2 Samuel 18:22
Running with nothing to tell
- The gospel’s word בְּשֹׂרָה besorah · good news
Original
Translations
Ahimaaz son of Zadok, however, persisted and said to Joab, “No matter what, please let me also run behind the Cushite!” “My son,” Joab replied, “why do you want to run, since you will not receive a reward?”
Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready?
And Ahimaaz son of Zadok adds again and says to Joab, “And whatever it is, please let me run, I also, after the Cushite.” And Joab says, “Why [is] this—you are running, my son, and [there are] no tidings found from you?”
사독의 아들 아히마아스가 다시 요압에게 이르되 청컨대 아무쪼록 나로 또한 구스 사람의 뒤를 따라 달음질하게 하소서 요압이 가로되 내 아들아 왜 달음질하려 하느냐 이 소식으로 인하여는 상을 받지 못하리라 하되
그때에 사독의 아들 아히마아스가 여전히 다시 요압에게 이르되, 원하건대 아무쪼록 내가 또한 구시의 뒤를 따라 달려가게 하소서, 하매 요압이 이르되, 내 아들아, 네게는 예비된 소식이 없는데 어찌하여 네가 달려가려 하느냐? 하되
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on 2Sam 18:19-33 as a whole
By directing David to give God thanks for his victory, Ahimaaz prepared him for the news of his son's death. The more our hearts are fixed and enlarged, in thanksgiving to God for our mercies, the better disposed we shall be to bear with patience the afflictions mixed with them. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley
Nothing on this verse itself.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
The Cushite has gone, but Ahimaaz will not give up. Joab asks him why he wants to run when he has no . Whether the word here means news or the reward for news is exactly where the translations part company.
The Cushite had bowed to Joab and set off (2 Samuel 18:21). Ahimaaz pleads, "No matter what, please let me also run behind the Cushite!" (2 Samuel 18:22). Joab calls him "My son" and tries to hold him back; when he asks a second time, Joab lets him go. Ahimaaz takes the road by the plain and outruns the Cushite (2 Samuel 18:23). Yet when he reaches the king first and David asks the one thing he wants to know, whether the young man Absalom is safe, Ahimaaz answers, "I saw a great tumult, but I do not know what it was" (2 Samuel 18:29). He had heard Joab say that the king's son was dead (2 Samuel 18:20); he ran fastest, and then did not tell the king the one thing he most wanted to know.
The end of Joab's question is ein besorah motzet, literally "no besorah that finds" or "that brings in." Motzet is the hiphil participle of the verb to find, to obtain: something that gets you something. Read besorah as news, and Joab is saying that Ahimaaz has no news of his own to offer. Read it as in 2 Samuel 4:10, as the reward for news, and he is saying that this report will earn its bearer nothing. The word can name both the news and the wage it brings, so both readings are possible.
The KJV takes the first: "seeing that thou hast no tidings ready." The Cushite already carries the message, so nothing is left for Ahimaaz to bring. The LSV reads the same way: there are no tidings found from you. The BSB takes the second: "why do you want to run, since you will not receive a reward?" (2 Samuel 18:22). In Korean, the 흠정역 follows the KJV with 예비된 소식, news made ready, and the 개역한글 joins the BSB: you will not receive a reward for this news. The first reading shows Ahimaaz's empty hands; the second shows that this report will bring no joy to the king, and so no reward to its runner. Either way, Joab does not think this is the kind of news a messenger is thanked for.
Ahimaaz had zeal and fast feet but no message entrusted to him. Paul, writing about those who carry the gospel, sets out the order of things: "how can they hear without someone to preach?" (Romans 10:14) and then, "how can they preach unless they are sent?" (Romans 10:15). The messenger of the gospel is sent before he runs, and what he hands on is what he first received (1 Corinthians 15:3).
Running does not turn into news by itself. What reaches a hearer of the gospel today is not something its messenger made up, but news the apostles received and handed on.