Saul said, “Tell David, ‘The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought he would make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 25. Dowry. Among the Hebrews, the man had to purchase his wife.—Philistines. They were the nearest nation of those who were not circumcised; and thus Saul would prove that David had attacked them, which would greatly irritate them against him. Calmet.—Josephus specifies six hundred heads, ( Bible.) falsely, (Horn) as he frequently disguises what might give his readers offence, as being either mean or incredible. Calmet.—Hundred is not specified in the original Hebrew copies, (Capel, iii. 17,) and David gives 200, verse 27. But Saul only stipulated for 100. See 2 Kennicott. 3:14. Calmet.—Wife, “thinking it mean to be guilty of an untruth,” and so forth says Josephus; “yet his disposition was not altered. He resolved, therefore, to take away his life, and wished Jonathan and his most trusty servants to put his designs in execution.” He then mentions the friendship of these two. But he takes no notice of the proffered marriage of Merob, and he seems not to have known that she was ever promised. See verse 17 and 19 and Calmet. 17:12. Bible.