Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 26:20
Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
20. before the face of the Lord ] Slay me not, lest Jehovah avenge my blood upon thee. But it is possible to render “far from the presence of Jehovah:” i.e. let me not die a violent death in a heathen land: and this suits the context better.
a flea ] A single flea. Cp. 1Sa 24:14. The Sept. however reads instead, perhaps rightly, “my life.”
a partridge ] “David alludes to the mode of chase practised now as of old, when the partridge continuously chased was at length, when fatigued, knocked down by sticks thrown along the ground. It must be remembered that both the species of partridge common in the Holy Land, unlike our bird, endeavour to save themselves by running in preference to flight, unless when suddenly started; that they are not inhabitants of plains or cornfields but of rocky hill-sides.” The Hebrew name means “caller,” from “its ringing call-note, which in early morning echoes from cliff to cliff alike amidst the barrenness of the wilderness of Judaea, and in the glens of the forest of Carmel.” Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, p. 225.
David means to say that the King of Israel’s pursuit of him is altogether unworthy of his dignity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 20. As when one doth hunt a partridge] It is worthy of remark that the Arabs, observing that partridges, being put up several times, soon become so weary as not to be able to fly; they in this manner hunt them upon the mountains, till at last they can knock them down with their clubs.
It was in this manner that Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon him, and putting him up from time to time, in hopes that he should at length, by frequent repetitions of it, be able to destroy him. See Harmer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Let not my blood fall to the earth; do not attempt to spill my innocent blood like water upon the ground.
Before the face of the Lord; remember, if thou dost it, God the judge of all men seeth it, and will avenge it of thee, though I will not avenge myself.
A flea; hard to be taken, and not worth catching; a mean and contemptible person.
In the mountains, where his advantage doth no way compensate his labour.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. as when one doth hunt apartridgePeople in the East, in hunting the partridge andother game birds, pursue them, till observing them becoming languidand fatigued after they have been put up two or three times, theyrush upon the birds stealthily and knock them down with bludgeons[SHAW, Travels]. Itwas exactly in this manner that Saul was pursuing David. He drove himfrom time to time from his hiding-place, hoping to render him wearyof his life, or obtain an opportunity of accomplishing hisdestruction.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord,…. For should it be spilled, God, who is omniscient, will see it, and take notice of it; and being righteous, and to whom vengeance belongs, he will avenge it: some render it, “my blood shall not fall to the earth before the face of the Lord” r; I am continually under his eye and care, and he will protect and defend me; and in vain is it for thee to pursue after me; I shall never fall into thine hands, though I may be obliged to quit my country, and go into an idolatrous nation, against my will:
for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea; which leaps from place to place and is not easily taken: or this may denote what a mean, poor, weak, insignificant person David was; and how much it was below Saul to come out with an army of chosen men in pursuit of him; so the Targum,
“the king of Israel is come out to seek one that is weak or feeble:”
as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains; as kings for their delight used to do, as Abarbinel observes; but this being a business of pleasure, and this a bird of worth, some other is thought to be here intended. Indeed the is represented as worth no more than an “obolus”, or five farthings, though fifty drachmas or drachms were ordered to be paid for one s; the Septuagint renders the word an “owl”: the word is “kore”, and from the etymology of it one would think it was the raven or crow. Jarchi on Jer 17:11 takes it to be the cuckoo, though here the partridge as others; Bochart t will have it to be the woodcock, snipe, or snite u. Some choose to read the words,
“as the kore or partridge on the mountains hunts;”
which, it is said, hunts and seeks after the nests of other birds, and sits on their eggs v: see Jer 17:11; so Saul hunted after David, though he could not take him; several naturalists w observe, that the partridge is very difficult to be taken by the hunter.
r “non effundetur”, Martyr. and to this sense are Syr. Ar. vers. s Laert. l. 2. in Vita Aristippi. t Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 1. c. 12. col. 81. u (A snite is like a snipe, yet a different species of lark-like bird. Oxford English Dictionary. Editor) v T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 140. 2. Jarchi & Abarbinel in loc. w Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 8. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 33. Aelian. Hist. Animal. l. 3. c. 16.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(20) Before the face of the Lord.Better rendered, far from the presence of the Lord. The same thought dwelt upon in the last verse is here enlarged. If this savage persecution continues, David goes on to say, sooner or later I shall fall a victim to one or other of the countless perils to which one in my situation, as leader of a band of outlaws, is daily exposed. Let not such hard, cruel fate be mineto die a violent death far away from the land which Jehovah loves. It was the same thought which inspires so touchingly this last prayer he made to Saul which, ever present in his heart, made the bringing up of the Ark to a permanent sanctuary, where the visible symbol of the Eternal Presence should dwell for ever, the dream of Davids life. It was the same holy thought which induced him to spend so much time and to lay up such vast stores for the building of a glorious sanctuary. The passionate longing of the man after Gods own heart to worship his Eternal Master in a fitting house devoted to His service, and in the company of men who loved and honoured the Name of names, is to be found in some of the most soul-searching of his psalms.
To seek a flea.The same humiliating comparison he had made once before on a similar occasion again occurs to him. Such repetition is of ordinary occurrence, as we well know, both in speeches and writings. The LXX. here substitute for a flea my soul, probably with the view of avoiding the repetition of the simile of a flea, which David had made use of on the previous occasion of his sparing the kings life at En-gedi.
A partridge in the mountains.The LXX. needlessly alters partridge into screech-owl, and changes the sense: as the screech-owl hunts on the mountains. The meaning of the simile in the Hebrew original is well given by Erdmann, in Lange: The isolated from Gods people, far from all association, a fugitive from their plots on the mountain heights, thou seekest at all cost to destroy, as one hunts a single fugitive partridge on the mountain, only to kill it at all costs, while otherwise, from its insignificance, it would not be hunted, since partridges are to be found in the field in coveys. Conder (Tent Life in Palestine) especially tells us that partridges still tenant these wilds; and speaking of the precipitous cliffs overhanging the Dead Sea, he says: Among the rocks of the wild goats the bands of ibex may be seen still bounding, and the partridge is still chased on the mountains, as David was followed by the stealthy hunter Saul.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Before the face of the Lord Rather, At a distance from, or far off from, the face of the Lord. That is, in a distant land, or an enemy’s country.
A flea An insignificant insect. Compare 1Sa 24:14.
As when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains Additional comparison, instead of dead dog, in 1Sa 24:14. The partridge does not so much frequent the mountains as the fields and lowlands; it would therefore be idle for one to hunt a single partridge far off on the mountains, when he could find flocks of them in the lower brushwoods and the fields.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 26:20. A partridge The Hebrew word kore, a partridge, occurs only here and Jer 17:11 and has its name, according to Parkhurst, from the note that it utters in calling its young or mate; which cannot be better expressed in articulate sounds, than by quera. Whoever reads with tolerable attention the Hierozoicon of Bochart, or even the 19th chapter of the first book, De Nominibus Anim. ab Adamo impositis, cannot doubt that the Hebrew names given by Adam to the animals, were intended to express some remarkable and eminent quality in each. See Parkhurst on the word, and Scheuchzer’s Physique Sacree, tom. 5: The account that Dr. Shaw gives us of the manner in which the Arabs hunt partridges, is a lively comment on the place. “The Arabs have another and more laborious method of catching these birds; for, observing that they become languid and fatigued after they have been hastily put up twice or thrice, they immediately run in upon them, and knock them down with their zerwattys, or bludgeons, as we should call them.” It was precisely in this manner that Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon him, and putting him up from time to time, in hopes that he should at length, by frequent repetitions of it, be able to destroy him. Observations, p. 172.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Sa 26:20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
Ver. 20. Let not my blood fall to the earth. ] Slay me not, for God seeth and will require it. 2Ch 24:22
“ Ne pecces, Deus ipse videt, bonus Angelus astat. ”
To seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a flea = one flea.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
let not my: 1Sa 2:9, 1Sa 25:29
the king: 1Sa 24:14, Mat 26:47, Mat 26:55
a flea: Parosh, (in Arabic borghooth, Syriac, poorthano,) the well known little contemptible and troublesome insect, the flea, seems to be so called from its agility in leaping and skipping, from para, “free,” and raash, “to leap, bound.” David, by comparing himself to this insect, seems to import, that while it would cost Saul much pains to catch him, he would obtain but very little advantage from it.
a partridge: Korai certainly denotes the partridge, which is called in Arabic, kiraa. It seems to be so called from the cry or cur which it utters when calling its young.
Reciprocal: 1Sa 24:11 – thou huntest 2Sa 9:8 – a dead dog Psa 49:5 – heels Psa 124:6 – who hath not Jer 16:16 – hunters Mic 7:2 – hunt
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 26:20. Before the face of the Lord The Lord seeing it, and being the avenger. Remember, if thou dost it, God, the judge of all men, observes and will call thee to account for it, though I will not avenge myself. Is come out to seek a flea Is come out for a purpose beneath him, and not of importance enough to deserve his trouble. As when one doth hunt a partridge The Hebrew word , kore, does not seem to be rightly translated partridge here. Rabbi Salomon renders it cuculus, cuckow, so called from its crying. It certainly must be the name of a bird of no value for food, or any other use; and therefore the pursuing it on the mountains, through difficult places, was a useless and insignificant labour.