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1 Samuel 29:2 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

2 And the lords of the Philistines went on with their hundreds and their thousands, and David and his men came after with Achish.

Cross Reference

1 Samuel 28:1-2 BBE

Now in those days the Philistines got their forces together to make war on Israel. And Achish said to David, Certainly you and your men are to go out with me to the fight. And David said to Achish, You will see now what your servant will do. And Achish said to David, Then I will make you keeper of my head for ever.

Joshua 13:3 BBE

From the Shihor, which is before Egypt, to the edge of Ekron to the north, which is taken to be Canaanite property: the five chiefs of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites, as well as the Avvim;

1 Samuel 5:8-11 BBE

So they sent for all the lords of the Philistines to come together there, and said, What are we to do with the ark of the God of Israel? And their answer was, Let the ark of the God of Israel be taken away to Gath. So they took the ark of the God of Israel away. But after they had taken it away, the hand of the Lord was stretched out against the town for its destruction: and the signs of disease came out on all the men of the town, small and great. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And when the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of the town made an outcry, saying, They have sent the ark of the God of Israel to us for the destruction of us and of our people. So they sent and got together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its place, so that it may not be the cause of death to us and to our people: for there was a great fear of death through all the town; the hand of God was very hard on them there.

1 Samuel 6:4 BBE

Then they said, What sin-offering are we to send to him? And they said, Five gold images of the growths caused by your disease and five gold mice, one for every lord of the Philistines: for the same disease came on you and on your lords.

1 Samuel 29:6-7 BBE

Then Achish sent for David and said to him, By the living Lord, you are upright, and everything you have done with me in the army has been pleasing to me: I have seen no evil in you from the day when you came to me till now: but still, the lords are not pleased with you. So now go back, and go in peace, so that you do not make the lords of the Philistines angry.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 1 Samuel 29

Commentary on 1 Samuel 29 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verses 1-5

Whilst Saul derived no comfort from his visit to the witch at Endor, but simply heard from the mouth of Samuel the confirmation of his rejection on the part of God, and an announcement of his approaching fate, David was delivered, through the interposition of God, from the danger of having to fight against his own people.

1 Samuel 29:1

The account of this is introduced by a fuller description of the position of the hostile army. “ The Philistines gathered all their armies together towards Aphek, but Israel encamped at the fountain in (at) Jezreel .” This fountain is the present Ain Jalûd (or Ain Jalût , i.e., Goliath's fountain, probably so called because it was regarded as the scene of the defeat of Goliath), a very large fountain, which issues from a cleft in the rock at the foot of the mountain on the north-eastern border of Gilboa, forming a beautifully limpid pool of about forty or fifty feet in diameter, and then flowing in a brook through the valley (Rob. Pal . iii. p. 168). Consequently Aphek , which must be carefully distinguished from the towns of the same name in Asher (Joshua 19:30; Judges 1:31) and upon the mountains of Judah (Joshua 15:53) and also at Ebenezer (1 Samuel 4:1), is to be sought for not very far from Shunem , in the plain of Jezreel; according to Van de Velde's Mem ., by the side of the present el Afûleh , though the situation has not been exactly determined. The statement in the Onom ., “near Endor of Jezreel where Saul fought,” is merely founded upon the Septuagint, in which בּעין is erroneously rendered ἐν Ἐνδώρ .

1 Samuel 29:2-3

When the princes of the Philistines ( sarne , as in Joshua 13:3) advanced by hundreds and thousands (i.e., arranged in companies of hundreds and thousands), and David and his men came behind with Achish (i.e., forming the rear-guard), the (other) princes pronounced against their allowing David and his men to go with them. The did not occur at the time of their setting out, but on the road, when they had already gone some distance (compare 1 Samuel 29:11 with 1 Samuel 30:1), probably when the five princes (Joshua 13:3) of the Philistines had effected a junction. To the inquiry, “ What are these Hebrews doing? ” Achish replied, “ Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me days already, or years already? and I have found nothing in him since his coming over unto this day .” מאוּמה , anything at all that could render his suspicious, or his fidelity doubtful. נפל , to fall away and go over to a person; generally construed with אל (Jeremiah 37:13; Jeremiah 38:19, etc.) or על (Jeremiah 21:9; Jeremiah 37:14; 1 Chronicles 12:19-20), but here absolutely, as the more precise meaning can be gathered from the context.

1 Samuel 29:4

But the princes, i.e., the four other princes of the Philistines, not the courtiers of Achish himself, were angry with Achish, and demanded, “ Send the man back, that he may return to his place, which thou hast assigned him; that he may not go down with us into the war, and may not become an adversary ( satan ) to us in the war; for wherewith could he show himself acceptable to his lord (viz., Saul), if not with the heads of these men? ” הלוא , nonne , strictly speaking, introduces a new question to confirm the previous question. “ Go down to the battle :” this expression is used as in 1 Samuel 26:10; 1 Samuel 30:24, because battles were generally fought in the plains, into which the Hebrews were obliged to come down from their mountainous land. “ These men ,” i.e., the soldiers of the Philistines, to whom the princes were pointing.

1 Samuel 29:5

To justify their suspicion, the princes reminded him of their song with which the women in Israel had celebrated David's victory over Goliath (1 Samuel 18:7).


Verses 6-11

After this declaration on the part of the princes, Achish was obliged to send David back.

1 Samuel 29:6-7

With a solemn assertion, - swearing by Jehovah to convince David all the more thoroughly of the sincerity of his declaration, - Achish said to him, “ Thou art honourable, and good in my eyes (i.e., quite right in my estimation) are thy going out and coming in (i.e., all thy conduct) with me in the camp, for I have not found anything bad in thee; but in the eyes of the princes thou art not good (i.e., the princes do not think thee honourable, do not trust thee). Turn now, and go in peace, that thou mayest do nothing displeasing to the princes of the Philistines .”

1 Samuel 29:8-9

Partly for the sake of vindicating himself against this suspicion, and partly to put the sincerity of Achish's words to the test, David replied, “ What have I done, and what hast thou found in thy servant, since I was with thee till this day, that I am not to come and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? ” These last words are also ambiguous, since the king whom David calls his lord might be understood as meaning either Achish or Saul. Achish, in his goodness of heart, applies them without suspicion to himself; for he assures David still more earnestly (1 Samuel 29:9), that he is firmly convinced of his uprightness. “ I know that thou art good in my eyes as an angel of God ,” i.e., I have the strongest conviction that thou hast behaved as well towards me as an angel could; but the princes have desired thy removal.

1 Samuel 29:10

And now get up early in the morning with the servants of thy lord (i.e., Saul, whose subjects David's men all were), who have come with thee; get ye up in the morning when it gets light for you (so that ye can see), and go .”

1 Samuel 29:11

In accordance with this admonition, David returned the next morning into the land of the Philistines, i.e., to Ziklag; no doubt very light of heart, and praising God for having so graciously rescued him out of the disastrous situation into which he had been brought and not altogether without some fault of his own, rejoicing that “he had not committed either sin, i.e., had neither violated the fidelity which he owed to Achish, nor had to fight against the Israelites” (Seb. Schmidt).