Who
Jesse’s firstborn and David’s eldest brother (1 Chronicles 2:13). When Samuel saw him he thought him the LORD’s anointed, but the LORD said, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). He fought in Saul’s army, and when the young David came to the camp he scorned him: “I know your pride and the evil of your heart” (1 Samuel 17:28).
Key verses
- 1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
- 1 Samuel 17:28
Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the evil of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.”
- 1 Chronicles 2:13
and Jesse became the father of his firstborn Eliab, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third,
Where the Bible names him
Family
- Parents
Discussed by
Comments on the verses that name him (8 of 11).
- Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lapsed
Treatise III. Argument.—Having Enlarged Upon the Unlooked-for Peace of the Church, and the Constancy of the Confessors and Those Who Had Stood Fast in the Faith; And Then with Extreme Grief Having Pointed to the…
- Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics Chapter 2
Chapter III.—Weak People Fall an Easy Prey to Heresy, Which Derives Strength from the General Frailty of Mankind. Eminent Men Have Fallen from Faith; Saul, David, Solomon. The Constancy of Christ. It is usual,…
- Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor III.2
Against Embellishing the Body. It is not, then, the aspect of the outward man, but the soul that is to be decorated with the ornament of goodness; we may say also the flesh with the adornment of temperance. But those…
- Jerome, Against the Pelagians Book 2
This book can hardly be said to form part of a dialogue. It is rather an argument from Scripture to prove the point of the Augustinian arguer, Atticus. From the fourth chapter onwards it consists, like the last five…
- Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women II.12
Chapter XIII.—It is Not Enough that God Know Us to Be Chaste: We Must Seem So Before Men. Especially in These Times of Persecution We Must Inure Our Bodies to the Hardships Which They May Not Improbably Be Called to…
- Gregory of Nazianzus, Orations Oration 20
The Oration on Holy Baptism. Preached at Constantinople Jan. 6, 381, being the day following the delivery of that on the Holy Lights. I. Yesterday we kept high Festival on the illustrious Day of the Holy Lights; for…
- Jerome, Letters Letter 22
To Eustochium. Perhaps the most famous of all the letters. In it Jerome lays down at great length (1) the motives which ought to actuate those who devote themselves to a life of virginity, and (2) the rules by which…
- John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew Homily 29
Matthew IX. 1, 2. Matt. IX. 1, 2. “And He entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into His own city. And, behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said…