(27) Shammoth the Harorite.--Samuel has "Shammah (of which Shammoth is plural) the Harodite." A place called Harod occurs in Judges 7:1. (Comp. also 1 Chronicles 27:8, Note.) 2 Samuel 23:26 adds another Harodite, Elika (? Elikam), omitted here by accident.
Helez the Pelonite.--Samuel, "the Paltite," perhaps more correctly. The Syriac and Arabic read "of Palton" and "Falt-na." Bethpelet was a town of Judah (Nehemiah 11:26), but 1 Chronicles 27:10 calls Helez "the Pelonite of the sons of Ephraim." The Heb. peloni (Authorised Version, Pelonite), means so-and-so, and may be a scribe's substitute for an illegible name.
Verse 27. - Harorite. The parallel passage has Harodite, the local identification of Shammoth, as from Hated, known for its spring (Judges 7:1), by which Gideon encamped, where also the army was tested by its mode of drinking. Some think it the same with the fountain of Jezreel (1 Samuel 29:1). Izrahite seems to have been the family distinction of Shammoth (1 Chronicles 27:8), from Zerah son of Judah. He is the fifth captain. In the parallel his name is followed by Elika, who is also called "the Harodite." Helez the Pelonite. Though the parallel place has Paltite, the present form probably should hold its own. Helez is the seventh captain of division, and said to belong to the "sons of Ephraim" (see 1 Chronicles 27:10, and Septuagint in all three passages).
11:10-47 An account is given of David's worthies, the great men who served him. Yet David reckoned his success, not as from the mighty men that were with him, but from the mighty God, whose presence is all in all. In strengthening him, they strengthened themselves and their own interest, for his advancement was theirs. We shall gain by what we do in our places for the support of the kingdom of the Son of David; and those that are faithful to Him, shall find their names registered much more to their honour, than these are in the records of fame.
And inquired not of the Lord,.... For though he did inquire in some sense in an external, careless, and hypocritical manner, yet not done seriously, sincerely, and heartily, nor with constancy; it was accounted as if he inquired not at all, 1 Samuel 28:6 the Targum adds another reason of his death, because he killed the priests of Nob; but that is not in the text:
therefore he slew him; or suffered him to be slain:
and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse; translated the kingdom of Israel out of Saul's family, upon his death, into Jesse's, even unto David; for the sake of which observation this short account is given of the last end of Saul.
Helez the Pelonite.--Samuel, "the Paltite," perhaps more correctly. The Syriac and Arabic read "of Palton" and "Falt-na." Bethpelet was a town of Judah (Nehemiah 11:26), but 1 Chronicles 27:10 calls Helez "the Pelonite of the sons of Ephraim." The Heb. peloni (Authorised Version, Pelonite), means so-and-so, and may be a scribe's substitute for an illegible name.
therefore he slew him; or suffered him to be slain:
and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse; translated the kingdom of Israel out of Saul's family, upon his death, into Jesse's, even unto David; for the sake of which observation this short account is given of the last end of Saul.