1 Samuel 22:4

4 So {he brought them before the king of Moab}, and they stayed with him all the days David was in the stronghold.

1 Samuel 22:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 22:4

And he brought them before the king of Moab
Having leave from him for it, and left them with him; so the Targum,

``caused them to remain before him:''

and they dwelt with him all the whole time that David was in the hold;
either in the cave of Adullam, as some think; or rather at Mizpeh in Moab, which might be a fortified place; or the sense may be, while he was in any hold in those parts, as he might go from one to another; what became of David's parents afterwards, we nowhere else read. The Jews ^F26 say the king of Moab slew his father and his mother, and his brethren, all but one, whom Nahash the Ammonite preserved; and is the kindness David speaks of, ( 2 Samuel 10:2 ) ; and if this was the case, now it was that his father and mother forsook him, and God took him up, ( Psalms 27:10 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Bemnidbar Rabba, sect. 14. fol. 212. 1. Tanchuma apud Jarchium in loc.

1 Samuel 22:4 In-Context

2 Every man in distress and every man who had a creditor and every embittered man gathered to him, and he became {their commander}. Now there [were] about four hundred men with him.

3 And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother {stay} with you until I know what God will do for me."

4 So {he brought them before the king of Moab}, and they stayed with him all the days David was in the stronghold.

5 Then Gad the prophet said to David, "You should not stay in the stronghold; leave and go into the land of Judah." So David left and came [to] the forest of Hereth.

6 Now Saul heard that David and the men who [were] with him had been located. Saul [was] sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk [tree] at Ramah. Now his spear [was] in his hand and all his servants [were] stationed around him.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "he led them into the presence of the king of Moab"