Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek; and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel. The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rear with Achish.
Then the princes of the Philistines said, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years? I have found no fault in him since he fell away until today.”
But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For with what should this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Should it not be with the heads of these men?
Isn’t this David, of whom people sang to one another in dances, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’ ”
Then Achish called David, and said to him, “As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords don’t favor you. Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you not displease the lords of the Philistines.”
David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant so long as I have been before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
Achish answered David, “I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God. Notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ Therefore now rise up early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you; and as soon as you are up early in the morning, and have light, depart.”
So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 Or, in Ain.
Or, in Ain.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–11 1Sa 29:1 Now the Philistines gathered together all their…
1Sa 29:1 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which [is] in Jezreel.
Ver. 1. To Aphek.] Which was contiguous to Shunem. {1Sa 28:4}
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Which is in Jezreel.] This also was near to mount Gilboa. Chronology and topography are the two eyes of history.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 Aphek; either, that in the tribe of Asher, Jos…
Aphek; either, that in the tribe of Asher, Jos 19:30, or rather another town of that name in Issachar, though not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture; this being the case of many places, to be but once named.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 Here is, I. The great strait that David was…
Here is, I. The great strait that David was in, which we may suppose he himself was aware of, though we read not of his asking advice from God, nor of any project of his own to get clear of it. The two armies of the Philistines and the Israelites were encamped and ready to engage, Sa1 29:1. Achish, who had been kind to David, had obliged him to come himself and bring the forces he had into his service. David came accordingly, and, upon a review of the army, was found with Achish, in the post assigned him in the rear, Sa1 29:2. Now, 1. If, when the armies engaged, he should retire, and quit his post, he would fall under the indelible reproach, not only of cowardice and treachery, but of base ingratitude to Achish, who had been his protector and benefactor and had reposed a confidence in him, and from whom he had received a very honourable commission. Such an unprincipled thing as this he could by no means persuade himself to do. 2. If he should, as was expected from him, fight for the Philistines against Israel, he would incur the imputation of being an enemy to the Israel of God and a traitor to his country, would make his own people hate him, and unanimously oppose his coming to the crown, as unworthy the name of an Israelite, much more the honour and trust of a king of Israel, when he had fought against them under the banner of the uncircumcised. If Saul should be killed (as it proved he was) in this engagement, the fault would be laid at David's door, as if he had killed him. So that on each side there seemed to be both sin and scandal. This was the strait he was in; and a great strait it was to a good man, greater to see sin before him than to see trouble. Into this strait he brought himself by his own unadvisedness, in quitting the land of Judah, and going among the uncircumcised. It is strange if those that associate themselves with wicked people, and grow intimate with them, come off without guilt, or grief, or both. What he himself proposed to do does not appear. Perhaps he designed to act only as keeper to the king's head, the post assigned him (Sa1 28:2) and not to do any thing offensively against Israel. But it would have been very hard to come so near the brink of sin and not to fall in. Therefore, though God might justly have left him in this difficulty, to chastise him for his folly, yet, because his heart was upright with him, he would not suffer him to be tempted above what he was able, but with the temptation made a way for him to escape, Co1 10:13.
II. A door opened for his deliverance out of this strait. God inclined the hearts of the princes of the Philistines to oppose his being employed in the battle, and to insist upon his being dismissed. Thus their enmity befriended him, when no friend he had was capable of doing him such a kindness. 1. It was a proper question which they asked, upon the mustering of the forces, "What do these Hebrews here? Sa1 29:3. What confidence can we put in them, or what service can we expect from them?" A Hebrew is out of his place, and, if he has the spirit of a Hebrew, is out of his element, when he is in the camp of the Philistines, and deserves to be made uneasy there. David used to hate the congregation of evil doers, however he came now to be among them, Psa 26:5. It was an honourable testimony which Achish, on this occasion, gave to David. He looked upon him as a refugee, that fled from a wrongful prosecution in his own country, and had put himself under his protection, whom therefore he was obliged, in justice, to take care of, and thought he might in prudence employ; "for (says he) he has been with me these days, or these years," that is, a considerable time, many days at his court and a year or two in his country, and he never found any fault in him, nor saw any cause to distrust his fidelity, or to think any other than that he had heartily come over to him. By this it appears that David had conducted himself with a great deal of caution, and had prudently concealed the affection he still retained for his own people. We have need to walk in wisdom towards those that are without, to keep our mouth when the wicked is before us, and to be upon the reserve. 3. Yet the princes are peremptory in it, that he must be sent home; and they give good reasons for their insisting on it. (1.) Because he had been an old enemy to the Philistines; witness what was sung in honour of his triumphs over them: Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands, Sa1 29:5. "It will be a reproach to us to harbour and trust so noted a destroyer of our people; nor can it be thought that he will now act heartily against Saul who then acted so vigorously with him and for him." Who would be fond of popular praise or applause when, even that may, another time, be turned against a man to his reproach? (2.) Because he might be a most dangerous enemy to them, and do them more mischief then all Saul's army could (Sa1 29:4): "He may in the battle be an adversary to us, and surprise us with an attack in the rear, while their army charges us in the front; and we have reason to think he will do so, that, by betraying us, he may reconcile himself to his master. Who can trust a man who, besides his affection to his country, will think it his interest to be false to us?" It is dangerous to put confidence in a reconciled enemy.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–11 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to…
Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek,.... Not the city in the tribe of Judah of that name, Jos 15:53; where the Philistines had a camp in the time of Samuel, Sa1 4:1; but rather that in the tribe of Asher, Jos 19:30; unless there was one of this name in the tribe of Issachar, not mentioned, since it seems to have been near Jezreel and Shunem, which were both in that tribe, Jos 19:18,
and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel; in the valley of Jezreel; of which See Gill on Jos 19:18 and See Gill on Hos 1:5.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 11 The princes of the Philistines object against David's going…
The princes of the Philistines object against David's going with them to the battle, ver. 1-5. He is dismissed by Achish, ver. 6-11.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 The Philistines gather their armies together against Israel,
CHAPTER XXIX
The Philistines gather their armies together against Israel,
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and encamp at Aphek; while the Israelites encamp at Jezreel, 1.
The lords of the Philistines refuse to let David go to battle
with them, lest he should betray them, 2-5.
Achish expresses his confidence in David; but begs him to
return, 6-10.
David and his men return, 11.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXIX
Verse 1. To Aphek] This was a place in the valley of Jezreel, between Mounts Tabor and Gilboa.
Pitched by a fountain] To be near a fountain, or copious spring of water, was a point of great importance to an army in countries such as these, where water was so very scarce. It is supposed, as William of Tyre says, that it was at this same fountain that Saladin pitched his camp, while Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, pitched his by another fountain between Nazareth and Sephoris; each being anxious to secure that without which it was impossible for their armies to subsist.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 1Sa 29:1-2. The Philistines gathered, the Israelites pitched —…
1Sa 29:1-2. The Philistines gathered, the Israelites pitched — Or rather, had gathered, had pitched; for we are informed in the foregoing chapter that the Philistines were come to Shunen, and it is probable David’s departure from their army was prior to Saul’s consulting the woman at Endor. The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, &c. — When they took a view of their army, the great men appeared, some at the head of a hundred, some of a thousand soldiers. David and his men passed on with Achish — Who seems to have been the general of the army, and to have made David and his men his life-guard, according to his resolution, chap. 1Sa 28:2. From this we may learn how dangerous a thing it is to deviate from truth, and what inconveniences it often brings us into. The pretences which David made to Achish (as related chap. 28.) of his inveteracy to the Israelites, and of the damage he had done them in making incursions upon them, were the inducements that prompted Achish to make David and his men his life-guard; whereby David was brought into the grievous strait of either fighting against his own countrymen, or betraying his benefactor.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10 A fountain - Probably, the fine spring Ain-Jalud. It…
A fountain - Probably, the fine spring Ain-Jalud. It is impossible to say what the special circumstances were which led to the struggle between Israel and the Philistines taking place so far north as the plain of Jezreel. Possibly it was connected with some movements of the Aramaic tribes to the north of Palestine. See 2 Sam. 8.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 Aphec. Hence they proceeded to Sunam, and attacked Saul,…
Aphec. Hence they proceeded to Sunam, and attacked Saul, near the fountain, which were all places in the vale of Jezrahel. The sacred writer thus leaves the two armies ready to engage, being intent on giving the particulars of David’s history, and only relating the affairs of Saul, &c., in as much as they may refer to him. (Calmet) --- David had retired from the army of the Philistines before Saul went to Endor, and some of the tribe of Manasses went after him, and were present in the battle, in which the Amalecites were slain and plundered, 1 Paralipomenon xii. 19. (Salien)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 II. David’s Dismissal from the Philistine Army
II. David’s Dismissal from the Philistine Army
1Sa_29:1-11
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1Now [And] the Philistines gathered together all their armies1 to Aphek; and 2the Israelites pitched by a [the] fountain2 which is in Jezreel. And the lords3 of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands, but [and] David and his 3men passed on in the rearward [rear] with Achish. Then said the princes4 of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the [om. the] king of Israel, which [who] hath been with me these days or these years,5 and I have found no 4fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day? And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow [the man] return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary6 to us; for wherewith should he reconcile himself [make himself accept 5able] unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men? Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
6Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely [om. surely], as the Lord [As Jehovah] liveth, thou hast been [art] upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day; nevertheless the lords favour thee 7not [but in the eyes of the lords thou art not good]. Wherefore [And] now return, 8and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines. And David said unto Achish, But7 what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee [from the day8 when I was in thy presence] unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king? 9And Achish answered and said unto David, I know9 that thou art good in my sight as an angel10 of God; notwithstanding [but] the princes of the Philistines have said, 10He shall not go up with us to the battle. Wherefore [And] now, rise up early in the morning with thy master’s servants that are come with thee;11 and as soon as 11ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart. So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to12 Jezreel.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Sa_29:1. Resumption of the narrative of the war between the Philistines and Israelites, 1Sa_28:1-4, with an exacter description of the positions of the two armies. Aphek—to be distinguished from the places of the same name in Asher (Jos_19:30; Jdg_1:31), in Judah on the mountain (Jos_15:53), and near Ebenezer (1Sa_4:1)—belonged to Issachar, and is probably the same with the present el Afuleh near Solam=Sunem (v. d. Velde, Mem., p. 286; Ew., Gesch., III., 142, A. 2). Southeast of this Philistine rendezvous the Israelites were encamped “at the spring near Jezreel,” the present Zerin (Rob., III., i. 395) [Am. ed., ii. 319–323, where Robinson explains the identity of the names Jezreel and Zerin, the Heb. el often becoming in in Arabic, as Beitin = Bethel; so Zerel=Zerin.—Tr.] Ain [= “spring”] is not = Endor, as the Sept. wrongly gives it, whence it is adopted by Euseb. in the Onomasticon, but the present Ain Jalud,13 a very bold spring on the northwest declivity of Gilboa, whence flows a brook through the Wady Jalud into the Jordan. There the Israelitish army encamped opposite the Phlistine in a well-watered spot near Jezreel. “Elsewhere also a spring gives name to a stopping-place or border line, 2Sa_17:17; Num_34:11” (Böttch.).
1Sa_29:2. Vivid description of the array of the Philistine army, not at the mustering (Bunsen), but in their movement to Aphek. In divisions of hundreds and thousands, at the head of their divisions the “Princes [lords] of the Philistines” marched on, properly “marched over,” that is, over the plain of Esdraelon to Jezreel (comp. 1Sa_29:4). Here in the north they advanced with their whole force, in order to bring about a decisive battle in the plain with the Israelites, not being able to maintain themselves permanently in the mountains. Their advance to Jezreel forced Saul to lead his whole army thither. There is no ground or necessity for supposing that they had occupied or ravaged the middle portion of the country where Saul’s royal residence, Gibeah lay, in order then to carry the war into the extremely fruitful northern district, and thus soon conquer all Israel (Ew., Gesch., III., 142), “for towards the end of his reign Saul’s military strength was probably not so great that he could have divided it” (Then). The Philistines having begun their march, Achish found himself with David in the rearguard.
1Sa_29:3. The other leaders object to the presence of David and his men: What do these Hebrews here? As it is said in 1Sa_29:11 that David returned to the land of the Philistines, and according to 1Sa_30:1 they reached Ziklag after a three days march, the objection of the Philistine princes must have been made on Israelitish soil, or near the Palestinian border, but not at the commencement of the march. From Achish’s reply it appears that the princes distrusted David, suspecting that he would go over to his own people and fight against the Philistines. Achish observes 1) that David is servant of Saul, king of Israel, thus alluding to his enmity with Saul, 2) that he has already been allied with him a long time against Saul, “these days or these years” = “a year and a day,” indefinite statement of the time mentioned in 1Sa_27:7 : “a year and four months,”—and 3) that in all this time he has seen nothing in him to awaken suspicions of treachery. From the day of his falling (נָפְלוֹ, instead of [rather, used alongside of—Tr.] נִפְלוֹ, see Ew., § 255, d). The vss. add “to me,” according to the usual construction of the verb, though we need not therefore insert “to me” (אֵלַי) in the text (Then.), “since it is understood from the context” (Keil). On these grounds Achish thought himself quite sure of David, comp. 1Sa_27:12.
1Sa_29:4. The twofold designation of the Philistine leaders, here “chiefs” [Eng. A. V. “princes”], in 1Sa_29:2, “princes” [Eng. A. V. “lords”] comes from the circumstantial character of the narration, not from oversight (Then.), though the Sept. and Vulg. omit the second name. The chiefs of the Philistines did not accept Achish’s explanation, but were angry with him, and demanded of him that he send David back to his place, which he (Achish) had appointed him, that is, to Ziklag. They said: He shall not go down with us into the battle. “Go down” (יֵרֵד) is a regular technical military expression, derived from the necessity in that mountainous country of descending into the plain to fight,14 comp. 1Sa_26:10; 1Sa_30:24. To Achish’s defence of David they reply: 1) he might become an adversary to them in battle, though he had hitherto been an ally; 2) he might wish to recommend himself to his lord, though he had up to this time opposed him,—with the heads of these men. The Hithpael of the verb (רצה) indicates zealous self-activity, “earnestly to commend one’s self,” or, “to seek to make one’s self acceptable” (Ew., § 124 a). “These,” they say, pointing to the Philistine troops. By defeating a part of our force, said they, he would try to regain Saul’s favor. Herein is a recognition of David’s bravery and military ability, which they would be the less disposed to doubt when they recollected the defeat he had formerly inflicted on Goliath and the Palestine army. For they say 3) Is this not David, of whom they sang in dances? &c. Comp. 1Sa_18:7 with 1Sa_16:11. It is the same argument that Achish’s servants used against him on his first visit to Achish’s court. The Philistines’ recollection of that achievement is here to be the means of rescuing David from the painful necessity of going into battle with the Philistines against his own people.
1Sa_29:6. Achish is obliged to yield to the decided demand of his comrades. He assures David that his confidence in him is unshaken, that he regards him as an honorable and faithful man. Achish’s oath “by the life of Jehovah” is to be explained not by the fact that a Hebrew is here the narrator (Then.), or that Achish had learned from David to know and honor the God of Israel (S. Schmid), but by his desire to attest more strongly the truth of his words by invoking the God whom David worshipped. Achish, however, does not say that he had been pleased with David in former wars (Tremell. Vatablus), but his words refer to this campaign, he assuring him of his confidence in contrast with the distrust of the princes. He means to say: To me thou art the object of undoubting trust, but the princes do not wish thee to take part in the campaign. Thus he excuses himself, as it were, to David for the fact that he must now (1Sa_29:7) bid him return, that he may do nothing evil in the eyes of the princes of the Philistines.
1Sa_29:8. As Achish remains true in word and deed to his honorable confidence in David, so David remains true to his rôle (27) of dishonorable prevarication to Achish; for, when he says: that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord, the king—this “my lord, the king,” may refer as well to Achish as to Saul; and, for the rest, he could not have been in earnest in saying that he would fight, for he certainly would not have fought against his own countrymen (Then.).
1Sa_29:9. Achish trustingly accepts David’s words as referring to himself, and renews the assurance of confidence in his honor. The I know is the reply to David’s assertion of his faithfulness in the question: “What have I done?” etc. [Translate: “I know it, for thou art good,” etc.—Tr.] Achish’s testimony to David’s fidelity and honor (on the words: “yea, thou art in my eyes,” etc. comp. Gen_48:19) rises to the point of comparing him with an “angel (= messenger)15 of God,” see 2Sa_14:17; 2Sa_19:27. I esteem thee as highly, he would say, as if thou wert sent to me from God—but the princes say: “he shall not go up with us to the war.” The word “go up” refers to the progress of the march from the south upwards towards the north.
1Sa_29:10. With the servants of thy lord, that is, of Saul; whose subjects they were. [On the text see “Textual and Grammatical.”—Tr.]
1Sa_29:11. David returns to Philistia, to Ziklag (1Sa_30:1).—That David, in order to avoid a sad alternative, himself artfully roused the opposition of the Philistine princes to his participation in the campaign (as Thenius thinks not impossible), is, even if possible, too bold a conjecture; the narrative gives no ground for it.
HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL
1. God’s patience is such that the sins of the members of His kingdom are not visited with expulsion from communion with Him, so long as they, like David, direct their inner life to Him in faith, and are willing to be guided by Him. But such sins as we here see in David—fear of man, unfaith, having recourse to heathen protection, deceitful behaviour towards the kind and honorable king Achish—God does not pass by, on the one hand, without the exhibition of His punitive righteousness, partly punishing sin with sin, as we here see in David from a fundamental sin (doubt and little faith) all other sins issuing, these again coming one from another, partly inflicting internal anguish and external perplexities and painful experiences; but, on the other hand, he restrains evil consequences, and brings into play former exhibitions of His helping might (as here in the Philistines’ recollection of David’s victory over Goliath and the army), so to order all things according to His mercy and wisdom that the blameworthy evil does not lead to destruction, and subserves the ends of His providential government of the world.
2. Certainly David’s untruthfulness is not to be measured by Christian morality (Then.), for the mingling of the standpoints of the Old and New Testaments by introducing the latter into the former, both as respects moral knowledge and biblical ethics, and as respects religious truth and biblical dogmatics, is set aside by the difference of the two Testaments in the development of the history of revelation and the kingdom of God. Especially in judging of individual, concrete, ethical phenomena in the relation between man and man, where the principle of love is limited by national relations, we must take into consideration the limitation of the theocratic principle of life to the sphere of the national life in respect to those peoples that were outside of the theocracy. Nevertheless all ethical phenomena in the life of the Old-Testamental bearers of the divine revelation and the theocratic principle must be looked at from the highest point of view, which is given in God’s holy will itself, and judged as to their ethical character and value by the absolute standard. The God of absolute truth (Num_23:19; 2Sa_15:29) demands truth from his “saints” (comp. Exo_20:6 with 1Sa_19:6 and Pro_6:16-19; Deu_19:11). To the God of truth and faithfulness (Psa_40:10-12 [9–11]) the lips must not speak falsehood (Psa_34:15 [13]), as David himself declares. Apart, however, from the stand-point of revelation, David’s conduct to Achish is condemned from the stand-point of natural-human morality by the unsuspecting faithfulness and honor of the heathen king.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1Sa_29:1-2. S. Schmid: The sins of the princes of the people put weapons into the hands of the enemies of God and the Church.
1Sa_29:3 sq. [Scott: While presumptuous sinners are given up to the effects of their own counsels and driven headlong to destruction, the sins of the upright are repented of and pardoned; and the Lord takes care both of their peace and reputation.—Tr.]—Hedinger (from Hall): O the wisdom and goodness of our God, that can raise up an adversary to deliver us out of those evils which our friends cannot!—Schlier: When the Lord thinks on us, He comes at the right time with His blessing also. He has ways, even where we know no further expedient, and can give counsel and help where we might already despair.
1Sa_29:4. Schlier: God’s children are not people that have no failings and weaknesses any more. But on account of such failings God does not yet cast off His children. Even if we sin, He does not yet at once give us up; He chastens us, but He does not cast us off.—[1Sa_29:6. Scott: When worldly people have no evil thing to say of us, but will bear testimony to our uprightness, we need desire no more from them: and this we should aim to acquire by prudence, meekness and a blameless life. But their flattering commendations are almost always purchased by improper compliances, or some measure of deception, and commonly may cover us with confusion.—Tr.]
1Sa_29:7. Cramer: God guides His saints wonderfully (Psa_4:4 [3]), and holds them back from sins which if they were given up to themselves, they would commit, acting against their own conscience, and rescues them from great peril also, into which they would otherwise have fallen through their thoughtless projects.—Hedinger [from Hall]: One degree of dissimulation draws on another; those which have once given way to a faulty course cannot easily either stop or turn back.—[Henry: No one knows how strong the temptation is to compliment and dissemble, which they are in that attend great men, and how hard it is to avoid it.—Tr.]—What wholesome effects are produced under God’s guidance by that intercourse which in the world is indispensably necessary between those who have part in God’s kingdom and those who stand aloof from it? 1) For those who stand aloof from the kingdom of God: a) that they involuntarily give honor to the living God; b) that they recognize in those who belong to His kingdom the power of a higher divine character, and are compelled to bow before that power (1Sa_29:9); c) that in themselves the remains of the divine image again come forward, and they find pleasure in that which is ethically good and beautiful. 2) for those who have part in God’s kingdom themselves: a) the consoling perception that even they who stand aloof from God’s kingdom have to serve as instruments for the fulfilment of the divine purposes and designs of salvation (Pro_16:7); b) the wonderful confirmation of the truth that all things must work together for good to them that love God (Rom_8:27), and c) humbling self-knowledge in respect to their own sins and faults, in view of the morally noble behaviour of those who stand aloof from the kingdom of God, while they themselves are wanting therein.
Footnotes:
[1][1Sa_29:1. Lit. “camps.”—Tr.]
[2][1Sa_29:1. Sept. Endor, Arab. “near the city (עיר) Jezreel,” Syr. apparently “in In” as proper name. Eng. A. V. is correct.—Tr.]
[3][1Sa_29:2. םֶרֶן seren (rendered “lord” in Eng. A. V. throughout this chapter), a word of doubtful origin, supposed by some to be connected with the similar Aramaic subst. which means “axle,” magistrates being considered supports on which the state revolves. On the relations between the Aramaic and the Phœnician-Canaanitish dialects see Schröder, Phönizische Sprache, Einl. § 11.—Tr.]
[4][1Sa_29:3. The ordinary word שָׂר, which Eng. A. V. renders “princes” throughout this chapter.—Tr.]
[5][1Sa_29:3. An indefinite phrase, but not therefore suspicious. The versions have dealt variously with it. Chald. and Vulg. follow the Heb. literally (as Eng. A. V.), except that Vulg. has “multis diebus.” Syr. has “this time and time and months,” which is understood by some to mean “these two years and some months,” but it is more probably a reproduction of the phrase in 1Sa_27:7, and = “a year and some months” (so Arab.). The Sept. ἡμέρας τοῦτο δεύτερον ἔτος perhaps contains a duplet, as Wellh. suggests, and the text of Stier and Theile (eclectic) gives δεύτερον ἔτος σήμερον “two years to-day.” Sept. probably read שְׁנָתַיִם “two years,” not, however, זֶה יָמִים שְׁנַיִם (suggested by Wellh. as basis of the Heb. and Greek texts) which would not be rendered “two years” but “two days.” It seems better, on the whole, to retain the present Heb. text, and regard Sept. and Syr. as free renderings.—Tr.]
[6][1Sa_29:4. Heb. שָׂטָן satan, used in the general sense of “adversary” in the earlier books of the Bible, and with the Art. as ft proper name in Job and Zechariah, and without the Art. in 1Ch_21:1. The verb. שׂטן “to hate, be hostile to,” is used only in the general sense. Fürst refers to the curious view of Justin Martyr (Dial. cum Tryph. 103) that Σατανᾶς = נחשׁ םטא “the apostate serpent.”—Tr.]
[7][1Sa_29:8. כִּי is here a cohortative and illative particle, and might be rendered “then” (so Erdmann), but, as it is also adversative, the translation of Eng. A. V. is better.—Tr.]
[8][1Sa_29:8. מִיּוֹם. Wellhausen: Either omit אֲשֶׁר or write the Art. before יוֹם—Tr.]
[9][1Sa_29:9. Perhaps better with Thenius and Philippson: “I know it, for (or, yea) thou art, etc.” This avoids the redundancy of the translation of Eng. A. V. and Erdmann: “I know … in my eyes.” The quia of the Vulgate = “quod.”—Tr.]
[10][1Sa_29:9. Erdmann: “Messenger,” not so well. Sept. omits, perhaps because the phrase was considered unsuitable in the mouth of a heathen. For the significance of its use see the Exposition and Translator’s note.—Tr.]
[11][1Sa_29:10. Here the Sept. inserts: “and go ye to the place where I have appointed you, and set thou nothing evil in thy heart, for thou art good in my sight.” Thenius and Wellhausen favor this insertion on the ground that after the “rise early” follows usually the mention of the thing done, while the Heb. text has the unnecessary repetition “rise early … and rise early” (the “as soon as” of Eng. A. V. is not expressed in the Heb.). On the other hand, we cannot well account for the omission of this clause, if it formed apart of the original text, while the insertion might have been made by a copyist (or the phrase added on the margin) to soften the repetition. We may suppose the verb here repeated because of the intervening clause, which called for a change in the Number of the Verb.—Tr.]
[12][1Sa_29:11. Some MSS. contain the preposition, which is here obviously involved in the construction. Sept., Vat.: “went up to fight against Jezreel,” but Alex. has “against Israel,” which is adopted by Thenius, on which Wellh. says: “Thenius is misled by Eusebius into putting Aphek in the vicinity of Endor (Lagarde, Onomast. 216, 28); in that case, of course, the expression ‘the Philistines went up to Jezreel’ would be meaningless, since they were already there. But Aphek is the same in 1Sa_29:1 as in 1Sa_4:1, near Mizpeh and Ebenezer.” Yet, from Aphek near Mizpeh to Jezreel would be going down, not up. From some lower place (as near Shunem) they would naturally advance to seize the hill Jezreel, which lay between their camp and Saul’s. The fountain in Jezreel (1Sa_29:1) is perhaps the grand spring at the foot of Gilboa, regarded as being in the district of Jezreel.—Tr.]
[13][That is, “spring of Goliath,” according to a tradition that here David killed Goliath; or “spring of Gilead” as the ancient name of Gilboa (A. P. Stanley in Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, Art. Jezreel).—Tr.]
[14][This is a sufficient reply to Wellhausen’s remark that “the narrator here forgets that he is dealing with a Philistine, who [as dwelling in a plain] would probably use the opposite expression [go up].”—Tr.]
[15][This word is probably to be taken here in a supernatural sense. We need not suppose this a Hebrew idea put into the mouth of the Philistine; the conception of superhuman messengers of God (= our “angels”) is so general and natural that there is no difficulty in supposing it to be known and used among the Philistines.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 9 David and his men passed on in the rereward…
David and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish--as the commander of the lifeguards of Achish, who was general of this invading army of the Philistines.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11 DAVID’S REMOVAL FROM THE PHILISTINE ARMY, 1Sa_29:1-11.
DAVID’S REMOVAL FROM THE PHILISTINE ARMY, 1Sa_29:1-11.
In this chapter we are informed how David was providentially delivered from the embarrassing position in which Achish’s demand had placed him. See 1Sa_28:1-2. This removal of David from the Philistine camp probably took place before Saul’s interview with the witch of Endor, and is introduced here as being preliminary to that which is recorded in the next chapter.
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1. Aphek — Supposed by some to be the modern el Afuleh, a little to the northwest of Shunem, but it has not been identified with certainty. More likely it is the same as the Aphek of chap. 41, somewhere northwest of Jerusalem, and this gathering of the Philistines is to be understood as occurring before they “came and pitched in Shunem.” 1Sa_28:4. The historian goes back in this chapter to narrate events that took place before the two armies approached very near to each other. This is the more likely, since the Philistine lords would have objected to David’s presence before he had gone with them as far as Shunem.
A fountain which is in Jezreel — The modern Ain Jalud, situated about six miles south of Shunem, at the base of the mountains of Gilboa. It is “a very large fountain, flowing out from under a sort of cavern in the conglomerate rock which here forms the base of Gilboa. The water is excellent, and, issuing from crevices in the rocks, it spreads out at once into a fine limpid pool, forty or fifty feet in diameter, in which great numbers of small fish were sporting. From the reservoir, a stream sufficient to turn a mill flows off eastward down the valley. There is every reason to regard this as the ancient fountain of Jezreel, where Saul and Jonathan pitched before their last fatal battle.” — Robinson.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 Ch. 1Sa_29:1-5. The Philistine lords’ distrust of David
Ch. 1Sa_29:1-5. The Philistine lords’ distrust of David
1. Now the Philistines, &c. The narrative of 1Sa_28:1-2 is resumed, with a further description of the positions of the armies before the battle.
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Aphek] This cannot be the Aphek of 1Sa_4:1, in the neighbourhood of Bethhoron, for in that case there would be no reason to account for Saul’s army being already encamped at Jezreel. Possibly it is to be identified with Fûleh, about two miles to the W. of Shunem: or, as Lieut. Conder thinks, with Fukûa, 6 miles S.E. of Jezreel. In the latter case, the Philistines had shifted their camp from Shunem, and turned the strong position of Jezreel on the side where it is most assailable: but this seems less probable, and does not agree with the account of the flight of the Israelites to Mount Gilboa (1Sa_31:1).
a fountain which is in Jezreel] “The fountain in Jezreel” was probably the present Ain Jâlûd, less than two miles E.S.E. of Zerîn. “It is a very large fountain, flowing out from under a sort of cavern in the wall of conglomerate rock, which here forms the base of Gilboa. It spreads out at once into a fine limpid pool, forty or fifty feet in diameter. A stream sufficient to turn a mill flows off eastwards down the valley.” Robinson, Bibl. Res. II. 323. It may have been the identical “spring of Harod” at which Gideon tested his men (Jdg_7:1 ff.). The modern name of Jezreel is Zerîn: the feeble initial j (y) having been dropped, and the termination el changed to în, as in Beitîn for Bethel.
Jezreel was a strong and central position. It stood upon the brow of a steep rocky descent of at least 100 feet to the N.E., at the opening of the middle branch of the three eastern forks of the plain of Esdraelon, commanding the broad and fertile valley which slopes eastward to the Jordan, and all the extent of the great plain reaching westward to the long blue ridge of Carmel. See Robinson, Bibl. Res. II. 318 ff. Jezreel was the favourite residence of Ahab (1Ki_21:1 ff.); there Jezebel established a temple of Astarte with 400 priests (1Ki_18:19); here was enacted the tragedy of Naboth’s judicial murder (1Ki_21:13); and here Jezebel met with her end (2Ki_9:30 ff.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 (1) Aphek.—The name Aphek was a common one, and…
(1) Aphek.—The name Aphek was a common one, and was given to several “places of arms” in Canaan. It signifies a fort or a strong place. This Aphek was most likely situated in the Plain of Jezreel. Eusebius places it in the neighbourhood of En-dor.
By a fountain which is in Jezreel.—“By a fountain.” The LXX. wrongly adds “dor,” supposing the spring or fountain to be the well-known En-dor—spring of Dor—but En-dor, we know, lay many miles away from the camp of Saul. This “fountain” has been identified by modern travellers as Ain-Jalûd, the Fountain of Goliath, because it was traditionally regarded as the scene of the old combat with the giant. It is a large spring which flows from under the cavern in the rock which forms the base of Gilboa. “There is every reason to regard this as the ancient fountain of Jezreel, where Saul and Jonathan pitched before their last fatal battle, and where, too, in the days of the Crusades, Saladin and the Christians successively encamped.”—Robinson, Palestine, 3:167, 8.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 MARCH OF THE PHILISTINE ARMY (vers. 1-5).
MARCH OF THE PHILISTINE ARMY (vers. 1-5).
Ver. 1. The Philistines gathered, etc. The narrative, broken off for the description of Saul"s abasement, is again resumed from 1Sa_28:1. Aphek. As we saw on 1Sa_4:1, this word, signifying a fortress, is a very common name for places. If it was the Aphek in Judah there mentioned, David"s dismissal would have taken place near Gath, and so soon after Achish joined the Philistine army. Mr. Conder thinks it was the place represented by the modern village Fuku"a, near Mount Gilboa, in the tribe of Issachar; but as this was distant from Ziklag eighty or ninety miles, it would not have been possible for David to have reached home thence on the third day, (1Sa_30:1) nor was it probable that his presence with his little army would remain long unnoticed. A fountain which is in Jezreel. Hebrew, "the fountain." Conder says, "Crossing the valley we see before us the site of Jezreel, on a knoll 500 feet high. The position is very peculiar, for whilst on the north and northeast the slopes are steep and rugged, on the south the ascent is very gradual, and the traveller coming northward is astonished to look down suddenly on the valley with its two springs: one, "Ain Jalud, welling out from a conglomerate cliff, and forming a pool 100 yards long with muddy borders; the other, the Crusaders" fountain of Tubania" ("Tent-Work," 1:124). The former is the fountain mentioned here; and it is evident that even now Saul had chosen a strong position for his army. The reading of the Septuagint, En-dor instead of "the fountain" (Hebrew, "En, or "Ain), is indefensible, as the Israelites were many miles to the southward.
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Vers. 1-5.
The counteractions of Providence.
The facts are
1. The Philistines make preparations for battle, and David and his men formthe rear.
2. On the princes complaining of the presence of the Hebrews, Achish pleads the faithfulness of David.
3. The princes insist on the dismissal of David and his men to a safequarter, being suspicious that he might in battle turn against them. The conduct of David, as recorded in chapter 27., now began to be embarrassing both to himself and his Philistine protectors; and had events gone on as once appeared probable, David would have been put in inextricable difficulties. It was only the quarrel between Achish and the leaders of his forces that solved the ambiguity of his position.
I THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS, regarded in isolated sections, OFTEN SEEMS TO RENDER THE REALISATION OF GOD"S PURPOSE UNCERTAIN, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE. The prophet Samuel had declared it to be God"s purpose to bring David to the throne, as a man worthy of the confidence Of the nation. The arrangement that had been made on the accession of Saul to power had been modified in harmony with this fact. Yet in the ambiguous position in which David was now placed by his own erring conduct it seemed as though events were tending in a different direction. The very man on whom the hope of the pious was set was now allied with Israel"s foe, and on the way to fight against his own people. Already dissimulation had injured his reputation, and should he now engage against his own countrymen, how could he ever be worthy of confidence as a loyal Hebrew? This is not an isolated instance. The readiness with which the descendants of Jacob seemed to settle in Egypt after his death gave no promise of the fulfilment of God"s purpose concerning them. The scattering of the disciples by the first persecution appeared to run counter to Church consolidation, and therefore to power of Christian effort. There are ebbs in the individual Christian life which while in progress suggest the uncertainty of final salvation. Even the long course of evils subsequent to the creation of man, considered in their earthly development, may give rise to the doubt whether the benevolent purpose of a good Creator can ever be attained. It should not be forgotten, however, that we see only sections of life"s course, and we must not draw a conclusion from partial knowledge. God allows freedom of action, and trains his creatures by the dearly purchased lessons of a painful experience, and, moreover, calmly awaits the issue of the whole.
II THE ERRORS OF MEN OF SINCERE PIETY ARE VERY TENDERLY TREATED BY GOD. We cannot but be struck with the great difference between the conduct for which Saul was so heavily punished and that of David which did not issue in his rejection. Saul"s sin was radical it was "rebellion". (1Sa_15:23) It indicated that self-will ruled his conduct. David"s sin in dissembling and in settling without Divine direction as an ally of Achish was the sin of backsliding and neglect. He was radically sincere in his piety, but in an hour of weakness lost his full faith in God, and so yielded to the influence of fear. Hence he was chastised by sorrow, by increasing fears, by self-humiliation, loss of reputation, and that secret sense of Divine displeasure which the erring soul of the devout knows too well. Though the sincere servant of God falls, he shall not be utterly cast down. God remembers that he is dust. In David"s case the troubles created by his actions produce regret that he ever put himself in such a false position, and quicken the spirit of true repentance. Our Saviour"s treatment of hardened, self-willed men and those whose spirits were struggling to do right and to be right was very different. It is a consolation to us all to know that he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and does not cast off those who, not being able to "watch one hour," fall into temptation.
III GOD NEVER FAILS TO EXERCISE CONTROL OVER THE SET OF EVENTS WHICH SEEM TO RUN COUNTER TO HIS PURPOSES, and when the fit time arrives HE BRINGS NEW ELEMENTS INTO OPERATION. David erred and sinned; but David was restrained and inwardly humbled. This dangerous alliance, though bringing him to the verge of a precipice, was limited, in the pressure of its obligations, by a new set of influences being brought into operation. So far as the bond between David and Achish was working, David"s hand must soon be raised in battle against Israel; but the inscrutable Providence which ordained him to be future king, and allowed him, for hidden reasons, to come into perilous and damaging relationships, also held sway over the spirits of Philistine princes, and just when the sin of the man of God was about to bear its cruellest fruit, moved them to protest against his entering into the conflict. Thus tenderly does God deal with his erring servant, and, in a manner unknown and unexpected, counteract the course of events which recently had tended to the frustration of his own purposes. How often would God"s servants ruin their own reputation and the very cause dear to their hearts did he not raise up means of checking the tendency of their conduct. It is of the Lord"s mercies that we are not consumed.
IV IN THUS COUNTERACTING THE EFFECTS OF OUR MISCONDUCT GOD CAUSES CHASTISEMENT TO COME ON THE ERRING. David was mercifully saved from the peril of smiting his own people, and the pressure of any obligation which human friendships and customs may have laid upon him was removed, and the prospects of his being welcomed as king in Israel were brightened; yet in his own heart he was made to feel all the pain and shame of being regarded as a man of treacherous character. He could not but smart under the contempt of heathen princes if, as is likely, he knew of their language concerning himself. "Make this fellow return," and for the reason "lest in the battle he be an adversary to us." To profess to be true and faithful, and yet to be scorned and treated as one whose word and profession are worthless, this was one means by which Providence caused the erring one to suffer from the fruit of his own deeds.
General lessons:
1. Let us not be allured into questionable courses by a prospect of present ease, seeing that a perilous crisis may arise out of the very means we take for securing ease.
2. Whatever troubles beset the Church by reason of the imperfect conductof God"s servants, let us still cherish faith in his wisdom and power to counteract the natural effects of their conduct.
3. It is of great importance so to act as never to merit the scorn anddistrust of irreligious men, for we thereby dishonour the name of God and destroy our proper influence in the world.
HOMILIES BY B. DALE. Vers. 1-11. (ON THE MARCH TO APHEK.)
A good man in bad company.
do these Hebrews here? (ver. 3). The results of the wrong step which David had taken in going into the country of the Philistines now became manifest. In the war against Israel Achish naturally looked to him and his men to go out with him to battle. What was he to do? He might refuse to go. This would have been his straightforward course. But he would thereby forfeit the friendship of Achish, and expose himself to imminent danger. He might go and fight against Israel. This would be to incur the greatest guilt, and imperil his accession to the throne. He might go and turn traitor on the battle field. This was what the Philistines expected (ver. 4), but it would have covered his name with infamy. He determined for the present to continue his prevarication with Achish, who said he should be captain of his bodyguard for the future, (1Sa_28:1, 1Sa_28:2) and went, probably with a troubled conscience, and hoping that he might in some way be relieved from his inconsistent and perplexing position. He was clearly out of his proper place in the Philistine army. His condition represents that of a good man
I IMPROPERLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE UNGODLY. It is by no means uncommon for a good man to yield to the temptation to join the wicked in their pursuits, unnecessarily, and from an unjustifiable motive; such as the desire of personal safety, convenience, information, pleasure, or profit like Lot in Sodom, Jonah going to Tarshish, Peter in the palace of the high priest. (see 1Sa_15:6) The relation into which he thus enters is inconsistent with
1. Truth; inasmuch as it usually requires him to deceive others concerning his real character and purposes, by pretending to be what he is not, and concealing what he is.
2. Piety; inasmuch as he is thereby hindered in his devotions (ch. 26:19), exposes himself to fresh temptations, sanctions sinful or doubtful conduct, strengthens the ranks of the enemy, violates his duty to God and "his own company "and people. "Those that would be kept from sin must not go on the devil"s ground" (M. Henry). "What doest thou here, Elijah?" David Hebrew Christian?
3. His own real welfare; inasmuch as he involves himself in unforeseen but certain trouble, places himself beyond the promised protection of God, and exposes himself to the threatened fate of his enemies.
II SHREWDLY SUSPECTED BY HIS ASSOCIATES. He may endeavour to escape their suspicion, and for a time succeed, but it is sooner or later excited by
1. Something, in himself his name, appearance, relation to past events ("Is not this David?" etc., vers. 3, 5), peculiar behaviour, faltering and ambiguous explanations. "Thy speech bewrayeth thee." "Did I not see thee in the garden with him?
2. The occurrence of new circumstances, which quicken perception, call for decision, test and manifest the character, and its congruity or otherwise with present associations.
3. The general instinct of the ungodly. Although some of their number may be deceived, and exhibit unbounded confidence in him (ver. 3), let no one think to escape. "There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed.
III DEEPLY HUMILIATED BY HIS TREATMENT.
1. Outwardly. In the eyes of others. "Make this fellow return," etc. (ver. 4). He is compelled to leave the society which he has chosen; expelled from it publicly and ignominiously, as one unworthy to be trusted.
2. Inwardly. In his own eyes. The heathen king of Gath appears to have been a faithful and honourable man; and his expression of confidence in David (vers. 3, 6), in contrast to the dishonourable prevarication of the latter (ver. 8), must have put him to shame. "The flattering commendations of worldly people are almost always purchased by improper compliances, or some measure of deception, and commonly may cover us with confusion" (Scott).
IV PROVIDENTIALLY EXTRICATED FROM HIS EMBARRASSMENT. He may not be able to extricate himself from the net in which he has become entangled. But God does not readily abandon him to all the natural consequences of his conduct. He has many ways of working out his deliverance, and effects it
1. From regard to the good that is in him, and in pity toward him in hisperplexity and distress.
2. For the honour of his name, that his merciful care over his servants maybe seen, and his glory promoted by them.
3. Not without testifying his disapproval of his sin. "David returned thenext morning to Ziklag no doubt very light of heart, and praising God for having so graciously rescued him out of the disastrous situation into which he had been brought" (Keil). "The snare is broken, and we are escaped". (Psa_124:7) But on the third day he found Ziklag in ashes, was overwhelmed with grief, and more deeply humbled than ever before. The folly and guilt of the course which he had pursued were at length brought home to him with irresistible force.
Remarks:
1. There are associations with t. he ungodly which are not sinful, but right and beneficial to a good man himself, as well as to them.
2. No one should place himself in the way of temptation, and then expectthat God will preserve him from falling or extricate him from the consequences of his presumption.
3. If any one finds that he has improperly associated himself with thewicked, he ought to adopt all proper methods to effect his speedy separation from them.
4. When he has found deliverance from his perplexity and peril he shouldgive the glory of it to God alone. D. Vers. 1-11.
Achish.
David had, in the course of his life, friendly relations with several heathen princes. One of these was Achish (elsewhere called Abimelech, Psalm 34., inscription), son of Maoch, and king of Gath, one of the five royal cities, the seats of the princes of the Philistine confederacy. What is recorded of him shows that he was a remarkable man. Whilst Saul persecuted David, Achish protected him; and whilst the former, in the midst of Israel, "with the law" of Moses, committed atrocious crime, and sank into heathen superstition, the latter, in the midst of heathenism, "without the law", (Rom_2:11-16) exhibited much moral excellence, and approached the faith of Israel (ver. 6). He may have profited in religious knowledge by his intercourse with David; on the other hand, his example was in some respects worthy of imitation by him. We must not attribute to him virtues which he did not possess; but we see in him a man much better than we might have expected to find from the disadvantages under which he lived. He was distinguished by
1. Self-interested policy. Although he may have felt some sympathy with David in his persecution by Saul, yet he appears to have received him under his protection chiefly because of the aid he hoped to obtain from him for himself and his people. (1Sa_27:12)
2. Unsuspecting confidence. He had much reason to be suspicious of David from his knowledge of his victory over the champion of Gath, and his recollection of his former visit; but he put an unreserved trust in his representations, (1Sa_28:2) and even when others suspected him did not withdraw it. A trustful disposition is liable to be imposed upon, but it is always worthy of admiration.
3. Royal generosity, in permitting David to dwell in Gath, making him a present of Ziklag, and appointing him to an honourable post in his army. He was without envy or jealousy, and acted toward him in a manner worthy of a king.
4. Discriminating appreciation; admiring the military bravery of David and the still higher qualities which he possessed. "I have found no fault in him," etc. (vers. 3, 6, 9). There must have been much in common between these two men to have enabled them to live on such friendly terms with each other for so long a period. Excellence perceives and appreciates excellence.
5. Honourable fidelity, both in testifying to the worth of David and in submitting to "the lords of the Philistines," with whom lie was associated (ver. 7).
6. Courteous consideration. "And now return, and go in peace," etc. (ver. 7). "Rise up early in the morning with thy master"s servants," etc.. (ver. 10; 1Ch_12:19-22) He was frank and commendatory even to flattery, and desirous not to hurt his feelings by the manner of his dismissal.
7. Devout sentiment. "As Jehovah liveth," etc. (ver. 6). How much he meant by this expression we know not. But we may believe that, notwithstanding he was united with others in conflict with Israel, there was in him (as the effect of that Divine mercy and grace which wrought in all nations) "some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel." And "in every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with. D. (Act_10:35)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v3 What do these Hebrews here?
1Sa_29:3
What do these Hebrews here?
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One question with two meanings
David was almost at the lowest point of his fortunes when he fled into foreign territory. The Philistine commanders, very naturally, were suspicious of these allies, just as Englishmen would have been if, the night before Waterloo, a brigade of Frenchmen had deserted and offered their help to fight, Napoleon. So the question, What, do these Hebrews here?--amongst our ranks--was an extremely natural one, and it was answered in the only possible way, by the subsequent departure of David and his men from the unnatural and ill-omened alliance. Now, that suggests to us that Christian people are out of their places, even in the eyes of worldly people, when they are fighting shoulder to shoulder with them in certain causes; and it suggests the propriety of keeping apart. Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. What do these Hebrews here? is a question that, Philistia often asks. But now turn to the other question. Elijah had fallen into the mood of depression which so often follows great nervous tension. The usually undaunted prophet, in the reaction after the great effort, was fearful for his life, and deserted his work, and flung himself into solitude, and shook the dust off his feet against Israel. Was that not just doing what I have been saying that Christian people ought to do--separating himself from the world? In a sense yes, and the voice came, What dost thou here, Elijah? Go back to your work; to Ahab, to Jezebel. Go back to death if need be. Do not shirk your duty on the pretence of separating yourself from the world. So we put the two questions together. They limit one another, and they suggest the via media, the course between, and lead me to say one or two plain things about that duty of Christian separation from an evil world.
I. The first thing I would suggest to you is the inevitable intermingling, which is the law of God, and therefore can never be broken with impunity. Christs parable about the Kingdom of Heaven in the world being like a man that sowed good seed in his field, which sprung up intermingled with tares, contains the lesson, not so much of the purity or non-purity of the Church as of the inseparable intertwining in the world of Christian people with others. Society at present, and the earthly form of the Kingdom of God, are not organised on the basis of religious affinity, but upon a great many other things, such as family, kindred, business, a thousand ties of all sorts. There are types of Christian life today unwholesomely self-engrossed, and too much occupied with their own spiritual condition, to realize and discharge the duty of witnessing, in the world. Wherever you find a Christian man that tries more to keep himself apart, in the enjoyment and cultivation of his own religious life, than to fling himself into the midst of the worlds worst evil, in order to fight and to cure it, you get a man who is sharing in Elijahs transgression, and needs Elijahs rebuke. The intermingling is inevitable in the present state of things.
II. And now let me say a word about the second thing, and that is--the imperative separation. What do these Israelites here? is the question. What do we do when we are left to do as we like? Where do we go? When the half-cwt fastened by the bit of string is taken off the sapling it starts back to its original uprightedness. Is that what, your Christianity does? Let us look at the spirit. Where do I turn to? What do I like to do? Where are my chosen companions? What are my recreations? Is my life of such a sort as that the world will turn to ms and say, What! you here! A man is known by the company he keeps, says an old Latin proverb, and I am bound to say that I do not think it is a good sign of the depth of a Christian professors religion if he feels himself more at home in the company of the people that do not share his religion than in the company of those that do. There are two questions which every Christian professor ought to ask himself about such subjects. One is, Can I ask God to bless this, and my doing it? And the other is, Does this help or hinder my religion?
III. Now there is one last suggestion that I wish to make, and that is the double questioning that we shall have to stand. The lords of the Philistines said, What do these Hebrews here? They saw the inconsistency, if David and his men did not. They were sharp to detect it, and David and his band did not rise in their opinion. So let me tell you, you will neither recommend your religion nor yourselves to men of the world, by inconsistently trying to identify yourselves with them. The world respects an out-and-out Christian; and neither God nor the world respects an inconsistent one. But there is another question, and another questioner--What dost, thou hers, Elijah? That question is put to us all in the moment when we are truest to our professions and ourselves. What do you think you would say if, in some of these moments of unnecessary intermingling with questionable things and doubtful people, you were brought suddenly to this, that you had to formulate into some kind of plausibility your reason for being there? Let us cleave to Christ, and that will separate us from the world. If we cleave to the world, that will separate us from Christ. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 “Aphek.” This place must either have been situated in…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
“Aphek.” This place must either have been situated in the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, or on the road thither, and therefore must not be confounded with the cities mentioned in Jos_12:18; Jos_19:30, and 1Ki_20:26. It is generally considered that it was neither identical with the Aphek mentioned in chap. 4 of this book, but Mr. Grove (Smith’s Bib. Dict.) thinks it may have been the same place, and that the Philistines were then on their march to Jezreel by the road which still exists. “A fountain in Jezreel” rather “the fountain.” Now “Ain Jalût,” the fountain of Goliah (probably so called because it was the reputed scene of the defeat of Goliah), a large and copious spring, which, from under a cavern in the conglomerate rock which there forms the base of Gilboa, forms a beautiful and limpid pool of more than forty feet in diameter. “There is every reason,” says Robinson, “to regard this as the ancient fountain of Jezreel, where, too, in the days of the crusades, Saladin and the Christians successively encamped.”
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1Sa_29:3. “Then said the princes,” i.e., the princes of the other cities of Philistia, not the courtiers of Achish. “As it is said in 1Sa_29:11 that David returned to the land of the Philistines, and according to 1Sa_30:1 they reached Ziklag after a three days’ march, the objection must have been made on Israelitish soil, or near the Palestinian border.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_29:3. “These days, or these years.” An indefinite statement of time.
1Sa_29:4. “Let him not go down.” “Go down is a regular technical military expression, derived from the necessity in that military country of going into the plain to fight.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_29:6. “As the Lord liveth.” This oath is to be explained not by the fact that a Hebrew is here the narrator, or that Achish had learned to know and honour the God of Israel, but by his desire to attest more strongly the truth of his words.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_29:8. “My lord,” etc. “These words might be understood as meaning either Achish or Saul.” (Keil.)
1Sa_29:10. “Thy master’s servants,” i.e., the subjects of Saul.
Note.—We learn from 1Ch_12:19-22 that when David was leaving Aphek he received into his band a large number of fresh adherents from the tribe of Manasseh, seven of whom were afterwards captains in the army of Israel. It is uncertain whether these men joined David before or after the battle of Gilboa; some have conjectured that they were fugitives from that fatal field.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF CHAPTER 1Sa_28:1-2, and CHAPTER 29
THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD AND MAN
I. The short-sightedness of the providence of man. Even godly men are sometimes so unlike their better selves as to take the responsibility of their lives out of God’s hand into their own, and by ordering their actions without any reference to His will, to become, as it were, their own providence. Saul, in common with all who have never exercised a real faith in God, had done this throughout the greater part of his public life, and his endeavour to be independent of his God had resulted, as it always must, in being enslaved by the devil. David at this time gives up trust in God and seeking His guidance, and trusts in his own sagacity to guide him and secure him from evil. But in providing for the safety of his body he did great damage to his character, and found that the act of deception with which he began this method of preservation, must even be followed by another and another sin so long as he was unwilling to return to God’s way. We can well believe that when he first began to shape his own course, he did not expect to find himself one day marching against his countrymen with the enemies of Israel and God. But when a man thus takes his life into his own keeping, he knows not what a net of spiritual danger he begins to weave for himself.
II. The forbearance and the omnipotence of the providence of God. It is but just to David to suppose that he was at least ill at ease, perhaps very unhappy when he found himself in the position described in this chapter—a position so entirely unworthy of him, and so dishonouring to God, and one from which he could not have set himself free without incurring disgrace and danger. But the God who had taken him from the sheepfold to feed His people, here displays His forbearance no less than His power. The men who have the most moral strength have the most pity for human weakness, and are the most ready to help a wandering soul to return to the right path, and if we reason upwards we know that the best of all beings must be more pitiful and more ready. And as His omnipotence is as great as His power, it is always possible for Him to make a way of escape for His children, and this He will do even when their sin has brought them into perplexity and disgrace, if He sees that they are in a condition of soul to profit by such a deliverance. That He delivered David on this occasion is not less a proof of His pity than of His wisdom.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Let us here learn that the too great favour of great rulers, in so far as they are not richer in the fear of God than Achish, toward a man who desires to walk in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham, is especially dangerous. They exact altogether too great a tax for the favour which they bestow. If they are kind, one must be in all things accommodating to them—the tender conscience may say to that what it will. In the bonds of their favour one walks as a prisoner. The mistrust of the Philistine princes helped David out of the difficulty into which he had hurried himself through the favour of Achish. So the favour of godless nobles, when it is blended with somewhat of fear, is more advantageous than their favour alone. The godless nobleman, who is an enemy of God, must know that he has as a servant a friend of God, a servant of Jesus Christ, an upright and believing son of Abraham, to whom he dare impute no folly and wickedness. Consequently this servant must not dissemble as David did with Achish, but profess his faith, trusting in God at all times. Achish, who was formerly a worshipper of idols, solemnly assured David by Jehovah that he pleased him, and said to him that he regarded him as upright; yea, that he was pleasing in his sight as an angel of God. But he held him as an enemy of Israel, and this David indeed was not. But that David was held as one was the result of his own culpable hypocrisy. Let the whole truth be confessed where occasion is given for it; and if one indeed finds it advisable to hold back a part of it, let him at least say nothing contrary to it; otherwise sooner or later he brings himself into great danger.
What wholesome effects are produced under God’s guidance by that intercourse which in the world is indispensably necessary between those who have part in God’s kingdom and those who stand aloof from it. I. For those who stand aloof from the kingdom of God:
(1) That they involuntarily give honour to the living God;
(2) That they recognise in those who belong to His kingdom the power of a higher divine character, and are compelled to bow before that power (1Sa_29:9);
(3) That in themselves the remains of a divine image again come forward, and they find pleasure in that which is ethically good and beautiful. II. For those who have part in God’s kingdom themselves:
(1) The consoling conception that even they who stand aloof from God’s kingdom have to serve as instruments for the fulfilment of the Divine purposes (Pro_16:7).
(2) The wonderful confirmation of the truth that all things must work together for good to them that love God.
(3) Humbling self-knowledge in respect to their own sins and faults, in view of the morally noble behaviour of those who stand aloof from the kingdom of God, while they themselves are wanting therein.—Trans. of Lange’s Commentary.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v3 1 Samuel
1 Samuel
WHAT DOEST THOU HERE?
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1Sa 29:3. - 1Ki 19:9.
I have put these two verses together, not only because of their identity in form, though that is striking, but because they bear upon one and the same subject, as will appear, if, in a word or two, I set each of them in its setting. David was almost at the lowest point of his fortunes when he fled into foreign territory, and for awhile took service under one of the kings of the Philistines. He served him faithfully, and so, when the last great fight, in which Saul lost his life, was about to be waged between Philistia and Israel, David and his men came as a contingent to the army of the former. The Philistine commanders, very naturally, were suspicious of these allies, just as Englishmen would have been if, on the night before Waterloo, a brigade of Frenchmen had deserted and offered their help to fight Napoleon. So the question ‘What do these Hebrews here?’-amongst our ranks-was an extremely natural one, and it was answered in the only possible way, by the subsequent departure of David and his men from the unnatural and ill-omened alliance.
Now, that suggests to us that Christian people are out of their places, even in the eyes of worldly people, when they are fighting shoulder to shoulder with them in certain causes; and it suggests the propriety of keeping apart. ‘Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord’ ‘What do these Hebrews here?’ is a question that Philistia often asks. But now turn to the other question. Elijah had fallen into the mood of depression which so often follows great nervous tension. He had just offered the sacrifice on Carmel, and brought all Israel back to the Lord, and Jezebel had flamed out and threatened his life. The usually undaunted prophet, in the reaction after his great effort, was fearful for his life and deserted his work, flung himself into solitude and shook the dust off his feet against Israel. Was that not just doing what I have been saying that Christian people ought to do-separating himself from the world? In a sense, yes, but the voice came, ‘What dost thou here, Elijah?’ ‘Go back to your work; to Ahab, to Jezebel. Go back to death if need be. Do not shirk your duty on the pretence of separating yourself from the world.’
So we put the two questions together. They limit one another, and they suggest the via media, the course between, and lead me to say one or two plain things about that duty of Christian separation from an evil world.
I. The first thing that I would suggest to you is the inevitable intermingling, which is the law of God, and therefore can never be broken with impunity.
Christ’s parable about the Kingdom of Heaven in the world being like a man that sowed good seed in his field, which sprung up intermingled with tares, contains the lesson, not so much of the purity or nonpurity of the Church as of the inseparable intertwining in the world of Christian people with others. The roots are matted together, and you cannot pull up a tare without danger of pulling up a wheat-stalk that has got interlaced with it. That is but to say that Society at present, and the earthly form of the Kingdom of God, are not organised on the basis of religious affinity, but upon a great many other things, such as family, kindred, business, a thousand ties of all sorts which mat men together, and make it undesirable, impossible, contrary to God’s intention, that the good people should club themselves together, and leave the bad ones to rot and stink. The two are meant to be in close contact. ‘Let both grow together till the harvest.’ If any Christian man were to do as the monks of old did, fly into solitude to look after his own soul, then the question which came to Elijah would be suitable to him, ‘What doest thou here?’ Is there not work enough for you out there, in that wicked world? Is that not the place for you? Where is the place for the ‘salt’? Where the meat is in danger of putrefaction. Rub it in! That is what it was meant for. ‘Ye are the light of the world.’ That suggests the picture of a lamp upon a pedestal that it may send out its rays, but itself remains apart. But the companion metaphor suggests the closest possible contact, and such contact is duty for us Christian people. Elijah ran away from his work. There are types of Christian life to-day unwholesomely self-engrossed, and too much occupied with their own spiritual condition, to realise and discharge the duty of witnessing in the world. Wherever you find a Christian man -whether he is a monk with bare foot, and a rope round his brown robe, and shaven head, or whether he is in the garb of modern Protestantism- that tries more to keep himself apart, in the enjoyment and cultivation of his own religious life, than to fling himself into the midst of the world’s worst evil, in order to fight and to cure it, you get a man who is sharing in Elijah’s transgression, and needs Elijah’s rebuke. The intermingling is inevitable in the present state of things; and family, kindred, business, social and political movements, all require that Christian people should work side by side with men who are not possessors of ‘like precious faith.’ If ever there have been individuals or communities that have tried to traverse that law, they have developed narrowness and bitterness and stunted growth, and a hundred evils that we all know.
II. And now let me say a word about the second thing, and that is-the imperative separation.
‘What do these Israelites here?’ is the question. Much of all our lives lies outside these necessary connections with the world, of which I have been speaking. And the question for each of us is, What do we do when we are left to do as we like? Where do we go? When the iron weight fastened by the bit of string is taken off the sapling, it starts back to its original uprightness. Is that what your Christianity does for you? When you are left to yourself, when you have done all the work that is required, and you are free, where do you turn naturally? It is of no use to lay down special regulations. There has been far too much regulation and red-tape in our Christianity all along. Do not let us put so much stress upon individual acts. Let us look at the spirit. Whither do I turn? What do I like to do? Who are my chosen companions? What are my recreations? Is my life of such a sort as that the world will point to me, and say, ‘What! you here I a professing Christian; what are you doing here?’
I remember that in the autobiography of Mr. Spurgeon, there is a story told about what he did when a child, and living with his grandfather, the pastor of a little country church. There was a very prominent member of that church who was in the habit of going into the public-house occasionally; and the small boy stepped into the sanded parlour where this inconsistent man was sitting, walked up to him, and said, ‘What doest thou here, Elijah?’ It was the turning-point of the man’s life. That is the question that I desire us all to ask ourselves-where do we go, and what sort of lives do we live in the moments when our own voluntary choice determines our action?
‘A man is known by the company he keeps,’ says an old Latin proverb, and I am bound to say that I do not think that it is a good sign of the depth of a Christian professor’s religion if he feels himself more at home in the company of people who do not share his religion than in the company of those that do. I do not wish to be strait-laced and narrow, but I do not wish, either, to be so broad as to obliterate altogether the distinction between Christian people and others. The fact of the case is this, dear friends; if we are Christ’s servants we have more in common with the most uncongenial Christians than we have with the most congenial man who is not a Christian. And if we were nearer our Master we should feel that it was so. ‘Being let go they went to their own company.’ Where do you go when you can make your choice?
I am not going to speak in detail about occupations or recreations. I can quite believe that the theatre might be made an instrument of morality. I can quite believe that a race-course might be a perfectly innocent place. I can quite believe that there may be no harm in a dance. All that I say is that there are two questions which every Christian professor ought to ask himself about such subjects. One is, Can I ask God to bless this thing, and my doing it? And the other is, Does this help or hinder my religion? If we will take these two questions with us as tests of conduct and companionship, I do not think that we shall go far wrong, either in the choice of our companions, or in the choice of our surroundings of any kind, or in the choice of our recreations and our occupations. But if we do not, then I am quite sure that we shall go wrong in them all. ‘What communion hath light with darkness?’ ‘What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.’
The main question is, do I grasp the aim of life with clearness and decision as being to make myself by God’s help such a character as God has pleasure in? If I do I shall regulate all these things thereby.
III. Now there is one last suggestion that I wish to make, and that is the double questioning that we shall have to stand.
The lords of the Philistines said, ‘What do these Hebrews here?’ They saw the inconsistency, if David and his men did not. They were sharp to detect it, and David and his band did not rise in their opinion, but decidedly went down, when they saw them marching there, in such an unnatural place as ‘behind Achish,’ and ready to flesh their swords in the blood of their brethren. So let me tell you, you will neither recommend your religion nor yourselves to men of the world, by inconsistently trying to identify yourselves with them. There are a great many professing Christians nowadays whose mouths are full of the word ‘liberality,’ and who seem to try to show how absolutely identical with a godless man’s a God-fearing one’s life may be made. Do you think that the world respects that type of Christian, or regards his religion as the kind of thing to be admired? No; the question that they fling at such people is the question which David was humiliated by having pitched at his head-’What do these Hebrews here?’ ‘Let them go back to their mountains. This is no place for them.’ The world respects an out-and-out Christian; but neither God nor the world respects an inconsistent one.
But there is another question, and another Questioner-’What doest thou here, Elijah?’ God did not ask Elijah the question because he did not know the answer; but because he wished to make Elijah put his mood into words, since then Elijah would understand it a little better, and, when he found the tremendous difficulty of making a decent excuse, would begin to suspect that the conduct that wanted so much glozing was not exactly the conduct fit for a prophet. And so let us think that God is looking down upon us, in all our occupation of our free time, and that He is wishing us to put into words what we are about, and why we are where we are.
What do you think you would say if, in some of these moments of unnecessary intermingling with questionable things and doubtful people, you were brought suddenly to this, that you had to formulate into some kind of plausibility your reason for being there? I am afraid it would be a very lame and ragged set of reasons that many of us would have to give. Well! better that we should now have to answer the question ‘What doest thou here?’ than that we should have to fail in answering the future question, after we have done with the world: ‘What didst thou there?’
Dear brethren, let us cleave to Christ, and that will separate us from the world. If we cleave to the world, that will separate us from Christ. I do not insist on details of conduct, but I do beseech you, professing Christians, to recognise that you are set in the world in order to grow like your Master, and that their tendency to help you to that likeness is the one test of all occupations, recreations, and companionships, by which we may know whether we are in or out of the place that pleases Him. And if we are in it, that blessed hope which is held forth in the parable to which I have already referred, will come full of sweetness and of strength to us, that, yonder, men will be grouped according to their moral and religious character; that the tares will be taken away from the wheat, and, that as Christ says, ‘Then shall the righteous flame as the sun in their heavenly Father’s Kingdom.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 David Disallowed from Fighting with the Philistines
David Disallowed from Fighting with the Philistines
1. Jezreel] the plain between Gilboa and Little Hermon.
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3. He fell unto me] i.e. 'deserted to me.'
4. An adversary] Heb. satan. Satan, the evil spirit, is always entitled 'the Satan,' i.e. the Adversary (Job 1, 2; Zec_3:1).
6. As the lord liveth] Achish would recognise that Jehovah was the national god of Israel and that He existed as well as Dagon (cp. 1Ki_17:12).
11. The Philistines went up to Jezreel] The Philistines could not attack Saul's position on Mt. Gilboa from Shunem (1Sa_28:4), and accordingly they went round Jezreel to attack by the easier slopes there.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv4, 9 reconcile Or, make himself pleasing. (See Scofield "Dan 9:24").
reconcile Or, make himself pleasing. (See Scofield "Dan 9:24").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 8. David and Achish and Ziklag Destroyed and Avenged
8. David and Achish and Ziklag Destroyed and Avenged
CHAPTER 29
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1. The objections of the Philistine lords (1Sa 29:1-5)
2. Achish dismisses David (1Sa 29:6-11)
While David’s enemy, Saul, heard his coming doom, David was still with the enemies of God’s people. The Philistines were gathered against Israel and David was with Achish ready to fight against the Lord’s people. The lords of the Philistines however object to his presence. They still remember the song of bygone days and fear treachery. Then follows the description of how Achish and David parted. David’s words expressing his great willingness to stay with the enemies of God show how deep a believer may fall when he has wandered away from God. He calls wicked Achish “my lord the King” and his own people Israel, whose anointed king he was, “the enemies.” God’s mercy kept him from plunging deeper than that.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 The Objections of the Philistine Princes
The Objections of the Philistine Princes
v. 1. Now, the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, not far from Shunem, in the Plain of Jezreel; and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel, on the northwest slope of Gilboa.
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v. 2. And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands, crossing the valley in full battle array, with their officers and princes at their head; but David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish, the Philistines of Gath forming the rear-guard.
v. 3. Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? They may have remembered, from an earlier campaign, that the Israelites in their own army had turned against them and helped to destroy them, 1Sa 14:21, or they may have been particularly suspicious of David. And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul, the king of Israel, thereby alluding to Saul’s enmity toward him, which hath been with me these days, or these years, our expression being "a year and a day," and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day? He had found nothing which would cause him to suspect his loyalty to the Philistine cause.
v. 4. And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him, that is, the rulers of the four other city-states; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, to Ziklag, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us; for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? Should it not be with the heads of these men? They felt that it would be the best opportunity for David and his men to reinstate themselves in the favor of Saul by defeating apart of the Philistine army.
v. 5. Is not this David of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands? Cf 1Sa 18:7; 1Sa 21:11. The defeat which they had suffered at the time when Goliath had been slain still rankled in their memory, and their recollection of this achievement proved the means of rescuing David from the unpleasant necessity of going into battle on their side, although their fears would probably have been realized in that event. It was an act of grace and mercy on God’s part which took him out of the battle.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 a small stream of water flowing naturally from the…
spring
a small stream of water flowing naturally from the Earth
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passed on by hundreds and by thousands
"divided their men into groups; some groups had one hundred soldiers and some groups had one thousand soldiers"
hundreds ... thousands
100s ... 1,000s (See: Numbers)
David and his men passed on in the rear guard with Achish
The groups of hundreds and thousands passed on first, then Achish and his helpers, and then David, his men, and the other Philistine soldiers, who were guarding Achish.
translationWords
Philistines
Israel
Jezreel
prince
David
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6 29:1-11 David was spared by divine providence from actually…
29:1-11 David was spared by divine providence from actually fighting against his own people.
29:1 Aphek was the site of an earlier confrontation between Israel and the Philistines (4:1). • Jezreel was about forty miles northeast of Aphek.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.