2 Samuel 20:24

2Sa 20:24 And Adoram [was] over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud [was] recorder:

Ver. 24. And Adoram was over the tribute.] All was as before, {2Sa 8:15-18} David being fully reestablished; save that this Adoram praeerat pecuniae recipiendae, was treasurer for the tribute, which came in from those many nations, since subdued by David.

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.

20:24 Adoniram: The addition of the officer in charge of forced labor (not mentioned in 8:15-18; see also 1 Kgs 4:6) shows that David had now gained sufficient control of Israel to require the payment of taxes and to conscript labor throughout the kingdom (cp. 1 Sam 8:11-17).

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

Verse 24. Adoram was over the tribute] Probably the chief receiver of the taxes; or Chancellor of the Exchequer, as we term it.

Jehoshaphat - recorder] The registrar of public events.

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

(24) Adoram was over the tribute.—The same office was held by Adoniram in Solomon’s reign (1Ki_4:6; 1Ki_5:14), and by Adoram at the beginning of the reign of his successor (1Ki_12:18). Αll those may have been the same person, or at least of the same family. “The tribute” should rather be the levy, the forced labour so largely employed by Solomon. It is remarkable that there is no trace of such an office in 2Sa_8:16-18, nor in the parallel (1Ch_18:14-17). It was a feature of Oriental despotism only introduced towards the close of David’s reign, and carried to much greater length under Solomon.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. Adoram] Perhaps the same as Adoniram (1Ki_4:6; 1Ki_5:14), who held the office in Solomon’s reign, and Adoram, who held it at the beginning of Rehoboam’s reign (1Ki_12:18), but possibly three persons of the same family, who succeeded one another in the office, are meant. The Sept. reads Adoniram here.

over the tribute] Better over the levy (1Ki_4:6 marg., 2Sa_5:14); superintendent of the forced levies employed in public works. Adoram was stoned to death by the people in the rebellion at the beginning of Rehoboam’s reign, as the representative of the hated system of forced labour which had oppressed the people beyond all endurance in Solomon’s reign (1Ki_12:4). The appearance of this new officer in the closing years of David’s reign is most significant of the vast change which had taken place in the character of his rule.

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 Adoram was over the tribute,.... Or over those that collected and brought it, as the Targum; this was a new office, and which respected both the revenue he received from his own people, and the tribute brought him from the nations conquered by him:

and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; who was in this office before, and now continued and established in it, Sa2 8:16.

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

Adoram - Not mentioned before by name or office. Apparently, therefore, the office was not instituted until the latter part of David’s reign, and its duties probably were the collection of the tribute imposed upon vanquished nations, or the command of the forced levies employed in public works. Adoram was stoned to death in the beginning of the reign of Rehoboam 1Ki 12:18.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Over the tribute; the receiver and manager of the king’s public revenue. See Poole on "1Ki 4:6".

Jehoshaphat was recorder: See Poole on "2Sa 8:16".

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

24. Adoram — Called also Adoniram and Hadoram, 1Ki_4:6; 2Ch_10:18. He received his appointment at a late period of David’s reign, and continued in office until the reign of Rehoboam, when he was stoned to death by the infuriated people, who had grown tired of excessive taxation. See 1Ki_12:18.

Over the tribute — The Hebrews were required to pay tribute to Jehovah to sustain the service of the sanctuary. Exo_30:11-16. The support of the kingdom, the court, and the building of public works required additional revenues, and the kings of Israel, when they had the power, exacted tribute from the foreign nations that were subject to them, and also, in times of emergency, from the Israelitish people themselves. This taxation became, in the reign of Solomon, so burdensome that after his death the people protested against it. 1Ki_12:4. It was Adoram’s business to superintend all these revenues of the kingdom, but more particularly the levies of men which were, from time to time, required for the public works. The Hebrew word מס, here rendered tribute, means generally a tribute of bond-service, or levies of men impressed for various kinds of labour. So the word is used in 1Ki_5:13-14. There it appears that Adoram’s duty was to oversee the levies that were bound to labour, whether they were levied from among the Israelites, or were bond-servants from among the heathen. This, perhaps, explains why this officer first appears at a late period of David’s reign, when the number of foreign captives, reduced to bond-service by the fortunes of war, had become so great as to require a special officer to superintend them.

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

Adoram was over the tribute. This was a new officer, and a new thing. For the Hebrew word mas does not mean "tribute," but "forced labour." This was one of the most oppressive exactions of old time, and it continued to be practised in Europe throughout the Middle Ages until it was abolished at the end of the eighteenth century by the French Revolution, except in Russia, where the serfs were freed from it by the late emperor Alexander II Nevertheless, it was probably made almost necessary at first by the absence of money. As there was no money for the payment of taxes, the dues of the king or lord could only be rendered by personal service. Yet even so it was exceedingly liable to be abused, and the people might be taken from their own homes and fields just when their presence there was most needed. One most painful result was that the women had to endure, upon the farm and among the cattle, a drudgery to which they were unsuited. We gather from this passage that it was David who began this practice in Israel, exacting probably only from the descendants of the Canaanites (who, nevertheless, formed a considerable portion of the inhabitants of Palestine) forced labour employed in preparing for the building of the temple, and in the fortifications of his fenced cities. Under Solomon it seems to have been extended to other classes, (1Ki_5:13, 1Ki_5:14; but see 1Ki_9:20-22) and reduced to a system, which pressed so heavily upon the people that it was the principal cause of the revolt of the ten tribes from Rehoboam. (1Ki_12:4) Unless the Israelites had themselves suffered severely from this exaction, they would not have been driven into rebellion by sympathy with the remains of the native races. Subsequently we find Jeremiah accusing Jehoiakim of employing forced labour, (Jer_22:13) but the severity with which he condemned it suggests that it had then ceased to be customary. Adoram. His appointment to this office was probably at a late period in David"s reign, as he continued to hold the office under Solomon, (1Ki_4:6 1Ki_5:14, where he is called Adoniram ) and even down to the beginning of Rehoboam"s reign. (1Ki_12:18) We there read that he paid the penalty of his hateful office with his life. In 2Ch_10:18 he is called Hadoram.

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