And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of
the sword
Either Doeg or Saul; who, as Josephus F9 says, sent men thither to slay all the inhabitants of it: both men and women, children and sucklings;
not sparing sex nor age: and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword;
Saul, who was so tender hearted and merciful in the case of the Amalekites, when his orders from the Lord were utterly to destroy them, ( 1 Samuel 15:2 1 Samuel 15:3 ) , that he spared their king, and the best of their cattle, ( 1 Samuel 15:7-9 ) ; yet now so cruel to a city of the priests, as to destroy all the inhabitants of it, and cattle in it; and yet this bloody affair of Saul's is not taken notice of afterwards, only his slaughter of the Gibeonites, ( 2 Samuel 21:1 ) ; and Abarbinel is of opinion, that the inhabitants of this place were Gibeonites, who were hewers of wood, and drawers of water, to the house of the Lord here, ( Joshua 9:23 Joshua 9:27 ) . Now Saul was the more severe this city, to deter others from joining with David, who, if they did, must expect the same treatment.