1 Samuel 16:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 16:2
And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
go
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
Saul
שָׁא֖וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
hear
וְשָׁמַ֥עve.sha.Ma'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
kill
וַהֲרָגָ֑נִיva.ha.ra.Ga.ni
H2026
to smite with deadly intent · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
LORD
יְהוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Take
תִּקַּ֣חti.Kach
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
heifer
בָּקָר֙ba.Kar
H1241
beef cattle or an animal of the ox family of either gen… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
thee
בְּיָדֶ֔ךָbe.ya.De.kha
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
say
וְאָ֣מַרְתָּ֔ve.'A.mar.ta
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
come
בָּֽאתִיBa.ti
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
sacrifice
לִזְבֹּ֥חַliz.Bo.ach
H2076
to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
LORD
לַֽיהוָ֖הla.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
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 9:12 And they answered them, and said, He is; behold, he is before you: make haste now, for he came to day to the city; for there is a sacrifice…
1 Samuel 20:29 And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now,…
Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Exodus 3:11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
1 Kings 18:9-14 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?
Jeremiah 38:26-27 Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die…
Luke 1:34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 16:1-5
Samuel had retired to his own house in Ramah, with a resolution not to appear any more in public business, but to addict himself wholly to the instructing and training up of the sons of the prophets, over whom he presided, as we find, Sa1 19:20. He promised himself more satisfaction in young prophets than in young princes; and we do not find that, to his dying day, God called him out to any public action relating to the state, but only here to anoint David.
I. God reproves him for continuing so long to mourn for the rejection of Saul. He does not blame him for mourning on that occasion, but for exceeding in his sorrow: How long wilt thou mourn for Saul? Sa1 16:1. We do not find here that he…
How can I go?--This is another instance of human infirmity in Samuel. Since God had sent him on this mission, He would protect him in the execution.
I am come to sacrifice--It seems to have been customary with Samuel to do this in the different circuits to which he went, that he might encourage the worship of God.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 16:2
Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice - This was strictly true; Samuel did offer a sacrifice; and it does not appear that he could have done the work which God designed, unless he had offered this sacrifice, and called the elders of the people together, and thus collected Jesse's sons. But he did not tell the principal design of his coming; had he done so, it would have produced evil and no good: and though no man, in any circumstances, should ever tell a lie, yet in all circumstances he is not obliged to tell the whole truth, though in every circumstance he must tell nothing but the truth, and in every case so tell the truth that the hearer shall not believe a lie by it.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 16:2
And Samuel said, how can I go?.... Which argues weakness of faith in Samuel, and fear of man, and a diffidence in and distrust of divine power; for otherwise he that sent him on such an errand could protect him:
if Saul hear it, he will kill me; should hear that Samuel went and anointed another king, it would so enrage him, that he would either immediately lay hands on him, and put him to death, or order him to be put to death; and indeed were it not that this was done by the command of God, he would deserve to die; it being an overt act of treason to anoint another king:
and the Lord said, take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord; a peace offering, which might…
The Church Fathers
5. What is shown by these words, except that the cunning and cruelty of tyrants must sometimes be eluded by pious deception? For by the Lord's command a calf is taken from the herd, a sacrifice is simulated, and the royal anointing is reached, because when tyrants desire to do harm, certain things which they may believe must be set before them, so that they find no opening to do harm. Thus tyrants must be eluded in such a way that the guilt of lying is avoided. This is well accomplished when what is asserted actually takes place, but what takes place is stated in such a way that it is concealed, because it is partly spoken and partly kept silent. For the prophet Samuel is commanded to go to anoint the king, and to declare that he is going to sacrifice to the Lord, not that he is going to anoint a king; so that in sacrificing he speaks the truth, and in concealing the anointing he eludes the tyrant's cruelty while speaking the truth. For that he went to sacrifice, he shortly afterward clearly sets forth, where it says: "He therefore sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice."
And Samuel said: How shall I go? etc. The prophets said to the Lord, and the apostles said: How can we preach the kingdom of the New Testament? For the zealous Jews of the law will hear and kill us. Which of the prophets did they not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of Christ. To whom the Lord responding, commanded that his body, separated from the conversation of the people, be taken up by the hand of stricter continence, and worn ready to embrace death for the Lord, and also to inflame his listeners to undertake the glory of martyrdom, as if commanded to call Isaiah to the sacrifice. For death is never better overcome than when it is endured with divine love. And I, he said, to you, O my prophets, and heralds of the future, not by men but by the infusion of my Spirit, will show what you should say or do, and who, where, or when Christ will come. These can be specially understood of John the Baptist, whom the Jews heard evangelizing about Christ and killed; but he, ready in body and mind for martyrdom, called his listeners to the sacrifice, that is to the baptism of repentance. Not any human teacher, but God Himself showed him what he should do; and having given the sign of the Holy Spirit, he taught to whom he should give the testimony of divinity from all those who he baptized.
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
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Church And State · .Withdraws support and anoints a succes — .Withdraws support and anoints a succes
Cowardice · place — place
Doubting · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Jesse · Samuel visits, un — Samuel visits, un
King · .David and the Davidic dynasty — .David and the Davidic dynasty
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).
Anointing of David. - Sa1 16:1. The words in which God summoned Samuel to proceed to the anointing of another king, "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, whom I have rejected, that he may not be king over Israel?" show that the prophet had not yet been able to reconcile himself to the hidden ways of the Lord; that he was still afraid that the people and kingdom of God would suffer from the rejection of Saul; and that he continued to mourn for Saul, not merely from his own personal attachment to the fallen king, but also, or perhaps still more, from anxiety for the welfare of Israel. He was now to put an end to this mourning, and to fill his horn with oil and go to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for t…
say that you have come to make a sacrifice: God sometimes leads his servants into dangerous situations. He protects his own—sometimes by miracle, sometimes by strategy (cp. Exod 3:18-22). In Samuel’s role as a priestly judge, he would not have raised any suspicions by offering a sacrifice (see 1 Sam 10:8).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 16:1
The Beis Lechemite. From Beis Lechem. The rule of every noun composed of two words, e.g., Beis Lechem, Beis Shemesh, Beis Eil, Kiryas Arba, if one wishes to add a 'ה' he adds it between the two words, e.g., Kiryas Ha'arba,1 Bereishis 35:27. Beis Ha'Eili,2 I Melachim 16:34. Beis Ha'lachmi.
