(8) And he built the city round about.--Literally, and he built (or rebuilt or fortified) the city all round, from the Millo even unto the (complete) round. The Millo was probably a tower or citadel, like the Arx Antonia of later times. According to the chronicler David started from that point, and brought his line of defences round to it again. Samuel has simply, "And David built around, from the Millo, and inward." This seems to mean that he carried his buildings from the fortress towards the interior of the city. Both statements may, of course, be true.

Verse 8. - Millo. There is great uncertainty as to the derivation and the meaning of this word. It is probably not really of Hebrew extraction, but of the oldest Canaanitish origin. In the Hebrew it is always used with the article, and would presumably come from the Hebrew root "to fill." Josephus seems to use, as synonymous expression for "David's wall round Millo," this, viz. "buildings round about the lower city" ('Jud. Ant.,' 3:2, compared with 5; 'Wars,' 6:1, where he identifies those "buildings," etc., with Acra). As the name of a family, it is mentioned in connection with Shechem, known specially as a place of the Canaanites (Judges 9:6, 20). The Septuagint represents it by the word ἡ α}κρα. In the remarkable passage, 2 Kings 12:20, the word "Silla" is even a greater enigma, which, however, may designate the "steps from the city of David" (Nehemiah 3:15), or "the causeway of going up" to the west of the temple (1 Chronicles 22:16). The likeliest view of Mille is that it was a very strong point of fortification in the surrounding defences of the hill of Zion (1 Kings 9:24; 1 Kings 11:27). In 2 Chronicles 32:5 the otherwise unvarying translation (ἡ α}κρα) of the Septuagint is superseded by τὸ ἀνάλημμα, a word itself of doubtful signification. For while some would render it by the word "foundation," Schleusner translates it "height." Grove (in Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 2:367) puts it in "the neighbourhood of the Tyropaean valley at the foot of Zion." Some clue may lie in the word "inward," applied to the building by David. Does it imply a covering by edifices of the space, or some portion of it, that lay between Zion and the rest of the city? (See also Keil on Kings, vol. 2:163.)

11:1-9 David was brought to possess the throne of Israel after he had reigned seven years in Hebron, over Judah only. God's counsels will be fulfilled at last, whatever difficulties lie in the way. The way to be truly great, is to be really useful, to devote all our talents to the Lord.And inquired not of the Lord,.... For though he did inquire in some sense in an external, careless, and hypocritical manner, yet not done seriously, sincerely, and heartily, nor with constancy; it was accounted as if he inquired not at all, 1 Samuel 28:6 the Targum adds another reason of his death, because he killed the priests of Nob; but that is not in the text:

therefore he slew him; or suffered him to be slain:

and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse; translated the kingdom of Israel out of Saul's family, upon his death, into Jesse's, even unto David; for the sake of which observation this short account is given of the last end of Saul.