1 Samuel 23:26 - meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 23:26
And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them.
a side · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
mountain
הָהָר֙ha.Har
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
David
וְדָוִ֧דve.da.Vid
H1732
David · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
men
וַאֲנָשָׁ֛יוva.'a.na.Shav
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
side
מִצַּ֥דmi.Tzad
H6654
a side · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
mountain
הָהָ֖רha.Har
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
David
דָוִ֜דda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
haste
נֶחְפָּ֤זnech.Paz
H2648
properly · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
away
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
fear
מִפְּנֵ֣יmi.pe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Saul
שָׁא֔וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
Saul
וְשָׁא֣וּלve.sha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
men
וַאֲנָשָׁ֗יוva.'a.na.Shav
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
compassed
עֹֽטְרִ֛ים'o.te.Rim
H5849
to encircle (for attack or protection) · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
David
דָּוִ֥דda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
men
אֲנָשָׁ֖יו'a.na.Shav
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
about
עָטַרʻâṭar
H5849
to encircle (for attack or protection)
take
לְתָפְשָֽׂםle.ta.fe.Sam
H8610
to manipulate · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 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
Psalms 17:9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
1 Samuel 19:12 So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.
1 Samuel 20:38 And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
2 Samuel 15:14 And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape from Absalom: mak…
2 Samuel 17:21-22 And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise,…
2 Chronicles 20:12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but…
Psalms 17:11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;
Psalms 22:12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 23:19–end
Here, 1. The Ziphites offer their service to Saul, to betray David to him, Sa1 23:19, Sa1 23:20. He was sheltering himself in the wilderness of Ziph (Sa1 23:14, Sa1 23:15), putting the more confidence in the people of that country because they were of his own tribe. They had reason to think themselves happy that they had an opportunity of serving one who was the ornament of their tribe and was likely to be much more so, who was so far from plundering the country, or giving it any disturbance with his troops, that he was ready to protect it and to them all the good offices that there was occasion for. But, to ingratiate themselves with Saul, they went to him, and not only informed him very pa…
David . . . came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon--Tell Main, the hillock on which was situated the ancient Maon (Jos 15:55), and from which the adjoining wilderness took its name, is one mile north, ten east from Carmel. The mountain plateau seems here to end. It is true the summit ridge of the southern hills runs out a long way further towards the southwest; but towards the southeast the ground sinks more and more down to a tableland of a lower level, which is called "the plain to the right hand [that is, to the south] of the wilderness" [VAN DE VELDE].
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 23:26
Saul went on this side of the mountain - Evidently not knowing that David and his men were on the other side.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 23:26
And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain,.... Saul with his army came to the very mountain where David and his men were, the one was on one side of it, and the other on the other side; there was only one mountain between them:
and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; he fled on one side of the mountain, while Saul was pursuing him on the other, and hastening to get round unto him:
for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them; he took methods by dividing his troops, and sending them different ways, to surround David and his men, and had very near effected it.
The Church Fathers
And so Saul and his men surrounded David like a crown, etc. For, with the Lord Savior protecting His faithful, very often those who, out of fear of God, did not want to act, were compelled by the consideration of human peace or some other advantage to cease from tearing them apart. Therefore, the faith of Christ, upon which His Church is built, rightly prevails against the gates of hell (Matthew XVI); it is called the dividing rock because it wonderfully defends His often despairing followers in the present and separates those who hope for future reward from the perpetual turmoil of men. Whether these things happened in modern times or are believed to happen in the future under the Antichrist, let the reader see and consider, not without tears, something worthy of tears, how much the state of the Church deteriorates daily to worse things, or to say it more mildly, to weaker deeds. The city of Nobe, due to receiving David with all his men, suffered martyrdom, which is to render good fruit through patience. Ceila, saved by David along with its citizens from the enemy, lost its savior because it did not fear to betray him at the imminent moment of persecution; and this is to receive the seed of the word with joy but immediately stumble when tribulation arises because of the word (Matthew XIII; Luke VIII). The Ziphites, upon discovering that David was staying nearby, not only did not invite him to themselves, but also volunteered to betray him, not to avoid danger, but to gain the friendship of Saul, plotting to track his ways and overthrow his steps; and these are those who, according to the recalled parable of the Lord, hear the word, but the worry of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. I do not follow this reasoning as if I did not believe that even today there exist and will always exist many perfected in faith and truth; but because I see that, for the most part, the times are now approaching that were predicted long ago, in which, with iniquity abounding, the love of many will grow cold (Matthew XXIV). The title of the fifty-third Psalm, remembering the reading and betrayal by the Ziphites, is as follows: For the end, in songs, understanding of David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul: "Is not David hidden among us?" Which, to explain briefly, denotes that the psalm is spoken in the end, in the person…
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.…
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 23:26-27
"And David was anxiously concerned to escape from Saul, and Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to seize them; but a messenger came to Saul ... . Then Saul turned from pursuing David." The two clauses, "for Saul and his men" (Sa1 23:26), and "there came a messenger" (Sa1 23:27), are the circumstantial clauses by which the situation is more clearly defined: the apodosis to דּוד ויהי does not follow till ויּשׁב in Sa1 23:28. The apodosis cannot begin with וּמלאך because the verb does not stand at the head. David had thus almost inextricably fallen into the hands of Saul; but God saved him by the fact that at that very moment a messenger arrived with the intelligence, "Hasten and…
Maon was about three miles directly south of the wilderness of Ziph (23:14), approximately ten miles south of Hebron. • The Arabah Valley is a deep rift stretching from above the Sea of Galilee down both sides of the Jordan River to the Dead Sea.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 23:26
Were surrounding. Encircling and surrounding from side to side, like a crown which encircles the head.
