Shmuel Alef 16:19

19 Wherefore Sha’ul sent malachim unto Yishai, and said, Send me Dovid binecha, which is with the tzon.

Shmuel Alef 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.

Shmuel Alef 16:19 In-Context

17 And Sha’ul said unto his avadim, Look for me now an ish that can play well, and bring him to me.

18 Then answered one of the ne’arim, and said, Hinei, I have seen a ben of Yishai of Beit-Lechem, that is skillful in playing, and a gibbor chayil and an ish milchamah prudent in matters, and an ish to’ar (handsome man), and Hashem is with him.

19 Wherefore Sha’ul sent malachim unto Yishai, and said, Send me Dovid binecha, which is with the tzon.

20 And Yishai took a chamor laden with lechem, and a skin of yayin, and a gedi (young goat), and sent them by Dovid bno unto Sha’ul.

21 And Dovid came to Sha’ul, and stood before him; and he loved him greatly; and he became his no’se kelim (armor-bearer).