Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.
Detained before the Lord, х ne`ªtsaar (H6113) lipneey (H6440) Yahweh (H3068), assembled before Jehovah; from the idea of compelling, constraining to a festival (Gesenius); Septuagint, sunechomenos, being held together, confined] - at the tabernacle; perhaps in the performance of a vow, or from its being the Sabbath, which rendered it unlawful for him to prosecute his journey.
Doeg, an Edomite, [Septuagint, ho Suros, the Syrian (cf. Josephus, 'Antiquities,' b. 6:, ch. 12:, sec. 1)] - who had embraced the Hebrew religion.
The chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. Eastern monarchs anciently had large possessions in flocks and herds, and the office of the chief shepherd was an important one (Josephus styles him 'keeper of the king's mules').