Teks -- 1 Samuel 18:25 (NET)

18:25 Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

JFB: 1Sa 18:25 - The king desireth not any dowry

In Eastern countries the husband purchases his wife either by gifts or services. As neither David nor his family were in circumstances to give a suitable dowry for a princess, the king intimated that he would be graciously pleased to accept some gallant deed in the public service.

JFB: 1Sa 18:25 - a hundred foreskins of the Philistines

Such mutilations on the bodies of their slain enemies were commonly practised in ancient war, and the number told indicated the glory of the victory. Saul's willingness to accept a public service had an air of liberality, while his choice of so difficult and hazardous a service seemed only putting a proper value on gaining the hand of a king's daughter. But he covered unprincipled malice against David under this proposal, which exhibited a zeal for God and the covenant of circumcision.

Clarke: 1Sa 18:25 - But a hundred foreskins

But a hundred foreskins - That is, Thou shalt slay one hundred Philistines, and thou shalt produce their foreskins, as a proof, not only that thou hast killed one hundred men, but that these are of the uncircumcised. A custom similar to this still prevails among the Abyssinians, according to Bruce. See his Travels.

TSK: 1Sa 18:25 - dowry // but an hundred // foreskins // to be avenged // thought

dowry : Gen 29:18, Gen 34:12; Exo 22:16, Exo 22:17

but an hundred : That is, Thou shalt slay one hundred Philistines, and thou shalt produce their foreskins as a proof, not only that thou hast killed one hundred men, but that these are of the uncircumcised Philistines.

foreskins : 1Sa 17:26, 1Sa 17:36; Gen 17:11-14; Jos 5:3

to be avenged : 1Sa 14:24

thought : 1Sa 18:17; 2Sa 17:8-11

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: 1Sa 18:25 - An hundred foreskins

An hundred foreskins: these he desires rather than their heads; partly, for the greater convenience of bringing them, and presenting them before him; partly, to cover his malice against David with a pretence of zeal for God, and for his people, and for the covenant of circumcision; and partly, that the Philistines might be the more enraged against David for this reproachful and barbarous usage of them, and might therefore watch all opportunities to destroy him.

Haydock: 1Sa 18:25 - Dowry // Philistines // Hundred // Wife

Dowry. Among the Hebrews, the man had to purchase his wife. ---

Philistines. They were the nearest nation of those who were not circumcised; and thus Saul would prove that David had attacked them, which would greatly irritate them against him. (Calmet) ---

Josephus specifies six hundred heads, (Haydock) falsely, (Horn) as he frequently disguises what might give his readers offence, as being either mean or incredible. (Calmet) ---

Hundred is not specified in the original Hebrew copies, (Capel, iii. 17,) and David gives 200, ver. 27. But Saul only stipulated for 100. See 2 Kings iii. 14. (Calmet) ---

Wife, "thinking it mean to be guilty of an untruth," &c., says Josephus; "yet his disposition was not altered. He resolved, therefore, to take away his life, and wished Jonathan and his most trusty servants to put his designs in execution." He then mentions the friendship of these two. But he takes no notice of the proffered marriage of Merob, and he seems not to have known that she was ever promised. See ver. 17., and 19., and chap. xvii. 12. (Haydock)

Gill: 1Sa 18:25 - And Saul said, thus shall ye say to David // the king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies // but Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines

And Saul said, thus shall ye say to David,.... In answer to his objections, and in order to remove them, and especially what concerned the dowry:

the king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies; that is, he required or desired no other dowry of David, but that he would slay an hundred Philistines, and bring their foreskins to him; by which he would be able to know that they were Philistines he slew, not Israelites who were circumcised; though it cannot well be thought that Saul should have any suspicion of that, or take such a method to prevent it; but as those were almost, if not altogether, the only uncircumcised persons that were their neighbours, since the Arabians, Edomites, Midianites, &c. received circumcision from their ancestors, it would be a clear case to him that these were the men he slew; and whom he the rather pitched upon, because they were his enemies, and the enemies of Israel, and abhorred of the Lord; which carried in it a show of zeal for the glory of God, and the good of his people, and because he hoped David would fall by them in the enterprise, or however render himself very odious to them, and they would bear him ill will, and seek his ruin. Strabo ^y reports of the people in Carmania, that no man among them marries a wife before he cuts off the head of an enemy, and brings it to the king; and the king lays up the skulls in a treasury, and he is the most famous that has the most heads brought unto him. Saul chose not heads, but foreskins, for the reasons before given:

but Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines; he hoped in the enterprise the Philistines would be too powerful for him, and kill him.