a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
flew
וַיַּ֤עַטvai.ya.'as
H5860
to swoop down upon (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
spoil
הַשָּׁלָ֔לha.sha.lal
H7998
booty · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
took
וַיִּקְח֨וּvai.yik.Chu
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
sheep
צֹ֧אןtzon
H6629
a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
oxen
וּבָקָ֛רu.va.Kar
H1241
beef cattle or an animal of the ox family of either gen… · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
calves
וּבְנֵ֥יu.ve.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
slew
וַיִּשְׁחֲטוּvai.yish.cha.tu-
H7819
to slaughter (in sacrifice or massacre) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
ground
אָ֑רְצָה'A.re.tzah
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute + directional suffix
people
הָעָ֖םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
eat
וַיֹּ֥אכַלvai.Yo.khal
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
blood
הַדָּֽםha.Dam
H1818
blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
Leviticus 3:17 It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.
1 Samuel 15:19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
Genesis 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Leviticus 17:10-14 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…
Leviticus 19:26 Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.
Deuteronomy 12:16 Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
Deuteronomy 12:23-24 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
Acts 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 14:24-35
We have here an account of the distress of the children of Israel, even in the day of their triumphs. Such alloys are all present joys subject to. And such obstructions does many a good cause meet with, even when it seems most prosperous, through the mismanagement of instruments.
I. Saul forbade the people, under the penalty of a curse, to taste any food that day, Sa1 14:24. Here we will suppose, 1. That as king he had power to put his soldiers under this interdict, and to bind it on with a curse; and therefore they submitted to it, and God so far owned it as to discover, by the lot, that Jonathan was the delinquent that had meddled with the accursed thing (though ignorantly), on which accou…
the people were very faint. And the people flew upon the spoil--at evening, when the time fixed by Saul had expired. Faint and famishing, the pursuers fell voraciously upon the cattle they had taken, and threw them on the ground to cut off their flesh and eat them raw, so that the army, by Saul's rashness, were defiled by eating blood, or living animals; probably, as the Abyssinians do, who cut a part of the animal's rump, but close the hide upon it, and nothing mortal follows from that wound. They were painfully conscientious in keeping the king's order for fear of the curse, but had no scruple in transgressing God's command. To prevent this violation of the law, Saul ordered a large stone…
The people did eat them with the blood - They were faint through hunger, and did not take time to bleed the cattle on which they fed. This was another bad effect of Saul's rash adjuration.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 14:32
And the people flew upon the spoil,.... Like a swift and ravenous bird, as the eagle, and which seems to have its name in Greek from this word, see Isaiah 46:11. When the evening was come, and they were free from the oath of Saul, and being extremely hungry, faint, and weary, they were even ravenous for food and with the greatest haste and eagerness laid hold on what came first to hand:
and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground; and there they lay in their blood, which in such a position would not run out freely as when slain and hang up:
and the people did eat them with the blood; they were so hungry they could not stay the dressing of them, but ate them raw with t…
The Church Fathers
He carries off the sheep who recalls the manifold causes of his innocence for the purpose of pride. He carries off the oxen as plunder when he thinks about the labors of his preaching and, by remembering, heaps together whatever he has accomplished by speaking to others, as if by cultivating the earth. He carries off the calves when he is puffed up over the fact that suppressed impulses of lust are brought back to mind. For since two precepts are given in the great praise of the just — namely, the splendor of charity together with the light of good works — when anyone arrogant in his own estimation is puffed up, he is said to carry off both sheep and calves: sheep indeed in the innocence of good works, and calves in the mortification of bodily passions. Among these he has inserted the oxen, because one is not perfectly puffed up who regards himself as weak and powerless in some part. He is already great in his own eyes by the estimation of his chastity and good works, but he raises himself to the height of a greater pride when he recalls that he is perfect in the labor of preaching. But to what end all these things are brought is set forth in what follows: 'And they slaughtered them on the ground.' To slaughter sheep, oxen, and calves on the ground is to exult with base and carnal joy over the consciousness of virtues. Whence also through Hosea it is said of the proud and arrogant: 'They sank their victims into the deep' (Hos. 5:2). They plunge their victims into the deep who do not raise the heavenly offerings of virtues to heaven through thanksgiving, but bend them down to earth through the desire for vain praise. Whence it is also well added: 'And the people ate with the blood.' The food of the mind is its interior joy. What then is eating with the blood, if not never removing the intention of vain favor from the inner appetite of the mind? For the blood is, as it were, cast away when the mind removes the intention of vanity from the joy of good works. For a mind of this kind knows how to rejoice in good works, because it rejoices that it draws near to heavenly things through good works, and for the time being it shrinks from being seen in those same works. Therefore, to eat with the blood is to take the joy of good works mixed with the intention of vanity. And indeed, when this is offered by others, it is simple food for the proud; but when no one is…
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
Blood — (1.) As food, prohibited in Gen. 9:4, where the use of animal food is first allowed. Comp. Deut. 12:23; Lev. 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-14. The injunction to abstain from blood is renewed in the decree of the…
Cattle — Abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (Deut. 8:13; 12:21; 1 Sam. 11:5; 12:3; Ps. 144:14; Jer. 3:24). They may be classified as,…
Jonathan — Whom Jehovah gave, the name of fifteen or more persons that are mentioned in Scripture. The chief of these are, (1.) A Levite descended from Gershom (Judg. 18:30). His history is recorded in 17:7-13…
Moabite — The designation of a tribe descended from Moab, the son of Lot (Gen. 19:37). From Zoar, the cradle of this tribe, on the south-eastern border of the Dead Sea, they gradually spread over the region on…
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
Saul — Asked for. (1.) A king of Edom (Gen. 36:37, 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48. (2.) The son of Kish (probably his only son, and a child of prayer, “asked for”), of the tribe of Benjamin, the first…
Armies Of Israel, The · Strict discipline observed in — Strict discipline observed in
Blood · The Jews often guilty of eating — The Jews often guilty of eating
Sheep · Were frequently: Taken in great numbers in war — Were frequently: Taken in great numbers in war
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).
Result of the battle, and consequences of Saul's rashness. - Sa1 14:31. "On that day they smote the Philistines from Michmash to Ajalon," which has been preserved in the village of Ylo (see at Jos 19:42), and was about three geographical miles to the south-west of Michmash; "and the people were very faint," because Saul had forbidden them to eat before the evening (Sa1 14:24).
Sa1 14:32
They therefore "fell voraciously upon the booty" - (the Chethibh ויּעשׂ is no doubt merely an error in writing for ויּעט, imperf. Kal of עיט with Dagesh forte implic. instead of ויּעט, as we may see from Sa1 15:19, since the meaning required by the context, viz., to fall upon a thing, cannot be established in…
The men were famished, so they ate meat without draining the blood. This act violated God’s law (see Lev 17:10-14) and thus constituted sinning against the Lord. To prevent more sin, Saul used a large rock as a field altar so that the animals’ blood could be properly drained. The incident would never have occurred had it not been for Saul’s foolish oath.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 14:32
The people rushed. Meaning 'the people rushed,'15 According to the קְרִי; however, according to the כְּתִיב the meaning is “the people prepared.” an expression of ,16 See below 25:14.עַיִט [birds of prey [הָעַיִט] who swoop down].17Bereishis 15:11.
Sheep, cattle and their young. I say that this was in violation of, "It and its young you must not slaughter [on the same day],"18 Vayikra 22:28. and he, therefore, called them sinners.19 Below verse 33. But our Rabbis said in [Perek] שְׁחִיטַת קָדָשִׁים [in Maseches Zevochim]20 120a. that they sanctified them for peace-offerings, from which they were eating before the sprinkling of the blood. This is what Scripture [means when it] states, "And t…
