1 Samuel 17:51 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 17:51
Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.
to run (for whatever reason · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
stood
וַיַּעֲמֹ֨דvai.ya.'a.Mod
H5975
to stand · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Philistine
הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֜יha.pe.lish.Ti
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
took
וַיִּקַּ֣חvai.yi.Kach
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sword
חַ֠רְבּוֹchar.bo
H2719
drought · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
drew
וַֽיִּשְׁלְפָ֤הּvai.yish.le.Fah
H8025
to pull out · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
sheath
מִתַּעְרָהּ֙mi.ta'.Rah
H8593
a knife or razor (as making bare) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
slew
וַיְמֹ֣תְתֵ֔הוּvay.Mo.te.Te.hu
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
off
וַיִּכְרָתvai.yikh.rot-
H3772
to cut (off · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
head
רֹאשׁ֑וֹro.Sho
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Philistines
הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֛יםha.pe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
saw
וַיִּרְא֧וּvai.yir.'U
H7200
to see · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
champion
גִּבּוֹרָ֖םgi.bo.Ram
H1368
powerful · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
dead
מֵ֥תmet
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fled
וַיָּנֻֽסוּvai.ya.Nu.su
H5127
to flit · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
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 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…
Hebrews 11:34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the…
2 Samuel 23:21 And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear…
Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
Psalms 7:15-16 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might…
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…
cut off his head--not as an evidence of the giant's death, for his slaughter had been effected in presence of the whole army, but as a trophy to be borne to Saul. The heads of slain enemies are always regarded in the East as the most welcome tokens of victory.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 17:51
When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled - They were panic-struck; and not being willing to fulfill the condition which was stipulated by Goliath, they precipitately left the field. The Israelites took a proper advantage of these circumstances, and totally routed their enemies.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 17:51
Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine,.... Upon his carcass, as it lay prostrate on the ground, and trampled on him, in just contempt of him who had defied, reproached, and despised the armies of Israel:
and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof; which no doubt was a very large one, and required a good deal of strength to unsheathe it, and use it; and therefore either David, though so very young, was naturally very strong, or he had at this time a more than ordinary measure of strength given him:
and slew him; for it seems that by the blow of the stone he was only stunned, and fell to the ground, but still had life in him, which David soon put an end to by his o…
The Church Fathers
Seeing that their strongest man had died, etc. Seeing that the unclean spirits were defeated and prostrated by the incarnation and passion of the Lord, they fled from the hearts of the believers. And all the strong ones in the Church, gathered from both the circumcised and the uncircumcised, arose and lifted up a voice terrifying to the wicked of divine preaching and praise, and pursued them until they recognized that they were to be humbled by Christ, and as it were submerged in the valley of dejection, who had previously boasted of setting up their camp on the mountain of pride against Him; and the fugitives might withdraw to the hearts, which they had previously inhabited evilly, plundering completely every fruit of piety and faith. For the gates of Accaron, that is, of barrenness, the fleeing Philistines reached, when the malignant spirits, repelled from the minds of the faithful, once again referred to their teachers. They entered the walls of the city of vanity and falsehood itself, when they also compelled the ignorant crowd to increase their unfruitful work worthy of fire. But they also reached Geth, that is, the press, when they drew out the hearts of the deceived to torment the good ones with unjust persecution. All these can also be understood in the same order even about perverse humans.
But our armor is Christ; it is that which the apostle Paul prescribes when, writing to the Ephesians, he says, "Take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day;" and again, "Stand, therefore, having your loins gird about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked: and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Armed with these weapons, king David went forth in his day to battle. Taking from the torrent's bed five smooth rounded stones, he proved that, even amidst all the eddying currents of the world, his feelings were free both from roughness and from defilement. Drinking of the brook by the way, and therefore lifted up in spirit, he cut off the head of Goliath, using the proud enemy's own sword as the fittest instrument of death, smiting the profane boaster on the forehead and wounding him in the same place in which Uzziah was smitten with leprosy when he presumed to usurp the priestly office; the very place also in which shines the glory that makes the saints rejoice in the Lord, saying, "The light of your countenance is sealed upon us, O Lord." Let us therefore also say, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise: awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will awake early"; that in us may be fulfilled that word, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it"; and, "The Lord shall give the word with great power to them that publish it." I am well assured that your prayer as well as mine is that in our contending, the victory may remain with the truth. For you seek Christ's glory, not your own: if you are victorious, I also gain a victory if I discover my error.
Dictionary and topics
Arms, Armor — The subject naturally divides itself into— I. Offensive weapons: Arms. II. Defensive weapons: Armor. I. Offensive weapons.—
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…
Goliath — Great. (1.) A famous giant of Gath, who for forty days openly defied the armies of Israel, but was at length slain by David with a stone from a sling (1 Sam. 17:4). He was probably descended from the…
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
Head · Of enemies slain in war, often cut off — Of enemies slain in war, often cut off
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…
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.