is placed first for the sake of emphasis, “You Benjaminites also,” and not rather to Judahites, the members of his own tribe. The second לכלּכם (before ישׂים) is not a dative; but ל tub merely serves to give greater prominence to the object which is placed at the head of the clause: As for all of you, will he make (you: see Ewald, §310, a.).
Verse 8
“That you have all of you conspired against me, and no one informs me of it, since my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse.” בּכרת, lit. at the making of a covenant. Saul may possibly have heard something of the facts related in 1Sa 20:12-17; at the same time, his words may merely refer to Jonathan's friendship with David, which was well known to him. ואין־חלה, “and no one of you is grieved on my account ... that my son has set my servant (David) as a lier in wait against me,” i.e., to plot against my life, and wrest the throne to himself. We may see from this, that Saul was carried by his suspicions very far beyond the actual facts. “As at this day:” cf. Deu 8:18, etc.
Verses 9-10
The Edomite Doeg could not refrain from yielding to this appeal, and telling Saul what he had seen when staying at Nob; namely, that Ahimelech had inquired of God for David, and given him food as well as Goliath's sword. For the fact itself, see 1Sa 21:1-10, where there is no reference indeed to his inquiring of God; though it certainly took place, as Ahimelech (1Sa 22:15) does not disclaim it. Doeg is here designated נצּב, “the superintendent of Saul's servants,” so that apparently he had been invested with the office of marshal of the court.
Verses 11-15
On receiving this information, Saul immediately summoned the priest Ahimelech and “all his father's house,” i.e., the whole priesthood, to Nob, to answer for what they had done. To Saul's appeal, “Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, by giving him bread?” Ahimelech, who was not conscious of any such crime, since David had come to him with a false pretext, and the priest had probably but very little knowledge of what took place at court, replied both calmly and worthily (1Sa 22:14): “And who of all thy servants is so faithful (proved, attested, as in Num 12:7) as David, and son-in-law of the king, and having access to thy private audience, and honoured in thy house?” The true explanation of אל־משׁמעתּך סר may be gathered from a comparison of 2Sa 23:23 and 1Ch 11:25, where משׁמעת occurs
