1 Samuel 22:7

1Sa 22:7 Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, [and] make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds;

Ver. 7. Hear now, ye Benjamites.] Will ye suffer the kingdom to be translated from your tribe, to David of the tribe of Judah? bestir you, that it may not.

Will the son of Jesse give every one of you.] As I have done, and yet will do. Thus also the Pope tempteth people on his side, as he did Aeneas Sylvius, Luther, and others, by great rewards and preferments; which yet he sometimes but slenderly performeth, as he did to Allin, Sanders, Stapleton, Reynold, Harding, Dr Smith, and other English fugitives, his best champions.

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.

22:7-8 men of Benjamin: Saul was suspicious of his own tribesmen, believing that David had bought their loyalty. Worse, Saul did not even trust his own son, convinced that he had joined the supposed conspiracy.

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

Ye that are of my tribe and lineage.

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

Hear now, ye Benjamites--This was an appeal to stimulate the patriotism or jealousy of his own tribe, from which he insinuated it was the design of David to transfer the kingdom to another. This address seems to have been made on hearing of David's return with his four hundred men to Judah. A dark suspicion had risen in the jealous mind of the king that Jonathan was aware of this movement, which he dreaded as a conspiracy against the crown.

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

(7) Hear now, ye Benjamites.—We have here a fair specimen of Saul’s manner of ruling in his later years. It is no wonder that the heart of the people gradually was estranged from one of whom in earlier years they had been so proud. The suspicious and gloomy king had evidently—we have it here from his own mouth—gradually given all the posts of honour and dignity to men of his own tribe and family, or to strangers like Doeg. “Hear now, ye Benjamites”—so the “fidèles” were evidently men of his own favoured tribe; indeed, he refers to his own weak partiality as the reason why they of all men should be loyal. “Who but a Benjamite,” he says, “would only honour Benjamites?” Such a sovereign had surely forfeited his kingdom. The consequences of such a weak and shortsighted policy were plainly visible in the thin array he was able in his hour of bitter need to muster together on the fatal field of Mount Gilboa against his sleepless Philistine enemies. (See 1 Samuel 31)

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

7. ye Benjamites] Saul appeals to tribal jealousies. Will not David promote his own fellow-tribesmen rather than the Benjamites?

captains of thousands, &c.] The sarcasm of these words gains point, if we may suppose that Saul had just heard of the organization of David’s handful of men (1Ch_12:16-18).

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.

Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him,.... He took this opportunity of addressing them in the following manner, upon the report of David being at the head of a certain number of men:

hear now, ye Benjamites; for Saul being of the tribe of Benjamin, his courtiers and his bodyguards chiefly, if not altogether, consisted of persons of that tribe; and therefore as they were under obligation to him, and ought to abide by him, and adhere closely to him, so it was the more ungrateful in them, as he thought, not to be concerned for his honour and interest:

will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards; as Saul had done, or was capable of doing, and would do if they were faithful to him; whereas it was not in the power of David, whom in contempt he calls the son of Jesse, to do it; and even should he ever be king, and in his power to make such donations, it cannot be thought he would give them to them, but to the favourites of his own tribe:

and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds; which he now could not do, since he had with him but four hundred men in all; and should his army increase, and the kingdom come into his hands, so far would all of them be from being advanced to posts in the army, that it was probable none of them would, but those of his own tribe and party.

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

Ye Benjamites - Showing how isolated the tribes still were, and how for the most part Saul was surrounded by his own tribesmen only.

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

Jemini. Benjamites, my countrymen. Saul approaches them with being too little concerned about his interests, and falsely accuses his own son, who, it seems, had retired from court, after his father had attempted to kill him. But he shewed no signs of disloyalty. (Calmet) --- The king mentions the league between Jonathan and David, on suspicion, chap. xx. 23. (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).

Ye Benjamites; you that are of my own tribe and kindred, from whom David designs to translate the kingdom to another tribe, will he distribute profits and preferments amongst you

Benjamites as I have done, and intend still to do? will he not rather prefer those of his own tribe before you?

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

7. Benjamites — From this address Keil infers that Saul had chosen his immediate attendants from his own tribe.

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

Vers. 7, 8. Ye Benjamites. Saul had evidently failed in blending the twelve tribes into one nation. He had begun well, and his great feat of delivering Jabesh Gilead by summoning the militia of all Israel together must have given them something of a corporate feeling, and taught them their power when united. Yet now we find him isolated, and this address to his officers seems to show that he had aggrandised his own tribe at the expense of the rest. Moreover, he appeals to the worst passions of these men, and asks whether they can expect David to continue this favouritism, which had given them riches and all posts of power. And then he turns upon them, and fiercely accuses them of banding together in a conspiracy against him, to conceal from him the private understanding which existed between his own son and his enemy. Hath made a league. Hebrew, "hath cut." This use of the formal phrase forsaking a covenant seems to show that Saul was at length aware of the solemn bond of friendship entered into by Jonathan with David. To lie in wait. To Saul"s mind, diseased with that suspicion which is the scourge of tyrants, David is secretly plotting his murder. As at this day. Ie. as today is manifest (see ver. 13).

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

Ye Benjamites - You that are of my own tribe and kindred, from whom David designs to translate the kingdom to another tribe. Will he distribute profits and preferments among you Benjamites, as I have done? Will he not rather prefer those of his own tribe before you?

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

Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards?

Saul uses a question to emphasize that David, who is from the tribe of Judah, does not desire to do this for the people of the tribe of Benjamin. AT: "The son of Jesse will not give you fields or vineyards." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Will the son of Jesse give

The time when he will give can be made explicit. AT: "When the son of Jesse becomes king, will he give" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the son of Jesse

"David"

Will he make you all captains ... me?

Saul uses a question to emphasize that David, who is from the tribe of Judah, does not desire to do this for the people of the tribe of Benjamin. AT: "He will not make you captains ... against me." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Will he make you all captains

You may need to make explicit when he will make them captains. AT: "When he becomes king, will he make you all captains" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

captains of thousands and captains of hundreds

Possible meanings are 1) these numbers represent the exact amount of soldiers that these captains led. AT: "captains of 1,000 soldiers and captains of 100 soldiers" or 2) the words translated as "thousands" and "hundreds" do not represent exact numbers, but are the names of larger and smaller military divisions. AT: "captains of large military divisions and captains of smaller military divisions" See how you translated a similar phrase in 1 Samuel 17:18. (See: Numbers)

translationWords

Saul (OT)

servant

people group

Benjamin

Jesse

vineyard

covenant

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