1 Samuel 17 - Introduction
XVII. (1 Samuel 17:1) The First Feat of Arms of David — the Encounter with the Philistine Giant.... [ Continue Reading ]
XVII. (1 Samuel 17:1) The First Feat of Arms of David — the Encounter with the Philistine Giant.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE PHILISTINES GATHERED TOGETHER THEIR ARMIES TO BATTLE. — There is nothing to tell us how long a time had elapsed since the victory of Saul over Amalek and the other events related in the last chapter. The compiler of the book is henceforth mainly concerned with the story of David, and how he... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PHILISTINES STOOD.... — Conder, in his _Tent Work in Palestine,_ writing on the spot, gives us a vivid picture of the scene of the well-known encounter between David and the giant Philistine: — “We may picture to ourselves the two hosts covering the low rocky hills opposite to each other, an... [ Continue Reading ]
A COAT OF MAIL. — More accurately, _breastplate of scales._ This armour has been sometimes understood as “chain armour,” but it is more probable that the Philistine armour was made of metal scales, like those of a fish, whose defensive coat was, no doubt, imitated at a very early date by this warlik... [ Continue Reading ]
AM NOT I A PHILISTINE? — The literal rendering here gives a far more forcible reading: _Am not I the Philistine?_ the famous warrior whom you know too well? The Targum of Jonathan adds here the proud boast of the giant warrior that it was he who had slain Hophni and Phinehas (the sons of Eli, the hi... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WILL WE BE YOUR SERVANTS. — Each of the positions which the two opposing armies held was well-nigh impregnable; thus it seemed as though a single combat was the only way of deciding the present campaign: besides which, in those far back times such single combats between renowned chieftains of t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE DISMAYED, AND GREATLY AFRAID. — Saul the king, perhaps, was restrained from personally accepting the challenge by motives of dignity, but the marked silence on his part, and the utter hopelessness of his army, reads in strange contrast to the former records of Hebrew daring. Where was Jona... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW DAVID WAS THE SON OF THAT EPHRA-THITE. — This verse, and the following verses to the end of 1 Samuel 17:31, are left out altogether, with 1 Samuel 17:55, in the Vatican LXX. This omission was, no doubt, owing to the difficulty connected with this mention of David, where he is apparently introduc... [ Continue Reading ]
RETURNED FROM SAUL TO FEED HIS FATHER’S SHEEP. — This short statement was, no doubt, introduced by the compiler of the First Book of Samuel to show that, in spite of this apparent introduction of David into the history for the first time in this chapter (see 1 Samuel 17:12 and following verses), and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PRESENTED HIMSELF FORTY DAYS. — Wordsworth, following Augustine, sees here a reference to the temptation of the true David, who “was in the wilderness _forty days,_ tempted of the devil.” “In David is Christ... do not, therefore, read this history of David as if it did not concern you who are me... [ Continue Reading ]
LOOK HOW THY BRETHREN FARE. — The same learned commentator (Wordsworth), following out this curious line of Patristic interpretation, remarks on these words: “David is sent by his father to his brethren from Bethlehem. So the Divine David, Jesus Christ, who was born at Bethlehem, was sent to His bre... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAN, FIGHTING WITH THE PHILISTINES. — The words of this verse, which read in the English Version as an explanatory parenthesis, are really part of Jesse’s direction to his shepherd son, telling him where he would find his brethren. “They are in the valley of the Terebinth (Elah), f... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CAME TO THE TRENCH. — Literally, _to the wagon rampart;_ a circle of wagons formed a rude fortification about the camp of Israel. There — that is, within the fortified enclosure — he left (1 Samuel 17:22) his baggage, the ten cheeses, &c, and hastened to the “front,” where he knew his brethren an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID LEFT HIS CARRIAGE. — That is, his baggage. The word “carriage,” as signifying baggage, is used in the English Version in this archaic sense in Isaiah 10:28 : “At Michmash he hath laid up his carriages;” and in Acts 21:15 : “We took up our carriages.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PHILISTINE OF GATH. — There is a difficulty connected with the Philistine giant’s name, for we read in 2 Samuel 21:19 how that Goliath of Gath, the giant, “the staff of whose spear _was_ like a weaver’s beam,” was slain by Elhanan, the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, after David had been ma... [ Continue Reading ]
FLED FROM HIM, AND WERE SORE AFRAID. — The student of the history can hardly understand this great fear of a giant Philistine which seems to have come upon the warriors of Saul. When we remember the gallant deeds of the people in former years, it reads like a page out of the story of another race. A... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MAKE HIS FATHER’S HOUSE FREE IN ISRAEL. — Among the lavish offers Saul made to the one who should vanquish the giant was this, “The family of the successful combatant should be free in Israel.” The exact signification here of the Hebrew word rendered “free” is disputed. The simple meaning would... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID SPAKE... — Very vividly does the historian here depict the scene that morning in the “front:” the dismayed soldiers of King Saul watching and listening to the boastful, impious words, as the giant champion shouted them across the narrow ravine which parted the outposts of the two armies; t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ELIAB’S ANGER WAS KINDLED AGAINST DAVID. — There were probably many years between the ages of the eldest and youngest of these eight brothers, and this jealous anger was, no doubt, no new thing in Eliab. The casual mention (1 Samuel 17:34) of the boy’s prowess, when the lion and the bear attacke... [ Continue Reading ]
IS THERE NOT A CAUSE? — David answers his jealous and over-bearing elder brother with all gentleness and forbearance, but he does not cease to make his inquiries of the soldiers respecting the giant, nor does he refrain from loudly expressing his astonishment at such a public insult to the God of Is... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SENT FOR HIM. — No doubt much more was said by the brave shepherd boy than the compiler of the history has preserved for us in the brief account here. David felt that supernatural strength had been communicated to him by the Spirit of God, which came upon him on the day of his anointing (1 Samuel... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAUL SAID TO DAVID... — The king evidently looked on the brave boy with love and admiration, but at first doubted in his heart the reality of David’s mission. Whether or not Saul recognised the youth as the sweet singer who had charmed away, perhaps more than once, that terrible soul malady of h... [ Continue Reading ]
THY SERVANT KEPT HIS FATHER’S SHEEP. — Here follows in the colloquy between the king and the boy that simple brave narrative which children listen to with glowing cheeks — that simple story, bearing the stamp of truth on every word — of what had happened to him in past days. Fierce wild animals, the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LION AND THE BEAR. — The lion and the bear were, in the days of Saul, common in Palestine; the country then was densely wooded. In some of the wilder districts bears are still numerous. SHALL BE AS ONE OF THEM. — “He, the idolator, must know that he has not to do with mere men, but with God: wi... [ Continue Reading ]
GO, AND THE LORD BE WITH THEE. — This permission and blessing of King Saul recalls the Saul of old days, before the covenant between him and the Mighty One of Israel was broken, before the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him. It was a great act of courageous trust in the Glorious Arm which had,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAUL ARMED DAVID WITH HIS ARMOUR. — But the king was determined to omit no earthly means of securing victory to his young champion, and we read how he made him try on his own various pieces of fighting array, doubtless the best-tempered and costliest that the camp of Israel possessed. The word r... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE TOOK HIS STAFF IN HIS HAND. — It was a true stroke of military genius in David, this determination of his to fight only with the weapons, weak and unimportant though they seemed, with which he was familiar, and in the use of which he was so skilful; nor was the issue of the combat, now he had... [ Continue Reading ]
AM I A DOG? — The Philistine warrior — as the shepherd boy, all unarmed, drew near — rose apparently, for he was seated, as was often the custom with these heavily-clad warriors of antiquity when not actually engaged in combat, and coming towards David, taunted him and his cause with the most contem... [ Continue Reading ]
COME TO ME. — In similar terms Hector addresses Ajax — “And thou imperious! if thy madness wait The lance of Hector, thou shalt meet thy fate. That giant corse, extended on the shore. Shall largely feed the fowls with fat and gore.” — _Iliad, xiii._ 1053.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SMITE THEE. — David reiterated to the Philistine, as he had done to Saul, his certainty of victory, but in the same breath says that the victory will be that God’s whose name the Philistine had just been contemptuously using.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S... — Although we possess no special ode or psalm composed by David on the occasion of this mortal combat, in which, owing to his sure trust in Jehovah, he won his never-to-be-forgotten victory, yet in many of the compositions attributed to him in the Psalter we find memo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SMOTE THE PHILISTINE IN THE FOREHEAD. — The LXX. add the words “through the helm” The Greek translators could not understand the fact of the forehead being unprotected. But the head-pieces of the armour then do not appear to have possessed “visors;” the face was covered with the heavy shield, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THERE WAS NO SWORD IN THE HAND OF DAVID. — The story of the daring of the son of Jesse dwells, and with good reason, on the extraordinary valour and skill of the young champion of Israel. Had his heart for one instant failed him — as, indeed, it well might; had he not possessed a confidence whic... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE PHILISTINES SAW THEIR CHAMPION WAS DEAD, THEY FLED. — The Philistines had agreed to consider this single combat as decisive. _They_ had no fears as to its result, and when they saw their boasted champion fall they were seized with a sudden panic. Their adversaries, the children of Israe... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE VALLEY. — More accurately, _to a valley;_ there is no article in the Hebrew. This want of the article at once suggests that the “valley” here spoken of so indefinitely was not that well-known valley or ravine which divided the two armies; besides which, it is nowhere suggested that the Philis... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEAD OF THE PHILISTINE. — There is no real difficulty here, for although the fortress of Jebus, on Mount Zion, was in the hands of the Jebusites, and continued to be so until David captured the stronghold, many years later, the city of Jerusalem already belonged to the Israelites. (See Joshua 15... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE SON IS THIS YOUTH? — A grave difficulty, at first sight, indisputably exists here. It is briefly this. In the preceding chapter (1 Samuel 17:18), David, the son of Jesse, is chosen to play before the mentally sick king; his playing relieved the sufferer, who became attached to the young musici... [ Continue Reading ]