1 Samuel 30:15

15 And David said to him, Mayest thou lead me to this company? Which said (And the young man said), Swear thou to me by God, that thou shalt not slay me, and that thou shalt not betake me into the hands of my lord; and I shall lead thee to this company. And David swore to him.

1 Samuel 30:15 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:15

And David said unto him, canst thou me down to this company?
&c.] That is, show him, or direct him where they were:

and he said, swear unto me by God;
the Targum is, by the Word of the Lord; but it is highly probable this man had no notion of Jehovah, and his Word, or of the true God; only that there was a God, and that an oath taken by him was solemn, sacred, and inviolable, and might be trusted to and depended on:

that thou wilt neither kill me;
for he found now he was in the hands of those whose city he had been concerned in plundering and burning, and so might fear his life was in danger:

nor deliver me into the hands of my master;
who had been a cruel one to him, and therefore would gladly be clear of him; and if he had nothing else against him, his late usage of him was sufficient to raise his resentment of him:

and I will bring thee down to this company;
or show him where they were, having heard them say where they would stop, and make merry, and divide their spoil; and perhaps his master might tell him they would be at such a place at such a time, where, if he was better, he might come to them; the Vulgate Latin version adds, "and David swore to him": which, though not expressed in the original text, was no doubt done by him; and the Syriac and Arabic versions begin ( 1 Samuel 30:16 ) thus, "when David had sworn to him".

1 Samuel 30:15 In-Context

13 Then David said to him, Whose man art thou, either from whence and whither goest thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, the servant of a man of Amalek; but my lord forsook me, for I began to be sick the third day ago.

14 For we brake out at the south coast of (the) Cherethites, and against Judah (near Judah), and at the south of Caleb, and we burnt Ziklag with fire.

15 And David said to him, Mayest thou lead me to this company? Which said (And the young man said), Swear thou to me by God, that thou shalt not slay me, and that thou shalt not betake me into the hands of my lord; and I shall lead thee to this company. And David swore to him.

16 And when the young man had led him thither, lo! they sat at the meat, upon the face of all the earth, eating and drinking, and as hallowing a feast day, for all the prey and spoils which they had taken of the land of Philistines, and of the land of Judah. (And when the young man had led him there, lo! they sat spread out over all the ground, eating and drinking, as if celebrating a feast day, because of all the prey and the spoils which they had taken from the land of the Philistines, and the land of Judah.)

17 And David smote them from the eventide unto the eventide of the tother day, and not any of them escaped, no but four hundred young men, that went upon camels, and fled (who went upon camels, and fled).