the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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1 Samuel 21:13
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Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
changed: Psalms 34:1, *title Proverbs 29:25, Ecclesiastes 7:7
scrabbled: or, made marks
Reciprocal: Genesis 27:24 - I am
Cross-References
The angel of the LORD said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude."
And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
And the angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply your offspring, so that they cannot be counted for their abundance."
The angel also said, "I will give you so many descendants they cannot be counted."
I will greatly multiply your descendants," the Lord 's angel added, "so that they will be too numerous to count."
Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count."
The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count."
Againe the Angel of the Lorde saide vnto her, I will so greatly increase thy seede, that it shal not be numbred for multitude.
Moreover, the angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed so that they will be too many to be counted."
I will give you a son, who will be called Ishmael, because I have heard your cry for help. And later I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And he changed his behaviour before them,.... Behaved like a fool, or a madman: or changed his "taste" s; which some understand of his reason, acted as if he was deprived of it; and others of his speech, his words and the accent of them, drawled them out, as such persons do:
and feigned himself mad in their hands; for in their hands he was, being taken by them, as the title of the fifty sixth psalm shows, Psalms 56:1; and this stratagem he used to get himself out of their hands, acting the part of a madman, delirious, and out of his senses:
and scrabbled on the doors of the gate; as if he was writing something there, and making marks upon them:
and let his spittle fall down upon his beard; slavered, as idiots and madmen do; and however mean this may seem in David to act such a part, it cannot be condemned as wicked, since it was only a stratagem to deliver himself, out of an enemy's hand, and stratagems are always allowed to be used against an enemy; and such a method as this has been taken by men of the greatest sense and wit, as by Brutus t and Solon u; and yet, according to the Vulgate Latin and Septuagint versions, this case of his was real and not feigned; that through the surprise of being known in the court of Achish, he was seized with an epilepsy; that his countenance was changed, and his mouth distorted, as persons in such fits are; that he fell among them as one convulsed, and fell at, and dashed against the doors of the gates, and foamed at the mouth, as such persons do; see Luke 9:39; and so in the following words the Greek version is, ye see the man is an epileptic; I do not want epileptics; but the thirty fourth and fifty sixth psalms, composed by him at this time, show that as he was of a sound mind, so in good health of body, and not subject to such fits as here represented, see
Psalms 34:1; which would have rendered him unfit for such composures.
s ××¢×× "sensum suum", Montanus, Vatablus; "sermonem suum", Pagninus. t Liv. Hist. l. 1. c. 56. Aurel. Victor. de Vir. Illustr. c. 13. u Justin e Trogo, l. 2. c. 7.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Scrabbled - literally, made marks (margin), namely, the mark of the âtauâ (t), which in the ancient Hebrew and Phoenician was in the shape of a cross. (See Ezekiel 9:4.)
On the doors of the gate - The gate of Achishâs palace-yard or court, in which the attendants waited. The house itself stood in this court. (Compare Esther 2:19, Esther 2:21.)
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 1 Samuel 21:13. And he changed his behaviour — Some imagine David was so terrified at the danger to which he was now exposed, that he was thrown into a kind of frenzy, accompanied with epileptic fits. This opinion is countenanced by the Septuagint, who render the passage thus: ÎÎ´Î¿Ï Î¹Î´ÎµÏε ανδÏα εÏιληÏον; "Behold, ye see an epileptic man. Why have ye introduced him to me?" Îη ελαÏÏÎ¿Ï Î¼Î±Î¹ εÏιληÏÏÏν εγÏ; "Have I any need of epileptics, that ye have brought him to have his fits before me, (εÏιληÏÏÎµÏ ÎµÏθαι ÏÏÎ¿Ï Î¼Îµ?") It is worthy of remark, that the spittle falling upon the beard, i.e., slavering or frothing at the mouth, is a genuine concomitant of an epileptic fit.
If this translation be allowed, it will set the conduct of David in a clearer point of view than the present translation does. But others think the whole was a feigned conduct, and that he acted the part of a lunatic or madman in order to get out of the hands of Achish and his courtiers. Many vindicate this conduct of David; but if mocking be catching, according to the proverb, he who feigns himself to be mad may, through the just judgment of God, become so. I dare not be the apologist of insincerity or lying. Those who wish to look farther into this subject may consult Dr. Chandler, Mr. Saurin, and Ortlob, in the first volume of Dissertations, at the end of the Dutch edition of the Critici Sacri.
