Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 3:8
Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, [Am] I a dog’s head, which against Judah do show kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me today with a fault concerning this woman?
8. Am I a dog’s head, &c.] Render, Am I a dog’s head belonging to Judah? This day do I shew kindness and thou hast charged me! &c. i.e. Am I at once despicable and hostile to your interests? Nay, I am faithful to the house of Saul, otherwise I should long ago have made terms with David by surrendering you into his hands.
In the East in ancient times as at the present day, dogs, although used for guarding flocks and houses (Job 30:1; Isa 56:10), were chiefly seen prowling about towns in a half-wild condition, owning no master, living on offal and garbage. Cp. Psa 59:14-15; 1Ki 21:19; 1Ki 21:23-24; 1Ki 22:38. Hence the aversion with which they were regarded, and “dog” became (1), as here, a term of reproach and contempt; cp. 1Sa 17:43; 1Sa 24:14; 2Sa 9:8 ; 2Sa 16:9; 2Ki 8:13: (2) an expression for fierce and cruel men (Psa 22:16): (3) a name for impure persons (Mat 7:6; Php 3:2; Rev 22:15). See Tristram’s Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 78.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The words against Judah are very obscure. If the text be correct, the words would seem to be Ish-bosheths, who in his anger had charged Abner with being a vile partisan of Judah: Abner retorts, Am I (as you say) a dogs head which belongeth to Judah, or on Judahs side! This day I show you kindness, etc., and this day thou chargest me with a fault, etc.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Am I a dog’s head] Dost thou treat a man with indignity who has been the only prop of thy tottering kingdom, and the only person who could make head against the house of David?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A dogs head, i.e. a vile and contemptible creature, as a dog was. See Deu 23:18; 1Sa 24:14; 2Sa 9:8; 16:9; Job 30:1; Ecc 9:4. And a dogs head is put for a dog by a synecdoche, usual both in the Hebrew and in other languages, as the head is oft put for the whole man in the Latin tongue. Which against Judah; so the particle lamed is well rendered, as el, which among the Hebrews is confessedly of the same nature and use, is used Ecc 9:14; Jer 34:7; Eze 13:9,20; Am 7:15.
Have not delivered thee into the hand of David, which I could oft and easily have done. That thou chargest me to-day with a fault concerning this woman; either, that thou accusest me falsely concerning this matter; or, that thou canst not wink at so small a fault (for so he esteemed it) as conversation with this woman, who, whatsoever she formerly was, is now so impotent and inconsiderable, that she can do thee no service, as I have done.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth,…. If false he had a good deal of reason for it; and if true, he thought he deserved better at his hands, than to be reproved for and upbraided with what he might think was a very small fault, and might easily be connived at, and especially in one that had been so serviceable to him:
and said, [am] I a dog’s head; such a mean, vile, contemptible person with thee, as if no better than a dog, and as useless and as unserviceable as a dead dog, the head of a dog cut off; see 1Sa 24:14 2Sa 9:8; or am I esteemed and to be treated as a head of dogs, a keeper of a pack of hounds, and not as a general of the armies of Israel? so Jarchi and others; but it seems rather to respect the filthy nature of a dog, that will couple with any; and so the sense is, am I such a filthy lustful creature that care not with whom I lie, no more, than a dog?
which against Judah do show kindness to the house of Saul thy father,
to his brethren, and to his friends; who in opposition to the tribe of Judah, which alone abode by David, had shown respect to the family of Saul, and all his friends, by his close attachment to Ishbosheth:
and have not delivered thee into the hand David; when it was in his power to have done it many a tithe:
that thou chargest me today with a fault concerning this woman? he neither denies nor owns the charge, and yet, by his not denying it, tacitly owns it; though, by his way of speaking, he suggests as if it was no fault at all, at least a very trifling one, and such as ought not to have been mentioned to him, considering the services he had done to Ishbosheth and his family.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) Am I a dogs head?The translation of this clause is taken from the Vulg., and is hardly possible; it should rather be, Am I a dogs head belonging to Judah?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. A dog’s head A thing utterly contemptible, to be despised and cast aside as vile and mean. He shows the king that he must not lightly treat the man to whom he owes the kingdom.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Sa 3:8 Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, [Am] I a dog’s head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman?
Ver. 8. Am I a dog’s head?] An persona canina sum? Am I so worthless and abject? as some sense it; what! a dog, or a dog-keeper? Others, Am I so given to lust and lasciviousness, as dogs are? Thus Deu 23:18 , the price of a bitch, that is, of a whore, which, as a suit-bitch, is followed up and down by her libidinous lecherous paramours. Aristogiton, an Athenian orator, was for this cause called Dog: and it was not permitted to a dog to enter into the Acropolis or tower at Athens, for his heat in venery, and for his ill favour. Goats likewise came not there, saith Varro, unless for necessary sacrifice. a
a Plutarch.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
fault. Hebrew. avon, iniquity. See App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Abner: Psa 76:10, Mar 6:18, Mar 6:19
Amos I a dog’s head: This was a proverbial expression among the Hebrews to denote whatever was deemed worthless and contemptible. Something similar to this was the answer of the Turkish commander at Beer, on the Euphrates, to a request made to see the castle. “Do they,” said he, “take me for a child, or an ass’s head, that they would feed me with sweet meats, and dupe me with a bit of cloth? No, they shall not see the castle.” 2Sa 9:8, 2Sa 16:9, Deu 23:18, 1Sa 24:14, 1Sa 24:15, 2Ki 8:13
do show: 2Sa 3:9, 2Sa 3:18, 2Sa 5:2, 1Sa 15:28, Psa 2:1-4, Isa 37:23, Act 9:4, Act 9:5
Reciprocal: 1Sa 17:43 – Am 1Sa 26:5 – Abner 2Sa 2:8 – Ishbosheth 2Sa 3:24 – What hast
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 3:8. Then was Abner very wroth He accounted his merits so great, and was become so haughty, that he thought he might do any thing without reprehension; and said, Am I a dogs head? So contemptible a person that thou thinkest it a disgrace to thy family for me to have intercourse with thy fathers concubine. Whether Abner was guilty of the crime laid to his charge or not, does not appear; nor what ground Ish-bosheth had for the suspicion. But, however it was, it would have been prudent in him to have connived at it for the present, considering how much it was his interest not to dis-oblige Abner. And if the thing was false, and his jealousy groundless, it was very disingenuous and ungrateful to entertain unjust surmises of one who had ventured his all for him, and was certainly the best friend he had in the world. Who against Judah do show kindness unto the house of Saul Is this my recompense for the kindness I have shown to thee and thy fathers house, and the good services I have done you? He magnifies his service with this, that it was against Judah, the tribe on which the crown was settled, and which would certainly have it at last. So that in supporting the house of Saul he acted both against his conscience and against his interest, for which he deserved a better requital than this. And yet, probably, he would not have been so zealous for the house of Saul, if he had not thereby gratified his own ambition, and hoped to find his own account in it. That thou chargest me with a fault concerning this woman? That is, either that thou accusest me falsely concerning this matter; or that thou canst not wink at so small a fault (for so he esteemed it) as conversation with this woman, who, whatsoever she formerly was, is now so impotent and inconsiderable that she can neither serve nor disserve thy cause.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:8 Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, [Am] I a {d} dog’s head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman?
(d) Do you esteem me no more than a dog, for all my service done to your father’s house?