1 Samuel 24:6

6 He said to his men, "I swear before the Lord: I would never do such a thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed. [I will never] lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord's anointed."^[a]

1 Samuel 24:6 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 24:6

And he said unto his men
When he returned and brought the skirt of Saul's garment in his hand; or else he said this before that, though here mentioned, when they moved it to him to dispatch him, as he had a fair opportunity of doing it:

God forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's
anointed;
and which he could not think of but with detestation and abhorrence, since he was his sovereign lord and master, and he a subject of his, and was anointed by the order of God, and his person sacred:

to stretch forth my hand against him;
to take away his life; to cut off the skirt of his garment gave him uneasiness; but to slay him, the thought of it was shocking to him:

seeing he [is] the anointed of the Lord;
anointed by Samuel to be king, ( 1 Samuel 10:1 ) , by order of the Lord, ( 1 Samuel 9:17 ) .

1 Samuel 24:6 In-Context

4 so they said to him, "Look, this is the day the Lord told you about: 'I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.'" Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul's robe.

5 Afterwards, David's conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul's robe.

6 He said to his men, "I swear before the Lord: I would never do such a thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed. [I will never] lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord's anointed."

7 With these words David persuaded his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went on his way.

8 After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed to the ground in homage.

Footnotes

• [a]. 1 Sm 10:1; 26:9-11