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1 Samuel 26:15

in 1 Samuel 26

So David said to Abner, “You are a man, aren’t you? And who in Israel is your equal? Why then did you not protect your lord the king when one of the people came to destroy him?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept watch over thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.

KJV

And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.

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This verse in 1 Samuel 26

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
This incidental testimony to Abner’s great eminence as a warrior is fully borne out by David’s dirge at Abner’s death 2Sa 3:31-34, 2Sa 3:38, as well as by his whole history. At the same time David’s bantering tone in regard to Abner, coupled with what he says in 1Sa 26:19, makes it proable that David attributed Saul’s persecution of him in some degree to Abner. Abner would be likely to dread a rival in the young conqueror of Judah (compare 2Sa 2:8).

This site's exposition

stood on the top of an hill afar off

on 1 Samuel 26:13-16

From a hill with a wide ravine between them, close enough for a voice to carry in that clear air but far enough to be safe, David wakes the camp with one question, Answerest thou not, Abner? He shames the captain of the guard by name, calling him and his men worthy to die for the one watch they failed, then holds up the proof, the king's own spear and the cruse that stood at his head. The distance David keeps even now, after showing he could have closed it forever, answers Abishai's counsel from a few verses earlier: mercy resting on God does not need to stand near enough to be struck back.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

on 1 Samuel 26:13-20

Then David . . . stood on the top of an hill afar off . . . and cried to the people--(See on Jud 9:7). The extraordinary purity and elasticity of the air in Palestine enable words to be distinctly heard that are addressed by a speaker from the top of one hill to people on that of another, from which it is separated by a deep intervening ravine.

The words behind it

24 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּאמֶר֩and he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • דָּוִ֨דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אַבְנֵ֜רAbner

    ʾavnerH74 →63 times

  • הֲלוֹא־¿ not

    halo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • אִ֣ישׁa man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • אַתָּ֗ה[are] you

    ʾatahH859 →1094 times

  • וּמִ֤יand who?

    umiH4310 →423 times

  • כָמ֙וֹךָ֙[is] like you

    khamokhaH3644 →143 times

  • בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔לin Israel

    beyisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • וְלָ֙מָּה֙and <to> why?

    velamahH4100 →752 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • שָׁמַ֔רְתָּdid you guard

    shamartaH8104 →468 times

  • אֶל־<to>

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אֲדֹנֶ֖יךָmaster<s> your

    ʾadoneikhaH113 →333 times

  • הַמֶּ֑לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • כִּי־if

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • בָא֙he came

    va'H935 →2568 times

  • אַחַ֣דone of

    ʾachadH259 →971 times

  • הָעָ֔םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • לְהַשְׁחִ֖יתto destroy

    lehashchitH7843 →146 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמֶּ֥לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • אֲדֹנֶֽיךָ׃master<s> your

    ʾadoneikhaH113 →333 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

1 in all, six open

About 1 Samuel

David Slays Goliath — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
David Slays Goliath — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 26 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Samuel 26 →