1 Samuel 16:21

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

1 Samuel 16:21 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 16:21

And David came to Saul, and stood before him
As a servant, and ministered to him in the way, and for the purpose for which he was sent:

and he loved him greatly;
being a comely person, and a well behaved youth, and especially as he was serviceable to him with his music, in driving away melancholy from him:

and he became his armourbearer;
that is, he appointed him to this office, though we never read that he exercised it; nor did he go with Saul in this capacity to the battle related in the following chapter: it may be literally rendered: "and he was to him a bearer of vessels", or "instruments" ^F17; and Abarbinel thinks this is to be understood not of instruments of war, but of instruments of music to play with; which he brought in and bare before him when he went in to the king.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (Mylk avn wl yhyw) "et fuit ei ferens vasa", Montanus; "ferens instrumenta", Piscator.

1 Samuel 16:21 In-Context

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.

22 Saul sent a message to Jesse: "Please allow David to remain in my service because I am pleased with him."

23 Whenever the evil spirit from God affected Saul, David would take the lyre and play it. Then Saul would relax and feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him alone.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or David liked Saul very much.