1 Samuel 21:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
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 behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.
literally one officiating · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sword
חֶרֶב֩che.Rev
H2719
drought · noun, common feminine singular construct
Goliath
גָּלְיָ֨תgal.Yat
H1555
Goljath · proper noun, a man's name
Philistine
הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֜יha.pe.lish.Ti
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
slewest
הִכִּ֣יתָhi.Ki.ta
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd 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 17:2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistine…
Exodus 28:6-14 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work.
1 Samuel 17:50-54 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…
1 Samuel 31:10 And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 21:1-9
Here, I. David, in distress, flies in the tabernacle of God, now pitched at Nob, supposed to be a city in the tribe of Benjamin. Since Shiloh was forsaken, the tabernacle was often removed, though the ark still remained at Kirjath-jearim. Hither David came in his flight from Saul's fury (Sa1 21:1), and applied to Ahimelech the priest. Samuel the prophet could not protect him, Jonathan the prince could not. He therefore has recourse next to Ahimelech the priest. He foresees he must now be an exile, and therefore comes to the tabernacle, 1. To take an affecting leave of it, for he knows not when he shall see it again, and nothing will be more afflictive to him in his banishment than his distan…
HE TAKES GOLIATH'S SWORD. (Sa1 21:9)
sword of Goliath--(See on Sa1 17:54).
behind the ephod--in the place allowed for keeping the sacred vestments, of which the ephod is mentioned as the chief. The giant's sword was deposited in that safe custody as a memorial of the divine goodness in delivering Israel.
There is none like that--not only for its size and superior temper, but for its being a pledge of the divine favor to him, and a constant stimulus to his faith.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 21:9
The sword of Goliath - It has already been conjectured (see 1 Samuel 17:1-58) that the sword of Goliath was laid up as a trophy in the tabernacle.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 21:9
And the priest said, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah,.... See 1 Samuel 17:2,
behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; the garment of the high priest, in which were the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, or the linen vestments of the priests; see 1 Samuel 22:18; which were laid up in a chamber for their use; and behind them the sword of Goliath was wrapped up in a linen cloth, and reserved as a monument of the goodness of God to Israel, and the salvation of them wrought by the hands of David, who slew Goliath with this his own sword, and brought it with him. The Targum understands this word, rendered "behind", not of the place w…
The Church Fathers
And the priest said: Behold the sword of Goliath the Philistine, etc. The apostles said to Christ, teachers seeking against the kingdom of the world: Behold men accustomed to battle for the devil with perverse doctrines for a long time, whom you have overcome in the humility of the cross, are entangled in the trappings of the first transgression, far removed from the garments or ornaments of the priesthood, that is, works worthy of divine sight; if you wish to release them from these same trappings, and promote them to the rank of preaching truth, we know this is due to your power, not to our virtue or piety. For there is no mortal on earth who was not immediately subjected to the service of this kingdom upon being born, because the corrupted root, once defiled, could only produce branches of a corrupted progeny. And the Lord said: No one is better equipped to refute doctrines of vanity than those who were once imbued with them and accustomed to defend them against the Church: from their number, whom I already know to have been snatched from the hands of the devil, I will make teachers and bishops of the Church through teaching and baptizing. The title of Psalm 34 aptly recalls this choice, which reads: A Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. For he changed his behavior by declaring a false reason for his journey and concealing the true one. This can be interpreted as the Lord changing his appearance before the apostles, either by appearing immortal after the glory of the resurrection, having previously been seen as mortal before the agony of the passion; or by commanding them to go and teach and baptize all nations (Matthew 28), whereas shortly before he had instructed them to preach only to Judea, avoiding the ways of the Gentiles and the cities of the Samaritans; but he sent them out to preach everywhere, himself cooperating and confirming the word by the accompanying signs (Mark 16), and he himself departed by the triumph of his ascension, returning to heaven. And in the same Psalm, the Lord himself testifies in the first part that he continuously blesses the Father, admonishing his meek ones—the apostles—to persevere with him in preaching his praise, who had delivered him from the tribulation of passion and death. In the second part, he declares the rewards for the faithful's conversion,…
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
Ahimelech — Brother of the king, the son of Ahitub and father of Abiathar (1 Sam. 22:20-23). He descended from Eli in the line of Ithamar. In 1 Chr. 18:16 he is called Abimelech, and is probably the same as…
High priest — Aaron was the first who was solemnly set apart to this office (Ex. 29:7; 30:23; Lev. 8:12). He wore a peculiar dress, which on his death passed to his successor in office (Ex. 29:29, 30). Besides…
Judges, Book of — Is so called because it contains the history of the deliverance and government of Israel by the men who bore the title of the “judges.” The book of Ruth originally formed part of this book, but about…
Teraphim — Givers of prosperity, idols in human shape, large or small, analogous to the images of ancestors which were revered by the Romans. In order to deceive the guards sent by Saul to seize David, Michal…
Betrayal · Of David, by Doeg — Of David, by Doeg
Confidence · .Ahimelech, by David — .Ahimelech, by David
Elah · 1. A valley where David killed Goliath — 1. A valley where David killed Goliath
Sword · .Goliath — .Goliath
Trophies · Goliath’ s head and armor — Goliath’ s head and armor
Valleys · Mentioned in scripture: Elah — Mentioned in scripture: Elah
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).
valley
בְּעֵ֣מֶקbe.'E.mek
H6010
a vale (i.e. broad depression) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Elah
הָאֵלָ֗הha.'e.Lah
H425
Elah · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
wrapped
לוּטָ֣הlu.Tah
H3874
to wrap up · verb, qal passive participle, feminine singular absolute
cloth
בַשִּׂמְלָה֮va.sim.Lah
H8071
a dress · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Sa1 21:1-2
David at Nob. - The town of Nob or Nobeh (unless indeed the form נבה stands for נבה here and in Sa1 22:9, and the ה attached is merely ה local, as the name is always written נב in other places: vid., Sa1 22:11, Sa1 22:19; Sa1 21:1; Isa 10:32; Neh 11:32) was at that time a priests' city (Sa1 22:19), in which, according to the following account, the tabernacle was then standing, and the legal worship carried on. According to Isa 10:30, Isa 10:32, it was between Anathoth (Anata) and Jerusalem, and in all probability it has been preserved in the village of el-Isawiyeh, i.e., probably the village of Esau or Edom, which is midway between Anata and Jerusalem, an hour from the latter, and…
The sword of Goliath, which David used to decapitate the giant (17:51), had been taken as war spoils, as had Goliath’s head (17:54). • The ephod mentioned here might not have been the priestly garment of the same name; some passages give the impression that an ephod could also be a statue (Judg 8:27; 18:17).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 21:9
Perhaps you have in your possession. And if there is here.
Urgent. Hurried.
