Hebrew Bible Study
Hebrew Bible Study

Commentary for II Samuel 24:3

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יוֹאָ֜ב אֶל־הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ וְיוֹסֵ֣ף יְהוָה֩ אֱלֹהֶ֨יךָ אֶל־הָעָ֜ם כָּהֵ֤ם ׀ וְכָהֵם֙ מֵאָ֣ה פְעָמִ֔ים וְעֵינֵ֥י אֲדֹנִֽי־הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ רֹא֑וֹת וַאדֹנִ֣י הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ לָ֥מָּה חָפֵ֖ץ בַּדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה׃

And Joab said unto the king: ‘Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they may be, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it; but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?’

Rashi on II Samuel

Their [current] number. [Yoav meant with] the word כׇּהֵם to convey that their amount should double and the second word וְכָהֵם, to convey a second doubling to have now a total of four times [the original population] and then to again double the [new] total for one hundred times.1For a total of two hundred times the current population. It follows that Yoav's blessing was more then Moshe's who said, "One thousand times you [current] number".2Devorim 1:11. Furthermore, Moshe's blessing was only [to take effect] a long time [into the future] but Yoav's was intended [to take effect] immediately as it says [here], "[With] my master, the king's eyes [being able to] see it."
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