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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Chronicles 12:19 - 12:19
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The Manassites who went over to David before the last battle of the Philistines against Saul. - עַל גָפַל, to fall to one, is used specially of deserters in war who desert their lord and go over to the enemy: cf. 2Ki 25:11; 1Sa 29:3. אֶל יִפֹּול, in the last clause of the verse, is a synonymous expression. The Manassites went over “when David went with the Philistines against Israel to the war, and (yet) helped them not; for upon advisement (בְּעֵצָה, cf. Pro 20:18), the lords of the Philistines had sent him away, saying, 'For our heads, he will fall away to his master Saul.' “ 1Sa 29:2-11 contains the historical commentary on this event. When the lords of the Philistines collected their forces to march against Saul, David, who had found refuge with King Achish, was compelled to join the host of that prince with his band. But when the other Philistine princes saw the Hebrews, they demanded that they should be sent out of the army, as they feared that David might turn upon them during the battle, and so win favour by his treachery with Saul his lord. See the commentary on 1Sa 29:1-11. בְּרָאשֵׁנוּ, for our heads, i.e., for the price of them, giving them as a price to obtain a friendly reception from Saul (cf. 1Sa 29:4). In consequence of this remonstrance, Achish requested David to return with his warriors to Ziklag. On this return march (“as he went to Ziklag,” cf. with בְּלֶכְתֹּו the לָלֶכֶת of 1Sa 29:11), and consequently before the battle in which Saul lost his life (Berth.), and not after Saul's great misfortune, as Ewald thinks, the Manassites whose names follow went over to David. The seven named in 1Ch 12:20 were “heads of the thousands of Manasseh,” i.e., of the great families into which the tribe of Manasseh was divided, and as such were leaders of the Manassite forces in war: cf. Num 31:14 with Exo 18:25, and the commentary on the latter passage.