Verse 8
8. Getteth up to the gutter This the Septuagint renders, Let him put to the sword. Similarly the Syriac and Arabic. The whole verse is obscure, and appears to be an abridged and broken transcription from a fuller document. Our translators have attempted to emend the passage by comparison with its parallel in 1 Chronicles 11:6. The word צנור , here rendered gutter, is rendered water-spout in Psalms 42:7. Gesenius and Keil render it cataract. According to Furst, it means a hollow passage, a water-conduit. Adopting the last signification, we refer it to the deep hollow beneath the citadel and translate thus: Every one smiting a Jebusite, let him thrust ( him) into the gulf, (beneath,) both the lame and the blind, (who) hated the soul of David. The Masoretic pointing is of insufficient authority to lead us to adopt the keri שׂנואי ; the kethib should be pointed and read שׂנאו the kal preterit. Ewald translates the passage metrically, thus:
Whoso shall conquer the Jebusite,
Let him hurl down from the cliff
The lame and the blind together,
Hated of David’s soul.
To this order David also added the offer recorded in 1 Chronicles 11:6: Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain; and other things he doubtless said on that day which have not been recorded.
Wherefore they said Therefore, that is, from this circumstance the following proverb arose.
The blind and the lame shall not come into the house The spirit and meaning of the proverb is, Those who are repulsive and hateful to us we shall not allow to enter our dwellings; a proverb characteristic of Jewish antipathy and intolerance towards persons of another nation and another religion.
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