Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 24:21
Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house.
21. Swear now, &c] Saul pledges his successor not to follow the barbarous Oriental custom. See on 1Sa 20:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Swear now … – The same request which Jonathan made 1Sa 20:15. The deep, genealogical feeling of the Israelites breaks out here as so often elsewhere.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. Swear now] Saul knew that an oath would bind David, though it was insufficient to bind himself; see 1Sa 19:6. He had sworn to his son Jonathan that David should not be slain; and yet sought by all means in his power to destroy him!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou wilt not cut off my seed after me; as princes use to destroy their competitors, and those that have any hopes of or pretence to their crown; and Saul had endeavoured to destroy David for the same reason, and therefore he feared a retaliation.
Thou wilt not destroy my name, to wit, by cutting off my seed. So it is the same thing repeated in other words, as is usual in Scripture.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord,…. By the Word of the Lord, as the, Targum:
that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me; as was usually done in despotic governments in the eastern countries, and is at this day, when one is advanced to the throne of another, by whom issue is left, who may be rivals and competitors with him:
and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house; by cutting off his seed, the same thing in different words repeated, for the confirmation of it; children bear the names of their fathers, and by them their memory is perpetuated, and cutting off them is destroying the name of their parents.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(21) Swear now therefore unto me.So strongly was Saul convinced at this moment that David would at no distant period of time occupy the throne of Israel that he entreated him, when that day should come, not to destroy all his (Sauls) children. This barbarous custom has been always too common a practice in the jealous East. It seems to have been equally dreaded by Jonathan, who madeit will be rememberedthis condition of mercy to be shown by David in his day of power to his (Jonathans) children a part of the solemn covenant concluded between them. (See 1Sa. 20:15.) In the frequent dynastic changes which took place in the kingdom of Israel, we have instances of such wholesale massacres of the royal family of the fallen house. (See 1Ki. 15:29, where Baasha slew King Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, and took his throne. Then Baasha, we read, smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed; and in 1Ki. 16:11, where Zimri murdered his master, King Baasha. Zimri, as soon as he sat on his throne, slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.) A similar massacre is described, only with more ghastly details, in 2 Kings 10, where Jehu slew all that remained to Ahab in Samaria. There the story is peculiarly an Oriental scene of history, with the seventy baskets containing the seventy heads of princes presented as an acceptable offering to the new stern king of IsraelJehu. It was, therefore, no vain dread of what might happen in the future which made King Saul ask this of David. Doubtless the fear of some such awful catastrophe happening to his own loved children and friends was no small part of the punishment of Saul.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 24:21 Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house.
Ver. 21. That thou wilt not cut off my seed. ] His care of posterity’s good was commendable; but till now he had taken a very ill course for them; as that Roman tyrant had done, whom when the people slew together with his children, they cried out, Of so ill a litter, not one whelp is to be left alive.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Swear: 1Sa 20:14-17, Gen 21:23, Gen 31:48, Gen 31:53, Heb 6:16
that thou: 2Sa 21:6-8
Reciprocal: Lev 5:4 – to do evil Jos 2:12 – that ye will 1Sa 20:15 – thou shalt