Why did David feel so guilty about merely cutting off a corner of Saul’s robe (1 Samuel 24:5)?
Out of respect for Saul’s divine anointing, and therefore not willing to kill him, but at the same time wanting to let him know that he was not in control of his own destiny, David crept up behind him “unnoticed.” In cutting off the corner of Saul’s robe, David may have been symbolically depriving Saul of his royal authority and transferring it to himself (cf. v. 11). That David was “conscience-stricken,” for what he had done is to be understood as recognition on his part that he had sinned (cf. 2 Samuel 24:10). Using a solemn oath, David–himself also the Lord’s anointed–affirms to his men that he will never do harm to his master Saul, who is “the Lord’s anointed” (used seven times in chapters 24 and 26).
