1 Samuel 16:19

19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son who [is] with the sheep."

1 Samuel 16:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 16:19

Wherefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse
For David; not choosing to take him without his leave, though Samuel suggests that kings would do so, ( 1 Samuel 8:11 )

and said, send me David, thy son, which is with the sheep;
he had learnt his name, and what was his employment; and which last he mentions not by way of contempt, it not being reckoned mean and despicable even in the sons of great personages, in those times and countries, to attend flocks and herds: so with the Arabs, as Philo ^F14 testifies, young men and maids of the most illustrious families fed cattle; and with the ancient Romans, the senator ^F15 fed his own sheep. Paris, son of Priamus, king of Troy, is said ^F16 to feed his father's oxen and sheep; and Saul himself had done the same; but to describe him particularly.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 610.
F15 "Pascebatque suas" Ovid. Fast. l. 1.
F16 Coluthi Raptus Helenae, v. 71, 101.

1 Samuel 16:19 In-Context

17 So Saul said to his servants, "Please select a man {who plays a stringed instrument well} and bring [him] to me."

18 One of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite [who is] skillful in playing a stringed instrument, a {brave man, a warrior, prudent in speech, and handsome}. And Yahweh [is] with him."

19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son who [is] with the sheep."

20 And Jesse took a donkey [loaded with] bread and a skin of wine and one {young goat} and sent [them] to Saul by the hand of David his son.

21 So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}.