1 Samuel 17:25 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 17:25
And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
seen
הַרְּאִיתֶם֙ha.re.'i.Tem
H7200
to see · interrogative particle + verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
man
הָאִ֤ישׁha.'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
up
הָֽעֹלֶה֙ha.'o.Leh
H5927
to ascend · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
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
Joshua 15:16 And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, wh…
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God,…
1 Samuel 18:17-27 And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD’s batt…
Ezra 7:24 Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall…
Matthew 17:26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.
Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, an…
Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess…
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…
make his father's house free in Israel--His family should be exempted from the impositions and services to which the general body of the Israelites were subjected.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:19
Fighting with the Philistines - See at the end of the chapter, Sa1 17:58 (note).
John Gill on 1 Samuel 17:25
And the men of Israel said,.... To one another:
have ye seen this man that is come up? taken notice of him, and observed him?
surely to defy Israel is he come up; to challenge them to fight with him, and upbraid them with cowardice that they did not:
and it shall be that the man who killeth him; this, and what follows, they said to encourage any person to engage with him, though none of them cared to encounter him themselves:
the king will enrich him with great riches; give him a large gratuity, make a present of a great sum of money to him:
and will give him his daughter to be his wife, in like manner as Caleb promised to give his daughter in marriage to the person that should take Kir…
And one of the Israelites said: Have you seen? etc. One of the Israelites, asking whether he saw David or the Philistine; those who were awaiting the redemption of Israel, already illuminated by the miracles at the Lord's birth, with a careful mind inquired whether the same Lord was free from the snares of that ancient enemy who habitually reproaches all the faithful, whether he was in debt to death in any way, or to him who had the power of death; nor was it easy for all to recognize immediately that the Son of God, conceived from sanctification, born without sin, and destined to live in the world.
Therefore, the man who strikes him, the king will enrich, etc. They say, the man who will overthrow the kingdom of the devil, the entire people of Israel acknowledges, distinguished above all nations by royal and priestly mystery, as the possessor of all the riches that are in the heavens and on the earth, that is, as the Lord of the whole world. But also, the early Church, undoubtedly generated from his own flesh, rejoices to be united to this man, outstanding above others, by the bond of a chaste and faithful spouse, and also testifies with unfaltering faith that all his elect will be freed from the bondage of sin and elevated by the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Whether you choose to understand it as the Father of Christ the Lord or as the people of the saints, from whom Christ is according to the flesh, the explanation will hold the same end valid; for there is also one house of all the faithful, living by one and the same faith, hope, and charity, and this same house is of Him to whom it is sung: And let all those who hope in You rejoice, they will exult forever, and You will dwell in them (Psalm V). Such was the faith of the ancients concerning the coming Christ in the flesh, and such is our faith concerning Him whom we rejoice has already come.
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…
Merab — Increase, the eldest of Saul’s two daughters (1 Sam. 14:49). She was betrothed to David after his victory over Goliath, but does not seem to have entered heartily into this arrangement (18:2, 17,…
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…
Armies Of Israel, The · Bravery and fidelity in, rewarded — Bravery and fidelity in, rewarded
Championship · .Goliath and David — .Goliath and David
Daughter · Given in marriage by parents — Given in marriage by parents
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).
defy
לְחָרֵ֥ףle.cha.Ref
H2778
to pull off · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
up
עֹלֶ֑ה'o.Leh
H5927
to ascend · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
man
הָאִ֨ישׁha.'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
killeth
יַכֶּ֜נּוּya.Ke.nu
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
king
הַמֶּ֣לֶךְha.Me.lekh
H4428
a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
enrich
יַעְשְׁרֶ֥נּוּya'.she.Re.nu
H6238
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
great
גָּד֗וֹלga.Dol
H1419
great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
riches
עֹ֣שֶׁר'O.sher
H6239
wealth · noun, common masculine singular absolute
give
יִתֶּןyi.ten-
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
daughter
בִּתּוֹ֙bi.To
H1323
a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
make
יַעֲשֶׂ֥הya.'a.Seh
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
father’s
אָבִ֔יו'a.Viv
H1
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
house
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
A war between the Philistines and the Israelites furnished David with the opportunity of displaying before Saul and all Israel, and greatly to the terror of the enemies of his people, that heroic power which was firmly based upon his bold and pious trust in the omnipotence of the faithful covenant God (Sa1 17:1-3). A powerful giant, named Goliath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines, and scornfully challenged the Israelites to produce a man who would decide the war by a single combat with him (Sa1 17:4-11). David, who had returned home for a time from the court of Saul, and had just been sent into the camp by his father with provisions for his elder brothers who were serving in th…
went back and forth: David apparently served as a musician and armor bearer in Saul’s court (see 16:19-23) while maintaining his duties at home. The intermittent nature of David’s service might explain why Saul was unfamiliar with David during the encounter with Goliath (see 17:55-58).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 17:25
He will exempt. From the listed royal obligations.16See above 8:11–17 for details of these obligations.
