Armenia in comments -- Book: 1 Kings (1 Samuel) (t1Kings) Թագաւորութիւններ Ա
Searched terms: hitti
t1Kings 26:6 Ahimelech the Hittite - Only mentioned here. Uriah was also a Hittite.
Abishai - He was son of Zeruiah, David's sister, but probably about the same age as David. He because very famous as a warrior Sa2 23:18, but was implicated with his brother Joab in the murder of Abner in retaliation for the death of their brother Asahel Sa2 3:30. 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 26:15
t1Kings 26:1 The repetition not only of the treachery of the Ziphites, but also of the sparing of Saul by David, furnishes no proof in itself that the account contained in this chapter is only another legend of the occurrences already related in 1 Samuel 23:19-24:22. As the pursuit of David by Saul lasted for several years, in so small a district as the desert of Judah, there is nothing strange in the repetition of the same scenes. And the assertion made by Thenius, that "Saul would have been a moral monster, which he evidently was not, if he had pursued David with quiet deliberation, and through the medium of the same persons, and had sought his life again, after his own life had been so magnanimously spared by him," not only betrays a superficial acquaintance with the human heart, but is also founded upon the mere assertion, for which there is no proof, that Saul was evidently no so; and it is proved to be worthless by the fact, that after the first occasion on which his life was so magnanimously spared by David, he did not leave off seeking him up and down in the land, and that David was obliged to seek refuge with the Philistines in consequence, as may be seen from Sa1 27:1-12, which Thenius himself assigns to the same source as 1 Samuel 24. The agreement between the two accounts reduces it entirely to outward and unessential things. It consists chiefly in the fact that the Ziphites came twice to Saul at Gibeah, and informed him that David was stopping in their neighbourhood, in the hill Hachilah, and also that Saul went out twice in pursuit of David with 3000 men. But the three thousand were the standing body of men that Saul had raised from the very beginning of his reign out of the whole number of those who were capable of bearing arms, for the purpose of carrying on his smaller wars (Sa1 13:2); and the hill of Hachilah appears to have been a place in the desert of Judah peculiarly well adapted for the site of an encampment. On the other hand, all the details, as well as the final results of the two occurrences, differ entirely from one another. When David was betrayed the first time, he drew back into the desert of Maon before the advance of Saul; and being completely surrounded by Saul upon one of the mountains there, was only saved from being taken prisoner by the circumstance that Saul was compelled suddenly to relinquish the pursuit of David on account of the report that the Philistines had invaded the land (Sa1 23:25-28). But on the second occasion Saul encamped upon the hill of Hachilah, whilst David had drawn back into the adjoining desert, from which he crept secretly into Saul's encampment, and might, if he had chosen, have put his enemy to death (Sa1 26:3.). There is quite as much difference in the minuter details connected with the sparing of Saul. On the first occasion, Saul entered a cave in the desert of Engedi, whilst David and his men were concealed in the interior of the cave, without having the smallest suspicion that they were anywhere near (Sa1 24:2-4). The second time David went with Abishai into the encampment of Saul upon the hill of Hachilah, while the king and all his men were sleeping (Sa1 26:3, Sa1 26:5). It is true that on both occasions David's men told him that God had given his enemy into his hand; but the first time they added, Do to him what seemeth good in thy sight; and David cut off the lappet of Saul's coat, whereupon his conscience smote him, and he said, "Far be it from me to lay my hand upon the Lord's anointed" (Sa1 24:5-8). In the second instance, on the contrary, when David saw Saul in the distance lying by the carriage rampart and the army sleeping round him, he called to two of his heroes, Ahimelech and Abishai, to go with him into the camp of the sleeping foe, and then went thither with Abishai, who thereupon said to him, "God hath delivered thine enemy into thy hand: let me alone, that I may pierce him with the spear." But David rejected this proposal, and merely took away the spear and water-bowl that were at Saul's head (Sa1 26:6-12). And lastly, notwithstanding the fact that the words of David and replies of Saul agree in certain general thoughts, yet they differ entirely in the main. On the first occasion David showed the king that his life had been in his power, and yet he had spared him, to dispel the delusion that he was seeking his life (Sa1 24:10-16). On the second occasion he asked the king why he was pursuing him, and called to him to desist from his pursuit (Sa1 26:18.). But Saul was so affected the first time that he wept aloud, and openly declared that David would obtain the kingdom; and asked him to promise on oath, that when he did, he would not destroy his family (Sa1 24:17-22). The second time, on the contrary, he only declared that he had sinned and acted foolishly, and would to David no more harm, and that David would undertake and prevail; but he neither shed tears, nor brought himself to speak of David's ascending the throne, so that he was evidently much more hardened than before (Sa1 26:21-25). These decided differences prove clearly enough that the incident described in this chapter is not the same as the similar one mentioned in 1 Samuel 23 and 24, but belongs to a later date, when Saul's enmity and hardness had increased.
Sa1 26:1-2
The second betrayal of David by the Ziphites occurred after David had married Abigail at Carmel, and when he had already returned to the desert of Judah. On Sa1 26:1 and Sa1 26:2 compare the explanations of Sa1 23:19 and Sa1 24:3. Instead of "before (in the face of) Jeshimon" (i.e., the wilderness), we find the situation defined more precisely in Sa1 23:19, as "to the right (i.e., on the south) of the wilderness" (Jeshimon).
Sa1 26:3-4
When David saw (i.e., perceived) in the desert that Saul was coming behind him, he sent out spies, and learned from them that he certainly had come (אל־נכון, for a certainty, as in Sa1 23:23).
Sa1 26:5-7
Upon the receipt of this information, David rose up with two attendants (mentioned in Sa1 26:6) to reconnoitre the camp of Saul. When he saw the place where Saul and his general Abner were lying - Saul was lying by the waggon rampart, and the fighting men were encamped round about him - he said to Ahimelech and Abishai, "Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?" Whereupon Abishai declared himself ready to do so; and they both went by night, and found Saul sleeping with all the people. Ahimelech the Hittite is never mentioned again; but Abishai the son of Zeruiah, David's sister (Ch1 2:16), and a brother of Joab, was afterwards a celebrated general of David, as was also his brother Joab (Sa2 16:9; Sa2 18:2; Sa2 21:17). Saul's spear was pressed (stuck) into the ground at his head, as a sign that the king was sleeping there, for the spear served Saul as a sceptre (cf. Sa1 18:10).
Sa1 26:8-11
When Abishai exclaimed, "God hath delivered thine enemy into thy hand: now will I pierce him with the spear into the ground with a stroke, and will give no second" (sc., stroke: the Vulgate rendering gives the sense exactly: et secundo non opus erit, there will be no necessity for a second), David replied, "Destroy him not; for who hath stretched out his hand against the anointed of the Lord, and remained unhurt?" נקּה, as in Exo 21:19; Num 5:31. He then continued (in Sa1 26:10, Sa1 26:11): "As truly as Jehovah liveth, unless Jehovah smite him (i.e., carry him off with a stroke; cf. Sa1 25:38), or his day cometh that he dies (i.e., or he dies a natural death; 'his day' denoting the day of death, as in Job 14:6; Job 15:32), or he goes into battle and is carried off, far be it from me with Jehovah (מיהוה, as in Sa1 24:7) to stretch forth my hand against Jehovah's anointed." The apodosis to Sa1 26:10 commences with חלילה, "far be it," or "the Lord forbid," in Sa1 26:11. "Take now the spear which is at his head, and the pitcher, and let us go."
Sa1 26:12
They departed with these trophies, without any one waking up and seeing them, because they were all asleep, as a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them. שׁאוּל מראשׁתי stands for שׁ ממראשׁתי, "from the head of Saul," with מ dropped. The expression "a deep sleep of Jehovah," i.e., a deep sleep sent or inflicted by Jehovah, points to the fact that the Lord favoured David's enterprise. 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 26:13
t1Kings 26:6
Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the (b) Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to (c) Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. (b) Who was a stranger, and not an Israelite. (c) Who afterward was David's chief captain. 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 26:8
t1Kings 26:6
Then answered David,.... Or addressed himself to the two following persons: and said to Ahimelech the Hittite; who was either an Hittite by birth, but was become a proselyte, or he was an Israelite that had dwelt among the Hittites, and so had this name given him; the former seems most probable; some say (k) this was Uriah the Hittite: and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab; Zeruiah was the sister of David, Ch1 2:15; and these were two sons of hers, who very probably joined David at the cave of Adullam, Sa1 22:1, saying, who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? that is, which of you two? and Abishai said, I will go down with thee; the other being timorous, or Abishai being most forward spoke first. (k) Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 76. M. 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 26:7