1 Samuel 26:1-25 manuscript

Background and Context - Understanding why this is here.

This account is very similar to chapter 24 where David spares Saul’s life in the cave. The Ziphites report to Saul that David is near them. Saul comes with reinforcement to track David down. There is an encounter with between David and Saul. David has the opportunity to kill Saul and spares his life. The question that we must ask ourselves is why are there two of accounts of something so similar? I want to challenge us not to just read over this account as the same thing as chapter 24 and dismiss it like it doesn’t matter. Instead, I want to show us what the Lord has for us in this account.

The Setting v1-4

Once again, the Ziphites come to Saul at Gibeah. These Ziphites seem to be trying to earn favor with Israel by revealing to Saul the location of David.

1 Samuel 26:1 “Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?””

From the wilderness of Engedi in chapter 24, to the wilderness of Paran in chapter 25, to the wilderness of Ziph in our text today, David and his merry men are wandering keeping out of the reach of Saul, not interfering with the dealings of Saul. And even in David’s efforts to keep peace with Saul, Saul, because of his jealousy and anger against David, gathers up his best 3,000 Israelite men to seek out David. Saul and his men reach the hill of Hachilah, a 25 mile hike to the south from Gibeah where was residing and set up camp.

It seems as though this visit by Saul was not initially known by David or he was surprised that Saul was after him again because verse 4 says “David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come.” It seems as though David had a hard time believing that Saul was back, seeking to kill him again.

Application: Do you find yourself in trial after trial? This is God’s refinement. God knew David was not ready to be king otherwise David would have already been king. God was using this time to refine David and prove his character. Do you view your trials as this?

So David went to see for himself Saul’s camp. Notice the writer of 1 Samuel specifically tells us where Saul was at in the midst of the camp. Saul was laying down in the middle of the camp with Abner, the commander of his army next to him. Not only that, the chosen 3,000 men were camped around him so that Saul was at the center of the camp in the most secure most protected place.

So we must ask ourselves, why does the author include this information? Why not just say that David saw the camp of Saul? As we consider this question, let’s move to the next point.

The Infiltration v5-12

Why does David go and see the camp himself? Does he not trust his own spies? Does he want to confirm this report himself? Why doesn’t David turn and run and flee? Saul has not found him yet. Saul is still seeking. Apparently it’s nearing the night, which would be an ideal time to create some separation between himself and Saul. The way verse 5 of our text reads puts great emphasis on one person only. Look at it with me.

“Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment, while the army was encamped around him.”

Everything in verse that David sees in relation to where Saul is at. What does this tell us? Saul is David’s focus. David had one reason for coming to scout out the camp, and that was for Saul.

Verse 6, David says to Ahimelech the Hittite (not to be confused with Ahimelech the priest that Saul had killed in Chapter 22) and Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?”

A quick comment on this. Notice the difference in description between Saul’s men and David’s men. Saul had 3,000 chosen men of Israel. The cream of the crop. David had a group of 600 rag tag men. Ahimelech was a Hittite and Abishai was David’s nephew cf 1 Chronicles 2:16. The odds are clearly stacked in favor of Saul.

So look what David says, “Who wants to go down into the camp to Saul?” Hold on, the camp where Saul is at? The dude who is seeking to kill you? The guy with Abner literally at his side? The guy with an Army of 3,000 A-team like men ready to kill you at a moments notice? With our ragtag team of boy scouts camping in the wilderness?

What is this? It’s a death wish! Only a lunatic would try to infiltrate this camp. Why would David seek to do this? Because his focus is on Saul. It seems from a simple reading of the text, that David is ready to take matters in his own hands. He is tired of running, he is surprised that Saul is here chasing him. He is upset or disheartened that the Ziphites would give up his location again. If you remember last week, David nearly took vengeance on Nabal if it were not for his new wife Abigail. And that was for being mistreated. Saul was seeking to kill him for nothing that he had done. If all they wanted to do was talk they could have approached him during the day, but notice verse 7 says that they went to the army by night. This was not a mission to bring peace, but for bloodshed.

So Abishai volunteers himself on this gorilla warfare style mission, eager to kill Saul and get on with the kingdom of David. So the sneak down to the army, somehow, miraculously make it all the way to the center of the camp, getting past whatever guards would surely have been on duty, without waking anyone in camp. Don’t look ahead yet but 1 Samuel 26:12 gives us the answer on how they were able to make it so far. “No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.” We will come back to that later to discuss it.

They reach Saul where he was sleeping with the spear stuck in the ground. All they had to do now was finish the job. One silent strike of the sword would bring David into reign.

Abishai knows this as he says to David 1 Samuel 26:8 “Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.””

Abishai begs David to let him make the strike that would usher in the reign of David, the one who God had hand picked. Nothing was left for David to do but give the word. They were in the center of the camp, the bullseye of the target if you will, and they were ready to land the spear on their target.

And yet something happens as Abishai speaks. Probably a mixture of several things.

Perhaps Abishai’s eager request to kill the Lord’s anointed in Saul showed David that he was acting more like Saul than like that God who called him.

Perhaps he remembered how Saul’s spear narrowly avoided his own head 3 times, and he didn’t want to end up like Saul, plagued by an evil spirit because the Lord left him to his own sin.

Perhaps David remembered how God kept him from avenging himself and killing Nabal in just one chapter previous.

Perhaps, and most likely, as God uses situations to snap us back into reality, God kept David from sinning in this way.

Application: David had been faithful to view Saul in the right way up to this point. And yet now, after years of trusting the Lord, he fell into the sin of pride and of self-reliance. Don’t think you are to far from sin. Don’t deceive yourselves into thinking that you are above any sin.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Romans 7:21 “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”

Maybe you haven’t yelled at your kids or your spouse recently. Maybe you have been working harder at work because you know you are tempted to laziness. Maybe you have kept your eyes from worthless things for months or years. Maybe you have drastically grown in not having a love for money or stuff. Maybe you have grown in, fill in the blank. First, praise the Lord! But second, don’t think you are good to go. Remain humble with you eyes on the Lord and be watchful.

1 Peter 5:6–8 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Back to our text look at David’s response in verses 9-11. Just as previously, David’s only focus was on Saul, now look at where David has placed his eyes.

1 Samuel 26:9–11 “But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.””

David has taken his eyes off of Saul, and off of himself, and placed them back on God.

1 Samuel 26:12 “So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.”

Let me just make a couple of observations from the verse.

Why were David and Abishai able to sneak their way into the camp? Because the Lord allowed it to happen. You say, “Hold up. God allowed David to nearly succeed in sinning and kill Saul?” Let’s be careful with our theology friends. Let’s take a step out of the weeds of the details and remember the bigger picture of what is going on.

David is not yet king of Israel because God is not done preparing David. God is refining David’s heart to become more like His own heart through these trials that God is placing him in.

Consider, even in the last several chapters, the trials that God has placed in David’s life in order to weed out the sin in David’s heart and the progression that we see in David.

God brought Saul to David on a silver platter in the cave. David refused to kill Saul but cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. But look at David’s response. 1 Samuel 24:5 “And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.” David was not looking for this. But the option was placed in front of him.

Then, last week, David ran into Nabal who treated David unfairly and David’s immediate response was to gear up for war and kill every male who was Nabal’s. And God, in His kindness, kept David from this sin 1 Samuel 25:34 “For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.”” Through this trial David’s immediate reaction was to act on his own accord, in his own power, for his own desires and glory.

Then in today’s text, David made a plan to bring about his own will and his own desires. Nothing had been done to David yet, but instead of trusting the Lord, he initially trusted himself. But this is different than his reaction with Nabal. How? Because nobody told him not to kill Saul. Abigail had to tell David to not kill Nabal. Abishai told David to kill Saul. The Lord had been working in his heart and changing his heart to trust the Lord instead of himself.

God uses trials to show us what’s in our hearts.

1 Peter 1:6–7 “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

James 1:13–14 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”

So yes. God made it possible for David to act on his own accord out of his own desires that were not given to him by God but came from his own heart so that David would see his need for God and trust God instead of himself.