AFTER David had conquered the giant, and had brought his head to the
king, Saul for a while was very proud of his young soldier, and made
much of him in every way. And David behaved himself wisely; and Saul
set him over his men of war, and he became very popular among the
people.
Meanwhile Jonathan, Saul's son, thought there was no one in the world
like David! He loved him as his own soul.
He took off his own beautiful clothes, which belonged to him as the
king's son, and put them on David, even presenting him with his sword,
his bow and his girdle.
But a jealous feeling began to rankle in the breast of the king.
He heard the women singing who came out to meet him from the cities,
after David's slaughter of the giant, and these were the words they
sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands."
This made the king very angry, and from that day forth, he determined
to kill David.
So King Saul hunted David up and down the land. Jonathan was devoted
to him, and helped him to escape many times. He endeavoured to be a
peacemaker, and assured his father that David had no evil designs
against him. But it was all of no use. Jealousy, which the Bible says
is "cruel as the grave," had entered into Saul's heart, and it poisoned
all his thoughts.
Then David again had a great victory over the Philistines, and Saul was
so jealous that he threw his javelin at him. David, however, escaped,
and the javelin went into the wall, where he had been sitting playing
his harp to Saul.
He fled down to his house, but Saul sent men to watch for him and to
kill him in the morning. So Michal, his wife, persuaded him to fly that
night, for she was sure he would be slain.
Michal was Saul's daughter, and she loved David. So she let him down
through a window, and he escaped.
Then Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a
goat's-hair pillow for a bolster and covered it with a cloth.
And when Saul's messengers came to take David, Michal said: "He is
sick."
Then Saul sent back the messengers and ordered them to bring David in
his bed!
But when the messengers came in, there was only an image in the bed,
and David was far away!
So it went on, till David was hunted from place to place, all over the
land, and driven, with the men of war who followed him, to live in the
mountains, and among rocks and caves, to get away from Saul's vengeance.
One day, as Saul was pursuing hotly after David, who he heard was in
the wilderness of Engedi, he was very weary with travel, and finding a
large dark cave, he entered it, and lay down to get some sleep.
Little did Saul guess, that the man he had come to seek was close to
him, and that in the darkness of the cave, and hidden by the jutting
sides, David and his men were quietly watching him.
When Saul had fallen into a deep sleep, David's men whispered to him
that the day had come when the Lord had delivered his enemy into his
hand!
So David went forward, and as he approached Saul, he saw that his
robe, with which he had covered his feet, lay partly on the ground.
So he softly cut off the skirt of Saul's robe, and went back to his
hiding-place.
But David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's robe; and he
hastily forbade his men to touch the king, for was he not the Lord's
anointed?
Presently Saul awoke from his sleep and went out of the cave, and David
followed him and called out to him, "My lord the king!"
And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped and bowed low before him.
And David said to Saul: "Why do you regard men's words, telling you
that I seek your hurt? Look, how this very day the Lord has delivered
you into my hand in the cave, and some bade me kill you; but my eye
has spared you, and I said, 'I will not put forth my hand to hurt the
Lord's anointed!' Moreover, see, my father, here is the skirt of your
robe in my hand! Surely you know now that I have not tried to hurt you,
and yet you have hunted my soul to take it! The Lord is judge between
us; He will plead my cause, and will deliver me out of your hand!"
When David had said these gentle and brave words, Saul said: "Is this
thy voice, my son David?" and Saul lifted up his voice and wept.
Then he said to David: "You have been more honourable than I have, for
you have rewarded me with good, and I have rewarded you with evil.
Therefore may the Lord reward you good for what you have done to me
this day."
And then he went on to tell David that he knew he would be king one
day, and he earnestly begged him to be merciful to his father's house
and not let his name perish out of the land.
So David promised him, before the Lord.
Then Saul went to his home, and David returned to his stronghold.
Saul later on again attempted to capture David, taking with him three
thousand men.
David heard where Saul was camped, and taking Abishai with him, entered
Saul's camp by night.
They found Saul asleep with his captain in a trench, with his men lying
all around.
Abishai wished to kill Saul, but David refused, saying, "Destroy him
not: for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and
be guiltless?"
So they took Saul's spear and water-bottle that was against his head
and got away without anyone seeing them.
So David again spared the life of the man who for years had tried to
kill him.
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