1 Samuel 21:5 (WEB)
David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us as usual these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was only a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?”
Fathers and councils · 2
Jerome
“…and they that were with him could not have lawfully eaten the shew-bread had they not made answer that for three days they had not been defiled with women—not, of course, with harlots, intercourse with whom was forbidden by the law, but with their own wives, to whom they were lawfully united.” — editor's note: 1 Sam. xxi. 4, 5.
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Tertullian
“For from the Creator’s Scripture, and from the purpose of Christ, there is derived a colourable precedent—as from the example of David, when he went into the temple on the Sabbath, and provided food by boldly breaking up the shew-bread.” — editor's note: Luke vi. 1–4; 1 Sam. xxi. 2–6.
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