1 Samuel 16:23

And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
spirit	רֽוּחַ Ru.ach-	H7307	wind · noun, common feminine singular construct
God	אֱלֹהִים֙ 'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Saul	שָׁא֔וּל sha.'Ul	H7586	Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
David	דָּוִ֛ד da.Vid	H1732	David · proper noun, a man's name
took	וְלָקַ֥ח ve.la.Kach	H3947	to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
harp	הַכִּנּ֖וֹר ha.ki.Nor	H3658	a harp · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
played	וְנִגֵּ֣ן ve.ni.Gen	H5059	properly · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hand	בְּיָד֑וֹ be.ya.Do	H3027	a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Saul	לְשָׁאוּל֙ le.sha.'Ul	H7586	Shaul · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
refreshed	וְרָוַ֤ח ve.ra.Vach	H7304	properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
well	טוֹב ṭôwb	H2895	to be (transitively
evil	הָרָעָֽה ha.ra.'Ah	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · definite article + adjective, feminine singular absolute
spirit	ר֥וּחַ Ru.ach	H7307	wind · noun, common feminine singular construct
departed	וְסָ֥רָה ve.Sa.rah	H5493	to turn off (literal or figurative) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person feminine 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

1 Samuel 16:14-16 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1 Samuel 18:10-11 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David play…
Matthew 12:43-45 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Luke 11:24-26 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 16:14–end

We have here Saul falling and David rising. I. Here is Saul made a terror to himself (Sa1 16:14): The Spirit of the Lord departed from him. He having forsaken God and his duty, God, in a way of righteous judgment, withdrew from him those assistances of the good Spirit with which he was directed, animated, and encouraged in his government and wars. He lost all his good qualities. This was the effect of his rejecting God, and an evidence of his being rejected by him. Now God took his mercy from Saul (as it is expressed, Sa2 7:15); for, when the Spirit of the Lord departs from us, all good goes. When men grieve and quench the Spirit, by wilful sin, he departs, and will not always strive. The co…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 16:23

David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well--The ancients believed that music had a mysterious influence in healing mental disorders. Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 17

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 16:23

The evil spirit from God - The word evil is not in the common Hebrew text, but it is in the Vulgate, Septuagint, Targum, Syriac, and Arabic, and in eight of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., which present the text thus: רוח אלהים רעה ruach Elohim raah, spiritus Domini malus, the evil spirit of God. The Septuagint leave out Θεου, of God, and have πνευμα πονηρον, the evil spirit. The Targum says, The evil spirit from before the Lord; and the Arabic has it. The evil spirit by the permission of God; this is at least the sense. And the evil spirit departed from him - The Targum says, And the evil spirit descended up from off him. This considers the malady of Saul to be more than a natural disease.…

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John Gill on 1 Samuel 16:23

And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul,.... See 1 Samuel 16:14 though the word evil is not in the text here; wherefore Abarbinel thinks that this here was the Spirit of God, which stirred up in him thoughts of divine things, put him in mind of what God had said, that he had rejected him from being king, and had rent the kingdom from him; and this filled him with grief and trouble, and he became melancholy: that David took an harp, and played with his hands; upon it; and, as Josephus (r) says, at the same time sung hymns and psalms; made use both of vocal and instrumental music: so Saul was refreshed, and was well; became cheerful, his grief was removed, his black…

The Church Fathers

You, a man of the church, ought to be better instructed by the music of the church than by Pythagoras. Think what David's lyre did for Saul, who was harassed by an evil spirit but recovered from this disturbance when the holy man played his lyre; beware of thinking the concupiscence of the flesh is a good merely because it is sometimes checked by musical sounds.
— Augustine of Hippo, AGAINST JULIAN 5.5.23

Once when he came to Saul, who was frenzied and out of his right mind, he healed him by soothing his passions with song, so that Saul's understanding returned to him again in accordance with nature. The goal, then, of the symbolism of the singing is clear from these words. It recommends that we achieve the subjugation of those passions which arise in us in various ways from the circumstances of life.
— Gregory of Nyssa, ON THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 1.3.24

For neither is this to be lightly regarded, that, when an adverse spirit entered into Saul, David took his harp and assuaged his madness. For what is intimated by Saul but the elation of men in power, and what by David but the humble life of the holy? When, then, Saul is seized by the unclean spirit, his madness is appeased by David's singing; since, when the senses of men in power are turned to frenzy by elation, it is meet that they should be recalled to a healthy state by the calmness of our speech, as by the sweetness of a harp.
— Gregory the Dialogist, The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 2

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

Exorcist — (Acts 19:13). “In that sceptical and therefore superstitious age professional exorcist abounded. Many of these professional exorcists were disreputable Jews, like Simon in Samaria and Elymas in…
Harp — (Heb. kinnor), the national instrument of the Hebrews. It was invented by Jubal (Gen. 4:21). Some think the word kinnor denotes the whole class of stringed instruments. It was used as an…
David · . — .
Demons · .Saul — .Saul
Harp · David skillful in manipulating — David skillful in manipulating
Jesse · Saul asks, to send David to become a member of his court — Saul asks, to send David to become a member of his court
Music · Considered efficacious in mental disorders — Considered efficacious in mental disorders
Saul · .Sends messengers to Jesse, asking that David be sent to him as a musician and an armor-bearer — .Sends messengers to Jesse, asking that David be sent to him as a musician and an armor-bearer

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).

1 Samuel 16:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 16:14–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 16:23

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 16:23

John Gill on 1 Samuel 16:23

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 16:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 16:14–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 16:23

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 16:23

John Gill on 1 Samuel 16:23

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 16:14–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 16:23

Rashi on 1 Samuel 16:18