1 Samuel 20:29,30 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Bible Comments

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.

1 Samuel 20:29-30

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.

30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness?