Flea: David at the cave of Adullam thus addressed his persecutor Saul
(1 Samuel 24:14) "After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom
dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea?" He thus speaks of
himself as the poor, contemptible object of the monarch's pursuit, a
"worthy object truly for an expedition of the king of Israel with his
picked troops!" This insect is in Eastern language the popular emblem
of insignificance. In
(1 Samuel 26:20) the LXX. read "come out to seek
my life" instead of "to seek a flea."
