1 Samuel 22:2

2 and gather themselves unto him do every man in distress, and every man who hath an exactor, and every man bitter in soul, and he is over them for head, and there are with him about four hundred men.

1 Samuel 22:2 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 22:2

And everyone [that was] in distress
In straitened circumstances, through the oppression of men, through poverty, and afflictive providences in their families:

and everyone [that was] in debt;
and not able to pay their debts, and whose creditors were pressing upon them:

and everyone [that was] discontented;
with Saul's government and conduct: or "bitter in soul" ^F24; distressed and uneasy in their minds, being pinched with want, or pressed with sore afflictions, which made them very disconsolate: these

gathered themselves unto him;
to help him, or rather to be helped by him; hoping in time things would take a favourable turn with him, and he should be advanced to the throne, and so their circumstances would be mended thereby:

and he became a captain over them;
they enlisted themselves in his service, and he took the command of them; he might not know the circumstances of those in debt, nor of any of them thoroughly, nor their views in joining him; however he meant not to shelter them from paying their just debts if able, nor to encourage them in disloyalty to their king, only to make use of them for his own preservation for the present. In this he was a type of Christ, who receives sinners distressed with a sense of sin, discontented in their present state, and in debt, and, unable to pay their debts; see ( Matthew 11:28 ) ( Luke 7:41 Luke 7:42 ) ( Luke 15:2 ) ;

and there were with him about four hundred men;
among whom some think were the three mighty men spoken of in ( 2 Samuel 23:13 2 Samuel 23:14 ) ( 1 Chronicles 11:15 1 Chronicles 11:16 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (vpn rm) "amarus animo", Pagninus, Montanus.

1 Samuel 22:2 In-Context

1 And David goeth thence, and is escaped unto the cave of Adullam, and his brethren hear, and all the house of his father, and go down unto him thither;

2 and gather themselves unto him do every man in distress, and every man who hath an exactor, and every man bitter in soul, and he is over them for head, and there are with him about four hundred men.

3 And David goeth thence to Mizpeh of Moab, and saith unto the king of Moab, `Let, I pray thee, my father and my mother go out with you, till that I know what God doth for me;'

4 and he leadeth them before the king of Moab, and they dwell with him all the days of David's being in the fortress.

5 And Gad the prophet saith unto David, `Thou dost not abide in a fortress, go, and thou hast entered for thee the land of Judah;' and David goeth and entereth the forest of Hareth.