51 David Spares Saul Again – Part 2

David and Saul had experienced several encounters, where Saul had claimed, and even showing some signs of repentance and sorry for his actions. Yet he would always revert to the “old” Saul.

In the first part of chapter 26, David and Abishai were able to not only approach Saul’s camp of three-thousand soldiers, but they freely walked through the camp, as God had caused a deep sleep to fall upon those in the camp:

1 Samuel 26:12b

Therefore, David restrained himself from doing anything to Saul, as he reasoned the Lord would handle everything concerning the rebellious king. All he did before leaving the camp, was to take the king’s spear and a jug of water which was set near Saul’s head as he slept.

1 David Challenges Abner

David continued to show the utmost respect for Saul, since he was the man God had chosen and anointed as king. That attitude was clearly shown, when Abishai had wanted to slay Saul, thus making way for David to become king in his place:

1 Samuel 26:9-10

While David continued be respectful towards Saul, that wasn’t the situation when it came to Saul’s top commander and bodyguard Abner:

1 Samuel 26:13-16

Once David and Abishai left Saul’s camp, he then climbed a hill where he could overlook the camp. He then called out to Abner and berated him for being asleep when he should have been protecting the king.

David was very direct with his indictment against Abner, but with the directness, he was also implying that he cared about Saul more than Abner did, since he had spared the king’s life (on multiple occasions) when Saul was completely vulnerable.

David suggested that Abner’s dereliction of duty warranted death, because he had failed to protect the Lord’s anointed:

1 Samuel 26:16

David then called Abner’s attention to the fact that he was in possession of Saul’s spear and water jug, as proof that he had bypassed the opportunity to harm or kill Saul, all while Abner was unaware. Abner remained silent and unresponsive to David’s words.

2 David’s Words to Saul

Saul who of course was very familiar with David’s voice, was concerned, and asked if the individual was indeed David:

1 Samuel 26:17-20

In verse 17, we see just how disingenuous and dishonest Saul was, as he referred to the speaker as “my son David”. While David had continued to show great respect for Saul, the king was still being a deceitful, because the reason he was in that location, was because he had amassed an army of three thousand to track down and kill David.

Therefore, Saul without question qualified as being double-minded, which the Bible refers to as being an unstable person:

James 1:8

David remained respectful, as he admitted to being the one speaking, and as he’d one several times in the past, he asked what he had done to provoke the king.

He not only showed his humility but showed that he was in submission to the Lord, allowing for the possibility that the Lord was causing Saul to act as he was. If that had been the case, then David would have repented and made a sin offering to the Lord, thus showing his desire to be right with both God and the king.

Additionally, he also suggested that others had possibly stirred up Saul against him, in which case, he suggested that God would deal with them:

1 Samuel 26:19b

Even with that, David was being deferential toward the king, and rather than attributing Saul’s actions squarely upon him, he offered that they might have been attributable to the motivations of others.

Verse 19 shows that David had been enduring internal strife, as he had been forced to live as a fugitive, and away from the people of Israel.

During David’s day, the nation’s sense of community centered around worship, when they would gather in designated locations to worship as God’s people. However, because David was constantly on the run, he no longer enjoyed that privilege.

He felt as though he had been rejected by his countrymen, which in his way of thinking, was as if they were saying he should “go serve other gods”.

David then illustrated how ridiculous Saul’s pursuit of him was, much like someone might search for a single flea, or hunting a lone partridge in the mountains:

1 Samuel 26:20