1 Samuel 20:29

1Sa 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.

Ver. 29. And my brother, he hath commanded me to be there.] This, some think, Jonathan added of his own; and Josephus addeth, that Jonathan said he was also invited. It is ordinary with some people, in relating a business, to add here and there something, the better to set off the tale, and to make it run the more roundly.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20:29 get away: This verb also describes David’s earlier escape from Saul (19:10-12, 17-18).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning, all his kinsfolk.

That is, a peace offering.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 29. Our family hath a sacrifice] Such sacrifices were undoubtedly festal ones; the beasts slain for the occasion were first offered to God, and their blood poured out before him; afterwards all that were bidden to the feast ate of the flesh. This was a family entertainment, at the commencement of which God was peculiarly honoured.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, Sa1 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Sacrifice. Hebrew, "my family hath a sacrifice," &c., ver. 5. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And he, my brother, summoned me. The eldest of the household, summoned me that I be here; and he is my brother Eliav.

Let me hurry away. Esmucier in O.F. I shall go away for a day and come [back].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.