- WHEN
David saw that Saul wanted to kill him, he fled into the wilderness. Saul
said, "He shall surely die."
- At one time David was
hiding with a few men in a great cave near the Dead Sea. They were far
back in the darkness of the cave, when they saw Saul come into the cave
alone and lie down to sleep. David's men whispered to him, "Now is the
time of which the Lord said, 'I will give your enemy into your hands, and
you may do to him whatever you please."
- Then David went toward
Saul very quietly with his sword in his hand. His men thought he would
kill Saul, but instead, he only cut off a part of Saul's long robe.
- As Saul left the cave,
David called out from a distance, "My lord the king! See this piece of
your robe I have cut off? Could I not have killed you? Truly I will not
lay my hand on you."
- Not long afterwards Saul
was again seeking David in the wilderness of Judah with three thousand men.
From his hiding place in the mountains David looked down on the plain and
saw Saul's camp. That night David and one of his men descended quietly and
walked into the middle of Saul's camp, while all his guards were asleep.
Saul himself was sleeping, with his spear standing in the ground at his
head, and a bottle of water near it.
- David's follower knew
that David would not kill King Saul, and he said to David, "God has given
your enemy into your hand again. Let me strike him through to the ground
at one stroke - only once; I will not need to strike twice."
- But David said, "You
shall not destroy him. Who can strike the anointed of the Lord without
being guilty of a crime? Let the Lord strike him, or let him die when God
wills it, but he shall not die by my hand. Let us take his spear and his
water bottle, and let us go."
- They walked out of the
camp without awakening anyone. In the morning David called out to Saul's
men, "Why have you not kept watch over your king? See, here is the king's
spear and his bottle of water!"
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