2 Samuel 4:3

And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.)

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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.

Benson Commentary

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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-7 See how Ishbosheth was murdered! When those difficulties dispirit us, which should sharpen our endeavours, we betray both our heavenly crowns and our earthly lives. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty and ruin. The idle soul is an easy prey to the destroyer. We know not when and where death will meet us. When we lie down to sleep, we are not sure that we may not sleep the sleep of death before we awake; nor do we know from what hand the death-blow may come.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Beeroth - See the marginal reference. From Joshua 9:17, it might have been expected that the population of Beeroth would be Canaanite. But from some unknown cause the Canaanite inhabitants of Beeroth had fled to Gittaim - perhaps the same as Gath - and continued there as sojourners. If this flight of the Beerothites took place at the time of Saul's cruel attack upon the Gibeonites 2 Samuel 21:1-2, Baanah and Reehab may have been native Beerothites, and have been instigated to murder the son of Saul by a desire to avenge the blood of their countrymen. The fact of their being reckoned as Benjamites is quite compatible with their being Canaanites by blood.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 4

2Sa 4:1, 2. Baanah and Rechab Slay Ish-bosheth, and Bring His Head to Hebron.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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

And the Beerothites fled to {d} Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.)

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Gittaim] A Benjamite town of this name is mentioned in Nehemiah 11:33, but if the reason suggested above for the flight of the Beerothites is the correct one, it can hardly be the same, as they would have chosen a more distant refuge. The name is the dual form of Gath, meaning “two wine-presses,” which suggests that it may possibly have been in Philistia.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Gittaim. This word is a dual, and means "the two Gaths;" the one being, probably, the acropolis, or upper town, at the foot of which nestled a new Gath, protected by the ancient stronghold. It is mentioned as belonging to Benjamin in Nehemiah 11:33; but could not have been an Israelite town at this time, as the Beerothites are described as sojourners, that is, dwellers in a foreign country. When expelled from Beeroth, they probably seized Gittaim by force, and, on the reconciliation effected by the execution of Saul's sons, returned to their allegiance to Israel. 2 Samuel 4:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"The Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were strangers there unto this day." Gittaim is mentioned again in Nehemiah 11:33, among the places in which Benjaminites were dwelling after the captivity, though it by no means follows from this that the place belonged to the tribe of Benjamin before the captivity. It may have been situated outside the territory of that tribe. It is never mentioned again, and has not yet been discovered. The reason why the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and remained there as strangers until the time when this history was written, is also unknown; it may perhaps have been that the Philistines had conquered Gittaim.