2 Samuel 23:7

But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Fenced with iron.—The thorns are to be handled with an iron hook on the end of a spear staff. The phrase, “in the same place,” is used only here, and its meaning is quite uncertain. The Vulg. translates, to nothing, meaning to utter destruction; the LXX. substitutes the word shame. The English rendering is as well sustained as any.

The Chaldee Targum upon these verses is very interesting, as giving the ancient Jewish interpretation of the prophecy. It is a much enlarged paraphrase, but gives a Messianic application to the whole. The following is a close translation of 2Samuel 23:1-3 : “(1) These are the words of the prophecy of David, which he prophesied concerning the end of the age, concerning the days of consolation which are to come. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was exalted to the kingdom said, the anointed by the word of the God of Jacob, and appointed that he might preside over the sweetness of the praises of Israel. (2) David said, In the spirit of prophecy of the Lord I speak these things, and the words of His holiness do I order in my mouth. (3) David said, The God of Israel spake concerning me, the Strong One of Israel who ruleth over the sons of men, the true Judge, said that He would appoint for me a king; He is the Messiah, who shall arise and rule in the fear of the Lord.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:1-7 These words of David are very worthy of regard. Let those who have had long experience of God's goodness, and the pleasantness of heavenly wisdom, when they come to finish their course, bear their testimony to the truth of the promise. David avows his Divine inspiration, that the Spirit of God spake by him. He, and other holy men, spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. In many things he had his own neglect and wrong conduct to blame. But David comforted himself that the Lord had made with him an everlasting covenant. By this he principally intended the covenant of mercy and peace, which the Lord made with him as a sinner, who believed in the promised Saviour, who embraced the promised blessing, who yielded up himself to the Lord, to be his redeemed servant. Believers shall for ever enjoy covenant blessings; and God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, shall be for ever glorified in their salvation. Thus pardon, righteousness, grace, and eternal life, are secured as the gift of God through Jesus Christ. There is an infinite fulness of grace and all blessings treasured up in Christ, for those who seek his salvation. This covenant was all David's salvation, he so well knew the holy law of God and the extent of his own sinfulness, that he perceived what was needful for his own case in this salvation. It was therefore all his desire. In comparison, all earthly objects lost their attractions; he was willing to give them up, or to die and leave them, that he might enjoy full happiness, Ps 73:24-28. Still the power of evil, and the weakness of his faith, hope, and love, were his grief and burden. Doubtless he would have allowed that his own slackness and want of care were the cause; but the hope that he should soon be made perfect in glory, encouraged him in his dying moments.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Although my house ... - The sense of this clause (according to the the King James Version) will be that David comparing the actual state of his family and kingdom during the later years of trouble and disaster with the prophetic description of the prosperity of the righteous king, and seeing how far it falls short, comforts himself by the terms of God's covenant 2 Samuel 7:12-16 and looks forward to Messiah's kingdom. The latter clause, "although he make it not to grow," must then mean that, although at the present time the glory of his house was not made to grow, yet all his salvation and all his desire was made sure in the covenant which would be fulfilled in due time. But most modern commentators understand both clauses as follows: "Is not my house so with God that He has made with me an everlasting covenant," etc.? "For all my salvation and all my desire, will He not cause it to spring up?" namely, in the kingdom of Solomon, and still more fully in the kingdom of Christ.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns—that is, the wicked enemies and persecutors of this kingdom of righteousness. They resemble those prickly, thorny plants which are twisted together, whose spires point in every direction, and which are so sharp and strong that they cannot be touched or approached without danger; but hard instruments and violent means must be taken to destroy or uproot them. So God will remove or destroy all who are opposed to this kingdom.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The staff of a spear; so the meaning is, he must fill his hand, or arm himself with some iron weapon, whereby he may cut them down; or, with the staff of a spear, or some such like thing, whereby he may thrust them away from himself, that they do him no hurt. Or thus, he will be filled, or will fill himself, i. e. his hand, wherewith he attempted to touch and take them, with thorns, as

with iron and the staff of a spear; i.e. he will be as surely and sorely wounded, as if one should run the iron head and part of the wood of a spear into his hand.

And they shall be utterly burned, or, therefore; because men cannot safely touch them, therefore they will burn them up. Or, or, i.e. if they do not cut them down with iron, or thrust them away with the staff of a spear, they will burn and consume them.

In the same place, or, in their place, where they grow or stand; and they will not trouble not hazard themselves to remove them. Withal, it may imply that they shall be destroyed when and where they thought themselves most secure, even in their own place. And it may possibly intimate, that those children of Belial, the wicked and unbelieving Jews, who rejected and rebelled against the Messiah, David’s successor, and their lawful King, should be destroyed in their great, and strong, and holy city Jerusalem, where the greatest part of that people were gathered together as fuel for the fire, and were destroyed together by the Romans under Titus, where also their wicked predecessors had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in former times.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear,.... To remove these thorns, or sons of Belial, out of the way, or to defend himself against them; or weapons of war must be made use of to conquer and destroy them, according to the sense of Ben Gersom, and which De Dieu follows; a man that meddles with them must expect to be as much hurt and wounded by them, all over the body, as if not only the point or iron head of a spear, but the wood or handle of the spear, were thrust up in him; but the former sense seems best:

and they shall be utterly burnt with fire in the same place: where the thorns grew, or whither they are removed, or are sitting; where persons are sitting to warm themselves by them: and this may be understood of the destruction of wicked rulers, when their kingdom is taken from them, and they are consumed root and branch; and was true not only of Saul, and his posterity, as some apply it, and of Jeroboam, and those like to him, as the above Jewish writer; but of the wicked Jews, and their rulers, those sons of Belial, who rejected the yoke of Christ, and would not have him to rule over them; to whom the Lord sent the Roman armies fenced with swords and spears, and burnt their city, and destroyed them in the same place; and may take in antichrist, and antichristian states, those sons of Belial, of the wicked and lawless one, the son of perdition, whose city, Rome, shall be burnt with fire; and even all wicked men, at the great day of judgment, to which the Targum refers these words; when they, whose end, like thorns, is to be burnt, will be cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.

Geneva Study Bible

But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. But the man, &c.] But the man who toucheth them must arm himself with iron and a spear shaft. The thorns cannot be touched by hand, but must be torn up with an iron hook fastened to a long handle. The expression is chosen so as to be applicable to the enemies who are figured, as well as to the thorns which figure them.

burnt with fire] Cp. Matthew 3:10; Matthew 13:30; Luke 19:27; Hebrews 6:8.

in the same place] Or perhaps, until they are consumed. But the word is probably not part of the true text, and should be omitted altogether.

2 Samuel 23:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

6 But the worthless, as rejected thorns are they all;

For men do not take them in the hand.

7 And the man who touches them

Provides himself with iron and spear-shaft,

And they are utterly burned with fire where they dwell.

The development of salvation under the ruler in righteousness and the fear of God is accompanied by judgment upon the ungodly. The abstract בליּעל, worthlessness, is stronger than בליּעל אישׁ, the worthless man, and depicts the godless as personified worthlessness. מנד, in the Keri מנּד, the Hophal of נוּד or נדד, literally "scared" or hunted away. This epithet does not apply to the thorns, so well as to the ungodly who are compared to thorns. The reference is to thorns that men root out, not to those which they avoid on account of their prickles. כּלּהם, an antiquated form for כּלּם (see Ewald, 247, d.). To root them out, or clean the ground of them, men do not lay hold of them with the bare hand; but "whoever would touch them equips himself (ימּלא, sc., ידו, to 'fill the hand' with anything: 2 Kings 9:24) with iron, i.e., with iron weapons, and spear-shaft" (vid., 1 Samuel 17:7). This expression also relates to the godless rather than to the thorns. They are consumed בּשּׁבת, "at the dwelling," i.e., as Kimchi explains, at the place of their dwelling, the place where they grow. For בּשּׁבת cannot mean "on the spot" in the sense of without delay. The burning of the thorns takes place at the final judgment upon the ungodly (Matthew 13:30).