that He might decide it as judge, and deliver him out of the hand of Saul: “Let Him look at it, and conduct my cause,” etc.
Verses 16-18
These words made an impression upon Saul. David's conduct went to his heart, so that he wept aloud, and confessed to him: “Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast shown me good, and I (have shown) thee evil; and thou hast given me a proof of this to-day.”
Verse 19
“If a man meet with his enemy, will he send him (let him go) in peace?” This sentence is to be regarded as a question, which requires a negative reply, and expresses the thought: When a man meets with an enemy, he does not generally let him escape without injury. But thou hast acted very differently towards me. This thought is easily supplied from the context, and what follows attaches itself to this: “The Lord repay thee good for what thou hast done to me this day.”
Verses 20-21
This wish was expressed in perfect sincerity. David's behaviour towards him had conquered for the moment the evil demon of his heart, and completely altered his feelings. In this better state of mind he felt impelled even to give utterance to these words, “I know that thou wilt be king, and the sovereignty will have perpetuity in thy hand.” Saul could not prevent this conviction from forcing itself upon him, after his own rejection and the failure of all that he attempted against David; and it was this which drove him to persecute David whenever the evil spirit had the upper hand in his soul. But now that better feelings had arisen in his mind, he uttered it without envy, and merely asked David to promise on oath that he would not cut off his descendants after his death, and seek to exterminate his name from his father's house. A name is exterminated when the whole of the descendants are destroyed, - a thing of frequent occurrence in the East in connection with a change of dynasties, and one which occurred again and again even in the kingdom of the ten tribes (vid., 1Ki 15:28., 1Sa 16:11.; 2 Kings 10).
Verse 22
When David had sworn this, Saul returned home. But David remained upon the mountain heights, because he did not regard the passing change in Saul's feelings as likely to continue. המּצוּדה (translated “the hold”) is used here to denote the mountainous part of the desert of Judah. It is different in 1Sa 22:5.
