For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria,
&c.] When at his grandfather's court there:
saying, if the Lord will bring me again indeed to Jerusalem;
which he might be sincerely desirous of:
then I will serve the Lord;
but it is a question whether he ever made a vow to this purpose, or concerned himself about serving the Lord; but it rather may be, this was a lie of his, now framed in order to get leave of the king to go to Hebron.