1 SAMUEL 24 COMMENTARYEDITED BY GLENN PEASE

David Spares Saul's Life 1 After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, "David is in the Desert of En Gedi."

CLARKE, "Saul was returned - It is very probable that it was only a small marauding party that had made an excursion in the Israelitish borders, and this invasion was soon suppressed.

GILL, "And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines,.... Having, as it should seem, got the victory over them, and driven them out of his country, and pursued them to their own: that it was told him, saying, behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi; in the strong holds of it, the high rocks and mountains in it, 1Sa_23:29.

HENRY, "Here, I. Saul renews his pursuit of David, 1Sa_24:1, 1Sa_24:2. No sooner had he come home safely from chasing the Philistines, in which it should seem he had good success, than he enquired after David to do him a mischief, and resolved to have another thrust at him, as if he had been delivered to do all these abominations, Jer_7:10. By the frequent incursions of the Philistines, he might have seen how necessary it was to recall David from his banishment and restore him to his place in the army again; but so far is he from doing this that now more than ever he is exasperated against him, and, hearing that he is in the wilderness of En-gedi, he draws out 3000 choice men, and goes with them at his feet in pursuit of him upon the rocks of the wild goats, where, one would think, David should not have been envied a habitation nor Saul desirous of disturbing him; for what harm could he fear from one who was no better accommodated? But it is not enough for Saul that David is thus cooped up; he cannot be easy while he is alive.

JAMISON, "1Sa_24:1-7. David in a cave at Engedi cuts off Saul’s skirt, but spares his life.

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K&D, "Whilst Saul had gone against the Philistines, David left this dangerous place, and went to the mountain heights of Engedi, i.e., the present Ain-jidy (goat-fountain), in the middle of the western coats of the Dead Sea (see at Jos_15:62), which he could reach from Maon in six or seven hours. The soil of the neighbourhood consists entirely of limestone; but the rocks contain a considerable admixture of chalk and flint. Round about there rise bare conical mountains, and even ridges of from two to four hundred feet in height, which mostly run down to the sea. The steep mountains are intersected by wadys running down in deep ravines to the sea. “On all sides the country is full of caverns, which might then serve as lurking-places for David and his men, as they do for outlaws at the present day” (Rob. Pal. p. 203)1Sa_24:1-2

When Saul had returned from his march against the Philistines, and was informed of this, he set out thither with three thousand picked men to search for David and his men in the wild-goat rocks. The expression “rocks of the wild goats” is probably not a proper name for some particular rocks, but a general term applied to the rocks of that locality on account of the number of wild goats and chamois that were to be found in all that region, as mountain goats are still (Rob. Pal. ii. p. 204).PULPIT, "The wilderness of En-gedi. Finding no safety on the western side of the desert of Judah, where the Ziphites were ever watching his movements, David now boldly crossed this arid waste, and sought shelter in the remarkable oasis of En-gedi, on the shore of the Dead Sea. The word may signify either the Fountain of Luck or the Kid’s Spring, the latter being the meaning of the name Ain-Jadi, which it still bears. In 2Ch_20:2 it is identified with Hazazon-Tamar, the Palm Wood, an ancient seat of the Amorites, and evidently famous from of old for its fertility (Gen_14:7). Conder (’Tent Work,’ 2:126) describes the country over which David would have to travel as almost impassable, so that in four and a half hours of hard riding be and his party advanced only six miles, so deep were the valleys which they were obliged to cross. From a lofty peak on their way the view was most extraordinary. On every side were other ridges, equally white, steep, and narrow; their sides seamed by innumerable torrent beds, their summits sharp and rugged in outline. Not a tree was visible, and the whole region was like the dry basin of a former sea, scoured by the rains, and washed down in places to the hard foundation of metamorphic limestone which underlies the whole district. But the desert once crossed, "there is no scene," he says, "more vividly impressed on my memory than that of this magnificently rocky and savage pass, and the view from the spring below." He had encamped on a plateau upon the top of the cliffs, which rise to a height of 2000 feet above the Dead Sea; and 1340 feet below him the warm spring of En-gedi, 83° F; rises from under a great boulder, and dashing down the rest of the descent, flows across the plate at the foot of the cliffs, which is about half a mile square. All around are the ruins of ancient gardens and thickets, among which he saw the beautiful black grackles with gold-tipped wings, bulbuls, and thrushes. Solomon seems to have delighted in the spot, and to have covered the hills with vines; for he compares his beloved to a "cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi" (So 2Ch_1:14). Neither palm nor vine is to be found there now, but there is still a rich vegetation, and groves of trees. According to Thomson the sides of the ravines leading to En-gedi are full of natural and artificial caves and sepulchres.

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SBC, "(with Son_1:14)Engedi means the fountain of the wild goat or rather, as we should say, of the ibex, the Syrian chamois, or the antelope. Among these wild but beautiful solitudes David, with his young men, established himself. Engedi itself was on a perpendicular cliff, hanging fifteen hundred feet above the Dead Sea. The palms have all gone, the vineyards all gone; the trenna, the beautiful wild flower supposed to be that called the camphire, abounds still. The crags and cliffs are thronged with doves, and upon a shelf of the mountain there is a little lakelet or fountain, breaking forth into a stream and tumbling on, no great torrent, but a thread of silver, for four hundred feet below.I. Here, to David’s retreat by the fountain of the wild goat, came Saul, "the deceitful and unjust man." But the cumbrous and heavy Saul could do nothing against the lithe stripling, David. There is even a sportive humour in the very acts by which David shows his superiority to his foe. Altogether, the sublime, the pathetic, the humorous and the graphic mingled together in the various adventures of David, the outlaw of Engedi.II. With this spot too, no doubt, we are to associate the inditing of many of the imprecatory Psalms; for here, hunted as a bird through the wilderness, he said "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul."III. During his stay at Engedi, David was not a wild bandit; among the hills the law of his God was in his heart; not wreaking on society his revenge, but flying to the spot where, if he could be most securely screened from invasion, he would also be farthest removed from the possibility of inflicting injury; and there he waited, nursing his great soul amidst the solitudes of the eternal hills. Among the rocks of Engedi, David "endured as seeing Him who is invisible."E. Paxton Hood, The Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iii., p. 605.

GUZIK, "DAVID SPARES SAUL’S LIFEA. David doesn’t kill Saul when he has the opportunity.

1. (1Sa_24:1-2) Saul seeks David in the Wilderness of En Gedi.Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

a. When Saul had returned from following the Philistines: In the previous chapter, God miraculously delivered David by drawing Saul away to fight the Philistines at the moment Saul was ready to capture David. But when Saul was done with the Philistines, he went back to pursuing David.i. We often wish that our next victory, or our present victory, would be a permanent victory. We wish that the spiritual enemies who pursue us like Saul pursued David would simply give up, and we wouldn’t have to bother with them any more. But even when we have victory and they are sent away, they come back, and will keep coming back until we go to glory with the LORD. That is the only permanent victory we will find.

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b. The Wilderness of En Gedi: In the barren, desolate territory surround the Dead Sea, there is a canyon that runs westward from the Dead Sea. That canyon is called En Gedi, and one can still visit there today and see the flowing spring that makes a good sized creek flow down the canyon, and makes En Gedi, with its waterfalls and vegetation seem more like a tropical paradise than the middle of the desert. i. As you walk up this canyon, you also notice the numerous caves dotting the hills. This is a great place for David and his men to hide out! Because it is in the middle of barren desert, scouts could easily detect approaching troops. There was plenty of water and wildlife, and many caves and defensive positions.

ELLICOTT, " (1) When Saul was returned.—How intent Saul was on his bloody purpose with regard to his supposed rival is clear, for no sooner was the Philistine raid repulsed than with sleepless animosity he at once set forth with a force, as the next verse relates, of considerable magnitude to hunt down his foe. Saul was encouraged in this fresh enterprise by the offer of the Ziphites (see preceding 1Sam 1 Samuel 24:19-22). These bitter enemies of David, in the interval of the Philistine war—accustomed to the passes and mountains of the barren region of the south of Canaan—complying with the king’s request (1 Samuel 23:23), had taken careful knowledge of the lurking-places where David was hiding, and were now prepared to act as guides to the well-equipped and disciplined forces under Saul in its marches and counter-marches in the deserts bordering on the south of Judah.En-gedi.—David and his band were now wandering along a lofty plateau, upon the tops of cliffs some 2,000 feet above the Dead Sea. En-gedi—still known as Ain-jedy, the Fountain of the Kid—is a beautiful oasis, in the barren wilderness to the south of Judah. Its original name was Hazazon Tamar—“The Palm Wood” (see 2 Chronicles 20:2)—and was once an ancient settlement of the Amorites (see Genesis 14:7). It has in all ages been a favourite spot with the possessors of the land. King Solomon appears to have paid peculiar attention to this garden of the wilderness. He planted the hills round it with vines; from the fountain flows a warm limpid stream, delicious to the taste. The remains of ancient gardens tell us that in the golden days of the kings En-gedi was probably a favourite resort of the wealthy citizen of Jerusalem. Solpmon, in his “Song of Songs,” writes of it in a strain which shows how he loved it, when he compares his beloved “to a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.”—Song of Solomon 1:14. Its present condition, as described by modern travellers, more nearly resembles the En-gedi when Saul hunted David among the rocks and caverns than the En-gedi the resort of the Jerusalem citizens, beautiful with gardens and vines of Solomon.—Conder: Tent Life. Dean Stanley and others have described the spot with great care, and left us a vivid picture of the scene. They tell us of the long and weary journey-across the desolate valleys and precipitous barren heights, and of the enchanting scene which lay before them when once Ain-jedy was reached. They describe in flowing language the plentiful and rich vegetation, the trees and fruits, the ruins of the ancient gardens, and remains of the beautiful groves, still inhabited by a multitude of singing birds. In the limestone

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cliffs are numerous caves, some of them very large and deep, well calculated to be the temporary shelter of large bodies of men.WHEDON, "1. When Saul was returned from following the Philistines — This was another of those bitter contests with that enemy against whom Saul was obliged to carry on war all his days, (1 Samuel 14:52;) but how long this war with the Philistines lasted, and of its relative importance, we are not informed.En-gedi — The modern Ain-Jidy, situated about the middle of the western coast of the Dead Sea. Its name was transferred from a fountain near the sea to the whole neighbouring wilderness on the west, which is full of deep ravines, rocky ridges and dark caverns.COFFMAN, "DAVID SPARES SAUL'S LIFE AT ENGEDIThis episode is not a variable account of David's sparing Saul's life as recorded in 1 Samuel 24:26. The critical theory of two original documents from which Samuel has been composed is valueless. There has never been discovered any evidence of such alleged "sources," their existence being found only in the imaginations of men. If there had been any such prior documents, then they could be separated from the text here, and there would then exist two different coherent stories of the events recorded; and, until those "two sources" can be produced and compared, the theory remains unproved and unprovable!It is not any more incredible that David spared Saul's life twice than that he spared it once. We hold both accounts to be absolutely true as recorded. The events are so different that there is no intelligent device by which one can understand them as variable accounts of only one incident.DAVID HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO KILL KING SAUL"When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi." Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wild Goats' Rocks. And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him, "Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, `Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" Then David arose and stealthily cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. And afterward David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is the Lords anointed." So David persuaded his men with these words, and Saul rose up and left the cave, and went upon his way."A sampling of the critical comment here is that, "1Sam. 24,1 Samuel 26 give two

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versions of the same story";[1] "We have two versions of the same story":[2] etc. (See my chapter introduction, above, for my response to this type of comment.) Caird admitted that, "The writers of both our sources are very accurate in their use of verbs of motion";[3] but he offered no explanation whatever of how "both of those writers" could possibly have been inaccurate in their use of every noun, adverb, adjective and pronoun in both accounts. To us, the admitted accuracy of the verbs of motion is proof of the accuracy of both narratives as they stand in the sacred text."Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi" (1 Samuel 24:1). It is a measure of the persistent hatred of Saul that, as soon as he had chased the Philistines out of the country, he resumed his efforts to hunt down David and kill him.Engedi is an oasis some 600 feet in elevation above the western shore of the Dead Sea, where today there is a small Jewish farm (kibbutz). "There is a copious stream of water that plunges toward the Dead Sea, with five or six waterfalls, skipping like a goat from one ledge to another, hence the name, `The Fountain of the Kid.' The ancient palms and vineyards have vanished, but the petrified leaves still attest the ancient fertility of the place."[4]"In front of the Wild Goats' Rocks" (1 Samuel 24:2). "This is a reference to the cliffs of Engedi where the wild goats (the ibex) still climb the rocky fastness."[5]COKE, "1 Samuel 24:1. In the wilderness of En-gedi— The word גדי עין En-gedi signifies in the Hebrew, the kid's fountain; from whence the neighbouring region took its name, probably because there they watered their flocks. Eusebius places it on the confines of the Dead Sea, to the west. With him, it is famous for excellent balm, and with Solomon, in his song, for vineyards. Song of Solomon 1:4. It is now called An-guedi: see Thevenot's Travels, part 1: chap. 47.HAWKER, "Verse 1-2(1) ¶ And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi. (2) Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.What an awful view doth the character of Saul afford, of the desperately wicked state of the heart of man by nature, void of grace. With what unremitting, unabated fury, doth Saul hunt after the life of David. Reader! recollect the instance of the Jews hunting after the life of Jesus, of whom, in this point no doubt David was a type.CONSTABLE, "Verses 1-7David"s cutting off of Saul"s hem

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Engedi lay near the Dead Sea"s western shore close to its mid-point north to south. Even today it is a refreshing oasis with waterfalls, pools, tropical plants, and wild goats. The Hebrew word means "spring of the kid." It may have been while David was hiding in this cave that he wrote Psalm 57 and or Psalm 142 (see their titles; cf. 1 Samuel 22:1).Saul pursued David with3 ,000 of his finest soldiers, which gave him a five-to-one advantage over David, who had only600 men ( 1 Samuel 23:13). The "Rocks of the Wild Goats" was evidently a local site, which archaeologists have not yet identified. There Saul discovered a sheepfold that evidently encircled the mouth of one of the caves in those limestone hills. The king entered the cave to relieve himself, unaware of the mortal danger in which he was placing himself because David and his men were hiding in the recesses of the same cave.David"s men interpreted Saul"s vulnerable position as a divine provision whereby David could free himself from his enemy ( 1 Samuel 24:4). There is no record in the text that God had indeed told David what they said He had. He may have told David that he would overcome his enemy, but certainly He had not given David permission to assassinate His anointed, King Saul. David"s advisers seem to have been resorting to pious language to urge David to follow their counsel (cf. 1 Samuel 23:7). We must always evaluate the advice of friends in the light of God"s Word even when they claim divine authority. Their counsel moved David to take some action against Saul, which he soon regretted.The hem or edge of a person"s garment in the ancient Near East made a statement about his or her social standing. A king"s hem was especially ornate and identified him as the king. [Note: See Milgrom, pp61-65.] By cutting off this piece of Saul"s robe, which Saul may have laid aside as he relieved himself ( 1 Samuel 24:3), David suggested that he could cut off Saul"s reign just as easily (cf. 1 Samuel 24:21). His act constituted mild rebellion against Saul"s authority. [Note: D. J. Wiseman, "Alalakh," in Archaeology and Old Testament Study, p128.]Almost immediately David realized that his clever trick was inappropriate. Since Saul was the king, David had no right to tamper with his clothing. Furthermore, David realized that any attempt to take the kingdom from Saul, as he had taken the symbol of that kingdom, was contrary to God"s will. Since Saul was God"s anointed ( 1 Samuel 24:6) it was God"s place to remove him, not David"s.This little incident provides another window into David"s thinking. David was acknowledging Yahweh"s sovereignty by submitting to His authority in setting Saul up as king (cf. Proverbs 24:21). David refused to take revenge for the trouble that Saul had caused him."Perhaps no greater example of wisdom practice is found than in David"s response to Saul." [Note: Heater, "Young David . . .," p54. Cf. Proverbs 24:21.]

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It is interesting that God prevented David"s enemies from assassinating him later when he was Israel"s king (cf. Galatians 6:7). Compare also Jesus" refusal to take vengeance on His enemies ( Luke 23:34).Verses 1-223. David"s goodness to two fools chs24-26". . . chapters24-26 form a discrete literary unit within1Samuel. Chapters24,26 are virtually mirror images of each other, beginning with Saul"s receiving a report about David"s latest hiding place ( 1 Samuel 24:1; 1 Samuel 26:1), focusing on David"s refusal to lift a hand against Saul, "the Lord"s anointed" ( 1 Samuel 24:6; 1 Samuel 24:10; 1 Samuel 26:11), and concluding with the words of a remorseful Saul and his returning home from his pursuit of David ( 1 Samuel 24:17-22; 1 Samuel 26:21; 1 Samuel 26:25). The two chapters form a frame around the central chapter25 , where the churlish Nabal functions as an alter ego of the rejected Saul. In addition, divine protection that keeps David from shedding innocent blood runs as a unifying thread through all three chapters." [Note: Youngblood, p745.]Saul, who had disregarded God"s Law, became a deadly threat to David ( 1 Samuel 23:19-28). However, David, who regarded God"s Law, became a source of life to Saul ( 1 Samuel 23:29 to 1 Samuel 24:22) and to others in Israel (ch25).In the previous section, Saul sought the opportunity to take David"s life. In this one ( 1 Samuel 23:29 to 1 Samuel 24:22), given the opportunity to take Saul"s life, David spared him.David"s first sparing of Saul"s life ch24The incident recorded in this chapter concerns "cutting off" ( 1 Samuel 24:4-5; 1 Samuel 24:11; 1 Samuel 24:21). David had the opportunity and received encouragement to cut off Saul"s life but chose to cut off only his robe hem. He ended up promising not to cut off Saul"s descendants and name."The verb "cut off" forms something of a recurring theme, a leit-motiv, in1Samuel20-24." [Note: Baldwin, p146. Cf; 20:14-17; 24:4.] LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:1 [ 1 Samuel 23:29]. Engedi the present Ain Jidy (Jeddi), “Fountain of the kid” (’Εγγαδί, ’Εγγαδαί, Ptol5, 16, 8), about the middle of the west shore of the Dead Sea, about thirteen miles north-east of Maon on the border of the wilderness of Judah, in a mountainous region with limestone-soil, with precipitous rocks and deep gorges which run towards the Dead Sea, and with many caves in the limestone-hills. It belonged to the then few very fruitful regions of the wilderness of Judah.—[For a good account of Engedi with its magnificent scenery, its frightful and dangerous rock-passes and its many roomy caverns, see Bib. Com. in loco.

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Thomson, in “The Land and the Book,” speaks of the wild goats still to be found there.—Tr.]HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL1. This incident of David’s life in 1 Samuel24 (not26) forms the basis of Psalm 7 (of which he is the author), which is rich in references to this event and whose title: “Shiggaion of David which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush the Benjaminite,” giving the slanderous accusations of this man as the occasion of the Psalm, presents a situation identical with that of 1 Samuel 24:10, 9] of 1 Samuel24. There were men who, by all sorts of slanders, blackened David with Saul, and inflamed his hate against him. Among these, according to the title, was the Benjaminite Cush. The Benjaminites, on account of the tribal relationship, were pronounced adherents of Saul, and he had bound them to him by all sorts of favors (comp. 1 Samuel 22:7). Cush is not a symbolical name for a man of black wickedness, namely here for Saul (to whose father’s name Kish, Hengstenberg and Kimchi see an allusion), but the proper name of a Benjaminite Prayer of Manasseh, one of those slanderers and go-betweens, whose mention in the title of this Psalm (the situation in which accords throughout with that in 1 Samuel24) is a supplement to the allusion in 1 Samuel 24:10. How the content of the Psalm is based on David’s assertion of innocence and confident appeal to God which is given here in 1 Samuel24. is clear from the train of thought: After the singer’s introductory cry for help, 1 Samuel 24:2-3, 1, 2] follows the affirmation of freedom from revenge and of innocence as to the accusations made against him (pointing to 1 Samuel 24:5-8; 1 Samuel 24:18-19, 4–7, 17, 18]), 1 Samuel 24:4-6, 3–5]. On this is based (see 1 Samuel 24:13-16, 12–15]) the appeal to the Lord for execution of His judgment, to which he submits in firm confidence and good conscience, 1 Samuel 24:7-10, 6–9]. To this is added (see 1 Samuel 24:16, 15]) avowal of trust in the help of the righteous God, and in the self-prepared destruction of the unrighteous, 1 Samuel 24:11-17, 10–16]. In conclusion the vow of thanksgiving [ 1 Samuel 24:17.]—What Delitzsch excellently says of the character of the Psalm: “It is the most solemn pathos of lofty self-consciousness, that here speaks,—anxious unrest, defiant self-trust, triumphant upsoaring, confident trust, prophetic certainty, all these tones find expression in the irregular strophe-sequence of this Davidic dithyramb,” all this is found substantially in David’s words to Saul.—Hengstenberg’s statement of the didactic content of the Psalm: “There is a twofold didactic element in the Psalm: 1) it is a necessary condition of divine help that one lift up pure hands to God, and2) this condition being fulfilled, the divine righteousness vouches for the absolute certainty of the deliverance,” answers precisely in both points to the two fundamental thoughts of David’s address ( 1 Samuel 24) to Saul: 1) I am innocent, and therefore sure of divine help, and2) God’s justice will bring my innocence to light, and punish my unrighteous persecutors.2. As fundamental traits in the religious-moral character of David appear in this section the following: magnanimous forbearance towards his enemy providentially given into his hand, decided repulse of the temptation to revenge on him, tenderness

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of conscience whereby his heart smote him for appropriating a piece of Saul’s garment, frank and bold affirmation of his innocence against slanders and persecutions, reverent piety towards the sacred person of the Lord’s chosen and the de facto theocratic king, the confidence of a good conscience, and the patient waiting of a mind resigned to God’s dispensations in respect to the severe sufferings appointed him, and the expected decision of the divine justice, love of enemies which not only puts far away revenge, but repays evil with good, firm confidence in God’s justice (having its root in humility), with which in the consciousness of innocence he appeals to the highest tribunal, clear knowledge of the ways of the divine justice, whose aim is the maintenance of the divinely-appointed holy order of his kingdom (namely, that the unrighteously introduced evil be punished), and hope in the saving help of God founded on faith in God’s justice. “That David was magnanimous towards enemies, that, when his foe was through chance in his hands, instead of satiating his vengeance, he sent him reverently away, is wholly in keeping with his nature, and in the song Psalm 7:5, 4] is referred to by him briefly and incidentally, but clearly enough; that to Saul himself, even when there would have been the most favorable opportunity to inflict grievous injury on him, he could do no bodily harm, follows immediately from the idea itself of the ‘Anointed of God’ which filled his soul” (Ew, III, 130).PETT, " Section 4 C. David’s Threefold Obedience In Sparing Fools (24:1-26:25).In contrast with the threefold disobedience of Saul in 13-15 we now have three examples of David’s obedience to YHWH in the face of provocation, two in relation to Saul and one in relation to Nabal. As Saul had deteriorated, so David advances. We may see them as follows:David Is Pursued In The Wilderness Of Engedi And Spares Saul’s Life Because He Is YHWH’s Anointed (1 Samuel 24:1-22).David Seeks Hospitality From Nabal And On Being Rebuffed Sets Out To Gain Vengeance, Being Prevented By The Courage, Wisdom And Goodness Of Abigail, Nabal’s Wife (1 Samuel 25:1-44).David Is Pursued In The Wilderness Of Ziph, And Spares Saul’s Life Because He Is YHWH’s Anointed (1 Samuel 26:1-25).We note that there is an interesting parallel between Saul’s dual pursuit of David, and David’s pursuit of Nabal. Both were seeking vengeance and both were prevented from attaining their object by being made to feel ashamed. However, the difference between them lay in the fact that David had some justification for his action, and in that he was deeply concerned at the thought of the possibility of offending YHWH. This last trait of David, in fact, comes out in all three incidents.A further point that comes out in the three incidents is David’s obedience to YHWH. In the first and third cases he restrains himself from vengeance and refuses

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to lay a hand on YHWH’s anointed, and in the second case he restrains himself from vengeance once the folly of his adventure is brought to his attention.David Shows Mercy To Saul In Engedi (1 Samuel 24:1-22).In this passage we have the first of three examples of David’s full obedience to YHWH. In this first example he has Saul at his mercy and yet spares him because he is ‘YHWH’s anointed’ (see 1 Samuel 24:6; 1 Samuel 24:10; 1 Samuel 26:9; 1 Samuel 26:11; 1 Samuel 26:16; 1 Samuel 26:23; 2 Samuel 1:14; 2 Samuel 1:16). He refuses to make a move before God’s time, on the one chosen by YHWH. The result is that Saul declares that one day he will be king over Israel (1 Samuel 24:20).The whole chapter may be analysed as follows:Analysis.a David goes to the strongholds of Engedi (1 Samuel 23:29).b Saul is delivered into David’s hands and his men call on him to take vengeance (1 Samuel 24:1-4 a).c David cuts off the hem of Saul’s robe and refuses to act against YHWH’s anointed (1 Samuel 24:4-7).d David reveals to Saul his innocence concerning his attitude towards YHWH’s anointed (1 Samuel 24:8-10)..c David reveals the hem that he has cut from Saul’s robe and declares his innocence of any intention to hurt Saul (1 Samuel 24:11-16).b Saul declares his admiration for the way that David has spared his life (1 Samuel 24:17-21).a David returns to the stronghold (1 Samuel 24:22).Verses 1-7Saul Unwittingly Puts Himself At David’s Mercy (1 Samuel 24:1-7).Even in Engedi David was not safe from a vengeful Saul, for once he had driven back the Philistines, Saul gathered three thousand of Israel’s best fighting men and made tracks for Engedi, in order to finally finish him off. Yet there he was able to find no trace of David, because the huge caves provided adequate shelter, and there were too many to search in safety. As he and his men looked them over their empty mouths must have appeared like a death trap which lure them in and swallow up all who entered them.

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Analysis.a And it came about that, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, it was told him, saying, “Look, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave, and Saul went in to cover his feet (1 Samuel 24:1-3 a).b Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave (1 Samuel 24:3 b).c And the men of David said to him, “Look, the day of which YHWH said to you, “Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you will do to him as it will seem good to you.” Then David arose, and cut off the hem of Saul’s robe secretly (1 Samuel 24:3-4).d And it came about afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s hem (1 Samuel 24:5).c And he said to his men, “YHWH forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, YHWH’s anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is YHWH’s anointed.” (1 Samuel 24:6).b So David tore into his men with these words, and would not let them rise against Saul. (1 Samuel 24:7 a).a And Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way (1 Samuel 24:7 b).Note that in ‘a’ Saul came among the caves of Engedi and selected what seemed a safe cave where he could relieve himself, and in the parallel he leaves the cave safely unaware of how close to death he has been. In ‘b’ David’s men were in hiding in the cave and in the parallel David has to firmly dissuade them From killing Saul. In ‘c’ his men urge that YHWH has delivered Saul into his hands, and in the parallel David refuses to lift up a hand against him because he is YHWH’s anointed. Centrally in ‘d’ David is even conscience stricken at having cut the hem off Saul’s outer robe.1 Samuel 24:1‘And it came about that, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, it was told him, saying, “Look, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” ’As soon as Saul returned from driving back the Philistines, his spies informed him that David and his men were now in hiding in the wilderness of Engedi. This wilderness was a desolate and barren limestone desert on the western side of the

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Dead Sea, a desolation and barrenness only relieved by the oasis at Engedi (meaning ‘spring of the kid’) which gave the area its name. It was an area full of caves which went deep into the limestone cliffs, and a regular hiding place for bandits who could disappear into the caves without trace. Some caves were at ground level and others higher up the cliff face. These cliffs were the haunt of wild goats who could scamper along the narrow paths in a way that caused men to speak with admiration of the ‘surefootedness of a mountain goat’. The caves at ground level would sometimes be used as a shelter in bad weather for sheep, and the shepherds would build a rough wall round the entrance for the purpose, turning them into a sheepcote.

2 So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.

BARNES, "The rocks of the wild goats - To signify the craggy precipitous character of the country.

CLARKE, "Rocks of the wild goats - The original (צורי היעלים tsurey haiyeelim) is variously understood. The Vulgate makes a paraphrase: Super abruptissimas petras quae solis ibicibus perviae sunt; “On the most precipitous rocks over which the ibexes alone can travel.” The Targum: the caverns of the rocks. The Septuagint make the original a proper name; for out of צרוי היעלים tsurey haiyeelim, they make ΣαδδαιεμSaddaiem, and in some copies Αειαμειν Aeiamein, which are evidently corruptions of the Hebrew.

GILL, "Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel,.... Out of his army, with which he had been pursuing the Philistines: and went to seek David, and his men, upon the rocks of the wild goats; which were in the wilderness of Engedi; those rocks were exceeding high and terrible to look at, full of precipices, and so prominent, that to travellers they seemed as if they would fall into the adjacent valleys, that it even struck terror into them to look at them (x); called the rocks of wild goats, because these creatures, called from hence "rupicaprae", or rock goats, see Job_39:1; delighted to be there; and are, as Pliny (y) says, of such prodigious swiftness, that they will leap from mountain to mountain, and back again at pleasure; these mountains David and his men chose for safety, and the height and craggedness of them did not deter Saul and his men from seeking him there.

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JAMISON, "Saul ... went ... to seek David ... upon the rocks of the wild goats — Nothing but the blind infatuation of fiendish rage could have led the king to pursue his outlawed son-in-law among those craggy and perpendicular precipices, where were inaccessible hiding places. The large force he took with him seemed to give him every prospect of success. But the overruling providence of God frustrated all his vigilance.PULPIT, "Chosen. See on this word 1Sa_9:2. The rocks of the wild goats. Apparently this was the proper name of some cliffs near En-gedi, so called from their being frequented by the ibex, or Syrian chamois, an animal which, according to Thomson is still found there. It shows Saul’s pertinacious hatred of David, that no sooner was the war with the Philistines over, than he pursues him with 3000 picked warriors into these lonely fastnesses. Comp. Psa_57:4, written, according to the title, upon the occasion recorded in this chapter.

BENSON, "1 Samuel 24:2. Upon the rocks of the wild goats — Which the wild goats used to delight in and climb over. These same rocks are exceeding steep, and full of precipices, and dangerous to travellers, as an eye-witness hath left upon record. And yet Saul was so transported with rage as to venture himself and his army here, that he might take David, who, as he thought, would judge himself safe, and therefore be secure in such inaccessible places.ELLICOTT, " (2) Three thousand chosen men.—This large and carefully selected force is an indication how thoroughly impressed Saul was with the power of David at this juncture. He, indeed, evidently looked on him as a rival king, who must be met by a numerous and disciplined force.Upon the rocks of the wild goats.—“Ibex rocks,” so called because probably only these ibexes, the chamois of Syria, would find pasturage on them. Some have suggested that this was a proper name. The ibex is still found among the precipitous cliffs in the neighbourhood of Ain-jedy.WHEDON, "2. The rocks of the wild goats — Dr. Robinson thus speaks of his travels in this region: “As we now came in view of the ravine of the Wady Ghar a mountain goat started up and bounded along the face of the rocks on the opposite side. Indeed, we were now in the wilderness of En-gedi, where David and his men lived among ‘the rocks of the wild goats,’ and where the former cut off the skirts of Saul’s robe in a cave. The whole scene is drawn to the life. On all sides the country is full of caverns, which might then serve as lurking places for David and his men, as they do for outlaws at the present day.”LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:2 [ 1 Samuel 24:1] sq. The obstinacy of Saul’s adherence to his bloody plan against David appears in the fact that immediately after his campaign against the Philistines, perhaps even before they were completely

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overthrown, he again sends out spies against David, and sets out with a large body of warriors (3000) in order to seize him. He sees in him a rival king, against whom he must march fully equipped, and whom he must destroy by a superior force of disciplined troops. The ibex-rocks, so called by the people perhaps, because from their steepness and wildness the ibexes or wild-goats could subsist there. See Rob. II:432 [Am. Ed. I:500]. Mountain-goats still abound there. In the hardly accessible gorges and caves Saul with his men sought David and his followers, rightly supposing that the latter, being few in number, would seek to hide in this region so full of hiding-places. There were and are caves there wherein thousands might hide.—The words: The sheepcotes on the way indicate (like the “ibex-rocks”) a well-known locality, which from its fruitfulness in this otherwise waste region served for the abode of flocks. [Thomson saw many sheepfolds at the mouths of caves; they were made by piling stones up in a circle and covering them with thorns.—Tr.]. Saul looks out a cave in the vicinity to cover his feet, that Isaiah, to obey a call of nature, when the Orientals usually cover their feet (the ancient Vss. [except Syr.], Keil, Then.), not: “to sleep” (Mich, Ew. [Syr.]). David and his men abode within or in the back of the cave [ 1 Samuel 24:4 (3)], while Saul was in front not far from the entrance. The description supposes a very large cave, of such as are numerous there. But whether this cave is to be identified (as Van de Velde supposes) with the one near the village Chareitun in the Wady of the same name southwest of the Frank Mountain and north-east of Tekoa (it is a limestone arch with many side-passages and wide dark rear-spaces) is uncertain, inasmuch as the latter on account of its proximity to Tekoa would be reckoned to the wilderness of Tekoa rather than to the wilderness of Engedi, and besides is from fourteen to nineteen miles from Engedi, which does not seem to have been the case with the one here described. [De Saulcy (B. Com.) suggests Bir-el-Mauquouchieh near Wady Hasasa as the place.—Tr.].PETT, "1 Samuel 24:2‘Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.’It was in this barren and desolate area that Saul, with three thousand chosen troops, began his search for David, no doubt traversing the goat tracks on the cliffs at the risk of their lives as they searched the caves. But they discovered nothing. It began to look as though David and his men had moved on.

3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave.15

BARNES, "Remained in the sides - Rather, “were in the sides of the cave dwelling or abiding there.” Some of these caverns are very deep and spacious. Any one near the mouth of the cave would be visible, but those in the recesses would be quite in the dark and invisible, especially if the incident occurred at night. Psa_67:1-7, according to the title, was composed on this occasion.

CLARKE, "The sheep-cotes - Caves in the rocks, in which it is common, even to the present time, for shepherds and their flocks to lodge. According to Strabo there are caverns in Syria, one of which is capable of containing four thousand men: Ὡν ἑν και τετρακισχιλιους ανθρωπους δεξασθαι δυναμενον; lib. xvi. p. 1096. Edit. 1707.

Saul went in to cover his feet - Perhaps this phrase signifies exactly what the Vulgate has rendered it, ut purparet ventrem. The Septuagint, the Targum, and the Arabic understand it in the same way. It is likely that, when he had performed this act of necessity, he lay down to repose himself, and it was while he was asleep that David cut off the skirt of his robe. It is strange that Saul was not aware that there might be men lying in wait in such a place; and the rabbins have invented a most curious conceit to account for Saul’s security: “God, foreseeing that Saul would come to this cave, caused a spider to weave her web over the mouth of it, which, when Saul perceived, he took for granted that no person had lately been there, and consequently he entered it without suspicion.” This may be literally true; and we know that even a spider in the hand of God may be the instrument of a great salvation. This is a Jewish tradition, and one of the most elegant and instructive in their whole collection.David and his men remained in the sides of the cave - This is no hyperbole; we have not only the authority of Strabo as above mentioned, but we have the authority of the most accurate travelers, to attest the fact of the vast capacity of caves in the East.Dr. Pococke observes: “Beyond the valley (of Tekoa) there is a very large grotto, which the Arabs call El Maamah, a hiding place; the high rocks on each side of the valley are almost perpendicular, and the way to the grotto is by a terrace formed in the rock, which is very narrow. There are two entrances into it; we went by the farthest, which leads by a narrow passage into a large grotto, the rock being supported by great natural pillars; the top of it rises in several parts like domes; the grotto is perfectly dry. There is a tradition that the people of the country, to the number of thirty thousand, retired into this grotto to avoid a bad air. This place is so strong that one would imagine it to be one of the strong holds of En-gedi, to which David and his men fled from Saul; and possibly it may be that very cave in which he cut off Saul’s skirt, for David and his men might with great ease lie hid there and not be seen by him.” - Pococke’s Travels, vol. ii., part 1, p. 41.

GILL, "And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave,.... For the sheep to be led into at noon, to shelter them from the heat: such was the cave of Polyphemus, observed by Bochart (z), in which sheep and goats lay down and slept; See Gill on Zep_2:6,

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and Saul went in to cover his feet; the Targum is, to do his necessaries; and so Josephus (a); and the Jewish commentators generally understand it of easing nature; and as the eastern people used to wear long and loose garments, these, when they performed such an action, they used in modesty to gather them close about them, that no part of the body, their feet, and especially the parts of nature which should be concealed, might be seen; but the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "and there he lay" or "slept"; which suggest, that his going into the cave was in order to take some sleep and rest, when it was usual to cover the feet, both to prevent taking cold, and the private parts of the body being exposed to view; and this accounts better for Saul not hearing David's men in the cave, and for his being insensible of David's cuttings off the skirt of his garment, and best agrees with the use of the phrase in Jdg_3:24; the only place besides this in which it is used; See Gill on Jdg_3:24, and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave; unseen and unobserved by Saul, even six hundred of them; nor need this seem strange, since in those parts of the world there were caves exceeding large, made so either by nature or art. Vansleb (b) speaks of a cave in Egypt so extraordinary large, that, without hyperbole, a thousand horses might there draw up in battle array, and of another larger than that; and Strabo says (c), that towards Arabia and Iturea are mountains difficult to be passed, and in which are deep caves, one of which would hold four thousand men: and as the mouths of these caves were generally narrow, and the further parts of them large, and also dark, persons at the entrance of them could be seen, when those in the more remote parts could not; and this cave is said to be extremely dark (d); which accounts for Saul's being seen when he came into the cave, whereas David and his men could not be seen by him.

HENRY, " Providence brings Saul alone into the same cave wherein David and his men had hidden themselves, 1Sa_24:3. In those countries there were very large caves in the sides of the rocks or mountains, partly natural, but probably much enlarged by art for the sheltering of sheep from the heat of the sun; hence we read of places where the flocks did rest at noon (Son_1:7), and this cave seems to be spoken of as one of the sheep-cotes. In the sides of this cave David and his men remained, perhaps not all his men, the whole 600, but only some few of his particular friends, the rest being disposed of in similar retirements. Saul, passing by, turned in himself alone, not in search of David (for, supposing him to be an aspiring ambitious man, he thought to find him rather climbing with the wild goats upon the rocks than retiring with the sheep into a cave), but thither he turned aside to cover his feet, that is, to sleep awhile, it being a cool and quiet place, and very refreshing in the heat of the day; probably he ordered his attendants to march before, reserving only a very few to wait for him at the mouth of the cave. Some by the covering of the feet understand the easing of nature, and think that this was Saul's errand into the cave: but the former interpretation is more probable.

JAMISON, "he came to the sheepcotes — most probably in the upper ridge of Wady Chareitun. There a large cave - I am quite disposed to say the cave - lies hardly five minutes to the east of the village ruin, on the south side of the wady. It is high upon the side of the calcareous rock, and it has undergone no change since David’s time. The same narrow natural vaulting at the entrance; the same huge natural chamber in the rock, probably the place where Saul lay down to rest in the heat of the day; the same side vaults, too, where David and his men were concealed. There, accustomed to the

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obscurity of the cavern, they saw Saul enter, while, blinded by the glare of the light outside, he saw nothing of him whom he so bitterly persecuted.K&D, "When Saul came to the sheep-folds by the way, where there was a cave, he

entered it to cover his feet, whilst David and his men sat behind in the cave. V. de Velde (R. ii. p. 74) supposes the place, where the sheep-folds by the roadside were, to have been the Wady Chareitun, on the south-west of the Frank mountain, and to the north-east of Tekoah, a very desolate and inaccessible valley. “Rocky, precipitous walls, which rise up one above another for many hundred feet, form the sides of this defile. Stone upon stone, and cliff above cliff, without any sign of being habitable, or of being capable of affording even a halting-place to anything but wild goats.” Near the ruins of the village of Chareitun, hardly five minutes' walk to the east, there is a large cave or chamber in the rock, with a very narrow entrance entirely concealed by stones, and with many side vaults in which the deepest darkness reigns, at least to any one who has just entered the limestone vaults from the dazzling light of day. It may be argued in favour of the conjecture that this is the cave which Saul entered, and at the back of which David and his men were concealed, that this cave is on the road from Bethlehem to Ain-jidy, and one of the largest caves in that district, if not the largest of all, and that, according to Pococke (Beschr. des Morgenl. ii. p. 61), the Franks call it a labyrinth, the Arabs Elmaama, i.e., hiding-place, whilst the latter relate how at one time thirty thousand people hid themselves in it “to escape an evil wind,” in all probability the simoom. The only difficulty connected with this supposition is the distance from Ain-jidy, namely about four or five German miles (fifteen or twenty English), and the nearness of Tekoah, according to which it belongs to the desert of Tekoah rather than to that of Engedi. “To cover his feet” is a euphemism according to most of the ancient versions, as in Jdg_3:24, for performing the necessities of nature, as it is a custom in the East to cover the feet. It does not mean “to sleep,” as it is rendered in this passage in the Peschito, and also by Michaelis and others; for although what follows may seem to favour this, there is apparently no reason why any such euphemistic expression should have been chosen for sleep. “The sides of the cave:” i.e., the outermost or farthest sides.BENSON, "1 Samuel 24:3. Where was a cave — This cave being near the highway, and in the most frequented place of the wilderness, namely, near the sheep-cotes, to which the shepherds and herdsmen resorted to feed and milk their flocks, it is likely David made choice of it as being a place most unlikely to be suspected. Or, perhaps, he was pressed so near by Saul that he had no other way of escaping. That his distress and danger were very great, may be gathered from the 57th and 142d Psalms, which, it is supposed, he composed in commemoration of his deliverance. Saul went in to cover his feet — To take some rest in sleep. Being a military man, it is probable he used to sleep with his soldiers upon the ground. And it is not improbable that, being weary with his eager and almost incessant pursuit, first of David, then of the Philistines, and now of David again, he both needed and desired some sleep; God also disposing him thereto, that David might have this eminent occasion to demonstrate his integrity to Saul, and to all Israel. In the sides of the cave — For that there were vast caves in those parts is affirmed, not only by Josephus, but also by heathen authors; Strabo writes of one which could receive four thousand men.

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ELLICOTT, " (3) The sheepcotes.—Thomson (The Land and the Book) saw, he says, hundreds of these sheepcotes around the mouth of the caves, of which there are so many in Palestine. In that land and among these Eastern peoples, whose customs change so little, they are as common now as they were then. “These sheepcotes are generally made by piling up loose stones in front of the cave’s entrance in a circular wall, which is covered with thorns as a further protection against thieves and wild animals who would prey on the sheep. During cold storms and in the night the flocks retreat into the cave, but at other times they remain in the enclosed cote. . . . These caverns are as dark as midnight, and the keenest eye cannot see four paces inward; but one who has been long within, and looking outward toward the entrance, can observe with perfect distinctness all that takes place in that direction. David, therefore, could watch Saul as he came in . . . but Saul could see nothing but impenetrable darkness.”From this thorny fence, so universal in the countless sheepcotes of Palestine, was very possibly derived a quaint simile in the strange passage on “Death” in the Talmud:—“The hardest of all deaths is by a disease (some suppose quinsey), which is like the forcible extraction of prickly thorns from wool. . . . The easiest of all deaths is the Divine kiss, which is like the extracting of hair from milk. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam died by this Divine kiss.”—Treatise Berachoth, fol. 8, col.1.Where was a cave.—The well-known traveller Van de Velde wishes to identify the cave in question with an immense cavern in a rock with many side vaults, near the ruins of Chareitum; the difficulty is, however, that this vast cavern is fifteen or twenty miles from Ain-jedy. In this cave all David’s band could well have been gathered: not only his 600 fighting men, but the camp followers and women also. In Pocock we read that the Arabs call this cavern Elmaama (hiding-place), and relate how on one occasion thirty thousand people hid themselves in it to escape an evil wind (the simoom). It is, however, quite possible that the incident about to be related, connected with Saul and David, took place in one of the much smaller caves close to En-gedi. It is not necessary to assume that all David’s band were with him in one cave. A hundred or so of his more special companions were probably with him on this occasion, the remainder of the little army being dispersed in other similar refuges in the immediate neighbourhood.And Saul went in to cover his feet.—The meaning of this disputed passage is quite simple. Saul, fatigued with the morning’s march, some time about midday withdrew—probably with a very few attendants composing his personal staff—to take a short siesta, or sleep, in one of those dark, silent caves on the hill-side, which offered a cool resting-place after the glare and heat of a long and fatiguing march along the precipitous paths of the region. He lay down, no doubt, near the cave’s mouth, and one of his faithful attendants threw lightly over the king’s feet the royal many coloured mantle (m’il). The king and his attendants little suspected that in the

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dark recesses of their midday resting-place were concealed the dreaded freebooter and a great company of his devoted armed followers. As explained in the Note above, in these great rock recesses, coming from outside, from the glare of daylight, not five paces forward can be seen, but those already inside, and accustomed to the darkness, can, at a considerable distance within the cave, see distinctly all that takes place in the neighbourhood of the cavern mouth. The sharp eyes of David’s sentinels, no doubt, far in the cave, quickly saw the little party of intruders. The tall form of the king, his jewelled armour, and perhaps his many-coloured brightly-tinted cloak, betrayed to the amazed watchmen of David the rank of the wearied sleeper.This interpretation of the words. “Saul went in to cover his feet”—namely, “to sleep”—is adopted by the Peshito Syriac Version, Michaelis, and of late, very positively, Ewald. The ordinary interpretation of the words, besides being an unusual statement, by no means suits the narrative; for it must be remembered that considerable time was necessary for the sentinel to inform David, and for David to have approached and cut off the hem of the royal garment, and again to have retired into the recesses of the cave.In the sides of the cave.—That is, in the side vaults and passages which exist in the largest of these natural refuges.

PULPIT, "He came to the sheepcotes. Rather, "to sheepcotes," there being no article in the Hebrew. Such sheepcotes were common in Palestine; for Thomson says, "I have seen hundreds of these sheepcotes around the mouth of caverns, and indeed there is scarcely a cave in the land, whose location will admit of being thus occupied (i.e. by the flocks), but has such a "cote" in front of it, generally made by piling up loose stones into a circular wall, which is covered with thorns, as a further protection against robbers and wild beasts. During cold storms, and in the night, the flocks retreat into the cave, but at other times they remain in this enclosed cote .... These caverns are as dark as midnight, and the keenest eye cannot see five paces inward; but one who has been long within, and is looking outward toward the entrance, can observe with perfect distinctness all that takes place in that direction. David, therefore, could watch Saul as he came in, and notice the exact place where he "covered his feet," while Saul could see nothing but "impenetrable darkness." To cover his feet. The Syriac understands this of sleeping; more correctly the Vulgate and Chaldee take it as in Jdg_3:24, margin.

WHEDON, " 3. The sheepcotes by the way — Not caves in the rocks, but enclosures built by the shepherds in the valley for the purpose of protecting their flocks. These sheep perhaps belonged to Nabal. Compare 1 Samuel 25:7.To cover his feet — Not to lie down for sleep, for that idea could have been expressed more simply, but a euphemism for performing the necessities of nature, which was done in a sitting posture, the person covering himself with the folds of his garment. Compare Judges 3:24.

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In the sides of the cave — The note on 1 Samuel 22:1, on the cave of Adullam, shows that these mountain caverns afforded sufficient room for all the facts here mentioned.COFFMAN, ""There was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself" (1 Samuel 24:3), literally, " ... to cover his feet." The last clause here should be understood in the same sense as Judges 3:24. The expression is a euphemism for "using the bathroom," or "going to a restroom."There was a cave! Indeed there was. Literally hundreds of caves are in that area. However, there was a special cave at Engedi, so large that the Franks called it a labyrinth. The Arabs called it "A Hiding Place," and report that at one time 30,000 people hid themselves in it. The entrance to that cave was very inconspicuous, giving no hint whatever of the size of the interior. Keil, who gave us this information, also stated that, "It is an arguable conjecture that this was the very cave which Saul entered."[6]COKE, "1 Samuel 24:3. Saul went in to cover his feet— See Judges 3:24 and Ruth 3:4. Several commentators suppose, that this expression imports one of the necessities of nature; but one can hardly believe that in this case there would have been sufficient time either for the conversation between David and his men, or for the cutting off the robe. We are told by Dr. Pococke, that some of the caves in Palestine are exceedingly large; and that he himself visited one in which David and his men might have been hid, and not be seen by Saul; and hence he conjectures, that this is one of the strong-holds of En-gedi, and possibly the same with that mentioned by the sacred writer. See his Description of the East, vol. 2: part 1 and Psalms 142. HAWKER, "(3) And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.Covering his feet, in these hot countries, most probably means sleep, (though some have thought another relief of nature). No doubt a sleep from the Lord, in order to deliver his servant from his hand. If the Reader, while he reads this chapter, will consult Ps 57, he will perceive what a very precious moment in the life of David this was. David wrote that Psalm, concerning this very period. I do not say that he in the same moment did it. But what then passed in his mind, at that period, was what he afterwards committed to writing. So that he might be said to have composed it when he had enough to have discomposed his mind, and no doubt but for God's presence and grace, would have been discomposed indeed. It was very properly called Michtam of David, meaning golden, precious words of David, for nothing can be more so. But I refer the Reader to it. And he will there discover how a full and an entire confidence in the Lord, bore him up to do as he did. This Engedi was in the wilderness, a barren rocky place. Yet even here, Saul's jealousy and rage could not

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allow David to live peaceably.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:3‘And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave, and Saul went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.’Coming to a group of caves at ground level which had clearly been used by shepherds as sheepcotes Saul reckoned it was safe to enter one in order to relieve himself. As king he seems to have felt that it was below his dignity to perform this function in front of his men. But what he did not know was that he had actually chosen the very cave where David was in hiding with some of his men. These caves were very large with many recesses and side passages, and were pitch black to any who entered them from the sunlight, although once men had been in them a few hours and had become attuned to the darkness, and were looking towards the mouth of the cave, they could see more clearly. Thus Saul would have been able to see nothing, while the men in the cave, of whom he was unaware, were very much aware of his presence.

GUZIK, "(1Sa_24:3) Without knowing, Saul comes to a cave where David and his men are hiding.So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.)

a. The sheepfolds indicates that this was a large cave, large enough to shelter a flock of sheep, so all or most of David’s 600 men could be hidden in the recesses of the cave.b. Saul went in to attend to his needs: Since the Bible is a real book, dealing with real people, living real lives, we aren’t surprised to see it describing Saul’s attention to his personal needs. But something as basic and common as that was timed and arranged by God, without Saul having any knowledge of God’s timing or arrangement of things.

i. The fact that Saul went in to attend to his needs also meant that he would come into the cave alone. His soldiers and bodyguards would be out of the cave waiting for him.c. David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave: What are the chances? Saul must attend to his personal needs at the very moment he passes by the very cave where David hides. This was no coincidence, but arranged by God to test David, to train David, and display the godly heart of David.

BI 3-22, "Where was a cave and Saul went in . . . and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.

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Saul and David in the caveSaul’s animosity is a fire that finds constant fuel. No sooner are the Philistines repulsed than he resumes his hunt for his prey. That Saul should know so well where to look for David seems to imply that traitors were among the wanderer’s followers. Misinterpreted providence refused in wisdom. Saul’s unexpected appearance thus unguarded would appear to David’s men as decidedly a providence. Calling to mind the meaning of the Divine anointing and the promise that David should come to the throne of Israel, they whisper, “Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee” (1Sa_24:4). If Psa_7:1-17belongs to this period, we see how great the conflict with self before this temptation. The history furnishes us with much light concerning David.

1. His tenderness of conscience is noticeable. His heart smote him for thus doubting God and stooping to dishonour His anointed king (verse 5).2. His conscious integrity adds force to his words. How tenderly he pleads with Saul (verse 9). How tremulous with righteousness are his words (verse 11).3. What dignity there is in truth l and withal his humility must be noticed. (verse 14). It was as if he had said, “I shall not antedate the promise. God has said He will bring me to the throne. I shall wait.” (verse 15). Such a time was filled with tests—a sudden opportunity to reach the desire of the heart, and an appeal to passion in the name of religion. He stood the strain. He lost not his self-command. Nearly all our falls come from trying to go before God! (H. E. Stone.)

David sparing his enemyThis scene is an episode in the life of David, whom God had chosen to succeed Saul as the king of Israel.

1. The cave. In all limestone countries such caves are common, and many of them are large enough to conceal armies. The Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and Weyer’s Cave in Virginia are large enough to shelter a hundred thousand men. Bruce’s Cave in Scotland is still shown to tourists, and history tells how Mohammed once saved his life by running into one of these mountain caves. But in this cave at Engedi we have the marvellous escape of Saul as an act of gracious forbearance on the part of David.2. The meeting. In the solitude, of that cave, by the mysterious providence of God, are these two men, Saul and David. Saul hated David as Haman hated Mordecai, or as Herod hated Jesus when the wise men told him that a King was born in Bethlehem.3. David restrained. It must have been a great provocation to stand there and see his inveterate enemy ungird his mantle and compose himself to sleep. But David was a man of war, brave as the lion. He was made of nobler stuff than assassins are made of. He was too much of a man to kill a king when asleep, as Richard hired men to kill the princes of England that he might ascend the throne.4. The final appeal. “But I say unto you, love your enemies.” We would hardly expect to find a fulfilment of such a sentiment in that rude age of the world.

Lessons:—1. Sin hardens. Sin puts a man in antagonism to God, makes him hate the rule of

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God, and makes him ignore and despise the mercy of God, and at last brings him to confront the unmitigated vengeance of God.2. The subduing and restraining power of God’s grace. (T. W. Hooper, D. D.)

David sparing his enemyDavid illustrates the peacemaker.I. In his forbearance. Those were times of quick and savage deed. Human life was cheap. Tender sensibilities had slight leave among a people, every one of whom wore his sword on thigh, ready, on occasion, to pierce with it the heart of an offender. The spirit of the age demanded speedy redress of injury or insult. And here was one who, above all others, had, signalized himself as gifted with courage and strength in conflict. The wrongs we have suffered do rankle mightily, till an unearthly nature has been created within us. To “forgive, but not forget,” is the veriest empty form of words. Philip of Burgundy, being entreated to punish a prelate who had injured him, may seem to have given a holy rule in his reply, “It is a fine thing to have revenge in one’s power, but it is a finer thing not to use it.” And a finer yet, is it not, to have no spirit of resentment burning within, however it may be reprised? Another characteristic of the peacemaker which gave David a right to the title was:II. His conscientiousness. Though he would not harm his foe in the least, yet he did think best to obtain proof that he could have slain him if he would. We commend his prudence. But no sooner had the rent been made in the royal mantle than “his heart smote him.” He had lifted his hand against his fellow; if not to cut off his head, at least somewhat his dignity. The Rabbis declare that he expiated this sin in his old age, by finding no warmth in the clothes wherewith he wrapped himself. He opened his inmost heart to his murmuring associates, and we are surprised that this bronzed soldier betrays the finer sentiments of humanity. The beating of a reverent, loving heart, seeking over to he cleansed from secret faults, is felt through all this story of trial. As the string of the piano vibrates when its kindred note is sounded by other instrument or voice, so does this brief protest of a conscience, ages since, stir the reader’s in quick unison, as we learn that the standards of right and wrong are eternal. The peacemaker like David is—III. Loyal to rulers. Saul had been sought out by the aged prophet, and the vial of oil had been poured upon his head. Henceforth he was a representative of Jehovah. Affront, disobedience, disrespect shown to him, was dishonour to God as well. Let him betray his trust; let him, like the stork in the fable, eat up his subjects; let him be a Herod, a Nero, a Charles, an Ashantee chief, an Alexander IV; still, the authority of his office, when once he holds it, is sacred, and must be maintained. So David reasoned, and would not for a moment think of retaliation. What a lesson of self-control and chivalrous devotion was that to the impatient, hating victims of oppression in every age! God’s time and God’s way may best be waited for. The chief attribute at the peacemaker David was—IV. Simple trust in God. In this instance, as before and afterwards, we find him, in full view of danger, committing his ease to the Lord, whom he prayed to “judge between me and thee, and plead my cause and deliver me out of thine hand.” Such confidence is a sublime reality. (Monday Club Sermons.)

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4 The men said, "This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.' " Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

BARNES, "The day of which the Lord said ... - This was the version by David’s men of such divine predictions as 1Sa_15:28; 1Sa_16:1, 1Sa_16:12. Jonathan’s words 1Sa_20:15; 1Sa_23:17 show clearly that these predictions were known.

CLARKE, "And the men of David said - We know not to what promise of God the men of David refer; they perhaps meant no more than to say,

“Behold, the Lord hath delivered thine enemy into thy land, now do to him as he wishes to do to thee.”Then David arose - Though I have a high opinion of the character of David, yet the circumstances of the case seem to indicate that he arose to take away the life of Saul, and that it was in reference to this that his heart smote him. It appears that he rose up immediately at the desire of his men to slay his inveterate enemy, and one whom he knew the Lord had rejected; but when about to do it he was prevented by the remonstrance of God in his conscience, and instead of cutting off his head, as he might have done, an act which the laws and usages of war would have justified, he contented himself with cutting off the skirt of his robe; and he did this only to show Saul how much he had been in his power.

GILL, "And the men of David said unto him,.... Some of his principal men, who were about him, and near him, such as Joab and Abishai: behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee: now the time was come that he spoke of to him by Samuel, or Gad, or to himself directly: behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand; and such was Saul, as appeared by his seeking to take away his life; and now he was in the hand of David to

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take away his life, if he pleased: that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee; an opportunity of this kind now offered: then David arose; from that part of the cave in which he was, the further part of it: and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily; unawares to him, and unobserved by him, which might be easily done, if Saul was asleep, and it is probable he was; and by the same way it may be accounted for that he did not hear the discourse that passed between David and his men.

HENRY, "David's servants stir him up to kill Saul now that he has so fair an opportunity to do it, 1Sa_24:4. They reminded him that this was the day which he had long looked for, and of which God had spoken to him in general when he was anointed to the kingdom, which should put a period to his troubles and open the passage to his advancement. Saul now lay at his mercy, and it was easy to imagine how little mercy he would find with Saul and therefore what little reason he had to show mercy to him. “By all means” (say his servants) “give him the fatal blow now.” See how apt we are to misunderstand, 1. The promises of God. God had assured David that he would deliver him from Saul, and his men interpret this as a warrant to destroy Saul. 2. The providences of God. Because it was now in his power to kill him, they concluded he might lawfully do it.

JAMISON 4-7, "the men of David said ... Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand — God had never made any promise of delivering Saul into David’s hand; but, from the general and repeated promises of the kingdom to him, they concluded that the king’s death was to be effected by taking advantage of some such opportunity as the present. David steadily opposed the urgent instigations of his followers to put an end to his and their troubles by the death of their persecutor (a revengeful heart would have followed their advice, but David rather wished to overcome evil with good, and heap coals of fire upon his head); he, however, cut off a fragment from the skirt of the royal robe. It is easy to imagine how this dialogue could be carried on and David’s approach to the king’s person could have been effected without arousing suspicion. The bustle and noise of Saul’s military men and their beasts, the number of cells or divisions in these immense caverns (and some of them far interior) being enveloped in darkness, while every movement could be seen at the cave’s mouth - the probability that the garment David cut from might have been a loose or upper cloak lying on the ground, and that Saul might have been asleep - these facts and presumptions will be sufficient to account for the incidents detailed.

K&D, "Then David's men said to him, “See, this is the day of which Jehovah hath said to thee, Behold, I give thine enemy into thy hand, and do to him what seemeth good to thee.” Although these words might refer to some divine oracle which David had received through a prophet, Gad for example, what follows clearly shows that David had received no such oracle; and the meaning of his men was simply this, “Behold, to-day is the day when God is saying to thee:” that is to say, the speakers regarded the leadings of providence by which Saul had been brought into David's power as a divine intimation to

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David himself to take this opportunity of slaying his deadly enemy, and called this intimation a word of Jehovah. David then rose, up, and cut off the edge of Saul's cloak privily. Saul had probably laid the meil on one side, which rendered it possible for David to cut off a piece of it unobserved.PULPIT, "1Sa_24:4, 1Sa_24:5Behold the day of which Jehovah said unto thee, etc. David’s men regard this deliverance of Saul into their band as providential, and the fulfilment of the promises made in David’s favour, with which, no doubt, they were well acquainted. But with a noble self-control he refuses to take the matter into his own hand, and leaves unto God in trusting faith the execution of his purposes. To prove, nevertheless, to Saul his innocence, to soften his bitterness, and refute the suspicion that he was lying in wait to murder him, he cuts off the corner—Hebrew, wing—of his meil (see 1Sa_2:19). Even for this his heart smote him. So tender was his conscience that he condemned himself for even deviating so slightly from the respect due to the anointed king.

BENSON, "1 Samuel 24:4. The men of David said unto him, &c. — The cave being very large, and David and his men at the further end of it, they might see Saul by the light of the entrance, without his seeing them, and might whisper together what follows without being heard. The Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver, &c. — We do not read anywhere that God said these very words, or made a promise to deliver Saul into David’s hands. But they put this construction on what Samuel had said about taking the kingdom from Saul and giving it to David, and on those promises which God had made to him of delivering him from all his enemies, and carrying him through all difficulties to the throne. These promises, they conceived, laid him under an obligation of taking all opportunities which God put into his hands for their accomplishment. Add to this, that, having a desire to return to their own habitations, and also to have preferment under David, they wished him to seize this occasion which now presented itself of destroying his enemy, and advancing himself. Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily — Which he might easily do, as he was asleep.ELLICOTT, " (4) Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee.—This was the version by David’s men of such predictions as 1 Samuel 15:28; 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Samuel 16:12. Jonathan’s words (1 Samuel 20:15; 1 Samuel 23:17) show clearly that these predictions were known; and the version of them here given was a very natural one in the mouth of David’s men (Speaker’s Commentary). It is, however, quite possible that a prophet such as Gad had predicted publicly, in the hearing of David’s band of followers, that the days would come when their now outlawed captain, the son of Jesse, the “Anointed of Jehovah”—all his enemies being overthrown—would reign in peace and glory over all the land.Then David arose.—For a moment the “king to be” listened to the seductive voice of the tempter; and we may imagine him, with the sword of Goliath naked in his hand, advancing towards his unconscious adversary, sleeping in the cave’s mouth,

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resolved with one good blow to end the long, cruel war, and then, his great rival being gone, to seat himself at once on the empty throne which he knew the Eternal meant him one day to occupy—but only for a moment; for through the soul of David rapidly passed the thought that the helpless sleeping one was, after all, the “Anointed of Jehovah.” How could he, himself “an anointed king,” touch another of the same order to do him harm? So with a matchless generosity, unequalled, indeed, in those rough days, he spared the man who so ruthlessly and so often had sought his life, and even at that moment, with all the power of the land, was trying to do him to death; and David the outlaw bent over the sleeping king who hated him with so deep a hate, and deftly cut off the skirt, perhaps some of the golden fringe which edged the royal m’il, and as he bent over him, and saw once more the face of Saul—from whose brow so often his minstrelsy had chased the dark clouds of madness—we can fancy the son of Jesse once more loving the great hero of his boyhood: loving him as he did in the old days when he played in the king’s dark hours.There is no doubt but that one of the most beautiful characteristics of David’s many-sided nature, was this enduring loyalty to Saul and to Saul’s house. No jealousy, or even bitter injuries done in after years could affect the old love, the old feeling of loyal reverence, the more than filial affection; it was even proof against time. Years after Saul was in his grave. David gave the most conspicuous proof of his faithful memory of his old, devoted friendship for Saul and his house, when he pardoned Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul, for his more than suspected treason, in the matter of the revolt of Absalom, and restored to him a large portion of his forfeited lands (2 Samuel 19:24-29).K&D, 1Sa_24:4

Then David's men said to him, “See, this is the day of which Jehovah hath said to thee, Behold, I give thine enemy into thy hand, and do to him what seemeth good to thee.” Although these words might refer to some divine oracle which David had received through a prophet, Gad for example, what follows clearly shows that David had received no such oracle; and the meaning of his men was simply this, “Behold, to-day is the day when God is saying to thee:” that is to say, the speakers regarded the leadings of providence by which Saul had been brought into David's power as a divine intimation to David himself to take this opportunity of slaying his deadly enemy, and called this intimation a word of Jehovah. David then rose, up, and cut off the edge of Saul's cloak privily. Saul had probably laid the meil on one side, which rendered it possible for David to cut off a piece of it unobserved.

WHEDON, " 4. Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee — We have no mention elsewhere of any such oracle as this, though David may have received it through Gad or Abiathar. But probably we should understand it as a free construction by David’s friends of all such prophecies and events as had designated this son of Jesse for the throne of Israel. 1 Samuel 15:28; 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Samuel 16:12; 1 Samuel 20:15; 1 Samuel 23:17.

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The skirt of Saul’s robe — A corner or flap of his outer garment. This garment Saul had probably laid off when he entered the cave, and so David was able the more easily to cut a piece from it unobserved by the king.COFFMAN, ""Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, `Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand.'" (1 Samuel 24:4). Part of what the men quoted the Lord as saying to David here is not found in the Bible. There is a warning in this that some "providences" are really not that at all. Jonah's finding the ship to Tarshish ready to sail is another example."David cut off the skirt of Saul's robe" (1 Samuel 24:4). Both Young and Keil expressed the opinion that, upon his entry into the cave, Saul laid his robe aside, making it quite easy for David to cut off part of it completely unobserved by Saul. The darkness of such a cave would also have been a factor in this action.HAWKER, "Verses 4-7(4) And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. (5) And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. (6) And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD. (7) So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.The Lord had given David many precious promises, that he would be with him to deliver him at all times. And the Lord had done so. Indeed the anointing him to the throne, implied all this. But there was no one promise of a particular day when the Lord would deliver Saul into his hand. Therefore this was a temptation of the enemy. And it is plain that afterwards David saw it in this point of view, when his heart smote him for only having cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. But Reader, when you have paid all due attention to this example of David, in the forbearance of resentment for injuries received, (for it is a very sweet one, and may serve to show us that true believers in Christ cannot take the government even of their own wrongs into their own hand, for they are themselves the Lord's property, and the Lord's care;) when I say, you have paid all due respect to this view of the subject, turn your thoughts to one infinitely higher, and in the person of David's Lord on the cross, see how Jesus, in his unequalled forbearance, prayed for mercy on his murderers; and no doubt, from these prayers of Jesus, several of those who crucified the Lord of life and glory, were afterwards made the happy partakers of redemption in his blood. Think, Reader, of the manifold wisdom of God in this, and behold how that prayer was literally fulfilled, though in a way the very reverse in which it was uttered; when they said, his blood be upon us and upon our children.

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Compare Matthew 27:25, with Acts 2:23; Act_2:37-41.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:4‘And the men of David said to him, “Look, the day of which YHWH said to you, “Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you will do to him as it will seem good to you.” Then David arose, and cut off the hem of Saul’s robe secretly.’Recognising that the person who had entered the cave was an unguarded Saul David may well have turned to his men in the recesses of the cave and explained the situation, with the result that they came to him in the pitch blackness and whispered triumphantly in his ears that YHWH had delivered Saul into David’s hands, ‘as He said to you’.Their words they cited were, ‘“Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you will do to him as it will seem good to you.” We have no record of these words but it is quite possible here that they had in mind some unrecorded Psalm that David had regularly sung to them in anticipation of some such event as he sought to keep up their spirits. It may possibly even have been based on a prophecy spoken by Samuel or Gad. Alternately it might simply have been their own interpretation of something that David had sung, suitably adapted by them, especially in the last part, so as to say what they themselves felt. The words certainly to some extent reflect similar ideas found in his recorded Psalms where deliverance from his enemies and his vindication over them are predicted, and his men may well in a general way have applied the wording in Judges 16:24 to them (‘our God has delivered into our hand our enemy’). See, for example, Psalms 25:2-3; Psalms 25:19-20; Psalms 31:15; Psalms 54:7; Psalms 59:10; Exodus 23:22 for fairly parallel ideas.David then appears to have crept over to where Saul was in the pitch darkness and have cut part of the hem, or possibly a tassel, off Saul’s robe. It may be that Saul had laid the robe aside while he was relieving himself, or it may have been that David did it extremely carefully so that Saul was unaware that it was happening. If Saul did feel anything he may simply have thought that his robe had momentarily caught on a rock. We must remember that he did not suspect that anyone was in the cave, and that from his point of view it was pitch black. (In so short a time he would not have had time to accommodate his vision to the darkness in the cave).As we have seen earlier there are indications that the hem of the robe was seen as of some significance. In the case of the king he would have a hem connected with the royal authority of the wearer so that such an act may well have been intended specifically to contribute towards the downfall of his kingdom by a kind of prophetic ‘magic’, as well as it acting to remind Saul and his men that he was rejected by God (compare 1 Samuel 15:26-28; 1 Kings 11:29-30). This would explain why David felt so guilty about it afterwards.

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GUZIK, "(1Sa_24:4-7) David restrains himself and his men from killing Saul.Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ “ And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. And he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.” So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.

a. The men of David said to him: David’s men were excited at the opportunity in front of them, and believed it was all a gift from God. They knew it was no coincidence that Saul came alone into that cave at that moment. So, they thought this was an opportunity from God to kill Saul.i. Apparently, on some previous occasion, God had promised David: Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may to do him as it seems good to you. They believed that this was the fulfillment of the promise, and that David needed to seize the promise by faith and by the sword!

b. David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe: We can imagine David listening to this counsel from his men, and with his sword, creeping quickly towards Saul, covered by the darkness of the cave. David’s men are excited; their lives as fugitives are about to end, and they will soon be installed as friends and associates of the new King of Israel. But as David came close to Saul, and put forth his sword, he didn’t bring it crashing down on Saul’s neck or thrust it through his back. Instead, he secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.i. Some wonder how David could have done this without being detected. Saul may have laid his robe down in one part of the cave, and attended to his needs in another part, so David did not have to get right next to Saul to cut off a corner of his robe. Or, it may also be that there was enough noise and commotion from the thousands of men outside of the cave, along with their horses, so that David was simply undetectable.ii. What made David decide, “I won’t kill Saul; instead I will just cut off the corner of his robe”? He knew that God’s promise said, “You will inherit the throne of Israel.” He knew that Saul was in the way of that promise. But he also knew it was disobedient of him to kill Saul, because God put Saul in a position of authority, and it was God’s job to take care of Saul, not David’s. David wanted the promise to be fulfilled, but he refused to try and fulfill God’s promise through his own disobedience.iii. Sometimes, when we have a promise from God, we think we are justified in sinning to pursue that promise. This is always wrong. A husband may say, “God has promised me abundant life according to Joh_10:10. God wants me to have fullness of joy according to Psa_16:11. I can’t have abundant life or fullness of joy being married to my wife, so I am going to leave her because I have found someone who does give me fullness of joy and abundant life. Thank you LORD for Your promise!” This is always sin. God will fulfill His

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promises, but He will do it His way, and do it righteously. Instead, we need to be like Abraham, who obeyed God even when it seemed to be at the expense of God’s promise, willing to sacrifice the son of promise (Gen_22:1-24). Even more, we need to be like Jesus, who didn’t take Satan’s offer to “win back the world” at the expense of obedience (Luk_4:5-8).iv. Many people in David’s situation would find many excuses to justify killing Saul. Think of what one might say: “It was self-defense, because Saul was out to kill me.” “It’s all right, because God promised me the throne anyway.” “It’s all right because I am in the right, and even Jonathan knows that I deserve the throne.” “This is a God-given opportunity and I should take it.” Or even, “I’m just so tired of running and fighting Saul. This can end all of that now.” But David refused to make any such excuses, and had a radical, obedient trust in God instead. David couldn’t have read the Book of Romans yet, but he knew its truth better than many who have: Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rom_12:21).v. In all this, we see that David knew not only how wait on the LORD, but he also knew how to wait for the LORD. “We wait on the Lord by prayer and supplication, looking for the indication of his will; we wait for the Lord by patience and submission, looking for the interposition of his hand.” (Meyer) David was determined that when he sat on the throne of Israel, it wouldn’t be because he got Saul out of the way, but because God got Saul out of the way. He wanted God’s fingerprints on that work, not his own, and he wanted the clean conscience that comes from knowing it was God’s work.vi. In all this, we also see that David’s heart didn’t store up bitterness and anger towards Saul. Even as Saul made David’s life completely miserable, David kept taking it to the LORD, and he received the cleansing from the hurt and the bitterness and the anger that the LORD can give. If David had stored up bitterness and anger towards Saul, he probably wouldn’t have been able to resist the temptation to kill him at what seemed to be a “risk free” opportunity.vii. “We win most when we appear to have yielded most, and gain advantages by refusing to take them wrongfully. The man who can wait for God is a man of power.” (Meyer)

c. David’s heart troubled him: What a tender conscience in David! Many would only be troubled that they did not take the opportunity to kill Saul. David only cut off the corner of Saul’s robe, yet his heart troubled him. Why? Because the robe was a symbol of Saul’s royal authority, and David felt bad -rightly so, according to the heart of God - that he had done anything against Saul’s God appointed authority.i. David expresses this when he said, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed . . . seeing he is the anointed of the LORD. David knew better than anyone that Saul was a troubled and corrupt leader, yet it was in God’s power to take him away - and David would not put his hand to do what was only the LORD’s to do.ii. “It was a trifling matter, and yet it seemed dishonouring to God’s anointed king; and as such it hurt David to have done it. We sometimes in

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conversation and criticism cut off a piece of a man’s character, or influence for good, or standing in the esteem of others. Ought not our heart to smite us for such thoughtless conduct? Ought we not to make confession and reparation?” (Meyer)iii. “Beemasters tell us that those are the best hives that make the greatest noise; so is that the best conscience that checketh for smallest sins.” (Trapp)

d. So David restrained his servants with these words: David not only kept himself from taking vengeance upon Saul, he restrained his servantsalso. Many men, in the same situation, would say, “Well, I won’t kill Saul now. But if one of my servants does, what can I do?” and therefore leave the door wide open for Saul to be killed. But David wouldn’t do that, and he restrained his servants.i. With these words: What words? The words of a humble, tender conscience before God. The words of a man who was convicted at merely cutting off a corner of Saul’s robe. When David’s servants saw how godly David was, and how much he wanted to please God in everything, their hearts were restrained from doing any evil against Saul.

SIMEON, "DAVID’S FORBEARANCE TOWARDS SAUL1 Samuel 24:4-6. And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily. And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt. And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.KNOWING what we do of the depravity of human nature, we should scarcely conceive that men could attain to such heights of virtue as are recorded in the Holy Scriptures, if we did not know that those records are of divine authority. This observation is verified in the history of Abraham, of Moses, and of David also, who, though a very faulty character in some respects, was in other respects a star of the first magnitude. We are called on the present occasion to notice his conduct towards Saul; and to consider him under a three-fold relation;I. As a subject towards his prince—[Never had man more just occasion to withstand his prince than he: the inveteracy with which Saul laboured to destroy him was incessant [Note: See the three preceding chapters.] — — —Yet how did David act towards him? God had now placed Saul within his power; (for Saul lay down to sleep in a cave where David and his men were concealed:) but David would not touch him: yea, though importuned by his own men, and urged to consider Saul’s exposed situation as an indication of

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the divine pleasure, he not only would not smite Saul with his own hand, but would not suffer any one else to smite him: and even when, for the fuller discovery of his own innocence, he had cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe, his conscience smote him as having offered an indignity to his sovereign: so tenderly did he regard not only the life, but the honour also, of his prince.In this he was a pattern to all succeeding ages: for though the different governments of the world give different degrees of power to the supreme magistrate, and of liberty to the subjects, yet in every country under heaven must the magistrate be considered as God’s representative on earth, and must be “obeyed, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake [Note: Romans 13:1-2; Romans 13:5.]” — — — Under circumstances of an unfavourable nature, there should be a readiness in us to palliate, rather than to expose and aggravate, his misconduct; and a willingness rather to submit to evils, than by violent resistance to endanger the welfare of the community. The character of Christian subjects is, that they are “the quiet in the land.”]II. As a saint towards his oppressor—[The injuries done to David were really “for righteousness’ sake.” Like Jesus, of whom he was an eminent type, “he was hated without a cause.” This consideration must have added ten-fold poignancy to all his afflictions. To be conscious that he was continually labouring to cut off all occasion of offence, and yet to find himself persecuted with unrelenting fury, was most distressing to his mind. Yet, as Saul himself confessed, he returned nothing but good for evil [Note: ver. 17.].But such is the true line of every Christian’s duty. We should “not render evil for evil to any man [Note: 1 Thessalonians 5:14.],” but rather love our enemies, and do them good [Note: Matthew 5:44.]. This is the true way to soften the hearts of our enemies, and to ensure a final victory over them [Note: Compare ver. 16 with Romans 12:20-21.]— — —]III. As a believer towards his God—[As to avenging himself, David knew that God was the Judge of all, and would in due time vindicate his righteous cause, and punish his unrighteous oppressor: to God therefore he left what belonged to God alone [Note: ver. 15.]. Moreover, though God had promised him the kingdom, he left God to fulfil his promise in his own time and way. Doubtless he felt great distress of mind under all his trials; but he committed himself to God in prayer, and looked for deliverance from him alone [Note: The 57th Psalm was written on this very occasion. See the title, and ver. 1–6. In ver. 6 he seems to refer to the very event in our text: Saul came to destroy David, and inadvertently exposed himself to be destroyed by David.].Thus, however great and complicated our trials be, we should take no hasty step [Note: Isaiah 28:16.], but “commit ourselves to God as a faithful Creator [Note: 1

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Peter 4:19.],” and expect assuredly the final accomplishment of all his promises [Note: Psalms 37:5-6.] — — —]

5 Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe.

BARNES, "David’s heart smote him - He thought the action inconsistent with the respect which he owed to the king.GILL, "And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him,.... His conscience accused him, and he repented of what he had done: because he had cut off Saul's skirt; which though less than what his servants put him upon, and he might have thoughts of doing, yet was considered by him as a great indignity to his sovereign, and therefore sat uneasy on his mind.

HENRY, " David cut off the skirt of his robe, but soon repented that he had done this: His heart smote him for it (1Sa_24:5); though it did Saul no real hurt, and served David for a proof that it was in his power to have killed him (1Sa_24:11), yet, because it was an affront to Saul's royal dignity, he wished he had not done it. Note, It is a good thing to have a heart within us smiting us for sins that seem little; it is a sign that conscience is awake and tender, and will be the means of preventing greater sins.BENSON, "Verse 5-61 Samuel 24:5-6. David’s heart smote him — His intention in cutting off Saul’s skirt was only to give certain proof that he did not seek his life, in that he had spared it when it was wholly in his power; yet no sooner had he done it, but the consideration how Saul might be affected by it, whether it might not enrage him the more, and how the action might be esteemed by others, troubled him greatly. And he said to his men — When he returned to them, and they again pressed him, as is probable, to kill Saul; The Lord forbid, &c. — He considers Saul now, not as his enemy, and the only person that stood in the way of his preferment, (for then he would have been induced to hearken to the temptation,) but as his master, to whom he was obliged to be faithful, and as the Lord’s anointed, whom God had appointed to reign as long as he lived, and who, as such, was under the particular protection of the divine law.ELLICOTT, " (5) David’s heart smote him.—Not for what he had done to Saul, but his conscience smote him for the momentary thought that had stained his soul of

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slaying the Lord’s Anointed. This is better than with Clericus to say, “David was afraid that Saul would take this, though a clear sign of his [David’s] magnanimity, in bad part, and regard it as a violation of his royal majesty.” There is no sign at all of David’s even regretting he had cut off the fringe of the king’s garment. It was the far more terrible thought of slaying the God-anointed king which troubled David. The words of the next verse show us clearly what was passing in his mind when he gravely rebuked his men, and evidently restrained them, with some little trouble, from rushing upon Saul, even after he had left the sleeping form, with the piece of the mantle in his hand. The Hebrew word rendered “stayed” is a forcible one, and, literally, would be crushed down. There is a curious Note, however, in the Babylonian Talmud on this passage in the Book of Samuel which tells how David cut off a piece of Saul’s robe, in which the act is evidently very strongly condemned. Rabbi Yosi ben Rabbi chanîna on the words, “Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily,” said, “Whoever treats clothes slightingly will at last derive no benefit from them, for it is said (1 Kings 1:1), ‘And they covered him [David] with clothes, but he gat no heat.’”—Treatise Berachoth, fol. 62, Colossians 2.This is evidently one of the “cryptographs,” of which there are such innumerable instances in the Talmud. The lesson intended to be taught by the famous Rabbi was probably intense reverence for the teachers and guides of Israel, here represented by Saul; any act of disrespect shown to one of these, even by injuring the clothes they wore, would be punished by God sooner or later.COFFMAN, ""David's heart smote him" (1 Samuel 24:5). David's great respect for the person of "the Lord's anointed" resulted in his conscience hurting from this `disrespect' of Saul, whose authority over Israel David still honored, and against whom David had never done anything whatsoever.COKE, "1 Samuel 24:5. David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt— The reasons which restrained David from killing Saul, were worthy a brave and generous man, a man of piety and virtue. He durst not stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed. Under this sacred character he forgot that Saul was his implacable enemy, and instantly sacrificed his resentment to his conscience and duty; hereby acting with a goodness and greatness of mind, which Saul thought no man in the world could have done besides him. LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:5, 4]. David’s men advise him to seize this opportunity, given him, as they think, by God, to rid himself of his deadly foe. See, this is the day of which the Lord said to thee.—The Lord’s “saying” can here be understood only in the general sense of the divine ordering of this favorable opportunity. This day, with its fortunate meeting, seemed to them a hint and direction from God. A reference to a definite divine declaration,[FN19] given to David through a prophet (Clericus: “There would come a time when, his enemies all conquered and prostrate, he would peacefully govern Israel”) is not in the words themselves.—Saul had laid aside his upper garment [robe] for his present purpose [or, remaining on him, it may have

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been spread out.—Tr.]. The situation was such that David could, without being observed, cut off a corner of the upper garment. David wished to have in hand this sign that Saul had been defenceless in his power, and that he could have killed him, in order to use it with Saul at the proper time. His heart smote him, not with fright at the bold undertaking (Then, Ew.), for the deed was already done, but in the ethical sense: his conscience smote him. From what follows it is clear that David regarded Saul’s person as sacred; he reproached himself with having secretly cut off a piece of his garment, and thus failed in reverence for his person. Cler.: “David was afraid that Saul would take this, though a clear sign of (David’s) magnanimity, in bad part, and regard it as a violation of his royal majesty.”PETT, "1 Samuel 24:5‘And it came about afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s hem.’Having done what he did David’s conscience was smitten. It is possible that he felt that he had tried to put YHWH on the spot by trying to force Him to act against Saul against His will. Or it may simply be that he felt convicted for touching, with an intention of doing hurt to him, the very person of YHWH’s anointed. He may well have felt that it was almost like touching YHWH himself. For in Israel this man represented YHWH, and David was very religiously sensitive. To him what he had done was therefore like touching something which was ‘very holy’, and was forbidden, such as the Ark. We can compare what happened later to the man who touched the Ark of God YHWH (2 Samuel 6:6-7). Perhaps David felt similarly about Saul.

6 He said to his men, "The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD's anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the LORD."

CLARKE, "The Lord’s anointed - However unworthily Saul was now acting, he had been appointed to his high office by God himself, and he could only be removed by the authority which placed him on the throne. Even David, who knew he was appointed to reign in his stead, and whose life Saul had often sought to destroy, did not conceive

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that he had any right to take away his life; and he grounds the reasons of his forbearance on this - He is my master, I am his subject. He is the Lord’s anointed, and therefore sacred as to his person in the Lord’s sight. It is an awful thing to kill a king, even the most untoward, when he has once been constitutionally appointed to the throne. No experiment of this kind has ever succeeded; the Lord abhors king killing. Had David taken away the life of Saul at this time, he would, in the sight of God, have been a murderer.

GILL, "And he said unto his men,.... When he returned and brought the skirt of Saul's garment in his hand; or else he said this before that, though here mentioned, when they moved it to him to dispatch him, as he had a fair opportunity of doing it: God forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed; and which he could not think of but with detestation and abhorrence, since he was his sovereign lord and master, and he a subject of his, and was anointed by the order of God, and his person sacred: to stretch forth my hand against him; to take away his life; to cut off the skirt of his garment gave him uneasiness; but to slay him, the thought of it was shocking to him: seeing he is the anointed of the Lord; anointed by Samuel to be king, 1Sa_10:1, by order of the Lord, 1Sa_9:17.

HENRY, "He reasons strongly both with himself and with his servants against doing Saul any hurt. 1. He reasons with himself (1Sa_24:6): The Lord forbid that I should do this thing. Note, Sin is a thing which it becomes us to startle at, and to resist the temptations to, not only with resolution, but with a holy indignation. He considered Saul now, not as his enemy, and the only person that stood in the way of his preferment (for then he would be induced to hearken to the temptation), but as God's anointed (that is, the person whom God had appointed to reign as long as he lived, and who, as such, was under the particular protection of the divine law), and as his master, to whom he was obliged to be faithful. Let servants and subjects learn hence to be dutiful and loyal, whatever hardships are put upon them, 1Pe_2:18. 2. He reasons with his servants: He suffered them not to rise against Saul, 1Sa_24:7. He would not only not do this evil thing himself, but he would not suffer those about him to do it. Thus did he render good for evil to him from whom he had received evil for good, and was herein both a type of Christ, who saved his persecutors, and an example to all Christians not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.

K&D, With all the greater firmness, therefore, did he repel the suggestions of his men: “Far be it to me from Jehovah (on Jehovah's account: see at Jos_22:29), that ,ִאם)a particle denoting an oath) I should do such a thing to my lord, the anointed of Jehovah, to stretch out my hand against him.” These words of David show clearly enough that no word of Jehovah had come to him to do as he liked with Saul.PULPIT, "1Sa_24:6, 1Sa_24:7

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Seeing he is the anointed of Jehovah. David bases his allegiance to Saul on religious grounds. He was Jehovah’s Messiah, and as such his person was sacred. To this principle David steadfastly adhered (see 1Sa_26:9; 2Sa_1:16). The Lord forbid.Hebrew, "Far be it from me from Jehovah," i.e. for Jehovah’s sake. So David stayed his servants. The verb is a strong one, and means to crush down. It shows that David had to use all his authority to keep his men, vexed by Saul’s pursuit, from killing him.

COFFMAN, ""Far be it from me ... to stretch forth my hand ... against the Lords anointed" (1 Samuel 24:6). "These words show that no word from Jehovah had come to David telling him to do as he liked to Saul (as his men said in 1 Samuel 24:4)."[7]PETT, "1 Samuel 24:6‘And he said to his men, “YHWH forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, YHWH’s anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is YHWH’s anointed.” ’His men probably were probably continuing to urge him to take advantage of this opportunity to get rid of Saul, with the result that he felt that he had to speak to them very firmly, (tear into them’), in order to prevent them taking further action (verse 7). He forbade what they were suggesting in the Name of YHWH on the grounds that Saul was ‘YHWH’s anointed’, in other words, one who was holy to YHWH and therefore untouchable. It is clear that David felt that to attack his person was to attack YHWH. It says much for the respect that his men had for him that they did agree to restrain themselves even though they probably did not feel the same way as he did.

7 With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

CLARKE, "Suffered them not to rise against Saul - As he could restrain them, it was his duty to do so; had he connived at their killing him, David would have been the murderer. In praying for the king we call God the only Ruler of princes, for this simple

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reason, that their authority is the highest among men, and next to that of God himself; hence he alone is above them. We find this sentiment well expressed by an elegant poet: -Regum timendorum in proprios greges,Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis.Horace, Odar. lib. iii., Od. i., ver. 5.Kings are supreme over their own subjects;Jove is supreme over kings themselves.

GILL, "So David stayed his servants with these words,.... Or pacified them, as the Targum, and made them quiet and easy in that he had not slain him, and reconciled their minds to his conduct, and restrained them from laying hands on him, by observing to them, that he was the anointed of the Lord: and suffered them not to rise against Saul; to take away his life; he not only argued with them, but laid his commands on them that they should not slay him: but Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way; he rose from his sleep, and went out of the cave unhurt, and proceeded on in the way he came to the sheepcotes, and which led on further, 1Sa_24:3.

HENRY, "He reasons with his servants: He suffered them not to rise against Saul,1Sa_24:7. He would not only not do this evil thing himself, but he would not suffer those about him to do it. Thus did he render good for evil to him from whom he had received evil for good, and was herein both a type of Christ, who saved his persecutors, and an example to all Christians not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.BENSON, "Verse 7-81 Samuel 24:7-8. And suffered them not to rise against Saul — He not only would not do this ill thing himself, but he would not suffer those about him to do it. Thus did he render good for evil to him, from whom he had received evil for good; and was herein both a type of Christ, who saved his persecutors, and an example to all Christians, not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good. David also went out of the cave, and cried after Saul — A bold attempt this, to adventure to come into the presence of such an enraged enemy. But his innocence, and confidence in God, imboldened him, especially having so strong an evidence to give of his integrity.COFFMAN, ""So David persuaded his men" (1 Samuel 24:7). One readily understands why David's men were anxious to kill Saul. They were not nearly as conscientious as their commander, who, it is said, wrote Psalms 57 upon this occasion. "The context shows that David had to use all of his authority to prevent his men from killing Saul."[8]

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LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:7, 6]. The decisive and solemn rejection of the advice of the warriors to assail Saul. Be it far from me from the Lord, that Isaiah, on the Lord’s account; it is a religious ground which restrains him from following the advice of his men. For God’s sake he will not do it, because Saul is the anointed of the Lord, a person made sacred by the Lord. And therefore also David could not have received command from the Lord to deal with Saul according to his good pleasure.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:7 a‘So David tore into his men with these words, and would not let them rise against Saul.’The belligerence of his men against Saul (for they had suffered much as a result of his activities) meant that David had to speak to them very strongly. He had to use all his authority in order to prevent them from ‘rising against Saul’.This brings out that one of the main purposes of this passage and its later parallel is in order to emphasise David’s total loyalty, and to demonstrate that he was in no way at fault in his approach to the kingship, taking no steps towards taking the crown until YHWH gave it to him. He patiently awaited YHWH’s time, and when that came he wanted to b sure that his appointment was wholly by YHWH without his needing to resort to force of arms. (Even Ishbosheth’s death was not of his doing).1 Samuel 24:7 b‘And Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.’But the final result was that Saul was able to leave the cave quite unaware of how close to death he had been and of the tumult that he had left behind him. His complacency did not, however, last for long.

8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 41

GILL, "David also arose afterward,.... After Saul was gone: and went out of the cave; where he had been all the time that Saul had been in it: and cried after Saul: with a loud voice: my lord the king; by which titles Saul would know that he was called unto: and when Saul looked behind him; to see who it was that called unto him: David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself: giving reverence and honour to him as a king; See Gill on 1Sa_20:41.

HENRY, "He followed Saul out of the cave, and, though he would not take the opportunity to slay him, yet he wisely took the opportunity, if possible, to slay his enmity, by convincing him that he was not such a man as he took him for. 1. Even in showing his head now he testified that he had an honourable opinion of Saul. He had too much reason to believe that, let him say what he would, Saul would immediately be the death of him as soon as he saw him, and yet he bravely lays aside that jealousy, and thinks Saul so much a man of sense as to hear his reasoning when he had so much to say in his own vindication and such fresh and sensible proofs to give of his own integrity. 2. His behaviour was very respectful: He stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself, giving honour to whom honour was due, and teaching us to order ourselves lowly and reverently to all our superiors, even to those that have been most injurious to us.

JAMISON, "1Sa_24:8-15. He urges thereby his innocency.David also arose ... and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul — The closeness of the precipitous cliffs, though divided by deep wadies, and the transparent purity of the air enable a person standing on one rock to hear distinctly the words uttered by a speaker standing on another (Jdg_9:7). The expostulation of David, followed by the visible tokens he furnished of his cherishing no evil design against either the person or the government of the king, even when he had the monarch in his power, smote the heart of Saul in a moment and disarmed him of his fell purpose of revenge. He owned the justice of what David said, acknowledged his own guilt, and begged kindness to his house. He seems to have been naturally susceptible of strong, and, as in this instance, of good and grateful impressions. The improvement of his temper, indeed, was but transient - his language that of a man overwhelmed by the force of impetuous emotions and constrained to admire the conduct, and esteem the character, of one whom he hated and dreaded. But God overruled it for ensuring the present escape of David. Consider his language and behavior. This language - “a dead dog,” “a flea,” terms by which, like Eastern people, he strongly expressed a sense of his lowliness and the entire committal of his cause to Him who alone is the judge of human actions, and to whom vengeance belongs, his steady repulse of the vindictive counsels of his followers;

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the relentings of heart which he felt even for the apparent indignity he had done to the person of the Lord’s anointed; and the respectful homage he paid the jealous tyrant who had set a price on his head - evince the magnanimity of a great and good man, and strikingly illustrate the spirit and energy of his prayer “when he was in the cave” (Psa_142:1).K&D 8-10, "But when Saul had gone out of the cave, David went out, and called, “My lord king,” that when the king looked round he might expostulate with him, with the deepest reverence, but yet with earnest words, that should sharpen his conscience as to the unfounded nature of his suspicion and the injustice of his persecution. “Why dost thou hearken to words of men, who say, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt? Behold, this day thine eyes have been that Jehovah hath given thee to-day into my hand in the cave, and they said to kill thee, and I spared thee:” lit. it (mine eye) spared (thought ,ָאַמר)thee (cf. Gen_45:20; Deu_7:16, etc., which show that ֵעיִני is to be supplied).

ELLICOTT, " (8) And cried after Saul.—The outlaw suffered the king and his companion to proceed some little way—possibly down the deep ascent which led up to the cave’s mouth—and then called after Saul, but with an address of the deepest reverence, accompanied too (see next clause) with an act of the profoundest homage which an inferior could pay to a superior. He would show Saul at least he was no rival king.PULPIT. "Saul apparently had withdrawn from his men, and David seizes the opportunity of proving to him his innocence, and quieting the king’s fears. He goes out, therefore, and calls after him, saying, My lord the king, addressing him thus as his master, to whom his obedience was due. He also pays him the utmost reverence, bowing his face to the earth and making obeisance. By this lowly bearing David showed that, so far from being a rebel, he still acknowledged Saul’s lawful authority, and was true to his allegiance.

GUZIK, "(1Sa_24:8) David reveals his presence to Saul.David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed down.

a. David . . . went out of the cave: David took a big chance here, because he could have simply remained in hiding, secure in the fact that Saul had not found him. But he surrendered himself to Saul, because he saw the opportunity to show Saul his heart towards him.b. David showed great submission to Saul: My lord the king . . . David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed twice. We might think that David had the right to come to Saul as an equal. “Well Saul, we’ve both been anointed to be king. You’ve got the throne right now, but I’ll have it some day and you know it. So from one anointed man to another, look at how I just spared your life.” That wasn’t David’s attitude at all. Instead, he said: “Saul, you are the boss

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and I know it. I respect your place as my leader and as my king.”c. When David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed twice he also showed great trust in God, because he made himself completely vulnerable to Saul. Saul could have killed him very easily at that moment, but David trusted that if he did what was right before God, God would protect him and fulfill the promise.

COFFMAN, "DAVID TELLS SAUL THAT DAVID HAD SPARED SAUL'S LIFE"Afterward David also arose, and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, "My lord, the king"! And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance. And David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of men who say, `Behold David seeks your hurt.'? Lo, this day you have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave; and some bade me kill you, but I spared you. I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed. See, my father, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for by the fact that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. May the Lord judge between me and you, and may the Lord avenge me upon you; but my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancients says, `Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness'; but my hand shall not be against you. After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea! May the Lord therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see to it, and plead my cause, and deliver me from your hand.""And David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance" (1 Samuel 24:8). "By this action, David showed that, so far from being a rebel, he still acknowledged Saul's lawful authority, and was true to his allegiance."[9]HAWKER, "Verses 8-15(8) David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself. (9) ¶ And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt? (10) Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD'S anointed. (11) Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it. (12) The LORD judge between me and thee, and the LORD avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee. (13) As saith the

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proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee. (14) After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea. (15) The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.Reader! I do request you will remark with me, how all the finer feelings of the Christian, and the man, are blended in this address of David. What could he have said; what ought he to have said more? He first calls upon him as his sovereign; next as his father; so as to plead the double claim that he had upon him to kindness. He then, in a most graceful manner, would have set up an apology for Saul's unkindness, in taking for granted that he had ill-advisers. It could not be Saul; whom I have served; whom I have loved; whose battles I have fought; whose subject, nay, whose son-in-law I am. It must be some base adviser. And after this, as if to bid defiance to every barefaced insinuation which might have been made against him, he holds up the skirt of Saul's robe, and says, See! what greater evidence would my lord and father desire, that I value and wish to preserve his life, when in the same moment I cut off thy skirt, I might have cut off thine head. He then points out the degradation of a king to pursue such a poor fugitive as himself, as if the death of a flea, or a dog, could give comfort to a character so high and exalted as a king. But, as if to show Saul the awfulness of such a conduct, twice in his speech, he dwells upon the certainty of the decision from a righteous God, to whom he makes appeal. As much as to say; if nothing can prevail upon one from whom I have a right to expect love, to soften his resentment so unjustly bestowed upon me; the Lord will do me justice, and the event will be most tremendous to mine enemy. Reader! do not fail to remark with me, the happiness of such a frame of mind, which is its own reward: for the conversion of our natural passions into gracious deeds, is bringing a very heaven into the soul. But while you and I look at the effects, never let us overlook the cause. It is Jesus which inspires the whole; and not only makes one man differ from another, but makes a man differ even from himself. In proof of this, compare David's conduct here, with his heart smitten for only cutting off Saul's robe; and look at him in the case of his conduct to Uriah, where after murder and adultery, his heart never smote him for nine whole months together. And would not have smitten him then, if the Lord in mercy had not sent grace to awaken by the ministry of the Prophet. If the Reader be not able to mark the difference, and to know where, and to whom to ascribe all the praise, I can but pity him. But if, happily, the Lord be his Teacher, I know his heart will rejoice with me, to behold all the pride of man laid low, and let God have what is his just due, the whole glory. See 2 Samuel 12:5-9.CONSTABLE, "Verses 8-15David"s verbal defense to SaulThe object lesson that David presented to Saul had a double application. David proved that he was not trying to kill Saul, because Saul was the Lord"s anointed.

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Furthermore he showed that it was inappropriate for Saul to seek to kill him because Hebrews , too, was the Lord"s anointed, as Saul now knew ( 1 Samuel 24:20). David modeled for Saul what the king"s dealings with him should have been."Our tendency is to say, "Oh, just leave it alone. It"ll all work out." But David didn"t leave it alone. He said, "King Saul, you"re listening to false counsel. People are telling you lies about me. Why do you listen to them?" Then he said. "Let me give you proof, verbal and visual proof, O King!" ..."David told Saul the whole unvarnished truth; he told it to the person to whom it mattered most. Not to his comrades or to Saul"s friends or to the people of Israel, but to Saul himself. He came to terms with the individual with whom there was the battle." [Note: Swindoll, pp88 , 89.]By addressing Saul as his lord ( 1 Samuel 24:8), his king ( 1 Samuel 24:8), and his father ( 1 Samuel 24:11), David expressed respect, submission, and affection. People sometimes used the term "father" to imply a covenant relationship, and David may have had that in mind here (cf. 1 Samuel 26:25). [Note: J. M. Munn-Rankin, "Diplomacy in Western Asia in the Early Second Millennium B.C," Iraq18 (1956):68-110.] He was Saul"s Song of Solomon -in-law and successor (son) under Yahweh"s covenant with Israel (cf. 1 Samuel 18:3; 1 Samuel 20:16; 1 Samuel 20:42; 1 Samuel 23:18; 2 Samuel 9:1).David called on Yahweh to judge (respond to his actions) and to avenge (reward David for his dealings with Saul; 1 Samuel 24:12; cf. Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:17-21). He promised that he would not usurp God"s role by judging Saul or by rewarding him in kind for his evil deeds. He may have compared himself to a dead dog and a single flea ( 1 Samuel 24:14) to help Saul realize that he viewed himself as harmless and insignificant, beneath Saul"s dignity to pursue. These comparisons may also have been warnings that Saul should not think of David as helpless and insignificant. David also voiced his reliance on God to defend and save him ( 1 Samuel 24:15; cf. Psalm 35:1). David"s defense here recalls Samuel"s apologia to the nation when he reached the end of his career (ch12).LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:8, 7]. “David cut down his men with words” (ָׁשַּסע “to rend, cut to pieces,” then figuratively “cut down with words” verbis dilaceravit), Luther “beat back” (abweisen), too weak [so Eng. A. V. “stayed.”—Tr.]; Berl. Bib. better: “pulled away” (abreissen). David was obliged to hold back his men with reproving words from taking bloody vengeance on Saul. We must suppose that Saul went alone into the cave at a distance from his people, and did not suspect that such a body of men lay immediately behind his back.PETT, "Verses 8-22David Reveals Himself To Saul And Demonstrates That He Has Proved By His Restraint In Not Killing Him That He Is Totally Loyal To Him (1 Samuel 24:8-22).

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Once Saul had left the cave David boldly revealed himself to him and pointed out to him that if he had intended hurt him he could have killed him while he was in the cave and at his mercy, at which Saul responded accepting the justice of David’s position and acknowledging that David would undoubtedly one day be king, and requested that when that should happen he would have mercy on Saul’s family. But we should note that while Saul goes away at that point and withdraws his men there is no full reconciliation, with the consequence that David and his men remain in their stronghold. David had clearly recognised that he could not rely on what Saul had said, and that what had happened had simply bought his men respite for a time.The conversation that follows brings out David’s extraordinary attitude towards Saul, and it was clearly seen as very important by the writer. What then was his purpose in recording it so fully? A number of suggestions can be made:1). That the writer wants us to see that David restrained his hand because he saw Saul as sacred to YHWH, in that he was the chosen and anointed of YHWH, and appointed to rule over his lifetime. David clearly felt that he must allow YHWH to judge when that should end. This was something which the writer saw as indicating David’s true godliness. That this was one reason was undoubtedly so, but even it only partly explains what is said. For David was in fact quite prepared to think of YHWH acting against Saul in order to put an end to his existence, as he made clear when he said, “YHWH judge between me and you, and YHWH avenge me of you, but my hand shall not be upon you” (1 Samuel 24:12). What he would not do was act against Saul himself. He left any action to YHWH.2). That the writer wants us to see that David would take no steps towards taking the throne until he knew that it was YHWH’s time. He was indicating that David was prepared to wait patiently for YHWH to work His purposes through, because he saw YHWH as sovereign over men’s affairs. In other words it draws out that David had no overweening ambition of such a kind as to drive him to act before God was ready for him to do so, while being confident that YHWH certainly would act in His own good time. This also was undoubtedly true, and there is an important lesson for us to learn from it of the danger of our attempting to hurry God along before He is ready to act. We often need to walk patiently with Him, waiting until He is ready to work His purposes out, for in that way we will ensure the greatest blessing. On the other hand that should not prevent us from praying urgently for Him to ensure that His Name is hallowed, and that His Rule might come about in men’s hearts. What it does warn against is our laying down our own rules for Him to follow.3). That the writer is seeking to establish the idea of sacred kingship, not in order to benefit Saul but in order to benefit the later Davidic kingship. (We must remember that he was living under the Davidic kingship). It may be, therefore, that he wanted all to learn the lesson that the Davidic king’s position was sacred and therefore not to be seen as something which could be rebelled against or curtailed by man. This principle was on the whole preserved in Judah until the Exile, in total contrast to

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the situation in Israel, partly because of this and partly because it was based on the later promise of the everlasting kingship (2 Samuel 7:12-16).Analysis.a David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, “My lord the king.” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance (1 Samuel 24:8).b And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Look, David seeks your hurt?’ Behold, this day your eyes have seen how that YHWH had delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and some bade me kill you, but my conscience spared you, and I said, ‘I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is YHWH’s anointed’ ” (1 Samuel 24:9-10).c “Moreover, my father, see, yes, see the hem of your robe in my hand, for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and did not kill you, know you and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you hunt after my life to take it” (1 Samuel 24:11).d “YHWH judge between me and you, and YHWH avenge me of you, but my hand shall not be upon you” (1 Samuel 24:12).e “As says the proverb of the ancients, ‘Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness,’ but my hand shall not be upon you” (1 Samuel 24:13).f “After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea. YHWH therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand” (1 Samuel 24:14-15).g And it came about that, when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept (1 Samuel 24:16).f And he said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rendered to me good, whereas I have rendered to you evil” (1 Samuel 24:17).e “And you have declared this day how that you have dealt well with me, forasmuch as when YHWH had delivered me up into your hand, you did not kill me. ‘For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away?’ ” (1 Samuel 24:18-19 a).d “Wherefore YHWH reward you good for that which you have done to me this day” (1 Samuel 24:19 b).c “And now, see, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel

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will be established in your hand” (1 Samuel 24:20).b “Swear now therefore unto me by YHWH, that you will not cut off my seed after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house” (1 Samuel 24:21).a And David swore to Saul. And Saul went home, but David and his men took themselves up to the stronghold (1 Samuel 24:22).Note that in ‘a’ David arose and came out of the cave and made obeisance to Saul, and in the parallel he made an oath to Saul and he and his men again took themselves to the stronghold. In ‘b’ David points out that he has spared Saul’s life in spite of the protestations of others, and in the parallel Saul seeks that he will also spare the lives of his descendants. In ‘c’ David points out that he had cut off the hem of Saul’s robe, the emblem of his kingship, and in the parallel Saul recognises that that kingship will go to David. In ‘d’ David puts his plea before YHWH to take care of his case, and in the parallel Saul looks to YHWH for him to be rewarded. In ‘e’ David cites a proverb and says that his hand will not be on Saul, and in the parallel Saul points out that David had restrained his hand from him, and also cites a proverb. In ‘f’ David asks that YHWH judge between them, and in the parallel Saul does judge between them. Centrally in ‘g’ Saul responds to ‘his son David’ with weeping.1 Samuel 24:8‘David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, “My lord the king.” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance.’We can imagine something of the shock that Saul must have received when he heard David calling to him and, on turning round, recognised that he had been present in the cave that he had just left. He was probably just as surprised when David humbled himself before him (safely at a distance). David was seeking to bring home to Saul his genuine loyalty and desire only to serve him. This was, as we will now learn, because he saw him as YHWH’s anointed.

9 He said to Saul, "Why do you listen when men say, 'David is bent on harming you'?49

BARNES, "David was quite aware that there were flatterers at Saul’s court who were continually inflaming the King’s mind by their false accusations against him. This explains the language of many of the Psalms, e. g. Ps. 10; Psa_11:1-7; Psa_12:1-8; 35; and many more.GILL, "And David said to Saul, wherefore hearest thou men's words,.... The false charges and accusations, that some of Saul's courtiers brought against David, as Doeg the Edomite, and such like sycophants and flatterers, to whom Saul hearkened, and believed what they said, and acted upon it. David chose rather to lay the blame on Saul's courtiers than on himself; and he began with him in this way, the rather to reconcile him to him, and cause him to listen to what he had to say: and represents them as saying to him: behold, David seeketh thy hurt? seeks to take away thy life, and seize upon thy crown and throne; than which nothing was more foreign from him.

HENRY, "He lays the blame of his rage against him upon his evil counsellors: Wherefore hearest thou men's words? 1Sa_24:9. It is a piece of respect due to crowned heads, if they do amiss, to charge it upon those about them, who either advised them to it or should have advised them against it. David had reason enough to think that Saul persecuted him purely from his own envy and malice, yet he courteously supposes that others put him on to do it, and made him believe that David was his enemy and sought his hurt. Satan, the great accuser of the brethren, has his agents in all places, and particularly in the courts of those princes that encourage them and give ear to them, who make it their business to represent the people of God as enemies to Caesar and hurtful to kings and provinces, that, being thus dressed up in bear-skins, they may “be baited.”pulpit, "1Sa_24:9, 1Sa_24:10In his address David complained of Saul’s listening to men’s words, which slanderously represented him as lying in wait to kill the king. In answer to their calumnies he now pleads Saul’s own experience of his deeds. Some bade me kill thee. Hebrew, "he bade to kill thee." The literal rendering is, "Jehovah delivered thee today into my hand, and bade kill thee." The A.V. supplies some, or, more exactly, "one said." This is supported by the Syriac and Chaldee, but the literal rendering is probably the right one. Had David killed Saul, it would have seemed as if it were ordered by Providence so to be, and as if by putting Saul into his power God had intended his death. But what seem to us to be the leadings of Providence are not to be blindly followed. Possibly David’s first thought was that God intended Saul to die, and so the Vulgate, "I thought to kill thee. But immediately a truer feeling came over his mind, and he recognised that opportunities, such as that just given him, may be temptations to be overcome. The highest principles of religion and morality do not bend to external

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circumstances, but override them.

ELLICOTT, "(9) Wherefore hearest thou men’s words?—David had many deadly enemies at the court of Saul, who evidently laboured with success to deepen Saul’s jealousy, and to widen the breach which already existed between the king and David. Doeg has been already mentioned as one of the more prominent of these slanderers; another was Cush the Benjamite, who was alluded to in the inscription which heads the seventh Psalm. The Ziphites and their representatives at the royal residence also belonged to this class of malicious foes spoken of here.CODFFMAN, ""Why do you listen to the words of men" (1 Samuel 24:9)? Saul was being grossly misled and misinformed by the evil slanderers of David who were among the retinue of his followers at Gibeah. However, Saul was not the only one, either then or at the present time, who desperately needed to take these words to heart. "Why do men listen to the words of men? men who deny everything the Bible says, who vaunt their authority above that of God Himself, who this very day are leading countless millions of souls to eternal death? Why? Why? We shall cite only one example of this. Christ the Son of God said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." But men say ... ... ...!LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:9, 8]. David uses this God-given opportunity to assure his persecutor of his innocence, and to lodge a sting in his conscience. His words are a declaration (wrung out by suffering) from heart to heart, from conscience to conscience. The address: My Lord, O king! indicates the double point of view whence David in what follows declares by deed and by word his relation and attitude to Saul. He recognizes and honors Saul as his lord to whom he feels himself bound to be subject; in calling him his lord he declares himself guiltless of insurrection against him. In the king he sees the anointed of the Lord, the bearer of the holy theocratic office, in which character he was inviolable. In calling him king he affirms that he is far from attacking his person and working him harm. To this address corresponds David’s behaviour, his gesture of deepest reverence: he bent his face to the earth and bowed himself.PETT, "David’s Plea.1 Samuel 24:9-10‘And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Look, David seeks your hurt?’ Behold, this day your eyes have seen how that YHWH had delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and some bade me kill you, but my conscience spared you, and I said, ‘I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is YHWH’s anointed.’ ”David then asked Saul why he listened to the men who claimed that David was

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seeking to do him hurt. He was still unable to believe that the one who had previously shown him such kindness, and had even made him his son-in-law, could have turned against him of his own volition. (He was, of course, not aware of what Saul’s motive had really been in making him his son-in-law). And he pointed out to him that some of his men had urged him to kill Saul when he had been delivered into his hand, but that because of his conscience about putting out his hand against the one who was anointed by YHWH he had refrained.The point about the continued reference to Saul as ‘YHWH’s anointed’ was not just that he was the generally anointed king, but that David knew from Samuel that Saul had specifically been anointed for the whole of his lifetime, after which, as a result of his disobedience, his line would then cease to rule and David would take over as the new ‘YHWH’s anointed’. It seemed to David, therefore, presumptious, and almost sacrilegious, to seek to hasten that event before the end of God’s allotted period. It is another reminder to us that history is in God’s hands.

10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, 'I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the LORD's anointed.'

GILL, "Behold, this day thine eyes have seen,.... Or may see; there is full proof and evidence of it, and which will be presently shown: how that the Lord had delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave; from whence they were both just come: and some bade me kill thee; some of the men that were with David, some of his officers or principal friends put him upon it, having a fair opportunity, and thinking it no evil, since he was his enemy, and sought his life; or "it said, kill thee"; my heart prompted me to it, that said so at first, as Ben Gersom interprets it; some refer it to God, who in his providence said so, or so it might be understood by David, as if Providence directed him to it, by giving film such an opportunity of doing it:

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but mine eye spared thee; had pity on him, and notwithstanding the suggestions of friends, and of his own heart at first, or the seeming direction of Providence, yet he had mercy on him, and forbore slaying him: and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; and king, whose subject I am: for he is the Lord's anointed; the Lord has raised him to this dignity; invested him with the office of a king, and as such I regard him, and therefore have refrained mine hand from him, from hurting him,

BENSON, "Verses 10-121 Samuel 24:10-12. Mine eye spared thee — A phrase signifying the taking pity on those whom we have it in our power to hurt. The eye is said to spare, because it affects the heart, and induces a person to spare. Moreover, my father — Such he was through David’s marriage of his daughter. The Lord avenge me of thee — Rather, will avenge me; that is, vindicate and deliver me from thy violent and unjust persecution. For he does not, in these words, pray God to punish Saul for the injuries he had done him, but to justify, clear, and protect himself. But my hand shall not be upon thee — He was resolved not to return evil for evil, or to avenge himself, but to leave it to God to do him right.ELLICOTT, " (10) Thine eyes have seen.—David and a crowd of armed men around him were standing at the entrance of the cave which King Saul had just left; thus the king’s eye had seen—nay, was seeing that very moment—that his life had been in his enemy David’s hand.And some bade me kill thee.—The literal translation here would be Jehovah delivered thee to-day into mine hand in the cave, and bade [me] kill thee. And this rendering has been explained by assuming that God’s allowing Saul to choose the very cavern for his midday slumber where David and his company were lodging was tantamount to directing David to slay his bitter foe, thus given over helpless into his hands; but this is contrary to the spirit of the whole narrative. The English Version has followed the Syriac and Chaldee Versions here, and by supplying “some”—better, perhaps, one—before “bade me kill thee,” has given us the sense in which the Hebrews have always understood the passage. The Vulg. here, with a very slight change in the vowel points, renders “I thought to kill thee.”But mine eye spared thee.—The English Version supplies an obvious subject in “mine eye.” Clericus suggests more happily, “my soul,” or “my hand,” before “spared thee.”LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:10, 9]. David refers first to the calumnies by which he had been blackened to Saul as his enemy seeking his destruction. Compare the title of Psalm 7, which refers to the present situation; there were calumniating go-betweens,

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one of whom was the otherwise unknown Benjamite Cush, who stood, therefore, in the same category with the Ziphites and Doeg. Saul hearkened to these slanders and believed them, because his heart was full of mistrust and hate against David.

11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life.

BARNES, "My father - The respectful address of a junior and an inferior (see 2Ki_5:13, and compare 1Sa_24:16; 1Sa_25:8).GILL, "Moreover, my father,.... So he was in a natural sense, as having married his daughter; and in a civil sense, as he was a king, and was, or ought to have been, the father of his country, and to treat his subjects as his children, and David among the rest: see, yea see, the skirt of thy robe in my hand; look on it again and again; view it with the eyes of thy body intently, that thou mayest be satisfied of it, and behold with the eyes of thy mind and understanding, and consider that I could as easily have had thine head in my hand as the skirt of thy robe; and here see an instance and proof of the integrity and sincerity of my heart, and cordial affections to thee, and an evidence against all the charges and accusations of my enemies, and that I have no ill design upon thy person and life, and am far from seeking thy hurt, as they say: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not; not only did that to show that he was in his power, but did not cut off his head, as he could: know thou, and see, that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand; this might be a full conviction to him that he had no ill, neither in his heart nor hand, to do unto him: and I have not sinned against thee; done nothing to offend him, never acted against his will, nor disobeyed any of his commands, or had been guilty of one overt act of

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treason or rebellion, but all the reverse: yet thou huntest my soul to take it; pursued him from place to place, hunted him in the wildernesses of Ziph and Maon, and upon the rocks of Engedi, as a partridge on the mountains, 1Sa_26:20; and lay in wait for him to kill him, as the Targum: he may be thought to have penned the "seventh" psalm at this time, or on this occasion; at least there are some passages in it, which seem to refer to his present circumstances, Psa_7:1.

HENRY, "He solemnly protests his own innocence, and that he is far from designing any hurt or mischief to Saul: “There is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, 1Sa_24:11. I am not chargeable with any crime, nor conscious of any guilt, and, had I a window in my breast, thou mightest through it see the sincerity of my heart in this protestation: I have not sinned against thee (however I have sinned against God), yet thou huntest my soul,” that is, “my life.” Perhaps it was about this time that David penned the seventh psalm, concerning the affair of Cush the Benjamite (that is, Saul, as some think), wherein he thus appeals to God (1Sa_24:3-5): If there be iniquity in my hands, then let the enemy persecute my soul and take it, putting in a parenthesis, with reference to the story of this chapter, Yea, I have delivered him that without cause is my enemy.

IV. He produces undeniable evidence to prove the falsehood of the suggestion upon which Saul's malice against him was grounded. David was charged with seeking Saul's hurt: “See,” says he, “yea, see the skirt of thy robe, 1Sa_24:11. Let this be a witness for me, and an unexceptionable witness it is; had that been true of which I am accused, I should now have had thy head in my hand and not the skirt of thy robe, for I could as easily have cut off that as this.” To corroborate this evidence he shows him, 1. That God's providence had given him opportunity to do it: The lord delivered thee, very surprisingly, to day into my hand, whence many a one would have gathered an intimation that it was the will of God he should now give the determining blow to him whose neck lay so fair for it. When Saul had but a very small advantage against David he cried out, God has delivered him into my hand (1Sa_23:7), and resolved to make the best of that advantage; but David did not so. 2. That his counsellors and those about him had earnestly besought him to do it: Some bade me kill thee. He had blamed Saul for hearkening to men's words and justly; “for,” says he, “if I had done so, thou wouldest not have been alive now.” 3. That it was upon a good principle that he refused to do it; not because Saul's attendants were at hand, who, it may be, would have avenged his death; no, it was not by the fear of them, but by the fear of God, that he was restrained from it. “He is my lord, and the Lord's anointed, whom I ought to protect, and to whom I owe faith and allegiance, and therefore I said, I will not touch a hair of his head.” Such a happy command he had of himself that his nature, in the midst of the greatest provocation, was not suffered to rebel against his principles.K&D, "To confirm what he said, he then showed him the lappet of his coat which he

had cut off, and said, “My father, see.” In these words there is an expression of the childlike reverence and affection which David cherished towards the anointed of the Lord. “For that I cut off the lappet and did not kill thee, learn and see (from this) that(there is) not evil in my hand (i.e., that I do not go about for the purpose of injury and crime), and that I have not sinned against thee, as thou nevertheless layest wait for my soul to destroy it.”

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PULPIT, "1Sa_24:11-13My father. David thus salutes Saul not because he was actually his father-in-law, but as a title indicative of the respect due from an inferior to his superior (2Ki_5:13). So David calls himself Nabal’s son (1Sa_25:8). In the rest of the verse he contrasts his refusal to slay Saul, when it might have seemed as if it were Providence that had put him into his power, with Saul’s determined pursuit of him. Thou huntest my soul to take it.Thou perpetually usest every artifice and stratagem against me for the confessed purpose of killing me, and pursuest me as eagerly as the hunter pursues his game. Hence David commits his cause to Jehovah, in the sure confidence that he will avenge him, and with the firm determination never himself to raise his hand against one who, though his enemy, was also the king. In proof of the impossibility of his ever seeking the king’s hurt, he quotes an ancient proverb, "From the wicked goeth out wickedness." Had David harboured evil intentions he would have executed them when so fair an opportunity offered, but as he has no such purposes "his hand will never be" upon Saul.

ELLICOTT, " (11) My father.—Not in the sense of “my father-in-law.” The Princess Michal before this time probably had been given to Phalti. The time when this wicked act was carried out by Saul is left quite indefinite in the notice of 1 Samuel 25:44; but the relations of David and Saul were evidently far more bitter before than after the En-gedi incident, hence the probability of Michal’s being given to Phalti before this meeting is great. The expression “my father” is simply the reverence (pietas) of the young to the old—of the loyal subject to the sovereign. It is so used in the beautiful lines of Browning already quoted.See the skirt of thy robe.—Doubtless at this juncture holding up the piece of the royal m’il he had so carefully cut off when the king was sleeping in fancied security. “See this, how near thou wast to death had I been pleased to take thy life when I cut this off.”WHEDON, "11. My father, see — A reverential form of addressing an esteemed superior, (2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 5:13,) but in this place it may mean more. Saul was David’s father in law, and by this address the son of Jesse shows the king a childlike respect and reverence. It was a word of love that touched the heart of Saul, and brought the response My son. 1 Samuel 24:16.COFFMAN, ""See, my father" (1 Samuel 24:11). On two counts, these words were appropriate in David's mouth. The king was his father-in-law; and custom required that an inferior address the king in such language.COKE, "1 Samuel 24:11. There is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand— Instead of taking away Saul's life, David only privately cut off the skirt of his robe. His protestation of his innocence, and having no intention to deprive Saul of his crown and life, was founded in truth, and verified by the most authentic facts. Nor was his being in arms a contradiction to it; unless a man's being in arms to preserve

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his life, and not to oppose his friend, argues him guilty of rebellion; or unless when a tyrant tells a man he will have his life, such a person is bound to hold out his throat to the Lord's anointed, and humbly bid him cut it at his pleasure. David did not seem to be of this opinion; and therefore kept himself in arms, and upon his defence, because he had no other possible means of safety. LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:11, 10]. David expressly represents it as a divinely ordered circumstance that Saul was put into his power. He also expressly affirms that the temptation to kill him was presented to him (ָאַמר “one said” as in 1 Samuel 23:22), but at the same time declares that he spared him; to the “spared” of the Heb. supply “my eye” [so Eng. A. V.—Tr.], as in Genesis 45:20; Deuteronomy 7:16 (so most expositors) or “my hand” or “my soul” (Cler.). He further gives the reason which deterred him from laying hand on Saul, his lord: for he is the Lord’s anointed.—By the royal anointing, as a divine Acts, Saul’s person was for him sacred, inviolable.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:11“Moreover, my father, see, yes, see the hem of your robe in my hand, for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and did not kill you, know you and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you hunt after my life to take it.”He then produced the piece of cloth/tassel which he had cut off from the hem of Saul’s royal robe as evidence of the fact that he had been close enough to Saul to choose whether he would cut off the hem or kill him. And it demonstrated quite openly that he had chosen not to kill him. Did not that prove conclusively that there was no evil or transgression in his hand? Did it not prove that he had not sinned against Saul, even while, paradoxically and mistakenly, Saul was hunting after his life to take it? What more proof did Saul need of his genuineness?Note also his reference to Saul as ‘my father’. For Saul was his father in that he had married Saul’s daughter, and he was also his ‘father’ in that he was his king. It was a further indication of David’s respect for Saul.

12 May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.

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CLARKE, "The Lord judge between me and thee - Appeals of this kind to God are the common refuge of the poor and oppressed people. So also among the Hindoos: God will judge between us. Mother Kalee will judge. Sometimes this springs from a consciousness of innocence, and sometimes from a desire of revenge.

GILL, "The Lord judge between me and thee,.... And make it appear who is in the right, and who in the wrong: and the Lord avenge me of thee; if he continued thus to persecute him: but mine hand shall not be upon thee; to kill thee, though it may be in my power again to do it, as it has been; but this I am determined upon, let me suffer what I will, I will not lay hands on thee to do thee any hurt, but leave thee with God to requite all the evil done to me by thee.

HENRY, "He declares it to be his fixed resolution never to be his own avenger: “The Lord avenge me of thee, that is, deliver me out of thy hand; but, whatever comes of it, my hand shall not be upon thee” (1Sa_24:12), and again (1Sa_24:13), for saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked. The wisdom of the ancients is transmitted to posterity by their proverbial sayings. Many such we receive by tradition from our fathers; and the counsels of common persons are very much directed by this, “As the old saying is.” Here is one that was in use in David's time: Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, that is, 1. Men's own iniquity will ruin them at last, so some understand it. Forward furious men will cut their own throats with their own knives. Give them rope enough, and they will hang themselves. In this sense it comes in very fitly as a reason why his hand should not be upon him. 2. Bad men will do bad things; according as men's principles and dispositions are, so will their actions be. This also agrees very well with the connexion. If David had been a wicked man, as he was represented, he would have done this wicked thing; but he durst not, because of the fear of God. Or thus: Whatever injuries bad men do us (which we are not to wonder at; he that lies among thorns must expect to be scratched), yet we must not return them; never render railing for railing. Though wickedness proceed from the wicked, yet let it not therefore proceed from us by way of retaliation. Though the dog bark at the sheep, the sheep does not bark at the dog. See Isa_32:6-8.

K&D, "After he had proved to the king in this conclusive manner that he had no reason whatever for seeking his life, he invoked the Lord as judge between him and his adversary: “Jehovah will avenge me upon thee, but my hand will not be against thee. As the proverb of the ancients ִני) ַהַּקְדמ is used collectively) says, Evil proceedeth from the evil, but my hand shall not be upon thee.” The meaning is this: Only a wicked man could wish to avenge himself; I do not.ELLICOTT, "(13) The proverb of the ancients.—Clericus, quoted by Lange,

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explains these words: “David means to say, that if he had been guilty of conspiracy against the king, he would not have neglected this favourable opportunity to kill him, since men usually indulge their feelings, and from a mind guilty of conspiracy nothing but corresponding deeds could come forth.” So Grotius, who writes how “actions usually correspond to the quality of the mind.” Erdmann quotes a Greek proverb: “From a bad raven comes a bad egg.”COKE, "1 Samuel 24:12. The Lord judge, &c.— These words, spoken by David to Saul, when it was in his power to have taken his life, most men will admit, did not imply that David wished or desired that God would revenge him upon Saul, but was a declaration, from the spirit of prophesy, that GOD would do it. But these expressions are so frequent in Scripture, and with such circumstances and aggravations, that many do believe that they are literally intended; and though it has been otherwise enjoined under the Gospel, under the law it was not only the custom and practice of pious men to pray for the conversion, but also for the confusion of wicked and impenitent persons, whose prosperity confirmed men in their unrighteousness, and was a dishonour to God. David, conscious of his innocence, refers his cause to God, the just judge; willing to leave it wholly to his righteous award, and determined not to judge for himself, or execute his vengeance upon his enemy, when he had that enemy in his power: and certainly, whoever will compare the 12th and 15th verses together, will see that the latter is explanatory of the former. The avenging in the one, is the pleading his cause; and delivering him out of Saul's hand, in the other. LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:12, 11]. And my father; with this address David passes from his relation to Saul as king to the divinely ordered relation which he occupied towards him as father. To this “my father” answers Saul’s “my son.” David calls Saul father not (as Grotius thinks) because he was his father-in-law, but to indicate the pious[FN20] feeling which so fills his heart as he speaks, that he involuntarily breaks out into this address. See 1 Samuel 24:17, 16] and 1 Samuel 26:17.—See, yea see.—A lively introduction of the factual proof of what he had just said that Saul had been given into his hand so that he could have done to him what he would. The “yea” (ַּגם) is here intensive, not merely copulative (Ges. § 155, 2 a). The skirt of the upper garment in David’s hand is to be at the same time ocular proof that David is innocent of the wicked accusations brought against him by the calumniators. With his innocence, set forth in heaped up words: “in my hand is no evil nor transgression, and I have not sinned against thee,” he next contrasts (with the adversative phrase “and thou” and in curt, incisive words) Saul’s criminal conduct towards him: Thou workest after my soul, properly “huntest my soul;” Cler.: “A very suitable phrase concerning a man whom his enemy was pursuing like a beast over mountains and forests;” Sept.: “bindest,” with allusion to the nets of the hunter, and Song of Solomon, in accordance with this figure, it is added: to take it, Vulg. ut auferas eam.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:12

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“YHWH judge between me and you, and YHWH avenge me of you, but my hand shall not be upon you.”Then he called on YHWH to act as judge between them. He wanted Saul to know that while YHWH might choose to avenge him for what Saul was doing to him, he himself would not do so. He assured him that whatever happened in the future his hand would not come against him in treachery.There can be no question but that David was revealing a magnanimity and generosity that was beyond that of ordinary men. He was showing in practise what Jesus would later teach, a love for his enemy, even though in fact in his case it was limited to Saul and was because Saul was YHWH’s anointed. Thus it was as much a manifestation of his love and regard for YHWH as for Saul.

13 As the old saying goes, 'From evildoers come evil deeds,' so my hand will not touch you.

CLARKE, "Wickedness proceeded from the wicked - This proverb may be thus understood: He that does a wicked act, gives proof thereby that he is a wicked man. From him who is wicked, wickedness will proceed; he who is wicked will add one iniquity to another. Had I conspired to dethrone thee, I should have taken thy life when it was in my power, and thus added wickedness to wickedness.

GILL, "As saith the proverb of the ancients,.... It is an old saying, has been long in use, and may be applied to the present case; or the "proverb of the ancient one"; of the oldest man, the first man Adam, and of all others after him, so Kimchi; or of the Ancient One of the world, the Ancient of days, the Lord himself; so in the Talmud (d): wickedness proceedeth from the wicked; as is a man, so are his actions; if he is a wicked man, he will do wicked things; a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruits, an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things; and as if David should say, if I had been the wicked man as I am represented, I should have committed wickedness; I should have made no conscience of taking away thy life when it was in my power; but my heart would not suffer me to do it: but, or "and" my hand shall not be upon thee; as it has not been upon thee, because of the fear of God in me, so neither shall it be hereafter: or the sense of the proverb may be, the

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wickedness that comes from a wicked man, that will kill him, or be the cause of his ruin, or he will be slain by wicked men such as himself; and this may be thy case, O king, unless thou repentest: but be that as it may, which I leave with the righteous Judge, this I am determined on, "mine hand shall not be upon thee"; to take away thy life. BENSON, "Verse 131 Samuel 24:13. Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked — That is, men may be known by their actions; wicked men will do wicked actions; among which, this is one, to kill their sovereign lord and king; and, therefore, if I were so wicked a person as I am represented by thy courtiers to be, I should now have shown it, I should have made no conscience of laying violent hands upon thee.WHEDON, "13. Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked — And therefore were I the wicked man that some represent me, (1 Samuel 24:9,) I would have wrought wickedness against the king when it lay in my power. But the fact that I leave Jehovah to avenge me, and refuse to lift my hand against the king, shows that wickedness proceedeth not from me. These words of David also contain a tacit implication that wickedness was proceeding from Saul.COFFMAN, ""`Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness'; but my hand shall not be against you" (1 Samuel 24:13). Some able scholars have interpreted these words to mean that David said, "Your wickedness will bring divine destruction, but I will not take vengeance into my own hand."[10] It appears to this writer that The Interpreter's Bible has a better explanation: "The proverb means simply that `wicked deeds come from wicked men,' and if David had been the inveterate enemy Saul took him for, he would have killed Saul without compassion."[11]LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:13, 12] is similarly to be taken from the point of view that he has no evil design against Saul.—The Lord will judge between me and thee, that Isaiah, though the Lord gave thee into my hand, I attempted, and shall attempt nothing against thee, because I leave the decision wholly to the Lord. Here speaks submission to God’s will, leaving to him the decision concerning right and wrong, innocence and guilt. And the Lord will avenge me of thee,—the expression of David’s confidence that for his guilty conduct towards his (David’s) innocence Saul will not go unpunished, that against him will be manifested the weight of the divine punitive justice.—But my hand shall not be against thee, as I have hitherto been, so I will continue to be pure from crime against thee; God’s hand will punish thy injustice towards me, my hand shall not touch thee.NISBET, "MAGNANIMITY‘Mine hand shall not be upon thee.’1 Samuel 24:13

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This was the hour of David’s great temptation, when a single blow might have made him lord of Israel, so was it the hour of David’s greatest victory, when he won, through grace, the lordship of himself. There are deeds that it takes high qualities to do, but higher qualities still to leave undone. A hero is known not only by the blows he deals, but also by the blows he forbears to deal. And no one can hope for the fellowship of David who, when he finds his enemies in his power, does not feel sometimes that the noblest course for him is to be generous and let them go.I. Note how unexpectedly our temptations come.—When David fled into the wilds of Engedi, he fled because he was in peril of his life. His one hope was to escape from danger, and to avoid the malignancy of Saul. Then all in a moment the scene was changed for David. He was no longer the exile and the outlaw. Here at his feet was the man who sought to slay him; his archenemy was entirely in his power. Dr. Forrest, in his admirable book on The Authority of Christ, has a suggestive passage on temptation. He points out how the power of temptation lies in large measure in its unexpectedness. It is the unlooked-for element that is like to overset us, and this was particularly so with David here. Without the preparation of an hour he was brought within grasp of all he was destined for. Had he seized the moment, his followers would have hailed him. They could not fathom the motives of his hesitancy. And it is because he was so suddenly confronted, and so immediately resisted his temptation, that we know at once we are dealing with a king.II. Observe how our great hours reveal our secret life.—David had been very bitterly traduced. He had been charged with conspiring against Saul. Probably there was not one man in all the court, save Jonathan, who did not believe the tales of his dishonour. From the court the whispers would spread among the people, finding credence in many unlikely quarters; till at last the common folk were in a strait as to whether this were a true man or no. Under such clouds of suspicion and distrust, the heart of David was heavy on the hills. There was one who believed in him with perfect loyalty, but he was beyond reach, and far away. And it was then, in this dark season of suspicion, when none might believe his unsupported word, that a great and unpremeditated deed revealed the unsullied honour of his heart. No man who had been hatching plots in secret could ever have acted as David did that day. And so in this splendid and momentous hour, where a mighty decision had to be swiftly made, there shone forth as in a tongue of fire all that had lain within the heart of David. It is not only our sins that find us out, it is our secret thoughts and purposes and hopes. The kind of thing we cherish in the dark gets itself written on the forehead somehow. Sooner or later to all men there come hours for which no getting ready is allowed, and in which the unrecorded years find their voice, for weal or woe, at last.III. Lastly, note that the near way is not God’s.—This was a very near way to the throne. One stab, and the kingship of Saul was in the dust, to be succeeded by the kingship of David. Might not this, after all, be the way that God intended? Might He not have predestined this meeting in the cave? There was not a man among the followers of David but thought this was the heaven-sent opportunity. But David had

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learned that, whatever the will of God was, it never could be anything lower than man’s best. If what was noblest in him revolted at the deed, it could not be a deed that God approved. It might be years before the promise was fulfilled, and he was seated upon the throne of Israel; but of one thing David was convinced, that the near way, that now offered, was not God’s. As a matter of fact, it very seldom is. God loves to lead us by the long way round. In work and play—in all that is worth doing—we come to our kingdom after weary marching.Illustrations(1) ‘On the long road we learn such a great deal, and make such discoveries of a love that helps and keeps, that we awaken in the end to find the blessing of having been forbidden the near way. It was to this that Jesus was tempted on the mount. “All these kingdoms will I give Thee now.” One act of obeisance to the devil would have secured them, as here one stab would have secured the crown. But Jesus took the long way of the Passion—though it led by Calvary and through the grave—and now He is King of kings for evermore.’(2) ‘Consider magnanimity as a trait of character. Show how it is helped by established Christian principles; and how it agrees with the tone of the Christian spirit. “Hath any wronged thee? Be bravely revenged; slight it, and the work is begun; forgive it, and it is finished. He is below himself that is not above an injury” (Quarles). “No cause of quarrel is sufficient to prevent reconciliation. Implacability is known only to the savage; so thought Julius Cæsar. I have always admired the English proverb, ‘Forgiveness and a smile are the best revenge.’”’(3) ‘Two great lessons are taught by that tragic figure of the weeping and yet unchanged king. One is of the power of forbearing gentleness to exorcise hate. The true way to “overcome evil” is to melt it by fiery coals of gentleness. That is God’s way. An iceberg may be crushed to powder, but every fragment is still ice. Only sunshine that melts it will turn it into sweet water. Love is conqueror, and the only conqueror, and its conquest is to transform hate into love. The other lesson is the worthlessness of the mere feeling, which passes away by its very nature, and, like unstored rain, leaves the rock more exposed in its obstinate hardness. Saul only increased his guilt by reason of the fleeting glimpse of his folly, which he did not follow up. Emotion which does not lead to action, hardens the heart, and adds to our guilt and condemnation.’PETT, "1 Samuel 24:13“As says the proverb of the ancients, ‘Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness,’ but my hand shall not be upon you.”He then cited a proverb in order to prove that there was no wickedness in his heart. For, he pointed out, had he been wicked he would have behaved wickedly, and would have smitten him. But all could testify that he had refrained from laying his

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hand on him, and he wanted him to be assured that he never would. On the other hand let Saul consider what his (Saul’s) behaviour revealed about him.

14 "Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?

BARNES, "After whom ... - i. e., was it consistent with the dignity of the king of Israel to lead armies in pursuit of a weak and helpless individual like David?

CLARKE, "After a dead dog - A term used among the Hebrews to signify the most sovereign contempt; see 2Sa_16:9. One utterly incapable of making the least resistance against Saul, and the troops of Israel. The same idea is expressed in the term flea. The Targum properly expresses both thus: one who is weak, one who is contemptible.

GILL, "After whom is the king of Israel come out?.... From his court and palace, with an army of men, and at the head of them: after whom dost thou pursue? with such eagerness and fury: after a dead dog; as David was in the opinion, and according to the representation of his enemies, a dog, vile, mean, worthless, of no account; a dead dog, whose name was made to stink through the calumnies cast upon him; and if a dead dog, then as he was an useless person, and could do no good, so neither could he do any hurt, not so much as bark, much less bite; and therefore it was unworthy of so great a prince, a lessening, a degrading of himself, as well as a vain and impertinent thing, to pursue after such an one, that was not worthy of his notice, and could do him neither good nor harm: after a flea? a little contemptible animal, not easily caught, as it is observed by some, and when caught good for nothing. David, by this simile, fitly represents not only his weakness and impotence, his being worthless, and of no account, and beneath the notice of such a prince as Saul; but the circumstances he was in, being obliged to move from place to place, as a flea leaps from one place to another, and is not easily taken, and when it is, of no worth and value; signifying, that as it was not worth his pains to seek after him, so it would be to no purpose, he should not be able to take him.

HENRY, "He endeavours to convince Saul that as it was a bad thing, so it was a mean thing, for him to give chase to such an inconsiderable person as he was (1Sa_24:14):

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Whom does the king of Israel pursue with all this care and force? A dead dog; a flea; one flea, so it is in the Hebrew. It is below so great a king to enter the lists with one that is so unequal a match for him, one of his own servants, bred a poor shepherd, now an exile, neither able nor willing to make any resistance. To conquer him would not be to his honour, to attempt it was his disparagement. If Saul would consult his own reputation, he would slight such an enemy (supposing he were really his enemy) and would think himself in no danger from him. David was so far from aspiring that he was, in his own account, as a dead dog. Mephibosheth thus calls himself, 2Sa_9:8. This humble language would have wrought upon Saul if he had had any spark of generosity in him. Satis est prostrâsse leoni - Enough for the lion that he has laid his victim low.What credit would it be to Saul to trample upon a dead dog? What pleasure could it be to him to hunt a flea, a single flea, which (as some have observed), if it be sought, is not easily found, if it be found, is not easily caught, and, if it be caught, is a poor prize, especially for a prince. Aquila non captat muscas - The eagle does not dart upon flies.David thinks Saul had no more reason to fear him than to fear a flea-bite.K&D, "And even if he should wish to attack the king, he did not possess the power.

This thought introduces 1Sa_24:14 : “After whom is the king of Israel gone out? After whom dost thou pursue? A dead dog, a single flea.” By these similes David meant to describe himself as a perfectly harmless and insignificant man, of whom Saul had no occasion to be afraid, and whom the king of Israel ought to think it beneath his dignity to pursue. A dead dog cannot bite or hurt, and is an object about which a king ought not to trouble himself (cf. 2Sa_9:8 and 2Sa_16:9, where the idea of something contemptible is included). The point of comparison with a flea is the insignificance of such an animal (cf. 1Sa_26:20).PULPIT, "1Sa_24:14, 1Sa_24:15Finally, David makes a pathetic appeal to Saul, contrasting him in his grandeur as the king of Israel with the fugitive whom he so relentlessly persecuted. In calling himself a dead dog he implies that he was at once despicable and powerless. Even more insignificant is a flea, Hebrew, "one flea," "a single flea." The point is lost by omitting the numeral. David means that it is unworthy of a king to go forth with 3000 men to hunt a single flea. As the king’s conduct is thus both unjust and foolish, David therefore appeals to Jehovah to be judge and plead his cause, i.e. be his advocate, and state the proofs of his innocence. For deliver me out of thy hand, the Hebrew is, "will judge me out of thy hand," i.e. will judge me, and by doing so justly will deliver me from thy power.

BENSON, "Verse 14-151 Samuel 24:14-15. After whom is the king of Israel come out? — David here employs every persuasive art to move Saul. He represents himself in as contemptible a light as possible; that he might convince Saul it was not for his honour to take so much pains to kill him, if he could do it. The Lord, therefore, be judge — He thought he could not repeat this too often, that as he had done hitherto, so he still resolved hereafter, to leave it to God to judge which of them was in the right, and not to avenge himself.

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ELLICOTT, "(14) After a dead dog, after a flea.—These homely but vivid similes are very common in Oriental discourse. David certainly, in his protestations of loyalty, could scarcely humble himself more than by drawing a comparison between the king of Israel in his grandeur and power and a poor dead dog—evidently an object held in special loathing by the Hebrews. “After a flea”—the original is even stronger, after “one flea” (a single flea)—“against a single flea,” which is not easily caught, and easily escapes, and if it is caught, is poor game for a royal hunter.—Berl. Bible and Lange.WHEDON, "14. After a dead dog, after a flea — A term of contempt and a term of insignificance. By these terms David represents himself as one so contemptible and insignificant that it was beneath the dignity of Israel’s royal monarch to pursue him.COFFMAN, ""After a dead dog! After a flea!" (1 Samuel 24:14). These expressions were used by David as metaphors of his own insignificance relative to the importance of the king of Israel. The implied question is, "Does not the king of Israel have anything more important to do than to chase after a flea"? "The Hebrew word here has the article before the word `flea,' stressing that the meaning is "a single flea"![12]This paragraph presents one of the most sublime situations in all the Bible. Let the reader picture if he can the Magnificent David standing on some rocky promontory of the cliffs of Engedi, a man proscribed, outlawed and hunted as a wild beast by the man whose life he had just spared, the very man who had given his beloved wife to another, who had repeatedly tried to kill him, and who at that very moment stood not very far away. David held on high the skirt of Saul's robe, a convincing trophy of David's triumph over the temptation to destroy his enemy, but also an indictment of' Saul's wicked hatred of a man who loved him and never did him any harm whatever! There is no wonder that Saul burst into tears."This speech of David has so much natural eloquence in it, such warmth and persuasiveness, that it can be read by no one without emotion."[13]COKE, "1 Samuel 24:14. After a dead dog? after a flea?— A dog was an object of the greatest contempt. The reason why this secondary idea was always associated with the name of this animal in the mind of a Jew, may be deduced from the Mosaic law, which was intended not only to preserve the idea of the unity of thy Deity, but as an invincible barrier to keep the Israelites separate from other nations, by opposing, as well as imitating, under certain corrections, their ritual ceremonies. The dog being the hieroglyphick of the chief deity among the Egyptians, the treating this symbol with contempt, and propagating the term with such an associated idea to the latest posterity, was, in the course of nature, the most efficacious means to preserve the Israelites from adopting that species of idolatry; and when we recollect that Egyptian superstition was peculiarly affected by the Israelites, we cannot sufficiently admire the depth of the riches of the divine mercy and wisdom. The

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sense of this passage then is, "Dost thou pursue one of the weakest and meanest of thy subjects, and of no more signification and strength, in comparison of the king at the head of his chosen troops, than a dead dog, or a single flea?" And this was justly said; for Saul had now three thousand chosen men with him, and all the forces of Israel at his command; and David had at most but six hundred.REFLECTIONS.—Saul, in the heat of the day, fatigued probably with the toil of mounting the craggy steeps, retires into the cave to cover his feet, wrapping himself up in his garments, for a little repose. When his nap is over, unsuspicious of what has passed, he arises and departs; David quickly follows him, and ere he was gone far, cries after him with the most honorable title, My lord the king; and bows before him with the deepest respect. Greatly surprised at the voice, no doubt, he turns; and is more surprised at the person, but most at the discourse which was addressed to him by his pious son and loyal subject.1. He wisely and politely lays the blame of Saul's conduct on his courtiers rather than himself; and many such as Doeg, no doubt, there were, who envied David's preferment. The courts of princes abound with sycophants: it is difficult for them to see with their own eyes; and the best friends of their country, represented through this medium, are often made to appear, and are treated, as her sworn enemies.2. He produces the strongest evidence of his innocence in that day's occurrence: so far from seeking Saul's life, when urged to slay him while lying at his mercy, the skirt he held up proclaimed how tender he was of his life; he reverenced him as God's anointed, he respected him as his king; and he adds the endearing name of father, both as a reason for rejecting so wicked a proposal, and to awaken the tenderness of a father's bowels towards a son so dutiful, and a servant so faithful. Note; No provocation can justify regicide.3. He solemnly protests, that it never was his intention, and never would be his desire, to avenge himself: he referred the matter wholly to God; and observes, according to an ancient proverb, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked; as a man's heart is, so are his actions: had he harboured any ill design, it must then have undoubtedly appeared; therefore Saul might be assured of his innocence and loyalty. Note; (1.) As the saying is, conveys many a good admonition; the words of the wise deserve to be long remembered, and often quoted. (2.) The only safe conclusion of a man's temper is certainly from his actions: an evil tree beareth not good fruit.4. He expostulates with him, not only how unbecoming it was in a good man to pursue the innocent, but how unbecoming of a great king to persecute one so much his inferior, a shepherd, an exile, leaping as a flea from hill to hill for safety; and as worthless and unable to make resistance as a dead dog. Note; Yielding pacifies wrath: to humble ourselves before others, is the best way to keep them from trampling upon us, if they have any nobleness of spirit remaining.

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Lastly, he rests his cause in the hands of the great Judge and avenger, and trusts that he will plead for him now, and stand by him, if the king still refuses to be convinced by such undeniable evidence of his innocency. Note; It is the comfort of the oppressed, that they have a tribunal to appeal to, where justice shall be done them. The last day at least will be our vindication from every malignant accusation.LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:14, 13]. David grounds this declaration of innocence on the reference to its inner foundation and root by means of an “old proverb:” from the evil comes evil, evil doing springs from an evil heart. Cler. well explains: “David means to say that if he had been guilty of conspiracy against the king, he would not have neglected this favorable opportunity to kill him, since men usually indulge their feelings, and from a mind guilty of conspiracy nothing but corresponding deeds could come forth.” Compare the Greek proverb: κακοῦ κόρακος κακὸν ὠόν [“from a bad raven a bad egg,” see Matthew 7:15-20.—Tr.]—Grotius: “Actions usually correspond to the quality of the mind.” The repetition of the words: “but my hand shall not be against thee,” after the proverb is the declaration of innocence: “I am not wicked and criminal, and, therefore, according to the old proverb, I shall undertake and do nothing evil against thee, wreak no vengeance on thee.”PETT, "1 Samuel 24:14“After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea.”Furthermore he wanted King Saul recognise who it was to whom he was doing all this. Did he not realise that it was not to anyone of great importance. What Saul as the exalted King of Israel was chasing was simply someone who was the equivalent of a dead dog, or even lower still, of a flea from the dead dog’s back. Why then was he behaving in this way towards him? Was a flea really worth all this trouble? In a sense he was probing Saul as to why he was hunting him.

15 May the LORD be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand."

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CLARKE, "The Lord therefore be judge - Let God determine who is guilty.GILL, "The Lord therefore be Judge, and judge between me and thee,.... Signifying he did not desire to be judge in his own cause, but leave it with God to determine it for him in his providence: and see, and plead my cause; look with pity upon him, take his cause in his hand, plead it, and do him justice: and deliver me out of thine hand: which was a prayer of faith, believing he would do it in due time, see Psa_7:6.

HENRY, "He once and again appeals to God as the righteous Judge (1Sa_24:12 and 1Sa_24:15): The Lord judge between me and thee. Note, The justice of God is the refuge and comfort of oppressed innocence. If men wrong us, God will right us, at furthest, in the judgment of the great day. With him David leaves his cause, and so rests satisfied, waiting his time to appear for him.

K&D, "As Saul had therefore no good ground for persecuting David, the latter could very calmly commit his cause to the Lord God, that He might decide it as judge, and deliver him out of the hand of Saul: “Let Him look at it, and conduct my cause,” etc.

ELLICOTT, "(15) The Lord therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.—Shall I lay these hands on the Lord’s Anointed? God forbid. No; I will not do it for a kingdom. Such wicked feats I leave for wicked men to act. God can and will in His own due time make good His own promise without my sin. I shall be content to wait His leisure, and remain in the sad condition I now am in, till it shall please Him to bring me out of it.—Bishop Sanderson, in Wordsworth.LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:15, 14] David points out how foolish, superfluous and unroyal is Saul’s persecuting campaign against a mean, undangerous man like him. Grot.: “A very pathetic appeal and a proof of David’s very great modesty.” Comp. Psalm 131. The king of Israel is with special emphasis made to follow the “after whom?” in contrast with the position and significance of the person persecuted by him. With the king of Israel adorned with honor and power David contrasts himself under the figure of a dead dog: 1) as a despised, lowly, qualitatively insignificant Prayer of Manasseh, comp. 1 Samuel 17:43; 2 Samuel 3:8, where the figure of a dog represents a man despicable in the eyes of one who Isaiah, or is supposed to be of high standing; 2) as a harmless, or in no wise dangerous man, comp. the figure of the dead dog, 2 Samuel 9:8; 2 Samuel 16:9.—The comparison with the flea adds the idea of the quantitatively petty, mean, comp. 1 Samuel 26:20. “Wherefore,” would David say, “O thou mighty king of Israel, dost thou summon thy army against so little and insignificant a man?” Berl. Bib.: “against a single flea, which is not easily caught, and easily escapes, and if it is caught, is poor game for a royal hunter.” No

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more than a dead dog can harm, and a flea endanger thee, am I, apart from the fact that I have no wish thereto, in position to work thee destruction.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:15“YHWH therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.”And finally he put his case in YHWH’s hands. He was quite content that YHWH would judge and give sentence between them, and see and plead David’s cause and deliver him from Saul’s hand. He was ready to leave everything in YHWH’s hands. And the point is that these were not just smooth words. He really meant it. There can be no doubt that David’s powerful plea was a test of Saul’s heart, and that he was seeking a genuine response from Saul. He longed for Saul to truly repent and take him back again on the old terms. But in the end it failed because Saul’s heart was shallow and finally unresponsive. All this was thus a further manifestation of Saul’s inability to truly repent.

16 When David finished saying this, Saul asked, "Is that your voice, David my son?" And he wept aloud.

CLARKE, "My son David? - David had called Saul his master, lord, and king. Saul accosts him here as his son, to show that he felt perfectly reconciled to him, and wished to receive him as formerly into his family.GILL, "And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul,.... And wonderful it is that Saul, so full of wrath and fury, and so eager of David's life, should stand still and hear him out, and not fall upon him; this must be owing to the restraining providence of God, and to the surprise Saul was in at the sight of David coming out of the cave, whom he expected not; and especially what awed and quieted him was the sight of the skirt of his robe in his hand, which was a sure token he had his life in his hand, and spared it, which made him listen attentively to all he said: that Saul said, is this thy voice, my son David? he changes his language; before, when he spoke of David, it was only the so of Jesse now my son David, as he was by marriage to his daughter, and as appeared by his filial affection to him; and though he was at such a distance from him, that he was not able to discern his countenance, yet he

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knew his voice, at least supposed it to be his, as his question implies, and which he might conclude fro in the whole of his discourse: and Saul lifted up his voice and wept; being affected with the kindness of David to him, and with his deliverance from the danger he was in, and yet without true repentance of his sins; for there may be many tears shed where there is no real repentance, as in the case of Esau.

HENRY, "Here we have,I. Saul's penitent reply to David's speech. It was strange that he had patience to hear him out, considering how outrageous he was against him, and how cutting David's discourse was. But God restrained him and his men; and we may suppose Saul struck with amazement at the singularity of the event, and much more when he found how much he had lain at David's mercy. His heart must have been harder than a stone if this had not affected him. 1. He melted into tears, and we will not suppose them to have been counterfeit but real expressions of his present concern at the sight of his own iniquity, so plainly proved upon him. He speaks as one quite overcome with David's kindness: Is this thy voice, my son David? And, as one that relented at the thought of his own folly and ingratitude, he lifted up his voice and wept, 1Sa_24:16. Many mourn for their sins that do not truly repent of them, weep bitterly for them, and yet continue in love and league with them.

K&D, "These words made an impression upon Saul. David's conduct went to his heart, so that he wept aloud, and confessed to him: “Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast shown me good, and I (have shown) thee evil; and thou hast given me a proof of this to-day.”PULPIT, "1Sa_24:16This address of David produced a lively effect upon Saul. Philippson says of it, "The speech of David has so much natural eloquence, such warmth and persuasiveness, that it can be read by no one who has any feeling for the simple beauties of the Bible without emotion. The whole situation, moreover, has much of sublimity about it. We see David, standing on the summit of some rock in the wilderness, raising on high the trophy of his magnanimity, while addressing the melancholy Saul, whom he loved as a father, obeyed as king, and honoured as the Lord’s anointed, but who nevertheless hated him without reason, and followed him with unremitting energy to put him to death; using his opportunity of touching the heart of his enemy with words hurried, but expressive of his innermost feelings, and showing himself full of humility, oppressed by unutterable sorrows, bowed down by the feeling of his powerlessness, yet inspirited by the consciousness of a noble deed." So affected is Saul by David’s words that he breaks into team, affectionately addresses David as his son, and acknowledges his innocence and the uprightness of his cause.

BENSON, "Verse 161 Samuel 24:16. Is this thy voice, my son David? — He knew his voice, though, being

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at a great distance from him, he could not discern his face. Saul lifted up his voice and wept — Being overcome with David’s kindness, in sparing his life when he could have taken it away, and conscious of his base carriage toward him. He speaks as one that relented at the sight of his own folly and ingratitude. “David’s kindness,” says Samuel Clark, “drew tears from hard-hearted Saul, as Moses fetched water out of the flinty rock,” Deuteronomy 8:15. Perhaps, however, he was also affected with a sense of his sins against God. But it does not appear from his future conduct that he was a true penitent, for he did not bring forth fruits meet for repentance.ELLICOTT, " (16) These words.—L. Philippson (in the Israelitish Bible, Leipzig) sums up strikingly the general effect of David’s moving but natural words to Saul. “This appeal possesses so much natural eloquence, such warmth, such true earnestness, that no one who has any love for the simple beauties of the Bible can read it unmoved. There is a striking grandeur, too, in the whole scene. We see David standing on some peak in this wilderness of rocks, holding up the trophy of his romantic generosity, gazing at and addressing the melancholy Saul, whom he loved as a father, paid homage to as a king, and reverenced as the Lord’s Anointed, but who, for his part, hated him without a cause, and hunted him down with a restless, murderous zeal; and (as David stood there and gazed on Saul) he seized the opportunity, and tried to touch his royal enemy’s heart with words, hurried, indeed, and quickly spoken, but breathing the intense earnestness of his inward feeling. He was overwhelmed with the consciousness of a sorrow too deep for words, yet he spoke as one inspired with the knowledge of a noble deed just done.”And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.—And for a time the words, but still more the forbearance, of David in the cave touched Saul to the quick. He not only spoke kindly to the hated David, but even wept. There is nothing strange in this sudden change of feeling in one so nervous and excitable as was Saul. It is clear that for the moment Saul meant to alter his conduct to David, but the sad sequel shows that the impression made was only transitory; and David, by his conduct, clearly saw this, for he made—as the last verse of the chapter shows us—no effort to return to his old home and position with Saul, but maintained his independent, though precarious, position as an outlaw.COKE, "1 Samuel 24:16. Saul lifted up his voice, and wept— Saul himself, with all his malice, could not withstand this instance of David's generosity. He melted, and sunk under it; and instead of defaming it, or lessening the merit of it with an unrelenting heart, he lift up his voice and wept, and with tears acknowledged David's innocence and his own guilt, and even prayed God to reward him, whom, but the moment before, he was pursuing to destruction.HAWKER, "Verses 16-22(16) ¶ And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. (17) And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou

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hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. (18) And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not. (19) For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day. (20) And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. (21) Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house. (22) And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.Is it not matter of astonishment, that after such a palpable act of mercy as David had shown Saul, that his mind should still retain hatred to the person of David, as we find in the sequel of the history it did? And is it not yet more astonishing that Saul should even weep, confess his baseness, and yet soon dry up the tears and hate more than ever. Reader! I beg it of you as a favour, though your welfare, not mine, is concerned in the request, look inward, search that depth of corruption lodged in your own heart! depend upon it, the Lord did not ask that question by the prophet, without full cause, when pronouncing the heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, he added who can know it? meaning no doubt that none can thoroughly know it, but the Lord. See Jeremiah 17:9-10. No man hath ever yet penetrated to the bottom of the wickedness and deceit of his own heart; neither have all the foldings in which foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, been laid open to any man's view. Proverbs 22:15. But wherefore have I adverted to this subject; or requested the Reader to look so narrowly within? Believe me, it is not that any pleasure can be derived to him that writes, more than to him that reads, from ripping open the bosom of either, when both are alike unclean. But it is to endear Jesus; it is to render him yet more sweet and more precious. It is, to convince, by an evidence so decided, and palpable as a man's own bosom, that there is salvation in no other. The tears of Saul, the tears of Esau; nay, all the tears which have been shed from the days of Adam to this hour, have no efficacy to change the heart, or wash away sin. And though I make a wide difference between these tears of Saul, in the same unregenerated state, and the tears of Peter, when the Lord had renewed him to repentance; yet the tears of Peter, were only precious evidences of his being renewed, and his heart changed; not the means of his acceptance. Neither those tears, nor that repentance, became the cause of his recovery, or of the Lord's favour. This mercy wholly sprung from the fountain of mercy, God's grace in Jesus Christ. Oh! for testimonies in my soul that I am become a new creature in Christ Jesus, by the sweet fruits of faith, repentance, and a new life. But with all these precious gifts in full exercise in my soul, I pray God that I may lay no stress upon either, but wholly seek to be accepted in the person and complete redemption-work of Jesus Christ. As Paul counted all things but dross to win Christ, and be found in him; so would I pray to be found, living and dying to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made poor sinners accepted in the Beloved. See Philippians 3:7-9; Ephesians 1:6-7.

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CONSTABLE, "Verses 16-22David"s promise not to cut off Saul"s descendants and nameDavid"s words and actions convicted Saul of his actions ( 1 Samuel 24:17), and the king wept tears of remorse ( 1 Samuel 24:16). He referred to David as his "son" ( 1 Samuel 24:16), as David had earlier called Saul his "father" ( 1 Samuel 24:11). Saul confessed David"s superior righteousness ( 1 Samuel 24:17) and goodness ( 1 Samuel 24:18). There is no more powerful tribute than one that comes from an adversary. Saul even called on the Lord to reward David with blessing for his treatment of the king ( 1 Samuel 24:19). Saul then confessed that he realized that David"s ultimate succession to the throne of Israel was inevitable ( 1 Samuel 24:20; cf. 1 Samuel 23:17).Finally Saul asked David not to cut off his descendants when he came to power ( 1 Samuel 24:21). As noted earlier, it was customary in the ancient Near East for a new king to kill all the descendants of the ruler whom he replaced. This prevented them from rising up and reestablishing the dead king"s dynasty. David had already promised Jonathan that he would not kill his descendants ( 1 Samuel 20:14-17), and he now made the same promise to Saul ( 1 Samuel 24:22). To cut off someone"s name meant to obliterate the memory of him. David even agreed to spare Saul"s reputation in Israel (cf. 2 Samuel 1:17-27).Saul"s remorse was evidently genuine, but David had learned that it would probably be only temporary. Consequently when Saul departed and returned to Gibeah, David again sought protection in "the stronghold," probably one of the refuges near Engedi (perhaps the site of Masada; 1 Samuel 24:22; cf. 1 Samuel 23:29).This chapter helps us deal with the common temptation to get even, by showing us David"s example of trusting God and not retaliating. It also deals with how we should view securing what God has promised us. David let God determine how and when he would become king. He refused the temptation to take matters into his own hands and thereby determine his destiny (cf. 2 Kings 8:14-15). We see David growing in this chapter. He began by threatening the king, but then he backed off and declined to kill Saul. Finally he determined even to trust God to control Saul"s descendants, as well as Saul himself, and to preserve Saul"s memory in Israel. God rewarded David for his trust and obedience by giving him a peaceful conscience immediately, and safety when his own Song of Solomon , Absalom, rose up against him.LANGE, " 1 Samuel 24:16, 15]. Therefore—because Saul persecutes him unjustly as an innocent Prayer of Manasseh, and foolishly as an undangerous Prayer of Manasseh, because Hebrews, David, is unjustly slandered and persecuted as a malicious enemy of Saul—he appeals to the Judge who alone is just and gives success to a righteous cause. Two things David here says: 1) he repeats his appeal to

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the judicial decision of the Lord ( 1 Samuel 24:13, 12]), and2) declares his firm conviction that the Lord will by such decision help him to his rights against Saul: He will conduct my cause, that Isaiah, the just God, before whom I am not only consciously, but really innocent, will be my advocate, undertake my cause; and do me justice from thy hand, I shall be delivered out of thy hand, freed from the sufferings which thou preparest me. A zeugmatic construction.—[Rather a pregnant construction: “will judge me (and thus deliver me) from thy hand.”—Tr.][FN21]PETT, "Saul’s Response.1 Samuel 24:16‘And it came about that, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.’It will be noted that while in his response Saul made the right noises, and indeed called him ‘my son’ and wept to think of the magnanimity of what David had done, he still made clear that he saw David as his rival and even as his enemy. He acknowledged that David had been magnanimous, but it was not with a magnanimity that drew out his heart. He made no attempt at an offer of reconciliation. Rather there was a recognition on his part of what must always be a barrier between them, who would inherit the kingship. What David had done in showing compassion to him had even caused him to weep. But it did not cause in him a melting of their differences. He still intended to keep David at arm’s length, for he could not forgive him for being his family’s rival. So there was no rapprochement, no happy reunion. That is why after this incident they both went their ways rather than coming together again. It was because Saul’s heart was too hardened for him to be able to accept God’s verdict, and both of them knew it. GUZIK, "Saul’s reaction to David.

1. (1Sa_24:16-19) Saul honors David’s mercy towards him.So it was, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, “Isthis your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Then he said to David: “You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely? Therefore may the LORD reward you with good for what you have done to me this day.”

a. Is this your voice, my son David? Why does Saul respond so emotionally, and does not kill David? Because Saul had lived on the delusion that David was out to get him, and David’s refusal to kill Saul when he had the chance proved beyond doubt that this was false.i. David’s obedience to God and his love to Saul made all the difference in

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softening Saul’s heart.b. You are more righteous than I . . . you have dealt well with me . . . you did not kill me . . . the LORD reward you with good for what you have done to me this day: What a change of heart in Saul! Every change David could have hoped for in Saul has happened, and Saul really seems sincere about it (Saul lifted up his voice and wept). Saul’s heart was melted by the coals of kindness David heaped upon his head.

2. (1Sa_24:20-22) Saul looks to the future.“And now I know indeed that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Therefore swear now to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.” So David swore to Saul. And Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

a. I know indeed that you shall surely be king: Saul knew it all along (1Sa_23:17), but know he really knows it.b. Therefore swear to me know by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants after me: Saul simply wants the same kind of promise from David that David made to Jonathan in 1Sa_20:13-16. In that day, when one royal house replaced another, it was common for the new royal house to kill all the potential rulers from the old royal house. Saul knew that one day, David and his descendants would rule over Israel, and he wants David to promise that David and his descendants will not kill or mistreat the descendants of Saul.

i. “How then could David destroy so many of Saul’s sons, 2Sa_21:8-9? David could bind himself by his oaths, but he could not bind God, to whose good pleasure all promises, vows, and oaths must in all reason be submitted; and that was done by God’s command, and God was well pleased with it, 2Sa_21:14.” (Poole)c. And Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold: Why didn’t David go back home with Saul, and be restored to his home and his place at the palace? Because David knew that as much as Saul meant it at the moment, the struggle would be to remain in the place of victory.

i. Many times, a person repents and claims to recognize their sinful ways just like Saul did. But the validity of repentance and a changed heart isn’t demonstrated by the emotion or sincerity of a moment. It is demonstrated by the ongoing direction of one’s life, and David had every right to say, “I’m going to stay in the stronghold until I see the direction of Saul’s life.”ii. “What a miserable picture Saul is! What is the use of saying, ‘I have played the fool,’ if he goes on playing the fool? What use are his tears and confession before David if he doesn’t act upon his remorse?” (Redpath)iii. In fact, it is worse to have this kind of emotional response if it doesn’tresult in repentance. “If a man is emotionally upset, as Saul was, and awakens to his condition, but only weeps about it and still doesn’t obey God, his second state is a thousand times worse than the first. Emotion that does not lead to action only leads deeper into sin and rebellion.” (Redpath)

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17 "You are more righteous than I," he said. "You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly.

GILL, "And he said to David, thou art more righteous than I,.... By which it appears he thought himself righteous, though David was more so; the righteousness of David was so glaring, that his enemy himself being judge acknowledges it, but will not confess his own wickedness, having no true sense of sin, nor real sorrow for it: for thou hast rewarded me good; in times past, and now; heretofore in killing Goliath, fighting his battles for him against the Philistines, driving the evil spirit from him, by playing on the harp before him, and now by sparing his life, only cutting off the skirt of his garment, when he could with equal ease have cut off his head: whereas I have rewarded thee evil: in seeking to take away his life at various times, by casting a javelin at him more than once, sending messengers to kill him, and hunting after him from place to place, to take him and slay him.HENRY 17-19, "He ingenuously acknowledges David's integrity and his own iniquity (1Sa_24:17): Thou art more righteous than I. Now God made good to David that word on which he had caused him to hope, that he would bring forth his righteousness as the light, Psa_37:6. Those who take care to keep a good conscience may leave it to God to secure them the credit of it. This fair confession was enough to prove David innocent (even his enemy himself being judge), but not enough to prove Saul himself a true penitent. He should have said, Thou are righteous, but I am wicked; but the utmost he will own is this: Thou art more righteous than I. Bad men will commonly go no further than this in their confessions; they will own they are not so good as some others are; there are those that are better than they, and more righteous. He now owns himself under a mistake concerning David (1Sa_24:18): “Thou hast shown this day that thou art so far from seeking my hurt that thou hast dealt well with me.” We are too apt to suspect others to be worse affected towards us then really they are, and than perhaps they are proved to be; and when, afterwards, our mistake is discovered, we should be forward to recall our suspicions, as Saul does here. 3. He prays God to recompense David for this his generous kindness to him. He owns that David's sparing him, when he had him in his power, was an uncommon and unparalleled instance of tenderness to an enemy; no man would have done the like; and therefore, either because he thought himself not able to give him a full recompence for so great a favour, or because he found himself not inclined to give him any recompence at all, he turns him over to God for his pay: The Lord reward thee good, 1Sa_24:19. Poor beggars can do no less than pray for

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their benefactors, and Saul did no more. BENSON, "Verses 17-191 Samuel 24:17-19. Thou art more righteous than I — He ingenuously acknowledges David’s integrity and his own iniquity. If a man find his enemy, will he let him go? — That is, he will certainly destroy him to save himself. Thy behaviour, therefore, shows that thou hast no enmity to me. Wherefore the Lord reward thee good — Because he thought himself not able to recompense so great a favour, he prays God to recompense it. COFFMAN, ""You are more righteous than I" (1 Samuel 24:17). These are the very words that Judah spoke to his daughter-in-law Tamar, whom he was in the act of burning to death for adultery (Genesis 38:26). What could either Judah or Saul have meant by words like these? What `righteousness' could either one of them have claimed that was worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as that of the persons addressed? "Saul should have said, `Thou art righteous; but I am wicked.'"[14]"David knew Saul too well to trust him and therefore returned to the stronghold. It is dangerous venturing upon the mercy of a reconciled enemy. We read of men who believed in Christ, but Christ did not commit himself to them, `because he knew all men.'"[15] "David, with his intuitive wisdom, perceived that the softening of Saul's feelings was only momentary, and that the situation remained unchanged."[16]LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:17, 16]. Saul’s answer to these words of David shows that they deeply and powerfully impressed his mind and sharply pricked his conscience. The address: Is that thy voice, my son David? indicates by its soft, mild tone that David’s words, issuing from a deeply-moved heart, and in the “my father” and “thou king of Israel, my lord,” expressing profound piety and reverence, had struck a chord in Saul’s inner life on the side of feeling and disposition, which he could not help letting sound forth in this address counter to the fierceness and hate that otherwise possessed him. The sign of this sudden awakening of nobler feeling is Saul’s weeping aloud. There is no hypocrisy or pretence here. Saul, tossed powerless hither and thither by fierce passions without self-control and without harmony of soul-life, is here laid hold of in a hidden corner of his heart, where he was still accessible to the power of truth, and involuntarily yields to this nobler arousing of his soul, though it is not destined to be permanent.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:17‘And he said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rendered to me good, whereas I have rendered to you evil.”Saul acknowledged that David had behaved the better and was the more righteous man, because David had offered him mercy when all he would have offered David was death. David had offered good, where he would have offered evil.

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18 You have just now told me of the good you did to me; the LORD delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me.

GILL, "And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me,.... The cutting off of the skirt of his robe only, when his life was in his hand, was a clear proof and full demonstration of his dealing well with him, and might sufficiently convince him he had no ill design upon him: forasmuch as when the Lord had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not; this was a plain proof and evidence of his kindness to him, which he owns, and also the providence of God in this affair, which had delivered him into the hands of David; by which he might see the Lord was for David, and against him, and might have deterred him from seeking David's hurt hereafter; but it did not.

LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:18, 17]. On this psychologically so significant address follows the ethically so important confession: Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast done me good, and I have done thee evil.—This proves that his conscience was touched by David’s word, which had so sharply contrasted innocence and baseless persecution, righteousness and unrighteousness. Saul must do honor to the truth; the overwhelming force of David’s words, founded in truth, forces this confession from him; though a thorough and permanent change for the better is not thereby effected in his heart. Grotius: “The confession is unwillingly extorted, the mind being nothing bettered.” But we see from this of how high a degree of good Saul was capable, if he had been willing to deny himself. The mode in which David’s word so struck his conscience that he was compelled involuntarily to acknowledge his innocence and the justice of his cause is indicated by his own words; it was his perception of the glaring contrast between his evil, destructive operations against David, and the wholly opposite conduct of the latter, who did only good to the hostile king: The requital of evil with good. Saul thinks of all the good that David had done him by his faithful service. By right moral conduct, absolutely accordant with God’s holy will, and simple avowal springing from truth and from the heart, a deep impression for the better may under certain circumstances be made on the corruptest and most hardened nature.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:18“And you have declared this day how that you have dealt well with me, forasmuch

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as when YHWH had delivered me up into your hand, you did not kill me.”He had to admit the fact that David’s own words revealed that when he had had Saul at his mercy he had spared him, even when it must have appeared to everyone as though YHWH had delivered him into his hands.

19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the way you treated me today.

CLARKE, "If a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? - Or rather, Will he send him in a good way? But Houbigant translates the whole clause thus: Si quis, inimicum suum reperiens, dimittit eum in viam bonam, redditur ei adomino sua merces; “If a man, finding his enemy, send him by a good way, the Lord will give him his reward.” The words which are here put in italic, are not in the Hebrew text, but they are found, at least in the sense, in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic, and seem necessary to complete the sense; therefore, adds Saul, the Lord will reward thee good for what thou hast done unto me.

GILL, "For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away?.... Or "in a good way" (e), in peace and safety, without doing him any hurt; this is not usual among men, and yet this was the present case; David had found his enemy Saul, which Saul tacitly owns, and yet had let him go well away from him, without hurting him: wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day; he does not promise to reward him himself, but prays the Lord to reward him; and had he been sincere in it, he could not have done better for him. Some connect the former clause with this, after this manner, "if a man find his enemy, and let him go away, the Lord will reward him, the Lord reward thee", &c. so the Syriac and Arabic versions.

HENRY, "He prays God to recompense David for this his generous kindness to him. He owns that David's sparing him, when he had him in his power, was an uncommon and unparalleled instance of tenderness to an enemy; no man would have done the like; and therefore, either because he thought himself not able to give him a full recompence for so great a favour, or because he found himself not inclined to give him any recompence at all, he turns him over to God for his pay: The Lord reward thee good, 1Sa_24:19. Poor

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beggars can do no less than pray for their benefactors, and Saul did no more. K&D, "“If a man meet with his enemy, will he send him (let him go) in peace?” This

sentence is to be regarded as a question, which requires a negative reply, and expresses the thought: When a man meets with an enemy, he does not generally let him escape without injury. But thou hast acted very differently towards me. This thought is easily supplied from the context, and what follows attaches itself to this: “The Lord repay thee good for what thou hast done to me this day.”PULPIT, "1Sa_24:19Will he let him go well away? Hebrew, "will he let him go on a good way?" i.e. will he let him go on his way in peace, unhurt? As David, nevertheless, had let his enemy go unharmed, Saul, touched momentarily by his generosity, prays that Jehovah will reward him for what he had done.

LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:19, 18]. In proof of this affirmation Saul adduces David’s present behaviour, which is distinguished from the preceding: “thou hast done me good.”—And thou hast to-day showed, hast given a proof of what good thou hast done to me, namely therein, that the Lord had delivered me into thy hand;[FN22] Saul also here recognizes the fact that it was God’s hand that had to-day delivered him into David’s hand, in contrast with his previous declarations that God had given David into his hand, 1 Samuel 23:7.—But thou didst not kill me, thou didst not use the opportunity given thee by God’s providence, because thou wishest not to avenge thyself on me, and thinkest only good towards me. All this is a splendid justification of David and confirmation of the assertions that he made to Saul.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:19“For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? Wherefore YHWH reward you good for that which you have done to me this day.”He also showed himself as equally adept at citing proverbs. ‘If a man finds his enemy, will he let him go well away?’ The expected answer would be ‘no’, and yet David had answered ‘yes’. So he called on YHWH to reward him with good for the mercy that he had shown to Saul that day. PULPIT, "1Sa_24:19Will he let him go well away? Hebrew, "will he let him go on a good way?" i.e. will he let him go on his way in peace, unhurt? As David, nevertheless, had let his enemy go unharmed, Saul, touched momentarily by his generosity, prays that Jehovah will reward him for what he had done.

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20 I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.

GILL, "And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king,.... Not merely by the common report, that he was anointed by Samuel, to which yet he might give credit; but by the providence of God prospering and preserving him, and by his princely spirit and behaviour, and by calling to mind what Samuel had said to him, that his kingdom should be given to a neighbour of his better than he, and so David was by his own confession, 1Sa_24:17; and the cutting off the skirt of his garment might put him in remembrance of the rending of the skirt of Samuel's mantle, upon which he told Saul his kingdom should be rent from him; though some think that was Saul's skirt, and so now he knew thereby, when David cut off his skirt, that the kingdom would be his; and it is a tradition of the Jews (f), that Samuel said to him at that time, that he that cut off the skirt of his garment should reign after him: and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand; and not be rent from him; and yet notwithstanding after this he sought to destroy him.

CLARKE, "I know well that thou shalt surely be king - Hebrew, Reigning, thou shalt reign. He knew this before; and yet he continued to pursue him with the most deadly hatred.

HENRY, "He prophesies his advancement to the throne (1Sa_24:20): I know well that thou shalt surely be king. He knew it before, by the promise Samuel had made him of it compared with the excellent spirit that appeared in David, which highly aggravated his sin and folly in persecuting him as he did; he had as much reason to say concerning David as David concerning him, How can I put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed? But now he knew it by the interest he found David had in the people, the special providence of God in protecting him, and the generous kingly spirit he had now given a proof of in sparing his enemy. Now he knew it, that is, now that he was in a good temper he was willing to own that he knew it and to submit to the conviction of it. Note, Sooner or later, God will force even those that are of the synagogue of Satan to know and own those that he has loved, and to worship before their feet; for so is the promise, Rev_3:9. This acknowledgement which Saul made of David's incontestable title to the crown was a great encouragement to David himself and a support to his faith and hope.

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K&D, "This wish was expressed in perfect sincerity. David's behaviour towards him had conquered for the moment the evil demon of his heart, and completely altered his feelings. In this better state of mind he felt impelled even to give utterance to these words, “I know that thou wilt be king, and the sovereignty will have perpetuity in thy hand.” Saul could not prevent this conviction from forcing itself upon him, after his own rejection and the failure of all that he attempted against David; and it was this which drove him to persecute David whenever the evil spirit had the upper hand in his soul. But now that better feelings had arisen in his mind, he uttered it without envy, and merely asked David to promise on oath that he would not cut off his descendants after his death, and seek to exterminate his name from his father's house. A name is exterminated when the whole of the descendants are destroyed, - a thing of frequent occurrence in the East in connection with a change of dynasties, and one which occurred again and again even in the kingdom of the ten tribes (vid., 1Ki_15:28., 1Sa_16:11.; 2 Kings 10).PULPIT, "1Sa_24:20-22I know well that thou shalt surely be king. Jonathan had expressed a similar conviction (1Sa_23:17), and probably there was a growing popular belief that David was the person in whom Samuel’s prophetic words (1Sa_15:28) were to be fulfilled. Something may even have been known of the selection of David and his anointing at Bethlehem; not perhaps by the king, but in an indistinct way by the people. As for Saul himself, he must long have felt that God’s blessing had departed from him, and, brooding perpetually over Samuel’s words, it required but little discernment on his part to make him see that the kingdom which he had forfeited was to be bestowed upon one so worthy of it, and so manifestly protected and blessed by God. He therefore makes David swear that he will not cut off his seed after him (see on 1Sa_20:15); and so they part. Saul returns to Gibeah, while David and his men gat them up unto the hold. The word gat up, mounted, suggests that the hold, or fastness, was their previous haunt at Hachilah: They would go down to En-gedi, and the difficulty of obtaining food there for 600 men would be insurmountable, except for a very short period. On the other side of the desert they were in a pastoral country, and the large flock masters there probably from time to time sent them supplies. The position of David was thus improved for the present by Saul s reconciliation with him.

BENSON, Verse 20-211 Samuel 24:20-21. And now I know well that thou shalt surely be king — These wonderful dispensations of Divine Providence over David, and David’s no less wonderful virtue, at last convinced Saul that God designed him to be the king of his people, and that none could hinder his establishment. That thou wilt not destroy my name, &c. — As it was usual for kings to do in those days, generally destroying the families of those to whose thrones they were advanced.ELLICOTT, "(20) And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king.—Clericus (in Lange) says: “From this great magnanimity of David, Saul concluded that a man who was much superior in soul to kings could not but reign.” This is a

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good comment, and doubtless expresses something of what was in Saul’s mind on this occasion; but more must have been behind to have induced the king to make such a speech to David. Never had he for one moment forgotten his old friend’s words—the words of Samuel, whom he too well knew was the prophet of the Most High—when he with all solemnity announced to him, as a message from heaven, that the Lord had rent the kingdom from him, and had given it to a neighbour that was better than he (1 Samuel 15:21). Since that awful denunciation, the unhappy Saul was only too sensible that the blessing of Jehovah of Hosts no longer rested on his head, no longer blessed his going out and coming in, while the strange, bright career of the son of Jesse seemed to point him out as the neighbour on whom the choice of God had fallen. Rumours, too, of a mysterious anointing must have long ere this reached Saul; this, joined to the passionate advocacy of Jonathan, and the quiet, steady friendship of Samuel, no doubt convinced King Saul that in the son of Jesse he saw Israel’s future monarch. Strong, therefore, in this conviction, and for the time humiliated and grieved at the sorry part he had been playing in this restless persecution of one destined to fill so great a position, the king positively entreats the outlaw to swear to him the strange promise contained in the next (21st) verse.PULPIT, "1Sa_24:20-22I know well that thou shalt surely be king. Jonathan had expressed a similar conviction (1Sa_23:17), and probably there was a growing popular belief that David was the person in whom Samuel’s prophetic words (1Sa_15:28) were to be fulfilled. Something may even have been known of the selection of David and his anointing at Bethlehem; not perhaps by the king, but in an indistinct way by the people. As for Saul himself, he must long have felt that God’s blessing had departed from him, and, brooding perpetually over Samuel’s words, it required but little discernment on his part to make him see that the kingdom which he had forfeited was to be bestowed upon one so worthy of it, and so manifestly protected and blessed by God. He therefore makes David swear that he will not cut off his seed after him (see on 1Sa_20:15); and so they part. Saul returns to Gibeah, while David and his men gat them up unto the hold. The word gat up, mounted, suggests that the hold, or fastness, was their previous haunt at Hachilah: They would go down to En-gedi, and the difficulty of obtaining food there for 600 men would be insurmountable, except for a very short period. On the other side of the desert they were in a pastoral country, and the large flock masters there probably from time to time sent them supplies. The position of David was thus improved for the present by Saul s reconciliation with him.

WHEDON, "20. I know well that thou shalt surely be king — The anointing by Samuel, the triumph over Goliath, the homage paid him by the enthusiastic people, and all the providential deliverances from the deadly pursuits of Saul, together with this last affair in the cave, thoroughly convinced the king that David was that neighbour who, according to Samuel’s prophecy, (1 Samuel 15:28,) was destined to succeed him on the throne. Here again, in fact, Saul is among the prophets, and thus confirms by his own words the predictions of Samuel.

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COKE, "1 Samuel 24:20-22. I know well that thou shalt surely be king— He knew this, says St. Chrysostom, from David's manners, from his kingly virtues, as well as his uncommon success; but, above all, he knew his divine designation to the throne. Saul, says Dr. Trapp, being melted by those coals of kindness which David had heaped upon his head, poureth out himself in a flood of passions, and, for the present, spake as he thought. But good thoughts make a thoroughfare only of wicked hearts: they stay not there, as those that like not their lodging: their purposes, for want of performance, are but as clouds without rain, or as Hercules's club in the tragedy, of a great bulk, but stuffed with moss and rubbish. David complied with Saul's request, and sware to him; for Saul, foreseeing that his family would be in David's power, and conscious to himself how cruelly and treacherously he himself had treated him, exacts an oath from David, not to cut off his seed when he came to the throne, nor to destroy his name out of his father's house; an oath which David generously took, and honourably and religiously performed. He would not, however, trust himself to Saul: he knew too well his inconstancy, perfidy, and phrenzy. Never trust thine enemy, says the son of Sirach, though he humble himself; take good heed, and beware of him, Sirach 12:10, &c. Two remarks naturally arise upon this pathetic speech of Saul's, and David's behaviour to him. The first is, that his sense of David's generosity must be very strong, when he beseeches God to reward it. Indeed Saul had no equivalent to give David for the kindness shown him; and therefore he refers him to GOD for retribution. For if, after this, he should even save David's life, yet still he could only save the life of his best benefactor; whereas David both spared and saved the life of his most mortal enemy. The second is, that David, by sparing his enemy, found himself possessed of one of the highest satisfactions in the world; to see his enraged prince his petitioner! to see his foe his suppliant! conscious, and confessing his own guilt and David's superiority! and begging that mercy to his issue which he himself had just experienced, and had not deserved! Who would not save an enemy, for the joy of so glorious a triumph!Reflections on the foregoing chapter.We can never so reasonably promise ourselves an extraordinary protection and deliverance from whatever calamities or dangers most nearly threaten or press us, by some wonderful act of God's own immediate power and vigilance, as when we have, out of mere piety or conscience, or out of the obligations of Christian charity and compassion, forborne the doing of an ill act, which was in our power to do, and the doing whereof, according to all human reason, would, for the present, have freed us from that oppression which is most grievous to us; for by that we declare, that we will have no other refuge than what is agreeable to His good will and pleasure. Whereas, they who are ready to lay hold of any advantage that is offered to do their enemy mischief, and, in the taking it, prescribe no other rules to themselves than what their enemies would observe if they had the same opportunity, make it manifest, that they depend on another security than the shadow of God's wings for the passing over of their calamities. If our enemies have traduced us with false and unworthy imputations, and we come to have credit enough by as scandalous reports to take away their good name, and for truth and justice sake we forbear to do it, we

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may be confident that their tongues, how sharp and venomous soever, shall not be able to hurt us; but that God, by some way or other, will make our innocence and uprightness appear, through all the clouds of prejudice and calumny which their malice has raised about us. If we are unjustly persecuted by a great and powerful enemy, who, in his rage and fury, would take our life, and whilst he is using all his skill to entrap us, and get us into his power, himself falls into our hands, and it is in our power to revenge the wrong he has done to us, and, by taking his life, prevent any act of future violence upon us; and we do, out of piety and duty, if he be our prince, or a person to whom we owe obedience, or out of humanity or generosity, if he be our equal, refuse to take that advantage, and spare that blood which we might shed, and wait God's leisure for a deliverance, without any guilt of our own; we may humbly presume, that he will interpose his protection in our behalf, and frustrate all attempts of violence upon us, if, notwithstanding this temper and obligation on our part, the malice and rancour of our enemies continue. If a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? says Saul, (1 Samuel 24:19.) when he was convinced of the integrity of David's heart, by his not taking advantage of him in the cave where he might have securely destroyed him: and when some of his friends would have persuaded him, that God had delivered his enemy into his hand, and that he might do as seemed good to him. (1 Samuel 24:5.) Saul was never so confounded with the shame of his own jealousy and malice, as by this act of piety and magnanimity in David; and though he had long known that he was anointed, and appointed by God to reign as king after him, yet he did not so thoroughly believe it till this great instance of the temper of his mind, and of his relying upon God's purpose so entirely, that he would not, by an act of his own, endeavour to bring that honour and security upon himself sooner than His wisdom intended it to him. Now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thy hand. We can never receive a greater earnest that God will himself wonderfully help us, than when he gives us grace not to help ourselves by any ill means which are offered to us. LANGE, " 1 Samuel 24:20, 19]. Thenius, from the Sept, Syr. and Arab, undertakes to restore the supposed original text of this verse as follows: 1) after “his enemy,” we are to hold, stood originally “in straits” (ַּבָּצָרה). Thenius thinks this reading “necessary,” since one might find his enemy without having opportunity to hurt him; but this opportunity is especially afforded when he finds him in angustiis, “in straits.” But this is a hair-splitting and far-fetched argument, since the connection does not leave it doubtful what is meant by finding the enemy. “Find” here as in 1Samuel 23:17; Psalm 21:9, 8]; Isaiah 10:10, means so to come upon as to affect with suffering or punishment,=“get into one’s power.” 2) After טֹוָבה [Eng. A. V. after “well away.”—Tr.] Then, supposes “the Lord will reward him good” to have fallen away, and3) instead of the last words of the verse, to have originally stood: “the Lord reward thee good for what thou hast to-day done to me.” But the authority of the versions is the less decisive here, because their purpose is obvious, to avoid a harshness and produce conformity. They included the whole sentence in the protasis: “if one find his enemy and send him away,” and there was no apodosis. To supply this apodosis and correspondingly to express the good which Saul afterwards

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wishes David, they added: “the Lord will reward him good.”—The words, as they stand in the text, give even according to Thenius a “tolerable sense;” yea more, they give a satisfactory sense if we translate: If one find his enemy, will he let him go on a good way (a peaceful, unimperilled way)? that Isaiah, it is usual, when one has his enemy in his power, not to let him go in peace untouched. In the lively feeling with which Saul speaks, the omission of the intermediate thought, the expression of which might be expected, namely, “so hast thou not acted towards me,” is quite natural. The negative answer to this question is omitted (an omission psychologically easily understood), and immediately follows the wish: The Lord reward thee good for what thou hast this day done to me. (So Maur, De Wette, Buns, Keil.) That Saul at this moment truly and honestly meant these words, is beyond doubt; it is the witness not only of a bright, but also of a good moment in his inner life, though indeed no deep and permanent improvement followed. Under the influence of David’s presence and words the evil spirit had for a moment yielded to the good.[Bib-Com.: “The deep genealogical feeling of the Israelites breaks out here as so often elsewhere.” Saul’s declaration as to David’s future kingship is not divine prophecy, but human foresight.—Tr.]PETT, "1 Samuel 24:20“And now, see, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.”And then he made clear why there could be no rapprochement between them. It was because he knew that David would take the kingship away from his own family. The kingdom, which was not to be established in his hand as Samuel had informed him (1 Samuel 13:14), was to be established in David’s hand

21 Now swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family."

BARNES, "Swear now ... - The same request which Jonathan made 1Sa_20:15. The

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deep, genealogical feeling of the Israelites breaks out here as so often elsewhere.

CLARKE, "Swear now - Saul knew that an oath would bind David, though it was insufficient to bind himself; see 1Sa_19:6. He had sworn to his son Jonathan that David should not be slain; and yet sought by all means in his power to destroy him!

GILL, "Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord,.... By the Word of the Lord, as the, Targum: that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me; as was usually done in despotic governments in the eastern countries, and is at this day, when one is advanced to the throne of another, by whom issue is left, who may be rivals and competitors with him: and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house; by cutting off his seed, the same thing in different words repeated, for the confirmation of it; children bear the names of their fathers, and by them their memory is perpetuated, and cutting off them is destroying the name of their parents.

HENRY 21-22, "He binds David with an oath hereafter to show the same tenderness of his seed and of his name as he had now shown of his person, 1Sa_24:21. David had more reason to oblige Saul by an oath that he would not destroy him, yet he insists not on that (if the laws of justice and honour would not bind him, an oath would not), but Saul knew David to be a conscientious man, and would think his interests safe if he could get them secured by his oath. Saul by his disobedience had ruined his own soul, and never took care by repentance to prevent that ruin, and yet is very solicitous that his name might not be destroyed nor his seed cut off. However, David swore unto him, 1Sa_24:22. Though he might be tempted, not only in revenge, but in prudence, to extirpate Saul's family, yet he binds himself not to do it, knowing that God could and would establish the kingdom to him and his, without the use of such bloody methods. This oath he afterwards religiously observed; he supported Mephibosheth, and executed those as traitors that slew Ishbosheth. The hanging up of seven of Saul's posterity, to atone for the destruction of the Gibeonites, was God's appointment, not David's act, and therefore not the violation of this oath.

II. Their parting in peace. 1. Saul, for the present, desisted from the persecution. He went home convinced, but not converted; ashamed of his envy of David, yet retaining in his breast that root of bitterness; vexed that, when at last he had found David, he could not at that time find in his heart to destroy him, as he had designed. God has many ways to tie the hands of persecutors, when he does not turn their hearts. 2. David continued to shift for his own safety. He knew Saul too well to trust him, and therefore got him up into the hold. It is dangerous venturing upon the mercy of a reconciled enemy. We read of those who believed in Christ, and yet he did not commit himself to them because he knew all men. Those that like David are innocent as doves must thus like him be wise as serpents.

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ELLICOTT, "(21) Swear now therefore unto me.—So strongly was Saul convinced at this moment that David would at no distant period of time occupy the throne of Israel that he entreated him, when that day should come, not to destroy all his (Saul’s) children. This barbarous custom has been always too common a practice in the jealous East. It seems to have been equally dreaded by Jonathan, who made—it will be remembered—this condition of mercy to be shown by David in his day of power to his (Jonathan’s) children a part of the solemn covenant concluded between them. (See 1 Samuel 20:15.) In the frequent dynastic changes which took place in the kingdom of Israel, we have instances of such wholesale massacres of the royal family of the fallen house. (See 1 Kings 15:29, where Baasha slew King Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, and took his throne. Then Baasha, we read, “smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed; “and in 1 Kings 16:11, where Zimri murdered his master, King Baasha. Zimri, “as soon as he sat on his throne, slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.”) A similar massacre is described, only with more ghastly details, in 2 Kings 10, where “Jehu slew all that remained to Ahab in Samaria.” There the story is peculiarly an Oriental scene of history, with the seventy baskets containing the seventy heads of princes presented as an acceptable offering to the new stern king of Israel—Jehu. It was, therefore, no vain dread of what might happen in the future which made King Saul ask this of David. Doubtless the fear of some such awful catastrophe happening to his own loved children and friends was no small part of the punishment of Saul.PETT, "1 Samuel 24:21“ Swear now therefore unto me by YHWH, that you will not cut off my seed after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.”David’s act of pure mercy towards him had moved Saul enough for him to be able to contemplate for a short while the possibility that his family would lose the kingship after his death. The sentiment would not last for long, but while it did Saul pleaded for the lives of his descendants. It was normal practise for the king of a new dynasty to slaughter all the members of a deposed king in order to ensure that none later arose to claim the succession. Saul was asking David to swear by YHWH that if he became king he would not indulge himself in such behaviour, but would instead be merciful.

22 So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.89

BARNES, "Saul does not appear to have invited David to return to Gibeah, or to have given him any security of doing so with safety. David, with his intuitive sagacity, perceived that the softening of Saul’s feelings was only momentary, and that the situation remained unchanged.

CLARKE, "Saul went home - Confounded at a sense of his own baseness, and overwhelmed with a sense of David’s generosity.

David and his men gat them up unto the hold - Went up to Mizpeh, according to the Syriac and Arabic. David could not trust Saul with his life; the utmost he could expect from him was that he should cease from persecuting him; but even this was too much to expect from a man of such a character as Saul. He was no longer under the Divine guidance; an evil spirit had full dominion over his soul. What God fills not, the devil will occupy.

GILL, "And David sware unto Saul,.... That he would not cut, off his posterity; which oath he religiously observed, in sparing Mephibosheth, 2Sa_21:7, and in punishing the murderers of Ishbosheth, 2Sa_4:12; and as for the seven sons of Saul, delivered up to the Gibeonites, 2Sa_21:6, it may be questioned whether they were his genuine legitimate offspring; and if they were, it was by the appointment and command of God, and according to his will and pleasure they were executed, who is not bound by the oaths of men, and to whom they must be submitted, 2Sa_21:1, and Saul went home; to his palace in Gibeah: but David and his men got them up unto the hold; in Engedi, 1Sa_23:29; not trusting to Saul, whose inconstancy, perfidy, cruel hatred, and malice, David full well knew; and therefore thought it not safe to return to his own house, nor to dwell in the open country, but in the wilderness, and among the rocks, and in the caves there, such as were in the wilderness of Engedi; and here, and at this time, he penned the fifty seventh psalm, see Psa_57:1.

HENRY, "David continued to shift for his own safety. He knew Saul too well to trust him, and therefore got him up into the hold. It is dangerous venturing upon the mercy of a reconciled enemy. We read of those who believed in Christ, and yet he did not commit himself to them because he knew all men. Those that like David are innocent as doves must thus like him be wise as serpents.

K&D, "When David had sworn this, Saul returned home. But David remained upon the mountain heights, because he did not regard the passing change in Saul's feelings as likely to continue. ַהְּמצּוָדה (translated “the hold”) is used here to denote the mountainous part of the desert of Judah. It is different in 1Sa_22:5.

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BENSON, "Verse 221 Samuel 24:22. David and his men get them up unto the hold — Of Engedi, 1 Samuel 24:1. For having had so frequent experience of Saul’s inconstancy, he would trust him no more. It is indeed dangerous to trust a reconciled enemy; and the son of Sirach advises, “Never trust thine enemy; though he humble himself, yet take good heed and beware of him.” Before we close our notes on this chapter, we beg leave to add one general remark; which is, that there is something so noble and generous in David’s whole behaviour, as related in it, that it is above all encomiums. We cannot say any thing in commendation of it, but what the relation itself far exceeds. ELLICOTT, " (22) And David sware unto Saul.—The generous son of Jesse at once complied with Saul’s curious request, and for a time, at least, the persecution and pursuit of David ceased. Stricken with remorse, the gloomy king left him to himself; no word, however, seems to have passed as to restoring the exile to his home or rank. Bishop Wordsworth quotes here a characteristic passage from one of Chrysostom’s eloquent homilies, in which the Patristic method of allegorising all these famous scenes of Old Testament history is well exemplified.“Meditate on the example of David, and do thou imitate it: imitate it in his self-control and in his love of his enemy. The cave in which he was became like a Christian Church, and he became like a Christian bishop, who first preaches a sermon and then offers the sacrifice of the altar.“So David preached a sermon by his example, and offered a true sacrifice—the spiritual sacrifice of himself and of his own anger; he became as it were a priest, a sacrifice, and an altar, and having offered his victims, he gained a glorious victory.”—St. Chrysostom, tom. 4, p. 761.WHEDON, "22. The hold — The particular stronghold in this wilderness (chap. xxiii, 29) in which at the time David and his men had their headquarters. Yielding himself now to holy meditation and song, he commemorates his deliverance by the composition of Psalms 142.COFFMAN, ""David and his men went up to the stronghold" (1 Samuel 24:22). Engedi was 700 feet below sea level; and that stronghold to which David and his men went up to seems to have been at some higher elevation in the highlands of southern Judah. Some scholars suggest that it might have been the cave of Adullam, but Willis rejected that idea and wrote that, "The writer had in mind the stronghold of Engedi."[17] This seems to be correct, in which case, "went up to" would mean that the conversation with Saul had taken place at some lower level than that of the stronghold. Many questions of this nature are unanswerable without more information than is provided in the sacred text.HAWKER, "Verse 22

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REFLECTIONSREAD, my soul, in the character of this deluded, wretched, and unwise king of Israel, the sad history of every unrenewed man, by nature. Blind to all his own real interest and happiness; and giving himself up to work all malice with greediness. And is not every man in this state, that goes forth to the pursuit of persecution, and regardless of his own happiness. He sees not the light of life. He knows nothing of Jesus and his righteousness, but is full of envy, hatred, and every evil work. Alas! what shall open his eyes, or awaken his mind to the proper apprehension of good and evil?Read, my soul, in the unwearied persecutions of poor David, the happy state, notwithstanding all outward circumstances, of the godly in Christ Jesus. Though cast out, and fugitives, and vagabonds, too frequently, in the sight of men, or, as David speaks, like a flea, or a dead dog, of no value; yet chosen of God, and precious. They are crucified with Christ; exposed to the rage and violence of Satan and bad men; and worse than all, to the remains of indwelling corruption in their own nature. But, O dearest Lord, how sweet and refreshing is the thought, more is He that is with us, than all that are against us. All the Sauls, which now persecute us, know as he did concerning David, that the Lord hath established his kingdom in the hearts of his people. Let this, O my God, be my everlasting comfort under every trial. Poor, wretched, persecuted, and deeply tried, as I may be in myself, yet Jesus will plead my cause, and bear me out through every difficulty. Lord! do thou carry me through all the caves of En-gedi, and the mountains, and wilderness state of my warfare; support me under every burden; lighten every care; bear one up under every trial; lead me through every opposition; bring me constantly near thy throne of grace, and finally bring me home to thy throne of glory.LANGE, "1 Samuel 24:23, 22]. The description of the interview, so significant for both parties to it, concludes with the statement that Saul went to his residence, while David with his men went up into the strong and secure mountain-heights. The latter did not return home, because he could not expect that Saul would retain this disposition and essentially change his bearing towards him.—Cler.: “He knew Saul’s changeable and perfidious nature, and was afraid of his snares.” [Nor, apparently, did Saul invite or expect him to go home. His presence at court would have been embarrassing; his training in the fields is to continue yet some time.—Tr.]PETT, "1 Samuel 24:22 a‘And David swore to Saul.’It was not difficult for David to comply with Saul’s request, because nothing was further from his mind than the slaughter of Saul’s descendants. Thus he gladly swore to Saul that he would not deliberately harm his family. And he kept his word, for while circumstances (and especially Abner, Saul’s uncle), would later force him to fight with Ishbosheth’s men, it was more Abner’s doing than his (2 Samuel

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2:8-12; 2 Samuel 3:6). In the case of Mephibosheth. Jonathan’s son, he not only did not act against him, but took him under his protection and favoured him (2 Samuel 9).1 Samuel 24:22 b‘And Saul went home, but David and his men took themselves up to the stronghold.’Still moved by David’s magnanimity Saul returned to Gibeah with his troops, leaving David alone for a period, while David and his men remained in their strongpoint. Both knew that it was an uneasy truce, not a genuine reconciliation. There was no thought in Saul’s mind of David being restored to favour. He was probably unsure about what he would do.

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