1 Samuele 18:27

27 Davide si levò, partì con la sua gente, uccise duecento uomini de’ Filistei, portò i loro prepuzi e ne consegnò il numero preciso al re, per diventar suo genero.

1 Samuele 18:27 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 18:27

Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of
the Philistines two hundred men
This he did himself, for the verb is singular, and which were an hundred more than required; this he did to show his regard to the orders of Saul, and his obedience to him, and to testify the sincerity of his afflictions to his daughter, for whose sake he risked his life in this expedition, as well as to express his zeal for God, and his country, against their avowed enemies; the Greek version has only one hundred men, see ( 2 Samuel 3:14 ) ;

and David brought their foreskins;
along with him to Saul's court, having taken them off when slain. Josephus says ^F26 he cut off their heads, and brought them to him, and he makes the number to be six hundred; neither are according to the text, but to make his history more agreeable to the Gentiles, see ( 1 Samuel 18:21 ) ; an Arabic writer ^F1 makes mention of a people, that cut off the genital parts of men, and gave them to their wives for their dowry:

and they gave them in full tale to the king;
the messengers David sent in with them, even the full tale of two hundred, which were as many more as were demanded:

that he might be the king's son in law;
being now as desirous of it as the king was:

and Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife;
which he could not in honour refuse to do, seeing he had performed the condition he had required. David's marriage of the younger sister, when upon various considerations it might have been expected that he should have married the elder, may be an emblem of Christ's espousing the Gentile church, when the Jewish church, her elder sister, is neglected by him, she having rejected him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 10. sect. 3.
F1 Alcamus apud Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 1. c. 19. col. 130.

1 Samuele 18:27 In-Context

25 E Saul disse: "Dite così a Davide: Il re non domanda dote; ma domanda cento prepuzi di Filistei, per trar vendetta de’ suoi nemici". Or Saul aveva in animo di far cader Davide nelle mani de’ Filistei.

26 I servitori dunque riferirono quelle parole a Davide, e a Davide piacque di diventar in tal modo genero del re. E prima del termine fissato,

27 Davide si levò, partì con la sua gente, uccise duecento uomini de’ Filistei, portò i loro prepuzi e ne consegnò il numero preciso al re, per diventar suo genero.

28 E Saul gli diede per moglie Mical, sua figliuola. E Saul vide e riconobbe che l’Eterno era con Davide; e Mical, figliuola di Saul, l’amava.

29 E Saul continuò più che mai a temer Davide, e gli fu sempre nemico.