David fully recognized this. Nor can we wonder, that on reviewing his own deliverance from spiritual danger,

and the advice which had led to it, he should have wished to have her who had given it always by his side.

In connection with this the sacred text also notes the union of David with Ahinoam of Jezreel,222 consequent

probably on Saul's cruel and heartless separation between David and Michal, whom he gave to one Phalti,

or Phaltiel (2 Samuel 3:15) of Gallim in Benjamin (Isaiah 10:30). Thus Saul himself had willfully and recklessly

severed the last ties which had bound David to him.

Yet another bitter experience of betrayal and persecution was in store for David. Probably trusting to his

new connection with two, no doubt, powerful families in the district - those of Ahinoam and of Abigail -

David seems again to have advanced northwards from the wilderness of Paran. Once more we find David in

the wilderness of Ziph - the most northern and the nearest to the cities of Judah. And once more the

Ziphites were negotiating with Saul for his betrayal, and the king of Israel was marching against him with the

three thousand men, who apparently formed the nucleus of his standing army.223

Some years before, when betrayed by the Ziphites, David had on the approach of Saul retired to the

wilderness of Maon, and been only preserved by tidings to Saul of a Philistine incursio n. On yet another

somewhat similar occasion, in the wilderness of En -gedi, David had had his enemy in his power, when Saul

had entered alone a cave in which David and his men lay concealed. In this instance, however, the

circumstances were different, alike as concerned the situation of Saul's camp, the location of David, the

manner in which he came into contact with Saul, and even the communication which subsequently passed

between them. The points of resemblance are just those which might have been expected: the treachery of

the Ziphites, the means taken by Saul against David, the suggestion made to David to rid himself of his

enemy, his firm resolve not to touch the Lord's anointed, as well as an interview between David and his

persecutor, followed by temporary repentance. But the two narratives are essentially different. On learning

that Saul and his army were encamped on the slope of the hill Hachilah, David and two of his bravest

companions - Ahimelech, the Hittite, and Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, David 's sister - resolved to ascertain

the exact situation of the enemy. Creeping under cover of night through the brushwood, which as we know

covered the sides of the hill (23:19), they found themselves soon where the camp of Israel lay open to them.

As we imagine the scene, the three had gained the height just above the camp. Faithful as was the Hittite,

and none more true or brave than he (comp. 2 Samuel 11:3, 6; 23:39), it was David's nephew Abishai,

probably of the same age, who now volunteered to share wit h him the extremely perilous attempt of "going

down" into the camp itself. But there was no murderous intent in the heart of David; rather the opposite, of

proving his innocence of it. And so God blessed it. A deep sleep -evidently from the Lord - weighed them all

down. In the middle, by the "waggons" of the camp, lay Saul, at his head the royal spear stuck in the

ground, and a cruse of water beside him. Close by lay Abner, as chief of the host, to whom, so to speak, the

custody of the king was entrusted - and all round in wide circle, the people. Once more comes the tempting

suggestion to David. This time it is not his own hand, but Abishai's, that is to deal the blow. But what

matters it: "For who has stretched out his hand against the anointed of Jehovah, and been unpunished? If

Jehovah do not (literally, 'unless Jehovah') smite him [like Nabal], or his day be come and he die, or he go

down into the war and be swept away - far be it from me, through Jehovah! - to stretch forth mine hand

against Jehovah's anointed."  224 And so David stayed the hand of his companion.

Noiselessly the two have removed the royal spear and the cruse from the side of Saul. They have crept back

through the camp of sleepers, and through the brushwood, crossed the intervening valley, and gained a far-

off height on the other side. Who dares break the king's slumber in the middle of his camp? But another ear

than Abner's has heard, and has recognized the voice of David. It has gone right to the heart of Saul, as he

learns how once more his life had been wholly in the power of him whom he has so unrelenting and so

wickedly persecuted. Again he seems repentant, though he heeds not David's advice that, if these constant

persecutions were the effect produced on his mind by the spirit of evil from the Lord, he should seek pardon

and help by means of sacrifice; but if the outcome of calumnious reports, those who brought them should

be regarded as sure of the Divine judgment, since, as he put it, "They drive me out this day, that I cannot

join myself to the heritage of Jehovah, saying (thereby in effect): Go, serve other gods" (26:19). It is useless

to follow the matter farther. Saul's proposal for David's return, and his promise of safety, were, no doubt,