1 Samuel 23:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 23:17
And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Fear
תִּירָ֗אti.Ra'
H3372
to fear · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
hand
יַ֚דyad
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct
Saul
שָׁא֣וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
father
אָבִ֔י'a.Vi
H1
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
find
תִֽמְצָאֲךָ֙tim.tza.'a.Kha
H4672
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
king
תִּמְלֹ֣ךְtim.Lokh
H4427
to reign · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
next
לְמִשְׁנֶ֑הle.mish.Neh
H4932
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Saul
שָׁא֥וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
father
אָבִ֖י'a.Vi
H1
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
knoweth
יֹדֵ֥עַyo.De.a'
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
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 20:31 For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unt…
1 Samuel 24:20 And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
Job 5:11-15 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is t…
Acts 28:16 And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with…
Hebrews 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Psalms 27:1-3 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalms 46:1-2 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 23:14-18
Here is, I. David absconding. He abode in a wilderness, in a mountain (Sa1 23:14), in a wood, Sa1 23:15. We must here, 1. Commend his eminent virtues, his humility, modesty, fidelity to his prince, and patient attendance on the providence of his God, that he did not draw up his forces against Saul, fight him in the field, or surprise him by some stratagem or other, and so avenge his own quarrel and that of the Lord's priests upon him, and put an end to his own troubles and the calamities of the country under Saul's tyrannical government. No, he makes no such attempt; he keeps God's way, waits God's time, and is content to secure himself in woods and wildernesses, though with some it might se…
Jonathan went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God--by the recollection of their mutual covenant. What a victory over natural feelings and lower considerations must the faith of Jonathan have won, before he could seek such an interview and give utterance to such sentiments! To talk with calm and assured confidence of himself and family being superseded by the man who was his friend by the bonds of a holy and solemn covenant, could only have been done by one who, superior to all views of worldly policy, looked at the course of things in the spirit and through the principles of that theocracy which acknowledged God as the only and supreme Sovereign of Israel. Neither histor…
And Jonathan - strengthened his hand in God - It is probable that there was always a secret intercourse between David and Jonathan, and that by this most trusty friend he was apprised of the various designs of Saul to take away his life. As Jonathan well knew that God had appointed David to the kingdom, he came now to encourage him to trust in the Most High, and to assure him that the hand of Saul should not prevail against him; and at this interview they renewed their covenant of friendship. Now all this Jonathan could do, consistently with his duty to his father and his king. He knew that David had delivered the kingdom; he saw that his father was ruling unconstitutionally; and he knew tha…
The Church Fathers
And he said to him: Fear not, etc. Although Jonathan, unaware of the fate and future destiny, as a man, made a false statement about himself under David's reign, yet according to the mystical meanings, he reveals the joys of Christ and the Church. Truly, he bore witness to that inviolable kingdom, to which he himself belongs, by asserting that the enemies are not to be feared, for they can never reach to extinguish the dominion of faith and truth; indeed, that he whose dominion was to be multiplied, and whose peace would have no end, would reign perpetually over the chosen angels and men; and that those who loved him faithfully and with their whole heart would be closest to him in all the heights of this same kingdom. With their enemies prostrate and defeated, and subjected entirely to the feet and dominion of Christ, as Paul says: "He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet; the last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he has put all things in subjection under his feet" (I Cor. XV; Psalm CIX); and when he says: "All things are put in subjection under him," undoubtedly except him who subjected all things to him (Psalm VIII), hence it is clear that the powers that have deserted him, empty and void, Christ will render, setting victory trophies against the rivals of our salvation, whom he had long since defeated by his own death, as it is written: "Because the children have shared in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through his death he might destroy the one who has the power of death" (Hebrews II), that is, the devil. Text: Thus he struck, and the rest.
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
Jonathan — Whom Jehovah gave, the name of fifteen or more persons that are mentioned in Scripture. The chief of these are, (1.) A Levite descended from Gershom (Judg. 18:30). His history is recorded in 17:7-13…
Friendship · .David and Jonathan — .David and Jonathan
Jonathan · .Love of, for David — .Love of, for David
Unselfishness · .Jonathan — .Jonathan
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).
And he said unto him, fear not,.... Distrust not the power, providence, and promises of God, nor dread the wrath of Saul, or fear falling into his hands:
for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; to lay hold on him, seize him, and do him any hurt:
and thou shalt be king over Israel; meaning after the death of his father; which he knew either by some special revelation made to him; or rather by being informed he had been anointed by Samuel, and which he had either from Samuel or from David himself; and this he most firmly believed, though David was now in so low a condition:
and I shall be next unto thee; not succeed him in the kingdom; but if living when he came to the throne, h…
David in the Deserts of Ziph and Maon. - The history of David's persecution by Saul is introduced in Sa1 23:15-18, with the account of an attempt made by the noble-minded prince Jonathan, in a private interview with his friend David, to renew his bond of friendship with him, and strengthen David by his friendly words for the sufferings that yet awaited him. Sa1 23:15, Sa1 23:16 are to be connected together so as to form one period: "When David saw that Saul was come out ... and David was in the desert of Ziph, Jonathan rose up and went to David into the wood." חרשׁה, from חרשׁ, with ה paragogic, signifies a wood or thicket; here, however, it is probably a proper name for a district in the de…
You are going to be the king. . . I will be next to you (literally second to you): Jonathan recognized God’s selection of David and renounced any personal ambition to the throne. Jonathan never occupied an official position in David’s court but was killed in battle along with his father (31:2).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 23:16
And he strengthened his hand. He renewed the covenant which was between them.
