And he said unto his men,.... When he returned and brought the skirt of Saul's garment in his hand; or else he said this before that, though here mentioned, when they moved it to him to dispatch him, as he had a fair opportunity of doing it:
God forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed; and which he could not think of but with detestation and abhorrence, since he was his sovereign lord and master, and he a subject of his, and was anointed by the order of God, and his person sacred:
to stretch forth my hand against him; to take away his life; to cut off the skirt of his garment gave him uneasiness; but to slay him, the thought of it was shocking to him:
seeing he [is] the anointed of the Lord; anointed by Samuel to be king, 1 Samuel 10:1, by order of the Lord, 1 Samuel 9:17.