1 Samuel 22:17

17 And the king said to the guard who stood about him, "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me." But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.

1 Samuel 22:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 22:17

And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him
Or the "runners" F6; the running footmen, that used to run before him when he went out from place to place, and were here waiting on him, ready to set out whenever he should give the orders to go elsewhere. The tradition of the Jews is, that these were Abner and Amasa F7; but, as Kimchi observes, they were not footmen, but princes, captains in the army, and the first of them the general of it: turn and slay the priests of the Lord;
he owns them to be the priests of the Lord, and calls them so, and yet gave orders to put them to death, though innocent; one would have thought this their character would have flown in his face, and stung his conscience, and deterred him from so foul a fact: because their hand also [is] with David;
as well as Ahimelech; which did not at all appear, nor that they had so much as seen him at Nob, only Ahimelech; and still less that they had entered into a conspiracy with him: and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me;
which also was false; they knew nothing of the flight of David, and therefore could not discover it to the king: but the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall
upon the priests of the Lord;
their consciences would not suffer them to do it; they refused to obey the king's orders, and chose rather to expose themselves to his resentment, than to be guilty of such a crime. Saul's footmen had more sense of honour, justice, and truth, than he himself had, and were worthy of praise; but they would have been deserving of more, if they could not have prevailed upon him by entreaties and remonstrances to have forborne such a bloody execution, instead of being the tame spectators of it, they had taken him, and bound him as a madman, and so facilitated the escape of the priests, and prevented this shocking scene of wickedness.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 (Myurl) "cursoribus", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F7 Midrash Tillim apud Abarbinel. in loc.

1 Samuel 22:17 In-Context

15 Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father; for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little."
16 And the king said, "You shall surely die, Ahim'elech, you and all your father's house."
17 And the king said to the guard who stood about him, "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me." But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.
18 Then the king said to Do'eg, "You turn and fall upon the priests." And Do'eg the E'domite turned and fell upon the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod.
19 And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; both men and women, children and sucklings, oxen, asses and sheep, he put to the sword.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.