Ver. 1. David therefore departed thence.] Full glad he was so fairly delivered; and got to a place where he might, to the glory of God, his Sospitator, compose that most elegant and excellent thirty-fourth Psalm. And escaped to the cave of Adullam.] Which was in the tribe of Judah, saith Lyra: a place fortified by nature, saith Adrichomius, insomuch as that the Christians do there still shelter and secure themselves, -namely, from the force and spoil of the Turks that come to plunder and rob them. And when his brethren, &c.] Who had, it is likely, suffered for his sake, by Saul’s cruelty. Christ’s friends shall be sure to be hated of all men, (Matthew 10:22 John 15:19-21) and to suffer many things for the name of Jesus: they must be conformed unto him in sufferings, that he may be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29) They went down thither to him.] For mutual comfort, as Romans 1:11,12. In trib. Jud., num. 201. In this country dwelt that hangby Hiram, Judah’s friend, or rather broker.—Gen. xxxviii.
Ver. 2. And every one that was in distress.] Herein David became a type of Christ, the Captain of our salvation, who cried, “Come unto me, all ye that are weary,” and who are sensible that ye have Suffered more under Satan’s tyranny, than these had under Saul’s: and yet in his time, as afterwards in Tiberius’s, there was crimen ex silentio, ex voce, danger either to speak, or to hold one’s peace, to have done anything, or nothing. And every one that was in debt.] Heb., That had a creditor or an oppressor, extortioner, usurer, who cruelly handled him. And every one that was discontented.] Heb., Bitter of soul. Not such ruffians and rakehells as Abimelech, (Judges 9:4) and of later time Mohammed, that grand impostor, got together to spoil and do mischief; but these came to David upon a better principle, and for a better purpose, viz., for his and their own just and necessary defence: and for their carriage, see what a testimony Nabal’s servants gave them, though that brute their master had basely reviled them. (1 Samuel 25:15) In the Gospel we read that our Saviour received him that had been born blind, and was now cast out. (John 9:35) And in the civil law we find provision made for such as were cast out and exposed to the wide world; some hospitals to entertain them, some liberties to comfort and compensate their troubles. Tacit.
Ver. 3. To Mizpeh of Moab.] Called also Malle, [/APC 1Ma 5:26] as Junius after Josephus thinketh—that is, a fort. And he said unto the king of Moab.] Who might therefore favour him, because Saul, their common enemy, hated and persecuted him: like as Queen Elizabeth respected and aided the king of Portugal, cast out by the Spaniard. Let my father and my mother, I pray thee.] This care of his for his aged parents’ ease and safety was very commendable, and worthy of imitation. He might haply plead that his father’s grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabitess.
Ver. 4. And he brought them before the king of Moab.] To whom Jesse, a grave godly man, might haply be as useful and as dear as Solon was to Croesus, or Croesus afterwards to King Cyrus; by whose good counsel he was more enriched and benefited than by all his wealth. That David was in the hold.] In the cave of Adullam, or, as others think, in Mizpeh of Moab. See 1 Samuel 22:3.
Ver. 5. And the prophet Gad said unto David.] It was no small comfort to distressed David to have about him a prophet, called elsewhere David’s seer, (1 Chronicles 21:9) and afterwards also the high priest with the ephod, by whom he might and did inquire of God upon all occasions. (1 Samuel 23:2,4) Depart, and get thee into the land of Judah.] Where thou mayest be in action, and do some good to thy country. God is a pure act, and he willeth that all his should be active, “and run with patience the race that is set before them.” (Hebrews 12:2)
Ver. 6. When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him.] This vexed him at the heart, and rendered all his felicities miserable. Philip Comineus saith that if he should write of all the princes of his time, that in the judgment of men seemed to live in great felicity, and yet to those that knew them familiarly, lived in a miserable estate, that matter alone would require a reasonable volume. “ Miser atque infelix eat etiam rex, Nec quenquam (mihi crede) facit diadema beatum.” Under a tree in Ramah.] Or, Under a grove in a high place; which is the better reading. Having his spear in his hand.] Perhaps for a sceptre, or else quasi paratus ut supplicium sumeret ipse de deprehenso, to show that himself was ready to do execution upon anyone that was found guilty.
Ver. 7. Hear now, ye Benjamites.] Will ye suffer the kingdom to be translated from your tribe, to David of the tribe of Judah? bestir you, that it may not. Will the son of Jesse give every one of you.] As I have done, and yet will do. Thus also the Pope tempteth people on his side, as he did Aeneas Sylvius, Luther, and others, by great rewards and preferments; which yet he sometimes but slenderly performeth, as he did to Allin, Sanders, Stapleton, Reynold, Harding, Dr Smith, and other English fugitives, his best champions.