1 Samuel 19:16
in 1 Samuel 19And when the messengers entered, there was the idol in the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair on its head.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And when the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at the head thereof.
KJV
And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 19
Commentary
7 notes on this verseNow Michal's name means "reign," because sin reigned over our nature up to that time. And at the very time he himself was born, he [the Lord in the figure of David] went out through a window. And the window indicates the return to the light again of the one who made himself known to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.And his image is seen on the bed. For the angel says to those seeking the Lord in the tomb, "Why do you seek the living with the dead? He is not here; he is risen."
This site's exposition
there was the idol in the bed
on 1 Samuel 19:16-17
The messengers find "the idol in the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair on its head," and Michal's device serves its purpose before Saul's own men. Saul turns on his daughter for deceiving him, and she answers with a second lie, that David threatened her life. Barnes reads her line as self-protection, a wife turning her father's anger onto an absent man.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
And not in war only, but also in peace the need of deceit may be found, not merely in reference to the affairs of the state but also in private life, in the dealings of husband with wife and wife with husband, son with father, friend with friend, and also children with a parent. For the daughter of Saul would not have been able to rescue her husband out of Saul's hands except by deceiving her father. And her brother, wishing to save him whom she had rescued when he was again in danger, made use of the same weapon as the wife.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
), I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning. She practised a deception upon Saul and those whom he employed to be the instruments of his cruelty.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
But by this time it was to be hoped that David was safe, and therefore Michal was not then much concerned at the discovery. Saul chid her for helping David to escape (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
"God," says Mr. Henry, "inclined the heart of Saul to hearken to the voice of Jonathan." 8. And David, &c. - So David continues his good service, tho' it was ill requited. They who are ill paid for doing good, yet must not be weary of well doing, remembering how bountiful a benefactor God is, even to the evil and unthankful.
And when the messengers were come in,.... To David's house, and into the room where he was supposed to lie: behold, there was an image in the bed to their great surprise; they expected to see David, but instead of him the teraphim, as in 1Sa 19:13; if they had been in the room before, and thought they had seen David in the bed, they might be the more surprised to find that it was only an image they saw: with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster; See Gill on 1Sa 19:13.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
He said to me… You delivered me into the hands of a bandit. 1 She placed the blame for Dovid’s escape on Shaul. He drew his sword at me until I let him leave.
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. 6 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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ | vaiyavou | and they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| הַמַּלְאָכִ֔ים | hamalakhim | the messengers | H4397 → | 213 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֥ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| הַתְּרָפִ֖ים | haterafim | the teraphim | H8655 → | 15 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | [was] to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַמִּטָּ֑ה | hamitah | the bed | H4296 → | 29 times |
| וּכְבִ֥יר | ukhevir | and [the] quilt of | H3523 → | |
| הָעִזִּ֖ים | haizim | <the> goat hair<s> | H5795 → | 74 times |
| מְרַאֲשֹׁתָֽיו׃ | meraashotav | [the] place of head its | H4763 → | 8 times |
וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙and they came
vaiyavouH935 →2568 times
הַמַּלְאָכִ֔יםthe messengers
hamalakhimH4397 →213 times
וְהִנֵּ֥הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
הַתְּרָפִ֖יםthe teraphim
haterafimH8655 →15 times
אֶל־[was] to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַמִּטָּ֑הthe bed
hamitahH4296 →29 times
וּכְבִ֥ירand [the] quilt of
ukhevirH3523 →
הָעִזִּ֖ים<the> goat hair<s>
haizimH5795 →74 times
מְרַאֲשֹׁתָֽיו׃[the] place of head its
meraashotavH4763 →8 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Samuel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Gregory of Nyssa, ON THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 2.16.272-73; John Chrysostom, ON THE PRIESTHOOD 1.8; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.