2 Samuel 21:22

These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) Born to the giant.—They were all descendants of Rapha, but not necessarily all the sons of one man.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:15-22 These events seem to have taken place towards the end of David's reign. David fainted, but he did not flee, and God sent help in the time of need. In spiritual conflicts, even strong saints sometimes wax faint; then Satan attacks them furiously; but those who stand their ground and resist him, shall be relieved and made more than conquerors. Death is a Christian's last enemy, and a son of Anak; but through Him that triumphed for us, believers shall be more than conquerors at last, even over that enemy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Four - Not necessarily meaning that they were brothers, but that they were all of the race of the Giant, all Rephaim. The word "four" is omitted in the parallel passage, only the three last being mentioned in that chapter.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15-22. Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel—Although the Philistines had completely succumbed to the army of David, yet the appearance of any gigantic champions among them revived their courage and stirred them up to renewed inroads on the Hebrew territory. Four successive contests they provoked during the latter period of David's reign, in the first of which the king ran so imminent a risk of his life that he was no longer allowed to encounter the perils of the battlefield.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Fell by the hand of David; either because they were slain by his conduct, and counsel, or concurrence; for he contributed by his hand to the death of one of them, whilst maintaining a fight with him, he gave Abishai the easier opportunity of killing him, 2 Samuel 21:16,17; or because what is done by the inferior commanders is commonly ascribed to the general, both in sacred and profane writers.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

These four were born to the giant in Gath,.... Not to Goliath, for one of them was his brother, but to some giant or another of that place, for which it was famous; they were all of them of the race of the giants; and so the Septuagint version, they were"the offspring of the giants in Gath, whose family was Repha;''and this Repha, or Arepha, as the Vulgate Latin version, according to Abarbinel, was a woman of the daughters of the giants; the Talmudists (e) make her to be the same with Orpah, Ruth 1:4. These giants, it is highly probable, were the descendants of the Anakim which remained in Gath after they were cut off by Joshua in other places, Joshua 11:22,

and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants; the first, Ishbibenob, fell by the hand of David assisted by Abishai, and the other three by the persons mentioned.

(e) T. Bab. Sotah. fol. 42. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. were born to the giant] Were descendants of Rapha, or, the giant: not necessarily all four sons of one man. See note on 2 Samuel 21:16.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - These four were born to the giant; Hebrew, were born to the Raphah; that is, belonged to the race of the Rephaim, who seem to have settled in Gath in large numbers, and to have been a fine race of men. (For their antiquity, see Genesis 14:5.) By the hand of David. Not necessarily in personal conflict, though the Hebrew in ver. 17 would admit of the translation that, with the aid of Abishai, David himself slew Ishbi-benob. But the glory of all that the Gibborim did belonged also to David their king.



2 Samuel 21:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(cf. 1 Chronicles 20:8). This verse contains a postscript, in which the previous verses are summed up. The accusative את־ארבּעת may be explained from a species of attraction, i.e., from the fact that the historian had יכּהוּ (2 Samuel 21:21) still in his mind: "As for these four, they were born to Rapha," i.e., they were descendants of the Rephaite family at Gath, where remnants of the aboriginal Canaanitish tribes of gigantic stature were still to be found, as in other towns of the Philistines (vid., Joshua 11:22). "They fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants." "By the hand of David" refers to the fact that David had personally fought with Yishbobenob (2 Samuel 21:16).