1 Samuel 24:2

2 cumque reversus esset Saul postquam persecutus est Philistheos nuntiaverunt ei dicentes ecce David in deserto est Engaddi

1 Samuel 24:2 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 24:2

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel,
&c.] Out of his army, with which he had been pursuing the Philistines:

and went to seek David, and his men, upon the rocks of the wild goats;
which were in the wilderness of Engedi; those rocks were exceeding high and terrible to look at, full of precipices, and so prominent, that to travellers they seemed as if they would fall into the adjacent valleys, that it even struck terror into them to look at them ^F24; called the rocks of wild goats, because these creatures, called from hence "rupicaprae", or rock goats, see ( Job 39:1 ) ; delighted to be there; and are, as Pliny ^F25 says, of such prodigious swiftness, that they will leap from mountain to mountain, and back again at pleasure; these mountains David and his men chose for safety, and the height and craggedness of them did not deter Saul and his men from seeking him there.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Adrichom Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 47. & Brocard. in ib.
F25 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 53.

1 Samuel 24:2 In-Context

1 ascendit ergo David inde et habitavit in locis tutissimis Engaddi

2 cumque reversus esset Saul postquam persecutus est Philistheos nuntiaverunt ei dicentes ecce David in deserto est Engaddi

3 adsumens ergo Saul tria milia electorum virorum ex omni Israhel perrexit ad investigandum David et viros eius etiam super abruptissimas petras quae solis hibicibus perviae sunt

4 et venit ad caulas quoque ovium quae se offerebant vianti eratque ibi spelunca quam ingressus est Saul ut purgaret ventrem porro David et viri eius in interiori parte speluncae latebant

5 et dixerunt servi David ad eum ecce dies de qua locutus est Dominus ad te ego tradam tibi inimicum tuum ut facias ei sicut placuerit in oculis tuis surrexit ergo David et praecidit oram clamydis Saul silenter