1 Samuel 28:25

28:20-25 Those that expect any good counsel or comfort, otherwise than from God, and in the way of his institutions, will be as wretchedly disappointed as Saul. Though terrified even to despair, he was not humbled. He confessed not his sins, offered no sacrifices, and presented no supplications. He does not seem to have cared about his sons or his people, or to have attempted any escape; but in sullen despair he rushed upon his doom. God sets up a few such beacons, to warn men not to stifle convictions, or despise his word. But while one repenting thought remains, let no sinner suppose himself in this case. Let him humble himself before God, determined to live and die beseeching his favour, and he will succeed.

And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants, and they did eat,.... Of the fatted calf, and unleavened bread, which she set upon a table before them, in the best manner she could: then they rose up, and went away that night; that it might not be seen in what house they had been, and that they might get to the camp without being discovered by the Philistines, or known by the Israelites that they had been out.

1 Samuel 28:25 . They arose up and went away that night — “What remorse,” says Delaney, “what desolation of mind, what horrors of guilt, what terrors and anticipations of divine wrath haunted him by the way, may no reader ever learn from his own experience!” Some have expressed a hope, that as, no doubt, his past sins were now brought to his remembrance, he felt contrition for them. Of this, however, the Holy Ghost is silent; and considering that at last he was guilty of self-murder we have no reason to think he experienced any repentance that was of any service to his immortal interests.

(25) Went away that night. —The same night they retraced their steps, and returned to Gilboa. “Saul was too hardened in his sin to express any grief or pain, either on his own account or because of the predicted fate of his sons or his people. In stolid desperation he went to meet his destiny. This was the terrible end of one whom the Spirit of God had once taken possession of and turned into another man—of one who had been singularly endowed with Divine gifts to enable him to act as the leader of the people of God.”— O. von Gerlach.

25. Then they rose up, and went away that night—Exhausted by long abstinence, overwhelmed with mental distress, and now driven to despair, the cold sweat broke on his anxious brow, and he sank helpless on the ground. But the kind attentions of the woman and his servants having revived him, he returned to the camp to await his doom.

When Saul and his servants had eaten, they started upon their way, and went back that night to Gilboa, which was about ten miles distant, where the battle occurred the next day, and Saul and his sons fell. "Saul was too hardened in his sin to express any grief or pain, either on his own account or because of the fate of his sons and his people. In stolid desperation he went to meet his fate. This was the terrible end of a man whom the Spirit of God had once taken possession of and turned into another man, and whom he had endowed with gifts to be the leader of the people of God" (O. v. Gerlach).

1 Samuel 25:31 introduces the apodosis to 1 Samuel 25:30 : "So will this (i.e., the forgiveness of Nabal's folly, for which she had prayed in 1 Samuel 25:28 ) not be a stumbling-block (pukah: anything in the road which causes a person to stagger) and anguish of heart (i.e., conscientious scruple) to thee, and shedding innocent blood, and that my lord helps himself. וגו ולשׁפּך is perfectly parallel to וגו לפוּקה, and cannot be taken as subordinate, as it is in the Vulgate, etc., in the sense of "that thou hast not shed blood innocently," etc. In this rendering not only is the vav cop. overlooked, but "not" is arbitrarily interpolated, to obtain a suitable sense, which the Vulgate rendering, quod effuderis sanguinem innoxiam, does not give. והיטיב is to be taken conditionally: "and if Jehovah shall deal well with my lord, then," etc.

4 . of which the Lord said ] David may have received from Samuel and Gad assurances of his ultimate deliverance from Saul’s persecutions, which his followers interpret in their own way. Cp. 1 Samuel 23:17 , 1 Samuel 25:28-30 . the skirt ] See on 1 Samuel 25:27 . He wished to have some proof to convince Saul that his life had been in his power.