Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 3:24

"Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber." — Judges 3:24 (ASV)

Behold, the doors of the parlour were locked. — It never occurred to them to suppose that they could have been fastened from without. “They were not strictly on the watch, both because of the heat and because they had gone to dinner” (Josephus).

Surely he covereth his feet. — They assumed that the king had fastened the door inside for the sake of privacy. The margin correctly explains the phrase “covereth his feet,” following the Septuagint in both their readings (apokenoi tous podas B. pros diphrous kathētai. A), the Vulgate (purgat alvum), the Aramaic, and the Syriac.

Josephus gives the same explanation when alluding to the scene described in 1 Samuel 24:4 (Josephus, Antiquities vi. 13, § 3), though here (Antiquities v. 4, § 2) he explains it erroneously as “lying down to sleep.” It is an Eastern euphemism taken from spreading out the garments while relieving the needs of nature (Bochart, Hierozoicon, i. 677).

In his summer chamber. — The word used for “chamber” (cheder) is not the same as in Judges 3:20. It may mean either gynœceum, that is, “women’s apartments,” or some “retiring place,” as rendered by the Alexandrian Codex of the Septuagint.