Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 18:12–end
Saul had now, in effect, proclaimed war with David. He began in open hostility when he threw the javelin at him. Now we are here told how his enmity proceeded, and how David received the attacks of it.
I. See how Saul expressed his malice against David. 1. He was afraid of him, Sa1 18:12. Perhaps he pretended to be afraid that David would do himself mischief, to force his way to the crown. Those that design ill against others are commonly willing to have it thought that others design ill against them. But David's withdrawal (Sa1 18:11) was a plain evidence that he was far from such a thought. However, he really stood in awe of him, as Herod feared John, Mar 6:20. Saul was sensible that he ha…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 18:29
Saul was yet the more afraid of David--because Providence had visibly favored him, by not only defeating the conspiracy against his life, but through his royal alliance paving his way to the throne.
Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 19
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 18:27
Slew - two hundred men - The Septuagint has only one hundred men. Saul covenanted with David for a hundred; and David himself says, Sa2 3:14, that he espoused Michal for a hundred: hence it is likely that one hundred is the true reading.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 18:29
And Saul was yet the more afraid of David,.... Because the Lord was with him, and his wife loved him; so that he feared he should never be able to accomplish his designs, and that this marriage, which he intended as the means of his ruin, would pave the way for his ascending the throne:
and Saul became David's enemy continually; was every day giving fresh evidence of his enmity against him; before it was by fits, and at certain times, there were some intervals; but now enmity was rooted and habituated, and was constant and continually showing itself.
Keil & Delitzsch
