Apparently Saul had confiscated fields and vineyards from the Israelite people and had given them to his officers, just as Samuel had predicted that a king would do (see 8.14).

Servants: see verse 6. These members of Saul’s court were from the tribe of Benjamin, as was Saul (9.1-2). David, however, was from the tribe of Judah, so they should not expect David to do what Saul had done for them.

The son of Jesse: that is, David.

Commanders of thousands and … hundreds: these expressions refer to different size military units. Revised English Bible says “officers over units of a thousand and a hundred.” However, since Revised English Bible may be misunderstood to mean a unit of 1100 soldiers, New American Bible is perhaps better: “an officer over a thousand or a hundred men.”

It is important for readers to understand the following implicit information in this verse: (1) Saul, like his officers, was from the tribe of Benjamin; (2) David was from a different tribe; (3) David would more likely give favored treatment to people from his own tribe of Judah rather than to those from the tribe of Benjamin, as Saul had done.

To make this information explicit, one may say “Hear now, you fellow members of the tribe of Benjamin.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provides a very good model: “Do you really think that this Judean will give to you who are from the tribe of Benjamin….”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .