Bible Strands
1 Samuel 20:26
Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Saul speaks internally at the New Moon feast, observing David’s empty seat after two consecutive days of absence. He makes no outward declaration to Jonathan or Abner but formulates a private assumption about David’s condition.
The words — The Hebrew phrase לֹא דִבֶּר מְאוּמָה (lo’ dibber me’umah) literally renders “he spoke nothing.” This negation highlights Saul’s deliberate silence rather than mere oversight.
The thread — The concept of ceremonial uncleanness appears in Leviticus 11:24, 11:27, and 15:5, where contact with unclean carcasses or bodily discharges renders a person ritually defiled until evening. Saul applies this Levitical framework to explain David’s absence.
Why it lands — The text states that Saul remained silent and assumed David was ceremonially unclean. Interpreters infer that Saul uses religious regulation to justify his political hesitation and avoid immediate confrontation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 15:5 Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
- Leviticus 11:24 These creatures will make you unclean. Whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean until evening,
- Leviticus 11:27 All the four-footed animals that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean until evening,
- Leviticus 7:20 But if anyone who is unclean eats meat from the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.
- Leviticus 11:31 These animals are unclean for you among all the crawling creatures. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.
- Leviticus 11:40 Whoever eats from the carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening, and anyone who picks up the carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening.
- Leviticus 15:16 When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
- Leviticus 15:19 When a woman has a discharge consisting of blood from her body, she will be unclean due to her menstruation for seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening.
- Numbers 19:16 Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
- 1 Samuel 16:5 “In peace,” he replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.