1 Samuel 24 · a question people ask
Was it wrong for David to cut off the skirt of Saul's robe?
The chapter says what David did and what happened in him: he "cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe secretly" (24:4), and "Afterward, David’s heart struck him because he had cut off Saul’s skirt" (24:5). It doesn't say in so many words whether the cutting was wrong. Christians read it in two main ways. Both agree on what the text says: David didn't kill Saul (24:10-11), he "didn’t allow" his men "to rise against Saul" (24:7), and he would not "stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed" (24:10).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The cutting itself was wrong
Those who hold this view note that David's words come straight after his heart struck him: "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him" (24:6). They read this thing as including what he had just done to Saul's robe. They point to the only other verse where the WEB says "David’s heart struck him", with the same Hebrew words: after he counted the people, when he said, "I have sinned greatly in that which I have done" (2 Samuel 24:10). On this reading his heart struck him because the cutting was already a wrong against the LORD's anointed, and he stopped there.
1 Samuel 24:5-6 · 2 Samuel 24:10
Not a sin, but a tender conscience
Those who hold this view note that the chapter never calls the cutting a sin, and that David himself holds up the piece of robe as proof that he did no wrong: "see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand. I have not sinned against you" (24:11). They read this thing in 24:6 as what his men were urging, to kill Saul (24:4, 24:10). On this reading his heart struck him because he had come so close to the LORD's anointed, and Saul's own words about that day are "you have done good to me" (24:17).
1 Samuel 24:4 · 1 Samuel 24:6 · 1 Samuel 24:10-11 · 1 Samuel 24:17
The verses
“Behold, today your eyes have seen how the LORD had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.’ Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it.”