The Books of Samuel · En Gedi, Endor and Gilboa
He had one clean shot.He used it on a piece of cloth.
Three thousand men are hunting one, and then the king walks alone into the exact cave where David is sitting in the dark. Everyone in that cave knows what to do about it. What David does instead decides what kind of king he is going to be — and sets up the saddest night, and the saddest morning, in the whole book. Every scene below is a real frame from our animated film.
Saul has taken three thousand picked men into the wilderness of En Gedi to hunt one shepherd, and En Gedi is nothing but caves. What happens next is the kind of coincidence that only happens in true stories: the king leaves his army on the path and walks into a cave for a moment of privacy — and it is the exact cave where David and his men are sitting in the dark at the back. 1 Samuel 24 : 1–3
His men cannot believe their luck, and they are not quiet about it. Somebody puts a knife in his hand. This is God handing him the answer, they whisper — the man who has hunted you for years is standing here with his back turned. One stroke and it is over: no more caves, no more running. Every word of that argument is persuasive, and some of it even sounds like theology. 1 Samuel 24 : 4
Interlude · Your turn
The knife is in your hand, and the king's back is turned. What does David do?
Every man in the cave is whispering the same advice.
So he goes forward, and the men behind him hold their breath. And he crouches down and cuts a handful of cloth off the bottom of the king's robe, and comes back. That is all he takes. It is not contempt; it is a receipt — proof of exactly how close he got, and of what he chose not to do with it. Saul walks back out into the daylight with no idea. 1 Samuel 24 : 4
And then the strangest verse in the chapter: David's heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. He is sorry about the cloth. He has just refused to harm the man trying to harm him, and what troubles him is disrespecting the robe. He turns on his own soldiers and stops them, and gives the reason he will give every time: a crown you take by knife is not the crown God promised. 1 Samuel 24 : 5–7
The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD's anointed.
Then he does something braver than the alternative would have been. He walks out of the cave into the open, in front of three thousand soldiers, and shouts after the man hunting him: my lord the king. And he bows. There is no cover and no advantage in any of it — he still believes that title means something, even when the man wearing it does not. 1 Samuel 24 : 8
See — the corner of your robe is in my hand. I cut it off and did not harm you. Know that there is no evil in my hand, though you hunt my life to take it. And Saul's hand goes to the torn hem of his own robe, and the arithmetic arrives: he was close enough to do that. The distance between them across the canyon is the whole argument. 1 Samuel 24 : 9–15
And Saul breaks. Is this your voice, my son David? — and he weeps, across a canyon, in front of his whole army. What he says next is completely true and completely useless: you are more righteous than I. He knows. He has always known. He even says out loud that David will surely be king. And then he goes home, and soon enough he is back out here with three thousand men. 1 Samuel 24 : 16–22
You are more righteous than I, for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you.
Before he goes, Saul asks one thing, and it is a father's request: swear you will not cut off my family after me. New dynasties did exactly that. David swears it — and years later, as king, with nobody left to hold him to it, he goes looking through the wreckage of Saul's house and finds a lame grandson, and gives him a seat at his own table. Then the two of them walk in opposite directions. 1 Samuel 24 : 21–22
Years pass. Samuel is dead, the Philistine army is massed at Gilboa, and Saul — grey now, and hollowed out — does what he has not properly done in a long time: he asks God what to do. He asks by dreams, and by the priests, and by the prophets. Nothing comes back. So the man who drove every medium out of the country puts on ordinary clothes and goes to find one. 1 Samuel 28 : 3–8
Whatever comes up in that room, the woman did not call it, and she is more frightened than anyone. It appears as a standing light with no face, and the first thing it says is the saddest line in the chapter: why have you disturbed me? There is no comfort in what follows — only what he already knew. And Saul, who has not eaten all day, falls full length on a stranger's floor. 1 Samuel 28 : 12–25
And this is the part of Saul that is genuinely hard not to admire. He has been told, in as many words, that he will lose, and that tomorrow he and his sons will be gone. He is not deceived about any of it. And in the morning he puts his armour on and goes up the mountain and fights anyway, at the head of his own army, with his sons beside him. He did not run. 1 Samuel 28 : 20–25
Jonathan dies on that mountain, fighting where his father is, and we are not shown the blow — only one last look, and a smile at something we are not shown either, and then the clouds opening over Gilboa. Saul dies the same day. What is left is rain coming down on a hillside of abandoned shields, filling them one by one, and a crown lying in a puddle with the water running over it. 1 Samuel 31 : 1–6
How are the mighty fallen in the middle of the battle!
After the story
He knew the whole time. It never once stopped him.
The horror of Saul is not that he was deceived. Across this episode he says out loud, weeping, in front of his own army, that David is more righteous than he is and will certainly be king — and then goes home and picks the hunt back up. He is told by name, at Endor, exactly how it ends, and goes up the mountain anyway. He is never confused about what is true. He simply cannot make himself act on it, and the gap between what he knows and what he does keeps widening until there is nothing left in it but weather and an empty crown. David, meanwhile, spends the whole episode refusing to take by force a thing he has already been promised — which is the only reason it will still be worth having when it finally arrives.
Voices of the wilderness · hover or tap to turn
David
"Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh's anointed."
— 1 Samuel 24:6
Saul
"You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you."
— 1 Samuel 24:17
Samuel
"Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?"
— 1 Samuel 28:15The Books of Samuel
How closely were you watching?
1. How does Saul end up alone with David in the cave?
1 Samuel 24:3. He leaves three thousand men on the path outside; his eyes are full of sunlight and he never sees the men at the back.
2. What does David take from Saul in the cave?
1 Samuel 24:4 — and then his conscience troubles him even about that, because it was disrespectful to the LORD's anointed.
3. What does Saul say when David shows him the cloth?
1 Samuel 24:17. He weeps as he says it, and he means it — and it changes nothing about what he does next.
4. Why does Saul go to the medium at Endor?
1 Samuel 28:6 — no answer by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets. The man who had driven the mediums out of the land goes looking for one in disguise.
What this story teaches
An opportunity is not a permission.
Everyone in that cave read the coincidence as God's green light. David read the same coincidence and concluded the opposite. Circumstances lining up perfectly is not, on its own, God telling you to do the thing you already wanted to do.
"May Yahweh judge between me and you… but my hand will not be on you." 1 Samuel 24:12You can know the truth and still not obey it.
Saul admits, in tears, that David is in the right and will be king. Then he goes hunting again. Knowing is not the same as repenting, and this book is unusually honest about the difference.
"Now, behold, I know that you will surely be king." 1 Samuel 24:20Keep the promise nobody is checking.
David swore to spare Saul's family when Saul was still the more powerful man. Years later, as king, with no one left to hold him to it, he went looking for a survivor to be kind to. That is what integrity looks like once the pressure is off.
"Swear now therefore to me by Yahweh, that you will not cut off my offspring after me." 1 Samuel 24:21Read the scripture itself. 1 Samuel 24 · 28 · 31 · World English Bible
1 Samuel 24
1When Saul had returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.”
2Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.
3He came to the sheep pens by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were staying in the innermost parts of the cave.
4David’s men said to him, “Behold, the day of which Yahweh said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe secretly.
5Afterward, David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.
6He said to his men, “Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is Yahweh’s anointed.”
7So David checked his men with these words, and didn’t allow them to rise against Saul. Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.
8David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and showed respect.
9David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you?’
10Behold, today your eyes have seen how Yahweh had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you; but I spared you; and I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my lord; for he is Yahweh’s anointed.
11Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it.
12May Yahweh judge between me and you, and may Yahweh avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you.
13As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness;’ but my hand will not be on you.
14Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?
15May Yahweh therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.”
16It came to pass, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.
17He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you.
18You have declared today how you have dealt well with me, because when Yahweh had delivered me up into your hand, you didn’t kill me.
19For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? Therefore may Yahweh reward you good for that which you have done to me today.
20Now, behold, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.
21Swear now therefore to me by Yahweh, that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.”
22David swore to Saul. Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
1 Samuel 28
1In those days, the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the army, you and your men.”
2David said to Achish, “Therefore you will know what your servant can do.” Achish said to David, “Therefore I will make you my bodyguard forever.”
3Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Saul had sent away those who had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land.
4The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.
5When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.
6When Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh didn’t answer him by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets.
7Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her.” His servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor.”
8Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. Then he said, “Please consult for me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to you.”
9The woman said to him, “Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?”
10Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, “As Yahweh lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing.”
11Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up to you?” He said, “Bring Samuel up for me.”
12When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”
13The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What do you see?” The woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.”
14He said to her, “What does he look like?” She said, “An old man comes up. He is covered with a robe.” Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and showed respect.
15Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?” Saul answered, “I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and answers me no more, by prophets, or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do.”
16Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since Yahweh has departed from you and has become your adversary?
17Yahweh has done to you as he spoke by me. Yahweh has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, even to David.
18Because you didn’t obey Yahweh’s voice, and didn’t execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today.
19Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Yahweh will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”
20Then Saul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was terrified, because of Samuel’s words. There was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all day long or all night long.
21The woman came to Saul, and saw that he was very troubled, and said to him, “Behold, your servant has listened to your voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have listened to your words which you spoke to me.
22Now therefore, please listen also to the voice of your servant, and let me set a morsel of bread before you. Eat, that you may have strength, when you go on your way.”
23But he refused, and said, “I will not eat.” But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him; and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed.
24The woman had a fattened calf in the house. She hurried and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it.
25She brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night.
1 Samuel 31
1Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.
2The Philistines overtook Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.
3The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers.
4Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me!” But his armor bearer would not; for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it.
5When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him.
6So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor bearer, and all his men, that same day together.
7When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.
8On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
9They cut off his head, stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to carry the news to the house of their idols, and to the people.
10They put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
11When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
12all the valiant men arose, went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh, and burned them there.
13They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
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