1 Samuel 27:7

7 After David had been living in the country of the P'lishtim for a year and four months,

1 Samuel 27:7 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 27:7

And the time that David dwelt in the country of the
Philistines
At Gath and Ziklag:

was a full year and four months;
or "days and four months"; days being sometimes put for a year, ( Judges 17:10 ) ; though some interpret it not of a year, but of some few days out of the fifth month, besides the four months; so Jarchi and Kimchi; and Josephus ^F8 makes his abode to be four months and twenty days; but, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, it was only four months; and so it may be rendered, "days, that is, four months"; for according to the Jewish chronology ^F9 Samuel died four months before Saul, and this flight of David was after the death of Samuel, and when Saul died he left the land of the Philistines, and took the throne of Judah; (See Gill on 1 Samuel 25:1).

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 13. sect. 10.
F9 Sepher Olam Rabba c. 13. p. 37.

1 Samuel 27:7 In-Context

5 David said to Akhish, "If you are now favorably disposed toward me, let me have a place to live in one of the cities in the countryside. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?"

6 That very day Akhish gave him Ziklag, and that's why to this day Ziklag belongs to the kings of Y'hudah.

7 After David had been living in the country of the P'lishtim for a year and four months,

8 he and his men began going up and raiding the G'shuri, the Gizri and the 'Amaleki (from ancient times these people had lived in the land in the direction of Shur, all the way to Egypt).

9 David would attack the land, leaving alive neither men nor women, but taking the sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and clothing. Then he would return and go to Akhish.