What Does 1 Samuel 17:50 Mean?
So David gripped the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.THE KEY
The Hebrew verb for David’s prevailing shares the root of being strong and strengthening, while the verse makes clear that the expected sword is not in his hand.
THE MEANING
The verse places prevailing beside unexpected means: David uses a sling and stone, and no sword is in his hand. It also keeps the violence plain, he strikes the Philistine and kills him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief this verse undoes is that prevailing requires the expected weapon; David prevails without a sword in his hand.
THE ROOT
וַיֶּחֱזַק
wayyeḥĕzaq
GROWS FROM
חזק
To be strong or firm; to strengthen.
“gripped” in this verse is wayyeḥĕzaq. The word translated “prevailed” belongs to the same root as words for being strong and strengthening. English can make the victory sound like a simple outcome; the Hebrew also names strength taking hold, even though the expected sword is absent.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzāq: Strong, firm.
חָזָק
This adjective shares the root חזק and gives “prevailed” the sense of strength or firmness.
ḥizzēq: Strengthened; made strong.
חִזֵּק
This verb shares the root חזק and shows that the same root can describe strength being imparted as well as being present.
חֶרֶב
ḥerev
GROWS FROM
חרב
A word family associated with the sword and with becoming dry or desolate.
The consonants חרב connect the sword in this verse with Hebrew words for dryness and desolation. The sword is absent from David’s hand, but the verse does not hide the violence of the victory he wins.
ALSO GROWS
ḥārēv: Dry or desolate.
חָרֵב
It shares all three consonants, חרב, with חֶרֶב, the sword named in the verse.
ḥōrev: Dryness or desolation.
חֹרֶב
This noun shares the same consonants and adds the word family’s association with ruin.
THE PATTERN
Prevailing is not tied to the expected instrument: the text can name an unlikely means and still state the victory plainly.
Then he answered and said to me, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by army, nor by strength, but by my breath, says the LORD of hosts.But God picked out the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; and God picked out the weak things of the world to shame the strong.And he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for strength is carried to its end in weakness." Most gladly, then, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the strength of the Anointed One may pitch its tent over me.THE THREAD
And all this assembly shall perceive that the LORD does not deliver with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands.The same Hebrew word חֶרֶב (ḥerev, sword) appears in the declaration that the LORD does not deliver by sword and spear. Verse 50 makes the sword’s absence visible in David’s hand while naming the sling, the stone, and the killing plainly.
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