1 Samuel 24:14

After a dead dog, after a flea. — These homely but vivid similes are very common in Oriental discourse. David certainly, in his protestations of loyalty, could scarcely humble himself more than by drawing a comparison between the king of Israel in his grandeur and power and a poor dead dog — evidently an object held in special loathing by the Hebrews. “After a flea” — the original is even stronger, after “one flea” (a single flea) — “against a single flea,” which is not easily caught, and easily escapes, and if it is caught, is poor game for a royal hunter. — Berl. Bible and Lange.