1 Samuel 21:7

1Sa 21:7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul [was] there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name [was] Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that [belonged] to Saul.

Ver. 7. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day.] Doeg may set his foot as far within the tabernacle as David, and seem to be as devout: "but God knoweth your hearts," saith our Saviour to the Pharisees, {Luk 16:15} and will wash off your paint with rivers of brimstone.

Detained before the Lord.] Either because it was the Sabbath, or by reason of some vow, or for some other religious respect. Some render it Incluserat se ante tabernaculum, he had shut up himself - as a recluse - before the tabernacle; viz., that he might give himself wholly to reading and prayer. A wicked wretch he was, and of ill fame amongst the better sort; and therefore David was very sorry to see him there, {1Sa 22:22} as fearing that he would "carry tales to shed blood." {Eze 22:9} A very Judas he was, and a type of Judas Iscariot.

Doeg, an Edomite.] By nation, but an Israelite by profession, as was also Ahimelech the Hittite, {1Sa 26:6} and Jether the Ismaelite. {1Ch 2:17 2Sa 17:25, marg.}

The chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.] The Septuagint makes him his mule keeper: the Rabbis say that he was that armourbearer of his that slew him, and himself also with him, {1Sa 31:5} but that is uncertain.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa_21:7

A certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord.

Doeg the Edomite

Doeg was detained there before the Lord. How or why he was detained before the Lord, we are not informed. Doeg the Edomite was detained there that day before the Lord, and with his eyes upturned and his arms across his breast, very probably groaning as if moved to the heart by the aspect of poor David and his few straggling companions, dusty, and dirty and hungry. Doeg witnessed all and hurrying off to the royal palace told King Saul all he saw and all he heard during his stay at Nob, as passing between David and Ahimelech. This malicious spy was glad to violate all confidence.

I. Doeg was detained there that day before the Lord as a spy. Now of all the characters in the world the spy is the meanest and the most despicable. It was allowed at the time, and historians confirm it, that the espionage system of the Duke of Wellington, during his Peninsular campaign, was the most perfect ever known in any European army, and yet his scouts were selected without regard to character. No man respects a spy. Is Doeg dead? It is to be feared that in every age there have been those who come to the house of God only to hear and report, and misrepresent the services of the sanctuary. The spy has neither character nor conscience.

II. Doeg is there that day as a malicious tale bearer and wicked slanderer. The tale bearer and murderer are regarded by God as one and the same. A heathen once said, The slanderer is the most terrible of wild beasts.

III. It is possible that Doeg may have been detained there that day before the Lord, for the very reason that he knew he was not wanted. It is clear that Ahimelech did not want him, and equally clear that the eighty-five priests whom he afterwards murdered so wantonly did not want him, and still more obvious that David did not want him. Not a single worshipper in the priestly City of Nob. Some men are woefully gifted with a perverse spirit, and their happiness consist in trying to make other men miserable. Their aim is annoy; evil is their good.

IV. It may be that Doeg was detained there that day before the Lord, from the force of habit. He had been a churchgoing man.

V. It may be that Doeg was detained there that day before the Lord, from the love of the service. The old Rabbis have a tradition that Doeg was a skilful performer on the psaltery, and wherever music was the prevailing part of the worship, he was present to take part in the service of song. If there is no higher motive than the mere gratification of a refined ear or a cultivated taste, or even a delicate sentimentalism, the ordinances cannot profit.

VI. It may be that Doeg was detained there that day before the Lord, from the hope of patronage or preferment. He was only chief of the herdsmen of King Saul; probably, by acting as a spy and a tale bearer, be hoped to be advanced to some situation of honour and emolument. Doeg is ready for any work, from that of the highest seraph in heaven down to the lowest fiend in hell, if it will only pay!

VII. It may be that Doeg was detained there that day before the Lord, because the service at Nob was a branch of the national worship. This was a priestly city, and the Divine arrangement provided that the house of Levi should have the sacerdotal cities and their suburbs. Doeg, therefore, as a Hebrew, had a right to attend upon any altar that represented the religion of the Hebrew commonwealth. Oh! that is Gods meeting place with the inquiring saint who is there that day detained before the Lord. because he wants to meet and hold communion with God. (R. Irvine, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 21:7. Detained before the Lord — That is, at the tabernacle. It is not to be imagined that he was detained here by force, but by his own choice he stayed there that day, either because it was the sabbath day, on which he might not proceed on his journey, or for the performance of some vow, or other religious duty, to which he had obliged himself. His name was Doeg, an Edomite — His native country was Edom; but he was proselyted to the Jewish religion.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21:7 having been detained before the Lord: Ahimelech sought guidance from God on others’ behalf (22:15), so it is possible that Doeg was awaiting a response to an inquiry.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Tarrying to worship before the Ark.

Or, master of them that kept Saul’s castle.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Doeg, an Edomite--who had embraced the Hebrew religion.

detained before the Lord--at the tabernacle, perhaps, in the performance of a vow, or from its being the Sabbath, which rendered it unlawful for him to prosecute his journey.

the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul--Eastern monarchs anciently had large possessions in flocks and herds; and the office of the chief shepherd was an important one.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. Detained before the Lord] Probably fulfilling some vow to the Lord, and therefore for a time resident at the tabernacle.

And his name was Doeg] From 1Sa 22:9 we learn that this man betrayed David's secret to Saul, which caused him to destroy the city, and slay eighty-five priests. We learn from its title that the fifty-second Psalm was made on this occasion; but titles are not to be implicitly trusted.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) A certain man.—Among the personages who surround Saul in the Bible story appears incidentally the keeper of the royal mules, and chief of the household slaves, the “Comes stabuli,” “the constable of the king,” as appears in the later monarchy. “He is the first instance of a foreigner employed in a high function in Israel, being an Edomite, or Syrian, of the name of Doeg—according to Jewish tradition, the steward who accompanied Saul in his pursuit after the asses, who counselled him to send for David, and who ultimately slew him, according to the sacred narrative—a person of vast and sinister influence in his master’s counsels.” (Stanley, Lectures on the Jewish Church, Lect. 21) Some traditions affirm that the armour-bearer who slew Saul on Mount Gilboa was not Doeg, but Doeg’s son.

The Hebrew words rendered in the English Version, “the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul,” are translated in the LXX. by “feeding the mules of Saul;” and in accordance with this reading, in 1Sa_22:9 also, they have changed “Saul’s servants” into “Saul’s mules.” The Vulg. and the other versions, however, translate as the English Version, “potentissimus pastorum,” although in some of the Vulg. MSS. there is an explanatory gloss, evidently derived from the singular interpretation of the LXX., “This (man) used to feed Saul’s mules.” There can be no foundation in tradition or otherwise for such a reading, as we never read until the days of King David of mules being used by royal princes. (See 2Sa_13:29; 2Sa_18:9.) Before David’s time, the sons of princes used to ride on asses. (See Jdg_10:4; Jdg_12:14.) Ewald, disregarding the current Jewish tradition respecting the ancient connection of Doeg with the house of Kish, considers that this influential chieftain of the king probably came over to Saul in his war with Edom.

Detained before the Lord.—Several interpretations have been suggested for these words. (a) He was at the sanctuary of the Tabernacle as a proselyte—one who wished to be received into the religious communion of Israel. (b) He was detained there for his purification on account of supposed leprosy, or simply in fulfilment of a temporary Nazarite vow. (c) According to Ephrem Syrus (who probably referred to some lost tradition), he had committed some trespass, and was detained there till he had offered the appointed sacrifice. Any one of these reasons—all sufficiently probable in themselves—would have occasioned a residence long or short at the sanctuary at Nob. At all events, when the fugitive David recognised the presence of one of Saul’s most unscrupulous servants, whom he must have known well, his mind must have misgiven him, and he, probably on this account, hasted to get away, and at once begs the old high priest to furnish him with any arms he might have laid up in the priestly homes.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. detained before the Lord] In charge of the priest for some religious purpose such as the fulfilment of a vow, or purification, or on account of suspected leprosy (Lev_13:4; Lev_13:11; Lev_13:31). His presence in the Tabernacle implies that he was a proselyte.

Doeg, an Edomite] He may have come over to Saul in his wars with Edom (1Sa_14:47).

the chiefest of the herdmen, &c.] An important post in a pastoral country. Cp. 1Ch_27:29; 1Ch_27:31. The Sept. reads, “Doeg the Syrian, the keeper of Saul’s mules.” Cp. 1Ch_27:30. “Syrian” is certainly a mistake for “Edomite,” the consonants of the Heb. words “Aramite” and “Edomite” being almost exactly alike.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day,.... When David came to Nob, and asked bread of the priest, and had it, which this man was an eyewitness of, Sa1 22:9,

detained before the Lord; either because it was sabbath day, and so he might not travel, at least no more than two thousand cubits; or by some vow of his, which he was obliged to stay and perform; or on account of some impurity he had contracted, which he came to be cleansed from; or this detention was voluntary, in order to offer sacrifice to the Lord, or pray unto him, or to study the law of God in the tabernacle, pretending to be a very religious man:

and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, being by birth an Idumean, but a proselyte to the Jewish religion; or he was of the seed of Israel, but because he had dwelt in Edom, he was called an Edomite, as Kimchi thinks; just as Uriah is called for a like reason the Hittite:

the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul; Saul had his herds and men to look after them, and this man was set over them all, to see that they faithfully discharged their trust. The same officer the Romans called the praefect, or master of the cattle (k); See Gill on Ch1 27:29, and See Gill on Ch1 27:31; though this man was not only over the king's cattle, but over those that kept them; and was in the same office as Phorbas was, under Laius king of Thebes (l), and Melanthius in Homer (m), and Faustulus to Amulius (n): but Abarbinel is of opinion that this is to be understood not of the keepers of herds and flocks, but of the shepherds or rulers of the people; and that this man was set over all the other magistrates and rulers of the people, hence said to be "set over the servants of Saul", Sa1 22:9; and so Jarchi calls him "Ab Beth Din", or father of the sanhedrim, or great court of judicature; who was detained in the tabernacle to learn the law there, that he might be the better qualified for his office; but Kimchi interprets it as we do, the chief of the keepers of the herd, and both the Septuagint and Josephus (o) say that he fed the king's mules.

(k) Vid. Pignorium de servis, p. 539. (l) Senecae Oedipus, Act. 4. v. 815, 816, 839. (m) Odyss. 20. ver. 21. (n) Aurel. Victor. orig. Gent. Roman. (o) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 12. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Detained before the Lord - Either to fulfill a vow Act 21:23-27, or on account of uncleanness, or under the law of lepers Lev 13:4, Lev 13:11, Lev 13:21, or as a proselyte. It is not impossible that Doeg may have been in custody or in sanctuary for some crime.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Within. Hebrew mehtsar, "detained, or assembles before the Lord." Theodoret thinks he was possessed; others believe he had made a vow, &c. --- Edomite. Some Greek copies read, a Syrian, as also chap. xxii. 9. (Calmet) --- He had embraced the Jewish religion. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Detained; not by force from others, but by his own choice; he fixed his abode there for that day; either because it was the sabbath day, on which he might not proceed in his journey, or other business; or for the discharge of some vow; or to beg direction and help from God in some great business.

Before the Lord, i.e. at the tabernacle.

An Edomite; either,

1. By his habitation and conversation among those people for some considerable time, as for the same reason Uriah is called the Hittite, and Obed-edom the Gittite: or rather,

2. By his birth and nation; but he was proselyted to the Jewish religion, or took it up for sinister ends, being advanced, as here we read, to a place of trust and preferment, possibly upon this occasion.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Detained before the Lord — But what detained him? Various answers have been given, as that he was fulfiling some vow at the tabernacle, or offering some special sacrifice. But if the supposition of the above note be correct, that David’s interview with the priest occurred on the sabbath day, then we may naturally understand that Doeg was detained there by the sabbath, since it would be unlawful to be abroad at his work on that holy day.

The chiefest of the herdmen — Overseer and chief manager of this department of the king’s affairs. Doeg is introduced here in anticipation of what is related in 1Sa_22:9-22, and also, perhaps, to account for David’s words and action. David had often inquired of the Lord through Ahimelech, (1Sa_22:15,) and had probably come to Nob to do so now, but, finding Doeg there, he seems to have been confused and embarrassed, so framed a fictitious pretext as to his coming alone, and then took his departure as soon as possible. His strange action may have led Doeg to suspect conspiracy between him and Ahimelech against the government of Saul. Compare 1Sa_22:9-13.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

David"s visit to Nob had probably been dictated simply by a desire to get food while a few attendants were being collected for him, and under ordinary circumstances would have remained unknown to Saul. Unfortunately there chanced to be a person present there who informed the king of it, and brought a second terrible catastrophe upon the house of Eli; (see on 1Sa_2:33) by working too upon his jealousy he caused Saul to commit a crime which sets him before us as a hateful and remorseless tyrant. This man was Doeg, an Edomite, who had, it seems, long been in Saul"s service, as he was his chief herdsman. According to the Septuagint he had charge of the king"s mules, but the other versions agree with the Hebrew. As herds would form the main part of Saul"s wealth, his chief herdsman would be a person of importance. He was detained before Jehovah. Ie. shut up in close seclusion within the precincts of the tabernacle, either for some vow, or for purification, or perhaps as suspected of leprosy, (Lev_13:4) or, as some think, as a proselyte. Ephrem Syrus thinks he had committed some trespass, and was detained till he had offered the appointed sacrifice. David at once felt that Doeg"s presence boded much ill, (1Sa_22:22) and it probably was the cause of his taking the rash resolution to flee for refuge to Gath.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Detained - Not by force but by his choice; he fixed his abode there for that day; either because it was the sabbath-day; on which he might not proceed in his journey, or for the discharge of some vow. Before the Lord - That is, at the tabernacle. An Edomite - By birth, but he was proselyted to the Jewish religion.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

detained before Yahweh

Possible meanings are that 1) Doeg had some religious work regarding Yahweh to do there. AT: "for some work before Yahweh" or 2) Yahweh detained Doeg there. AT: "because Yahweh had detained him there" (See: Active or Passive)

Doeg ... herdsmen

You may need to say clearly that Doeg saw what David did. AT: "Doeg ... herdsmen, and he saw what Ahimelech did" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

Doeg

man's name (See: How to Translate Names)

herdsmen

the keepers and protectors of a herd, especially of cattle or sheep

translationWords

servant

Saul (OT)

Yahweh

Edom

chief

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

In order to put hot bread. Other warm bread on the day this was removed. Our Rabbis said, that it was warm on the day it was taken, i.e., it was as warm on the day it was removed as it was on the day it was arranged.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.