1 Samuel 18:6

When David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine. Or more probably, as in the margin, "of the Philistines." The allusion is not to the combat with Goliath, but to one of the expeditions referred to in 1 Samuel 18:5 , in which David had gained some decisive victory. The women would not have described the slaughter of one champion as the slaying of ten thousand, nor would there have been any contrast between this act and the military enterprises of Saul. Probably he too would have looked with indifference upon this Oriental exaggeration of the daring bravery of a boy; but what galled him was David's continual success in repeated campaigns. The Philistine means the whole people of that name; and as the war between them and Saul lasted all the days of Saul's life, and was his main kingly work, he saw with envy the rapid growth of David's reputation; and when, after some noble achievement, the women gave David an ovation, and declared in their songs that he had achieved a success ten times as great as Saul, an outburst of ill feeling was the result. Saul suddenly became aware that the young captain on whose shoulders he had devolved the chief labours of the war had supplanted him in the popular estimation, and hatred took the place of the good feeling which he had previously entertained towards him. The women came out of all cities of Israel … to meet king Saul. It is evident that this refers to some grand occasion, and probably to the conclusion of a peace between the two nations. The battle in the valley of Elah was probably followed by several years of warfare, during which David developed those great military qualities which made him subsequently the founder of the wide empire over which Solomon reigned. It was unendurable for Saul, himself a great soldier, to find, when the war at last was over, that the people recognised in his lieutenant higher military qualities than they had discovered in himself. With tabrets. See on 1 Samuel 10:5 . With joy. As this is placed between the names of two instruments of music, it must mean some kind of joyous shouting or singing to the sound of their tabrets. With instruments of music. Hebrew, with triangles, a very ancient but effective instrument for an outdoor procession accompanied with dancing.