Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 22:9

Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.

9. Then answered Doeg ] The title of Psalms 52 states that it was composed by David in reference to this occasion. 1Sa 22:1-4 describe such a character as we may well suppose Doeg to have been. His tongue was “a false tongue,” because, though the facts he reported were true, he helped to confirm Saul in a false and cruel suspicion. It “devised destruction,” and “loved devouring words,” for his story was told with malicious intent and fatal result.

which was set over the servants of Saul ] Or, for he was standing with the servants of Saul. The presence of the foreigner Doeg among the Benjamites is specially noticed. The Sept. (cp. 1Sa 21:7) reads, “Doeg the Syrian who was set over Saul’s mules.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 9. Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul] In 1Sa 21:7 he is said to be the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul, and the Septuagint intimate that he was over the mules of Saul. Probably he was what we call the king’s equery or groom.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

See Poole “1Sa 21:7“.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

9. Doeg . . . set over theservantsSeptuagint, “the mules of Saul.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then answered Doeg the Edomite,…. Josephus d calls him a Syrian, and so the Septuagint version; see 1Sa 21:7; being full of enmity to David, and willing to curry favour with Saul, and eager of further preferment, which Saul seemed to promise; and being more forward than the rest of his servants, prevented them and spoke first:

(which was set over the servants of Saul): over his herdsmen; see

1Sa 21:7;

and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub; in imitation of Saul, he calls David by way of contempt the son of Jesse; and signifies that what he had to say of him was not by report, but he himself was an eyewitness of his coming to Nob, a city of the priests, and to Ahimelech the high priest there, and of what passed between them.

d Antiqu. l. 6. c. 12. sect. 1, 4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Edomite Doeg could not refrain from yielding to this appeal, and telling Saul what he had seen when staying at Nob; namely, that Ahimelech had inquired of God for David, and given him food as well as Goliath’s sword. For the fact itself, see 1Sa 21:1-10, where there is no reference indeed to his inquiring of God; though it certainly took place, as Ahimelech (1Sa 22:15) does not disclaim it. Doeg is here designated , “ the superintendent of Saul’s servants,” so that apparently he had been invested with the office of marshal of the court.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(9) Then answered Doeg the Edomite.This Doeg has already been mentioned in the preceding chapter. His presence in this council meeting under the tamarisk of Gibeah, among the famous Benjamito chieftains, and the previous notice which speaks of him as the officer superintending the royal herds, indicates that he was a personage of no small importance at the Court of Saul. He occupies too a considerable position in the Psalmodic literature. (See, for instance, Psalms 52)

Here he is spoken of as a wicked and unscrupulous character. Jewish tradition tells us this Doeg was skilled in all the learning of his time. Doeg the Edomite, and Ahitophel (whose counsel was as the oracle of God) are represented in the Talmud as the most learned men of their time. The Holy One, blessed be He! said to wicked Doeg, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes (Psalms 52)? When thou comest to the chapter on murderers and on spreading evil reports, what dost thou make of them?Sanhedrin, fol. 106, Colossians 2.

It is strange that this renowned man, whom evidently David looked upon as the evil genius of Saul at the period when he wrote the sad, bitter words of Psalms 52, and spoke of the tongue of this Doeg as being like a sharp razor, and dwelt with singular persistence on the wickedness, falsehood, and calumny of this relentless enemy, should have gone down among the noteworthy Talmudical traditions as the greatest Rabbinist (i.e., the most deeply learned in the Mosaic Law, and in its interpretation) of his time.

Which was set over the servants of Saul.This statement would be a puzzling one were it the correct rendering. It would be unlikely in the highest degree that Saul would set a foreignerhowever able and devotedover his faithful Benjamite chieftains. The accurate translation is who stood with the servants of Saul. In 1Sa. 22:6 we read, in the description of the council meeting under the tamarisk of Gibeah, all his servants (that is, his chief dignitaries) stood by (around) him (Saul), and with these, his peers, stood Doeg the Edomite, the hero of the terrible scene which followed.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

(9) Then answered Doeg.Far better, quaintly writes Seb Schmid, did Sauls other servants who kept silence. The Edomites witness had the more effect on Saul because he related no hearsay evidence, but what he had absolutely seen.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

9. Doeg the Edomite Already introduced to us by anticipation in chap.

1Sa 21:7. He was evidently a dark-hearted man, having no sympathy for injured innocence, and a ready instrument to execute Saul’s bloody purposes. He readily embraces this opportunity to ingratiate himself with his king; and even goes so far as to stain his hands with the blood of the priests, and of all the inhabitants of Nob. 1Sa 22:18-19.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Sa 22:9. Then answered Doeg(which was set over the servants of Saul) Who happened then to be with the servants of Saul. Houbigant. See the foregoing chapter, 1Sa 22:7. It does not appear from the preceding chapter, nor is it likely, that Ahimelech, or the priests, knew any thing of Saul’s displeasure against David; and therefore, as he was the king’s son-in-law, and Ahimelech thought he was sent on some hasty errand to the king, the giving him bread and a sword was what he owed in duty to Saul, instead of its being an act of treason. Nor could Ahimelech’s inquiring of God for him, 1Sa 22:10 supposing the fact true, be liable to such a charge; for if he did enquire of God for him, Ahimelech declares, that this was not the first time he had done it on the king’s affairs; and that therefore it could be no more criminal in him to do it now, upon a like occasion, than in former times.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

(9) Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. (10) And he enquired of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

Uniformly in all ages of the church the children of the bond-woman are enemies to the children of the free. Esau’s race, the Edomites, and Jacob’s seed, the true Israelites, are in different covenants. Reader! put it down as a certain truth, everyone belonging to Christ must and will suffer persecution. Gal 4:29 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1Sa 22:9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.

Ver. 9. Then answered Doeg. ] So soon as ever the word was out of Saul’s mouth, concerning the preferring of such as should inform him against David, Doeg answered, snapping at that bait, and not sparing maliciously and slanderously to traduce an innocent, and one that so well deserved of the public. Thus was Scipio dealt with by Carbo, Alcibiades by Hyperbolus, Cicero by Clodius, &c. Habuerunt et suos cuculos omnes docti et heroici quolibet tempore. Every Zopyrus is sure to have his Zoilus, every David his Doeg, that will seek to raise himself upon the ruins of another.

Which was set over the servants of Saul. ] That is, Over his herdsmen; but that seemed to him to be too low a place. Ambition, like the crocodile, groweth as long as it liveth.

I saw the son of Jesse. ] This language he had learned of his master, Saul, whom he striveth to humour: as princes are never without their Aiones and Negones, that will say as they say, and not stick to lick up their very spittle.

Coming to Nob, to Ahimelech. ] With this Ahimelech Doeg had been, in pretence of great piety, not long before, “detained before the Lord.” 1Sa 21:7 See Trapp on “ 1Sa 21:7 “ Now he impeacheth him of high treason, making the worst of everything he said or did, as done by way of conspiracy with David against Saul; whose false suspicion of David he hereby confirmed, and is therefore rightly reputed a liar, Psa 52:3 and because, though he told the truth, yet he wrested it to an evil intention. He is no better than a slanderer, who uttereth the truth, not for any love to it, nor for respect to justice, nor for the bettering of the hearer or the delinquent, but only to disgrace the one and to incense the other.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Then, &c.: verses: 1Sa 22:9-16, by the Figure of speech Hysteresis (App-6), give details not contained in former narration (21. i-9).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Doeg: He is also said to be “the chiefest of the herdsmen that belonged to Saul;” and the Septuagint intimates that he was over the mules of Saul. He may have been what we call the king’s equerry or groom. 1Sa 21:7, Psa 52:1, *title Psa 52:1-5, Pro 19:5, Pro 29:12, Eze 22:9, Mat 26:59-61

Ahimelech: 1Sa 21:1-15

Ahitub: 1Sa 14:3

Reciprocal: Jdg 1:1 – asked 1Sa 19:19 – General 1Sa 22:7 – the son of Jesse 1Sa 22:18 – Doeg 1Sa 22:19 – Nob 1Ch 24:3 – Ahimelech 2Ch 10:16 – the son Psa 27:12 – false Psa 64:6 – search Pro 24:28 – not Pro 30:10 – Accuse not Jam 3:6 – a world

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge