I have no desire or intention to call anyone out by name, but I do want to express my frustration with a particular commentary I was using this evening. I can’t speak to the quality of the commentary as a whole, only the specific issue I was investigating.

I found the following comment on 1 Samuel 24:11: “However, here the term father is an ‘honorific’ title as in 2. K. 5:13; see “my son” in v. 16.”

When I turned over to 1 Samuel 24:16, I found the following: “On the phrase my son David, see on 24:11. Its use exhibits Saul’s ambivalent feelings.”

I get that the author is connecting 24:11 and 24:16. About that he is spot on. Yet, one might expect a bit more here. He has us flipping back and forth anticipating a fuller treatment, but he doesn’t deliver. Nor does he offer any further treatment on its reappearance in 26:21 and 26:25.