2 Samuel 3:4

3:1-6 The length of this war tried the faith and patience of David, and made his settlement at last the more welcome. The contest between grace and corruption in the hearts of believers, may fitly be compared to this warfare. There is a long war between them, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; but as the work of holiness is carried on, corruption, like the house of Saul, grows weaker and weaker; while grace, like the house of David, grows stronger and stronger.

4 . Adonijah ] Who made an ill return for his father’s indulgence ( 1 Kings 1:6 ) by setting up a rival claim to the throne in opposition to Solomon, in which he was supported by Joab and Abiathar ( 1 Kings 1:5 ff.). He was pardoned at the time, but shortly afterwards put to death for preferring a request which, viewed in the light of Oriental customs, was tantamount to repeated treason. Thus three of the six sons born to David in Hebron attained an unenviable notoriety; the remaining three, who are not mentioned again in the history, are happy in their obscurity. 2 Samuel 3:4

Adonijah - The same who, when David was dying, aspired to the crown, and was put to death by Solomon. Shephatiah - "God is judge." This is the same name as Jehoshaphat, only with the two elements composing it placed in inverted order. Nothing more is known of him or of his brother Ithream.

3. Chileab—("his father's picture")—called also Daniel (1Ch 3:1). Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur—a region in Syria, north of Israel. This marriage seems to have been a political match, made by David, with a view to strengthen himself against Ish-bosheth's party, by the aid of a powerful friend and ally in the north. Piety was made to yield to policy, and the bitter fruits of this alliance with a heathen prince he reaped in the life of the turbulent Absalom.

Growth of the House of David. - Proof of the advance of the house of David is furnished by the multiplication of his family at Hebron. The account of the sons who were born to David at Hebron does not break the thread, as Clericus, Thenius, and others suppose, but is very appropriately introduced here, as a practical proof of the strengthening of the house of David, in harmony with the custom of beginning the history of the reign of every king with certain notices concerning his family (vid., 2 Samuel 5:13 .; 1 Kings 3:1 ; 1 Kings 14:21 ; 1 Kings 15:2 , 1 Kings 15:9 , etc.). We have a similar list of the sons of David in 1 Chronicles 3:1-4 . The first two sons were born to him from the two wives whom he had brought with him to Hebron ( 1 Samuel 25:42-43 ). The Chethibh וילדו is probably only a copyist's error for ויּוּלדוּ, which is the reading in many Codices. From Ahinoam - the first-born, Amnon (called Aminon in 2 Samuel 13:20 ); from Abigail - the second, Chileab. The latter is also called Daniel in 1 Chronicles 3:1 , and therefore had probably two names. The lamed before Ahinoam and the following names serves as a periphrasis for the genitive, like the German von, in consequence of the word son being omitted (vid., Ewald, 292, a.).

The other four were by wives whom he had married in Hebron: Absalom by Maachah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, a small kingdom in the north-east of Bashan (see at Deuteronomy 3:14 ); Adonijah by Haggith; Shephatiah by Abital; and Ithream by Eglah. The origin of the last three wives is unknown. The clause appended to Eglah's name, viz., "David's wife," merely serves as a fitting conclusion to the whole list (Bertheau on 1 Chronicles 3:3 ), and is not added to show that Eglah was David's principal wife, which would necessitate the conclusion drawn by the Rabbins, that Michal was the wife intended.