1 Samuel 17:16
in 1 Samuel 17For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
KJV
And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
⋯
This verse in 1 Samuel 17
Commentary
3 notes on this verseHowever, 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 …
This site's exposition
For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening
Morning and evening for forty days the reproach is renewed, and no man in Israel moves. Forty is Scripture's number of testing, the days of the spies and the years of the wilderness, and here it measures how long a nation can hear its God defied while its king stands silent.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Morning and evening. Our Rabbis said, to prevent them from reciting 'shema.' 9 See Maseches Sotah 42b.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Dovid would go. Would always go back and forth from Shaul to his father's house. 8 Dovid was not permanently assigned to be with Shaul. Dovid played music for Shaul when the evil spirit rested upon him. At all other times he would return home to tend his father’s sheep.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּגַּ֥שׁ | vaiyigash | and he drew near | H5066 → | 125 times |
| הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֖י | hapelishti | the Philistine | H6430 → | 287 times |
| הַשְׁכֵּ֣ם | hashkem | rising early | H7925 → | 65 times |
| וְהַעֲרֵ֑ב | vehaarev | and [the] evening darkened | H6150 → | |
| וַיִּתְיַצֵּ֖ב | vaiyityatzev | and he took his stand | H3320 → | 48 times |
| אַרְבָּעִ֥ים | ʾarbaim | forty | H705 → | 136 times |
| יֽוֹם׃ פ | yom | day[s] | H3117 → | 2304 times |
וַיִּגַּ֥שׁand he drew near
vaiyigashH5066 →125 times
הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֖יthe Philistine
hapelishtiH6430 →287 times
הַשְׁכֵּ֣םrising early
hashkemH7925 →65 times
וְהַעֲרֵ֑בand [the] evening darkened
vehaarevH6150 →
וַיִּתְיַצֵּ֖בand he took his stand
vaiyityatzevH3320 →48 times
אַרְבָּעִ֥יםforty
ʾarbaimH705 →136 times
יֽוֹם׃ פday[s]
yomH3117 →2304 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
7 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 4:2After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
it leads to
- Exodus 34:28
So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 19:8
So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 9:18
Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you…
- Luke 4:2
where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.
- Exodus 34:28
Through
Luke 4:2where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 9:9
When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.
- Hebrews 2:18
Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
- Deuteronomy 9:9
Where this verse is studied
About 1 Samuel
This page draws on Bede, Commentary on Samuel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.