1 Samuel 20:26

26 Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”

1 Samuel 20:26 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 20:26

Nevertheless, Saul spake not anything that day
About David's absence, took no notice of it, said nothing about it:

for he thought something had befallen him;
some impurity, some nocturnal pollution, see ( Leviticus 15:16 ) ;

he [is] not clean, surely he [is] not clean;
which he repeated in his mind for the confirmation of it, and in contempt, and to the reproach of David; and in this way he accounted for his absence the first day, and so was easy, it not being lawful and fitting for an unclean person in a ceremonial sense to eat of the peace offerings, which Saul and his family were now partaking of.

1 Samuel 20:26 In-Context

24 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat.

25 He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty.

26 Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”

27 But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

28 Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,