1 Samuel 29:4

Det Norsk Bibelselskap

Men filistrenes høvdinger blev vrede på ham og sa til ham: Send mannen hjem og la ham vende tilbake til det sted som du har anvist ham! Han skal ikke dra med oss i striden; for da kunde han vende sig mot oss i slaget. Hvorledes skulde han vel kunne bedre gjenvinne sin herres yndest enn ved å komme til ham med disse menns hoder?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Make this fellow: The princes reasoned wisely, according to the common practice of mankind; and it was well for David that they were such good politicians: it was ordered by a gracious Providence that they refused to let David go with them to this battle, in which he must have been either an enemy to his country, or false to his friends and to his trust. Had he fought for the Philistines, he would have fought against God and his country; and had he in the battle gone over to the Israelites, he would have deceived and become a traitor to the hospitable Achish. God therefore delivered him from such disgrace; and by the same kind Providence he was sent back to rescue his wives, and the wives and children of his people, from captivity. 1 Samuel 14:21, 1 Chronicles 12:19, Luke 16:8

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 29:9 - the princes 2 Samuel 3:25 - and to know 1 Chronicles 19:3 - but the princes Psalms 56:1 - when

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him,.... With Achish, for giving such a character of David, and taking his part, in order to detain him, if possible:

and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, make this fellow return; they speak of him with contempt, and insist on it that Achish order him to turn back, and go no further with them:

that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him; to Ziklag, the place that Achish had given him for his residence, 1 Samuel 27:6; they did not desire to have him sent to his own country, and to Saul, since should a reconciliation be made between them, he would be of great service to Saul against them:

and let him not go down with us to battle; into the valley of Jezreel, where the Israelites had pitched:

lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: and fall upon them behind, being in the rear, while they were engaging in the front with Israel:

for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? to Saul he had offended, and fled from:

[should it] not [be] with the heads of these men? the Philistines; or unless by the heads of these men m; he had no other way of making his peace with his master but by cutting off the heads of the Philistines; and therefore he was a dangerous man to take with them into the battle.

m הלא בראשי "nisi per capita", Noldius, p. 257. No. 1147.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 29:4. The princes of the Philistines were wroth — It is strange that they had not yet heard of David's destruction of a village of the Geshurites, Gezrites, and Amalekites, 1 Samuel 27:8-9. Had they heard of this, they would have seen much more cause for suspicion.