1st Samuel Chapter 31 verse 4 Holy Bible

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) His armourbearer.--Jewish tradition tells us that this faithful armourbearer was Doeg, the Edomite, and that the sword which Saul took apparently from the hand of the armourbearer was the sword with which Doeg had massacred the priests at Gibeon and at Nob.Lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me.--"Even in Saul's dying speech there is something of that religious formalism which marked his character after his fall from God, and which is a striking sign of spiritual blindness. He censures the Philistines as 'uncircumcised.'"--Wordsworth.Saul had a strong consciousness of the sacredness of his person as the Lord's anointed; as it has been well said of him, no descendant of a long line of so-styled Christian or Catholic sovereigns has held a loftier claim of personal inviolability.And abuse me.--He remembered how these same Philistines in former years had treated the hero Samson when he fell into their hands.His armourbearer would not.--Love and devotion to his master we can well imagine stayed his hand from carrying out his fallen master's last terrible command. If the armourbearer--as the Jewish tradition above referred to asserts--was indeed Doeg the Edomite, the two, the king and his confidential officer, had been fast friends for years. Some dread of the after consequences, too, may have weighed with the royal armour-bearer, as he was to a certain extent responsible for the king's life. What possibly he dreaded actually came to pass in the case of the Amalekite who told David that he was the one who inflicted the fatal stroke when the king was dying; as a guerdon for his act, David had him at once put to death for having put forth his hand to destroy the Lord's anointed.A sword.--It was a heavy weapon, a war sword, answering to the great epee d'armes of the Middle Ages. This he took from the reluctant hands of his faithful follower, and placing the hilt firmly on the ground, he threw the weight of his body on the point.In 2Samuel 1:6-10 we have another account of the death. There an Amalekite bearing the royal insignia of the late king, the crown royal and the well-known bracelet of Saul, comes to David at Ziklag after the fatal fight, and recounts how, finding the king leaning on his spear--possibly, as Bunsen supposes, "lying on the ground propping his weary head with the nervously-clutched spear," exhausted and seized with "cramp" (this is the Rabbinical translation of the word rendered "anguish"), at his urgent request, slew him. Most commentators--for instance, Kiel, Lange, Bishop Hervey, &c.--regard the Amalekite's story as an invention framed to extract a rich gift from David, who, the savage Arab thought, would be rejoiced to hear of his great enemy's fall. If this be so, then we must suppose that the Amalekite wandering over the field of battle strewn with the slain on the night which succeeded the battle, came upon the body of Saul, and, attracted by the glitter of the golden ornaments, stripped off the precious insignia, and hastened with his lying story to David. Ewald, however, sees no reason to doubt the trustworthiness of the Amalekite's story; in fact, the two accounts may well be harmonised. Stanley graphically paints the scene after he had fallen on his sword, and his faithful armourbearer had in despairing sorrow killed himself also. "His armourbearer lies dead beside him; on his head the royal crown, on his arm the royal bracelet; . . . the huge spear is still in his hand; he is leaning peacefully on it. He has received his death-blow either from the enemy (1Samuel 31:3), or from his own sword (1Samuel 31:4). The dizziness and darkness of death is upon him. At that moment a wild Amalekite, lured probably to the field by the hope of spoil, came up and finished the work which the arrows of the Philistines and the sword of Saul himself had all but accomplished."--Jewish Church, Lect. 21. The words of the next verse (5) do not contradict this possible explanation. The armourbearer, seeing the king pierced with the arrows and then falling on his own sword, may well have imagined his master dead, and so put an end to his own life. But Saul, though mortally wounded, may have rallied again for a brief space; in that brief space the Amalekite may have come up and finished the bloody work; then, after the king was dead, he probably stripped the royal insignia from the lifeless corpse. . . . Parallel Commentaries ...HebrewThen Saulשָׁאוּל֩ (šā·’ūl)Noun - proper - masculine singularStrong's 7586: Saul -- first king of Israel, also an Edomite and two Israelitessaidוַיֹּ֣אמֶר (way·yō·mer)Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singularStrong's 559: To utter, sayto his armor-bearer,לְנֹשֵׂ֨א (lə·nō·śê)Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular constructStrong's 5375: To lift, carry, take“Drawשְׁלֹ֥ף (šə·lōp̄)Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singularStrong's 8025: To pull out, up, offyour swordחַרְבְּךָ֣ ׀ (ḥar·bə·ḵā)Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singularStrong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, swordand run it through me,וְדָקְרֵ֣נִי (wə·ḏā·qə·rê·nî)Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular | first person common singularStrong's 1856: To stab, to starve, to revileorפֶּן־ (pen-)ConjunctionStrong's 6435: Removal, lesttheseהָאֵ֤לֶּה (hā·’êl·leh)Article | Pronoun - common pluralStrong's 428: These, thoseuncircumcised menהָעֲרֵלִ֨ים (hā·‘ă·rê·lîm)Article | Adjective - masculine pluralStrong's 6189: Having foreskin (uncircumcised)will comeיָ֠בוֹאוּ (yā·ḇō·w·’ū)Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine pluralStrong's 935: To come in, come, go in, goand run me throughוּדְקָרֻ֙נִי֙ (ū·ḏə·qā·ru·nî)Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural | first person common singularStrong's 1856: To stab, to starve, to revileand tortureוְהִתְעַלְּלוּ־ (wə·hiṯ·‘al·lə·lū-)Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Conjunctive perfect - third person common pluralStrong's 5953: To effect thoroughly, to glean, to overdo, maltreat, be saucy to, pain, imposeme!”בִ֔י (ḇî)Preposition | first person common singularStrong's Hebrew But the armor-bearerנֹשֵׂ֣א (nō·śê)Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular constructStrong's 5375: To lift, carry, takerefused,אָבָה֙ (’ā·ḇāh)Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singularStrong's 14: To breathe after, to be acquiescentbecauseכִּ֥י (kî)ConjunctionStrong's 3588: A relative conjunctionhe was terrified.יָרֵ֖א (yā·rê)Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singularStrong's 3372: To fear, to revere, caus, to frightenSo Saulשָׁאוּל֙ (šā·’ūl)Noun - proper - masculine singularStrong's 7586: Saul -- first king of Israel, also an Edomite and two Israelitestookוַיִּקַּ֤ח (way·yiq·qaḥ)Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singularStrong's 3947: To takehis own swordהַחֶ֔רֶב (ha·ḥe·reḇ)Article | Noun - feminine singularStrong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, swordand fellוַיִּפֹּ֖ל (way·yip·pōl)Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singularStrong's 5307: To fall, lieon it.עָלֶֽיהָ׃ (‘ā·le·hā)Preposition | third person feminine singularStrong's 5921: Above, over, upon, againstJump to PreviousAbuse Afraid Armor Armourbearer Bearer Draw Fell Mock Pierce Saul Sore Sport Sword Therewith Thrust Uncircumcised