1 Samuel 17:50 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 17:50
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.
to fasten upon · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
over
מִןmin-
H4480
properly · preposition
Philistine
הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי֙ha.pe.lish.Ti
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
sling
בַּקֶּ֣לַעba.Ke.la'
H7050
a sling · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
stone
וּבָאֶ֔בֶןu.va.'E.ven
H68
a stone · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
smote
וַיַּ֥ךְvai.Yakh
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Philistine
הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֖יha.pe.lish.Ti
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
slew
וַיְמִיתֵ֑הוּvay.mi.Te.hu
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
sword
וְחֶ֖רֶבve.Che.rev
H2719
drought · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
hand
בְּיַדbe.yad-
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
David
דָּוִֽדda.Vid
H1732
David · 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
Judges 15:15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
1 Samuel 17:39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these…
1 Samuel 21:9 And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth beh…
1 Samuel 23:21 And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the LORD; for ye have compassion on me.
Judges 3:31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
1 Samuel 13:22 So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul a…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 17:48–end
Here is 1. The engagement between the two champions, Sa1 17:48. To this engagement the Philistine advanced with a great deal of state and gravity; if he must encounter a pigmy, yet it shall be with the magnificence of a giant and a grandee. This is intimated in the manner of expression: He arose, and came, and drew nigh, like a stalking mountain, overlaid with brass and iron, to meet David. David advanced with no less activity and cheerfulness, as one that aimed more to do execution than to make a figure: He hasted, and ran, being lightly clad, to meet the Philistine. We may imagine with what tenderness and compassion the Israelites saw such a pleasing youth as this throwing himself into the…
smote the Philistine in his forehead--At the opening for the eyes--that was the only exposed part of his body.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:49
Smote the Philistine in his forehead - Except his face, Goliath was everywhere covered over with strong armor. Either he had no beaver to his helmet, or it was lifted up so as to expose his forehead; but it does not appear that the ancient helmets had any covering for the face. The Septuagint however supposes that the stone passed through the helmet, and sank into his forehead: Και διεδυ ὁ λιθος δια της περικεφαλαιας εις το μετωπον αυτου, "and the stone passed through his helmet, and sank into his skull." To some this has appeared perfectly improbable; but we are assured by ancient writers that scarcely any thing could resist the force of the sling.
Diodorus Siculus, lib. v., c. 18, p. 287,…
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone,.... And with them only, without any other warlike weapon:
and smote the Philistine, and slew him; smote him with the stone, which brought him to the ground, and then slew him with his own sword, as afterwards related:
but there was no sword in the hand of David; when he engaged with the Philistine, and smote him, for he had put off all his armour, 1 Samuel 17:39.
The Church Fathers
And when David had no sword in his hand, etc. When he had no one and the Lord of his word's minister, through whom he might shatter the pride of the devil by teaching, except whom he himself had first snatched victoriously from the devil; for all are by nature children of wrath, all conceived in iniquities, and in sins are generated by the mother (Ephesians V; Psalm L); he came unexpectedly, and the adversary long strong, as a stronger surpassing him, took away all his weapons, in which he trusted, so that through those whom the enemy previously as his weapons used to kill the souls of the wretched, through them afterward the Savior, transformed into weapons of righteousness, may cut off the head of iniquity from its body, that is, compel those converted to faith to anathematize Satan, and renounce all his works and pomps. And rightly is it recounted that David first took the sword with which he slew the Philistine by his hand, and drew it out of its sheath; because every great and strenuous one of the devil's empire, whom the Lord first receiving by his visitation of piety, draws out from the obscure hiding places of errors into the light of liberating grace; and so through him also allows others to be similarly corrected and reproved. But we too, when disputing against the madness of heretics, we convict them as fabricators of lies and cultivators of perverse doctrines, either by the arguments or by the testimonies of Scripture which they themselves had proposed to bring us back; indeed, with the giant's own sword we strike down his insolence.
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…
Arms, Military · Offensive: Sling — Offensive: Sling
Championship · .Goliath and David — .Goliath and David
Philistines · David: Slew Goliath the champion of — David: Slew Goliath the champion of
Protection · Of God is: Often afforded through means inadequate in themselves — Of God is: Often afforded through means inadequate in themselves
Rephaim, Or Giants, The · The last of, destroyed by David and his warriors — The last of, destroyed by David and his warriors
Sling · David kills Goliath with a
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 17:1-54
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…
Goliath’s forehead remained exposed beneath his enormous helmet. • stumbled and fell face down: The stone only incapacitated Goliath; David killed him by decapitating him (17:51).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 17:49
And he fell face downward. He should have fallen backwards since he had been struck on his forehead.26The impact should have made him fall backwards. But, in order that Dovid should not be troubled to walk [the extra distance] and cut off his head, for Dovid now saved twelve amos and two zeres; for his height was six amos and a zeres, Dovid saved [walking] his entire height back and hs entire height forward.27Another reason why he fell face downward is because ה׳ had decreed that the mouth that blasphemed shall lick the dust of the earth.
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).
