Bible Strands
1 Samuel 19:10
Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear. But David eluded him and the spear struck the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Saul, under a spirit of distress, hurls his spear at David while David plays the harp, attempting to pin him to the wall. This violent encounter occurs after Saul’s previous failed strikes and immediately precedes his order to assassinate David in his own home.
The words — The Hebrew וַיִּפְטַר (va/y.iy.petar) literally means "and he escaped" or "he got away," marking David’s physical deliverance from the lethal blow. The infinitive לְהַכּוֹת (le/ha.kot) conveys the intent to strike or pin David against the wall.
The thread — This spear-throwing incident repeats the pattern from 1 Samuel 18:11 and anticipates Saul’s later violent attempt on Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:33, while demonstrating the principle that human counsel cannot override divine sovereignty as noted in Proverbs 21:30.
Why it lands — The passage records Saul’s escalating lethal intent and David’s narrow physical escape, requiring the reader to acknowledge that human hostility operates within permitted boundaries and that deliverance often involves both divine allowance and immediate flight.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 18:11 and he hurled it, thinking, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.
- 1 Samuel 20:33 Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.
- Proverbs 21:30 There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
- 1 Samuel 19:6 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore an oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”
- Job 5:14 They encounter darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night.
- Psalms 18:17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from foes too mighty for me.
- Psalms 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.
- Psalms 124:7 We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; the net is torn, and we have slipped away.
- Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.
- Hosea 6:4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.