2 Samuel 18:26
Another runner, another herald
- The gospel’s word בָּשַׂר basar · to bear tidings
Original
Translations
the watchman saw another man running, and he called out to the gatekeeper, “Look! Another man is running alone!” “This one also brings good news,” said the king.
And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings.
And the watchman sees another man running, and the watchman calls to the gatekeeper, and says, “Behold, a man running by himself”; and the king says, “This one is also bearing tidings.”
파수꾼이 본즉 한 사람이 또 달음질하는지라 문지기에게 외쳐 이르되 보라 한 사람이 또 혼자 달음질한다 하니 왕이 가로되 저도 소식을 가져오느니라
파수꾼이 보니 다른 사람이 달려오므로 파수꾼이 문지기를 부르며 이르되, 보라, 다른 사람이 또 혼자 달려오느니라, 하매 왕이 이르되, 그도 소식을 가져오느니라, 하거늘
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
A second man is seen running alone, and the king says, "This one also brings good news" (2 Samuel 18:26). The word for the one who brings news is mevaser, the participle of , and it is the very form Isaiah uses for the herald who brings good news to Zion.
As the first runner draws near, the watchman sees another man coming on his own and this time calls down to the gatekeeper: "Look! Another man is running alone!" Ahimaaz, who took the road by the plain, is in front; the Cushite, whom Joab sent first, is behind him (2 Samuel 18:23). The king simply carries on the reasoning of the verse before: if he comes alone, he too is a messenger.
Mevaser is the piel participle, masculine singular: "one who brings news," a herald. The same form appears twice in Isaiah 52:7, where the prophet sings of the feet on the mountains of the one who brings news and proclaims peace, who brings good tidings and proclaims salvation, "who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'" (Isaiah 52:7). Nahum uses the same word for the feet on the mountains of the one who brings good news (Nahum 1:15), and Isaiah 40:9 addresses Zion herself with the feminine form, "herald of good news" (Isaiah 40:9). In the very next verse of Isaiah 52 the prophet adds: "Your watchmen lift up their voices, together they shout for joy" (Isaiah 52:8). A watchman on the wall, a runner coming over the hills, a city waiting for word: Isaiah's picture is drawn in the colours of a scene like this one.
The translations repeat the pattern of the verse before. The KJV says "He also bringeth tidings," the LSV "This one is also bearing tidings," and both Korean Bibles likewise speak only of news: the 흠정역 그도 소식을 가져오느니라, the 개역한글 저도 소식을 가져오느니라. The BSB again writes good news, putting the king's hope into the translation. The Hebrew does not yet say what this messenger carries. In fact what he brought was the death of Absalom (2 Samuel 18:32).
In the Septuagint, the Old Testament in Greek, both participles of Isaiah 52:7 become participles of , and Paul quotes that verse of those who preach the gospel: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:15).
Two heralds reached David's gate that day; both announced a victory, and what the king was left with was the loss of his son. Isaiah's herald carries news of a different order, not the outcome of one battle but the news that God himself reigns and is returning to his people. Isaiah's Hebrew speaks of one herald; Paul gives his words to all who are sent with the gospel, and so the old picture of the watchman on the wall and the runner on the hills comes round again wherever the gospel is told.
Source
- Jewish translators at Alexandria, The Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) — 3rd–1st century BC. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, often quoted by the New Testament writers. It mostly renders בָּשַׂר (basar) by εὐαγγελίζομαι (euangelizomai) (2 Samuel 18; Psalms 40:9, 68:11, 96:2; Isaiah 40:9, 52:7, 61:1), and calls the reward for news εὐαγγέλια at 2 Samuel 4:10. English: Brenton (1844).