1 Samuel 18:26

18:12-30 For a long time David was kept in continual apprehension of falling by the hand of Saul, yet he persevered in meek and respectful behaviour towards his persecutor. How uncommon is such prudence and discretion, especially under insults and provocations! Let us inquire if we imitate this part of the exemplary character before us. Are we behaving wisely in all our ways? Is there no sinful omission, no rashness of spirit, nothing wrong in our conduct? Opposition and perverseness in others, will not excuse wrong tempers in us, but should increase our care, and attention to the duties of our station. Consider Him that endured contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds, Heb 12:3. If David magnified the honour of being son-in-law to king Saul, how should we magnify the honour of being sons to the King of kings!

And when his servants told David these words,.... That the king desired no other dowry than an hundred foreskins of the Philistines: it pleased David well to be the king's son in law; on such conditions; partly because of the honour of it, and partly because of his love to Michal; and chiefly because it would give him an opportunity of destroying the enemies of God, and of his people, as well as such a match would lead the way, and be a step in Providence to ascend the throne designed for him in due time: and the days were not expired; neither for the bringing in of the foreskins, nor for the consummation of the marriage.

1 Samuel 18:26-27 . The days were not expired — That is, the time allowed by Saul to David for the execution of this exploit. Two hundred — He doubled the number required; to oblige Saul the more to the performance of his promise, and to show his great respect and affection to Saul’s daughter.

Verses 26, 27. - It pleased David well to he the king's son-in-law. Besides the great honour, David, not suspecting any malicious purpose on Saul's part, may have hoped that this relationship would put an end to the miserable state of things which existed between him and Saul. He harboured no treasonable purposes, and would have gladly served Saul faithfully if he had been permitted. The nature also of the dowry fell in with his adventurous and war-loving disposition. The days were not expired. Wherefore, etc. A difficulty arises here from the wrong division of the verses, and from our translators having rendered the clauses as if they were independent of each other. The Hebrew is, "And the days were not full, and David arose, etc. The dowry was to be given within a fixed time, and before it had expired David, who had been forming his plans, set out with his men and made an incursion into the Philistine territory, whence he brought back to the king twice as many foreskins as had been stipulated; and thereupon Michal became David's wife. 1 Samuel 18:26

(26) It pleased David well. —The king’s design succeeded well, and the prospect of the alliance with Saul spurred on this brave soldier to more daring achievements, and yet wilder feats of arms. The savage, half-barbarous state of the age, however, comes prominently into view when we reflect upon the ferocious cruelty of such an offer being made and accepted, and carried out with even more than the required number of victims.

27. on the morrow, which was the second day of the month—The time of the moon's appearance being uncertain—whether at midday, in the evening, or at midnight, the festival was extended over two days. Custom, not the law, had introduced this. Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse—The question was asked, as it were, casually, and with as great an air of indifference as he could assume. And Jonathan having replied that David had asked and obtained his permission to attend a family anniversary at Beth-lehem [Ac 20:28, 29], the pent-up passions of the king burst out in a most violent storm of rage and invective against his son.

But David was satisfied with Saul's demand, since he had no suspicion of his craftiness, and loved Michal. Even before the days were full, i.e., before the time appointed for the delivery of the dowry and for the marriage had arrived, he rose up with his men, smote two hundred Philistines, and brought their foreskins, which were placed in their full number before the king; whereupon Saul was obliged to give him Michal his daughter to wife. The words "and the days were not full" ( 1 Samuel 18:26 ) form a circumstantial clause, which is to be connected with the following sentence, "David arose," etc. David delivered twice the price demanded. "They made them full to the king," i.e., they placed them in their full number before him.