1 Samuel 17:19 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Now Saul, and they [the three sons in the army], and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.’ That word ‘fighting’ s a general term. They are not fighting yet. They are at war with the Philistines, but there is a sort of lull at the moment, because Goliath is forty days going through his paces, giving out his shouted challenges. So there is no fighting activity yet, but they are in a state of war, and that word may be justified by skirmishes going on here and there.‘And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.’ Apparently what they did was to advance slowly shouting much – both sides would do it. The line was moving forward and everyone was shouting for the battle, and it is implied that David joined with them. Well, the Orientals of that time did an awful lot of shouting, sometimes more shouting than fighting, working up courage, inspiring everybody; battle was a noisy business. But there was a champion in the field. Nobody would shoot an arrow or do anything, until this matter was resolved about the champion. ‘David left his carriage’ – that’s a bit imaginative on the part of our translators. There is no carriage in the Hebrew. It just has words to the effect that he had left his baggage or equipment; presumably there were donkeys or mules, and one or two servants with all the material he had to carry. He left all that in the hands of the keeper of the carriage, or the principal person among those bearers, and ran into the army, and located and greeted his brethren.