Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 24:10

Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave: and [some] bade [me] kill thee: but [mine eye] spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he [is] the LORD’s anointed.

Mine eye; which words are easily understood both from the nature of the thing, and from the use of this phrase in other scriptures, as Deu 7:16; 13:8. The eye is said to spare, because it affects the heart with pity, and moves a man to spare.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Behold, this day thine eyes have seen,…. Or may see; there is full proof and evidence of it, and which will be presently shown:

how that the Lord had delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave; from whence they were both just come:

and [some] bade [me] kill thee; some of the men that were with David, some of his officers or principal friends put him upon it, having a fair opportunity, and thinking it no evil, since he was his enemy, and sought his life; or “it said, kill thee”; my heart prompted me to it, that said so at first, as Ben Gersom interprets it; some refer it to God, who in his providence said so, or so it might be understood by David, as if Providence directed him to it, by giving film such an opportunity of doing it:

but [mine eye] spared thee; had pity on him, and notwithstanding the suggestions of friends, and of his own heart at first, or the seeming direction of Providence, yet he had mercy on him, and forbore slaying him:

and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; and king, whose subject I am:

for he [is] the Lord’s anointed; the Lord has raised him to this dignity; invested him with the office of a king, and as such I regard him, and therefore have refrained mine hand from him, from hurting him,

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(10) Thine eyes have seen.David and a crowd of armed men around him were standing at the entrance of the cave which King Saul had just left; thus the kings eye had seennay, was seeing that very momentthat his life had been in his enemy Davids hand.

And some bade me kill thee.The literal translation here would be Jehovah delivered thee to-day into mine hand in the cave, and bade [me] kill thee. And this rendering has been explained by assuming that Gods allowing Saul to choose the very cavern for his midday slumber where David and his company were lodging was tantamount to directing David to slay his bitter foe, thus given over helpless into his hands; but this is contrary to the spirit of the whole narrative. The English Version has followed the Syriac and Chaldee Versions here, and by supplying somebetter, perhaps, onebefore bade me kill thee, has given us the sense in which the Hebrews have always understood the passage. The Vulg. here, with a very slight change in the vowel points, renders I thought to kill thee.

But mine eye spared thee.The English Version supplies an obvious subject in mine eye. Clericus suggests more happily, my soul, or my hand, before spared thee.

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

1Sa 24:10 Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and [some] bade [me] kill thee: but [mine eye] spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he [is] the LORD’S anointed.

Ver. 10. Behold, this day thine eyes have seen. ] This is David’s defence; wherein each word hath its weight, each syllable its substance. We may lawfully, when wronged, clear our own innocence, so we do it, as here, with meekness and wisdom. Sed o quam hoc non est omnium.

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