John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 5. And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched , etc.] Came near it, within sight of it; so that he could take a view of it with his naked eye, and observe where and in what manner he was encamped: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner , the captain of his host ; where he and his general had their quarters in the camp: and Saul lay in the trench ; or circuit; not in the foss or ditch thrown up, in which an army sometimes lies entrenched; but this is to be understood either of the camp itself, so called, as Ben Gersom, Abarbinel, and Ben Melech think, because it lay in a circular form, that all comers to it on every side might be seen; or else a sort of fortress all around the camp, made of carriages joined together; and as the word signifies a carriage, cart or chariot, it may design the chariot in which Saul slept, as kings have been used to do when not in their houses; and to this the Septuagint agrees, which uses a word that Procopius Gazaeus says signifies one kind of a chariot, and is used of a chariot drawn by mules, in the Greek version of ( Isaiah 66:20); Grotius observes, kings used to sleep in chariots where there were no houses; (see Gill on “ 1 Samuel 17:20”); though he rather seems to have slept, “sub die”, in the open air: and the people pitched round about him ; both for the sake of honour, and for his greater security; this shows it could not be the loss he laid in, for then they could not pitch around him.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-12 - How soon do unholy hearts lose the good impressions convictions have made upon them! How helpless were Saul and all his men! All as thoug disarmed and chained, yet nothing is done to them; they are onl asleep. How easily can God weaken the strongest, befool the wisest, an baffle the most watchful! David still resolved to wait till God though fit to avenge him on Saul. He will by no means force his way to the promised crown by any wrong methods. The temptation was very strong but if he yielded, he would sin against God, therefore he resisted the temptation, and trusted God with the event.
Original Hebrew ויקם6965 דוד1732 ויבא935 אל413 המקום4725 אשׁר834 חנה2583 שׁם8033 שׁאול7586 וירא7200 דוד1732 את853 המקום4725 אשׁר834 שׁכב7901 שׁם8033 שׁאול7586 ואבנר74 בן1121 נר5369 שׂר8269 צבאו6635 ושׁאול7586 שׁכב7901 במעגל4570 והעם5971 חנים2583 סביבתו׃5439
