1 Samuel 20:30 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 20:30
Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness?
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
kindled
וַיִּֽחַרvai.yi.char-
H2734
to glow or grow warm · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Jonathan
בִּיה֣וֹנָתָ֔ןbi.Ho.na.Tan
H3083
Jehonathan · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
son
בֶּֽןben-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
perverse
נַעֲוַ֖תna.'a.Vat
H5753
to crook · verb, niphal active participle, feminine singular construct
rebellious
הַמַּרְדּ֑וּתha.mar.Dut
H4780
rebelliousness · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
know
יָדַ֗עְתִּיya.Da'.ti
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
chosen
בֹחֵ֤רvo.Cher
H977
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
son
לְבֶןle.ven-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Jesse
יִשַׁ֔יyi.Shai
H3448
Jishai · proper noun, a man's name
confusion
לְבָ֨שְׁתְּךָ֔le.Va.she.te.kha
H1322
shame (the feeling and the condition · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
confusion
וּלְבֹ֖שֶׁתu.le.Vo.shet
H1322
shame (the feeling and the condition · conjunction + preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
mother’s
אִמֶּֽךָ'i.Me.kha
H517
a mother (as the bond of the family) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
nakedness
עֶרְוַ֥ת'er.Vat
H6172
nudity · noun, common feminine singular construct
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
Proverbs 21:24 Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.
James 1:19-20 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
Job 5:2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
Proverbs 14:29 He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
Proverbs 15:2 The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
Proverbs 19:12 The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.
Proverbs 19:19 A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.
Proverbs 25:28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 20:24-34
Jonathan is here effectually convinced of that which he was so loth to believe, that his father had an implacable enmity to David, and would certainly be the death of him if it were in his power; and he had like to have paid very dearly himself for the conviction.
I. David is missed from the feast on the first day, but nothing is said of him. The king sat upon his seat, to feast upon the peace-offerings as at other times (Sa1 20:25), and yet had his heart as full of envy and malice against David as it could hold. He should first have been reconciled to him, and then have come and offered his gift; but, instead of that, he hoped, at this feast, to drink the blood of David. What an abomination…
Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman--This is a striking Oriental form of abuse. Saul was not angry with his wife; it was the son alone, upon whom he meant, by this style of address, to discharge his resentment. The principle on which it is founded seems to be, that to a genuine filial instinct it is a more inexpiable offense to hear the name or character of a parent traduced, than any personal reproach. This was, undoubtedly, one cause of "the fierce anger" in which the high-minded prince left the table without tasting a morsel.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 20:30
Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman - This clause is variously translated and understood. The Hebrew might be translated, Son of an unjust rebellion; that is, "Thou art a rebel against thy own father." The Vulgate, Fili mulieris virum ultro rapientis; "Son of the woman who, of her own accord, forces the man." The Septuagint is equally curious, Υἱε κορασιων αυτομολουντων; "Son of the damsels who came of their own accord." Were these the meaning of the Hebrew, then the bitter reflection must refer to some secret transaction between Saul and Jonathan's mother; which certainly reflects more dishonor on himself than on his brave son. Most sarcasms bear as hard upon the speaker, as they do…
For that commendable friendship which maintains virtue is to be preferred most certainly to wealth or honors or power. It is not apt to be preferred to virtue indeed, but to follow after it. So it was with Jonathan, who for his affection's sake avoided neither his father's displeasure nor the danger to his own safety.
Who would not have loved him [David], when they saw how dear he was to his friends? For as he truly loved his friends, so he thought that he was loved as much in return by his own friends. No, parents put him even before their own children, and children loved him more than their parents. Therefore Saul was very angry and strove to strike Jonathan his son with a spear because he thought that David's friendship held a higher place in his esteem than either filial piety or a father's authority.
But Saul, angry against Jonathan, etc. The elders of the Synagogue, angry against the assembly of spiritual people, call his mother the Church by the name of an adulteress, because she has nobly taken Christ instead of Moses, the bridegroom instead of the friend of the bridegroom, the Lord instead of the servant, to be governed. "Do we not know," they say, "that you love Jesus to your own confusion, and to the confusion of Christian doctrine?" Which is deservedly called disgraceful, because, carrying the sacred law, it gleefully abandons even the most august and widely glorified gathering of the temple, and prefers to gather its congregations in secret places despised. For as long as faith in Jesus is on earth, you will not be stable, nor will your kingdom. So now, send teachers, and even those who believe and confess Jesus Christ as God, let them rather listen to us, follow our teachings, because the assembly serving this name is the son of death. Indeed, these things were said by the perfidious; yet it turned out far otherwise than they complained, because those who, out of love for an earthly kingdom, were persecuting the citizens of heaven wandering on earth, lost both the earthly kingdom and the heavenly kingdom together: both of which they could have had if they preferred not to impiously drive away the one Lord of both by persecuting, but to piously receive by following.
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.…
Anger · .Saul, toward Jonathan, on account of his sympathy with David — .Saul, toward Jonathan, on account of his sympathy with David
Arrow · Shot by Jonathan as a sign to David — Shot by Jonathan as a sign to David
Jealousy · .Saul, of David — .Saul, of David
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).
John Gill on 1 Samuel 20:30
Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan,.... For giving David leave to go, and for excusing him in this manner:
and he said unto him, thou son of the perverse and rebellious woman; most of the Jewish commentators supply it as we do, but the supplement of woman may as well be left out, and be read, "thou son of perverse rebellion" (f); thou perverse and rebellious wretch, perverse in thy temper, and rebellious in thy conduct; for the design of the expression is not to reproach his mother, for which there seems no provocation, but Jonathan only; and the next clause confirms it, which expresses a concern for his mother's honour and credit; the Targum is,"an obstinate son, whose rebellio…
David thereupon concealed himself in the field, whilst Jonathan, as agreed upon, endeavoured to apologize for his absence from the king's table.
Sa1 20:24-25
On the new moon's day Saul sat at table, and as always, at his seat by the wall, i.e., at the top, just as, in eastern lands at the present day, the place of honour is the seat in the corner (see Harmar Beobachtungen ii. pp. 66ff.). "And Jonathan rose up, and Abner seated himself by the side of Saul, and David's place remained empty." The difficult passage, "And Jonathan rose up," etc., can hardly be understood in any other way than as signifying that, when Abner entered, Jonathan rose from his seat by the side of Saul, and gave up the…
You stupid son of a whore! This epithet was as strong and insulting in Hebrew as it is in English. • shaming yourself: Saul was interested in the legacy of his own dynasty. He viewed David’s actions as ultimately directed against Jonathan, the hereditary successor. To Saul, Jonathan was stupidly hurting and shaming himself by supporting David.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 20:30
A straying woman, deserving of punishment.נָע is an expression of straying and wandering, a gadding woman. Just as you have זַעֲוָה from זָע, similarly you have נַעֲוָה from נָע, and the 'ת' is for construct state, for it is connected to הַמַּרְדּוּת.
Deserving of punishment. Who deserves to be chastised and disciplined. Another explanation is that when the men of Binyomin grabbed the girls of Shiloh, who came out to dance in the vineyards,30See Shoftim 21:20-21. Shaul was bashful, and did not want to grab, until she herself came, behaving insolently, and pursued him.
Straying. Because of the vineyards. And that is the winepress, as in 'purge the winepress'31Maseches Avodah Zorah 74b. [and]…
