1 Samuel 16:9

Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Jesse	יִשַׁ֖י yi.Shai	H3448	Jishai · proper noun, a man's name
Shammah	שַׁמָּ֑ה sha.Mah	H8048	Shammah · proper noun, a man's name
by	וַיַּעֲבֵ֥ר vai.ya.'a.Ver	H5674	to cross over · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
said	וַיֹּ֕אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD	יְהוָֽה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
chosen	בָחַ֥ר va.Char	H977	properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine 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 17:13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab…
2 Samuel 13:3 But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.
1 Chronicles 2:13 And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third,

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 16:6-13

If the sons of Jesse were told that God would provide himself a king among them (as he had said, Sa1 16:1), we may well suppose they all made the best appearance they could, and each hoped he should be the man; but here we are told, I. How all the elder sons, who stood fairest for the preferment, were passed by. 1. Eliab, the eldest, was privately presented first to Samuel, probably none being present but Jesse only, and Samuel thought he must needs be the man: Surely this is the Lord's anointed, Sa1 16:6. The prophets themselves, when they spoke from under the divine direction, were as liable to mistake as other men; as Nathan, Sa2 7:3. But God rectified the prophet's mistake by a secret wh…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 16:6

Samuel said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him--Here Samuel, in consequence of taking his impressions from the external appearance, falls into the same error as formerly (Sa1 10:24).

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 16:7

Man looketh on the outward appearance - And it is well he should, and confine his looks to that; for when he pretends to sound the heart, he usurps the prerogative of God. In what way were these communications made from God to Samuel? It must have been by direct inspirations into his heart. But what a state of holy familiarity does this argue between God and the prophet! I believe Moses himself was not more highly favored than Samuel.

John Gill on 1 Samuel 16:9

Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by,.... His third son, 1 Samuel 17:13, sometimes called Shimma, and Shimeah, 1 Chronicles 2:13. and he said, neither hath the Lord chosen this; which he knew in the same way as before.

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 16:1-13

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…

The Church Fathers

13. Sama is interpreted as "hearing." What then does Sama designate, except the obedient and simple? For to hear, for them, is to carry out by obeying those things which are commanded by their superiors. Whence also concerning the obedience of the Gentile people it is said through the Psalmist: "A people whom I did not know served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me" (Psalm 17:45). But what does it mean that they are said not to be chosen by the Lord, except that at the summit of the Church are placed not the unskilled humble, but the humble wise, who both know how to carry out what is commanded and wisely command what ought to be done? For it is necessary for him both to do and to teach. Therefore let him do humbly, and let him teach wisely. Because therefore those who know how to act through humility but do not know how to command through learning are not to be taken up into royal dignity, Sama is said not to be chosen by the Lord for the kingdom. From this, then, from this let the simple and the disobedient gather how penally they thrust themselves forward to preeminence, if Almighty God does not receive even him for governance who is called "hearing" through the humility of obedience.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 6, Chapter 3

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

Bethlehem — House of bread. (1.) A city in the “hill country” of Judah. It was originally called Ephrath (Gen. 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah (1…
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.…
Shammah — Desert. (1.) One of the “dukes” of Edom (Gen. 36:13, 17). (2.) One of the sons of Jesse (1 Sam. 16:9). He is also called Shimeah (2 Sam. 13:3) and Shimma (1 Chr. 2:13). (3.) One of David’s three…
Shimea — The hearing prayer. (1.) One of David’s sons by Bathsheba (1 Chr. 3:5); called also Shammua (14:4). (2.) A Levite of the family of Merari (1 Chr. 6:30). (3.) Another Levite of the family of Gershon…
Church And State · .Withdraws support and anoints a succes — .Withdraws support and anoints a succes
First Born, The · Instances of superseded: David’s brothers — Instances of superseded: David’s brothers
Jesse · Samuel visits, un — Samuel visits, un
King · .David and the Davidic dynasty — .David and the Davidic dynasty
Shammah · 2. David’ s brother — 2. David’ s brother

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 16:9

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 16:6-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 16:6

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 16:7

John Gill on 1 Samuel 16:9

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 16:1-13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 16:9

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 16:6-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 16:6

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 16:7

John Gill on 1 Samuel 16:9

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 16:1-13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 16:6-7

Rashi on 1 Samuel 16:9