2 Samuel 20:26

2Sa 20:26 And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.

Ver. 26. Was a chief ruler about David,] Heb., A prince, or a priest: whence some make him president of the council; others, the king’s chaplain or his almoner; others, his peculiar and familiar friend. {a}

{a} Amicus intimus et consiliarius. - Vat.

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.

20:26 David’s personal priest was probably not a Levite but rather a special class of religious servant appointed for his royal court (see study note on 8:18)

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

Either in dignity or familiarity.

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

Verse 26. Ira - was a chief ruler about David.] The Hebrew is לדויד כהן cohen ledavid, a priest to David; and so the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic. The Chaldee has רב rab, a prince, or chief. He was probably a sort of domestic chaplain to the king. We know that the kings of Judah had their seers, which is nearly the same: Gad was David's seer, 2Sa 24:11, and Jeduthun was the seer of King Josiah, 2Ch 35:16.

The conclusion of this chapter is very similar to the conclusion of 2Sa 8:16-18, where see the notes.

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

(26) Ira also the Jairite.—He is not mentioned in the other lists of the king’s officers; Ira, an Ithrite, is found in the list of David’s “thirty and seven” heroes in 2Sa_23:38, but there is no ground for identifying the two persons. On the office of “chief ruler,” or cohen, see Note on 2Sa_8:18. Earlier in David’s reign the office had been occupied by his own sons, but the murder of the eldest, the rebellion and death of Absalom, and other disorders in his household had led apparently to a change.

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

26. a chief ruler about David] Minister to David. The post formerly held by David’s sons. See on ch. 2Sa_8:18.

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 Ira also the Jairite,.... Which some take to be the same with Ira the Ithrite, Sa2 23:38; a son of Jether or Ithra the Israelite, Sa2 17:25; though others suppose he was Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Sa2 23:26; and so the Targum here calls him Ira the Jairite, which was of Tekoah; and Tekoah being the chief place in Israel for oil olive (d), with which the lamps were lighted, Jarchi thinks he had the name of Jairite from Jair, which signifies to enlighten; but rather he was a descendant from Jair the Gileadite, and perhaps was a great friend to David when in Gilead, and from whence he brought him and promoted him: for he

was a chief ruler about David; a prime minister, an intimate friend, the chief of his privy council; perhaps he succeeded Ahithophel; it is much we hear nothing of Hushai.

(d) Misn. Menachot, c. 8. sect. 3.

Next: 2 Samuel Chapter 21

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

Ira the Jairite - Not mentioned before: perhaps the same as “Ira an Ithrite” (marginal reference), i. e., an inhabitant of Jattir in the hill country of Judah Jos 15:48; 1Sa 30:27. Perhaps we ought to read “Ithrite,” for “Jairite.”

A chief ruler ... about David - More simply and clearly, “was David’s kohen” (2Sa 8:18 note). In the early part oph David’s reign his own ons were כהן kôhên (chief rulers). The deaths of Amnon and Absalom, and the dissensions in the family, had probably caused the change of policy in this respect.

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

Jairite, a descendant of Jair, (Calmet) son of Manasses. (Haydock) --- Priest. Hebrew cohen, respected like a priest, (Haydock) chief favourite, (Worthington) the Rab., (Chaldean) chief counsellor of David, (Vatable) almoner, &c. It is not certain that he was of the family of Aaron, or qualified to be the domestic chaplain of the king. See chap. viii. 16, &c. No other king of Israel had an officer to whom this title was given. (Calmet)

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).

The Jairite; so called from his birth or dwelling in the country of Jair in Gilead, Num 32:41; Jdg 10:4.

A chief ruler; either the president of the king’s council; or his chief minister (as the Hebrew word cohen signifies) of state, instead of Ahithophel; or in some other very high place near the king’s person. Compare 2Sa 8:18, where this title is given to David’s sons, the chief of which were now cut off. And these things are here repeated with some alteration to show that David was now fully re-established in his former estate.

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

26. Ira the Jairite — He either took the place of David’s sons, or was added to their number as a private counsellor. See on chap. 2Sa_8:18. Of his personal history we know nothing beyond this single fact. The Ithrite of this name, mentioned 2Sa_23:38, was, perhaps, a different person.

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

Ira was a chief ruler; Hebrew, cohen, priest, minister (see on this term,. (2Sa_8:18) We there find David"s sons holding this confidential office; but the feuds which resulted from David"s sin had destroyed the concord of the family, and the usefulness of David"s children. In their degradation from this office we see also a preparation for their being set aside from the succession, and the throne given to Solomon.

ADDITIONAL NOTE.

With this chapter ends the second section of David"s history; for, as we have already seen, the last four chapters are not arranged in chronological order, but form an appendix remarkable both for the singularly varied nature of its contents, and also for its omissions. The Second Book of Samuel is so thoroughly a history of David, that we should naturally have expected some account of his latter years, and of his manner of government after his return to power. But such details would have been interesting politically rather than spiritually, and the two narratives which have gone before are complete each in itself; and in each David is regarded from an entirely distinct point of view. In the first eight chapters we have the history of David as the theocratic king. As such he takes the heathen for his inheritance, and founds an empire. Even more remarkable are the alterations he makes in the worship of Jehovah. To the old Levitical sacrifices he added a far more spiritual service of psalms and minstrelsy, without which Judaism would have been unable to develop the evangelical realities which lay embedded in its ritual and legal ordinances. And it is important to notice that his service of sacred song is called "prophecy", (1Ch_25:1-3) from which we learn two things. The first that David"s service was essentially the same as that established by Samuel at Ramah. There, too, we read of the company of the prophets prophesying, (1Sa_19:20) their service undoubtedly being one of minstrelsy; (1Sa_10:5, 1Sa_10:10, 1Sa_10:11) and without Samuel"s authority David would scarcely have ventured upon so great an innovation. Even so, this consecration of music by Samuel, and David"s ordinance whereby there was established a daily service, morning and evening, of thanksgiving and praise (1Ch_23:30; Neh_12:24) is a most remarkable step forward; and by it the service of God ceased to be mere ritual, and became "a reasonable service", (Rom_12:1) such as was repeatedly commended by St. Paul to the members of the Christian Church. (Col_3:16, etc.) But secondly, it drew the minds of the people to the evangelic meaning of the Levitical ordinances. To this day hymns form a most important part of our solemn services, and seem especially adapted to draw out the inner and deeper meaning of rites and doctrines. They did not, indeed, begin with David. There are psalms older than his reign; but this consecration of them to the public daily service of God led to an outburst of Divine psalmody which raised the minds of the people above the material and grosset elements of their worship, and taught them the true nature of God, and made them ascribe to him high and spiritual attributes in wonderful contrast with the grovelling frivolities of heathenism. The Levitical worship was necessarily typical: in the psalms the people learned that God desireth not sacrifice, but the offering of a broken and contrite heart. Even prophecy, in its sense of speaking for God, would scarcely have reached the high eminence of future days but for the psalms. For only in a nation deeply imbued with poetry and song could an Isaiah have arisen, capable of giving in so perfect an outward form the mysteries of Christ"s incarnation, his vicarious sacrifice, and universal kingdom. In the second section, neither the theocratic nor the prophetic element is in the forefront. It is the history of a fearful sin, and of its stern punishment. The sinner is the theocratic king: the punishment is the pollution of his house by incest and murder; the ruin of the glory of his realm, the rending asunder of his empire, begun in his days and consummated in those of his grandson; his own disgrace and flight; and his sorrowful return to his throne, impotent to avenge either the murder of his son or that of the man whom he had chosen in the hope that he would release him from the stern grip of the ruthless Joab. The moral lessons of this sad story are beyond number. We see the saint changed into a sinner. No privileges save him from hateful crime; no repentance from draining the last dregs of the bitter cup of retribution. But never was the power of repentance in cleansing the heart and giving peace to the conscience more clearly shown; and the psalms written by David as a penitent, and during his flight from Absalom, are the most spiritual and choice and edifying of the whole Psalter. Without them the depths of self-abasement would have been left without inspired expression. The sinner in his greatest need, when crushed with the conviction of sin, when earnestly longing for forgiveness, when thirsting for the restored presence of God within his soul, and when feeling that, vile as he was, yet that he was not shut out from mercy, but that access to God"s presence was still permitted him; at all such times he would have gone to his Bible, and it would have been silent. These psalms are still the sinner"s comfort, and give him the words which best express what is present in his heart. Without them the Jewish Church would never have reached that fervid purity of spiritual feeling which so animated the prophets; and even the Christian Church would possibly have stopped short of that full doctrine of repentance which she now holds. It is, indeed, the Christian"s privilege to unite the doctrine of repentance with the thought of all that Christ has done and suffered for us, and so to understand why repentance avails to cleanse the heart; but even with this knowledge no Christian writer has ever reached so high a level of spirituality as David, though we may thankfully acknowledge that many of our best hymns do not fall far short of it.

It is easy, then, to see that these two histories are not only of primary importance, but that no narrative after the time of the Exodus equals them in value. They form the very kernel of the Book of the Earlier Prophets, giving us, in the first, the true meaning and spiritual import of the settlement of Israel in Palestine; and setting before us, in the second, the nature of repentance, and so preparing the way for the revelation of the gospel of pardon and peace.

They are followed by an appendix containing several narratives recorded apparently for their intrinsic value. Commentators have endeavoured to trace a connection between them, but their arguments are farfetched, and their conclusions unsatisfactory. It is better to regard them as separate and complete, each one in itself. They are six in number:

(1) the visitation of famine because of Saul"s cruelty to the Gibeonites;

(2) some incidents in the war with the Philistines, illustrating the heroic character of David"s worthies;

(3) David"s psalm of deliverance;

(4) David"s last words;

(5) a list of the Gibborim, with special records of acts of bravery and devotion;

(6) the visitation of pestilence because of David"s numbering the people. The third and fourth sections especially are of the highest interest; while the second makes it plain that David"s bravery in encountering the giant of Gath lit up an equally bright flame of patriotic heroism in the armies of Israel.

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

Eiroh the Yoiri. Yonoson translated: "Eiroh who gives forth light from Tekuah." And so is he referred to in this book Eiroh ben Eikash of Tekuah. He was called Yoiri because it is taught in Menochos, "Tekuah was first in [olive] oil," because olive oil was prevalent there from which candles are lit [in the Beis Mikdosh].

Was a Kokein for Dovid. He [Dovid] would give him [Eiroh] all his Kehunah gifts, that is what our Rabbis explained. The simple explanation of the verse is that he [Dovid] made him [Eiroh] an officer and a judge.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.