Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

They left their images - It was the custom of most nations to carry their gods with them to battle: in imitation of this custom the Israelites once took the ark and lost it in the field; see 1 Samuel 4:10, 1 Samuel 4:11.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

And there they left their images - An indication of the precipitancy of their flight, and the suddenness with which the Israelites burst upon them like a “breach of waters.” The King James Version rendering “Burned them,” does not give a translation (compare the margin), but a gloss, warranted by the explanation given in marginal references

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And they left their images,.... Their idol gods, which they brought with them to protect and defend them, and give them success; perhaps in imitation of the Israelites, who formerly brought the ark of God into their camp against the Philistines, 1 Samuel 4:3; and it appears to have been the custom of other countries, in later times, to bring their gods with them to battle^F24"Omnigenumque Deum", &c. Virgil. Aeneid. l. 8. :

and David and his men burnt them: that is, his men burnt them at his command, 1 Chronicles 14:12; agreeably to the law of God, that so no profit might be made of them, Deuteronomy 7:5; the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, and others, render it, "and took them", or "carried them away"^F25וישאם και ελαβοσαν αυτους, Sept. "tulit", V. L. Tigurine version, Montanus; "sustulit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. ; as they might do, and, after they had exposed them in triumph, then burnt them.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

there they left their images — probably their “lares” or household deities, which they had brought into the field to fight for them. They were burnt as ordained by law (Deuteronomy 7:5).

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.

Images — When the ark fell into the hand of the Philistines, it consumed them: but when these images fell into the hands of Israel, they could not save themselves from being consumed.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Samuel 5:21 And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.

Ver. 21. And there they left their images] Heb., Their terrors. (a) The Chaldee hath it, Their errors. See Psalms 16:4. {See Trapp on "Psalms 16:4"} These idols they had brought into the field with them, in hope of help by them; and perhaps in imitation of the Hebrews, who sometimes took the ark with them. It hath been before set forth how it befell the Popish Norfolk rebels in King Edward VI’s days, with their cart load of trinkets and relics brought into the battle, and there laid in the dust. (b)

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Their images they seem to have brought into the field to fight for them, as the Israelites had formerly done the ark.

David burned them, as God had commanded, Deuteronomy 7:5.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

21.Their images — Their idol-gods, (1 Chronicles 14:13,) which they carried with them into battle, as Israel once did the ark, (1 Samuel 4:3,) expecting they would therefore be led to certain victory. The capture of them by the Israelites was a striking counterpart to the capture of the ark by the Philistines.

Burned them — As the law required. Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 7:25. The Hebrew text reads, took them away. “Burned” has been supplied from Chronicles.

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

2 Samuel 5:21. And there they left their images — Their gods, which they had brought into the field with them to be carried before their host. Such was the consternation into which they were thrown. Thus we read, 2 Chronicles 25:14, that the Edomites had their gods along with them when they fought with Amaziah. And perhaps they learned this from the Israelites, who carried the ark (the symbol of God’s presence) in their army when they went to fight with the Philistines; who saw it, and took it, as the Israelites now did their images, 1 Samuel 4:4-5, &c. But behold here the difference between the ark and these images! When the ark fell into the hands of the Philistines it consumed them; but when these images fell into the hands of the Israelites, they could neither hurt them, nor save themselves from being consumed.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Away, and burnt. (Par.[1 Paralipomenon xiv. 12.?) The ark had on the contrary proved fatal to the gods, and to the people of the Philistines; who might hence perceive the difference there was between the true God and their false gods.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.

There they left their images - probably their lares or household deities, which they had brought into the field to fight for them. These were burnt, as ordained By law (Deuteronomy 7:5).

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) Their images.—The Philistines took their idols with them to battle, as the Israelites had formerly taken the ark, and the suddenness and completeness of their defeat is shown by their leaving them on the field. The statement that David “burned” them is taken from 1 Chronicles 14:12, the Hebrew here being simply “took them away.” (See Deuteronomy 7:5.)

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

David

Deuteronomy 7:5,25; 1 Samuel 5:2-6; 1 Chronicles 14:11,12; Isaiah 37:19

burned them

or, took them away.

Isaiah 46:1,2; Jeremiah 43:12