Under mine hand, to wit, here in the tabernacle; though doubtless he had enough of that and of other provisions in his house; but David was in great haste, and in fear of Doeg, whom he saw and knew there, 1 Samuel 22:22, and therefore would not stay till any thing could be fetched thence. Hallowed bread; the shew-bread, which was appropriated to the priests; of which see Exodus 25:30 Leviticus 24:5. At least from women; either from uncleanness by women, which might be divers ways contracted; or from conjugal converse with their wives; which though it did not defile them, yet he thought might debar them from the participation of such very sacred things; which he gathered by the analogy of that precept, Exodus 19:15. There was a double impediment to the giving of this bread to them:
1. Its sacredness in itself; which the priest implies, and David answers, 1 Samuel 21:5, and the priest was satisfied therein by David's extraordinary occasions and great necessities.
2. The purity and abstinence from all women, which he supposeth should be in those that use it; concerning which he now inquires. And though he mention this only concerning David's young men, and out of modesty and reverence to David forbears to name him; yet he is also included in the number, as David's answer shows.