1 Samuel 24:4

4 “Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the LORD is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe.

1 Samuel 24:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 24:4

And the men of David said unto him
Some of his principal men, who were about him, and near him, such as Joab and Abishai:

behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee:
now the time was come that he spoke of to him by Samuel, or Gad, or to himself directly:

behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand;
and such was Saul, as appeared by his seeking to take away his life; and now he was in the hand of David to take away his life, if he pleased:

that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee;
an opportunity of this kind now offered:

then David arose;
from that part of the cave in which he was, the further part of it:

and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily;
unawares to him, and unobserved by him, which might be easily done, if Saul was asleep, and it is probable he was; and by the same way it may be accounted for that he did not hear the discourse that passed between David and his men.

1 Samuel 24:4 In-Context

2 So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats.

3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. But as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in that very cave!

4 “Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the LORD is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe.

5 But then David’s conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul’s robe.

6 He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the LORD ’s anointed one, for the LORD himself has chosen him.”