1 Samuel 16:21

21 So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's 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 and said, "Send me David your son who [is] with the sheep."

20 And Jesse took a donkey [loaded with] bread and a skin of wine and one {young goat} and sent [them] to Saul by the hand of David his son.

21 So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}.

22 Then Saul sent [word] to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, because he has found favor {in my sight}."

23 So whenever the [evil] spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the stringed instrument and play it with his hand. Then {it would bring relief} for Saul; {he would feel better} and the evil spirit would depart from him.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "stood before him"
• [b]. That is, Saul
• [c]. Literally "he became for him a carrier of weapons"