Outline of Chapter 26:

       vv.    1–3        Saul Goes Out After David Again

       vv.    4–7        David and Abishai Go Into Saul’s Camp

       vv.    8–12      David Explains to Abishai What is Permissible with Regards to Saul

       vv.   13–16      David Chides Abner for not Protecting Saul

       vv.   17–25      David and Saul Converse One Last Time

Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps:

       v.      4           The Niphal Participle of Kûwn

       v.      5           A Summary of Abner’s Lineage

       v.      5           What Did We Really Learn When We Examined Where Saul Slept?

       v.      7           1Samuel 26:2–7 Presented Chronologically

       v.     19           A Summation of 1Samuel 26:19

       v.     25           The Intransitive Meanings of ׳âsâh and Yâkôl

       v.     25           Qal infinitive absolute

       v.     25           An Almost Definitive Listing of the Various English Translations of 1Samuel 26:25b

       v.     25           Why Saul Will Not Pursue David Again

       v.     25           Compare and Contrast 1Samual 24 and 26

       v.     25           Why Did God Allow Saul to Persecute David for this Many Years?

I ntroduction: Although it appeared as though Saul might be ready to stop pursuing David back in 1Sam. 24, that is not really the case. Saul was not a rational person. Anything could set him off. What happens in this chapter is the Ziphites come to Saul and tell him that David can be found in the hill of Hachilah, which is right on the edge of the desert. This is all the encouragement that Saul needs. He gathers up and army of 3000 and goes in pursuit of David. However, David finds a place to hide where he is able to observe Saul entering into his space. So, when Saul and his men camp within David’s visual range, David decides to take Abishai with him to pay Saul a visit in the camp. The first thing that occurs to me at this point, on the outset of this study, is why? Why does David take a man and go down into Saul’s camp? Maybe I’ll have some idea by the time the exegesis of this chapter is complete.

Once they get into Saul’s well-fortified camp, Abishai immediately suggests to David that they kill Saul. You may recall the reasoning given in 1Sam. 24: David’s men quote some Scripture, which we postulated was Psalm 110:1, which should not have been applied to David. Abishai offers to kill Saul for David, but David tells him that he cannot strike the Lord’s anointed without consequences. Instead of killing Saul, David takes his spear, which is stuck in the ground next to his head; and he takes Saul’s personal water jar. Then David puts some distance between himself and Saul’s camp and then calls out to Saul’s primary aide-de-camp, Abner and chews him out for falling asleep during a watch. This apparently wakes Saul up, who realizes it is David; and David again asks, “Why are you pursuing me?” Saul apologizes again and David sends his spear back as a constant reminder. Saul tells David that he will not pursue him any more and he returns to Gibeah.

One of the accusations leveled against this portion of Samuel is that this is a different version of the events that we have already covered in 1Sam. 24. Since there are similarities, higher critics say that these are two traditions based upon the same event; and that they were recorded sometime after the actual event. Now, apart from the obvious (and superficial) similarities between the two chapters, there is no other reason to think this. Personally, I have had several incidents in my life which had similar aspects to them. I have had situations involving the same people and involving different people, where there were many things in common. However, the situations were different. Therefore, there is no reason to postulate that these two situations have to be based upon the same occurrence. Just like all of the higher criticism that we have faced up until this time, there is no reason to fall for it. The primary purpose of so called higher criticism is to discredit Scripture. The idea is to somehow imply that Scripture is not inspired by God the Holy Spirit. If these two chapters are about the same incident, then one set of events is incorrect; and possibly both chapters have inaccuracies in them. If that is the case, then there is no such thing as inspired Scripture. However, if one approaches this from an objective view, examines all of the fulfilled prophecy, then one cannot help but be amazed as to how clairvoyant these Scriptures seem to be. An impartial examination would indicate that it is more likely that these Scriptures are inspired; and that there is much more evidence for this than there is for these to be poorly recorded history, written down centuries after the events spoken of. Furthermore, even one of the greatest secular historians of all time, Will Durant, remarked concerning the accuracy of Scripture, that, apart from the miraculous events which were recorded, one could not help but recognize the historical detail contained within both testaments, and that there was no logical reason to regard Scripture as inaccurate. There are similarities between this chapter and 1Sam. 24; therefore, at the completion of this chapter, we will compare it these two chapters.

Saul Goes Out After David Again

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

The Dead Sea Scrolls            .

Peshitta                                 Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Behold, David is hiding himself in the Gibaoth-hawilah, which is before the wilderness.”

Septuagint                             And the Ziphites come out of the dry country to Saul to the hill, saying, “Behold, David hides himself with us in the hill Echela, opposite Jessemon.”

Significant differences           .

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Once again, some people from Ziph went to Gibeah to talk with Saul. "David has a hideout on Mount Hachilah near Jeshimon out in the desert," they told him.

NAB                                       Men from Ziph came to Saul in Gibeah, reporting that David was hiding on the hill of Hachilah at the edge of the wasteland.

NLT                                Now some messengers from Ziph came back to Saul at Gibeah to tell him, “David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which overlooks Jeshimon.”

REB                                       The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah with the news that David was in hiding on the hill of Hachilah overlooking Jeshimon.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         The people of Ziph came to Saul at Gibeah. "David is hiding at the hill of Hachilah near Jeshimon," they said.

JPS (Tanakh)                        The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “David is hiding in the hill of Hachilah facing Jeshimon.”

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

MKJV                                     And the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, Is not David hiding himself in the hill of Hachilah, on the edge of the desert?

Young's Updated LT              And the Ziphites come in unto Saul, at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself in the height of Hachilah, on the front of the desert?”

What is the gist of this verse? The Ziphites again go to Saul and tell him exactly where David is hiding.

Translation: Then the Ziphites went to Saul in Gibeah... This is the second time that the Ziphites went to Saul to tell them where David was. First of all, we need to distinguish between the two Ziph’s: There is a city Ziph in the Negev area of Judah (Joshua 15:24 1Chron. 2:42 4:16) and a second in the hill country of Judah (Joshua 15:55). That there are two cities named Ziph in Judah should not be disturbing, as both are mentioned in Joshua 15. During the time that David was hiding from Saul, he spent much of his time in the hill country of Judah, just west of the Dead Sea. That he might pass through the same area more than once is to be expected. That the Ziphites might turn David in twice is also not unexpected. If they would do it once, and they discover David in their general area again, then what would prevent them from turning him in again? David was upset by this and he wrote a Psalm 54 about them (and about his enemies in general), a psalm we have already studied.

The Ziphites were pesky people for David. They kissed up to Saul and made every overture to get on his good side. It is even possible that some of them viewed David as a national threat. Recall the Jesus Christ was a great divider of people. So, a man of God should also be expected to divide people are well.

I am assuming that the Ziphites had no specific assignment from Saul; that is, Saul did not specifically go to Ziph and tell them to report any Davidic activity; but he certainly rewarded them the first time, and made it worth their whiles to betray David. Therefore, when the opportunity presented itself once again, the Ziphites ran immediately to Saul with the information. And, of course, we are probably dealing with a small delegation of less than a dozen (probably 3 or 4). This was probably a result of a quick, unofficial meeting of a dozen or so of the elders, who then sent an immediate delegation to Saul.

Now, if you or I were David, we might store this away in our memories and go wipe out the Ziphites once becoming king over Israel. However, the city of Ziph is only mentioned in Joshua 15 and in 1Chron. 2:42 4:16; and after this chapter, we will not hear about the Ziphites again during David’s kingship (except for Psalm 54, of course). Ziph will only be mentioned once again as a city rebuilt for defense purposes by Rehoboam (2Chron. 11:8).

Translation: ...and said, “[Is] David not hiding himself in the Hachilah hill overlooking Jeshimon [or, the desert-wasteland]?” These men don’t simply go to Saul and give him a general idea where David was (like Doeg did—recall, he passed along very old information to Saul). However, their information about David was accurate, precise and up-to-date.

1Sam. 23:19 reads: Then Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?” The description which follows tells Saul where on the hill David and his men are. Furthermore, as you see, the two verses are quite similar. Therefore, when we complete this chapter, we will compare the incidents.

Since the hill of Hachilah is only mentioned in these two verses. So, we really don’t know where this place is, but Saul and David both knew. It is also possible that this is related to Keilah, which is mentioned back in 1Sam. 23:10—you may recall that David delivered the people of Keilah from the Philistines, but they were still willing to turn him in to Saul. Ziph and Keilah are possibly neighboring cities (or territories) with a mountain or two between them—one known as the hill of Hachilah. It is a reasonable theory; however, I should point out that Hachilah and Keilah are spelled quite differently, although their pronunciations are probably similar (the pronunciations which I offer are based, to some degree, on Hebrew lexicon and grammar books, but no one knows for sure how the Hebrew sounded then).

Jeshimon is also only mentioned in these two passages (1Sam. 23:19, 24 26:1, 3). There is another Jeshimon found in Num. 21:20 23:28, which is a region of Pisgah in Moab, northeast of the Dead Sea (for those who are geographically challenged, Judah—which is where David is—is to the west of the Dead Sea). The same word is also found in Jer. 22:6 and Hosea 2:3, where it is rendered wilderness, desert, desert-wilderness, waste. In these passages, it is clearly not a reference to a particular geographical area, but to a type of geographical area. You may wonder, how did Saul know where to go? Simple: he is speaking to Ziphites; they occupy a specific geographical area, and therefore the knowledge made it clear as to where Jeshimon is.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown suggest that, since David married Abigail, he returned to this general area so that they could keep an eye on her land holdings and possessions, which were extensive. They did not live on her land, as an attack by Saul could devastate her property.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Septuagint                             And Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, and with him [were] 3000 men chosen out of Israel, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

Significant differences           .

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Saul took three thousand of Israel's best soldiers and went to look for David there in Ziph Desert.

NJB                                        So Saul set off and went down to the desert of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand picked me of Israel, to search for David in the desert of Ziph.

NLT                                So Saul took three thousand of his best troops and went to hunt him down in the wilderness of Ziph.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         Saul went to the desert of Ziph, taking with him 3,000 of Israel's best-trained men to search for David. .

JPS (Tanakh)                        Saul went down at once to the wilderness of Ziph, together with three thousand picked men of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph,...

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

MKJV                                     And Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him.

Young's Updated LT              And Saul rises, and goes down unto the wilderness of Ziph, and with him three thousand men, chosen ones of Israel, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

What is the gist of this verse? Saul takes 3000 of his men to the desert-wilderness of Ziph to find David.