What is the context?
David and his men move against Jerusalem, held by the Jebusites. The defenders mock him by saying that even blind and lame people could keep him out. Despite their confidence, he captures the fortress of Zion and makes it his residence.
The account connects the attack with a water shaft and records a saying about blind and lame people being excluded from the palace. David builds up the fortress, which becomes known as the City of David. The closing explanation for his growing strength is that the LORD God of Hosts is with him.
The Hebrew word rendered water shaft is tsinnor (tsin-NOR). Brown–Driver–Briggs gives meanings such as pipe, spout and conduit, while noting uncertainty about this particular verse. The term supports a connection with a water passage, but it does not give us a complete map of the attack.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley reads the Jebusites’ words as a boast about their defenses. The USCCB Bible notes also consider a mocking or proverbial expression, while acknowledging that the wording of verses 6 and 8 is difficult. It should not be turned into a general statement about the worth of people with disabilities.
Gill surveys several explanations of the passage used in the assault and of the final saying. The BSB translates the latter in relation to the palace. A confident claim that it establishes a rule excluding all Gentiles from the temple goes beyond what this account clearly says.
The parallel account in 1 Chronicles 11:4–9 adds that David promised command to the first man to strike a Jebusite, and that Joab gained that position. It confirms his role without describing each step of a climb through a particular shaft.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.