1 Samuel 18:23

1Sa 18:23 And Saul’s servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you [a] light [thing] to be a king’s son in law, seeing that I [am] a poor man, and lightly esteemed?

Ver. 23. Seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed.] Poverty is vilified and slighted: Pauper ubique iacet. Arrian hath observed that in a tragedy there is no place for a poor man, but only to dance. {a}

{a} In Epictet.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18:23 The future son-in-law would give the bride price as a gift to his bride’s father (see Gen 34:12; Exod 22:16-17).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning, that he was not able to endow his wife with riches.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(23) I am a poor man.—David dwells upon this fact of his utter inability to give the expected costly offering for the princess. He evidently attributes to his poverty and his successful rival’s wealth his former disappointment in the case of Merab.

And lightly esteemed.—David looked upon himself as a mere successful soldier of fortune among the wealthy chiefs who surrounded Saul. His father—though, no doubt, “head man” or sheik in tiny Bethlehem—was, compared with the elders of Israel who formed the Court of Saul, a poor man.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. a poor man] And therefore unable to offer the “dowry,” or price such as it was usual for the suitor to pay to the father of the bride, either in money (Gen_34:12) or in service (Gen_29:20). The same custom prevailed among the ancient Greeks (Hom. Il. XVI. 178; Od. VIII. 318), Babylonians, and Assyrians, and still survives in the East. Tacitus notices it as a peculiarity of the Germans, that “it is not the wife who offers a dowry to her husband, but the husband to his wife” (Germ. c. 18).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the servants of Saul told him, saying, on this manner spake David. Such and such words were spoken by him, to this purpose; the sum and substance of them were expressive of his unworthiness to be a king's son-in-law, and of his inability to bring a dowry suitable to her quality.

And the servants of Saul told him, saying, on this manner spake David. Such and such words were spoken by him, to this purpose; the sum and substance of them were expressive of his unworthiness to be a king's son-in-law, and of his inability to bring a dowry suitable to her quality.

1 Samuel 18:25

sa1 18:25

sa1 18:25

sa1 18:25And Saul said, thus shall ye say to David,.... In answer to his objections, and in order to remove them, and especially what concerned the dowry:

the king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies; that is, he required or desired no other dowry of David, but that he would slay an hundred Philistines, and bring their foreskins to him; by which he would be able to know that they were Philistines he slew, not Israelites who were circumcised; though it cannot well be thought that Saul should have any suspicion of that, or take such a method to prevent it; but as those were almost, if not altogether, the only uncircumcised persons that were their neighbours, since the Arabians, Edomites, Midianites, &c. received circumcision from their ancestors, it would be a clear case to him that these were the men he slew; and whom he the rather pitched upon, because they were his enemies, and the enemies of Israel, and abhorred of the Lord; which carried in it a show of zeal for the glory of God, and the good of his people, and because he hoped David would fall by them in the enterprise, or however render himself very odious to them, and they would bear him ill will, and seek his ruin. Strabo (y) reports of the people in Carmania, that no man among them marries a wife before he cuts off the head of an enemy, and brings it to the king; and the king lays up the skulls in a treasury, and he is the most famous that has the most heads brought unto him. Saul chose not heads, but foreskins, for the reasons before given:

but Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines; he hoped in the enterprise the Philistines would be too powerful for him, and kill him.

(y) Geograph. l. 15. p. 500. Vid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. l. 1. c. 24.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

A poor man and lightly esteemed - Compare Psa 119:141. Poor, and therefore unable to pay a sufficient dowry. See 1Sa 18:25.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ability, or riches. Septuagint, "without glory." (Haydock) See ver. 18.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And therefore neither have estate nor credit to give (according to the manner, Gen 34:12; Exo 22:16,17) a dowry suitable to her quality.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. I am a poor man — And therefore unable to pay such a dowry as the daughter of the king deserves. In the East the dowry paid to the father of a bride was proportioned to her rank.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Is it a small matter to you to be the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?

David asks this rhetorical question to emphasize that he is not worthy to be the king's son-in-law. AT: "It is a great matter to be the king's son-in-law, and I am too poor and unimportant for that." (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

Saul (OT)

word

David

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unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.