1 Samuel 26:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 26:8
Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Abishai
אֲבִישַׁי֙'a.vi.Shai
H52
Abishai · proper noun, a man's name
David
דָּוִ֔דda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
God
אֱלֹהִ֥ים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
delivered
סִגַּ֨רsi.Gar
H5462
to shut up · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
enemy
אוֹיִבְךָ֖'o.yiv.Kha
H341
hating · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
hand
בְּיָדֶ֑ךָbe.ya.De.kha
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
day
הַיּ֛וֹםhai.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
smite
אַכֶּ֨נּוּ'ak.Ke.nu
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
spear
בַּחֲנִ֤יתba.cha.Nit
H2595
a lance (for thrusting · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
earth
וּבָאָ֙רֶץ֙u.va.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
once
פַּ֣עַםPa.'am
H6471
a stroke · noun, common feminine singular construct
time
אֶשְׁנֶ֖ה'esh.Neh
H8138
to fold · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common 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 24:4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, tha…
1 Samuel 26:23 The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretc…
Deuteronomy 32:30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
Joshua 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies b…
Judges 1:4 And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men…
1 Samuel 23:14 And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but…
1 Samuel 24:18-19 And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou kille…
Psalms 31:8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 26:6-12
Here is, I. David's bold adventure into Saul's camp in the night, accompanied only by his kinsman Abishai, the son of Zeruiah. He proposed it to him and to another of his confidants (Sa1 26:6), but the other either declined it as too dangerous an enterprise, or at least was content that Abishai, who was forward to it, should run the risk of it rather than himself. Whether David was prompted to do this by his own courage, or by an extraordinary impression upon his spirits, or by the oracle, does not appear; but, like Gideon, he ventured through the guards, with a special assurance of the divine protection.
II. The posture he found the camp in Saul lay sleeping in the trench, or, as some read…
Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand--This midnight stratagem shows the activity and heroic enterprise of David's mind, and it was in unison with the style of warfare in ancient times.
let me smite him . . . even to the earth at once--The ferocious vehemence of the speaker is sufficiently apparent from his language, but David's magnanimity soared far above the notions of his followers. Though Saul's cruelty and perfidy and general want of right principle had sunk him to a low pitch of degradation, yet that was no reason for David's imitating him in doing wrong. Besides, he was the sovereign; David was a subject. Though God had rejected him from the kin…
God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand - Here Abishai uses the same language as did David's men, when Saul came into the cave at En-gedi, (see Sa1 24:4, etc.), and David uses the same language in reply.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 26:8
Then said Abishai to David,.... Seeing Saul fast asleep, and a spear so near him:
God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: or at this time, properly it was night:
now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear; with Saul's own spear, which was stuck in the ground at his bolster. He remembered that David would not put forth his hand to stay him before, when he had an opportunity; and since now another offered, he did not move it to him to do it, but begged leave to do it himself; which he might think would be granted, since there was such a remarkable hand of Providence in it, which seemed to direct to such a step:
even to the earth at once, and I will not smit…
The Church Fathers
And Abisai said to David: God has delivered your enemy into your hand today, etc. The disciples, now endowed with spiritual faith, understood that all things were given into the hands of the Savior by the Father; but still hindered by carnal ignorance, they thought that the proud and despisers of his word should be sought to be devoured by fire sent from heaven. Whom he immediately recalling from this intention, determined that rather patience was to be had, saying: For the Son of Man did not come to destroy souls, but to save them (Luke IX). Certainly, what David adds:
But what great and wonderful and Christian patience is to be found in David from whom Christ descended according to the flesh! David often had the opportunity to kill King Saul, his persecutor, who was eager to destroy him. Yet when Saul was subject to him and in his power, David preferred to save his life and did not retaliate on his enemy but, on the contrary, even avenged him when he was killed. In short, many prophets have been killed, many martyrs have been honored with glorious deaths, and all have attained their heavenly crowns through the merit of patience, for a crown for sorrow and suffering cannot be obtained unless patience in sorrow and suffering precede.
But our Saviour is so gentle that He teaches thus, "If any man wills to come after Me," and, "Whoever wills to be My disciple;" and coming to each He does not force them, but knocks at the door and says, "Open unto Me, My sister, My spouse;" and if they open to Him, He enters in, but if they delay and will not, He departs from them. For the truth is not preached with swords or with darts, nor by means of soldiers; but by persuasion and counsel. But what persuasion is there where fear of the Emperor prevails? or what counsel is there, when he who withstands them receives at last banishment and death? Even David, although he was a king, and had his enemy in his power, prevented not the soldiers by an exercise of authority when they wished to kill his enemy, but, as the Scripture says, David persuaded his men by arguments, and suffered them not to rise up and put Saul to death. But he, being without arguments of reason, forces all men by his power, that it may be shewn to all, that their wisdom is not according to God, but merely human, and that they who favour the Arian doctrines have indeed no king but Caesar; for by his means it is that these enemies of Christ accomplish whatsoever they wish to do.
Dictionary and topics
Abishai — Father of (i.e., “desirous of”) a gift, the eldest son of Zeruiah, David’s sister. He was the brother of Joab and Asahel (2 Sam. 2:18; 1 Chr. 2:16). Abishai was the only one who accompanied David…
Abishai, Or Abishai — (father of a gift), The eldest of the three sons of Zeruiah, David’s sister, and brother to Joab and Asahel. (1 Chronicles 2:16) Like his two brothers he was the devoted follower of David. He was his…
Abner — Father of light; i.e., “enlightening”, the son of Ner and uncle of Saul. He was commander-in-chief of Saul’s army (1 Sam. 14:50; 17:55; 20:25). He first introduced David to the court of Saul after…
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.…
Abishai · Seeks Saul’s life — Seeks Saul’s life
Citizens · .David — .David
Loyalty · .David — .David
Self-Control · Of David — Of David
Spear · Stuck in the ground beside the bolster during sleep — Stuck in the ground beside the bolster during sleep
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).
The repetition not only of the treachery of the Ziphites, but also of the sparing of Saul by David, furnishes no proof in itself that the account contained in this chapter is only another legend of the occurrences already related in 1 Samuel 23:19-24:22. As the pursuit of David by Saul lasted for several years, in so small a district as the desert of Judah, there is nothing strange in the repetition of the same scenes. And the assertion made by Thenius, that "Saul would have been a moral monster, which he evidently was not, if he had pursued David with quiet deliberation, and through the medium of the same persons, and had sought his life again, after his own life had been so magnanimously s…
