Commentaria in I Regum (I Samuelis)
Chapter Twenty-six. Synopsis of the Chapter
David, sparing the sleeping Saul and taking his spear and cup, and showing them to Saul, and alleging his own innocence and clemency, overcomes his anger and hatred, so that he says: Blessed art thou, my son David.
1. And the Ziphites came to Saul in Gabaa, saying: Behold David is hid in the hill of Hachila, which is over against the wilderness. 2. And Saul arose, and went down to the desert of Ziph, and with him three thousand men of the chosen of Israel, to seek David in the desert of Ziph. 3. And Saul encamped in Gabaa Hachila, which is over against the wilderness by the way; but David abode in the desert. And seeing that Saul was come after him into the desert, 4. he sent spies, and learned that he was come thither for certain. 5. And David arose secretly, and came to the place where Saul was: and when he saw the place where Saul slept, and Abner the son of Ner, the general of his army, and Saul sleeping in the tent, and the rest of the people round about him, 6. David said to Achimelech the Hethite, and to Abisai the son of Sarvia, brother to Joab, saying: Who will go down with me to Saul into the camp? And Abisai said: I will go down with thee. 7. So David and Abisai came to the people by night, and found Saul lying and sleeping in the tent, and his spear stuck in the ground at his head: and Abner and the people sleeping round about him. 8. And Abisai said to David: God hath shut up thy enemy this day into thy hands: now therefore I will run him through with a spear to the ground once, and there shall be no need of a second time. 9. And David said to Abisai: Kill him not; for who shall put forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and shall be guiltless? 10. And David said: As the Lord liveth, unless the Lord strike him, or his day come to die, or he go down to battle and perish: 11. the Lord be merciful to me, that I may not lay my hand upon the Lord’s anointed. But now take the spear which is at his head, and the cup of water, and let us go. 12. So David took the spear, and the cup of water which was at Saul’s head, and they went away: and there was none that saw it, or knew it, or awaked, but they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them. 13. And when David was gone over to the other side, and stood on the top of the hill afar off, and there was a great space between them, 14. David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying: Wilt thou not answer, Abner? And Abner answering, said: Who art thou that criest, and disturbest the king? 15. And David said Art not thou a man? and who else is like thee in Israel? why then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there went in one of the people to kill the king thy lord. 16. This thing is not good that thou hast done: as the Lord liveth, you are children of death, who have not kept your master, the Lord’s anointed. And now where is the king’s spear, and where is the cup of water that was at his head? 17. And Saul knew the voice of David, and said: Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said: It is my voice, my lord, O king. 18. And he said: Why doth my lord pursue after his servant? what have I done? or what evil is there in my hand? 19. Now therefore, my lord the king, hear the words of thy servant: If the Lord stir thee up against me, let him accept a sacrifice; but if the children of men, cursed are they in the sight of the Lord, who have cast me out this day that I should not dwell in the inheritance of the Lord, saying: Go, serve strange gods. 20. And now let not my blood be shed upon the earth before the Lord: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as one pursueth a partridge in the mountains. 21. And Saul said: I have sinned; return, my son David; for I will no more do thee harm, because my life hath been precious in thy eyes this day: for it appeareth that I have done foolishly, and have been ignorant exceedingly. 22. And David answering, said: Behold the king’s spear, let one of the king’s servants come over and fetch it. 23. And the Lord will render to every one according to his justice and faithfulness; for the Lord hath delivered thee this day into my hand, and I would not stretch forth my hand against the Lord’s anointed. 24. And as thy life hath been much set by this day in my eyes, so be my life much set by in the eyes of the Lord, and may he deliver me from all distress. 25. Then Saul said to David: Blessed art thou, my son David; and doing thou shalt do, and prevailing thou shalt prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.
9. FOR WHO SHALL PUT FORTH HIS HAND AGAINST THE LORD’S ANOINTED (against Saul, because he had been anointed king by God through Samuel), AND SHALL BE GUILTLESS?—David shrank from this slaughter, because it seemed to him unbecoming and unworthy to kill his king appointed by God and anointed: he held it therefore a matter of conscience to hurt Saul, lest he seem to hurt God in him: so pious minds, and, as St. Bernard says, recognise guilt where there is no guilt, and shudder at its shadow.
Morally, learn here from David how we ought to revere prelates and princes, even wicked ones and adverse to us, as the Lord’s anointed, and not hurt them by word, much less by blow.
Again, how greatly God exercises with adversities and persecutions those whom he prepares for great things, that they may rule others. So through Saul he exercised David, to sharpen his virtue and make him worthy of the kingdom: wherefore these persecutions of Saul were nothing else to David than exercises, preparations and dispositions for the kingdom, and Saul acknowledged this, saying at verse 25: “Doing thou shalt do, and prevailing thou shalt prevail.” In like manner Princes, Bishops, Rectors are wont to exercise the subjects whom they are preparing for government with various and heavy commands, burdens, rebukes, mortifications, to prove, increase and perfect their virtue, and that they themselves may learn in government to sympathise with their subjects. For no one commands rightly except he who obeys rightly. No one feels the yoke of obedience which he lays on others except he who has first undergone and experienced it; for he who has not undergone it rules imperiously and “lords it over the clergy,” says St. Peter. “Drinking wine in bowls, and anointed with the best ointments,” says Amos chapter 6, verse 6, “and they suffered nothing for the affliction of Joseph.”
11. THE LORD BE MERCIFUL TO ME, THAT I MAY NOT LAY MY HAND UPON THE LORD’S ANOINTED.—As though to say: I pray God to give me grace and constancy, that, overcome by Saul’s persecutions, I may never wish to kill him. Whence in Hebrew it is, may the Lord forbid that I stretch forth, etc.; the Chaldee, far be it from me before the Lord, etc. It is a prayer, and, as some will have it, at the same time an oath, by which David swears that he will not kill Saul, to confirm himself by it in this good purpose, and to turn Abisai and the others who wished to kill Saul altogether away from his slaughter.
AND THE CUP OF WATER.—Castalio and Calvin wrongly render it, a chamber-pot. You ask, what was this cup? First, Serarius thinks it was a water-clock to mark the night watches for Saul.
First: for Julius Caesar and the ancient Generals formerly used water-clocks in camp to that end, as Vegetius attests, book 3. For the water-clocks of the ancients marked the hours not by the flow of sand (as ours do) but of water, as the name itself indicates: for clepsydra is said as if kleptousa hydor, that is, stealing water.
A clepsydra was therefore a water-clock, measuring the hours by the flow of water. Second, the author of the Antiquities in Conviviis, book 2: It is likely, he says, that the drink of the Jews on campaign was water, not wine. Whence in 1 Samuel a cup of water is said to have stood at Saul’s head, not of wine, as today great men often have by their bed at night also flagons and cups of wine for drinking, and to satisfy that insatiable thirst which they have procured for themselves by continual and immoderate swilling of wine.
Third, more plainly Josephus: This cup of water, he says, was for washing; for in the morning and often through the day we are accustomed to wash hands and face with water. The Jews, however, often washed even at night, especially if any pollution had befallen them. Whence Clement of Alexandria, book 4 of the Stromata chapter 7: “The Jews,” he says, “are purified even in bed.” The same, in the Exhortation to the Gentiles: “The Hebrews,” he says, “always wash on rising from bed.” The Jews still do the same, and the more religious of them frequently wash the whole body.
12. BECAUSE A DEEP SLEEP FROM THE LORD WAS FALLEN UPON THEM.—“A sleep of the Lord,” that is, a great and heavy sleep. So the Chaldee. So mountains of God and cedars of God are called, that is, great and lofty. Or better, “a sleep of the Lord,” that is, a sleep sent by the Lord. For naturally it could hardly happen that in so numerous a camp all, even the sentries, were asleep. It was God, therefore, who sent sleep upon all in favour of David. God sent a like sleep on Adam, when from his side as he slept he took a rib, and formed Eve from it, Genesis 2.
See here, wonder at and revere the providence of God, by which he protects David and his men against so many thousands of enemies, by sending sleep on all, so that David could have slain Saul and all his soldiers if he had wished; and that his notable goodness and clemency, in sparing Saul, might be made plain both to Saul himself and to the whole people, and so he might be chosen by it as king.
13. AND WHEN DAVID WAS GONE OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE, AND STOOD ON THE TOP OF THE HILL AFAR OFF.—David did this prudently, lest, if he had remained in Saul’s camp, he might be killed by one of his soldiers. He withdrew therefore to the mountain, that he might be able to flee if anyone pursued him, and that, crying from the mountain at a distance, he might be heard through all Saul’s camp lying below the mountain. See here how David transforms himself into all shapes, to appease, heal and save Saul. Truly the Comic poet: “This is surely wisdom, if wherever there is need you can bend your mind.”
Allegorically Eucherius: “David,” he says, “that is Christ, came to the Jews his enemies, sleeping in their unbelief; he did not kill them, but took from them the cup of water, that is, the grace of the law, he took also the royal sceptre, namely the power of the kingdom, which they held to be great, and by which they protected themselves temporally, and which they bore against God through unbelief. Then our conqueror David, returning from their camp, ascended to the height of the mountain of heaven.”
16. YOU ARE CHILDREN OF DEATH, WHO HAVE NOT KEPT YOUR LORD.—These sleeping guards were excusable and free from fault, because to keep awake was not in their power and liberty. For God, sending sleep, forced them to sleep, as was said at verse 12. But David calls them children, that is, deserving, of death, because the act of sleeping, considered in itself, was damnable and worthy of death: whence sentries who keep watch in camps by night, if found asleep by the captain, are put to death, because their sleep creates evident danger to the whole camp of being attacked and overthrown by the enemy.
19. IF THE LORD STIR THEE UP AGAINST ME, LET HIM ACCEPT A SACRIFICE,—that is, I am ready to be killed and to be immolated to God as a victim, which may please him as the odour of a sweet sacrifice. He speaks anthropopathically. For God, since he has no body and nostrils, does not properly smell the savour of sacrifice, but is said to smell it metaphorically; because as a sweet odour delights a man’s sense of smell, so the sweetness of sacrifice pleases God. Others explain thus: Let him accept a sacrifice, that is, I will offer a sacrifice for sin, if I have committed anything against God, or against thee, O Saul.
BUT IF THE CHILDREN OF MEN (stir thee up against me), CURSED ARE THEY IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD (as those who unjustly persecute me, innocent and anointed king by God), SAYING: GO, SERVE STRANGE GODS.—“Saying,” not in words but in deeds, say Theodoret and Procopius; for by driving David out of Judea they compelled him to flee to the Philistines and other nations, by whom David was solicited to worship their gods and idols.
20. AND NOW LET NOT MY BLOOD BE SHED,—as though to say: Since thou hast no just cause to persecute me, but only the malevolent and malicious children of men incite thee against me; therefore I beseech thee not to shed my innocent blood.
AS ONE PURSUETH A PARTRIDGE.—“Pursueth” passively, that is, suffers pursuit. For David compares himself to a flea and a partridge, which are hunted by the hunter
21. AND HAVE BEEN IGNORANT EXCEEDINGLY,—that is, have not thought of thy innocence and goodwill toward me.
24. AND AS THY LIFE HATH BEEN MUCH SET BY THIS DAY IN MY EYES (as though to say: As thy life was greatly esteemed by me, so that I would not touch or hurt it when I had it in my hand and power): SO BE MY LIFE MUCH SET BY IN THE EYES OF THE LORD (that God may repay this clemency with a fitting reward and retaliation, that he may preserve my life unharmed against thy snares and those of the rest of my enemies; and so show that he greatly esteems it), AND MAY HE DELIVER ME FROM ALL DISTRESS.
Thou shalt do famous works and achieve famous things, and become very powerful, especially when thou succeedest me in the kingdom. Whence the Chaldee renders, by reigning thou shalt reign, and by prospering thou shalt prosper; the Zurich version, thou shalt do and altogether perfect; Vatablus, by prevailing thou shalt prevail, that is, thou shalt be strong with great strength.