1 Samuele 26:5

5 Allora Davide si levò, e venne al luogo dove Saulle era accampato, e vide il luogo dove giaceva Saulle, ed Abner, figliuolo di Ner, capo dell’esercito di esso. Or Saulle giaceva dentro al recinto, e il popolo era accampato d’intorno a lui.

1 Samuele 26:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 26:5

And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched,
&c.] 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.

1 Samuele 26:5 In-Context

3 E Saulle si accampò nel colle di Hachila, ch’è a fronte al deserto, in su la via. E Davide, dimorando nel deserto, si avvide che Saulle veniva nel deserto per perseguitarlo;

4 e mandò delle spie, e seppe per certo che Saulle era venuto.

5 Allora Davide si levò, e venne al luogo dove Saulle era accampato, e vide il luogo dove giaceva Saulle, ed Abner, figliuolo di Ner, capo dell’esercito di esso. Or Saulle giaceva dentro al recinto, e il popolo era accampato d’intorno a lui.

6 E Davide fece motto ad Abimelec Hitteo, e ad Abisai, figliuolo di Seruia, fratello di Ioab, dicendo: Chi scenderà meco a Saulle, nel campo?

7 E Abisai disse: Io scenderò teco. Davide adunque, ed Abisai, vennero di notte al popolo. Ed ecco, Saulle giaceva dormendo dentro al recinto, e la sua lancia era fitta in terra presso a lui dal capo; ed Abner e il popolo giacevano d’intorno a lui.