(23) And he slew an Egyptian . . .--Literally, and he it was who smote the Egyptian, a man of measure, five in the cubit. Samuel has only "who (was) a sight;" or "a man to look at" (Heb. margin). The chronicler says why.

Like a weaver's beam.--Not in Samuel. Perhaps due to a recollection of the combat of David and Goliath. (Comp. also 2Samuel 21:19.) Yet the LXX. of 2Samuel 23:21 has "like the beam of a ship's ladder" (????? ?????????); and this may be original.

Went down.--To the combat. (Comp. Latin: descendere in aciem, &c.) The staff (sh?bet) of Benaiah differs from David's (maqq?l, 1Samuel 17:40; 1Samuel 17:43); and the similarity of the two accounts, so far as it extends, is a similarity not of fiction, but of fact.

With a staff.--Rather, the staff, which he happened to carry.

Verse 23. - Five cubits high. This height is not given in the parallel passage; it means seven feet six inches. A spear like a weaver's beam (so 1 Samuel 17:7; 2 Samuel 21:19).

11:10-47 An account is given of David's worthies, the great men who served him. Yet David reckoned his success, not as from the mighty men that were with him, but from the mighty God, whose presence is all in all. In strengthening him, they strengthened themselves and their own interest, for his advancement was theirs. We shall gain by what we do in our places for the support of the kingdom of the Son of David; and those that are faithful to Him, shall find their names registered much more to their honour, than these are in the records of fame.And inquired not of the Lord,.... For though he did inquire in some sense in an external, careless, and hypocritical manner, yet not done seriously, sincerely, and heartily, nor with constancy; it was accounted as if he inquired not at all, 1 Samuel 28:6 the Targum adds another reason of his death, because he killed the priests of Nob; but that is not in the text:

therefore he slew him; or suffered him to be slain:

and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse; translated the kingdom of Israel out of Saul's family, upon his death, into Jesse's, even unto David; for the sake of which observation this short account is given of the last end of Saul.