1 ซามูเอล 18:7 วิจารณ์

In the course of the foregoing chapter we left David in triumph; now in this chapter we have, I. The improvement of his triumphs; he soon became, 1. Saul's constant attendant (Sa1 18:2). 2. Jonathan's covenant friend (Sa1 18:1, Sa1 18:3, Sa1 18:4). 3. The darling of his country (Sa1 18:5, Sa1 18:7, Sa1 18:16). II. The allays of his triumphs. This is the vanity that accompanies even a right work, that "for it a man is envied," Ecc 4:4. So David was by Saul. 1. He hated him, and sought to kill him himself (Sa1 18:8-11). 2. He feared him, and contrived how he might have some mischief done him (Sa1 18:12-17). He proposed to marry his daughter to him; but, [1.] cheated him of the eldest to provoke him (Sa1 18:19), and, [2.] Gave him the younger, upon conditions which would endanger his life (Sa1 18:20-25). But David performed his conditions bravely (Sa1 18:26, Sa1 18:27), and grew to be more and more esteemed (Sa1 18:28-30). Still David is rising, but (as all that aim at the crown of life must expect) he had a great deal of difficulty and opposition to grapple with.

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 18 This chapter gives an account of the respect shown to David by Saul and Jonathan, by the servants of Saul, and all the people, and of what was said in his praise in the songs of the women, Sa1 18:1; which latter gave Saul a great offence, and upon which he envied him, and eyed him, and indeed sought his life, and removed him from him; and yet still he continued the darling of the people, behaving wisely among them, which greatly embarrassed Saul, that be knew not what to do, Sa1 18:8; he proposed his eldest daughter to him in marriage, which he had a claim to by killing the Philistine, and then he cheated him by giving her to another, Sa1 18:17; and then he offered his youngest daughter to him, on condition that he would bring him an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, execution of which he thought his life would be exposed to danger, which yet he performed, Sa1 18:20; and having the affection of his wife, and the good esteem of the servants of Saul, Saul was more afraid of him, and became his enemy, Sa1 18:28.

And the women answered one another as they played,.... They sung vocally to their instruments, and that by turns, one rehearsing one line or verse in the song, and then the other another: and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands; which, if to be referred to the battle in the preceding chapter, as it commonly is, must be understood thus, that though Saul, in pursuit of the Philistines, slew many thousands of them, and David but one, even Goliath; yet the slaying of him was the occasion of slaying ten thousands, and therefore it is ascribed to him: but it seems rather that in some after battles David had been more prosperous and victorious than Saul, and therefore superior commendations are given him by the author of the song the women sung; which, however just it might be to give them, was not wise, since it served to irritate their king, as follows.

Why do you grieve, my friend, when you yourself have suffered no misfortune? Why are you hostile to someone who is enjoying prosperity, when he has in no way caused your own possessions to decrease? If you are vexed even upon receiving a kindness [from the object of your spite], are you not quite clearly envious of your own good? Saul is an example of this. He made David’s great favors to himself a motive for enmity with him. First, after he had been cured of insanity by the divine and melodious strains of David’s harp, he attempted to run his benefactor through with a spear. Then, on another occasion, it happened that he and his army were delivered from the hands of the enemy and saved from embarrassment before Goliath. In singing the triumphal songs commemorating this victory, however, the dancers attributed to David a tenfold greater share in the achievement, saying, “Saul killed his thousands and David his ten thousands.” For this one utterance and because truth itself was its witness, Saul first attempted murder and tried to slay David by treachery, then forced him to flee.

But now notice in this incident how much trouble the passion of envy caused: when the king saw this young man enjoying such popularity and the dancing crowds calling out, “Saul’s conquests ran into thousands, David’s into tens of thousands,” he didn’t take kindly to their words … but overwhelmed by envy, he now repaid his benefactor with the opposite treatment, and the one whom he should have recognized as his savior and benefactor he endeavored to do away with. What an extraordinary degree of frenzy! What excess of madness! The man who had won him the gift of life and had freed his whole army from the foreigner’s rage he now suspected as an enemy, and, instead of the man’s good deeds remaining fresh in his memory and prevailing over passion, the clarity of his thinking was dulled with envy as though by a kind of drunkenness, and he regarded his benefactor as his enemy.That is what the evil of this passion is like, you see: it first has a bad effect on the person giving birth to it.

For envy is a fearful, a fearful thing, and persuades people to despise their own salvation. In this way did both Cain destroy himself, and again, before his time, the devil who was the destroyer of his father. So did Saul invite an evil demon against his own soul; yet when invited, he soon envied his physician. For such is the nature of envy; he knew that he was saved, yet he would rather have perished than see him that saved him have honor. What can be more grievous than this passion? One cannot err in calling it the devil’s offspring. And in it is contained the fruit of vainglory, or rather its root also, for both these evils are apt mutually to produce each other. And thus in truth it was that Saul even thus envied, when they said, “David smote by ten thousands.” What could be more senseless? For why do you envy? Tell me! “Because such a one praised him”? Yet surely you ought to rejoice. Besides, you do not know even whether the praise is true. And do you therefore grieve because without being admirable he has been praised as such? And yet you ought to feel pity. For if he is good, you ought not to envy him when praised, but you should praise along with those that speak well of him; but if not such, why are you galled?

You shall not be a hypocrite, lest your “portion be with them.” You shall not be ill-natured or proud, for “God resists the proud.” “You shall not accept persons in judgment; for the judgment is the Lord’s.” “You shall not hate any man; you shall surely reprove your brother, and not become guilty on his account”; and, “Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.” Eschew all evil, and all that is like it: for he says, “Abstain from injustice, and trembling shall not come close to you.” Do not grow angry quickly, or spiteful, or passionate, or furious or daring, lest you undergo the fate of Cain, and of Saul and of Joab. The first of these killed his brother Abel, because Abel was found to be preferred before him with God, and because Abel’s sacrifice was preferred; the second persecuted holy David, who had slain Goliath the Philistine, being envious of the praises of the women who danced; the third killed two generals of armies—Abner of Israel and Amasa of Judah.

When David returned after striking down the Philistine, etc., the Lord, having returned after defeating the ancient enemy through His suffering and appearing in the glory of resurrection to His chosen ones, the glory of this triumph having been spread throughout Judea, the lowly souls, conscious of their own frailty, came out from all the cities of Israel, rejoicing in Christ, whom they recognized as the author of life and the conqueror of death. Through the many churches which form one catholic church, they celebrated Him with concordant praise, each one manifesting the gifts of virtues given by the one and the same Spirit, devoting themselves to Him with appropriate services of humble devotion, and with eager faith above all declaring, as with a triumphal song, that although the institution of the law commanded works of justice, it had delivered no small number of enemies to destruction and snatched not few souls from the enemy's grasp. Yet with incomparable strength, the grace of Christ, by bestowing the wages of heavenly life, even tore down the very gates of death as a victor; so much so that He assured that those who receive eternal life will mock death and say: "Where, O death, is your contention? Where, O death, is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15:55). And it is to be noted that not all the women of Israel, but women from all the cities of Israel came forth. For not all have faith, but from all persons, conditions, places, and ages, those who receive the faith are chosen by Him who said: "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32). He did not say all, but all kinds; to signify that believers from every kind of human being would come forth. It is also to be noted that while women are said to have come out to meet Saul, they raised their voices in praise of David; for the souls piously believing in Christ publicly proclaimed to the people zealous for the law what ought to be understood about the shadow of the law itself and the light of the gospel, so that by preaching, they might also summon this people to the path of grace and truth. We can also say that when the Lord Christ returned to the heavens with immortal flesh, angelic hosts from all realms came to meet Him with the fitting exultation of praise, accepting Him as the victor over the enemy and the giver of life to us.

Jonathan and David commence a lasting friendship; and David acts prudently with respect to Saul, Sa1 18:1-5. Saul becomes jealous of David, on account of the esteem in which he is held in Israel; and, in his fury endeavors to destroy him, Sa1 18:6-12. David is made captain over a thousand; and the people love and respect him, Sa1 18:13-16. Saul, in order to ensnare him, offers him his daughter in marriage, Sa1 18:17-24; and requires a hundred foreskins of the Philistines for dowry; hoping that, in endeavoring to procure them, David might fall by the hands of the Philistines, Sa1 18:25. David agrees to the conditions, fulfils them, and has Michal to wife, Sa1 18:26-30.

Saul hath slain his thousands - As it cannot literally be true that Saul had slain thousands, and David ten thousands; it would be well to translate the passage thus: Saul hath smitten or fought against thousands; David against tens of thousands. "Though Saul has been victorious in all his battles; yet he has not had such great odds against him as David has had; Saul, indeed, has been opposed by thousands; David, by ten thousands." We may here remark that the Philistines had drawn out their whole forces at this time: and when Goliath was slain, they were totally discomfited by the Israelites, led on chiefly by David.

JONATHAN LOVES DAVID. (Sa1 18:1-4) the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David--They were nearly of an age. The prince had taken little interest in David as a minstrel; but his heroism and modest, manly bearing, his piety and high endowments, kindled the flame not of admiration only, but of affection, in the congenial mind of Jonathan.

The bond of friendship which Jonathan formed with David was so evidently the main point, that in Sa1 18:1 the writer commences with the love of Jonathan to David, and then after that proceeds in Sa1 18:2 to observe that Saul took David to himself from that day forward; whereas it is very evident that Saul told David, either at the time of his conversation with him or immediately afterwards, that he was henceforth to remain with him, i.e., in his service. "The soul of Jonathan bound itself (lit. chained itself; cf. Gen 44:30) to David's soul, and Jonathan loved him as his soul." The Chethibh ויּאהבו with the suffix ו attached to the imperfect is very rare, and hence the Keri ויּאהבהוּ (vid., Ewald, 249, b., and Olshausen, Gramm. p. 469). לשׁוּב, to return to his house, viz., to engage in his former occupation as shepherd.