And David said unto Saul,.... In answer to his objection of inability to encounter with one so superior to him; and this answer is founded on experience and facts, and shows that he was not so weak and inexpert as Saul took him to be:thy servant kept his father's sheep; which he was not ashamed to own, and especially as it furnished him with an stance of his courage, bravery, and success, and which would be convincing to Saul:and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock; not that they came together; though Kimchi so interprets it, "a lion with a bear"; but these are creatures that do not use to go together; and besides, both could not be said with propriety to take one and the same lamb out of the flock: to which may be added, that David in 1Sa 17:35 speaks only of one, out of whose mouth he took the lamb; wherefore the words may be rendered, "a lion or a bear" ; and if the copulative "and" is retained, the meaning can only be, that at different times they would come and take a lamb, a lion at one time, and a bear at another.
bwdh taw yrah "leo vel ursus", V. L. "leo aut ursus", Junius & Tremellius, Bochart. Noldius, p.