1 Chronicles 11:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Chronicles 11:19
And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
God
מֵאֱלֹהַ֜יme.'e.lo.Hai
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
forbid
חָלִילָה֩cha.li.Lah
H2486
literal fora profaned thing · interjection
do
מֵעֲשׂ֣וֹתme.'a.Sot
H6213
to do or make · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
thing
זֹ֗אתZot
H2063
this (often used adverb) · demonstrative particle
drink
אֶשְׁתֶּ֤ה'esh.Teh
H8354
to imbibe (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Samuel 23:17 And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? theref…
Psalms 72:14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
Leviticus 17:10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even…
Judges 5:18 Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.
Judges 9:17 (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian:
1 Samuel 19:5 For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and did…
1 Kings 21:3 And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.
Job 31:31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Chronicles 11:10–end
We have here an account of David's worthies, the great men of his time that served him and were preferred by him. The first edition of this catalogue we had, Sa2 23:8, etc. This is much the same, only that those named here from Ch1 11:41 to the end are added. Observe,
I. The connexion of this catalogue with that which is said concerning David, Ch1 11:9. 1. David waxed greater and greater, and these were his mighty men. Much of the strength and honour of great men is borrowed from their servants and depends upon them, which cannot but somewhat diminish pomp and power in the opinion of those that are wise. David is great because he has great men about him; take these away, and he is where he w…
David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink . . . of the well of Beth-lehem--(See on Sa2 23:15). This chivalrous act evinces the enthusiastic devotion of David's men, that they were ready to gratify his smallest wish at the risk of their lives. It is probable that, when uttering the wish, David had no recollection of the military posted at Beth-lehem. It is generally taken for granted that those who fought a way to the well of Beth-lehem were the three champions just mentioned [see on Ch1 11:13]. But this is far from being clear. On the contrary, it would seem that three different heroes are referred to, for Abishai (Ch1 11:20) was one of them. The camp of the Philistines was in…
David longed - See the notes on Sa2 23:15-17 (note).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Chronicles 11:10-47
This account of David’s mighty warriors demonstrates that David had the support of Israel’s best and bravest men, as well as the support of all Israel (cp. 2 Sam 23:8-39).
11:10 just as the Lord had promised: David’s kingship was God’s choice, not David’s or the people’s (cp. 11:3; 1 Sam 16:11-14).
The Church Fathers
But David, who had taken to himself another man's wife, and had been sorely scourged for his fault, desired long afterwards to drink water from the cistern of Bethlehem; which when his bravest soldiers had brought to him, he refused to drink it, and poured it out as a libation to the Lord. For it was lawful for him to drink it, had he been so minded; but, because he remembered having done what was unlawful, he laudably abstained even from what was lawful. And he, who to his guilt previously feared not that the blood of dying soldiers should be shed, afterwards considered that, were he to drink the water, he would have shed the blood of living soldiers, saying, Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy?
I must tell you that I have been led to praise God the more for your work by what I have learnt from the report of my most beloved son Probinus the presbyter; namely that, your Excellency having issued a certain ordinance against the perfidy of the Jews, those to whom it related attempted to bend the rectitude of your mind by offering a sum of money; which your Excellency scorned, and, seeking to satisfy the judgment of Almighty God, preferred innocence to gold. With regard to this what was done by King David recurs to my mind, who, when the longed for water from the cistern of Bethlehem, which was wedged in by the enemy, had been brought him by obedient soldiers, said, God forbid that I should drink the blood of righteous men. And, because he poured it out and would not drink it, it is written, He offered it a libation to the Lord. If, then, water was scorned by the armed king, and turned into a sacrifice to God, we may estimate what manner of sacrifice to Almighty God has been offered by the king who for His love has scorned to receive, not water, but gold. Wherefore, most excellent son, I will confidently say that thou hast offered as a libation to the Lord the gold which thou wouldest not have in opposition to Him.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Giants — (1.) Heb. nephilim, meaning “violent” or “causing to fall” (Gen. 6:4). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying…
Hareth — Thicket, a wood in the mountains of Judah where David hid when pursued by Saul (1 Sam. 22:5). It was possibly while he was here that the memorable incident narrated in 2 Sam. 23:14-17, 1 Chr.…
Sect — (Gr. hairesis, usually rendered “heresy”, Acts 24:14; 1 Chr. 11:19; Gal. 5:20, etc.), meaning properly “a choice,” then “a chosen manner of life,” and then “a religious party,” as the “sect” of the…
Abishai · Obtains water from the well of Bethlehem for David — Obtains water from the well of Bethlehem for David
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
blood
הֲדַ֣םha.Dam
H1818
blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or… · interrogative particle + noun, common masculine singular construct
men
הָאֲנָשִׁים֩ha.'a.na.Shim
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
jeopardy
בְנַפְשׁוֹתָם֙ve.naf.sho.Tam
H5315
properly · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
lives
בְנַפְשׁוֹתָ֣םve.naf.sho.Tam
H5315
properly · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
brought
הֱבִיא֔וּםhe.vi.'Um
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
would
אָבָ֖ה'a.Vah
H14
to breathe after · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
drink
לִשְׁתּוֹתָ֑םlish.to.Tam
H8354
to imbibe (literally or figuratively) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
did
עָשׂ֔וּ'a.Su
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
three
שְׁלֹ֖שֶׁתshe.Lo.shet
H7969
three · noun, common both genders singular construct
mightiest
הַגִּבּוֹרִֽיםha.gi.bo.Rim
H1368
powerful · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Rashi on 1 Chronicles 11:19
for they brought it with their lives for they risked being killed for the water.
