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1 Samuel
Chapter Twenty-nine
1 Samuel 29
Chapter Contents
David objected to by the Philistines. (1-5) He is
dismissed by Achish. (6-11)
Commentary on 1 Samuel 29:1-5
(Read 1 Samuel 29:1-5)
David waited with a secret hope that the Lord would help
him out of his difficulty. But he seems to have been influenced too much by the
fear of man
in consenting to attend Achish. It is hard to come near to the
brink of sin
and not to fall in. God inclined the princes of the Philistines
to oppose David's being employed in the battle. Thus their dislike befriended
him
when no friend could do him such a kindness.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 29:6-11
(Read 1 Samuel 29:6-11)
David scarcely ever had a greater deliverance than when
dismissed from such insnaring service. God's people should always behave
themselves so
as
if possible
to get the good word of all they have dealings
with: and it is due to those who have acted well
to speak well of them.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Samuel》
1 Samuel 29
Verse 2
[2] And
the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds
and by thousands: but David
and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish.
With Achish — As
the life-guard of Achish. Achish being
as it seems
the general of the army.
Verse 3
[3] Then said the princes of the Philistines
What do these Hebrews here? And
Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines
Is not this David
the servant
of Saul the king of Israel
which hath been with me these days
or these years
and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?
The princes —
The Lords of the other eminent cities
who were confederate with him in this
expedition.
These days or years —
That is
did I say days? I might have said years. He hath now been with me a
full year and four months
chap. 27:7
and he was with me some years ago
1 Samuel 21:10
and since their time hath been
known to me. And it is not improbable
but David
after his escape from thence
might hold some correspondence with Achish
as finding him to be a man of a
more generous temper than the rest of the Philistines
and supposing that he
might have need of him for a refuge
in case Saul continued to seek his life.
Since he fell —
Revolted
or left his own king to turn to me.
Verse 4
[4] And
the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the
Philistines said unto him
Make this fellow return
that he may go again to his
place which thou hast appointed him
and let him not go down with us to battle
lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile
himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?
Make this fellow —
Herein the wise and gracious providence of God appeared
both in helping him
out of these difficulties
out of which no human wit could have extricated him
but he must have been
an ungrateful person either to the one or the other
side
and moreover in giving him the happy opportunity of recovering his own
and his all from the Amalekites
which had been irrecoverably lost
if he had
gone into this battle. And the kindness of God to David was the greater
because
it had been most just for God to have left David in those distresses into which
his own sinful counsel had brought him.
These men —
That is
of these our soldiers
they speak according to the rules of true
policy; for by this very course
great enemies have sometimes been reconciled
together.
Verse 8
[8] And
David said unto Achish
But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy
servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day
that I may not go fight
against the enemies of my lord the king?
David said … —
This was deep dissimulation and flattery
no way to be justified. None knows
how strong a temptation they are in to compliment and dissemble
which they are
in who attend great men.
Verse 9
[9] And Achish answered and said to David
I know that thou art good in my
sight
as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have
said
He shall not go up with us to the battle.
Angel of God — In
whom nothing is blame-worthy. The Heathens acknowledged good spirits
which
also they worshipped as an inferior sort of deities
who were messengers and
ministers to the supreme God; Achish had learned the title of angels
from the
Israelites his neighbours
and especially from David's conversation.
Verse 11
[11] So
David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning
to return into the
land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Rose up early —
David did not then know
how necessary this was
for the relief of his own
city. But God knew it well
and sent him thither accordingly. On how many
occasions may he say
What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know
hereafter?
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Samuel》
29 Chapter 29
Verses 1-11
Verse 3
What do these Hebrews here?
One question with two meanings
David was almost at the lowest point of his fortunes when he fled
into foreign territory. The Philistine commanders
very naturally
were
suspicious of these allies
just as Englishmen would have been if
the night
before Waterloo
a brigade of Frenchmen had deserted and offered their help to
fight
Napoleon. So the question
“What
do these Hebrews here?”--amongst our
ranks--was an extremely natural one
and it was answered in the only possible
way
by the subsequent departure of David and his men from the unnatural and
ill-omened alliance. Now
that suggests to us that Christian people are out of
their places
even in the eyes of worldly people
when they are fighting shoulder
to shoulder with them in certain causes; and it suggests the propriety of
keeping apart. “Come ye out from among them
and be ye separate
saith the
Lord.” “What do these Hebrews here?” is a question that
Philistia often asks.
But now turn to the other question. Elijah had fallen into the mood of
depression which so often follows great nervous tension. The usually undaunted
prophet
in the reaction after the great effort
was fearful for his life
and
deserted his work
and flung himself into solitude
and shook the dust off his
feet against Israel. Was that not just doing what I have been saying that
Christian people ought to do--separating himself from the world? In a sense
yes
and the voice came
“What dost thou here
Elijah?” “Go back to your work;
to Ahab
to Jezebel.” “Go back to death if need be. Do not shirk your duty on
the pretence of separating yourself from the world.” So we put the two
questions together. They limit one another
and they suggest the via media
the
course between
and lead me to say one or two plain things about that duty of
Christian separation from an evil world.
I. The first thing
I would suggest to you is the inevitable intermingling
which is the law of
God
and therefore can never be broken with impunity. Christ’s parable about
the Kingdom of Heaven in the world being like a man that sowed good seed in his
field
which sprung up intermingled with tares
contains the lesson
not so
much of the purity or non-purity of the Church as of the inseparable
intertwining in the world of Christian people with others. Society at present
and the earthly form of the Kingdom of God
are not organised on the basis of
religious affinity
but upon a great many other things
such as family
kindred
business
a thousand ties of all sorts. There are types of Christian
life today unwholesomely self-engrossed
and too much occupied with their own
spiritual condition
to realize and discharge the duty of witnessing
in the
world. Wherever you find a Christian man that tries more to keep himself apart
in the enjoyment and cultivation of his own religious life
than to fling
himself into the midst of the world’s worst evil
in order to fight and to cure
it
you get a man who is sharing in Elijah’s transgression
and needs Elijah’s
rebuke. The intermingling is inevitable in the present state of things.
II. And now let me
say a word about the second thing
and that is--the imperative separation.
“What do these Israelites here?” is the question. What do we do when we are
left to do as we like? Where do we go? When the half-cwt fastened by the bit of
string is taken off the sapling it starts back to its original uprightedness.
Is that what
your Christianity does? Let us look at the spirit. Where do I
turn to? What do I like to do? Where are my chosen companions? What are my
recreations? Is my life of such a sort as that the world will turn to ms and
say
“What! you here!” “A man is known by the company he keeps
” says an old
Latin proverb
and I am bound to say that I do not think it is a good sign of
the depth of a Christian professor’s religion if he feels himself more at home
in the company of the people that do not share his religion than in the company
of those that do. There are two questions which every Christian professor ought
to ask himself about such subjects. One is
Can I ask God to bless this
and my
doing it? And the other is
Does this help or hinder my religion?
III. Now there is
one last suggestion that I wish to make
and that is the double questioning
that we shall have to stand. The lords of the Philistines said
“What do these
Hebrews here?” They saw the inconsistency
if David and his men did not. They
were sharp to detect it
and David and his band did not rise in their opinion.
So let me tell you
you will neither recommend your religion nor yourselves to
men of the world
by inconsistently trying to identify yourselves with them.
The world respects an out-and-out Christian; and neither God nor the world
respects an inconsistent one. But there is another question
and another questioner--“What
dost
thou hers
Elijah?” That question is put to us all in the moment when we
are truest to our professions and ourselves. What do you think you would say
if
in some of these moments of unnecessary intermingling with questionable
things and doubtful people
you were brought suddenly to this
that you had to
formulate into some kind of plausibility your reason for being there? Let us
cleave to Christ
and that will separate us from the world. If we cleave to the
world
that will separate us from Christ. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》