1 Samuel 26: Double Testimony

Upon reading 1 Samuel 26, I was unsure if I wanted to write a devotional commentary on 1 Samuel 26 because I didn’t feel like I had nothing new to add. The reason I felt like I had nothing new to add was because 1 Samuel 26 reflects 1 Samuel 24 to a great extent. 1 Samuel 26 and 1 Samuel 24 are so similar it has led some scholars to even believe that 1 Samuel 26 is a re-telling of 1 Samuel 24. So is it? I’m going to briefly re-tell the story, putting in a few points. Then we’ll compare and contrast, and we’ll come to a conclusion.

Just like in 1 Samuel 23:19, Ziphites rat out David to Saul. This is quite the surprise. The Ziphites are from the tribe of Judah, just like David. You would think the Ziphites would be friends of David then. Instead, they side with Saul. Perhaps the Ziphites fear Saul as the king, so they submit to his every will. Maybe the Ziphites fear David and hope that King Saul’s force can get rid of him. Whatever the reason, the Ziphites keep a watchful eye. The minute David and his men are back in the Desert of Ziph, the Ziphites report it to Saul. Saul immediately heads to Desert of Ziph. The minute Saul the Desert of Ziph, David sends scouts to watch every moment.

After scouting David, David himself wants to go down to Saul’s camp to check it out. David doesn’t want to attract too much attention, so he only asks for one volunteer to come with him. The volunteer is Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, and the nephew of David (1 Chroincles 2:16). The two of them go at night. Since it is night, when the two men arrive, Saul’s entire camp is asleep, leading Saul wide open for a possible attack. Abishai tells David that God has delivered Saul into David’s hand yet again. Since God has done this a second, surely this must be God’s sign that Saul is indeed in David’s hands, to do as David pleases, and David should kill him. Well, that’s Abishai’s interpretation. David interprets the scene as God handing over Saul to David, but not in a violent matter. David believes that when the time comes for Saul to die, he will die in battle, in disease or in old age. Either way, it’s not going to be by the hand of David. Instead of killing David, David takes Saul’s water jug and the spear. The water jug and the spear have both practical meaning and symbolic meaning. The water jug obviously contained water for Saul to drink. In the hot Judean deserts, it’s easy to become dehydrated. Saul needed that water for hydration. By taking the water jug, Saul’s health was in David’s hands. The spear is a weapon used in battle to kill. It provides protection of life in battle. Spears also can be a sign of authority. When David takes away the spear, David removes Saul’s protection and authority. Saul’s protection and authority is now David’s hands. Truly the Lord has given over Saul into the hands of David! If anyone needs further proof, check out verse 12, which explains that David and Abishai were able to do this because the Lord himself put everyone in a deep sleep.

Once David and Abishai are a safe distance from Saul’s camp, David calls out to Abner, the commander of Saul’s army. David mockingly taunts Abner, whose suppose to be one of the best soldiers in Israel, for leaving the king of Israel wide open for attack. In that mocking taunt, David also lays down judgment on Abner. David says Abner and his men deserve to be punished for leaving the king of Israel, the Lord’s anointed, exposed for attack. This connects well with verse 9. Not only are those who attack the Lord’s anointed guilty, but also those who allow the Lord’s anointed to be attacked.

From the yelling back and forth between David and Abner, Saul wakes up. Unlike Abner, who had to ask for the man’s identity, Saul immediately recognizes the man as David because of his voice alone. Once David acknowledges Saul’s recognition, David again asks Saul why Saul is pursuing David. David reasons someone or something must be antagonizing Saul to do so. If it’s God antagonizing Saul, then David proposes that the proper offerings would be made to repair and restore the relationship. If it’s any human being antagonizing Saul, David brings down a curse to that man/those men because of all the hardship such a person/people has brought upon David, his men, and his family.

When Saul realizes it’s David, and also realizes his water jug and spear are missing, he is amazed at the mercy and grace that has fallen over him. It leads King Saul to confess his sin again. Saul even calls himself a fool for erring greatly by trying to harm David. Saul begs for David to come back, but he doesn’t. No one can blame David for doing so. This scene has already happened before, and Saul didn’t change then. Instead, to show good measure, David returns the spear to Saul. Once again, consider the symbolism. David hands the protection and authority back to Saul. He does not keep the spear’s protection and authority for himself because he trusts and relies on God for protection and authority.

The stories do have remarkable similarities. Both stories have David in a desert. In both stories, David takes back some kind of evidence to prove how close he was to Saul. Both stories have someone interpreting Saul being wide open for attack as Saul in David’s hands. In both stories David refuses to act violently towards Saul. Both stories also have Saul confessing doing what is wrong and then proclaiming David to have a grand future. At the same times, the stories have differences. In chapter 24, David is in the Desert of En Gedi, while in chapter 26, David is in the Desert of Ziph. In chapter 24, David cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe, but in chapter 24, David takes the water jug and the spear In chapter 26, David purposely visits Saul, while in chapter 24, Saul ends up in the same cave as David by pure accident. Chapter 26 also adds Abner in the story. So are 1 Samuel 24 and 1 Samuel 26 the same story or different?

I believe these two stories are different. While they share similarities, their differences are too great to harmonize into one story. So why have 2 similar stories together? I like how the New Bible Commentary puts it: double testimony. David is given a second (some say third) test to see what he’ll do when Saul’s life is put in his hands. David resists the temptation to kill Saul, but does show Saul how close he was. That’s what makes David such a great king. Time after time, temptation after temptation, no matter how many times the good deal is thrown in David’s face, David can refuse, and he’ll always do the right thing. So a man after God’s heart is one who can refuse the temptation to sin, time after time.