(7) Castle.--Stronghold, fastness. (Comp. 2Samuel 5:7.) In 1Chronicles 11:5 the form is mec-d?h, here it is the rare masculine form, mec?d: comp. Ar. macad, cacumen montis.

They called it.--Samuel (Hebrew), "one called it;" both in a general sense.

City.--Comp. Greek, polis = acropolis.

11:1-9 David was brought to possess the throne of Israel after he had reigned seven years in Hebron, over Judah only. God's counsels will be fulfilled at last, whatever difficulties lie in the way. The way to be truly great, is to be really useful, to devote all our talents to the Lord.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.