1 Samuel 17:24

24 When the Israelites saw Goliath, every one of them ran away terrified of him. (

1 Samuel 17:24 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:24

And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man
Even as it should seem before they heard him; knowing who he was, and what he was about to say, having seen and heard him forty days running:

fled from him, and were sore afraid;
it is pretty much a whole army should be afraid of one man, and flee from him; they must be greatly forsaken of God, and given up by him, see ( Deuteronomy 32:30 ) ; but perhaps they were not so much afraid of personal danger from him, as that they could not bear to hear his blasphemy.

1 Samuel 17:24 In-Context

22 David left his things with an attendant and ran to the front line. When he arrived, he asked how his brothers were doing.

23 Right when David was speaking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came forward from the Philistine ranks and said the same things he had said before. David listened.

24 When the Israelites saw Goliath, every one of them ran away terrified of him. (

25 Now the Israelite soldiers had been saying to each other: "Do you see this man who keeps coming out? How he comes to insult Israel? The king will reward with great riches whoever kills that man. The king will give his own daughter to him and make his household exempt from taxes in Israel.")

26 David asked the soldiers standing by him, "What will be done for the person who kills that Philistine over there and removes this insult from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine, anyway, that he can get away with insulting the army of the living God?"