1 Samuel 26:11

_THE LORD FORBID THAT I SHOULD STRETCH FORTH MINE HAND AGAINST THE LORD'S ANOINTED: BUT, I PRAY THEE, TAKE THOU NOW THE SPEAR THAT IS AT HIS BOLSTER, AND THE CRUSE OF WATER, AND LET US GO._ The spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water. The Oriental spear had, and still has, a spike at the lower extremity, intended for the purpose of sticking the spear into the ground when the warrior is at rest. This common custom of Arab sheikhs was also the practice of the Hebrew chiefs. AT HIS BOLSTER - literally, 'at his head.' But perhaps Saul, as a sovereign, had the distinguished luxury of a bolster carried for him. A "cruse of water" is usually, in warm climates, kept near a person's couch, as a draught in the night-time is found very refreshing. Saul's cruse would probably be of superior materials, or more richly ornamented than common ones, and therefore by its size or form be ea...

1-12 How soon do unholy hearts lose the good impressions convictions have made upon them! How helpless were Saul and all his men! All as though disarmed and chained, yet nothing is done to them; they are only asleep. How easily can God weaken the strongest, befool the wisest, and baffle the most watchful! David still resolved to wait till God thought fit to avenge him on Saul. He will by no means force his way to the promised crown by any wrong methods. The temptation was very strong; but if he yielded, he would sin against God, therefore he resisted the temptation, and trusted God with the event....

DAVID A SECOND TIME SPARES SAUL'S LIFE (1 Samuel 26:1.). EXPOSITION SAUL, ON INFORMATION FROM THE ZIPHITES, AGAIN SEEKS TO DESTROY DAVID (1 Samuel 26:1). 1 SAMUEL 26:1 THE ZIPHITES CAME UNTO SAUL. There are so many points of similarity between this narrative and that contained in 1

THE LORD FORBID THAT I SHOULD STRETCH FORTH MINE HAND AGAINST THE LORD'S ANOINTED,.... Or suffer any about him to do it; he speaks of it with the utmost detestation and abhorrence: BUT, I PRAY THEE, TAKE THOU NOW THE SPEAR THAT [IS] AT HIS BOLSTER; not to smite him with, as he desired, but to carry off, and was no other than his sceptre; 1 Samuel 20:33; AND THE CRUSE OF WATER; which stood in the same place, as appears by 1 Samuel 26:12. Some take this to be a pot to make water in; others an hourglass, to know the time of night, in which not sand, but water, flowed for that purpose: but rather this was for his refreshment should he be hot and thirsty in the night, or to purify him from any nocturnal pollution that might happen; for, according to Clem

CHAPTER 26 _ 1. The Ziphites and Saul's pursuit (1 Samuel 26:1)_ 2. David again spares Saul (1 Samuel 26:5) 3. David's words to Abner (1 Samuel 26:13) 4. David's words to Saul (1 Samuel 26:17) 5. Saul's confession and David's reply (1 Samuel 26:21) Hachilah, where we find David now, was six miles east of Ziph and about halfway to En-gedi. The Ziphites once more reveal his hiding place to Saul. And Saul was rushing forward to his doom when with his three thousand chosen men he took up the

1 SAMUEL 26. DAVID SPARES SAUL IN THE WILDERNESS OF ZIPH (J). From one of the oldest sources (_cf._ on ch. 24). 1 SAMUEL 26:1 TO 1 SAMUEL 12:1 f. repeats briefly the substance and part of the wording of 1 Samuel 23:19: David is in the wilderness of Ziph, and Saul pursues him. But instead of the sequel given in 1 Samuel 23, we have another version of the story in 1 Samuel 24 of David's generous treatment of Saul. David learns that Saul is again pursuing him and is in his immediate neighbourhood: of a certainty is clearly wrong, and RVm, to a set place, is not much more likely. There may be a scribal error, and the name of a place may have stood here originally. David went to see for hims

CRUSE, or, flask....

Saul's life again in David's power 5. _in the trench_ See on 1 Samuel 17:20. The Sept. rendering "in a chariot" is a mistake....

SO DAVID AND ABISHAI CAME TO THE PEOPLE, &C.— This was a bold and hazardous undertaking, which would have been certain death to David had he been discovered. But David was bold and intrepid; and his and Abishai's gallantry in this affair deserves certainly to be no less celebrated than that of Ulysses and Diomed, when they went as spies to the Trojan camp. But there is more in David to be commended than his gallantry. Who can help admiring his magnanimity and piety? What man, but David, with a crown so near in view, would have resisted the fair and inviting temptation? David rejects it with abhorrence, from the principles of religion and duty. Glorious moderation and fortitude of mind! Was ever resolution more generous and loyal? One stroke would have fixed his enemy dead on the spot, put an end to his fears, and mounted him on a throne: and yet, he starts back at the proposal of it: the...

_David Again Spares Saul. 1 Samuel 26:6-20_ 6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. 7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him. 8 Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not _smite_ him the second time. 9 And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless? 10 David said furthermore, _As_ the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite h