John Gill's Exposition on 1 Samuel 24:2

A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.

Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, etc.] Out of his army, with which he had been pursuing the Philistines: and went to seek David, and his men, upon the rocks of the wild goats; which were in the wilderness of Engedi; those rocks were exceeding high and terrible to look at, full of precipices, and so prominent, that to travellers they seemed as if they would fall into the adjacent valleys, that it even struck terror into them to look at them f473; called the rocks of wild goats, because these creatures, called from hence “rupicaprae”, or rock goats, (see <183901>Job 39:1); delighted to be there; and are, as Pliny f474 says, of such prodigious swiftness, that they will leap from mountain to mountain, and back again at pleasure; these mountains David and his men chose for safety, and the height and craggedness of them did not deter Saul and his men from seeking him there.

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