1 Samuel 26:21

SAUL CONFESSED HIS SIN AND CALLED OFF THE PURSUIT OF DAVID

"Then Saul said, "I have done wrong; return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious to you this day; behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. And David made answer, "Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and fetch it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and deliver me out of all tribulation." Then Saul said to David, "Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them." So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place."

"Return, my son David" (1 Samuel 26:21). If one wonders why David did not trust Saul here, the answer lies in his hypocritical use of the words "my son," not only here, but in 1 Samuel 26:25. They were proof enough that Saul was lying in his teeth, and David instantly knew it.

"I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly" (1 Samuel 26:21). There is nothing that resembles this response in that other occasion at Engedi. "This answer is very different from that of 1 Samuel 24:17-21. Here there is a sense of vexation and of annoyance, not only because his purpose had been frustrated but because his own military arrangements had been so unsoldierlike."[16] These expressions of Saul do not appear to be the words of one truly penitent.