David
said on that day, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites, let him go up to the watercourse and strike the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore they say, “The blind and the lame can’t come into the house.”
2 Samuel 5:8
2 Samuel 5 [1.] Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and spoke, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel out and in. Yahweh said to you, ‘You will be shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be prince over Israel.’” So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David king over Israel.
2 Samuel 5 [4.] David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah. The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “The blind and the lame will keep you out of here”; thinking, “David can’t come in here.” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion. This is David’s city. David said on that day, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites, let him go up to the watercourse and strike the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore they say, “The blind and the lame can’t come into the house.”
2 Samuel 5 [9.] David lived in the stronghold, and called it David’s city. David built around from Millo and inward. David grew greater and greater; for Yahweh, the God of Armies, was with him. Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, with cedar trees, carpenters, and masons; and they built David a house. David perceived that Yahweh had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake. David took more concubines and wives for himself out of Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron; and more sons and daughters were born to David. These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
Meaning:
David had just been anointed king over all Israel at Hebron. His first act as king of the united nation was to capture Jerusalem, a fortress still held by the Jebusites, which would become his capital. This verse records his order for the attack and the origin of a saying.
- “The blind and the lame will keep you out of here”
Jerusalem stood on a ridge with steep valleys on three sides, and the Jebusites thought it could not be taken. They mocked David, saying that even their blind and lame could defend the walls.
- “Let him go up to the watercourse”
The word translated “watercourse” probably refers to a water shaft or channel connected with the Gihon spring outside the walls. David’s men may have entered the city through it, taking the defenders by surprise. The fortress fell.
- “The lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul”
David turned the Jebusites’ taunt back on them. The “lame and blind” here are the defenders who had mocked him, not disabled people in general. Yet from this event a proverb arose: “The blind and the lame can’t come into the house.” Over time the saying was applied to the house of God, and the blind and the lame were kept on the edge of temple worship.
David himself later showed a different spirit. He sought out Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who was lame, asking, “Is there yet any who is left of Saul’s house, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Samuel 9:1). Mephibosheth ate at the king’s table for the rest of his life.
- The Son of David opens the house
A thousand years later, the greater Son of David entered Jerusalem. After driving the traders out of the temple, “The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them” (Matthew 21:14). The old saying was reversed: the blind and the lame were welcomed into God’s house by the King himself. Isaiah had foretold the day when “the eyes of the blind will be opened” and “the lame man will leap like a deer” (Isaiah 35:5-6).
The Significance of 2 Samuel 5:8
- No one is too weak for God
Human proverbs may shut people out, but God’s kingdom welcomes the weak and needy, as Jesus showed in the temple.
Cross-References:
Matthew 21:14: "The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them." The Son of David reverses the saying.
2 Samuel 9:1: "that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?" David’s kindness to a lame man.
Isaiah 35:6: "Then the lame man will leap like a deer," The promise of healing.
Conclusion: When David captured Jerusalem, the Jebusites boasted that even their blind and lame could keep him out. David ordered his men to go up by the watercourse and strike the defenders, and from that day a saying arose that the blind and the lame could not come into the house. The verse explains the background of Matthew 21:14, where Jesus, the Son of David, welcomed and healed the blind and the lame in God’s house.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible