a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
said
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
David
דָּוִ֔דda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
dog
הֲכֶ֣לֶבha.Khe.lev
H3611
a dog · interrogative particle + noun, common masculine singular absolute
comest
בָֽאva'-
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
staves
בַּמַּקְל֑וֹתba.mak.Lot
H4731
a shoot · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
Philistine
הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֛יha.pe.lish.Ti
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
cursed
וַיְקַלֵּ֧לvay.ka.Lel
H7043
to be (causatively · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
David
דָּוִ֖דda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
gods
בֵּאלֹהָֽיוbe.lo.Hav
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 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 24:14 After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
2 Samuel 3:8 Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog’s head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the…
2 Samuel 9:8 And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
Genesis 27:29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every…
2 Samuel 16:9 Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take o…
2 Kings 8:13 And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath shewed me that thou…
Proverbs 26:2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
Numbers 22:6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 17:40-47
We are now coming near this famous combat, and have in these verses the preparations and remonstrances made on both sides.
I. The preparations made on both sides for the encounter. The Philistine was already fixed, as he had been daily for the last forty days. Well might he go with his armour, for he had sufficiently proved it. Only we are told (Sa1 17:41) that he came on and drew near, a signal, it is likely, being given that his challenge was accepted, and, as if he distrusted his helmet and coat of mail, a man went before him, carrying his shield, for his own hands were full with his sword and spear, Sa1 17:45. But what arms and ammunition is David furnished with? Truly none but what he b…
the Philistine said . . . said David to the Philistine--When the two champions met, they generally made each of them a speech, and sometimes recited some verses, filled with allusions and epithets of the most opprobrious kind, hurling contempt and defiance at one another. This kind of abusive dialogue is common among the Arab combatants still. David's speech, however, presents a striking contrast to the usual strain of these invectives. It was full of pious trust, and to God he ascribed all the glory of the triumph he anticipated.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:43
Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? - It is very likely that Goliath did not perceive the sling, which David might have kept coiled up within his hand.
Cursed David by his gods - Prayed his gods to curse him. This long parley between David and Goliath is quite in the style of those times. A Hindoo sometimes in a fit of anger says to his enemy, The goddess Kalee shall devour thee! May Doorga destroy thee! Homer's heroes have generally an altercation before they engage; and sometimes enter into geographical and genealogical discussions, and vaunt and scold most contemptibly.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 17:43
And the Philistine said unto David, am I a dog?.... Truly David did not think him much better, because of his impudence, impurity, and barking blasphemy against God, and the armies of Israel; the Targum is,"am I a despised dog?''
verily he was by David:
that thou comest to me with staves? or with a staff, the plural for the singular, to beat him with it as a dog is beaten, and as David used to beat his dog with, while keeping his father's sheep, when the dog he had with him did not do his business as he should; he says nothing of his sling and stones, they being out of sight:
and the Philistine cursed David by his gods: by Dagon and others; he made an imprecation by them, and wished the g…
The Church Fathers
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods, etc. The devil curses the living and true God when he does not fear to present as gods to mortals the spirits deceived by him and for this reason damned and to be damned to eternal fire. Furthermore, arguing against the spiritual men of the Church as if they belong to a carnal life, he boasts that they can be subdued by his own teachers, who are partly heavenly beings of angelic nature and partly mortals of earthly flesh, claiming that the members should be transferred. He also curses the body of the true David through heretics by his gods, teaching to prefer fabricated thoughts from his heart and forged in the worst fire over evangelical truth, which, teaching carnally, presume that they can overcome the statements or actions of the spiritual ones. Such things more fit the proud philosophers of the gentiles or certain barbarians (for to these, birds of the sky and beasts of the earth can be very fittingly compared) than the education and humility of the Church.
And the Philistine said to David: Am I a dog? etc. Whether you understand the power of the Savior or the wood of the cross, it refers to the same meaning. For the most arrogant enemy denies that he is like a dog, that is, despicable in work and weakness. Moreover, he denies that the patience of the Savior and the power to overcome him would be comparable to all those who pass through the life of this world, pursuing with dire, insane, furious, and barking, and tearing with bites. Let us see what he thinks about the adversary that has come forth. For he says to the Father: Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog (Psalm 22). But elsewhere he has also marked the members of the same adversary to be compared to dogs, when he says: It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs (Matthew 15). However, by ministering the children's bread to them, he converted many of the most shameless or rabid dogs into the most chaste and meek sheep.
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
Dog (Sodomite?) · Epithet of contempt — Epithet of contempt
Philistines · David: Slew Goliath the champion of — David: Slew Goliath the champion of
Reviling And Reproaching · Exemplified: Goliath — Exemplified: Goliath
Sling · David kills Goliath with a — David kills Goliath with a
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).
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…
a dog: A metaphor for a compliant, bowing servant (cp. 2 Sam 9:8). • a stick: David had concealed his sling, and Goliath could see only his staff. • by the names of his gods: Since Goliath appealed to his gods, David’s victory over Goliath would also symbolize God’s victory over Dagon, the chief god of the Philistines (1 Sam 5:2, 5).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 17:40
Smooth stones. Thin and smooth stones.
And in his pouch. [Targum Yonoson renders] 'and in his pack.'
