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1 Samuel 20:5
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3 Then David took an oath again, and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But atruly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”  
4 So Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you.”
5 And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the aNew Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may bhide in the field until the third day at evening.  
6 If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over ato Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’  
7 aIf he says thus: ‘It is well,’ your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, be sure that bevil is determined by him.  
8 Therefore you shall adeal kindly with your servant, for byou have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, cif there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”  
Commentaries:
Forerunner Commentary
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What Does 1 Samuel 20:5 Mean?



1 Samuel 20:5-6

This shows that feasting on the new moons was not looked upon as something unusual but expected as a matter of social custom. It was not evil nor did God disapprove, but as He had not commanded it, feasting on a new moon was a social custom.

Perhaps feasting on the new moons began with families customarily making an annual sacrifice on one of them, as David mentions his family doing in Bethlehem (verse 6). Again, God nowhere commands Israel to do this. Commentators feel this feast was probably a thank offering on which the family feasted after God's portion was burned on an altar. They chose the new moons for these affairs, since they were not encumbered by the restrictions of God's law as the weekly and annual Sabbaths were.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The New Moons

Related Topics: Annual Sacrifice | New Moon | New Moons | Thank Offering


 
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