1 Samuel 22:18

And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
king	הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ ha.Me.lekh	H4428	a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
said	וַיֹּ֤אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Doeg	לְדוֹאֵ֔ג le.do.yeg	H1673	Doeg · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
Turn	סֹ֣ב so	H5437	to revolve · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
fall	וּפְגַ֖ע u.fe.Ga'	H6293	to impinge · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
priests	בַּכֹּהֲנִ֑ים ba.ko.ha.Nim	H3548	literally one officiating · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Doeg	דּוֹאֵ֣ג do.yeg	H1673	Doeg · proper noun, a man's name
Edomite	הָאֲדֹמִ֗י ha.'a.do.Mi	H130	an Edomite · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
turned	וַיִּסֹּ֞ב vai.yi.So	H5437	to revolve · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fell	וַיִּפְגַּע vai.yif.ga'-	H6293	to impinge · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
priests	בַּכֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים ba.Ko.ha.Nim	H3548	literally one officiating · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
slew	וַיָּ֣מֶת vai.Ya.met	H4191	to die (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
day	בַּיּ֣וֹם bai.Yom	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
fourscore	שְׁמֹנִ֤ים she.mo.Nim	H8084	eighty · noun, common masculine plural absolute
five	וַחֲמִשָּׁה֙ va.cha.mi.Shah	H2568	five · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
persons	אִ֔ישׁ 'Ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
wear	נֹשֵׂ֖א no.Se'	H5375	to lift · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
linen	בָּֽד Bad	H906	flaxen thread or yarn · noun, common masculine singular absolute
ephod	אֵפ֥וֹד 'e.Fod	H646	a girdle · noun, common masculine 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

Acts 26:10-11 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and w…
Exodus 28:40 And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for be…
1 Samuel 2:18 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.
1 Samuel 2:28 And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me?…
1 Samuel 2:36 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bre…
1 Samuel 3:12-14 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
2 Chronicles 24:21 And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.
Hosea 5:11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 22:6-19

We have seen the progress of David's troubles; now here we have the progress of Saul's wickedness. He seems to have laid aside the thoughts of all other business and to have devoted himself wholly to the pursuit of David. He heard at length, by the common fame of the country, that David was discovered (that is, that he appeared publicly and enlisted men into his service); and hereupon he called all his servants about him, and sat down under a tree, or grove, in the high place at Gibeah, with his spear in his hand for a sceptre, intimating the force by which he designed to rule, and the present temper of his spirit, or its distemper rather, which was to kill all that stood in his way. In this…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 22:17

SAUL COMMANDS TO KILL THE PRIESTS. (Sa1 22:17-19) the footmen that stood about him--his bodyguard, or his runners (Sa1 8:11; Sa2 15:1; Kg1 1:5; Kg1 14:28), who held an important place at court (Ch2 12:10). But they chose rather to disobey the king than to offend God by imbruing their hands in the blood of his ministering servants. A foreigner alone (Psa 52:1-3) could be found willing to be the executioner of this bloody and sacrilegious sentence. Thus was the doom of the house of Eli fulfilled [Sa1 2:30-36].

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 22:18

And Doeg - fell upon the priests - A ruthless Edomite, capable of any species of iniquity. Fourscore and five persons - The Septuagint read τριακοσιους και πεντε ανδρας, three hundred and five men; and Josephus has three hundred and eighty-five men. Probably the eighty-five were priests; the three hundred, the families of the priests; three hundred and eighty-five being the whole population of Nob. That did wear a linen ephod - That is, persons who did actually administer, or had a right to administer, in sacred things. The linen ephod was the ordinary clothing of the priests.

John Gill on 1 Samuel 22:18

And the king said to Doeg, turn thou and fall upon the priests,.... For determined he was they should die; if one would not put them to death, another should, and who so fit for this bloody work as the false accuser of them, and false witness against them? and Doeg the Edomite turned; immediately, he at once obeyed the king's orders, as brutish as they were: and fell upon the priests; with his sword in hand: and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod; not the ephod of Urim and Thummim, which was only worn by the high priest, but a garment wholly linen, worn by common priests; the Targum is,"who are fit to be clothed with a linen ephod;''not that they were…

The Church Fathers

And the king said to Doeg the Edomite: Turn you, etc. Which the impious persecutors said to the most wicked ministers, evidently moved from every state of rectitude and further defiled by the innocent blood of the steadfast: Turn to evil, and after the crime of betrayal, also increase the infliction of tortures on the faithful of Christ, compelling them either to die or to deny.
— Bede, Commentary on Samuel

Indeed, when Saul heard that the priests had helped David unwittingly, he had them brought to him, and he killed them. It was fitting for you too that innocent blood be hung about your neck, as was Saul's case. But the Son of David escaped from your hands amid the Gentiles. David was persecuted by Saul, just as the Son was by Herod. The priests were slain because of David, and the infants because of our Lord. Abiathar escaped from the priests, as John did from the infants. In [the person of] Abiathar the priesthood of the house of Eli was brought to an end, and in John the prophecy of the sons of Jacob was terminated.
— Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 3.3

When David was fleeing from Saul, he came to the priest Abimelech. He was received by him and obtained the loaves of proposition and the sword with which he had slain Goliath. The loaves of proposition denoted his role as priest, the consecrated sword his future rank as most powerful king. The Edomite Doeg happened to be there in charge of the mules and reported everything to King Saul. Then Saul was angry and caused Abimelech and the other priests of the same city to be slain by Doeg. This Doeg through whom such events occurred was called the Edomite from the name of his land. The names combined, according to the authority of the fathers, mean "earthquakes." Such meaning attached to the names is rightly related to the acts of antichrist, for Doeg the Edomite was the foe of David, just as antichrist will be the enemy of Christ. Doeg destroyed priests; antichrist will make martyrs. Doeg through the meaning of his name denotes earthquakes; antichrist will disturb the whole world when with sacrilegious presumption he will constrain it to worship his name. So antichrist is rightly understood by the name of Doeg the Edomite, since he is seen to be similar to him in these striking parallels.
— Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 51.1-2

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

Abiathar — Father of abundance, or my father excels, the son of Ahimelech the high priest. He was the tenth high priest, and the fourth in descent from Eli. When his father was slain with the priests of Nob, he…
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…
Doeg — Fearful, an Edomite, the chief overseer of Saul’s flocks (1 Sam. 21:7). At the command of Saul he slew the high priest Ahimelech (q.v.) at Nob, together with all the priests to the number of…
Ephod — Something girt, a sacred vestment worn originally by the high priest (Ex. 28:4), afterwards by the ordinary priest (1 Sam. 22:18), and characteristic of his office (1 Sam. 2:18, 28; 14:3). It was…
Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written…
Mizpah — Or Miz’peh, watch-tower; the look-out. (1.) A place in Gilead, so named by Laban, who overtook Jacob at this spot (Gen. 31:49) on his return to Palestine from Padan-aram. Here Jacob and Laban set up…
Nob — High place, a city of the priests, first mentioned in the history of David’s wanderings (1 Sam. 21:1). Here the tabernacle was then standing, and here Ahimelech the priest resided. (See AHIMELECH.)…
Abiathar · in the City of Nob — in the City of Nob
Ahijah · .Killed — .Killed
Ahimelech · .Killed by the command of Saul — .Killed by the command of Saul
Doeg · Mur — Mur

1 Samuel 22:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 22:6-19

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 22:17

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 22:18

John Gill on 1 Samuel 22:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 22:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 22:6-19

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 22:17

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 22:18

John Gill on 1 Samuel 22:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 22:18

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 22:18

Rashi on 1 Samuel 22:18