Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 3:36

And all the people took notice [of it], and it pleased them: as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.

2Sa 3:36

Whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.

The king can do no wrong

I. First, then, wherever it is the case that whatsoever the king doeth pleases all the people, this is the outflow of love; and as it is the case with our King, that whatsoever He does pleases all His people, we can truly say that this is the outflow of our love to Him.

1. True love banishes suspicion. No dark suspicions come across the soul that is once enamoured of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. It also inspires implicit confidence. We are willing to let His will be like the apocalyptic book, sealed with seven seals if necessary, and we unhesitatingly say, Let His will be done.

3. Love also suggests unquestioning reverence.

4. It creates sympathetic feeling. When our nature gets to be like His nature–oh, what a blessed consummation that is!–when our wishes and His wishes travel the same road, though not with equal footsteps; when that which He aims at is that which we aim at after our poor fashion; when we can say that it is more delight to us that He should be delighted than that we should be delighted ourselves, and that it is a greater honour to us to see Him honoured than it would be to be honoured ourselves; when we sink ourselves in Him, even as two divided streams at last dissolve into one–as I have seen a tiny silver brook come clown to Father Thames, and pour its whole self into him, so as to be no longer anything but part of the great river–so, when our soul yields itself up in perfect love to Christ, to think His thoughts, and live and move in Him so that it is no longer we who live but Christ Who liveth in us; oh, then it is that whatsoever the King doeth pleaseth all His people! When the believer comes to be what He should be in the fulness of his love, his will is lost in the will of Christ, his very life is hidden away with Christ in God, and then he realises how true it is that whatsoever the King doeth pleaseth all His people.

II. The love that manifests itself thus is the consequence of knowledge. Human love is blind; but the love which is wrought in us by the Spirit of God is as full of eyes as are the great wheels of Divine Providence. There is the best of reasons why everything that Jesus does should please all His people, because everything He does is right, and we shall feel this in proportion as we combine knowledge with love, or our love is based on knowledge.

1. We know the character of Christ.

2. We know something of His designs, and we know that He designs the glory of the Father through the salvation of those the Father gave him.

3. We know something of His modes of operation. We have learned that it is His habit often to disguise Himself; His way is in the sea, and His path in the great waters, and His footsteps are not known except to those who are familiar with Him.

4. We know something of our Lords rights, and therefore we can never venture to interfere with His actions.

III. This is the secret of rest: Whatsoever the king did pleased all the people. To know that the King has done it, and to see His Divine hand in anything, is more than half the battle which ends in sweet content. When you have seen Gods hand, then say, I would not have it otherwise than it is. I know several persons who are always in trouble and unhappy because there is a dispute between them and God. I remember one to whom I solemnly spoke, years ago, and not long after he passed away. I went to see his dying child, the only one he had left, and he said to me, Do not talk to my daughter about death, do not mention it to her. Well, then, I said, if I may not mention death, I will not go upstairs. The father said to me, God could not take that child away. He had lost several before, and he said that, if his daughter died, he should call God a tyrant, and I know not what. At last I stood before him, and I said, You are making for yourself a rod that is much heavier than God Himself lays upon you. I fear that you will yourself die if you act in this way. As he could not be brought to reason, and kicked and rebelled against Gods dealings with him, I was not surprised to learn that, soon after his child died, he himself also died. It does not do to quarrel with God; let the potsherds of the earth strive with other potsherds if they will, but woe to him who contendeth with his Maker! Instead of that, bow before him, not only because you must, but because you delight to acknowledge him as your Lord.

IV. Lastly, this will be a lesson in obedience.

1. Whatever service the King requires of you will please you.

2. Oftentimes, we are permitted to work hard, and yet to meet with great discouragement. It was a pretty remark I read, the other day, of a Christian man who said, I used to have many disappointments, until I changed one letter of the word, and chopped it into two, so that instead of disappointments, I read it His appointments. That was a wonderful change, for disappointments break your heart, but His appointments you accept right cheerily. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 36. The people took notice] They saw that the king’s grief was sincere, and that he had no part nor device in the murder of Abner: see 2Sa 3:37.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Took notice of it; observed what the king said and did. It pleased them; they were satisfied concerning Davids integrity, and the method he used here for his own just vindication.

Whatsoever the king did; either in this matter; or rather, in all things following this action. The meaning is, by his carriage herein he gained so great an interest in the hearts of his people, that they judged most favourably of, and put the best construction upon, all his words and actions; as, on the contrary, when people have a prejudice against or an ill will towards their prince, they are apt to judge most harshly of all his counsels and doings.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And all the people took notice [of it],…. Not only of his oath, that he would not eat food till evening, but of his whole conduct at the funeral of Abner; the sorrow he expressed for his death, and the oration he made on account of it, in which he pretty severely reflected on his murderer:

and it pleased them; that he showed such a concern for his death, and that it was a clear case he had no hand in it:

as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people; what he did at this time, burying Abhor with so much pomp and ceremony; and indeed he had so much the hearts of the people, and such a share in their affections, and they had such an high opinion of him, that all that he did in public and private affairs they reckoned well done; they were highly approved of by them, such an interest had he in them.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

2Sa 3:36-39. It pleased them: as whatsoever, &c. David’s behaviour towards Abner had its success. The sincerity of his sorrow was seen by all the people, and he was universally acquitted of all guilt in his death: nor was this all; he took care to let his servants know, and they doubtless took care to inform the people, that nothing but the weak and unsettled condition of his affairs, 2Sa 3:39 hindered him from executing just vengeance upon the author of it. In short, his whole behaviour on this occasion gave great satisfaction to his people, as did every part of his conduct. Whatsoever the king did, pleased all the people. Rare felicity of princes! or, shall I add? felicity peculiar to David! The fall of a man like Abner must inspire every mind with grave and serious reflections: A great man fallen! fallen by so unexpected and so surprising a treachery! in the very instant of returning to his duty; and in the eye of a great revolution, seemingly depending upon his fate!True:but then this great man sported with the lives of his brethren; and perhaps deliberately opposed himself to the dictates of his known duty to Gods for a series of years. He spilled the first blood shed in this civil war. As to David, he evidently declined all occasion of combat with his adversaries: we hear of him no where out of Hebron during the whole course of this long civil war. This surely may be numbered among his felicities, never to have drawn his sword upon a subject in a contest of seven (and a war of five) years’ continuance. It is true, Abner was now returned to his duty; but it is as true, that he returned to it now, as he departed from it before, upon a pique, and from motives of ambition, interest, and revenge. He well knew the purposes and declarations of God in relation to David, and yet he deliberately opposed himself to them. And it is but just in the appointments of Providence, (and nothing is more conspicuous in his government of the world,) not to permit the wicked to effect that good from wrong motives, which they once obstructed upon the same principles. The occasions of duty, once notoriously neglected, seldom return, at least to equal advantage. Let no man decline the good which is in his power; if he once does so, he is no more worthy to be the happy instrument in the hand of God of effecting it.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

2Sa 3:36 And all the people took notice [of it], and it pleased them: as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.

Ver. 36. Pleased all the people. ] This was both hard and happy: a great contentment doubtless to good David.

“ E , .” – Theog.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)