2 Samuel 20:25

And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) Sheva.—This officer is called Seraiah in 2Samuel 8:17. Nearly all the officers mentioned here are the same as in 2Samuel 8:16-18, where see the Notes.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:23-26 Here is the state of David's court, after his restoration. It is well when able men are appointed to discharge public duties; let all seek to perform those duties, as faithful servants to the Son of David.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Adoram - Not mentioned before by name or office. Apparently, therefore, the office was not instituted until the latter part of David's reign, and its duties probably were the collection of the tribute imposed upon vanquished nations, or the command of the forced levies employed in public works. Adoram was stoned to death in the beginning of the reign of Rehoboam 1 Kings 12:18.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Sa 20:23-26. David's Great Officers.

23. Now Joab was over all the host of Israel—David, whatever his private wishes, found that he possessed not the power of removing Joab; so winking at the murder of Amasa, he re-established that officer in his former post of commander-in-chief. The enumeration of David's cabinet is here given to show that the government was re-established in its wonted course.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Sheva was scribe,.... Either the same with Benaiah, or he was dead or removed, and Sheva was put in his place, see 2 Samuel 8:17,

and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests; as before; See Gill on 2 Samuel 8:17.

Geneva Study Bible

And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. Sheva] Or Sheya, apparently another name for the Seraiah of ch. 2 Samuel 8:17.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - Sheva. He is called Seraiah in 2 Samuel 8:17. 2 Samuel 20:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

David's Ministers of State. - The second section of the history of David's reign closes, like the first (2 Samuel 8:16.), with a list of the leading ministers of state. The author evidently found the two lists in his sources, and included them both in his work, for the simple reason that they belonged to different periods, as the difference in the names of some of the officers clearly shows, and that they supplemented on another. The list before us belongs to a later period of David's reign than the one in 2 Samuel 8:16-18. In addition to the office-bearers mentioned in 2 Samuel 8, we find here Adoram over the tribute, and Ira the Kairite a confidential counsellor (cohen: see at 2 Samuel 8:18), in the place of the sons of David noticed in 2 Samuel 8:18. The others are the same in both lists. The Chethib הכרי is to be read הכּרי (cf. 2 Kings 11:4, 2 Kings 11:19), from כוּר, perfodit, and is synonymous with הכּרתי (see at 2 Samuel 8:18). Adoram is the same person as Adoniram, who is mentioned in 1 Kings 4:6 and 1 Kings 5:14 as overseer over the tributary service in the time of Solomon; as we may see from the fact, that the latter is also called Adoram in 1 Kings 12:18, and Hadoram in 2 Chronicles 10:18. Hadoram is apparently only a contracted form of the name, and not merely a copyist's mistake for Adoniram. But when we find that, according to the passage cited, the same man filled this office under three kings, we must bear in mind that he did not enter upon it till the close of David's reign, as he is not mentioned in 2 Samuel 8:16., and that his name only occurs in connection with Rehoboam's ascent of the throne; so that there is no ground for assuming that he filled the office for any length of time under that monarch. המּס does not mean vectigal, i.e., tribute or tributary service, but tributary labourers. The derivation of the word is uncertain, and has been disputed. The appointment of a special prefect over the tributary labourers can hardly have taken place before the closing years of David's reign, when the king organized the internal administration of the kingdom more firmly than before. On the tributary labourers, see at 1 Kings 5:13. Ira the Jairite is never mentioned again. There is no ground for altering Jairi (the Jairite) into Jithri (the Jithrite), as Thenius proposes, since the rendering given in the Syriac ("from Jathir") is merely an inference from 2 Samuel 23:38; and the assumption upon which this conclusion is founded, viz., that Ira, the hero mentioned in 2 Samuel 23:38, is the same person as Ira the royal cohen, is altogether unfounded.