John Gill Commentary 1 Samuel 22

David therefore departed from thence
From Gath, being driven by Achish from his court, and let go by his servants, and glad he was of the deliverance:

and escaped to the cave Adullam ;
which was no doubt near to a city of the same name in the tribe of Judah, of which (See Gill on Joshua 15:35); this being a strong place, and in his own tribe, he might hope to be in greater safety; here he penned his hundred forty second psalm, see (Psalms 142:1–7) :

and when his brethren and all his father's house heard [it] ;
that he was come thither:

they went down thither to him ;
to visit and comfort him, counsel and assist him all they could; and chiefly to secure themselves from the rage and malice of Saul, who they might fear would fall upon them, and avenge himself on them for David's sake.

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 7:41Luke 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) .

FOOTNOTES:

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

And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab
So called to distinguish it from a place of the same name in the land of Israel; which Junius says is thesame with Malle, and signifies a fortified place, and refers to the Apocrypha:

``And how that many of them were shut up in Bosora, and Bosor, and Alema, Casphor, Maked, and Carnaim; allthese cities are strong and great:''

here he might think himself safer, though in an enemy's country, than in the land of Israel:

and he said unto the king of Moab, let my father and my mother, I pray
thee, come forth ;
out of the land of Israel, or out of the cave of Adullam, whither they were come to him:

[and be] with you ;
if not with the king of Moab at his court, yet in some part or other of his country, where they might be safefrom the rage of Saul:

till I know what God will do for me ;
on whose power and providence he wholly relied, and not upon the men that flocked to him, nor upon his ownpower and policy, courage and wisdom; he knew the promise of God to him, and he put his trust in him for theperformance of it; but knew not the time, nor way, and manner, in which it would be performed; and expectedin the meanwhile to be obliged to remove from place to place; and considering that his aged parents were notfit for such quick and sudden motions, and long flights, he provided as well as he could for theirsettlement; which was an instance of his filial affection for them, and piety towards them.

His father's name is well known, Jesse, (Ruth 4:22) (1 Samuel 17:12) but his mother's name is nowhere mentioned; the Jewssay her name was Natzbet, the daughter of Adal ^F25 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 1.

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) .

FOOTNOTES:

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

And the prophet Gad said to David
Who either accompanied him in his exile, or was sent to him on this account, being one of the company of the prophets, over whom Samuel was president, (1 Samuel 19:20) ;

abide not in the hold, depart, and get you into the land of Judah ;
this seems to confirm it that the hold David was in was not the cave of Adullam, because that was in the tribe of Judah; but rather some hold in the land of Moab, which he is directed by the prophet to leave, and go into the country of Judah, his own tribe, where Saul would not be so forward to pursue him, and where he would be among his friends, and in the way, upon Saul's death, to be anointed king over Judah; besides, appearing more openly would show the innocence of his cause, and his confidence in the Lord, more than to lurk about in a foreign land:

then David departed ;
from "Mizpeh" in "Moab"; or, however, from the hold in which he was:

and came into the forest of Hareth ;
where he would have places and opportunity enough to hide himself as he saw fit. Jerom ^F1 speaks of a village called Arath, where David abode, to the west of Jerusalem. Kimchi says this was a dry barren place, but for the sake of David it was made by the Lord a well watered and fruitful one.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: De loc. Heb. fol. 88. L.