1 Samuel 24

The Ziphites were, however, the most treacherous of David’s enemies, and went to seek Saul on purpose to betray David into his hands. Saul here again displays his hypocrisy, “Blessed be ye of the Lord, for ye have compassion on me?” language very unbecoming the lips of those who have no mercy on others! Still, however, David is delivered, and Saul being disappointed of his prey, is forced to return home, to defend his nous against those very enemies from whom David, under God, had so often rescued him. “When the Philistines invaded the land, (says Henry,) they were far from intending any kindness to David; yet the overruling providence of God, which orders all events, made it very serviceable.”

God is never at a loss for ways and means to save his people. (1 Samuel 24:1-22). Saul returns to pursue David, and is put to shame by his generosity.—What success Saul met with in warring against the Philistines, we are not told; but it is probable that he succeeded in driving them back to their own territories, because we find him almost immediately again in pursuit of David. How inveterate must be the malice that can never rest while a rival or an enemy remains to be destroyed! Saul now took three thousand pes men with him— men on whom he thought he could depend, and probably the known enemies of David; and while he seems guided by chance only, Providence directs him, perhaps alone and unprotected, into the very cave in which David and his men lay concealed.

This has one thought incredible; but the following paragraph from Dr. Pococke, one of our most respectable eastern travellers, affords a complete answer to the objection. “Beyond the valley” (of St. Ekon) says this respectable and authentic writer, ‘there is a very large grotto, which the Arabs call El Maaonah, a hiding-place: i.e. high rocks on each side of the valley are almost perpendicular, and the way into 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 very narrow passage into a very 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. The 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 eves and his men might with great ease lie hid there, and not be perceived by him.’ In this or some similar cave, of which there are many in Judea, Saul probably lay fast asleep, with few or no attendants, as was his pursuit of David, whom he had long hunted “like a partridge on the mountains.” David’s men no sooner saw Saul in this dangerous situation, than they persuade him God had now delivered Saul into his hand, that he might destroy him.

David, indeed, draws his sword; but it is not to slay the Lord’s anointed, but only to cut off the skirt of his robe, as a witness on his behalf. David, with much difficulty, pacified his men; and Saul, not suspecting any of the circumstances, rose and went his way. David now followed him out of the cave, at some distance, and cried after him, “My lord the king!” Saul turning round, sees David bowing almost to the ground before him. David then rises, and remonstrates with him as a father; and, exhibiting the skirt of his robe, apprizes him of the circumstances in which he had just been, and thus appeals to the Almighty, with the skirt in his hand; “The Lord judge between me and thee!” Saul is now completely shamed and silenced; “Thou art more righteous than I:”

and acknowledges that he knew David was to be his successor, and only requests from him an oath that he would not cut off his seed after him, nor destroy his name. David gives the required pledge, and Saul returns home; but “David and his men” very prudently “gat them up unto the hold;” that is, (according to the Syriac and Arabic,) to Mizpeh; rightly judging, that Saul was too malevolent and capricious to be trusted, as we shall find in a following chapter. Chap. XXV. Ver. 1—44. The death of Samuel, the churlishness of Nabal, and the wisdom of Abigail.—The character of Samuel has been noticed in a preceding chapter, ((1 Samuel 12)) For fidelity to the divine commands, and for integrity in his transactions with the people, it was certainly unimpeachable, and if in some instances it may be thought harsh, or severe, the same has been alleged against Aristides, called the Just.

Cato of Utica, and others among the heathen, who excelled in the same virtues. The truth is, that it is very difficult for frail man to excel in any excellence, without carrying it to the extreme. Samuel, however, in all the instances that have been objected to, appears to have acted immediately under divine direction, and was thereby justified. He never acted from sordid, cruel, or revengeful motives; we need not wonder, therefore, that all Israel mourned for him at his funeral. This chapter presents us with a pair of portraits (if we may so call) and which form a perfect contrast—Nabal the churl, and Abigail the courteous. It is generally unhappy, when tempers so opposite meet in the matrimonial connexion; in the present instance, the conduct of Nabal was doubtless a source of frequent and severe affliction to his wife, and we are ready to wish that he had been matched with a woman more like himself rugged and severe; yet had it been so, both would have been destroyed, with all that they possessed; whereas

Notes on the verses

Ver. 4. Wilderness of Ziph.—[Ziph is mentioned in Joshua with Carmel and Maon, near which it seems to have been situated; and as we have mention of Carmel and Maon in the history of David, as adjoining to Ziph, it cannot be doubted that by the Ziph, in the wilderness of which David now lay and where was the hill of Hachilah, is to be understood Ziph near Carmel and Maon.]—Bagster. Ver. 19. Hachilah.—[Calmet states, that Hachilah was a mountain about ten miles south of Jericho, where Jonathan Maccabeus built the castle of Massada, west of the Dead sea, and not far from Engedi.—Jeshimon.—The wilderness. Eusebius places Jeshimon ten miles south of Jericho, near the Dead sea; which agrees extremely well with the position of Hachilah, as stated by Calmet.]—Bagster.

Ver. 22. Prepare yet.—Some of Kennicott’s MSS. by the change of a letter, (hardly distia, ishat le,) read, “Understand farther;” but the present text might be rendered “Contrive;” form a plan to discover, &c. | Ver. 24. Maon.—[From which the adjoining mountainous district derived its fame was a city in the most southern parts of the tribe of Judah, and a neighbouring town to Carmel. Hence Nabal (ch. xxv. 2.) is described as a man of Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and though he might dwell generally in Maon, yet he is styled Nabal the Carmelite from the place where his estate lay. Calmet supposes it to be the city Minois, which Eusebius places in the vicinity of Gaza; and the Mnemi Castrum, which the Theodosian code places near Beersheba.

|—Bagster. Ver. 28. Sela-hammahlekoth.—(Because, says the Targum, “the host of the king was divided to go hither and thither.” Here Saul was obliged to separate himself from David, in order to go and oppose the invading Philistines: which deliverance of David was of such a nature as made the Divine interposition fully visible.)—Bagster. Ver. 29. Strong holds.—[The district around Engedi, near the western coast of the Dead sea, is reported by travellers to be a mountainous territory, filled with caverns; and, consequently, proper for David in his present circumstances.]—Bagster.

Chap. XXIV. Ver. 2. The rocks of the wild goats.—The Ibex, or rock-goat. Ver. 3. Cover his feet.—See note on (Judges 3)

24. Ver. 13. The proverb of the ancients.—The Heb. Mashal, means “any sentence or axiom excellently or gravely uttered: concise, and confined to a certain form or manner.””—Bishop Lowth. While this proverb intimates that David, not being a wicked man, could not do such a wicked action, it also silently implies, that Saul himself must have been a wicked man, to pursue him with such a course of enmity. Ver. 14. A dead dog or a snare evidently means, by these degrading comparisons, to show Saul the unprofitableness of his pursuit of him, even if he had succeeded. If he killed him, he would be no better than a dead dog; if he caught him alive, it would give him more trouble than profit.