And God was with the lad
To confirm his health, to provide for him the necessaries of life, to protect him from danger in the wilderness where he was, and to prosper and succeed him in temporal things; all which is owing to the providential goodness of God:
and he grew;
increased in bodily stature, and arrived to manhood; or, "he became great", in riches and in substance, as Ben Melech interprets it:
and dwelt in the wilderness;
of Beersheba, where he now was, or of Paran after mentioned, a fit place for a wild man to dwell in, as it was said he should be; and by this means the oracle was fulfilled, ( Genesis 16:12 ) :
and became an archer;
skilful in the use of the bow and arrow, both for hunting and slaying of wild beasts, on whose flesh he lived, and for lighting with men, against whom his hand would be: the Jewish writers
F12 Pirke, c. 30. Ammian. Marcellin. Hist. l. 14.
F13 "Ithyraeos taxi curvantur in arcus". Georgic. l. 2. ver. 448.
F14 Rauwolff's Travels, par. 2. ch. 4. p. 118. by Ray.
F15 Ammian. Marcellin. l. 14. p. 8. Ed. Vales.
F16 Sharif al Edrisi, apud Pocock. Specim. Arab. Hist. p. 122, 124.