1 Samuel 24:21

16-22 Saul speaks as quite overcome with David's kindness. Many mourn for their sins, who do not truly repent of them; weep bitterly for them, yet continue in love and in league with them. Now God made good to David that word on which he had caused him to hope, that he would bring forth his righteousness as the light, Psalms 37:6. Those who take care to keep a good conscience, may leave it to God to secure them the credit of it. Sooner or later, God will force even those who are of the synagogue of Satan to know and to own those whom he has loved. They parted in peace. Saul went home convinced, but not converted; ashamed of his envy to David, yet retaining in his breast that root of bitterness; vexed that when at last he had found David, he could not find in his heart to destroy him, as he had designed. Malice often seems dead when it is only asleep, and will revive with double force. Y...

Verse 1 Samuel 24:21. _SWEAR NOW_] Saul knew that an oath would bind _David_, though it was insufficient to bind _himself_; see 1 Samuel 19:6. He had sworn to his son Jonathan that David should not be slain; and yet sought by all means in his power to destroy him!...

SWEAR NOW ... - The same request which Jonathan made 1 Samuel 20:15. The deep, genealogical feeling of the Israelites breaks out here as so often elsewhere....

DAVID IN THE WILDERNESS OF ENGEDI (1Sa 23:29 -35-24). EXPOSITION DAVID SPARES SAUL'S LIFE IN A CAVE (1 Samuel 24:1). 1 SAMUEL 24:1 THE WILDERNESS OF EN-GEDI. Finding no safety on the western side of the desert of Judah, where the Ziphites were ever watching his movements, David now boldly crossed this arid waste, and sought shelter in the remarkable oasis of En-gedi, on the shore of the Dead Sea. The word may signify either the Fountain of Luck or the Kid's Spring, the latter being the meaning of the name Ain-Jadi, which it still bears. I

SWEAR NOW THEREFORE UNTO ME BY THE LORD,.... By the Word of the Lord, as the, Targum: THAT THOU WILT NOT CUT OFF MY SEED AFTER ME; as was usually done in despotic governments in the eastern countries, and is at this day, when one is advanced to the throne of another, by whom issue is left, who may be rivals and competitors with him: AND THAT THOU WILT NOT DESTROY MY NAME OUT OF MY FATHER'S HOUSE; by cutting off his seed, the same thing in different words repeated, for the confirmation of it; children bear the names of their fathers, and by them their memory is perpetuated, and cutting off them is destroying the name of their parents....

CHAPTER 24 _ 1. In the wilderness of En-gedi (1 Samuel 24:1)_ 2. David's words to Saul (1 Samuel 24:9) 3. Saul's answer to David (1 Samuel 24:16) Saul continues in the pursuit of David and with 3000 chosen men he sought David at the rocks of the wild goats. It was in En-gedi, which means “the fountain of the young goat.” There were wild rocks and the fountains of water and here David had found his refuge and strongholds. God trained him also amidst the hardships and difficulties suggested by the rocks, while the fountain suggests the refreshing which was also his blessed portion. Perhaps in that trying wilderness he poured out his heart in the way as recorded in...

1 SAMUEL 24. DAVID SPARES SAUL AT ENGEDI (E). Chs. 24 and 26 give two versions of the same story, located at different places. Probably both versions are early. It is not clear which is the earlier, but it is often considered that 26 has the more primitive flavour. It is not necessary to suppose that either story has been developed from the other; they are probably independent developments from the actual facts. 1 SAMUEL 24:1. Saul resumes the pursuit of David; under the stress of a necessity of nature, he goes alone into a cave, in the recesses of which David and his men are hidden. His followers urge him to slay Saul, but he contents himself with secretly cutting off the skirt of his robe; and even then he has qualms of conscience as to taking this liberty with his master, the Anointed of Yahweh. Saul goes out, unconscious of his danger....

Saul's momentary remorse 16. _my son David_ The old fatherly feeling revived. The generous loving heart of the old days had not yet utterly perished....

I KNOW WELL THAT THOU SHALT SURELY BE KING— He knew this, says St. Chrysostom, from David's manners, from his kingly virtues, as well as his uncommon success; but, above all, he knew his divine designation to the throne. Saul, says Dr. Trapp, being melted by those coals of kindness which David had heaped upon his head, poureth out himself in a flood of passions, and, for the present, spake as he thought. But good thoughts make a thoroughfare only of wicked hearts: they stay not there, as those that like not their lodging: their purposes, for want of performance, are but as clouds without rain, or as Hercules's club in the tragedy, of a great bulk, but stuffed with moss and rubbish. David complied with Saul's request, and _sware to him;_ for Saul, foreseeing that his family would be in David's power, and conscious to himself how cruelly and treacherously he himself had treated him, exacts...

_Saul Accepts David's Plea._ 1 Samuel 24:16-22 16 And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, _Is_ this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. 17 And he said to David, Thou _art_ more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. 18 And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the Lord had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not. 19 For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day. 20 And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. 21 Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed af