1 Samuel 24:1

DAVID SPARES SAUL'S LIFE AT ENGEDI

This episode is not a variable account of David's sparing Saul's life as recorded in 1 Samuel 24:26. The critical theory of two original documents from which Samuel has been composed is valueless. There has never been discovered any evidence of such alleged "sources," their existence being found only in the imaginations of men. If there had been any such prior documents, then they could be separated from the text here, and there would then exist two different coherent stories of the events recorded; and, until those "two sources" can be produced and compared, the theory remains unproved and unprovable!

It is not any more incredible that David spared Saul's life twice than that he spared it once. We hold both accounts to be absolutely true as recorded. The events are so different that there is no intelligent device by which one can understand them as variable accounts of only one incident.

DAVID HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO KILL KING SAUL

"When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi." Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wild Goats' Rocks. And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him, "Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, `Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" Then David arose and stealthily cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. And afterward David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is the Lords anointed." So David persuaded his men with these words, and Saul rose up and left the cave, and went upon his way."

A sampling of the critical comment here is that, "1Sam. 24,1 Samuel 26 give two versions of the same story";[1] "We have two versions of the same story":[2] etc. (See my chapter introduction, above, for my response to this type of comment.) Caird admitted that, "The writers of both our sources are very accurate in their use of verbs of motion";[3] but he offered no explanation whatever of how "both of those writers" could possibly have been inaccurate in their use of every noun, adverb, adjective and pronoun in both accounts. To us, the admitted accuracy of the verbs of motion is proof of the accuracy of both narratives as they stand in the sacred text.

"Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi" (1 Samuel 24:1). It is a measure of the persistent hatred of Saul that, as soon as he had chased the Philistines out of the country, he resumed his efforts to hunt down David and kill him.

Engedi is an oasis some 600 feet in elevation above the western shore of the Dead Sea, where today there is a small Jewish farm (kibbutz). "There is a copious stream of water that plunges toward the Dead Sea, with five or six waterfalls, skipping like a goat from one ledge to another, hence the name, `The Fountain of the Kid.' The ancient palms and vineyards have vanished, but the petrified leaves still attest the ancient fertility of the place."[4]

"In front of the Wild Goats' Rocks" (1 Samuel 24:2). "This is a reference to the cliffs of Engedi where the wild goats (the ibex) still climb the rocky fastness."[5]

"There was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself" (1 Samuel 24:3), literally, " ... to cover his feet." The last clause here should be understood in the same sense as Judges 3:24. The expression is a euphemism for "using the bathroom," or "going to a restroom."

There was a cave! Indeed there was. Literally hundreds of caves are in that area. However, there was a special cave at Engedi, so large that the Franks called it a labyrinth. The Arabs called it "A Hiding Place," and report that at one time 30,000 people hid themselves in it. The entrance to that cave was very inconspicuous, giving no hint whatever of the size of the interior. Keil, who gave us this information, also stated that, "It is an arguable conjecture that this was the very cave which Saul entered."[6]

"Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, `Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand.'" (1 Samuel 24:4). Part of what the men quoted the Lord as saying to David here is not found in the Bible. There is a warning in this that some "providences" are really not that at all. Jonah's finding the ship to Tarshish ready to sail is another example.

"David cut off the skirt of Saul's robe" (1 Samuel 24:4). Both Young and Keil expressed the opinion that, upon his entry into the cave, Saul laid his robe aside, making it quite easy for David to cut off part of it completely unobserved by Saul. The darkness of such a cave would also have been a factor in this action.

"David's heart smote him" (1 Samuel 24:5). David's great respect for the person of "the Lord's anointed" resulted in his conscience hurting from this `disrespect' of Saul, whose authority over Israel David still honored, and against whom David had never done anything whatsoever.

"Far be it from me ... to stretch forth my hand ... against the Lords anointed" (1 Samuel 24:6). "These words show that no word from Jehovah had come to David telling him to do as he liked to Saul (as his men said in 1 Samuel 24:4)."[7]

"So David persuaded his men" (1 Samuel 24:7). One readily understands why David's men were anxious to kill Saul. They were not nearly as conscientious as their commander, who, it is said, wrote Psalms 57 upon this occasion. "The context shows that David had to use all of his authority to prevent his men from killing Saul."[8]