1 Samuel 30:17

1Sa 30:17 And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.

Ver. 17. From the twilight even unto the evening of the next day.] Heb., Of their morrow, i.e., of David’s men’s morrow; {a} the morrow after they set forth to pursue the Amalekites, whom they found it no hard matter to stab with the sword, who were intoxicated before.

Upon camels,] i.e., Upon coursers or dromedaries.

{a} Jun.

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.

30:17 The total number of Amalekite raiders must have been quite large if 400 young men escaped.

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

Some read, and unto the morrow of the two evenings: that is, three days.

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

Verse 17. There escaped not a man of them] It is well known to every careful reader of the Bible, that the Amalekites were a proscribed people, even by God himself, and that in extirpating them it has been supposed David fulfilled the express will of God. But all this depends on whether he had an express commission to do so, received from God himself, as Saul had.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(17) From twilight even unto the evening of the next day.—Keil thinks the fighting went on from the evening twilight till the evening of the next day. Bishop Hervey, in the Speaker’s Commentary, with greater probability, supposes that “the twilight is the morning twilight, as the contrast between twilight and evening rather suggests.” David thus arrived at night, and finding his enemies eating and drinking, put off his attack until the morning dawn or twilight, when they would be still sleeping after their debauch. Although thus taken by surprise, their great numbers and their natural bravery enabled them to prolong the fierce struggle all through the day, and when the shades of evening were falling four hundred (we read) of the young men, a body of fugitives equal to David’s own force, managed to get clear of the rout and escape. The number of slain on this occasion must have been very great.

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

17. And David smote, &c.] He reached the neighbourhood of their camp in the evening, and found them scattered about in disorder, carousing over the spoil. As soon as the morning began to dawn he attacked them (cp. 1Sa_11:11), and the fight lasted till nightfall. After the first surprise, the Amalekites made a stubborn resistance.

the evening of the next day] The battle can scarcely have lasted two whole days. If the reading is right, the phrase the evening towards the morrow may denote the evening with which the next day commenced, Jewish days being reckoned from sunset to sunset, so that the fight lasted from early dawn till past sunset.

young men] Perhaps servant, as in 1Sa_16:18. The Amalekites were famous for camels. Cp. Jdg_7:12; 1Sa_15:3.

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 David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day,.... As there are two twilights, the twilight of the morning, and the twilight of the evening; this is differently understood some take it for the twilight of the morning, and that it was night when David came to them, and let them alone till they were drunk and asleep, and then early in the morning fell upon them, and smote them until the evening; so Josephus (s) relates it; but others take it to be the twilight of the evening, and that he fell upon them that night, and continued the slaughter of them to the evening of the next day, with which agrees the Targum; nay, some take the next day, or the morrow, to be that which followed after the two evenings; so that this slaughter was carried on to the third day:

and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men that rode upon camels, and fled; that sort of camels called dromedaries, according to Josephus (t), and which were very swift, and much used by the Arabians, near whom these people dwelt, see Isa 60:6.

(s) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 4. sect. 6. (t) Ibid.

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

Evening. Hebrew, "twilight," in the morning (Calmet) or evening. (Haydock) --- Some think that the pursuit lasted three days; others only from three till five in the evening. But David more probably slaughtered the intoxicated people, during the space of a whole day, from morning till evening. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "from the morning or evening star rising, Greek: aro eosphorou, till the afternoon, and on the following day," (Haydock) which commenced at sun-set. (Calmet) --- It was no battle, but flight and carnage. (Menochius)

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).

From the twilight: the word signifies both the morning and evening twilight. But the latter seems here intended, partly because their eating, and drinking, and dancing was more customary and proper work for the evening than for the morning; and partly because the evening was more convenient for David, that the fewness of his forces might not be discovered by the day-light.

Object. It is not likely that David would fall upon the Amalekites before his men, who had been tired with a long and hasty march, were refreshed.

Answ. Nor is it said that he did. It is probable that when he came near them, he reposed himself and his army in some secret place, whereof there were many in those parts, for a convenient season; and then marched on so as to come to them at the evening time.

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

DEFEAT OF THE AMALEKITES AND RECOVERY OF THE WOMEN AND SPOIL (vers. 17-20).

From the twilight. It has been debated whether this means the evening or the morning twilight; but the words which follow, "unto the evening of the next day," literally, "of (or for) their morrow," seem to prove that it was in the evening that David arrived. Moreover, in the morning they would not have been feasting, but sleeping. David probably attacked them at once, and slew all within reach until nightfall. The next morning the battle was renewed; but as David had but 400 men, and the Amalekites covered a large extent of country, and probably tried to defend themselves and their booty, it was not till towards the next evening that the combat and the pursuit were over. As they would need pasture and water for their cattle, they had evidently broken up into detachments, which had gone each into a different place with their herds. The pursuit must have been prolonged to a considerable distance, as no more than 400 young men escaped, and even they only by the aid of their camels.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Twilight - The word signifies both the morning and evening twilight. But the latter seems here intended, partly because their eating, and drinking, and dancing, was more proper work for the evening, than the morning; and partly, because the evening was more convenient for David, that the fewness of his forces might not be discovered by the day-light. It is probable, that when he came near them, he reposed himself, and his army, in some secret place, whereof there were many parts, for a convenient season; and then marched on so as to come to them at the evening time.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

David surprised them in the midst of their security, and smote them from the evening twilight till the evening of the next day, so that no one escaped, with the exception of four hundred young men, who fled upon camels. Nesheph signifies the evening twilight here, not the dawn, - a meaning which is not even sustained by Job 7:4. The form מחרתם appears to be an adverbial formation, like יומם.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Of the next day. The Amaleikites are accustomed to being defeated on the second day [of battle], as it is stated, "tomorrow I will stand…" Therefore, it states, "on the(ir) next day."

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.