1 Samuel 27
1 Saul, hearing David to be in Gath, seeks no more for him.
5 David begs Ziklag of Achish.
8 He, invading other countries, persuades Achish he fought against Judah.
David <01732> [A.M. 2946. B.C. 1058. An. Ex. Is. 433. And David.]
swept <05595> [I shall.]
This was a rash conclusion: God had caused him to be anointed king of Israel, and promised his accession to the throne, and had so often interposed in his behalf, that he was authorised to believe the very reverse.
swept <05595> [perish. Heb. be consumed. there is nothing.]
land <0776> [into the land.]
David <01732> [David.]
This measure of David's, in uniting himself to the enemies of his God and people, was highly blameable; was calculated to alienate the affections of the Israelites; and led to equivocation, if not downright falsehood.
six <08337> [the six.]
Achish <0397> [Achish.]
two <08147> [with his two.]
search <01245> [he sought.]
one ..... towns ................ city <05892 0259> [some town.]
Ziklag ........ Ziklag <06860> [Ziklag.]
Ziklag was at first given to the tribe of Judah, but was afterwards ceded to that of Simeon; but as it bordered on the Philistines, if they had ever been expelled, they had retaken it. Eusebius simply says it was situated in the south of Canaan.
length of time <04557> [the time. Heb. the number of days. a full year. Heb. a year of days.]
Geshurites <01651> [A.M. 2948. B.C. 1056. An. Ex. Is. 435. the Geshurites.]
Girzites <01511> [Gezrites. or, Gerzites.]
These people seem to be the Gerrhenians, (2 Mac 13:24) whose chief city, Gerrha, is mentioned by Strabo as lying between Gaza and Pelusium in Egypt.
Amalekites <06003> [the Amalekites.]
approach <0935> [as thou goest.]
man <0376> [left neither.]
camels <01581> [and the camels.]
<0408> [Whither, etc. or, Did you not make a road. And David.]
Negev ...... Negev ...... Negev <05045> [Against.]
David here meant the Geshurites, and Gezrites, and Amalekites, which people occupied that part of the country which lies to the south of Judah. But Achish, as was intended, understood him in a different sense, and believed that he had attacked his own countrymen. David's answer, therefore, though not an absolute falsehood, was certainly an equivocation intended to deceive, and therefore incompatible with that sense of truth and honour which became him as a prince, and a professor of true religion. From these, and similar passages, we may observe the strict impartiality of the Sacred Scriptures. They present us with the most faithful delineation of human nature; they exhibit the frailties of kings, priests, and prophets, with equal truth; and examples of vice and frailty, as well as of piety and virtue, are held up, that we may guard against the errors to which the best men are exposed.
Jeharmeel <03397> [the Jerahmeelites.]
Kenites <07017> [Kenites.]
tell <05046> [Lest.]
hated <0887> [utterly to abhor. Heb. to stink.]
