1 Samuel 20:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 20:27
And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day?
the new moon · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
David’s
דָּוִ֑דda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
place
מְק֣וֹםme.Kom
H4725
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
empty
וַיִּפָּקֵ֖דvai.yi.pa.Ked
H6485
to visit (with friendly or hostile intent) · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Saul
שָׁאוּל֙sha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
said
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Jonathan
יְהוֹנָתָ֣ןye.ho.na.Tan
H3083
Jehonathan · proper noun, a man's name
son
בְּנ֔וֹbe.No
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
cometh
בָ֧אva'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
son
בֶןven-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Jesse
יִשַׁ֛יyi.Shai
H3448
Jishai · proper noun, a man's name
meat
הַלָּֽחֶםha.La.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
yesterday
תְּמ֥וֹלte.Mol
H8543
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
day
הַיּ֖וֹםhai.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 19:15 And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.
1 Samuel 18:11 And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.
1 Samuel 19:9-10 And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.
1 Samuel 22:7-9 Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and viney…
1 Samuel 22:13-14 And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and has…
1 Samuel 25:10 And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away…
Isaiah 11:1-2 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
Matthew 13:55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 20:24-34
Jonathan is here effectually convinced of that which he was so loth to believe, that his father had an implacable enmity to David, and would certainly be the death of him if it were in his power; and he had like to have paid very dearly himself for the conviction.
I. David is missed from the feast on the first day, but nothing is said of him. The king sat upon his seat, to feast upon the peace-offerings as at other times (Sa1 20:25), and yet had his heart as full of envy and malice against David as it could hold. He should first have been reconciled to him, and then have come and offered his gift; but, instead of that, he hoped, at this feast, to drink the blood of David. What an abomination…
on the morrow, which was the second day of the month--The time of the moon's appearance being uncertain--whether at midday, in the evening, or at midnight, the festival was extended over two days. Custom, not the law, had introduced this.
Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse--The question was asked, as it were, casually, and with as great an air of indifference as he could assume. And Jonathan having replied that David had asked and obtained his permission to attend a family anniversary at Beth-lehem [Act 20:28-29], the pent-up passions of the king burst out in a most violent storm of rage and invective against his son.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 20:25
The king sat upon his seat - It seems that there was one table for Saul, Jonathan, David, and Abner; Saul having the chief seat, that next to the wall. As only four sat at this table, the absence of any one would soon be noticed.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 20:27
And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month,.... The Targum is,"and it was on the day after it, which was the intercalation of the second month;''when the beginning of the month was judged of by the appearance of the moon, and there was a difficulty about that, what day it appeared on, two days were kept for it; and Abarbinel (e) is clear for it, that two days were kept in this month; but if this was not the case, since the remainder of peace offerings might be eaten the next day, Leviticus 7:16. Saul and his guests might meet on the second day for that purpose:
that David's place was empty: on that day also:
and Saul said to Jonathan his son; who he knew was D…
The Church Fathers
And when the second day after the Kalends dawned, etc. When in the hearts of the faithful the radiance of new grace happily grew after the silence of listening to the word until the time arrived to act on what was taught, nevertheless, the brazenness of the unfaithful celebrated empty sustenance without Christ and the rites of the flesh blindly performed sacred rituals. Traitorous parents of those chosen for Christ sought from their children, of whom it is said: "By whom do your sons expel them?" (Luke 11:19). Why did the Christians not flock to the carnal works of the law, I mean circumcision, sacrifices, and various solemnities, to hear or perform them along with the others? Why could Jesus himself, whom they believed incarnate from the root of Jesse, dead, and resurrected, as Christ God, not be found anywhere in prophetic reading?
As for Saul he hated and abhorred him so much after the countless good services which he had done, after his brilliant triumphs, and the salvation which he had wrought in the matter of Goliath, that he could not bear to mention him by his own name, but called him after his father. For once when a festival was at hand, and Saul, having devised some treachery against him, and contrived a cruel plot, did not see him arrive—"where," said he, "is the son of Jesse?" He called him by his father's name, both because on account of his hatred he could not endure the recollection of his proper name, and also because he thought to damage the distinguished position of that righteous man by a reference to his low birth—a miserable and despicable thought: for certainly, even if he had some accusation to bring against the father this could in no wise injure David. For each man is answerable for his own deeds, and by these he can be praised and accused. But as it was, not having any evil deed to mention, he brought forward his low birth, expecting by this means to throw his glory into the shade, which in fact was the height of folly. For what kind of offence is it to be the child of insignificant and humble parents?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Arrow · Shot by Jonathan as a sign to David — Shot by Jonathan as a sign to David
Jealousy · .Saul, of David — .Saul, of David
Kings · Exercised great hospitality — Exercised great hospitality
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
David thereupon concealed himself in the field, whilst Jonathan, as agreed upon, endeavoured to apologize for his absence from the king's table.
Sa1 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…
A number of circumstances could render a person ceremonially unclean and thus unfit for attending a sacred festival (see Lev 7:20-21). Often, an unclean person was required to be excluded from such functions only until the evening of the same day (Lev 15). This explains why Saul became suspicious after David did not arrive the next day. • Saul referred to David as the son of Jesse (also in 1 Sam 20:31; 22:7), a description that functioned as David’s surname.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 20:27
The day after the New Moon. The day following the renewal28חֹדֶשׁ here means ‘renewal’ i.e., Rosh Chodesh and not ‘month.’ of the moon.
The second [day]. The second day of the month.
