to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Achish
אָכִ֖ישׁ'a.Khish
H397
Akish · proper noun, a man's name
servants
עֲבָדָ֑יו'a.va.Dav
H5650
a servant · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
see
תִרְאוּ֙tir.'U
H7200
to see · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
man
אִ֣ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
mad
מִשְׁתַּגֵּ֔עַmish.ta.Ge.a'
H7696
to rave through insanity · verb, hithpael active participle, masculine singular absolute
brought
תָּבִ֥יאוּta.Vi.'u
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ecclesiastes 7:7 Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 21:10–end
David, though king elect, is here an exile - designed to be master of vast treasures, yet just now begging his bread - anointed to the crown, and yet here forced to flee from his country. Thus do God's providences sometimes seem to run counter to his promises, for the trial of his people's faith, and the glorifying of his name, in the accomplishment of his counsels, notwithstanding the difficulties that lay in the way. Here is, 1. David's flight into the land of the Philistines, where he hoped to be hid, and to remain undiscovered in the court or camp of Achish king of Gath, Sa1 21:10. Israel's darling is necessitated to quit the land of Israel, and he that was the Philistine's great enemy (…
feigned himself mad--It is supposed to have been an attack of epilepsy, real or perhaps only pretended. This disease is relieved by foaming at the mouth.
let his spittle fall down upon his beard--No wonder that Achish supposed him insane, as such an indignity, whether done by another, or one's self, to the beard, is considered in the East an intolerable insult.
Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 22
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 21:13
And he changed his behavior - Some imagine David was so terrified at the danger to which he was now exposed, that he was thrown into a kind of frenzy, accompanied with epileptic fits. This opinion is countenanced by the Septuagint, who render the passage thus: Ιδου ιδετε ανδρα επιλητον; "Behold, ye see an epileptic man. Why have ye introduced him to me?" Μη ελαττουμαι επιληπτων εγω; "Have I any need of epileptics, that ye have brought him to have his fits before me, (επιληπτευεσθαι προς με?") It is worthy of remark, that the spittle falling upon the beard, i.e., slavering or frothing at the mouth, is a genuine concomitant of an epileptic fit.
If this translation be allowed, it will set the c…
And Achish said, "Have you seen the man who is insane," etc.? David, indeed, suspected by the Gittites due to his reputation for virtues, industriously imitated the actions of one who was mad, so that he might be thought to be possessed and, pitied by those who saw him, released unharmed. But their king, unaware of his pretense, truly expelled him as if he were insane, excluding him from entering his house as a madman. Nor does the truth of allegory depart from the shadow of history. For the Lord, to heal the eyes of the hearts of those who could not see the glory of His divinity, applied the ointment of human humility; but some of the impious accused Him in His sufferings as if He were a man of frailty, in His virtues as if demoniac, and abhorred Him as performing miracles by a power contrary to God. Finally, as the Gospel recounts, we learn not only what was thought by adversaries, but also what was thought and said by His own, who were not yet strengthened in full faith: "And they came to the house, and again a crowd gathered, so that they could not even eat bread. And when His family heard it, they went out to seize Him; for they said, 'He is out of his mind'" (Mark 3). This His family did, still carnal in their perception, due to the immeasurable quantity and quality of His growing virtues; but look also at what the others did: "And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, 'He has Beelzebub, and by the prince of demons He casts out demons'" (Matthew 12; Mark 3). But even after His resurrection and ascension into heaven, as the apostles preached the truth of the Gospel, some deranged people ridiculed and rejected it as madness. Hence it is that the one who is debtor to both the wise and the foolish, bearing witness to Christ, heard: "You are insane, Paul; much learning is driving you mad" (Acts 26). Consequently, all who accuse Christ of madness and mania, it is no wonder if, by contemptuously rejecting Him, they furiously exclude Him from the house of their minds.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Abimelech — My father a king, or father of a king, a common name of the Philistine kings, as “Pharaoh” was of the Egyptian kings. (1.) The Philistine king of Gerar in the time of Abraham (Gen. 20:1-18). By an…
Achish — Angry, perhaps only a general title of royalty applicable to the Philistine kings. (1.) The king with whom David sought refuge when he fled from Saul (1 Sam. 21:10-15). He is called Abimelech in the…
Gath — A wine-vat, one of the five royal cities of the Philistines (Josh. 13:3) on which the ark brought calamity (1 Sam. 5:8, 9; 6:17). It was famous also as being the birthplace or residence of Goliath (1…
Judges, Book of — Is so called because it contains the history of the deliverance and government of Israel by the men who bore the title of the “judges.” The book of Ruth originally formed part of this book, but about…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Then said Achish to his servants, lo, you see the man is mad,.... Which he said, as willing his servants should think so, and therefore rather the object of their pity than of their rage and malice; or as really believing he was so, which he and they might conclude not merely from these his actions, before described, which they might judge real and not feigned; but they might suppose this was truly his case, brought upon him by the ill usage of Saul, who pursuing him from place to place, and sending after him to take away his life, had really brought him to distraction; and this they might rather conclude from his coming to Gath, an enemy's country, and whose champion he had slain, and many…
By this dissimulation David escaped the danger which threatened him; for Achish thought him mad, and would have nothing to do with him. "Wherefore do ye bring him to me? Have I need of madmen, that ye have brought this man hither to rave against me? Shall this man come into my house?" Thus Achish refused to receive him into his house. But whether he had David taken over the border, or at any rate out of the town; or whether David went away of his own accord; or whether he was taken away by his servants, and then hurried as quickly as possible out of the land of the Philistines, is not expressly mentioned, as being of no importance in relation to the principal object of the narrative. All tha…
The lengthy title of Ps 34 refers to this incident but names the Philistine king Abimelech rather than Achish. “Abimelech” might have been the common title for Philistine kings (in Hebrew it means “my father the king”). The name Abimelech also appears in Gen 20:2; 26:1.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 21:14
His behavior. His words.
And feigned madness. He acted insane.11The Midrash relates that Dovid said to ה׳ that he understood all creation of ה׳ with the exception of madness, for which he saw no purpose. ה׳ then responded that He will demonstrate to him the value of madness and that Dovid will need it.12I.e., he wrote in a normal handwriting, irrational statements.
He scribbled. He wrote.13He wrote, ‘Ochish the King of Gas owes me one hundred thousand gold coins and his wife owes me fifty.’
His saliva. His saliva; anything which drips is called 'ריר' as in, 'in saliva [בְּרִיר] of health',14Iyov 6:6. and as in, '[whether] his flesh run [דָר]'.15Vayikra 15:3.
