Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 17:17
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David.
17. Jonathan and Ahimaaz ] Hushai had evidently communicated David’s plan to Zadok and Abiathar, and commissioned the young men to be in waiting at a convenient place.
En-rogel ] That is, “The Fuller’s Fountain,” probably the modern “Fountain of the Virgin,” in the valley of the Kidron, just outside the city on the south-east. It was close to “the stone of Zoheleth” (1Ki 1:9), which has been identified with the cliff Zahweileh, on which the modern village of Siloam stands. Others however suppose En-rogel to be the deep and ancient well known as “Job’s Well,” near the junction of the valleys of the Kidron and Hinnom. En-rogel was a land-mark on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin (Jos 15:7; Jos 18:16).
they might not be seen ] For it was notorious that the high-priests were on David’s side. They knew that their movements would be watched, as the next verse shews was the case.
a wench ] The maid-servant: the definite article probably denotes a particular servant belonging to the household of one of the high-priests. She could go to the fountain for water without exciting suspicion. Wench, found here only in the E. V., means a girl, usually one of low birth.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
En-rogel – See the marginal reference.
A wench – Hebrew the maid servant, namely, of the high priest, either Zadok or Abiathar, or possibly one employed in some service in the temple courts. (1Sa 2:22 note.)
And they went and told king David – As related afterward 2Sa 17:21. Here mentioned by anticipation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. En-rogel] The fullers’ well; the place where they were accustomed to tread the clothes with their feet; hence the name ein, a well, and regel, the foot, because of the treading above mentioned.
And a wench went and told them] The word wench occurs nowhere else in the Holy Scriptures: and, indeed, has no business here; as the Hebrew word shiphchah, should have been translated girl, maid, maid-servant. The word either comes from the Anglo-Saxon [A.S.] a maid, or the Belgic wunch, desire, a thing wished for: multum enim ut plurimum Puellae a Juvenibus desiderantur, seu appetuntur. So Minsheu. Junius seems more willing to derive it from wince, to frisk, to be skittish, c., for reasons sufficiently obvious, and which he gives at length. After all, it may as likely come from the Gothic wens or weins, a word frequently used in the gospels of the Codex Argenteus for wife. Coverdale’s Bible, 1535, has damsell. Becke’s Bible, 1549, has wenche. The same in Cardmarden’s Bible, 1566 but it is maid in Barker’s Bible, 1615. Wench is more of a Scotticism than maid or damsel; and King James probably restored it, as he is said to have done lad in Ge 21:12, and elsewhere. In every other place where the word occurs, our translators render it handmaid, bondmaid, maiden, womanservant, maidservant, and servant. Such is the latitude with which they translate the same Hebrew term in almost innumerable instances.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
En-rogel, or, the fullers well; a place near Jerusalem, Jos 15:7; 18:16.
A wench went and told them; pretending to go thither to wash some clothes,
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. by En-rogelthe fuller’swell in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, below the junction of thevalley of Hinnom with that of Jehoshaphat.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel,…. Who were the sons of the priests; these did not go into the city of Jerusalem with their parents, when they were sent back by David, 2Sa 15:27; but stayed by their direction at this place, which was near Jerusalem, and is called in the Targum the fuller’s fountain, where they washed their clothes; and, as Kimchi and Jarchi say, by treading them with their feet, whence it had the name of Rogel, of which [See comments on Jos 15:7];
(for they might not be seen to come into the city); having been charged by their parents to continue there for the sake of carrying intelligence to David, or because suspected by Absalom’s party of carrying on such an intrigue:
and a wench went and told them: what Hushai had communicated to the priests, and what was his advice to David; this girl is supposed by Kimchi and Abarbinel to be of the family of Zadok, by whom she was sufficiently instructed to tell her message, and of whom there would be no suspicion:
and they went and told King David; the sons of the priests went and related to him all that had been transmitted to them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“Jonathan and Ahimaaz (the sons of the priests: 2Sa 15:27) stood at the Rogel spring (the present well of Job or Nehemiah, at the south-east corner of Jerusalem: see at Job 15:7), and the maid-servant (of one of the high priests) went and told them (Hushai’s message), and they went and told it to king David; for they durst not let themselves be seen to come into the city.” They had therefore been staying at the Rogel spring outside the city. After what had taken place publicly, according to 2Sa 15:24., Absalom could not be in any doubt as to the views of the high priests. Consequently their sons could not come into the city, with the intention of leaving it again directly, to inform David of the occurrences that had taken place there as he had requested (2Sa 15:28). The clause “and they went and told David” anticipates the course of the affair, according to the general plan adopted by Hebrew historians, of communicating the result at the very outset wherever they possibly could.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(17) En-rogel.A fountain just outside the city, on the boundary between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Jos. 15:7; Jos. 18:16). There are two localities which claim to represent it, each of which has its earnest advocates: the Fountain of the Virgin, on the western slope of the valley of the Kidron; and Jobs Well just below the junction of the valleys of the Kidron and Hinnom. The latter answers much better to the description in Joshua, but either will suit the present passage. The loyalty of the high priests to David must have been well known, and it would have been quite unsafe for their sons to start from the city itself as bearers of tidings to David; even with all their care they were pursued. Their hiding-place, however, was well chosen. as women resorted to the fountains to draw water, so that communications could be had without attracting observation.
A wench.The maid-servant, the definite article probably indicating some well-known maid of the high priest. The word wench is not found elsewhere in the English Bible.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2Sa 17:17. En-rogel Or, The fuller’s fountain, a place near Jerusalem; so called, as we are told, because the fullers trod their cloth there with their feet; deriving the word rogel from regel, which signifies a foot.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(17) Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David. (18) Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down. (19) And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known. (20) And when Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. (21) And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you.
Here we behold a renewed instance of the LORD’s overruling power. It would be incredible, but for this, to account how it was that Absalom’s suspicion had not been more excited by the departure of the two sons of Zadok and Abiathar. And the least suspicion would have ruined the whole plan, and involved Hushai, Zadok, and all the priests at Jerusalem in it. But the scripture before us explains all: The LORD had appointed to bring evil upon Absalom. Awful, when men are given up to a deluded blindness! See that instance of Eli’s sons; 1Sa 2:25 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Sa 17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David.
Ver. 17. And a wench went. ] She went to Enrogel, that is, the Fuller’s fountain, – where those two were by their parents’ appointment, under pretence of fetching water or washing clothes there, – and carried intelligence. Thus David’s safety depended upon the faithfulness of a wench. God delighteth to help his servants “with a little help,” as it is in Dan 11:34 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
En-rogel. Now the Virgin’s Fount, on east side of Ophel, or Jebus, from which the Zinnor runs up to the citadel. See note on 2Sa 5:8. Compare Jos 15:7; Jos 18:16, and App-68, on “Zion”.
a wench = a maidservant. Compare Mat 26:69. Mar 14:66. Luk 22:56. Joh 18:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jonathan: 2Sa 15:27, 2Sa 15:36
stayed: Jos 2:4-24
Enrogel: Jos 15:7, Jos 18:16, 1Ki 1:9
Reciprocal: 2Sa 18:19 – Ahimaaz 1Ki 1:42 – Jonathan 1Ch 6:8 – Ahimaaz Act 23:16 – he went
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told {g} them; and they went and told king David.
(g) Meaning, the message from their fathers.