And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also [is] with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.
Ver. 17. And the king said unto the footmen.] Heb., The runners: who had run to fetch the priests from Nob to Saul, saith A. Lapide.
Turn, and slay the priests of the Lord.] His anger was bent against the Lord himself, for taking away his kingdom, and giving it to another: and because he could not come at the Lord, therefore he wreaketh his rage upon his priests; like as the devil smote Job's servants when he might not meddle with Job's self. This seemeth to have been the very sin against the Holy Ghost.
Because their hand also is with David.] This he speaketh, that he may not seem to have been mad without reason. In the Vatican hall, at Rome, is pictured the massacre of Paris: under one side of the picture is written, Coligni et sociorum caedes: on the other, Rex Coligni caedem probat. a Money, also, was thereupon coined in France, in the forepart whereof, together with the king's picture, was this inscription, Virtus in rebelles: and on the other side, Pietas excitavit Iustitiam, Piety hath stirred up justice., b
But the servants of the king would not.] This was well, but not all. Chrysostom c blameth them, because they did not positively and effectually plead the cause of the priests before Saul, &c.
a Il Mercurio Italico, p. 42.
b Camden's Elisab.
c In Ps. cxxxiv.