John Gill Commentary 2 Samuel 3

Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the
house of David
The recent battle, though so much in favour of David, did not, put an end to the war between him andIshbosheth, which lasted five years longer; for it was when Ishbosheth had reigned two years that that battlewas fought, and he reigned five years longer; for not till his death, and when David had reigned above sevenyears in Hebron, was he made king over all Israel; and during this time peace was not made, but the warcarried on; though perhaps not in pitched battles, of which we no more read, but in skirmishes:

but David waxed stronger and stronger ;
he having the advantage in all such skirmishes, and persons continually coming over to his side from theseveral tribes:

and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker :
being always worsted whenever they skirmished with David's men, and by continual revolts from them. This isreckoned an emblem of the kingdoms of Christ and antichrist, the one increasing more and more, as it has andwill do, and the other decreasing, and before long will be consumed; and of the two parties in a regenerateman, grace and indwelling sin, the one as to its exercise growing stronger and stronger, and the other as toits influence on the outward conversation weaker and weaker.

And to David were sons born in Hebron
He was married before he came there, had wives in his state of exile, but had no children by them there, at least no sons; if any, only daughters:

and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess
who being mentioned first, and her son his firstborn, seems to have been his wife before he took Abigail; he had not much comfort of this firstborn son of his; see (2 Samuel 13:1–39) .

And the second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the
Carmelite
That is: who had been the wife of Nabal. This son's name is called Daniel, (1 Chronicles 3:1); and was thefirst name he had, and which his father gave him, because as if he should say, "God has judged me", andpleaded the cause of his reproach from Nabal, (1 Samuel 25:39); but why he should be called Chileab is noteasy to say; the name is commonly thought to signify "like unto his father", or "all father": had all thefeatures of his father, and was exceedingly like him; the Jews have a fabulous story concerning this^F23, not worth relating.

and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king
of Geshur;
in (1 Samuel 27:8) we read of David's invading the land of the Geshurites; and the Jews say ^F24that he then took the daughter of this king captive, and she being a beautiful woman married her, after madea proselyte according to the law in (Deuteronomy 21:10–23); but it should be observed that David slew allthe women of that country, and left not any alive; and besides that lay to the south of Judah, whereas thisGeshur, of which Talmai was king, was a part of Syria, (2 Samuel 15:8); and lay to the north of the landof Israel; and with this king David hereby entered into an alliance, to strengthen his interest againstIshbosheth in those parts.

of the trouble he met with from Absalom, see (2 Samuel 13:1–18:33) contrary tothe expectations he had raised when he gave him the name of Absalom, or Leabsalom, as in (1 Chronicles 3:2); that is, one given "for his father's peace".

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: Jarchi, Kimchi, & Abarbinel in loc.
• F24: Tanchuma apud Abarbinel in loc.

And the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith
The same that usurped the throne before his father's death, to anticipate Solomon, and died by his order, (1 Kings 1:5) (2:25) ;

and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital ;
of whom we read nowhere else.

And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah David's wife

Who also is not spoken of in any other place; only, in a like chronological account as the former, it is remarked that the mother of this only is called David's wife; the reason of which is supposed to be, either because she was a person of no note, and has nothing else to distinguish her; but the same may be said of the two foregoing.

Or because she was his beloved wife, his heifer, as her name signifies; hence the Jews ^F25 take her to be Michal his first wife, whom he greatly loved, and who, though she had no children after her contempt of David for playing before the ark, unto the day of her death, yet might have before: but it should be observed, that as yet she was not returned to David in Hebron; and when she was returned, did not seem to continue there long enough to have a son there; and besides, being his first wife, would not be reckoned last.

But still more foreign is another notion of the Jews ^F26, that she was Saul's widow, who though she might not be married to another might be married to a king, as David was; and this they suppose receives some confirmation from (2 Samuel 12:8).

But after all it may be this phrase "David's wife", as some have observed, by a figure the rhetoricians call "zeugma", or "hypozeugma", is to be joined to everyone of the women before mentioned, (2 Samuel 3:2–5), who were his wives, and so called to distinguish them from his concubines, by whom he had sons also.

Polygamy, or plurality of wives, which David gave into, is no favourable part of his character.

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 21. 1. Hieron. Trad. Heb. in 2 Reg. fol. 77. F.
• F26: In Kimchi & Ben Gersom in loc.