the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Read the Bible
1 Samuel 25:18
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalContextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
made haste: 1 Samuel 25:34, Numbers 16:46-48, Proverbs 6:4, Proverbs 6:5, Matthew 5:25
took two: The Eastern bread is generally both thin and small; and answers to our cakes. Genesis 32:13-20, Genesis 43:11-14, 2 Samuel 17:28, 2 Samuel 17:29, Proverbs 18:16, Proverbs 21:14
two bottles: That is, two goatskins' full.
five sheep: Not one sheep to one hundred men.
clusters: Heb. lumps, Raisins dried in the sun, 2 Samuel 16:1
cakes of figs: Figs cured and then pressed together. Now all this provision was a matter of little worth; and had it been granted in the first instance, it would have perfectly satisfied David, and secured his good offices.
Reciprocal: Judges 1:15 - a blessing Judges 8:5 - loaves Ruth 2:14 - parched 1 Samuel 16:20 - an ass laden 1 Samuel 17:17 - parched corn 1 Samuel 27:3 - with his two 1 Chronicles 12:40 - cakes of figs Proverbs 31:12 - General Luke 12:58 - give
Cross-References
The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
The name of the first is Pishon: that is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
The first river, named Pishon, flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
The name of the first [is] Pison, which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where [there is] gold;
The name of the first is Pishon: this is the one which flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
The first [river] is named Pishon; it flows around the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
The name of the o ryuer is Fyson, thilke it is that cumpassith al the lond of Euilath, where gold cometh forth,
the name of the one [is] Pison, it [is] that which is surrounding the whole land of the Havilah where the gold [is],
The name of the first river is Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Then Abigail made haste,.... As the case required, her family being in imminent danger:
and took two hundred loaves; of bread; of what size or weight they were is not said; though it may be reasonably concluded they were pretty large, since they are not called cakes, but loaves, and since they were to be a present to David and his men, who were numerous:
and two bottles of wine; not such as ours are, which would have borne no proportion to the rest of the provision; but these were leathern bags which held a large quantity, in which they put and carried wine in those times and countries; the Septuagint version is, two vessels or casks of wine:
and five sheep ready dressed; killed and dressed by the butcher, or made ready by the cook, boiled or roasted; the word which the Targum uses, according to the interpretation of Jarchi, from one of their Rabbins, signifies such as were stuffed with small pieces of meat, and eggs in them, or, as it should seem, made into pastries:
and five measures of parched [corn]; or five seahs, a measure which held, according to Bishop Cumberland b, two wine gallons, four bottles, and a little more; of this parched corn, :-; where mention is made of an ephah of it; and the Septuagint version has the same measure here, and calls them five ephahs of flour:
and an hundred clusters of raisins; or dried grapes, as the Targum; the Septuagint is, one omer of them, which was the tenth part of an ephah:
and two hundred cakes of figs; which were dried, and pressed, and made into lumps, and she took two hundred of these; or, as the Targum, two hundred pound weight of them:
and laid [them] on asses; one not being sufficient to carry all this provision.
b Of Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 3. p. 86.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Two bottles - Rather, “two skins,” each of which would contain many gallons. These leather vessels varied in size according to the skin they were made of, and the use they were to be put to. The smaller and more portable kind, which may not improperly be called bottles, were made of the skin of a kid: larger ones of the skin of a he-goat. The Arabs invariably to this day carry their milk, water, etc., in such leather vessels. One skin of wine was a handsome present from Ziba, sufficient for David’s household 2 Samuel 16:1. The provisions were all ready to Abigail’s hand, having been provided for the sheep-shearing feast.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 1 Samuel 25:18. Took two hundred loaves — The Eastern bread is ordinarily both thin and small; and answers to our cakes.
Two bottles of wine — That is, two goat-skins full. The hide is pulled off the animal without ripping up; the places where the legs, c., were are sewed up, and then the skin appears one large bag. This is properly the Scripture and Eastern bottle. There is one such before me.
Five sheep — Not one sheep to one hundred men.
Clusters of raisins — Raisins dried in the sun.
Cakes of figs — Figs cured, and then pressed together. We receive the former in jars, and the latter in small barrels and both articles answer the description here given.
Now all this provision was a matter of little worth, and, had it been granted in the first instance, it would have perfectly satisfied David, and secured the good offices of him and his men. Abigail showed both her wisdom and prudence in making this provision. Out of three thousand sheep Nabal could not have missed five; and as this claim was made only in the time of sheep-shearing, it could not have been made more than once in the year: and it certainly was a small price for such important services.