1 Samuel 17:35

And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:31-39 A shepherd lad, come the same morning from keeping sheep, had more courage than all the mighty men of Israel. Thus God often sends good words to his Israel, and does great things for them, by the weak and foolish things of the world. As he had answered his brother's passion with meekness, so David answered Saul's fear with faith. When David kept sheep, he proved himself very careful and tender of his flock. This reminds us of Christ, the good Shepherd, who not only ventured, but laid down his life for the sheep. Our experience ought to encourage us to trust in God, and be bold in the way of duty. He that has delivered, does and will continue to do so. David gained leave to fight the Philistine. Not being used to such armour as Saul put upon him, he was not satisfied to go in that manner; this was from the Lord, that it might more plainly appear he fought and conquered in faith, and that the victory was from Him who works by the feeblest and most despised means and instruments. It is not to be inquired how excellent any thing is, but how proper. Let Saul's coat be ever so rich, and his armour ever so strong, what is David the better if they fit him not? But faith, prayer, truth, and righteousness; the whole armour of God, and the mind that was in Christ; are equally needful for all the servants of the Lord, whatever may be their work.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His beard - Put here for his throat, or under jaw; neither lion nor bear has a beard properly speaking.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

34-36. a lion, and a bear—There were two different rencontres, for those animals prowl alone. The bear must have been a Syrian bear, which is believed to be a distinct species, or perhaps a variety, of the brown bear. The beard applies to the lion alone. Those feats seem to have been performed with no weapons more effective than the rude staves and stones of the field, or his shepherd's crook.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Smote him, to wit, the lion, as appears by his beard; which having particularly mentioned, it was easily understood and believed, that he did the same to the bear; which therefore it was needless to express.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I went out after him,.... Whether a lion or a bear; but mention after being made of his beard, a lion rather is meant:

and smote him; with his fist, or rather with his shepherd's staff:

and delivered it out of his mouth; snatched it out from thence, or obliged him to drop it, by beating him:

and when he arose against me; after he had let go the lamb, threatening to tear him in pieces for attempting to disturb him in his prey, and take it away from him:

I caught him by his beard; such as lions have; hence a lion is often called in Homer (g) , the well-bearded lion. Kimchi thinks the beard with the nether jaw is meant, which David caught hold on:

and smote him, and slew him; tore him to pieces, as Samson did, Judges 14:5, or slew him with some weapon in his hand.

(g) Iliad. 17. ver. 109. & Iliad. 18. ver. 318.

Geneva Study Bible

And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

35. by his bard] Cp. the Homeric epithet of the lion, “well-bearded;” (λὶς ἠϋγένειος: Il. XV. 275); and the Latin proverb “to pluck the beard of a dead lion” (barbam vellere mortuo leoni).

1 Samuel 17:35

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

To Saul's objection that he, a mere youth, could not fight with this Philistine, a man of war from his youth up, David replied, that as a shepherd he had taken a sheep out of the jaws of a lion and a bear, and had also slain them both. The article before ארי and דּוב points out these animals as the well-known beasts of prey. By the expression ואת־הדּוב the bear is subordinated to the lion, or rather placed afterwards, as something which came in addition to it; so that את is to be taken as a nota accus. (vid., Ewald, 277, a), though it is not to be understood as implying that the lion and the bear went together in search of prey. The subordination or addition is merely a logical one: not only the lion, but also the bear, which seized the sheep, did David slay. זה, which we find in most of the editions since the time of Jac. Chayim, 1525, is an error in writing, or more correctly in hearing, for שׂה, a sheep. "And I went out after it; and when it rose up against me, I seized it by its beard, and smote it, and killed it." זקן, beard and chin, signifies the bearded chin. Thenius proposes, though without any necessity, to alter בּזקנו into בּגרונו, for the simple but weak reason, that neither lions nor bears have any actual beard. We have only to think, for example, of the λῖς ἠυγένειος in Homer (Il. xv. 275, xvii. 109), or the barbam vellere mortuo leoni of Martial (x. 9). Even in modern times we read of lions having been killed by Arabs with a stick (see Rosenmller, Bibl. Althk. iv. 2, pp. 132-3). The constant use of the singular suffix is sufficient to show, that when David speaks of the lion and the bear, he connects together two different events, which took place at different times, and then proceeds to state how he smote both the one and the other of the two beasts of prey.