1 Samuel 24:3 Commentary and Bible Study

‘He came to the sheepcotes [the sheepfolds]’ – so we are still in the lowlands, not in the ‘rocks of the wild goats’ yet, up on the rocky hills; Saul had just begun the journey. He thought that David and his men were in caves at a much higher level, and so there is very little security down here where the sheep survive. ‘He came to the sheepcotes by the way [on his journey], where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet.’ Now that is literally the Hebrew: ‘to cover his feet’. In the past, it was assumed that Saul went in to get some sort of a catnap, to rest a while. Really, the old interpretation of the passage is rather more likely than the modern one. The modern versions paraphrase ‘went into cover his feet’, and turn it into ‘went in to relieve himself’. But it's rather difficult to see how, in a cave, David could have stolen up to him and cut off the hem (not the corner as the modern versions often mistranslate it); it is hard to see how he could have cut off the decorative hem of his royal garment without Saul being aware of it unless Saul was asleep. So, although one cannot be certain, the old view that he went in for a rest seems preferable. But David and his men were in that cave. You can imagine the tension. The lookout from the cave where David and his men were concealing themselves sees the forces of Saul passing by probably not far off. To their amazement they saw King Saul approaching the very place where they were hiding. His guards are no doubt at the mouth of the cave, but they don't come in, and he sleeps. David’s men shrink back into the crevasses in the walls, to the side or the back of the cave. Assuming that he came in in order to rest, he lay down by himself without security, without a guard, and dozed off, probably something he was used to doing in that climate at a certain time of day. Immediately there was the assumption among David’s men: ‘This is our day, our opportunity.’ How many people were with David? He surely would not have had six hundred in one cave; this is probably just a small detachment involved on some reconnaissance or other with him: five to ten men, who can occupy a cave silently without Saul being aware that they are there. We can imagine David’s men whispering to him in the dark recesses of this cave, ‘Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand,’ – that is not precisely it – ‘that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily’, the hem, the edge, rather than the corner, as the modern translations do tend to paraphrase it; it’s the edge of his outer garment. One may assume that, as king, he had a particularly decorative edge, something that tempted David to cut it off. But the men with David, said, ‘Kill him; take his life. He is delivered into your hand.’ However David knew better than that. He knew there was to be no coup. He was not to murder the Lord's anointed. He had long been aware that he was anointed to be king, and God would bring about the moment of Saul's demise, and a proper and orderly handing over to David the anointed one, and that's what he looked for. ‘It is the obvious thing’, say David's companions. ‘Take his life. Let's do it now, while he is here in our power.’ Maybe they thought that would be the end of the period of tension for them also. They were part of this band on the run from King Saul, facing perils constantly, living from hand to mouth, unable to settle down and build a home. ‘Our troubles are over; take his life’, and it seemed the obvious thing to do. But then, of course, David would have to convince the nation that he wasn't guilty of murdering the king. He might face a lot of difficulty and opposition, lose his reputation in the process as one who had never taken the law into his own hands. So it seemed an obvious and a plausible policy, but David refused it.