What happens at the beginning of the chapter concerning the Ziphites is similar to what happened earlier, 1 Samuel 23:10-24:22. Once again they reported to Saul where David was located, 1 Samuel 26:1. They obviously didn’t believe that David would become king because of their loyalty to Saul.
Notice how many selected men Saul had with him, three thousand, 1 Samuel 26:2. He always appears to have this number of men around him, 1 Samuel 13:2 / 1 Samuel 24:2. When Saul was informed about David’s location, he once again went out to find him and kill him. He appears to have forgotten that David spared his life earlier in the cave of En Gedi, 1 Samuel 24:1-22. While Saul camped on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon, David stayed in the wilderness, 1 Samuel 26:3. When David saw that Saul had followed him, he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived, 1 Samuel 26:4.
David heads out to get Saul and when he does he sees where Saul and Abner, the commander of the army, had lain down, 1 Samuel 26:5. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him, 1 Samuel 26:5.David then asks Ahimelek and Abishai if they were willing to go to Saul’s camp with him and they agree, 1 Samuel 26:6.
Abishai, along with Joab and Asahel were children of Zeruiah, who according to 1 Chronicles 2:16, was a sister of David. Abishai saved David’s life in one of the Philistine wars, 2 Samuel 21:17, was implicated in the murder of Abner, 2 Samuel 3:30, and remained faithful to David during the rebellion of Absalom.
When David arrived at the camp with Abishai, they found Saul and his spear stuck in the ground near his head, 1 Samuel 26:7. Abishai eagerly wanted to kill Saul, but David stopped him, because Saul at this point was still, the Lord’s anointed, 1 Samuel 26:8-9 / 1 Samuel 24:5 / Romans 13:1. Once again we see David’s respect for Saul and God.
David knew that the Lord Himself would strike Saul, he knew that when God judged His anointed, as He did Saul, then it was the Lord’s business to remove His anointed, not David’s, 1 Samuel 26:10. They managed to get in and out with the spear and water jug without wakening anyone because the Lord had put Saul and his men into a deep sleep, 1 Samuel 26:11-12.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the deep sleep, 1 Samuel 26:12.
‘It is the same word, which is used, Genesis 2:21, to describe the sleep which God caused to fall upon Adam, when he formed Eve out of his side.’
David now crosses over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away, there was a wide space between them, 1 Samuel 26:13. He calls out to the army and to Abner and says aren’t you going to answer me, Abner? And Abner replied, who are you who calls to the king? 1 Samuel 26:14. David says you’re a man, aren’t you? and asks him, ‘who is like you in Israel?’ 1 Samuel 26:15. This was a high compliment that David paid to Abner, and it was sincere, which is fully shown in David’s song at Abner’s death, 2 Samuel 3:31-34 / 2 Samuel 3:38.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This incidental testimony to Abner’s great eminence as a warrior is fully borne out by David’s dirge at Abner’s death, 2 Samuel 3:31-34 / 2 Samuel 3:38, as well as by his whole history. At the same time David’s bantering tone in regard to Abner, coupled with what he says in 1 Samuel 26:19, makes it probable that David attributed Saul’s persecution of him in some degree to Abner. Abner would be likely to dread a rival in the young conqueror of Judah, 2 Samuel 2:8.’
David here rebukes Abner because he wasn’t doing his job properly in protecting the king. He deserved the death penalty because he failed to protect, Saul, the Lord’s anointed1 Samuel 26:15-16. The proof that he didn’t do his job was in the fact that David had Saul’s spear and water jug, 1 Samuel 26:16.
Saul once again recognised David’s voice as he did earlier, 1 Samuel 26:17. The difference is found in David’s response. Earlier at En Gedi, David addressed Saul as ‘my father’, 1 Samuel 24:11, and Saul here sought the same kind of response from David, but David no longer used that terminology.
Saul had given his wife Michal to Palti, 1 Samuel 25:44, and there were no grounds whatever, either for Saul’s words, ‘my son’, or for David’s responding with, ‘my father’. It’s possible because Saul uses these words that David sees how much of a hypocrite Saul has become.
David replies to Saul and calls him his lord the king, 1 Samuel 26:17 and David once again proclaims his innocence, 1 Samuel 26:18, and once again he encourages Saul to think about what he is doing, 1 Samuel 26:19 / 1 Samuel 16:1 / 1 Samuel 16:14.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘David advises Saul to seek God’s pardon, and, as a consequence, the removal of the evil spirit, by offering a sacrifice. But if the persecution was the consequence of the false accusations of slanderers, then ‘cursed’ be his enemies who, by their actions, drove David out from the only land where Yahweh was worshipped, and forced him to take refuge in the country of pagan and idolaters (compare Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 28:36.’
He was searching for an insignificant flea, 1 Samuel 24:14, or a single partridge in the mountains, 1 Samuel 26:20. In other words, David rebuked Saul for wasting his time chasing and hunting down David. David’s confidence was in God and he knew that God would deal with Saul on His own timetable and so there was no point in taking his life.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the partridge, 1 Samuel 26:20.
‘It is worthy of remark that the Arabs, observing that partridges, being put up several times, soon become so weary as not to be able to fly; they in this manner hunt them upon the mountains, till at last they can knock them down with their clubs. It was in this manner that Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon him, and putting him up from time to time, in hopes that he should at length, by frequent repetitions of it, be able to destroy him.’
Saul’s confession of sin, 1 Samuel 26:21, isn’t the same but similar to the same confession he made after David had the chance to kill him at the cave of En Gedi, 1 Samuel 24:17-21. Saul here admits he acted like a fool and had got David all wrong, 1 Samuel 26:21, but he doesn’t appear to be truly repentant. David shows Saul the spear he took earlier, 1 Samuel 26:12, and invites one of Saul’s young men come over and get it, 1 Samuel 26:22.
David says the LORD rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness and the LORD delivered Saul into his hands today, but he wouldn’t lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed, 1 Samuel 26:23. He says as surely as he has valued Saul’s life today, so may the LORD value his life and deliver him from all trouble, 1 Samuel 26:24.
Saul couldn’t handle David’s kindness and just behaviour because David was everything he wanted to be and was supposed to be. He tells David that he will do great things and surely triumph, 1 Samuel 26:25. It appears that Saul was speaking prophetic words but didn’t realise it.