1 Samuel 14:37 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 14:37
And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he answered him not that day.
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
deliver
הֲתִתְּנֵ֖םha.ti.te.Nem
H5414
to give · interrogative particle + verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
hand
בְּיַ֣דbe.Yad
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
answered
עָנָ֖הוּ'a.Na.hu
H6030
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
day
בַּיּ֥וֹםbai.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition with the 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
1 Samuel 28:6 And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
1 Samuel 23:4 Then David enquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines…
1 Samuel 23:9-12 And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod.
1 Samuel 30:7-8 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to Da…
2 Samuel 5:19 And David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto Davi…
2 Samuel 5:23 And when David enquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mul…
1 Kings 22:5 And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.
1 Kings 22:15 So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answer…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 14:36-46
Here is, I. Saul's boasting against the Philistines. He proposed, as soon as his soldiers had got their suppers, to pursue them all night, and not leave a man of them, Sa1 14:36. Here he showed much zeal, but little discretion; for his army, thus fatigued, could as ill spare a night's sleep as a meal's meat. But it is common for rash and foolish men to consider nobody but themselves, and, so that they might but have their humour, not to care what hardships they put upon those that are under them. However, the people were so obsequious to their king that they would by no means oppose the motion, but resolved to make the best of it, and, if he will go on, they will follow him: Do whatsoever se…
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…
He answered him not that day - Why was this answer delayed? Surely Jonathan's eating the honey was no sin. This could not have excited God's displeasure. And yet the lot found out Jonathan! But did this argue that he had incurred guilt in the sight of God? I answer: It did not; for Jonathan was delivered, by the authority of the people, from his father's rash curse; no propitiation is offered for his supposed transgression to induce God to pardon it; nor do we find any displeasure of God manifested on the occasion. See below.
The Church Fathers
What does it mean that the words of the consulting king, which the people praise, the priest declares must be brought before the Lord, except that obscure and great matters, which escape the simple, are never rightly ordered if we do not seek their outcome in the sanctuary of the mind through careful meditation? For to approach the Lord is to know His will through secret contemplation. And it is rightly called an approach, because we move from external things to internal ones when we try to know the outcome of our work in the divine will. For he who seeks hidden and inward things yet does not leave behind external things does not find those things which he does not know how to reach. Therefore, when counsel is sought from us concerning hidden matters, let us approach the Lord, so that what must be done is set forth only when it is known in the divine will. For many things seem to be good and are not. Many things indeed must be done, but they are done more profitably if they are reserved for the fitting time. Some things, moreover, certain people ought to do, while others ought not. If any chosen one neglects to see these things in the secret place of meditation, he certainly does not arrange them in right order. But on the contrary, he who is accustomed to examine these things or to act upon them through meditation knows not only what must be done but also what must be avoided. Whence it is also rightly said: Saul consulted the Lord, and the Lord did not answer him on that day. The day is a thought of the mind which is considered good and is not recognized for what it truly is. For while it pretends to be good, it carries, as it were, light. In that day, therefore, the Lord did not answer the one consulting him, because the word of God cannot agree with evil deliberation. Indeed, through the answer of a word we are accustomed to reveal the sense of our innermost will. In that day, therefore, the Lord does not answer, because almighty God is not discerned in the feigned light of thought — he who is always found in the brightness of truth. And it should be noted that he who gave the counsel of approaching the Lord was a priest. For what is holier than the counsel of approaching God? We are therefore priests as often as we minister good counsels to our brothers. For nothing more sacred can be given than that by which each person ought to go to the Creator. But…
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
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
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).
John Gill on 1 Samuel 14:37
And Saul asked counsel of God,.... He agreed to the motion of the high priest, and asked counsel by Urim and Thummim; the Targum is, as before,"inquired by the Word of the Lord:"
shall I go down after the Philistines? pursue after them in their flight to their own country, which, lying to the sea, was a descent:
wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? what remain of them, otherwise a victory over them was obtained:
but he answered him not that day; no answer was returned by Urim and Thummim, so that he was left in suspense whether he should pursue or no; the Targum is,"he received not his prayer that day;''this was treating him in a righteous manner; since he would not stay for an…
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…
God made no reply: Neither the “no” lot nor the “yes” lot of the Urim and Thummim appeared.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 14:35
It was the first of the altars. That altar was the first of the altars which Shaul built.32 He built this altar in honor of the victory, as Moshe did after having defeated Amoleik in Shemos 17:15.
