1 Samuel 17:36

36 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God."

1 Samuel 17:36 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:36

Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear
At different times, and several of them at one time or another; whenever any of them came into the flock, he used to lay hold on them and kill them, with all the ease imaginable. The Jews suppose this phrase denotes many of them ^F8.

And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them;
as he was like them in nature, savage, cruel and unclean, so he would be in his end, killed as they; of this David was fully persuaded and assured in mind having an impulse from the Spirit of God, by which he was certified of it:

seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God;
so that as he justly deserved to die, he made no doubt of it it would be his case.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 See Halicot Olam, p. 177.

1 Samuel 17:36 In-Context

34 David answered Saul, "Your servant has been tending his father's sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,

35 I went after it, struck it down, and rescued [the lamb] from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.

36 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God."

37 Then David said, "The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you."

38 Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David's head and had him put on armor.