1 Samuel 29:5

29:1-5 David waited with a secret hope that the Lord would help him out of his difficulty. But he seems to have been influenced too much by the fear of man, in consenting to attend Achish. It is hard to come near to the brink of sin, and not to fall in. God inclined the princes of the Philistines to oppose David's being employed in the battle. Thus their dislike befriended him, when no friend could do him such a kindness.

(5) Of whom they sang. —The folk-songs, which had originally excited Saul’s jealousy of the young hero David, were current among the Philistines, who seem to have been a musical people. David’s having apparently learned and practised Philistine music when in Gath, which he subsequently introduced into Jerusalem, has been already noticed.

4. the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him—It must be considered a happy circumstance in the overruling providence of God to rescue David out of the dangerous dilemma in which he was now placed. But David is not free from censure in his professions to Achish (1Sa 29:8), to do what he probably had not the smallest purpose of doing—of fighting with Achish against his enemies. It is just an instance of the unhappy consequences into which a false step—a departure from the straight course of duty—will betray everyone who commits it.

2 Samuel ONE FOLD AND ONE SHEPHERD2 Samuel 5:1 - 2 Samuel 5:12 . The dark day on Gilboa put the Philistines in possession of most of Saul’s kingdom. Only in the south David held his ground, and Abner had to cross Jordan to find a place of security for the remnants of the royal house. The completeness of the Philistine conquest is marked, not only by Abner’s flight to Mahanaim, but by the reckoning that David reigned for seven and a half years and Ishbosheth two; for these periods must be supposed to have ended very nearly at the same time, and thus there would be about five years before the invaders were so far got rid of that Ishbosheth exercised sovereignty over his part of Israel. It is singular that David should have been left unattacked by the Philistines, and it is probably to be explained by the friendly relations which had sprung up between Achish, king of Gath, and him { 1 Samuel 29:1 - 1 Samuel 29:11 }. However that may be, his power was continually increasing during his reign at Hebron over Judah, and at last Abner’s death and the assassination of the poor phantom king, Ishbosheth, brought about the total collapse of opposition. I. This passage deals first with the submission of the tribes and the reunion of the divided kingdom. A comparison of 2 Samuel 5:1 with 2 Samuel 5:3 shows that a formal delegation of elders from all the tribes which had held by Ishbosheth, came to Hebron with their submission.

This should strictly be quoted either as "Gibeah belonging to Benjamin," or "Geba ( גֶּבַע ) of Benjamin" (see also 1 Samuel 13, 14 ; 2 Samuel 23:29 ; 1 Chronicles 11:31 ; Hosea 5:8 ; Hosea 9:9 ; Hosea 10:9 ). 5. Gibeah of Saul ( 1 Samuel 10:26 ; 1 Samuel 15:34 ; 2 Samuel 21:6 ). Josephus ('Bell, Jud.,' 5:2. § 1) states what helps to the identifying of the place as the modern Tuleil-el-ful , about thirty stadia from Jerusalem (see also Isaiah 10:28-32 ). The Gibeah of 1 Samuel 22:6 ; 1 Samuel 23:19 ; 1 Samuel 26:1 , is this Gibeah of Saul. 6. Gibeah in the field ( Judges 20:31 ). Lastly, our Authorized Version gives us seven other Gibeahs, only translating this word, e g. " The hill of the foreskins" ( Joshua 5:3 ); "The hill of Phinehas" ( Joshua 24:33 ); " The hill of Moreh" ( Judges 7:1 ); " The hill of God" ( 1 Samuel 10:5 ); " The hill of Haehilah" ( 1 Samuel 23:19 ; 1 Samuel 26:1 ); " The hill of Ammah" ( 2 Samuel 2:24 ); " The hill Gareb" ( Jeremiah 31:39 ). 2 Chronicles 13:2