Shmuel Alef 27:7

7 And the mispar hayamim that Dovid dwelt in the sadeh of the Pelishtim was four months and two days.

Shmuel Alef 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).

---

FOOTNOTES:

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

Shmuel Alef 27:7 In-Context

5 And Dovid said unto Achish, If I have now found chen in thine eyes, let them give me a makom (place) in some town in the sadeh (country), that I may dwell there; for why should thy eved dwell in the ir hamamlachah (royal city) with thee?

6 Then Achish gave him Tziklag that day; therefore Tziklag belongs unto the Melachim of Yehudah unto this day.

7 And the mispar hayamim that Dovid dwelt in the sadeh of the Pelishtim was four months and two days.

8 And Dovid and his anashim went up, and raided the Geshuri, and the Girzi, and the Amaleki; for they were of old the inhabitants of HaAretz, as thou goest to Shur, even unto Eretz Mitzrayim.

9 And Dovid attacked the land, and left neither ish nor isha alive, and took away the tzon, and the bakar, and the chamorim, and the gemalim, and the begadim, and returned, and came to Achish.