1 Samuel 24

When Saul came back from chasing the Philistines, someone told him, "David is out in the wild country near En-gedi."

1And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.

NoteThe Philistines were a people living in five cities along the coastal plain southwest of Israel; they were Israel's main military rival throughout Saul's reign, and Saul's campaigns against them are the background to this whole part of the story. En-gedi is a freshwater spring and oasis on the western shore of the Dead Sea, surrounded by steep desert cliffs riddled with caves, good country to hide in and hard country to search.

2So Saul picked three thousand of the best soldiers from all Israel and went to look for David and his men near the cliffs called the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

2Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.

Note"Chosen men" means picked troops, not conscripts. The number is worth holding onto: earlier chapters put David's following at about six hundred men, so Saul is hunting him with a force five times his size.

3Along the road he came to some sheep pens, and there was a cave there. Saul went inside to relieve himself. David and his men were hiding far back in the cave.

3And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.

NoteThe King James "went in to cover his feet" is a polite idiom of the Hebrew, not a description of anything to do with feet: it means he went in to relieve himself, and the long robes of the period would have been gathered around the legs. "Sheepcotes" are sheepfolds: rough stone enclosures beside the road where shepherds penned flocks overnight. The caves in these cliffs can run back a long way and turn dark within a few steps, so men at the back would be invisible to someone standing just inside the entrance.

4David's men said to him, "This is the day the LORD told you about, when he said, 'I will hand your enemy over to you, and you can do to him whatever you think is right.'" So David crept up and quietly cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

4And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily.

NoteNo earlier passage records the LORD making this promise in these words; David's men are either citing something not written down or reading the situation as the fulfillment of God's general promises about David. The narrator reports their claim without endorsing it. The "corner" (King James "skirt") is the hem or edge of the outer robe. In this culture the hem of a garment carried a man's identity and standing, hems were used to seal documents, and cutting one was a recognized way of stripping a person of authority. That is why the act is not trivial and why David's conscience troubles him afterward.

5But afterward David felt guilty in his heart, because he had cut off the corner of Saul's robe.

5And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.

6He said to his men, "May the LORD keep me from doing such a thing to my master, the man the LORD chose as king. I will not lift my hand against him, because the LORD chose him."

6And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.

Note"The LORD's anointed" refers to the ceremony in which oil was poured over a new king's head to mark him as chosen and set apart for the office. Saul had been anointed by Samuel, and so had David in secret; the title made the king's person legally untouchable, which is the whole force of David's argument here.

7With these words David held his men back and would not let them attack Saul. Then Saul got up, left the cave, and went on his way.

7So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

8After that David got up, went out of the cave, and shouted after Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed low with his face to the ground.

8David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.

NoteBowing with the face to the ground was the standard gesture of a subject before a king. By performing it in the open, at a distance, David is publicly declaring that he still regards Saul as his rightful sovereign.

9David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to men who tell you, 'David is trying to hurt you'?

9And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

10Today you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD put you in my hands in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, 'I will not lift my hand against my lord, because the LORD chose him as king.'

10Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’s anointed.

11Look, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand. I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you. So understand and see that I have done nothing evil or disloyal. I have not sinned against you, yet you are hunting me down to take my life.

11Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.

Note"My father" is partly a respectful form of address to an older man and a king, and partly literal: David had married Saul's daughter Michal, making Saul his father-in-law. The King James "transgression" here translates a word meaning revolt or rebellion against a ruler, David is denying the specific charge of treason, not making a general claim of innocence.

12May the LORD decide between you and me, and may the LORD pay you back for what you are doing to me. But my own hand will never touch you.

12The LORD judge between me and thee, and the LORD avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.

13As the old saying goes, 'Evil comes from evil people.' So my hand will never touch you.

13As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.

NoteDavid quotes a saying already old in his own day. Its sense is that wrongdoing comes out of the character of the wrongdoer, so if David were the traitor Saul thinks he is, the evidence would already be lying in the cave, Saul's corpse.

14Who is the king of Israel chasing? Who are you hunting? A dead dog? A flea?

14After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.

NoteBoth are stock expressions of worthlessness. Dogs in this culture were scavengers, not pets, and a dead one was the lowest thing imaginable; a flea is something so small that chasing it is beneath a grown man, let alone a king with three thousand troops. David is saying the pursuit is not just unjust but undignified.

15So let the LORD be the judge and decide between you and me. May he look at my case, argue it for me, and rescue me from your power."

15The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.

NoteThe language here is courtroom language: "plead my cause" means argue my case as an advocate would. David is asking God to act as judge in a formal lawsuit between two parties, since no human court could try a subject's case against the king.

16When David had finished saying all this to Saul, Saul said, "Is that your voice, David my son?" And Saul cried out loud and wept.

16And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.

17He said to David, "You are a better man than I am. You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly.

17And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.

18Today you have shown how good you have been to me. The LORD put me in your hands, and you did not kill me.

18And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.

19When a man catches his enemy, does he let him walk away safely? May the LORD reward you well for what you have done for me today.

19For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.

20Now I know for certain that you will be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be firm and secure in your hands.

20And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.

21So promise me now, with the LORD as your witness, that you will not kill off my descendants after I am gone, and that you will not wipe my name out of my father's family."

21Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house.

NoteWhen a new dynasty took a throne in the ancient Near East, killing the previous king's descendants was routine practice, since any surviving heir was a standing claim to the crown. Saul is asking for legal protection for his family. "Wipe my name out of my father's house" means to end the family line entirely: a man's name survived through his descendants and their hold on his ancestral land, so extinguishing the line erased the man himself from memory and record.

22So David made that promise to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to their safe place in the hills.

22And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.

Note"The hold" is a stronghold, a fortified refuge in the high, broken country, defensible and hard to approach. David swears the oath but does not go home with Saul; the reconciliation does not extend to trusting him.