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1 Samuel 24

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1
And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi. ​
2
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. ​
3
And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. ​
4
And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. ​
5
And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. ​
6
And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD. ​
7
So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

David Pleads His Case to Saul 8–15

8
David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself. ​
9
And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?
10
Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD'S anointed. ​
11
Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.
12
The LORD judge between me and thee, and the LORD avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee. ​
13
As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
14
After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea. ​
15
The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.

Saul Acknowledges David's Righteousness 16–22

16
And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. ​
17
And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.
18
And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.
19
For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.
20
And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. ​
21
Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house. ​
22
And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Samuel 24

Verse 1

the wilderness of Engedi — En Gedi means ‘fountain of a kid’. It is one of the cities ‘in the wilderness’ of Judah (Josh 15:61–62), and v.1 follows 23:29, where David ‘dwelt in strong holds at Engedi’. Saul has ‘returned from following the Philistines’ (23:27–28), and the pursuit resumes as soon as he is told where David is.

Verse 2

three thousand chosen men — The number of the force Saul chose at the start of his reign (13:2), and the number he brings again against David in 26:2. ‘Chosen’ is bachar. They go ‘upon the rocks of the wild goats’ (ya’el), the high hills that are ‘a refuge for the wild goats’ (Ps 104:18).

Verse 3

to cover his feet — A Hebrew idiom for relieving oneself, the same words as in the servants’ guess about Eglon in his summer chamber, ‘Surely he covereth his feet’ (Judg 3:24). Saul goes into a cave by the sheepcotes, and David and his men ‘remained in the sides of the cave’.

Verse 4

the day of which the LORD said unto thee — David’s men quote a word, ‘I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand’, which the history has not recorded; ‘deliver’ is nathan, as in 23:4 and 23:14. David cuts off ‘the skirt of Saul’s robe’ (kanaph and me’il), the two words used of the skirt of Samuel’s mantle that tore in 15:27.

Verse 5

David’s heart smote him — The same words are used at 2 Sam 24:10, ‘David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people’, where he says at once, ‘I have sinned greatly’. Here the cause is that ‘he had cut off Saul’s skirt’. In v.11 he holds up the same skirt as the evidence of what he had not done.

Verse 6

the LORD’S anointed — Mashiach, ‘anointed’, is David’s title for Saul here, in v.10, at 26:9, 11, 16 and 23, and at 2 Sam 1:14 and 16. ‘The LORD forbid’ is chalilah, the word of Ahimelech’s ‘be it far from me’ in 22:15. David himself had been anointed by Samuel (16:13) and still refuses to ‘stretch forth’ his hand.

Verse 8

My lord the king — David ‘cried after Saul’, then ‘stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself’. To his men he had said ‘my master, the LORD’S anointed’ (v.6). The same bowing is recorded of David before Jonathan (20:41) and of Abigail before David (25:23). In 26:17 Saul’s question is again ‘Is this thy voice, my son David?’

Verse 10

the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand — David describes the event with the verb his men used in v.4, ‘deliver… into thine hand’ (nathan). ‘Some bade me kill thee’ refers to those men. ‘Mine eye spared thee’ uses chus, to have pity, and the reason he gives is ‘for he is the LORD’S anointed’.

Verse 12

The LORD judge between me and thee — Shaphat, to judge, and naqam, to avenge. David leaves both with the LORD and adds ‘mine hand shall not be upon thee’, repeating it in v.13 and the appeal in v.15. Jephthah appealed in similar words, ‘the LORD the Judge be judge’ (Judg 11:27), and Paul cites ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord’ (Rom 12:19).

Verse 14

a dead dog, after a flea — The questions ask whom ‘the king of Israel’ has come out after. Par’osh, ‘flea’, is found only here and at 26:20. Mephibosheth calls himself ‘such a dead dog as I am’ before David (2 Sam 9:8). David’s words describe himself as having no power to threaten a king.

Verse 16

Is this thy voice, my son David? — The same question is asked in the same words at 26:17. David had called Saul ‘my father’ (v.11), and Saul now says ‘my son’. He ‘lifted up his voice, and wept’ (bakah); in 26:21 he says again ‘return, my son David’.

Verse 20

I know well that thou shalt surely be king — Saul says as something he knows what Samuel had told him (15:28) and what Jonathan told David (23:17). Earlier he had asked of the women’s song, ‘what can he have more but the kingdom?’ (18:8). The kingdom ‘shall be established in thine hand’ (qum, to stand).

Verse 21

Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD — Saul asks what Jonathan had asked of David, that he would not ‘cut off’ kindness from his house (20:15); the verb ‘cut off’ is the same (karath). The request is for his ‘seed’ and ‘name’. David swears in v.22, and his kindness to Saul’s house follows at 2 Sam 9:1, ‘for Jonathan’s sake’.