1 Samuel 20:24

24 Therefore David was hid in the field; and the calends/the solemn feast came, and the king sat to eat bread (and the king sat down to eat his meal).

1 Samuel 20:24 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 20:24

So David hid himself in the field
Not directly, but at the time appointed; for he went to Bethlehem, and returned from thence before that time:

and when the new moon was come;
the first clay of the month, which was a solemn festival:

the king sat him down to eat meat;
Saul sat down at his table to eat of the provisions that were set upon it; which it is very probable were the peace offerings for that day, which he, his family, and nobles, feasted on together; it is in the Hebrew, "he sat down at the bread" {b}, which is put for all the food on the table, and the provisions of it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (Mxlh le) "ad [vel] juxta panem", Pagninus, Montanus.

1 Samuel 20:24 In-Context

22 But if I speak thus to the child, Lo! the arrows be beyond thee; go thou in peace, for the Lord hath delivered thee. (But if I speak thus to the boy, Lo! the arrows be beyond thee; then go thou away to save thy own life, for the Lord hath sent thee away.)

23 Certainly of the word that thou and I have spoken, that is, of the bond of peace betwixt us and our heirs (that is, of the covenant between us and our heirs), the Lord be witness betwixt me and thee till into without end.

24 Therefore David was hid in the field; and the calends/the solemn feast came, and the king sat to eat bread (and the king sat down to eat his meal).

25 And when the king had set on his chair (as) by custom, which chair was beside the wall, Jonathan rose, and sat after Abner, and Abner sat at the side of Saul, and the place of David appeared void (and David's place was empty).

26 And Saul spake not anything in that day; for he thought, that in hap it befelled to him, that he was not clean, neither purified. (And Saul did not say anything about David that day; for he thought perhaps it befell that David was not clean, or purified.)