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1 Samuel 26

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Saul Pursues David Again 1–4

1
And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before 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 pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.
4
David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed.

David Enters Saul's Camp 5–12

5
And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him. ​
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. ​

David Confronts Abner and Saul 13–20

13
Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of an 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. ​

Saul Confesses His Sin 21–25

21
Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. ​
22
And David answered and said, Behold the king's spear! and let one of the young men come over and fetch it.
23
The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD'S anointed. ​
24
And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the LORD, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation.
25
Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

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

Study Notes for 1 Samuel 26

Verse 1

the Ziphites — Ziph is a town of Judah (Josh 15:55), David’s own tribe. Their report to Saul at Gibeah is nearly word for word the one in 1 Sam 23:19, and Ps 54 is headed with it: ‘when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us?’ Hachilah is the hill ‘before Jeshimon’, the wilderness.

Verse 5

Saul lay in the trench — Ma’gal, the circle of the camp; the same word is the ‘trench’ where David came to the army in 1 Sam 17:20. Abner ‘the son of Ner, the captain of his host’ is Saul’s uncle (1 Sam 14:50). The people ‘pitched round about him’, and Abner lay with them (v.7).

Verse 6

Ahimelech the Hittite — This man appears nowhere else; the priest Ahimelech is another person. Abishai is named here for the first time in Scripture, ‘the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab’. Zeruiah was David’s sister (1 Chr 2:16), and her three sons were Joab, Abishai and Asahel (2 Sam 2:18). Abishai answers, ‘I will go down with thee.’

Verse 8

God hath delivered thine enemy — ‘Delivered’ is sagar, to shut up, the verb of Deut 32:30, ‘except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up’. Abishai reads the sleeping camp as the LORD’s gift, as David’s men did in 1 Sam 24:4, ‘Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee’. He asks for one thrust, ‘I will not smite him the second time’.

Verse 9

the LORD’S anointed — Mashiach, the anointed. The phrase ‘the LORD’S anointed’ stands in vv.9, 11, 16 and 23, and in 1 Sam 24:6, 10. ‘Guiltless’ (naqah) is the word of Ex 20:7, ‘the LORD will not hold him guiltless’. David later says it to the Amalekite who struck Saul (2 Sam 1:14), and Ps 105:15 has the LORD’s word, ‘Touch not mine anointed’.

Verse 10

As the LORD liveth — David names three ways Saul may end, and takes none into his own hand: the LORD may ‘smite’ him (nagaph, as he smote Nabal, 1 Sam 25:38), his day may come to die, or he may ‘descend into battle, and perish’. The last is how Saul died, in the battle with the Philistines on mount Gilboa (1 Sam 31:1–6).

Verse 12

a deep sleep from the LORD — Tardemah is the word of Adam’s sleep (Gen 2:21) and Abram’s (Gen 15:12). The sleep explains how Abishai and David walked in and out: ‘no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked’. Saul’s spear had been ‘stuck in the ground at his bolster’ (v.7), and the water cruse stood with it.

Verse 13

afar off — David crosses to the other side and stands ‘on the top of an hill afar off; a great space being between them’. At the cave in 1 Sam 24:8 he had ‘cried after Saul’, and stooped ‘with his face to the earth’. Here he calls from a distance, first to Abner and the people (v.14).

Verse 16

ye are worthy to die — The Hebrew is ‘sons of death’, the idiom of Saul’s own words in 1 Sam 20:31, ‘he shall surely die’. The charge is that Abner did not ‘keep’ (shamar, guard) ‘your master, the LORD’S anointed’. The missing spear and water cruse at Saul’s bolster are the proof. David’s oath, ‘As the LORD liveth’, matches v.10.

Verse 19

If the LORD have stirred thee up — ‘Stirred up’ is suth, to incite, the verb used when the LORD ‘moved David’ to number Israel (2 Sam 24:1). If the LORD has done it, an offering (minchah) can turn it away; if men, they are cursed. ‘Driven me out’ (garash) is Cain’s verb, ‘thou hast driven me out this day’ (Gen 4:14); the drive is from ‘the inheritance of the LORD’.

Verse 20

a flea… a partridge — The ‘flea’ (par’osh) is David’s picture of himself in 1 Sam 24:14, ‘after a dead dog, after a flea’. The ‘partridge’ (qore) occurs only here and in Jer 17:11. ‘Hunt’ is radaph, to pursue. David asks that his blood not fall ‘before the face of the LORD’ while the king of Israel comes out ‘to seek a flea’.

Verse 21

I have sinned — Saul has said ‘I have sinned’ before, in 1 Sam 15:24 and 15:30. ‘Played the fool’ is sakal, the verb of Samuel’s ‘Thou hast done foolishly’ (1 Sam 13:13), and ‘erred’ is shagah. He says ‘return, my son David’; but David ‘went on his way, and Saul returned to his place’ (v.25), and in 27:1 David says, ‘I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul’.

Verse 23

render to every man his righteousness — Tsedaqah and emunah (faithfulness) are what the LORD returns to each man; Ps 62:12 says he ‘renderest to every man according to his work’. ‘Stretch forth mine hand’ is the verb of v.9. David answers Abishai’s claim of v.8 by leaving the judgment to the LORD who ‘delivered thee into my hand’.