1 Samuel 16:19

19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, "Send me your son David, the one who keeps 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 Saul said to his servants, "Find me a good musician and bring him to me."

18 One of the servants responded, "I know that one of Jesse's sons from Bethlehem is a good musician. He's a strong man and heroic, a warrior who speaks well and is good-looking too. The LORD is with him."

19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, "Send me your son David, the one who keeps the sheep."

20 Jesse then took a donkey and loaded it with a homer of bread, a jar of wine, and a young goat, and he sent it along with his son David to Saul.

21 That is how David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked David very much, and David became his armor-bearer.