Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 27:7
And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.
7. a full year and four months ] The Sept. reading “four months” is improbable, though the Heb. might be rendered “a space of time, even four months.” Ch. 1Sa 29:3 implies a much longer residence. “In this city David laid the foundation of his kingdom. Here he could already rule with greater freedom and independence, collect fugitives and deserters around him in larger and larger numbers, send or receive embassies like a prince (1Sa 30:26-31), and as a ruler over soldiers and peaceable citizens rehearse, on a small scale, those arts by which he afterwards acquired and maintained his great kingdom.” Ewald, Hist. of Israel, III. 101. Here a band of archers and slingers from Saul’s own tribe joined him, together with men from the southern towns of Judah, and from Manasseh (1Ch 12:1-7; 1Ch 12:20-22).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Heb. days and four months; days being put for a year; as Lev 25:29. Or, some days and four months, i.e. some days above four months. Or, some days and (for even, or that is, the conjunction and being oft so used, as hath been proved above) four months.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines,…. At Gath and Ziklag:
was a full year and four months; or “days and four months”; days being sometimes put for a year, Jud 17:10; though some interpret it not of a year, but of some few days out of the fifth month, besides the four months; so Jarchi and Kimchi; and Josephus h makes his abode to be four months and twenty days; but, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, it was only four months; and so it may be rendered, “days, that is, four months”; for according to the Jewish chronology i Samuel died four months before Saul, and this flight of David was after the death of Samuel, and when Saul died he left the land of the Philistines, and took the throne of Judah;
[See comments on 1Sa 25:1].
h Antiqu. l. 6. c. 13. sect. 10. i Sepher Olam Rabba c. 13. p. 37.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) A full year and four months.Keil calls attention to the exact statement of time here as a proof of the historical character of the whole narrative. The Hebrew expression, translated a year, is a singular one: yamimliterally, daysa collective term, used in Lev. 25:29, 1Sa. 1:3; 1Sa. 2:19, &c., to signify a term or period of days which amounted to a full year. This year and four months were among the darkest days of Davids life. He was sorely tried, it is true; but he had adopted the very course his bitterest foes would have wished him to select. In open arms, apparently leagued with the deadliest foes of Israel, like an Italian condottiere or captain of free lances of the Middle Ages, he had taken service and accepted the wages of that very Philistine city whose champion he once had slain in the morning of his career. At last his enemies at the court of Saul had reason when they spoke of him as a traitor. From the curt recital in this chapter, which deals with the saddest portion of Davids career, we shall see that while he apparently continued to make common cause with the enemies of his race, he still used his power to help, and not to injure, his countrymen; but the price he paid for his patriotism was a life of falsehood, stained, too, with deeds of fierce cruelty, shocking even in these rough, half-barbarous times.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. A full year and four months This doubtless gives the true sense of the Hebrew, which is, literally, days and four months. The Septuagint and Vulgate render: The number of days which David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was four months. Josephus has four months and twenty days. The confusion seems to have come from misapprehension of the idiomatic use of in the sense of a year. While David abode at Ziklag he was reinforced by multitudes from the land of Israel. See at 1Ch 12:1-22.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 27:7 And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.
Ver. 7. A full year and four months, ] viz., Till Saul’s death, and about two years after Samuel’s death.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
country. Hebrew “field”. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part) for country. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the time: Heb. the number of days
a full year: Heb. a year of days, 1Sa 29:3