_shield and spear_] The reference is to the manner of fighting in David’s day. At the threat of an attack an army was drawn up in close array, shield touching shield and spears carried at the charge. Only in a high state of discipline could men quickly and effectively handle shield and spear thus (1 Samuel xvii. 2, 8, 21). (The Authorized Version, “_shield and buckler_,” follows a mistake of several early editions of the printed Hebrew text.) _as the roes_] In David’s lament (2 Samuel i.) Jonathan is compared to a lion (verse 23) and to a _gazelle_ (verse 19 margin, the same Hebrew word as for _roe_ here). ¹⁰Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth; ¹¹Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh; ¹²Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth; ¹³Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh. =10.= _Jeremiah, the fifth_] Compare verse 13, _Jeremiah the tenth_. A very slight difference of spelling distinguishes the two words in the Hebrew. ¹⁴These of the sons of Gad were captains of the host: he that was least was equal to¹ an hundred, and the greatest to¹ a thousand. ¹ Or, _over_. =14.= _he that was least ... thousand_] Compare Leviticus xxvi. 8; Isaiah xxx. 17. ¹⁵These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflown all its banks; and they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east, and toward the west. =15.= _in the first month_] In Nisan (the month of harvest) when the snow was melting and filling all streams; compare Joshua iii. 15. _all them of the valleys_] i.e. all inhabitants of the valleys who in the interest of Saul sought to bar their march westward to join David. =16‒18.= AMASAI AND HIS COMPANIONS. =16‒18.= These interesting and beautiful passages are so different in style and sentiment from what precedes and what follows that they would seem to be drawn from another source. It is quite possible that they were inserted thus between Gad and Manasseh by the Chronicler himself; but that they are a later addition is probable from the fact that the adherents who came from Benjamin and perhaps Judah (verses 5‒7, see note on Gederathite) are given above, verses 1‒7. ¹⁶And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David. =16.= _to the hold_] See verse 8, notes. ¹⁷And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if _ye be come_ to betray me to mine adversaries, seeing there is no wrong¹ in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. ¹ Or, _violence_. =17.= _David went out to meet them_] Instead of letting himself be surprised he took up a favourable position in advance from which he could hold parley with them. The south of Judah with its ravines and cliffs affords many such positions.