Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Cheese of kine - Or, as others, “milch cows,” which is more in accordance with the context, being coupled with “sheep,” and is more or less borne out etymologically by the Arabic. God‘s care for David was evident in the kindness of these people.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And honey and butter,.... Honey was much in use with the ancients; Homer^F2Iliad. 11. ver. 630. Odyss. 10. ver. 245. & Odyss. 20. ver. 72. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 11. Sueton. Vita Nero. c. 27. speaks of it as a part of the provisions at a feast, and as food with which persons were nourished and brought up; and the ancient Scythians lived on milk and honey^F3Justin e Trogo, l. 2. c. 2. ; and this and butter were pretty much the food of the people in Judea; see Isaiah 7:15,

and sheep; with which and goats the land of Gilead abounded; see Song of Solomon 4:1,

and cheese of kine: made of the milk of cows, as it commonly is:

for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat; and no doubt they brought wine with them for them to drink; the men that brought these, some brought one sort, and some another, or however different parcels of the same, and did not join in one present; for they came from different parts:

for they said, the people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness; where they had been some time, and out of which they had just come, and so weary with travelling, and therefore brought beds to lie down and rest upon; and being hungry and thirsty, through want of bread and water in the wilderness, they brought them both eatables and drinkables; for though the latter is not expressed, it is to be understood, as the word "thirsty" supposes.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

in the wilderness — spread out beyond the cultivated tablelands into the steppes of Hauran.

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary

REFLECTIONS

READER! let not this chapter pass away from our review, until that we have first gathered from it those gracious instructions, the HOLY GHOST so kindly gives us in it. Do you not behold, in the restraints of Ahithophel's advice, a resemblance of that restraining power of our gracious GOD, over the enemies of our salvation? Would not the Absaloms of the present day, like mad horses, come upon us while we are weary and weak-handed, and tread down and trample us under their feet? And how is it that our enemies are prevented from destroying us? LORD, it is the bridle of thy providence, which thou hast put into their jaws; and thy fear, by which thou overrulest the designs of their hearts. Yes! dearest JESUS! it is thou which, by keeping the reins of government in thine hands, controlest their power; and thou speakest to them as to the proud waves; Hitherto shall ye come, and no further! Methinks I hear thee saying now to my soul, as to the church of Smyrna of old; Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer: though the devil will cast some of you into prison, it is only that you may be tried; and though you have tribulation for ten days, yet fear not. No! blessed LORD! be thou my Counsellor, my strength, my confidence, and I shall never fear. I know that the devil would, but for thee, cast us (not into prison, but) into hell. And I know that in his prison he would keep thy people until they rotted, and died there. But he dare not: ten days only, is his limitation! Oh! keep me faithful unto death, and I shall have from thee, the crown of life which fadeth not away.

Reader! let David's troubles, sweetened and sanctified as they were at the river Jordan, and the hill Mizar, bring with them to our view, this gracious conviction; sanctified sorrows are precious things. A real sanctified sorrow, in the present wilderness, can never come too often. JESUS parcels them out to his people from his own unerring wisdom and love; and the cover of everyone of them is marked in his own blessed hand: as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Depend upon it, in David's view, when he came to sum up his mercies, those he counted most precious, which had brought with them most of GOD. And in our estimate of real blessings, whether trouble or joy, our calculation will be the same, if so be we know the LORD, as he did. Lead me then, dearest LORD JESUS! lead me as it seemeth best to thy infinite wisdom and love, through all the various paths of the present wilderness state, whether marked from the land of Jordan, or the Hermonites, the hill Mizar. Let the way be ever so intricate, ever so rough or thorny; yet if thou art with me, I know it will be a right way to a city of thy habitation. And oh! LORD GOD, fill my soul, my heart, all my faculties, all my powers, with the same love to thee as thou didst David's; for then my very tears, like his, which were his meat day and night, will be; to me, sweeter than the spiced wine of the pomegranate. Then shall the goings forth of my soul, bear a sweet correspondence to his devout aspirations, and my heart will be the echo to his, when he said: As the hart panteth after the water brooks; so panteth my soul after thee, O GOD . My soul thirsteth for GOD ; yea, for the living GOD : when shall I come and appear before GOD!

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

In — Having been in the wilderness. Thus God sometimes makes up to his people that comfort from strangers, which they are disappointed of in their own families.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

i.e. Having been

in the wilderness; which is an easy and common ellipsis. Or, because of (so the Hebrew particle beth is oft used) the wilderness, which they have passed through, in which provisions are very scarce.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Calves. Many translate the Hebrew, "cheese of kine." (Theodotion) --- "Calves fed with milk." (Haydock) --- Wilderness, where they had been; unless this be placed out of its natural order. (Calmet) --- The value of a present depends greatly on the time when it is made. (Haydock) --- "How much dost thou esteem a hospitable reception in a wilderness?" &c. (Seneca, Ben. vi. 15.)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

butter. Scarce in Lo-debar. Compare 2 Samuel 9:4. The word means place of "no pasture".

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

In the wilderness - spread out beyond the cultivated table-lands into the steppes of Hauran.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Cheese of kine.—A word occurring only here, and of uncertain meaning. The English follows the Chald., Syr., and Rabbinic interpretation; the Vulg. has “fat calves,” and Theod. “sucking calves.”

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

cheese of kine

1 Samuel 17:18

for David

Luke 8:3; Philippians 4:15-19

to eat

2; Psalms 34:8-10; 84:11

The people

Judges 8:4-6; Ecclesiastes 11:1,2; Isaiah 21:14; 58:7

in the wilderness

16:2,14 Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 32:14 - Butter;  Judges 8:5 - loaves;  1 Samuel 25:18 - took two;  Job 20:17 - of honey;  Isaiah 7:22 - butter and honey

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Bibliographical Information
Torrey, R. A. "Commentary on 2 Samuel 17:29". "The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tsk/2-samuel-17.html.

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