When David returned to Ziklag, he sent portions of the booty to the elders of Judah, to his friends, with this message: "Behold, here ye have a blessing of the booty of the enemies of Jehovah" (which we took from the enemies of Jehovah); and this he did, according to 1 Samuel 30:31, to all the places in which he had wandered with his men, i.e., where he had wandered about during his flight from Saul, and in which he had no doubt received assistance. Sending these gifts could not fail to make the elders of these cities well disposed towards him, and so to facilitate his recognition as king after the death of Saul, which occurred immediately afterwards. Some of these places may have been plundered by the Amalekites, since they had invaded the Negeb of Judah (1 Samuel 30:14). The cities referred to were Bethel, - not the Bethel so often mentioned, the present Beitin, in the tribe of Benjamin, but Betheul (1 Chronicles 4:30) or Bethul, in the tribe of Simeon (Joshua 19:4), which Knobel supposes to be Elusa or el Khalasa (see at Joshua 15:30). The reading Βαιθσούρ in the lxx is a worthless conjecture. Ramah of the south, which was allotted to the tribe of Simeon, has not yet been discovered (see at Joshua 19:8). Jattir has been preserved in the ruins of Attir, on the southern portion of the Mountains of Judah (see at Joshua 15:48). Aror is still to be seen in ruins, viz., in the foundations of walls built in enormous stones in Wady Arara, where there are many cavities for holding water, about three hours E.S.E. of Bersaba, and twenty miles to the south of Hebron (vid., Rob. Pal. ii. p. 620, and v. de Velde, Mem. p. 288). Siphmoth (or Shiphmoth, according to several MSS) is altogether unknown. It may probably be referred to again in 1 Chronicles 27:27, where Zabdi is called the Shiphmite; but it is certainly not to be identified with Sepham, on the north-east of the sea of Galilee (Numbers 34:10-11), as Thenius supposes. Eshtemoa has been preserved in the village of Semua, with ancient ruins, on the south-western portion of the mountains of Judah (see at Joshua 15:50). Racal is never mentioned again, and is entirely unknown. The lxx have five different names instead of this, the last being Carmel, into which Thenius proposes to alter Racal. But this can hardly be done with propriety, as the lxx also introduced the Philistian Gath, which certainly does not belong here; whilst in 1 Samuel 30:30 they have totally different names, some of which are decidedly wrong. The cities of the Jerahmeelites and Kenites were situated in the Negeb of Judah (1 Samuel 27:10), but their names cannot be traced.

1 Samuel 31:2 Parallel Commentaries

followed

1 Samuel 14:22 Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled...

2 Samuel 1:6 And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance on mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned on his spear; and, see...

Jonathan

1 Samuel 13:2,16 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel...

1 Samuel 14:1-14,49 Now it came to pass on a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man that bore his armor, Come...

1 Samuel 18:1-4 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David...

1 Samuel 23:17 And he said to him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel...

1 Chronicles 8:33 And Ner begat Kish, and Kish begat Saul, and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

1 Chronicles 9:39 And Ner begat Kish; and Kish begat Saul; and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

Saul's sons

Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God...

2 Kings 25:7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass...