1 Samuel 17:29

29 David said, "What have I done now? I only asked a question."

1 Samuel 17:29 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:29

And David said, what have I now done?
&c.] That is criminal and blameworthy; as if he should say, I have only expressed an indignation against this uncircumcised Philistine, and a concern for the glory of God, and the honour of the people of Israel:

[is there] not a cause?
either for his coming to the camp, being sent by his father; or of his expressing himself with indignation at the Philistine's defiance of the armies of Israel. Some take the sense to be, that he had done nothing, he had not committed any fact; it was mere words what he had said, he had attempted nothing, and therefore there was no reason to bear so hard upon him; to this purpose is the Targum,

``what have I done as yet? is it not a word "only" which I have spoken?''

but the former sense seems best.

1 Samuel 17:29 In-Context

27 The people answered with what they had been saying, adding, "That's what will be done for the man who kills him."

28 Eli'av his oldest brother heard when David spoke to the men, and it made Eli'av angry at him. He asked, "Why did you come down here? With whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is! You just came down to watch the fighting."

29 David said, "What have I done now? I only asked a question."

30 He turned away from him to someone else and asked the same question, and the people gave him the same answer.

31 David's words were overheard and told to Sha'ul, who summoned him.