Commentary on 2 Samuel

Jerome (342–420)

Hence, "his blood will come upon him," that is, he will be the cause of his own death, according to which principle David said to the one who had announced Saul's death and had related that the king of Israel fell on his own sword: "Your blood be upon your head." Not by my sentence, but by the blood of Saul will your blood be spilled.

Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, is killed through a ruse at the hands of Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon, the Beerothite. And, when they announced the news to David and showed him the head of his enemy, they were killed by David, who said, "Wicked men have slain a just man in his own house upon his bed." Ish-bosheth was certainly not a just man, and yet he is called a just man because he was innocently killed.

See also

• More works by Jerome

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