1 Samuel 19:8

8 War broke out again, and David went and fought the P'lishtim. He defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him.

1 Samuel 19:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 19:8

And there was war again
Between Israel and the Philistines; it does not appear that either of them sent out their whole force, only some parties or detachments, between which there were skirmishes:

and David went out and fought with the Philistines;
he went out with his thousand men, over which he was made captain, ( 1 Samuel 18:13 ) ; for he had not the command of the whole army; that belonged to Abner:

and slew them with a great slaughter, and they fled from him;
he killed many of them in his engagements with them, and the rest fled, and he returned victorious; which stirred up the envy and increased the jealousy of Saul, to observe which this is related.

1 Samuel 19:8 In-Context

6 Sha'ul heeded Y'honatan's advice and swore, "As ADONAI lives, he will not be put to death."

7 Y'honatan called David and told him all these things. Then Y'honatan brought David to Sha'ul to be in attendance on the king, as before.

8 War broke out again, and David went and fought the P'lishtim. He defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him.

9 Then an evil spirit from ADONAI came upon Sha'ul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing his lyre,

10 when Sha'ul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. But he dodged it and moved out of Sha'ul's way, so that the spear stuck in the wall. David fled, so that night he escaped.