Now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth before the
face of the Lord
For should it be spilled, God, who is omniscient, will see it, and take notice of it; and being righteous, and to whom vengeance belongs, he will avenge it: some render it, "my blood shall not fall to the earth before the face of the Lord" F18; I am continually under his eye and care, and he will protect and defend me; and in vain is it for thee to pursue after me; I shall never fall into thine hands, though I may be obliged to quit my country, and go into an idolatrous nation, against my will:
for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea;
which leaps from place to place and is not easily taken: or this may denote what a mean, poor, weak, insignificant person David was; and how much it was below Saul to come out with an army of chosen men in pursuit of him; so the Targum,
``the king of Israel is come out to seek one that is weak or feeble:''as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains;
``as the kore or partridge on the mountains hunts;''which, it is said, hunts and seeks after the nests of other birds, and sits on their eggs F22: see ( Jeremiah 17:11 ) ; so Saul hunted after David, though he could not take him; several naturalists F23 observe, that the partridge is very difficult to be taken by the hunter.