And the three mighty men 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: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD.
Ver. 16. Nevertheless he would not drink thereof.] Accounting it too dear a draught for himself, he poured it out unto the Lord, out of a religious respect; and this put a difference betwixt this act of David's, and the like done by Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. a Finibus, non officiis, a vitiis discernuntur virtutes, saith Augustine, propter Te, Domine.
a Curt., lib. vii.