1 Samuel 19:8

David Has to Flee Again

8 War came again, so David went out and fought against [the] Philistines and {defeated them thoroughly} so that 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 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore, "{As Yahweh lives}, he will not be put to death!"

7 Jonathan called to David and told him all of these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was before him as {formerly}.

8 War came again, so David went out and fought against [the] Philistines and {defeated them thoroughly} so that they fled before him.

9 Then the evil spirit from Yahweh came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house [with] his spear in his hand. And David [was] playing a stringed instrument in [his] hand.

10 So Saul tried {to pin David to the wall with the spear}, but {he eluded Saul}, so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that [same] night.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "he struck them down with a great blow"