Bible Strands
1 Samuel 22:17
Then the king ordered the guards at his side, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they did not tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Saul commands his personal guards to execute the priests of the LORD, accusing them of complicity for knowing David’s flight without reporting it. The guards immediately refuse to carry out the order.
The words — The Hebrew imperative סֹבּוּ (sovu) commands the guards to “turn round,” followed by וְ/הָמִיתוּ (ve/hamitu), meaning “and put to death.” These terms mark the king’s sudden, violent shift of attention toward sanctuary personnel.
The thread — This royal command to execute religious officials parallels the midwives’ refusal in Exodus 1:17 and contrasts with the people’s protection of Jonathan in 1 Samuel 14:45. The narrative immediately continues in 1 Samuel 22:18 when Doeg the Edomite personally carries out the slaughter.
Why it lands — The text records a direct clash between royal authority and religious duty, demonstrating that obedience to God supersedes a king’s unjust decree. Readers must confront how institutional power attempts to coerce conscience and where faithful resistance begins.
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 the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the Lord; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord.
Cross-references
- Exodus 1:17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.
- 1 Samuel 14:45 But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die—he who accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel? Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for with God’s help he has accomplished this today.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.
- 2 Kings 1:13 So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. And the third captain went up, fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours please be precious in your sight.
- 1 Samuel 8:11 He said, “This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them to serve his own chariots and horses, and to run in front of his chariots.
- 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.
- 1 Samuel 22:13 And Saul asked him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me? You gave him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him so that he could rise up against me to lie in wait, as he is doing today.”
- 1 Samuel 25:17 Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”
- 2 Samuel 15:1 Some time later, Absalom provided for himself a chariot with horses and fifty men to run ahead of him.
- 1 Kings 1:5 At that time Adonijah, David’s son by Haggith, began to exalt himself, saying, “I will be king!” And he acquired chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run ahead of him.
- 1 Kings 18:4 for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)