Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Achish takes David with him to battle against Saul; but when his Philistine allies doubt David's loyalty and therefore object, he sends him home.
Vulgate Text: 1 Kings 29:1-11
1. So all the armies of the Philistines gathered at Aphek; and Israel also encamped by the spring that was in Jezreel. 2. And the satraps of the Philistines were marching in hundreds and thousands; but David and his men were in the rearguard with Achish. 3. And the princes of the Philistines said to Achish: What do these Hebrews want? And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines: Do you not know David, who was a servant of Saul king of Israel, and has been with me many days, or even years, and I have found nothing wrong in him, from the day he defected to me until this day? 4. But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him and said: Let this man return and sit in his place, and let him not go down with us into battle, lest he become our adversary when we begin to fight; for how else could he appease his lord, except with our heads? 5. Is this not David, about whom they sang in the dances, saying: Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 6. So Achish called David and said to him: As the Lord lives, you are upright and good in my sight; and your going out and your coming in with me in the camp has been good, and I have found nothing wrong in you from the day you came to me until this day; but you do not please the satraps. 7. Return therefore and go in peace, and do not offend the eyes of the satraps of the Philistines. 8. And David said to Achish: But what have I done, and what have you found in your servant? 9. And Achish answered: I know that you are as good in my eyes as an Angel of God; but the princes of the Philistines have said: He shall not go up with us into battle. 10. Therefore arise early in the morning, and when it begins to grow light, depart. 11. So David arose by night, he and his men, to set out in the morning and return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Verse 3: Many Days or Years
3. AND HE HAS BEEN WITH ME MANY DAYS OR YEARS. -- In Hebrew, "now days or now years." Lyranus, Pagninus, and the Innovators think David stayed with Achish for many years. But others commonly say that David stayed with Achish only four months and some days, as expressly stated in chapter 27, verse 7. Salianus answers that Achish was looking back to David's first sojourn, which had begun with him six years before; or else he counted the end of the elapsed year and the beginning of the following year.
Verse 4: God's Marvelous Providence
4. LET THIS MAN RETURN. -- Note here the marvelous providence of God toward His David. For David was here in a plainly dangerous and entangled situation, so that he would be forced either to be a traitor to King Achish, if in battle he defected to Saul and the Hebrews; or to be an enemy of his fatherland and his fellow citizens, if he fought against them. But God cut this perplexing knot as if with a sword. For He instilled in the Philistines distrust of David's loyalty, and fear of the danger they would face if David in battle turned on them. Therefore they ordered him to withdraw from the battle and be sent home. Achish did this with great honor and praise of David, as well as to his benefit and advantage. For David, withdrawing from the battle, pursued the Amalekites and took from them the spoils they had plundered from his Ziklag, together with their own rich plunder: which he could not have done if he had stayed with Achish.
Verse 9: Good as an Angel of God
9. I KNOW THAT YOU ARE GOOD IN MY EYES, AS AN ANGEL OF GOD -- as if to say: You are most pleasing to me, I most highly esteem you, indeed I revere you as an Angel of God. This is a Hebrew comparison and expression, which they use when they wish to greatly praise and extol someone. Thus Jacob, to appease his brother Esau, flatters him saying: "I have seen your face as if I had seen the face of God," Genesis 33:10. And the woman of Tekoa, pleading with David on behalf of Absalom, says: "As an Angel of the Lord, so is my lord the king," 2 Samuel 14:17.