appear in the list in 1 Chron. 11:20–47, which is an expansion of this list but is not labeled as being a list of “the thirty” (compare 2 Sam. 23:24 and 1 Chron. 11:26).

2 Sam 23:32 The sons of Jashen probably refers to two men, possibly twins. In the list, however, they seem to be counted as one item.