Worthy.Bible » STRONG » 1 Samuel » Chapter 24 » Verse 8

1 Samuel 24:8 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

8 David H1732 also arose H6965 afterward, and went out H3318 of the cave, H4631 and cried H7121 after H310 Saul, H7586 saying, H559 My lord H113 the king. H4428 And when Saul H7586 looked H5027 behind H310 him, David H1732 stooped H6915 with his face H639 to the earth, H776 and bowed H7812 himself.

Cross Reference

1 Samuel 25:23-24 STRONG

And when Abigail H26 saw H7200 David, H1732 she hasted, H4116 and lighted off H3381 the ass, H2543 and fell H5307 before H639 David H1732 on her face, H6440 and bowed H7812 herself to the ground, H776 And fell H5307 at his feet, H7272 and said, H559 Upon me, my lord, H113 upon me let this iniquity H5771 be: and let thine handmaid, H519 I pray thee, speak H1696 in thine audience, H241 and hear H8085 the words H1697 of thine handmaid. H589

Genesis 17:3 STRONG

And Abram H87 fell H5307 on his face: H6440 and God H430 talked H1696 with him, saying, H559

Exodus 20:12 STRONG

Honour H3513 thy father H1 and thy mother: H517 that thy days H3117 may be long H748 upon the land H127 which the LORD H3068 thy God H430 giveth H5414 thee.

1 Samuel 20:41 STRONG

And as soon as the lad H5288 was gone, H935 David H1732 arose H6965 out of a place toward H681 the south, H5045 and fell H5307 on his face H639 to the ground, H776 and bowed H7812 himself three H7969 times: H6471 and they kissed H5401 one H376 another, H7453 and wept H1058 one H376 with another, H7453 until David H1732 exceeded. H1431

1 Samuel 26:17 STRONG

And Saul H7586 knew H5234 David's H1732 voice, H6963 and said, H559 Is this thy voice, H6963 my son H1121 David? H1732 And David H1732 said, H559 It is my voice, H6963 my lord, H113 O king. H4428

Romans 13:7 STRONG

Render G591 therefore G3767 to all G3956 their dues: G3782 tribute G5411 to whom G3588 tribute G5411 is due; custom G5056 to whom G3588 custom; G5056 fear G5401 to whom G3588 fear; G5401 honour G5092 to whom G3588 honour. G5092

1 Peter 2:17 STRONG

Honour G5091 all G3956 men. Love G25 the brotherhood. G81 Fear G5399 God. G2316 Honour G5091 the king. G935

Commentary on 1 Samuel 24 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 24

1Sa 24:1-7. David in a Cave at Engedi Cuts Off Saul's Skirt, but Spares His Life.

2. 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.

3. 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 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.

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.

1Sa 24:8-15. He Urges Thereby His Innocency.

8-15. 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 (Jud 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; 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" (Ps 142:1).