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.
The footmen that stood about him - his body-guard, or his runners (1 Samuel 8:11; 2 Samuel 15:1; 1 Kings 1:5; 1 Kings 14:28), who held an important place at court (2 Chronicles 12:10). But they chose rather to disobey the king than to offend God by imbruing their hands in the blood of his ministering servants. A foreigner alone (Psalms 52:1-3) could be found willing to be the executioner of this bloody and sacrilegious sentence. Thus was the doom of the house of Eli fulfilled, (see the notes at 1 Samuel 2:1-36.)