1 Samuel 22:3

And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
David	דָּוִ֛ד da.Vid	H1732	David · proper noun, a man's name
went	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
Mizpeh	מִצְפֵּ֣ה mitz.Peh	H4708	Mitspeh · noun, common masculine singular construct
Moab	מוֹאָ֑ב mo.'Av	H4124	Moab · proper noun, a place name
said	וַיֹּ֣אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
king	מֶ֣לֶךְ Me.lekh	H4428	a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Moab	מוֹאָ֗ב mo.'Av	H4124	Moab · proper noun, a place name
father	אָבִ֤י 'a.Vi	H1	father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
mother	וְאִמִּי֙ ve.'i.Mi	H517	a mother (as the bond of the family) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
forth	יֵֽצֵא ye.tze'-	H3318	to go (causatively · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
know	אֵדַ֔ע 'e.Da'	H3045	to know (properly · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
God	אֱלֹהִֽים 'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
do	יַּֽעֲשֶׂה ya.'a.seh-	H6213	to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular

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

Genesis 47:11 And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rame…
Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Judges 11:29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh o…
Ruth 1:1-4 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to so…
Ruth 4:10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that…
Ruth 4:17 And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse,…
1 Samuel 3:18 And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.
1 Samuel 14:47 So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 22:1-5

Here, I. David shelters himself in the cave of Adullam, Sa1 22:1. Whether it was a natural or artificial fastness does not appear; it is probable that the access to it was so difficult that David thought himself able, with Goliath's sword, to keep it against all the forces of Saul, and therefore buried himself alive in it, while he was waiting to see (and he says here, Sa1 22:3) what God would do with him. The promise of the kingdom implied a promise of preservation to it, and yet David used proper means for his own safety, otherwise he would have tempted God. He did not do any thing that aimed to destroy Saul, but only to secure himself. He that might have done great service to his country…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 22:3

David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab--"Mizpeh" signifies a watchtower, and it is evident that it must be taken in this sense here, for it is called "the hold" or fort (Sa1 22:4). The king of Moab was an enemy of Saul (Sa1 14:47), and the great-grandson of Ruth, of course, was related to the family of Jesse. David, therefore, had less anxiety in seeking an asylum within the dominions of this prince than those of Achish, because the Moabites had no grounds for entertaining vindictive feelings against him, and their enmity, to Saul rendered them the more willing to receive so illustrious a refugee from his court.

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 22:3

He said unto the king of Moab - David could not trust his parents within the reach of Saul, and he found it very inconvenient to them to be obliged to go through all the fatigues of a military life, and therefore begs the king of Moab to give them shelter. The king of Moab, being one of Saul's enemies, would be the more ready to oblige a person from whom he might at least expect friendship, if not considerable services.

John Gill on 1 Samuel 22:3

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 the same 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; all these cities are strong and great:'' (1 Maccabees 5:26)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…

The Church Fathers

And David departed from there to Mizpah, etc. The law went forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isa. II), and it reached, growing towards the Church of the Gentiles, established on the highest peak of faith and virtues. Mizpah indeed is translated into a cave. He also went to the dialectical orators, philosophers, and even to the rulers of matters to reconcile them to himself; and to these, Christ commended the faith of God the Father and the piety of the Church to be protected with religious diligence until the fulfillment of the times of the nations.
— Bede, Commentary on Samuel

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

Abiathar — Father of abundance, or my father excels, the son of Ahimelech the high priest. He was the tenth high priest, and the fourth in descent from Eli. When his father was slain with the priests of Nob, he…
Jesse — Firm, or a gift, a son of Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4:17, 22; Matt. 1:5, 6; Luke 3:32). He was the father of eight sons, the youngest of whom was David (1 Sam. 17:12). The phrase “stem of…
Mizpah — Or Miz’peh, watch-tower; the look-out. (1.) A place in Gilead, so named by Laban, who overtook Jacob at this spot (Gen. 31:49) on his return to Palestine from Padan-aram. Here Jacob and Laban set up…
Moab — The seed of the father, or, according to others, the desirable land, the eldest son of Lot (Gen. 19:37), of incestuous birth. (2.) Used to denote the people of Moab (Num. 22:3-14; Judg. 3:30; 2 Sam.…
Doubting · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Jesse · Lives with David in Moab — Lives with David in Moab
Mizpah · .David puts his parents into the — .David puts his parents into the
Moabites · David takes refuge among, from Saul — David takes refuge among, from Saul

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).

1 Samuel 22:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 22:1-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 22:3

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 22:3

John Gill on 1 Samuel 22:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 22:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 22:1-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 22:3

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 22:3

John Gill on 1 Samuel 22:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 22:1-5

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 22:3-4