a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
Philistines
וּפְלִשְׁתִּ֖יםu.fe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · conjunction + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
went
הָלְכ֥וּha.le.Khu
H1980
to walk (in a great variety of applications · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
place
לִמְקוֹמָֽםlim.ko.Mam
H4725
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
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).
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 rescued Jonathan, that he died not--When Saul became aware of Jonathan's transgression in regard to the honey, albeit it was done in ignorance and involved no guilt, he was, like Jephthah [Jdg 11:31, Jdg 11:35], about to put his son to death, in conformity with his vow [Sa1 14:44]. But the more enlightened conscience of the army prevented the tarnishing the glory of the day by the blood of the young hero, to whose faith and valor it was chiefly due.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 14:45
And the people said - "Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid! As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground." Here was a righteous and impartial jury, who brought in a verdict according to the evidence: No man should die but for a breach of the law of God; but Jonathan hath not broken any law of God; therefore Jonathan should not die. And because he should not, therefore he shall not.
He hath wrought with God this day - God has been commander-in-chief; Jonathan has acted under his directions.
So the people rescued Jonathan - And God testified no displeasure; and perhaps he permitted all this that he might correct Saul's…
And Saul withdrew, not pursuing the Philistines, etc. Indeed, teachers, conscious of their own frailty, realize they are not able to track or expel all the wiles of demons; but woe to those hearts to which the repelled and cast out unclean spirits return as if to their own places.
When Jonathan's fault is discovered, when the king is found not to have fulfilled his oath, he is said to cease pursuing the Philistines, because when pastors are weighed down by their own weakness, they cannot vigorously seek the gains of others. For to cease pursuing the Philistines is to stop for a time pursuing the vices of others by preaching. For they judge that they must first attend to their own purification, and then, once purified, be watchful for the salvation of others, because while they are silent they prepare themselves, so that through their own penance, as it were, they may rise up vigorously to gain others. And because often, while the teacher, conscious of his own guilt, is silent, evil spirits are not silent toward some of his subjects, suggesting impious things to them. When the teachers are silent, the demons depart to their own places; because through the silence of the pastors, none perish except those who are not predestined to eternal life. For the places of demons are those who are not foreordained by divine foreknowledge as a dwelling of God. Hence it is said, when the first teachers were preaching: "As many as were predestined to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). Hence Paul says: "Whom He foreknew, He also predestined, and whom He predestined, He also called" (Rom. 8:30). Hence it is that when the apostles wished to cross into Asia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16). Therefore those who are not predestined, whether they hear the words of the teachers or do not hear them, cannot be called into the dwelling of God, because through the wickedness in which they were foreknown before the foundation of the world, they have prepared a place within themselves for malign spirits. Rightly therefore, when the pursuit of the Philistines is said to have ceased, the demons are reported to have gone away to their own places, because sometimes by God's dispensation the teachers are silent, so that while they are silent, those who are not the Lord's may be reclaimed by evil spirits. But, as I said, when after their fault the pastors are silent, they humble themselves, so that, purified, they may rise powerfully to the ministry of preaching. While they are silent, they weigh their own weakness, but by examining themselves, they strengthen themselves more vigorously against hidden enemies.
Dictionary and topics
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…
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).
on 1 Samuel 14:46
Then Saul went up from following the Philistines,.... Returned home to his own city, finding that he could get no answer from the Lord, whether he should pursue further or not, and losing the time and opportunity of doing it, by examining into the affair of his son, and casting lots to find it out:
and the Philistines went to their own place; their country and cities, such of them as remained, who were not cut off by their own and the sword of the Israelites. Josephus (n) says, Saul killed about 60,000 of them. It seems to be the will of God that they should not now be utterly destroyed, that they might be a rod of correction in his hand, to chastise the people of Israel hereafter.
(n) Ant…
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…