Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 24:9-15
We have here David's warm and pathetic speech to Saul, wherein he endeavours to convince him that he did him a great deal of wrong in persecuting him thus and to persuade him therefore to be reconciled.
I. He calls him father (Sa1 24:11), for he was not only, as king, the father of his country, but he was, in particular, his father-in-law. From a father one may expect compassion and a favourable opinion. For a prince to seek the ruin of any of his good subjects is as unnatural as for a father to seek the ruin of his own children.
II. He lays the blame of his rage against him upon his evil counsellors: Wherefore hearest thou men's words? Sa1 24:9. It is a piece of respect due to crowned heads…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 24:8
HE URGES THEREBY HIS INNOCENCY. (Sa1 24:8-15)
David also arose . . . and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul--The closeness of the precipitous cliffs, though divided by deep wadies, and the transparent purity of the air enable a person standing on one rock to hear distinctly the words uttered by a speaker standing on another (Jdg 9:7). The expostulation of David, followed by the visible tokens he furnished of his cherishing no evil design against either the person or the government of the king, even when he had the monarch in his power, smote the heart of Saul in a moment and disarmed him of his fell purpose of revenge. He owned the justice of what David said, acknowledged his own gu…
Read the whole note in the consoleAdam Clarke on 1 Samuel 24:15
The Lord therefore be judge - Let God determine who is guilty.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 24:15
The Lord therefore be Judge, and judge between me and thee,.... Signifying he did not desire to be judge in his own cause, but leave it with God to determine it for him in his providence:
and see, and plead my cause; look with pity upon him, take his cause in his hand, plead it, and do him justice:
and deliver me out of thine hand: which was a prayer of faith, believing he would do it in due time, see Psalm 7:6.
