1 Samuel 20

1 Samuel 20 is the twentieth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts throughout . This chapter contains the account of David's escape from Saul's repeated attempts to kill him. This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 16 to 2 Samuel 5 that records the rise of David as the king of Israel.

Text This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 42 verses.

Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Biblical Hebrew are of the Masoretic Textual tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q51 (4QSam; 100–50 BCE) with extant verses 37–40Dead sea scrolls - 1 Samuel4Q51 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library and 4Q52 (4QSam; 250 BCE) with extant verses 26–42.4Q52 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library

Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).

Places

Bethlehem Naioth in Ramah

Analysis A continuing major theme in this chapter is how Saul's family acted against Saul and sided with David—especially Jonathan, who had previously managed to reconcile both of them and now was forced to take a side. Jonathan initially upheld his father's oath not to harm David (1 Samuel 19:6) and therefore refused to believe that David's life was in danger. Nevertheless, he agreed to test Saul's true intentions during the celebration of (; )—the New Moon festival of Judaism—and to inform David of the outcome using their prearranged coded signal. At this time, Saul explicitly told Jonathan that his dynasty of kingship, the House of Saul (), could not be realized as long as David was alive. However, Saul's blind ambition had enlarged the extent of the rift between him and his family, to the point that his enmity towards David had "isolated him from his own kin".

Jonathan and David renew their covenant (20:1–29) After escaping from Saul's pursuit in Naioth, David once again sought Jonathan to find out why Saul wanted to kill him. They agreed on a method whereby Jonathan, after establishing Saul's intention, would inform David, unknown to anyone else.

Verse 5 And David said to Jonathan: Indeed, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening. "New Moon" (): a monthly festival that consists of (, ) and celebratory feasting, which was also observed in other parts of ancient world, including Mesopotamia and Babylonia. The feast may have required the entire clan to be present, and this was used as an excuse for David to be absent before the king. The eldest son was likely to gather all the members, so David requested permission to go to "see my brothers" (1 Samuel 20:29). According to this chapter, the feast lasted for three days.

Verse 19 And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel. "Have stayed three days": from the Biblical Hebrew (, ), which could be emended into (, ), per the Christian New English Translation.Note [a] on 1 Samuel 20:19 in NET Bible

Saul seeks to kill Jonathan (20:30–42) Jonathan opened the conversation with Saul by providing an excuse for David's absence, then with a defense of David (verse 32) echoing David's own words in verse 1, which moved from being a position of conciliator between David and Saul to being David's defender under threat from his father (verses 30–33). Saul's fierce reply and attempt to kill Jonathan show that David had little choice but to leave Saul's court and run away, not out of disloyalty nor for his own ambition, but due to events beyond his control. A promise is made by David to extend his covenant with Jonathan to include Jonathan's "house" (verse 15) and his "descendants" (verse 42), anticipating David's kindness to Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9), and the survival of the house of Saul.

Verse 41 When the boy got there, David emerged from his concealment at the Negeb. He flung himself face down on the ground and bowed low three times. They kissed each other and wept together; David wept the longer. "At the Negeb": translated from the Masoretic Text ().1 Samuel 20:41 Hebrew Text Analysis. Biblehub The Septuagint, as the Codex Vaticanus, renders it "from the Argab" () or "from beside the mound".Note [a] on 1 Samuel 20:41 in NET Bible In contrast, the Codex Alexandrinus of the Septuagint has "from sleep." The Targum Jonathan renders the phrase as "from beside the Stone of the Sign, which is facing South" (), corresponding to the Masoretic Hebrew "from beside the south" (). Syriac and Arabic versions harmonize with verse 19 by repeating the reference to Ezel, where "Nagev" is a loanword from the Hebrew "Negev" (). The Arabic and Syriac versions also have the repetition of the statement in 1 Samuel 20:19.Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905). Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers. 1 Samuel 20. London: Cassell and Company, Limited, [1905-1906] Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019.Keil, Carl Friedrich; Delitzsch, Franz. Commentary on the Old Testament (1857-1878). 1 Samuel 20. Accessed 24 Juni 2018.

1 Samuel 20

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