INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 24 Saul being returned from following the Philistines, renews his pursuit after David, 1 Samuel 24:1; and they meeting in a cave, where David had the opportunity of taking away the life of Saul, which his men pressed him to, yet only cut off the skirt of his robe, 1 Sam... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN SAUL WAS RETURNED FROM FOLLOWING THE PHILISTINES,.... Having, as it should seem, got the victory over them, and driven them out of his country, and pursued them to their own: THAT IT WAS TOLD HIM, SAYING, BEHOLD, DAVID [IS] IN THE WILDERNESS OF ENGEDI; in the strong holds... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAUL TOOK THREE THOUSAND CHOSEN MEN OUT OF ALL ISRAEL,.... Out of his army, with which he had been pursuing the Philistines: AND WENT TO SEEK DAVID, AND HIS MEN, UPON THE ROCKS OF THE WILD GOATS; which were in the wilderness of Engedi; those rocks were exceeding high and terrible to look at, f... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CAME TO THE SHEEPCOTES BY THE WAY, WHERE [WAS] A CAVE,.... For the sheep to be led into at noon, to shelter them from the heat: such was the cave of Polyphemus, observed by Bochart z, in which sheep and goats lay down and slept; Zephaniah 2:6; AND SAUL WENT IN TO COVER HIS FEET; the Targum i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MEN OF DAVID SAID UNTO HIM,.... Some of his principal men, who were about him, and near him, such as Joab and Abishai: BEHOLD THE DAY OF WHICH THE LORD SAID UNTO THEE: now the time was come that he spoke of to him by Samuel, or Gad, or to himself directly: BEHOLD, I WILL DELIVER THINE ENEM... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS AFTERWARD, THAT DAVID'S HEART SMOTE HIM,.... His conscience accused him, and he repented of what he had done: BECAUSE HE HAD CUT OFF SAUL'S SKIRT; which though less than what his servants put him upon, and he might have thoughts of doing, yet was considered by him as a great ind... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO HIS MEN,.... When he returned and brought the skirt of Saul's garment in his hand; or else he said this before that, though here mentioned, when they moved it to him to dispatch him, as he had a fair opportunity of doing it: GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD DO THIS THING UNTO MY MASTER, TH... [ Continue Reading ]
SO DAVID STAYED HIS SERVANTS WITH THESE WORDS,.... Or pacified them, as the Targum, and made them quiet and easy in that he had not slain him, and reconciled their minds to his conduct, and restrained them from laying hands on him, by observing to them, that he was the anointed of the Lord: AND SUF... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID ALSO AROSE AFTERWARD,.... After Saul was gone: AND WENT OUT OF THE CAVE; where he had been all the time that Saul had been in it: AND CRIED AFTER SAUL: with a loud voice: my lord the king; by which titles Saul would know that he was called unto: AND WHEN SAUL LOOKED BEHIND HIM; to see who i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID SAID TO SAUL, WHEREFORE HEAREST THOU MEN'S WORDS,.... The false charges and accusations, that some of Saul's courtiers brought against David, as Doeg the Edomite, and such like sycophants and flatterers, to whom Saul hearkened, and believed what they said, and acted upon it. David chose ra... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THIS DAY THINE EYES HAVE SEEN,.... Or may see; there is full proof and evidence of it, and which will be presently shown: HOW THAT THE LORD HAD DELIVERED THEE TODAY INTO MINE HAND IN THE CAVE; from whence they were both just come: AND [SOME] BADE [ME] KILL THEE; some of the men that were w... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, MY FATHER,.... So he was in a natural sense, as having married his daughter; and in a civil sense, as he was a king, and was, or ought to have been, the father of his country, and to treat his subjects as his children, and David among the rest: SEE, YEA SEE, THE SKIRT OF THY ROBE IN MY HA... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD JUDGE BETWEEN ME AND THEE,.... And make it appear who is in the right, and who in the wrong: AND THE LORD AVENGE ME OF THEE; if he continued thus to persecute him: BUT MINE HAND SHALL NOT BE UPON THEE; to kill thee, though it may be in my power again to do it, as it has been; but this I a... [ Continue Reading ]
AS SAITH THE PROVERB OF THE ANCIENTS,.... It is an old saying, has been long in use, and may be applied to the present case; or the "proverb of the ancient one"; of the oldest man, the first man Adam, and of all others after him, so Kimchi; or of the Ancient One of the world, the Ancient of days, th... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER WHOM IS THE KING OF ISRAEL COME OUT?.... From his court and palace, with an army of men, and at the head of them: AFTER WHOM DOST THOU PURSUE? with such eagerness and fury: AFTER A DEAD DOG; as David was in the opinion, and according to the representation of his enemies, a dog, vile, mean, w... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD THEREFORE BE JUDGE, AND JUDGE BETWEEN ME AND THEE,.... Signifying he did not desire to be judge in his own cause, but leave it with God to determine it for him in his providence: AND SEE, AND PLEAD MY CAUSE; look with pity upon him, take his cause in his hand, plead it, and do him justice:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN DAVID HAD MADE AN END OF SPEAKING THESE WORDS UNTO SAUL,.... And wonderful it is that Saul, so full of wrath and fury, and so eager of David's life, should stand still and hear him out, and not fall upon him; this must be owing to the restraining providence of God, and to t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID TO DAVID, THOU [ART] MORE RIGHTEOUS THAN I,.... By which it appears he thought himself righteous, though David was more so; the righteousness of David was so glaring, that his enemy himself being judge acknowledges it, but will not confess his own wickedness, having no true sense of sin,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU HAST SHOWED THIS DAY HOW THAT THOU HAST DEALT WELL WITH ME,.... The cutting off of the skirt of his robe only, when his life was in his hand, was a clear proof and full demonstration of his dealing well with him, and might sufficiently convince him he had no ill design upon him: FORASMUCH... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF A MAN FIND HIS ENEMY, WILL HE LET HIM GO WELL AWAY?.... Or "in a good way" e, in peace and safety, without doing him any hurt; this is not usual among men, and yet this was the present case; David had found his enemy Saul, which Saul tacitly owns, and yet had let him go well away from him, wi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW, BEHOLD, I KNOW WELL THAT THOU SHALT SURELY BE KING,.... Not merely by the common report, that he was anointed by Samuel, to which yet he might give credit; but by the providence of God prospering and preserving him, and by his princely spirit and behaviour, and by calling to mind what Samue... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID SWARE UNTO SAUL,.... That he would not cut, off his posterity; which oath he religiously observed, in sparing Mephibosheth, 2 Samuel 21:7, and in punishing the murderers of Ishbosheth, 2 Samuel 4:12; and as for the seven sons of Saul, delivered up to the Gibeonites, 2 Samuel 21:6, it may b... [ Continue Reading ]