1 Samuel 26:6-20

David Again Spares Saul. 1 Samuel 26:6-20

6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.
7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him.
8 Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time.

9 And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless?
10 David said furthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish.

11 The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go.

12 So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them.

13 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of a hill afar off; a great space being between them:

14 And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that criest to the king?

15 And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.

16 This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster.

17 And Saul knew David's voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.

18 And he said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand?

19 Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve other gods.

20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.

6.

Why did David propose to go into the camp? 1 Samuel 26:6

For a moment David may have weakened and thought that he might do some personal harm to Saul. Since he had refused to do this before, he may have had other objectives in mind. He had sent out spies to find out as much as he could about Saul's army and its movements. It may have been his own purpose to go into the camp to learn as much as he could about Saul's army for himself. He found out that Saul was there lying within the trench. He saw his spear stuck in the ground at the head of his bedroll. He saw that Abner was there also as well as many of the other captains of thousands and soldiers whom David had fought with on previous occasions.

7.

What was Abishai's proposal? 1 Samuel 26:8

Abishai, the son of David's sister, Zeruiah, and brother of Joab, proposed that they slay Saul while he lay sleeping. Abishai seems ever ready to take immediate action against David's enemies. He made this same proposal when Shimei cursed David as David fled from Jerusalem during the revolt of Absalom (2 Samuel 16:9). Abishai seemed sure of his prowess for he said that he would smite him but once and that he would not need to smite him the second time. He felt that he could kill Saul with one stroke.

8.

What was David's reaction? 1 Samuel 26:10

Once again David said that he would not lift up his own hand against the Lord's anointed. He predicted that Saul would go down into battle and be killed. If this were not his end, he would die sometime of old age. At any rate David himself was not going to be a party to the slaying of Saul. He did take evidence from his visit to Saul's camp and returned to his own men. The evidence which he took was the spear and the cruse of water. The spear evidently had a sharp point on the butt end of it so that it could be stuck down in the ground without dulling the sharp point on the other end of the shaft. The cruse of water was the personal jar or cup which would be recognized as Saul's own.

9.

Why did David rebuke Abner? 1 Samuel 26:15

After David got back to his own men, he cried out to Abner and asked him if he did not consider himself to be a valiant man. He chided him by asking if there were any man in his field to equal him. He then asked why he had not kept better watch over the king. He then announced that there had been those in the camp who intended to kill Saul. David's rebuke was stinging as he judged that Abner was worthy of death because he had not guarded the king more carefully. He asked him to go out to see if he could find the king's spear or the water jar which had been kept at his pillow. Abner's search must have revealed that these items were gone. He knew that David had passed up an opportunity to kill Saul.

10.

Why did Saul call David his son? 1 Samuel 26:17

David was Saul's son-in-law. He had just been awakened out of his sleep, and he may have been very kindly disposed towards David. Saul loved David when he first met him; and since he was old enough to be his father, he may have looked on him as he did the members of his own family. Certainly this kind of address does not reveal any real feeling of animosity towards David on the part of Saul. It must have been largely when he was possessed of the evil spirit that Saul sought to kill David.

11.

What was David's proposal? 1 Samuel 26:19

David proposed that he make an offering to God, if God was stirring up Saul's hatred for him. A sinner was to be punished. If the king knew of his sin, his duty was to execute judgment. For example, one of God's laws through the ages has been that a man who killed another man should be put to death (Genesis 9:6). David was saying that if he were guilty of some crime for which the punishment was less than death, perhaps he could make a sin offering to the Lord and be forgiven of his sin. Thus Saul would not need to continue to search for him. On the other hand, if wicked men were making false accusations against David, he prayed that they might be cursed before the Lord because they were keeping him out of the presence of the king and making him to live on the borders of the promised land. In the areas outside of the borders of Israel David would be in pagan territory. These people worshipped other gods. The net result of his exile was that he could not go to the Tabernacle or to the priests of God and was in effect being told to go and serve other gods. David was willing therefore that his blood might be shed if there were just cause: but if there were no real reason for his being killed, he prayed that his blood would not be shed in vain.

12.

What figures did David use to describe his plight? 1 Samuel 26:20

David said he was like a flea or a partridge. He was being forced to move about from place to place. He was like a bird being hunted in the forest. He was forced to make himself as inconspicuous as a pesky insect. These were humble figures, but they described his condition very well.