9 And David H1732 said H559 to Saul, H7586 Wherefore hearest H8085 thou men's H120 words, H1697 saying, H559 Behold, David H1732 seeketh H1245 thy hurt? H7451
Thou shalt not go H3212 up and down as a talebearer H7400 among thy people: H5971 neither shalt thou stand H5975 against the blood H1818 of thy neighbour: H7453 I am the LORD. H3068
Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord H113 the king H4428 hear H8085 the words H1697 of his servant. H5650 If the LORD H3068 have stirred thee up H5496 against me, let him accept H7306 an offering: H4503 but if they be the children H1121 of men, H120 cursed H779 be they before H6440 the LORD; H3068 for they have driven H1644 me out this day H3117 from abiding H5596 in the inheritance H5159 of the LORD, H3068 saying, H559 Go, H3212 serve H5647 other H312 gods. H430
When their judges H8199 are overthrown H8058 in stony H5553 places, H3027 they shall hear H8085 my words; H561 for they are sweet. H5276
The words H1697 of a talebearer H5372 are as wounds, H3859 and they go down H3381 into the innermost parts H2315 of the belly. H990
The north H6828 wind H7307 driveth away H2342 rain: H1653 so doth an angry H2194 countenance H6440 a backbiting H5643 tongue. H3956
Where no H657 wood H6086 is, there the fire H784 goeth out: H3518 so where there is no talebearer, H5372 the strife H4066 ceaseth. H8367 As coals H6352 are to burning coals, H1513 and wood H6086 to fire; H784 so is a contentious H4079 H4066 man H376 to kindle H2787 strife. H7379 The words H1697 of a talebearer H5372 are as wounds, H3859 and they go down H3381 into the innermost parts H2315 of the belly. H990
A lying H8267 tongue H3956 hateth H8130 those that are afflicted H1790 by it; and a flattering H2509 mouth H6310 worketh H6213 ruin. H4072
If a ruler H4910 hearken H7181 to lies, H1697 H8267 all his servants H8334 are wicked. H7563
And G2532 the tongue G1100 is a fire, G4442 a world G2889 of iniquity: G93 so G3779 is G2525 the tongue G1100 among G1722 our G2257 members, G3196 that it defileth G4695 the whole G3650 body, G4983 and G2532 setteth on fire G5394 the course G5164 of nature; G1078 and G2532 it is set on fire G5394 of G5259 hell. G1067
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Samuel 24
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).