2 Samuel 21:15

“Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel, etc.] Besides what is before recorded in this and the preceding book; being animated to it partly by the number of giants among them, and partly by the decline of David’s life, and it may be chiefly by the insurrections and rebellions in Israel; though some think that these battles were not after the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, and the affair of the Gibeonites, though here recorded; but before, and quickly after the war with the Ammonites, next to which they are placed in (<132001>1 Chronicles 20:1-8); but they seem to be placed here in their proper order: and David went down, and his servants with him; to the borders of the…”

“Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel--Although the Philistines had completely succumbed to the army of David, yet the appearance of any gigantic champions among them revived their courage and stirred them up to renewed inroads on the Hebrew territory. Four successive contests they provoked during the latter period of David's reign, in the first of which the king ran so imminent a risk of his life that he was no longer allowed to encounter the perils of the battlefield. The song contained in this chapter is the same as the eighteenth Psalm, where the full commentary will be given [see on Psa 18:1, &c.]. It may be sufficient simply to remark that Jewish writers have noticed a…”

“This, like the preceding paragraph 2 Samuel 21:1-14, is manifestly a detached and unconnected extract. It is probably taken from some history of David’s wars, apparently the same as furnished the materials for 2 Samuel 5:0; 2 Samuel 8:0; 2 Samuel 23:8-39. There is no direct clue to the time when the events here related took place, but it was probably quite in the early part of David’s reign, while he was still young and active, after the war described in 2 Samuel 5:0. The Book of Chronicles places these Philistine battles immediately after the taking of Rabbah of the Ammonites 1 Chronicles 20:4-8, but omits David’s adventure 2 Samuel 21:15-17. return to 'Top of Page'”

“21:15-22 The extended account of battles with the Philistines highlights some notable accomplishments of David’s mighty warriors (see also 23:8-39). 21:15 The description of David as weak and exhausted helps shift the focus from his ability and accomplishments to God as the source of his success (ch 22).”

“the Philistines: Sa2 5:17, Sa2 5:22; Ch1 20:4 and David waxed faint: Jos 14:10, Jos 14:11; Psa 71:9, Psa 71:18, Psa 73:26; Ecc 12:3; Isa 40:28-30; Jer 9:23, Jer 9:24; Pe1 1:24, Pe1 1:25 2 Kings (2 Samuel) 21:16”

“Heroic Acts Performed in the Wars with the Philistines. - The brief accounts contained in these verses of different heroic feats were probably taken from a history of David's wars drawn up in the form of chronicles, and are introduced here as practical proofs of the gracious deliverance of David out of the hand of all his foes, for which he praises the Lord his God in the psalm of thanksgiving which follows, so that the enumeration of these feats is to be regarded as supplying a historical basis for the psalm. Sa2 21:15-16 The Philistines had war with Israel again. עוד (again) refers generally to earlier wars with the Philistines, and has probably been taken without alteration from the…”