1 Samuel 24 Bible study: The skirt of his robe

The chapter before ended with Saul called away: "So Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines" (23:28), and "David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi" (23:29). Now "When Saul had returned from following the Philistines, he was told, ‘Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.’" (24:1). "Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats" (24:2). He comes to a cave, "and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were staying in the innermost parts of the cave" (24:3). David's men see their chance: "Behold, the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’" (24:4) (tap hand). "Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe secretly" (24:4) (tap cut off, skirt and robe). "Afterward, David’s heart struck him because he had cut off Saul’s skirt" (24:5) (tap struck). He tells his men, "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the LORD’s anointed" (24:6) (tap anointed and stretch out). "So David checked his men with these words, and didn’t allow them to rise against Saul. Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way" (24:7).

1 Samuel 24:12→leads to1 Peter 2:23

David had Saul in his hand and said, "May the LORD judge between me and you, and may the LORD avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you" (24:12). Peter writes that "Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21): "When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:23). No New Testament passage cites 1 Samuel 24, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some see the same thing in both: a man wronged who doesn't pay back with his own hand and leaves the judging to God. Others read each in its own setting: David also asks the LORD to "avenge me of you" (24:12) and to "deliver me out of your hand" (24:15), and he is told he "will surely be king" (24:20); Peter writes to servants who suffer unjustly (1 Peter 2:18-20), and of Christ he says, "he didn’t threaten" (1 Peter 2:23) and "bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24).

מָשִׁיחַmashiachsay ma-SHEE-akh

Strong's: "anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); specifically, the Messiah". Brown-Driver-Briggs: "anointed". David says it twice in one sentence: "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the LORD’s anointed" (24:6). To Saul he says it again: "I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed" (24:10). These are three of the word's twelve uses in 1 Samuel. The first was in Hannah's prayer, "exalt the horn of his anointed" (2:10), and Samuel called the king "his anointed" (12:3). The one David won't touch is the king the LORD has rejected (15:26), and David himself has been anointed (16:13); the chapter doesn't call David the LORD's anointed. In John's Gospel, Andrew tells his brother Simon, "We have found the Messiah!" (John 1:41), and John adds, "which is, being interpreted, Christ" (John 1:41).