1 Samuel 24:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 24:16
And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.
a word · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Saul
שָׁא֔וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
Saul
שָׁא֔וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · 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
voice
הֲקֹלְךָ֥ha.ko.le.Cha
H6963
a voice or sound · interrogative particle + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
son
בְּנִ֣יbe.Ni
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
David
דָוִ֑דda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
Saul
שָׁא֛וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
up
וַיִּשָּׂ֥אvai.yi.Sa'
H5375
to lift · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
voice
קֹל֖וֹko.Lo
H6963
a voice or sound · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
wept
וַיֵּֽבְךְּvai.Ye.vek
H1058
to weep · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd 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 26:17 And Saul knew David’s voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.
Genesis 33:4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.
Job 6:25 How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?
Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Luke 21:15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
Acts 6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 24:16–end
Here we have,
I. Saul's penitent reply to David's speech. It was strange that he had patience to hear him out, considering how outrageous he was against him, and how cutting David's discourse was. But God restrained him and his men; and we may suppose Saul struck with amazement at the singularity of the event, and much more when he found how much he had lain at David's mercy. His heart must have been harder than a stone if this had not affected him. 1. He melted into tears, and we will not suppose them to have been counterfeit but real expressions of his present concern at the sight of his own iniquity, so plainly proved upon him. He speaks as one quite overcome with David's kindness: Is thi…
HE URGES THEREBY HIS INNOCENCY. (Sa1 24:8-15)
David also arose . . . and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul--The closeness of the precipitous cliffs, though divided by deep wadies, and the transparent purity of the air enable a person standing on one rock to hear distinctly the words uttered by a speaker standing on another (Jdg 9:7). The expostulation of David, followed by the visible tokens he furnished of his cherishing no evil design against either the person or the government of the king, even when he had the monarch in his power, smote the heart of Saul in a moment and disarmed him of his fell purpose of revenge. He owned the justice of what David said, acknowledged his own gu…
My son David? - David had called Saul his master, lord, and king. Saul accosts him here as his son, to show that he felt perfectly reconciled to him, and wished to receive him as formerly into his family.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 24:16
And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul,.... And wonderful it is that Saul, so full of wrath and fury, and so eager of David's life, should stand still and hear him out, and not fall upon him; this must be owing to the restraining providence of God, and to the surprise Saul was in at the sight of David coming out of the cave, whom he expected not; and especially what awed and quieted him was the sight of the skirt of his robe in his hand, which was a sure token he had his life in his hand, and spared it, which made him listen attentively to all he said:
that Saul said, is this thy voice, my son David? he changes his language; before, when he spoke o…
The Church Fathers
And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept, etc. And as the Lord taught through the apostles, the people of the Jews, among those who were predestined to eternal life, lifted up their voice in the confession of faith, which they had long sunk low by denying, and washed away the stains of ancient guilt with worthy tears of repentance, confessing both the justice and goodness of the Lord; and also recalling the errors of their own wickedness, that they indeed had fiercely handed over the author of all goodness to death: but He, given to death unjustly, being omnipotent, preferred to save than to destroy those who killed Him.
What then did Saul say? Having heard David saying, "See, here is the corner of your cloak in my hand," and everything else by which he mounted his defense along with this, he said, "Is this your voice, my child David?" O, what a great change had suddenly taken place: the one who could never bear even to call him by name, and instead hated the very mention of it, even admitted him to kinship, calling him "child." What could be more blessed than David, who turned the murderer into a father, the wolf into a lamb, who filled the furnace of anger with heavy dew, turned the tempest into tranquility and allayed all the inflammation of resentment? Those words of David, you see, penetrated the mind of that enraged man and effected this total transformation, as you can see from those words. He did not even say, "Are these your words, my son David?" but "Is this your voice, my child David?" He was now heartened by his very utterance. Just as a father hears the voice of his son returning from somewhere and is excited not only at the sight of him but also at the sound of his voice, so Saul too, when David's words penetrated and drove out the hostility, now recognized him as holy, and in setting aside one passion he was affected by another. That is to say, by driving out resentment he was affected by benevolence and fellow feeling.
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).
These words made an impression upon Saul. David's conduct went to his heart, so that he wept aloud, and confessed to him: "Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast shown me good, and I (have shown) thee evil; and thou hast given me a proof of this to-day."
Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 24:13
The proverb vindicates David and indicts Saul. David refrained from evil deeds, such as killing Saul. Saul, however, repeatedly tried to kill David.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 24:14
As the ancient proverb says. The proverb of the Ancient One of the world7It may also mean ‘old proverb’ or it may refer to a ‘Kadmonite proverb,’ a nation mentioned in Bereishis 15:19. [referring to] the Torah, which is the proverb of the Holy One, Blessed is He.8And accordingly הַקַּדְמֹנִי means ‘The Ancient One’ referring to ה׳ Himself.
From the wicked comes wickedness.9So let it not come from me even if you deserve it.—Radak. The Holy One, Blessed is He, destines the wicked to fall into the hand of the wicked like himself. And where did the Torah say this, "And God destined it into his hand,"10Shemos 21:13. as it is stated in Maseches Makos.11