Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

The Beerothites fled to Gittaim - Probably the same as Gath; as Ramathaim is the same as Ramah.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until that day. At the death of Saul, when many of the Israelites deserted their cities, and left them to the Philistines, 1 Samuel 31:7; and so the inhabitants of Beeroth forsook their city, which was near the Philistines, and went to Gittaim, a city in the same tribe, though a little further off, see Nehemiah 11:33.

Geneva Study Bible

(d) After the death of Saul, for fear of the Philistines.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Samuel 4:3 And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.)

Ver. 3. And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim.] A town of their own tribe, but of far greater security. Hither therefore they fled for fear of the Philistines. See 1 Samuel 31:7.

Until this day.] Until the time that this story was written, the penners whereof were Gad and Nathan. [1 Chronicles 29:29-30]

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

And, or, yet, or but; for this comes in to anticipate an objection against what he had now said. It is true, saith he, the

Beerothites fled. as others did, upon the overthrow of Saul and his army, 1 Samuel 31:7, to a place called

Gittaim, 2 Samuel 4:3; not that in Benjamin, Nehemiah 11:33, but some other place of that name more remote from the Philistines; and so they were Gittaimites by their present habitation, but Beerothites by their original, and place of their birth.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

3.The Beerothites fled to Gittaim — We are nowhere told the cause of this flight, but it has been plausibly conjectured that it arose from Saul’s persecution of the Gibeonites, (2 Samuel 21:1-2,) for Beeroth was one of their cities. Joshua 9:17. Perhaps Rimmon or his sons had suffered by that persecution, and this may have been one reason for this bloody deed of the sons. They wreaked vengeance on the son of Saul for the wrongs committed by his father, as well as sought by the same deed to secure the favour of David. Gittaim was apparently not far from Beeroth, and was inhabited by Benjamites after the captivity, (Nehemiah 11:33,) but its site is now unknown.

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

2 Samuel 4:3. The Beerothites fled to Gittaim — When Saul was slain, several Israelites left their cities and fled, and the Philistines took possession of them. Among these, it seems, this city was forsaken of its inhabitants; and were sojourners there until this day — When this book was written they were not returned to their own country, being commodiously settled at Gittaim.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

That. Hebrew, &c., "this day," when the historian wrote. (Menochius)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Fled to Gittaim.—Neither the cause of their flight, nor the place to which they fled, can be certainly determined. The Beerothites here appear as of the tribe of Benjamin, and it is probable that they fled from the incursions of the Philistines, and that Gittaim is the place mentioned in Nehemiah 11:35 as occupied by the Benjamites returning from Babylon. The expression “until this day” makes it likely that the time of the writer was not very far removed from the events which he relates.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1 Samuel 31:7; Nehemiah 11:33