2 Kings 5:8
For David had offered that day a reward to whosoever should strike the Jebusites and get up to the gutters of the tops of the houses, and take away the blind and the lame that hated the soul of David: therefore it is said in the proverb: The blind and the lame shall not come into the temple.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Proposuerat enim David in die illa præmium, qui percussisset Jebusæum, et tetigisset domatum fistulas, et abstulisset cæcos et claudos odientes animam David. Idcirco dicitur in proverbio : Cæcus et claudus non intrabunt in templum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν Δαυεὶδ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ Πᾶς τύπτων Ἰεβουσαῖον ἁπτέσθω ἐν παραξιφίδι καὶ τοὺς χωλοὺς καὶ τοὺς τυφλοὺς καὶ τοὺς μισοῦντας τὴν ψυχὴν Δαυείδ· διὰ τοῦτο ἐροῦσιν Τυφλοὶ καὶ χωλοὶ οὐκ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς οἶκον Κυρίου.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֨אמֶר דָּוִ֜ד בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא כָּל מַכֵּ֤ה יְבֻסִי֙ וְיִגַּ֣ע בַּצִּנּ֔וֹר וְאֶת הַפִּסְחִים֙ וְאֶת הַ֣עִוְרִ֔ים שנאו נֶ֣פֶשׁ דָּוִ֑ד עַל כֵּן֙ יֹֽאמְר֔וּ עִוֵּ֣ר וּפִסֵּ֔חַ לֹ֥א יָב֖וֹא אֶל הַבָּֽיִת
Haydock's commentary
Gutters. Hebrew Tsinnor, "through (Nodius) the subterraneous passage," (leading to the tops of the houses.) (Hugo of Vienna)
Thus Babylon was taken by Cyrus, who passed through the channel of the Euphrates, the waters of which he had let out; though the inhabitants had derided his attempt to take the city by siege, as the men of Jebus do here. Polybius says, "Rabatamana, a city of Arabia, could not be taken, till one of the prisoners shewed the besiegers a subterraneous passage, (uponomon) through which the besieged came down for water." Of the same nature were the gutters here spoken of. (Kennicott)
"The king promised to give the command of the army to the man who would pass through the cavities (pharaggon) below, and take the citadel." (Josephus)
This reward is expressly mentioned in 1 Paralipomenon xi. 6, with the person who obtained it; (St. Jerome, Trad.) and it seems, after David, this ought to be inserted, "shall be the head and captain. And Joab, the son of Sarvia, went up first, and was made the general." (Haydock)
Hatred. Hebrew, "that are hated by David's soul." Cajetan supposes that the Jebusites in the citadel, are thus distinguished from those who dwelt peaceably in the lower town, with the Israelites. (Calmet)
Proverb. Protestants insert, "He shall be head and captain. Wherefore they said, the blind....into the house." What is translated temple, may denote also, "the house" of David, or "the place" where this provocation had been given. (Haydock)
Idols shall never be adored in the true Church. (Worthington)
Read on
Some think that the blind and the lame were excluded from the temple, or from David's palace. But we find that they had free access to the temple; (Matthew xxi. 14., and Acts iii. 2.) and Miphiboseth ate at David's table, though he was lame. If the Jebusites be designated, they were already excluded from the temple, like other infidels of Chanaan. (Calmet)
Josephus ([Antiquities?] vii. 3.) insinuates, that "David drove them from Jerusalem," though we read of Areuna residing there, chap. xxiv.16. But he might be a proselyte before, and not dwell in the fort. The expression seems however to be proverbial, to signify any very difficult enterprize, which proves successful, and contrary to expectation. (Haydock)
The Jebusites were thus derided (Sanctius) in their turn. (Tirinus)
Whether Joab took this strong place by a subterraneous passage, (Haydock) or scaled the walls, and so got to the top, whence the water falls, as from a gutter; (Calmet) it is certain that he displayed the utmost valour, and thus obtained the confirmation of his authority, which David would perhaps have willingly taken from him, (Salien) if another had offered himself, and performed this hazardous enterprize. (Haydock)
He made a fair offer to all Israel, as they probably expected. (Kennicott)
Haydock wrote amid the controversies of his day. The Church teaches that those born into communities separated from her cannot be charged with the sin of separation, and embraces them as brothers (CCC 818).
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian The Five Books Against Marcion, The Parables of the Importunate Widow, and of the Pharisee and the Publican. Christ's Answer to the Rich Ruler, the Cure of the Blind Man. His Salutation--Son of David. All Proofs of Christ's Relation to the Creator, Marcion's Antithesis Between David and Christ Confuted
When He recommends perseverance and earnestness in prayer, He sets before us the parable of the judge who was compelled to listen to the widow, owing to the earnestness and importunity of her requests. He show us that it is God the judge whom we must importune with prayer, and not Himself, if He is not Himself the judge. But He added, that “God would avenge His own elect.” Since, then, He who judges will also Himself be the avenger, He proved that the Creator is on that account the specially good God, whom He represented as the avenger of His own elect, who cry day and night to Him. …