Kings I 19:19

19 And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David in Navath in Rama.

Kings I 19:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 19:19

So he departed thence
From Mount Horeb, and came to Abelmeholah, which Bunting computes ^F26 at one hundred and fifty six miles:

and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was ploughing with twelve yoke
of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth;
which may be understood either of twelve couple of oxen drawing one plough; which was a large number, but will not seem strange when it is observed, that Abelmeholah, where Elisha was ploughing, lay in the vale of Jordan, which was a clayey stiff ground, and required such a number of oxen to plough it up, especially at the first tilling of it, as this might be {a}; compare ( 1 Kings 4:12 ) ( 7:46 ) A late traveller ^F2 observes, that at Damegraed, in upper Egypt on the Nile, six oxen yoked to plough had a great deal of difficulty to turn up the ground; or else, as the Jewish writers generally understand it, there were twelve ploughs, and a yoke of oxen to each, and a ploughman to attend everyone, and Elisha attended the twelfth; or was with one of the twelve, as the Targum, and might have the oversight of them all; Kimchi thinks, and so Abarbiuel after him, that this signified that he should be leader of the twelve tribes of Israel: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him;
the skirts of it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Travels p. 204.
F1 See Fuller's Pisgah-Sight B. 2. ch. 8. p. 175.
F2 Norden's Travels in Egypt and Arabia, vol. 2. p. 85.

Kings I 19:19 In-Context

17 And Saul said to Melchol, Why hast thou thus deceived me, and suffered my enemy to depart, and he has escaped? and Melchol said to Saul, He said, let me go, and if not, I will slay thee.

18 So David fled, and escaped, and comes to Samuel to Armathaim, and tells him all that Saul had done to him: and Samuel and David went, and dwelt in Navath in Rama.

19 And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David in Navath in Rama.

20 And Saul sent messengers to take David, and they saw the assembly of the prophets, and Samuel stood appointed over them; and the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they prophesy.

21 And it was told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied: and Saul sent again a third set of messengers, and they also prophesied.