to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
three
שְׁלֹ֧שֶׁתshe.Lo.shet
H7969
three · noun, common both genders singular construct
thousand
אֲלָפִ֛ים'a.la.Fim
H505
hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alph… · noun, common both genders plural absolute
chosen
בָּח֖וּרba.Chur
H977
properly · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
men
אִ֥ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
went
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
seek
לְבַקֵּ֤שׁle.va.Kesh
H1245
to search out (by any method · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
David
דָּוִד֙da.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
men
וַֽאֲנָשָׁ֔יוva.'a.na.Shav
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
upon
פְּנֵ֖יpe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
rocks
צוּרֵ֥יtzu.Rei
H6697
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct
goats
הַיְּעֵלִֽיםhai.ye.'e.Lim
H3277
an ibex (as climbing) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural 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 26:2 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderne…
1 Samuel 13:2 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Beth-el, and a thousand were with…
Psalms 37:32 The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
Psalms 38:12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day lo…
Psalms 104:18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.
Psalms 141:6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 24:1-8
Here, I. Saul renews his pursuit of David, Sa1 24:1, Sa1 24:2. No sooner had he come home safely from chasing the Philistines, in which it should seem he had good success, than he enquired after David to do him a mischief, and resolved to have another thrust at him, as if he had been delivered to do all these abominations, Jer 7:10. By the frequent incursions of the Philistines, he might have seen how necessary it was to recall David from his banishment and restore him to his place in the army again; but so far is he from doing this that now more than ever he is exasperated against him, and, hearing that he is in the wilderness of En-gedi, he draws out 3000 choice men, and goes with them at…
Rocks of the wild goats - The original (צורי היעלים tsurey haiyeelim) is variously understood. The Vulgate makes a paraphrase: Super abruptissimas petras quae solis ibicibus perviae sunt; "On the most precipitous rocks over which the ibexes alone can travel." The Targum: the caverns of the rocks. The Septuagint make the original a proper name; for out of צרוי היעלים tsurey haiyeelim, they make Σαδδαιεμ Saddaiem, and in some copies Αειαμειν Aeiamein, which are evidently corruptions of the Hebrew.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 24:2
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel,.... Out of his army, with which he had been pursuing the Philistines:
and went to seek David, and his men, upon the rocks of the wild goats; which were in the wilderness of Engedi; those rocks were exceeding high and terrible to look at, full of precipices, and so prominent, that to travellers they seemed as if they would fall into the adjacent valleys, that it even struck terror into them to look at them (x); called the rocks of wild goats, because these creatures, called from hence "rupicaprae", or rock goats, see Job 39:1; delighted to be there; and are, as Pliny (y) says, of such prodigious swiftness, that they will leap from m…
Saul, however, taking three thousand chosen men, etc. Just as in a good sense the number three is usually placed for a certain mysterious grace, clearly designating those who are either glorious by the confession of the Holy Trinity, or devoted by faith, hope, and charity, or perfect in thought, speech, and action, or something of the sort; so also, when it is placed in an evil army, it not undeservedly denotes those who are found to do everything contrary. Therefore, in this place, the three thousand armed men with whom Saul sets out to persecute David and his men are to be mystically understood as those who, with a threefold battle array against the Lord and against His Christ, meditating vain things (Psalm II), that is, going in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of pestilence, have done everything contrary to the Blessed Man; those namely whose will is in the law of the Lord, and who will meditate in His law day and night. Saul also proceeds to search for David even upon the most abrupt rocks, which are accessible only to the ibexes, as he sets the snares of deception and treachery to the kingdom of the Jews against the Lord; even in his highest sayings, which remain scarcely comprehensible to perfect listeners alone. For the ibexes, which are small quadrupeds and know how to stay and give birth only on rocks, and if at any time they fall from the high peaks of rocks, they catch themselves unharmed with their horns, symbolize the humble listeners of the word of God, who, the more they perceive themselves to be of lesser merit, wisdom, and virtue, the more they seek strong refuges of the Holy Scriptures, in which they ought to dwell mentally and place the fruits of good works, as ibexes seek refuge among the rocks, and whatever temporal ruin befalls them, sustaining themselves on the testaments of heavenly words, they are saved as if by the reception of their horns. The Lord remembers this animal, and has marked how it is not contemptible in its figure, speaking mystically to the blessed Job: "Do you know the time when the ibexes give birth among the rocks?" (Job XXXIX).
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
Army — The Israelites marched out of Egypt in military order (Ex. 13:18, “harnessed;” marg., “five in a rank”). Each tribe formed a battalion, with its own banner and leader (Num. 2:2; 10:14). In war the…
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.…
Engedi Or Engedi — (fount of the kid), a town in the wilderness of Judah, (Joshua 15:62) on the western shore of the Dead Sea. (Ezekiel 47:10) Its original name was Hazezon-tamar, on account of the palm groves which…
Goat — (1.) Heb. ‘ez, the she-goat (Gen. 15:9; 30:35; 31:38). This Hebrew word is also used for the he-goat (Ex. 12:5; Lev. 4:23; Num. 28:15), and to denote a kid (Gen. 38:17, 20). Hence it may be regarded…
Host — An entertainer (Rom. 16:23); a tavern-keeper, the keeper of a caravansary (Luke 10:35). In warfare, a troop or military force. This consisted at first only of infantry. Solomon afterwards added…
Roe — (Heb. tsebi), properly the gazelle (Arab. ghazal), permitted for food (Deut. 14:5; comp. Deut. 12:15, 22; 15:22; 1 Kings 4:23), noted for its swiftness and beauty and grace of form (2 Sam. 2:18; 1…
Goat · Wild, in Palestine — Wild, in Palestine
Goat, The · When wild dwelt in the hills and rocks — When wild dwelt in the hills and rocks
Rocks · Mentioned in scripture: Engedi — Mentioned in scripture: Engedi
Self-Control · Of David — Of David
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).
1 Samuel 24:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
on 1 Samuel 24:1-7
Whilst Saul had gone against the Philistines, David left this dangerous place, and went to the mountain heights of Engedi, i.e., the present Ain-jidy (goat-fountain), in the middle of the western coats of the Dead Sea (see at Jos 15:62), which he could reach from Maon in six or seven hours. The soil of the neighbourhood consists entirely of limestone; but the rocks contain a considerable admixture of chalk and flint. Round about there rise bare conical mountains, and even ridges of from two to four hundred feet in height, which mostly run down to the sea. The steep mountains are intersected by wadys running down in deep ravines to the sea. "On all sides the country is full of caverns, which…
