1 Samuel 26:5

5 Then David started out. He went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner were lying down. Saul was lying inside the camp. The army was camped all around him. Abner was commander of the army. He was the son of Ner.

1 Samuel 26:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 26:5

And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched,
&c.] Came near it, within sight of it; so that he could take a view of it with his naked eye, and observe where and in what manner he was encamped:

and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner,
the captain of his host;
where he and his general had their quarters in the camp:

and Saul lay in the trench;
or circuit; not in the foss or ditch thrown up, in which an army sometimes lies entrenched; but this is to be understood either of the camp itself, so called, as Ben Gersom, Abarbinel, and Ben Melech think, because it lay in a circular form, that all comers to it on every side might be seen; or else a sort of fortress all around the camp, made of carriages joined together; and as the word signifies a carriage, cart or chariot, it may design the chariot in which Saul slept, as kings have been used to do when not in their houses; and to this the Septuagint agrees, which uses a word that Procopius Gazaeus says signifies one kind of a chariot, and is used of a chariot drawn by mules, in the Greek version of ( Isaiah 66:20 ) ; Grotius observes, kings used to sleep in chariots where there were no houses; (See Gill on 1 Samuel 17:20); though he rather seems to have slept, "sub die", in the open air:

and the people pitched round about him;
both for the sake of honour, and for his greater security; this shows it could not be the loss he laid in, for then they could not pitch around him.

1 Samuel 26:5 In-Context

3 Saul set up his camp beside the road. It was on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon. But David stayed in the desert. He saw that Saul had followed him there.

4 So he sent out scouts. From them he learned that Saul had arrived.

5 Then David started out. He went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner were lying down. Saul was lying inside the camp. The army was camped all around him. Abner was commander of the army. He was the son of Ner.

6 Then David spoke to Ahimelech, the Hittite. He also spoke to Joab's brother Abishai, the son of Zeruiah. He asked them, "Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?" "I'll go with you," said Abishai.

7 So that night David and Abishai went into the camp. They found Saul lying asleep inside the camp. His spear was stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying asleep around him.