1Sa 17:25 | KD | STEP | All the Israelites fled from Goliath, and were so afraid. They said (ישׂראל אישׁ is a collective noun), “ Have ye seen this man who is coming? (הרּאיתם, with Dagesh dirim as in 1Sa 10:24. Surely to defy Israel is he coming; and whoever shall slay him, the king will enrich him with great wealth, and give him his daughter, and make his father’s house (i.e., his family) free in Israel ,” viz., from taxes and public burdens. There is nothing said afterwards about the fulfilment of these promises. But it by no means follows from this, that the statement is to be regarded as nothing more than an exaggeration, that had grown up among the people, of what Saul had really said. There is al| the less probability in this, from the fact that, according to , the people assured him again of the same thing. In all probability Saul had actually made some such promises as these, but did not feel himself bound to fulfil them afterwards, because he had not made them expressly to David himself.

‏ 1 Samuel 17:25

All the Israelites fled from Goliath, and were so afraid. They said (ישׂראל אישׁ is a collective noun), “Have ye seen this man who is coming? (הרּאיתם, with Dagesh dirim as in 1Sa 10:24. Surely to defy Israel is he coming; and whoever shall slay him, the king will enrich him with great wealth, and give him his daughter, and make his father’s house (i.e., his family) free in Israel,” viz., from taxes and public burdens. There is nothing said afterwards about the fulfilment of these promises. But it by no means follows from this, that the statement is to be regarded as nothing more than an exaggeration, that had grown up among the people, of what Saul had really said. There is al| the less probability in this, from the fact that, according to 1Sa 17:27, the people assured him again of the same thing. In all probability Saul had actually made some such promises as these, but did not feel himself bound to fulfil them afterwards, because he had not made them expressly to David himself.