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Selected Verse: 1 Kings 20:27 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
1Ki 20:27 |
Strong Concordance |
And the children [01121] of Israel [03478] were numbered [06485], and were all present [03557], and went [03212] against [07125] them: and the children [01121] of Israel [03478] pitched [02583] before them like two [08147] little flocks [02835] of kids [05795]; but the Syrians [0758] filled [04390] the country [0776]. |
|
King James |
And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
like two little flocks of kids--Goats are never seen in large flocks, or scattered, like sheep; and hence the two small but compact divisions of the Israelite force are compared to goats, not sheep. Humanly speaking, that little handful of men would have been overpowered by numbers. But a prophet was sent to the small Israelite army to announce the victory, in order to convince the Syrians that the God of Israel was omnipotent everywhere, in the valley as well as on the hills. And, accordingly, after the two armies had pitched opposite each other for seven days, they came to an open battle. One hundred thousand Syrians lay dead on the field, while the fugitives took refuge in Aphek, and there, crowding on the city walls, they endeavored to make a stand against their pursuers; but the old walls giving way under the incumbent weight, fell and buried twenty-seven thousand in the ruins. Ben-hadad succeeded in extricating himself, and, with his attendants, sought concealment in the city, fleeing from chamber to chamber; or, as some think it, an inner chamber, that is, a harem; but seeing no ultimate means of escape, he was advised to throw himself on the tender mercies of the Israelitish monarch. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Were all present - The marginal rendering is adopted by almost all critics.
Like two little flocks of kids - The word translated "little flocks" does not occur elsewhere in Scripture. It seems to mean simply "flocks." Compare the Septuagint, who render ὡσεί δύο ποίμνια αἰγῶν hōsei duo poimnia aigōn. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The Israelites, mustered and provided for (כּלכּלוּ: supplied with ammunition and provisions), marched to meet them, and encamped before them "like two little separate flocks of goats" (i.e., severed from the great herd of cattle). They had probably encamped upon slopes of the mountains by the plain of Jezreel, where they looked like two miserable flocks of goats in contrast with the Syrians who filled the land. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
And went - Being encouraged by the remembrance of their former success, and an expectation of assistance from God again. And pitched - Probably upon some hilly ground, where they might secure themselves, and watch for advantage against their enemies; which may be the reason why the Syrians durst not assault them before the seventh day, Kg1 20:29. Little flocks - Few, and weak, being also for conveniency of fighting, and that they might seem to be more than they were, divided into two bodies. |
29 And they pitched [02583] one [0428] over against [05227] the other [0428] seven [07651] days [03117]. And so it was, that in the seventh [07637] day [03117] the battle [04421] was joined [07126]: and the children [01121] of Israel [03478] slew [05221] of the Syrians [0758] an hundred [03967] thousand [0505] footmen [07273] in one [0259] day [03117].