1 Samuel 17:10

10 Then the Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!"

1 Samuel 17:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:10

And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day,
&c.] Or "reproach" ^F19 them; that is, should they not accept his challenge, and send down a man to fight with them, he should then upbraid them with cowardice; and now he disdained them, as if there was not a man among them that dared to encounter with him:

give me a man that we may fight together;
and so decide the controversy between us; such as were those duels fought between Paris and Menelaus in the Trojan war, and between the Lacedemonians and the Argives in the times of Orthryades, and between the Athenians and Romans by the Horatii and Curiatii, as Grotius observes.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F19 (ytprx) "exprobravo". V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; "probro affeci", Tigurine version; "probro affecero", Junius & Tremellius.

1 Samuel 17:10 In-Context

8 He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations: "Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?" He asked them, "Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me.

9 If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us."

10 Then the Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!"

11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.

12 Now David was the son of the Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons, and during Saul's reign was [already] an old man.