The Philistine - Rather as in the margin. The allusion is not to Goliath, but to one of the expeditions referred to in 1 Samuel 18:5.

Singing and dancing - Women used to dance to the sound of the timbrel, and to sing as they danced and played.

(instruments of music The word means, an instrument like the triangle, or with three cords.

When David was returned - This verse connects well with the 54th verse of the preceding chapter; and carries on the narration without any break or interruption. See the notes on 1 Samuel 17:54.

The women came out - It was the principal business of certain women to celebrate victories, sing at funerals, etc.

With instruments of music - The original word (שלשים shalishim) signifies instruments with three strings; and is, I think, properly translated by the Vulgate, cum sistris, "with sistrums." This instrument is well known as being used among the ancient Egyptians: it was made of brass, and had three, sometimes more, brass rods across; which, being loose in their holes, made a jingling noise when the instrument was shaken.

And it came to pass, as they came,.... The armies of Israel, with their commanders at the head of them:

when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine; either from the slaughter of Goliath, with his head in his hand, going to Jerusalem, and Saul accompanying him; or rather from the slaughter of the Philistines at some other time, the singular being put for the plural; since, according to the order of the history, this seems to be done after David was brought to court, and had been made a captain, and had been sent out on military expeditions, and had been successful therein, and from one of which he now returned:

that the women came out of all the cities of Israel; through which they passed:

singing and dancing; as were usual after great victories obtained, and deliverances wrought, the female sex being generally greatly affected with such things; since when things go otherwise they suffer much, and their fears rise high in time of battle; and when victory goes on their side, it gives them great joy, and which they used to express in this way:

to meet King Saul; the commander-in-chief, with his other officers, and David among the rest:

with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music; with pipes or flutes, which they both blew with their mouths, and played on with their hands, and other musical instruments exciting joy; the last word is, by the Targum, rendered,"with cymbals;''and so the Septuagint version; it signifies a musical instrument of three cords, according to Kimchi; and others, as Ben Gersom, understand it of principal songs, in which things wonderful, excellent, and honourable, were spoken of: see Exodus 15:20. Such sort of women were among the Romans called Cymballatriae and Tympanistriae (t), who shook the cymbals, and beat upon tabrets and drums at times of rejoicing.

(t) Vid. Pignorium de Servis, p. 166, 174.

Saul's jealousy towards David.

(Note: The section 1 Samuel 18:6-14 is supposed by Thenius and others to have been taken by the compiler from a different source from the previous one, and not to have been written by the same author: (1) because the same thing is mentioned in 1 Samuel 18:13, 1 Samuel 18:14, as in 1 Samuel 18:5, though in a somewhat altered form, and 1 Samuel 18:10, 1 Samuel 18:11 occur again in 1 Samuel 19:9-10, with a few different words, and in a more appropriate connection; (2) because the contents of 1 Samuel 19:9, and the word ממּחרת in 1 Samuel 19:10, are most directly opposed to 1 Samuel 18:2 and 1 Samuel 18:5. On these grounds, no doubt, the lxx have not only omitted the beginning of 1 Samuel 18:6 from their version, but also 1 Samuel 18:9-11. But the supposed discrepancy between 1 Samuel 18:9 and 1 Samuel 18:10 and 1 Samuel 18:2 and 1 Samuel 18:5, - viz., that Saul could not have kept David by his side from attachment to him, or have placed him over his men of war after several prosperous expeditions, as is stated in 1 Samuel 18:2 and 1 Samuel 18:5, if he had looked upon him with jealous eyes from the very first day, or if his jealousy had broken out on the second day in the way described in 1 Samuel 18:10, 1 Samuel 18:11, - is founded upon two erroneous assumptions; viz., (1) that the facts contained in 1 Samuel 18:1-5 were contemporaneous with those in 1 Samuel 18:6-14; and (2) that everything contained in these two sections is to be regarded as strictly chronological. But the fact recorded in 1 Samuel 18:2, namely, that Saul took David to himself, and did not allow him to go back to his father's house any more, occurred unquestionably some time earlier than those mentioned in 1 Samuel 18:6. with their consequences. Saul took David to himself immediately after the defeat of Goliath, and before the war had been brought to an end. But the celebration of the victory, in which the paean of the women excited jealousy in Saul's mind, did not take place till the return of the people and of the king at the close of the war. How long the war lasted we do not know; but from the fact that the Israelites pursued the flying Philistines to Gath and Ekron, and then plundered the camp of the Philistines after that (1 Samuel 17:52-53), it certainly follows that some days, if not weeks, must have elapsed between David's victory over Goliath and the celebration of the triumph, after the expulsion of the Philistines from the land. Thus far the events described in the two sections are arranged in their chronological order; but for all the rest the facts are arranged antithetically, according to their peculiar character, whilst the consequences, which reached further than the facts that gave rise to them, and were to some extent contemporaneous, are appended immediately to the facts themselves. Thus David's going out whithersoever Saul sent him (1 Samuel 18:5) may indeed have commenced during the pursuit of the flying Philistines; but it reached far beyond this war, and continued even while Saul was looking upon him with jealous eyes. 1 Samuel 18:5 contains a general remark, with which the historian brings to a close one side of the relation between David and Saul, which grew out of David's victory. He then proceeds in 1 Samuel 18:6 to give the other side, and rounds off this paragraph also (1 Samuel 18:14-16) with a general remark, the substance of which resembles, in the main, the substance of 1 Samuel 18:5. At the same time it implies some progress, inasmuch as the delight of the people at the acts performed by David (1 Samuel 18:5) grew into love to David itself. This same progress is also apparent in 1 Samuel 18:13 ("Saul made him captain over a thousand"), as compared with 1 Samuel 18:5 ("Saul set him over the men of war"). Whether the elevation of David into a captain over a thousand was a higher promotion than his appointment over the men of war, or the latter expression is to be taken as simply a more general or indefinite term, denoting his promotion to the rank of commander-in-chief, is a point which can hardly be determined with certainty.)

- Saul had no sooner attached the conqueror of Goliath to his court, than he began to be jealous of him. The occasion for his jealousy was the celebration of victory at the close of the war with the Philistines.

1 Samuel 18:6-7

"When they came," i.e., when the warriors returned with Saul from the war, "when (as is added to explain what follows) David returned from the slaughter," i.e., from the war in which he had slain Goliath, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, "to singing and dancing," i.e., to celebrate the victory with singing and choral dancing (see the remarks on Exodus 15:20), "to meet king Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with triangles." שׂמהה is used here to signify expressions of joy, a fte, as in Judges 16:23, etc. The striking position in which the word stands, viz., between two musical instruments, shows that, the word is to be understood here as referring specially to songs of rejoicing, since according to 1 Samuel 18:7 their playing was accompanied with singing. The women who "sported" (משׂחקות), i.e., performed mimic dances, sang in alternate choruses ("answered," as in Exodus 15:21), "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands."

And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the {c} Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.

(c) That is, Goliath.

Philistine: or, Philistines

instruments...: Heb. three stringed instruments

6. the women came out of all cities of Israel-in the homeward march from the pursuit of the Philistines. This is a characteristic trait of Oriental manners. On the return of friends long absent, and particularly on the return of a victorious army, bands of women and children issue from the towns and villages, to form a triumphal procession, to celebrate the victory, and, as they go along, to gratify the soldiers with dancing, instrumental music, and extempore songs, in honor of the generals who have earned the highest distinction by feats of gallantry. The Hebrew women, therefore, were merely paying the customary gratulations to David as the deliverer of their country, but they committed a great indiscretion by praising a subject at the expense of their sovereign.

18:6-11 David's troubles not only immediately follow his triumphs, but arise from them; such is the vanity of that which seems greatest in this world. It is a sign that the Spirit of God is departed from men, if, like Saul, they are peevish, envious, suspicious, and ill-natured. Compare David, with his harp in his hand, aiming to serve Saul, and Saul, with his javelin in his hand, aiming to slay David; and observe the sweetness and usefulness of God's persecuted people, and the barbarity of their persecutors. But David's safety must be ascribed to God's providence.