John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Samuel 20:1



INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 20



David fleeing from Naioth came to Jonathan, and acquainted him with his circumstances, and entreated his favour, 1Sa 20:1; which Jonathan promised, and renewed the covenant with him, 1Sa 20:9; a scheme was formed between them, by which David might know whether Saul was reconciled to him, and he might come to court, 1Sa 20:18; which being tried, Jonathan found it was not safe for him to appear, 1Sa 20:24; of which he gave notice by the signals agreed on, 1Sa 20:35; and they took their leave of one another with strong expressions of affection and attachment to each other, 1Sa 20:41.



Ver. 1. And David fled from Naioth in Ramah,.... While Saul was prophesying, or lay in a trance there:



and came; to Gibeah, where Saul dwelt, and had his palace, and kept his court:



and said before Jonathan; whom he found there, and for whose sake he thither fled to have his advice, and to use his interest with his father, and be his friend at court:



what have I done? what [is] mine iniquity? and what [is] my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life? surely, as if he should say, I must have been guilty of some very great crime, and yet I am not sensible of it; canst thou tell me what it is that has so provoked thy father, that nothing will satisfy him but the taking away of my life, which he seeks to do?





1 Samuel 20:2



Ver. 2. And he said unto him, God forbid, thou shalt not die,.... He could not believe his father had any such intention; and that if he discovered anything of that kind, it was only when he was in a frenzy, and a melancholy disorder had seized him; and that David had nothing to fear on that head, and that he would secure him from all danger in that respect; the thing was too gross and detestable to be credited:



behold, my father will do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it me; such an interest had he in him, and in his favour, being his son and heir to his crown, and having done many warlike exploits, which had the more endeared him to him, that he made him privy to all his secret designs, and took his opinion in all matters of moment and importance:



and why should my father hide this thing from me? his design of taking away the life of David, if he had really formed one:



it [is] not [so]; Jonathan concluded, from his ignorance of it, there was nothing in it, and that it was only a surmise of David's; and yet it is strange that Jonathan should know nothing of the messengers being sent to David's house to take him, and of others sent to Naioth after him, and of Saul's going there himself with such a design; and if he did know anything of the matter, he made the best of it to David, partly to allay his fears, and partly that his father might not appear so black and vile as he really was.





1 Samuel 20:3



Ver. 3. And David sware moreover, and said,.... To assure Jonathan of the truth of it, that he did most certainly seek after his life, of which, as he had no doubt himself, by an oath he endeavoured to remove any that might be in Jonathan, who was not willing to believe his father could be guilty of so foul a crime:



thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes: that he was high in his favour, that he had a great value for him, and he had a large share in his love and friendship, and that was the reason why he hid from him his base intentions:



and he saith, let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved; as he would be, both for the evil his father would be guilty of, and the danger David, his beloved friend, would be in:



but truly, [as] the Lord liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth, [there is] but a step between me and death; as appeared by his casting a javelin at him, 1Sa 18:11, sending messengers to his own house to slay him, 1Sa 19:11, and others to Naioth to seize him, 1Sa 19:20, and coming himself thither with an intention to kill him, 1Sa 19:22, and in each of these instances he had a narrow escape for his life; and this he declared in the most solemn manner by an oath, for the confirmation of the truth of it to Jonathan.





1 Samuel 20:4



Ver. 4. Then said Jonathan unto David,.... Now giving credit to what he had said, and in order to comfort and support him under the apprehensions he had of danger:



whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do [it] for thee; for the preservation of his life, by speaking to his father on his behalf, endeavouring to dissuade him from his evil intentions, or by hiding and concealing him in some obscure place, that he might not execute his evil designs upon him, or by any method he could point out to him.





1 Samuel 20:5



Ver. 5. And David said unto Jonathan,.... Moved that the following method might be taken as a trial of the disposition of Saul's mind towards David:



behold, tomorrow [is] the new moon; the first day of the month, which was kept solemnly with burnt offerings and peace offerings, see

Nu 10:10. Some say {r} this feast was not kept for the new moon, but because it was the day of the feast of trumpets or the first day of the new year, which fell together on that day; the calends, or first day of the month, was with the Heathens sacred to deity {s}, in imitation of the Jews:



and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat; it had been usual for him at such a time to sit at table with the king; next to him, as Jarchi interprets it, either as his son-in-law, or as one of his princes; the custom being for the king, and his family and nobles, to eat together on that day upon the peace offerings; and it was the duty of David to attend at that time, and it might be expected he would:



but let me go; he asked [leave] of Jonathan, who had power in his father's absence to grant it, he not being yet returned from Naioth:



that I may hide myself in the fields, unto the third [day] at even; or until the time of the evening of the third day, as the Targum, which was the evening of the second day of the month; for that was the third from that evening they were discoursing together, as Ben Gersom observes; the fields he proposed to hide himself in were near to Gibeah, and he doubtless meant some cave in those fields, where he might be, and not be seen by men; though it cannot be thought that he remained, or proposed to remain, in such a place during that time, where he would be in want of food, but that he would abide incognito among his friends somewhere or another, until the festival was over.



{r} Weemse's Expos. Ceremon. Law, c. 22. p. 100, 101. {s} Macrob. Saturnal. l. 1. c. 15. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 18. in fine.





1 Samuel 20:6



Ver. 6. If thy father at all miss me,.... Or diligently inquires after me:



then say, David earnestly asked leave of me, that he might run to Bethlehem his city: the place of his birth, called the city of David, where he was born and had lived, Lu 2:4, which was not far from Gibeah, and whither he could soon run; and which shows the haste he proposed to make, and his eager desire to be there, and which also is signified by his earnest and importunate request; for all this might be true, and no lie of David, framed for an excuse; and after he had hid himself some time in the field, until it was evening, he might go to Bethlehem, and return soon enough to meet Jonathan in the field at the time fixed by them on the third day:



for [there] is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family; it was customary for the family of Jesse one day in a year, and as it should seem on a first day of the month, and perhaps the first day of the first month, or New Year's Day, to have an anniversary feast by way of gratitude and thankfulness for the mercies of the year past, and for the continuance of them for time to come; in which the family rejoiced together at the great goodness of God unto them, 1Sa 9:12.





1 Samuel 20:7



Ver. 7. If he say thus, [it is] well,.... It is very well, it is very good and right in him to do so:



thy servant shall have peace; it will be a token that the wrath of the king was removed, and that his mind was well disposed towards David, and things had taken an happy turn, and would issue in his peace and prosperity:



but if he be very wroth; with Jonathan for giving leave, and with David for going away:



[then] be sure that evil is determined by him; that he has a settled obstinate malice in his heart, which is become implacable and inveterate, and confirmed in him; and that it is a determined point with him to slay David if possible, which he hoped to have an opportunity of doing at that time in which he was disappointed, and caused such wrath in him.





1 Samuel 20:8



Ver. 8. Therefore thou shall deal kindly with thy servant,.... By informing him how his father's mind stood affected to him, that he might conduct himself accordingly, either by appearing at court, or by providing for his safety by flight:



for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee; a covenant of friendship between Jonathan and David, of which Jonathan was the first mover, and so is said to bring or persuade him into it; called the covenant of the Lord, because made in his name and fear, and before him as a witness of it; and this David pleads as an argument with Jonathan, to deal kindly and faithfully by him in the present case:



notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself: or pass sentence upon him to be slain; which, if guilty, he might have power to do in his father's absence, and which David desires might be done, notwithstanding the covenant of friendship between them, should he appear to deserve it by any action of his, of which he was not conscious; this expresses the strong sense he had of his own integrity, and served to confirm Jonathan in his opinion of it;



for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father? deliver him up into his hands to be put to a cruel death by him, or give him the trouble of doing it, when he might as well dispatch him at once.





1 Samuel 20:9



Ver. 9. And Jonathan said, far be it from thee,.... To entertain such a thought of me, or to have the least suspicion of me, that I should conceal my father's ill intentions against thee, if known to me;



for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would I not tell it thee? certainly I would; canst thou doubt of my kindness and fidelity? surely thou hast no reason, when such a covenant of friendship subsists between us, and there has not been the least breach of it on either side.





1 Samuel 20:10



Ver. 10. Then said David to Jonathan, who shall tell me?.... The disposition of Saul's mind towards him, whether he gave a kind answer to the report of Jonathan concerning him:



or what [if] thy father answer thee roughly? or hard words, as the Targum, whether he answers in a kind, loving, and smooth manner, or whether in a rough and angry one: the question is here, how he should be informed of this, since especially, if in the latter, it would not be safe for Jonathan to come himself to him, nor could he well trust the message with any other. Abarbinel thinks, that the first of these expressions is by way of question, who should declare to him his father's will and intention, whether good or bad: and the latter by way of outcry, woe unto me, if thy father should answer thee roughly; I greatly fear he will chide thee for my sake; my heart will be filled with sorrow if thou shouldest suffer reproach and rebuke on my account.





1 Samuel 20:11



Ver. 11. And Jonathan said unto David, come, and let us go out into the field,.... That they might more fully, and freely, and familiarly talk of this affair between them, without any danger of being overheard by the servants of Saul, as they were in his palace, where they now were:



and they went out both of them into the field; which belonged to Gibeah.





1 Samuel 20:12



Ver. 12. And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel,.... Or by the Lord God of Israel, I swear unto thee; for this is the form of the oath, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe:



when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, [or] the third [day]; searched, inquired, and found out how his disposition is:



and, behold, [if there be] good toward David; if he is well disposed to him, as may appear by speaking respectfully of him, or kindly inquiring after him, and by being satisfied with the account given him:



and I then send not unto thee, and show it thee; then let the vengeance of God fall upon me in some remarkable manner or another, as follows; or "shall I not then send unto thee, and show it thee" {t}? certainly I will; that is, I will send a messenger to thee to acquaint thee with it, who shall tell it, and cause thee to hear it, as from myself.



{t} Kyla xlva za alw "an non tune mitterem?" Junius & Tremellius; "nonne tunc mittam ad te?" so some in Vatablus.





1 Samuel 20:13



Ver. 13. The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan,.... Recompense evil more than can be thought of and expressed, should he neglect to inform David of the good disposition of Saul unto him:



but if it please my father [to do] thee evil; if he seems determined upon it to take away thy life:



then I will show it thee; not by a messenger, by whom it would not be safe to communicate it, lest by that means Saul would know where he was, and come and slay him; but Jonathan would come himself, and acquaint him with it:



and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace; give him leave, and advise him to depart, and provide for his own safety, adding his blessing on him, and prayer for him:



and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father; in the beginning of his reign, giving him counsel and advice in all things, and victory over his enemies, succeeding and prospering him in whatsoever he engaged in; the Targum is,



"the Word of the Lord be for thy help, &c.''



Jonathan seemed to be fully apprized that David was to succeed in the kingdom.





1 Samuel 20:14



Ver. 14. And thou shalt not only, while yet I live, show me the kindness of the Lord,.... Such kindness as is well pleasing in the sight of God, and imitate what he shows to men, and which was covenanted, promised, and agreed to in the presence of the Lord, when David and Jonathan entered into covenant with each other; this Jonathan did not doubt of, and therefore did not make this a request:



that I die not; he had no fear nor dread on his mind, should David come to the throne while he was alive, that he would take away his life; which was usually done by tyrants and usurpers, when there were any that had a fairer title, and better claim to the throne than they.





1 Samuel 20:15



Ver. 15. But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever,.... His family should partake of it as well as himself:



no, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David, everyone from the face of the earth; Saul and his sons, and everyone that should oppose his settlement in the kingdom: Jonathan's meaning is, that the covenant between them should not be only between them personally, but include their posterity, as follows.





1 Samuel 20:16



Ver. 16. So Jonathan made [a covenant] with the house of David,.... Not with David himself only, which was now renewed, but with his family also:



[saying], let the Lord even require [it] at the hand of David's enemies; take vengeance on Jonathan, or on any of his posterity, should they break this covenant, by showing themselves enemies to David, and his crown; and, on the other hand, also on David, and his posterity, should they not show kindness to Jonathan and his seed, according to the tenor of this covenant.





1 Samuel 20:17



Ver. 17. And Jonathan caused David to swear again,.... Or Jonathan added to make David swears {u}; having sworn himself to make a covenant of friendship with David and his family, he moved and insisted on it, that David should swear to keep covenant with him, and his family:



because he loved him; it was not so much for the good and safety of his offspring that he made this motion, and was so desirous of renewing and enlarging his covenant with David, as it was his strong love and affection for him; being on that account desirous that there might be the strictest friendship imaginable retained between the two families; or he made him swear by his love to him, as some understand it, which is not so likely; the former sense is better, for he himself sware by the Lord, 1Sa 20:12;



for he loved him as his own soul; or "with the love of his soul" {w}; with the most cordial affection, with a truly hearty and sincere love, see 1Sa 18:1.



{u} Poyw "et addidit", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; so the Tigurine version. {w} wvpn tbha "secundum dilectionem animae suae", Pagninus; "amore sui ipsius", Junius & Tremellius.





1 Samuel 20:18



Ver. 18. Then Jonathan said to David, tomorrow [is] the new moon,.... The first day of the month, as David had before observed, 1Sa 20:5;



and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty; or be inquired after, because not in his usual place at mealtime.





1 Samuel 20:19



Ver. 19. And [when] thou hast stayed three days,.... From court, either at Bethlehem, which seems most probable, or in some other place incognito; however, not in the field he proposed to hide himself in, where he could not continue so long for want of food:



[then] thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself; which makes it clear that he did not continue there during that time, but went elsewhere; from whence he was to come in haste at the expiration of three days, to the place he first hid himself in, and which was fixed upon to meet at:



when the business was [in hand]; when the affair was discoursed of, about getting knowledge how Saul was affected to David, and of informing him of it; or "on the day of work" {x}; or business, on a working day, as the Septuagint; and so the Targum, on a common day; when, as the Vulgate Latin, it was lawful to work on it; and such was the day when Jonathan and David conversed together about the above affair; it being the day before the new moon, or first day of the month, on which day they used not to work: Some render it, "thou shalt three times go down" {y} to that place; and the sense is, that he should come on the morrow, and if he found not Jonathan there, he might conclude that as yet he knew nothing of his father's mind, and therefore should come the day following that; and if he found him not then, to come on the third day, that so he might be on the spot, let him come on which day he would:



and shalt remain by the stone Ezel; which, because it signifies "going", the Jewish commentators generally understand it as a sign to direct travellers which way to go; but one would think this should be an improper place for David to be near, since it must be where two or more ways met, and so a public frequented place; others think therefore it had its name from David and Jonathan often going thither, to discourse with each other; the Septuagint calls it Ergab; and so the place where Jonathan, the son of Saul, exercised himself by shooting darts, is called by Jerom {z}; it is said by Josephus {a} to be an hundred fifty furlongs (about nineteen miles), from Jerusalem, and from Jordan sixty, (about eight miles).



{x} hvemh Mwyb "in die operis", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; "die profesto", Tigurine version. {y} dam drt tvlv "tertiabis, descendes valde", Montanus; "descendes ter, [vel] tertiabis descendere", Castalio; so Patrick. {z} De loc. Heb. fol. 91. C. {a} Apud Adrichem. Theatrum T. S. p. 17.





1 Samuel 20:20



Ver. 20. And I will shoot three arrows on the side [thereof],.... On the side of the stone Ezel; three are pitched upon, according to the number of the days David was missing:



as though I shot at a mark; as if he made the stone the mark he shot at; so that his shooting would not be taken notice of.





1 Samuel 20:21



Ver. 21. And, behold, I will send a lad,.... That attended on him, and carried his bow and arrows, and fetched his arrows when he had shot them:



[saying], go, find out the arrows; where they are fallen, and return them:



if I expressly say unto the lad, behold, the arrows [are] on this side of thee, take them; on one side of him, whether the one or the other, which he would bid him take up, and bring them to him:



then come thou; David, out of the place where he hid himself:



for [there is] peace to thee, and no hurt, [as] the Lord liveth; he might appear, and not be afraid of being seen by any, since by this sign he might be assured that Saul was well affected to him, and would show him favour, and do him no injury; and that he might promise himself prosperity and safety, and be assured of it for the present.





1 Samuel 20:22



Ver. 22. But if I say thus unto the young man, behold, the arrows [are] beyond thee,.... Being shot to a greater distance than where the young man was:



go thy way, for the Lord hath sent thee away; then he was to depart directly, without staying to have any conversation with Jonathan, which would not be safe for either of them, and so make the best of his way into the country, and escape for his life; for so it was ordered by the providence of God, that he must not stay, but be gone immediately: the signals were these, that if things were favourable, then he would shoot his arrows on one side of the lad, and David might come out and show himself at once; but if not, he would shoot them beyond him, by which he might know that he must flee for his life.





1 Samuel 20:23



Ver. 23. And [as touching] the matter which thou and I have spoken of,.... The covenant they had made between them and their families:



behold, the Lord [be] between me and thee for ever: as a witness of the covenant, and a revenger of those that should break it; so the Targum,



"behold, the Word of the Lord be between me and thee a witness for ever.''





1 Samuel 20:24



Ver. 24. So David hid himself in the field,.... Not directly, but at the time appointed; for he went to Bethlehem, and returned from thence before that time:



and when the new moon was come; the first clay of the month, which was a solemn festival:



the king sat him down to eat meat; Saul sat down at his table to eat of the provisions that were set upon it; which it is very probable were the peace offerings for that day, which he, his family, and nobles, feasted on together; it is in the Hebrew, "he sat down at the bread" {b}, which is put for all the food on the table, and the provisions of it.



{b} Mxlh le "ad [vel] juxta panem", Pagninus, Montanus.





1 Samuel 20:25



Ver. 25. And the king sat upon his seat as at other times,.... Upon the seat he usually sat on:



[even] upon a seat by the wall; on a couch by the side of the wall; or, as Jarchi and R. Isaiah say, at the head of the couch by the wall, which was the most honourable place; and Kimchi observes, it was the custom in those days to eat meat sitting on beds or couches, see

1Sa 28:23;



and Jonathan arose; either in reverence to his father, when he came in and took his seat, or in respect to Abner upon his coming in, being the son of Saul's uncle, and general of the army; for though he arose, he did not depart, it is plain he sat down again, 1Sa 20:34. Kimchi thinks, that after Jonathan had sat down at the side of his father, he arose and placed Abner there, because he would not be near his father, that if he should be wroth with him on account of David, he might not be near him to smite him:



and Abner sat by Saul's side; according to Josephus {c} Jonathan sat at his right hand and Abner on the left, and it was usual for the master, or principal person, to sit in the middle; so Dido in Virgil {d}. Abarbinel places them thus, Saul was at the head of the table, and David was used to sit by him, and Jonathan by David, and Abner by Jonathan; and now the king sat in his place, and Jonathan in his place, and Abner after him; and David's place being empty, Jonathan was left next to his father, without any between; wherefore he now arose from his place, and Abner sat on that side where Saul was, so that Abner was between Jonathan and Saul:



and David's place was empty; where he used to sit at table, he not being there, and no one taking it.



{c} Antiqu. l. 6. c. 11. sect. 9. {d} "----- mediamque locavit". Aeneid. 1. prope finem. Vid. Servium in ib.





1 Samuel 20:26



Ver. 26. Nevertheless, Saul spake not anything that day,.... About David's absence, took no notice of it, said nothing about it:



for he thought something had befallen him; some impurity, some nocturnal pollution, see Le 15:16;



he [is] not clean, surely he [is] not clean; which he repeated in his mind for the confirmation of it, and in contempt, and to the reproach of David; and in this way he accounted for his absence the first day, and so was easy, it not being lawful and fitting for an unclean person in a ceremonial sense to eat of the peace offerings, which Saul and his family were now partaking of.





1 Samuel 20:27



Ver. 27. And it came to pass on the morrow, [which was] the second [day] of the month,.... The Targum is,



"and it was on the day after it, which was the intercalation of the second month;''



when the beginning of the month was judged of by the appearance of the moon, and there was a difficulty about that, what day it appeared on, two days were kept for it; and Abarbinel {e} is clear for it, that two days were kept in this month; but if this was not the case, since the remainder of peace offerings might be eaten the next day, Le 7:16. Saul and his guests might meet on the second day for that purpose:



that David's place was empty: on that day also:



and Saul said to Jonathan his son; who he knew was David's friend and confident, and could give the best account of him:



wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday nor today; he accounted for his not coming yesterday, because he supposed he might be under some ceremonial uncleanness; but then that only lasted to the evening of that day; but not coming the second day when he was clean, he inquires after him; and not owning him for his son-in-law, by way of contempt, and to lessen him in the esteem of all at table, he calls him the son of Jesse.



{e} Comment. in Exod. xii.





1 Samuel 20:28



Ver. 28. And Jonathan answered Saul,.... In reply to Saul's question, and to excuse David, he said,



David earnestly asked [leave] of me [to go] to Bethlehem; his own city, his native place, where his family lived, whom he was desirous to see, and yet chose not to go without asking leave; and as Saul was not at home, he asked leave of Jonathan, who was next to him, and acted for him; and he was very pressing and importunate in his suit, and therefore Jonathan could not well deny him it; and he hoped this would ben sufficient excuse for his absence, especially when what follows should be observed.





1 Samuel 20:29



Ver. 29. And he said, let me go, I pray thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city,.... In the city of Bethlehem where they lived, a peace offering on account of the new moon, and as an anniversary thanksgiving for the mercies of the year, 1Sa 20:6; and seeing, though he was not at the feast in one place, he observed it in another, his absence at court was the more excusable; and the rather, since it was kept by him with his own family, in his own city: besides, it is added,



and my brother he hath commanded me [to be there]; his elder brother Eliab, whose commands, as a younger brother, he judged he ought to obey; it is probable his father was now dead, since no mention is made of him, and his elder brother took upon him the command of the family:



and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, see my brethren: he should take it as a favour to have leave to depart, and be free for the present from waiting upon the king at court, and so have an opportunity of seeing his brethren, for which he had a great desire; having not seen them a long time, not even since he saw them in the camp, when he slew Goliath:



therefore he cometh not to the king's table: this was the reason of it, at least one reason of it, and Jonathan was not obliged to tell the whole.





1 Samuel 20:30



Ver. 30. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan,.... For giving David leave to go, and for excusing him in this manner:



and he said unto him, thou son of the perverse and rebellious [woman]; most of the Jewish commentators supply it as we do, but the supplement of woman may as well be left out, and be read, "thou son of perverse rebellion" {f}; thou perverse and rebellious wretch, perverse in thy temper, and rebellious in thy conduct; for the design of the expression is not to reproach his mother, for which there seems no provocation, but Jonathan only; and the next clause confirms it, which expresses a concern for his mother's honour and credit; the Targum is,



"an obstinate son, whose rebellion is hard,''



or intolerable; according to which, Abarbinel says, it may refer to David:



do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness? The above writer observes, that he does not say to his own confusion, because David would not reign in his lifetime, only after his death, but to the shame of Jonathan and his mother; to Jonathan's shame, who would be reckoned by men an arrant fool, to be so friendly to a rival, and who in all probability would jostle him out of the throne; and what would men say of him? that either he was not fit to reign, or had no right to the throne, that a son-in-law took place before him; and that his mother had played the whore, and he was no son of Saul, having nothing of his genius, temper, and disposition in him, as appeared by loving such his father hated; and besides, his mother would not have the honour she expected, to be the mother of a king.



{f} twdrmh twen Nb "fili perversae rebellionis", Pagninus, Montanus.





1 Samuel 20:31



Ver. 31. For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom,.... He would not, though heir to the crown, be sure of it; it would be precarious to him, he would be in great danger of being deprived of it on the death of his father; and therefore it would be his highest wisdom to deliver David up to be slain, as it was his greatest folly to protect him, and provide for his satiety:



wherefore now send and fetch him unto me; send to Bethlehem for him to come to court directly:



for he shall surely die; or he is "the son of death" {g}; guilty of death, as the Targum, deserves to die, and Saul was determined upon his death if possible.



{g} twm Nb "filius mortis", V. L. Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator; "reus mortis", Junius & Tremellius.





1 Samuel 20:32



Ver. 32. And Jonathan answered Saul his, father, and said unto him,.... Making no answer to the charges of perverseness, rebellion, and folly brought against himself, which he bore with patience, but could not bear to hear his dear friend spoken against, and as worthy of death; and therefore in answer to that says,



wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done? has he attempted to take away thy life? to deprive thee of thy crown? to settle himself upon the throne? what overt act of treason has he been guilty of; that he should die? on the contrary, has he not done many things worthy of immortal honour, for the good of the nation, and the glory of thy reign? and if God has determined the kingdom for him, and anointed him to it, what blame can be laid upon him? nay, should he not be the rather respected and honoured?





1 Samuel 20:33



Ver. 33. And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him,.... So provoked to wrath was he by what he said. It seems by this that Saul always had a javelin or spear in his hand, which is to be accounted for by the custom of those times; in other countries, as well as in this, the kings used to carry spears in their hands instead of sceptres, and which they used as such; so Justin {h}, speaking of the times of Romulus, says, that kings in those times had spears, as an ensign of royalty, which the Greeks call sceptres; and so the Greeks called sceptres spears {i}:



whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David; for since he attempted to smite him, his own son, for speaking on his behalf, it might be well concluded, that such was his settled wrath and malice, that he would if possible kill David, could he get him into his hands.



{h} E Trogo, l. 43. c. 3. {i} Pausanias in Boeoticis, sive, l. 9. p. 859. Vid. Barthii Animadv. ad Claudian in nupt. Honor ver. 119.





1 Samuel 20:34



Ver. 34. So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger,.... Resenting his father's attempt to smite him, and his resolution to slay David:



and did eat no meat the second day of the month; not then at that meal he was just sat down to, nor at another time that day, his stomach was so full through indignation at his father, and grief for his friend David; and besides, being a mourner on the above accounts, he might not eat of the sacrifices:



for he was grieved for David; that his death should be determined upon by his father, and he in so much danger of it; as also that he himself must be parted from and lose so dear a friend, which was one reason he ate no meat that day: and another follows,



because his father had done him shame; the copulative "and" being wanting; and this he did by calling him a perverse and rebellious son, and representing him as an arrant fool, and particularly by casting a javelin at him to smite him.





1 Samuel 20:35



Ver. 35. And it came to pass in the morning:,.... The next morning, the morning of the third day of the month:



that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David; he went to the place in the field, or near it, where David hid himself, and at the time agreed between them; which, Abarbinel says, was the time the nobles agreed on for walking, and motion, and for hunting, and casting of arrows, so that Jonathan could go forth without suspicion:



and a little lad with him; to carry his bow and arrows, and fetch his arrows when cast.





1 Samuel 20:36



Ver. 36. And he said unto his lad, run, find out now the arrows which I shoot,.... He no doubt told him the mark which he should shoot at, the stone Ezel, and bid him look out about that for them:



[and] as the lad ran; before he had got to the mark:



he shot an arrow beyond him: or it; beyond the lad, or beyond the mark he shot at; purposely shooting with great strength, that he might exceed, and thereby give notice to David how things stood, which was the sign agreed on.





1 Samuel 20:37



Ver. 37. And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot,.... To the mark which he told him he should shoot at, and whereabout he might expect to find the arrow:



Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, [is] not the arrow beyond thee? he cried with a loud voice and said this, not so much that the lad might hear him, but that David, who lay hid near the place, might hear him; so that if they had no opportunity of seeing and conversing with each other through any person going by at that time, David might know by this sign that evil was determined against him, and must flee for his life; the Syriac and Vulgate Latin versions read, "behold, the arrow is beyond thee"; so Noldius {k}.



{k} Concord. Ebr. Part. p. 265. No. 1141.





1 Samuel 20:38



Ver. 38. And Jonathan cried after the lad, make speed, haste, stay not,.... But bring the arrows to him directly, that he might dismiss him; for, observing that no man was passing by, he was desirous of embracing the opportunity for a few minutes to have an interview with David alone before he fled:



and Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows; for though the textual reading is singular, the marginal is plural, to show, as Kimchi observes, that he cast three arrows, as he said he would, 1Sa 20:20;



and came to his master; with them.





1 Samuel 20:39



Ver. 39. But the lad knew not anything,.... What was meant by shooting the arrows, and by shooting them beyond where he was, and by bidding him make haste to bring them:



only Jonathan and David knew the matter; what was signified by them, those being signs agreed upon between them.





1 Samuel 20:40



Ver. 40. And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad,.... "His vessels" {l} or instruments; his arms, as the Targum, his quiver, bow, and arrows:



and said unto him, go, carry [them] to the city; to Gibeah, to Jonathan's house, or to his apartments at court there.



{l} wylk ta "vasa sua", Montanus; "instrumenta sua", Piscator; "arma sua", V. L. Tigurine version.





1 Samuel 20:41



Ver. 41. [And] as soon as the lad was gone,.... Which David could observe from his lurking place:



David arose out of [a place] toward the south; to the south of the field in which he was hid, or to the south of the stone Ezel, near which he was; and so the Targum,



"and David arose from the side of the stone Atha, which was towards the south;''



Jonathan shooting his arrows to the north of it, lest the lad should have discovered David when he ran for them: and fell on his face to the ground; in reverence of Jonathan, as the son of a king, and in respect to him as his friend, who had so faithfully served him, and was so concerned to save his life:



and bowed himself three times: this was before he fell prostrate on the ground. Abarbinel observes, that bowing three; times was fit and proper to be done to a king; once at the place from whence they first see him, the second time in the middle of the way to him, and the third time when come to him; but though this may have been a custom in more modern times, it is a question whether it obtained so early; however it is certain bowing was as ancient, and therefore Xenophon {z} is mistaken in ascribing it to Cyrus as the first introducer of this custom; and be it that he was the first that began it among the Persians, it was in use with others before, as this behaviour of David shows:



and they kissed one another; as friends about to part:



and wept one with another: as not knowing whether they should ever see each other's face any more:



until David exceeded; in weeping more than Jonathan; he having more to part with, not only him his dear friend, but his wife and family, and other dear friends and people of God, and especially the sanctuary and service of God, which of all things lay nearest his heart, and most distressed him; see 1Sa 26:19; and many of his psalms on this occasion. Ben Gersom suggests that he wept more than was meet, through too much fear of Saul; but that seems not to be the case.



{z} Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 23.





1 Samuel 20:42



Ver. 42. And Jonathan said to David, go in peace,.... In peace of mind, committing himself, his family, and affairs, to the providence of God, who would take care of him, and keep him in safety from the evil designs of Saul; and particularly he would have him be easy with respect to what had passed between them two, not doubting but it would be faithfully observed on both sides:



forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord: had made a covenant with each other by an oath, in the name and presence of God as a witness to it:



saying, the Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever; as a witness of the agreement between them, including them and their offspring, and as a revenger of such that should break it. The Targum is,



"the Word of the Lord be between thee and me, &c.''



and he arose and departed; that is, David arose from the ground, and took his leave of Jonathan, and departed into the country for the safety of his person and life:



and Jonathan went into the city; into the city of Gibeah, where Saul dwelt and had his court.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Samuel 21:1



INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 21



This chapter relates that David went to Nob, and pretending he was on secret business for the king, got shewbread, and the sword of Goliath, from Ahimelech the priest, 1Sa 21:1; and that passing from thence to Gath, where he was known, through fear feigned himself mad, and so escaped from thence, 1Sa 21:10.



Ver. 1. Then came David to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest,.... The high priest, as Abarbinel rightly calls him; he was the brother of Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, who being dead he succeeded him; though some say {a} he was the same; see 1Sa 14:3; who was now at Nob, the tabernacle being there, whither probably it was removed by Saul, and where and at Gibeon, according to the Jews {b}, it continued fifty seven years; as in the times of Joshua it was in Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim, of which tribe he was; and in the times of David it was placed in the tribe of Judah, to which he belonged; so in the times of Saul it was in Nob, a city of his tribe, twelve miles from Gibeah, according to Bunting {c}; for that it was in the tribe of Benjamin appears by its being mentioned along with Anathoth, Ne 11:32; and according to Jarchi and Kimchi {d} it was near Jerusalem, and so near that it might be seen from thence; some say they are the same {e}; Jerom {f} speaks of it as near Diospolis or Lydda. David, before he departed further off, was willing to see the tabernacle once more, and there worship his God, and inquire of him by the high priest, as he did, 1Sa 22:10; to direct him what way he should take, and that he would prosper and succeed him in it, grant him his presence, and keep him in safety:



and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David; hearing that he was come or coming, he went out to meet him, but when he saw him alone he trembled; especially if he had heard of his having fallen under the displeasure of Saul, and that he now fled from him, therefore he might fear that he should fall into disgrace and danger should he entertain him:



and he said unto him, why [art] thou alone, and no man with thee? he might well wonder at it, and put such a question, seeing he was so great a man, both in the court and camp, and the king's son in law; he might therefore reasonably suspect something more than ordinary was the case, and which occasioned his fears.



{a} Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 76. H. {b} Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Zebachim, c. 14. sect. 7. {c} Travels, &c. p. 136. {d} Comment. in lsa. x. 32. {e} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 8. 1. {f} Epitaphium Paulae, fol. 59. A.





1 Samuel 21:2



Ver. 2. And David said unto Ahimelech the priest,.... In reply to his question, and to account for such an appearance he made without an equipage:



the king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, let no man know anything of the business thereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee; he pretended he was upon a secret expedition, by the order of Saul, which none were to know of, no, not his own servants, and that was the reason why he came to him alone; which was a downright lie, and was aggravated by its being told only for the sake of getting a little food; and especially told to an high priest, and at the tabernacle of God, and when he was come to inquire of the Lord there; and was attended with a dreadful consequence, the slaughter of the Lord's priests there, which afterwards lay heavy on David's mind, 1Sa 22:22; and is the very sin he is thought to refer to in

Ps 119:28. This shows the weakness of the best of men, when left to themselves; David who as much hated lying as any man did, fell into it himself:



and I have appointed [my] servants to such and such a place; to such a place, of such an one, not naming place nor person, that they might not be known; so the Targum calls it a place hidden and kept; and that David had some servants, though not now with him, who ate of the shewbread, appears from Mt 12:3; whom Jonathan might send after him, to a place agreed on and appointed between them; so that this might be true.





1 Samuel 21:3



Ver. 3. Now therefore what is under thine hand?.... Meaning, what food had he in his house?



give [me] five [loaves of] bread in mine hand; to take with him, for him and his servants in such a place:



or what there is present; or to be found {g} in the tabernacle; if not five loaves, two, or three, or four, or what food soever he had by him.



{g} aumnh "quicquid inveneris", V. L, "inventum", Montanus; "quicquid inventum fuerit", Tigurine version.





1 Samuel 21:4



Ver. 4. And the priest answered David, and said, [there is] no common bread under mine hand,.... In the tabernacle, though he might have such in his own house; which was common for any man to eat of, even such as were not priests; but he had none there, and David was in haste to be gone because of Doeg, and could not stay till such was fetched:



but there is hallowed bread; such as was devoted to sacred use. Kimchi's father thinks this was the bread of the thank offering, to which Ben Gersom inclines; otherwise the Jewish writers in general understand it of the shewbread; and it is clear it was that from

1Sa 21:6 and from what our Lord says, Mt 12:4. Now this the priest had under his hand, being just taken off of the shewbread table, and was the perquisite of the priests; and which, though it was not lawful for any but priests to eat of, yet in this case of necessity he seemed willing to give it to David and his men, on this condition: if the young men have kept themselves at least from women; from their wives or others, and from any pollution by them, in any way or manner; but as this was also only of a ceremonial kind, it might as well have been dispensed with, had this been the case, as the other.





1 Samuel 21:5



Ver. 5. And David answered the priest, and said unto him,.... In reply to the case of the young men his servants, and of himself too, who also was intended by the priest, though out of reverence to him not mentioned:



of a truth women [have been] kept from us these three days since I came out; reckoning either from the time he fled from Saul at Naioth, or from the time he left Jonathan, during which time both he and his men could have no converse with women, and receive no pollution by them; and this was the time which according to the law was required for the sanctifying of persons in this way, Ex 19:15;



and the vessels of the young men are holy; their garments, as Kimchi, not being defiled with any ceremonial uncleanness, as by the touch of any unclean person: or what instruments soever they were provided with for their journey; or rather their bodies; see 2Co 4:7; and with respect to the priest's saying that the bread he had was hallowed or sacred, and so not for common use, David replies,



and [the bread] is in a manner common; inasmuch as it was taken off of the shewbread table, and was now common to the priest and his family, though not to others, yet in case of necessity through hunger might be allowed to strangers:



yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel; even though it had been set but that day on the shewbread table, and so became holy to the Lord; and yet even in such a case and circumstances as David and his men were in, it might be taken from thence and eaten of; for, as Abendana observes, nothing stands in the way of preservation of life, but idolatry, adultery, and murder; everything else may be done for the sake of that but them: or as in the margin of our Bibles, "especially when there is this day other sanctified bread"; that is, since other bread is this day put upon the shewbread table, in the room of that which has been taken away, whereby it is become holy to the, Lord; then that which is removed may be eaten, and be allowed to us in our circumstances. It seems by this that this was the sabbath day; for on that day the removal of the shewbread loaves was made, Le 24:8; and R. Isaiah says, that it was at the going out of the sabbath that David came there; and which still makes it a more appropriate case, as produced by our Lord to justify his disciples in plucking ears of corn on the sabbath day, Mt 12:1.





1 Samuel 21:6



Ver. 6. So the priest gave him hallowed [bread],.... Being satisfied with the account he gave of himself, and his young men, and of the lawfulness of it in case of necessity, acts of mercy being to be preferred to ritual services. Whether he gave him five loaves, as he desired, is not said; but the reason of his giving him such sort of bread is observed,



for there was no bread there; in the tabernacle, whatever might be in the house of the priest:



but the shewbread that was taken from before the Lord; from off of the shewbread table; and it seems to have been just taken off, it being sabbath day, and not as yet carried to the house of the priest, and divided among the other priests as usual; and which was then removed, to put hot bread, in the day that it was taken away; that is, new bread, twelve fresh cakes; for when the twelve, that had stood a week on the shewbread table were removed, twelve more were immediately put in their room, and it seems by this they were put hot there; but here arises a difficulty, how they could be put hot there, when it was not lawful to bake on a sabbath day. About this the Jews are divided; some say they were baked on the sabbath day, but the greater part say that baking did not drive away the sabbath, or it was lawful on the sabbath day; but others say that they were baked on the evening of the sabbath, and kept in the oven until the time of their being set upon the table {h}; and, as Abarbinel observes, the mouth of the oven might be stopped up till that time to keep in the heat; but others say {i} this heat was miraculous, or that a miracle was wrought for the sake of it; which is not probable.



{h} T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 95. 2. {i} T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 2l. 1. Menachot, fol. 96. 2.





1 Samuel 21:7



Ver. 7. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul [was] there that day,.... When David came to Nob, and asked bread of the priest, and had it, which this man was an eyewitness of, 1Sa 22:9;



detained before the Lord; either because it was sabbath day, and so he might not travel, at least no more than two thousand cubits; or by some vow of his, which he was obliged to stay and perform; or on account of some impurity he had contracted, which he came to be cleansed from; or this detention was voluntary, in order to offer sacrifice to the Lord, or pray unto him, or to study the law of God in the tabernacle, pretending to be a very religious man:



and his name [was] Doeg, an Edomite, being by birth an Idumean, but a proselyte to the Jewish religion; or he was of the seed of Israel, but because he had dwelt in Edom, he was called an Edomite, as Kimchi thinks; just as Uriah is called for a like reason the Hittite:



the chiefest of the herdmen that [belonged] to Saul; Saul had his herds and men to look after them, and this man was set over them all, to see that they faithfully discharged their trust. The same officer the Romans called the praefect, or master of the cattle {k}; See Gill on "1Ch 27:29", and See Gill on "1Ch 27:31"; though this man was not only over the king's cattle, but over those that kept them; and was in the same office as Phorbas was, under Laius king of Thebes {l}, and Melanthius in Homer {m}, and Faustulus to Amulius {n}: but Abarbinel is of opinion that this is to be understood not of the keepers of herds and flocks, but of the shepherds or rulers of the people; and that this man was set over all the other magistrates and rulers of the people, hence said to be "set over the servants of Saul", 1Sa 22:9; and so Jarchi calls him "Ab Beth Din", or father of the sanhedrim, or great court of judicature; who was detained in the tabernacle to learn the law there, that he might be the better qualified for his office; but Kimchi interprets it as we do, the chief of the keepers of the herd, and both the Septuagint and Josephus {o} say that he fed the king's mules.



{k} Vid. Pignorium de servis, p. 539. {l} Senecae Oedipus, Act. 4. v. 815, 816, 839. {m} Odyss. 20. ver. 21. {n} Aurel. Victor. orig. Gent. Roman. {o} Antiqu. l. 6. c. 12. sect. 1.





1 Samuel 21:8



Ver. 8. And David said unto Ahimelech,.... After he had given him some of the loaves of the shewbread:



and is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? any weapon, meaning in the tabernacle, and in his keeping, and at his disposal; he knew the sword of Goliath was there, and perhaps had a principal view to it, and put this question in order to get that in his possession:



for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me; neither his sword, nor any part of his armour, but was come quite naked and unarmed and, as he pretended,



because the king's business required haste; still continuing his lie; whereas the true reason was, he was let down in haste by his wife through a window of his house, and could not stay to take his armour with him; and had lain hid for some time, and passed incognito from place to place, and without armour, that he might be the less known and observed, and least suspected; though it may seem strange that Jonathan had not provided him with a sword.





1 Samuel 21:9



Ver. 9. And the priest said, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah,.... See 1Sa 17:2;



behold, it [is here] wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; the garment of the high priest, in which were the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, or the linen vestments of the priests; see 1Sa 22:18; which were laid up in a chamber for their use; and behind them the sword of Goliath was wrapped up in a linen cloth, and reserved as a monument of the goodness of God to Israel, and the salvation of them wrought by the hands of David, who slew Goliath with this his own sword, and brought it with him. The Targum understands this word, rendered "behind", not of the place where the sword was, but of the time when the priest said this, and paraphrases the words,



"after he had inquired for him by the ephod;''



see 1Sa 22:10;



if thou wilt take that, take [it]; as if he should say, it is not mine to give thee, but thou mayest take it if thou pleasest; none has a better right to it; it is what thou tookest from the Philistine, and may take it again for thy use if thou art so inclined; and thou must either take this or none:



for [there is] no other save that here; in the tabernacle, nor even in the priest's house, nor in the city; for it was a city of priests, who did not wear swords:



and David said, [there is] none like that, give it me; and which, as he was capable of wielding and making use of, as it is plain he was by cutting off Goliath's head with it; so it might serve to strengthen his faith in God, as often as he looked upon it, that he would keep and preserve him, and in due time deliver him out of the hands of Saul, and all his enemies.





1 Samuel 21:10



Ver. 10. And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul,.... He had fled before for fear of him both from his own house, and from Naioth, 1Sa 19:18; but now he fled out of the land of Israel, for fear of him; or it may be the reason of his fear and flight on this day was because of Doeg the Edomite, lest he should go directly to Saul, and tell him where he was; and therefore through fear of him would not stay any longer, but the same day he came, he fled:



and went to Achish the king of Gath; Gath, according to Bunting {p}, was twenty four miles from Nob. Achish, the king of it, is called Abimelech in the title of the thirty fourth psalm, see Ps 34:1, that name being common to the kings of the Philistines, as Pharaoh was to the kings of Egypt. It may seem strange that David should go into an enemy's country, and especially to the country of the Philistines, by whom he was mortally hated for the victories he had obtained over them, and the numbers of them he had slain; and particularly that he should go to Gath, the place of Goliath, their champion, whom he had slain, and whose sword he now had with him: but this is to be said for him, that such was the fury of Saul against him, and his resolution to slay him, that he was as safe in an enemy's country as in the land of Israel; and that if he must die, he might as well die in one place as another; and that he went particularly here, the reason might be, because all other lands were at peace with Saul, and so would have delivered him up to him, had he went elsewhere; but this people were at war with him, and he might hope not to be known by them; and if he was, that they might think it their interest, to detain such a person that was so serviceable to Saul, and so harmful to them; and being Saul's enemy, they might hope to engage him on their side against him; and besides, he might know that Achish was well disposed towards him, as he seems to be, and might like him never the worse for cutting off Goliath's head, who might not be heartily in the interest of Achish. After all, as impolitic as this step of David's may seems to be, it is what great men have taken in their distress, to go over to their enemies, as Themistocles to the Molossians, and Alcibiades to the Lacedemonians.



{p} Travels, &c. p. 136.





1 Samuel 21:11



Ver. 11. And the servants of Achish said unto him,.... Who knew who David was, and perceiving that he was respected by Achish:



[is] not this David the king of the land? of the land of the Philistines; so some render the words, "the king of this land" {q}; which belongs unto him for his conquest of Goliath; for this was what was proposed by him, that whoever was the conqueror should possess the kingdom; and seeing it belongs to him, O Achish, why dost thou admit him to court? thou wilt be driven from the throne, and we shall be his servants, and not thine {r}: but rather they mean the king of the land of Israel, having heard that he was anointed king by Samuel, and was to succeed Saul; or rather, they called him so because he led out the armies of Israel as their general, and being victorious was more respected than even Saul was; for they had heard what the women sung in their songs as follows:



did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? which are the burden of their song, 1Sa 18:7; and from whence the servants of Achish concluded, that he was in greater authority or honour, and in greater esteem than Saul their king was.



{q} Urah Klm "rex hujus regionis", Vatablus. {r} Vid. Jarchium & Jesaiam in loc.





1 Samuel 21:12



Ver. 12. And David laid up these words in his heart,.... Pondered upon them, and thought them over in his mind, finding that he was known, and his character also, and considered with himself what might be the consequence of this:



and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath; lest he should be set against him, and be prevailed upon by his servants to take away his life, or deliver him up into the hands of Saul.





1 Samuel 21:13



Ver. 13. 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, Ps 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 stratagem to deliver himself, out of an enemy's hand, and stratagems are always allowed to be used against an enemy; and such a method as this has been taken by men of the greatest sense and wit, as by Brutus {t} and Solon {u}; and yet, according to the Vulgate Latin and Septuagint versions, this case of his was real and not feigned; that through the surprise of being known in the court of Achish, he was seized with an epilepsy; that his countenance was changed, and his mouth distorted, as persons in such fits are; that he fell among them as one convulsed, and fell at, and dashed against the doors of the gates, and foamed at the mouth, as such persons do; see Lu 9:39; and so in the following words the Greek version is, ye see the man is an epileptic; I do not want epileptics; but the thirty fourth and fifty sixth psalms, composed by him at this time, show that as he was of a sound mind, so in good health of body, and not subject to such fits as here represented, see

Ps 34:1; which would have rendered him unfit for such composures.



{s} wmej "sensum suum", Montanus, Vatablus; "sermonem suum", Pagninus. {t} Liv. Hist. l. 1. c. 56. Aurel. Victor. de Vir. Illustr. c. 13. {u} Justin e Trogo, l. 2. c. 7.





1 Samuel 21:14



Ver. 14. Then said Achish to his servants, lo, you see the man is mad,.... Which he said, as willing his servants should think so, and therefore rather the object of their pity than of their rage and malice; or as really believing he was so, which he and they might conclude not merely from these his actions, before described, which they might judge real and not feigned; but they might suppose this was truly his case, brought upon him by the ill usage of Saul, who pursuing him from place to place, and sending after him to take away his life, had really brought him to distraction; and this they might rather conclude from his coming to Gath, an enemy's country, and whose champion he had slain, and many others of them; which it might be thought no man in his senses would have done:



wherefore [then] have ye brought him to me? for if he was brought to be employed in his service, he seemed very unfit for it, whether in the camp, or in the court; and if to be tried and condemned as an enemy, since he was a madman, he was rather to be pitied.





1 Samuel 21:15



Ver. 15. Have I need of madmen?.... Or fools, do I want them? have not I enough of them already at my court? I want wise men, and not fools and madmen. The Jews say {w} that the wife and daughter of Achish were mad; that while David was playing the fool and madman without, they were acting the same part within; so that Achish had enough of that sort of diversion, if it was to be reckoned such; as it was according to the taste of some persons, who used, as in later so in earlier times, to keep fools in their houses to make them sport; but Achish had enough of that, and too much, at least needed no more:



that ye have brought this [fellow] to play the madman in my presence? or act the part of a fool before me:



shall this [fellow] come into mine house? court or palace, and have a post there; you need be in no pain about it; he is neither agreeable to me, nor fit for any; and therefore Achish drove him away as a fool or madman, instead of imprisoning him as an enemy, or taking away his life; see the title of the thirty fourth psalm, Ps 34:1.



{w} Midrash Tillim apud Abarbinel. in loc.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Samuel 22:1



INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 22



This chapter gives us an account of the flight of David from place to place, from Gath to the cave of Adullam, where his relations came to him; from thence to Mizpeh in Moab, where he got leave of the king of Moab for his father and mother to dwell there; and from thence, by the advice of Gad the prophet, departed into the land of Judah, and came to the forest of Hareth, 1Sa 21:1; and of the complaint of Saul to his servants of their unfaithfulness to him, and indolence and unconcern at the behaviour of Jonathan and David to him, 1Sa 22:6; when Doeg the Edomite informed him of David being seen by him at Nob, and of his receiving food and a sword from Ahimelech the priest, who inquired of the Lord for him, 1Sa 22:9; upon which Saul sent for Ahimelech and all the priests at Nob, and charged them with a conspiracy against him; and notwithstanding the defence the priest made, Saul ordered him and the rest of the priests to be slain by his guards; which they refusing, Doeg became the executioner of them, and of all the inhabitants of the city of Nob, and the cattle in it, 1Sa 22:11; only Abiathar a son of Ahimelech escaped and fled to David with the sorrowful news; which greatly affected David, looking upon himself to be the occasion of this sad disaster, and he took Abiathar under his protection, and promised him safety, 1Sa 22:20.



Ver. 1. David therefore departed from thence,.... From Gath, being driven by Achish from his court, and let go by his servants, and glad he was of the deliverance:



and escaped to the cave Adullam; which was no doubt near to a city of the same name in the tribe of Judah, of which See Gill on "Jos 15:35"; this being a strong place, and in his own tribe, he might hope to be in greater safety; here he penned his hundred forty second psalm, see

Ps 142:1:



and when his brethren and all his father's house heard [it]; that he was come thither:



they went down thither to him; to visit and comfort him, counsel and assist him all they could; and chiefly to secure themselves from the rage and malice of Saul, who they might fear would fall upon them, and avenge himself on them for David's sake.





1 Samuel 22:2



Ver. 2. And everyone [that was] in distress,.... In straitened circumstances, through the oppression of men, through poverty, and afflictive providences in their families:



and everyone [that was] in debt; and not able to pay their debts, and whose creditors were pressing upon them:



and everyone [that was] discontented; with Saul's government and conduct: or "bitter in soul" {x}; distressed and uneasy in their minds, being pinched with want, or pressed with sore afflictions, which made them very disconsolate: these



gathered themselves unto him; to help him, or rather to be helped by him; hoping in time things would take a favourable turn with him, and he should be advanced to the throne, and so their circumstances would be mended thereby:



and he became a captain over them; they enlisted themselves in his service, and he took the command of them; he might not know the circumstances of those in debt, nor of any of them thoroughly, nor their views in joining him; however he meant not to shelter them from paying their just debts if able, nor to encourage them in disloyalty to their king, only to make use of them for his own preservation for the present. In this he was a type of Christ, who receives sinners distressed with a sense of sin, discontented in their present state, and in debt, and, unable to pay their debts; see Mt 11:28;



and there were with him about four hundred men; among whom some think were the three mighty men spoken of in 2Sa 23:13.



{x} vpn rm "amarus animo", Pagninus, Montanus.





1 Samuel 22:3



Ver. 3. And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab,.... So called to distinguish it from a place of the same name in the land of Israel; which Junius says is the same with Malle, and signifies a fortified place, and refers to the Apocrypha:



"And how that many of them were shut up in Bosora, and Bosor, and Alema, Casphor, Maked, and Carnaim; all these cities are strong and great:'' (1 Maccabees 5:26)



here he might think himself safer, though in an enemy's country, than in the land of Israel:



and he said unto the king of Moab, let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth; out of the land of Israel, or out of the cave of Adullam, whither they were come to him:



[and be] with you; if not with the king of Moab at his court, yet in some part or other of his country, where they might be safe from the rage of Saul:



till I know what God will do for me; on whose power and providence he wholly relied, and not upon the men that flocked to him, nor upon his own power and policy, courage and wisdom; he knew the promise of God to him, and he put his trust in him for the performance of it; but knew not the time, nor way, and manner, in which it would be performed; and expected in the meanwhile to be obliged to remove from place to place; and considering that his aged parents were not fit for such quick and sudden motions, and long flights, he provided as well as he could for their settlement; which was an instance of his filial affection for them, and piety towards them. His father's name is well known, Jesse, Ru 4:22, &c. but his mother's name is nowhere mentioned; the Jews say her name was Natzbet, the daughter of Adal {y}.



{y} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 1.





1 Samuel 22:4



Ver. 4. And he brought them before the king of Moab,.... Having leave from him for it, and left them with him; so the Targum,



"caused them to remain before him:''



and they dwelt with him all the whole time that David was in the hold; either in the cave of Adullam, as some think; or rather at Mizpeh in Moab, which might be a fortified place; or the sense may be, while he was in any hold in those parts, as he might go from one to another; what became of David's parents afterwards, we nowhere else read. The Jews {z} say the king of Moab slew his father and his mother, and his brethren, all but one, whom Nahash the Ammonite preserved; and is the kindness David speaks of, 2Sa 10:2; and if this was the case, now it was that his father and mother forsook him, and God took him up, Ps 27:10.



{z} Bemnidbar Rabba, sect. 14. fol. 212. 1. Tanchuma apud Jarchium in loc.





1 Samuel 22:5



Ver. 5. And the prophet Gad said unto David,.... Who either accompanied him in his exile, or was sent unto him on this account, being one of the company of the prophets, over whom Samuel was president, 1Sa 19:20;



abide not in the hold, depart, and get thee into the land of Judah; this seems to confirm it that the hold David was in was not the cave of Adullam, because that was in the tribe of Judah; but rather some hold in the land of Moab, which he is directed by the prophet to leave, and go into the country of Judah, his own tribe, where Saul would not be so forward to pursue him, and where he would be among his friends, and in the way, upon Saul's death, to be anointed king over Judah; besides, appearing more openly would show the innocence of his cause, and his confidence in the Lord, more than to lurk about in a foreign land:



then David departed; from "Mizpeh" in "Moab"; or, however, from the hold in which he was:



and came into the forest of Hareth; where he would have places and opportunity enough to hide himself as he saw fit. Jerom {a} speaks of a village called Arath, where David abode, to the west of Jerusalem. Kimchi says this was a dry barren place, but for the sake of David it was made by the Lord a well watered and fruitful one.



{a} De loc. Heb. fol. 88. L.





1 Samuel 22:6



Ver. 6. When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that [were] with him,.... That it was known where David was, and what number of men were gathered to him, and that they now openly appeared in the tribe of Judah; for some time Saul had heard nothing of him, but now a report had reached his ears that David was in arms, and at the head of a number of men; which now greatly alarmed Saul, and possessed him with fears and jealousies of his people, and all about him:



now Saul abode in Gibeah, under a tree in Ramah; this was Gibeah of Saul, and in or near which was a place called Ramah, or an high place, as the word signifies, on which was a remarkable tree, and under that Saul abode, being a proper shelter for him from any inclemency of the weather; for this was not Ramah where Samuel dwelt, though the Jews in the Talmud {b} so think, and metaphorically understand the tree in it of Samuel in Ramah praying for him, by means of which he continued two years in the height of his kingdom; but this was a tree in a literal sense. R. Jonah {c} says it is possible it might be the same which in Arabia is called Ethel, and is like to a tamarisk tree:



having his spear in his hand: ready to defend himself, and revenge his enemies; or rather which he held as a sceptre in his hand;

See Gill on "1Sa 20:33";



and all his servants [were] standing about him; in reverence of him, and honour to him, waiting upon him, and ready to obey his orders: these were his courtiers, or his guards, or both.



{b} T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 5. 2. {c} Apud Ben Melech in loc.





1 Samuel 22:7



Ver. 7. Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him,.... He took this opportunity of addressing them in the following manner, upon the report of David being at the head of a certain number of men:



hear now, ye Benjamites; for Saul being of the tribe of Benjamin, his courtiers and his bodyguards chiefly, if not altogether, consisted of persons of that tribe; and therefore as they were under obligation to him, and ought to abide by him, and adhere closely to him, so it was the more ungrateful in them, as he thought, not to be concerned for his honour and interest:



will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards; as Saul had done, or was capable of doing, and would do if they were faithful to him; whereas it was not in the power of David, whom in contempt he calls the son of Jesse, to do it; and even should he ever be king, and in his power to make such donations, it cannot be thought he would give them to them, but to the favourites of his own tribe:



[and] make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds; which he now could not do, since he had with him but four hundred men in all; and should his army increase, and the kingdom come into his hands, so far would all of them be from being advanced to posts in the army, that it was probable none of them would, but those of his own tribe and party.





1 Samuel 22:8



Ver. 8. That all of you have conspired against me,.... For though they had not revolted from him, and been guilty of overt acts of treason, yet since they did not discover to him what he supposed they knew, and showed no concern for the circumstances in which he was, he interpreted this a conspiracy against him:



and [there is] none that showeth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse; Saul did not know this certainly, he only suspected it from the strict and close friendship between them, and imagined that some of his servants were acquainted with it, though they kept it from him; whereas none knew of it but Jonathan and David themselves:



and [there is] none of you that is sorry for me; concerned, troubled, and grieved, that he should be in such circumstances, his own son and his son-in-law in league against him: or, as De Dieu renders it, were not "solicitous" for him, cared not how things went with him, or, against him:



or showeth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait, as at this day? which he concluded was the case, from Jonathan's not appearing at court since Saul cast the javelin at him, 1Sa 19:10; or, however, if he did, his countenance showed he was uneasy and discontented, and displeased with Saul; and, besides, he could not think that David, with such a handful of men he had with him, would ever attempt to invade his kingdom, and seize his crown and throne, unless he was privately encouraged by his own son; and David's being either in the cave of Adullam, or forest of Hareth, whichever of them Saul heard of, he interpreted as lying in wait for him, whereas it was only for the security of himself; and what Saul took ill of his servants was, that none of them apprized him of his son's concern in this matter.





1 Samuel 22:9



Ver. 9. Then answered Doeg the Edomite,.... Josephus {d} calls him a Syrian, and so the Septuagint version; see 1Sa 21:7; being full of enmity to David, and willing to curry favour with Saul, and eager of further preferment, which Saul seemed to promise; and being more forward than the rest of his servants, prevented them and spoke first:



(which was set over the servants of Saul): over his herdsmen; see

1Sa 21:7;



and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub; in imitation of Saul, he calls David by way of contempt the son of Jesse; and signifies that what he had to say of him was not by report, but he himself was an eyewitness of his coming to Nob, a city of the priests, and to Ahimelech the high priest there, and of what passed between them.



{d} Antiqu. l. 6. c. 12. sect. 1, 4.





1 Samuel 22:10



Ver. 10. And he inquired of the Lord for him,.... Which not being expressed before, some have taken it to be a lie of Doeg's, he being charged with lying by David, Ps 52:3; but it is not at all improbable that David should desire him to inquire of the Lord for him, and that he did; and he seems to acknowledge it, 1Sa 22:15; but according to the Jewish writers Doeg meant by this to prove a charge of treason both against David and Ahimelech; that the former made himself king, and the latter owned him to be so, since inquiry by Urim and Thummim was not made for a private person, but for a king {e}:



and gave him victuals; hallowed bread, loaves of shewbread, which none but priests might eat of; such was his kindness to him:



and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine; which David took from him, and slew him with it. All this was true, but then he acted the deceitful part, with which he is charged in the above psalms, in not declaring how David had imposed upon the priest, by pretending he was sent in haste on the king's business; which was the reason he was so ill provided with servants, food, and armour; which if Doeg had reported faithfully, as he ought to have done, would have saved the credit and life of the priest, and of his family.



{e} Misn. Yoma, c. 7. sect. 5.





1 Samuel 22:11



Ver. 11. Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub,.... Sent messengers to him, and summoned him to appear before him:



and all his father's house; the family of Eli, which God had threatened to destroy, and now the time was hastening on:



the priests that [were] in Nob; in which dwelt none but priests, at least these were the chief of the inhabitants, and therefore called the city of the priests, 1Sa 22:19;



and they came all of them to the king; not being conscious of any evil they had committed, or that could be charged upon them; or otherwise they would not have appeared, but would have fled to David for protection.





1 Samuel 22:12



Ver. 12. And Saul said, hear now, thou son of Ahitub,.... The charge exhibited against him; in contempt of him, he does not so much as call him by his name, nor give him the title of his office, as high priest; though he was the second person in the kingdom, and to whose office a few years ago the civil government was annexed:



and he answered, here I [am], my lord; giving due honour to Saul, though he received none from him, and appearing with great boldness, as having a clear conscience, and so ready to hear what was to be said unto him.





1 Samuel 22:13



Ver. 13. And Saul said unto him, why have ye conspired against me,

thou, and the son of Jesse?.... No less than treason and rebellion is he charged with, in conjunction with David; the proof follows:



in that thou hast given him bread and a sword; the shewbread, and the sword of Goliath, 1Sa 21:6, and so had furnished him with food and arms; one that he suggests was in rebellion against him, and therefore he must be involved in the same crime; but the stronger proof follows



and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait as at this day: inquired of the Lord for him by Urim and Thummim, to know his mind in this affair, and thereby encouraged him to rise up in rebellion against him, and to lie in wait, as he did at the present time, watching for an opportunity to seize his crown and kingdom.





1 Samuel 22:14



Ver. 14. Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said,.... First with respect to David, and then with regard to himself; with respect to David as follows,



and who [is so] faithful amongst thy servants as David; I considered him, as if he should say, as a servant of thine, upon an errand of thine, and doing thy business; and as a faithful one, none more so, and as such I valued and regarded him, not as a rebel to thee, having no such thought of him:



which is the king's son in law; who has behaved himself so well, and thou hast entertained such an opinion of him, as to take him into thy family, and marry thy daughter to him; wherefore showing him favour, and doing him honour, was doing honour to thee and thy family, and surely there can be no blame in that:



and goeth at thy bidding; has always been ready to execute thy commands, and obey thine orders, let them be what they will; as to go out against an enemy, and fight Saul's battles for him:



and is honourable in thine house? behaved honourably there, and highly esteemed by all, as well as had the honour bestowed upon him to be the king's son-in-law, and made captain of a thousand; and therefore who could think that showing respect to such a man could be deemed treason and conspiracy, or he be thought to be a traitor to the king? and then with respect to himself he answers,





1 Samuel 22:15



Ver. 15. Did I then begin to inquire of God for him?.... Was this the first time of inquiring of God for him? no; I have done this many a time, when he has been going upon the king's business, engaging in war with his enemies; he has then consulted the Lord by me, and I have inquired of the Lord for him, as I now did; and which I did as innocently, and as much for the king's service, as ever I did any. Kimchi observes it may be read without the interrogation, "that day I began to inquire of God for him"; it was the first time I ever did, and I did not know it would have been grievous to thee, or have given thee any disturbance or uneasiness. I did not know that he fled from thee, or was not in thy service, and upon thy business; had I known it, I would never have done it, and as it is the first time it shall be the last:



be it far from me; from doing such a thing, had I known it to be disagreeable to thee, or how David stood with thee:



let not the king impute [any] thing unto his servant, [nor] to all the house of my father; charge me or them with the crime of treason, or conspiracy against him, or with aiding:, assisting, and abetting traitors and conspirators:



for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more; was entirely ignorant of this affair; which plain, honest, account of things, one might have thought, would have been satisfying to Saul; but it seems it was not by what follows.





1 Samuel 22:16



Ver. 16. And the king said, thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech,.... He pronounces the sentence himself, without taking the opinion and advice of others, or further time; which was an act of arbitrary power, and upon an innocent person, which was an act of great injustice:



thou, and all thy father's house; more unrighteous still; but God suffered him to do this to fulfil his will, and execute his threatenings against the house of Eli, which was this priest's father's house, for former wickedness; but this is no excuse for, nor extenuation of the sin of, Saul.





1 Samuel 22:17



Ver. 17. And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him,.... Or the "runners" {f}; the running footmen, that used to run before him when he went out from place to place, and were here waiting on him, ready to set out whenever he should give the orders to go elsewhere. The tradition of the Jews is, that these were Abner and Amasa {g}; but, as Kimchi observes, they were not footmen, but princes, captains in the army, and the first of them the general of it:



turn and slay the priests of the Lord; he owns them to be the priests of the Lord, and calls them so, and yet gave orders to put them to death, though innocent; one would have thought this their character would have flown in his face, and stung his conscience, and deterred him from so foul a fact:



because their hand also [is] with David; as well as Ahimelech; which did not at all appear, nor that they had so much as seen him at Nob, only Ahimelech; and still less that they had entered into a conspiracy with him:



and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me; which also was false; they knew nothing of the flight of David, and therefore could not discover it to the king:



but the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord; their consciences would not suffer them to do it; they refused to obey the king's orders, and chose rather to expose themselves to his resentment, than to be guilty of such a crime. Saul's footmen had more sense of honour, justice, and truth, than he himself had, and were worthy of praise; but they would have been deserving of more, if they could not have prevailed upon him by entreaties and remonstrances to have forborne such a bloody execution, instead of being the tame spectators of it, they had taken him, and bound him as a madman, and so facilitated the escape of the priests, and prevented this shocking scene of wickedness.



{f} Myurl "cursoribus", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. {g} Midrash Tillim apud Abarbinel. in loc.





1 Samuel 22:18



Ver. 18. And the king said to Doeg, turn thou and fall upon the priests,.... For determined he was they should die; if one would not put them to death, another should, and who so fit for this bloody work as the false accuser of them, and false witness against them?



and Doeg the Edomite turned; immediately, he at once obeyed the king's orders, as brutish as they were:



and fell upon the priests; with his sword in hand:



and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod; not the ephod of Urim and Thummim, which was only worn by the high priest, but a garment wholly linen, worn by common priests; the Targum is,



"who are fit to be clothed with a linen ephod;''



not that they were clothed with it, but were deserving of it; or it designs the great and more honourable among the servants of the Lord, as Kimchi observes, for such were clothed with this garment, as Samuel and David; and he thinks it suggests, that more were slain than these; and the Septuagint version makes them to be eight hundred five, and Josephus {h} three hundred eighty five; in the slaying of whom, as the same writer says, Doeg was assisted by some wicked men like himself; and the slaughter did not end here, as the 1Sa 22:19 shows.



{h} Antiqu. l. 6. c. 12. sect. 6.





1 Samuel 22:19



Ver. 19. And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword,.... Either Doeg or Saul; who, as Josephus {i} says, sent men thither to slay all the inhabitants of it:



both men and women, children and sucklings; not sparing sex nor age:



and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword; Saul, who was so tender hearted and merciful in the case of the Amalekites, when his orders from the Lord were utterly to destroy them, 1Sa 15:2, that he spared their king, and the best of their cattle, 1Sa 15:7; yet now so cruel to a city of the priests, as to destroy all the inhabitants of it, and cattle in it; and yet this bloody affair of Saul's is not taken notice of afterwards, only his slaughter of the Gibeonites, 2Sa 21:1; and Abarbinel is of opinion, that the inhabitants of this place were Gibeonites, who were hewers of wood, and drawers of water, to the house of the Lord here, Jos 9:23. Now Saul was the more severe this city, to deter others from joining with David, who, if they did, must expect the same treatment.



{i} Antiqu. l. 6. c. 12. sect. 6.





1 Samuel 22:20



Ver. 20. And one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped,.... Who very probably was left by his father to take care of the sanctuary, and the holy things in it, when he and the rest of the priests were summoned to appear before Saul; who having heard of his bloody execution of them, before his messengers could get to Nob, took, the ephod, with the Urim and Thummim, and made his escape, as appears from 1Sa 23:6; this man succeeded his father in the high priesthood, and continued in it until the times of Solomon:



and fled after David; who was now removed, or removing from the forest of Hareth to Keilah, whither Abiathar followed him, and came to him there, 1Sa 23:6, and with whom only he could be safe, and therefore it was right to flee unto him.





1 Samuel 22:21



Ver. 21. And Abiathar showed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests. Of which perhaps he had not as yet heard; though tidings of such a nature generally fly swiftly; and a sorrowful shocking account he had to give, and which was so to David.





1 Samuel 22:22



Ver. 22. And David said unto Abiathar, I knew [it] that day,.... That is, he thought in his mind at that time:



when Doeg the Edomite [was] there; at Nob; in the tabernacle, at the same time that David was there:



that he would surely tell Saul; that he saw David there, and what passed between him and Ahimelech; he knew he was a spiteful mischievous man; that he was a true Edomite, though a proselyte, and bore hatred and enmity in his mind against an Israelite, and especially an Israelite indeed, as David was:



I have occasioned [the death] of all the persons of thy father's house: or have been the cause of all the evils that befell them, and the death they were put unto, not with design, but by accident; and it grieved him that he should be any ways an accessory thereunto, though without intention.





1 Samuel 22:23



Ver. 23. Abide thou with me, fear not,.... He appeared to be in a fright; which is not to be wondered at, as not knowing what to do, and where to go and provide for his safety; when, to allay his fears, and make him easy, David invites and encourages him to stay with him, and not be afraid of Saul, nor any other:



for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life; or, as Kimchi observes, it may be interpreted, "my life he seeks who seeks thy life"; we are in the same circumstances, and have the same common enemy, and therefore it is best and safest to be together; as the Targum,



"he that seeks to kill me seeks to kill thee;''



and as Jarchi adds, he that loves me will love thee, and he that keeps my life will keep thine:



but with me thou [shalt be] in safeguard; intimating, that he would be as careful of him as of himself; and that for this reason, as Ben Gersom suggests, because he brought the ephod with the Urim and Thummim with him, by which he could inquire of God for him; but this was the thing David was confident of, that God would preserve him, and raise him to the kingdom, and therefore Abiathar might be sure of safety with him: at this time he penned the fifty second psalm, which shows the frame of spirit he was now in; see Ps 52:1.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Samuel 23:1



INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 23



This chapter gives an account of David's relieving Keilah, when it had like to have fallen into the hands of the Philistines, 1Sa 23:1; and of Saul's design to surprise him there, which David having notice of, and inquiring of the Lord, departed from thence; which when Saul heard of, he forbore to come forth, 1Sa 23:7; and of David's being in the wilderness of Ziph, where, in a wood there, he had an interview with Jonathan, 1Sa 23:14; and of the Ziphites offering to deliver him up to Saul, for which he commends them, and gives them instructions how they should behave to him in that affair, 1Sa 23:19; and of his seeking him in the wilderness of Maon, where David and his men were in great danger of being taken; which was prevented by the news of the Philistines invading the land coming to Saul just at the nick of time, 1Sa 23:24.



Ver. 1. Then they told David,.... Either the men of Keilah sent to him, being near them, or some well wishers of theirs, and of their country, acquainted him with their case:



saying, behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah; had laid siege to it, being a fortified place, 1Sa 23:7; it was a city in the tribe of Judah, on the borders of the Philistines; of which

See Gill on "Jos 15:44";



and they rob the threshing floors; took away the corn upon them, which they were threshing and winnowing, which were usually done without the city for the sake of wind, see Jud 6:11; it was harvest time when the three mighty men came to David in the cave of Adullam, and so now it might be the time of threshing, harvest being over, see

1Sa 22:1; compared with 2Sa 23:13.





1 Samuel 23:2



Ver. 2. Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I go and smite these Philistines?.... For though David was well disposed to serve his country, and was desirous of freeing them from their enemies the Philistines, he might have some doubts in his mind whether it would be right for him to engage with them now; partly because he could not act under a commission from his prince, Saul the king; and partly because he had such a small number of forces with him, that it might be hazardous for him to attack the armies of the Philistines with them, and attempt to raise the siege of Keilah; and therefore he thought it advisable, as doubtless it was, to inquire of the Lord what was his mind and will in this matter: how and by what means he inquired it is not said, very probably it was by the prophet Gad, who was with him, 1Sa 22:5; for as for Abiathar, he was not yet come with the ephod, the Urim and Thummim, to inquire by them, 1Sa 23:6; though some think that is observed there to show in what way David did inquire, namely, by Urim and Thummim; and so Kimchi and Abarbinel understand it; and it is supposed that he came to David when he was about Keilah, and near unto it, and so before he came thither, and time enough for him to inquire by him whether he should go thither or not:



and the Lord said unto David, go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah; which was not only giving him leave to go, and signifying it was his mind and will he should; but that he should be successful, and rout the Philistines, and raise the siege of Keilah, and save the city from falling into their hands.





1 Samuel 23:3



Ver. 3. And David's men said unto him, behold, we be afraid here in Judah,.... Of Saul and his army falling upon them, and crushing them, though they were in the tribe of Judah, where they had many friends, and in the heart of that tribe:



how much more then if we come to Keilah; which, though in the same tribe, yet in the further parts of it, and on the borders of the Philistines: and there engage



against the armies of the Philistines? too numerous and powerful for them, and so by this means be driven out of their place of safety, the forest of Hareth, where they could hide themselves upon occasion; to be exposed not only to the Philistines, before them, on the edge of their country, from whence they could have re-enforcements easily, but to Saul and his army behind them; and so, being between two fires, would be in danger of being cut off.





1 Samuel 23:4



Ver. 4. Then David inquired of the Lord yet again,.... Not for his own sake, who firmly believed it was the will of God he should go and succeed, but for the sake of his men, and to remove the doubts and fears that hung on their minds:



and the Lord answered him, and said, arise, go down to Keilah; immediately, make no stay, nor hesitate about it, but go with all haste to the relief of the place:



for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hands; which is still more explicit, and is a promise not only of delivering Keilah out of the hands of the Philistines, but of delivering them into David's hands, and so of an entire: victory; and therefore none of David's men had anything to fear after such a declaration of the will of God.





1 Samuel 23:5



Ver. 5. So David and his men went to Keilah,.... Animated by a commission from God, and a promise of success by him:



and fought with the Philistines; encamped before Keilah:



and brought away their cattle; which they had brought with them for the support of their army; or having routed them, they pursued them into their own country, and brought off their cattle from thence:



and smote them with a great slaughter; killed great numbers of them, and put the rest to flight:



so David saved the inhabitants of Keilah; from falling into the hands of the Philistines, by timely raising the siege of the city.





1 Samuel 23:6



Ver. 6. And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah,.... Either when he was there, or near the place:



[that] he came down with an ephod in his hand; not with a linen ephod on his back, which the priests in common wore, but the ephod with the Urim and Thummim in his hand, which was peculiar to the high priest; and his father the high priest being dead, it belonged to him, and therefore he took care to bring it with him; though the words may be literally rendered, "the ephod came down in his hand" {k}, as it were by chance, and not with design; and so some Jewish interpreters {l} understand it, that in his fright and flight, among his garments and other things he took hold of to carry with him, and not minding well what he took, this happened to be, being so ordered by the providence of God; though the Targum renders it,



"the ephod he made to descend in his hand,''



or brought it in his hand; and so Kimchi and Abarbinel observe it may be interpreted, though they seem to incline to the other sense.



{k} wdyb dry dwpa "ephod descendit in manu sua", Pagninus, Montanus; "ephod descendebat in manu sua", Munsterus; so Tigurine version and Piscator. {l} Kimchi & Ben Melech.





1 Samuel 23:7



Ver. 7. And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah,.... No doubt it was told him what he came thither for, to relieve it, and deliver it out of the hands of the Philistines, and what success he had; which one would have thought would have reconciled his mind to him, and made him think well of them; but instead of that, it only led him to contrive mischief against him:



and Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; as if the success he had given to David was against, him, and in favour of Saul:



for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars; while he betook himself to caves, and fields, and woods, he had no great hopes of finding him out, and coming up with him, and seizing him; but now he had got into a fortified place, enclosed with walls, and that had gates to it, kept bolted and barred; when he brought his army against it, and surrounded it, he imagined he would not be able to get out, and escape his hands.





1 Samuel 23:8



Ver. 8. And Saul called all the people together to war,.... Or "caused [them] to hear" {m} summoned them by an herald, whom he sent into all parts of the kingdom to proclaim war, and require them in his name to attend him; which was the prerogative of a king to do:



to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men; that was what he privately intended, but the pretence was to make war against the Philistines.



{m} emvy "fecit audire", Montanus, Piscator.





1 Samuel 23:9



Ver. 9. And. David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him,.... That is, plotted and contrived it, formed schemes in order to do him mischief, giving out one thing, and designing another; so he pretended war against the Philistines, but his intention was to come against Keilah, and take David there:



and he said to Abiathar the priest, bring hither the ephod; not for David to put on, but for the priest himself, that being clothed with it, and the Urim and Thummim in it, he might inquire for him of the Lord.





1 Samuel 23:10



Ver. 10. Then said David,.... By the priest, for it was he that put the questions for and in the name of the inquirer:



O Lord God of Israel; the great Jehovah, the covenant God of his people, who always has a merciful regard unto them:



thy servant hath certainly heard; had good information of it, on which he could depend:



that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah; that was his intention and resolution:



to destroy the city for my sake; to besiege it, and demolish it, if that was necessary, in order to take him.





1 Samuel 23:11



Ver. 11. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hands? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard?.... That is, if David continued there, which is the supposition all proceeds upon. The questions are not orderly put, as may easily be observed, the last should have been first; which shows some perturbation of mind David was in upon hearing the design of Saul against him:



O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant; give an answer by Urim and Thummim, as he did:



and the Lord said, he will come down; if David abode there; that was in his thoughts, in his purpose and design, which the Lord, being omniscient, full well knew, who knows all future contingencies: hence the Jews {n} gather, that two things are not to be asked together; and if they are asked, only answer is made to one, and the answer is only made to that which it was proper to ask first; and that which is asked out of order should be asked again, which was the case here, as follows.



{n} T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 73. 1, 2.





1 Samuel 23:12



Ver. 12. Then said David, will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?.... That is, the lords and great men of the place, the governor of the city, and the heads of it, the chief magistrates in it:



and the Lord said, they will deliver [thee] up: that is, provided he stayed there; for the Lord knew the dispositions and affections of their minds, that they were inclined to do it, and would do it, if he continues among them till Saul came down; which showed the great ingratitude of this people to their deliverer.





1 Samuel 23:13



Ver. 13. Then David and his men, [which were] about six hundred,.... Having had an increase of two hundred since he was at the cave of Adullam, 1Sa 22:1, and upon his relief of Keilah, 1Sa 23:5; so that he sustained no loss of men by fighting with the Philistines, but had an addition to his small forces:



arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go; not knowing whither they should go, having no particular place in view; but went where they thought they could be safest, or that appeared the most proper place for them; so the Targum,



"they went to a place which was fit to go unto;''



which was fittest for their purpose, and most for their safety and security, be it where it would:



and it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; very likely some of the inhabitants informed him of it, since they were disposed to deliver David to him, had he stayed among them, and Saul had come down:



and he forbore to go forth: from the place where he was, in order to come to Keilah,





1 Samuel 23:14



Ver. 14. And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds,.... In the wilderness of Ziph, in high and strong rocks there, as it seems to be explained by what follows:



and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph; which had its name from a city in the tribe of Judah, of which

See Gill on "Jos 15:55";



and Saul sought him every day; for though he did not go forth from the place where he was to Keilah, yet hearing which way he went, and whereabout he lurked, he sought after him continually, if haply he might find him:



but God delivered him not into his hand: which suggests, that it was only the providence of God that secured him, or, in all probability, such was the diligence of Saul, that he would have found him out, and he must have fallen into his hands, as he expected.





1 Samuel 23:15



Ver. 15. And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life,.... Either he saw him with his bodily eyes from the top of the mountain where he was, 1Sa 23:14; or he perceived, he understood by information given him by his friends, it may be by Jonathan, or by spies he sent to observe his motions:



and David [was] in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood; where he and his men could hide themselves among the trees in it; sometimes he was in a mountain in this wilderness, and sometimes in a wood, where he thought himself the safest; thus was this great man obliged to shift about for his safety.





1 Samuel 23:16



Ver. 16. And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose,.... And came from Gibeah, which, according to Bunting {o}, was twenty two miles from the place where David was:



and went to David into the wood: having had intelligence where he was, this being a proper place to have an interview with him privately:



and strengthened his hand in God; and his heart too, his hand of faith to lay hold on God, as his covenant God and lean and rely upon him; he strengthened him in his power and in his providence, and in his promises to him; the Targum is,



"he strengthened him in the Word of the Lord;''



not only in his word and promise, but in Christ the essential Word of God, who should spring from him according to the flesh.



{o} Travels, &c. p. 334. (text not clear could be 834 or some other number)





1 Samuel 23:17



Ver. 17. And he said unto him, fear not,.... Distrust not the power, providence, and promises of God, nor dread the wrath of Saul, or fear falling into his hands:



for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; to lay hold on him, seize him, and do him any hurt:



and thou shalt be king over Israel; meaning after the death of his father; which he knew either by some special revelation made to him; or rather by being informed he had been anointed by Samuel, and which he had either from Samuel or from David himself; and this he most firmly believed, though David was now in so low a condition:



and I shall be next unto thee; not succeed him in the kingdom; but if living when he came to the throne, he should be the second man in civil affairs, as he now was, and that he should be content with:



and that also Saul my father knoweth; having knowledge of the anointing of David by Samuel; or he might, and did conclude this from various circumstances, that David was his neighbour Samuel had told him of, God had given his kingdom to, 1Sa 15:28.





1 Samuel 23:18



Ver. 18. And they two made a covenant before the Lord,.... Renewed the covenant they had before made in the name and fear of God, and before him as a witness of it. Kimchi and Abarbinel interpret this phrase,



before the Lord, of the covenant being made before Abiathar, with the Urim and Thummim in his hand; and so Jerom {p}, before Gad the prophet, and Abiathar who wore the ephod:



and David abode in the wood; being a proper place for him for secrecy and safety:



and Jonathan went to his house; in Gibeah; and these two dear and cordial friends never saw one another more, as is highly probable.



{p} Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 76. K.





1 Samuel 23:19



Ver. 19. Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah,.... Who though he had been out in quest of David, yet was now returned to Gibeah, the place of his residence, and where he kept his court; and hither came the Ziphites, the inhabitants of Ziph, in the wilderness of which David hid himself, with a proposal to deliver him to Saul; for though they were of the same tribe with David, yet being terrified with what Saul had done to Nob, they thought it best for their own security to inform Saul where he was, and make an offer to deliver him to him. Some interpreters, as Kimchi, think that this was done before Jonathan was with Saul, and should be rendered, "the Ziphites had come up to Saul"; and hence it is before said, and David saw, &c. for he had heard that the Ziphites should say to Saul, that David had hid himself there; and at this time it was that David wrote the fifty ninth psalm, Ps 54:1:



saying, doth not David hide himself with us in the strong holds in the wood; which is in the wilderness of Ziph, in their neighbourhood; they were informed he had hid himself there, and they thought it their duty to let the king know of it: and particularly



in the hill of Hachilah, which [is] on the south of Jeshimon? Hachilah is by Jerom {q} called Echela; and he speaks of a village of that name seven miles from Eleutheropolis, and of Jeshimon as ten miles from Jericho to the south, near the dead sea; on the top of this hill, which was an ascent of thirty furlongs or about four miles, Jonathan the high priest built a castle, and called it Masada, often spoken of by Josephus; who says {r}, that Herod built a wall around it of seven furlongs or about a mile, twelve cubits high, and eight broad, and thirty seven towers of fifty cubits stood in it.



{q} De loc. Heb. fol. 91. C. {r} De Bello Jud. l. 7. c. 8. sect. 3. Vid. Adrichom. Theatrum T. S. p. 38. 2. & 39. 1.





1 Samuel 23:20



Ver. 20. Now therefore, O king, come down,.... From Gibeah to Ziph, and the wilderness of it, where David was:



according to all the desires of thy soul to come down; to seize such a prey which he was greatly desirous of, and of nothing more so than of that according to Abarbinel, the sense is, that the thing was ready in whatever way he should desire it; if he chose to come down himself, and lay hold on him, they invite him to come down; but if he did not choose to come down himself, they would seize him, and bring him to him, and deliver him up into his hand, and so he would be under no necessity of going down after him:



and our part [shall be] to deliver him into the king's hand; this we will take upon us to do, and save the king the trouble of coming down.





1 Samuel 23:21



Ver. 21. And Saul said, blessed [be] ye of the Lord,.... He highly commends them for the offer they made to him, blesses God for them, and desires the blessing of God upon them for it:



for ye have compassion on me; pitied him on account of the troubles he met with from his son-in-law, were sorry for him, and sympathized with him, which others did not, of which he complained, 1Sa 22:8.





1 Samuel 23:22



Ver. 22. Go, I pray you, prepare yet,.... That is, go home, return to their habitations, and get things in a greater readiness for him; inquire more diligently after David, get more intelligence of him, and inform themselves more exactly about him:



and know and see his place where his haunt is; or "foot" {s} is, where that steps and walks most frequently, not only get knowledge of it by information, but if they could get sight of it with their own eyes, that they might describe it more exactly:



[and] who hath seen him there; not only seen the place, but him in the place, and that often, that it may be certain it is the place he usually resorts to:



for it is told me [that] he dealeth very subtilly; sometimes he is seen in one place, and sometimes in another; he is here today, and elsewhere tomorrow; and by such crafty methods it is not easy to know where the place is, and where to be found; this Saul had information of from some, who knew the methods David took to keep it unknown where it was; or "it says to me"; my heart says so to me, as R. Isaiah interprets it; my mind suggests this to me, knowing the man, that he uses such wiles as these: or "he said to me", so Kimchi; when he was with me, and we were intimate, when I used to ask him how he smote the Philistines, so and so, and preserved himself from them; his answer was, "that he dealt very subtilly", he used a good deal of craftiness; and so I imagine he does now.



{s} wlgr "pes ejus", Pagninus, Montanus.





1 Samuel 23:23



Ver. 23. See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself,.... Which he most frequents, that ye may be able to describe them, and the way to them, and easily find them when necessary:



and come ye again to me with the certainty; of time and place, when and where he may be certainly found:



and I will go with you; upon such certain intelligence: it is very much he did not seize this opportunity, and go directly with them; for by this delay, David being informed of the Ziphites coming to Saul to betray him, had time to depart elsewhere:



and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land; in the land of Israel, or rather in the land that is in the tribe of Judah:



that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah; through all the divisions of that tribe, which, as others, were divided into thousands, see Mic 5:2.





1 Samuel 23:24



Ver. 24. And they arose, and went to Ziph, before Saul,.... Not before his person, as if he went with them, and they before him leading the way; but they went thither before he went, to prepare things more exactly, and with more certainty, before he came, and in order to return to him again and go with him:



but David and his men [were] in the wilderness at Maon; for by the time the Ziphites returned home, David had intelligence of their design, and therefore removed from the wilderness of Ziph to the wilderness of Maon; which, though in the same tribe, was a distinct place;

See Gill on "Jos 15:55";



in the plain on the south of Jeshimon; the same as in 1Sa 23:19; only David was now farther to the south of it, and in a plain, whereas before he was on an hill.





1 Samuel 23:25



Ver. 25. And Saul also and his men went to seek [him],.... Whether the Ziphites returned to him with better intelligence, or sent him word where David was, is not said, however Saul with his army came out in search of him:



and they told David; or it was told him, that Saul was come in quest of him:



wherefore he came down into a rock; either into a cave in it, or he came down from the hill Hachilah to a plain or valley, in order to go up to a rock, the same with the mountain in 1Sa 23:26:



and abode in the wilderness of Maon; in which was the rock or mountain he came to:



and when Saul heard [that], he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon; for upon the intelligence of the Ziphites, he came out to seek for him in the wilderness of Ziph, but hearing that he was removed to the wilderness of Maon, he pursued him there.





1 Samuel 23:26



Ver. 26. And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain,.... Saul with his army came to the very mountain where David and his men were, the one was on one side of it, and the other on the other side; there was only one mountain between them:



and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; he fled on one side of the mountain, while Saul was pursuing him on the other, and hastening to get round unto him:



for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them; he took methods by dividing his troops, and sending them different ways, to surround David and his men, and had very near effected it.





1 Samuel 23:27



Ver. 27. But there came a messenger unto Saul,.... From his court, by order of his council there; though the Jews {t} say it was an angel from heaven; but be it which it will, it was certainly the providence of God that directed this affair, that a messenger should come to Saul just at that very time that David was like to fall into his hands:



saying, haste thee, and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land; were come into it, and spread themselves in it, as the word signifies, which expresses their numbers they had poured in, the force they came with, and the possessions they had already got; perhaps they had taken the advantage of Saul's departure in quest of David, to penetrate into the tribe of Benjamin, where his patrimony, residence, and court were, and which were liable to fall into their hands; and therefore his presence was immediately required, and haste was necessary.



{t} Midrash apud Yalkut in loc.





1 Samuel 23:28



Ver. 28. Therefore Saul returned from pursuing after David,.... Stopped short at once, as soon as ever he received the message:



and went against the Philistines; to stop them in their progress, and drive them out of his country:



therefore they called that place Selahammahlekoth, which signifies the rock of divisions. David and his men, very probably, gave it this name, not only because it divided between Saul and his men, and David and his men, when they were one on one side of it, and the other on the other side of it; but because Saul was, by the providence of God, divided and separated from David here, whereby he escaped falling into his hands. The Targum is,



"therefore they called that place the rock of division, the place where the heart of the king was divided to go here and there:''



he was divided in his own mind, and at a loss what to do; he was in two minds, as Jarchi says, and did not know which to follow, whether to return and deliver his country from the hands of the Philistines, or to pursue and take David; and others represent the soldiers of Saul as divided, some saying that since the son of Jesse was just falling into their hands, they should not leave him; others, that the war of Israel should be regarded before him, who might be found at any time {u}.



{u} Midrash apud Yalkut in loc.





1 Samuel 23:29



Ver. 29. And David went up from thence,.... From the wilderness of Maon, having had a narrow escape for his life:



and dwelt in strong holds in Engedi; another place in the tribe of Judah, and which lay in the wilderness of Judah, and from whence that is called the wilderness of Engedi; and here Dr. Lightfoot {w} thinks he penned the sixty third psalm, Ps 63:1, the wilderness about Engedi being the most desert of all other places, that being upon the borders of the dead sea; of this place, See Gill on "Jos 15:62".



{w} Works, vol. 1. p. 58.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

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