1 Samuel 27:7

7 And the number of the days which David hath dwelt in the field of the Philistines [is] days and four months;

1 Samuel 27:7 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 27:7

And the time that David dwelt in the country of the
Philistines
At Gath and Ziklag:

was a full year and four months;
or "days and four months"; days being sometimes put for a year, ( Judges 17:10 ) ; though some interpret it not of a year, but of some few days out of the fifth month, besides the four months; so Jarchi and Kimchi; and Josephus ^F8 makes his abode to be four months and twenty days; but, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, it was only four months; and so it may be rendered, "days, that is, four months"; for according to the Jewish chronology ^F9 Samuel died four months before Saul, and this flight of David was after the death of Samuel, and when Saul died he left the land of the Philistines, and took the throne of Judah; (See Gill on 1 Samuel 25:1).

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 13. sect. 10.
F9 Sepher Olam Rabba c. 13. p. 37.

1 Samuel 27:7 In-Context

5 And David saith unto Achish, `If, I pray thee, I have found grace in thine eyes, they give to me a place in one of the cities of the field, and I dwell there, yea, why doth thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?'

6 And Achish giveth to him in that day Ziklag, therefore hath Ziklag been to the kings of Judah till this day.

7 And the number of the days which David hath dwelt in the field of the Philistines [is] days and four months;

8 and David goeth up and his men, and they push unto the Geshurite, and the Gerizite, and the Amalekite, (for they are inhabitants of the land from of old), as thou comest in to Shur and unto the land of Egypt,

9 and David hath smitten the land, and doth not keep alive man and woman, and hath taken sheep, and oxen, and asses, and camels, and garments, and turneth back, and cometh in unto Achish.