1 Samuel 21:13

_AND HE CHANGED HIS BEHAVIOUR BEFORE THEM, AND FEIGNED HIMSELF MAD IN THEIR HANDS, AND SCRABBLED ON THE DOORS OF THE GATE, AND LET HIS SPITTLE FALL DOWN UPON HIS BEARD._ And he changed his behaviour, х_ WAYªSHANOW_ (H8138) _ 'ET_ (H854) _ TA`ªMOW_ (H2940)] - and disfigured his understanding (Gesenius). AND FEIGNED HIMSELF MAD, х_ WAYITHOLEEL_ (H1984)] - and acted the madman. IN THEIR HANDS. He had been seized and made prisoner by the Philistine nobles in Gath, as appears from the title to Psalms 56:1. AND SCRABBLED, х_ WAYªTAAYW_ (H8427)] - and made marks, scrawled on the doors of the gate, in t

10-15 God's persecuted people have often found better usage from Philistines than from Israelites. David had reason to put confidence in Achish, yet he began to be afraid. His conduct was degrading, and discovered wavering in his faith and courage. The more simply we depend on God, and obey him, the more comfortably and surely we shall walk through this troublesome world....

Verse 1 Samuel 21:13. _AND HE CHANGED HIS BEHAVIOUR_] Some imagine David was so _terrified_ at the danger to which he was now exposed, that he was thrown into a kind of _frenzy_, accompanied with _epileptic fits_. This opinion is countenanced by the _Septuagint_, who render the passage thus: Ιδου ιδετε ανδρα επιλητον; "Behold, ye see an epileptic man. Why have ye introduced him to me?" Μη ελαττουμαι επιληπτων εγω; "Have I any need of epileptics, that ye have brought him to have his fits before me, (επιληπτευεσθαι προς με?") It is worthy of remark, that the _spittle falling upon the beard_, i.e., _slavering_ or _frothing at the mouth_, is a genuine concomitant of an epileptic fit. If this translation be allowed, it will set the conduct of David in a clearer point of view than the present translation does. But others think the whole

SCRABBLED - literally, made marks (margin), namely, the mark of the “tau” (t), which in the ancient Hebrew and Phoenician was in the shape of a cross. (See Ezekiel 9:4.) ON THE DOORS OF THE GATE - The gate of Achish’s palace-yard or court, in which the attendants waited. The house itself stood in this court. (Compare Esther 2:19, Esther 2:21.)...

DAVID'S FLIGHT TO NOB, AND SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE PHILISTINES (1 Samuel 21:1.). EXPOSITION DAVID'S FLIGHT TO NOB (1 Samuel 21:1). 1 SAMUEL 21:1 THEN CAME DAVID TO NOB. Nob means a _knoll _or _hill, _and apparently was situated a little to the north of Jerusalem on the road leading to Gath. The ark had evidently been removed thither by Saul early in his reign, after it had remained for twenty years in the house of Abinadab; a

AND HE CHANGED HIS BEHAVIOUR BEFORE THEM,.... Behaved like a fool, or a madman: or changed his "taste" s; which some understand of his reason, acted as if he was deprived of it; and others of his speech, his words and the accent of them, drawled them out, as such persons do: AND FEIGNED HIMSELF MAD IN THEIR HANDS; for in their hands he was, being taken by them, as the title of the fifty sixth psalm shows, Psalms 56:1; and this stratagem he used to get himself out of their hands, acting the part of a madman, delirious, and out of his senses: AND SCRABBLED ON THE DOORS OF THE GATE; as if he was writing something there, and making marks upon them: AND LET HIS SPITTLE FALL DOWN UPON HIS BEARD; slavered, as idiots and madmen do; and however mean this may seem in David to act such a part, it cannot be condemned as wicked, since it was only a

6. DAVID'S VARIED EXPERIENCES CHAPTER 21 _ 1. David at Nob with Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21:1)_ 2. David's flight to Achish, King of Gath (1 Samuel 21:10) With this chapter begins the record of David's wanderings as an exile. A number of Psalms were written by him during this period of the rejection of the Lord's anointed. We shall point out some of them. These Psalms are prophetic also foreshadowing the rejection and the sufferings of Christ as well as the tribulations of the pious remnant of Israel during the closing years of the age, preceding the coming and enthronement of the King of Israel, our Lord. He reached Nob after his separation from Jonathan. At Nob the tabernacle of the Lord had been established and Ahimelech (my brother is King) the son of Ahitub (22:9) and g

1 SAMUEL 21. DAVID AT NOB AND GATH. 1 Samuel 21:1 (J). From one of the ancient documents; it is not clear which of the previous sections finds its sequel here. It is often connected with 1 Samuel 19:17: if this is right, David fled straight from his own house to Nob. It is likely that originally stories of single episodes of David's adventures circulated separately by oral tradition or otherwise, not forming a connected narrative. When they were collected, different editors might arrange and connect them in different ways. David fled to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Nob was probably a little N. of Jerusalem, on the way from Gibeah to Bethlehem. According to 1 Samuel 22:9 Ahimelech was the son of Ahitub, and

CHANGED, &c. See Psalms 34:1 SCRABBLED ON. Septuagint reads "struck against"....

David's flight to Gath 10. _and went to Achish_ In the extremity of peril, David was driven to take refuge among Saul's bitterest enemies, and offer himself as a servant to Achish (1 Samuel 21:15). He hoped no doubt that the Philistines would not recognise the stripling who slew their champion. Unlike Themistocles and Alcibiades when they were banished from Athens, he had no intention of turning traitor to his country. The circumstances of this sojourn at Gath and that recorded in ch. 27 are entirely unlike, and correspond exactly to the difference of occasion. In the present case David went alone, was ill received, and was compelled to feign madness for safety and escape as soon as possible: later on when his breach with Saul was notorious, he went with a numerous following, was received and established at Ziklag, and remained for more than a year....