1 Samuel 22:4

4 He presented them to the king of Mo'av, and they lived with him as long as David remained in his stronghold.

1 Samuel 22:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 22:4

And he brought them before the king of Moab
Having leave from him for it, and left them with him; so the Targum,

``caused them to remain before him:''

and they dwelt with him all the whole time that David was in the hold;
either in the cave of Adullam, as some think; or rather at Mizpeh in Moab, which might be a fortified place; or the sense may be, while he was in any hold in those parts, as he might go from one to another; what became of David's parents afterwards, we nowhere else read. The Jews ^F26 say the king of Moab slew his father and his mother, and his brethren, all but one, whom Nahash the Ammonite preserved; and is the kindness David speaks of, ( 2 Samuel 10:2 ) ; and if this was the case, now it was that his father and mother forsook him, and God took him up, ( Psalms 27:10 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Bemnidbar Rabba, sect. 14. fol. 212. 1. Tanchuma apud Jarchium in loc.

1 Samuel 22:4 In-Context

2 Then all the people in distress, in debt or embittered began gathering around him, and he became their leader; there were about four hundred with him.

3 David went from there to Mitzpeh of Mo'av and said to the king of Mo'av, "Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me."

4 He presented them to the king of Mo'av, and they lived with him as long as David remained in his stronghold.

5 But the prophet Gad said to David, "Don't stay in the stronghold. Leave, and go to the land of Y'hudah." So David left and went to the Forest of Heret.

6 Sha'ul heard that David and the men with him had been located. Sha'ul was sitting in Giv'ah, under the tamarisk tree on the hill, with his spear in his hand and all his servants standing around him.