1 Samuel 27:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 27:3
And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife.
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Achish
אָכִ֥ישׁ'a.Khish
H397
Akish · proper noun, a man's name
Gath
בְּגַ֛תbe.Gat
H1661
Gath · preposition + proper noun, a place name
men
וַאֲנָשָׁ֖יוva.'a.na.Shav
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
man
אִ֣ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
household
וּבֵית֑וֹu.vei.To
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
David
דָּוִד֙da.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
two
וּשְׁתֵּ֣יu.she.Tei
H8147
two · conjunction + noun, common feminine dual construct
wives
נָשָׁ֔יוna.Shav
H802
a woman · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Ahinoam
אֲחִינֹ֙עַם֙'a.chi.No.'am
H293
Achinoam · proper noun, a woman's name
Jezreelitess
יִזְרְעֵאלִיתYizrᵉʻêʼlîyth
H3159
a Jezreelitess
Abigail
וַאֲבִיגַ֥יִלva.'a.vi.Ga.yil
H26
Abigail or Abigal · conjunction + proper noun, a woman's name
Carmelitess
כַּרְמְלִיתKarmᵉlîyth
H3762
a Karmelitess or female inhabitant of Karmel
Nabal’s
נָבָ֖לna.Val
H5037
Nabal · proper noun, a man's name
wife
אֵֽשֶׁת'e.shet-
H802
a woman · noun, common feminine singular construct
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 25:42-43 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of Dav…
1 Samuel 25:3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenan…
1 Samuel 25:18-35 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched co…
1 Samuel 30:3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were take…
1 Samuel 30:5 And David’s two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 27:1-7
Here is, I. The prevalency of David's fear, which was the effect of the weakness of his faith (Sa1 27:1): He said to his heart (so it may be read), in his communings with it concerning his present condition, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. He represented to himself the restless rage and malice of Saul (who could not be wrought into a reconciliation) and the treachery of his own countrymen, witness that of the Ziphites, once and again; he looked upon his own forces, and observed how few they were, and that no recruits had come in to him for a great while, nor could he perceive that he got any ground; and hence, in a melancholy mood, he draws this dark conclusion: I shall one d…
Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath--The popular description of this king's family creates a presumption that he was a different king from the reigning sovereign on David's first visit to Gath. Whether David had received a special invitation from him or a mere permission to enter his territories, cannot be determined. It is probable that the former was the case. From the universal notoriety given to the feud between Saul and David, which had now become irreconcilable, it might appear to Achish good policy to harbor him as a guest, and so the better pave the way for the hostile measures against Israel which the Philistines were at this time meditating.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 27:3
Every man with his household - So it appears that the men who consorted with David had wives and families. David and his company resembled a tribe of the wandering Arabs.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 27:3
And David dwelt with Achish at Gath,.... The metropolis of his kingdom, called, 1 Samuel 27:5, the royal city:
he and his men, every man with his household; or family; which they brought with them, to secure them from the malice of Saul; who in their absence might have destroyed them, as being the families of traitors and fugitives, and might be the more readily received by Achish, as he might hope for some advantage front them; and besides were pledges of their fidelity to him, and of their design to continue with him:
even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife; who had been the wife of Nabal; of these See Gill on 1 Samuel 25:43.
The Church Fathers
He was from the tribe of Caleb. The teachers of the synagogue were from the disciples of the lawgiver. For the scribes and Pharisees sat on Moses' seat (Matthew XXIII); who, since they then led other mortals by the grace of both human and divine wisdom, can, not unjustly, be called Caleb, that is, the whole heart; or because we read that patriarch Caleb was powerful in faith and virtue, we can say that the faithfulness of the faithful is the increase of damnation for the faithless, who have degenerated from the life of their parents.
And David dwelt with Achish in Gath, etc. Gath, which is translated as winepress, signifies the pressures and tribulations by which the faith of the Church is tested in this life; as also the Psalms, which are titled for the winepresses, declare. Achish, who is called Brother of man, signifies the people of the nations who, by believing in Christ, rejoice to be his brother through grace, and to act manfully. For Maoch, his father, who is translated into emasculation, that is, deprived of manly action, mind, and virtue, demonstrates the Gentiles of earlier times, who, serving idols, remained void both of the work and reward of virtue. Therefore, the Lord dwelt among the nations first in persecutions and very great pressures, until they themselves could know to accept his faith; he and his apostles: every shepherd, with the Church subjected to him which he governs and educates; Christ himself as the one shepherd of twin flocks, namely those he brought from the Gentiles, and those from the Jews dispersed in the day of gloom and cloud, whom he does not cease to preserve and feed among the nations. David's two wives can also be understood as the chaste souls of the faithful, adhering to Christ in the lifestyle of two ways of life, namely active and contemplative. Ahinoam the Jezreelite, that is, my brother's beauty, deriving origin from the seed of God, may be she whose eyes of an enlightened mind burn with all their strength to see the King in his beauty. Abigail, on the other hand, that is, my Father's exultation; the wife of Nabal the Carmelite, that is, the foolish and soft one, can be understood as she who, recently saved by repentance from the blandishments of a foolish teacher, brings such joy in the Father in heaven along with the angels, more than over the ninety-nine righteous who do not need repentance.
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
Abigail — Father (i.e., “leader”) of the dance, or “of joy.” (1.) The sister of David, and wife of Jether an Ishmaelite (1 Chr. 2:16, 17). She was the mother of Amasa (2 Sam. 17:25). (2.) The wife of the…
Ahinoam — Brother of pleasantness = pleasant. (1.) The daughter of Ahimaaz, and wife of Saul (1 Sam. 14:50). (2.) A Jezreelitess, the first wife of David (1 Sam. 25:43; 27:3). She was the mother of Amnon (2…
Carmel — A park; generally with the article, “the park.” (1.) A prominent headland of Central Palestine, consisting of several connected hills extending from the plain of Esdraelon to the sea, a distance of…
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.…
Gath — A wine-vat, one of the five royal cities of the Philistines (Josh. 13:3) on which the ark brought calamity (1 Sam. 5:8, 9; 6:17). It was famous also as being the birthplace or residence of Goliath (1…
Jezreel — God scatters. (1.) A town of Issachar (Josh. 19:18), where the kings of Israel often resided (1 Kings 18:45; 21:1; 2 Kings 9:30). Here Elijah met Ahab, Jehu, and Bidkar; and here Jehu executed his…
Jezreelitess — a woman of Jezreel. (1 Samuel 27:3; 30:5; 2 Samuel 2:2; 3:2; 1 Chronicles 3:1)
Ahinoam · 2. Wife of king David — 2. Wife of king David
Gath · David takes refuge at — David takes refuge at
Jezreel · 1. A city in the — 1. A city in the
Philistines · .Achish — .Achish
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 27:1-7
The result of the last affair with Saul, after his life had again been spared, could not fail to confirm David in his conviction that Saul would not desist from pursuing him, and that if he stayed any longer in the land, he would fall eventually into the hands of his enemy. With this conviction, he formed the following resolution: "Now shall I be consumed one day by the hand of Saul: there is no good to me (i.e., it will not be well with me if I remain in the land), but (כּי after a negative) I will flee into the land of the Philistines; so will Saul desist from me to seek me further (i.e., give up seeking me) in the whole of the territory of Israel, and I shall escape his hand."
Sa1 27:2
A…
This was David’s second sojourn with Achish, the Philistine king (see 21:10-15). On both occasions, David lied to him (see 27:10).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 27:1
Now I might perish one day. Perhaps he will ambush me and suddenly attack me.1Dovid did not trust Shaul and was convinced that he was laying a trap for him by asking him to remain.—Metzudas Dovid
