‏ 2 Samuel 23:6-7

2Sa 23:6-7   6  But the worthless, as rejected thorns are they all;

For men do not take them in the hand.   7  And the man who touches them

Provides himself with iron and spear-shaft,

And they are utterly burned with fire where they dwell.

The development of salvation under the ruler in righteousness and the fear of God is accompanied by judgment upon the ungodly. The abstract בליּעל, worthlessness, is stronger than בליּעל אישׁ, the worthless man, and depicts the godless as personified worthlessness. מנד, in the Keri מנּד, the Hophal of נוּד or נדד, literally “scared” or hunted away. This epithet does not apply to the thorns, so well as to the ungodly who are compared to thorns. The reference is to thorns that men root out, not to those which they avoid on account of their prickles. כּלּהם, an antiquated form for כּלּם (see Ewald, §247, d.). To root them out, or clean the ground of them, men do not lay hold of them with the bare hand; but “whoever would touch them equips himself (ימּלא, sc., ידו, to 'fill the hand' with anything: 2Ki 9:24) with iron, i.e., with iron weapons, and spear-shaft” (vid., 1Sa 17:7). This expression also relates to the godless rather than to the thorns. They are consumed בּשּׁבת, “at the dwelling,” i.e., as Kimchi explains, at the place of their dwelling, the place where they grow. For בּשּׁבת cannot mean “on the spot” in the sense of without delay. The burning of the thorns takes place at the final judgment upon the ungodly (Mat 13:30).
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