And David said in his heart
Within himself, and to himself; while he was pondering things in
his own mind, and considering the circumstances in which he was,
and things appearing, very gloomy to him, he falls into a fit of
unbelief and thus addresses himself:
I shall now one day perish by the hand of Saul;
for though he was returned to his place, he knew he was restless
and uneasy, very inconstant and unstable, and not at all to be
depended on; yea, he might conclude that Saul, observing that God
was with him in protecting and defending him, and by delivering
him into his hands once and again, he would be the more jealous
of him, and envious at him, and seek all opportunities and
advantages against him; and he feared that one time or another
such would offer, and would be taken, and so he should perish by
him: this was a strange fit of unbelief he was sunk into, and
very unaccountable and unreasonable it was, had he but considered
his being anointed king by the Lord, the promise of God to him,
which could not fail, and the providence of God that watched over
him from time to time:
[there is] nothing better for me than that I should
speedily escape
into the land of the Philistines;
which may seem strange, when he was advised by the Prophet Gad to
depart from the land of Moab, and go into the land of Judah, (
1 Samuel
22:5 ) , and where he had been so wonderfully preserved; and
when he was in so much danger, when in the land of the
Philistines before, insomuch that he was obliged to feign himself
mad, ( 1 Samuel
21:13 ) ; and seeing this also was the very thing he lately
dreaded, and cursed the men that should be the cause of his going
out of his own land into an idolatrous one:
and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any
coast of
Israel;
hearing that he was gone into a foreign country, would seek for
him no more in any part of the land of israel, and so despair of
ever getting him into his hands, would lay aside all thoughts
about him for the future:
so shall I escape out of his hand;
and be for ever safe: these were the carnal reasonings of his
mind, under the prevalence of unbelief; and shows what poor weak
creatures the best of men are, and how low their graces may sink
as to exercise, when left to themselves.