Yer. i.-A full year. Hebrew, "days." David great reno:rn, for in 1 Chro_n. xii. 1-22 Rnshi nrgues in fav0ur of its meaning .~ome wo read of warriors from far dIStant tiibea days, nnd Josephus snys the time of David's coming to him to swell his forces and the st.ny in Philistia was "four months and enthusiasm for him was even su~h that a t1Ycnty days ; " but already in eh. i. 3 ; ii. baud of men swam arross the Jordan to 19, we have had the phrase "from days join him (ibid. ver. 16); while others from day-ward" in the sense of yearly, and comp. Manasseh deserted to him from Saul's 11.rmy Le,it. xxv. 29; Judges xYii. 10; also ibid. before the battle of Mount Gilboa so that :xix. 2, where the A.. V. translates the Hebrew at last he had with him "a great host like days four months as meaning "four months" the host of God" (ibid. vers. 19-21).' He only. Probably, as here, it is a year and came to Achish. To give him a v.ortion four months, though the omission of the of the spoil. And Achish said. Like the conjunction is a difficulty. So too for" after verb went up in ver. 8, the word indicates n time" (1"bid. xiv. 8) it should be "after a repeated action. David made many expedi- yenr "-Hebre"l"I", after days. tions against these wild tribes, and on each EXPEDITIONS OF DAYID FROM ZIKLAG occasion, when presenting himself at Gath, (nrs. S-12). Yer. 8.-Went up. The A.chish would inquire, Whither have ye (~eshuritcs inhabited the high table -land made a road-i. e. an inroad, or a raid-to- "-hich forms the north-eastern portion of day l A.s it stands the Hebrew means, "Do 1 he wilderness of Paran. Like the Renites, not make an inroad to-day ; " but the cor- t l"'Y seem to have broken up into scattered rection of the text given in the A.. V. has tribes, as we find one portion of them in the considerable authority from the versions. The ncighbonrhood of Bashan (Deut. iii. 14), Jerahmeelites, mentioned again in eh. xxx. and another in Syria (2 Sam. xv. 8). Pro- 29, were the descendants of Hczron, the l1abl~·, like the A.malekites, they were a firstborn of Pharez, the son of Judah (l Rcdouin race, and so great wanderers. Chron. ii. 9), and so were one of the great Hence the verb translated invaded is liter- families into which the tribe of Judah was ally "spread themselves out" like a fan, divided. Apparently they occupied the most so as to enclose these nomads, whose safety southerly position of its territory. The Xen- lay in flight. Gezrites. The written text ites (see on eh. xv. 6) are here described as has Girzites, which the Kri has changed being in close alliance with the men of J nJah. into Gezrites, probably from a wish to con- Probably they lived under their protection, nect a name never mentioned elsewhere with and paid them tribute. The south is literally the tom1 of Gezer. But Gezer lay far away "the N ege b," the d1y land, so called from the in the ,rnst of Ephraim, aud the connection absence of streams (comp. Ps. cxxvi. 4), which suggested in modern times of the Girzites formed not only the southernmost part of the with Mount Gerizim in Central Palestine is territory of Judah, but extended far into the more probable. They would thus be the Arabian desert. A.chish naturally understood remains of a once more po"l"l"erful people, it as the proper name for that part oftheNegeb dispossessed by the .Amorites, but who were which belonged to Judah, whereas David now probably a very feeble remnant. For meant it as it is translated in the A.. V., those nations, &c. The grammar and trans- where there is no obscurity as to its meaning. lation of this clause are both full of diffi- Vers. 11, 12. -To bring tidings. The culties, but the following rendering is perhaps A.. V. is wrong in adding the word tidings, the least objectionable : "For these were as the Hebrew means "to bring them to (the families) inhabiting the land, which Gath." Prisoners to be sold as slaves forrnell were of old; as thou goest towards Shur," &c. an important part of the spoil of war in Families must be supplied because the par- ancient times. But David, acting in accord- ticiple inhabiting is feminine. What, then, ance with· the cruel customs of warfare in his the narrator mea.ns to say is that these three dayb, and which he 12ractised even when he Bedouin tribes were the aboriginal inhabit- had no urgent necessity as here (see 2 Sam. ants of tbe north-western portion of the viii. 2), put all his prisoners to death, lest, desert between Egypt and South Palestine, if taken to Gath and sold, they shoulcl On the Amalekites see eh. xv 2. We betray him. The A.. V. makes his conclntt need not wonder at finding them mentioned even more sanguinary, and supposes that he again so soon after Saul's expedition. A. suffered none to escape. And so will be his race of nomads would sustain no great harm manner all the while he dwelleth. 'fhe from an expedition which soon began to Hebrew is "he dwelt," and thus the render- occupy itself with capturing cattle. On ing of the A.. V., though supported by the Shur see eh. xv. 7. Masoretic punctuation, is untenable. But Yers. 9, 10.-David smote the l11nd. These this punctuation is of comparatively recent expeditions were made partly to occupy his date, and of moderate authority. The words men, but chiefly to obtain the means of really belong to the narrator, end should be suhsistence. They also seem to have brought translated, "And so was his manner all the OR. XXVIJ, 1--12.] THE FinST BOOK 01'' SAMUEL. 513
d11ys that he dwelt in the field of the Philis-1 his own tribesmen of Judah and so prccluc!e tine~." It seems _that Achish w~ completel_y his return home, he rejoiced in him as c>ne doce1ved by Davill, and supposmg that his who would always remain his faithful vassal conduct would make him hateful for ever to and adherent.