1 Samuel 31:2

And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishua, Saul’s sons.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Philistines	פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים fe.lish.Tim	H6430	a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
hard	וַיַּדְבְּק֣וּ vai.yad.be.Ku	H1692	properly · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Saul	שָׁא֖וּל sha.'Ul	H7586	Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
sons	בָּנָ֑יו ba.Nav	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Philistines	פְלִשְׁתִּ֗ים fe.lish.Tim	H6430	a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
slew	וַיַּכּ֣וּ vai.ya.Ku	H5221	to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Jonathan	יְהוֹנָתָ֧ן ye.ho.na.Tan	H3083	Jehonathan · proper noun, a man's name
Abinadab	אֲבִינָדָ֛ב 'a.vi.na.Dav	H41	Abinadab · proper noun, a man's name
Malchi-shua	מַלְכִּי mal.ki-	H4444	Malkishua · proper noun, a man's name
Saul’s	שָׁאֽוּל sha.'Ul	H7586	Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
sons	בְּנֵ֥י be.Nei	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural 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 Chronicles 8:33 And Ner begat Kish, and Kish begat Saul, and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchi-shua, and Abinadab, and Esh-baal.
1 Samuel 14:49 Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishui, and Melchi-shua: and the names of his two daughters were these; the name of the firstborn Mer…
Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon…
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…
1 Samuel 13:16 And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Mic…
1 Samuel 18:1-4 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan…
1 Samuel 23:17 And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next…
2 Samuel 1:6 And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots a…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

The day of recompence has now come, in which Saul must account for the blood of the Amalekites which he had sinfully spared, and that of the priests which he had more sinfully spilt; that of David too, which he would have spilt, must come into the account. Now his day has come to fall, as David foresaw, when he should descend into battle and perish, Sa1 26:10. Come and see the righteous judgments of God. I. He sees his soldiers fall about him, Sa1 31:1. Whether the Philistines were more numerous, better posted, and better led on, or what other advantages they had, we are not told; but it seems they were more vigorous, for they made the onset; they fought against Israel, and the Israelites fl…

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Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 31:2

Followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons - They, seeing the discomfiture of their troops, were determined to sell their lives as dear as possible, and therefore maintained the battle till the three brothers were slain.

John Gill on 1 Samuel 31:2

And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul,.... Stuck to him, pushed him close, bore hard upon him in that part of the army where he was having a design upon his person: and upon his sons; who were with him: and the Philistines slew Jonathan; who is mentioned first, being the eldest son, and perhaps first slain; and this was so ordered by the providence of God, that David's way to the throne might be more clear and easy; for though Jonathan would not have opposed him himself, yet the people, fond of him, would, at least many of them, been for setting him on the throne; and though he would have refused it, knowing David was the Lord's anointed, and have made interest for him, this would ha…

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Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

The account of the war between the Philistines and Israel, the commencement of which has already been mentioned in Sa1 28:1, Sa1 28:4., and Sa1 29:1, is resumed in Sa1 31:1 in a circumstantial clause; and to this there is attached a description of the progress and result of the battle, more especially with reference to Saul. Consequently, in Ch1 10:1, where there had been no previous allusion to the war, the participle נלחמים is changed into the perfect. The following is the way in which we should express the circumstantial clause: "Now when the Philistines were fighting against Israel, the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and slain men fell in the mountains of Gilboa" (vid., Sa1 2…

The Church Fathers

The Philistines attacked Saul and his sons, etc. The surrounding nations attacked with full intention to destroy the kingdom of Judea and to remove the sons of that kingdom from their midst, and they corrupted the priests, Scribes, and Pharisees with their corruption, namely the sons and teachers of that kingdom. They even prevented the heretics from preaching or worshiping the grace of the Holy Spirit with a simple heart, which is to strike Jonathan, that is, the gift of the dove. They forbade praising the Father, who made us his sons not by nature but by adoption, with worthy confession; which signifies the killing of Abinadab, that is, my voluntary Father. They opposed believing that salvation would come to the world in the kingdom of Christ; which indicates the killing of Melchisue, who is called My King Salvation, I believe. A philosopher, who seduced Arius, killed Melchisue as if; who Macedonius, Jonathan; who Manichae, Abinadab, because namely that one taught to deny the omnipotence of the true king Christ, that one to derogate from the gifts of the Holy Spirit, this one to blaspheme the goodness of the highest Father, master of corruption.
— Bede, Commentary on Samuel

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

Abinadab — Father of nobleness; i.e., “noble.” (1.) A Levite of Kirjath-jearim, in whose house the ark of the covenant was deposited after having been brought back from the land of the Philistines (1 Sam. 7:1).…
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.…
Gilboa — Boiling spring, a mountain range, now Jebel Fukua’, memorable as the scene of Saul’s disastrous defeat by the Philistines. Here also his three sons were slain, and he himself died by his own hand (1…
Jezreel, Valley of — Lying on the northern side of the city, between the ridges of Gilboa and Moreh, an offshoot of Esdraelon, running east to the Jordan (Josh. 17:16; Judg. 6:33; Hos. 1:5). It was the scene of the…
Jonathan — Whom Jehovah gave, the name of fifteen or more persons that are mentioned in Scripture. The chief of these are, (1.) A Levite descended from Gershom (Judg. 18:30). His history is recorded in 17:7-13…
Malchi-shua — King of help, one of the four sons of Saul (1 Chr. 8:33). He perished along with his father in the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam. 31:2).
Malchishua — (king of help), one of the sons of King Saul. (1 Samuel 14:49; 31:2; 1 Chronicles 8:33; 9:39)
Melchishua — A son of Saul. (1 Samuel 14:49; 31:2) Elsewhere correctly given Malchishua.
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
Abinadab · 3. Al — 3. Al
Archery · Practiced by the Philistines — Practiced by the Philistines

1 Samuel 31:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 31:2

John Gill on 1 Samuel 31:2

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 31:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 31:2

John Gill on 1 Samuel 31:2

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 31:1-7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 31:2

Rashi on 1 Samuel 31:1