1 Samuel 24:16

SAUL'S TEARFUL RESPONSE TO DAVID'S WORDS

"When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, "Is this your voice, my son David"? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, "You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. And your have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house." And David sware this to Saul. Then Saul went home; but David and his men went up to the stronghold."

"You are more righteous than I" (1 Samuel 24:17). These are the very words that Judah spoke to his daughter-in-law Tamar, whom he was in the act of burning to death for adultery (Genesis 38:26). What could either Judah or Saul have meant by words like these? What `righteousness' could either one of them have claimed that was worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as that of the persons addressed? "Saul should have said, `Thou art righteous; but I am wicked.'"[14]

"David knew Saul too well to trust him and therefore returned to the stronghold. It is dangerous venturing upon the mercy of a reconciled enemy. We read of men who believed in Christ, but Christ did not commit himself to them, `because he knew all men.'"[15] "David, with his intuitive wisdom, perceived that the softening of Saul's feelings was only momentary, and that the situation remained unchanged."[16]

"David and his men went up to the stronghold" (1 Samuel 24:22). Engedi was 700 feet below sea level; and that stronghold to which David and his men went up to seems to have been at some higher elevation in the highlands of southern Judah. Some scholars suggest that it might have been the cave of Adullam, but Willis rejected that idea and wrote that, "The writer had in mind the stronghold of Engedi."[17] This seems to be correct, in which case, "went up to" would mean that the conversation with Saul had taken place at some lower level than that of the stronghold. Many questions of this nature are unanswerable without more information than is provided in the sacred text.