_DAVID FLIES TO AHIMELECH THE PRIEST; FROM WHOM HE RECEIVES FOR FOOD SOME OF THE SHEW-BREAD, AND, TAKING THE SWORD OF GOLIATH, HE FLIES TO ACHISH, KING OF GATH, AND THERE FEIGNS HIMSELF MAD._ _Before Christ 1062._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME DAVID TO NOB— _Nob_ was in the tribe of Benjamin, about twelve miles from Gibeath, not far from Anathoth, Nehemiah 11:32 and Jerusalem, Isaiah 10:32. It appears from the 19th verse, of the next chapter, that it was one of the sacerdotal cities; and it is probable that Saul had removed the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRIEST ANSWERED—THERE IS NO COMMON BREAD, &C.— Cases of necessity, as the Jews themselves allow, often superseded the observation of the ritual laws; and this compliance of Ahimelech's is urged with great force by our Saviour, in vindication of a similar case, Mark 2:25 to which place we shall r... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE VESSELS OF THE YOUNG MEN— i.e. their bodies; see 1 Thessalonians 4:4. Houbigant renders this verse, _David answered the priest, We have indeed been absent from our wives these three days, since I came out; and the vessels of the young men are holy. But if any uncleanness had happened by the... [ Continue Reading ]
DETAINED BEFORE THE LORD— That is, not by force, but either on account of some vow, or for the making of some necessary expiation.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SWORD OF GOLIATH— It was the custom among the pagans to consecrate in their temples the spoils of their enemies; but it does not appear from the face of the history, that this sword of Goliath's had been consecrated as a religious trophy; and it might be left with Ahimelech to be forthcoming upo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID—WENT TO ACHISH, THE KING OF GATH— David, being proscribed, but without reason, and being everywhere in danger in his own country, fled, as a man in perpetual hazard of his life, to the nearest place: but he fled to the inveterate enemies of his nation. The city he fled to was that of Golia... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KING OF THE LAND— The generality of interpreters suppose, either that the Philistines knew that David should succeed Saul in the kingdom, or that by the word _king_ is meant _chief_ or _general._ See Deuteronomy 33:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CHANGED HIS BEHAVIOUR BEFORE THEM— There are some writers who suppose that David's was a real disorder; and that, from the consternation and sorrow he was in, he was seized with epileptic fits: an opinion, to which the version of the LXX seems to give some countenance; for in the 14th verse i... [ Continue Reading ]