1 Samuel 16:19

19 So Saul sent his servants to Jesse and said, Send me your son David who is with the sheep.

1 Samuel 16:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 16:19

Wherefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse
For David; not choosing to take him without his leave, though Samuel suggests that kings would do so, ( 1 Samuel 8:11 )

and said, send me David, thy son, which is with the sheep;
he had learnt his name, and what was his employment; and which last he mentions not by way of contempt, it not being reckoned mean and despicable even in the sons of great personages, in those times and countries, to attend flocks and herds: so with the Arabs, as Philo ^F14 testifies, young men and maids of the most illustrious families fed cattle; and with the ancient Romans, the senator ^F15 fed his own sheep. Paris, son of Priamus, king of Troy, is said ^F16 to feed his father's oxen and sheep; and Saul himself had done the same; but to describe him particularly.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 610.
F15 "Pascebatque suas" Ovid. Fast. l. 1.
F16 Coluthi Raptus Helenae, v. 71, 101.

1 Samuel 16:19 In-Context

17 And Saul said to his servants, Then get me a man who is an expert player, and make him come to me.

18 Then one of the servants in answer said, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Beth-lehemite, who is expert at playing, and a strong man and a man of war; and he is wise in his words, and pleasing in looks, and the Lord is with him.

19 So Saul sent his servants to Jesse and said, Send me your son David who is with the sheep.

20 And Jesse took five cakes of bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them to Saul by David.

21 And David came to Saul, waiting before him: and he became very dear to Saul, who made him his servant, giving him the care of his arms.