order to enable David to strike his pursuer down. David, however, only cuts off the corner of Saul’s cloak as proof that he could have killed him. He is not aware that the cutting of the cloak also has symbolic significance, namely, cutting off the kingdom (cf. 15:27–28; 1 Kings 11:29–32). The author may be foreshadowing those later events. 6–7: According to biblical scholars, vv. 5b–6 should be placed after vv. 7–8a. According to Rashi, since the narrator began to talk about the cutting of the cloak,