1 Samuel 17:9

If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Then will we be your servants.—Each of the positions which the two opposing armies held was well-nigh impregnable; thus it seemed as though a single combat was the only way of deciding the present campaign: besides which, in those far back times such single combats between renowned chieftains of the opposing armies were not by any means uncommon. The reader of the Iliad will ever readily call to mind—in colloquies before the deadly duel—words not altogether unlike the haughty, boastful challenge of the giant Philistine. See, for instance, the speeches of Glaucus and Diomede in Book VI. of the Iliad: “Come hither,” says Glaucus, “that you may quickly reach the goal of death.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:1-11 Men so entirely depend upon God in all things, that when he withdraws his help, the most valiant and resolute cannot find their hearts or hands, as daily experience shows.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Spear's-head - literally, "the flame of his spear," the metal part which flashed like a flame.

Six hundred shekels - i. e., between seventeen and eighteen pounds avoirdupois.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8-11. I defy the armies of Israel …; give me a man, that we may fight together—In cases of single combat, a warrior used to go out in front of his party, and advancing towards the opposite ranks, challenge someone to fight with him. If his formidable appearance, or great reputation for physical strength and heroism, deterred any from accepting the challenge, he used to parade himself within hearing of the enemy's lines, specify in a loud, boastful, bravado style, defying them, and pouring out torrents of abuse and insolence to provoke their resentment.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants,.... For which it does not appear he had any commission or authority to say; nor did the Philistines think themselves obliged to abide by what he said, since, when he was slain, they did not yield themselves servants to the Israelites:

but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us; to which terms also the Israelites did not consent; nor did David, who engaged with him, enter the fray on such conditions.

Geneva Study Bible

If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. then will we be your servants] Compare the agreement between the Romans and Albans about the combat of the Horatii and Curiatii, “that the nation whose citizens conquered in the combat should rule the other in peace” (Livy I. 24). Paris challenged Menelaus to decide the Trojan war by single combat (Hom. Il. III. 86 ff.).

1 Samuel 17:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"If he can fight with me, and kill me, we will be your servants; if I overcome him, and slay him, ye shall be our servants, and serve us." He then said still further (1 Samuel 17:10), "I have mocked the ranks of Israel this day (the mockery consisted in his designating the Israelites as servants of Saul, and generally in the triumphant tone in which he issued the challenge to single combat); give me a man, that we may fight together!"