II Samuel 15:16 · Bible study
2 Samuel 15:16 Commentary: Why David Left Ten Concubines
Hebrew · 7 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why did David leave ten concubines during his flight from Absalom? How this act fulfilled Nathan's prophecy of judgment and displayed God's sovereignty.
Research Summary
- Meaning: David flees Jerusalem, leaving ten concubines to mind the palace, an act that unwittingly sets up the fulfillment of Nathan's judgment prophecy.
- Key words: יַּעֲזֹב (left), a deliberate abandonment; נָשִׁים (women) / פִּלַגְשִׁים (concubines), royal women without full marriage rights; לִ/שְׁמֹ֥ר (to keep), to guard or maintain.
- Main debate: Was this a strategic miscalculation (David thought they would be safe) or an act sovereignly directed by God to ensure the prophecy's fulfillment?
- Theological theme: God's word of judgment works through human decisions, even when those decisions seem ordinary or mistaken.
- Best use: A sobering lens on how past sin can shape present circumstances, and a reminder that God remains sovereignly at work in the fallout.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.
WEB World English Bible 2000
The king went out, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house.
KJV King James Version 1769
And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, which were concubines, to keep the house.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, that were concubines, to keep the house.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And the king goeth out, and all his household at his feet, and the king leaveth ten women--concubines--to keep the house.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And the king went forth, and all his household after him, and the king left ten women, concubines, to keep the house.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And the king went forth, and all his household on foot: and the king left ten women his concubines to keep the house:
Translations in other languages (10 available)
El rey entonces salió, con toda su familia en pos de él. Y dejó el rey diez mujeres concubinas para que guardasen la casa.
O rei então saiu, com toda sua família depois dele. E deixou o rei dez mulheres concubinas para que guardassem a casa.
Le roi sortit, et toute sa maison le suivait, et il laissa dix concubines pour garder la maison.
Und der König zog hinaus und sein ganzes Haus ihm nach. Er ließ aber zehn Kebsweiber zurück, das Haus zu bewahren.
En de koning ging uit met zijn ganse huis te voet; doch de koning liet tien bijwijven, om het huis te bewaren.
Il re dunque partì, seguito da tutta la sua casa, e lasciò dieci concubine a custodire il palazzo.
A tak wyszedł król, i wszystek dom jego pieszo; tylko zostawił król dziesięć niewiast założnic, aby strzegły domu.
И вышел царь и весь дом его за ним пешком. Оставил же царь десять жен, наложниц [своих], для хранения дома.
於是王 帶著全 家的人 出去了，但 留下 十個 妃 嬪 看守 宮殿。
So the king went out, taking with him all the people of his house, but for ten of his women, who were to take care of the house.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · II Samuel 15:16
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that David left ten concubines to watch over the palace, but they read this act differently in light of God's larger plan. Gill calls it 'ordered by the overruling providence of God' to bring about the judgment Nathan had threatened in 2 Samuel 12:11. Wesley suggests David thought their relation to him would guarantee their safety, an assumption that proved tragically wrong. The Cambridge Bible notes the scene's vivid detail and wonders if the prophet Nathan himself provided the eyewitness account. Keil and Delitzsch treat the departure matter-of-factly: the king left the women behind to keep the house. Across these views, all see David's flight as marking a turning point. His leaving the concubines, whether from miscalculation or divine design, set the stage for Absalom's public appropriation of them, which fulfilled the prophecy and completed David's humiliation.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Providential judgment view: God ordained David's choice to leave the concubines to fulfill the prophecy of 2 Samuel 12:11, with no suggestion that David intended it.
- Strategic miscalculation view: David hoped the women would be safe due to their relation to him, but Absalom's action proved this naïve; the prophetic fulfillment happened despite David's plan.
What is clear: David left ten concubines to keep the house, and this action directly enabled the public appropriation by Absalom that fulfilled Nathan's judgment prophecy.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| David's reason for leaving the concubines | All see that David left them to care for the palace during his absence. | Some (e.g., Wesley) think he expected their relation to him would protect them; others (e.g., Gill) stress divine providence over David's particular intent. |
| Moral status of concubines in this narrative | The women are presented as part of the royal household, not blamed or praised. | Traditions diverge on whether David's use of concubines itself shows moral failure, or whether it was an accepted royal practice that God allowed to expose judgment. |
| Fulfillment of Nathan's prophecy | All agree that the events of 2 Samuel 16:21, 22 directly fulfill 2 Samuel 12:11. | Some emphasize David's responsibility for his sin leading to this moment; others highlight God's active role in raising up Absalom as the instrument of judgment. |
| Was David wrong to leave the women? | The text does not condemn or approve the decision explicitly. | Reformed commentators often see it as a failure of judgment (though used by God); others argue that David was simply adopting a common practice of the day. |
Historical & Cultural Context
This verse sits inside David's hurried escape from Jerusalem after learning that Absalom had won the hearts of Israel. The rebellion was sudden and comprehensive. David's decision to flee rather than fight shows both strategic calculation and submission: he hoped to spare the city from siege and his family from slaughter. Leaving ten concubines behind was not unusual. In ancient Near Eastern royal households, concubines held an ambiguous status, part of the king's household but without the full rights of wives. They cared for the palace during a king's absence. But the act carried deeper symbolic weight. When a rival took a king's concubines, it signaled that he had seized royal authority. This is exactly what happened in 2 Samuel 16:21, 22, where Absalom followed Ahithophel's advice and went in to them publicly. The narrator links this event explicitly to Nathan's earlier prophecy: 'I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor' (2 Samuel 12:11). David's act of leaving them was therefore not neutral. It became the means by which God's word of judgment came true. The location 'Beth Merhak' (v. 17) means 'far house,' probably a structure on the city's eastern edge. From there David crossed the Kidron Valley, a route that echoes Jesus's own journey in John 18. For the original audience, the concubines would have been a visible sign that David's house was crumbling under the weight of his sin.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for this verse. The Hebrew text is stable across the Masoretic tradition, and the major translations agree on the basic wording: the king left ten women who were concubines to keep the house. One minor variation appears in the prepositional phrase 'at his feet' (בְּרַגְלָיו) in verse 16 itself, which the YLT renders as 'at his feet' while most others say 'after him' or 'on foot', the difference reflects interpretation rather than a textual problem.
Reception History
Throughout church history, this verse has been read as a poignant example of sin's consequences. Early and medieval interpreters often saw David's flight as a type of penitent humility, the king who did not cling to his throne. Reformation-era commentators like Calvin and Luther focused on how God's word of judgment (2 Samuel 12:11) unfolds through seemingly ordinary choices. In more recent centuries, narrative critics have highlighted the storytelling craft: the detail of the ten concubines is a narrative tether that tightens across chapters, linking David's departure to Absalom's public claim in 16:21, 22 and the women's eventual confinement in 20:3. The concubines themselves have been largely silent figures; their tragic fate stands as a quiet reminder that royalty does not shield the vulnerable from the fallout of a leader's sin.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- David flees in faith and failure. His departure is an act of submission to God's will, yet it also exposes the rot that started with Bathsheba. He leaves behind women who will soon become instruments of his shame.
- God's sovereign word does not miss its mark. Nathan's prophecy in 2 Samuel 12:11 drives the whole scene. David's action, whether wise or foolish, becomes the exact path for judgment to arrive.
- The concubines are caught in the middle. They are not blamed or praised. They simply exist as part of a royal household, and their story reminds us that sin always hurts the innocent.
Five-point outline
- The path of flight: David leaves his throne, his city, and his women behind
- The reason he leaves: to save what can be saved, and to trust God for the outcome
- The women left behind: ten concubines who represent David's compromised royal house
- The coming fulfillment: Absalom's public act with them in 2 Samuel 16
- The aftermath: the concubines end up in lifetime confinement (2 Samuel 20:3), a quiet tragedy within David's story
Illustration hooks
- Leaving something behind in a rush. Every parent knows the feeling of forgetting a critical item when evacuating a home. David left people, not things, and the cost was immense.
- A decision that seemed small but changed everything. A manager delegates a task to an inexperienced assistant, and the assistant's mistake later costs the company. David probably thought the concubines would be safe.
- What you leave behind can be used against you. In school, leaving your notebook behind means a bully can read it. David's choice gave Absalom a weapon.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why didn't David take the concubines with him? Wouldn't that have protected them?
- Is God punishing David for his sin with Bathsheba through this event, or is David just making bad choices?
- What does this story say about how God works through human mistakes to bring about His purposes?
Leading a Discussion
This short verse sits at a hinge point in David's life. Everything is falling apart, and he has to choose how to respond. His decision to leave ten concubines behind may have seemed practical at the moment, but it becomes a key part of the judgment Nathan foretold. As you discuss this passage, think about how God can use even our hasty decisions to fulfill His word.
Discussion questions
- Read the verse aloud. What stands out to you about David's departure? Why do you think the narrator includes the detail about the ten concubines?
- Look at 2 Samuel 12:11. How does this prophecy connect directly to the scene in 15:16? What does that tell you about God's control over events?
- Why do you think David chose to flee rather than fight? What does that decision say about his character at this moment?
- Based on 2 Samuel 16:21, 22 and 20:3, what eventually happens to these ten women? How does their fate reflect the cost of sin beyond the sinner?
- In what ways do we sometimes leave behind 'concubines', things or people we assume will be safe but that later become part of our undoing?
- How does this story challenge the idea that we can manage the consequences of our sin by our own wisdom?
- Where do you see God's mercy in this dark chapter of David's life? Where is the hope?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Judges 4:10 | Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him; and Deborah went up with him. |
| I Samuel 25:27 | Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. |
| I Samuel 25:42 | Abigail hurriedly arose and rode on a donkey with her five maids who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. |
| II Samuel 12:11 | “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. |
| II Samuel 16:21 | Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” |
| II Samuel 16:22 | So they spread a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. |
| II Samuel 20:3 | David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody and provided them with sustenance, but didn’t go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. |
| Psalms 3:1 | A Psalm by David, when he fled from Absalom his son. Yahweh, how my adversaries have increased! Many are those who rise up against me. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
6 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator highlights how David's flight from Jerusalem reveals his patience, religious devotion, generosity, and calculation, while notably lacking his usual daring courage. He suggests the scene is so vividly detailed that the prophet Nathan himself may have been the eyewitness who preserved it.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note observes that David left ten concubines not merely as possessions but with the responsibility to keep or maintain the house in his absence. This detail highlights the practical arrangement of the household during the king's flight.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill sees a hidden providence in David leaving the ten concubines behind. What looks like a practical oversight was actually God arranging events so the threatened judgment from Nathan's prophecy would be fulfilled. David did not think of this himself; it was concealed from him deliberately.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch draws attention to the Hebrew phrase "at his feet" as a vivid literal image for David's entire household following him out of the city. They also note the precise detail that he left ten concubines behind to maintain the palace, marking a deliberate separation.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry observes that David's flight is not driven by cowardice but by wise concern for the city's safety and his people's lives. He notes David's tender respect for Ittai, a foreigner, releasing him from any obligation, which makes Ittai's vow of unshakable loyalty even more striking.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley highlights David's deliberate choice to walk on foot instead of riding, seeing it as an act of humility before God and encouragement for his struggling companions. He notes David left his concubines behind, trusting their gender and royal connection would shield them more safely than any guard could.