CHAPTER 17
1. Now the Filistines assembled their camps for battle, and they were gathered at Sokhoh, which belongs to Yehudah, and they camped between Sokhoh and ‘Azeqah at Efes-damim.
Efes-damim is an aptly-named place 16 miles (25 km.) southwest of Yerushalayim. Its name means “edge of blood” or “end of bloodshed”. It was indeed as far as the Filistines got on this military campaign.
2. So Sha’ul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the Elah Valley, and were in place for battle against the Filistines.
Elah means “oak”. This is within sight of ‘Azeqah, along a seasonal river bed in the Sh’felah (foothills) about halfway between Beyth-Lekhem and the Mediterranean Sea.
3. And the Filistines stood on the mountain on that side, and Israel stood on the mountain on this side, with the valley between them.
This valley is approximately half a mile or one kilometer wide—broad enough to fight a battle in, but narrow enough to be able to hear communications from one side to the other.
4. And a mediator came out from the ranks of the Filistines, whose name was Golyath from Gath, and his height was six cubits and a span.
Gath was one of the few places the race of giants called Anaqim still remained after the Israelite conquest (Y’hoshua 11:22), so this identifies his pedigree. A cubit is roughly the distance from the average man’s elbow to his fingertips (about 18 inches at this time in history), and a span is the distance from thumb to little finger on an outstretched hand. He was roughly nine and a half feet (3 meters) tall!
5. And on his head was a bronze helmet, and he was dressed in scaled armor, and the weight of the armor was 5,000 sheqels of bronze.
5,000 sheqels was the equivalent of three and a third talents, or 100 kg. (220 lbs.) Scaled armor might have been designed as a reminder of Dagon, the “great fish” that the Filistines worshipped.
6. And he had bronze greaves on his legs and throat-armor of bronze between his shoulders.
The Hebrew word for bronze, nekhoshet, comes from the word for serpent or whisperer (nakhash). And indeed, this one was tempting Israel to fear something other than YHWH.
7. And the rod of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear [weighed] 600 sheqels of iron. And a shield-bearer walked ahead of him.
600 sheqels is the equivalent of 26 pounds (12 kg.) The shield-bearer had to be a rather large man himself to be able to wield a shield big enough to cover Golyath!
8. And he stopped and called out to the battle-ranks of Israel, and said to them, “Why do you come out arranged for battle? Am I not the Filistine, and are you not servants to Sha’ul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
Choose: literally, eat or devour. He must have been telling them to pick a man they could afford to dispose of or waste! Under Sha’ul, Israel was in better military shape than it had been since Y’hoshua, but the Filistines played this “wild card” of a champion who had no single equal in Israel, so he called them to a battle of representatives. To gang up on him would violate their honor and bring a shame that would be hard to ever live down.
9. “If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, we will become your slaves, but if I am able to overcome him, then you will become our slaves and will serve us.”
10. And the Filistine said, “I have challenged the battle-ranks of Israel this day: yield up a man to me and let us fight together!”
11. When Sha’ul and all of Israel heard these words of the Filistine, they were confounded and very afraid.
And this over just one giant; at least the spies under Moshe had reported numerous giants as a threat.
12. Now David was the son of this Efrathite from Beyth Lekhem of Yehudah whose name was Yishai, and he had eight sons, and in the days of Sha’ul, the man was becoming old.
Efrath: the “fruitful” part of Beyth-Lekhem, and indeed, with eight sons, Yishai was that!
13. And the three eldest sons of Yishai walked; they went to battle after Sha’ul, and the names of his three sons who went into battle were Eliav [my Elohim is a father], the firstborn, and his second, Avinadav [my father is generous], and the third, Shammah [astonishment].
After Sha’ul: As men of Yehudah, they would not be officially part of Sha’ul’s army, but could certainly assist him. They may have been able to enlist because of David’s existing relationship with Sha’ul.
14. And David was the youngest. When the eldest had gone after Sha’ul,
15. David was going back and forth from Sha’ul to tend his father’s sheep at Beyth Lekhem.
16. And the Filistine approached early [in the morning] and in the evening, and presented himself for forty days.
Morning and evening: These would be the times when the sun would not be so hot, with all his armor. He might have used the sun’s rays to make his armor blindingly bright, or, conversely, used the lack of light to make his dark silhouette appear more ominous. Undoubtedly he could also hear thousands of Israelite men at their morning and evening prayers, and may have designed his challenges specifically as an interruption. Forty days also symbolizes a time of transition elsewhere in Scripture, and indeed it was time for a change.
17. Then Yishai said to his son David, “Please take your brothers an eyfah of this roasted grain and ten [loaves] of this bread, and run to your brothers’ camp.
An eyfah is a measurement that is specifically broken into thirds (of which each is a seah), representing the threefold cord of Israel and Yehudah fighting a common enemy for the sake of YHWH’s honor. Each would receive a seah of grain, reminding us of the three se’im Avraham told Sarah to bake into bread for YHWH’s messengers.
18. “And you must take these ten wedges of cheese to the captain of the thousand, and check on your brothers’ welfare and bring [whatever] they [send back in] exchange.”
Part of the provisions thus went to Yehudah, and part to Israel, from which Sha’ul’s army had come. Whatever they send in exchange: or, their surety, pledge. Compare this to Yaaqov’s sending Yoseyf to check on his brothers’ condition in Genesis 37. Y’shua parallels both of them, and indeed there is a strong Jewish tradition of a Messiah ben-Yoseyf and a Messiah ben-David. Yochanan asked Y’shua if he was going to fill only one of these roles or both. (Mat. 11:3)
19. Now they, along with Sha’ul and all the men of Israel, were in the Valley of the Elah [Brook], engaged in battle with the Filistines.
20. So David shouldered [the burden early] in the morning and left a keeper [in charge] over the sheep, and picked up and went as Yishai had ordered. When he arrived at the entrenchment [on the perimeter], the army was going out to the battle-line, and they raised a war-cry in the battle!
21. (Now Israel and the Filistines were preparing for battle, rank to meet rank.)
22. And David took the articles from upon himself and left them in the hand of the one who guarded the equipment, and ran to the battle-line, and came and asked his brothers how they were faring.
23. While he was speaking with them, sure enough, up came the mediator from the ranks of the Filistines, Golyath the Filistine by name, from Gath, and he spoke these same type of words, and David heard [him].
24. When the men of Israel saw the man, they all ran away from him, being terribly afraid.
25. And the men of Israel were saying, “Have you seen this man who comes up? It is to taunt Israel that he comes up. And what will take place is that whatever man strikes him down, the king will enrich with great wealth, and give him his daughter, and will make his father’s household tax-exempt in Israel.”
26. And David spoke to the men who were standing with him, saying, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Filistine and turns away this disgrace from Israel? Because who is this uncircumcised Filistine, that he could defy the [orderly] ranks of the Living Elohim?”
Despite all his armor, Golyath’s name comes from a root word meaning “uncovered” or “naked”. This is how David saw him, for his very name gave him the key to victory. Thus he emphasized the fact that he was uncircumcised, meaning that he had no covenant with YHWH, and thus no promises of protection such as Israel had. His name is also related to the word for “exile”, a reminder that the Filistines (which means “immigrants”) had indeed been forced from their original territory by the Egyptians. Naming him this may have been a way of keeping this political issue alive so they would continue to be motivated warriors. But just as David stepped up to end his life when no one else would stand up, his descendant Y’shua also rose to the challenge of ending the exile of his kinsmen of the Northern Kingdom. Living Elohim: the One who is genuine, not just an image. After what had befallen the Filistines’ idol (5:3), those who continued to worship him seem rather recalcitrant! David had YHWH’s honor foremost in his mind, for the giant was essentially saying, “Where is your Elohim?”
27. And the people spoke to him according to that which was said, saying, “This is what will be done to the man who strikes him down.”
28. But his oldest brother, Eliav, heard him speaking to the men, and his anger was ignited against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And in whose charge have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I’ve detected the presumptuousness and mischief in your heart, because you have [just] come down for the sake of seeing the battle!”
Few sheep: He is emphasizing how small David’s responsibility has been compared to his own duties in the army. He projects his own arrogance onto his younger brother, though David had undoubtedly already demonstrated that he had no squeamishness about bloodshed, but enjoyed warfare—quite the opposite of Yaaqov—and he accuses him of just wanting to watch people die. Again notice the parallels with Yoseyf, the chosen son who was unappreciated by all his older brothers. (Mat. 13:57) Yet it was the spirit of YHWH that was motivating him. (16:13)
29. But David said, “What have I done now? Isn’t he a threat?”
Isn’t he a threat: or, isn’t it [just] a word? (Is there a matter or problem?)
30. And he turned around from beside him to face someone else, and said the same thing, and the people brought word back to him like the first.
31. And the words that David had spoken were heard, and they were recounted before Sha’ul, and he received him.
Received: or, got, fetched, laid hold of.
32. And David said to Sha’ul, “Don’t let anyone’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and engage this Filistine in battle!”
Anyone’s heart: literally, the heart of Adam. But David seemed naïve to them all:
33. But Sha’ul told David, “You’re not able to go against this Filistine to fight with him, because you are [just] a lad, and he has been a man of war since he was [as] young [as you are]!”
34. But David said to Sha’ul, “Your servant has been a herdsman among sheep for his father, and the lion and the bear have come and carried away a lamb from out of the flock,
35. “and I would go out after it and hit it and snatch it from his mouth, and when it rose up against me I would grab hold of it by its beard, and strike a blow and kill it.
36. “Your servant has struck down both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Filistine will become like one of them, because he has brought reproach on the battle-ranks of the Living Elohim!”
37. And David said, “YHWH, who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, will Himself rescue me from the ‘paw’ of this Filistine!” So Sha’ul said to David, “Go, and may YHWH be with you!”
Paw: literally, hand, in all cases, but he is paralleling the uncircumcised “beast” to the other animals he had killed, and thus is undoubtedly intending this as an insult. Why did Sha’ul allow someone younger than 20 years old, the minimum age one could join the army according to the Torah, go out in what looked like such a suicidal move? Partly because no one else was willing to die as painful a death as he was expected to mete out, and partly because he was fed up with this shame and simply wanted to get it all over with, even if it meant becoming the Filistines’ slaves.
38. And Sha’ul clothed David with his fitted garment, and put a bronze helmet on his head, and had him dressed in armor.
39. When David belted his sword onto his fitted garment and started to walk, since he had not had it tested, David said to Sha’ul, “I can’t go with these, because I haven’t become accustomed to them.” So David took them off himself.
David was Sha’ul’s armor-bearer, so the problem was not that he could not bear the weight. He was not as small a boy as stereotypes would suggest. What he literally said was that he had not tested them, possibly suggesting that this armor was brand new, and neither he nor Sha’ul had had time to “break it in” or even oil it, and for the type of weapon he wanted to use, it would be too cumbersome and be more of a liability than an asset.
40. And he took his walking-stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the river-bed, and put them in the shepherd’s kit that he had, that is, his pouch, and drew near to the Filistine with his sling in his hand.
Smooth stones would be better projectiles, causing less drag and thus traveling faster and straighter. That there were five and that they came from a place where water had done its work on them makes them a picture of the Torah, which is the tool that has been least-encumbered by the chiselings of human reasoning, because it has been less used than the later writings, as people considered it as obsolete as David’s weapons of choice, when newer, apparently more advanced ones were available. He knew that “the older was better”. (Luqa 5:39)
41. And the Filistine came, walking and getting closer to David, with the man who carried his shield in front of him.
42. When the Filistine took a closer look at David, he held him in contempt, because he was young and red [cheeked] and appeared pleasant.
He did not look like a seasoned warrior, and apparently did not even appear mean or threatening.
43. And the Filistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Filistine cursed David by his gods.
Cursed: made light of, treated as trifling.
44. And the Filistine said to David, “Come at me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field!”
He was making fun of that “pretty” flesh of David’s (v. 42) in his dare.
45. But David said to the Filistine, “You come at me with sword and with spear and with javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of YHWH [Master of] Armies, the Elohim of the orderly ranks of Israel, whom you have challenged.
46. “This [very] day YHWH will shut you up into my hand, and I will beat you and remove your head from off of you, and give the corpses of the Filistine camp this [very] day to the birds of the sky and the living creatures of the earth, and the whole earth will know that Israel has an Elohim!
Note the different terminology David uses from Golyath’s in v. 44. Golyath has the “beasts” (a symbol of the evil rulers of the world, which the field also depicts), while David wants to feed what lives in the Land that the Filistines are usurping. Corpses: from a word often used of idol images as well, and undoubtedly it was also his plan to destroy them as well. Now he apparently turns back to face Israel’s army:
47. “And this whole congregation will know that it is not by sword or spear that YHWH delivers, because the battle belongs to YHWH, and He has handed you over to us!”
This is a rebuke to those who assumed that one had to be bigger to fell a giant, rather than just having a skillful aim and a trust in YHWH, who can just as easily deliver by few as by many. (14:6)
48. And what took place when the Filistine got up and started walking closer to encounter David, is that David hurried and ran toward the ranks to meet the Filistine,
49. and David directed his hand into his receptacle, and took a stone from there and slung it, and hit the Filistine in his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell to the earth on his face.
Sank into: or fastened onto, settled into, was planted or “drowned” in. He would fall forward because his armor was probably mostly on his front side, making him somewhat top-heavy. He may have had his helmet pushed back while strutting in his smug self-assuredness, or it may be that nose-guards were added to helmets later because of this very event, highlighting the gap that existed in their earlier design.
50. Thus David prevailed over the Filistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck the Filistine and killed him, though there was no sword in David’s hand.
Again we see the assumption that a battle could not be won without a sword (though it was a relative latecomer on the military scene).
51. Then David ran and stood by the Filistine, and he took his sword and drew it out of its sheath, and executed him, cutting off his head with it. When the Filistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled away,
Executed: He had already been killed in v. 50. This was the finishing touch. But that it says he was killed twice (as the account of Haman in the book of Esther also does) indicates that there still remains a prophetic fulfillment of these events. Cutting off his head would show the Filistines that he was not just unconscious, and would demoralize them. When the head is cut off, the body has no organization and can no longer function.
52. and the men of Israel and Yehudah rose up with a shout and pursued the Filistines as far as the entrance to the valley and the gates of Eqron, and the wounded among the Filistines fell along the way to the pair of gates—all the way to both Gath and Eqron.
Eqron was the chief city of the Filistines. Pair of gates: possibly a proper name, Shaarayim.
53. And the sons of Israel returned from chasing after the Filistines, and plundered their camps.
54. And David took the head of the Filistine and brought it to Yerushalayim, but his weapons he put in his own tent.
Yerushalayim was still a Yevusite city, but David had his eye on it because he knew YHWH had a special claim to it. So he was essentially telling these foreigners in Yehudah’s midst, “You are next!”
55. And when Sha’ul saw David going out to meet the Filistine, he told Avner, captain of the army, “Whose son is this lad, Avner?” And Avner said, “[As] your soul lives, O king, if [only] I knew…!”
56. So the king said, “You find out whose son this lad is!”
57. So when David returned from beating the Filistine, then Avner fetched him and brought him before Sha’ul,
58. and Sha’ul said to him, “Whose son are you, lad?” And David said, “The son of your servant Yishai, the Beyth-Lekhemite.”
It is unlikely that Sha’ul had such a poor memory after all the times he had met David before; rather, the emphasis is on who his father was, partly since he had promised tax exemption for the whole household (though as it turns out, Yishai had no obligations of this sort to Sha’ul since he was from Yehudah), and partly because he had to be sure of whom he would send a message asking to have his armor-bearer back permanently.
CHAPTER 18
1. And what took place as he finished speaking to Sha’ul, was that the soul of Y’honathan was bound together in league with the soul of David, and Y’honathan loved him as his own soul.
Loved: or befriended. As his own soul: In one sense, David’s soul was his own, because David was the one who would fill the role expected of Y’honathan as the king’s eldest son and assumed heir to the throne. They also worked very well together as a team of warriors.
2. And Sha’ul took [possession of] him on that day, and would not allow him to return to his father’s household.
Previously he had let him come and go when he was needed at home, but he now had authority to retain him, because David had joined his army by choice.
3. And Y’honathan cut a covenant with David in [that he] loved him as his own soul.
4. And Y’honathan stripped himself of the robe [of rank] that was on him and gave it to David, as well as his cloth garments and even his sword, his bow, and his belt.
This robe would identify him as wealthy, if not royal. It seems as if he is conceding that David will be the next king.
5. And David went out wherever Sha’ul sent him. His actions proved him to be insightful, so Sha’ul set him over the men of war, and all the people and Sha’ul’s servants as well saw it as appropriate.
Insightful: or circumspect; i.e., aware of his surroundings, knowing what was going on around him: where did he stand and what would he do about it? This is what makes a great warrior. When the lion attacked his sheep, he was not playing a game, but was ready to respond. He had learned to let everything teach him, and found ways to raise even a disappointing circumstance to the status of holy. He also knew what YHWH wanted. Like an owl that is “wise” because it can turn its head 180 degrees in either direction, this is the opposite of being stiff-necked, which YHWH has accused so many Israelites of being. Appropriate: It was self-evident that David fit this role, and no one complained.
6. But it turned out that when they came in, as David returned from beating the Filistine [army], the women came out from all the cities of Israel to sing, and the dancers [came] to meet Sha’ul the king with drums, joyfully, with three-stringed instruments,
Three-stringed instruments: or, sistrums, triangles, or three-barred instruments of some unidentified type. Note that it does not even mention that they came to meet David, but only Sha’ul. David’s success enhanced the reputation of Sha’ul, who appointed him, for it proved that he had been wise in his selection of the right man for the job.
7. and the women who played [them] were responding by saying, “Sha’ul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”
Ten thousands: or possibly even millions; the term means a very large number.
8. And it would vex Sha’ul very much, and this thing was bad in his eyes, and he said, “They have ascribed ten thousands to David and thousands to me! What else is there for him? The kingship [itself]?”
Their praise for David was not meant as a cut for Sha’ul, but as credit to him for choosing such a general. A teacher normally rejoices when his student excels. If it had been “David his dozens”, then Sha’ul himself should have been the one out on the battlefield instead. They really are giving Sha’ul the credit, but he is the only one who cannot see it. He is so confused and full of unfounded fears that he is convinced David wants to attempt a coup, despite all of David’s demonstrations of his loyalty through his hard work. He was a king out of season; how could he have harmony with anything?
9. So Sha’ul was eyeing David [warily] from that day onward.
10. And even on the very next day, the spirit of an evil elohim rushed onto Sha’ul, and he was prophesying [under its influence] in the middle of the house while David was playing the stringed instrument with his hand as he did day by day, and [there was] a javelin in Sha’ul’s hand.
With his hand…in his hand: Each had his choice of tool (reflecting where his skill lay), one for the positive and one for the negative.
11. And Sha’ul hurled the javelin and said, “I will pin David right to the wall!” But twice David was turned around from his face.
Was this the prophecy Sha’ul made (v. 10)? Or was it simply that David would indeed be the next king? (v. 8) An evil one can do more damage with the truth than with a complete lie. Just as Qayin was jealous and killed his brother, who was also a keeper of flocks, Sha’ul opened the door for this evil spirit to have the upper hand by yielding to his suspicion despite all the evidence against it. Thanks to YHWH, David ended up with the upper hand and proved the . Was turned around: I.e., he spun out of the way so as to avoid being hit. But the tense shows that someone else was the agent. Was it the same men who had recognized that Sha’ul was wrong to want to execute his own son (chapter 14), or was it a supernatural messenger from YHWH, unseen by Sha’ul?
12. And Sha’ul was intimidated when in David’s presence, because YHWH was with him, but had turned away from Sha’ul.
This is the key to his problem—He was out of YHWH’s favor and he knew it, and David was simply doing what Sha’ul should have been doing all along—proving loyal to YHWH.
13. So Sha’ul had him go away from him and put him in the position of his captain of a thousand, and he went out and came in before the nation.
Went out and came in: an idiom for military sorties. (See v. 6.) Yet notice that he has been demoted from being a general over the whole army (v. 5) to only being over 1,000 men. This was not because he had done anything wrong, but simply because Sha’ul had the right to do it. David knew this, so he remained faithful in whatever position he was put in, taking it as from YHWH. He did not just do it, but did it very, very well.
14. And David’s actions proved him to be insightful in all his ways, and YHWH [was] with him.
Note the parallels with Yosef when enslaved in Egypt. (Gen. 39)
15. And when Sha’ul saw that he was proving that he knew what he was doing,
Proving that he knew: the term includes both considering and comprehending as well as acting prudently and prospering or having success. He demonstrated that he knew what to do in confusion situations like hand-to-hand combat where there are so many conflicting distractions. The same term is used in the Garden of Eden of what the serpent told Adam and Chawwah they could be, instead of remaining like innocent children, not self-aware and yet untaught in how things worked. Then in Genesis 48 it is used of Yaaqov, who knowingly gave the firstborn’s blessing to Yosef’s second son. David later said he had proven wiser than not only his enemies but also his teachers because he meditated on YHWH’s commandments. (Psalm 119:98-99)
16. And all of Israel and Yehudah loved David, since he went out and came in before them.
Loved: actually a participle, which can still be read as present tense even now: they still love David! He was Yehudah’s own son and one all Israel had come to appreciate. This was setting the stage for a united kingdom including both groups. Went…before them: i.e., he was their military leader.
17. So Sha’ul told David, “Look, here is my eldest daughter Merav; I can give her to you as a wife. Just be a capable son for me and fight the battles of YHWH!” Now Sha’ul said, “Don’t let my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Filistines be against him.”
I.e., “I’ll put him in a position where even he will eventually be in too much danger; if my enemies kill him for me, then I won’t be guilty!” David would eventually use the same tactic on a man who he wanted dead but was unwilling to kill directly because he, too, had been very faithful to him. (2 Shm. 11:15)
18. But David said to Sha’ul, “Who am I, and what is my life [and who is] my father in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”
Who is my father? Yishai was well-known even in the northern kingdom, and Yishai knew he could count on David, because when he told him to go visit his brothers, he did not leave it to his father to find someone to care for his other responsibility, the sheep, but found a substitute himself. His first priority was his father’s business. But David had a very high view of the one YHWH had anointed, though anyone else would have written him off as deserving no respect because of his corrupt actions and jumped at such an offer to further his own political ends. David was very hesitant to presume to step into such a favored and dignified position, knowing all the responsibilities it would hold in YHWH’s eyes, even if the man Sha’ul did not live up to his position. Being aware of what was going on around him, David knew he needed to lower himself before Sha’ul to assure him that he did not see himself on this level, even though he could have claimed the position simply because he had killed Golyath. (17:25-27) He knows he has been anointed, but knows he is not yet the king, and does not act like it. He refuses to let his mind exalt itself above his master, saying, “No man is my master” as so many do today, because the kingdom is for servants, and every servant must have a master. YHWH has him in Sha’ul’s household only as his servant, and he knows it would be foolish to act like anything more at this time. He is already above Sha’ul as his actions demonstrate, but he does not open his mouth about his anointing, but serves with his whole heart where YHWH has him, for the only way to serve YHWH at this point is to serve Sha’ul well. His situation is that of the least in this house until YHWH makes him something more. This is the attitude that sets true servants apart. His descendant, Y’shua, learned it from him, and told his students that they would let others attain greatness in his Kingdom by making them their own servants first. Those who learn to serve now will be great when the Kingdom comes; when it arrives, there will not be time to learn. If we are not faithful in what is least now, we will not magically be given a higher position then. Sha’ul, however, who was inclined to cast any answer from David in a negative light, simply said, “Okay, suit yourself”, and went on with his political pragmatism:
19. So it turned out that at the time to give Merav the daughter of Sha’ul to David, that she was given to Adri’el the Mekholathite as a wife.
The time to give: i.e., the time she should have been given to David according to Sha’ul’s original offer. Who was this Adri’el? Did he have some prior claim on Merav? Did Sha’ul just like him better than he liked David? Or was he just in the right place at the right time to allow Sha’ul to insult David?
20. But Sha’ul’s daughter Mikhal loved David, and they told Sha’ul, and the matter was straightforward in his eyes,
Sha’ul would not get off so easily, for another of his daughters saw that David deserved better than he had gotten, and better than he himself admitted he should enjoy. But Sha’ul saw it as just another opportunity to further his own ends.
21. that is, Sha’ul said, “I will give her to him and she can be bait for him, so the hand of the Filistines will come upon him.” So Sha’ul told David, “Through the second you will make yourself my son-in-law today.”
Bait: a lure into a snare. How so? Would she make him so drunk with her beauty that he would forget to be watchful and let his guard down? He probably simply thought the bride price he was going to ask would be sure to get David killed, but that David would consider Mikhal worth the risk. Through the second: i.e., his second daughter; alternate reading: “…said to David a second time…”
22. So Sha’ul ordered his servants, “Speak to David under wraps to say, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and his servants love you, so now, make yourself the king’s son-in-law!’”
Under wraps: The term is used in Psalm 36:1-3 in the context of deceit and flattery, and elsewhere it describes enchantment. Sha’ul did not want the people to know that he was setting David up to be killed.
23. So Sha’ul’s servants did speak these words into David’s ears. But David said, “Does it seem like a trivial thing in your eyes to become son-in-law to the king when I am impoverished and of little account?”
Into David’s ears: He whispered them, but it was the Whisperer (nakhash, or serpent) who was behind this. Trivial: I.e., that may be easy for you to say, but can just anyone afford the bride price of a king’s daughter? My father my be wealthy, but not that wealthy! And more importantly, is this something to just jump into so quickly without pondering whether YHWH has really fitted me for such a role? I’m not sure I deserve it!
24. And Sha’ul’s servants made it known to him, saying, “David has spoken such words as these.”
25. So Sha’ul said, “This is what you must tell David: ‘The king has no desire for a dowry, except for a hundred uncircumcised of the Filistines, to take vengeance on the king’s enemies!’” But Sha’ul was calculating that [he could] make David fall into the hands of the Filistines.
Uncircumcised: i.e., take the lives of these covenantless people. But the phrase can just as well be simply, “foreskins of the Filistines”, so David took it in both ways, literal and figurative:
26. When his servants recounted these words to David, the thing seemed fair in David’s eyes—to become the king’s son-in-law. And the days had not [yet] reached their fullness
Seemed fair: David did not “succumb” to the third offer, as was customary for someone who really wanted what was being offered but politely refused it the first few times, for this is the fourth offer, if we count the initial prize offered to the one who would kill Golyath. The days: apparently Sha’ul gave him a very near deadline so he would be more pressured and assumedly more reckless, getting himself into too much danger to survive. But he again proved circumspect and not only survived, but went the “second mile”:
27. when David got up and went—he along with his men—and attacked two hundred men among the Filistines, and brought their foreskins and paid them in full to satisfy [the requirement] to become the king’s son-in-law. So Sha’ul gave him Mikhal, his daughter, as a wife.
He continued to honor Sha’ul by thinking that his daughter was worth more than he asked, so he not only killed them, but circumcised them as well! He thus turned Filistines into Israelites, though they did better as Israelites dead than alive. But he did more than just enough to get by. Of course, he was able to take along some men (all 1,000 of them?) to minimize the risk!
28. Then Sha’ul saw and recognized that YHWH was with David, and Mikhal, Sha’ul’s daughter, loved him.
29. But Sha’ul’s fear in David’s presence increased still more, and Sha’ul became David’s enemy all the time.
All the time: literally, all the days or every day. He felt that David was “rubbing in” the fact that YHWH was with him, when it was actually YHWH who was doing so, not David.
30. Now when the rulers of the Filistines came out, it turned out that as often as they came out, David proved himself more insightful than all of Sha’ul’s servants, and his name became highly esteemed.
Servants: especially his other warriors. Highly esteemed: valued, prized, well-appraised.
CHAPTER 19
1. And Sha’ul told Yonathan his son and all his servants to kill David.
2. But Y’honathan the son of Sha’ul liked David a lot, so Y’honathan informed David, saying, “My father, Sha’ul, is trying to find [a way] to kill you, so now please be on your guard! In the morning withdraw to a concealed place and hide yourself
3. while I myself will go out and stand by my father’s hand in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you, and see what [it is], and will report to you.”
David never asked Y’honathan to speak for him. Like Yoseyf in Egypt, David had friends in high places who looked out for him when he was vulnerable. By my father’s hand: was it to keep his father’s hand from doing anything, or was he even putting Sha’ul in a place where David could attack him? By being where David could see him without being seen, Sha’ul’s facial expressions would tell David what his real intentions were. Y’honathan might also have wanted David close by in case Sha’ul should turn on him again.
4. So Y’honathan spoke well of David to Sha’ul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, David, because he has not done anything wrong to you, and because his actions toward you are very proper--
His actions: constantly loyalty against all odds.
5. “when he put his life in his hand and attacked the Filistine and YHWH accomplished [such] a great deliverance for all Israel! You saw it and were glad; so why would you sin against innocent blood, to have David killed for no reason?”
6. And Sha’ul listened to Y’honathan’s voice, and swore, “[By] the life of YHWH, if he is put to death…”
Though speaking of death, essentially calling it upon himself if he does not keep his oath, he swears by its opposite—life.
7. So Y’honathan called for David, and Y’honathan told him all these things, and Y’honathan brought David to Sha’ul, and he came to be in his presence like [he had been] in previous days.
In previous days: literally, the third yesterday. It seems he put him back in his previous military position as well:
8. Then another battle came about, so David went out and fought against the Filistines, and attacked some of them with a great defeat, and they ran away from his face.
9. And the evil spirit [from] YHWH came onto Sha’ul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand while David was playing [a melody] with his hand.
This seems to have been a spirit of jealousy, for it came upon Sha’ul when David had done great exploits in Sha’ul’s area of expertise. Holding onto it at least keeps him fertile ground for its harassment. It was so overwhelming that he forgot his vow. As Proverbs 27:4 says, “Who can stand before envy?” Note that this is the second time the scribe makes a point of telling what each had put his hands to. He is drawing a distinction between Sha’ul, who seems paranoid (why else would he keep a spear with him within the safety of his own walls?) and David, who goes with the flow in a much more relaxed manner (for one must be at ease to play a harp well). Was Sha’ul afraid because of what he had seen befall King Agag? He saw the one who was there to bring him comfort as his enemy.
10. And Sha’ul tried to run the spear through David into the wall, but he slipped out of Sha’ul’s presence, and he hit the wall with the spear.
David was learning to be circumspect; he sat with his back to the wall so he could see all that was going on in the room. But Sha’ul took advantage even of this position. Again he tried to pin David to the wall. Slipped out: literally, found an opening—like a loophole or keyhole. Compare Y’shua’s experiences in Luqa 4:29-30 and Yochanan 8:59.
11. So Sha’ul sent messengers to David’s house to watch it so [as] to kill him in the morning, but his wife Mikhal informed David, saying, “If you don’t let your soul escape tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.”
This is the very time at which David wrote Psalm 59. Was Mikhal herself in on their plotting? Did she have her own spies who reported to her? Or did the fact that they met at night clue her in to the fact that something was going on which was not above board?
12. And Mikhal let David down by way of the window, so he went ahead and hurried, and did escape.
They were apparently only watching the door.
13. Then Mikhal took the t’rafim and laid it on the bed, with an intertwined ball of goats’ hair [as] his head-piece, and she covered it with a garment.
Head-piece: since an idol made of stone would not have hair attached to it. A garment: in particular, the outer garment, which was of more thickly-woven material and often doubled as a blanket to sleep under. (Ex. 22:26-27)
14. When Sha’ul sent his messengers to get David, she said, “He is sick.”
He probably had someone from Sha’ul’s household summon him on many occasions, so they may have thought nothing would seem out of the ordinary to David, not realizing Mikhal knew of the plot.
15. So Sha’ul sent the messengers to inspect David, saying, “Bring him up to me on the bed, so that I can kill him!”
To inspect: i.e., look more closely; he realized they had done nothing more than ask about him at the door, and he may have suspected that David was not even really there at al1. They reported what Mikhal said, and their sense of honor must have been greater than his, for they expected that they should at least wait until he was able to defend himself before trying to kill him. Sha’ul heard them saying David couldn’t get out of bed to obey his summons, so he told them to bring the whole bed along! So that I can kill him (myself): He seems to have the attitude of, “Why do I have to work with amateurs? If you want anything done right around here, you have to do it yourself!”
16. So the messengers came inside, and what do you know? [It was] the t’rafim in the bed, and an intertwined ball of goats’ hair [as] his head-place!
T’rafim: Aramaic, statue; ironically, it was an idol associated with healing! She may have been poking fun at its ineffectiveness. Or someone may have brought it to the house after hearing David was sick. If it was not just part of the ruse of his being sick, then either Mikhal or Sha’ul (in whose household complex they would have lived, being near the palace instead of David’s own inherited land, and possibly the house where Mikhal had lived before they married) owned a very large idol. This may have been another door that Sha’ul had left wide open for evil spirits to trouble him.
17. And Sha’ul said to Mikhal, “Why have you tricked me like this, and let my enemy go so that he could escape?” And Mikhal said to Sha’ul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go away; why should I [be the] cause [of] your death?’”
Tricked: or misled, from the word for shoot or hurl, i.e., to detract attention away from where he really was. Her loyalty to her husband proved stronger than that to her father. But the last phrase could just as well translate, “Why should I kill you?” Since Sha’ul had already declared to her that David was his enemy, her ambiguous excuse could sound to him like she was siding with Sha’ul, though she herself, not David, had been the one to initiate his escape (v. 11); David seemed reluctant to go, possibly out of uncertainty whether Sha’ul would let her live, after his two attempts on her brother’s life, but he took this risk.
18. So David fled and got away and came to Shmu’el at Ramah and recounted to him all that Sha’ul ad done to him, so [both] he and Shmu’el went and lived at Nawith.
Nawith means “beautiful habitation” or “a place to be at home”. The targum interprets it as a “house of study”. Shmu’el may have known that even he was not safe from Sha’ul’s ravings, or he may have accompanied David as a mentor so he could have time to teach him more about YHWH.
19. And it was reported to Sha’ul, saying, “David is there at Nawith in Ramah!”
Nawith must have been a subdivision of the larger entity of Ramah.
20. So Sha’ul sent messengers to fetch David, but when they saw the band of prophets prophesying with Shmu’el standing up, stationed over them, the spirit of Elohim came over the messengers of Sha’ul, and even they started prophesying.
Band: or simply group or gathering. Prophets prophesying: Aramaic, teachers singing.
21. When they reported [it] to Sha’ul, he sent other messengers, and they, too, started prophesying!
Imagine Sha’ul’s growing consternation, as his messengers did not come back.
22. So Sha’ul himself went to Ramah, and when he came to the great cistern that is at Sekhu, he said, “Where are Shmu’el and David?” and [someone] said, “There they are—at Nawith in Ramah!”
Sekhu means “to surmount” in the sense of being a watch-post or observatory. In light of this, the word for cistern is from the word for “boring into” to get clearer water, but thus also having the figurative sense of clearing things up by explanation or proof. It may have been the type of well seers look into in order to see what is going on in another location. He apparently expected Shmu’el to be here, and it may have been where Shmu’el often spent his time.
23. So he went there to Nawith in Ramah, and the spirit of Elohim even came over him as well! And he kept going and prophesying until he arrived at Nawith in Ramah.
This had occurred before (10:5-11). Was there such a holiness in that place because of the prophets’ presence that its influence was felt even on people bent on destroying the one they harbored—and probably them as well (as we will see in chapter 22)? Or did Sha’ul just have a general weakness for music that appealed to his emotions and made him want to join in with religious hysteria? For though he prophesied, it does not say he was doing right. He prophesied under the influence of an evil spirit (18:10). He was very much in sin here.
24. And even he stripped off his garments, and he himself was prophesying in the same way before Shmu’el, and, [being] naked, he fell [prostrate] all that day and all the night. On account of this they say, “Is even Sha’ul among the prophets?”
This had already come to be a common adage (10:11-12), and this only added another reason to make it a cliché. This is a most unusual type of warfare, for Sha’ul is stripped down to the basics, with his marks of rank and also his deceitfulness removed, and is exposed as judged, for he has confirmed his motives through his actions. Though Shmu’el was presiding over these prophets and Shmu’el is said to be before him, apparently Shmu’el himself did not see Sha’ul, according to 15:35.
CHAPTER 20
1. So David fled from Nawith in Ramah and came and said in the presence of Y’honathan, “What have I done? Where is my guilt? How have I sinned to your father’s face? Because he is requiring my life!”
Why would David go back to where his life had been in such danger? Because he was expected there. He has a duty to be there because he has sworn allegiance to Sha’ul, whatever Sha’ul may think of him, and thus has no right to fail to be present and simply say, “the situation prevents my being there”, unless he is released by someone of such rank as Y’honathan, who has authority to speak for his father the king. He could not release himself from a commitment, and he only because he expects to be killed. If the answer is no, then he has to be there, whatever the consequence may be. It is the same for those who take on the commitment of Y’shua’s kingdom; our lives are not our own, and some things we can no longer decide for ourselves.
2. And he told him, “May it never be! You won’t die. Look, my father won’t do anything—big or small—and not reveal it to my ear, so why should my father keep this matter hidden from me? This is not [the case].”
In 19:1, we saw that Y’honathan knew of his father’s wish to kill David, but Y’honathan has such faith in the fact that YHWH has chosen David to be king that he truly believes Sha’ul can do nothing to harm him. He may also see himself as having enough influence with Sha’ul to change his mind—or is at least willing take the spear for David.
3. But David again swore an oath and said, “Your father has certainly become aware that I have found favor in your eyes, so he has said, ‘Don’t let Y’honathan know this, so that he won’t be pained’, but [as surely as] YHWH lives and your soul lives [it is true], because it’s as if there’s [only one] step between me and death!”
One step: This was literally the case when he dodged the spear.
4. So Y’honathan said to David, “Whatever your life demands, I will do for you.”
5. So David said to Y’honathan, “Here. Tomorrow is the new moon, and I will be expected to sit with the king to eat, but give me leave to hide myself in the field until the third evening.
New moon: The Torah only specifies certain slaughters in the sanctuary at the new moon (Num. 28:11), but by this time it was the norm for there to be a feast at this time.
6. “If your father notices [and] misses me, then say, ‘David begged of me to run to his city, Beyth Lekhem, because the slaughter of the days is there for the whole family.’
Slaughter of the days: probably an annual event that brought the whole family together. Beyth Lekhem is a place Sha’ul does not have the same jurisdiction over, being part of Yehudah; to try to take David back from there, he might have to fight the army of Yehudah.
7. “If he should say, ‘Fine!’, [there will be] well-being for your servant. But if it burns him up with fury, [then] be sure that evil is [being] plotted by him.
8. “Now you have dealt mercifully with your servant since you have brought your servant into a pact of YHWH with you, but if there is crookedness in me, you have me put to death [yourself], because what is the point of bringing me to your father?”
He would rather suffer death at the hands of one he knew to be righteous and disinterested than one he knew to have obsessions that clouded his judgment.
9. But Y’honathan said, “May it never be [so] for you! Because if I knew for sure that it was being plotted by my father for harm to come to you, then I won’t report it to you!”
10. And David said to Y’honathan, “Who will report it to me? Or what if your father answers you harshly?”
I.e., even though I know you would not carry out your father’s order to kill me, you would still have to let me know, and what if he kills you before you can get word to me?
11. So Y’honathan said to David, “Come, let’s go out to the field!” So they both went out to the field.
12. And Y’honathan said to David, “YHWH is the Elohim of Israel. When I have searched my father out, about [this] time the day after tomorrow, then I will send [word] to you and reveal it in your ear whether it is indeed well with David or not.
13. “May YHWH do so to Y’honathan and more of the same, but if it seems appropriate to my father [to bring] harm upon you, I will report it in your hearing, and I will send you off, so you can go in peace, and may YHWH be with you as He was with my father.
He calls a curse on himself that whatever Sha’ul wants to do to David be done to him instead. Was with my father: notice he sees this as a thing of the past already.
14. And if I am still alive, not only must you treat me with the mercy of YHWH so that I will not die,
15. [but also] do not cut off your mercy from [being] with my house forever when YHWH cuts off each of David’s enemies from [being] upon the surface of the ground.”
Y’honathan fully expects things to change for Sha’ul very soon, and he does not want his name to be obliterated. 2 Shmu’el 9 shows that David was faithful to remember this oath.
16. Thus Y’honathan cut [a covenant] with the house of David that YHWH would require it from the hand of David’s enemies.
The historian Josephus takes this to mean he knew YHWH would make David superior to his enemies, even if they include Sha’ul or himself. (Antiquities of the Jews 6:11)
17. And Y’honathan again made David swear [an oath] while he was committed to him, because he was committed to him as one loves his own soul.
I.e., seal your loyalty with a promise before anything about either of our situations changes. Was committed to him: or, loved him. But this must not be looked at through modern eyes, for in ancient times it was not at all unusual for males to have such a close degree of friendship. To inject a sexual element into this would be completely foreign to the writer, or he would have put in a disclaimer here. Before the Greeks rose to prominence, homosexual acts were not considered acts of intimacy but were either done out of pure lust or malice (as in S’dom and Ghamorrah) or for pagan religious purposes, and would always have involved multiple partners, being the part of the worship of most pagan deities.
18. And Y’honathan told him, “Tomorrow is the new [moon], and you will be missed, because your seat will be lacking.
19. “So on the third day, go way down to the place in which you were hidden on the day the thing was done, and stay beside the stone of Atzel,
Atzel means “departing”. Possibly thus named because of this event, or it may have marked the edge of Sha’ul’s own property, the point to which a guest would be accompanied upon his departure.
20. “and I will shoot three arrows to the side when shooting at a target for myself,
Arrows: the Hebrew word is from a root meaning “to pierce”. Y’shua, who could very well have asked what he had done wrong and why he had to die, was pierced in his hands, feet, and side. He, too, was a suffering servant first before being elevated to the position of king.
21. “and pay attention: I will send the [servant] boy, saying, “Find the arrows!” If I specifically say to the lad, ‘Look! The arrows are on this [side] of you; fetch them!’, then [you can] come, because [there will be] peace for you and there is no matter, [as] YHWH lives.
22. “But if this is how I speak to the stripling: ‘There are the arrows—further beyond you!’, [then] go, because YHWH has impelled you to get away.
Stripling: a young man, from a root word meaning “concealed or secret”. In other words, this boy was his “cover” for going out to the field, for Sha’ul would only suppose that Y’honathan was going to practice his military skills. It was common for archers to be able to shoot over a fifty- to sixty-foot wall.
23. “As to the matter which you and I have discussed, indeed, YHWH is between you and me forever.”
24. So David hid himself in the field when it was the new moon, and the king sat down over the bread to eat.
25. Now the king sat at his spot as he had on [previous] occasions--on a seat by the wall. And Y’honathan got up, and Avner sat at the king’s side, but David’s place was empty.
By the wall: possibly so he would not have to “watch his back”, paranoid as he was, but maybe simply to allow him to rest against it. Dining halls from this time period typically had stone benches for everyone to sit on, but they had no backs. If he was by the wall, he could relax more easily at his meal. Got up: possibly in respect when his uncle entered the room. Empty: literally, missing. His place was clearly very close to Sha’ul’s, since he was, after all, his son-in-law. He may have sat at Sha’ul’s left hand, because symbolically he was there to protect Sha’ul from what his “left hand” wanted to do.
26. But Sha’ul did not say anything on that day, because he said [to himself], “It’s a coincidence; he [must be] without ritual purity—[it’s] because he is not [ritually] clean.”
If this was his first thought, it must have been a common enough occurrence for people to miss events related to less holy sites than the sanctuary because of ritual impurity. A coincidence: literally, he encountered something. David would have to wash his clothes and immerse himself before evening (Lev. 11:24-25; 15:16-17), and if it was something he met with just as the sun was setting, he would not have had time to get this done quickly enough to be present.
27. But when, on the [morning] after the second [day of the] month [began], David’s place turned out to [still] be empty, Sha’ul said to Y’honathan his son, “How come [that] son of Yishai has not come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
Second day of the month: or, second day of the new moon. Because preparations for the feast took so long, they would have to begin before the evening of the day when the moon was calculated to be visible. If there was cloud cover, the moon might not be visible the first night it was expected, meaning the month would not be declared until the following night, but by then it would be too late to stop preparations for the feast, so it was simply scheduled to be held both evenings. Son of Yishai: he does not want to call him by name anyone, since David means “beloved”.
28. So Y’honathan answered Sha’ul, “David begged me for a leave of absence to go to Beyth-Lekhem,
29. “and he said, ‘Please let me go, because we have a family slaughter in the city, and he—my brother—gave me a responsibility, so now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers.’ That’s why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30. And Sha’ul’s anger heated up against Y’honathan, and he said to him, “[You] son of a perverted [woman] of rebelliousness! Don’t [you think] I know that you are choosing the son of Yishai to your shame and the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
Perverted woman: Because Y’honathan did not share the same mindset as his father, he is calling into question whether he really was his father, saying his wife must have been unfaithful. Nakedness: particularly the exposure of private parts, i.e., at his birth. Right in public, he lets his anger outweigh every other consideration.
31. “Because as long as the son of Yishai is alive on the [surface of the] earth, [neither] you nor your reign can be assured! So now, send and have him brought to me, because he is a son of death!”
As long as: literally, all the days that. Assured: stabilized, secure, established, firm, settled. Since chapter 16, Sha’ul has known that YHWH had taken away any dynasty from his throne, yet he is still trying to assure it.
32. But Y’honathan answered Sha’ul his father and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
33. And Sha’ul hurled the spear against him to hit him, so Y’honathan realized it was fully [determined] with his father to have David killed.
Determined: in the sense of the root, terminated—there was no changing his mind now. Having no valid a reason with which to answer him, he simply uses force, the coward’s response.
34. So Y’honathan got up from [being] at the table in burning anger and did not eat food on the second day of the month, because he was pained toward David, since his father had insulted him.
35. So [what] Y’honathan [did] in the morning [was] go out to the field for David’s appointment, and there was a little lad with him.
36. And he said to his [servant] boy, “Run! Please find the arrows that I am shooting.” [As] the boy was running, he shot the arrow so it would go past him.
Shooting: literally, directing. Could this be the background for David’s not fearing “the arrow that flies by day” in his own Psalm 91?
37. When the lad got to the place where the arrow that Y’honathan had shot [was], Y’honathan called out after the lad and said, “Isn’t the arrow [further] beyond you?”
38. Then Y’honathan called out after the lad, “Hurry! Get a move on! Don’t stand still!” So Y’honathan’s [servant] boy picked up the arrow and came [back] to his master.
Stand still: or, stay—a double meaning that would raise no suspicions for the boy but would communicate clearly to David.
39. And the lad didn’t notice anything, but Y’honathan and David certainly understood the situation.
40. So Y’honathan gave his weapons to the lad who belonged to him, and told him, “Go, bring them into the city!”
41. The boy having left, David got up from the south side and fell down so that his nose was on the ground, and prostrated himself [in obeisance] three times, and each kissed his fellow, and each bewailed his fellow until David grew louder.
Grew louder: or simply, became greater—metaphorically as well. It was as if they were competing for who could cry harder, but it was as genuine as it could be.
42. So Y’honathan said to David, “Go to peace, as we have both sworn in YHWH’s name, saying, ‘May YHWH be between me and you and between my seed and your seed forever.’”
So there remains a special pact between Y’shua and a specific part of the tribe of Binyamin. Who is that today? One theory is that it is some of those who have come to be known as “Messianic Jews”.
CHAPTER 21
1. So he got up and went, and Y’honathan went into the city,
2. while David came to Akhimelekh the priest at Nov. And Akhimelekh was startled to encounter David, and said to him, “Why are you by yourself, and there isn’t a man with you?”
Akhimelekh’s name means “the king is my brother”, but as we shall see, the incumbent king did not share this opinion. He is mentioned nowhere else but here and in the next chapter. Another Akhimelekh turns out to be his grandson. He may be the brother of the Akhiyah mentioned in 14:3 (compare 22:11-12), or this may have been another name for Akhiyah (possibly to tone down the audacity of that name, which means “YHWH is my brother”, or possibly as a reminder that, as Shmu’el knew, YHWH was the real King, and Sha’ul needed to be reminded of that). Nov means “to bear fruit” or “flourish”. This city was situated on a prominent hill between Yerushalayim and Sha’ul’s capital, Giv’ah, in Binyamin’s territory—only about two miles from each. Apparently the Tabernacle had been moved there. Why would he come here when, as we will see, Sha’ul could easily find out he had been there? Because his life had just been turned upside down. He was on his own for the first time, and he needed direction from YHWH. Startled: or, afraid, nervous, trembling. He was used to seeing this man with an army, and recognized him as a powerful man.
3. So David told Akhimelekh the priest, “The king has given me orders concerning a matter, and he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the matter [for] which I am sending you and [about] which I have given you orders.’ So I have made my young [servants] acquainted with such and such a place.
He certainly said a lot about this “confidential” matter! Of course, it is all a ruse because he assumes the priests are loyal to Sha’ul, or he may simply be trying to protect them from knowing too much about his real position so that if questioned, they will not knowingly have been aiding one who was out of the king’s favor. The priest assumes he is talking about Sha’ul, but David may be saying, “This is where YHWH has me for now.” That is the King whose business he is really on. He actually has no one with him, for he ran for his life with nothing in hand. (Others did not join him until later.) He needs supplies of food:
4. “So now, what is there beneath your hand? Hand over to me five [loaves of] bread, or [whatever can be] found.”
Beneath your hand: i.e., within your power to provide. Five: he does not know how long he may need to be on the run, and probably did not have much stored energy because theirs was not the sedentary life so common today, so though it sounds like he has more people to feed, he is really asking for more than one day’s worth for himself since he does not know who else might feed him along the way. Y’shua speaks of those who were with him also being hungry, but he must be citing some midrashic writings, since this text does not actually say anyone was with him, whereas the next thing Y’shua cites is directly from the Torah (Mat. 12:4), so he seems to be reminding us that the latter is more authoritative and must be given more weight. Five loaves: Previously he had chosen five smooth stones, so five seems to be a favorite number of his, probably because of its correlation to the Torah. His life has been marked by “fives”. As David enters a new season in his life, the five stones are “turned into” five loaves of bread—a picture of living out the Torah in community, and probably the background for haSatan’s temptation of Y’shua (Mat. 4:3), for haSatan knows Scripture well, and even studies it in a rabbinic manner! If David could do this, Y’shua should certainly be able to; he was telling him to prove he was the king in the Davidic line, not just to satisfy his hunger. (This link between bread and stones seems to have been a common one; compare Mat. 7:8.) Five loaves of bread were also handed over to Y’shua, and with them he provided food for many people. He, too, was all alone at the time of his greatest trial, and we who have left behind Sunday, Christmas, Easter, and unclean foods suddenly found ourselves with very few allies at first.
5. But the priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread under my hand, except that there is holy bread--as long as the young men have been kept from a woman.”
They could not eat of it if ritually defiled. (See Leviticus 15.) He wanted to be sure the men eating it would not profane it. The reason they would have no ordinary bread was because that would not be baked on the Sabbath, nor could David go buy some anywhere else on that day.
6. And David answered the priest and said to him, “Rather, a woman has been withhold from us since the day before yesterday, when I came out, and the young men’s articles have been holy, though it is an ordinary journey, especially since it is dedicated in the vessel today.”
A woman: singular. This may mean that Sha’ul had already taken Mikhal back from being David’s wife, as will be stated more directly in 25:44. Articles: or vessels (as in the next phrase), possibly a reference to their reproductive organs in the first context. In the last phrase, the reference appears to be that the fresh batch of the bread of the presence had been prepared that day, which would mean it was the Sabbath. (Lev. 24:8) This is hinted at in Luke 6:2-5, where Y’shua draws an analogy with the event recounted here, and seems confirmed by the next verse:
7. So the priest gave David the holy bread, because there was no bread there except the bread of the presence which had been removed from before YHWH to replace [it with] hot bread on the day it was taken away.
David asked for five loaves, and was apparently given twelve—at least symbolically (as the priests would need to eat some of this bread as well)—a definite parallel with the twelve baskets full left over from Y’shua’s distribution of the five loaves. This was not the bread that was in the sanctuary itself, but that which had been traded out after being in the sanctuary the week before; still, it was only for the priests to eat from, and they could only eat it in this place. (Lev. 24:9) One could argue that David had been anointed a priest after the order of Melkhitzedeq (that is, to be king in Yerushalayim). It had to be eaten in a set-apart place, but the phrase “such and such a place” (as also used of the nearer kinsman in Ruth 4:1) actually means “distinguished and forsaken place of binding”—a possible reference to the “place” Yaaqov had dreamed of the messengers on the stairway—the very direction in which David was heading. So he could possibly have gotten away with taking it with him only if it was to be eaten there. No one is innocent in this situation, but YHWH favors the one He wants to favor. But then again, the text never tells us that David actually ate it. However, the guilt of Akhimelekh’s giving away something that only Aharon’s sons were permitted to eat would not go unpunished. Uriah the king tried to act in the role of a priest, and YHWH struck him with leprosy. (2 Chron. 26) The context in which Y’shua cites this as an “if this, how much more that?” argument is one of the hungry being fed. Preserving life can take precedence over the letter of the Torah if that is what is genuinely at stake.
8. Now there was a man from Sha’ul’s servants there that day, who had been detained before YHWH, and his name was Do’eg the Edomite, the strongest of the shepherds who belonged to Sha’ul.
Do’eg means “fearing”, “anxious”, “concerned”—essentially paranoid! He assumes David is up to mischief. He may have had a special jealousy for David because they were both shepherds.
9. And David said to Akhimelekh, “Isn’t there either a spear or a sword here beneath your hand, because I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons in my hand, because the king’s business was urgent.”
10. And the priest said, “Indeed, the sword of Golyath the Filistine, whom you defeated in the Elah Valley—it’s wrapped in a cloth behind the efod! If you want to take it for yourself, take it, because there’s no other except it in this [place].” And David said, “There’s none like it! Give it to me!”
The sword might have been there for special safe-keeping, or the efod itself might have been in storage, only used on festivals or other special occasions, in almost a museum-like setting. David had a right to this sword in particular, having won it in battle, and this may have been another reason he went first to Nov. None like it: most swords at this time were what we would consider daggers, and if this was like a dagger to Golyath, it must have been the length of typical medieval swords of which we first think today when hearing the word “sword”. It would thus have not been too difficult for David to wield, but would definitely give him the advantage of distance in hand-to-hand combat.
11. Then David got up and hurried away that day from the presence of Sha’ul, and came to Akhish the king of Gath.
He ran right into the heart of Filistine territory! He may have thought this was one place Sha’ul would not dare chase him, or he may have finally resigned himself to needing help to keep him safe from Sha’ul (though he still would not set his hand against him). Who could be a better ally than those whom Sha’ul had specifically been targeting for extermination? Akhish’s name was pronounced Ikausu in the Filistine language.
12. And the servants of Akhish said to him, “Isn’t this David the king of the Land? Isn’t this the one to whom they responded with dances to say, ‘Sha’ul his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’
These exploits were directly against these very Filistines! Despite the war between the peoples, merchants would no doubt have continued traveling between them and spreading reports about the heroes on the other side. Even an enemy warrior would still be considered great or at least noteworthy by any nation. If they could kill him, they would truly conquer Israel. Yet David even seems to be recognized by face, unless he directly said he was seeking refuge there, which we could only assume at best. King of the land: as was probably the case with Akhish, those with the greatest military prowess usually became the de facto ruler, so he assumes that David has already surpassed Sha’ul even in rank.
13. And David took these words to heart, and was very afraid of the face of Akhish, the king of Gath.
Did he realize that Akhish thought his plea for asylum was only a bluff and that he suspected he was there as a spy? Possibly, but from another angle, up to this point (as evidenced by the fact that he still felt he needed a pretext even to ask for emergency assistance), David did not seem to recognize how much of a threat people saw in him. (Consider Akhimelekh’s response to seeing him, and the fact that he thought he had to do whatever David asked just because he was David and might kill him if he refused to help him.) He knew he would have a hard time hiding, because he was too well known and thus too easily recognized.
14. So he altered his behavior while in their sight and pretended to be a raving lunatic, scribbling [graffiti] on the doors of the gate and letting his drool run down into his beard.
Behavior: literally, judgment, reason, taste, discretion, or understanding. Scribbling: or possibly only scratching. Raving lunatic: From the same root word as the first part of hallelu-Yah. I.e., it literally means, “Go crazy over YHWH!” He may have been rather obviously nervous already in his desperation upon arrival. After all, he was alone, unguarded, bringing Golyath’s own sword back into Golyath’s own hometown, which must have seemed a ridiculous risk in itself. So maybe it was not such a great leap in the Filistines’ eyes that he should now act this way.
15. Then Akhish said to his servants, “Just look at that! The man is showing himself to be an imbecile! Why would you bring him to me?
16. “Do I have a shortage of madmen that you have brought this [one] to go insane [right] on top of me! Should this [one] come into my house?”
The last phrase reads more like a positive statement, so we might surmise that if David heard it, he might have thought the king meant to imprison him. It is more likely just a facetious comment, “He should come into my house!” I.e., he would fit right in. There must have been a substantial number of insane Filistines! But in ancient times (and even today in Bedouin circles), deranged people are generally given immunity to mistreatment, because they are even honored to some extent, because they are seen as having some special connection to what is holy, much like a prophet, whom we have seen in chapter 19 did engage in some rather “odd” practices.
CHAPTER 22
1. So David went from there and was enabled to slip away to the Cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the whole household of his father heard [about it], they went down to him there.
Adullam: the place Yehudah had gone away from his family after Yoseyf was sold into slavery, and where he settled and had his children. (Gen. 38) It is in the tribal land of Yehudah, where the foothills meet the mountain range about halfway between Gath and Beyth Lekhem, from whence David’s family was coming. Here David’s family is making a tikkun (reparation) for their ancestor’s deed by reuniting their family at the same location. But this must have created a stir, for the news of his whereabouts got out:
2. Then every man who was in dire straits, every man who was in debt, and every man [with a] bitter life collected themselves together to him, and he came to serve as a captain to them. Now there were about 400 men with him.
Dire straits: or, a tight spot. Was in debt: literally, had a creditor; Aramaic, against whom owners had a claim. Life: literally, soul. His “motley crew” sounds much like the types that are attracted to a pirate or a Robin Hood—or a lawyer! And David knew the Law (Torah) well, as Psalm 119 reveals. There are clear parallels with his descendants, Y’shua the Messiah, who attracted those who were out of favor with those in power—tax collectors, prostitutes, revolutionaries, or fishermen who worked hard with meager results. These people were oppressed by the king’s regime and angered with all its taxation, and wanted to be free men in their own land again. “About 400 men” is also an idiom for an army (Gen. 33:1), giving Sha’ul all the more reason to be suspicious. (v. 8) They must have assumed David would try to stage a coup d’êtat against Sha’ul. But he only saw himself as a fugitive. They were feeling the pain of the promises Shmu’el wrote in his book of what the king of the people’s own choice would require of them. (8:11-18; 10:25) They were awaiting David’s return, because they saw him as the real hero.
3. So David went from there to the observation point of Moav, and said to the king of Moav, “Please let my father and mother come out with you, until I know what Elohim will do for me.”
His family would have been in danger from Sha’ul as well. Moav is just across the Dead Sea from the territory of Yehudah, as by this time it had taken over Re’uven’s tribal land. If the tradition that his great-grandmother Ruth was from the royal family of Moav, he might have been able to claim this distant relationship with the king as reason enough to ask for his hospitality. It is possible that this ruler of Moav was actually descended from Yehudah’s own son Shelah. (1 Chron. 4:21-22) In any case, he was in better standing with him than with the Filistines, as there was at present no active war between the two peoples. He might have been sending messages from a border-post to the king rather than speaking directly to the king himself.
4. And he had them brought to the presence of the king of Moav, and they remained with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.
In the stronghold: probably located at the observation point; or possibly, as long as he was being hunted.
5. But the prophet Gad told David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold; go and enter for yourself into the land of Yehudah.” So David started walking, and came into the Forest of Khareth.
Khareth means “engraving”. The site is uncertain. It must have been even more dangerous for David to stay in Moav than in an area where Sha’ul had spies. Since YHWH had already promised him the throne, was He just want more drama in David’s life, to build within him wisdom and leadership skills before he took the throne?
6. Then Sha’ul heard that David and the men that were with him had been recognized. Now Sha’ul was sitting under a tamarisk tree in Ramah with his spear in his hand, and all of his servants were stationed over him.
Ramah is on the opposite side of Giv’ah from Nov.
7. So Sha’ul said to all of his servants who were stationed over him, “Now hear [this, you] Binyamites! Will the son of Yishai give any of you fields or vineyards as well? Will he make any of you captains of thousands or captains of hundreds,
As well: i.e., either “Will he give them to anyone but those from Yehudah?” or, “Will he do as much as I have done for you?” He is appealing to the Binyamites’ military pride and the fact that they had been so soundly defeated a few generations earlier, so his words would fall on their ears like Hitler’s to the Germans after World War I.
8. “since you all conspired against me, and no one uncovered my ear when my own son cut [a covenant] with the son of Yishai?! And there is no one who feels sorry [enough] for me to uncover my ear when my own son stirred up my servant against me, to ambush me like today!”
Y’honathan himself must have let on that he had done this. There is a time to remain silent, and Sha’ul’s servants had done better to refrain from talking about this. But Sha’ul was very unstable, and though he was really showing signs of weakness by whining, his servants took it as a threat, since previously when he had kept a spear in his hand while on his throne, he had tried to use it against those most loyal to him. So, like Yoseyf’s brothers when he called them spies, they let their words flow too freely. An outsider who has risen high in the ranks, yet whose name means “fearful”, and thus may want to do all he can to keep his position (knowing that if he lost it, he would probably be regarded as a traitor if he returned home) offers some especially juicy “intelligence”:
9. Then Do’eg the Edomite—the one appointed [deputy] over Sha’ul’s servants—responded and said, “I saw the son of Yishai come to Akhimelekh the son of Akhituv at Nov.
Do’eg is a political chameleon, for when we first encounter him he is worshipping YHWH and keeping the Sabbath, but now that he feels he has a lot to lose, he tries to cast Sha’ul’s battle as being not against David but against YHWH Himself.
10. “And he inquired of YHWH for him, and gave him provisions. He also gave him the sword of Golyath the Filistine!”
11. So the king sent to summon Akhimelekh the son of Akhituv, the priest, along with all of his father’s household, the priests who were at Nov. So they all came to the king.
While they may have had an inkling that they were in trouble, when the king called, they came.
12. And Sha’ul said, “Listen, now, son of Akhituv!” And he said, “Here I am, my master!”
13. So Sha’ul said to him, “Why have you [gone] over me to conspire with the son of Yishai by giving him bread and a sword, and inquired of Elohim for him so [he could start] an insurrection against me to ambush [me] like [he is doing] today?”
14. But Akhimelekh responded to the king by saying, “But who among all your servants is like David—faithful, son-in-law of the king, who turns aside to do your bidding and is honored by your household?
15. “Is it [only] today that I began to inquire of Elohim for him? [That would be] a violation [of honor] for me! Don’t let the king set on his servant [any] thing in the whole house of my father, because your servant didn’t know a thing of this, small or large!”
Violation of honor: also an idiom for, “May it never be! He presents himself as not having known David was out of favor with Sha’ul, but all the rest of the people seemed to be aware of it (v. 2), so Sha’ul considers him a liar.
16. But the king said, “You will die for sure, Akhimelekh—you and the whole household of your father!”
17. And the king said to the runners who had been stationed about him, “Go around and kill the priests of YHWH, because even their hand is with David, and because they knew that he was fleeing, and did not reveal [it to] my ear.” But the king’s servants were not willing to put their hand forward to attack the priests of YHWH.
They feared YHWH more than they feared the king.
18. So the king said to Do’eg, “You go around and get the priests!” So Do’eg the Edomite went around and attacked the priests himself, and on that day he killed 85 men that bear a [white] linen efod.
Sha’ul’s instability shows up again in that in a sense he is following the letter of the Torah--that the one who makes an accusation against someone is the first one to cast the stone (Deut. 13:8-9)—but it is in the wrong context.
19. And he had Nov, the city of the priests, attacked with the mouth of the sword, from man to woman, even infants and nursing babies, as well as ox, donkey, and lamb—with the mouth of the sword.
He: apparently Do’eg, though Sha’ul is still credited with the deed. (v. 21) Sha’ul was unwilling to kill the king of another nation, but seems to have no hesitation about killing YHWH’s priests! And he is almost mocking YHWH by doing the same to His priests that He had told Sha’ul to do to Amaleq. This was a very poor political move on Sha’ul’s part. On the other hand, these priests are from the line of Eli, whose line YHWH had cursed. (2:27-36) For some reason the priesthood had been transferred from the line of El’azar to the line of Ithamar, possibly due to an emergency situation, but long after YHWH expressed distaste for Eli’s family, it had not yet reverted to those to him the position had been given. So this might not be as evil a development as it first appears. The “last straw” may have been that these who were direct servants of YHWH were not calling Sha’ul by name, but called him “the king” (vv. 14-15), thus crediting him with what was rightfully YHWH’s.
20. But one son belonging to Akhimelekh the son of Akhituv, Evyathar by name, escaped and ran away after David.
Like Gid’on’s son and those of the children and servants of Iyov who likewise underwent such decimations, he is the lone survivor.
21. And Evyathar told David that Sha’ul had murdered YHWH’s priests.
David wrote Psalm 52 at this time. It emphasizes that YHWH would have the last word in this matter, and almost sounds as if he plans to be the one to avenge the priests. But in any case he says that despite this tragedy, he will keep the praise of YHWH alive in the world. Notice that this one survivor did not call Sha’ul “the king” as Akhimelekh had. But though he proved an exception to the curse on Eli’s line by living a long life and was loyal to David, 2:33 even accounts for such a one, saying that he would become an irritant. Indeed, in the end he would use this same ability to be “slippery” to side with Adoniyah against Shlomo when the former claimed the throne for himself, ultimately proving ungrateful for David’s mercy.
22. And David said to Evyathar, “That day when Do’eg the Edomite was there, I knew he would report it to Sha’ul for sure; I have brought this on every soul in your father’s household.
I have brought this on: I have turned, or, I have occasioned--i.e., I am responsible for their deaths.
23. “Stay with me; don’t be afraid, because the one who is seeking [my] life is seeking your life [as well], but with me you will be kept [safe].”
Since he was responsible, he took responsibility to prevent the same from taking place again with the only one left. Interestingly, Evyathar means “my father has someone remaining”.
CHAPTER 23
1. And they reported to David, saying, “The Filistines are fighting at Qe’ilah, and they are plundering the threshingfloors!”
Qe’ilah: Its ruins are known today as Khirbet Qila. Its name means “an enclosed fortress”, and if the Filistines captured this, they would have a fortification in Yehudah. Qe’ilah also commanded the road connecting Hevron to Sokhoh, meaning they could also force a trade embargo on the former, a large city. They were wise in that they would wait until the grain had reached the threshing stage to plunder it, because they would have all the less work to do in order to eat of it, but this showed how unscrupulous and lazy they were as well. But they were undoubtedly watching the infighting between the leaders of Israel, and attacked when they saw that their enemy was distracted.
2. So David inquired of YHWH, saying, “Should I go and attack these Filistines?” And YHWH said to David, “Go and attack the Filistines and save Qe’ilah.”
3. But David’s men said to him, “We’re already afraid here in Yehudah, yet [you expect us] to go to the Filistine battle-lines at Qe’ilah!”
Afraid: of Sha’ul. They thought he wanted to take them “out of the frying pan into the fire”.
4. So yet again David inquired of YHWH, and YHWH answered him and said, “Get up! Go down to Qe’ilah, because I am handing the Filistines over to you!”
David inquires again because of his men’s doubts. It may be that he did not simply tell them to go despite their fear because some of them may have been his close senior relatives and therefore he was expected to respect him. This time YHWH overtly tells them what the outcome will be, so these fearful men will have more confidence, though David undoubtedly understood it this way the first time he received an answer.
5. So David and his men went to Qe’ilah and fought against the Filistines, and brought away their possessions and struck some of them down with a great defeat. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Qe’ilah.
Possessions: the word usually refers to livestock, but why would the Filistines bring their cattle to a battlefield? They may have brought some in order to pull the wagons full of stolen grain back to their homes. But “their possessions” may simply refer to the things belonging to Yehudah that he had recovered from the Filistines.
6. Now it turned out that when Evyathar, the son of Akhimelekh, had fled to David, an efod had come down in his hand.
Efod: the special garment that identified him as a priest. Unless some other Levites had come in to take up the slack, he was the only priest left, and therefore had to function as high priest. The sanctuary slaughters had probably ceased, but people would still enquire of YHWH mainly through the constituted priesthood. This efod may or may not have included the breastplate, but it apparently at least held the urim and thummim by which questions could be answered. Some tribes in India who trace their roots to the tribe of Menashe have had Levites among them who each carry a pouch that has stones in it for a similar purpose, though none has the full high priestly regalia.
7. And it was reported to Sha’ul that David had come to Qe’ilah. And Sha’ul said, “Elohim has [honored me by] acknowledging that he is in my hand, because he has become closed in by entering into a city with gates and a bar!”
Acknowledging: Sha’ul read the signs very wrongly, claiming that YHWH was supporting his cause.
8. So Sha’ul summoned all the people to the battle—to go down to Qe’ilah to lay siege to David and his men.
9. But David recognized that Sha’ul was plotting harm against him, so he said to Evyathar the priest, “Bring the efod near!”
10. And David said, “[O] YHWH, Elohim of Israel, Your servant has indeed heard that Sha’ul is trying to come to Qe’ilah to ruin the city on account of me!
11. “Will the [land]owners of Qe’ilah shut me up into his hand? Will Sha’ul come down, as Your servant has heard? [O] YHWH, Elohim of Israel! Please tell Your servant!” And YHWH said, “He will come down.”
David had already asked a second question before YHWH answered the first, so he asks the first question again:
12. And David said, “Will the [land]owners of Qe’ilah cause me to be enclosed in Sha’ul’s hand along with my men?” And YHWH said, “They will have you closed off.”
How ungrateful of them, since he had just rescued them from the Filistines. They never actually got to carry this out, and so may never have been punished for it, but YHWH knew the fickleness of their hearts would prevail if they had to choose between a possible reward from a king who had the means and one who appeared to be a renegade, even if they owed him their lives.
13. So David and his men—about 600 of them—got up and left Qe’ilah, and were going around wherever they could walk. And it was reported to Sha’ul that David had been allowed to slip away from Qe’ilah, so he [decided to] forego the sortie.
His following had grown considerably by now. Forego: leave off, desist, leave undone. But David rightly assumed he was not yet safe:
14. But David remained in the wilderness at the strongholds, then he stayed in the mountainous [part] of the wilderness of Zif, and every day Sha’ul searched for him, but Elohim did not give him into his hand.
Why would he leave a stronghold? Because word was getting back to Sha’ul of his whereabouts, so he had to keep changing his location. He is thus a foreshadowing of his descendant Y’shua, who, though already anointed as rightful king, did not overthrow the existing framework of authority since he had other work to do first, and since his “fans” overwhelmed him, felt compelled to keep on the move as well. Being between Qe’ilah and Zif, these strongholds may have been at Hevron itself, from which David would later begin his reign. They may have been designed specifically to guard the tombs of the patriarchs.
15. And David saw that Sha’ul had come out to seek his life. While David was in the wilderness of Zif, in a wooded area,
Wooded area: Even with such cover, it is difficult to keep 600 men hidden!
16. Y’honathan the son of Sha’ul got up and went to David in the woods, and was making his hand firm in Elohim.
Y’honathan was probably on the move with his father, but moved more quickly because his motive was to save David’s life, and Sha’ul was probably still unsure his motives were right. Y’honathan knew David’s ways, and was thus more easily able to determine where he would be hiding. Firm: with a strong grip. He was encouraging him, but probably also providing him with supplies.
17. And he said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because the hand of my father Sha’ul will not attain to securing you, and you will reign over Israel, and I will serve as a second [in rank] to you, and even my father Sha’ul knows so.”
He is probably implying that he will throw enough confusion into his father’s camp to make sure Sha’ul would not locate David. His confidence was still strong, while Sha’ul’s was weakening further. Y’honathan knew David was both a better warrior and a better leader than he, and thus more worthy of the top position. He knew his place as part of David’s reign and welcomed it rather than fighting it. He probably envisioned a unified kingdom, possibly with himself as king over the northern tribes but still under David, since, being the king’s son, he assumed he was to be a ruler of some sort, though YHWH ultimately did not allow this to be worked out as he foresaw it.
18. And they both cut a covenant before YHWH, but David stayed in the woods while Y’honathan went to his house.
19. But [some] Zifites went up to Sha’ul at Giv’ah to say, “Isn’t David concealing himself with us in the strongholds in the wooded area on the hill of Hakhilah, which is on the right hand of the wasteland?
The men of Yehudah seem to have been feeling more and more obligated to Sha’ul, possibly because he could reward them for betraying their brother. Hakhilah means “dark”, possibly due to the contrast of the forest with the surrounding desert, or possibly because late each day it was in the shadow of the mountain range directly to its west. Right hand: the south side, when truly oriented eastward.
20. “So now, as your whole soul is longing to come down, come on down, and it is our [responsibility] to have him delivered up into the king’s hand.
21. So Sha’ul said, “You are blessed to YHWH, because you have had compassion on me!
Had compassion: or, spared me (much trouble). What audacity, to use YHWH’s name for his own purposes, and to act as if he was one of the priests that he had just murdered. Truly Sha’ul is in a very bad place. Power had brought out the latent corruption in him, to correct the old adage, and his bad decisions were stacking the deck against him.
22. “Please go again to make sure, and find out and note his location—where his foot will be who has seen him there—because I’ve been told he will take great care to be shrewd.
Where his foot will be: i.e., where the informer “stands”—whose side he is really on. Shrewd: crafty, subtle, prudent. He himself knows that David is a true warrior and thus very circumspect.
23. “And observe and be familiar with all the hiding places into which he withdraws himself, and come back to me with established [evidence], and I will go with you, and [if] it turns out that he is there in the land, I will [disguise myself and] search him out among all the thousands of Yehudah.”
I.e., do the groundwork for me, so I can just do the mop-up. He was sending spies, but sounds as if he may also go incognito, probably dressed in the garb of Yehudah, which may have differed from that of Binyamin. At the very least, he would go looking like a civilian rather than a king. Thousands: groupings under a head of 1,000 men.
24. So they got up and went to Zif ahead of Sha’ul while David and his men were in the uninhabited land of Maon in the Aravah on the right hand of the wasteland.
Maon must have been the nearest city to where he was, though to be in the Aravah (the Great Rift Valley), he could not have been less than 10 to 12 miles from the city proper. Maon, 6 miles south of Zif and surrounded by pasturelands, is known as Khirbet al-Ma’in today. It was named after a descendant of Kalev (1 Chron. 24:5), having previously been associated with Amaleq. (Judges 10:12)
25. Then Sha’ul and his men went to search, and David was informed, so he went down to Sela and remained in the wilderness of Maon. When Sha’ul heard it, he chased after David in the wilderness of Maon.
Sela: the Hebrew name for Petra, but this is not likely to be the same place, though Petra is far down the same Rift Valley and there is an area named Ma’an (note the similarity to Ma’on) just to its southeast. Generically, the word denotes a crag or cliff. It apparently did not have a specific name until this event. (See v. 28.)
26. Now Sha’ul was walking on this side of the mountain and David and his men on [the other] side of the mountain, so David started moving quickly to get away from Sha’ul’s presence. But Sha’ul and his men were surrounding David and his men to capture them.
Only now does David feel threatened enough to actually run. But just as the suspense has reached its zenith…
27. Then a messenger came to Sha’ul to say, “Hurry and go, because the Filistines have invaded the Land!”
Invaded: made a dash on to raid, spread themselves out on, stripped off. This may have been a rumor started by Y’honathan to throw Sha’ul off David’s trail, but since Sha’ul was actually out of the territory of Israel and in Yehudah’s land, it would be an ideal time for an enemy to attack.
28. So Sha’ul turned back from chasing after David and went to meet the Filistines. For the same reason they called that place “the cliff of the dividing-out”.
29. But David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of Eyn-Gedi.
Up: He had been below the escarpment that runs all along the edge of the Rift Valley, and now begins moving up the steep slope again. Eyn-Gedi, or “spring of the goat”, is along the cliff line about halfway down the western side of the Dead Sea. It is an oasis in a very dry area, and now is a national park/nature preserve with beautiful waterfalls. But there were substantial settlements and various sorts of plantations along the rivulet in ancient times.
CHAPTER 24
1. But it turned out that when Sha’ul had returned from going after the Filistines, that they reported to him, “Look! David is in the wilderness of Eyn-Gedi!”
2. So Sha’ul took 3,000 men selected from all of Israel and went to search for David and his men at the front of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats.
All of Israel: This may have included Yehudah this time, since he now had some allies in that otherwise-separate tribe. Front: literally, faces. Mountain goats: specifically the ibex, from whose horns small shofars are often made. The Hebrew name for it is yael, for which the woman who killed Sisera (Judges 4:17ff) was named. It is still common to see ibex climbing the cliffs in this area.
3. When he came to the sheepfolds on the way, there was a cave there, and
Sha’ul went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were dwelling in
the extreme recesses of the [very same] cave!
Cover his feet: a euphemism for defecating—a very vulnerable position!
There are many caves in the rock walls at Eyn-Gedi, but many, being hard to
reach (and for this reason they made excellent hiding places during the
uprisings against Greece and Rome), would not be easily accessible for this
purpose. This one seems to have been at or near the top of the escarpment, the direction from which Sha’ul would have been approaching, and indeed there is one there which some have identified as this particular cave.
4. So David’s men said to him, “Here is the day of which YHWH has told you, ‘I Myself will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him whatever is appropriate in your eyes.’” But David got up and secretly cut off the extremity of the [long outer] robe that [denoted] Sha’ul’s [rank].
There seems to have been no such prior promise to David recorded, though Sha’ul was told his fellow would be given his crown. (15:26-28) In fact, in that very context, Sha’ul had torn Shmu’el’s robe in his effort to get the prophet to reconsider. (Compare another incident in 1 Kings 11:29ff.) More likely, the men were just saying, in effect, “It’s obvious that YHWH is telling you through this sign that your enemy is fair game.” Extremity: literally, wing; the part of the garment onto which his tzitzith would have been affixed. (Num. 15:38) It is likely that he had laid it aside while he did his “business” out of respect for the tzitziyoth that fulfilled one of YHWH’s commandments, so that David would not have had to be so close that Sha’ul could hardly avoid noticing him. In some ancient cultures marks of one’s rank were also worn on the fringe of the garment, and this may be part of the symbolism David intended to portray as well.
5. But after this, it turned out that David’s heart started chastising him over [the fact] that he had cut off the extremity that belonged to Sha’ul.
His conscience was bothering him because of Sha’ul’s position, no matter whether his behavior merited such honor.
6. So he said to his men, “[It would be] a violation [of honor] for me from YHWH if I were to do this thing to my master—to YHWH’s anointed—to stretch out my hand against him, because he is YHWH’s anointed.”
Violation of honor: or, desecration, pollution, defilement, wounding, piercing through. I.e., such behavior would besmirch the measure of honor that YHWH has already given me. Anointed: the same Hebrew word as elsewhere translated “Messiah”. The fact that YHWH had given approval of his kingship in some sense meant he could not simply be “impeached”.
7. And David held back his men by [these] words, and did not permit them to rise up [and go] toward Sha’ul. So Sha’ul got up from the cave and went onto the road.
Held back: An idiomatic use of the same word used of cloven-hoofed animals. The word also means to “tear” or “divide”, so the sense seems to be that he “tore into them”—i.e., took command somewhat angrily and forbade any but himself to get near the king. But “a word to the wise” proved sufficient, for these profound words showed them that David was not only a strong leader, but also had deeper understanding than most other men.
8. And after the same, David got up and went out of the cave and called out after Sha’ul, saying, “My master the king!” When Sha’ul looked [carefully] behind him, David bowed with his nose to the ground and prostrated himself.
9. And David said to Sha’ul, “Why do you listen to human words that say, ‘David is indeed trying to harm you’?
Human words: literally, the words of Adam. It was logical to assume that this was the case because of what Sha’ul was doing to him and men’s natural penchant for power. But this was fleshly reasoning, and not at all true in David’s case.
10. “Look here! This day your eyes have seen how YHWH has delivered you into my hand today, and [some] said to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my master, because he is YHWH’s anointed.’
Delivered you into my hand: He thus agreed with the first part of what his men credited to YHWH in verse 4, but “what was appropriate in his eyes” was not what they expected.
11. “So my father, [both] look and see the extremity of your robe in my hand, because by my cutting off the extremity of your robe and not murdering you, [you can] recognize and consider [the fact that] I have neither hurtfulness nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, yet you are hunting down my life to take it!
He got this close to Sha’ul and could easily have done him in, but he did not; if he really wanted to kill him, why would he waste this occasion? What stronger evidence could he have given him that he meant him no harm?
12. “May YHWH judge between me and you, and YHWH will avenge me of you, but my hand will not be against you!
I.e., you are in the wrong and you know it, but I am not yet the constituted authority to pronounce your judgment.
13. “As the ancient adage says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.” But [again] my hand will not be against you!
I.e., Your actions are proving what is really in your heart (compare Mat. 15:18-20), but your downfall will not be my doing.
14. “After whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you chasing after? A dead dog? A single flea?
I.e., Why are you wasting your time on something that is as much a threat as these things, when you have so many more important things to do as king?
15. “So YHWH will be the judge, and will execute justice between me and you, and will inspect and plead my case, and vindicate me from out of your hand.”
I.e., truth is on my side; you have much to lose if YHWH inspects you as closely as He is observing me!
16. Now when David had finished speaking these words to Sha’ul, the result was that Sha’ul said, “Is that your voice, my son, David?” And Sha’ul lifted up his voice and started wailing.
My son: David had also called him “father” in v. 11. To a modern mind, this was a great “healing experience”, with forgiveness flowing freely. But Sha’ul has already stacked the deck against himself, and it is too late for David to really trust him. It would indeed take evidence even more vivid than this to make him finally stop pursuing David.
17. Then he said to David, “You are more righteous than I [am], because you have treated me well, and I have paid you back badly.
18. “And today you have made it obvious that you have done me right with [the fact] that YHWH had closed me up into your hand, and you did not kill me!
Closed me up into your hand: as if presenting him to him in a package from which he could not escape.
19. “And if a man should find his enemy, would he let him go [free] in a pleasant way? May YHWH compensate you with kindness to replace [what I’ve repaid you with] this day, [because of] what you have done for me.
I.e., would he leave him uninjured? Would that be wise? Sha’ul still has some sense of what is right and proper, and is grasping for whatever may be left of it. He wishes for YHWH to exchange the payment he has offered David (v. 17) for a better reward, which he knows David deserves.
20. “So now—look here—I know for sure that you will become king, and that the sovereignty of Israel will be raised up [established and confirmed] in your hand!
21. “So swear to me now by YHWH, ‘If you cut off my seed after me and if you should make my name perish from my father’s household…’”
I.e., swear that you will not do these things. This is the idiomatic format an oath takes in Israel: “If I do this… (may YHWH do the same or worse to me).”
22. So David swore [the oath] to Sha’ul, and Sha’ul went home, while David and his men went up into the stronghold.
The stronghold: Probably the one from which he had come at Eyn-Gedi. Sha’ul seems to have shown genuine remorse, but David did not let his guard down, though he was safe for the moment. He knew how fickle Sha’ul was, and how driven by whatever emotion swept over him at the moment, as we saw here on the positive side, but as he had seen go the opposite direction so many times. He would honor him as king, but notice that he did not go back to work directly for him this time. Things would never be the same between them again, because Sha’ul was too unstable. If Sha’ul had asked him to come back, David probably would have, but to voluntarily do so would probably have been suicidal. This would indeed turn out to not be the last time he had to prove to Sha’ul that he would not kill him, though he easily could. However, David was faithful to keep this oath (2 Shmu’el 9:3,7) even when he was suspicious of the behavior of one of Sha’ul’s descendants. (2 Shmu’el 21:7) And for this, YHWH spared David’s descendants some of what they deserved as well. (1 Kings 11:12-13)
THE FIRST BOOK OF
Shmu'el
the prophet
INTRODUCTION: This book begins in the 11th century B.C.E. Some place Shmu'el's birth as early as 1096 B.C.E., while others estimate 1028 or 1025. Shmu'el has been called "the last judge". The title of the book may be a slight misnomor, for, though his life extends throughout most of the book, King Sha'ul and David take center stage, and 2 Shmu'el is almost entirely about David, Shmu'el having died before it begins. Actually, the division of the book of Shmu'el into two parts originated with the Greek Septuagint (LXX) in the second century B.C.E. It was not until the 15th century C.E. (A.D.) that it was divided into two parts in the Hebrew scriptures. The book recounts the transition in Israel's history from the era of the judges to the era of the united kingdom.
The Elah brook is a seasonal stream.
