1 Samuel 17:45

45 And David said to Goliath, Thou comest to me with a sword and (a) spear, and (a) shield; but I come to thee in (the) name of the Lord of hosts, (the) God of the companies of Israel, to whom thou hast said reproof today.

1 Samuel 17:45 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:45

Then said David to the Philistine
In answer to the contempt he held him in, and to the threatening words he gave him:

thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield;
the word for "shield" is not the same with that so rendered, ( 1 Samuel 17:41 ) ; which his armourbearer carried before him, but with that translated a "target", which was between his shoulders, ( 1 Samuel 17:6 ) ; however, they were all weapons of war, either defensive or offensive:

but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the
armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied;
the Lord of all hosts, in heaven and in earth in general, and in particular the God of the armies of Israel; which he was at the head of, led on, protected and defended, having a kind and merciful regard unto them, and which this Philistine had defied, reproached, and blasphemed; and now David was come, by a commission from this great Jehovah, to vindicate his honour, and to avenge his people on him: he had asked for a man, and now the Lord of hosts, as the Jews ^F12 observe, comes forth as a man of war, for the battle was his, as in ( 1 Samuel 17:47 ) ; and David was his messenger, and came in his name, and was the man into whose hands he should be given.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F12 T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 42. 2.

1 Samuel 17:45 In-Context

43 And the Philistine said to David, Whether I am a dog, for thou comest to me with a staff? And the Philistine cursed David in his gods; (And the Philistine said to David, Am I but a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods;)

44 and he said to David, Come thou to me, and I shall give thy flesh to the fowls of the air, and to [the] beasts of the earth.

45 And David said to Goliath, Thou comest to me with a sword and (a) spear, and (a) shield; but I come to thee in (the) name of the Lord of hosts, (the) God of the companies of Israel, to whom thou hast said reproof today.

46 And the Lord shall give thee in(to) mine hand, and I shall slay thee, and I shall take thine head from thee; and today I shall give the dead bodies of the tents of Philistines to the fowls of (the) heaven(s), and to the beasts of the earth (and today I shall give the dead bodies of the Philistine's host, or army, to the birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth); (so) that all the earth (shall) know, that the Lord God is in Israel,

47 and that all this church know, that the Lord saveth not in sword neither in spear; for the battle is his, and he shall betake you into our hands. (and so that all this congregation shall know, that the Lord saveth not by sword or by spear; for the battle is his, and he shall deliver you into our hands.)