John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 17 This chapter relates how the armies of Israel, and of the Philistines, prepared for battle, and where, 1 Samuel 17:1, describes a champion of the Philistines, who defied the armies of Israel, 1 Samuel 17:4, and while he was so doing, it informs us that David came into the camp, and he heard his words, and signified to one and another his inclination to fight with...
John Gill
And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, e.] Before the Israelites are said to encamp in or by the valley but here they are said to take the higher ground, and face the Philistines, who were on a mountain or hill on the other side over against them, which Kimchi reconciles thus; the whole or the grand army lay encamped in the...
Matthew Henry
David is the man whom God now delights to honour, for he is a man after his own heart. We read in the foregoing chapter how, after he was anointed, Providence made him famous in the court; we read in this chapter how Providence made him much more famous in the camp, and, by both, not only marked him for a great man, but fitted him for the throne for which he was designed. In the court he was only...