Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 24:6
And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he [is] the anointed of the LORD.
Verse 6. The Lord’s anointed] However unworthily Saul was now acting, he had been appointed to his high office by God himself, and he could only be removed by the authority which placed him on the throne. Even David, who knew he was appointed to reign in his stead, and whose life Saul had often sought to destroy, did not conceive that he had any right to take away his life; and he grounds the reasons of his forbearance on this-He is my master, I am his subject. He is the Lord’s anointed, and therefore sacred as to his person in the Lord’s sight. It is an awful thing to kill a king, even the most untoward, when he has once been constitutionally appointed to the throne. No experiment of this kind has ever succeeded; the Lord abhors king killing. Had David taken away the life of Saul at this time, he would, in the sight of God, have been a murderer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He said unto his men; either, first, Before he cut off Sauls lap. Or rather, secondly, Afterwards, when he returned with Sauls lap in his hand, and his soldiers were enraged that he had not killed him.
This thing which you persuade me to do, even cut off Saul.
Unto my master, whom I must still own for my sovereign lord and king, to whom I owe allegiance whilst he lives, although after his death the right of the kingdom be mine.
To stretch forth mine hand against him, to wit, to kill him. A synecdochical expression. See Gen 37:22.
The anointed of the Lord, i.e. anointed by God to the kingdom; by which unction his person was made sacred and inviolable, and is so to be accounted by me, and you, and all his subjects. And as God only exalted him, and God only could pronounce a sentence of deprivation of his kingdom against him; so it belongs to God only to execute his own sentence, and actually to depose him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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, 1Sa 10:1, by order of the Lord, 1Sa 9:17.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1Sa 24:6 And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he [is] the anointed of the LORD.
Ver. 6. The Lord forbid that I should do this thing. ] Thus he blesseth himself from such a disloyalty to his master and sovereign. The Janizaries have learned of the Jesuits to kill their king if he please them not. Peter du Moulin said truly of many of the priests of France, that they were for their loyalty not beholden to the maxims of Italy.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
master. Hebrew. ‘Adoni, my lord. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Lord forbid: 1Sa 26:9-11, 2Sa 1:14, 1Ki 21:3, Job 31:29, Job 31:30, Mat 5:44, Rom 12:14-21, Rom 13:1, Rom 13:2, 1Th 5:15
Reciprocal: Exo 22:28 – nor curse 1Sa 10:1 – a vial 1Sa 12:3 – his anointed 1Sa 25:13 – David also 1Sa 25:28 – evil hath 1Sa 26:11 – that I should 1Sa 26:16 – Lord’s 1Sa 26:23 – I would not 2Sa 19:21 – cursed 2Sa 20:21 – lifted Psa 119:87 – but I forsook Pro 24:21 – fear Lam 4:20 – the anointed Rom 13:5 – ye