David the outcast

For seven years King Saul hunted David from one end of the land of Israel to the other. The evil spirit of jealousy and hate had full possession of him, and David, with a few faithful men, was driven from one stronghold to another, until he cried, “They gather themselves together; they hide themselves; they mark my steps when they wait for my soul. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee.”

He had escaped again and again from the hand of Saul, and now he was down in the desert country by the Dead Sea, hiding among the cliffs and caves of Engedi. Saul heard of it and took three thousand men to hunt for him among the rocks of the wild goats. He was very tired after climbing the rocks, and seeing a cave, he went in to lie down for a little sleep. He did not know that David and his men were in the cave hiding in the dark sides of it. Then his men whispered to David:

“Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee: ’I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good to thee.’” Then David arose and crept near to Saul, and did he kill the man who had so often tried to kill him?

No, he bent down and cut off a part of Saul’s robe. Even this seemed wrong to David.

“The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master,” he said “to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord,” and in this way he kept his servants from harming Saul, and after Saul awoke he went out of the cave.

David also went out of the cave and cried,

“My Lord the King!”

And when Saul turned David bowed down to him and asked him why he listened to men who said that he wished to harm the king, and then he told him how the Lord had given him into his hand in the cave, but he would not touch the Lord’s anointed to harm him.

“See, my father,” he cried “see the skirt of thy robe in my hand. I have not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest my soul to take it.”

Much more he said, and asked the Lord to judge between them, and Saul’s hard heart was moved so that he wept aloud.

“Is this thy voice, my son David,” he said, “Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil,” and he made a covenant with David. For though he made no promise to spare David’s life, he made David promise to spare the life of his children when he should be made king.

But a year was hardly past before the evil spirit was again upon Saul, and he went out with three thousand men to hunt for David. Saul’s camp was on a hill, and David saw where it was. At night he took Abishai, one of his warriors, and went down from the cliffs to Saul’s camp, where Saul lay sleeping in a trench, and the spear stuck in the ground by his pillow, while all his men lay around him. Abishai wished to strike him through with the spear, but David said,

“Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? The Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall fall in battle and perish; but take thou now the spear that is at his pillow, and the cruse of water, and let us go.”

And they took them and went away. A deep sleep had fallen upon the camp of Saul from the Lord, so that no one saw them.

Then David went up to his stronghold, and from the top of the cliff he cried to Abner, the captain of Saul’s men, and asked why he had not defended his Master, and where was the king’s spear, and his cruse of water?

Then Saul cried as before,

“Is this thy voice, my son David?”

“It is my voice, my lord, O King,” said David, and again he plead his cause with his old enemy, but who could trust to the repentance of Saul? He cried,

“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. I have played the fool, and erred exceedingly.”

But David trusted him no more, and went and made friends with a Philistine prince that he might live within their borders.

Samuel the prophet was dead, and there was no one to give counsel to the darkened soul of the King when trouble fell upon him. The Philistines had come with a great army, but Saul was afraid, for the Lord’s spirit was not with him. He tried to seek the Lord through the priests, and through dreams, but the Lord answered him not. Then he went to a witch by night, and asked her to bring up the spirit of Samuel. The witch could not bring up Samuel, but the Lord sent him to speak to Saul, and the woman cried out with terror when she saw the prophet of the Lord, and knew also that it was the King who had called for him.

“I am sore distressed,” said Saul, “and God is departed from me. What shall I do?”

Then Samuel told him plainly that the kingdom was taken from him and given to David, and that on the next day he and his sons should fall in battle, and the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines.

Saul, forsaken and despairing, fell to the earth fainting, but was revived by the woman, who gave him food so that he went away through the dark to the camp of Israel.

In the battle of the next day the Philistines conquered. The three sons of Saul were slain, and Saul himself, when chased by the Philistines, fell upon his own sword and died.

When a messenger brought news of the battle to David he rent his clothes for grief, and in the chant of lamentation that he made, he mourned for his faithful friend Jonathan, and had no word of blame for his enemy Saul, neither did he triumph over him.