1 Samuel17chapter 17

1 Samuel 17:12

“David, however, was the son of an Ephrathite man. David indeed, as always, is the Lord Christ, who is the son of an Ephrathite man, that is, a fruitful one; because from that ancient people of the Hebrews, who by believing bore many fruits of …”

1 Samuel 17:12

“The 12th verse, to the 31st inclusive, are wanting in the Septuagint; as also the 41st verse; and from the 54th to the end; with the first five verses of 1 Samuel 18, and the 9th, 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, and 19th of the same. All these parts are found in the Codex Alexandrinus; but it appears that the MS. from which the Codex Alexandrinus was copied, had them not. See observations at the end of this chapter, 1Sa 17:58 (note). Dr. Kennicott has rendered it very probable that these portions are not a genuine part of the text.”

1 Samuel 17:15

“But David went, and returned from Saul,.... Or "from above Saul"; Josephus (u) says, the physicians of Saul advised to get a man to stand υπερ κεφαλνς, "over his head", and sing psalms and hymns to him; and Saul being recovered from his frenzy and melancholy, by means of David's music, he was dismissed from him, or had leave to go home, or he returned upon Saul's taking the field; though one would think, if he was now his armourbearer, he would have gone with him, see 1Sa 16:”

1 Samuel 17:15

“Now concerning this champion observe, 1. He was of the sons of Anak, who at Gath kept their ground in Joshua's time ( Josh. xi. 22 ), and kept up a race of giants there, of which Goliath was one, and, it is probable, one of the largest.”

1 Samuel 17:16

“However, the Philistine came forward morning and evening, etc. The number of forty days, during which the Philistine came forward and stood against Israel, represents all the time of the Church, during which it struggles in this life and, with the aid of the grace …”

1 Samuel 17:16

“And the Philistine drew near morning and evening,.... Twice a day he came near the camp, within the hearing of it. The Jews (w) say, he took those seasons on purpose to disturb them in reading their "Shema", or "hear, O Israel", &c. and saying their prayers morning and evening: and presented himself forty days; Successively, before the armies of Israel, daring them to send down a man to fight with him, and reproaching them for their cowardice in not doing it. (w) T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 42. 2.”

1 Samuel 17:18

“Carry these ten cheeses - Cheeses of milk, says the margin. In the East they do not make what we call cheese: they press the milk but slightly, and carry it in rush baskets. It is highly salted, and little different from curds.”

1 Samuel 17:18

“He had not so much as an ass at command to carry his load, but must take it on his back, and yet run to the camp. Jesse, we thought, was privy to his being anointed, and yet industriously kept him thus mean and obscure, probably to hide him from the eye of suspicion and envy, knowing that he was anointed to a crown in reversion.”

1 Samuel 17:20

“The trench - Rather, “the wagons,” which were all put together in the camp so as to form a kind of bulwark or fortification (see 1Sa 26:5, 1Sa 26:7). Here David left his “carriage” 1Sa 17:22, i. e., the things which he had carried, “his things” as we should say, or baggage (translated stuff in 1Sa 10:22; 1Sa 25:13; 1Sa 30:24). There seems to have been an officer (“the keeper,” 1Sa 17:22) in the Hebrew army whose charge it was to guard the baggage.”

1 Samuel 17:20

“David left the sheep with a keeper--This is the only instance in which the hired shepherd is distinguished from the master or one of his family. trench--some feeble attempt at a rampart. It appears (see Margin) to have been formed by a line of carts or chariots, which, from the earliest times, was the practice of nomad people.”

1 Samuel 17:22

“What articles he brought he honestly took care of, and left them with those that had the charge of the bag and baggage; but, though he had come a long journey with a great load, he ran into the army, to see what was doing there, and to pay his respects to his brethren. Seest thou a man thus diligent in his business, he is in the way of preferment, he shall stand before kings.”

1 Samuel 17:24

“And all the Israelites, when they saw the man, fled, etc. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3). Only Christ could say: The prince of this world is coming, and he has no claim on me (John 14). …”

1 Samuel 17:24

“Though he was the tallest of all the men of Israel, and, if he had not been so, while he kept close to God might himself have safely taken up the gauntlet which this insolent Philistine threw down, yet, the Spirit of the Lord having departed from him, he durst not do it, nor press Jonathan to do it; but whoever will do it shall have as good preferment as he can give him,”

1 Samuel 17:25

“Free in Israel - In all the other passages (fifteen) where this word occurs, it means free, as opposed to being a slave (Deu 15:12-13, Deu 15:18, etc.) Here it may imply a freedom from all such services and burdens as are spoken of in 1Sa 8:11-17.”

1 Samuel 17:26

“The living God - This fine expression occurs first in Deuteronomy (marginal reference), and next in Jos 3:10, and 2Ki 19:4. We find it twice in the Psalms of David Psa 42:2; Psa 84:2, four times in the prophets, and frequently in the New Testament. It is generally in contrast to false gods (1Th 1:9, etc.).”

1 Samuel 17:28

“Why camest thou down? - From the heights of Bethlehem to the valley of Elah. Thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart - See the similar expression, Jer. 49. Compare the envy of Jacob’s sons toward Joseph, and of the slanders heaped upon the Son of David in the days of His flesh.”

1 Samuel 17:28

“Naughtiness - Thy false-confidence, and vain gloried curiosity. See the folly and wickedness of envy! How groundless its jealousies are, how unjust its censures, how unfair it representations?”

1 Samuel 17:29

“Is there not a cause? - i. e., is not Saul’s promise, and the insolence of Goliath, a sufficent cause for what I am about to do?”

1 Samuel 17:29

“This conquest of his own passion was in some respects more honourable than his conquest of Goliath. He that hath rule over his own spirit is better than the mighty. It was no time for David to quarrel with his brother when the Philistines were upon them.”

1 Samuel 17:32

“And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him,.... The Philistine, though so gigantic, mighty, and blustering: this he said within himself, so Kimchi; as David perceived the hearts of most, if not all, did, since none dared to go out and fight him, but on the contrary fled from him: thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine; and therefore there need be no thought, care, or concern to look out for another man.”

1 Samuel 17:34

“Thy servant kept his father’s sheep - He found it necessary to give Saul the reasons why he undertook this combat; and why he expected to be victorious. 1. I have courage to undertake it, and strength to perform it. 2. Both have been tried in a very signal manner: (1). A lion came upon my flock, and seized a lamb; I ran after him, he attacked me, I seized hold of him by his shaggy locks, smote and slew him, and delivered the lamb. (2). A bear came in the same way, and I attacked and slew him.”

1 Samuel 17:34

“It was the praise of this humility that it came after he had the honour of a courtier, and the reward of it that it came before the honour of a conqueror. Before honour is humility. Now he had that opportunity of mediation and prayer, and other acts of devotion, which fitted him for what he was destined to more than all the military exercises of that inglorious camp could do.”

1 Samuel 17:35

“But as David who took hold of the beard seized the lion, so let us beg the spiritual David, Christ, when taking hold of the lion, to abolish also every Sanhedrin of beasts.”

1 Samuel 17:35

“The slaying of the lion and the bear mentioned here, must have taken place at two different times; perhaps the verse should be read thus: I went out after him, (the lion). and smote him, etc. And when he (the bear) rose up against me, I caught him by the beard and slew him.”

1 Samuel 17:36-37

“WE have all thought a great deal of the courage of David in meeting giant Goliath, but probably we have not given him credit for his conduct in a previous contest. We have not sufficiently noticed that immediately before the encounter with the Philistine he fought a battle which cost him far more thought, prudence and patience. The battle of words in which he had to engage with his brothers and with King Saul was a more trying ordeal to him than going forth in the strength of the Lord to smite the uncircumcised boaster.”

1 Samuel 17:36-37

“DAVID had lived with God. Throughout many a solitary day he had kept his father's flock among the lone hills of Judah and had worshipped the Unseen but Ever-Present Lord. He had grown into an adoring familiarity with the Most High so that, to him, the name of the one and only living and true God was a deep and solemn joy.”

1 Samuel 17:37

“It is probable that Saul's coat of mail, or corslet, was a loose shirt, otherwise it could not have fitted both a stripling and a man of the colossal stature of the king.”

1 Samuel 17:37

“Paul seems to allude to this of David ( 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18 ), I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, and therefore, I trust, the Lord shall deliver me. And perhaps David here thought of the story of Samson, and encouraged himself with it; for his slaying a lion was a happy presage of his many illustrious victories over the Philistines in single combat.”

1 Samuel 17:38-40

“We sometimes see a bad example drawn from good things. For if someone presumes to do the same things but not with the same disposition and orientation or with unlike virtue, he easily falls into the snares of deception and death on account of those very things from which others acquire the fruits of eternal life.”

1 Samuel 17:38

“Those that aim at things above their education and usage, and covet the attire and armour of princes, forget that that is the best for us which we are fit for and accustomed to; if we had our desire, we should wish to be in our own coat again, and should say, "We cannot go with these;" we had therefore better go without them.”

1 Samuel 17:39

“David then girded himself with Saul's sword, etc. The sword of Saul is the law, which was given through Moses: the garment of David, the work of grace and truth, which was made through Jesus Christ. Therefore, David, girded with the sword of Saul over …”

1 Samuel 17:39

“I cannot go with these - In ancient times it required considerable exercise and training to make a man expert in the use of such heavy armor; armor which in the present day scarcely a man is to be found who is able to carry; and so it must have been then, until that practice which arises from frequent use had made the proprietor perfect. I have not proved them says David: I am wholly unaccustomed to such armor and it would be an encumbrance to me.”

1 Samuel 17:40

“And he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, etc. Having shown the rejection of the preceding commandment, because of its weakness and unprofitableness, the Lord rather taught Himself to choose the very law, which is written in five books, to be observed …”

1 Samuel 17:40

“He took his staff - What we would call his crook. Five smooth stones - 1. Had they been rough or angular, they would not have passed easily through the air, and their asperities would, in the course of their passage, have given them a false direction. 2. Had they not been smooth, they could not have been readily despatched from the sling. A shepherd’s bag - That in which he generally carried his provisions while keeping the sheep in the open country.”

1 Samuel 17:40

“By this it appeared that his confidence was purely in the power of God, and not in any sufficiency of his own, and that now at length he who put it into his heart to fight the Philistine put it into his head with what weapons to do it. The conference which precedes the encounter, in which observe, 1. How very proud Goliath was, (1.) With what scorn he looked upon his adversary,”

1 Samuel 17:42

“And it is also the custom of brave warriors when they see feeble men coming against them to fight to despise them, and to have them in contempt, and to laugh at their advance, even as it is written concerning that blasphemous giant whose boast …”

1 Samuel 17:42

“He disdained him - He held him in contempt; he saw that he was young, and from his ruddy complexion supposed him to be effeminate.”

1 Samuel 17:42-47

“This kind of abusive dialogue is common among the Arab combatants still. David's speech, however, presents a striking contrast to the usual strain of these invectives. It was full of pious trust, and to God he ascribed all the glory of the triumph he anticipated.”

1 Samuel 17:43

“Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? - It is very likely that Goliath did not perceive the sling, which David might have kept coiled up within his hand. Cursed David by his gods - Prayed his gods to curse him. This long parley between David and Goliath is quite in the style of those times. A Hindoo sometimes in a fit of anger says to his enemy, The goddess Kalee shall devour thee! May Doorga destroy thee!”

1 Samuel 17:45

“Thou comest to me with a sword - I come to thee with the name (בשם beshem) of Jehovah of hosts; the God of the armies of Israel. What Goliath expected from his arms, David expected from the ineffable name.”

1 Samuel 17:45

“But what arms and ammunition is David furnished with? Truly none but what he brought with him as a shepherd; no breastplate, nor corselet, but his plain shepherd's coat; no spear, but his staff; no sword nor bow, but his sling; no quiver, but his scrip; nor any arrows, but, instead of them, five smooth stones picked up out of the brook,”

1 Samuel 17:46

“This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand - This was a direct and circumstantial prophecy of what did take place.”

1 Samuel 17:46

“A God - Hebrew. that God, the only true God, is for Israel; or on Israel's side, and against you. Or, that Israel hath a God, a God indeed, one who is able to help them; and not such an impotent idol as you serve.”

1 Samuel 17:46

“David speaks with as much assurance as Goliath had done, but upon better ground; it is his faith that says, " This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand, and not only thy carcase, but the carcases of the host of the Philistines, shall be given to the birds and beasts of prey." (3.) He devotes the praise and glory of all to God.”

1 Samuel 17:47

“The Lord saveth not with sword ... - Observe the consistent teaching of such passages as 1Sa 14:6; Exo 14:13-18; Jdg 7:2, Jdg 7:4,Jdg 7:7; Psa 44:6, etc., and their practical use to the Church as lessons of trust in God, and distrust of ourselves.”

1 Samuel 17:47

“Saveth - That is, that he can save without these arms, and with the most contemptible weapons. The battle - That is, the events of war are wholly in his power.”

1 Samuel 17:48

“This is intimated in the manner of expression: He arose, and came, and drew nigh, like a stalking mountain, overlaid with brass and iron, to meet David. David advanced with no less activity and cheerfulness, as one that aimed more to do execution than to make a figure: He hasted, and ran, being lightly clad, to meet the Philistine.”

1 Samuel 17:49

“David never waged war unless he was driven to it. Thus prudence was combined in him with fortitude in the battle. For even when about to fight single-handed against Goliath, the enormous giant, he rejected the armor with which he was laden. His strength depended more on his own arm than on the weapons of others. Then, at a distance, to get a stronger throw, with one cast of a stone, he killed his enemy.”

1 Samuel 17:49

“Smote the Philistine in his forehead - Except his face, Goliath was everywhere covered over with strong armor. Either he had no beaver to his helmet, or it was lifted up so as to expose his forehead; but it does not appear that the ancient helmets had any covering for the face.”

1 Samuel 17:50

“So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone,.... And with them only, without any other warlike weapon: and smote the Philistine, and slew him; smote him with the stone, which brought him to the ground, and then slew him with his own sword, as afterwards related: but there was no sword in the hand of David; when he engaged with the Philistine, and smote him, for he had put off all his armour, 1Sa 17:39.”

1 Samuel 17:51

“When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled - They were panic-struck; and not being willing to fulfill the condition which was stipulated by Goliath, they precipitately left the field. The Israelites took a proper advantage of these circumstances, and totally routed their enemies.”

1 Samuel 17:51

“David took - Hence it appears, that David was not a little man, as many fancy; but a man of considerable bulk and strength, because he was able to manage a giant's sword.”

1 Samuel 17:52

“The men of Israel and Judah - See 1Sa 15:4 note. Shaaraim - A town of Judah in the Shephelah (see the marginal reference), at this time probably in the possession of the Philistines.”

1 Samuel 17:54

“He brought the head of the Philistine to Jerusalem, to be a terror to the Jebusites, who held the strong-hold of Sion: it is probable that he carried it in triumph to other cities. His armour he laid up in his tent; only the sword was preserved behind the ephod in the tabernacle, as consecrated to God, and a memorial of the victory to his honour, ch. xxi.”

1 Samuel 17:55-58

“Saul . . . said unto Abner . . . whose son is this youth?--A young man is more spoken of in many Eastern countries by his father's name than his own. The growth of the beard, and other changes on a now full-grown youth, prevented the king from recognizing his former favorite minstrel [1Sa 16:23].”

1 Samuel 17:55

“Besides the distemper of Saul's mind might make him forgetful; and that David might be now much changed, both in his countenance and in his habit. I cannot tell - Abner's employment was generally in the camp, when David was at the court; and when Abner was there, he took little notice of a person so much inferior to him as David was.”

1 Samuel 17:58

“And Saul said unto him, whose son art thou, thou young man?.... Still the question was such as did not necessarily imply ignorance of his person, but of his family: and David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite; which doubtless refreshed the memory of Saul, and he quickly called to mind who he was. This interview was very probably at Gibeah of Saul, which was the place of his birth and residence, 1Sa 10:26, and where he kept his court, and to which he returned after the above victory was obtained.”

1 Samuel 17:58

“Whose son art thou, thou young man? - That Saul should not know David with whom he had treated a little before, and even armed him for the combat, and that he should not know who his father was, though he had sent to his father for permission to David to reside constantly with him, (1Sa 16:22), is exceedingly strange! I fear all Bishop Warburton’s attempts to rectify the chronology by assumed anticipations, will not account for this.”