SEV Biblia, Chapter 24:14
¿Tras quién ha salido el rey de Israel? ¿A quién persigues? ¿A un perro muerto? ¿A una pulga?
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 24:14
Verse 14. After a dead dog] A term used among the Hebrews to signify the most sovereign contempt; see 2 Sam. xvi. 9. One utterly incapable of making the least resistance against Saul, and the troops of Israel. The same idea is expressed in the term flea. The Targum properly expresses both thus: one who is weak, one who is contemptible.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 14. After whom is the king of Israel come out ? etc.] From his court and palace, with an army of men, and at the head of them: after whom dost thou pursue ? with such eagerness and fury: after a dead dog ; as David was in the opinion, and according to the representation of his enemies, a dog, vile, mean, worthless, of no account; a dead dog, whose name was made to stink through the calumnies cast upon him; and if a dead dog, then as he was an useless person, and could do no good, so neither could he do any hurt, not so much as bark, much less bite; and therefore it was unworthy of so great a prince, a lessening, a degrading of himself, as well as a vain and impertinent thing, to pursue after such an one, that was not worthy of his notice, and could do him neither good nor harm: after a flea ? a little contemptible animal, not easily caught, as it is observed by some, and when caught good for nothing. David, by this simile, fitly represents not only his weakness and impotence, his being worthless, and of no account, and beneath the notice of such a prince as Saul; but the circumstances he was in, being obliged to move from place to place, as a flea leaps from one place to another, and is not easily taken, and when it is, of no worth and value; signifying, that as it was not worth his pains to seek after him, so it would be to no purpose, he should not be able to take him.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 8-15 - David was falsely charged with seeking Saul's hurt; he shows Saul tha God's providence had given him opportunity to do it. And it was upon good principle that he refused to do it. He declares his fixe resolution never to be his own avenger. If men wrong us, God will righ us, at farthest, in the judgment of the great day.
Original Hebrew
אחרי 310 מי 4310 יצא 3318 מלך 4428 ישׂראל 3478 אחרי 310 מי 4310 אתה 859 רדף 7291 אחרי 310 כלב 3611 מת 4191 אחרי 310 פרעשׁ 6550 אחד׃ 259
