1 Samuel 21:11
servants <05650> [the servants.]
king <04428> [the king.]
1 Samuel 21:2
king <04428> [The king.]
The whole of this is a gross falsehood; and which was attended with the most fatal consequences. It is well known that from all antiquity it was held no crime to tell a lie in order to save life. Thus Diphilon [Hypo lambano to pseudas epi sotevea legomenon, ouden peripoieisthai duscheres.] "I hold it right to tell a lie for safety: nothing should be avoided to save life." A heathen may say or sing thus: but no Christian can act thus and save his soul, though he may save his life.
1 Samuel 5:1
captured <03947> [took.]
Ebenezer <072> [Eben-ezer.]
Ashdod <0795> [Ashdod.]
Ashdod, called Azotus by the Greeks, was one of the five satrapies of the Philistines, and a place of great strength and consequence. It was situated near the Mediterranean, between Askelon and Jamnia, thirty-four miles north of Gaza, according to Diodorus Siculus, and the Antonine and Jerusalem Itineraries. It is now called Shdood; and Dr. Richardson says they neither saw nor heard of any ruins there. "The ground," he observes, "around Ashdod is beautifully undulating, but not half stocked with cattle. The site of the town is on the summit of a grassy hill; and, if we are to believe historians, was anciently as strong as it was beautiful."
[Azotus.]
