Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa 2 Samuel 21:1

and Solomon brought his father David’s hallowed things Whatever is mentioned in this verse—according to its simple meaning—refers to that which remained to him from the things that David hallowed, as is written above (I Chron. 18:11): “Those also King David dedicated to the Lord, [along] with the silver and the gold that he took from all the nations, etc.,” and that which he left over he deposited into the treasuries of the House of God. And [in] Midrash Aggadah (Pesikta Rabbathi 6:7), some sages say that [he did not use these articles for the building of the Temple] because he knew that it was destined to be destroyed, in order that the nations should not say, “Our deity is strong,” for it took revenge on this House, which was built from the loot and the spoils that David robbed from their heathen temples. Some say: So said Solomon, “There was a famine during the days of David my father for three consecutive years, year after year, and he should have given away these hallowed things to sustain the poor of Israel with them.” I wish to bring support [to the view that Solomon did not build the Temple with the spoils of the nations], for regarding all the devoted things that David dedicated, as is written above (ibid.), it is not stated that with this Solomon made such and such a thing, as it is stated regarding the copper, as it is said (ibid. verse 8): “And from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took huge quantities of copper, with which Solomon made the copper sea, etc.,” but of the silver and gold, about which it is not stated that Solomon made anything from it, it may be deduced that he did not make [anything from it]. Therefore, it is not written here any copper, but silver and gold. According to the simple interpretation, it seems to me that Scripture does not mention copper because copper is cheap, and it is not proper or fitting to bring it into the treasuries of the House of God.

For the seventh he says: He who answered David and Shlomo his son in Jerusalem, He shall answer you and hear the voice of your cry on this day. Blessed are You Lord Who has mercy upon the land. God rescued David in a time of famine (II Samuel 21: 1-14). Shlomo prays to God for rain (I Kings 8:35) and to stop a famine (ibid, 37) and God answers him (ibid 9:3). The liturgist mentions David and Shlomo at the end because they were answered in the very type of occasion in which this liturgy was being recited famine or drought. Had the benedictions gone in simple chronological order, David and Shlomo should have been before Elijah and Jonah. The concluding formula, “Who has mercy on the land” is appropriate because Psalm 102 which is part of the benediction includes the verse, “You will surely arise and have mercy on Zion” (v. 14).

A small lad. He was twelve years old. And this is how [his age] is calculated: “And he called his name Yedidyah.”¹⁰II Shmuel 12:25. At the same time Amnon raped Tamar, as it is stated, “And it was after this, and Avsholom [the son of Dovid] had a sister.”¹¹Ibid., 13:1. At the end of, “two years, and Avsholom had sheep shearers,”¹²Ibid. v. 23. and he killed Amnon. Avsholom fled and went to Geshur, and he remained there three years,¹³Ibid. v. 38. so we have five years. Avsholom then returned to Yerusholayim, “and [Avsholom] lived in Yerusholayim two years,”¹⁴Ibid. 14:28. so we have seven [years in the life] of Shlomo. And he [Avsholom] rebelled against his father and was killed. After this, [it states], “And there was famine in the days of Dovid [for] three years,”¹⁵Ibid. 21:1. so we have ten [years]. In the eleventh [year] he counted the [Bnei] Yisroel, “and they scattered in all the land,”¹⁶Ibid 24:8. nine months. In the year of his death he instituted divisions as it is stated, “In the fortieth year of Dovid’s reign they were sought,”¹⁷I Divrei Hayomim 26:31. so we have twelve [years in the life] of King Shlomo.¹⁸Other, including Abarbanel, suggest that Shlomo may have been around twenty years old at the time. The fact that he is referred to as a “lad ]=נער]” is not necessarily a reflection of his age, for in Bereishis 44:22, Binyomin is described as a “lad [=נער]”at the age of thirty.

for You will teach them the good way as You did when there was a famine in David’s time for three years (II Sam. 21:1), and You taught them and said to them, “(It is) for Saul and (also) for his bloody house.” Likewise, so shall You teach them which sin causes them [their distress], for what reason the heaven was shut up.

ארד אל בני I WILL GO DOWN TO MY SON — This has the same meaning as על בני, on account of my son. There are many examples where אל is used in the sense of על: (2 Samuel 4:21) “(אל) because of Saul (ואל) and because of his bloody house”; (1 Samuel 4:21) “(אל) because the ark of God was taken (ואל) and because of the death of her father-in-law and her husband”.