And said, My God forbid me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
The observance of Lent becomes not the curbing of old passions but an opportunity for new pleasures. Take measures in advance with as much diligence as possible to prevent these attitudes from creeping on you. Let frugality be joined to fasting. As satisfying the stomach is to be censured, so stimulants of the appetite must be eliminated. It is not that certain kinds of food are to be detested but that bodily pleasure is to be checked.… And holy King David repented of having excessively desired water. - "Sermon 207.2"
In the. Hebrew, "thing! Shall I drink the blood of these men, with their lives? for at the hazard of their lives they have brought it! And he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men "(Kennicott) forming the first ternary. (Tirinus)
Among these heroes there were different degrees of excellence. (Calmet)
Protestants acknowledge the superlative, "mightiest: "but "mighty "would do better, as they were not still equal to Joab. (Haydock)
David desired long afterwards to drink water from the cistern of Bethlehem, which, when his bravest soldiers had brought to him, he refused to drink and poured it out as a libation to the Lord. For it was lawful for him to drink it, had he been so minded; but, because he remembered having done what was unlawful, he laudably abstained even from what was lawful. And he, who to his guilt previously feared not that the blood of dying soldiers should be shed, afterwards considered that, were he to drink the water, he would have shed the blood of living soldiers, saying, “Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy?” - "Letter 45"
I must tell you that I have been led to praise God the more for your work by what I have learned from the report of my most believed son Probinus the presbyter; namely that, your excellency, having issued a certain ordinance against the perfidy of the Jews, those to whom it related attempted to bend the rectitude of your mind by offering a sum of money, which your excellency scorned, and, seeking to satisfy the judgment of almighty God, preferred innocence to gold. With regard to this, what was done by King David recurs to my mind, who, when he longed for water from the cistern of Bethlehem, which was wedged in by the enemy, had been brought him by obedient soldiers, said, “God forbid that I should drink the blood of righteous men.” And, because he poured it out and would not drink it, it is written, “He offered it a libation to the Lord.” If, then, water was scorned by the armed king and turned into a sacrifice to God, we may estimate what manner of sacrifice to almighty God has been ...
