Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Bible Study Resources
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And Ittai answered the king, and said,.... With an oath, as follows:
as the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth; which he took to confirm what he after says, and to put an end to the debate between them:
surely, in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be; signifying that he would attend him wherever he went, hazard his life in his cause, and live and die with him.
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rights Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Gill, John. "Commentary on 2 Samuel 15:21". "The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible". https:/
Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
But Ittai replied with a solemn oath, “Assuredly at the place where my lord the king shall be (stay), whether for death or life, there will thy servant be.” אם כּי means “only,” as in Genesis 40:14, Job 42:8; here, in a declaration on oath, it is equivalent to assuredly (vid., Ewald, §356, b .). The Chethib is therefore correct, and the erasure of אם in the Keri is a bad emendation. The כּי in the apodosis is either an emphatic declaration, yea, or like ὅτι merely introduces a distinct assertion.
The Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary is a derivative of a public domain electronic edition.
Keil, Carl Friedrich & Delitzsch, Franz. "Commentary on 2 Samuel 15:21". https:/
Wesley's Explanatory Notes
And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.
Will thy servant be — He is a friend indeed, who loves at all times, and will cleave to us in adversity. Thus should we cleave to the Son of David, that neither life, nor death may separate us from his love.
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website.
Wesley, John. "Commentary on 2 Samuel 15:21". "John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible". https:/
John Trapp Complete Commentary
2 Samuel 15:21 And Ittai answered the king, and said, [As] the LORD liveth, and [as] my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.
Ver. 21. Even there also will thy servant be.] Such fast and faithful friends are gone on pilgrimage; and their return is uncertain.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Trapp, John. "Commentary on 2 Samuel 15:21". John Trapp Complete Commentary. https:/
Sermon Bible Commentary
2 Samuel 15:21
Foremost among the little band who followed David from Jerusalem came six hundred men from Gath—Philistines from Goliath's city. These men, singularly enough, the king had chosen as his bodyguard; perhaps he was not altogether sure of the loyalty of his own subjects, and possibly felt safer with foreign mercenaries who could have no secret leanings to the deposed house of Saul. At all events, here they are, "faithful among the faithless," as foreign soldiers surrounding a king often are, notably the Swiss guard in the French Revolution. David's generous nature shrinks from dragging down Ittai with himself. Generosity breeds generosity, and the Philistine captain breaks out into a burst of passionate devotion, garnished, in soldier fashion, with an unnecessary oath or two, but ringing very sincere and meaning a great deal. As for him and his men, they have chosen their side.
I. Look at the picture of this Philistine captain, as teaching us what grand, passionate self-sacrifice may be evolved out of the roughest natures. Ringing in his words we hear three things which are the seed of all nobility and splendour in human character: (1) a passionate personal attachment, (2) love issuing in willing sacrifice that recks not for a moment of personal consequences, and (3) a supreme, restful delight in the presence of him whom the heart loves. This capacity, which lies dormant in all of us, will make a man blessed and dignified" as nothing else will. The joy of unselfish love is the purest joy that man can taste.
II. These possibilities of love and sacrifice point plainly to God in Christ as their true object. We are made with hearts that need to rest upon an absolute love, with understandings that need to grasp a pure, a perfect, and a personal truth.
III. Observe the terrible misdirection of these capacities in the sin and the misery of the world. There is nothing more tragic than the misdirection of man's capacity for love and sacrifice. We must lay ourselves on Christ's altar, and that altar will sanctify both the giver and the gift
A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, p. 145.
References: 2 Samuel 15:21.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 420; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1512. 2 Samuel 15:23.—Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 152. 2 Samuel 15:30.—J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 463. 2 Samuel 16:10.—Expositor, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 244. 2 Samuel 16:12.—Parker, vol. vii., p. 239. 2 Samuel 16:13.—Ibid., p. 240. 2 Samuel 16:15.—W. M. Taylor, David King of Israel, p. 238. 2 Samuel 16:16.—R. Lee, Penny Pulpit, No. 491.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Nicoll, William R. "Commentary on 2 Samuel 15:21". "Sermon Bible Commentary". https:/
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
21.Ittai answered — This answer, so solemn and so full of loyalty to David, won for him such a place in the king’s heart that he subsequently advanced him to the command of a third part of his army, and made him a peer of Joab and Abishai. See 2 Samuel 18:2.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on 2 Samuel 15:21". "Whedon's Commentary on the Bible". https:/
Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments
2 Samuel 15:21. Ittai answered, Surely in what place, &c. — Admirable and noble fidelity this in a stranger, when a son was a rebel against the father! He is a friend indeed, who loves at all times, and will cleave to us in adversity. Thus should we cleave to the Son of David, so that neither life nor death may separate us from him. Reader, is this the resolution of thy heart? Dost thou belong to Christ, and is it thy disposition never to leave him?
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Benson, Joseph. "Commentary on 2 Samuel 15:21". Joseph Benson's Commentary. https:/
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.- As the Lord
- 1 Samuel 20:3; 25:26; 2 Kings 2:2,4,6; 4:30
- surely
- Ruth 1:16,17; Proverbs 17:17; 18:24; Matthew 8:19,20; John 6:66-69; Acts 11:23; Acts 21:13; 2 Corinthians 7:3
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Torrey, R. A. "Commentary on 2 Samuel 15:21". "The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge". https:/
the First Week after Epiphany