David longed, and said, O that one would give me drink, &c.— The 17th verse seems to contain, not barely David's longing for the water of Bethlehem, but his passionate wish to see his native town freed from the troops of the Philistines; and should be rendered, David longed and said, who will give me to drink, &c.? The action of pouring out water before the Lord, was used with great solemnity; see 1 Samuel 7:6.; and here David seems, in consequence of that sacred custom, to have poured out the water which was thus unexpectedly brought him, 1 Chronicles 11:16 either by way of prayer that God would forgive his having thus undesignedly hazarded the lives of three of his bravest warriors, or else as an act of thanksgiving for their safe return. The humane and generous reader's heart will suggest to him reflections sufficiently suited to this great resolution. Curtius relates something similar of Alexander the Great, who, when his army was near being destroyed by thirst, and two of his soldiers had got a cruse of water for their children, and, happening to meet with Alexander, offered it to him to drink, returned the cup, full as it was, to his soldiers, and said, "I cannot bear to drink it alone, and it is too little to be divided among all; give it the children." See Kennicott and Chandler. As it would not suit the nature of our work to enter into a minute discussion of all the variations between this list of David's worthies, and that in 2 Samuel 23 we beg leave to refer the critical reader to Dr. Kennicott's Dissertations, vol. 1:
1 Chronicles 11:17-19
17 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate!
18 And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD,
19 And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.