Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Samuel 20:24 - 20:24

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Samuel 20:24 - 20:24


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

David thereupon concealed himself in the field, whilst Jonathan, as agreed upon, endeavoured to apologize for his absence from the king's table.

1Sa 20:24-25

On the new moon's day Saul sat at table, and as always, at his seat by the wall, i.e., at the top, just as, in eastern lands at the present day, the place of honour is the seat in the corner (see Harmar Beobachtungen ii. pp. 66ff.). “And Jonathan rose up, and Abner seated himself by the side of Saul, and David's place remained empty.” The difficult passage, “And Jonathan rose up,” etc., can hardly be understood in any other way than as signifying that, when Abner entered, Jonathan rose from his seat by the side of Saul, and gave up the place to Abner, in which case all that is wanting is an account of the place to which Jonathan moved. Every other attempted explanation is exposed to much graver difficulties. The suggestion made by Gesenius, that the cop. ו should be supplied before אַבְנֵר, and וַיֵּשֶׁב referred to Jonathan (“and Jonathan rose up and sat down, and Abner [sat down] by the side of Saul”), as in the Syriac, is open to this objection, that in addition to the necessity of supplying ו, it is impossible to see why Jonathan should have risen up for the purpose of sitting down again. The rendering “and Jonathan came,” which is the one adopted by Maurer and De Wette, cannot be philologically sustained; inasmuch as, although קוּם is used to signify rise up, in the sense of the occurrence of important events, or the appearance of celebrated of persons, it never means simply “to come.” And lastly, the conjecture of Thenius, that וַיָּקָם should be altered into וַיְקַדֵּם, according to the senseless rendering of the lxx, προέφθασε τὸν Ἰονάθαν, is overthrown by the fact, that whilst קִדֵּם does indeed mean to anticipate or come to meet, it never means to sit in front of, i.e., opposite to a person.

1Sa 20:26

On this (first) day Saul said nothing, sc., about David's absenting himself, “for he thought there has (something) happened to him, that he is not clean; surely (כִּי) he is not clean” (vid., Lev 15:16.; Deu 23:11).

1Sa 20:27-29

But on the second day, the day after the new moon (lit., the morrow after the new moon, the second day: הַשֵּׁנִי is a nominative, and to be joined to וַיְהִי, and not a genitive belonging to הַחֹדֶשׁ), when David was absent from table again, Saul said to Jonathan, “Why is the son of Jesse not come to meat, neither yesterday nor to-day?” Whereupon Jonathan answered, as arranged with David (compare 1Sa 20:28 and 1Sa 20:29 with 1Sa 20:6). “And my brother, he hath commanded me,” i.e., ordered me to come. צִוָּה as in Exo 6:13, and אָחִי, the elder brother, who was then at the head of the family, and arranged the sacrificial meal.

1Sa 20:30-31

Saul was greatly enraged at this, and said to Jonathan, “Son of a perverse woman (נַעֲוַת is a participle, Niph. fem. from עָוָה) of rebellion,” - i.e., son of a perverse and rebellious woman (an insult offered to the mother, and therefore so much the greater to the son), hence the meaning really is, “Thou perverse, rebellious fellow,” - “do I not know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own shame, and to the shame of thy mother's nakedness?” בָּחַר, to choose a person out of love, to take pleasure in a person; generally construed with בּ pers., here with לְ, although many Codd. have בּ here also. “For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the earth, thou and thy kingdom (kingship, throne) will not stand.” Thus Saul evidently suspected David as his rival, who would either wrest the government from him, or at any rate after his death from his son. “Now send and fetch him to me, for he is a child of death,” i.e., he has deserved to die, and shall be put to death.

1Sa 20:32-34

When Jonathan replied, “My father, why shall he die? what has he done?” Saul was so enraged that he hurled his javelin at Jonathan (cf. 1Sa 18:11). Thus Jonathan saw that his father had firmly resolved to put David to death, and rose up from the table in fierce anger, and did not eat that day; for he was grieved concerning David, because his father had done him shame. כָּלָה is a substantive in the sense of unalterable resolution, like the verb in 1Sa 20:9. הַשֵּׁנִי בְּיֹום־הַחֹדֶשׁ, on the second day of the new moon or month.