John Gill Commentary 1 Samuel 24

And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the
Philistines
Having, as it should seem, got the victory over them, and driven them out of his country, and pursued them to their own:

that it was told him, saying, behold, David [is] in the wilderness of
Engedi ;
in the strong holds of it, the high rocks and mountains in it, (1 Samuel 23:29) .

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel ,
&c.] Out of his army, with which he had been pursuing the Philistines:

and went to seek David, and his men, upon the rocks of the wild goats ;
which were in the wilderness of Engedi; those rocks were exceeding high and terrible to look at, full of precipices, and so prominent, that to travellers they seemed as if they would fall into the adjacent valleys, that it even struck terror into them to look at them ^F24 ; called the rocks of wild goats, because these creatures, called from hence "rupicaprae", or rock goats, see (Job 39:1) ; delighted to be there; and are, as Pliny ^F25 says, of such prodigious swiftness, that they will leap from mountain to mountain, and back again at pleasure;

these mountains David and his men chose for safety, and the height and craggedness of them did not deter Saul and his men from seeking him there.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Adrichom Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 47. & Brocard. in ib.
• F25: Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 53.

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 eastern people used to wear long and loose garments, they would gather these close about them in modesty when performing such an action, 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 suggests, 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.

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.

And the men of David said unto him
Some of his principal men, who were about him, and near him, such as Joab and Abishai:

behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee :
now the time was come that he spoke of to him by Samuel, or Gad, or to himself directly:

behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand ;
and such was Saul, as appeared by his seeking to take away his life; and now he was in the hand of David to take away his life, if he pleased:

that you may do to him as it shall seem good unto you ;
an opportunity of this kind now offered:

then David arose ;
from that part of the cave in which he was, the further part of it:

and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily ;
unawares to him, and unobserved by him, which might be easily done, if Saul was asleep, and it is probable he was; and by the same way it may be accounted for that he did not hear the discourse that passed between David and his men.

And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him ,
&c.] His conscience accused him, and he repented of what he had done:

because he had cut off Saul's skirt ;
which though less than what his servants put him upon, and he might have thoughts of doing, yet wasconsidered by him as a great indignity to his sovereign, and therefore sat uneasy on his mind.