Chapter Overview
Summary
1 Samuel 26 is David's second sparing of Saul — the parallel narrative to chapter 24. Here David and Abishai sneak into Saul's camp at night, finding the king asleep with his spear-stuck-in-the-ground. Abishai urges David to strike, but David refuses with the same theological principle: 'the LORD's anointed' cannot be attacked (vv. 9, 11). Whether ch 24 and ch 26 are two literary renderings of one event or two actual incidents is scholarly disputed — but their theological function is identical: David demonstrates non-retaliation against divine authority.
Notable Variants
The 'LORD's anointed' theology repeated from ch 24; the spear-and-water-jug trophies taken instead of violence; David's 'the LORD will strike' theology at 26:10.
Structural Notes
LXX 1 Samuel 26 has 25 verses matching MT.
The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, "David is hiding on the hill of Hachilah, overlooking the wasteland."
Ziphites' second betrayal tracks MT — echoing 23:19.
Saul set out and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, and with him three thousand of Israel's picked soldiers, to hunt for David in the wilderness of Ziph.
Saul's pursuit with 3,000 chosen troops tracks MT — echoing 24:2.
Saul made camp on the hill of Hachilah, overlooking the wasteland, beside the road. David was staying in the wilderness, and when he learned that Saul had come after him into the wilderness,
Camp location tracks MT.
David sent out scouts and confirmed that Saul had arrived for certain.
David's scouts tracks MT.
David set out and came to the place where Saul had encamped. David observed the spot where Saul was lying, with Abner son of Ner, the commander of his army, beside him. Saul was lying inside the circle of wagons, with the troops camped all around him.
David's reconnaissance tracks MT.
David spoke to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and said, "Who will go down with me into Saul's camp?" Abishai said, "I will go down with you."
Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah track MT. Abishai — brother of Joab, nephew of David (2 Sam 2:18) — is the volunteering companion. The non-Israelite Ahimelech the Hittite is one of the Hebrew Bible's several honored non-Israelite Davidic servants (Uriah the Hittite at 2 Sam 11 is the most famous).
David and Abishai made their way into the camp at night. There was Saul, lying asleep inside the circle of wagons, his spear thrust into the ground by his head. Abner and the troops lay sleeping around him.
Sleeping Saul with spear-at-head tracks MT. The 'spear stuck into the ground by his head' is an emphatic royal-identification marker.
Abishai said to David, "God has handed your enemy over to you today. Now let me pin him to the ground with a single thrust of the spear — I will not need a second."
Abishai's 'let me pin him with a single thrust' tracks MT — echoing David's men's 'this is the day' at 24:4.
David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him. For who has ever raised his hand against the LORD's anointed and remained innocent?"
Masoretic (WLC)
אַל־תַּשְׁחִיתֵהוּ כִּי מִי שָׁלַח יָדוֹ בִּמְשִׁיחַ יְהוָה וְנִקָּה
Do not destroy him. For who has ever raised his hand against the LORD's anointed and remained innocent?
Septuagint (LXX)
μὴ διαφθείρῃς αὐτόν ὅτι τίς ἐποίσει τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ χριστὸν κυρίου καὶ ἀθῳωθήσεται
Do not destroy him. For who can lay his hand on the Lord's anointed and be held guiltless?
The principle of ch 24:6 is repeated and explicitly universalized: 'who has ever raised his hand against the LORD's anointed and remained innocent?' The rhetorical question assumes the answer: no one.
Zechariah 2:8 ('whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye') and Jesus' 'whoever rejects you rejects me' (Luke 10:16) extend this LORD's-anointed-sacredness principle Christologically and ecclesiologically.
David said, "As the LORD lives, the LORD himself will strike him — either his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and be swept away.
David's 'the LORD himself will strike him' tracks MT. Three-mode death-prediction (divine strike, natural death, death in battle) — the third will prove correct at 1 Sam 31.
The LORD forbid that I should raise my hand against the LORD's anointed! But take the spear by his head and the water jug, and let us go."
David's spear-and-water-jug grab tracks MT — analogous to the cut-robe-corner of ch 24.
David took the spear and the water jug from beside Saul's head, and they left. No one saw. No one knew. No one woke — because all of them were asleep, for a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them.
'The LORD had caused a deep sleep to fall on them' — divine-sleep agency — tracks MT. The tardema ('deep sleep') is the same word as Adam's creation-sleep (Gen 2:21) and Abraham's covenant-sleep (Gen 15:12). David's night-raid is divinely-facilitated.
David crossed over to the far side and stood on top of a hill at a distance — a wide gap between them.
David crossing to a distant hill tracks MT.
David called out to the troops and to Abner son of Ner: "Are you not going to answer, Abner?" Abner answered, "Who are you, calling out to the king?"
David's shout to Abner tracks MT.
David said to Abner, "Are you not a man? And who is your equal in all Israel? Then why did you not guard your lord the king? Someone entered the camp to destroy the king, your lord.
David's rebuke of Abner tracks MT. 'You did not guard your lord' — a public indictment of the commander's failure.
What you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you all deserve death, because you did not guard your lord — the LORD's anointed! Now look — where is the king's spear? And where is the water jug that was beside his head?"
'You deserve death' accusation tracks MT. The spear-and-water-jug trophies are the physical proof of Abner's security-failure.
Saul recognized David's voice and said, "Is that your voice, my son David?" David said, "It is my voice, my lord the king."
Saul's voice-recognition tracks MT — echoing 24:16.
He said, "Why does my lord pursue his servant? What have I done? What wrong is in my hand?
David's plea tracks MT.
Now please, my lord the king, hear the words of your servant. If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me, let him be appeased by an offering. But if it is human beings, let them be cursed before the LORD, because they have driven me out today from sharing in the LORD's inheritance, saying in effect, 'Go serve other gods.'
'If it is the LORD who stirred you up' vs. 'if it is men' tracks MT. David distinguishes divine-judgment from human-slander — the former can be appeased by offering; the latter deserves cursing.
So now, do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the LORD's face. The king of Israel has come out to hunt a single flea — like someone chasing a partridge through the hills."
'A single flea … partridge in the mountains' self-deprecation tracks MT. The partridge (perdix) was common game, and the chase — unprofitable pursuit of trivial quarry — is David's characterization of Saul's ongoing manhunt.
Saul said, "I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I will not harm you again, because you treated my life as precious today. I have played the fool — I have gone badly, badly astray."
Saul's confession tracks MT. 'I have played the fool' (ēmartēka kai memōraka) — the 'fool' vocabulary closes the chapter-25 Nabal echo: everyone who opposes David becomes a 'fool.'
David answered, "Here is the king's spear. Let one of the young men come over and retrieve it.
David's return-the-spear offer tracks MT.
The LORD repays each person according to his righteousness and faithfulness. The LORD gave you into my hand today, but I refused to raise my hand against the LORD's anointed.
'The LORD repays according to righteousness and faithfulness' tracks MT. The retribution-theology undergirds David's ethics: God, not David, is the avenger.
Just as your life was precious in my eyes today, so may my life be precious in the LORD's eyes, and may he deliver me from every distress."
The 'precious in the LORD's eyes' formula tracks MT. 'Precious' (timios) is the NT's vocabulary for the preserved-worth of saints (1 Pet 2:7, 1 Pet 3:4, 2 Pet 1:1, 4).
Saul said to David, "Blessed are you, my son David. You will certainly accomplish great things, and you will surely prevail." David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.
Saul's double blessing tracks MT. 'You will certainly accomplish great things, and you will surely prevail' — Saul's final theological-acknowledgment of David's destiny. The two never meet again — their final conversation is this reconciliation.