1 Samuel 24:22

1Sa 24:22 And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.

Ver. 22. And David sware unto Saul.] The same in effect that he had sworn before to Jonathan.

And Saul went home.] Convinced, but not converted; Punctus et repunctus, minime tamen ad resipiscentiam compunctus.

Gat them up unto the hold,] i.e., Of Engedi, {1Sa 24:1} for they knew that there was little hold to be taken of Saul’s melting protestations, whom they had found so faithless. Credulity argueth folly.

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 24:22. David and his men get them up unto the hold — Of Engedi, 1Sa 24:1. For having had so frequent experience of Saul’s inconstancy, he would trust him no more. It is indeed dangerous to trust a reconciled enemy; and the son of Sirach advises, “Never trust thine enemy; though he humble himself, yet take good heed and beware of him.” Before we close our notes on this chapter, we beg leave to add one general remark; which is, that there is something so noble and generous in David’s whole behaviour, as related in it, that it is above all encomiums. We cannot say any thing in commendation of it, but what the relation itself far exceeds.

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

Verse 22. Saul went home] Confounded at a sense of his own baseness, and overwhelmed with a sense of David's generosity.

David and his men gat them up unto the hold.] Went up to Mizpeh, according to the Syriac and Arabic. David could not trust Saul with his life; the utmost he could expect from him was that he should cease from persecuting him; but even this was too much to expect from a man of such a character as Saul. He was no longer under the Divine guidance; an evil spirit had full dominion over his soul. What God fills not, the devil will occupy.

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

(22) And David sware unto Saul.—The generous son of Jesse at once complied with Saul’s curious request, and for a time, at least, the persecution and pursuit of David ceased. Stricken with remorse, the gloomy king left him to himself; no word, however, seems to have passed as to restoring the exile to his home or rank. Bishop Wordsworth quotes here a characteristic passage from one of Chrysostom’s eloquent homilies, in which the Patristic method of allegorising all these famous scenes of Old Testament history is well exemplified.

“Meditate on the example of David, and do thou imitate it: imitate it in his self-control and in his love of his enemy. The cave in which he was became like a Christian Church, and he became like a Christian bishop, who first preaches a sermon and then offers the sacrifice of the altar.

“So David preached a sermon by his example, and offered a true sacrifice—the spiritual sacrifice of himself and of his own anger; he became as it were a priest, a sacrifice, and an altar, and having offered his victims, he gained a glorious victory.”—St. Chrysostom, tom. 4, p. 761.

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

22. gat them up unto the hold] Returned to the fastnesses of En-gedi. Experience had proved that Saul’s repentance was not to be trusted.

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.

And David sware unto Saul,.... That he would not cut, off his posterity; which oath he religiously observed, in sparing Mephibosheth, Sa2 21:7, and in punishing the murderers of Ishbosheth, Sa2 4:12; and as for the seven sons of Saul, delivered up to the Gibeonites, Sa2 21:6, it may be questioned whether they were his genuine legitimate offspring; and if they were, it was by the appointment and command of God, and according to his will and pleasure they were executed, who is not bound by the oaths of men, and to whom they must be submitted, Sa2 21:1,

and Saul went home; to his palace in Gibeah:

but David and his men got them up unto the hold; in Engedi, Sa1 23:29; not trusting to Saul, whose inconstancy, perfidy, cruel hatred, and malice, David full well knew; and therefore thought it not safe to return to his own house, nor to dwell in the open country, but in the wilderness, and among the rocks, and in the caves there, such as were in the wilderness of Engedi; and here, and at this time, he penned the fifty seventh psalm, see Psa 57:1.

Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 25

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

Saul does not appear to have invited David to return to Gibeah, or to have given him any security of doing so with safety. David, with his intuitive sagacity, perceived that the softening of Saul’s feelings was only momentary, and that the situation remained unchanged.

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

Father. David complied with this request as far as he was able: but, as God was resolved to punish the posterity of Saul, for the injury done to the Gabaonites, he was forced to give them all up, except Miphiboseth, the son of Jonathan. (Calmet) --- He could not promise to defend them, if they proved guilty.

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).

David sware unto Saul.

Quest. How then could David destroy so many of Saul’s sons, 2Sa 21:8,9?

Answ. David could bind himself by his oaths, but he could not bind God, to whose good pleasure all promises, vows, and oaths must in all reason be submitted; and that was done by God’s command, and God was well pleased with it, 2Sa 21:14. Nor is it to be supposed that David sware not to destroy any of them in case God should specially command it, or that should by miscarriage render themselves obnoxious to the sword of justice; but only that he would not do it barely on his own private account, nor seek occasions of so doing.

Unto the hold, to wit, of En-gedi, 1Sa 24:1; for having had so great and frequent experience of Saul’s inconstancy, and malice, and perfidiousness, he would trust him no more.

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

22. The hold — The particular stronghold in this wilderness (chap. xxiii, 29) in which at the time David and his men had their headquarters. Yielding himself now to holy meditation and song, he commemorates his deliverance by the composition of Psalms 142.

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

Unto the hold - Of En-gedi, ver. 1, for having had by frequent experience of Saul's inconstancy, he would trust him no more.

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

When David had sworn this, Saul returned home. But David remained upon the mountain heights, because he did not regard the passing change in Saul's feelings as likely to continue. המּצוּדה (translated "the hold") is used here to denote the mountainous part of the desert of Judah. It is different in Sa1 22:5.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)