1 Samuel 24:2

2 Sha'ul took three thousand men chosen from all Isra'el and went searching for David and his men on the cliffs where the mountain goats are.

1 Samuel 24:2 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 24:2

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel,
&c.] Out of his army, with which he had been pursuing the Philistines:

and went to seek David, and his men, upon the rocks of the wild goats;
which were in the wilderness of Engedi; those rocks were exceeding high and terrible to look at, full of precipices, and so prominent, that to travellers they seemed as if they would fall into the adjacent valleys, that it even struck terror into them to look at them ^F24; called the rocks of wild goats, because these creatures, called from hence "rupicaprae", or rock goats, see ( Job 39:1 ) ; delighted to be there; and are, as Pliny ^F25 says, of such prodigious swiftness, that they will leap from mountain to mountain, and back again at pleasure; these mountains David and his men chose for safety, and the height and craggedness of them did not deter Saul and his men from seeking him there.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Adrichom Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 47. & Brocard. in ib.
F25 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 53.

1 Samuel 24:2 In-Context

1 When Sha'ul returned from pursuing the P'lishtim, he was told that David was in the desert at 'Ein-Gedi.

2 Sha'ul took three thousand men chosen from all Isra'el and went searching for David and his men on the cliffs where the mountain goats are.

3 Near some sheep pens along the way was a cave, and Sha'ul went inside to relieve himself. It happened that David and his men were sitting in the recesses at the back of the cave;

4 and David's men said to him, "Look! The day has come that ADONAI told you about when he said to you, 'I will turn your enemy over to you, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.'"Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Sha'ul's cloak.

5 But after doing this, David felt remorse over cutting Sha'ul's garment.