Discovery Box1 Samuel 11:1
Context11:1 1 Nahash 2 the Ammonite marched 3 against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”
1 Samuel 24:1-22
Context24:1 (24:2) When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, they told him, “Look, David is in the desert of En Gedi.” 24:2 So Saul took three thousand select men from all Israel and went to find 4 David and his men in the region of 5 the rocks of the mountain goats. 6 24:3 He came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave. Saul went into it to relieve himself. 7
Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave. 24:4 David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the Lord said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him whatever seems appropriate to you.’” 8 So David got up and quietly cut off an edge of Saul’s robe. 24:5 Afterward David’s conscience bothered him 9 because he had cut off an edge of Saul’s robe. 24:6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one, 10 by extending my hand against him. After all, 11 he is the Lord’s chosen one.” 12 24:7 David restrained his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and started down 13 the road.
24:8 Afterward David got up and went out of the cave. He called out after Saul, “My lord, O king!” When Saul looked behind him, David kneeled down and bowed with his face to the ground. 24:9 David said to Saul, “Why do you pay attention when men say, ‘David is seeking to do you harm’? 24:10 Today your own eyes see how the Lord delivered you – this very day – into my hands in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I had pity 14 on you and said, ‘I will not extend my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s chosen one.’ 15 24:11 Look, my father, and see the edge of your robe in my hand! When I cut off the edge of your robe, I didn’t kill you. So realize and understand that I am not planning 16 evil or rebellion. Even though I have not sinned against you, you are waiting in ambush to take my life. 24:12 May the Lord judge between the two of us, and may the Lord vindicate me over you, but my hand will not be against you. 24:13 It’s like the old proverb says: ‘From evil people evil proceeds.’ But my hand will not be against you. 24:14 Who has the king of Israel come out after? Who is it that you are pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea? 24:15 May the Lord be our judge and arbiter. May he see and arbitrate my case and deliver me from your hands!”
24:16 When David finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Then Saul wept loudly. 17 24:17 He said to David, “You are more innocent 18 than I, for you have treated me well, even though I have tried to harm you! 24:18 You have explained today how you have treated me well. The Lord delivered me into your hand, but you did not kill me. 24:19 Now if a man finds his enemy, does he send him on his way in good shape? May the Lord repay you with good this day for what you have done to me. 24:20 Now look, I realize that you will in fact be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. 24:21 So now swear to me in the Lord’s name 19 that you will not kill 20 my descendants after me or destroy my name from the house of my father.”
24:22 David promised Saul this on oath. 21 Then Saul went to his house, and David and his men went up to the stronghold.
[11:1] 1 tc 4QSama and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.
[11:1] 2 sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.
[11:1] 3 tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”
[24:2] 4 tn Heb “to search [for].”
[24:2] 5 tn Heb “upon the face of.”
[24:2] 6 tn Or “the region of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats,” if this expression is understood as a place name (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV).
[24:3] 7 tn Heb “to cover his feet,” an idiom (euphemism) for relieving oneself (cf. NAB “to ease nature”).
[24:4] 10 tn Heb “is good in your eyes.”
[24:5] 13 tn Heb “the heart of David struck him.”
[24:10] 22 tn Heb “it had pity,” apparently with the understood subject being “my eye,” in accordance with a common expression.
[24:11] 25 tn Heb “there is not in my hand.”
[24:16] 28 tn Heb “lifted his voice and wept.”
[24:17] 31 tn Or “righteous” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “you are in the right”; NLT “are a better man than I am.”
