1 Samuel 26: 1 – 25
Hey, wake up!
26 Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding in the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?” 2 Then Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon, by the road. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. 4 David therefore sent out spies and understood that Saul had indeed come. 5 So David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul lay within the camp, with the people encamped all around him. 6 Then David answered, and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” 7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the people lay all around him. 8 Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!” 9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and be guiltless?” 10 David said furthermore, “As the LORD lives, the LORD shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. 11 The LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go.” 12 So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul’s head, and they got away; and no man saw or knew it or awoke. For they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them. 13 Now David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of a hill afar off, a great distance being between them. 14 And David called out to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Do you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered and said, “Who are you, calling out to the king?” 15 So David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king. 16 This thing that you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you deserve to die, because you have not guarded your master, the LORD’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head.” 17 Then Saul knew David’s voice, and said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” 18 And he said, “Why does my lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand? 19 Now therefore, please, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the LORD has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ 20 So now, do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.” 21 Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will harm you no more, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed, I have played the fool and erred exceedingly.” 22 And David answered and said, “Here is the king’s spear. Let one of the young men come over and get it. 23 May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. 24 And indeed, as your life was valued much this day in my eyes, so let my life be valued much in the eyes of the LORD AND let Him deliver me out of all tribulation.” 25 Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, my son David! You shall both do great things and also still prevail.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.
Wake Up!
Like an old watch that needs to be restored to full capacity by being rewound ‘tired body sweet restorer, restful sleep,’ is essential to the health and vigor of our daily usage. Also realize that our moral and spiritual natures need no sleep. Love, faith, hope, humility need never slumber. Hence in Heaven we shall be able to serve God day and night. The spiritual will have the supremacy. The untiring will be forever active.
In the 9th verse of the book of Isaiah chapter 51 Israel is trying to wake up Jehovah. “Awake, awake; put on strength, O arm of the Lord.” God’s answers that inquiry in chapter 52. Boy do I love His response. “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion.” “Wake up yourself,” says the Lord. “I am not asleep. No attribute of mine needs repose. I am ready, willing, waiting to exert my power, whenever you fulfill the conditions I have imposed.” We have not by prayer or exertion to induce God to bless us. But prayer and exertion God requires for our good. It would be no kindness in Him to bless sleeping Christians. They would not know it, if He did.
What are the signs of sleep?
First, a sign of inactivity signals a person is asleep. If a person remains motionless on the lounge chair for three or four hours, I take it for granted that the person is asleep. If he should continue in that motionless condition for three or four days, I would think the person is dead.
If a Christian does nothing for Christ, he or she is asleep. If they persist in this course of uselessness, I would then venture to say that the person who said they were a believer is no Christian at all. Life will express itself. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” And the ability to just sleep through life is not one of the fruits.
If we suspect that a friend, a long while asleep, is dead, we put our ear to his side and listen for the heart-beat and breathing. The movement of the heart and lungs indicates that life is still there. And so, we put the test to some Christians who really appear to be dead. A close examination shows that they have the heart-beat of faith in Christ, so they need a kick start and wake up. They were simply asleep, and some of them have the Rip Van Winkle power of long continuance in slumber. It is a pity that a close examination should ever be necessary to distinguish their sleep from death.
Another way to test to see if a person is asleep or not is based on their insensibility to slight impressions. If I wished to learn whether a person was asleep, I would make a noise such as speaking. You know what really wakes me up is when some people are whispering. I instantly wake up.
A noise gets a person’s attention. Our Precious Holy Spirit speaks to us about sin. He has given us a conscience. The Christian who can indulge regularly in sin without compunction of conscience may do harm in weakening his influence or causing his brother to stumble is asleep.
We need to also consider a person is asleep by ill-directed effort. People talk and walk in their sleep, but it is all to no purpose. Their talk is incoherent, and their walk without aim. If a person’s walk and talk has no blessing or influence, it is because they are asleep.
Do you think that there are causes of sleep?
One major cause is inactivity. One is not apt to go to sleep while he or she is moving about. So, if you do not want to go to sleep, get yourself moving. Exercise your mental, moral and spiritual limbs.
Changes in atmosphere can cause slumber. Certain climates put people to sleep. An ill-ventilated room will send us to dreamland in a few minutes. A change from the sea-coast to the mountains or from the mountains to the sea-coast, strange to say, makes us drowsy.
No one knows what there is in such pure atmosphere that produces sleep. So, there are moral and social atmospheres that seem to be very good, but Christians who go into them fall asleep. Prove to me that the atmosphere of the theater, the bar-rooms and night clubs are sound asleep. They come to church on Sunday like people rubbing their eyes and trying to rouse from sleep long enough to hear something that is being said to them, and then fall back upon their pillows, dead asleep again. The church full of such confessing believers would be as good as a cemetery. The apostle Paul yells out in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 5, “Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”
There is a coldness, if nothing else, in these atmospheres that induces sleep. The sensation of freezing to death is delightful and causes little alarm to the man who is under its magic spell. To you who are in the first stage of freezing, because you have been so long in an atmosphere sixty degrees below zero, the waking process may not be pleasant. But it is better to wake up and feel bad than to sleep on and die to all that is good and useful.
So, why should we wake up?
We should wake up because it is ‘Harvest Time.’ Christ looked out upon the fields and declared that they were ripe, waiting for the sickle. Today the fields are larger and the grain just as ripe. A day in harvest is worth many days at any other time of the year. The ripe grain may be lost for the lack of reapers. Proverbs 10 verse 5 says, “He who gathers in summer is a wise son; He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.”
Shame, shame on the farmer who snoozes under the shade of the trees, while his ripe wheat is falling and being trampled underfoot. He is a disgrace to the honorable profession of farming. Shame, shame on the Christian who sleeps on and takes his rest, while the fields in which he might reap many golden sheaves are all around him, and the grain that invites his sickle is being trampled by the hoofs of worldliness and sin.
It is a ‘Time of War’, and the ‘Enemy’ is wide-awake. While we sleep, the towers of truth are being taken. Our very children are made captives by the enemy. I have heard of a story in which Satan is said to have sent some of his fellow fallen angels from the bottomless pit for doing all the harm they could. On their return one of them reports that he had overtaken a company of Christians in a storm and destroyed them by sinking their vessel. “You did no harm,” said Satan, “for they all went straight to heaven.” Another had set fire to property and destroyed much wealth that belonged to Christians. “You may have done no harm,” continued Satan, “for their losses make them more determined to fight against us.” Finally, one reported that he had succeeded in putting to sleep a large number of Christians. Then Satan smiled, and all the host of devils shouted their approval. The legend has in it the awful truth that nothing can do the cause of Christ more harm than for His people to go to sleep.
We are ‘Watchmen’, placed by the Lord on the walls to give people warning. Sleep is treason. For the private soldier to fall to sleep during a military excursion is bad enough, but for the sentinel on whom depends the safety of the rest of his comrades in arms to sleep at his post is criminal. And doubly criminal is it, when those we love are in danger. Are you at ease in your mind, sound asleep, while your children are sporting on the edge of the precipice of drugs, dangerous lifestyle choices, or worse? It’s time to ‘Wake up!’ and seek through prayer and action their salvation.
Today, we are going to read about a man who was on guard duty. He was dead out in sleepy land. Not only was he supposed to make sure his men would not be overtaken by an enemy, he was fully responsible for the safety of the king.
We are going to see that two of their enemies snuck into camp and had the opportunity to kill the king.
After his conflict with Nabal David appears to have returned to his encampment on the Hill of Hachilah, a move which may well have been with a view to furthering his romantic involvement with Abigail. In addition, we cannot forget the Ziphites, for it is very probable that, as previously, the presence of David and a large band of men was straining the resources of the area so that the Ziphites suffered accordingly. As a result, being unable themselves to do anything against such a large force, they would again have turned to Saul.
As it happened Saul was at this time passing through one of his dark periods. This comes out in that he responded to the call. We should not be surprised at this. While no one at the time would have understood it, his illness was of such a nature that no one would know how he was going to react next, and medically speaking it should be no surprise that he went back on his previous decision. If his paranoia had once again thrust itself to the fore, and his perception of David had once again become twisted in his mind because of his illness, no moral considerations would even have come into play. His reaction would have been automatic. We cannot judge a person with his kind of illness in rational terms. Such a person is not thinking rationally.
Saul, who was going through a period when his illness was accentuated, responded, and, as a result of his paranoia and obsession with the idea of maintaining his dynasty, again took the standing army of three military units and sought to root David out. But when he arrived at the Hill of Hachilah he discovered that David and his band were not there. It appears that by now David had an efficient system of spies.
26 Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding in the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?”
When David and his men returned to the Hill of Hachilah which was south of ‘the Waste’ (Jehimon), a hot and barren area of hills, peaks and precipices west of the Dead Sea, he was back on what the Ziphites saw as ‘their territory’. Thus, they immediately sent messengers to Saul, hoping thereby to rid themselves of the menace.
2 Then Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph.
Saul’s paranoia and delusion again took over and he gathered the three units of his standing army to seek for David in the wilderness of Ziph. He again sought his death.
3 And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon, by the road. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.
David clearly had advanced notice of his movements, for he and his men moved from their encampment on the Hill of Hachilah before Saul’s arrival, and took refuge in the hot and deserted wilderness. His men would by now have become expert at moving under these conditions, and at fading into the background. Thus, David was able to keep watch on the army that had come against him, as it also came into the wilderness to seek him. But the question was, was Saul with it?
4 David therefore sent out spies and understood that Saul had indeed come.
David then specifically sent out scouts to discover whether Saul was with his troops, and as a result discovered that Saul really was among them. The impression given in chapters 23 & 24 had been of David and his men in full flight before Saul. Here the impression is very different. David is depicted as confident and in control. It would appear that David’s spy system was now more organized, and that he and his men were now more sure of their ability to move around and keep the situation under control. Having been there for so long this was now his territory. It was rather Saul’s army who were unfamiliar with the terrain.
David then took two of his best men with him and went to an eminence from which he could observe Saul’s camp, and from there he saw the lay out of the camp, and the place where Saul and Abner slept among the wagons. Then that night, taking one of his men, he evaded the guards and entered the camp, making his way stealthily towards the spot where Saul lay asleep, alongside Abner, his commander-in-chief. Stuck in the ground at Saul’s head was his spear. The situation was totally different from the previous time when they had fled from Saul and been hiding in a cave, with Saul coming into their power by ‘accident’. Here David was in control, and Saul came into his power by design.
5 So David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul lay within the camp, with the people encamped all around him.
Leaving his troops in hiding, David, more confident now than he had been when Saul had previously hunted for them, took two of his best men, Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai, the son of Zeruiah (Joab’s brother), and led them to an area from which he could observe what was happening in Saul’s camp. From there he observed the lay out of the camp and exactly where Saul and Abner had their sleeping quarters. This was among the supply wagons, which were parked in the center of the sleeping army.
6 Then David answered, and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”
There seems little doubt that Saul and Abner were so confident that David and his men would be fleeing from before them as they had before, that they took few, if any, extra precautions, being quite certain that they would be undisturbed. No doubt sentries were posted, but they felt able to sleep soundly, confident in the security of their camp. After all, who was there to bother them?
This situation was too tempting for a now more confident David. And determining to leave one of his men on watch, so that if necessary he could report back anything that might happen to the others, he asked which of the two men would like to join him on a visit by night to the enemy camp. It would obviously be a risky business but Abishai immediately responded and volunteered.
7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the people lay all around him.
The two then made their way into the enemy camp by stealth, successfully evaded the sentries, and came to the spot where Saul was lying among the wagons with his spear stuck in the ground at his head. Next to him lay Abner, his commander-in-chief and cousin, no doubt with his other commanders, surrounded by the whole army.
(David and Abishai would know that hillside like the back of their hands, having been encamped there several times. They would thus know all its routes, even in the dark. And once past the sentries there was no reason why anyone should suspect two armed men walking through the encampment. No one was expecting anyone to attempt to enter the camp. There would only be danger for them when they came close to those who knew them both well.
Having arrived at dead of night by the sleeping Saul Abishai wished to take the opportunity to slay Saul, but David forbade him because Saul was the anointed of Yahweh. Instead he commanded him to take his spear and his water jar as trophies which would demonstrate both that they could have taken his life.
8 Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!”
Abishai was delighted to find a sleeping Saul at their mercy and pointed out to David in a quiet whisper that God had delivered Saul into their hands. Indeed, he guaranteed that, if granted permission, he would at one stroke of the spear smite Saul so that he lay dead. He would not need to smite a second time. David’s men had by now become confident and highly trained warriors.
Now in response to David’s loyalty it goes beyond question. However, also ask yourself these questions; If you were with David and the decision was to kill Saul and Abner how are you both going to make it out of the camp alive? A noise of impaling a man to the ground would make some noise. Warriors are used to that kind of sound.
I love the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. One character was my favorite was Yosemite Sam. In one cartoon Sam is a Roman soldier and wants to get Bugs. Bugs flees from Sam and sneaks into a sleeping lions’ den. Sam tippy toes in after him. Bugs climbs a ladder out of the lions’ den and lowers an alarm clock which sounds off. The next scene you see Sam fighting the swinging lions to get out of the exit over the den. I could see the same situation here but not as funny. David and Abishai would complete the no win mission with the 3000 troops ready to get them.
9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and be guiltless?”
But David would not permit it. He equally quietly forbade him to harm Saul, claiming Saul was Yahweh’s anointed. To strike one who was holy to Yahweh, as a result of being set apart for Him by anointing, would be to incur the most grievous guilt. Such a one was in the hands of Yahweh to live or to die, not in the hands of men. This is a reminder to us that the prime significance of anointing was that of being wholly dedicated to God. Any power subsequently received was for fulfilling that dedication.
10 David said furthermore, “As the LORD lives, the LORD shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.
David then made clear the reason for his decision. Yahweh was the living God. Thus, He was alone responsible for those who were His anointed. None other must touch them. The consequence was that the smiting of Saul, or otherwise, lay only in Yahweh’s hands. If Yahweh chose he would be smitten, or he would die naturally, or he would perish in battle, the three ways in which a king might expect to die. But all was to be in the hands of Yahweh.
11 The LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go.”
David then recoiled in horror at the thought of putting out his hand against Yahweh’s anointed. To do so would be sacrilege. It would be to despoil Yahweh. It was God-forbidden.
Instead what they were to do was take Saul’s spear, and his water jar proof that they were there and then leave the camp while they were still safe.
12 So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul’s head, and they got away; and no man saw or knew it or awoke. For they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them.
As a result the two were then able to sneek away, and none knew that they had come and gone, nor did any awake, because Yahweh had put them all into deep slumber.
13 Now David went over to the other side and stood on the top of a hill afar off, a great distance being between them.
David and Abishai then returned to Ahimelech waiting on the peak on the other side of the plateau or ravine that lay between the two mountain peaks and having put a suitable space between himself and the enemy camp, turned in order to awaken the camp so as to inform them of what had happened while they all slept. With David’s knowledge of the terrain it is most likely abd wise that the same although within shouting range was not easily assessable for any of Saul’s men to go after or shoot after and reach David and his associates.
14 And David called out to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Do you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered and said, “Who are you, calling out to the king?”
Yelling with a strident voice across the plateau David sought to awaken Abner to taunt him with his failure to watch over the king. ‘Do you not answer’ was a mocking question indicating that he was aware that Abner was asleep. Awoken because of the noise, and possibly also by the sentries, Abner, having been informed that someone was calling to them from another hilltop, asked who it was, informing the caller at the same time if he realized that he was actually awaking the king. It was an indication of the total lack of awareness of Saul and his men of the presence of David and his men so close at hand. They had probably assumed that he had fled southwards as he had done previously
15 So David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king.
David then taunted Abner with the fact that while he was certainly an able warrior, and in fact the highest authority in Israel after Saul, he had failed in that he had not kept proper watch over his lord, the king. Why he did not even appear to realize that there had been intruders in the camp, one of whom had wished to slay the king while they slept, and that when he was supposed to be arranging for watch to be kept.
16 This thing that you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you deserve to die, because you have not guarded your master, the LORD’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head.”
He then rebuked Abner for his failure, which he pointed out was not a very good thing at all. Indeed, it was a sign of slackness. Thus, he should recognize that he had made himself worthy of death as sure as Yahweh was the living God, because he had failed to keep watch over what belonged to Yahweh, even over Saul, Yahweh’s anointed.
He then produced Saul’s spear and water jar in order to emphasize his point. These made clear that he, or one of his men, had approached Saul while he was asleep and had stolen them unobserved. By this he was emphasizing that Saul’s kingship and very life had been at his mercy. David was no doubt hoping by this that he might once again persuade Saul to give up his search, and he also wanted it known that David and his men were no longer afraid of Saul and his army.
The difference between this reply and that in 24.17-21 is striking. In 24.17-21 Saul had declared that David was more righteous than he because he had repaid good for evil and admitted that he himself had been at fault in the matter and he expressed his gratitude that David had not killed him when he had had the opportunity. He had then declared his recognition that on his own death the kingship would go to David and sought an oath that David would not slaughter all the males in his house when he did became king, thus cutting off the name of Saul’s family. He was clearly deeply concerned about the succession.
Here in contrast in 26.17-25 Saul admitted that he had erred and played the fool in treating David as he had and expressed his thankfulness that his life was precious in David’s eyes. And he then blessed David and declared that he would do many things and succeed in them. It was as though he gave no hint that he thought that David might succeed him. Thus, while he spoke of his coming successful life there was no mention of the kingship, nor specifically of David’s goodness, nor was there any mention of any required oath to do with the succession. Here it was as though Saul did not consider that David was a threat to the succession at all. This striking difference is explainable in terms of a Saul who was sometimes paranoid about the kingship when in his black moods but was otherwise free from those fears when not in spiritual oppression.
17 Then Saul knew David’s voice, and said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.”
Recognizing David’s voice Saul asked ‘is this your voice, my son David?’ The question did not mean that he was doubtful about the fact that it was David for he had asked the same question in 24.17 when he knew perfectly well that it was David. It was rather an opening greeting indicating conciliation. David replied with great respect that it was indeed his voice, addressing Saul as ‘my lord, O king’. He was taking no chances.
18 And he said, “Why does my lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand?
He then asked Saul why he was again pursuing after him. If he knew that he had done anything wrong, or that he intended evil to him, let him declare it. All David wanted to know was what his offence had been. He could never understand why Saul behaved as he did.
19 Now therefore, please, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the LORD has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’
David then made what was to be his final plea to Saul. They would never meet again. He posited two possibilities. The first was that it was Yahweh Who had stirred up Saul against him. If that were the case, and his sin was pointed out, he would gladly admit it, offer up a sin offering and thus deal with the problem once and for all. But if it was men who had maligned him, then let them be cursed before Yahweh, for by their activities they had driven him to recognize that he must leave Israel, (‘the inheritance of Yahweh’) and go and live in a foreign country where there was no institutional worship of Yahweh. Thus, they were basically telling him to go and worship other gods. (He did not, of course, have the intention of worshipping other gods. His faith and awareness of God as revealed in his Psalms indicated that he knew that he could worship Yahweh wherever he was. But it was not the same thing as being able to worship at the Sanctuary with God’s people).
20 So now, do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
So, he pleaded that Saul would leave him alone so that when he died his blood would fall on Israel’s soil, on the inheritance of Yahweh. He did not want to die outside Yahweh’s inheritance, and away from the Sanctuary where He had established His Name. After all, surely he was simply the equivalent of a flea which men searched out because it was irritating them, or a partridge (a rock partridge) which men hunted in the mountains. Why then should Saul take such trouble over him when he was just a minor irritant? You did not call out the standing army of Israel to find a flea or a partridge. (Like all godly men David never fully recognized just how influential he was).
21 Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will harm you no more, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed, I have played the fool and erred exceedingly.”
Here Saul is seen as free from his paranoia and delusion. His illness has left him for a while, and he is no longer obsessed with the idea of kingship. Rather he now admitted that he had behaved wrongly, and that he had ‘played the fool and erred exceedingly’. It is interesting regarding the comparison with Nabal ‘the fool’.
22 And David answered and said, “Here is the king’s spear. Let one of the young men come over and get it.
David responded by offering him back his spear but he would not approach the king himself. He had suffered too much at Saul’s hands to trust the genuineness of his repentance. Let one of Saul’s young men come over and collect it. Thus, he did not take the request for him to return as reliable. In a way David was saying to Saul, ‘I cannot trust you even as far as I can throw you.’
23 May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed.
Instead of trusting in Saul’s repentance he would put his trust in Yahweh. Let Yahweh work out events and give to every man what he was worthy of. And he was confident that Yahweh would reward his own righteousness and faithfulness in not putting out his hand against the one who was consecrated to Yahweh
24 And indeed, as your life was valued much this day in my eyes, so let my life be valued much in the eyes of the LORD AND let Him deliver me out of all tribulation.”
Indeed, he applied to himself the maxim ‘what a man sows, that will he reap’ He had treated Saul’s life as important because he was the anointed of Yahweh, so The God of Israel would treat his life as important because he too was the anointed of Yahweh, even to such an extent that he would deliver him out of ‘tribulation’, that is, out of trouble and distress.
25 Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, my son David! You shall both do great things and also still prevail.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.
Saul humbly replied by blessing ‘my son David’, and assuring him that he would surely yet do mighty things and would prevail in all to which he set his hand. That at least was sure.
