Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 22:7
Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, [and] make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds;
7. ye Benjamites ] Saul appeals to tribal jealousies. Will not David promote his own fellow-tribesmen rather than the Benjamites?
captains of thousands, &c.] The sarcasm of these words gains point, if we may suppose that Saul had just heard of the organization of David’s handful of men (1Ch 12:16-18).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye Benjamites – Showing how isolated the tribes still were, and how for the most part Saul was surrounded by his own tribesmen only.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Ye Benjamites; you that are of my own tribe and kindred, from whom David designs to translate the kingdom to another tribe, will he distribute profits and preferments amongst you
Benjamites as I have done, and intend still to do? will he not rather prefer those of his own tribe before you?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7, 8. Hear now, ye BenjamitesThiswas an appeal to stimulate the patriotism or jealousy of his owntribe, from which he insinuated it was the design of David totransfer the kingdom to another. This address seems to have been madeon hearing of David’s return with his four hundred men to Judah. Adark suspicion had risen in the jealous mind of the king thatJonathan was aware of this movement, which he dreaded as a conspiracyagainst the crown.
1Sa22:9-16. DOEG ACCUSESAHIMELECH.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him,…. He took this opportunity of addressing them in the following manner, upon the report of David being at the head of a certain number of men:
hear now, ye Benjamites; for Saul being of the tribe of Benjamin, his courtiers and his bodyguards chiefly, if not altogether, consisted of persons of that tribe; and therefore as they were under obligation to him, and ought to abide by him, and adhere closely to him, so it was the more ungrateful in them, as he thought, not to be concerned for his honour and interest:
will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards; as Saul had done, or was capable of doing, and would do if they were faithful to him; whereas it was not in the power of David, whom in contempt he calls the son of Jesse, to do it; and even should he ever be king, and in his power to make such donations, it cannot be thought he would give them to them, but to the favourites of his own tribe:
[and] make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds; which he now could not do, since he had with him but four hundred men in all; and should his army increase, and the kingdom come into his hands, so far would all of them be from being advanced to posts in the army, that it was probable none of them would, but those of his own tribe and party.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) Hear now, ye Benjamites.We have here a fair specimen of Sauls manner of ruling in his later years. It is no wonder that the heart of the people gradually was estranged from one of whom in earlier years they had been so proud. The suspicious and gloomy king had evidentlywe have it here from his own mouthgradually given all the posts of honour and dignity to men of his own tribe and family, or to strangers like Doeg. Hear now, ye Benjamitesso the fidles were evidently men of his own favoured tribe; indeed, he refers to his own weak partiality as the reason why they of all men should be loyal. Who but a Benjamite, he says, would only honour Benjamites? Such a sovereign had surely forfeited his kingdom. The consequences of such a weak and shortsighted policy were plainly visible in the thin array he was able in his hour of bitter need to muster together on the fatal field of Mount Gilboa against his sleepless Philistine enemies. (See 1 Samuel 31)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Benjamites From this address Keil infers that Saul had chosen his immediate attendants from his own tribe.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 22:7-8. Then Saul said unto his servants If this complaint was true, Saul must have been an exceedingly bad master, to be so entirely deserted and unpitied by his own servants, even when he had estates and preferments to give them. But what was the complaint? that all of them had conspired against him. How did this appear? why, because none of them shewed him that his son had made a league with the son of Jesse. And why should they shew him this, when he himself well knew it already, and needed not to be informed of it by them: for he had told his son before, that he had chosen the son of Jesse, to the confusion of his mother’s nakedness? He adds, as a farther matter of complaint, none of you is sorry for me; and, if they thought that Jonathan’s league with David was a thing right in itself, and a very happy circumstance for the kingdom in general, there was no cause why they should for this be sorry for him: and to charge them with conspiring against him for not telling him what he knew before, and for their not being grieved, on his account, for what they thought neither he nor they had any reason to be sorry for, is the most evident symptom of a disordered mind. But what shall we say to the last part of this pathetic complaint, there is none of you that sheweth unto me, that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait as it is this day? Why, that they could not discover what was not true in itself, and what they knew nothing of. Besides, Saul himself confesses, that it had no other foundation than his own surmise and jealousy, and that he had received no manner of proof of it. None of you, says Saul, shews unto me, &c.; he had, therefore, no proof from any of his servants of this wickedness of his son: Jonathan was innocent, and his father’s complaint groundless and unjust.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Sa 22:7 Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, [and] make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds;
Ver. 7. Hear now, ye Benjamites. ] Will ye suffer the kingdom to be translated from your tribe, to David of the tribe of Judah? bestir you, that it may not.
Will the son of Jesse give every one of you.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the son of Jesse: 1Sa 22:9, 1Sa 22:13, 1Sa 18:14, 1Sa 20:27, 1Sa 20:30, 1Sa 25:10, 2Sa 20:1, 1Ki 12:16, Isa 11:1, Isa 11:10
give: 1Sa 8:14, 1Sa 8:15
captains: 1Sa 8:11, 1Sa 8:12
Reciprocal: Num 1:16 – heads Deu 1:15 – captains over thousands 1Sa 18:13 – removed 1Sa 22:12 – thou son 1Sa 23:19 – the Ziphites 1Ch 12:18 – captains of the band 1Ch 15:25 – captains 2Ch 10:16 – the son Psa 119:23 – Princes Pro 16:29 – General Pro 17:4 – General Pro 19:19 – man Ecc 10:13 – beginning Act 24:5 – and a mover
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
22:7 Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye {f} Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, [and] make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds;
(f) You that are of my tribe and lineage.