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1 Samuel28:1–6

The Philistines Gather against Israel

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1 Samuel 28:1–6 — The Philistines Gather against Israel. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

Now in those days the Philistines gathered their forces for warfare against Israel. So Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men are to go out to battle with me.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·hî hā·hêm bay·yā·mîm p̄ə·liš·tîm ’eṯ- way·yiq·bə·ṣū ma·ḥă·nê·hem laṣ·ṣā·ḇā lə·hil·lā·ḥêm bə·yiś·rā·’êl ’ā·ḵîš way·yō·mer ’el- dā·wiḏ yā·ḏō·a‘ tê·ḏa‘ kî ’at·tāh wa·’ă·nā·še·ḵā tê·ṣê ḇam·ma·ḥă·neh ’it·tî

Word by word22 · parsed
וַֽיְהִי֙way·hîNowH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
hâyâh — to exist, come to pass (Qal consecutive imperfect) The narrative hinge way·hî, “and it came to pass,” which in Samuel opens a scene whose consequences the reader is meant to dread. Cambridge and Pulpit both fix the time from what precedes: “while David was at Ziklag.”
הָהֵ֔םhā·hêmin thoseH1992
√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)ArticlePronounthird person masculine plural
בַּיָּמִ֣יםbay·yā·mîmdaysH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine plural
פְלִשְׁתִּ֤יםp̄ə·liš·tîmthe PhilistinesH6430
√ Pᵉlishtîy — a Pelishtite or inhabitant of PeleshethNounpropermasculine plural
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
וַיִּקְבְּצ֨וּway·yiq·bə·ṣūgatheredH6908
√ qâbats — to grasp, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
qâbats — to gather, collect The verb that governs the whole unit. It is used three times across vv. 1–4: the Philistines gather (Qal), the Philistines are gathered (Nifal, v. 4), Saul gathers (Qal, v. 4). Two kings assemble armies with the same word, and only one of them can still ask God what to do with his.
מַֽחֲנֵיהֶם֙ma·ḥă·nê·hemtheir forcesH4264
√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)Nouncommon plural constructthird person masculine plural
לַצָּבָ֔אlaṣ·ṣā·ḇāfor warfareH6635
√ tsâbâʼ — a mass of persons (or figuratively, things), especially regPreposition-l, ArticleNouncommon singular
tsâbâʼ — a mass of persons, host, army, service With the article, laṣ·ṣā·ḇā is “for the host / for the war-service.” The same noun is the standing element in the divine title YHWH Ṣᵉḇāʼôṯ, LORD of hosts — the title under which Israel's wars had been fought since 1 Samuel 17:45. Here the word appears with no divine name attached to it at all, and the unit will end with heaven silent.
לְהִלָּחֵ֖םlə·hil·lā·ḥêm. . .H3898
√ lâcham — to feed onPreposition-lVerbNifalInfinitive construct
lâcham — to fight, do battle (Nifal infinitive construct) The reciprocal stem: to join battle with. Ellicott and Pulpit both, following Josephus, judge this no border raid but the largest Philistine muster since the valley of Elah.
בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑לbə·yiś·rā·’êlagainst IsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobPreposition-bNounpropermasculine singular
אָכִישׁ֙’ā·ḵîšSo AchishH397
√ ʼĂkîysh — Akish, a Philistine kingNounpropermasculine singular
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרway·yō·mersaidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֶל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
דָּוִ֔דdā·wiḏDavidH1732
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
יָדֹ֣עַyā·ḏō·a‘You must understandH3045
√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalInfinitive absolute
yâdaʻ — to know, ascertain by seeing (Qal infinitive absolute) First half of the emphatic doubling. Achish demands certainty from David; in v. 2 David returns the identical root in the plain imperfect and leaves the certainty empty. K&D: the reply “contained no distinct promise of faithful assistance.”
תֵּדַ֗עtê·ḏa‘. . .H3045
√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular
yâdaʻ — to know (Qal imperfect 2ms) The finite half of the construction — the verb Achish thinks he has secured and has not.
כִּ֤יkîthatH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
אַתָּ֖ה’at·tāhyouH859
√ ʼattâh — thou and thee, or (plural) ye and youPronounsecond person masculine singular
וַאֲנָשֶֽׁיךָ׃wa·’ă·nā·še·ḵāand your menH582
√ ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general (singly or collectively)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular
ʼĕnôwsh — a man in general, mortal man wa·’ă·nā·še·ḵā, “and thy men.” Not gibbôrîm, not soldiers: the weak-mortal word, used of David's six hundred. Achish is conscripting not a mercenary but a household.
תֵּצֵ֣אtê·ṣêare to go outH3318
√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular
בַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔הḇam·ma·ḥă·nehto battleH4264
√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)Preposition-b, ArticleNouncommon singular
machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops) The same noun as “their forces” in the first half of the verse, now with the article and the preposition b: in the camp. Pulpit renders it exactly so — “Hebrew, in the army.” The word closes on David like a door.
אִתִּי֙’it·tîwith meH854
√ ʼêth — properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), nearPrepositionfirst person common singular
ʼêth — nearness, with (preposition + 1cs) “With me.” The whole trap of the chapter is compressed into two syllables.
2

David replied, “Then you will come to know what your servant can do.” “Very well,” said Achish. “I will make you my bodyguard for life.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

dā·wiḏ way·yō·mer ’el- ’ā·ḵîš lā·ḵên ’at·tāh ṯê·ḏa‘ ’êṯ ’ă·šer- ‘aḇ·de·ḵā ya·‘ă·śeh lā·ḵên way·yō·mer ’ā·ḵîš ’el- dā·wiḏ ’ă·śî·mə·ḵā kāl- šō·mêr lə·rō·šî hay·yā·mîm

Word by word21 · parsed
דָּוִד֙dā·wiḏDavidH1732
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרway·yō·merrepliedH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֶל־’el-H413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
אָכִ֔ישׁ’ā·ḵîšH397
√ ʼĂkîysh — Akish, a Philistine kingNounpropermasculine singular
לָכֵן֙lā·ḵênThenH3651
√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb
kên — properly, set upright; so, thus, therefore David's hinge. It commits to a consequence without naming what the consequence is. Poole and Cambridge and K&D all read it as deliberate, and Henry alone reads it as a fault: “his evasive answer, intended to gain time, was not consistent with the character of an Israelite indeed.”
אַתָּ֣ה’at·tāhyouH859
√ ʼattâh — thou and thee, or (plural) ye and youPronounsecond person masculine singular
תֵדַ֔עṯê·ḏa‘will come to knowH3045
√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular
yâdaʻ — to know, ascertain by seeing (Qal imperfect 2ms) The pivot of the exchange. Achish had demanded knowledge in the strongest form Hebrew possesses; David hands back the verb stripped of its emphasis, promising only that knowledge will come — not what it will be. JFB calls it “a studied ambiguity — a wary and politic generality.”
אֵ֥ת’êṯH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-whatH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ‘aḇ·de·ḵāyour servantH5650
√ ʻebed — a servantNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
ʻebed — a servant, bondman Idiomatic self-reference before a superior, per K&D — which is precisely why the sentence can carry both meanings Poole assigns it, David's service to Achish and David's service against him.
יַעֲשֶׂ֖הya·‘ă·śehcan doH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular
לָכֵ֗ןlā·ḵênVery wellH3651
√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרway·yō·mersaidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אָכִישׁ֙’ā·ḵîšAchishH397
√ ʼĂkîysh — Akish, a Philistine kingNounpropermasculine singular
אֶל־’el-H413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
דָּוִ֔דdā·wiḏH1732
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
אֲשִֽׂימְךָ֖’ă·śî·mə·ḵāI will make youH7760
√ sûwm — to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)VerbQalImperfectfirst person common singularsecond person masculine singular
sûwm — to put, set, appoint ’ă·śî·mə·ḵā, “I will set thee” — the royal appointing verb, with the second-person suffix attached directly to it. Achish disposes of David's future in one word. The narrative's irony is that the setting of David is not Achish's to do (1 Samuel 16:13), and the Philistine lords will undo this appointment within a chapter.
כָּל־kāl-H3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
שֹׁמֵ֧רšō·mêrmy bodyguardH8104
√ shâmar — properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), iVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
shâmar — to hedge about (as with thorns), guard, keep A Qal participle: the one keeping. The root means to fence round for protection. Achish asks the man he cannot read to be the hedge around his own skull — the single most exposed office in the kingdom given to the one man in Philistia with a blood claim against it.
לְרֹאשִׁ֛יlə·rō·šî. . .H7218
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcPreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular
rôʼsh — the head “Keeper for my head.” Ellicott, Cambridge, Barnes, JFB, Poole and Gill agree the idiom means captain of the bodyguard; Poole and Benson gloss the head as standing for “my body and life.”
הַיָּמִֽים׃פhay·yā·mîmfor lifeH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)ArticleNounmasculine plural
yôwm — a day; a space of time defined by an associated term With kôl and the article: all the days, i.e. permanently. The same word that dated the Philistine muster in v. 1.
3

Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·šə·mū·’êl mêṯ kāl- yiś·rā·’êl way·yis·pə·ḏū- lōw way·yiq·bə·ru·hū ḇā·rā·māh ū·ḇə·‘î·rōw wə·šā·’ūl hê·sîr hā·’ō·ḇō·wṯ wə·’eṯ- hay·yid·də·‘ō·nîm mê·hā·’ā·reṣ

Word by word15 · parsed
וּשְׁמוּאֵ֣לū·šə·mū·’êlNow by this time SamuelH8050
√ Shᵉmûwʼêl — Shemuel, the name of three IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
מֵ֔תmêṯhad diedH4191
√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively) Qal perfect, pluperfect in force: Samuel had died. The notice repeats 1 Samuel 25:1, and every commentator in the brief asks why. Ellicott: it is “repeated to introduce the strange, sad story which follows,” and the LXX, Vulgate and Syriac dropped it for not seeing the reason. Poole states the reason flatly: this is why Saul cannot inquire of Samuel.
כָּל־kāl-and allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êlIsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
וַיִּסְפְּדוּ־way·yis·pə·ḏū-had mournedH5594
√ çâphad — properly, to tear the hair and beat the breasts (as Orientals do in grief)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
çâphad — to tear the hair and beat the breasts in grief The violent public lament for the dead. Israel gave the prophet what the law of the land could give him; what it could not give was a successor, and the gap is the subject of v. 6.
לוֹ֙lōwfor him
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
וַיִּקְבְּרֻ֥הוּway·yiq·bə·ru·hūand buried himH6912
√ qâbar — to interConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine pluralthird person masculine singular
בָרָמָ֖הḇā·rā·māhin RamahH7414
√ Râmâh — Ramah, the name of four places in PalestinePreposition-b, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular
וּבְעִיר֑וֹū·ḇə·‘î·rōwhis own cityH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-bNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
וְשָׁא֗וּלwə·šā·’ūlAnd SaulH7586
√ Shâʼûwl — Shaul, the name of an Edomite and two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הֵסִ֛ירhê·sîrhad removedH5493
√ çûwr — to turn off (literal or figurative)VerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
çûwr — to turn off (literal or figurative), Hiphil The theological weight of the unit sits here. Saul's one act of obedience on record in this chapter is a purge, and Henry sees the trap in it exactly: a man may drive the devil out of his kingdom and keep him in his heart. K&D notes the purge was lawful — “in accordance with the law in Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:27, and Deuteronomy 18:10.”
הָאֹב֥וֹתhā·’ō·ḇō·wṯthe mediumsH178
√ ʼôwb — properly, a mumble, iArticleNounmasculine plural
ʼôwb — properly, a mumble; a necromancer or the spirit consulted A genuinely rare word: 16 verses in the whole Hebrew Bible, and always in the company of yiddᵉʻônîy. Cambridge separates the two senses the word carries — “the demon or spirit supposed to speak through the necromancer” and “the possessor of such a spirit” — which is why English versions oscillate between “familiar spirits” and “mediums.”
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
הַיִּדְּעֹנִ֖יםhay·yid·də·‘ō·nîmand spiritistsH3049
√ yiddᵉʻônîy — properly, a knowing oneArticleNounmasculine plural
yiddᵉʻônîy — properly, a knowing one From yâdaʻ, to know — the same root that drove the whole exchange between Achish and David in vv. 1–2. Two verses after David refused to say what he knew, the narrative names a whole class of men defined by claiming knowledge they do not have, and in v. 6 the God who actually knows says nothing. Ellicott judges the title ironic: a name “given in irony to these dealers in occult and forbidden arts.”
מֵהָאָֽרֶץ׃mê·hā·’ā·reṣfrom the landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-m, ArticleNounfeminine singular
ʼerets — the earth; a land “From the land” — the covenant territory. Poole supplies the implied noun: “Out of the land of Israel.” The purge was geographic; the heart it left untouched is about to travel to Endor to undo it.
4

The Philistines gathered together and camped at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and camped at Gilboa.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

p̄ə·liš·tîm way·yā·ḇō·’ū way·yiq·qā·ḇə·ṣū way·ya·ḥă·nū ḇə·šū·nêm šā·’ūl ’eṯ- way·yiq·bōṣ kāl- yiś·rā·’êl way·ya·ḥă·nū bag·gil·bō·a‘

Word by word12 · parsed
פְלִשְׁתִּ֔יםp̄ə·liš·tîmThe PhilistinesH6430
√ Pᵉlishtîy — a Pelishtite or inhabitant of PeleshethNounpropermasculine plural
וַיָּבֹ֖אוּway·yā·ḇō·’ū. . .H935
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
וַיִּקָּבְצ֣וּway·yiq·qā·ḇə·ṣūgathered togetherH6908
√ qâbats — to grasp, iConjunctive wawVerbNifalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
qâbats — to grasp, gather, collect (Nifal) The passive-reflexive stem. Read against Saul's active Qal seven words later, the verse quietly contrasts an enemy that coheres with a kingdom that must be held together by hand.
וַיַּחֲנ֣וּway·ya·ḥă·nūand campedH2583
√ chânâh — properly, to inclineConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
chânâh — properly, to incline; to encamp The root behind machăneh. Its repetition at word 10 sets the two armies in the same posture on opposing heights — which is exactly Poole's observation, that the armies stand as they did in 1 Samuel 17, a hill each and a valley between.
בְשׁוּנֵ֑םḇə·šū·nêmat ShunemH7766
√ Shûwnêm — Shunem, a place in PalPreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular
Shûwnêm — Shunem, a place in Palestine A genuinely rare toponym: three verses in the whole Hebrew Bible. Cambridge locates it as “Sôlam, on the S.W. slope of the range called Little Hermon,” and both Cambridge and Ellicott note the other two occurrences — Abishag's home (1 Kings 1:3) and the house of the woman who lodged Elisha and whose dead son he raised (2 Kings 4).
שָׁאוּל֙šā·’ūlwhile SaulH7586
√ Shâʼûwl — Shaul, the name of an Edomite and two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
וַיִּקְבֹּ֤ץway·yiq·bōṣgatheredH6908
√ qâbats — to grasp, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
qâbats — to gather, collect (Qal) Saul's answering muster. The Verifier's own thread work turns on this root's density across the unit; here the point is stem, not frequency.
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êlIsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
וַֽיַּחֲנ֖וּway·ya·ḥă·nūand campedH2583
√ chânâh — properly, to inclineConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
chânâh — to encamp Israel takes the high ground. JFB records the standing pattern: “the Israelites, according to their wont, keeping to the heights, while their enemies clung to the plain.”
בַּגִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃bag·gil·bō·a‘at GilboaH1533
√ Gilbôaʻ — Gilboa, a mountain of PalestinePreposition-b, ArticleNounproperfeminine singular
Gilbôaʻ — Gilboa, a mountain of Palestine K&D places it “upon the north-eastern edge of the plain of Jezreel,” about two hours from Shunem, close enough that the Philistine camp is visible from it — which is the precondition for v. 5. Pulpit, following Conder, puts the ridge at 1,500 feet and the plain at 250, and the distance at four miles. Gilboa will be the name on Saul's grave (1 Samuel 31:8) and in David's lament.
5

When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid and trembled violently.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šā·’ūl ’eṯ- way·yar p̄ə·liš·tîm ma·ḥă·nêh lib·bōw way·yi·rā way·ye·ḥĕ·raḏ mə·’ōḏ

Word by word9 · parsed
שָׁא֖וּלšā·’ūlWhen SaulH7586
√ Shâʼûwl — Shaul, the name of an Edomite and two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
וַיַּ֥רְאway·yarsawH7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively The verb that triggers the collapse. Pulpit takes it as evidence about the campaign's geography: “this was evidently Saul's first sight of their forces, and his alarm was caused by finding them so much larger than he had expected.”
פְלִשְׁתִּ֑יםp̄ə·liš·tîmthe PhilistineH6430
√ Pᵉlishtîy — a Pelishtite or inhabitant of PeleshethNounpropermasculine plural
מַחֲנֵ֣הma·ḥă·nêharmyH4264
√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)Nouncommon singular construct
machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops) Construct form. The noun binds the unit together: David is commanded into a machăneh in v. 1 and Saul is unmanned by a machăneh in v. 5 — the same camp, seen from the two sides of one man's exile.
לִבּ֖וֹlib·bōwheH3820
√ lêb — the heartNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
lêb — the heart The organ of decision in Hebrew thought. Compare 1 Samuel 10:9, where God gave Saul another heart at his anointing; the arc of his reign runs from a heart given to a heart shuddering. Henry catches the moral sense: “Troubles are terrors to the children of disobedience.”
וַיִּרָ֕אway·yi·rāwas afraidH3372
√ yârêʼ — to fearConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
yârêʼ — to fear The ordinary verb — the same root that elsewhere names the fear of the LORD, which Saul no longer has and so has nothing else to set against the fear of Philistia.
וַיֶּחֱרַ֥דway·ye·ḥĕ·raḏand trembledH2729
√ chârad — to shudder with terrorConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
chârad — to shudder with terror A violent, physical verb. The commentators are unanimous that the cause is not arithmetic: K&D observes that Saul had beaten the Philistines before, so the terror can hardly be explained except by “the feeling that God had forsaken him.” Poole adds the conscience: “the conscience of his own manifest guilt.”
מְאֹֽד׃mə·’ōḏviolentlyH3966
√ mᵉʼôd — properly, vehemence, iAdverb
mᵉʼôd — properly, vehemence; exceedingly The intensifier, placed last for full weight.
6

He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yiš·’al šā·’ūl Yah·weh Yah·weh wə·lō ‘ā·nā·hū ba·ḥă·lō·mō·wṯ gam bā·’ū·rîm gam gam ban·nə·ḇî·’im

Word by word12 · parsed
וַיִּשְׁאַ֤לway·yiš·’alHe inquiredH7592
√ shâʼal — to inquireConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
shâʼal — to inquire, ask The formula-verb of legitimate oracular request. That it is used of Saul here is the whole problem of the verse against 1 Chronicles 10:14, which says Saul “inquired not of the LORD.” Cambridge: “The contradiction is only in appearance.” Poole and Benson resolve it by manner — he inquired “in his slight and perfunctory way,” not “seriously, and after the right order”; Barnes resolves it by object — consulting a familiar spirit was “positively antagonistic to inquiring of the Lord.”
שָׁאוּל֙šā·’ūl. . .H7586
√ Shâʼûwl — Shaul, the name of an Edomite and two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
בַּֽיהוָ֔הYah·wehof the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-bNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, the Jewish national name of God With the preposition b. The covenant name is on Saul's lips; the difficulty of the chapter is that it is only on his lips.
יְהוָ֑הYah·wehbut the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉhôvâh — the divine name The name repeats as the subject of the negated verb. Hebrew narrative rarely wastes a repetition: the one who was asked is named again as the one who did not answer. This is not absence but refusal.
וְלֹ֥אwə·lōdid notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle
lôʼ — not (absolute negation) The hinge of the unit. Everything before it is preparation; everything after it in chapter 28 is consequence.
עָנָ֖הוּ‘ā·nā·hūanswer himH6030
√ ʻânâh — properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular
ʻânâh — properly, to eye or heed; to answer Qal perfect with suffix: he did not answer him. The suffix is personal and it is the cruelty of the verse. Cambridge sends the reader to Proverbs 1:24–30, where wisdom's refusal to answer is explicitly the penalty for a lifetime of refusing to hear. K&D locates the cause not in the machinery but in the man: “the wickedness of Saul, which rendered him utterly unworthy to find favour with God.”
בַּחֲלֹמ֛וֹתba·ḥă·lō·mō·wṯby dreamsH2472
√ chălôwm — a dreamPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine plural
chălôwm — a dream The first channel. Numbers 12:6 makes dreams God's ordinary medium with a prophet who is not Moses. Pulpit, following Erdmann, is careful about the rank: “a subordinate position is certainly assigned in the Old Testament to the dream as the medium of the Divine influence on the inner life.”
גַּ֧םgamorH1571
√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction
בָּאוּרִ֖יםbā·’ū·rîmUrimH224
√ ʼÛwrîym — Urim, the oracular brilliancy of the figures in the high-priest's breastplatePreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine plural
ʼÛwrîym — Urim, the oracular brilliancy of the figures in the high-priest's breastplate A rare word: seven verses. The priestly channel, and the crux of the verse, since Abiathar had carried the ephod to David (1 Samuel 23:6). Ellicott, Benson, Cambridge and K&D all reconstruct a second ephod and a second priest — most likely Zadok at Gibeon — to explain how Saul could consult it at all; Gill rejects that reconstruction as improbable; Pulpit suspects the Urim is named here “not because the ephod was actually used, but as enumerating all the various ways by which men inquired of Jehovah.” The honest position is that the text does not say.
גַּ֥םgam. . .H1571
√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction
גַּ֥םgamorH1571
√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction
בַּנְּבִיאִֽם׃ban·nə·ḇî·’improphetsH5030
√ nâbîyʼ — a prophet or (generally) inspired manPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine plural
nâbîyʼ — a prophet or inspired man The third channel, and the one the unit has already closed in v. 3: the prophet is dead and buried at Ramah. Benson and Gill both note that Samuel's school at Ramah/Naioth presumably survived him — which makes the silence sharper, not softer. Every legitimate door is described as open and every one of them is shut, and the next verse in the chapter sends Saul to Endor.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Two musters and one man caught between them — 28:1–2

The unit opens with a verb it will not let go of: קָבַץ (qâbats, H6908), to gather. The Philistines gather their מַחֲנֵיהֶם — their camps, plural, which Gill reads as the muster of the five lordships. Ellicott and Pulpit agree, both citing Josephus, that this is no border raid: Ellicott writes that “The Philistines are now strong enough to strike a blow at the centre of the kingdom,” and JFB names the three conditions that made it possible — Samuel dead, Saul discredited, David gone. ⚙ The narrative has arranged for every one of those three causes to be a fact the reader already knows and Saul does not yet feel.

Then Achish speaks, and the Hebrew turns emphatic: יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע, infinitive absolute on finite verb, which Pulpit calls “the Hebrew way of making a strong affirmation.” Know thou assuredly. David's reply returns the identical root yâdaʻ with the emphasis surgically removed, and hangs it on the same particle לָכֵן that Achish will then repeat back. K&D is the most careful witness here: the phrase “thy servant” concedes nothing, being “only the ordinary periphrasis for ‘I’ in conversation with a superior,” and so David “gave an ambiguous answer, in the hope that God would show him a way out.” Cambridge concurs that the answer is “designedly ambiguous.” Henry alone refuses to soften it, calling the evasion “not consistent with the character of an Israelite indeed,” and Geneva, no friendlier, files it under David's infirmity. ⚙ The two readings are not reconcilable and we do not reconcile them; the text records the words and withholds the verdict, and the commentators have divided along the line of whether prudence under a pagan lord is faith or failure.

ii. The pluperfect that explains everything — 28:3

Verse 3 stops the action and states two facts in the pluperfect, neither of them new. Samuel had died — already reported at 1 Samuel 25:1 — and Saul had turned the אֹבוֹת and the יִדְּעֹנִים out of the land. Ellicott notes the repetition so puzzled the ancient versions that the LXX, Vulgate and Syriac simply dropped it. Poole gives the reason in a line: “this is mentioned here as the reason why Saul did not inquire of Samuel.” Cambridge treats vv. 3–25 as an independent narrative whose key this verse supplies.

⚙ But the verse does more than set the stage. The verb Saul uses against the mediums is הֵסִיר (Hiphil of çûwr, H5493) — he caused to turn aside. It is the mirror of what has happened to him. And the second class he expelled, yiddᵉʻônîm, are literally “knowing ones,” from the same root yâdaʻ that Achish and David have just been fencing with. Ellicott judges the title ironic, “given in irony to these dealers in occult and forbidden arts.” Henry draws the moral with an economy no one has improved on: “Saul will drive the devil out of his kingdom, yet harbours him in his heart by envy and malice.” Gill makes the same point historically — the note is inserted “to show the inconstancy of Saul.”

iii. Two hills, one valley, and a heart that gives way — 28:4–5

The gathering verb returns twice in v. 4, and the stems differ: the Philistines gather themselves (Nifal), Saul must gather Israel (Qal). Cambridge sees the scale — “This was no border foray, but a gathering of the whole force of the confederacy” — and the topography is fixed with unusual precision by four independent witnesses. Cambridge places Shunem at Sôlam on the south-west slope of Little Hermon; K&D puts Gilboa on the north-eastern edge of the plain of Jezreel, “hardly two hours distant, so that the camp of the Philistines might be seen from Gilboa”; Pulpit, citing Conder, gives the numbers — ridge 1,500 feet, valley 250, distance about four miles; Barnes preserves the ancient name in the village of Jelbon. Poole alone hears the echo: “So the two armies seem to be placed in the same manner as they were 1Sa 17, each upon a hill, and a valley between them.”

⚙ That echo is the point of v. 5. The last time Israel and Philistia faced each other across a valley from two hills, the answer walked down from the Israelite side with a sling. This time the man who walked down is in the tents on the other hill. Saul sees the מַחֲנֵה — the same noun David was ordered into four verses earlier — and the Hebrew does not say he trembled; it says וַיֶּחֱרַד לִבּוֹ, his heart shuddered, the organ of will and judgment, and the root chârad means to shudder with terror. Every commentator refuses the simple explanation. K&D: Saul had beaten these armies before, so the terror “can hardly be attributed to any other cause than the feeling that God had forsaken him.” Cambridge, same verdict. Poole adds conscience and “just expectation of Divine vengeance.” Benson turns it into the plainest sentence in the unit: “Had he kept close to God he needed not to have feared all the armies of the Philistines.” Ellicott, more speculatively, pictures Saul scanning the opposing tents and wondering whether David is among them — an imaginative reconstruction, not a textual claim.

iv. Three doors, all shut — 28:6

The last verse of the unit is the one the whole chapter turns on. Saul inquires — וַיִּשְׁאַל בַּיהוָה, which K&D identifies as the standing technical formula for consulting God “through the Urim and Thummim of the high priest” — and the covenant name appears twice: once as the one asked, once as the one who did not answer. Then the particle גַּם falls three times: also not by dreams, also not by Urim, also not by prophets.

Each channel has a history and a problem. Dreams are a recognised medium (Numbers 12:6), though Pulpit, following Erdmann, notes their subordinate rank. Urim is the crux: Abiathar had fled to David with the ephod (1 Samuel 23:6), so Ellicott, Benson, Cambridge and K&D all reconstruct a second sanctuary at Gibeon with a second priest — probably Zadok — to explain the attempt, and adduce the double high-priesthood of David's reign (2 Samuel 8:17) in support. Gill flatly rejects both that reconstruction and its rival. Pulpit offers the soberest alternative: Urim may be “named here not because the ephod was actually used, but as enumerating all the various ways by which men inquired of Jehovah.” ⚙ We record the dispute rather than settling it; the text does not say. Prophets is the cruellest of the three, because the unit has already buried the prophet at Ramah in v. 3.

Then there is the contradiction with 1 Chronicles 10:14, which says Saul “inquired not of the LORD.” The brief's voices offer two distinct solutions and they are not the same solution. Cambridge and Poole and Benson solve it by manner — Poole: he inquired “in his slight and perfunctory way… not seriously, and after the right order”; Benson quotes the Jewish commentator Samuel Laniado on a man who says in his heart, “If God will not hear me, I will go and consult a familiar spirit.” Barnes solves it by object: “inquiring of the familiar spirit was positively antagonistic to inquiring of the Lord.” Cambridge supplies the third and hardest word, sending the reader to Proverbs 1:24–30, and K&D refuses every mechanical explanation and names the man: the silence is grounded in “the wickedness of Saul.”

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text and against the voices above; it is not Scripture and carries no authority.

The unit is built on one verb used against itself. Yâdaʻ, to know, runs through all six verses: Achish demands that David know assuredly; David answers with the same root emptied of its guarantee; Saul has expelled a whole class of men whose name means knowing ones; and then Saul asks the only One who actually knows, and is told nothing. Beneath that runs a second verb: çûwr, to turn aside. Saul turned aside the mediums out of the land, using the causative of the very word that describes what has turned aside from him.

⚙ What I think the text is doing is this. Verse 6 is not a failure of machinery. The narrator lists all three legitimate channels precisely so that no one can say Saul lacked access; two of them are ordinary and one of them may not even have been available, and it makes no difference, because the problem was never the channel. K&D reaches the same place from a different road. A man can obey the letter of Leviticus 19:31, purge his kingdom of necromancers, and still have built no habit of hearing — and when the day comes that he needs an answer, he discovers that he has spent a reign asking questions he had already decided the answers to. The silence of God in this verse is not God withdrawing. It is God declining to be the last resort of a man who would not have Him as the first.

⚙ And the structure sharpens it. The two armies stand as they stood in 1 Samuel 17 — Poole saw it — a hill each and a valley between. Then the answer came from the Israelite side, unarmoured, and it came because someone asked in faith. Now the answer is in the enemy's camp, conscripted by a Philistine king, giving evasive replies and waiting for a God who has not gone silent on him. Two men in this unit are trapped by circumstances they did not choose. One of them, K&D observes, “had no doubt prayed earnestly for this in his heart.” The other put the question to heaven once, got nothing, and by the next verse was asking for a medium. ⚙ That, and not the ephod, is the difference the unit is measuring.

The channels were never the problem; Saul had spent a reign asking questions whose answers he had already decided.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The two words Saul purged — and the law that told him to verbal / quotation — confirmed

Verse 3's pair הָאֹבוֹת (ʼôwb, H178) and הַיִּדְּעֹנִים (yiddᵉʻônîy, H3049) is not a loose description but a fixed legal formula. The two nouns occur together across the Torah's prohibitions, and the Verifier finds them paired at Leviticus 19:31, Leviticus 20:6, Leviticus 20:27 and Deuteronomy 18:11 — the last of which adds shâʼal (H7592), the very verb Saul uses of YHWH in v. 6 and will use of the medium in v. 7. K&D states the ground of Saul's purge exactly: he had acted “in accordance with the law in Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:27, and Deuteronomy 18:10.” Geneva, Poole, Benson, Cambridge, JFB and Gill all name the same statutes. ⚙ The link is therefore not a motif but a citation in substance: the narrator describes Saul's one recorded act of Mosaic obedience in the exact vocabulary of the law that commanded it, so that the reader will have the statute in hand when Saul breaks it four verses later.

Leviticus 19:31 · Leviticus 20:6 · Leviticus 20:27 · Deuteronomy 18:11

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H178 ʼôwb (in 16 vv) and H3049 yiddᵉʻônîy (in 11 vv) — both rare, and occurring as a fixed pair; Deuteronomy 18:11 additionally shares H7592 shâʼal (in 157 vv). The rarity and the fixed pairing make this a verbal link in the legal formula, not merely a shared theme.

The same two words in the mouths of the kings who came after verbal / quotation — confirmed

⚙ The ʼôwb/yiddᵉʻônîy pair has a second life in the books of Kings and Chronicles, and it marks a recurring judgment. The Verifier finds it at 2 Kings 21:6 and 2 Chronicles 33:6, where Manasseh appoints what Saul expelled; at 2 Kings 23:24, where Josiah purges them again; and at Isaiah 8:19, where the prophet frames the whole practice as a question — whether a people should seek the dead on behalf of the living rather than their God. ⚙ The pattern the shared vocabulary exposes is that in Israel's historical writing this pair functions as a fixed index of apostasy: a king expels them at the start and a king restores them, and Saul manages both movements inside a single chapter. That reading of the pattern is my own synthesis; the shared lexemes are the Verifier's.

2 Kings 21:6 · 2 Chronicles 33:6 · 2 Kings 23:24 · Isaiah 8:19

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H178 ʼôwb (in 16 vv) and H3049 yiddᵉʻônîy (in 11 vv) in every listed verse — a rare fixed pair, which grounds the verbal tier. No verse quotes another; the tier records lexical identity, not citation.

Urim and the verb of lawful asking — the formula Saul used correctly and got nothing by verbal / quotation — confirmed

Numbers 27:21 is the charter of the practice named in v. 6. There Joshua is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask for him by the judgment of the Urim — שָׁאַל (shâʼal, H7592) and אוּרִים (ʼÛwrîym, H224), the same two words the Verifier finds shared with this unit. K&D independently identifies shâʼal baYHWH as the standing term for inquiry “through the Urim and Thummim of the high priest,” citing Numbers 27:21 by name. Cambridge observes that our verse is the only mention of the Urim by name as consulted after the entry into Canaan, and that after the exile it became proverbial to defer a hard question “until there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim” (Ezra 2:63).

⚙ The force of the link is negative. The institution given to Joshua so that a leader would never have to guess at the will of God is named here in the moment it produces nothing — and after this the historical books do not describe it working again.

Numbers 27:21 · Ezra 2:63

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H224 ʼÛwrîym (in 7 vv — rare) and H7592 shâʼal (in 157 vv) with Numbers 27:21; the rare H224 carries the tier. Ezra 2:63 is added on Cambridge's cited authority, not on a Verifier-computed basis, and is offered as corroboration only.

Shunem — the village that appears three times and never for the same reason structural / thematic — confirmed

שׁוּנֵם (Shûwnêm, H7766) occurs in only three verses in the Hebrew Bible, and the Verifier links all of them: the tribal boundary list of Joshua 19:18, this Philistine encampment, and 2 Kings 4:8, the house of the woman who built a chamber for Elisha and whose dead son was raised in it. Cambridge and Ellicott both note the coincidence unprompted, Ellicott adding Abishag of 1 Kings 1:3. ⚙ The link is real and the lexeme is rare, but it is a toponym: three narratives that happen on one patch of ground on the slope of Little Hermon, not three texts in conversation. We tier it structural rather than verbal for that reason. What the shared ground does give is a study in contrast — the same hillside hosts an army encamped against Israel on the eve of its king's death, and a household where a dead son is returned alive. ⚙ That juxtaposition is our observation and should not be pressed as authorial design.

Joshua 19:18 · 2 Kings 4:8 · 1 Kings 1:3

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H7766 Shûwnêm (in 3 vv — the rarest lexeme in this unit) with Joshua 19:18 and 2 Kings 4:8. Deliberately downgraded from verbal: the shared lexeme is a place name, so the link is geographic identity, not verbal allusion. 1 Kings 1:3 is added on Cambridge's and Ellicott's cited authority, not from the Verifier's candidate list.

Gilboa — the hill named here and remembered on a gravestone structural / thematic — confirmed

Saul encamps at Gilboa in v. 4 and sees the Philistine camp from it in v. 5. The Verifier links 1 Samuel 31:8, 1 Chronicles 10:8 and 2 Samuel 21:12 to this unit on the shared lexemes Pᵉlishtîy and Shâʼûwl — the three passages that report what was found on that mountain the day after. ⚙ Those lexemes are common (H6430 in 244 verses, H7586 in 335), so the verbal basis is weak and the tier is structural: what actually binds the passages is narrative continuity, the same king on the same ridge facing the same enemy. K&D and Barnes and Gill all locate the ridge; Barnes notes the ancient name survives in the village of Jelbon. 1 Chronicles 10:13–14, the very next lines after the parallel, is also the verse that says Saul “inquired not of the LORD” — the contradiction Cambridge, Barnes, Poole, Benson and Gill all take up on v. 6, which makes that chapter the canon's own comment on this unit.

1 Samuel 31:8 · 1 Chronicles 10:8 · 2 Samuel 21:12

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H6430 Pᵉlishtîy (in 244 vv) and H7586 Shâʼûwl (in 335 vv) — both common, so no verbal claim is made. The recorded basis is narrative continuity of place, persons and campaign, corroborated by Barnes, Gill and K&D on the identification of Gilboa.

When heaven does not answer: a cross-Testament structure, not a verbal link structural / thematic — confirmed

⚙ Verse 6 records a sequence: God is asked, God does not answer, and the man immediately seeks another voice. The apostolic writings describe the same sequence from the other end — a refusal of the truth met not by God's argument but by God's handing the person over to what they already wanted (Romans 1:24–28), and the delusion that follows when the love of the truth was not received (2 Thessalonians 2:11–12). Proverbs 1:24–30, which Cambridge adduces on this very verse, is the Hebrew statement of the same principle: the refusal to hear is answered in kind.

⚙ This link cannot be verbal. The New Testament texts are Greek and this unit is Hebrew, so no shared Strong's number is possible and none is claimed. Neither is it a quotation: no apostle cites 1 Samuel 28:6. What is shared is a pattern of divine judgment by withdrawal rather than by intervention, and we name it structural and offer it to be tested. The Proverbs link is Cambridge's; the New Testament extension is ours.

Proverbs 1:24-30 · Romans 1:24-28 · 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are impossible by definition, so no verbal tier is available or claimed. Recorded basis: the shared pattern of withheld revelation issuing in a handing-over. Proverbs 1:24–30 is cited by Cambridge on this verse; the Romans and 2 Thessalonians extension is the tool's own synthesis, not a Verifier-computed lexeme link.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Lights that went out, and the Priest who is the answer ancient/widely-held

Verse 6 names אוּרִים — the Lights — in the act of failing. Cambridge records that this is the only occurrence by name of the Urim being consulted after Israel entered Canaan, and that the post-exilic community had to shelve its hardest questions “until there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim” (Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65). Numbers 27:21 had given the institution precisely so that a leader would never stand where Saul stands.

⚙ The apostolic answer to Ezra's deferral is a priest, not an instrument: God, who spoke in many portions and many ways by the prophets, “has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1–2) — and the Son is named, in John's language, the light of men, which is what Urim means. The three channels closed in this verse are exactly the three the letter to the Hebrews declares superseded: dream, ephod, prophet, all gathered up in one who is himself both the priest who asks and the Word who answers. ⚙ We do not claim any commentator in this brief makes the Saul-to-Hebrews connection; what is ancient and widely held is the reading of Christ as the true high priest through whom God's will is now made known, and the application of that reading to this verse is ours.

Numbers 27:21 · Ezra 2:63 · Hebrews 1:1-2 · Hebrews 4:14-16

The anointed king in the enemy's camp novel

Verse 1 finds the anointed but unenthroned king of Israel conscripted into the army of Gath, unable to refuse and unable to comply. Ellicott judges the whole Philistine sojourn a grievous error born of “want of faith and patience,” and Geneva calls David's silence an infirmity; Henry says the evasion “was not consistent with the character of an Israelite indeed.” K&D reads the same scene as deliverance: David could not in conscience fight his own people, prayed in his heart, and “the faithful God helped His servant,” first through the king's credulity and then through the Philistine lords' suspicion.

⚙ Held against the New Testament, the figure is the anointed one in exile, among the nations, kept from bloodguilt he did not seek and delivered by a providence working through his enemies' distrust of him. The type is real, but so is the disanalogy, and it should be stated plainly: David is kept from sin by circumstance, and the greater Son of David is kept from it by his own will, tempted and not yielding (Hebrews 4:15). David's ambiguity is a man protecting himself; Christ before Pilate answers nothing for the opposite reason (Mark 15:5). ⚙ David-as-type-of-Christ is ancient and widely held; this particular contrast is our own and is offered as a reading to be tested, not as an established one.

1 Samuel 16:13 · Mark 15:5 · Hebrews 4:15

The silence that fell on the wrong man novel

⚙ The unit ends on an unanswered king. Saul asks, and the covenant name that is twice on the page says nothing — and K&D grounds the silence not in a missing ephod but in “the wickedness of Saul, which rendered him utterly unworthy to find favour with God.” Barnes says the right response would have been “self-abasement and self-examination”; Cambridge says penitence. Saul gave neither and went to Endor.

⚙ The gospels record one more unanswered cry, and it is the exact inversion of this one: a man who was worthy, asking, and receiving silence — “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46, quoting Psalm 22:1). Saul's silence is the wage of a reign; Christ's is borrowed. ⚙ The reading that Christ bore on the cross the God-forsakenness owed to others is ancient and widely held; the specific pairing of Saul's unanswered inquiry with it is our own construction, offered under Sola Scriptura to be tested, and we mark it novel. No commentator in this brief proposes it.

Psalm 22:1 · Matthew 27:46 · 2 Corinthians 5:21

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Hebrew throughout; BSB with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbering. Two places where the versions genuinely differ are recorded rather than resolved. At v. 2 Cambridge reads “Therefore now shalt thou know,” following the Septuagint and Vulgate against the Masoretic “thou,” and Pulpit reaches the same English by a different route. At v. 3 Ellicott reports that the LXX, Vulgate and Syriac omitted the notice of Samuel's death altogether, apparently because they could not see why it was repeated from 1 Samuel 25:1.

What is genuinely uncertain. (1) The meaning of אוֹב. Ellicott says outright it is “a word which has never been explained with any certainty”; the connection to ôb, hollow, and thence to the ventriloquist's distended belly, is a conjecture that Ellicott attributes to Erdmann in Lange and the Speaker's Commentary, and Cambridge and Pulpit repeat it with varying confidence. Every English rendering — “medium,” “familiar spirit,” “necromancer” — is an interpretive choice. (2) How Saul could inquire by Urim at all, when Abiathar had the ephod in David's camp. Ellicott, Benson, Cambridge and K&D reconstruct a second sanctuary at Gibeon under Zadok; Gill rejects that reconstruction and its alternatives as “neither of which are probable”; Pulpit suggests the Urim is listed for completeness rather than because it was used. The text does not say, and we do not decide. (3) When Saul purged the mediums. Barnes, Benson, Pulpit and Cambridge all date it to the early reign, and all four flag it as conjecture; Cambridge thinks an allusion may be traced in 1 Samuel 15:23.

Sources. All quotations are verbatim public-domain commentary resolved from the brief's raw text by anchor, never retyped. Two transmitted oddities are preserved and flagged in the voice notes: Poole's printed “ambitiously” at v. 2, which his own following sentence shows must be ambiguously, and Ellicott's “as be stood” at v. 5, an evident typesetting slip. Benson at v. 6 is quoting the Jewish commentator Samuel Laniado, and Benson at v. 1 relays a judgment of Sir Isaac Newton about Philistine recruitment from Egypt under Amasis which we have not repeated in the synthesis because it rests on no evidence in the text.

What is ⚙ and what is not. Every lexical claim, parse, and thread basis above comes from the brief. The reading of yâdaʻ as the unit's controlling verb, the Nifal/Qal contrast in v. 4, the chain of machăneh across vv. 1–5, the cross-Testament structural thread, and both novel Christ readings are the tool's own synthesis and are fallible. Poole's observation about 1 Samuel 17 is Poole's; the use we make of it in the sola reading is ours.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)