1 Samuel 20:29

And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me.—Jonathan answers the king’s question in the way previously agreed upon between him and David. He quotes the excuse in David’s own words.

The LXX., instead of “my brother,” has “my brothers.” It thus alters the original, not understanding the singular “brother,” Jesse, their father, being still alive. The brothers collectively might, the LXX. seemed to think, have bidden David to the family sacrificial feast. Dean Payne Smith suggests that as the ceremony was not a private family gathering, but one shared in by the district, the “brother” (probably the eldest), likely enough, was the convener of the absent member of the house of Jesse.

Benson Commentary

1 Samuel 20:29-30. My brother, he hath commanded me to be there — The eldest brother, it seems, was wont to let all the rest know that their company was expected. Thou son of the perverse, rebellious woman — Or rather, according to the Hebrew, Thou son of perverse rebellion; that is, a very perverse rebel. Thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion — Made him thy friend to thy utter undoing and disgrace. For men will conclude that thou hast no royal blood in thy veins, that thou canst so tamely give up thy crown to so contemptible a person. The confusion of thy mother’s nakedness — To the reproach of her having children, as if she were an adulteress, and thou and the rest base-born, and none of you worthy to inherit the kingdom: or rather, he thus asperses Jonathan’s very birth, as if so degenerate a son could not be his, but must be the offspring of his mother’s guilt, the issue of a criminal commerce with some other man.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:24-34 None were more constant than David in attending holy duties; nor had he been absent, but self-preservation obliged him to withdraw. In great peril present opportunities for Divine ordinances may be waved. But it is bad for us, except in case of necessity, to omit any opportunity of statedly attending on them. Jonathan did wisely and well for himself and family, to secure an interest in David, yet for this he is blamed. It is good to take God's people for our people. It will prove to our advantage at last, however it may now be thought against our interest. Saul was outrageous. What savage beasts, and worse, does anger make men!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He is not clean - The new moon being a religious feast, and the meat to be eaten being peace-offerings, no one could assist at the feast who had any ceremonial uncleanness upon him (marginal references).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. 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 [Ac 20:28, 29], the pent-up passions of the king burst out in a most violent storm of rage and invective against his son.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He hath commanded me to be there; either in his father’s name, or in the right of the first-born; one branch of which was authority over his brethren in all the concerns of the family; whereof this was one.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he said, let me go, I pray thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city,.... In the city of Bethlehem where they lived, a peace offering on account of the new moon, and as an anniversary thanksgiving for the mercies of the year, 1 Samuel 20:6; and seeing, though he was not at the feast in one place, he observed it in another, his absence at court was the more excusable; and the rather, since it was kept by him with his own family, in his own city: besides, it is added:

and my brother he hath commanded me to be there; his elder brother Eliab, whose commands, as a younger brother, he judged he ought to obey; it is probable his father was now dead, since no mention is made of him, and his elder brother took upon him the command of the family:

and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, see my brethren: he should take it as a favour to have leave to depart, and be free for the present from waiting upon the king at court, and so have an opportunity of seeing his brethren, for which he had a great desire; having not seen them a long time, not even since he saw them in the camp, when he slew Goliath:

therefore he cometh not to the king's table: this was the reason of it, at least one reason of it, and Jonathan was not obliged to tell the whole.

Geneva Study Bible

And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my {n} brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table.

(n) Meaning, all his kinsfolk.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. my brother] The eldest brother probably made the arrangements in Jesse’s old age. The Sept. reads “my brothers.”

1 Samuel 20:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But on the second day, the day after the new moon (lit., the morrow after the new moon, the second day: השּׁני is a nominative, and to be joined to ויהי, and not a genitive belonging to החדשׁ), 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 1 Samuel 20:28 and 1 Samuel 20:29 with 1 Samuel 20:6). "And my brother, he hath commanded me," i.e., ordered me to come. צוּה as in Exodus 6:13, and אחי, the elder brother, who was then at the head of the family, and arranged the sacrificial meal.