2 Samuel 20:3

“And David came to his house at Jerusalem, etc.] His palace there, which was in that part of the city called the fort of Zion, and city of David: and the king took the ten women [his] concubines, whom he had left to keep the house; when he fled from Jerusalem because of Absalom, (<101516>2 Samuel 15:16); and put them in ward; partly as a punishment for easily yielding to the lust of Absalom, and partly that they might not be seen, which would bring to remembrance his sin: and fed them; he did not put them to death, nor put them away, but kept them thus confined, and made a proper provision for them, not suffering them to marry any other, and be maintained by them: but went not in unto them:…”

“the king took the ten women his concubines--Jewish writers say that the widowed queens of Hebrew monarchs were not allowed to marry again but were obliged to pass the rest of their lives in strict seclusion. David treated his concubines in the same manner after the outrage committed on them by Absalom. They were not divorced, for they were guiltless; but they were no longer publicly recognized as his wives; nor was their confinement to a sequestered life a very heavy doom, in a region where women have never been accustomed to go much abroad.”

“20:3 The fate of the ten concubines (15:16) whom Absalom had publicly violated (16:21-22) was like Michal’s (see 6:23 and corresponding note).”

“ten women: Sa2 15:16, Sa2 16:21, Sa2 16:22 and put: The confinement and retired maintenance of these women was the only measure which in justice and prudence could be adopted. In China, when an emperor dies, all his women are removed to an edifice called the palace of chastity, situated within the palace, in which they are shut up for the remainder of their lives. ward: Heb. an house of ward, Gen 40:3 shut: Heb. bound living in widowhood: Heb. in widowhood of life 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 20:4”