2 Samuel 18:25

2Sa 18:25 And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he [be] alone, [there is] tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near.

Ver. 25. If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth.] Tidings of victory likely; for if an army be beaten they flee by troops; and it is seldom seen that the newsbearer hath cause to say, "I only am escaped alone to tell thee," as Job 1:15-16.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa 18:25. If he be alone, there are tidings in his mouth — He is sent with some special message, which was a very probable conjecture, and that he brought good news; for if he had run, or fled from the enemy, many others would have followed him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18:25 If he is alone, he has news: A solitary runner was usually a courier.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hebrew, tidings are in his mouth.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 25. If he be alone, there is tidings] That is, good tidings. For if the battle had been lost men would have been running in different directions through the country.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

25. If he be alone, &c.] If the army had been routed, a number of fugitives would have been seen coming together.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the watchman cried and told the king,.... Called with a loud voice from the roof of the watchtower to the king, sitting between the gates, and informed him what he saw:

and the king said, if he be alone there is tidings in his mouth; for if the army was routed and fled, and were pursued, there would be more in company, or several running one after another; but being but one, it was highly improbable that he was sent express:

and he came apace, and drew near; which was another sign of his being a messenger, the haste he made towards the city.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mouth. If the army had been routed, all would have been in confusion. (Calmet) --- Now they are employed in plundering the vanquished. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

There is tidings in his mouth; he is sent with some special message; which was a very probable conjecture; for if he had run or fled from the enemy, many others would have followed him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

25. Amasa — A nephew of David and cousin of Joab, but of foreign paternity, which fact, perhaps, had led David to honour the sons of Zeruiah more than him.

An Israelite — Rather, an Ishmaelite, as the text of 1Ch_2:17, has it; for there was no reason to state his nationality if he were an Israelite.

Nahash — Supposed by some to be the name of Jesse’s wife, but by Stanley to be the king of the Ammonites, and father of Abigail and Zeruiah by a woman who afterwards became the wife of Jesse and mother of David. But the more common and satisfactory opinion is the unbroken tradition of the Jews, that Nahash and Jesse were different names of the same person.

25. If he be alone, there is tidings — For if many had been running together it would have indicated a flight.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If he be alone. In case of defeat there would have been a crowd of runaways in eager flight. And when soon afterwards a second courier is seen, as he also is alone, and comes by a different route, his appearance only suggests the idea of completer tidings. And quickly the foremost is recognized by his running as the son of the high priest, and David is then assured that all has gone well, because Joab would not have sent a man of such rank to be the bearer of bad news. The word good may also mean that Ahimaaz was too brave a man to have fled from the battle, and must, therefore, have come on an errand from Joab.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When he announced this to the king, he said, "If he (is or comes) alone, there is good news in his mouth," namely, because several runners would have shown themselves if it had been a flight. As the first messenger came nearer and nearer, the watchman saw another man running, and shouted this into the gate (השּׁער is wrongly pointed for השּׁער, according to the lxx, Syr., and Vulgate); whereupon the king replied, "This is also a good messenger."

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)