Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

Tarry at Jericho - This city had not been rebuilt since the time of Joshua; but there were, no doubt, many cottages still remaining, and larger dwellings also, but the walls had not been repaired. As it must have been comparatively a private place, it was proper for these men to tarry in, as they would not be exposed to public notice.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

When they told it unto David,.... Not the ambassadors, for they were not yet arrived, but some of their servants, perhaps, they sent before them to acquaint David of the usage they had met with:

he sent to meet them: he sent men to meet them with proper garments to put on, and to assure them how much he resented the indignity done to them and him, and would avenge it in due and proper time, and to direct them where to go for the present, as follows:

because the men were greatly ashamed: to proceed on their journey, and come to court in the condition they were:

and the king said; gave orders by the messengers he sent to them:

tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, or "bud"^F20יצמח "germinet", Pagninus, Montanus. :

and then return; that is, to Jerusalem; Jericho, though not yet built, might have some cottages at or near the spot on which it had stood, for the convenience of shepherds, and gatherers of fruit, in the plains of it; here the ambassadors were directed to go, it being the first place they came to when they had passed over Jordan, from the country of Ammon; and being a place where there were scarcely any inhabitants, or very few, was very proper for them in their present circumstances; and this confirms what is before observed, that it was now the custom of the Israelites not to shave their whole beards; or otherwise it was but shaving off the other half, and being now provided with other clothes, they would have had no need to have stayed at Jericho, but might have proceeded on in their journey.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Tarry at Jericho — or in the neighborhood, after crossing the fords of the Jordan.

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary

(5) When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.

And how doth Jesus graciously deal by his despised servants, but in the same tender way? Tarry till I come. Be patient, brethren, (says an apostle) unto the coming of the Lord. See James 5:6-8; Luke 21:19.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Samuel 10:5 When they told [it] unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and [then] return.

Ver. 5. When they told it unto David.] Who could not but feel his own cheeks shaven, and his own coat cut in his ambassadors, who did but carry his person to Hanun: like as also Christ’s faithful ministers do his to the world, [2 Corinthians 5:20] which is therefore charged to "do his prophets no harm."

Tarry at Jericho.] In some cottage or village thereabouts: for Jericho was not rebuilt till long after. [1 Kings 16:34]

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

2 Samuel 10:5. Tarry at Jericho— As Jericho had not been rebuilt since the day on which it was miraculously overthrown, the king humanely judged that his ambassadors would be glad to conceal themselves to more advantage in the desolations of that city till their beards were grown. It should seem from the text, that the ambassadors had taken refuge there before David sent to them to tarry there. Possibly Jericho might have been then pretty much in the same condition in which Mr. Baumgarten found it in the beginning of the 15th century. He tells us, that Zaccheus's house was the only one then standing there, and even that without a roof. He then adds, "There are round about, about a dozen of small cottages, if I may properly call them so; for nothing of building is to be seen in them, being only fenced with tall hedges of thorns, having within a large place for cattle to stand and be shut up in: but in the middle they have huts or tents, where men used to shelter themselves and their goods from the inclemency of the sun and rain." See Churchill's Travels, vol. 1: p. 420.

REFLECTIONS.—When David sits on the throne of his kingdom, no former favours shewn him shall want a recompence.

1. He sends compliments of condolence to Hanun, the son of Nahash, king of the Ammonites, on his father's death, as mindful of the kindnesses which during his state of exile Nahash had shewn to him, not indeed out of love to Israel, but rather out of enmity to Saul: however, at that time they were to David very obliging, and he intended now to make an equal return. Note; (1.) We are not to scrutinise the motives from which good is done us; if we are relieved, we are bound to bless the friendly hand. (2.) It is kind to mourn with the afflicted, and by partaking to alleviate their sorrows.

2. The ambassadors meet with a very ill reception. Hanun might himself have treated them with dignity, as they deserved; but his suspicious courtiers suggested that they came on a base design, as spies: and Hanun, as kings are too often governed by their servants, hearkened to their insinuations, used the ambassadors most infamously, in violation of the law of nations, and sent them back with marks of the highest insult and contempt. Note; (1.) There are seldom wanting, in courts, flatterers who seek to instill poison, instead of wholesome counsel, into the ears of kings. (2.) A base mind is ever most suspicious. (3.) They who will be ambassadors for the Son of David must sometimes expect the like insult and ill usage, and have their messages of peace misconstrued into the vilest meaning.

3. David's concern for his ambassadors was as great as his resentment for the insolence against himself, thus affronted in their persons. He sends, therefore, to meet them, and appoints them a retirement at Jericho. Note; (1.) Patience will wear off many reproaches; and time, the great revealer of truth, rescue the injured from the cruel and unjust aspersions of their defamers. (2.) It has been the lot of many an innocent man under calumny to be driven into obscurity, whose righteousness will by and by shine as the light.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

He sent to meet them; he sent them clothes and other necessaries.

Tarry at Jericho; both because this was one of the first places which they came to in Canaan; and because it was now a very obscure village, and therefore fittest for them in their circumstances; for it was not built as a city till after this time, 1 Kings 16:34.

Until your beards be grown; for the want or loss of beards was esteemed a reproach among the Israelites.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

5.Tarry at Jericho — The king knew that for these men to appear among their acquaintances before the marks of their dishonour were entirely gone would be to expose them to lasting ridicule and infamy; for all who might see them in that shameful plight would ever after, in their minds, associate them with that misfortune.

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

2 Samuel 10:5. Tarry at Jericho — Which was the first place to which they came in the land of Canaan, and then a private village, where they might remain obscure till they were fit to appear in public. Until your beards be grown — For though it was well known how they came to be deprived of them, yet it was not fit that persons of their quality should appear unlike all other men.

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

men. Heb "enosh. App-14.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.

Tarry at Jericho - or in the neighbourhood, after crossing the fords of the Jordan.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) Tarry at Jericho.—In consideration for his mortified ambassadors, David directs them to remain at Jericho, which lay directly on their road. Jericho had been destroyed on the first entrance of the Israelites into Canaan, and a solemn curse pronounced upon whoever “riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho.” This curse fell upon Hiel, more than a century after the time of David (1 Kings 16:34). But “buildeth” is here, as often, to be understood of “fortifying”; and Jericho, under the name of “the city of palm trees” (Judges 1:16; Judges 3:13), appears to have been all along an inhabited place.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jericho

Joshua 6:24-26; 1 Kings 16:34; 1 Chronicles 19:5