שמואל א כ״א

ואת הנערים יודעתי. לשון טורח, הנערים אשר יצאו עמי, הטרחתים לרוץ לפני אל מקום פלוני אלמוני:

And as for the youths, I have sent them ahead. An expression of troubling; the young men who came out with me, I have troubled them to go before me to a secret, hidden place.

יודעתי. כמו (שופטים ח טז): ויודע בהם את אנשי סכות:

I have troubled. Similar to, 'And with them he broke [וַידַׁע] the men of Succos.'¹ Shoftim 8:16.

פלוני אלמוני. 'אלמון' מאין שם, שאיני חפץ להזכיר, כי דבר סתר הוא:

Certain secret. [אַלְמֹנִי is derived from] 'אַלְמוֹן' [=widower], bereft of a name; for I do not want to mention it, because it is a secret matter.

פלוני. כמו (דברים יז ח): 'כי יפלא', יתכסה:

Hidden. Similar to כִּי יִפָּלֵא [=will be concealed],²Devarim 17:8. will be hidden.

או הנמצא. אם אין חמשה, תן לי מה שנמצא בידך:

Or whatever there is. If there are not five,³Talmud Yerushalmi Succah 5:8 explains why Dovid asked for five loaves of bread. Dovid asked for bread from Achimelech who was a member of the family of kohanim that had just completed its service; and their share was five loaves of the showbread. give me whatever is in your possession.

אך מאשה. בקושי אני מאכילן לזרים, אך זה אי אפשר שאכילנו לטמאים:

From women. With difficulty, I give them to non-kohanim to eat, but it is impossible to give it to unclean people to eat.

עצורה לנו. עצורה ממנו:

Have been kept from us. Withheld from us.⁴They seem to have treated even ordinary food as if it were holy food as in above 20:26.

ויהיו כלי הנערים קדש. טהורים:

The garments of the youths were pure. [Literally 'holy'] pure.

והוא דרך חול. והלחם משנסתלק מעל השולחן והקטירו הבזיכין, קרוב הוא להיות חולין, שיצא מידי מעילה משיהיה לו שעת היתר לכהנים:

Even though it is an ordinary mission. And the bread, once it has been removed from the table, and they have burned the spoonfuls [of frankincense], it is almost common, because it has been excluded from [the prohibition of] מְעִילָה as soon as it becomes permitted for the kohanim [to eat].⁵The phrase וְהוּא דֶרֶךְ הֹל can then be translated as ‘it has already been made non-sacred’ referring to the showbreads [not to the mission], that they had lost some of their sanctity once the frankincense had been burnt.

ואף כי היום יקדש בכלי. ואפילו אם היום היתה תחלת קדושתו על השלחן, הייתי זקוק ליטלו משם ולהאכילנו, שאחזו בולמוס ומסוכן הוא, כך מפורש במנחות:

Even more so today it will remain sacred in the vessel. Even if today were the beginning of its sanctity on the table, I would be obliged to take it from there and feed ourselves, for a ravenous hunger has seized us, and our lives are in danger. Thus it is explained in [Maseches] Menachos.⁶

לשום לחם חם. אחר, ביום הלקח זה ורבותינו אמרו (יומא כא א): חם ביום הלקחו, גם ביום סלוקו, חם כיום סדורו:

In order to put hot bread. Other warm bread on the day this was removed. Our Rabbis said, that it was warm on the day it was taken, i.e., it was as warm on the day it was removed as it was on the day it was arranged.⁷See Maseches Menachos 96a and Chagigah 26b which describes the miracle of the showbread; it retained its warmth and freshness after lying on the table more than a week. The preservation of warmth and freshness symbolized that ה׳ preserves the strength of the Bnei Yisroel and never allows it to fully dissipate.

נעצר לפני ה'. עוצר עצמו לפני אהל מועד, לעסוק בתורה:

Who remained before Adonoy. He tarried before the Tent of Meeting to engage in the study of Torah.

אביר הרועים. אב בית דין:

Chief of Shaul's shepherds. The head of the tribunal.

ואין יש פה. ואם יש פה:

Perhaps you have in your possession. And if there is here.

נחוץ. בבהילות:

Urgent. Hurried.

לוטה. כרוכה, וכן (מלכים-א יט יג): וילט פניו באדרתו:

Wrapped. It was wrapped, and similarly, 'and he wrapped [וַיָלֶט] his face in his mantle.'⁸I Melachim 19:13.

אחרי האפוד. אחר ששאלו באורים ותומים, אמר לו כן וכן תרגם יונתן: בתר דשאיל ליה באפודא:

Behind the eiphod. After having consulted the Urim and Tumim he said this [statement]. And so did Targum Yonoson render, 'after he had consulted the eiphod for him.'⁹I.e., אַחֲרֵי הָאֵפוֹד is not part of Achimelech’s reply to Dovid, rather it relates to the sequence of events. Only after asking the Urim and Tumim did Achimelech tell Dovid to take the sword.

הלא זה דוד מלך הארץ. אמרו לו לאכיש, תנאי היה בינינו (לעיל יז ט): 'אם יוכל להלחם אתי והכני והיינו לכם לעבדים', אין לך אלא שתרד מכסאך, ויהיה מלך הארץ הזאת:

Is this not Dovid, the king of the land. They said to Achish, "There was a stipulation between us: 'If he will be able to fight me and kill me, then we will become your slaves.'¹⁰Above 17:9. You have no choice but to get off your throne and let him become king of this land."

את טעמו. את דבריו:

His behavior. His words.

ויתהולל. נשתטה:

And feigned madness. He acted insane.¹¹The Midrash relates that Dovid said to ה׳ that he understood all creation of ה׳ with the exception of madness, for which he saw no purpose. ה׳ then responded that He will demonstrate to him the value of madness and that Dovid will need it.¹²I.e., he wrote in a normal handwriting, irrational statements.

ויתו. ויכתוב:

He scribbled. He wrote.¹³He wrote, ‘Ochish the King of Gas owes me one hundred thousand gold coins and his wife owes me fifty.’

רירו. רוקו, דבר הנוטף קרוי ריר, וכן (איוב ו ו): בריר חלמות ; וכן (ויקרא טו ג): רר בשרו:

His saliva. His saliva; anything which drips is called 'ריר' as in, 'in saliva [בְּרִיר] of health',¹⁴Iyov 6:6. and as in, '[whether] his flesh run [דָר]'.¹⁵Vayikra 15:3.

הזה יבא אל ביתי. לשון תמיהה, ולכך נקוד חטף פתח, ורפי:

Should such [a person] come into my house. This is in the form of a question; it is [i.e., the 'ה'] therefore punctuated by a חֲטַף פַּתָּח and [the ז] is not punctuated by a דָגֵּשׁ.