1 Samuel 26:18-24 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:13-20

David having got safely from Saul's camp himself, and having brought with him proofs sufficient that he had been there, posts himself conveniently, so that they might hear him and yet not reach him (1 Sam. 26:13), and then begins to reason with them upon what had passed. I. He reasons ironically with Abner, and keenly banters him. David knew well that it was from the mighty power of God that Abner and the rest of the guards were cast into so deep a sleep, and that God's immediate hand was in... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:21-25

Here is, I. Saul's penitent confession of his fault and folly in persecuting David and his promise to do so no more. This second instance of David's respect to him wrought more upon him than the former, and extorted from him better acknowledgements, 1 Sam. 26:21. 1. He owns himself melted and quite overcome by David's kindness to him: ?My soul was precious in thy eyes this day, which, I thought, had been odious!? 2. He acknowledges he has done very wrong to persecute him, that he has therein... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:18

And he said, wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant ?.... Suggesting that it was both below him to do it, and against his interest; for David was his servant, and he would gladly have continued in his service, and done his business, but he drove him from it, and pursued him as a traitor, when he had not been guilty of any offence to his knowledge: and therefore puts the following questions: for what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand ? what crime had he committed,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:19

Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant ,.... Whether David waited for an answer to his question is not certain; probably he did, and observing none returned, desired audience of what he had further to say: if the Lord have stirred thee up against me ; if he had put it into his heart to persecute him after this manner, for some sin he had committed against him, though not against Saul: did that appear to be the case: let him accept an offering ;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:20

Now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord ,.... For should it be spilled, God, who is omniscient, will see it, and take notice of it; and being righteous, and to whom vengeance belongs, he will avenge it: some render it, "my blood shall not fall to the earth before the face of the Lord" F18 אל יפל דמו "non effundetur", Martyr. and to this sense are Syr. Ar. vers. ; I am continually under his eye and care, and he will protect and defend me; and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:21

Then said Saul, I have sinned ,.... Which is more than he acknowledged before, and yet, it is to be feared he had no true sense of his sin, and real repentance for it; but, like Pharaoh, his guilty conscience for the present forced this confession from him; see Exodus 9:27 , return, my son David : meaning to his own house, or rather to his palace, since he had disposed of his wife to another man: for I will no more do thee harm : or seek to do it by pursuing him from place to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:22

And David answered and said, behold the king's spear !.... And which perhaps was his sceptre, and which David therefore would not keep, lest it should be thought or said that he had deprived him of an ensign of his royalty, and be interpreted as a token of his design to seize his crown and throne: and let one of the young men come over and fetch it ; for notwithstanding the acknowledgment Saul had made of his sin and folly, David did not choose to carry the spear to him; not caring to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:23

The Lord render to every man his righteousness, and his faithfulness ,.... Or recompense every man that deals justly and faithfully with others, as he had done with Saul; or the Lord, who is just and faithful to his promises, reward the men that act the good and upright part; and this was a prayer of faith; for David doubted not that, though Saul might fail, yet God could not: for the Lord delivered thee into my hand this day ; or, "into an hand" F24 ביד "in manum", Pagninus,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:24

And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes ,.... Or "magnified" F25 גדלה "magnificata est", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus. ; and made great account of, as being the life of the king of Israel, and the Lord's anointed, and so spared: so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord ; he does not say in the eyes of Saul, as it should have been by way of retaliation, and as it might have been expected he would have said; but he had no dependence on Saul, nor... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Samuel 26:19

Let him accept an offering - If God have stirred thee up against me, why, then, let him deliver my life into thy hand, and accept it as a sacrifice. But as the word is מנחה minchah , a gratitude-offering, perhaps the sense may be this: Let God accept a gratitude-offering from thee, for having purged the land of a worker of iniquity; for, were I not such, God would never stir thee up against me. But if they be the children of men - If men have, by false... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:13-20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:21-25

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:18

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:21

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 26:24

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Samuel 26:19

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