1 Samuel 24:6

6 He said to his men, "It would be unthinkable for me to raise my hand against His Majesty, the LORD's anointed king, since he is the LORD's anointed."

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 David's men told him, "Today is the day the LORD referred to when he said, 'I'm going to hand your enemy over to you. You will do to him whatever you think is right.'" David quietly got up and cut off the border of Saul's robe.

5 But afterward, David's conscience bothered him because he had cut off the border of Saul's robe.

6 He said to his men, "It would be unthinkable for me to raise my hand against His Majesty, the LORD's anointed king, since he is the LORD's anointed."

7 So David stopped his men by saying this to them and didn't let them attack Saul. Saul left the cave and went out onto the road.

8 Later, David got up, left the cave, and called to Saul, "Your Majesty!" When Saul looked back, David knelt down with his face touching the ground.