Summary: Saul came after David again. David and Abishai found Saul lying asleep in his camp, and Abishai wanted to kill him (v.7). Again, David doesn’t want to kill God’s anointed (vv.9-11). David went across the valley and called to Abner (v.14). He chews him out for not guarding Saul properly (vv.15-16). David tries to reason with Saul again by asking what he has done wrong (v.18). Saul “repents” again (v.21), but David doesn’t trust him, telling him to send a servant to pick up his spear (v.22). Saul blesses David, and they both go home (v.25).
(26:1) The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?”
The Ziphites had already betrayed David (1 Sam. 23:19), and they rouse Saul’s paranoia and vengeance toward David (v.19). The Ziphites were a “Calebite subclan”[] (1 Chron. 2:42). David had just married the wife of Nabal—a dead Calebite (1 Sam. 25:3). So, it’s no wonder that they are so willing to betray David (cf. 1 Sam. 23:19-24).
(26:2-5) So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand select Israelite troops, to search there for David. 3 Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul had followed him there, 4 he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived. 5 Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.
Abner is Saul’s cousin (1 Sam. 14:50), and he is Saul’s ultimate bodyguard and loyal protector. Moreover, Saul is sleeping in the center of three thousand men. So, he’s certainly impervious to any kind of attack. As Bergen writes, “The arrangement of Saul’s camp, combined with the location of the camp at the top of a hill, would have provided Saul with maximum protection.”[]
(26:6-7) David then asked Ahimelek the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?”
“I’ll go with you,” said Abishai.
David was a good leader. He went himself, rather than sending his other men to risk their lives. At the same time, he wanted company. So, he took Ahimelek and Abishai with him.
“Ahimelek the Hittite” is different from Ahimelech the priest, who died in chapter 22. This is the only mention of Ahimelech the Hittite in the entire Bible.
Abishai is David’s nephew (1 Chron. 2:13-16). He seems zealous for a fight. He is brave, but he is also “trigger happy,” as the text will later tell us (v.8).
(26:7) So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.
The last time David saw that spear it was hurling past his head.
(26:8) Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”
All David needed to do to kill Saul was do nothing. He could’ve just let Abishai stab him.
Abishai’s comments are reminiscent of the comments of David’s men in his earlier encounter with Saul (1 Sam. 24:4). Abishai wanted to kill Saul with his own spear, just as Saul had tried to kill David with that same spear (1 Sam. 18:10; 19:10).
Did Abishai doubt David’s resolve? Perhaps Abishai offered this because he thought David was too weak to kill Saul in the cave, and now, he’s too weak to kill him again. If so, Abishai didn’t realize that it wasn’t weakness that kept David from killing Saul. It was faith.
(26:9) But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?
David writes Psalms 57-59 at this time. The titles of these psalms are, “Do not destroy.”
(26:10) “As surely as the LORD lives,” he said, “the LORD himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.”
“[Saul] will go into battle and perish.” This foreshadows Saul’s death (1 Sam. 31:1-6). David knew that God was going to take his hands off of Saul, and therefore, Saul would die in battle. By letting God do the work, “no-one would be able to accuse David of having murdered Saul in order to set himself on the throne.”[]
(26:11) “But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”
Just like in chapter 24, David refuses to kill God’s “anointed.” Bergen comments, “The incident with Nabal had just affirmed David’s convictions regarding the Lord’s sovereignty in judgment.”[]
(26:12) So David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head, and they left. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping, because the LORD had put them into a deep sleep.
God had given David and Abishai this encounter by causing Saul’s men to fall into some sort of deep, supernatural sleep.
(26:13) Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away; there was a wide space between them.
David gave a lot of distance so that Saul’s men couldn’t capture and kill him.
(26:14) He called out to the army and to Abner son of Ner, “Aren’t you going to answer me, Abner?”
Abner replied, “Who are you who calls to the king?”
“Aren’t you going to answer me, Abner?” David had to call to the men several times, because they were in a deep sleep (v.12).
(26:15) David said, “You’re a man, aren’t you? And who is like you in Israel? Why didn’t you guard your lord the king? Someone came to destroy your lord the king.”
David publicly calls out Abner for failing to do his duty. Abner was supposed to be Saul’s number one bodyguard. Implicitly, David is saying that he himself is Saul’s number one bodyguard, because he had the opportunity to kill Saul, but he didn’t take it.
(26:16) “What you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, you and your men must die, because you did not guard your master, the LORD’s anointed. Look around you. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were near his head?”
David proves his sincerity by producing material evidence: Saul’s spear and water jug. Abner is so publicly humiliated that he doesn’t speak a word in this section.
(26:17) Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice, David my son?”
David replied, “Yes it is, my lord the king.”
This is similar to Saul’s earlier words to David (1 Sam. 24:16). Saul couldn’t believe that David would let him live again. Also, perhaps it was hard for Saul to see David in the dark.
(26:18) And he added, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of?”
David raises this question to rouse Saul’s conscience.
(26:19) “Now let my lord the king listen to his servant’s words. If the LORD has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. If, however, people have done it, may they be cursed before the LORD! They have driven me today from my share in the LORD’s inheritance and have said, ‘Go, serve other gods.’”
The people of Ziph had incited David (cf. 1 Sam. 24:9).
“They have driven me today from my share in the LORD’s inheritance and have said, ‘Go, serve other gods.’” David is so tired of running that he wants to give up and serve other gods. He’s openly tired of following God because of the way he’s being treated by God’s people.
(26:20) “Now do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. The king of Israel has come out to look for a flea—as one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
“Flea.” This metaphor shows that David is a nobody, and he’s not worth the king wasting his time hunting him. David isn’t saying that he’s a weakling, but that he isn’t dangerous. Truly, Saul would’ve done far better if he focused on the Philistines fighting at the borders of Israel.
“Partridge.” This analogy of chasing a partridge in the mountains shows that this is something that “no one in his right mind would take the time or make the effort to do.”[] Baldwin adds, “David implies that Saul’s search, whether for a flea or a partridge, is beneath his dignity.”[]
(26:21) Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.”
“Come back.” Nope! Saul had been guilty of lying before (1 Sam. 15:24; 24:17). How could David be sure that this was any different?
(26:22) “Here is the king’s spear,” David answered. “Let one of your young men come over and get it.”
Why does David offer to give back the spear, but not the water jug? Some argue that the spear represents a “symbol of death,” but the jug is a “symbol of life.”[] That is, David refuses to kill Saul, but he also will not give him life. This is mere speculation.
The key point is that David won’t travel over to Saul to give him the spear in person. Saul needs to have someone pick it up. David trusts Saul as far as he can throw him.
(26:23) “The LORD rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The LORD delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.”
Just because God providentially places us in a given situation doesn’t mean that we should take advantage of it.
(26:24) “As surely as I valued your life today, so may the LORD value my life and deliver me from all trouble.”
David parallels his mercy on Saul with God’s mercy on himself. David is asking that God would be as merciful with him, as he has been with Saul. As it turns out, God shows extreme mercy on David.
(26:25) Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, David my son; you will do great things and surely triumph.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.
David and Saul part ways—never to meet again. David shows discernment here. He doesn’t make his judgment based on Saul’s words, but his works. Saul has betrayed David so many times that David doesn’t trust him.
“May you be blessed, David my son; you will do great things and surely triumph.” These are the last words that Saul ever spoke to David. Baldwin concludes, “[David] has given up all hope of being able to trust Saul’s gestures towards reconciliation, so he submits Saul to the indignity of having to send a soldier to fetch his spear, and commits himself to the Lord, rather than to Saul, for protection and deliverance.”[]
David didn’t trust in mere coincidences. Just because Saul entered the cave, this didn’t mean that David should take his life (1 Sam. 24:4-7; 26:7-8). David’s own men didn’t understand this, but that didn’t matter. David knew that he shouldn’t usurp the throne—even if it was coincidental.
David trusted God’s authority and God’s choice. Saul was “the Lord’s anointed” (1 Samuel 24:6, 10; 26:9, 11, 23; 2 Samuel 1:14).
David trusted a higher justice system. David said, “May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you… May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it. May he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand” (1 Sam. 24:12, 15). Later, David said, “The Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish” (1 Sam. 26:10). Even Saul expected that David would receive a “reward” for doing this (1 Sam. 24:19).
David trusted God’s timing. David needed to learn to wait on God’s timing.
David could tell that if he killed Saul that he would be forcing himself into this role prematurely and unethically.
David had to wait longer than he wanted. Even though David knew that he was going to be the king (1 Sam. 16:12), he needed to wait for 15 years! During this time, God was teaching David how to follow others before he taught him how to lead.
David wasn’t passive or playing dead during this time. He was still taking active steps of faith—still writing psalms, still saving villages, and still actively protecting the nation. He just wasn’t willing to lead a coup and take the throne.
David could see God reveal his inner motives during this time. He had a potential failure with Nabal, but God stopped him. Abigail said, “The LORD has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands” (1 Sam. 25:26). God uses these times of waiting to reveal inner motives.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 255.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 255.
Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 165.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 256.
Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 771.
Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 166.
Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 771.
Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 167.
James is an elder at Dwell Community Church, where he teaches classes in theology, apologetics, and weekly Bible studies.
