1 Samuel 26
David Spared Saul A Second Time
In this section, David refused yet another opportunity to end his own suffering by ending Saul’s life. Though his desire to return and to reign must have been incredibly strong, the future king continued to sense God’s protection and preservation and to trust that his battles belonged to the Lord.
Saul Searched for David
The Ziphites
Vs. 1 - Then the Ziphites came to Saul
The people of the city of Ziph – had betrayed David’s whereabouts to Saul before. Now they try to gain King Saul’s favor again, by helping Saul find David once more. - David Guzik
Immediately
Vs. 2 - So Saul, accompanied by three thousand of the fit young men of Israel, went immediately to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.
In chapter 24, Saul wept when he learned that David had spared his life. He declared David to be righteous and the future king of Israel. But when the Ziphites were willing yet again to betray David’s location, the manhunt continued immediately.
David continues to remain in the wilderness. The picture presented is that the anointed must go to the wilderness for a time of trial. - Brent Kercheville
Don’t Destroy Him
The Inner Circle
Vs. 5 - Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp with the troops camped around him.
Saul was resting in the most secure position possible given the location of the camp. Apart from the intervention of God, accessing him in this way would have been impossible to attempt.
God Has Delivered Your Enemy
Vs. 8 - Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy to you. Let me thrust the spear through him into the ground just once. I won’t have to strike him twice!”
Abishai was David’s nephew, one of the sons of his sister Zeruiah (1 Chronicles 2:15-16). Joab, who later became David’s commander-in-chief, was Abishai’s brother. - Thomas Constable
Abishai made it easy for David: Please, let me strike him at once with the spear. David would not raise his hand against Saul, but Abishai would do it, and not feel bad about it in the slightest way. David could say to himself and everyone else, “I did not kill Saul.”
Abishai also weaves into the matter an element of poetic justice: the spear used to kill Saul would be the king’s own spear, stuck in the ground by his head. The spear that was thrown at David in attempted murder before would now be used as the instrument of the LORD’s righteous judgment. It all might have seemed to be perfectly given from the hand of God. - David Guzik
Imagine David’s temptation to end his suffering with one word of permission to his willing soldier! Saul had already reneged on his first promise to stop hunting David. What would one more object lesson accomplish?
His Day Will Come
Vs. 10 - the Lord will certainly strike him down: either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.
Perhaps God’s swift judgment of Nabal in the previous account reminded David that God was perfectly capable of accomplishing His own purposes in His own time. Though this decision could not have been an easy one, David reminded Abishai that God had called him to faith and not to fight. In some way, vengeance would belong to the Lord.
David believed…that since God had anointed Saul, it was not his place to do him harm. In the middle of this reply, David mentioned alternative ways by which God might terminate Saul’s life. He might die from some physical affliction, as Nabal had (1 Samuel 25:38), or of natural causes, or in battle. David reminded Abishai that God could deal with Saul without their help. - Thomas Constable
Deep Sleep
Vs. 12 - No one saw them, no one knew, and no one woke up; they all remained asleep because a deep sleep from the Lord came over them.
It doesn’t make sense at all that David and Abishai could have walked into a massive camp of sleeping soldiers unless God was protecting them in some way. Did David realize this in real time? Did he see in that moment that God was providing for him, preserving him for a purpose?
Is That Your Voice, My Son David?
What Have I Done?
Vs. 17-18 - “It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said. Then he continued, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done? What crime have I committed?
David said that if violation of the Mosaic Law had prompted Saul to hunt him down, he was ready to offer the sacrifice the Law prescribed to atone for it (1 Samuel 26:19). However, if David’s enemies had stirred up Saul’s hostility without cause, David prayed that God would judge them for that. Saul’s attacks had resulted in David’s separation from the Lord’s inheritance (i.e., the blessings God had given Israel, especially rest in the Promised Land) since he had to live as a fugitive. David’s enemies had in effect encouraged him to abandon Yahweh by driving him out of his home territory. - Thomas Constable
There is a vast deal of dignity in this speech of David, arising from a consciousness of his own innocence. He neither begs his life from Saul, nor offers one argument to prevail upon him to desist from his felonious attempts, but refers the whole matter to God, as the judge and vindicator of oppressed innocence. - Clarke
A Partridge in The Mountains
Vs. 20 - The king of Israel has come out to search for a single flea, like one who pursues a partridge in the mountains.
David’s point in comparing himself to a partridge and a flea was that Saul’s search for such an insignificant person as David was beneath the king’s dignity. - Thomas Constable
The Lord Will Rescue And Repay
Vs. 23-24 - The Lord will repay every man for his righteousness and his loyalty. I wasn’t willing to lift my hand against the Lord’s anointed, even though the Lord handed you over to me today. Just as I considered your life valuable today, so may the Lord consider my life valuable and rescue me from all trouble.
The main lesson of chapter 26 appears in 1 Samuel 26:23: "the Lord will repay" (Proverbs 20:22; Proverbs 24:29; Romans 12:17; Romans 12:19). The Lord Jesus Christ is our greatest example of one who trusted the Father to vindicate Him. Our vindication does not always come in this lifetime, as David’s did. Sometimes it comes after death, as Jesus’ did.
Another great revelation is God’s patience with Saul. God gave him many opportunities to repent and to experience God’s blessing within the sphere of his judgment, but Saul did not repent. - Thomas Constable
Faith endures suffering, waiting for God to act, looking to God to vindicate, refusing to take matters into our own hands. This is what David does in this chapter. This is what Jesus did in his life. This is what Jesus’ disciples must do also. Learn from the failures of your past trials and temptations. Learn to wait for the Lord. Learn to not act for your comforts now. Learn to look for the reward that the Lord will give that is far greater than any reward we can have in this life. - Brent Kercheville
Come Back, My Son David
I Have Sinned
Vs. 21 - Saul responded, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David, I will never harm you again because today you considered my life precious. I have been a fool! I’ve committed a grave error.”
Again (1 Samuel 24:16-22), Saul acknowledged his foolishness and vowed to end his pursuit of David. Was there momentary sincerity in this confession, or was this pure deception, of himself and everyone around him?
You Are Blessed
Vs. 25 - Saul said to him, “You are blessed, my son David. You will certainly do great things and will also prevail.” Then David went on his way, and Saul returned home.
The reigning king of Israel, with all his troops and resources, had failed again and again to apprehend a fugitive with a much smaller and less experienced force. Surely, by this time, it had become clear to Saul that David, though vulnerable and disadvantaged in position, was receiving divine protection and preservation.
Since now there is nothing more to be said, David and Saul part, never to see each other again. - Youngblood
