1 Samuel 17:36

36 Your servant has fought both lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them because he has insulted the army of the living God.

1 Samuel 17:36 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:36

Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear
At different times, and several of them at one time or another; whenever any of them came into the flock, he used to lay hold on them and kill them, with all the ease imaginable. The Jews suppose this phrase denotes many of them ^F8.

And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them;
as he was like them in nature, savage, cruel and unclean, so he would be in his end, killed as they; of this David was fully persuaded and assured in mind having an impulse from the Spirit of God, by which he was certified of it:

seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God;
so that as he justly deserved to die, he made no doubt of it it would be his case.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 See Halicot Olam, p. 177.

1 Samuel 17:36 In-Context

34 "Your servant has kept his father's sheep," David replied to Saul, “and if ever a lion or a bear came and carried off one of the flock,

35 I would go after it, strike it, and rescue the animal from its mouth. If it turned on me, I would grab it at its jaw, strike it, and kill it.

36 Your servant has fought both lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them because he has insulted the army of the living God.

37 "The LORD, " David added, "who rescued me from the power of both lions and bears, will rescue me from the power of this Philistine." "Go!" Saul replied to David. "And may the LORD be with you!"

38 Then Saul dressed David in his own gear, putting a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.