1 Samuel 17:14

And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
David	וְדָוִ֖ד ve.da.Vid	H1732	David · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
youngest	הַקָּטָ֑ן ha.ka.Tan	H6996	abbreviated · definite article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
three	וּשְׁלֹשָׁה֙ u.she.lo.Shah	H7969	three · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
eldest	הַגְּדֹלִ֔ים ha.ge.do.Lim	H1419	great (in any sense) · definite article + adjective, masculine plural absolute
followed	הָלְכ֖וּ ha.le.Khu	H1980	to walk (in a great variety of applications · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
Saul	שָׁאֽוּל sha.'Ul	H7586	Shaul · proper noun, a man's name

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 16:11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And…
Genesis 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people sha…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 17:12-30

Forty days the two armies lay encamped facing one another, each advantageously posted, but neither forward to engage. Either they were parleying and treating of an accommodation or they were waiting for recruits; and perhaps there were frequent skirmishes between small detached parties. All this while, twice a day, morning and evening, did the insulting champion appear in the field and repeat his challenge, his own heart growing more and more proud for his not being answered and the people of Israel more and more timorous, while God designed hereby to ripen him for destruction and to make Israel's deliverance the more illustrious. All this while David is keeping his father's sheep, but at th…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 17:8

I defy the armies of Israel . . .; give me a man, that we may fight together--In cases of single combat, a warrior used to go out in front of his party, and advancing towards the opposite ranks, challenge someone to fight with him. If his formidable appearance, or great reputation for physical strength and heroism, deterred any from accepting the challenge, he used to parade himself within hearing of the enemy's lines, specify in a loud, boastful, bravado style, defying them, and pouring out torrents of abuse and insolence to provoke their resentment.

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:12

The 12th verse, to the 31st inclusive, are wanting in the Septuagint; as also the 41st verse; and from the 54th to the end; with the first five verses of 1 Samuel 18, and the 9th, 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, and 19th of the same. All these parts are found in the Codex Alexandrinus; but it appears that the MS. from which the Codex Alexandrinus was copied, had them not. See observations at the end of this chapter, Sa1 17:58 (note). Dr. Kennicott has rendered it very probable that these portions are not a genuine part of the text. Notwithstanding what Bishop Warburton and others have done to clear the chronology of the present printed Hebrew, it is impossible to make a clear consistent sense of the…

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The Church Fathers

David, however, was the youngest. The Lord is to be understood as the youngest among his brothers for a twofold reason: in which he filled the number eight, that is, those to whom he entrusted the sacraments of the Gospel when they were perfected in the law, both in time and in humility. For when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law (Galatians IV). And: The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew XX). For even that grain of the evangelical mustard seed, which he himself sowed in his field, namely in the hearts of believers, is indeed the smallest of all seeds, in the humility of the doctrine of discipline, but foremost in the fervor of spiritual grace.
— Bede, Commentary on Samuel

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.…
Elah, The Valley Of — (valley of the terebinth), the valley in which David killed Goliath. (1 Samuel 17:2,19) It lay somewhere near Socoh of Judah and Azekah, and was nearer Ekron than any other Philistine town. 1Sam. 17.
Elhanan — Whom God has graciously bestowed. (1.) A warrior of the time of David famed for his exploits. In the Authorized Version (2 Sam. 21:19) it is recorded that “Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a…
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…
War — The Israelites had to take possession of the Promised Land by conquest. They had to engage in a long and bloody war before the Canaanitish tribes were finally subdued. Except in the case of Jericho…
Championship · .Goliath and David — .Goliath and David
Jesse · General references — General references

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 17:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 17:12-30

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 17:8

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 17:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 17:12-30

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 17:8

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on 1 Samuel 17:14

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 17:1-54

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 17:12

Rashi on 1 Samuel 17:14