1 Samuel 24:3

3 Por el camino, llegó a un redil de ovejas; y como había una cueva en el lugar, entró allí para hacer sus necesidades.^[a] David estaba escondido en el fondo de la cueva, con sus hombres,

1 Samuel 24:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 24:3

And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where [was] a cave,
&c.] For the sheep to be led into at noon, to shelter them from the heat: such was the cave of Polyphemus, observed by Bochart ^F26, in which sheep and goats lay down and slept; (See Gill on Zephaniah 2:6);

and Saul went in to cover his feet;
the Targum is, to do his necessaries; and so Josephus ^F1; and the Jewish commentators generally understand it of easing nature; and as the eastern people used to wear long and loose garments, these, when they performed such an action, they used in modesty to gather them close about them, that no part of the body, their feet, and especially the parts of nature which should be concealed, might be seen; but the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "and there he lay" or "slept"; which suggest, that his going into the cave was in order to take some sleep and rest, when it was usual to cover the feet, both to prevent taking cold, and the private parts of the body being exposed to view; and this accounts better for Saul not hearing David's men in the cave, and for his being insensible of David's cuttings off the skirt of his garment, and best agrees with the use of the phrase in ( Judges 3:24 ) ; the only place besides this in which it is used; (See Gill on Judges 3:24);

and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave;
unseen and unobserved by Saul, even six hundred of them; nor need this seem strange, since in those parts of the world there were caves exceeding large, made so either by nature or art. Vansleb ^F2 speaks of a cave in Egypt so extraordinary large, that, without hyperbole, a thousand horses might there draw up in battle array, and of another larger than that; and Strabo says ^F3, that towards Arabia and Iturea are mountains difficult to be passed, and in which are deep caves, one of which would hold four thousand men: and as the mouths of these caves were generally narrow, and the further parts of them large, and also dark, persons at the entrance of them could be seen, when those in the more remote parts could not; and this cave is said to be extremely dark ^F4; which accounts for Saul's being seen when he came into the cave, whereas David and his men could not be seen by him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 45. col. 467, 468.
F1 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 13. sect. 4.
F2 Relation of a Voyage, p. 227.
F3 Geograph. l. 16. p. 520.
F4 Le Bruyn's Voyage to the Levant, ch. 51. p. 199.

1 Samuel 24:3 In-Context

1 Cuando Saúl regresó de perseguir a los filisteos, le informaron que David estaba en el desierto de Engadi.

2 Entonces Saúl tomó consigo tres batallones de hombres escogidos de todo Israel, y se fue por los Peñascos de las Cabras, en busca de David y de sus hombres.

3 Por el camino, llegó a un redil de ovejas; y como había una cueva en el lugar, entró allí para hacer sus necesidades. David estaba escondido en el fondo de la cueva, con sus hombres,

4 y estos le dijeron:—En verdad, hoy se cumple la promesa que te hizo el SEÑOR cuando te dijo: “Yo pondré a tu enemigo en tus manos, para que hagas con él lo que mejor te parezca”.David se levantó y, sin hacer ruido, cortó el borde del manto de Saúl.

5 Pero le remordió la conciencia por lo que había hecho,

Footnotes

• [a]. "hacer sus necesidades" . Lit. "cubrirse los pies" .