And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
Here we have, I. Saul's penitent reply to David's speech. It was strange that he had patience to hear him out, considering how outrageous he was against him, and how cutting David's discourse was. But God restrained him and his men; and we may suppose Saul struck with amazement at the singularity of the event, and much more when he found how much he had lain at David's mercy.
Commenting on 1 Samuel 24:16-22
And David sware unto Saul,.... That he would not cut, off his posterity; which oath he religiously observed, in sparing Mephibosheth, Sa2 21:7, and in punishing the murderers of Ishbosheth, Sa2 4:12; and as for the seven sons of Saul, delivered up to the Gibeonites, Sa2 21:6, it may be questioned whether they were his genuine legitimate offspring; and if they were, it was by...
Saul went home - Confounded at a sense of his own baseness, and overwhelmed with a sense of David's generosity. David and his men gat them up unto the hold - Went up to Mizpeh, according to the Syriac and Arabic.