1 Samuel Week 21

June 9, 2026

All Scripture are in NIV format unless otherwise noted.

1 Samuel 24:1-2

“1 After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” 2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.”

Here we go again, Saul goes and addresses the issue with the Philistines and when he is done, he then takes 3000 men to go after David once again. Saul has to know that Daivd only has an army of about 600 men, why take so many men? Have you ever thought of the cost there is for Saul to hunt down David? He has 3000 men he has to feed, provide drinks for, and all other aspects of what they needed, in this search, and the searches he has already made. Saul was not concerned about expense to fulfill his own will. Crazy to me. It talks about the crags and wild goats here as well, crags are steep rugged cliffs and jagged rock faces, meaning, it was a great place for people to hide, and once hidden, almost impossible to find them. This place was also known as the “Rock of the Wild Goats”. Obviously, David knew the best place to go and to hide since he knew the land so well.

1 Samuel 24:3-4

“3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.”

So, as Saul and his men were pursuing David, Saul has to go to the bathroom, and in doing so, he goes into the very cave where David and his men are hiding. David’s army takes this as a sign that God had given Saul into the hands of David, and David is thinking they are right, so he sneaks up there while Saul is doing his thing but he only cuts off a corner of the robe of the king.

1 Samuel 24:5-7

“5 Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” 7 With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.”

So, after David cuts off the corner of the king’s robe, he has deep conviction. You see, David understood the position that Saul held. He understood that King Saul was in the position he had because God gave it to him. God put him there. David then even goes into why he is convicted, that Saul is the anointed of God. Remember, Samuel came and anointed David king, so he understood that the position of the king is an anointing from God and God alone! David then rebukes his army as well and lets them know they were wrong for thinking God had delivered Saul into their hands, and after his rebuke, he lets Saul leave the cave unharmed. He knew that was the will of God, and David knew that God would fulfill His will His own way. Honestly, I think that David never heard from God to kill Saul and the conviction of just touching the garment of the anointed king was enough to show David it was the wrong path to take. How many times in your life did something look like it was a God thing, and when you acted upon it, it was not a God thing, it was a “my will” thing? After you proceeded with what you were doing, you had strong conviction from doing it and even consequences. I go back to what I said before, make sure you seek God FIRST before moving.

1 Samuel 24:8-10

“8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 9 He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? 10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’”

Saul leaves the cave and David runs after him, he was cut to the heart with guilt because this was the chosen of God, and David runs out of the cave and calls to Saul and as Saul looks at him, David falls prostrate to the ground. We talked before that falling prostrate was a sign of respect and submission, even if Saul was wrong. David then addresses the issue: David says why do you listen to other people when they tell you that I’m trying to kill you? David then tells Saul, look, I could have killed you in the cave, in fact, my men encouraged it and told me God had delivered you into my hands, but David has such great respect for the man God put into the position of king, he would not touch the Lord’s anointed. This is powerful, as much as Saul pursued David, if I was David, I would probably want this guy dead. But David understood the Lord and understood how all things work, how God wants them to work, not from man’s heart. I also believe that since David knew he was going to be king, he would want to be respected the same way he showed respect.

1 Samuel 24:11-13

“11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. 12 May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. 13 As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.”

David then says, look, see how I cut this piece of your robe off? If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead. He says, this proves I mean no harm and that I have done no wrong to you. What I think David is saying here is if there was ill will in my heart towards you, I could have acted on it, but instead I did not, I honored the Lord in regards to your life. David reiterates there is nothing evil in his heart and that because his hands did not commit an act of evil, it proves that there is no evil in his heart.

1 Samuel 24:14-15

“14 Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? 15 May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.”

David then tells the king, with me showing what is in my heart, why are you still pursuing me? He asks a silly question if you will, who are you pursuing, a dead dog, a flea? Meaning this, a dead dog was seen as despised and a flea represented insignificance. Basically, the king is treating David as having no value even after all David had done for the king. David then proclaims that the Lord needs to be the judge between the two’s motives and that God will deliver David from the hand of Saul, which is exactly what had been happening so far. Every time Saul has pursued David, something happened to keep Saul from David; we know by Whom he is walking out the will of God.

1 Samuel 24:16-17

“16 When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud. 17 “You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly.”

David finishes his statement and the first thing Saul says is, “Is that you David”? Of course, he knows it is David, he knows his voice, and he is looking at him, even though he is probably still prostate on the ground. Saul then declares that David is more righteous than himself, which we already know, but Saul then says, “I see that you have treated me better than I have treated you. You could have taken my life in this cave but did not, and yet, I have been pursuing you, more than once, with many men, to take your life.”

1 Samuel 24:18-19

“18 You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. 19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today.”

Saul then talks about the condition of David’s heart. He admits the Lord delivered him into David’s hands, but because he has a righteous heart, and understand the king is anointed of God, you spared my life. Saul then alludes to the fact that when other men find an enemy of theirs in a situation like Saul was in, they would always put them to death. There is a KEY here: Saul clearly sees David as an enemy, he tells David, if you see your ENEMY, you will kill him. The fact here is this though, David NEVER saw Saul as an enemy, it was only Saul seeing David as an enemy, and God showed Saul it just was not what Saul thought. Saul then speaks a blessing over David for the Lord to reward him for his wisdom and respect for the king. Even though Saul is walking in total opposition to the Lord, he still calls down blessings from heaven.

1 Samuel 24:20-21

“20 I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. 21 Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.”

Saul then does something for the first time recorded in Scripture; he declares that he knows David will be king and this is a revelation of why Saul was pursuing him. Saul declares David will be king not just over Judah, but over all of Israel. Saul then does something that Jonathan already did; he makes David promise to not wipe out the descendants of Saul. You see, in those days, when a new king came into power, to prevent any issues, the new king would wipe out the whole family line of the previous king. This shows us how Jonathan and Saul knew David would be king; they both asked for this oath to be made.

1 Samuel 24:22

“22 So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.”

David then makes this oath to Saul. Listen, I don’t know about you all, but if it was custom in those days to wipe out a family when a new king was installed, and I was that king, and the old king chased me around for many years to kill me, it would be hard for me to make this oath to the king. I am just saying, from my perspective it would be hard, but David, he does not even hesitate here, he makes the oath to Saul and goes on his way.  This shows how much he loved Saul! David served under him and he loved Saul and Jonathan for sure, so this oath was not a difficult one for him. Then they go their separate ways, Saul went home to Gibeah which was where his royal residence was, and David went back to the stronghold of En Gedi.

1 Samuel 25:1

“1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.”

Now we see the death of Samuel, the well-known and well-respected priest and judge. It is estimated with the Jewish calendar that Samuel lived between 98 to 100 years old. Obviously, he was known all around so all of the people mourned, as we read before, he was a good man full of integrity and justice. Therefore, everybody mourned. David moving to the Desert of Paran was important because this area was a sanctuary area in which David could go in order to avoid the pursuit of Saul. This area provided physical protection and solitude for David and his men so they could also get rested up.

1 Samuel 25:2-3

“2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.”

Now we are going to be introduced to Nabal, he was a very wealthy man who lived in Carmel. He was married to Abigail, and all of this will be important later in the book of 1 Samuel. Abigail was a very wise and beautiful woman but her husband, in plain words, was flat out mean and ignorant, as we will see soon.

1 Samuel 25:4-8

“4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! 7 “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore, be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”

There is a lot of Scripture here, but you can see what this is talking about. David hears of Nabal and the men that were with his men at Carmel. David’s men shared with them and did not take anything from them and helped them, this was a big deal in those days, people tried to rob and steal, just like today. David was sending his blessings to Nabal and asked for some help from him, just as he had helped his men. He simply asked that as he and his men traveled that Nabal would provide for them. Now remember once again, it listed how wealthy this guy was and how many animals he had, way more than enough to feed David and his men.

1 Samuel 25:9-11

“9 When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited. 10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

As described already, Nabal answers the way you would expect, he renounces David and even of knowing of him, even though, you know his men had to have told him of David and the help he gave. I believe Nabal did not want to admit it; this way he could reject the men from David. He declares that since he did not know this David, who helped him, by helping his men, it was a way that he was not going to have to help these men either.

1 Samuel 25:12-13

“12 David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13 David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So, they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.”

So, David’s men return to him and honestly, David reacts out of emotion, I think he is really mad, which he had a right to be, but he then straps on his sword and has 400 men in his army do the same. He does leave 200 men to protect the supplies, but it is obvious that we know what David has in mind to do here. If you notice, David did NOT inquire of God first!

1 Samuel 25:14-17

“14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”

One of Nabal’s servants overheard the conversation with Nabal and David’s men, and he knew it was going to bring trouble on all of them, they all knew who David was, including Nabal in my mind. This man then explained to Abigail how good David’s men were to them when they were at Carmel. Honestly, if Nabal would have asked his men when David’s men were there, he could have found out how good they were to them, unless he already knew and did not admit it, but his heart was so wicked and selfish, that he did not ask, he did not want to hear the answer or the truth. The man tells Abigail they surrounded us and protected us the whole time we were with them, night and day. This man knows something bad is going to happen, so he asks Abigail to figure out how to get out of this because the wicked man Nabal, as he always did, spoke with hatred and selfishness.