not to have been written by the same author: (1) because the same thing is mentioned in 1Sa 18:13, 1Sa 18:14, as in 1Sa 18:5, though in a somewhat altered form, and 1Sa 18:10, 1Sa 18:11 occur again in 1Sa 19:9-10, with a few different words, and in a more appropriate connection; (2) because the contents of 1Sa 19:9, and the word ממּחרת in 1Sa 19:10, are most directly opposed to 1Sa 18:2 and 1Sa 18:5. On these grounds, no doubt, the lxx have not only omitted the beginning of 1Sa 18:6 from their version, but also 1Sa 18:9-11. But the supposed discrepancy between 1Sa 18:9 and 1Sa 18:10 and 1Sa 18:2 and 1Sa 18:5, - viz., that Saul could not have kept David by his side from attachment to him, or have placed him over his men of war after several prosperous expeditions, as is stated in 1Sa 18:2 and 1Sa 18:5, if he had looked upon him with jealous eyes from the very first day, or if his jealousy had broken out on the second day in the way described in 1Sa 18:10, 1Sa 18:11, - is founded upon two erroneous assumptions; viz., (1) that the facts contained in 1Sa 18:1-5 were contemporaneous with those in 1Sa 18:6-14; and (2) that everything contained in these two sections is to be regarded as strictly chronological. But the fact recorded in 1Sa 18:2, namely, that Saul took David to himself, and did not allow him to go back to his father's house any more, occurred unquestionably some time earlier than those mentioned in 1Sa 18:6. with their consequences. Saul took David to himself immediately after the defeat of Goliath, and before the war had been brought to an end. But the celebration of the victory, in which the paean of the women excited jealousy in Saul's mind, did not take place till the return of the people and of the king at the close of the war. How long the war lasted we do not know; but from the fact that the Israelites pursued the flying Philistines to Gath and Ekron, and then plundered the camp of the Philistines after that (1Sa 17:52-53), it certainly follows that some days, if not weeks, must have elapsed between David's victory over Goliath and the celebration of the triumph, after the expulsion of the Philistines from the land. Thus far the events described in the two sections are arranged in their chronological order; but for all the rest the facts are arranged antithetically, according to their peculiar character, whilst the consequences, which reached further than the facts that gave rise to them, and were to some extent contemporaneous, are appended immediately to the facts themselves. Thus David's going out whithersoever Saul sent him (1Sa 18:5) may indeed have commenced during the pursuit of the flying Philistines; but it reached far beyond this war, and continued even while Saul was looking upon him with jealous eyes. 1Sa 18:5 contains a general remark, with which the historian brings to a close one side of the relation between David and Saul, which grew out of David's victory. He then proceeds in 1Sa 18:6 to give the other side, and rounds off this paragraph also (1Sa 18:14-16) with a general remark, the substance of which resembles, in the main, the substance of 1Sa 18:5. At the same time it implies some progress, inasmuch as the delight of the people at the acts performed by David (1Sa 18:5) grew into love to David itself. This same progress is also apparent in 1Sa 18:13 (“Saul made him captain over a thousand”), as compared with 1Sa 18:5 (“Saul set him over the men of war”). Whether the elevation of David into a captain over a thousand was a higher promotion than his appointment over the men of war, or the latter expression is to be taken as simply a more general or indefinite term, denoting his promotion to the rank of commander-in-chief, is a point which can hardly be determined with certainty.</ref> - Saul had no sooner attached the conqueror of Goliath to his court, than he began to be jealous of him. The occasion for his jealousy was the celebration of victory at the close of the war with the Philistines.
Verses 6-7
“When they came,” i.e., when the warriors returned with Saul from the war, “when (as is added to explain what follows) David returned from the slaughter,” i.e., from the war in which he had slain Goliath, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, “to singing and dancing,” i.e., to celebrate the victory with singing and choral dancing (see the remarks on Exo 15:20), “to meet king Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with triangles.” שׂמהה is used here to signify expressions of joy, a fête, as in Jdg 16:23, etc. The striking position in which the word stands, viz., between two musical instruments, shows that, the word is to be understood here as referring specially to songs of rejoicing, since according to 1Sa 18:7 their playing was accompanied with singing. The women who “sported” (משׂחקות), i.e., performed mimic dances, sang in alternate choruses (“answered,” as in Exo 15:21), “Saul hath slain
