1 Samuel 19:20 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 19:20
And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
to send away · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
messengers
מַלְאָכִים֮mal.'a.Khim
H4397
a messenger · noun, common masculine plural absolute
take
לָקַ֣חַתla.Ka.chat
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
David
דָּוִד֒da.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
saw
וַיַּ֗רְאvai.Yar'
H7200
to see · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
company
לַהֲקַ֤תla.ha.Kat
H3862
an assembly · noun, common feminine singular construct
prophets
הַנְּבִיאִים֙ha.ne.vi.'Im
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
prophesying
נִבְּאִ֔יםni.be.'Im
H5012
to prophesy · verb, niphal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Samuel
וּשְׁמוּאֵ֕לu.she.mu.'El
H8050
Shemuel · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
standing
עֹמֵ֥ד'o.Med
H5975
to stand · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
appointed
נִצָּ֖בni.Tzav
H5324
to station · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Spirit
ר֣וּחַRu.ach
H7307
wind · noun, common feminine singular construct
God
אֱלֹהִ֔ים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
messengers
מַלְאֲכֵ֤יmal.'a.Khei
H4397
a messenger · noun, common masculine plural construct
Saul
שָׁאוּל֙sha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
prophesied
וַיִּֽתְנַבְּא֖וּvai.yit.na.be.'U
H5012
to prophesy · conjunction + verb, hithpael 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
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your ol…
1 Samuel 10:5-6 After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thith…
John 7:32 The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
1 Corinthians 14:24-25 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
1 Samuel 10:10 And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among…
1 Corinthians 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
Numbers 11:25-26 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it…
1 Samuel 19:11 Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If tho…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 19:18–end
Here is, I. David's place of refuge. Having got away in the night from his own house, he fled not to Bethlehem to his relations, nor to any of the cities of Israel that had caressed and cried him up, to make an interest in them for his own preservation; but he ran straight to Samuel and told him all that Saul had done to him, Sa1 19:18. 1. Because Samuel was the man that had given him assurance of the crown, and his faith in that assurance now beginning to fail, and he being ready to say in his haste (or in his flight, as some read it, Psa 116:11), All men are liars ("not only Saul that promised me my life, but Samuel himself that promised me the throne"), whither should he go but to Samuel,…
DAVID FLEES TO SAMUEL. (Sa1 19:18-23)
David fled, . . . and came to Samuel to Ramah--Samuel was living in great retirement, superintending the school of the prophets, established in the little hamlet of Naioth, in the neighborhood of Ramah. It was a retreat congenial to the mind of David; but Saul, having found out his asylum, sent three successive bodies of men to apprehend him. The character of the place and the influence of the sacred exercises produced such an effect on them that they were incapable of discharging their commission, and were led, by a resistless impulse, to join in singing the praises of God. Saul, in a fit of rage and disappointment, determined to go himself. But, befor…
The company of the prophets prophesying - Employed in religious exercises.
Samuel - appointed over them - Being head or president of the school at this place.
The Spirit of God was upon the messengers - They partook of the same influence, and joined in the same exercise; and thus were prevented from seizing David.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 19:20
And Saul sent messengers to take David,.... Notwithstanding the sacred place he was in, so bent was he upon his destruction:
and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying; or praising, as the Targum; singing hymns and songs of praise to God, under the inspiration and influence of the Spirit of God, who endited these songs for them, and excited them to sing them; these prophets belonged to the school or college of prophets at Naioth, whom the messengers saw when they came thither, and found them thus employed; or "when he saw" (m), for the word is singular, that is, the chief of the messengers, or everyone of them, so Kimchi:
and Samuel standing as appointed over them; he was pr…
The Church Fathers
Now, it seems to me that fortuitous circumstance also is sometimes the cause of prophesying, as is true in the present case of Caiaphas. He was high priest of that year [in which] Jesus was to die for the people that the whole nation might not perish. For although others were high priests … no one prophesies except the high priest of the year in which Jesus was to suffer.And it was fortuitous circumstance that caused the messengers of Saul to prophesy when they were sent to David, along with Saul himself. For it is as if the fact that they were seeking David became the cause of their prophecy, such as it was, as has been recorded.
The book of Kings [Samuel] gives us an example about prophecy. Saul was the persecutor of David. When he was persecuting him, he sent guards to drag him away to punishment, and those who were sent to bring David to be slain found him among the prophets; and Samuel was there too.… So he had fled to the place where besides Samuel, the most distinguished of all the prophets, there were also many other prophets. Pushing their way among them, while they were prophesying, came the emissaries of Saul, to drag him off, as I said, to death. The spirit of God leaped upon them and they began to prophesy, having come to lead a holy and just man of God to the execution block and snatch him away from among the prophets. They were suddenly filled with the spirit of God and turned into prophets. It's possible this happened because of their innocence; after all, they hadn't come of their own accord to arrest him but had been sent by their king. And perhaps they had indeed come to the place where David was but weren't going to do what Saul had told them to; perhaps they too were intending to stay there. Because such things even happen today. Sometimes a bailiff is sent by high authority to drag somebody out of the church; he dare not act against God, and in order not to face execution himself he stays there, in the place he was sent, to haul someone out of it. So you could say, pleasantly surprised and relieved, that these men suddenly became prophets because they were innocent; the very gift of prophecy bore witness to their innocence. They came because they were sent, but they weren't going to do what that bad man had told them to. Let us believe that about them.Others were sent; the Spirit of God leaped on them too, and they too began to prophesy. Let's count them too with the first lot as being quite innocent. A third lot were sent; the same happened to them too; let them all be innocent. When they delayed and what Saul had ordered wasn't done, he came himself. Was he too innocent? Was he also sent by some authority, and not ill-intentioned of his own free will? Yet the Spirit of God leaped on him too, and he began to prophesy. There you are, Saul is prophesying, he has the gift of prophecy, but he has not got charity. He has become a kind of instrument to be touched by the Spirit, not one to be cleansed by the Spirit. The Spirit of God, you see, touches some hearts to…
Dictionary and topics
Music — Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the…
Prophet — (Heb. nabi, from a root meaning “to bubble forth, as from a fountain,” hence “to utter”, comp. Ps. 45:1). This Hebrew word is the first and the most generally used for a prophet. In the time of…
Schools of the Prophets — (1 Sam. 19:18-24; 2 Kings 2:3, 5, 7, 12, 15) were instituted for the purpose of training young men for the prophetical and priestly offices. (See PROPHET; SAMUEL.)
Tongues, Gift of — Granted on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4), in fulfilment of a promise Christ had made to his disciples (Mark 16:17). What this gift actually was has been a subject of much discussion. Some have…
David · Naioth, where Saul pursues him — Naioth, where Saul pursues him
Jealousy · .Saul, of David — .Saul, of David
Prophecy · Gift of, sometimes possessed by unconverted men — Gift of, sometimes possessed by unconverted men
Prophets · Ordinary: Trained up and instructed in schools — Ordinary: Trained up and instructed in schools
School · Of the prophets, at Naioth — Of the prophets, at Naioth
Students · In the schools of the prophets — In the schools of the prophets
Synagogues · Probably originated in the schools of the prophets — Probably originated in the schools of the prophets
David fled to Samuel at Ramah, and reported to him all that Saul had done, partly to seek for further advice from the prophet who had anointed him, as to his further course, and partly to strengthen himself, by intercourse with him, for the troubles that still awaited him. He therefore went along with Samuel, and dwelt with him in Naioth. נוית (to be read נוית according to the Chethibh, for which the Masoretes have substituted the form ניות, Sa1 19:19, Sa1 19:23, and Sa1 20:1), from נוה or נוה, signifies dwellings; but here it is in a certain sense a proper name, applied to the coenobium of the pupils of the prophets, who had assembled round Samuel in the neighbourhood of Ramah. The plural נ…
Prophets often assembled in groups under a single leader (see 2 Kgs 2:15; 4:38; 6:1-7). • The Spirit of God came upon Saul’s men to allow David to escape (1 Sam 20:1).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 19:20
A group of. A company.3The letters לַהֲקַת are transposed from קהלת [=a group or company]; קָהָל includes the entire group and חֶבֶל [Above 10:5] means only part of the group—Malbim.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Teachers
· Samuel, head of school of prophets
— Samuel, head of school of prophets
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).