1 Samuel 30:8

8 and David asketh at Jehovah, saying, `I pursue after this troop -- do I overtake it?' And He saith to him, `Pursue, for thou dost certainly overtake, and dost certainly deliver.'

1 Samuel 30:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:8

And David inquired of the Lord
That is, by Abiathar, who reported his questions to the Lord in his name:

saying, shall I pursue after this troop?
the large company of the Amalekites, as it appears by what follows they were:

shall I overtake them?
two questions are here put together, and answers returned to them, contrary to a notion of the Jews; (See Gill on 1 Samuel 23:11);

and he answered him, pursue;
which respects the first question:

for thou shall surely overtake [them];
which is an answer to the second question, and a full one, giving full assurance of overtaking; to which is added more than what was inquired about;

and without fail recover [all];
their wives, sons, and daughters, and the spoil that was taken; or "in delivering thou shall deliver" ^F16, out of the hands of the Amalekites, whatsoever they had taken.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (lyut luh) "eruendo erues", Pagninus, Montanus; "eripiendo erepturus es", Piscator.

1 Samuel 30:8 In-Context

6 and David hath great distress, for the people have said to stone him, for the soul of all the people hath been bitter, each for his sons and for his daughters; and David doth strengthen himself in Jehovah his God.

7 And David saith unto Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, `Bring nigh, I pray thee, to me the ephod;' and Abiathar bringeth nigh the ephod unto David,

8 and David asketh at Jehovah, saying, `I pursue after this troop -- do I overtake it?' And He saith to him, `Pursue, for thou dost certainly overtake, and dost certainly deliver.'

9 And David goeth on, he and six hundred men who [are] with him, and they come in unto the brook of Besor, and those left have stood still,

10 and David pursueth, he and four hundred men, (and two hundred men stand still who have been too faint to pass over the brook of Besor),