Samuel 17). The result was a great victory to the Israelites, who pursued
the Philistines to the gates of Gath and Ekron.
David’s popularity consequent on this heroic exploit awakened Saul’s
jealousy (1 Samuel 18:6-16), which he showed in various ways. He
conceived a bitter hatred toward him, and by various stratagems sought his
death (1 Samuel 18-30). The deep-laid plots of the enraged king, who could
not fail to observe that David “prospered exceedingly,” all proved futile,
and only endeared the young hero the more to the people, and very
specially to Jonathan, Saul’s son, between whom and David a life-long
warm friendship was formed.
A fugitive. To escape from the vengeance of Saul, David fled to Ramah (1
Samuel 19:12-18) to Samuel, who received him, and he dwelt among the
sons of the prophets, who were there under Samuel’s training. It is
supposed by some that the sixth, seventh, and eleventh Psalms were
composed by him at this time. This place was only 3 miles from the
residence of Saul, who soon discovered whither the fugitive had gone, and
tried ineffectually to bring him back. Jonathan made a fruitless effort to
bring his father to a better state of mind toward David (1 Samuel 20), who,
being made aware of the fact, saw no hope of safety but in flight to a
distance. We accordingly find him first at Nob (21:1-9) and then at Gath,
the chief city of the Philistines. The king of the Philistines would not
admit him into his service, as he expected that he would, and David
accordingly now betook himself to the stronghold of Adullam (22:1-4; 1
Chronicles 12:8-18). Here in a short time 400 men gathered around him and
acknowledged him as their leader. It was at this time that David, amid the
harassment and perils of his position, cried, “Oh that one would give me
drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem;” when three of his heroes
broke through the lines of the Philistines and brought him the water for
which he longed (2 Samuel 23:13-17), but which he would not drink.
In his rage at the failure of all his efforts to seize David, Saul gave orders
for the massacre of the entire priestly family at Nob, “persons who wore a
linen ephod”, to the number of eighty-five persons, who were put to death
by Doeg the Edomite. The sad tidings of the massacre were brought to
David by Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech, the only one who escaped. Comp.
Psalm 52.