Sarah
One day, the Ziphites came to Gibeah to see Saul and said,
“King Saul, David is still hiding over there, in the hill of Hakilah, out in the wilderness!”
Saul heard that and started thinking again:
“This time, I’m gonna catch that guy for sure!”
So Saul picked 3,000 of his best soldiers and marched all the way down to the wilderness of Ziph.
He was determined to surround David and finally get him.
But David wasn’t sitting around doing nothing.
He sent some people out to check what was going on.
After a while, they came back and said,
“Uh-oh. Saul really came. And he brought 3,000 soldiers with him!”
David didn’t panic.
Instead, he quietly went out to see where Saul and his army were camped.
When he got there, he took a look—
Well, would you look at that!
Saul’s whole camp was right there.
And everybody was asleep.
All 3,000 soldiers were sleeping.
Saul was sleeping.
His commander, Abner, was sleeping.
Everybody around them was sleeping soundly.
David looked at the whole situation and thought,
“Hmmm… is this a good opportunity?”
Then he asked the men with him,
“Who’s willing to go down there with me?”
Abishai immediately said,
“I’ll go!”
So the two of them quietly made their way down into the camp.
When they got close to Saul, they saw him sleeping soundly.
And there was Saul’s spear, stuck in the ground right beside his head.
Abishai looked at David, and he knew exactly what he was thinking.
Then he whispered,
“You give me the word, and I’ll take that spear and pin him right to the ground!”
But David wasn’t having it.
He quickly said,
“No!”
Abishai was probably thinking,
“Wait… what did you just say?
Did I hear you right?”
David said,
“He is the king whom the LORD has anointed. Who can raise his hand against the LORD’s anointed and remain innocent?”
“We can’t kill him just because he wants to kill me.”
Then David said,
“The LORD Himself will deal with him.”
“If his time comes, he will die. If he goes into battle and that is where he is supposed to die, then he will die there.”
“But I will not be the one to kill him.”
And that right there was one of the biggest differences between David and Saul.
Saul was being dragged around by jealousy and hatred.
David was willing to leave the final judgment in God’s hands.
So David did not kill Saul.
But he wasn’t planning to leave empty-handed either.
He took Saul’s spear and his water jug from beside his head.
Then David and Abishai quietly slipped away.
And nobody in the entire camp noticed a thing.
Why?
The Bible says:
“The LORD had put them into a deep sleep.”
David and Abishai went across to the other side of the mountain and stood far away from Saul’s camp.
Then David started calling out,
“Abner!”
“Abner!”
Abner finally woke up, probably still half asleep.
“Who is that? Who’s calling the king in the middle of the night?”
David shouted back,
“Aren’t you supposed to be Israel’s great commander?”
“How did you protect your king?”
“Someone came right into the camp to kill the king, and you didn’t even notice!”
“Look around! Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were beside his head?”
Abner probably looked around and thought,
“What?”
He quickly checked.
And then—
Uh-oh.
The spear was gone.
The water jug was gone too.
By this time, Saul recognized David’s voice.
He called out,
“David? Is that you?”
David answered,
“Yes, my lord and king. It’s me.”
Saul called out again,
“My son David!”
David said,
“I’m here.”
Then David asked,
“My king, what have I done wrong?”
“What evil have I done?”
“Why are you chasing me like this?”
And honestly, that part is pretty heartbreaking.
David had been Saul’s son-in-law.
He had been one of Israel’s greatest warriors.
He had fought Saul’s battles.
He had served Saul faithfully.
But now?
The very man David had once served was chasing him through the wilderness, trying to kill him.
David continued,
“If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then let Him accept an offering from me.”
“But if people have been pushing you against me, then may they be judged before the LORD.”
“They have driven me away from the LORD’s inheritance and are basically saying, ‘Go serve other gods!’”
Then David said something that paints a pretty funny picture:
“What is the king of Israel chasing after?”
“Just a flea!”
“Just like someone hunting a partridge in the mountains!”
In other words:
“Come on, King Saul. You’re the king of Israel!
You brought 3,000 soldiers just to chase one guy around the mountains.
Is this really worth all that?”
Saul listened.
And for a moment, he was silent.
Finally, he said,
“I have sinned.”
“My son David, I was wrong.”
“I have acted foolishly.”
“Today you could have killed me, but you spared my life. I will not hunt you down anymore.”
Then David held up Saul’s spear and said,
“Here is your spear.”
“Send one of your men over to get it.”
And once again, David proved something very important:
“It’s not that I couldn’t kill you.
I simply chose not to.”
David said,
“Today the LORD gave you into my hand, but I would not raise my hand against the LORD’s anointed.”
“The LORD will repay each person according to his righteousness and faithfulness.”
“Today I valued your life, so may the LORD value my life and rescue me from every trouble.”
This time, Saul really seemed to understand.
He said,
“My son David, may you be blessed!”
“You will certainly do great things.”
“And you will surely prevail.”
And that was it.
David went on his way.
And Saul went back home.