and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’?
We have here David's warm and pathetic speech to Saul, wherein he endeavours to convince him that he did him a great deal of wrong in persecuting him thus and to persuade him therefore to be reconciled. I. He calls him father (Sa1 24:11), for he was not only, as king, the father of his country, but he was, in particular, his father-in-law.
Commenting on 1 Samuel 24:9-15
And David said to Saul, wherefore hearest thou men's words,.... The false charges and accusations, that some of Saul's courtiers brought against David, as Doeg the Edomite, and such like sycophants and flatterers, to whom Saul hearkened, and believed what they said, and acted upon it.
And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt? (e) Contrary to the report of those who said David was Saul's enemy, he proves himself to be his friend.