Bible Commentaries

Whilst Saul derived no comfort from his visit to the witch at Endor, butsimply heard from the mouth of Samuel the confirmation of his rejectionon the part of God, and an announcement of his approaching fate, Davidwas delivered, through the interposition of God, from the danger of havingto fight against his own people.

1 Samuel 29:1

The account of this is introduced by a fuller description of theposition of the hostile army. “The Philistines gathered all their armiestogether towards Aphek, but Israel encamped at the fountain in (at)Jezreel.” This fountain is the present Ain Jalûd (or Ain Jalût, i.e., Goliath'sfountain, probably so called because it was regarded as the scene of thedefeat of Goliath), a very large fountain, which issues from a cleft in therock at the foot of the mountain on the north-eastern border of Gilboa,forming a beautifully limpid pool of about forty or fifty feet in diameter,and then flowing in a brook through the valley (Rob. Pal. iii. p. 168). Consequently Aphek, which must be carefully distinguished from thetowns of the same name in Asher (Joshua 19:30; Judges 1:31) and upon themountains of Judah (Joshua 15:53) and also at Ebenezer (1 Samuel 4:1), is to besought for not very far from Shunem, in the plain of Jezreel; according toVan de Velde's Mem., by the side of the present el Afûleh, though thesituation has not been exactly determined. The statement in the Onom.,“near Endor of Jezreel where Saul fought,” is merely founded upon theSeptuagint, in which בּעין is erroneously rendered ἐν Ἐνδώρ .

1 Samuel 29:2-3

When the princes of the Philistines (sarne, as in Joshua 13:3)advanced by hundreds and thousands (i.e., arranged in companies ofhundreds and thousands), and David and his men came behind with Achish(i.e., forming the rear-guard), the (other) princes pronounced against theirallowing David and his men to go with them. The did not occur at the timeof their setting out, but on the road, when they had already gone somedistance (compare 1 Samuel 29:11 with 1 Samuel 30:1), probably when the five princes(Joshua 13:3) of the Philistines had effected a junction. To the inquiry,“What are these Hebrews doing?” Achish replied, “Is not this David, theservant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me days already, oryears already? and I have found nothing in him since his coming over untothis day.” מאוּמה, anything at all that could render hissuspicious, or his fidelity doubtful. נפל, to fall away and go overto a person; generally construed with אל (Jeremiah 37:13; Jeremiah 38:19, etc.) orעל (Jeremiah 21:9; Jeremiah 37:14; 1 Chronicles 12:19-20), but here absolutely, as themore precise meaning can be gathered from the context.

1 Samuel 29:4

But the princes, i.e., the four other princes of the Philistines, notthe courtiers of Achish himself, were angry with Achish, and demanded,“Send the man back, that he may return to his place, which thou hastassigned him; that he may not go down with us into the war, and may notbecome an adversary (satan) to us in the war; for wherewith could heshow himself acceptable to his lord (viz., Saul), if not with the heads ofthese men?” הלוא, nonne, strictly speaking, introduces a newquestion to confirm the previous question. “Go down to the battle:” thisexpression is used as in 1 Samuel 26:10; 1 Samuel 30:24, because battles were generallyfought in the plains, into which the Hebrews were obliged to come downfrom their mountainous land. “These men,” i.e., the soldiers of thePhilistines, to whom the princes were pointing.

1 Samuel 29:5

To justify their suspicion, the princes reminded him of their song with which the women in Israel had celebrated David's victory over Goliath (1 Samuel 18:7).

After this declaration on the part of the princes, Achish was obliged tosend David back.

1 Samuel 29:6-7

With a solemn assertion, - swearing by Jehovah to convinceDavid all the more thoroughly of the sincerity of his declaration, - Achishsaid to him, “Thou art honourable, and good in my eyes (i.e., quite right inmy estimation) are thy going out and coming in (i.e., all thy conduct) withme in the camp, for I have not found anything bad in thee; but in the eyesof the princes thou art not good (i.e., the princes do not think theehonourable, do not trust thee). Turn now, and go in peace, that thoumayest do nothing displeasing to the princes of the Philistines.”

1 Samuel 29:8-9

Partly for the sake of vindicating himself against this suspicion,and partly to put the sincerity of Achish's words to the test, Davidreplied, “What have I done, and what hast thou found in thy servant, sinceI was with thee till this day, that I am not to come and fight against theenemies of my lord the king?” These last words are also ambiguous, sincethe king whom David calls his lord might be understood as meaning eitherAchish or Saul. Achish, in his goodness of heart, applies them withoutsuspicion to himself; for he assures David still more earnestly (1 Samuel 29:9), thathe is firmly convinced of his uprightness. “I know that thou art good inmy eyes as an angel of God,” i.e., I have the strongest conviction that thouhast behaved as well towards me as an angel could; but the princes havedesired thy removal.

1 Samuel 29:10

“And now get up early in the morning with the servants of thylord (i.e., Saul, whose subjects David's men all were), who have come withthee; get ye up in the morning when it gets light for you (so that ye cansee), and go.”

1 Samuel 29:11

In accordance with this admonition, David returned the nextmorning into the land of the Philistines, i.e., to Ziklag; no doubt very lightof heart, and praising God for having so graciously rescued him out of thedisastrous situation into which he had been brought and not altogetherwithout some fault of his own, rejoicing that “he had not committed eithersin, i.e., had neither violated the fidelity which he owed to Achish, nor hadto fight against the Israelites” (Seb. Schmidt).