David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance.
"After a dead dog!  After a flea!"  (1 Samuel 24:14).  These expressions were used by David as metaphors of his own insignificance relative to the importance of the king of Israel.  The implied question is, "Does not the king of Israel have anything more important to do than to chase after a flea"?  "The Hebrew word here has the article before the word `flea,' stressing that the meaning is "a single flea"![12]