Reference: Footman
Fausets
(1) Distinguished from the soldier on horseback or in a chariot.
(2) The swift runners who attended the king; foretold by Samuel 1Sa 8:11 (1Ki 14:27 margin). Swift running was much valued in a warrior (Ps 19:5; Joe 2:7; Job 16:14). A characteristic of David, for which he praises God (1Sa 17:22,48,51; 20:6; 2Sa 22:30; Ps 18:29; compare 1Ch 12:8 to end).
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and he said, "This shall be the duty of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons and put them to his chariots and make his horsemen of them and they must run before his chariot,
Then David put the pannier from him, unto the hands of the keeper of the vessels, and ran into the host and came and saluted his brethren.
And when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh unto David, David hasted and ran in array even against the Philistine.
he ran and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of his sheath and slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
If thy father miss me, then say, 'David asked leave of me, that he might go to Bethlehem to his own city, for there is holden a yearly feast for all his kin.'
In whose stead, king Rehoboam made brazen shields and put them in the keeping of the captains of the guard which waited at the door of the king's house.
And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David, when he kept a hold in the wilderness, men of might and men apt for war and could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were thereto as swift as the roes of the mountains:
He hath given me one wound upon another, and is fallen upon me like a giant.
For in thee I can discomfit a host of men, and with the help of my God I shall leap over the wall. {TYNDALE: With thy help I will run through a host of men, and by the aid of my God will spring over a wall.}
which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his course.
These shall run like giants, and leap over the walls like men of war. Every man in his going will keep his array, and not go out of his Path.
Hastings
This word is used in two different senses: 1. A foot-soldier, always in plur. 'footmen,' foot-soldiers, infantry. Footmen probably composed the whole of the Isr. forces (1Sa 4:10; 15:4) before the time of David. 2. A runner on foot: 1Sa 22:17 (Authorized Version margin 'or guard, Heb. runners'; RV 'guard,' Revised Version margin 'Heb. runners'). 'Runners' would be the literal, and at the same time the most appropriate, rendering. The king had a body of runners about him, not so much to guard his person as to run his errands and do his bidding. They formed a recognized part of the royal state (1Sa 8:11; 2Sa 15:1); they served as executioners (1Sa 22:17; 2Ki 10:25); and, accompanying the king or his general into battle, they brought back official tidings of its progress or event (2Sa 18:18). In Jer 12:5 both the Heb. and the Eng. (footmen) seem to be used in the more general sense of racers on foot.
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And the Philistines fought, and Israel was put to the worse and fled, every man into his tent. And there was a mighty great slaughter, so that there were overthrown of Israel, thirty thousand footmen.
and he said, "This shall be the duty of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons and put them to his chariots and make his horsemen of them and they must run before his chariot,
And Saul told it the people, and numbered them in Telaim two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
Then said the king unto his footmen that stood about him, "Turn and slay the priests of the LORD, both because their hand is with David and because they knew when David fled and showed it not to me." But the servants of the king would not move their hands, to run upon the priests of the LORD.
Then said the king unto his footmen that stood about him, "Turn and slay the priests of the LORD, both because their hand is with David and because they knew when David fled and showed it not to me." But the servants of the king would not move their hands, to run upon the priests of the LORD.
And this Absalom, yet in his lifetime, took and reared up a pillar, which is yet in King's Dale. For he said, "I have no male child. And therefore, to keep my name in remembrance do I it." And he called the pillar after his own name. And it is called unto this day, Absalom's pillar.
"Seeing thou art weary in running with the footmen, how wilt thou then run with the horses? In a peaceable sure land thou mayest be safe, but how wilt thou do in the furious pride of Jordan?
Morish
1. ragli, 'on foot:' often used for the foot soldiers in distinction from those in chariots or on horseback. Nu 11:21; Jg 20:2; 1Ch 18:4; etc. In Jer 12:5 it is applied to those that ran.
2. ruts, 'runner.' 1Sa 22:17. Samuel said that their king would make some of them to run before his chariot. 1Sa 8:11. Such are commonly employed in the East to run before the great, to clear the way for them.
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And Moses said, "Six hundred thousand footmen are there of the people, among which I am. And thou hast said, 'I will give them flesh and they shall eat a month long.'
And there stood folk out of all quarters of all the tribes of Israel, in the congregation of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew swords.
and he said, "This shall be the duty of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons and put them to his chariots and make his horsemen of them and they must run before his chariot,
Then said the king unto his footmen that stood about him, "Turn and slay the priests of the LORD, both because their hand is with David and because they knew when David fled and showed it not to me." But the servants of the king would not move their hands, to run upon the priests of the LORD.
"Seeing thou art weary in running with the footmen, how wilt thou then run with the horses? In a peaceable sure land thou mayest be safe, but how wilt thou do in the furious pride of Jordan?
Smith
Footman,
a word employed in the English Bible in two senses:
1. Generally, to distinguish those of the fighting men who went on foot from those who were on horseback or in chariots;
2. In a more special sense, in
only, and as the translation of a different term from the above --a body of swift runners in attendance on the king. This body appears to have been afterwards kept up, and to have been distinct from the body-guard --the six hundred and thirty-- who were originated by David. See
1Ki 14:27-28; 11/4/type/mstc'>2Ki 11:4,6,11,13,19; 2Ch 12:10-11
In each of these cases the word is the same as the above, and is rendered "guard," with "runners" in the margin in two instances -
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Then said the king unto his footmen that stood about him, "Turn and slay the priests of the LORD, both because their hand is with David and because they knew when David fled and showed it not to me." But the servants of the king would not move their hands, to run upon the priests of the LORD.
In whose stead, king Rehoboam made brazen shields and put them in the keeping of the captains of the guard which waited at the door of the king's house.
In whose stead, king Rehoboam made brazen shields and put them in the keeping of the captains of the guard which waited at the door of the king's house. And as oft as the king went in to the house of the LORD, they of his guard bare them, and ever brought them again into the guard chamber.