“Cut off a corner of Saul's robe”
Then David crept up secretly and cut off a corner of Saul's robe. (1 Samuel 24:4 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A small, almost trivial act of vandalism.
The cultural key
The corner or hem of a garment (kanaf, also 'wing') symbolized a person's authority and identity, which is why the same word matters in Ruth's request for Boaz's covering and in Samuel's earlier scene, where a torn robe-corner signified the kingdom torn from Saul (15:27-28). So David slicing off Saul's hem is not petty mischief; it is a symbolic laying-hold of the kingship, which is exactly why his conscience 'struck him' the instant he did it. He had power to seize the throne by force and pulled back, sparing the LORD's anointed and letting the fabric, not the man, bear the point.
Recovered meaning
Cutting the king's hem was a silent claim on the crown, and David's stricken conscience shows he knew it. He proves he could take the kingdom, then refuses to lift a hand against God's anointed.