Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 17:28

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

28. the wilderness ] The Heb. word for “wilderness” does not necessarily mean a barren district; but a wide open tract used for pasture, as distinguished from arable land. Cp. Psa 65:12; Joe 1:19-20; Joe 2:22.

naughtiness ] i.e. wickedness. David’s advancement seems to have roused Eliab’s jealousy. He imputes the worst motives to him and taunts him with (1) neglect of duty; (2) arrogance and discontent with his humble occupation; (3) unseemly eagerness for the sight of bloodshed. Eliab was unable to enter into the nature of David’s lofty indignation. Compare the hatred of Joseph’s brethren (Gen 37:4).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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 Jacobs sons toward Joseph, and of the slanders heaped upon the Son of David in the days of His flesh.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Sa 17:28

Eliabs anger was kindled against David.

A series of victories

Hitherto David has had little suffering. Life is made up of trials: the Christians course is never free from them: this we are to see here, for this seventeenth tells us, besides the contest with the lion and the bear, of three great trials which at this time befell the man after Gods own heart. I dare say that when you have read this chapter you have thought of Davids wonderful faith and courage as seen in his conflict with the giant; and yet it tells us of three trials and three victories; and I believe that either of the other two was much more painful, and required more faith than was necessary to nerve him for the single combat.

1. Observe, then, in the first place, that after David was anointed he went back to his duties as before; for Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. For one moment he had been exalted, and then all went on as before. Then a brilliant career seemed opening before him: he was most unexpectedly sent for to the court. But as soon as the benefit was received it was forgotten; for ingratitude is the commonest of faults: David is not wanted now; the kings head is full of war matters; he stands in need of men, and not of boys; he wants swords and slicers, not harps and music. Oh! never be carried away with the love of popularity; it is not worth striving after; there is nothing that may be more quickly lost. Only let some unkind report be raised about you, or some great man sneer at you, and the people will be ready, to a man, to turn against you. And so David goes quietly back, resumes the shepherds dress, takes the place of the youngest son, and feeds his fathers sheep. I declare that seems to me to have been the greatest of the three trials; he must indeed have had strong faith, and he must have been endued with the grace of humility. And was it not so with our blessed Lord Himself? At the age of twelve years He is found sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions: and all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them; (Luk 2:49; Luk 2:51), and for eighteen years He remained in obscurity. Such was Davids first trial here. Flattered one moment, and thrown aside the next; at one time likely to be famous in the court, and very shortly afterwards sent to feed the sheep near his fathers homestead. Would it be very trying to be laid aside by illness, to sink into obscurity?

2. And now we come to a trial of a different kind, but equally painful, perhaps, or at all events one that shows the depth of his piety. We can quite understand how anxious Jesse was for the safety of his boys: his three eldest sons are gone to the battle; Eliab is there, the pride of his heart: so David is sent with a little present from home, and doubtless many kind messages, as Joseph was sent by Jacob to visit his brethren at Shechem. And when he comes, then his elder brother takes him to task, and utters the most cruel and vindictive insinuations. And here, too, Jesus can sympathise with His people. When He entered upon His public ministry, the first place at which He preached was His own city Nazareth. As He loved His mother, so He evidently had special affection for His own city, His neighbours, and near kindred: it was this love which made Him preach in the synagogue at Nazareth; but they would not receive Him; for a prophet has no honour in his own country. There are some people who can bear a long trial, who may yet be thrown off their guard by a sudden temptation; and so perhaps it was quite as difficult to give Eliab back a gentle answer, as it was to go quietly home from the palace to the sheepfold. Gentle natures are often sensitive, and sensitive people are almost always irritable. Oh! temper! temper! what a trial it is to those that are afflicted with it! and terrible is the guilt of those who provoke an irritable person. But David gained the victory, and must have made Eliab sensible of the wrong he had done him. This was a far greater victory, though little noticed, little thought of at the time, and not so much observed even now by those who read this chapter, as the contest with the giant shortly afterwards.

3. And now a word upon the third trial and the third victory. David fells the giant. There is no battle, but flight on the one hand, and eager pursuit on the other; in a few minutes the hills are completely deserted, and we can only hear the shouts of the pursuers gradually dying away in the direction of Ekron. There lies the headless body in the valley of Elah: come and let us stand by it, and learn one or two lessons. Behold in David the type of Davids Son. When the great Captain of our salvation was tempted of the devil, He did not contend with him as God, but only as one of ourselves. He just took the smooth stones out of the brook; He met and defeated him as any Christian may, with the words of Scripture; as any Jew might then, with quotations from the Book of Deuteronomy. The Philistine, you see, but for Davids faith, would have been stronger than the Israelites. The giant did not fall by sword and spear, but Davids faith in God brought victory to his countrymen. It was because David was in the camp that Israel conquered. Would we be loyal Churchmen, would we do good service to our Church, let us be men of God; let us so behave, that the Lord Jesus shall still be in the midst of us; let us make use of the stones from the brook, of prayer, and Holy Scripture; and the Lord will yet save us from ruin, though He may see fit to humiliate us. How did David know that he was equal to this emergency? What made him sure that he should conquer the giant? He had had experience of Gods help before. So indeed had the Israelites; they had gained a great victory under Samuel, and had reared their Ebenezer; but this was forgotten now, and therefore their faith failed them. But not so David. And then David knew nothing about the use of armour, though no doubt Saul provided him with the best; but he was expert in the use of the sling. Ah! those stones from the brook, how are they dispised! Any other means of grace is more valued than Scripture. No doubt David was regarded as a hero from Dan to Beersheba; the slaughter of the giant made him famous, and his praise was in everyones mouth. Yet I think I have shown you that the killing of the giant was a very little matter; that what is really to be admired is Davids faith; and that either of the other two trials was in reality more severe. (C. Bosanquet, M. A.)

Unsympathetic relatives

In early life Edmund Burke was not happy at home, as no one there sympathised with his dreams and aspirations. It is, after all, a mans own relations who generally look with the least confidence on his long wrestle with adversity, and are most astonished when the tide turns and a great victory succeeds to what had seemed to them mere hopeless toil.

The two victories in one day

If there had been a conspiracy to frustrate the Divine purpose in relation to David, his relatives could scarcely have kept him out of sight more persistently, or brought him forward more sluggishly and reluctantly. Men were slow to see the seeds of future greatness and godliness which the Lord beheld, and they looked not for succour in the direction whence He had ordained it to come. Praise belongs to Him for carrying out His own purpose despite the want of discernment and sympathy on the part of His people. If His thoughts had not prevailed over mens thoughts, the Jewish nation would have lost one of its greatest kings, and the Bible one of its most instructive histories. The Divine wisdom in the choice of David was soon proved when the time of trial came, and he had an opportunity of showing the regal spirit the grace of God had given to him. The second triumph is by far the more famous, but we must not suffer its splendour to hide from us the true glory of the first. The man who kills a giant will always be more talked of than the man who, against the force of strong temptations, controls his own temper; but it is none the less true that–He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city,

I. Davids victory over himself. It is not difficult to conjecture the cause of Eliabs ill-will and unjust upbraidings. He had not forgiven David for the distinction that God had granted, and the cruel spirit of envy had turned him from a brother into a foe. This fiendish passion of envy, so common in human nature, can not only destroy the joy of a brother in a brothers welfare, but would also, if it could get into a mothers heart, be hellish enough to make her miserable at the thought of the prosperity of her own first-born boy. What a foul thing that must be which finds the elements of its own perdition in a sight of the paradise God gives to others, and which would be wretched and woebegone in heaven itself if it met with anyone having stronger wings or a higher place than its own! When, in the last judgment, Envy is placed at the bar of God, what an indictment will be laid against the Evil Spirit! The insulting anger of Eliab–the cruelty of Josephs brethren–the murderous wrath of Cain–and the greatest share in the greatest crime in the world, the crucifying of the Lord of glory–will be charged upon him. The taunts and insinuations of Eliab must have cut David to the quick. If the undeserved rebuke had been administered in private, it would have been hard to bear; but Eliab was base enough to be a public slanderer, and sought, by his foul aspersions, to do irreparable damage to Davids reputation amongst those who saw him that day for the first time, and would be too ready to think that there must be good grounds for these charges of pride and arrogance, seeing they were made by the young mans own brother. The temptation must have been strong to answer it with words of burning indignation, and only a man of much meekness and of great self-control could have replied to it as David did. Who likes to be accused of vile motives which he knows have no place in his heart, and to hear his very virtues denounced as being nothing but hideous vices which he tries to conceal by means of pious airs and canting pretensions? It was a cross of this kind David had to carry, and he bore it as if there had been given to him some prophetic foresight of the perfect example of Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, and who, when He was reviled, reviled not again. The restraint which David put upon his temper under this great provocation was the most godly thing he could have done, and therefore it was the wisest and most profitable. Having regard to the great work before him, it was very important that David should keep his temper. Could the second victory have been achieved if he had failed in the first conflict? That which was right amidst the temptations of one hour was the best preparation for the arduous labours of the next hour. All of her things being equal, he who is most triumphant over temptation and most faithful to duty today will be the strongest for work and warfare tomorrow.

II. Davids victory over Goliath. History records many instances in which cruelty, and tyranny, and persecution haw thoroughly outwitted themselves and frustrated their own purposes. Charity must not rejoice in iniquity, but it may exult in the defeat of iniquity, and especially when iniquity plays the part of a scorpion and stings itself, and when, like Haman, it unwittingly prepares a gallows for its own execution. The defeat of the Philistines in the downfall of their great champion is a most striking illustration of this kind of self-destruction. Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears (1Sa 13:19). This cruel policy was so successful that on one occasion there were only two swords or spears possessed by the entire Jewish army. Saul and Jonathan had them; but all the rest of the people had to use such cumbrous and clumsy weapons as unskilled hands could make without fire or hammer. Necessity has always been the mother of invention, and we may be certain that, when iron weapons were denied to the Hebrews, their skill was largely developed in other directions. The youth of the land could not practise sword exercise, or learn to poise the spear, and therefore they would be driven to make themselves master of other methods of defence and assault. Before this period the Benjamites had become famous for their skill in slinging, for Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at an hair-breadth, and not miss (Jdg 20:16). When all edged weapons were taken from them, the people would be sure to turn again to those in whose use their fathers had been so renowned, and practice would again make perfect. Thus the issue proved that the Philistines laid the foundation of their own defeat when they took all swords and spears from the Israelites, and compelled them to try other means of accomplishing their deliverance. The foes of Gods people meant it for evil, but God overruled it for good. Davids skill with the sling would have failed to gain the victory if it had been divorced from faith in God. It was his trust in the Lord which gave such calmness to his soul, as surely as it was the calmness of his soul which helped to make his arm so steady and his aim so sure. His faith, however, was not a fanatical faith, which violates reason and neglects the most appropriate means. When he refused to wear Sauls armour, he proved his common sense as much as he displays his confidence in God. The faith of David was also associated with experience as well as with reason. He remembered past mercies, and thereby encouraged his heart to rest in Him who is ever the same. The most effectual way of chasing away despair and regaining confidence is to adopt the Psalmists resolve–I will remember the works of the Lord: Surely I will remember Thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all Thy work, and talk of Thy doings. (C. Vince.)

Preparations for conflict

How much like a chapter of accidents this looks! Superficially narrated, we should say It happened. There are no accidents with God, and none with those who commit their way unto Him. We shall see all these things were preparations for conflict.

I. Jesses anxiety concerning his soldier sons. We meet David once more on the road from Bethlehem. Not on his way to the palace of the king, for yet is he the drudge of the family, and is sent laden with presents to the chief of the division in which his brothers serve (verses 17, 18), to see how they fare. How akin to Joseph, who also was sent by his father to his brethren, and met with no kindly reception! While talking with one and another the boastful challenge of the giant Goliath arrests his attention. Once no such challenge would have come to Saul unanswered, but all valour flees when the Spirit of the Lord leaves a man. David avows his readiness to meet him. Was it a chance that David was sent–that he was sent that morning–that his brethren were to the front when he arrived at camp, or a list of curious combinations?

II. The DISCOURAGEMENT with which David meets. David is jealous for the Lord of Hosts. He was instantly discouraged, first by:–

1. His own brethren (Mat 10:36, with verse 28). That fine soldierly looking brother who captivated Samuels judgment is terribly at fault Listen! he twits his brother with neglect of duty (verse 28). True he does not know; he is only supposing the sheep must have been left uncared for, as David is there. To an angry, jealous nature, truth is of little matter. The probable, or even the possible, is quite near enough.

2. The king discourages him (verse 33). Doubtless appearances were against David. They have often been against bravo men, and Saul was only the echo of that prudence which is popular today. Gods men, who endure as seeing Him who is invisible, cannot be measured by the rule of this worlds wisdom. We advance now to another link.

3. Thirdly, in all this David was being fitted for the conflict as the result of the Divine anointing. Discipline is often inward through the outward, and sometimes the outward is proof of the inward. Davids offers of service were refused. That the affairs of service are often refused is apparent in the records of the Holy Scriptures. Dr. Ker unfolds this in a sermon from the refusal of the Israelites offers of service by Joshua. He draws attention to Gideons band, that not all were chosen who offered; and to Christs searching answer to the man who would first go bury his dead. Today, as of old, many offers of service are refused–and why? Thus our sincerity is tested. Only so do we know ourselves; but every Christian comes out of the Slough of Despond on the far side. One result of these discouragements in Davids case was, he was thrown on Gods promise. His past opens (verse 34). His own mind is finding wonderful illumination as he tells the king of what he had done. This is the right use of past experience. I slew him; surely the God of my strength can give me power over this Philistine lion also. Do you not observe his sense of Goliaths sin increases in proportion as his faith in God expands? There is a rising emphasis of scorn surely. This uncircumcised Philistine; This Philistine. How terrible is this contempt, coming from Gods chosen! Thus early we mark the habit of referring everything to the will and providence of God, which is the key to Davids character. Thus there is outward victory. David has gained permission–has won his way; and is not this the window through which we see the inward victory? All through he maintains his humility, yet who could imagine any test more trying than this double refusal of service? And how conspicuous this humility is in his answer to Saul after the victory (verse 58), and that untrue and supercilious speech of Abners (verse 55). He maintains his patience. What restraint he must have put upon that impetuous spirit of his to take the sneer so quietly! (verse 29). He that hath rule over his own spirit is better than the mighty. (H. E. Stone.)

David and Goliath

This is a revolution wrought by one brave soul. And this is but a single incident in the life of one who walked by faith, and who learned his faith in communion with God. It was this which gave to David the qualities which this history reveals–a sound judgment, a fearless tongue, a sweet temper, and a lions heart.

I. A sound judgment. David came to Elah a youth amidst an army of veterans. Yet his judgment was sounder than Sauls, than Abners, or that of any of the bronzed warriors around him. Why? Because he came to Elah from Bethlehem, from the quiet hills where he had communed with God, and strengthened his faith in Him. The men of Israel had natural courage enough, but this was a combat which, on all natural principles, seemed hopeless. David, however, looked at the matter through eyes that were full of religious light. David saw God upon the scene. He was the only one who saw Him; and that sight made the shepherd the true tactician. Faith in God gave him at once the true point of view. Mere secular computations had half blinded Israels eyes. The impressions and the services of the young are sometimes better than those of the old, because the elder may have lost simplicity of faith and have learned to look at life from a worldly point of view. Inexpert in the details of a matter, still the prayerful woman, the believing youth, may have a higher, clearer view of some Divine principle, some promise of Jehovah, which should be His peoples guide. So the mother of Mills, a quarter of a century before the leaders of the Church had moved, declared that missions to the heathen world ought to be begun, and dedicated her own son in his infancy to the work. So Mills himself and his young associates, praying by the haystack in the fields of Williamstown, saw what Israel ought to do, saw that was possible which others called chimerical, and planned a bold campaign for Christ while yet the eyes of the fathers were sealed. They were mere striplings who offered themselves first to meet the giant forces of the pagan world. Wisdom dwells not in the noisy camp with the timid multitudes, but on the solitary hills of prayer.

II. An independent tongue. Swift to hear, slow to speak, is a good rule for youth, but not when it is clearly seen that others have forgotten Gods commandments, or have fallen to questioning his promises. Be modest, but be not so cautious a Christian that you shall cease to be a Christian. Whatever you have clearly seen in your study of Gods work, be not afraid to speak it out nor to let it be known that you differ from others. You have good examples for it. His word was in mine heart, as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay (Jer 20:9).

III. And the frankness of Davids temper was equalled by its sweetness. It was not easy in the presence of all the soldiers to listen quietly to a brothers taunts and sneers, to be accosted as an idle runaway, to be contemptuously ordered back by that surly Eliab, jaundiced and spiteful with his jealousy. What an admirable self-control does David show! Have a soft answer for your detractors, and even stay with them if you may, like David, to fight their battles and cover their disgrace.

IV. It hardly need be said that his courage was simply confidence in God. And it was a reasonable confidence. He did not fail to measure the strength of his giant enemy, but he heard him defy the living God, and when he heard that he knew his enemy was doomed. He knew that Jehovah would make bare his holy arm, and make all the earth to know that there is a God in Israel. Woe unto him that striveth against his Maker! The most powerful of men, the most gigantic combination which diplomacy or society or capital can frame, are doomed when they set themselves against Gods holy law. David had not only heard the word of Jehovahs promise; he had had experience of His faithfulness. This was not the first danger he had met with quick, uplifted prayer. And Davids confidence in God was reasonable from another point of view. The hazards he was taking were not encountered needlessly, from a mere exuberance of daring or delight in danger. He might well ask, Is there not a cause? The interest of Israel, the honour of Jehovah, were at stake: it was reasonable, therefore, to believe that he would not be left to fight alone. Still less did he seek this public championship of Israel, or welcome it to win for himself a name. But Davids confidence in God was attended by no carelessness. Because the battle was the Lords, David did not think there was little for him to do. What do we see? He carefully selects the most appropriate means, and then he plies them with intense energy. (Arthur Mitchell, D. D.)

The conflict between good and evil

We may look at David and Goliath as they appear in contest, as illustrating the forms, spirits, weapons, and destiny of the great moral antagonists of our world–good and evil.

1. These two men give us a picture of the forms of good and evil. Evil in our world is like Goliath–of gigantic stature, immense energy, and imposing aspect. It is a colossus. Good in our world is like David in its appearance–small, weak, and insignificant; possessing nothing to which the world attaches the idea of strength or glory. So it appeared in Christ. He was a root out of a dry ground.

2. These two men give us a picture of the spirit of good and evil. The spirit of evil, like that of Goliath, is proud, contemptuous, malignant. The spirit of good, like that of David, is that of humble trust and dependence upon God.

3. These two men give us a picture of the weapons of good and evil. Evil, like Goliath, has many and powerful weapons to fight its battles. Like Goliath, it is full-armed. Armies and navies are on its side. The weapons of good are of the simplest kind; the sling and stone of David would symbolise them. The weapons of our warfare, etc.

4. These two men give us a picture of the ultimate destinies of good and evil. Goliath, notwithstanding his great strength, proud vanities and mighty weapons, was slain, and his body given to the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the earth. So it will be with evil. Like the imago in the monarchs vision, the little stone of truth shall shiver it into atoms. The end of truth will be like that of David–triumphant and progressive in honour and influence in the empire of God. (D. Thomas.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Eliabs anger was kindled, either because he thought him guilty of intolerable folly, and pride, and presumption, in pretending to such an attempt; or because he feared and concluded he would be certainly ruined in the enterprise; or rather, because he envied him the glory of so great an undertaking; and took this proffer of Davids to be, what indeed it was, a reproach to himself, and to all the rest, that having the great God on their side, had not the faith or courage to fight with him.

With whom hast thou left those few sheep? thou art much fitter to tend sheep, than to appear in an army, or to fight with a giant.

Thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; thy self-confidence, and vain-glory, and curiosity.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men,…. Heard the questions he put to them, by which he perceived his inclination:

and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David; because what he had said carried in it a tacit reproach of him, and others, that they had not the courage, and did not attempt to encounter with the Philistine; or the displeasure he expressed was either out of affection to him, fearing, or being assured almost he would perish in the enterprise; or rather out of envy to him, lest succeeding in so bold an action, he should gain superior glory to him, and the rest of his brethren, who yet was the youngest of them:

and he said, why comest thou down hither? for though David had talked with his brethren, or had begun to talk with them, yet he had not sufficiently explained the reasons of his coming:

and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? the wilderness of Judea, or some wilderness near Bethlehem; by this he would not only insinuate a charge of unfaithfulness, in not taking care of his father’s flock committed to him; but his view was to make him look little and mean in the eyes of the people, that in the family he belonged to he was thought to be fit for nothing but to keep sheep, and those but a small flock, and in doing this was negligent and careless:

I know thy pride, and the haughtiness of thine heart; that he was too proud to keep sheep, and wanted to advance himself in the army, and make a figure there, and thereby gratify his vanity and ambition, which was the reverse of David’s character; for, such was his humility, that, though he was anointed king, and had been preferred in Saul’s court, yet condescended with all readiness to keep his father’s sheep; and what he now proposed was not from any bad principle in his heart, but purely for the glory of God, and the honour of the people of Israel, who were both reproached:

for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle: out of curiosity, and to take every advantage and opportunity of signalizing and making himself famous.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Saul Sends David to Meet Goliath. 1Sa. 17:28-37

28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliabs anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.
29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

30 And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.
31 And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.

32 And David said to Saul, Let no mans heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his fathers sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

11.

What was the attitude of his brother Eliab? 1Sa. 17:28-29

Davids eldest brother was greatly enraged at his talking courageously among the men, and he reproved David. It was his opinion that David was not contented with his lowly calling, but that he aspired to lofty things and took great delight in watching the bloodshed. The eagerness of a lad to see the battle needs no comment; the boys among Mohammeds followers at Medina wept when they were pronounced too young to go to war. Eliab was charging his brother with the very things of which he was guiltypresumption and wickedness of heart. David showed his purpose all the more by calmly answering his brother as he had formerly answered the other men.

12.

What were Davids first words to Saul? 1Sa. 17:32

When David was brought into the presence of Saul, he said, Let no mans heart fail on his account: thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. To Sauls objection that he was a mere youth and the Philistine was a man of war from his youth up, David replied that as a shepherd he had taken a sheep out of the jaws of a lion and a bear and had also slain them both. Davids courage rested upon his confident belief that the living God would not let His people be defied by the heathen with impunity. Saul then desired for him the help of the Lord in carrying out his resolution and commanded him to put on his own armor. David began to accept the preferred equipment, but he was not accustomed to such paraphernalia. He returned the armor to Saul and went forth armed only with his trustworthy sling and his dauntless faith in God.

13.

Why did David call Goliath an uncircumcised Philistine? 1Sa. 17:36

The covenant of circumcision was made with Abraham before Isaac was born. This covenant extended to Ishmael, Abrahams son by Hagar. It also extended to Abrahams descendants through Keturah, including such people as Midianites. Philistines were descendants of Ham, the brother of Shem. Shem was the ancestor of Abrahams descendants, but the Hamitic line had received no covenant of circumcision. The Philistines were direct descendants of Cush (Gen. 10:8-14). To call a man an uncircumcised Philistine was to cast reflection upon his heritage. An uncircumcised Philistine was not under the covenant of God. He could not expect the spiritual blessings from God. It was as odious an epithet as David could think of to hurl at Goliath.

14.

What was Sauls final decision? 1Sa. 17:37

Sauls final decision was that David should challenge Goliath. He raised objections about it, but was finally convinced that in the desperate situation there was no one else to meet the challenge. As he sent David forth, he pronounced a heartfelt blessing upon him: Go, and the Lord be with thee. No better prayer could be offered for one being sent on a dangerous mission.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(28) And Eliabs 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 (1Sa. 17:34) of the boys prowess, when the lion and the bear attacked his fathers flock, tells us that the boyhood and youth of David had been no ordinary one, and Eliabs jealous disposition had been, doubtless, often aroused. Probably, too, the envious elder brother well remembered the visit of the great seer to Bethlehem, and how Samuel had, for some mysterious, and as yet unknown, reason, anointed this young brother of his, and had chosen him to be his pupil and companion. Was he now come with power unknown to him (Eliab) to perform some startling deed of daring?

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

28. I know thy pride “Eliab sought for the splinter in his brother’s eye, and was not aware of the beam in his own.” Keil.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments