“Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats.” (v1,2).
Evidently the battle with the Philistines was over, and, almost without taking breath, Saul resumes his search for David. He took 3,000 select men (not just any) and went after David. One would have thought that his mind would still be concerned with real enemies, but he is still obsessed with getting rid of David. It had only been a temporary distraction. One could have been forgiven for thinking that Saul would have been reminded of their great battle against the Philistines when David killed Goliath. Surely the memories would come flooding back. Also, the many other occasions when David had fought for him, even the recent occasion when David had fought the Philistines when they attacked Keilah whilst he was on the run. David’s loyalty was overwhelming, but Saul ignored it and carried on with his own personal war against his most loyal supporter. No more so do we see this in this chapter. We must always be aware that the enemy rarely gives up and we must be prayerful and on our guard.
The En Gedi canyon runs westward from the Dead Sea. One can still see the good-sized creek flowing down the canyon, making En Gedi, with its waterfalls and vegetation seem more like a tropical paradise than the middle of the desert. There are also numerous caves which provided hiding places for David and his men, also with good viewpoints and plenty of water and wildlife.
Saul came to the sheepfolds and went into a cave to attend the call of nature(v3). David and his men were in there hiding. What an opportunity for David! His men are excited – “This is the day of which The LORD said to you, “Behold I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you. “He’s come right into your hands””.
We are not told when The LORD had given him that message and his men believed that this was his opportunity to bring this to pass (v4-7). We are never justified in going against God’s law (sinning) to bring about God’s promise.
We must trust Him to bring it about. David knew how to wait God’s timing and so must we.
They recognized that God had delivered Saul into David’s hands and encouraged him do his worst. He must have almost got carried away, but he restrained himself. David cut off the corner of Saul’s robe (v4). I guess he had taken it off and left it somewhere while he did whatever he was doing there. Even this troubled David. It was as if he had killed Saul – he had dared to raise his hand against The LORD’s anointed and it troubled him, even though he had only cut off the corner of his robe (v5). David is described as ‘a man after God’s own heart’. He knew right from wrong and what he had done still troubled him. He restrained his men from assaulting Saul and Saul left the cave still not knowing what had taken place.
David followed Saul outside (v8) and bowed down to him, and called out to him, “My lord the king”. It was very risky to reveal himself to Saul and his men, Saul could easily have killed him on the spot, but he revered the king despite Saul’s evil plots against him, he was still loyal and recognized him as king, and said, (my paraphrase v9-15) “Why do you listen to the words of men who say that I seek to do you harm. Look! Today I could have killed you – The LORD brought you into my hands, but I spared you because you are The LORD’s anointed, and I will not lift my hand against you. See I have the corner of your robe which I have cut off just now. I have been that close but didn’t kill you. I wish you no harm, yet you seek to kill me.”
David placed his future in God’s hands, he sought no revenge and was content for God to be his judge. He had a clear conscience. (v12-15)
Saul often appears to be self-righteous, hypocritical, sorry and condescending. He said, “Is that your voice, my son David? And he wept. He went on “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil…. And now I know that you shall surely be king.” (v16-20)
This seemed to be a turning point in Saul’s life. I’m not sure that there was a total truce, but seemed to give up his war against David by recognizing that David would be the next king (v21). Saul went to his home, but David and his men went to the strongholds in En Gedi. Saul did not take David to his palace or even send him back to his own home, which one would have expected if indeed Saul had been genuine in his words of penitence.
Maybe David no longer had a home because of Saul – in 22:1 we read that his brothers and all his father’s house had come to join his band. If he was genuine, why didn’t he restore David and his family to their home? We shall see that Saul’s tears were ‘crocodile tears’. He said all the right things but after all, he had been in a corner with his back to the wall.
David was happy to make the promise regarding Saul’s family, after all he and Jonathan were like brothers, and we shall see that kept his promise, but I don’t think he trusted Saul for one moment. Saul asked David to promise to preserve his descendants, and David did so (v21).
A person may repent and claim to confess their sin, but it must lead to a changed heart, and their actions must accord with the same. Let us pray that it will be definite and not just some passing emotion. There must be true repentance otherwise it will not last. There must be compete obedience to God. We may not have the ability to look into a person’s heart like God can, but the Bible says that we can know a person by the fruit they produce in their lives.
