1 Samuel 24:2

WEB

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.

KJV

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.

Commentary

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel,.... Out of his army, with which he had been pursuing the Philistines: and went to seek David, and his men, upon the rocks of the wild go ats; which were in the wilderness of Engedi; those rocks were exceeding high and terrible to look at, full of precipices, and so prominent, that to travellers they seemed as if they would fall into the adjacent valleys, that it even struck terror into them to look at them (x); called the rocks of wild goats, because these creatures, called from hence "rupicaprae", or rock goats, see Job 39:1 ; delighted to be there; and are, as Pliny (y) says, of such prodigious swiftness, that they will leap from mountain to mountain, and back again at pleasure; these mountains David and his men chose for safety, and the height and craggedness of them did not deter Saul and his men from seeking him there. (x) Adrichom Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 47. & Brocard. in ib. (y) Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 53.