(33) Shammah the Hararite.--"Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite" has already been mentioned in 2Samuel 23:11, and here Chronicles reads "Jonathan the son of Shage the Hararite." As Shage is identical with Agee with a letter prefixed, we should probably read "Jonathan the son of Shammah the Hararite." Jonathan, one of "the thirty," was thus the son of one of "the first three." Sharar is in Chronicles Sacar, and Hararite is spelt in the Hebrew here differently from the previous clause and from Chronicles. Verse 33. - Shammah the Hararite. He was really one of the first three (see ver. 11). (For the reading in Chronicles, see above.) A very probable correction would be "Jonathan the son of Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite." Thus both father and son would be in the number of the thirty, Ahiam. He is called "the son of Sacar" in 1 Chronicles 11:35. 23:8-39 David once earnestly longed for the water at the well of Bethlehem. It seems to be an instance of weakness. He was thirsty; with the water of that well he had often refreshed himself when a youth, and it was without due thought that he desired it. Were his valiant men so forward to expose themselves, upon the least hint of their prince's mind, and so eager to please him, and shall not we long to approve ourselves to our Lord Jesus, by ready compliance with his will, as shown us by his word, Spirit, and providence? But David poured out the water as a drink-offering to the Lord. Thus he would cross his own foolish fancy, and punish himself for indulging it, and show that he had sober thoughts to correct his rash ones, and knew how to deny himself. Did David look upon that water as very precious which was got at the hazard of these men's blood, and shall not we much more value those benefits for purchasing which our blessed Saviour shed his blood? Let all beware of neglecting so great salvation.Shammah the Hararite,.... From the mountainous country, as the Targum; the Arabic and Syriac versions say, from the mount of Olives:Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite: from the high mountain, as the Targum; in 1 Chronicles 11:35, he is called the son of Sacar. |